Category: PMC

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ACT frangible Garrison mag release Mecgar PMC SDS Imports Springfield Armory Wilson Combat

One 1911 to Rule Them All – 5″ 45ACP!

UPDATE: I posted to Reddit about the new gun here.

I went to the range today to have my new 1911 transferred to me – the SDS Imports 1911 Duty B45R.

I got there at 9 AM. I turned in the paperwork by 9:15 AM. I was given the gun at 9:20 AM.

The gun was immaculate. It also appears that someone cleaned the gun. It wasn’t pristine-clean, but it had no cosmoline on it (I’m not sure how these guns are normally shipped/stored – many are covered in preservative, which is what cosmoline is). It did have lube on the the frame and slide rails. I cleaned it anyways.

Surprisingly, the gun came with two Mecgar mags! I was expecting one mag, so that’s a big plus. I’ve spoken with other folks and they state that theirs came with one mag. My gun also came in a case. Those other folks stated theirs came in a cardboard box.

The gun is cerakoted but almost looks like it’s parkerized. It is black with a silver trigger and barrel. It has backstrap serrations but has a bare frontstrap. The ambi safeties are not bulky and have extended levers…they look nice!

I’d two other mags – branded Wilson Combat. I planned to use them with this gun at the range this evening. I also planned to use my ACT mag that came with my Metro Arms ACC 1911.

I had a small stash of 45ACP – two boxes of International 155-gr frangible ammo, which doesn’t perform all that well. I also bought two 50-round boxes of PMC Bronze 230-gr FMJ from the range when I arrived. Before I’d left for the range, I’d had the time to swap out the black plastic OEM grips with brown/tan/black grippy G10s that complement the gun.

I ended up shooting the two boxes of International and shot one of the two boxes of PMC. The PMC felt as if it were hot ammo (it always does). The International ammo surprisingly had no misfeeds.

One of the mags caused a failure at the very first round within it’s mag – It was the ACT mag. I ejected the mag, stripped it of ammo and put it to the side. I would not use it the rest of the range session.

The Wilson Combat mags were not flawless, but I’ve found it wasn’t a fault of the mags. The gun has a mag release that will work for the Mecgar (and ACT) mags but will not work well with the WC mags because it needs to be beveled. The mags would sometimes not want to be inserted. To fix this, I need to order a mag release from Wilson Combat. It will swap into the SDS 1911 without issue and will work with non-WC mags.

Pics of the gun:

A photo of the SDS 1911DB45R after the transfer.
These grips are NICE but a bit too slick for range use.
I shot the gun for the first time tonight (17 Feb). I used these G10 grips. I’ve no complaints…they work well, and I had no issues controlling/gripping the gun.

Pics of the range targets:

SDS 1911B45R first shots.
This is 32 rounds of PMC Bronze 230-gr FMJ at 7 yards. I was getting familiar with the trigger, sight picture, and the ammo.
I wanted to directly compare the PMC Bronze 230-gr FMJ and the International frangible 155-gr ammo. I bought maybe 250 rounds of the International maybe 2 years ago and it’s inconsistent ammo but it’s better than not having ammo. Upper left and lower right is PMC. Upper right and lower left is International. All targets have 8 rounds. All were shot at 7 yards.
These were shot at 10 yards, using International frangible 155-gr ammo. First, I shot center, then I shot upper left, then upper right, and lastly I shot lower left. I’m getting tired and it’s showing…the rounds aren’t hitting where I’m aiming. The groups are still decent, though, especially the first group.
These were at 10 yards, and all are shot with International 155-gr frangible ammo. 8 rounds were shot at each target. I’m getting tired. The groups aren’t bad, though.
This is 4 mags of 8 rounds each. The distance is 7 yards and I used International 155-gr frangible ammo. These were fast (not exactly rapid) fired, maybe 2 shots a second, starting from low ready for each mag. Not bad for me.

Before I left the range, I looked at their store items. They carry WC mags and had one full size 1911 mag left. I bought it (since it’s price was $34, which is rather inexpensive from what I remember of WC mag prices).

The gun is solid. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, aside from the mag release. It’s accurate. It’s smooth. The trigger is awesome. The finish and fitment is on par with $700-800 guns (Springfield Armory Garrison), in my opinion, yet I bought this gun for under $500. My only misgiving was that I didn’t get it in stainless steel (that version is $100 more).

Categories
.380ACP ammo Bersa DA/SA Herter's N82 Tactical Plus PMC Thunder

Latest Progress Report – Bersa Thunder 380 Plus

A few weeks ago, I had bought some .380 ammo locally (from Cabela’s).  I’d bought Herter’s Select and some PMC Bronze.  My intention was to shoot both boxes (50 rounds per box) but I ended up quitting after shooting the Herter’s.

Why?

The Plus was biting the webbing of my hand.  The part between forefinger and thumb.  It wasn’t slide bite but the gun’s beaver tail edges were cutting into the webbing.  This was the first time I’d experienced this and I’d shot maybe 250ish out of the gun by that time…without any sharp recoil (that’s what I’m going to call it).  I’d not changed how I was shooting.  I was holding the gun the same way I always had.

The only thing that had changed was the ammo.

My first thought was that the ammo was hot but when I conducted some quick research on the ammo, I saw that the muzzle velocity wasn’t anything special, so maybe it wasn’t that it was hot.

Today, I took it to the range and shot the PMC out of it.  This time, there was no sharp recoil.  It had to have been the Herter’s ammo.  I’m pretty sure that ammo was hotter than normal.  The whole box.  I believe it’s made in Europe and I know Europeans usually make their ammo NATO-spec.  I’m just glad I now know to avoid Herter’s.

I’m now at 323 rounds through the Plus.  That’s more than my XD 9 Mod 2.  The Plus is my 4th most fired gun, between the aforementioned XD and the Sig Sauer SP2022.

It is now much easier to fire than when I first bought it.  I used to hate how difficult it was for me to operate the gun.  I hated the DA trigger, hated the manual safety, hated the decocker’s placement, and hated the safety’s non-intuitive nature (the manual safety operates the opposite of how a 1911 manual safety is operated).  What’s different now?  The DA trigger must’ve wore in because it’s not so difficult to actuate now (but it is long and pinches the side of my trigger finger…I’d have to wear a bandaid to negate the effect).  I don’t use the manual safety at all…I use DA in place of the safety.  I do use the decocker (to get into DA mode) but I only use it after racking the slide back and chambering a round.  I usually don’t drill when doing this…this isn’t something I need to practice, but I do need to remember to always place the gun in DA mode.

I also published a video update on the Plus here:

I’ve only one holster for the gun, the N82 Tactical Original holster.  It is a great holster.  The gun will carry well no matter the holster but it carries extremely well with this particular holster.  The holster is easy to put on the hip and is easy to remove.  It’s a simple holster…simple is good enough for what I need at this time.  I needed a holster that removes quickly.

Oh, I’m carrying Inceptor Polycase ammo with this particular firearm, too.  I know that .380 JHP is known to have issues penetrating, so I wanted something that I know for a fact will always penetrate.  This ammo will not have an issue penetrating, but it shouldn’t over-penetrate either.  I’ve tested the ammo at the range to ensure the gun will eat it without issue…it did.

I wouldn’t mind finding different sights for this gun but I’ll wait until I’ve more rounds through the gun first.  I wouldn’t mind Big Dot sights for the gun.