texasgunpros

Fun With 22s

There are a number of reasons why having one or more 22 pistols makes sense. One is the price of ammo in the larger calibers. I’m regularly buying a box of 50 .22 cartridges at Walmart for $1.47. Lots of places are selling bulk price boxes at anywhere from 2 to 3 cents a round. In addition to the cost of ammo, there is the cost of the guns themselves. A lot of very nice 22s can be found for under $300. Then there’s the recoil. You can shoot a 22 all day without experiencing any consequences from recoil.

I’ve written before about my 22 revolver history. I’ve recently discovered a couple more very nice revolvers and I have some favorite semi-automatics to tell you about. Let’s start with the revolvers.  The first I want to mention is a cowboy gun, Uberti’s 10-shot Stallion 22. This is a beautiful gun with blued barrel and cylinder and case-hardened frame. It didn’t work right when I first got it, which seems to be unusual based on other reports I’ve read about this gun. Mine didn’t lock up properly. The problem was solved by ordering a new spring kit from VTI Gun Parts and replacing the block spring. The one that was in the gun was made from rounded wire. The one in the kit was flat spring steel. I don’t know why Uberti made the switch on the 22, but the generic spring for the .38 special and .22 versions solved the problem. This gun is dead on accurate up to 15 feet or so, which is as far out as I tried it, and fun to shoot. It’s also a very attractive gun.

Next I want to tell you about the EAA Bounty Hunter 8-shot 22. This gun is made on the full-size frame of a SAA 45 Colt. It has a nickel finish and walnut grips. It also comes with a 22 Magnum cylinder, also 8-shot. I’ve only shot the 22 so far, but found that a pleasure. This revolver, too, is very accurate even with fixed iron sights. This is a gun that you could enjoy just holding and looking at. It’s also very reasonably priced with a retail around $250 or less.

As far as semi-automatics go, I’ve had a Ruger Mark III for several years that is a joy to shoot for beginners and seasoned shooters alike. This particular gun has a bull barrel. It has a propensity for putting bullet holes one on top of the other wherever you point it. If that’s at the center of the bullseye, the gun will make you look like a really good shooter. It frequenlty makes first-time shooters in our NRA Basic Pistol Classes look good. Mine is pretty plain. I’ve seen some beautiful stainless steel examples with walnut grips, adjustable high-visibility sights,  and a 6 & 7/8 inch barrel.

My other Ruger semi-automatic is an SR-22. This is a recent introduction by Ruger that has been selling very well. We got on the allocation list from our wholesaler and were fortunate to get one a few months ago. We have since used it at some of our NRA classes and it’s a hit. What I like about it is that it will shoot almost any kind of ammo we feed it. Some semi-automatic 22s are not very forgiving in that area. The SR-22 comes with a small zip up pouch. You can literally stick the gun in the pouch, stick the pouch in your pocket and have a wonderful concealed handgun. Yes, it’s only a 22 and no you can’t draw it very fast from a zipped up pouch in your pocket, but it will allow you to carry a gun a lot of places you might not otherwise be able to carry one. It only weighs 17 ounces, holds 10 rounds and is accurate.

My newest acquisition is a 22 caliber version of the Smith & Wesson M&P. The 22 is the same size as the 40 caliber M&P I carry every day. What a great and inexpensive way to practice! Smith & Wesson has done very well with their M&P line and this gun is no exception. It is made in Germany by Walther and operates differently than the larger caliber M&Ps, but from an appearance perspective, it’s hard to tell the difference. It has a 12-round magazine whereas most of the other 22 semi-automatics come with a 10-round magazine. This one came with a threaded barrel, so it’s just a matter of time before it will have a silencer attached. Look out squirrels!

If you’ve been thinking about a cheap way to shoot a lot that’s also fun, there are a lot of options with 22 pistols. I grew up shooting one and for me they have never lost their charm. No, we don’t recommend them for self-defense, but we sure recommend them for practice and fun!

I I Thought I Could Decide, But . . .

I’m a very fortunate guy. Because of the generosity of family and friends and the good fortune to be a firearms instructor and dealer, I’ve acquired some very nice firearms. I have three I consider my “carry guns.” Unlike many, who carry different sizes of guns based on the season, how they are dressed or what they think they might need, all of my guns are full-size, big caiber guns. My thoughts are “how can you know?” I’d rather have more gun and ammo than I need than to come up short while fighting for my life or protecting a loved one.

