This was the most agonizing decision I’ve made in quite awhile.
My birthday is approaching and I wanted to buy something nice but not too expensive. I’d considered a Sig 1911 as my next nice gun, but my wife isn’t going to sign off on a $800 purchase…maybe on my 50th birthday next year.
My choices were the Grand Power P1 or the Beretta PX4 Storm Compact.
I chose the Storm and bought it through Whittaker Guns for $429.
Why was this a difficult decision? I’d need to talk about the Grand Power and why I was considering it (as well as the thing that I don’t like about the company).
The pros:
- As you well know, I currently conceal-carry a Grand Power P11 Mk12. This particular gun did not come with a decocker. New guns from Grand Power come with decockers and that includes the P1.
- I currently use a P1 kydex holster when I carry my P11, so if I bought a P1, I’d already have a holster.
- I currently use three P1 15-round mags with my P11 when I visit the range. If I bought a P1, which includes two magazines, I’d have five mags for this gun.
I basically already have all the gear to immediately start carrying a P1.
The con:
Grand Power stated in their forums that they will not sell the decocker parts to owners because they might be held liable if an owner did not install the part correctly and had an accidental (not negligent if there was an issue with the gun’s internals) discharge where someone was injured or killed.
Why do I have a problem with that? I’ll list the reasons:
- They sell 99% of the internals for all their guns on the Eagle Imports web site. Most of those parts could cause an accidental discharge if installed incorrectly, and those have nothing to do with the safety/decocker. Yet they’ve no problem selling those parts and letting owners install them on their own.
- Their competition sells such parts and let owners install those parts.
- The mentality that they’re going to save us from ourselves is very much a liberal thought. This is also what drives such “technology” as loaded chamber indicators and magazine disconnects and both of those are training band-aids.
- I don’t believe in any firearm being black-box-like (ie, don’t allow consumers to open the product). If they’re selling internal parts, how else do you get them into the firearm?
- In lieu of them providing you the decocker parts, they suggest you spend $500+ to get a new GP pistol that would already have a decocker. Nope. Not going to happen.
Some resources:
- http://www.grandpower.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=342
- http://www.grandpower.eu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=109&p=463&hilit=+decocker#p461
I was a stout advocate of the P11 and it’s manufacturer up until this point. In fact, a large part of my Youtube content relates to the P11 and my experiences with it. I think it’s time to move on.
The depressing part of this is that I’ve spend a large amount of my time and training with the P11, so I’ll have to get familiar with another one of my handguns to replace my P11 as my EDC gun. An option is to continue to carry it but I just can’t swallow Grand Power’s attitude that they’ll allow us to replace any part but a safety/decocker (hell, they sell replacement safeties on their parts site!).
Currently, my options to replace the P11, if I want to stay with DA/SA, is with my Sig SP2022 or this new Beretta that will be shipped to me sometime this week. I’m more ready to carry the SP2022 than I am the PX4 at this point in time. I’m just waiting for some replacement mag base plates and a SP2022 shell form my Alien Gear holster. I have 4 mags for the SP2022. I have not a damned thing for the Storm, although I can easily get a N82 Tactical holster from a local gun shop (those are nice).
I can also carry the Bersa Thunder Plus that I have, but I HATE it’s decocker! With a passion. I can carry that with the safety off, if need be, and it’s a smaller gun to carry. Although it’s a .380, it is double-stack and holds 15+1. I have four mags for it and just got an N82 Tactical IWB holster for it. I just need to test some carry ammo and begin practicing with it.
Either way, I’ll be testing the carrying of the SP2022 and PX4 Storm.
Before I carry the Storm, though, I’m looking to replace the safeties with the stealth versions. As well, I’ll convert it to decocker-only.