Thanks for Reading

I began this blog in 2006 and on May 31st of last year I got around to attaching a hit counter. I started this blog as a way to report weekend range sessions with a couple of friends in Arizona and thought that only a handful of people was actually reading this thing. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that in the span of a year this blog would receive 181,381 visits. According to Bravenet there are thousands of regular visitors with many new readers discovering the blog every week.

I only hope that you find the material interesting and useful. Thanks again for your visits.

Glock Model 36 .45ACP

The G36 has one purpose in life; it is your cavalry, your Marine Corp, your personal life preserver or any other metaphor you can think of to imply that it is a great tool to have at your disposal when the chips are down and your back is against the wall.

The G36 is probably the most useful pistol in the world, certainly the most useful one manufactured by Glock and that is saying a lot. The one I’m examining today is the second one I’ve owned, the first being foolishly traded away for something I don’t have around anymore. I regretted it almost as soon as I let it get away.

What makes the G36 such an important handgun? Let’s run it down by the numbers:

Pros:

1. It’s a .45 ACP. Some think its reputation as a defensive cartridge is vastly overblown but it served this country in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars I and II. It was discontinued from Military Service in the late 1980’s but elite units brought it back because it worked better than the government issued 9mm pistols and remember the military only uses hardball ammunition. If our armed forces were allowed to use hollow point ammo they would love the .45 even more. Regardless of how one feels about the .45’s reputation, one cannot discard its track record with the United States military.

2. Size. At 1.13 inches wide it is the thinnest pistol Glock manufacturers and thinner than its competitors. The small Taurus Millennium Pro in .45 ACP is 1.25 inches wide. The G36 is also the lightest Glock made and is lighter than the small .45s made by Springfield, Kimber, Para Ordnance, and Taurus. With a good tuckable inside-the-waistband holster the G36 can be with you all day.

3. It’s a .45 ACP—go back and read point #1 if you have forgotten this.

4. Accuracy. The G36 is not an easy pistol to shoot nor is it difficult to master. The 5.5 pound standard Glock trigger provides a consistent trigger pull and learning to use the short reset of the trigger allows you to quickly fire follow-up shots. It is more accurate than a pistol of this size should be but you need to spend some time practicing with it in order to gain your own level of proficiency.

5. It’s a .45 ACP.

Cons:

1. Capacity. The magazine holds only 6 rounds but with 1 in the chamber you get a total of 7 rounds of .45 ACP as opposed to 5 rounds of .38 special that has been the standard of personal protections for so many years. You can add the Pearce Plus One grip extender to add a round. If you do be advised that many people on the internet have reported problems with failure to feeds which they attribute to the fact that the Plus One grip extender makes the grip longer but uses the original magazine spring which is designed for the standard and shorter Glock magazine. I have added the Plus One extender to three G36 magazines and have not had this issue arise but enough people seem to think this to be a problem that I wanted to mention it.

2. The magazines do not drop free in a shooting environment. I realize that is a confusing statement so let me explain what I mean. When casually shooting the pistol at the public range the magazines drops freely from the grip frame as expected. However, when I took the G36 to the tactical class and was shooting and reloading while moving I found that they would not fall free because my grip was tighter and the bottom of my palm was making contact with the magazine due to the abbreviated grip frame. This was not a show stopper for me; it simply meant that I would use my free hand to rip the magazine out of the grip frame as the free hand was on the way down to get the next magazine from the waist pouch. The instructor pointed out to the rest of the class that this might happened to any pistol if we were wearing winter gloves while shooting.

The important part of any test is how she shot so let’s look at the targets:

21 feet:

31 feet:
40 feet:
50 feet:
75 feet:
Upper Torso 21 feet, Head shots were taken with a G10 9mm at 31 feet:
Shooting while moving:

Moving backwards from 6 to 50 feet while shooting and carrying a bucket of brass in the weak hand and shooting with the strong hand only:

Figure 8 drills at 21 feet:

As with most Glocks I added two accessories to the pistol. The first were night sights and the second was the extended slide release. For me the night sights are a must, while the extended slide release is just nice to have. This pistol is a constant companion when I go out with a concealed weapon. As mentioned a few weeks ago in the “Importance of Training” post I prefer the DeSantis “Tuck This” holster as it is comfortable and has an attached pouch for one extra magazine. I carry the G36 with a magazine which has the Pearce “Plus None” grip extender. As is probably obvious, this extender is long enough to give you a better hold on the grip, but is not long enough to add any additional rounds of ammunition. I then carry a magazine with the “Plus One” extender on it for the spare magazine. This gives me a nice 14 round total capacity with the spare magazine. This should be enough to get me out of any unpleasant entanglement that has arisen.

