for Teachers and Students of the Pistol
Dear Brazilian Bank Robber,
In the future, when dual wielding your epic Vorpal Pistols +5, suggest you either:
(a) keep your finger off the trigger, or
(b) avoid pointing the muzzle at yourself, or
(c) at least make sure it’s pointing at a body part that will prevent you from infecting the gene pool.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
(thanks to BaiHu at pistol-forum.com for the link)
Aimpoint has released the 2MOA version of its Micro T-1. While this has nothing to do with pistols, it was apparently the single most important product launch in the history of the universe because now thousands of customers will be able to claim they own the exact same optic through which Osama Bin Laden was last seen alive.
More out of obligation than interest, I stopped at the Caracal booth to see their pistol. For those unfamiliar, the Caracal is a family of striker fired handguns built in the United Arab Emirates. With a ridiculously low bore axis the gun almost looks like a polymer framed HK P7. The trigger on all of the show guns I tried was, for lack of a better word, perfect. It had a completely smooth consistent pull that rolled right through the break. It’s honestly the best trigger I’ve ever felt on a striker gun. However, setting aside any questions about reliability and durability about a gun made in the U.A.E., the sight options for the Caracal are horrendous. The rear sight is actually part of the slide’s internal mechanism and cannot be separated from it. In other words, no aftermarket sights will ever be available. They also offer a ridiculous option called “Quick Sights” … just google it. Because somewhere in the world, someone thought it would be a good idea to reduce sight radius drastically. YJCMTSU…
I finally got to handle one of the CMR-201 Rail Master lasers from Crimson Trace. It’s small, lightweight, and easier to use than I expected. Nonetheless, I still prefer the automatic activation (and holster compatibility) of the traditional Lasergrips like the LG-850 I’ve been running on the G17 test gun for the past few weeks. The -201 is a great option for guns that don’t have Lasergrips available, however, or for shooters who don’t want to invest in a proprietary laser that will only work with one model gun.
Julie Golob released her great new book Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition. The book signing drew huge crowds and the publisher actually sold out of their SHOT Show supply after just a little more than two days. While I’ve known about the book before Julie started writing it, and while I’m admittedly a JulieG fanboy, I’ll honestly tell you that the quality of this book will amaze you. There are countless detailed photographs — many of which were taken by firearms photograph legend Yamil R. Sued — and the book is printed on heavy stock paper making it suitable for the rigors of the firing range. Look for a more in-depth review soon.
Ruger has a new product that will be very interesting to a number of pistol-training.com readers: the new SR22 pistol. While you might think it’s a mini .22 version of Ruger’s own SR9-series of pistol, it’s not. As we were handling it at the show, it was actually SLG who first noted that it’s more like a mini .22 version of the HK P30! Like most baby .22′s it doesn’t have identical controls but they’re close enough to make the SR22 a decent training option or, for parents, a great gun to get a child who wants to shoot a gun “just like Daddy’s” (or Mommy’s). And the latest iteration of the venerable 22/45 gets even closer to mimicking a 1911 with improved grip design.
Smith & Wesson announced the Model 586 revolver, a recreation of the venerable .357 Magnum revolvers that were a hallmark of law enforcement marksmen for decades. These square butt L-frame revolvers will be available with either a 4″ or 6″ barrel. Smith also introduced a new clothing line. Perhaps most importantly, Smith & Wesson made a very generous $50,000 donation to Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA). HAVA is an industry-led organization that helps disabled veterans enjoy a wide range of shooting activities from hunting to competition.
Streamlight has an interesting new flashlight available, the ProTac HL. It’s about the size of a Surefire 6P but produces 600 lumens of light with a 1¼ hour run time. It’s also programmable and has a strobe function. The strobe requires you to double tap the tailcap in a manner I found a little hard to do 100% of the time standing on the show floor, so it’s not something I’d want to rely on under stress, but perhaps with practice it would work better. I bent the ear of one of Streamlight’s executives for half an hour about the need to have a one touch strobe feature. He said it’s something they considered and may become part of their offerings in the future.
ASYM Ammunition has taken off like a rocket over the past year. They provided some .45 ammo in 2010 for the HK45 test and it consistently turned in the tightest groups through the gun ever. The company’s owner, Stan Chen (yes, the Stan Chen, the famous 1911 gunsmith) has offered to send along some ammo for the 2012 test as well. They’re also producing a barrier-blind 5.56mm round that is very similar to the new military “brown tip” load.
