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2011 9mm Optic

The Time is Upon Us – Annual Gun Buy Planning Stages

I’ve been trying to determine what gun I’ll be buying for 2025.

My rule is that I buy at least one gun a year, as I get an annual bonus that’s rather significant, amount-wise.

I’ll walk it back the past 10 years to share my track record of gun purchases.

Last year, I bought the Tisas Carry DS9.

For 2023, I bought the Bul Armory SAS II Ultralight and the Alpha Foxtrot S15.

In 2022, I bought the Tisas Duty BR45.

For 2021, I bought a Rock Island Armory Rock Ultra HC 10mm in 5″ variety. I also bought a Canik TP9 Elite SC that was outside of the annual bonus purchase (it was a good price at a local gun store).

I’m not even sure what I bought for 2020 – as the COVID-19 pandemic was occurring at the time, I may not have bought a gun that year.

For 2019, I bought two PSA AK pistols: The AK-V with Magpul furniture and the AK-P with red wood furniture.

For 2018, I bought my first AK – a AK-63DS from Classic Firearms. I also ended up buying an Arsenal SAM-7UF (I had extra cash unrelated to my annual bonus). I bought a Springfield Armory XD45 Mod.2, as well — it was cheap and I didn’t want to pass on the deal – this as also outside of my annual bonus purchase.

In 2017, I bought a Beretta PX4 Storm 9mm Compact. Prior to 2018, I wasn’t getting an annual bonus, so I had to be mindful of what I was buying and there were no multiple guns being bought in the course of a year.

For 2016, I bought several guns: A Ruger AR-556 Davidson’s Collector’s Edition, and a Bersa Thunder Plus. At this time I was employed with Verizon and was receiving a large annual bonus. I also bought a Tristar T-100 (found it at a cheap price and I didn’t want to pass on the deal – this was outside of the annual bonus purchase).

In 2015, I’d just started buying guns – my firearms journey was just beginning. As the wife and I had planned to move to CA, I was trying to buy as many guns as I could that weren’t on the CA DOJ Approved Handgun Roster (I bought a shitload of guns). I ended up getting my concealed hangun permit and due to the ease of getting that license, I decided that I wasn’t going to CA.

Note that, to some of you, it may appear that I’m posting what I own and I’m aware that it might not sit well with folks. Keep in mind that no one knows if I sold or gifted away any of those guns…I’m just listing what I purchased, not what I currently own.

Now, what am I planning for the 2025 annual bonus purchase? I want to buy two handguns. One of them has to be a 5″ 1911/2011 9mm, as I don’t have a 5″ 1911-format gun in 9mm.

Nothing is concrete yet, but one of them will be a mid-tier 2011. I’m eyeing the Springfield Amory Prodigy DS 5″. I’m not yet sure if it’ll be coyote or black. Current street prices are around $1200. As well, there are comp models too, although the comp model is black-only and there are no comp models that come with the Hex optic.

The other gun may be the Fusion Firearms XP Pro, maybe in chrome. Those are around $1000.

Initially, I was considering the BUL Armory 5″ EDC, but after my issues with the UL grip safety, I don’t think I’m ever going to buy another BUL Armory. I also had several single stacked 9mm 1911s as consideration on the list: Sig 1911X 5″; Springfield Armory Emissary 5″; GP Arms Patriot; S&W 9mm 1911 (I forget which but there are only two 5″ 9mm 1911s they offer).

The Prodigy DS 5″ covers my requirement for a 5″ 9mm 1911-format gun. I was initially leaning toward the Alpha Foxtrot Romulus in 5″, but two things about that gun stopped me from considering it: AF doesn’t offer a lifetime warranty – it’s a one-year warranty; also, the Romulus is cut for RMSc, which I don’t want. I want optics options. and there are more than a few folks that are having issues getting an RMR optic onto a Romulus…I think the best option is to have the slide recut and it’s ridiculous to have to do that. The FF XP Pro comes with an RMR plate (they also have a lifetime warranty) and is cheaper than the Romulus. The Prodigy DS comes with with none but you can purchase a variety of them for $129 and they have an RMR adapter plate (as well, there are Prodigy packages that come with the Hex Dragonfly optic – those packages can be found for around $1200, street price).

The Prodigy DS will probably stay stock (unmodified). I’m aware that it has MIM internals…that doesn’t bother me. I may use it for training courses. It will not be carried (it’s too big).

The XP Pro might be modded. All XP Pro internals are bar stock (ie, no MIM in that gun). I might carry it (it’s a bit shorter than Commander-sized 1911s). It’ll be my toy.

As well, one or both of them will be using optics. I plan to put an RMR optic on the Prodigy DS, which means I’ll have to buy their RMR adapter. I also don’t have an RMR-footprinted optic, so I’ll have to buy one. I will be buying the Viridian RFX45 (currently at $319 MSRP – note that this is a closed emitter optic). I’m seeing several places online that are selling it with an RMR plate for $233, which is great because most places are marking up this optic – the common pricing is $399! The RFX45 will be for the Prodigy since it’s a big optic that might not conceal carry well. For the XP Pro, I’ll probably just use a Cyelee RMSc optic, especially if I might carry it.