So there you have it; the G36 is an easily concealable pistol with the brute strength to send any assailant quickly on their way. Did I mention it is a .45 ACP?

Impressions of the Ruger LCR

OK, I know that the next review is supposed to be the Glock Model 36...and it will be. This is just kind of a "first look" informational piece. Yesterday I ventured over to the gun shop/range while I was waiting on my daughter to finish her sign language translation gig at a breast cancer awareness gathering. While loitering about the shop I spied a Ruger LCR in the range rental case. I was surprised that they would put such a hard to find handgun in the rental area but decided that it was devine provenance and there was a higher power that wanted me to put a box of bullets through the revolver and report back on my impressions. So here we go:

I did not have an opportunity to photograph the LCR so we will use this appropriated photo from Ruger's web site:

Grips

The 13.3 ounce LCR is obviously designed to take a bite out of the market share that Smith & Wesson has established with the scandium “J” frame models that have become so popular; so that was the benchmark to which I compared the LCR. At first blush the LCR felt much better in my hand than most of the stock S&W “J” frame revolvers. This is primarily due to the very well designed Hogue “Tamer” grip that comes standard on the LCR. Unfortunately, while the “Tamer” grip feels good and assists with controllability it is so large that it can be a hindrance to your ability to conceal the handgun in a pocket holster. The big advantage of these lightweight revolvers is the ability to slide them into the pocket holster of your choice, slip them in your pocket and go forth into the world. I am just afraid that the “Tamer” grip would print in your pocket and the tacky texture of the rubber material might catch and bind with your pocket material when you draw the revolver. If you are going to carry this revolver in some type of a belt holster then you are really not taking advantage of the light 13.3 ounce weight and go very easily with an all steel snub nose which would help dampen the recoil. Small revolvers are not easy to shoot well and the light weight models are absolutely no fun due to their heavy recoil. I am afraid that the challenge of grip versus concealability goes to Smith & Wesson. Their M&P model 340 is lightweight and the Crimson Trace laser grips are fairly flat making it very concealable in a pocket holster. The flat CT grips also make it surprisingly controllable. In the non-laser grip models S&W uses the Hogue boot grip which is still more concealable than the Hogue “Tamer” that Ruger is using. The fact that these grips are so large is really a shame since Ruger went to a lot of trouble to design a cylinder that is the smallest in the industry. If more concealable grips were on the market then the LCR would be a very good pocket revolver.

Sights

The stock Ruger sights are black on black fixed sights that are usable in shooting with good light, but no good in diminished lighting or complete darkness. S&W wins this one with the XS Dot night sights on the Model 340 M&P.

Trigger

The trigger pull is much better than the pull on most S&W “J” frame revolvers. I don’t know how heavy the pull was as I did not have my gauge with me, but the pull was probably around 7 or 8 pounds as opposed to many of the small Smith’s I have recently tried with pulls in excess of 12 pounds. The pull was also smooth with no stacking (another rarity in small revolvers) and seemed to be a shorter pull than most S&W small revolvers.

Accuracy

OK, it was sort of accurate. I only had time to put one box of bullets through the LCR and choose to send all of them through my favorite “Paul Rudd” target at 21 feet. My groups with my Smith M&P 340 are much tighter at this distance and have been since day one. Ammunition fired was MagTech 158 grain FMJ flat-nosed round which is generally pretty accurate in my M&P 340. The accuracy challenge goes to Smith & Wesson.

Lastly, the trigger guard bothered me. Now, this is not normally something to which I would even give a second thought but this trigger guard is large and kind of in the way. If it were smaller my hand might have gotten a higher grip on the revolver which would have resulted in better accuracy and handling.

The recoil caused by the heavy bullets did not really bother me at all however, I kept wondering how she would perform if it was a .357 magnum as many of the Smith & Wesson snub nosed revolvers are.

If you are dying to have an LCR it isn’t a bad choice and I’m sure with practice you can probably handle it very well. However I find my S&W model 340 is easier to shoot and shoot well. Also, my Kahr MK9 is even easier to shoot than either of the small revolvers and holds two additional rounds of 9mm ammunition. Also a fully charged spare magazine is easier to carry than a speed loader full of .38 special ammunition.

The Votes Are In!

