Category: polymer

Categories
Apex Gun Parts Atlantic Firearms BHO bolt hold open Bulgarian Croatian Gun Mag Warehouse KCI polymer Tapco

Do You Need AK mags?

I bought my AK mags from the following places.  I mention this because I see folks with new AKs always asking where to buy mags.

Atlantic Firearms

Apex Gun Parts

Gun Mag Warehouse

Each of those sites have reasonably priced magazines.  They also offer a variety of types (polymer, steel, new, or surplus) from different countries.

Check those sites often, as much of their stock tends to be sold out due to the pandemic.

Keep in mind that cheap doesn’t always mean good.  KCI mags tend to have reliability issues and are flimsy in build quality.  Croatian mags tend to be hit or miss when it comes to latching in place (see here for my experience with the Croatian mags).  The reason I wanted Croatian mags was for their bolt-hold-open (BHO) capability.  Croatian mags are also not surplus…they are new.

Good mags that are usually cheap are Bulgarian surplus mags.  I have not reviewed the Bulgarian mags I have but they just work and do not feel flimsy.

I also have 6 x Tapco polymer mags.  Folks LOVE to hate on those.  I didn’t buy them.  They came with the first AK I bought (the AMD-63).  They work, which is something the Croatian mags wouldn’t initially do.  They will also fit in every AK I have, which is, again, something the Croatian mags wouldn’t do.  They’re perfectly fine for range use and have yet to fail on me.

UPDATE (1/10/21):  PSA has a sale on Croatian mags right now, marked down from $19.99 to $12.99.  Also, if you order 10+, shipping is free (per the product page).  As well, Mrgunsngear stated that they’ve changed the mag tab (probably narrowed it slightly) so that there’s less of an issue with latching.

Categories
.40 limp-wrist loose hold P250 polymer

Loose Holding AKA ‘Limp-Wristing’

There’s a guy on the forums that I frequent that’s been having very chronic feeding issues with his Sig Sauer P250 .40 cal.  He arranged for Sig to take a look at it and fix the issue, but Sig returned the gun, stating there was nothing wrong with it and that they weren’t able to duplicate the issue.  He complained when it continued to have feed failures, so they suggested he replace the recoil spring.  The gun owner was almost livid because he thought they should’ve done that when they had it (but remember, they couldn’t reproduce the issue).  So, he replaced the recoil spring and shot 200 rounds through the gun with the new spring…the feed issues went away, but now he’s having an issue where the slide stays partially open after ejecting the round (he has to manually cycle the firearm).

Both the feed symptoms that he initially experienced and the resulting issue of the slide partially cycling after brass is ejected are chronic signs of loose holding or what’s called ‘limp wristing’.  Limp wristing can be caused by a loose hold or insufficient strength when holding the firearm while shooting.  Polymer guns are more prone to limp wristing than all-metal guns, since polymer can flex.

The gun owner swore that it wasn’t limp-wristing when he was having the initial feed issue and stated that he’s shot other .40 cal handguns without issue.  He specifically mentioned a .40 Beretta M9, which is an all-steel gun, which would probably not have such issues.  After he swapped in the new recoil spring, he then had the partial cycling issue, which is yet another symptom of limp-wristing.

The fix for this is usually to firm up your hold on the weapon, if possible, change to heavier grain ammo, or to get a different handgun.  The P250 is a convertible gun.  I believe a .357 P250 can be converted to .40 and vice versa…I’m not sure of 9mm.  I think 9mms can’t be converted because there’s not enough room under the slide to accomodate the larger barrels…you’d have to get the slides for the .40/.357 for that to work.  The gun owner might be able to convert it to 9mm but I doubt he’ll be willing to spend more money on a gun he currently can’t shoot without cycling issues.

More information on loose holding can be found here.  The link to the forum thread documenting the issue is here.

Categories
9mm magazines polymer SP2022 trigger

My Sig SP2022 9mm Arrived Today!

I thought I’d only get one magazine (the ad said only one was included), but I ended up with two!  That’s a huge deal, as they are expensive.  And I just got two new mags for this gun, too!  Now, if I’d paid attention to the ad pictures, I’d have seen that there were two mags in the pictures (one in the gun and one in a clear plastic bag).   What else?  It has the round-in-chamber indicator on top of the gun, which is pretty damned cool (I’ll keep visually checking the chamber, though).  I also swapped out the installed backstrap for the bigger one…it feels much better.  The grips are difficult to remove (needs a big screwdriver and some leverage).  I wonder if I should lube the mount area…

I cleaned it (surprisingly, it was filthy…like it had been shot a few times and not cleaned…it’s supposed to be new…WTF) and found that this example has a metal recoil spring guide.  There are many videos stating that this was plastic and people were replacing them with aftermarket metal guides.  I’ve no idea how this affects the limited warranty that covers new Sig products.  Based on the fact that the gun had obviously been fired and because it has a metal recoil spring guide, the gun is more than likely not new.  It’s not a huge deal, but it was misrepresented nonetheless.

I bought 100 rounds of American Eagle FMJ 9mm rounds ($17 a box at the gun shop).  I also bought a box of 20 Federal HST JHP 9mm ($28??!).  9mm is cheaper than .45ACP, that’s for sure!  🙂

I loaded up two magazines to begin the break-in period…they’re stiff as hell.  The other two mags are empty.  I’ll rotate the rounds from one to the other…I don’t want all my ammo in the mags.  They hold 15 rounds apiece, so that would be a significant amount of my ammo.

This gun is sweet!  It’s different than my Equinox.  The Equinox looks and feels (and IS) expensive.  The SP feels more…practical.  It actually fits my hands better…the grip is fantastic, even if it’s plastic (yes, this is a polymer gun).  The trigger even feels a bit better, although I haven’t compared reset between the two.  My wife prefers the feel of the Equinox (the feel of money…LOL) over the SP.  I like both of them in different ways.

I plan to visit the range tomorrow and maybe even Sunday and Monday, just to get some practice in.