Wifey is away so I went to the range this morning after breakfast and a little housework. One of the guns I brought was my recent G-17 Gen. 3 with the newly installed Dawson Precision adjustable fiber optic sights. Ever since I've had that pistol, I had a hard time seeing the all black factory sights and even at 10 yards, could not seem to hit a fucking thing I was aiming at. I hoped these sights would be the answer. I also brought a couple of my new Kommiecticut verboten 17 round Gen. 5 mags for testing. I read some articles and forum posts about Glock mag compatibility. The conventional wisdom is that Gen. 5 mags are backwards compatible, but Gen. 3 mags won't work in a Gen. 5 pistol. But there were tons of posts about the new mags having difficulty in older pistols, so I grabbed a couple of random ones to test in the G-17 as well as my Ruger PCC-9. I have the Glock mag well in my PCC-9 and I don't believe the gun cares about Glock magazine generation. I also wanted to have some more range time with my Tisas CMP 1911A1. I loaded up my ammo can with an appropriate amount of boolits, made sure everything needed was in my range bag, and also loaded up my range tote box. The carbine is in a tactical rifle case, and the two pistols were in their respective Tupperware containers the guns came in.
I started with the G-17 using Kommiecticut legal 10 round mags loaded with 5 rounds and a 12" Caldwell spatter target against a sheet of plain brown paper set up at 25 yards. For aligning the sights at 25 yards, I braced the pistol on a sandbag rest. After a couple of 5 round groups to get used to it, I went for score. My group was right on with windage but high. A quick adjustment down and I was in the center. This is the first time I have been able to hit something I was aiming at. The fiber optic sights are easier to see, but it is readily apparent that I need to go to the eye doctor and get new glasses. I then loaded the mag with 10 rounds and put 5 on the paper and 5 ringing the permanently mounted steel plates at 25 yards. So satisfying to hit what you're aiming at. I loaded up one of the eee-vil 17 round mags with 17 of my target reloads and easily went through the entire mag without any hiccups. I then loaded 10 rounds of my purpose bought Federal HST 147gr. JHP to see how they functioned in the G-17. 10 rounds, 10 hits on the 25 yard plates. I put the Glock away.
Next I brought out the Ruger PCC-9 simply for testing the new 17 round mags. I grabbed the other unused mag, loaded it up, and fired 17 rounds without any issues. The PCC-9 sports a SIG-Sauer Romeo 5 red dot mounted on "witness" mounts so the iron sights are still usable. I was able to hit the 25 yard, 50 yard, 75 yard, and 100 yard plates easily. I had 6 rounds left in the box so I loaded them and blasted the plates again. We're not supposed to shoot the 25 yard plates with rifles, but since this is a pistol caliber carbine I bend the rules a bit and it causes no damage to the plates. I had brought another full 100 round box of my 9mm target reloads but decided not to break into it, and put away the Ruger.
I put up a fresh target at 25 yards and took out the 1911. My Maglula loader works great on double stack mags and is supposed to load single stack as well, but was less than satisfactory. The top of the mag kept getting stuck in the loader, making the loading operation not as smooth as with double stack. 1911 mags are easily loaded by hand so I ditched it to the range bag and did it manually. I bench rested this pistol as well to see where the fixed sights were at 25 yards, which is military qualifying range. Turns out they were pretty good, and again a trip to the eye doctor will improve my aim. The problem was the gun. I guess it would be classified as "FTF" because the gun kept not going fully into battery. Using the heel of my left hand I could get it to go and then fire. Trying to rack the slide to clear the malfunction for some reason was extremely difficult, but it would go. This happened at least once on every mag loaded with 5 rounds. I will be investigating a couple of items... doing an ammo "plunk test" using just the barrel and random live rounds dropped into the chamber to check for fit, and examining the extractor to make sure it isn't too stiff. Another reason given is a weak main spring, but this is definitely not the case. It is very strong which makes field stripping harder than I am used to. When the gun did function it worked well and hit hard like a 1911 should.
I had hoped to come home from the range and mow the lower yard, but what started out as a sprinkle has turned into a steady rain.... AGAIN! If it doesn't stop by 6:30 PM my evening fishing outing will be cancelled.... AGAIN!