The Beretta Nano left me nonplussed. It is very small, light, and fits the hand well. The trigger pull on the SHOT Show guns was reasonable but it has a full reset. Also annoying to me was the lack of an external slide stop… there is no way to drop the slide except to rack it (which is impossible if there is an empty mag in the gun) and there is no way to lock the slide back except to have an empty magazine handy. In other words, it’s impossible to clear the pistol properly (slide back on an empty chamber with no magazine) without going through a number of steps.
Glock announced the gen4 Glock 32, the mid-size 357 SIG version of the company’s pistol. Meanwhile, depending upon whom you ask at the company, there was never a 9mm gen4 problem; there was a minor gen4 9mm problem that is completely resolved and was totally overblown; or yeah, there’s still a problem and they hope they’re close to fixing it. You probably know which one I believe.
FN’s new FNS striker-fired pistol has a lot of potential. Could it be the next contender for the coveted — but so far unclaimed — title of “Glock Killer?” The ergonomics are excellent. The grip, while looking blocky, is actually very comfortable with a traditional grip angle. Controls are all 100% ambidextrous and somehow manage to be both very low profile and easily manipulated simultaneously. In particular, the safety and slide lock both look far too small to be useable without a microscope, but somehow managed to move in exactly the right direction at exactly the right time, every time, when manipulating the gun at speed. The pistol has been in development and testing through FN’s successful 3-gun competition team throughout 2011 and many of the suggestions from that group found their way into the final design. The FNS is P30-like in dimensions, which a full size grip but moderate length barrel. Compact and long slide versions, along with a .45 cal version, are on the horizon.
I mentioned the Raven Concealment Vanguard-2 on the Day 1 recap, but on Wednesday night I actually wore a Glock 26 in one for about five hours. It remained secure and concealed with no trouble (not that it’s hard to conceal a G26). I’m still not sure what it does better than a dedicated full AIWB holster outside of very specific, limited circumstances that don’t really apply to most CCWers and cops, but I doubt that will stop RCS from selling eleventy billion of them.
The SIG P224 met my expectations exactly. Some folks have complained that it’s bulky but I honestly think they’re comparing it to a Kahr or other single stack micro 9mm. That isn’t what the P224 was ever supposed to be. It’s SIG’s version of the Glock 26/27: short, fat, high capacity (11rd 9mm, 10rd .40), with magazine compatibility between the P224 and its bigger P226 & P229 cousins. Currently only available in DAK — which I’m not a fan of — it will be offered as a double/single action 9mm “soon.” SIG also had the P250 on the shelves, so rumors of that line’s demise are apparently, unfortunately, premature. SIG says the P250 continues to sell in large numbers, proving that not everyone in the U.S. has internet access yet.
Tango Down, makers of the incredibly popular Vickers Tactical Glock Mag Catch and Vickers Tactical Glock Slide Stop will soon answer the prayers of many gen4 Glock owners with a Vickers Tactical mag catch that is compatible with the latest Glocks.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
It’s late so just some rough notes:
NLT is coming out with a number of pistol-related SIRT options in the immediate future:
I got a sample of the super-secret super-cool new AIWB solution from Raven Concealment. It’s not officially debuting until tomorrow at 1pm so I cannot post pics or anything, but it’s a genuinely good idea for certain specific situations. It’s not intended to replace a standard dedicated AIWB holster, but my guess is that it will get used that way by a lot of people.
Sphinx has a new budget-minded version of its CZ clone that is aimed at the law enforcement and military market. It is still a big, chunky pistol with a bad DA/SA trigger and hard to reach controls. The slide and barrel are steel. The top 3/4″ of the frame is aluminum to provide a full length metal-on-metal slide to frame rail contact, while the rest of the frame is polymer with interchangeable rubber grips (like the M&P, consisting of both the backstrap and the side panels) available in three different sizes. The silver lining is a new front sight they’ve patented, which consists of a large fiber optic with a tritium capsule embedded in the center. It’s like looking at a donut. The outer ring glows with enough ambient light and the inner circle glows in darkness. Without trying it on the range it’s impossible to assess, but it is definitely interesting.