Thanks to all who participated. The next reviews will be written in the following order:

1. Glock Model 36 .45 ACP

2. Kahr MK9 9mm

3. SIG P229 .357 SIG

4. CZ P07 9mm

5. H&K P30 9mm (The H&K and the CZ will make a nice comparison article as they are both polymer framed, DA/SA, carry sized 9mms)

6. SIG P226 Blackwater 9mm

7. SIG P220 Platinum Elite in .45 ACP

8. Glock Model 17L 9mm

9. SIG 229 Equinox in .40 S&W

10. Glock Model 38 in .45 GAP (this pistol deserves more respect)

11. SIG P226 Elite in 9mm

12. SIG P229 Platinum Elite in 9mm

Coming Soon! Vote for the handgun you would like to see Average Joe review next!

Guns That Were Not Blog-Worthy

Part I of II

Average Joe tries to be objective and I have no reason to be otherwise. No one is giving me free firearms to evaluate, no one is giving me any free ammunition (although I would welcome free ammo with open arms), and no one is advertising on this blog so I ain’t beholdin’ to no nobody. I recognize that someone else may have a completely different opinion about a particular rifle, pistol, or revolver reviewed but I call ‘em like I see ‘em. In reviewing this blog I noticed that most of my firearm reviews are pretty positive about the products tested; the only exception to this was an early review of an EAA compact Witness in 10mm and the S&W Nightguard in .45 ACP that I wrote about last year. However, I realized that there were a bunch of handguns I had shot that I had not written about because I couldn’t figure out anything interesting to say or I just plain didn’t like them. Some of these handguns I still have records on but some I don’t. All of these are long gone since it just doesn’t make sense to hold onto something which you have no interest in or can’t get to work right.

So, without any further ado, here are the guns I found to be non-blog-worthy:
1. Springfield Armory Micro Compact 1911 in .40 S&W.
2. CZ 75 Compact in .40 S&W.
3. Taurus 24/7
4. Colt Lawman
5. Smith & Wesson M&P 9C
6. Kahr P45
7. Smith & Wesson M&P .45 Compact
8. Wilson CQB

Springfield Armory Micro Compact 1911 in .40 S&W

This little pistol came my way in 2004. I don’t have any pictures of it and it is no longer in Springfield’s line-up but the EMP .40 S&W is pretty darn close to looking exactly like the Micro Compact. It was a small, two-toned, pistol with a three inch barrel and Novak low-mount type sights with Tritium inserts. This was a very handy little pistol and it was also very accurate out to about 40 feet. At 21 feet I was a surgeon with it (or at least that’s what I recall as I sit here 5 years later). But the pistol had two deal-breaking problems. The first was reliability. Every magazine had at least two failures to feed. I tried different magazine (which is expensive especially when it doesn’t solve the problem) and I tried scores of different ammunition.
The second problem was something that doesn’t have a catchy name. After about 70 rounds fired the pistol would heat up and when I fired a round it would go pop instead of bang. The bullet left the barrel but the recoil felt like I was firing a .22 and it did not produce enough energy to cycle the slide. This happened with all of the brands of ammo that the range carried (Magtech, Winchester, Remington, and CCI Blazer and Lawman). Neither I nor the gunsmith could figure out what was causing it. Whenever it would start the gunsmith would come out and observe what was happening. He would then tote her off to his shop, take her apart, find nothing wrong, put it back together and the pistol would shoot fine until it started to heat up again. So this one left the pack to find a new home and I hope someone more deserving picked her up and learned how to make her work.

CZ 75B Compact .40 S&W

This one came about a year later. At this time I had a full sized CZ 75 B, a 75 Compact D PCR, and a P-01, all of which were in 9mm. I loved the CZ design so I figured a .40 was a perfect compliment. The accuracy was exactly what I expected but unfortunately it also had reliability problems. Again I tried different mags and a variety of different ammunition but all to no avail. The gun continually jammed. Sometimes they were failures to feed but mostly they were the dreaded double feeds which just locked up the pistol. I had to force the slide in to the locked position and rip the magazine out with great force. Unfortunately this experience, along with the above mentioned Springfield left me with a sour attitude toward the .40 S&W cartridge and to this day there is not another one in my battery. (Although there is a Talo Glock 23 in .40 S&W in the display case that might tempt me into giving the .40 another chance http://www.taloinc.com/glock.htm)

Taurus 24/7 in .45 ACP

I found much to like with the Taurus OSS in .45 ACP, but it was a full sized service pistol. Thinking that smaller versions would be good for carry I acquired the 24/7 .45 ACP in both its 4 and 3.25 inch versions. The trigger was different but very similar. As it turned out the pistols were a little wide for concealed carry. They proved to be reliable and had about the same accuracy level as the OSS.

