ken_mays

The Glock 26 seems to be very accurate given its size. Many folks have found themselves shooting tighter groups with G26 vs G19 or G17.

My only experience with the Phoenix was about 10 years ago when someone brought me one to fix. The hammer had worn a divot in the underside of the pot metal slide, and it was causing a noticeable hitch when the slide would move forward or back. There wasn't much to be done about it aside from telling the owner to contact the factory for repair. I never heard whether they replaced it or not.

When it isn't difficult to find used M&P Shields for well under $300, I would give Taurus a pass. The PT111 gets some positive reviews but there are also plenty of complaints, and for years I've heard Taurus may or may not end up fixing the problems with a particular gun. I wouldn't mind owning a PT92 but I'd rather not take a chance on any "native" Taurus design. If you are still interested, you can often find the PT111 under $200 on the used market.

My thoughts: I don't the idea of using a Government length frame with an Officer's sized slide. I'd rather it be the other way around, if anything. No texturing on the mainspring housing means it will try squirm around in your hand, and the bobtail makes it worse. I'm not really a fan of the Series 80 firing pin safety. The safety lever seems mighty wide for a carry 1911. Clark/Para ramped barrel in .45 means it will probably be more finicky than a standard unramped barrel. Ramped barrels are great for 9mm / 10mm but in .45 they're more of a headache than anything. I like the new XS rear sight; I personally found the old express-style rear nearly useless. Accuracy results seemed good. 3" from steel cased ammo at 25 yards from a Ransom rest (which I assume they used) isn't bad for a production 1911. MSRP is $1250 but there is just no way. I would be looking at a Dan Wesson for close to that kind of money. For $800, it would be worth a look.

My imaginary S&W product managers

Yeah it's hard to imagine what they were thinking. "We are getting a flood of complaints about the 4.0 version; everyone says they wish it were .4" shorter."

Complete BS that they won't ship to C&R FFL holders.

Consider: - Budget - Uses (which will drive caliber) - Operating system (bolt, lever, semi, etc.) If you can answer these, you should be able to narrow it down pretty well.

The .40 gained a lot of popularity during the 1994-2004 Assault Weapons Ban. The thought was, if I can only carry a gun with a 10 round mag, may as well carry the bigger rounds. LEO agencies were also going to .40 in large numbers at the time. Now the trend has swung the other way, with the development of more effective 9mm JHP ammo. .40s are sitting on the shelves in droves.

PM sent.

I'd keep the M&P 2.0. Mine is very accurate and I happen to prefer it over anything CZ makes.

I read somewhere that they probably won't hold up to much shooting because they aren't made of heat treated modern steel. Cabot has set their sights on the "more money than sense" crowd anyway. They were making pretty unremarkable 1911s until they hired Rob from Alchemy Custom to teach them how to actually build a 1911 worth what they were charging. I'm not sure they ever actually got there, but by most reports they're better.

Here is a FEG that I made some changes to. Hate to admit it, but it's my favorite HP after the changes.

It's actually not hard. My favorite and most-often used holsters are the ones I made myself. Finding the right hardware (Chicago screws) and coming up with a workable design are the toughest parts of the process, especially if you don't want to go the easy route of screwing two clamshell halves together like 70% of the shops out there do.

Just my (generally unpopular) opinion, based on my hand size and shooting style, coming from years of muscle memory on 1911/2011 designs. YMMV 1. The factory trigger on too many BHPs, especially the MKIII with the firing pin safeties, is much too heavy. (My MKIII trigger was 9 pounds when I got it. ) The mag safety also tends to drag on the magazine and inhibit drop-free operation. And with that heavy trigger weight, the curved trigger really digs into my finger, so I need a slightly flatter trigger like the one Jim Garthwaite sells. 2. Hammer bite is assured on my hand with the rowel hammer, unless bobbed. The spur hammers aren't bad. 3. The pre-MKII low profile safety is utterly unusable. The MKII ambi safety is better but still not ideal since it sits so close to the frame and grip that it can be difficult to get a thumb underneath it to activate. I tend to replace all mine with the C&S extended safety, also because I am trained to shoot with the strong hand thumb atop the safety lever. 4. The old-style grips (flat panel checkered) are quite uncomfortable to use. The newer plastic grips and more contoured aftermarket grips like the Navidrex are far more comfortable. 5. The frontstrap is too thin to checker at anything but about 40 or finer lines per inch, and the serial number is usually located smack in the middle of it, requiring you to checker or stipple around it. (Chuck Warner addressed this on his EWA in-house frames, where the frontstrap is plenty thick enough for most any grip treatment.) 6. The sights are rudimentary on anything but the MKII / MKIII, which at least have dovetails to replace them with something more useful. Personally I like to have Novaks installed. 7. There is no way to put much of a bevel on the magazine well, and the very squarish top of the magazine will slow down reloads. I suppose you could weld or solder on some sort of custom made funnel. 8. The forged framed versions won't hold up to a whole lot of shooting. Bruce Gray claims they tend to be cracked or worn out by 60,000 rounds. This is one reason the BHP never gained much of a following in the action pistol circles. Not a huge deal for most of us, but I hate to put all the custom work into something that has a fairly limited service life. Fortunately, the later cast frame versions are reputed to be far more durable, as are the .40 versions of the gun. I've handled some beautiful examples of custom BHPs from Nighthawk and Heirloom Precision, among others, and while they are very nice, they still don't approach the shootability (for me) of a well-made 2011. Regardless of my opinions, the BHP is a classic and deserves a place in the collection of any serious handgun enthusiast. I have 5 or 6 myself, currently, but I have to admit that they will never be my favorites.