April 2011 Archives

I got an email from them announcing the return of the P210. I've always wanted to shoot this gun, but the price and scarcity has denied me the opportunity.

The P210 is a full sized pistol that uses a single stack magazine that holds 8 rounds of 9mm, has a single action trigger and manual safety. So it's kind of like a 1911 in that aspect, but why would I be interested in something that's fairly impractical when most guns of that size and caliber hold at least 16 rounds?

They're incredibly accurate.

Most semi-automatic pistols have rails which are internal to the slide. The P210 has rails outside the slide, and the slide rides inside the frame. I don't know if this design is inherently more accurate, or if it merely allows tighter tolerances on a production line, but according to the entry for the P210 on Wikipedia, "This construction feature contributes to the unusually high accuracy for which the SIG P210 is known. It ships with a 50-meter (54.7 yd) test target typically showing a group of five to ten shots in a cluster under 5 cm (2 in) in diameter."

It's possible to get this level of accuracy with other pistol designs, but it usually requires the services of a skilled gunsmith and hand-loaded ammunition, and it usually results in a gun that is finicky about what it will feed and is prone to jamming.

I probably still won't get my chance to shoot this gun because I can't really justify the cost for a range toy, but I think it's cool they're bringing it back. (Actually, looking at the wiki they brought it back once before in 2003.)

Since this is 4/20 and all ... I smoked a couple fatties a couple of weeks ago, and finally got around to uploading the pics.

First you make a bacon weave

Then add your favorite dry rub
Then comes a layer of rolled out Jimmie Dean sausage
Roast some peppers
Add cheese

As previously mentioned we had a little family day at the range this morning. The main purpose for this was to get my wife some trigger time before her upcoming self-defense class. I wanted to give her a chance to shoot some of my guns that she hasn't tried before and just kind of shake things out, see what worked for her and what didn't.

I started her out on my M&P Pro while I put a quick 50 rounds through the Hi-Power to make sure it would be happy with the new recoil spring. She liked it a lot. Once I felt the Hi-Power was sound, I moved her over to that. She liked it a lot too, but we both already knew that as she has shot it before. Next was the EMP, which she didn't feel like she shot as well and she felt like it had a little snappier recoil.

After a whole bunch of rounds through the guns, and multiple backstrap changes on the M&P, she decided on the Hi-Power for her class. I had been thinking all along that she would, and that's why I finally got off my butt and fixed it.

I'm happy because I won't have to give up my "every day carry" gun, the EMP (which I actually originally purchased for her), and my time and effort on getting the Hi-Power fixed paid off.

Some other guns that made an appearance:

S&W 2206

Everybody loved this gun. I don't know why S&W quit making this gun. The trigger is awesome, it's very accurate and so far has digested everything I've tried in it. It even looks cool, sort of 1911-ish.

Ruger LCP aka The Noisy Cricket

I have to confess something here. This gun has been riding around in a pocket holster in my pocket for a very long time without any cleaning or maintenance. I noticed the other day it was awfully full of lint and other crud. I figured I would just let it go a little longer and shoot it the next time I was at the range, just to see how it would do. It did fine, and is still no fun to shoot.

Went out to the range this morning with the Mrs. and my father in law. The Hi-Power had about 300 rounds or so go through it (we shot it a lot), and not one hiccup with my light 9mm load. I replaced the 18.5 lb recoil spring with a 16 lb variable rate recoil spring and that was all it took. It's still a little over sprung based on how far the brass ejected, but since it ran without problems I'm going to leave it.

Night matches are back on! They've moved to a different range that is farther out in the boonies, so it's a little over a 100 mile round trip. They also start much earlier, so I didn't even have to break out my flashlight until the last stage. Those two things make it kind of disappointing, and I'm not sure if it's worth it anymore. The match itself is fine, and put on by some good folks, it's just not the same.

I shot the match using my M&P 40 Pro with the KKM 9mm conversion barrel. Also I used some Taylor Freelance mag extensions which add 6 rounds to my 9mm magazines for a total of 23. Had things gone right I would have only needed to reload on one stage tonight, but I had 2 stages with multiple rounds not go off.

When I reload for pistol calibers, I run every round through a max gauge to check that it goes in and out freely, while doing that I also check that the primer is seated flush. If the round passes it goes into a box to be used for matches, training, practice, etc. If it doesn't pass it may go in the pile of stuff to be pulled apart later, or the "bad, but still shootable" pile depending on what's wrong with.

Well, I intentionally grabbed all my ammo for this match from my "bad, but still shootable" pile. Most of those were rejected because the primers sat a little high. So, that explains the misfires there. I don't care too much about my scores in the night matches, so it seemed like a good time to shoot all my rejects up. As it turns out, I think I got some good training from it: malfunction clearing while one handed shooting at night. You don't run into that kind of situation very often.

My Hi-Power has been acting up lately. I had planned on getting it customized by a first rate gunsmith, but I missed my window and he is busy for the rest of the year.

So, I ordered a new hammer and sear, not really planning on installing it myself. Talked to Hank Fleming at the match yesterday and decided to let him do it.

Well, I can't help myself I guess. I love to tinker. I ended up installing the hammer and sear myself. I figured as long as I didn't file anything, I could still let Hank do it.

To my surprise the dang thing truly did drop in. Safety works, and the hammer doesn't follow the slide. Amazing. I just got back from the range and there was no automatic gun fire, I'm pleased to say. No hammer bite either.

Unfortunately my 9mm WST load is just way too light for the extra power recoil spring I have in the gun right now. I had stovepipes galore and the slide didn't lock back most of the time. I think with a stock or perhaps a reduced power recoil spring in there it would be 100%.

I still might let Hank work on it. The hammer and sear engagement points could use stoning, and I don't have the jigs and tools to do it right.

Seems like forever since I shot a match. I've been so busy lately I hadn't really practiced that much or done any dry firing. Because of this, I pretty much just went into this with the mindset of relax and have fun, and not work on this, or do that better.

I did have fun, and most of the shooters didn't want their brass so the match fee was pretty much recouped there.

The only thing I came close to caring about was the classifier. I'm pleased to say that based on classifercalc, I did shoot it at C level. (That's good for me, been stinking it up with a bunch of D scores lately.) I'm kind of upset at myself for taking a make up shot though. I called a miss, and made it up with C. Unfortunately, it was already a C, so I just wasted time. Don't know if it would have made enough to difference to go up to B or not, but it would have been better. The real pisser is that was my only non-A shot on the stage. Had I got an A the first time and not taken a make up shot, I bet it would have been a B. Oh, well.

The rest of the match was pretty good. I had another person tell me that I am real smooth in my shooting. If I could speed things up a bit and maintain my smoothness and accuracy, I might actually be worth a shit.

Like I said, I wasn't really working on anything during the match, and consequently, my actual shooting was much better. Had a lot of A's. In Production I was pretty consistently getting the most points on the stage, but my times were slow so I wasn't doing very well as a whole.

Just got to get faster.