Target at 21 feet.

Target at 31 feet.
Target at 50 feet.
Target at 21 feet and fired using the Jim Cirillo method of indexing using the rear sight profile in close quarters when you do not have the time to line-up the sights.
I did not blog about them because I just couldn’t think of anything new to say that hadn’t already been said in the OSS review.

Colt Lawman

When I first became of age to purchase a handgun I would marvel at the Colt revolvers in the display cases. They seemed to have a richer, deeper blue than the Smith & Wesson products and there was something about the Colt Lawman .357 Magnum revolvers with a 2 or 4 inch barrel that seemed to call to me. The Lawman was certainly no Python, it even seemed to lack some of the refinement of the Colt Trooper, but it had a massive steel barrel and looked like it was all business. I imagined that looking down the wrong end of the barrel would be pretty intimidating. But Colt discontinued the Lawman in the 1980’s so there did not seem to be one in my future.

But Lo and Behold, one bright Sunday afternoon I stopped in at Gander Mountain to pick up some ammunition and there was a Colt Lawman Mark III .357 Magnum with a two inch barrel in 98% condition with box and papers.

The first thing I found while dry firing with snap caps was that, as with most revolvers (especially vintage ones), the stock grips did not enhance the shooting experience. I surmised that if they were bad for dry firing they were going to be many times worse with .357 Magnum cartridges launching from that 2 inch tube. I knew that not much in the way of aftermarket grips would be available, but I did have a Tyler T-grip adapter on hand to give me more to hang onto. The T-Grips adapter was also was a period correct accessory for the vintage Lawman.

However, even with the T-grip adapter, the Lawman was not fun to shoot and I eventually realized that it was not making it into the range bag whenever I ventured out to the shooting range. Below are some targets all shot at 21 feet using a variety of .357 magnum ammunition.

30 rounds of Remington .357 Magnum 125 grain Jacketed hollowpoint ammunition:

20 rounds of Speer .357 Magnum 159 grain Lead Swagged hollowpoint ammo.
20 rounds of Winchester .357 Magnum 110 grain Silver-Tip Hollow point ammo.
Unfortunately the Lawman did not make the cut for either “shootability” or inclusion in the blog and is now in someone else’s collection.

Part II Continued Below

Guns That Were Not Blog-Worthy

Part II of II

Smith & Wesson M&P 9C

The quest for the best carry pistol continued and I thought just might have it with the M&P 9C. Several Months ago I reviewed the M&P Pro 9 and found it to be a fantastic pistol; it was accurate on the range and performed very well on the tactical course. The Pro 9 however sported a 5 inch barrel so it was not a concealed carry pistol. The 9C with its 3.5 inch barrel looked to be just about right. The pistol was certainly more than accurate enough:

21 Feet

50 feet
75 feet
In the end it was the width that ended this pistol’s tenure with me. It felt like a brick in my inside-the-waistband holster so it did not see much daylight and became a more or less permanent resident of my safe and that sealed its fate. It now resides with a couple who think it is the cat’s meow. I am very happy for all of them.

Smith & Wesson M&P .45 Compact

The M&P 9mms that I had owned were plenty accurate enough for self defense. I thought they were too wide I was willing to overlook it for a concealable .45. I planned try to find a better holster to help with the concealment process. This one went from bad to worse. In my first range session I put 150 rounds through the pistol but could not get a consistent group out of it at 21 feet. The trigger pull was terrible. The trigger pull on the M&P Pro 9 was great; the pull on the 9C of good, and this one was horrible.

I then ran it through the tactical class where I put another 150 rounds through it. Under the stress of the class I could not actually call what I shot to be groups. Firing any further than 7 yards back, the target looked like it had been hit with a shotgun shell. In shooting left handed not one of my 32 shots so much as hit the paper, no less the silhouette. Another disgusting problem occurred when the pistol would not eject snap caps that were placed into the magazine to make the pistol malfunction during drills. I manually worked the slide several times but the extractor would not pick up the rounds. The next day I traded it for a Glock model 38 in .45 GAP. I did not own this pistol long enough to photograph it and I certainly did not save any of the targets.

