6,249 rounds
0 stoppages, 0 malfunctions, 0 parts breakages
Major improvement to the P30 this week: Heinie QWIK Straight Eight night sights.
The prototype “factory” night sights that were on the gun before now were typical of most gun companies’ offerings. The front blade is wide, the rear notch is narrow, and the dots on the rear sight are very large (and distracting). They may be adequate for most people, but better designs exist.
For the P30, Heinie is the best option available. The particular combination on the test gun combines a wider-than-normal rear notch (“QWIK”) and a dot-over-dot night sight configuration (“Straight Eight”). The rear sight fits loosely in the slide cut until the two set screws are tightened. Experience has taught me that it’s important to Loktite the rear sight. Ask me how I know …
The front sight is very narrow, which provides excellent accuracy and speed for a combat oriented handgun. As you can see in the photo (left), I’ve already performed the JohnO DIY High Visibility Front Sight treatment. In this case, I simply used a paint pen from a craft store. The serrations made it easy to apply the paint. It’s fairly waterproof, but won’t withstand cleaning solvents. Luckily, painting the front sight takes all of ten seconds … reapplying it each time the gun is cleaned won’t be a hardship. The front sight’s set screws stick way up out of the sight base, as you can see in the photo. It does not interfere with shooting in any way, but looks pretty crappy. I may have to shave them down to size.
The sight picture works very well, better than the photos can show. Point of impact is very consistent with the top edge of the front sight. At 15yd, I easily managed a 1″ group fired offhand (see photo at right).
Otherwise, nothing particularly exciting to report. A couple of short range sessions was all the gun saw this week, unfortunately. The gun devoured another 500 rounds of Blazer without a stoppage, proving that as long as the chamber is clean and the gun is well lubricated it will handle that ammo without problem. Hopefully, next week we’ll be able to pick up the pace considerably thanks to a new ammo partner. Check back next Thursday to read all about that.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous P30 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week Four
- Week Three
- Week Two
- Week One
- Initial Report
Hi Todd, I was wondering how you manipulate the magazine release on your P30? I’ve read people using the trigger or middle finger on the shooting had. My local instructor still recommends using the thumb even if I have to shift my grip, since it offers more strength and most other weapons will function this way. Since the gun’s new and I’m a fairly new shooter I haven’t formed a habit yet, but just playing around with it the middle finger on my shooting had feels the most comfortable. Just thought I’d see how you do it and if you had an opinion.
AKWintermute – I use my trigger finger. The “more strength” thing is ridiculous. Either you can drop the mag or you cannot … pressing the button harder doesn’t accomplish anything.
The near-universality of the standard strong thumb position is certainly true, but I focus on being as good as I can with the gun I actually carry rather than the what-if of some random pickup. Almost all modern handguns have either ambidextrous or reversible mag catches.
What kind of Paint pen did you use…color?