My carry preference on any given day is totally subjective. I walk in the gun closet, look on the shelf and say to one of them, “You haven’t been out for a while” and into the holster it goes. There is no one gun among the three I have found to be more reliable, more accurate or easier to shoot.

Yesterday I decided to revisit all three and see if I could come away with a favorite–the one gun I’d like to have with me in a crisis. So it was off to the range the three guns and an assortment of ammo:  defensive rounds, FMJ target rounds, and reloads. The three guns are a Smith & Wesson M&P, a Sig Sauer P226 Elite and a Springfield XDm:

The M&P and Sig both 40 S&W caliber guns with 15 round magazines. The XDm is a 45 ACP with a 13 round magazine. Plenty of firepower, either way.

I started out shooting the M&P. Nice feel, very manageable recoil and accuracy that was as good as I was. The target was 15 feet away. I shot a couple of magazines and was very pleased with the results. Then I switched targets and picked up the Sig P226. If my eyes had been closed when the gun was switched, I don’t know that I could tell the difference. Again, the accuracy was as good as I am, the recoil was quite manageable and as with the S&W there were no malfunctions of any kind.

When I put out the third target and got ready to shoot the Springfield XDM I had to admit it felt noticeably different. The grip has a totally different feel. When I pulled the trigger, felt recoil was a little lighter. It always seems to me that the 40s have a little more “kick” than the 45 when it comes to felt recoil. A few rounds with the Springfield and the center of the target was mangled, just as with the other two.

Here are the targets. As you can see, I’m well-protected with any one of these three guns:

Since all three guns have proven to be reliable and accurate, let’s look some other comparisons to see if I can come up with a favorite.

Weight is a possibility. Here the M&P as an advantage because it only weighs 24 ounces. The XD weighs 31 ounces and the Sig, which has more metal, weighs 34 ounces. I do have to admit the M&P is slightly more comfortable to carry, though all three wear well in my Crossbreed SuperTuck holster. Even though Crossbreed customizes each holster for a particular gun, I use the same holster for all three and have no issue with how they fit or how well the holster retains them.

When it comes to wearing the guns the Springfield sometimes gives me a problem in that it has ambidextrous magazine release buttons and the button on the right side is sometimes pushed by my belt, causing the magazine to unseat. I check for this often out of habit so hopefully won’t ever draw the gun only to have the magazine hit the ground, but this is never an issue with the Sig or M&P.

How about trigger pull?  It’s heavier on the Sig at around 10 pounds for the first double-action trigger pull. The double-action trigger pull on the M&P is 6.5 ounces and on the Springfield it’s somewhere between 5.5 & 7 ounces according to the factory specs. I don’t have a trigger-pull scale, so I’ll take their word for it. My only observation here is I’m okay with the trigger on all three guns. No issues with trigger pull, whatsoever.

Sights? I have the same tritium night sights on all three guns, something I consider a necessity with my aging eyes. All three shoot where they’re pointed as evidenced by the targets.

Grip comfort? With my eyes closed I can’t tell the difference between the Sig and the M&P. The XD feels different. I don’t like or dislike it’s grip more than the others, it’s just different.

This exercise has done three things for me:  1) given me renewed confidence in all three guns as far as accuracy and reliability go, 2) caused me to “get to know” my guns a little better, and 3) made me decide not to decide. I like all three and will continue to switch them out on a whim, or when I hear one of the calling out to me from the gun closet, “Take me! Take me!”

Hi-Standard Double 9 vs. Beretta Single 10 Revisited

In my previous post “Fifty Years of Plinkin’ I mentioned that I had recently purchased a .22 caliber Beretta Single 10 revolver in memory of the Hi-Standard Double 9 revolver I had in my youth. My friend and business partner, Jerry Colliver, knowing I would love to have a Double 9 again, found one for me. And boy was it a find. The gun is in practically new condition and still in its original box with a price sticker on it from 1968 from Bud and Jim’s Sporting Goods. The price was $64.98.

I paid a little more than that for this excellent Double 9, but have no regrets.  It came with three sets of grips:  staghorn, pearl and black. Although my previous Double 9 had the staghorn grips on it, I like the black ones better, so put them on this gun. One day last week during my lunch hour I took the two guns shooting — the Double 9 and the Single 10.