Kahr P45

I thought I had finally found it with the P45. Slimmer and easier to conceal then most 9mms, it came with Night Sights, and was accurate. I could stand there all day and punch nice big .45 Caliber holes in the targets at 21 feet which, statistically speaking, would get me through most violent encounters. However she unraveled during the Tactical Class. The first problem was the magazines; I had purchased 3 extras for a total of five as we need to be able to shoot 30 rounds in the tactical class without having to recharge any magazines. Many times the magazines did not drop cleanly from the grip when you pressed the mag release. When one stalled I had to treat it like a tactical reload meaning that I had to pull my loaded magazine out of the carrier and hold it between my little and ring finger so that I could use my first, middle finger and thumb to strip the empty magazine from the grip. When I ejected the first magazine fired during class the magazine spit out of the grip, hit the ground, and broke into seven pieces. That became a continual distraction as I fear that a magazine would shatter every time I had to reload for the rest of the night. Even worse, you had to give the magazines a really sharp slap to fully seat them when loading. Several times during the course I did not get the magazine seated properly so the slide did not strip and chamber the first round out of the mag. When I pulled the trigger…no bang.
This target was the first 50 rounds fired from the pistol. 25 shot at center mass and 25 shot at the head.
Target at 21 feet

Target at 50 feet
The final straw was the trigger. The Kahr trigger pull is long but very smooth and shooting bullseyes without any stress was no problem. However, when the stress was on during the tactical class I began to muscle the trigger to try to increase the speed and wound up pushing the shots off to the left. A few day later the Kahr became a part of a trade for a Glock 36 .45 ACP.

Wilson Combat CQB .45 ACP

Bill Wilson is probably one of the most prominent names in custom pistols, specializing in the 1911 platform. Wilson Combat make anywhere from utilitarian combat pieces to downright gorgeous presentation pistols with gold appointments, special bluing, tasteful engraving, and ivory grips. They are all expensive not only because they are well built but because the Wilson brand recognition and reputation is a part of each pistol that leaves his shop. Wilson pistols are not something you can expect to find in the normal gun shop and this is only the second one I have ever seen in the “Used” display case. But there is was. The weekend manager gloated aloud as he took me to see it because he knew I would be hooked…and I was. The CQB has a four inch barrel sitting on top of a 7 round grip frame. This is indeed a carry pistol. The slide action was like greased glass, the trigger let off was light and crisp. It came with the Wilson cloth pistol case, two Wilson DVDs on the care, feeding, and operation of the Wilson 1911 and it came with five Wilson magazines that had rubber base pads. The Wilson magazines are the best 1911 magazines on the market, absolutely the finest available. The best part was the fact that this used pistol was nearly a grand under the current retail price. From the paperwork in the pistol case it would appear that the pistol left Wilson’s shop in late January of this year. This was the date on the inspection sheet but it was not clear if this was the inspection sheet of origin or if this inspection was conducted as a part of a return visit to the shop for repair or refinishing. The rather dim tritium front night sight made me suspect that the pistol was more than 3 months old. Otherwise the pistol had everything executed as well as you would expect on a Wilson pistol. I especially liked the generously undercut trigger guard which allows the shooter to get the best grip possible when firing the pistol. I was also delighted that the pistol did not contain one of those silly full length guide rods. I will be glad when this fad expires. No one has ever proven that the full length guide rod makes the pistol more reliable or more accurate. All it does is make it more difficult to strip for cleaning.

What the pistol did not deliver was the legendary Wilson reputation for reliability and accuracy. I had about 8 failures to feed out of 300 rounds. The accuracy was good, but not the exceptionally accuracy I was expecting from a pistol that is supposed to shoot groupings of 1.5 inches at 25 yards.

Target shot at 21 feet

Target shot at 31 feet
Target shot at 40 feet
Target shot at 50 feet
Along with the reliability issue and the minor disappointment in the accuracy of the pistol there was a real deal breaker for me. As mentioned the trigger pull was light, but lighter than I expected and certainly too light for a carry pistol; especially one with the moniker of CQB (Close Quarter Battle). The trigger also had the shortest reset I have ever experienced on a pistol. These two factors together made the pistol a safety problem for me. Under recoil I experienced about 10 accidental discharges. The trigger resets so quickly and the pull is so light that I was inadvertently pulling the trigger during the short recoil recovery time. In most of those instances the pistol was in the downward stage of the recoil and just about every accidental discharge hit the target. Nevertheless it was heartbreaking for me to realize that it would be dangerous to carry this pistol and certainly it would be a safety risk to shoot it in the tactical class. So, the pistol is back in the “Used” display case on consignment. I hope whoever buys it is able to handle this sweet firearm safely.

Thus concludes the saga of the guns that weren’t blogged. Until next time…