I wanted a place to discuss my handguns and firearms in general. Everyone seemingly has lots to say about guns, so I promise you this won't be a rant blog.
Back in April, I bought and installed Hogue rubber slip-on grips for my Beretta PX4. That handgun is rather slick from the factory and no, I don’t have the Concealed Carry version of the PX4 and don’t really care for grip tape or Talon Grips.
The PX4 Compact is thick! I sometimes have problems ignoring the handgun when I’m carrying it (concealed). I didn’t really want to use a slip-on grip that would make it thicker, but I do like finger grooves, so I picked the grooved one. If I didn’t like it, I’d try to exchange it for a non-grooved one.
Installing it was a bit of a pain, as the grip doesn’t stretch well (which is good once it is installed). The grip makes the handgun feel EXCELLENT. The con is that it does make the gun feel thicker, but the grip is still not going to be in the waistband, so there’s that.
I was checking my handguns (I do this monthly to ensure there’s no rust and that they’ve a coating of oil) and came across my P11. The Grand Power P11 is a beautiful handgun, but one of the things I hate about it is that the grip is soooo damned slippery.
I’ve often thought of buying Talon Grips or grip tape that is rubberized, just so I could use it on this handgun’s grip. I’m not sure if Talon Grips would properly seal onto the grip, though, and grip tape can sometimes be a pain in the ass to get right. Grip tape was my last resort.
I’ve a Hogue slip-on grip on my Beretta PX4 Compact that I installed maybe 8 months ago (I talk about it here). It was also a pain in the ass to mount on that handgun but it’s solid and feels great in the hand. The rubberized texture feels natural and grippy.
I decided to try a set for the P11, but I searched to see if anyone else had documented online that they’d tried Hogue slip-ons on this handgun. I couldn’t find any data via Google that showed anyone trying this, so I didn’t know which set of slip-ons to try.
I went to Hogue’s website and looked at what they had. Each slip-on had documentation showing which gun they’d fit. I perused the Handall Jr. product’s documentation and saw that it would fit such guns as the Bersa Thunder .380 and the Ruger SR9C. Both of those have rather thin/slim girthed grips, so I thought that this one would best fit my P11. The plan was to order one and if it didn’t fit, to reorder the next size up.
The slip-on arrived today. At first I thought that it was too small. I had to fight to get it onto the grip, but, as with my PX4’s slip-on, I warmed it up a bit (with a hair dryer), which made the rubber a bit more pliable. I suppose I could’ve used water to “lube” the grip to the point that the slip-on would slide onto the grip. Regardless, it eventually fit onto the grip!
The grip feels MUCH better now. I feel much more confident with it in my hand now. Prior to that, it always felt like the handgun might slip from my hands. It also looks rather nice on the handgun…looks different and not so much out of place.
I plan to take it to the range to see if it enhances shooting.
Well, I bought Hogue rubber grips (with finger grooves) for my PX4 Storm Compact. I’ve been carrying that gun the last 6 weeks, non-stop. I’m not sure why I moved from the XD45 to the PX4, but when I was going through the safe and checking to ensure the firearms weren’t in need of oil, I noticed (again) that the PX4’s grip is rather slick.
I researched online to see what others were using to enhance the grip of this gun. I didn’t want to use Talon Grips, because that involves adhesive. I have Talon Grips on my Glock 22 and it was a pain to ensure they were in the correct spot (and then I had to heat up the tape to ensure they stuck).
I have Hogue grips on my Sig P220. I like the way they feel (I like that slightly tacky rubbery feel), so I decided to go with Hogue again.
These grips work very well for this handgun but one con is that they make the grip thicker in girth than it already is (it’s thick enough without adding anything). They feel very good, though. They were also a bit difficult to install, as the rubber is stiff (it is recommended to use a heat gun or hair dryer to heat up the rubber, which makes the rubber more pliable – I didn’t use either).
I bought some other toys for other firearms as well, but I’ll post about those separately.
I’ve been getting an influx of comments on my last Grand Power YouTube video.
Many people think that I need to be using oil (one person stated to not use TW25B and another recommended to use oil and not grease).