I had some .22 Long Rifle cartridges and some sub-sonic .22 shorts.  I shot a box of the Long Rifles in each gun and about 30 of the .22 shorts in each gun. Accuracy was about the same for either gun. Shooting the shorts was a hoot because the sort of make a “psst” sound rather than a bang.

The Double 9 has cool feature that I didn’t remember from my previous gun. When shooting it in the double-action mode, you can just pull the trigger all the way back, but if you’re squeezing it like we’ve all been taught to do, you’ll feel a definite stopping point just as the hammer reaches it’s full-back position. You can actually pause there and realign your sights before continuing the trigger pull through until the gun fires. With a little practice, you can stop at this point every time. It’s sort of like having the inherent accuracy of a cocked single-action built into a double-action gun.

There is no question the Beretta is built better. The Double 9 has an aluminum frame while the Beretta is all steel. But with reasonable care, I believe this Double 9 will provide me a lot of plinkin’ fun during the rest of my life and will still be around for the grandkids to enjoy.  Thank you, Jerry!

Fifty (50) Years of Plinkin’

Somewhere around 14 years of age — 50 years ago — I acquired a 22 revolver, a High Standard Double Nine. If I remember right, I bought it at a Western Auto store and the price had to have been less than $50 or I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Even though there were some differences between it and a sho ’nuff cowboy gun, i.e. double-action instead of single action and swing-out cylinder rather than a loading gate, it was close enough for me to be satisfied. And nine shots without reloading lead to some serious plinkin’.

For you city folks, plinkin’ is shooting at tin cans or bottles or other items found in a junk pile, just for fun. I think the name comes from the sound of a bullet hitting a tin can, which is always a favorite plinkn’ target. It’s a fascinating pastime, even more fun than shooting at bullseye targets. Tin cans tumble. Bottles chatter. Jugs full of water go “thunk.” Cans shot at as they pass under a bridge sink. I know, many of us don’t live where we can do that kind of shooting anymore, but we can always hope for someone to invite us to the farm every now and then.

When I had my double-nine it was always with me, at least in my truck. But somewhere along the way, I traded it off for something. I think it was a stereo. Dumb move. I’ve missed that pistol for years. Trying to buy one like it now is not easy. You can find listings for Double Nines at some of the online auctions, but the good ones are gone before I even discover them. The ones that remain always leave something to be desired.

It’s not that I have a lot of plinkin’ opportunities. I get to the shooting range fairly often, but roaming the countryside looking for plinkin’ targets just isn’t something I’m readily able to do. Still, I can dream.

That dreaming, plus a number of upcoming NRA Basic Pistol classes to teach, lead me to acquire a modern-day counterpart to the old Double 9. My new gun is a Ruger’s Single 10. It’s the classic Single Six, but with a 10-round cylinder instead of 6. It’s a very pretty gun, reflective of Ruger’s quality workmanship.

That the Single 10 is a single-action makes absolutely no difference to me. The best I remember I always cocked the High Standard before pulling the trigger. I’m a much better shot that way. A couple of added features really make the Single 10 a better gun. Walnut gunfighter grips fit the hand easily and the Hi-Viz target sights really suit my 64 year-old eyes.

One of the joys of using this revolver to introduce new shooters to the art of pistolcraft is that it’s very accurate. If we properly teach them sight alignment and sight picture plus how to stand, grip, breath and pull the trigger, they will be rewarded with holes in the target where they want them. And they’ll have the added benefit of experiencing a finely-crafted firearm for their initial shooting experience.

I don’t know that I’ll ever throw this gun in the truck and haul it around the country, but you can bet I’ll be on the lookout for plinkin’ opportunities!

Going Retro

I grew up playing Cowboys and Indians, watching Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey movies on TV and viewing westerns at the theater with stars like John Wayne, Randolph Scott and later Clint Eastwood. It’s natural for me to be attracted to old cowboy guns like the Colt 45 Single Action Army and it’s variants. Colt knows people like their guns and they’re priced accordingly. A genuine Colt SAA is way out of range of my gun budget.

