Posted on 09/23/2009 6:19:16 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
Sorry, I forgot to add that I discovered that PMR-30s have been phenomenally rare ever since its introduction in 2011. My “grab it” reflex paid off again.
Like shopping in Russia ..... Wow ! Consider that stolen. We had same idea Tuesday morning ... The Gander outlet in amarillo is our only local Kimber dealer and my little Sister wanted to renew her CHL permit . This time she wanted to use a semi auto so I loaned her a standard piece of Glock 19 Combat Tupperware to run the course as in Texas if you shoot with a revolver, you can only carry a revolver. If ya use a semi-auto in the course you can carry either or .....
Anyway back to gander part of my story. Walked in to buy a Kimberly Solo to give little sister as a early Birthday gift. No Kimber solo’s in stock so as I was leaving I overheard the clerk telling another shopper that YES we do have ammo !
I froze and asked if they had Speer 357sig 125gr GDHP.......?
He said yes we have cases of it but limited purchases to 10 twenty round boxes per day.
So I paid cash and walked out with my find of the day. One happy camper per se !
As I left I noticed the clerk that had waited on me was leaving the store to his car for lunch or his shift was done etc / whatever. Seeing how I live 60 miles away I opted to try another purchase of 10 more boxes before I left Amarillo.
Put on a pair of glasses, a baseball hat after changing jackets and walked back in and a cute little gal up front sold me 10 more boxes ....:o)
That 357 Sig load and brand is my carry load in a Glock 31 or my KKM rebarreled Glock 35.
All that aside, reference your Gandering adventures.... You have a Kimber Solo ? Opinion ? Review ?
Want it for little sisters carry rig for home and office with 147gr Speer GDHP ammo. I’ve heard good thangs about it from others yet have not laid hand on one for personal evaluation and testing.
Ammo... “Like Shopping In Russia” !...... Funny, yet sad reality in Amerika !
Stay Safe Sir !!
I intend to take the Kimber Solo back to the range to check it out with the 105gr Remington 9mm Disruptors. Apparently the store tried out all their rental 9mms with these new rounds, and even the known finicky feeders functioned flawlessly. Recoil in any weapon is also noticeably lower.
So far, for me the Solo is still not "user friendly" enough for me to consider seriesly for carry use. However, I have made progress, and if the Disintegrators work (despite Kimber's warning of no ammo lighter than 125gr), it could move up high on my list.
First complaint, aside from nasty recoil, is that it was too damn small and slippery for my average hands. There was just enough weapon to grasp to rack the slide. It almost flew out of my hand when firing, despite a death-grip on it.
A slip-on Hogue rubber sleeve in their smallest size fixed a few problems. With the added "bite" from the rubber sleeve, I could rack the slide normally, and there was no tendency for it to want to depart my hand hold. Recoil is still bad, just not as bad as before.
In fact, the recoil is still bad enough that the grip screws were starting to loosen, even though I had torqued them to the max. They were even loose under the rubber sleeve, although they couldn't escape. I used generous amounts of Loctite red on the screws, and will check after each shooting session. I'm noticing some of the same grip screw loosening on other caliber handguns that don't present any recoil problems. My own theory is that short threads are vulnerable to the internal stresses present in any weapon when fired. Some critical part may crack after thousands of rounds, but I suspect screws will start to loosen even sooner. I can't figure out why I seem to be the only person that this happens to.
My own theory of defensive carry is that if I can't put a hundred rounds through the handgun in one session, I'll never develop the skills with that weapon to have the confidence that Murphy might invite himself to be the third party in a gunfight. I really seek absolute in my weapon so I can concentrate on the weakest link, myself. :)
Oh, and for anybody who collects Murphyisms, he's one I never saw before, although it dates to 1975 and the Fulda Gap:
So...where was I...ah, yes...so here's the corrollary to the law you quote: If it can go wrong it already has, we just don't know about it yet.
Sorry for being so wordy, but if I've already paid tuition in the school of hard knocks, I might as well share my quasi-wisdom with anyone interested.
We seek the truth, good or bad , only the truth.... You provided and probably saved me some cash and Lil Sister from a bad CHL tool....