I tested the theory that I was using the wrong lube. I stripped off the TW25B from the helical cut and breech area of the barrel and used a light coat of Breakfree CLP instead…I kept grease on the rails, though.
Remember, on my last visit, I fired 263 rounds of various ammo (50 x Tula steel-cased, 200 x Remington UMC 147-grain flat-nosed FMJ, and approx 24 rounds of Winchester Personal Protection JHP). Of that ammo, I had two failures to return to battery (down from “many” failures), both of them being with the Remington ammo.
At last night’s range session, I used 100 x Remington UMC 147-grain flat-nosed FMJ, 50 x American Eagle 124-grain FMJ, and 28 rounds (of a box of 50) of Geco 124-grain FMJ, for a total of 177 rounds. I had five failures to return to battery (FRTB). The first happened on the 3rd magazine. Then the 4th, 5th, and 6th magazines. The gun wasn’t dirty, but remember, I was using a thin coat of oil vs a coat of gun grease.
Yeah, so much for that theory. I had less failures during my previous range visit with the P11, and shot maybe 100 rounds more, too (with Tula being 100 of that, and both Remington UMC and Tula are very dirty).
But here’s a revelation…of the five failures to return to battery and of the 177 rounds, guess which brand failed the most in this gun? Remington. All five failures were with the Remington. I made a point of paying attention to which brand I was shooting and keeping notes on each box’s tabs. I also ejected each round that generated a FRTB. In one case of FRTB, I found that the front lip of the case had bent when the gun tried to ram the round into the chamber. I decided not to fire that round.
Here’s a picture:
If it’s difficult to see the damage, here’s a video.
So, maybe it’s a combination of the oil I used as lube and the ammo? No, I think the ammo is the issue, as I shot 75 rounds of ammo AFTER the Remington that didn’t get hung up at all.
This gun does NOT like the Remington ammo I’m shooting. I’ve other Remington ammo (non-flat-nosed and 115-grain FMJ) that I can test but I really don’t think I need to test any more.
I cleaned the gun and looked at it’s internals last night. The claim that the oil is easier to clean after a range session is false. The oil migrated to the slide and coated the whole underside of it. In fact, it was everywhere and I didn’t use a lot…just a thin film. It took quite awhile to clean. The gun wasn’t quite that bad when I used grease as the primary lubricant. The oil collected the carbon exactly as the grease did (it basically made mud), but I can’t contribute the failures to the oil. All I know is that I had less failures with the grease but if the ammo is the problem then all perceived lube problems are exonerated.
I’ll post the video once I’ve edited it and posted it to YouTube.
UPDATE — here’s the video:
For now, I’ll continue to use the CLP as the primary lube. I’ve even put it on the slide and frame rails. I’ll watch for wear and/or trouble for awhile.
I also took my SIG Sauer P220 and gave it a quick run to test the new Hogue rubber grips. Man, that gun is a beast. Recoil is less of an issue with these grips. I’m able to put ammo (half the mag, in this case) in the red, too.
All DA shots, first 8 rounds, at 7 yards
I fired a total of 44 rounds (I had five mags that have been loaded since Jan 2015 that I wanted to shoot…Perfecta hardball in 230-grain). The gun ate it all up without issue. My aiming did get progressively worse, though. I might need to get glasses I can use at the range (or it might be time to have my eyes checked again), as I was having a difficult time seeing the front sight and my vision got worse as I shot.
I brought the Glock 19 and intended to shoot it, but got too engrossed with the P11 (let’s face it…as my EDC and with my recent issues, it needed the attention).
So, this range visit was very valuable for me, as I learned that not all ammo is created equal. I still have a lot of Remington flat-nosed ammo left (I bought 500 rounds of it). Some of my other guns will eat it without issue, so I’ll use it up, but I won’t be buying any more of it.
A set of black hex headed screws for my P220 Grips
A set of Hogue rubber grips.
I’ve installed the grips but not the black hex head screws:
The OEM grips look better, but the rubber grips feel better and will no doubt be better at the range. The don’t look bad, but don’t look as good as the black stained wood grips. They were simple to install.