That doesn’t meant I have to do without, however. In a previous article I’ve described my Ruger Blackhawk 357 Maximum. This is a gun I honestly purchased because of the way it looked and the price. It was $300. I didn’t know at the time that Ruger had recalled and discontinued it’s line of 357 Maximums, supposedly because of top-strap burning due to the heavy loads of the 357 Maximum cartridge. Evidence later emerged that the only incidents of the top-strap buring were the result of reloaders loading excessive charges. My gun  has absolutely no evidence of any damage whatsoever. In fact, it’s nearly pristine.

Even with the Ruger, I’ve had a hankering for a true SAA clone for sometime and last year decided on a beautiful stainless steel Beretta Stampede. I was debating between a Ruger Vaquero and the Stampede and settled on the Stampede for two reasons:  I’ve already got a Ruger revolver and the Stampede was available for less money than the particular Vaquero I would have wanted. It turns out the Stampede is made by the Italian Company Uberti, known for its authentic clones of Old West guns. The action was smoothed at the factory and this is one pistol I’m proud to own.

You’d think I’d have been satisfied, and I guess I was until cruising by the gun counter at Outdoor World and seeing an under $300 price tag on a new Uberti Hombre in 45 Colt. In fact, with a little inquiry I learned that I could apply a discount and get this particualar 45 Colt Cowboy pistol for $270. So I did. Then I went shooting.

It was a fun day at the range with a box of 45 Colt cartridges from Black Hills ammo and some Winchester 38 Specials for the Ruger Blackhawk. First I shot the Uberti. I’m going to show you the targets below, but I’ll be honest, this gun really surprised me. I had the targets out about 15 feet. I took a steady aim and the first shot went almost dead center of the target. I fired another one that touched the first one, and honestly the third shot went into one of the first two holes so that I was three shots in with only two holes in the target. I was impressed. The action was smooth, the gun well balanced. Nothing wrong with the workmanship. Wow. I fired a couple of cylinders full, then put up another target for the Beretta.

The Beretta Stampede grouped well, but slighlty left of point of aim. Recoil on either of these two guns was minimal. I found myself curling my right pinky under the grip for support. I didn’t think much about it, until later at another gun range I heard an old Cowboy Action Shooter tell his buddy that was his secret for shooting Cowboy guns accurately. Interesting. I’d just stumbled across something that worked for me and later found out it’s a secret of the experts.

I had recently adjusted the sights on the Blackhawk and boresighted it at the office. This was its first trip to the range after that adjustment. I fired part of a box of 38 specials and was pleased with the results. Experience has proven the Blackhawk is just as accurate with 357 or 357 Maximums as with the 38 Specials, just a lot louder.

Here are the targets for all three guns. You can see for yourself, the old Six Shooters are pretty darn accurate, even with their minimal iron sights.

Time constraints and bum knees may prevent me from it, but I’m getting a hankering for some Cowboy Action Shooting as sponsored by the Single Action Shooters Society (SSAS.org). Even if I don’t do the SASS thing, I’ll enjoy plinking with these guns and someday they’ll get passed along to the kids and/or grandkids. I’ll probably add a couple of .22 caliber models to the collection within the next year. Both Ruger and Uberti are making 10 shot 22′s. Ubertis can be converted to 22 Magnum. Now that’s really cool!

The Myth of Gun Registration

“My father has this gun he wants to give me, but it’s unregistered.”  or “Is it okay if I bring an unregistered gun to use during my CHL class?” It is amazing how often we hear something like that from one of our students.

Since most of our movies and television originate in either New York or Hollywood and those places do have gun registration, the movie makers don’t know any better and apparently neither to movie watchers. As a result, throughout our society ordinary folks believe that if they have a gun that’s unregistered, they’re committing some sort of crime. The anti-gun crowd loves it that people believe this. In fact, the anti-gun crowd wishes it were true. But, it’s not.

Both the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firerams Act imposed a number of restrictions upon the ownership and transfer of firearms. However the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 specifically states:

No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or disposition be established. Nothing in this section expands or restricts the Secretary’s authority to inquire into the disposition of any firearm in the course of a criminal investigation.

In short, they really wish your firearms were registered, but the law prevents it.

One thing that confuses the issue is the transfer form that is completed whenever you buy or otherwise acquire a firearm from a dealer or holder of a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Let me explain what happens here. If you buy a gun from us, or Academy Sports, Cabelas, Bass Pro, Cheaper Than Dirt, etc. you must complete a Form 4473 that attests to the fact that you’re legal to own a firearm. The dealer must add the make, model and serial number of the firearm to the form and, unless you have a Texas Concealed Handgun License, we have to get a clearance from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) before transferring the firearm into your possession.