I have small Gus in the form of a 80’s era Seecamp .32 and a new Rhorbaugh 9mm that I love for deep concealment. just ordered a Seecamp 380 this past weekend .
Need to find Sis a small auto in 9mm so may snag her just a standard Glock 19 of her own if she likes shooting mine. She may just stick with a SW 340 with glasers using a bahrimi grip and 2 spare speed strips from bianchi. But I want her to have the option of either or on her CHL permit....semi-auto or wheel gun .
Grateful for the review...was thinking you had one of the solos.
BTW would the heavy 147gr 9mm be a better choice ? I used this load and still do in my browning high powers and Glock 9’s..... Very good combo IMO.
Stay safe 300 ! Thanks !
Kimber says not to go lower than 125gr, and that 125 and 147gr are the two preferred weights. I'm not sure there's much in between.
A Glock 19 is a good idea for a "starter" 9. Let her get lots of practice with it, so she's confident enough not to be surprised by anything it does. By then, she should have a much better idea of what she wants in something smaller for regular carry. And she'll be more confident in her ability to make an informed choice.
I watched a guy buy a S&W super-lightweight in .38spl. My guess is he figures if she can get five rounds somewhere in the vicinity of downrange, she won't think much about recoil if she needs to use it for-real. My philosophy is that four pounds of solid steel that you have mastered is better than trusting your twelve-ounce wonder weapon that you fired once.
Once I get around to testing, I'm going to take a hard look at my SiG P239 in .357 with the Remington Disruptor rounds.
I have not bought ammo in ages... though I need to find some more .22lr. I also need to check a bunch of my reloads. I had first time (for me) failure at the range last time. Blew the bottom of a .45 casing out. It cooked off the round below it, trashed the magazine and blew parts and ammo all over the floor at the range. :( Fortunately my Kimber Pro Carry was fine... though the mag release was dinged so I replaced it.
Taking a look at the other rounds in the box I saw that some of them had the round seated way too far down. I guess that could cause an overpressure like that.
Love my 239 ....it was bought a 40 and I bought a 357 bbl also .... 40/357 magazines , single stack, can not be used for carry reliability as the geometry is skewed for single stack mags. They will work for the range.... But not for carry .... Don’t trust a 40 mag for a 357 load for personal defense. Get a 40 mag for 40 cal use ect.
This one is definitely a case of "the good, the bad, and the ugly". I'm glad I glommed onto it though, since it may be years before I see one in stainless steel. And I'm definitely going to write Carl Walther (actually, Umarex), demanding that Kontrolle 16 be busted down to a 3.
I consider the weapon shootable now, if you have the hand strength of a gorilla. The DA pull is estimated at 30 pounds, since I don't have a trigger scale that goes that high. The SA pull is 8 pounds, at least 5 pounds heavier than it should be. We'll see how things improve once I start shooting it. Fortunately, I have plenty of .22lr, and I suspect it will take at least 200 rounds for break-in.
This is what can be expected from a gun wrapped in a plastic bag after the exterior was sprayed with cooking oil, and the innards were bone dry. Now it's clean on the outside, and reasonably well-lubricated on the inside.
Risking voiding the warranty, I removed the grips for a better look inside while I field-stripped the handgun. From photos of Umarex's PPK/S airsoft gun, both start out with the same basic frame, which is some sort of heavy non-ferrous metal, and then made into their respective forms. Top priority is to assure that an airsoft gun can never be converted to fire live ammo.
The inside of the slide shows the airsoft construction method of stacking small flat parts together, and holding them with screws and nuts. That can give you a complex shape, although it has more potential for trouble than a slide milled out of solid steel. Along with airsoft guns, these replicas are designed around the principle that a milling machine (which needs a skilled operator, even if it's CNC) is verboten in making these things. The mechanism in the frame bears a slight resemblance to a real PPK, except many of the components are molded pressed metal, rather than machined steel. A "manhole cover" near the hammer is removable for access to more of the mechanism. Finally, the rounded center area in the grip is cut out for the airsoft frame, because the pressure cylinder goes there. Unfortunately, this means both versions use hollow ultra-thin grip panels, which makes it almost impossible to put some fancy wood grips on.