Tomorrow I’ll begin hitting the big pistol companies. In particular I want to see the new striker-fired FN pistol and the SIG P224.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
pistol-training.com will be expanding its class offerings this year with two new programs:
Concealed Carry Skills, 2 days, 800 rounds
Aim Fast, Hit Small (aka “AFHF-2″), 2 days, 1250+ rounds
Hope to see you there!
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
I really need to make a shorter URL for the F.A.S.T. page…
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
| 55,221 rounds | 9 stoppages (+1 w/non-LCI extractor) |
0 malfunctions | 1 parts breakages |
Two short sessions this week were spent primarily working with the laser and getting in my 2012 Performance Challenge results.
| iron sights | laser | |
| 300 | 275-6X | 267-0X |
| Changing Gears | 26.28, 3 misses | 24.76, 1 miss |
| 99 Drill | 88 (-4, -3, -1, -3) | 94 (-0, -2, -2, -1) |
The results are consistent with my overall performance using the laser. At speed, the laser tends to be faster and so long as I’m patient enough to break only good shots I get good, fast hits. When speed is no longer a factor and maximum accuracy is called for, the irons win out for the time being because I am much more used to reading my iron sights during the trigger press… and I tend to take more time on the trigger press. It’s tricky overcoming the Perfect Sight Picture Syndrome when shooting the laser.
This also leaves my Performance Challenge starting numbers at:
The G26 also passed its initial function check, firing five hundred rounds of American Eagle FMJ practice ammo and then one hundred rounds of Federal 124gr +p HST without any stoppages or other problems.
Out of the G17, one round of the 124gr American Eagle FMJ practice ammunition had a squib this week. On the second round of a 3-shot drill the pistol went “puff” instead of “BANG!” so I stopped to verify the bore was clear, which it was. The gun did cycle properly.
There will be no Week 43 update next Friday because I’ll be at the SHOT Show all week.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous Glock 17 gen4 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com: Read the rest of this entry »
Hate me all you want, I think it looks neat. Whether it serves any purpose or not I can’t say, but at least on paper it creates a low recoil, short barrel, optic-ready weapon. Hard to mount a flashlight, however, which could be a deal breaker.
You’ll note that the shooter in the main picture either isn’t using the forward hand stop for his weak hand, or that was a last minute development made after the photo was taken. I’m not quite sure why you’d put Picatinny rails on the sides of the forward grip, either, since obviously anything you mount there will interfere with holding the gun.
H/T to F-Trooper for his post on the forum.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
(photo courtesy soldiersystems.net)
For many people, the holidays are a time to take a break from shooting. Whether it’s family obligations, weather, or just plain old burn out after a long season of dedicated practice, it can actually be good to step away from the gun for a little bit.
What is often overlooked is the beneficial side to taking a break. Sometimes over the course of a year’s training we build bad habits: training habits, technique habits, performance habits. Walking away from the gun for a few weeks can reset the mind and allow you to come back along a better path. Too often, shooters try to force their way through burn out periods and at best it’s just a waste of time and ammo. At worst, they’re building up a lot of bad reps that will require that much more effort and practice to repair.
How much will your skill degrade? Candidly, that is difficult to answer. Some folks fare better than others. Some folks also get more upset over a few hundredths of a second than others. A fantastic shooter might see his draw go from 1.0 second to 1.2 seconds and think the world is coming to an end, while his neighbor’s draw might go from being measured by sundial to requiring an actual calendar… and he won’t even notice. Let’s face it, if someone only goes to the range four times a year, how much skill does he have to lose to begin with? As a rule, the finer the edge — the more you’ve honed a skill — the faster it will dull. But it tends to sharpen again more quickly, as well, so it doesn’t take much time or effort to get back on track after a vacation.
It’s perfectly ok to take some time off from your shooting. And hopefully when you come back you’ll be more energized and enthusiastic than ever. Don’t worry about whether you’re setting personal records your first day back. If you’re reading pistol-training.com, odds are you put time and energy into your practice. Egos get involved. No one wants to see that he’s worse today than he was last month.
Don’t jump right back into the same bad habits and disrupt your entire shooting year as soon as it begins. Work on the fundamentals. Get reacquainted. It’s not about what you can do today. It’s about setting yourself up to be better tomorrow, and the day after, and all year long.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
