Arsenal Update (SSP Stuff Mostly)
Since I last wrote about guns, I've acquired a few new toys. Most notably, my 1911 (Para Ord SSP), but also the Armalite AR-180B I spoke of a long time ago and a few AR-15 uppers. Worthy of mention as well is my Mech-tech 45 ACP CCU for my 1911, which I have not yet fired, but seems alright. I don't like it as much as I thought I would, but that impression might change when I slap a red-dot on.
I really love my SSP. It's a great pistol, and has poisoned me utterly for non-1911 designs in general and polymer frame pistols entirely. A crappy picture (I suck at taking good pictures recently...) but to give you non-gun-nuts a taste: go
here, the fucking pictures won't link correctly because using blogger is about as fun as getting shot in the nuts.
If you care to see my Armalite and some toys, go
here.
I might as well give a bit of a range report on the new hand cannon.
The SSP is brilliant. I've installed some new parts just to give it the look I wanted; for example, you might notice the stainless two piece guide rod, plug, and bushing. The grips I put on are not stock, either; they're not functionally different but I like the darker red and pronounced black grain. I have a set of slimline Alumagrips which I had on the pistol for a bit but I prefer the thicker grip; I'll save those for a double stack 1911. You can see them
here; I think they look slick, and if I had the thicker version I would leave them on, but I can't justify dropping another 60 bucks on grips. I'm also going to install a Smith & Alexander magwell, which I stupidly ordered in stainless. Damn. Hopefully it'll look ok, and if not... can you cold blue stainless steel? Maybe I'll order another one in black and save the stainless one for my next 1911.
It remains to be seen if I have the skill and nerve to blend the magwell...
As for shooting, it's great. 45 ACP is more punishing on the hands than a wondernine, of course, and a few hundred rounds leaves my hands a bit sore/stiff, but it doesn't hurt in any immediate sense. By punishing I don't mean in terms of perceived recoil or muzzle flip, I mean the actual force your paws have to absorb. In the first session my hands ached noticeably after only 150 shots, but the second time I ran right through around 600 rounds of 230gr FMJ without soreness. It's amazing how quickly the human body can adapt. The pistol doesn't even feel heavy anymore, even though it's 45% heavier than my P95.
I've had only one fail-to-feed to date. I think I've shot in the neighborhood of 1000 rounds made up from six different manufacturers and loaded in three types of mags. The one failure I had was magazine related, an old GI mag with a weak spring. It was also in the first 100 rounds; whatever happened to 1911s not working right out of the box? WTF? Whiners. Oh, and the Para Ordnance factory magazines are pretty nice. They're reminiscent of Wilson Combat 7 rounders, but I prefer my McCormick Powermags.
The pistol appears to be grouping about 1 inch right at 10 yards, but it's entirely possible I'm pulling the pistol. I have not attempted any bench-rested shooting. It's good enough for combat accuracy, and precise as hell. I put a 4x5 inch group in one of my silhouette targets at 15 yards, rapid fire, three magazines as fast as I could line up the sights. Rob Leatham I am not, but with my wondernine I would have been grouping 10 inches at that distance. The SSP appears to like Winchester White Box 230gr FMJs the best, but once I settled in I was getting good groups (2 inches at 10 yards) with just about everything. The old 1943 surplus ammo had more fliers and underloaded rounds than the rest, but it was still accurate enough. That 4x5" group I spoke of was from the WWII surplus can.
The trigger is pretty good, if a bit heavy for me. At first it felt light as a dream, but as I shoot it more and dry-fire practice I think I would prefer a lighter trigger. Sometimes when I'm shooting I'm so aware of the pressure I'm exerting on my trigger finger than it feels like I'm dragging a 2x4 through the mud when in fact I'm only putting 2# of pressure down (this is thanks to cello for all these years; my fingers are incredibly sensitive). So, I don't think a lighter trigger would be a safety hazard for me. If I had to guess, I'd say it broke around 4.5#, and I would probably take it down to 3 or 3.5#.
Hmm, what else? I don't mind carrying it (in PA I can open carry and I carry it around the house as well), though I can see how it would be hard to conceal a full size 1911. I'm thinking about a Para Ordnance LTC for my next pistol, sometime next year, which would take 3/4" off the slide/barrel and improve concealability quite a bit. I've got a few rigs for it. I have several Bianchi belts of various lengths, to accomodate IWB and on the belt carry. I splurged on a Galco Cover Six crossdraw holster and belt to match, as well. Yes, I am conscious enough of my appearance to spend twice as much money on leather just to match the holsters and belts as well as the combination to my possible outfits. I'm also too vain to sacrifice my style to conceal a pistol... I wear jeans that fit well enough that there's no chance I could sneak a pistol in the waistband without looking very strange, and I also wear tight shirts/jackets most of the year. Basically I plan on moving to an open carry state when I can so I don't have to fuck around with CCW stuff. I'll still probably conceal a 9mm subcompact or some such thing, but that will be in addition to the big iron on my hip. (Musical reference... anyone get it?)
My favorite all around position is 3 o'clock in a Bianchi Black Widow holster. Very comfortable in all positions, and not impossible to draw from a sitting position, though in a vehicle it would be trapped by my seatbelt. If I don't need to sit down, I also like a 10 or 11 o'clock crossdraw position, which, contrary to popular belief, does not sweep everyone on my left side upon drawing. I never draw in a sweeping motion from anywhere, perhaps because I spent so long in martial arts; I pull the pistol up into a 'chamber' position and thrust it forward as if I was stabbing with a sword to a shooting stance. From the crossdraw, my the muzzle is pointed at the floor as I pull it across my belly, then rotated up to the point where my wrist locks and my left hand wraps around the front of my right hand in the first half of my 'stab.' This technique works very well for me; it is quick, repeatable, and safe. And nobody is going to tell me that in stress I'll sweep everyone, because that's just stupid. You revert to your training under stress, which in my case will result in a safe draw, double tap, assess, headshot if necessary, assess while moving to cover...
I also have a few more Bianchi strongside holsters (incl. two different Black Widows, different colors, you see) and a Bianchi 3S Pocket Pistol IWB holster. Now, a 1911 Government in an IWB holster is downright uncomfortable. I was foolish enough to strap one on in front of my hip, about 1.5 o'clock, and try to sit down. Almost broke a fucking rib. It's alright behind my hip at about 4 o'clock, but it's not comfortable to sit down with and it pulls the belt against my left hip annoyingly. My 1911 actually draws best from the IWB holster at 4 o'clock, but who gives a crap about that if you can't carry it?
I had a bunch of italicized stuff, but since blogger sucks a great deal, it keeps fucking with me and not letting me post the entry because a font tag is not closed. Does it indicate which fucking one? No. I loved that shit in computer science, when I had 1000+ lines of code and it gave me an error without telling me where the fuck it was in the program. That's real helpful. Brilliant, guys.
Great. It's still saying I have a font tag open, and I deleted every single font tag in the file that I can see. Fuck it. I'm ignoring errors and posting anyway. Sorry if this looks like a crackhead wrote it.