Most people will not notice the removable tension-barrel system, which has real advantages in providing consistent barrel rigidity, comparable to a big, fat target barrel. Target barrels were/are big and fat to provide more rigidity, and hence more consistency. Tension barrels allow you to do the same thing, with a much lighter construction. Plus, the end cap that pulls the barrel forward to provide the tension, can be replaced with a $10 threaded version that puts the threaded adapter for a suppressor in front of the slide.
So that's about all I know about the PPK/S right now. Looking at Walther's ads and images, I suspect the stainless steel version has been photoshopped to make it look more shiny and polished than it actually will be. I find this modern "service finish" to be acceptable, although it is nothing as handsome as the fit and finish of the real PPK with its hand-polishing and slow-rust blue color. The only cosmetic machining are the flats on the slide, which were probably given a quick trip through a surface grinder for a semi-gloss brush-finish treatment.
So I was back at the store today, where they just put out the IWI/Umarex "micro Uzi" .22lr pistol. They were making up their little info cards that a placed next to the guns in the display case, when I told them I'd take the PPK/S without them bothering to unpack it.
I don't know what's happening at Umarex, but the micro-Uzi had "issues" too, mainly because nobody studied it before it went into the case.
The cocking handle on top would not retract the bolt, and the sales guy admitted he didn't know how to take it down to have a look. I popped off the slide cover (it helps to be familiar with real Uzis), and while the bolt was fully forward, as a closed-bolt weapon should be, nothing I tried could help me pull it back into the position needed to feed another round from the magazine. However, I did notice it was bone-dry inside, just like the PPK/S. Since I didn't own the gun, and now wouldn't buy one on a bet, I agreed with Sales Guy that the micro Uzi could wait until Monday for their gunsmith to ponder the situation. I assume it's something simple, but I hope the buyer doesn't have to settle for a 30-pound trigger pull to have a working plinker. Until I learn more, and see how my debugging proceeds, these two items are both in the caveat emptor category. :)
My “compact” .22 pistols are berettas ....
Model 70
Model 71S
Model 76 target
The Mod 70 was a gift that had a threaded barrel. Magazines for the 70 series are getting hard to find, yet they are out there.... Flawless operation to date from all three.
My only Walther .22 is the P22 Target with the counterweight on the front. As you state, even this Walther has a heavy double action trigger pull.
As does my .380 PPKS/s.....
Nanolube , nanolube, nanolube and some detailing with my India stones did make it smooth yet ... Still heavy DA pull.
Stay safe !
One piece of forged steel with G10 non-slip handle scales. The plastic safety sheath has a fast-draw snap-out design that still manages to hold everything securely. The back is designed for either MOLLE strips, or a Tek-Loc belt/MOLLE clamp.
It comes totally unsharpened, so it will need a bit or work to get it to the hatchet level of sharpness, much less shaving-sharp. Same thing for the pointy end.I guess they decided everyone would have their own opinions on how to finish the project.
One thing I had to do was wrap the handle with that stretch-and-stick camo/bandage tape. My wrist needs all the help it can get, especially with jarring impacts.
The forked prybar on the end is a nice touch, turning this into a handy entry tool to pry a door open, rather than chop it to pieces. :)
The good news was the SA trigger pull was short, consistent, and had a very quick reset. Double-taps were easy, and accuracy was pretty good, with only 50 rounds fired so far, and that was cheap, old ammo.
That's 20 rounds, and I was concentrating on the gun, and not my shooting skills.
I think I'm going to tempt fate, and take it apart farther than the manual warns. First, I want to see where the "tells" are in contact points. Second, I want to study the kinematics of the start of the DA pull, and see if there's full contact on both surfaces, and whether a tiny radius on the strut might start the cocking process a bit slower and more gently. Maybe my dad's P38 will offer some clues, because for rushed wartime production, it still does a better job than this.
Oh, and one tiny nip from the slide. I guess my fat American hands don't quite match 1930s German ergonomics exactly, which means being vey careful trying to achieve a high thumb hold. Still, vey pleasant, and accurate, to shoot once past that long DA pull.