Now, there’s one thing that might blow up all these plans: I really want the Kimber 2K11 base model 9mm, but I don’t want to spend $2000 on an as-of-yet unproven gun. Now, the gun is priced well for what it is; note that folks have been complaining, stating the price is too high, but keep in mind that the gun has a crapload of options: DLC slide and frame, crowned barrel, metal grip (!!), 3 mags, fluted barrel, unique slide cuts, great fitment and finish…I can go on and on, and that’s just for the base model (the other higher priced models come with more goodies than the base model). As well, the gun can be had in 45ACP! I believe the gun is priced accurately, MSRP-wise, but, again, the gun hasn’t been on the market long, so I think I should wait a bit, unless the street price drops significantly, and if it does, buying it is a no-brainer.

Battlehawk Armory has a placeholder for the 2K11 – for $1514!! I’d sure as hell buy the 2K11 for that price (and probably buy one of the other two aforementioned 2011s). My bonus will be issued to me in the March/April timeframe, so we’ll see if the pricing drops to $1500 around that time. Right now, lowest pricing for the 2K11 on gun.deals is $1723, which is over $200 lower than MSRP (MSRP is $1995)…not bad, but not enough for me. If the price hasn’t dropped significantly by March/April, I won’t be buying a 2K11…we’ll see how things play out.

For now, the plan is to buy the Prodigy DS 5″ and buy the AOS RMR plate adapter, along with the Viridian RFX45 RMR optic and also buy the XP Pro in Chrome. Hell, I can always get the Kimber 2k11 next year.

Categories
Canik Canik TP9SA Holosun range visit TP9 Elite Subcompact

Canik Day Was Decent Fun

This is a follow up to the last post.

I had planned a lot for a one-hour range session – maybe a bit too much.

I ended up not shooting the S15 since I forgot to bring extra mags. I didn’t want to have to empty my carry mag and use one mag to shoot that gun, so I opted to not shoot it. It wasn’t a huge deal, since I’ve shot well over 1000 rounds through that gun — I’m not saying that that’s a huge amount but that amount certainly enables me to shoot the gun well enough.

I also opted to not use the Sig OHD app, as I didn’t want to mess with configuring the phone and tripod, as well as having to use the special targets (the printed targets are a turn-off for me, too). I do need to test the app and start using it, as it’s not cheap to subscribe to ($10/month).

I ended up shooting the two Caniks, starting with the TP9SA first. I shot 72 rounds from it, shooting it for roughly 30 minutes. I wanted to spend the time to learn the trigger and how to control this gun. It is full-sized but has a very light trigger and for some reason, I have issues shooting it accurately at 10+ yards. I did better this go-around than I did the prior range trip. If I shoot slowly, I can group the rounds somewhat tightly. As I speed it up, I lose all sorts of control, having pretty bad flyers.

At the half-way point of the range session, I swapped out the TP9SA for the TP9 Elite Subcompact. I had to zero the optic and was going the wrong direction in zeroing for a bit. Once I got it dialed in, I didn’t have a lot of time left. The optic worked well with this gun and I was also able to test out the irons through the optic, which I used o nail a bullseye at 10 yards. They barely cowitness (they cowitness like my SAS II UL does with the 507K, which is, barely). The gun is still difficult to control because it’s small and doesn’t offer a lot of grip support. It feels like it has a lot of muzzle flip, which is odd because my 1911s are roughly the same size and they don’t have nearly the same amount of flip. The Elite SC is far more top-heavy than the 1911s, though, and it’s also using a polymer lower. I shoot it a bit better than I did in past range visits, but it’s not really a fun gun to shoot, IMO. Well, it’s not bad, but is probably the least fun gun to shoot of my collection.

I’ll update this post with pics of the targets tomorrow.

Categories
Cyelee Holosun Optic

Are Budget Optics an Option for Concealed Carriers?

I bought a Cyelee optic for the Tisas Carry DS9 two days ago.

Specifically, I bought their CAT, which is a 3MOA Micro Pistol Green Dot Sight With Motion Deactivated Standby (RMSc Footprint).

Why did I opt for a budget optic, and in this discussion, what consitutes “budget”?

My Holosun 507K X2 ACSS optic was not cheap, at $300+. I don’t need another $300 optic. I needed an optic that wouldn’t break the bank while also being reliable. The CAT is $116 and has a reputation of being robust in durability, so I wanted to try it.

I also wanted to try a green optic to see if it agrees with me better than red optics.

If the optic does well for me, I’ll buy a few more, depending on if they’ll fit my guns — they don’t have many RMSc-footprinted optics. 🙁

I’ll eventually conduct a video review of the optic, so stay tuned for that.

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Bul Armory Optic range report SAS II Ultralight video

Four Week Review of the Bul Armory SAS II UL

This is just a video-captured 20 minute summary of my experiences with the SAS II UL.

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Bul Armory Optic Reflex Sight SAS II Ultralight

Holosun HS507K-X2 ACSS Vulcan Mounted to the SAS II UL!

This optic is a lot smaller than I thought it woudl be, but it’s also made for smaller handguns (which is why it’s denoted as 507K).

It was rather easy to remove the “iron” rear sight. In fact, the rear sight was loose and was rattling around! It was probably due to the stout JHP I’ve been recently shooting.

I bought an optic shim (I also bought an extra one, for redundancy purposes), as the 507K has zeroing adjustability issues with the SAS II UL.

I cleaned out the optics screw holes and then used the screws that came with the optic to secure the optic to the slide (used blue thread locker).

The optic works well! I have it set to use the ACSS reticle, have the lighting dimmed a bit, and have the setting locked in place. I also have the Shake Awake feature enabled.

I’ll have some time to shoot it tomorrow (will try to visit a new range, as well).