That 4473 form goes into our files. The information does not go into a database and is not transmitted to any local, state or federal government. It simply goes in our files. We must keep it for 20 years. What you do with the gun after you buy it, is your business. You can decide you don’t like it and sell it to an individual a day, week or month later and there is no requirement that you do any kind of background check on the purchaser or even record the sale.

If law enforcement recovers a firearm from a crime scene in New York City, they run a records check, find out whose gun it is and show up at the owner’s door within the 50 minutes allowed for the TV detectives to solve the crime.  In the real world, they can run a trace that starts with the manufacturer. If it is a firearm manufacturered since 1968, the manufacturer has a record indicating which wholesale distributor orginally acquired the gun. The distributor will have a record of which dealer the gun was sent to and the dealer will have a record of who they originally sold the gun to. A typical firearm trace can take up to 90 days, because in most cases these records are not automated.

I am a law-abiding citizen and I own a few guns. Some were inherited, some I bought from a dealer, some I acquired from individuals. As an individual, I’ve sold a number of firearms and I have no record of the sale. The Federal government has no record the firearms I own and no reason to have such a record. Neither does the State of Texas or the City of Keller. It’s none of their business. We need to make sure we elect individuals to office who understand why it’s important to keep it that way.

Finally, Someone With Some Sense about the 1911

I read two articles today about the 1911. One was in Shooting Times by a retired law enforcement officer who has carried a 1911 for 40 years. He said he was going to tell us all the reasons the 1911 was better than any other handgun out there. His first premise was that it was available in multiple calibers. Yeah, like every other semi-automatic handgun is not! Come on. He got so wrapped up in shooting 1911s in every caliber from 22 to 45 that he forgot to tell us all the other reasons it is better. He didn’t come up with a single one. I was hoping for some, because I like my 1911, I really do.

The second article was in Concealed Carry Magazine by a 20 year firearms instructor. It wasn’t an article about the 1911, but about how expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better. He mentioned that during his shooting classes the one type of handgun that has the most failures is the 1911. Then he mentioned that the second gun in his handgun classes that has the most failures is the 1911. He just doesn’t experience failures with any other type  of gun on a regular basis, but he does with 1911s and the more expensive they are the more they fail to feed or fail to eject.

I really enjoyed that article because it reflects the experience we have at Texas Gun Pros. We conduct several Concealed Handgun Classes each month with anywhere from 10 to 20 shooters per class. The only guns we see jam or fail to feed or eject are 1911s. On rare occasion we’ll see a new gun of some other model that will fail to feed or eject maybe once, usually because it wasn’t cleaned before firing and has had no break-in period at all. The love affair with the 1911 is blind. Come on, admit it!

The Family That Shoots Together . . .

We spent the past week in Charlotte, NC visiting family. The occasion was to celebrate my father-in-law’s 90th birthday. Family came in from all over. An amazing number of them are, or have become in recent years, gun people. Besides my wife and the two of my three sons who were there for the occasion, there were four others who carry. One is a nephew from Florida, who some years back had a pistol stuck in face during a robbery. After my nephew handed over his wallet, the guy pulled the trigger. The gun, which was pressed up against my nephew’s nose, didn’t fire. Whether it was not loaded or it was a case of divine intervention, he never found out. But now he carries a Springfield XD and is very uncomfortable if the gun isn’t with him at all times. He flew to Charlotte and didn’t bring his gun, but we fixed him up with one of ours for the week.

A sister-in-law and a close friend of hers asked me to take them shooting. I located a gun range nearby–Firepower, Inc. in Matthews, NC and we took a couple of 9mm’s and my mother-in-law’s 22 Caliber Colt 1911 and went shooting. The online reviews of Firepower, Inc. were mixed, with some alleging bad attitudes behind the counter, poor customer service, etc. Our experience was fine. We were treated courteously and professionally. The range was a nice one, with equipment very similar to my favorite range in Fort Worth–The Shooting Gallery. Firepower, Inc. is a gun store with a fairly good selection of firearms, all priced at what appeared to be MSRP.

