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.
I went to the range today and brought the Grand Power P11, the RIA 22TCM, and of course I bought my current carry gun, the Bersa Thunder Plus (I’m carrying the PX4 less now, since it is so thick…it’s lumpier and I don’t like that it feels so large on my hip). I couldn’t use my RIA, though, because I forgot to bring it’s magazine.
I brought 200 rounds of Wolf 115-grain FMJ for the P11. I fired 150 rounds of it. I bought 50 rounds of Speer Lawman 95-grain FMJ at the range for the Bersa. I fired all of that.
I started out with the P11. I ensured it was lubed properly (using synthetic motor oil – 5w20 Motul) beforehand. It failed to return to battery once in that first magazine. It did it again on the 6th magazine (12-round mags). Then I did twice more through the last two mags. It probably was pretty dirty with firing Wolf ammo after 138 rounds, so that’s probably why it was failing. Wolf is REALLY dirty and covered in some type of semi-sticky coating…not exactly conducive to the inner workings of a gun with tight tolerances.
12 yards out with the P11 – not used to shooting that far out…I shot 12 rounds but 3 rounds missed the paper, and the group was not tight.
12 yards out, next 12 round mag with the P11. The first shots were landing at the top of the target. I had to 6 o’clock hold the sights to get the rounds to hit around the red.
Went back to 7 yards out. Notice how the rounds are very vertically oriented. Need to ensure the front site is lined with the rear dots, but for self defense purposes, this is superb, IMO.
7 yards with the P11…two mags worth. Still hitting a bit up high but they’re again pretty vertical.
7 yards with the P11 – two mags…this is tight as hell, but I’d still like to work on the 1-2″ left drift of the grouping. That’s trigger slap or me not using my support hand enough (for stabilization). Was also shooting a bit fast.
54 rounds @ 7 yards with the P11. Worked a bit on DA trigger pull (also did quite a bit of dry fire to try to get a feel for the DA on this gun…it’s different than the DA on the PX4, with the PX4 having the better DA trigger, IMO). So, two mags to the head and two mags to the torso with this target, with several doube-taps using the last 10 or so rounds.
50 rounds of Speer Lawman FMJ 95-grain ammo. I hated this ammo…it caused the Bersa’s beavertail to sting the webbing of my hand. After one round of sting, I immediately grabbed my gloves, but shooting with gloves is difficult for me. The rounds have a vertical pattern, though.
That Speer Lawman ammo for the .380…it was stinging my hand. I’ll have to avoid that ammo in the future. It seems I’m going to need to develop a listing of “to avoid” ammo for this particular handgun.
So, I’m now at a round count of 1269 for the P11 and 373 for the Bersa. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get rid of the fails to return to battery with the P11. I wanted to give the gun a fair shake by trying a thicker lube, but maybe using Wolf negated the usage of thicker oil (oil that’ll stay put instead of migrating). There’s always something with the P11…too many excuses being used to explain these issues. :/ The Bersa is still cool to shoot. The trigger is smoothing out. I’m still not as accurate with it as with the P11 or PX4, though…and it’s trigger isn’t all that spectacular when compared to those aforementioned handguns, too. But it’s definitely utilitarian. The only thing about this gun that I really hate is it’s recoil sting with certain ammo.
I’ll continue to shoot both guns, although I probably need to put more rounds through the PX4.
All of those are listed on Gun Broker. There were at least 7-10 of them listed, but most were over-priced. I only listed those that were under MSRP, but I did list the Combat Plus because many people are asking where to find those models and supply is scarce.
Also, a few weeks ago, I ended up taking my Metro Arms 1911 (the American Classic Commander, specifically) and my Sig SP2022 9mm to the local range.
I also ended up putting 50 rounds of American Eagle 124-grain through my current carry gun, the Grand Power P11, just to test to see if it was still having issues returning to battery (it ate all 50 rounds without issue). I’m currently at 582 total rounds through that gun.
7 yards out, American Eagle 124-grain, Grand Power P11
The SP2022 ate 60 rounds without issue. That handgun is fantastic and is extremely easy to shoot accurately. I’m at 279 rounds through the barrel with NO issue whatsoever.
7 yards, Remington UMC 147-grain flat-nosed FMJ, Sig SP2022 9mm
The Metro Arms has been problematic. I shot 48 rounds through this gun this session and had many failures to feed. In fact, when I go through my range log, This gun has a history of failing. It isn’t the mags that are causing the issue (it happens with all three mags and two of them are new and from Wilson Combat). I actually searched and found that this is more than likely an extractor issue. I checked and found it was too loose. I tightened it up and now need to revisit the range to test to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, I’m going to buy a new recoil spring and extractor. That should fix the issue. Another thing of note is that the feed ramp has some major abrasions from the last range visit when I shot Tula through it…it did NOT like Tula and I’d made a note of it (and the feed ramp) in my range log. I shouldn’t need to polish the ramp with so little ammo through the gun, especially since the ramp had a mirror finish when I received the gun. The gun only has 188 rounds through the gun.
7 yards, Winchester White Box 230-gr FMJ, Metro Arms ACC45, one FTE (24 rounds total)
As well, the point of impact is not hitting where I’m aiming (I’m aiming for the red with the front sight covering the X. One thing I neglected to check was my trigger finger placement and how I was actuating the trigger.
I may visit the range tonight just to test the 1911.
I still haven’t shot my AR-15 yet, either. I’m saving that for Father’s Day. 🙂
