|
On Glocks - I own a G-19. It's a sweet little semi-compact in 9mm. You don't need steel to absorb the recoil of 9mm. I don't like the creepiness of the "safe" trigger either, but the other qualities of the gun are such that I am dead-pleased with it, and would trust my life to it. I have puts tons of ammo through it, from the good stuff down to garbage so awful that I was embarrassed to clean the brass off the range floor. It tossed it all downrange without one complaint in thousands upon thousands of rounds. Glocks are ugly, but functional, wierd and creepy, but trustworthy.
The G-19 also fits my hand well. It's more a case of a totally functional piece that I trust in all situations. Glocks have less muzzle flip when the magazine is full, by the way. Sucks if you're blowing ammo downrange, but for defensive shoots, it's great.
High Powers - The High Power was the very first autoloading pistol I ever fired. I still remember it like it was yesterday. A buddy of mine finally got his dad to allow us to take his Chi-Com marked Viet Nam war trophy pistol to the range. The gun hadn't seen live fire in about ten years, so I gave it some good lovins with RemOil (s'what I used then) and Hoppe's #9 (what I still use). It was a beautiful gun. Silky smooth finish with grips that glowed in the afternoon sun. Took her to the range and put 300rds through it that afternoon. Wow, whatta gun. I felt like having a cigarette afterwards, and I don't smoke. To this day, I think of the High Power first whenever the phrase "combat pistol" floats across my ears.
On 10mm - My 10mm is a S&W 1026. It's a full-sized, matte stainless brute with no active safety, only a decocker and passive firing pin block. When the FBI went to 10mm (in the 1076, same gun with a shorter barrel/slide), the Virginia State Police went to 10mm shortly thereafter (from .357 mag wheelguns, IIRC). When the FBI screwed 10mm, the VA State Police ditched the 10mm shortly thereafter as well. Well, those beastly 10's showed up every once in a while in gunstores hereabouts. I saw one with 3 mags and the Safariland secure holster and mag pouch for $275, so you can imagine that I jumped all over it happily. The leather alone was more than a third of the total price when new. Well, I took it to the range, bought a coupla hundred rounds of 10mm and went to town. Couldn't believe it. Here was an auto that shot just like my beloved .357 magnum. I could see why the VASP could transition so easily to it from their .357's. It was also an accurate piece, relatively. Not up to my wheelguns or a well-tuned 1911, but certainly above the average 1911 by a good measure. SUffice to say that I like it quite a bit, and like th eload even more.
The 10mm is an easy round to double stack, and performs exceedingly well. The potential firepower of a double-stack 10mm is obscene in a pistol, and beats damned near every other gun hands down. My personal favourite was the full-size Tanfoglio what could hold something crazy like 19rds of 10mm. That's a lotta shooty.
On double-stack 1911's - I owned a Para Ordnance P14-45. Nice gun. It had been lightly slicked up with a beavertail safety, flat spring housing, nice trigger, and nightsights. Got it for $300 and couldn't believe my fortune. Took it to the range, and was sooo disappointed. Here was a 1911 that filled my hand (your suspiscions are correct vis a vis double stack vs single stack) and shot so well, yet I still didn't like the feel. I can't win.
I have since decided that it is mostly the trigger, and secondarily the grip. All the autos I like have lever type triggers like wheelguns. I've fired other guns with plunger style triggers like the 1911, and didn't like those either. T Para-Ordnance LDA shows promise, but I ain't gonna spend the scratch to try it. I have enough handguns. Heh, speaking of that, anybody wanna buy a Shorty Forty? =)
|