The girls did well with their shooting. I was a little surprised at their lack of experience since one of them was a farmer’s widow and the other has been married to a Vietnam era Army Special Forces guy for years. He has lots of guns, but for some reason she hasn’t done much shooting.

The 22 caliber Colt 1911 is an interesting firearm. My father-in-law described it as a “22 on a 45 frame.” He bought it in 1946 for home protection. I looked it up in the Blue Book of Gun values and if I’m reading everything correctly, its current value is somewhere around $4500. He probably paid less than $100 for it back then.

Like all the Colts I’ve seen, this is a well-made firearm. The magazine is strong and solid, with a spring that made difficult to load. We fired some Winchester White Box through the gun and it handled it superbly.

I asked my mother-in-law to pencil me into her will for that gun when she’s gone. I don’t know any other relatives that would be that interested in it. For me it would be to keep, not to turn into cash.

This trip added some additional confirmation that people all over who didn’t previously think much about guns are thinking about owning some now. We sure do enjoy teaching them to use them safely and proficiently.

Is the 1911 Really Better?

I really loved my 1949 Ford F1 pickup. I want another one. I can tell story after story about the fun I had with that pickup. But is it really better than my relatively new Ford F150? The old truck didn’t have an air conditioner. No automatic transmission. It squeaked and rattled. Fun? Yes. Great truck? Yes! But better? I have to be honest and say “no.”

Let’s transfer that thought process to guns. This is the 100th anniversary of the beloved 1911. I recently bought one. I shot it a few times and it was pleasant enough to shoot and as accurate as I am. But better than the Springfield XDm 45 I carry every day? There was nothing initially to make me think so.

I decided maybe I didn’t know enough about 1911s to make the determination. It seems every gun writer in the business thinks it’s the best gun ever made. People at the gun range swear by them. A lot of the students in my concealed handgun classes shoot them. I bought a book, the Gun Digest book of the 1911. Not surprisingly, the author has a love affair with the gun and owns a bunch of them. I couldn’t help but notice while reading that in order to have a really good 1911, there is a lot you have to do to it. Drop in this barrel, change this spring, make sure you use this trigger, etc. Never have I done that kind of customization to any of my semiautomatics.

The 1911 I bought is a Taurus. It already has many of the add-on features that 1911 buffs add to their guns and it was reasonably priced. And, I like Taurus firearms. I own several and have always been pleased with them.

Since I’m a little stubborn and hard to convince, I decided to do my own test–a comparison between the Taurus 1911 and the Springfield XDm. Ideally, the comparison would have been between a Springfield 1911 and the XDm, but I don’t have a Springfield 1911 and right now I’m not about to spring for one.

I selected 5 different loads of ammo, 10 rounds each for each gun. They were:

• Reloads using 185 Grain Hornady FTX bullets
• Hornady 185 Grain FTX Factory Loads
• Remington 230 Grain Golden Saber JHP
• Federal 230 Grain FMJ
• Winchester SXZ 230 Grain JHP

I shot the first three ammo loads free-handed at 5 yards. I shot the last two at 15 yards using a shooting bag to support my wrist. The test produced both objective and subjective results. First the objective:

Surprisingly, the tightest group with both guns was with the reloads. The XD grouped 10 rounds within 4″ and the 1911 within 3.25 inches with the reloaded rounds. This is with me shooting free-handed.

The only problem with either gun came with the Hornady factory loads, which was a little surprising. This is my favorite defensive round and the one I use in whatever carry gun I happen to be wearing on a given day. It was the 1911 and what happened was on the second round when I tried to fire, I couldn’t pull the trigger. Everything looked normal at first, but upon closer inspection I saw the gun had not gone fully into battery. So I guess you’d call it a failure to feed. I racked the slide, fired the gun and it didn’t eject properly. So now I have a failure to eject. The next round worked fine and when I put the original cartridge back in the magazine, it fed, fired and ejected fine. So, two failures, an FTF (failure to feed) and an FTE (failure to eject) with the 1911 in 50 rounds of shooting 5 different ammo types. There were no malfunctions with the XDm.

I was able to put all rounds from both pistols inside a 7 inch circle at both 5 and 15 yards. Except for the pattern with the reloads being a little tighter, there was no significant difference in accuracy with the different types of ammunition. One shot a little left of the aiming point, another a little high, but all were well within acceptable limits.

