Day: August 14, 2015

Categories
DAO Double Action P250 Sig Sauer

Sig’s Plain Vanilla P250: Big Name, Small Price — USCCA Blog

SIG Sauer P250 Subcompact
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/sigs-plain-vanilla-p250-big-name-small-price/

You see people all the time that hate on SIG’s P250 SAO handgun.  They buy the gun without doing research and find that it’s DA only, speak bad about the trigger, and sell it while giving a bad opinion of the gun at every opportunity.

I’ve also seen people thinking this gun is very similar to the P320.  They are similar but different enough to have different nomenclatures.  They share the same frame and are modular guns, but other than that, they’re different and are catering to different markets.

Pricing is one thing the article doesn’t address.  Why?  Think about it for a second:  Looking at SIG’s website for the P250, there are 3 MSRP prices per model (full size, compact, sub-compact). That’s 9 different prices. And then, there’s 4 different calibers being sold…that’s the potential for 36 different prices. There’s also a threaded barrel version that I didn’t even factor in. That’s probably why they didn’t include the price in the article.

You can find P250s for well under $400 new.  I did a quick check via Gunwatcher.com and the cheapest I saw a P250 being sold was at $360…very rarely you’ll see a P320 being sold new for under $400 — the cheapest I saw one on Gunwatcher was at $399.

Excerpt 1:

The P250 is also fully ambidextrous. This is important to the left-handed shooter but also to those wishing to be able to manipulate the pistol with either hand.

Excerpt 2:

The test pistol turned in a smooth trigger break of 6 pounds with modest backlash and no noticeable creep. There is no manual safety, only safety features, including the long trigger action and a positive firing pin block or “drop safety.”

Now, most people frown upon DAO.  I don’t know why, because if you master DAO in semiautomatic, you’re going to be shooting extremely well if you rotate to an SA or DA/SA gun.  Once you master DAO, you’ll be a rock star if you go to an SA or DA/SA gun.  Some police departments used the P250.  From my understanding, the trigger is exceptionally smooth.  There are also tricks to learning DAO (some people stage the trigger by pulling halfway through the trigger pull, which helps in aiming for some).

If I had the room, I’d get a P250 just to say I have one.  I may even practice with it diligently in the attempt to improve aiming and pulling the trigger, in the hopes that it will improve my gun handling overall.

“The double-action-only polymer frame handgun isn’t something I usually find exciting, but the SIG Sauer P250 has earned…
Posted by Official U.S. Concealed Carry Association Page – USCCA on Thursday, August 13, 2015

Categories
article gun rotation The Truth About Guns

Self Defense Tip: Avoid Carry Gun Rotation — The Truth About Guns

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/08/daniel-zimmerman/self-defense-tip-avoid-carry-gun-rotation/

I thought this was an interesting read.  It certainly is on-point about how “repetitions are how we become accomplished at any given skill,” and that “when you switch to a new gun, there is an inherent re-learning process.”

An excerpt:

Can a good shooter bounce between platforms and still perform reasonably well? Yes. However, any experienced shooter knows that you will shoot substantially better with a platform that you have been consistently training with. A handgun is a defensive tool, not a fashion statement. You don’t need to change your handgun like you change your shoes to match different outfits.

The author also accounts for differences in manual of arms between a rotation…it’s fine if you’ve trained for this in a self defense scenario (not just casual shooting when you visit a range).  For example, some weapons have safeties, some do not.  Some are DA/SA and some are not.  You’ve to gain proficiency in those manuals of arms while accounting for the differences.  If you do not, you’re putting yourself in danger if you’re used to a particular gun that doesn’t have a safety and you’re carrying your Tuesday rotation, a gun that has a safety…you end up in a self defense scenario and a bad guy is upon you…you draw your weapon and attempt to fire but the gun’s safety is still actuated!

I recommend this as good reading material, is it definitely contains common sense logic.

Categories
ammo battery failure Grand Power P11 Remington sight radius Springfield XD

Range Visit – XD Mod 2 & Grand Power P11

I spent an hour at the range last night and shot 130 rounds out of my XD and 60 rounds out of the Grand Power.

It felt so good to not divide my attention between more than 2 guns, although I did want to shoot one of the 1911s.

I started with the XD first and immediately put 9 of 10 rounds in a close grouping.

7 yards out, using Remington UMC 115-grain JHP

The thing about the Mod 2 is that it shoots extremely well for a subcompact 9mm, as the sight radius of such guns is very small.  This gun still has a small sight radius, but the recoil and snappiness is somewhat negated by the Grip Zone texturing of the grips.  The front fiber optic helps, especially since I’ve problems focusing on the front sight (I wear corrective lenses).

As I shot five different targets, my groupings got progressively worse.  I’m pretty sure it was due to incorrect finger placement on the trigger and not being smooth on the trigger, as I began to impact left of aim.  Still, it was fun to challenge myself.

I also fired the XD better with the shorter magazine (vs. using the longer magazine that has the mag sleeve).  Don’t ask me why that was the case.

The Grand Power was acting wonky.  It didn’t jam or fail to extract, but it may’ve been failing to feed due to a dirty feed ram, as the gun was failing to fully go into battery after expending and ejecting a round.  It was an intermittent issue, though, because it didn’t happen every magazine bu when it did, it was almost back-to-back failures to return to battery.

The weapon was clean when I brought it to the range.  The ammo I was shooting must’ve been extremely dirty to cause issues between 1 and 60 rounds…in fact, the gun was extremely dirty after that range visit…more than I expected for 60 rounds.  The gun was lubed, and I made sure the pivot point on the rotating barrel had lubrication.

I don’t think it was the mags that were the issue.  When I racked the gun slowly, I didn’t notice any binding.  The only thing I can think of is that the feed ramp got dirty quickly and was hampering the feeding of the next round, which would keep the slide from fully going forward.


Possible causes:

  • Ammo that doesn’t have enough powder.
  • Dirty ammo that gets the feed ramp really dirty.
  • Limp wristing (I highly doubt that’s what happened, but I list it anyways, just in case I AM limp wristing).
  • Feed ramp doesn’t like hollow point ammo.
  • Feed ramp needs to be broken in (I doubt this, but read that someone had an issue with a ramp being too polished).

UPDATE:  Well…look at this  –>  http://www.handgunforum.net/beretta/30881-failure-feed-px4-storm-compact-9mm.html.  This looks similar to my bullet list above…looks like I am on the right track.  How does this relate to my P11?  Well, the small Beretta PX4 Storms have rotating barrels as well.  It seems that these type guns might not like lighter ammo and might be prone to limp-wristing as well.

Of the two guns, I fired the XD better.  That wasn’t the case the last time I took the P11 to the range.  Blame the failures to go into battery.

I did not get any video footage, as my camera wasn’t charged before I left for the range.

I fired 100 rounds of Remington UMC 115-grain JHP, 20 rounds of Remington UMC 115-grain FMJ, and 10 rounds of Remington HTP 115-grain +P.

I’m looking forward to the next range visit so I can put more rounds through the XD and become more proficient with it.  I’m not quite looking forward to re-experiencing issues with the P11, though.