Category: Thunder Plus

Categories
Bersa Dragon Fire EFK G19 G22 Glock 19 Glock 22 Thunder Plus

Latest Happeninigs

What’s been going on?

I ordered a new OEM recoil spring for the Glock 22.  In fact, I ordered two of them.  I still haven’t contacted EFK Dragon Fire regarding the failed Glock 22 recoil spring that I bought last year.  Well, I contacted them via e-mail but they never responded.  I can contact them via phone but I feel if they’re ignoring their emails, I may as well review the spring in a negative light and write off the failure and not do business with them in the future.

How’s the Glock 22 with the new OEM spring?  It’s good enough, although the gun’s recoil is still quite strong.  I took it to the range, thinking the high grain would dampen the recoil some.  Nope, it’s not enough IMO.  The high recoil of this handgun is why I bought the EFK Dragon Fire spring in the first place.  I think the better route would be for me to get a Gen 4 Glock 22…the double spring is almost certainly going to handle the recoil of .40 Cal better than the Gen 2’s single spring, but I only bought the G22 because it was cheap and because I could use the RIA 22TCM9R convert kit with the G22 frame.

As well, the G22 sights aren’t helping me…the tritium vials are dark so the sights are difficult to use.  I do not really want to spend huge amounts of money on this particular handgun.

Now, even though I shot the G22 and noticed the recoil wasn’t what I’d like it to be, I appear to be a bit more accurate with the gun now with the new OEM recoil spring.  That’s something, at least, but the recoil was enough to where I only shot 30 rounds from the gun (2 mags).  I brought 180-grain Remington green/white box ammo.  There were no failures.

I then bought 150 rounds of 115-grain Wolf steel-cased ammo from my Gen 4 Glock 19.  There were no failures.  The gun now has 310 rounds through it.  I’m not used to it.  It has recoil that I’m not used to, probably due to the fact that I’ve been carrying and shooting metal-framed handguns the past 2-3 years.  I’ve been thinking on carrying this particular gun but will need lots of time shooting it before I’m comfortable with the shooting characteristics.  Plus, I want to get 15-round OEM mags for the gun (it came with 10-round OEM mags).  We’ll see.

I said I’ve been thinking on carrying the G19.  Why?  Because I also shot my current carry gun (I only carry one firearm at a time), the Bersa Thunder 380 Plus, and I’m still experiencing sharp biting on the web of my strong hand.  I shot 100 rounds of Speer Lawman 95-grain FMJ this time around.  I shot this same ammo the last two times I shot the Bersa.  My range notes say that I noticed sharp bites in May 2017 as well.  When I shot the gun prior to this last range visit (Oct 2017), I didn’t noticed the sharp biting and I shot that same ammo.  I’m tiring of the biting, so it may be time to train on a different handgun.

I can still carry my Beretta PX4 Storm, but it is rather thick…that’s the only turn-off in carrying that handgun.  I can also carry the Sig SP2022 but it’s not a small gun either (roughly the same size and thickness as my PX4).  I’ve the XD Mod 2 that I can start carrying again, or even the Grand Power P11 (once I have Eagle Imports investigate the fails to return to battery).

Lastly, I’m having an issue with arthritis in my fingers and it sometimes makes shooting uncomfortable.  This really sucks because there’s no real way to mitigate shooting complications caused by arthritis, other than to move to low calibers, which I’m not going to do.  As well, I carry a .380 and that still causes pain (not in my fingers, but in the webbing between thumb and finger).  I may have to just put up with it or medicate myself before a range visit.  :/

Categories
Beretta Bersa Grand Power P11 PX4 Storm range visit Thunder Plus

Range Visit

I went to the range today and brought the Grand Power P11, the RIA 22TCM, and of course I bought my current carry gun, the Bersa Thunder Plus (I’m carrying the PX4 less now, since it is so thick…it’s lumpier and I don’t like that it feels so large on my hip).  I couldn’t use my RIA, though, because I forgot to bring it’s magazine.

I brought 200 rounds of Wolf 115-grain FMJ for the P11.  I fired 150 rounds of it.  I bought 50 rounds of Speer Lawman 95-grain FMJ at the range for the Bersa.  I fired all of that.

I started out with the P11.  I ensured it was lubed properly (using synthetic motor oil – 5w20 Motul) beforehand.  It failed to return to battery once in that first magazine.  It did it again on the 6th magazine (12-round mags).  Then I did twice more through the last two mags.  It probably was pretty dirty with firing Wolf ammo after 138 rounds, so that’s probably why it was failing.  Wolf is REALLY dirty and covered in some type of semi-sticky coating…not exactly conducive to the inner workings of a gun with tight tolerances.

12 yards out with the P11 – not used to shooting that far out…I shot 12 rounds but 3 rounds missed the paper, and the group was not tight.
12 yards out, next 12 round mag with the P11.  The first shots were landing at the top of the target.  I had to 6 o’clock hold the sights to get the rounds to hit around the red.
Went back to 7 yards out.  Notice how the rounds are very vertically oriented.  Need to ensure the front site is lined with the rear dots, but for self defense purposes, this is superb, IMO.
7 yards with the P11…two mags worth.  Still hitting a bit up high but they’re again pretty vertical.
7 yards with the P11 – two mags…this is tight as hell, but I’d still like to work on the 1-2″ left drift of the grouping.  That’s trigger slap or me not using my support hand enough (for stabilization).  Was also shooting a bit fast.
54 rounds @ 7 yards with the P11.  Worked a bit on DA trigger pull (also did quite a bit of dry fire to try to get a feel for the DA on this gun…it’s different than the DA on the PX4, with the PX4 having the better DA trigger, IMO).  So, two mags to the head and two mags to the torso with this target, with several doube-taps using the last 10 or so rounds.
50 rounds of Speer Lawman FMJ 95-grain ammo.  I hated this ammo…it caused the Bersa’s beavertail to sting the webbing of my hand.  After one round of sting, I immediately grabbed my gloves, but shooting with gloves is difficult for me.  The rounds have a vertical pattern, though.

That Speer Lawman ammo for the .380…it was stinging my hand.  I’ll have to avoid that ammo in the future.  It seems I’m going to need to develop a listing of “to avoid” ammo for this particular handgun.

So, I’m now at a round count of 1269 for the P11 and 373 for the Bersa.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever get rid of the fails to return to battery with the P11.  I wanted to give the gun a fair shake by trying a thicker lube, but maybe using Wolf negated the usage of thicker oil (oil that’ll stay put instead of migrating).  There’s always something with the P11…too many excuses being used to explain these issues.  :/  The Bersa is still cool to shoot.  The trigger is smoothing out.  I’m still not as accurate with it as with the P11 or PX4, though…and it’s trigger isn’t all that spectacular when compared to those aforementioned handguns, too.  But it’s definitely utilitarian.  The only thing about this gun that I really hate is it’s recoil sting with certain ammo.

I’ll continue to shoot both guns, although I probably need to put more rounds through the PX4.