Now for the subjective part. How did the guns feel? I didn’t notice any difference. I did find the 1911 sights easier to see when shooting at the 15 yard targets. I think it’s because they’re cut a little deeper or extend a little higher, whichever way you want to look at it. The white dots on the XDm really didn’t help me aim. I don’t know that I even saw them.

Recoil was about the same for both guns, but it felt a little harsher with the 1911, maybe because it’s all metal. Both guns aimed well and fit my hands well. Since I was shooting 10 rounds for each target, I had to load two magazines for the 1911, but only one for the XDm. That made the XDm a winner in the loading category. Actually, there was another downside to the 1911, but it’s an easily correctable one. The magazines that came with the gun seem cheap to me. Occasionally, a round will stick crossways when you’re trying to load the magazine. I plan to replace the two that came with the gun with some Chip McCormick magazines soon.

It was back at the shop later that I really noticed a signficant difference. John Moses Browning apparently never cleaned his own guns. If he had, he’d have figured out how to make the 1911 easier to disassemble and reassemble. It’s a matter of holding your mouth right, getting the right leverage, not letting the spring hit you in the face and grunting at the proper times. The XDm, on the other hand, comes apart and goes back together so easily, you don’t even have to think about it.

My final observation is that owning a 1911 is nice from a historical perspective and it will get the job done. If you like it, you like it. But is it a better gun than the modern polymer semiautomatic? Not in this writer’s opinion. Today I’m wearing the XDm. I had the choice between it and the 1911 and the XDm is what I chose.

Magnum Days

I have a couple of magnums I like – a Rossi .357 revolver for general use, plus a Ruger Blackhawk .357 Maximum, which is somewhat unique. I’ve never owned a .44 magnum, but I’m not in the woods much and unlike Dirty Harry, I’d rather have 14 rounds of .45 in my belt than 5 rounds of .44 magnum.

But one day this past week a coworker stuck his head in my door and asked if I’d be interested in a .44 Magnum Taurus Tracker for what I thought was more than a reasonable price. I asked about it’s condition and he said “like new.” I said, sure, thinking at that price I could resell it and make a little profit.

He brought it in the next day. It was a little dirty from being fired, but otherwise in excellent condition. I bought it, then went Bass Pro and bought a box of .44 magnums and a box of .44 specials. The next day I was scheduled to conduct a CHL qualification course at the range at 6:00 p.m. I went early with the .44 and my .357 Max along with some reloads I’d done for it.

I shot the .357 first. It’s a handful with the Maximum cartridge. I had loaded these at the bottom end of the powder recommendation for what I thought was a similar bullet, but it exhibited enough power, I don’t think I’d want to go any higher.

Then I shot 5 rounds of magnum through the .44. It’s ported and the amount of fire coming out of those ports was amazing. Would have been blinding at night. The recoil was pretty strong, too. And the boom. It was loud, kind of like when we shoot Jerry’s .50 caliber Desert Eagle.

I next tried some .44 specials. I could shoot those all day long. Although they appear similar to the .44 magnums on the outside, they have a much lighter load on the inside. It’s still plenty of cartridge, but the recoil is very mild, the muzzle flash not even noticable, and the noise somewhat tame.

After shooting I went out to the firing range office to wait for my students. A guy came in with a Ruger Super RedHawk .44 magnum with a Charles Daly scope on it. He said he had inherited it from his dad and wanted to sell it for $400. Had I not bought the Tracker the day before, I’d have been tempted. Both of the guys behind the counter contemplated it. One was discouraged by his girl friend, who happened to be there at the time and the other said he didn’t really have the funds, but if he did, he’d buy the gun.

The owner wanted to shoot his gun some before selling it, so rented a lane. After he went to the firing line, I pulled out the Tracker and said, I could sell it for $350. It garnered more attention than the Ruger for some reason. It couldn’t have been just price because mine didn’t have a scope and $50 difference isn’t all that much. The two guys that wanted to buy the Ruger suddenly wanted to buy the Tracker. But again, the same two hindrances were there:  for one a girlfriend helping him watch his money and for the other, no money to spare.

That RedHawk is a beautiful gun and it will sell at that price pretty quickly. As for the Tracker, I don’t care if somebody buys it or not. I might kill a hog with it someday.