Maybe the 30lb pull is a ‘feature’ and you are expected to cock the hammer for ‘real’ use. Kind of a clunky extra safety.
I don’t think I have ever been nipped by our Bersa thunderer. I wonder how different the frames are.
I had not seen one of these in years...I went back to the first one.
About half of those posting then still post here.
Amazing...Big Dan...man I had not seen that name here in a long time.
You wonder why folks dropped out.
Death or just disinterested.
Well, thirty pound pull or not, nice target. I’d opt for the SA trigger pull myownself.
It just doesn’t seem reasonable that they would have put a trigger pull that heavy in that fine pistol. Even Glock’s Notorious NY trigger is less than half that of the Walther .22.
Hope you’re able to get to the bottom of that trigger pull issue. Were you able to see and/or test any other examples at your favorite LGS? Maybe a one-off occurance.
Despite two dozen PPK/Ss on order (half for the store employees), this was the first one that came in, with no idea if/when any more would appear. That's what made me snap it up, and I'm glad I did. But everyone who tried the stainless steel demo gun at the show said it was flawless. Maybe it was hand-tuned, so I suspect I can do the same thing.
If I want flawless performance in a pocket .22, I'll go with the S&W 43c. For full-size luxury, there's either the CZ-75 with Kadet kit, of the SiG P229 with its .22 adapter. In either case, the 40-year-old Sears ammo is like gold now. And I don't have to dip into my stash of Federal Match, either.
The cupboard for .22WMR looks mighty bare when I have four firearms that use that caliber, and less than 200 rounds to my name. And the Kel-Tec PMR-30 uses 30-round magazines. My centerfire supplies are in better shape than that. :)
My unscheduled lightning struck on Friday at 6:30PM. The car was on autopilot, so I stopped at the MSR emporium. It was very slow, so I had a chance to say hi to all the guys. Knowing the drill, each one said, "nothing new today."
Except for the last one I talked to, who said, "nothing new, except three old S&Ws that one of the distributor had in a back room. The boss called him, and begged for anything to sell. He was told 'nothing except three discontinued S&Ws'. The store owner than said, "what part of anything don't you understand. I don't care what the are, send them right out."
The discontinued handguns were three S&W M&Ps that were never popular, and while still in the catalog, aren't made except for large orders from large police departments, and even they haven't been made for years. So what was ready to be put on the shelf was one of these guys.
I immediately ordered on wrapped up due to the magic words,
The owner is a big .357SiG fanatic, and had one put away for himself. I got the second, and the third sold sometime Saturday. Everything showed a production date of 2009, probably the first and last time Smith made this model.
Knowing my priorities, the first thing I did was order another case of Remington Disintegrators, since suddenly .357SiG is one of the few handgun calibers available online in case quantities. I have no idea how long a line of ammo hinted at as "LEO only", and an uncatalogued caliber, at that, will remain available, so I pounced just as fast on the ammo as on the weapon.
The rest shouldn't be too bad for too long. M&Ps are about as common as Glocks, and .40 cal double stack magazines should once again be as common as dirt. Another reason to love the .357/.40 combo when all that's needed is a second barrel. A .40S&W barrel is next on the list, just for insurance purposes.
It pays to ask the one guy who remembers to poke around through the incoming paperwork for the oddball items he knows I've developed a taste for. :)
I’m a 357sig fan as well .... A Glock 31, a converted Glock 35 with a KKM conversion barrel and a Sig P-239 . New Sig 229 in the safe but not exercised at the range yet.
Concur on the availability of 357 Sig ammo. Cases of 125gr Speer GDHP locally available last few weeks.
Pardon my jealousy...
BTW - I really enjoy your Gun Porn Postings.
Keep up the good work.
First trip to the range for some quick break-in firing of the M&P. The first shot with the Remington Disintegrators produced a dead-center "X", which I took as a good omen, since the rest of the rounds printed the way I usually do when working-in a new handgun.
Still, the M&P impressed me enough to swap out all the Gen1 internal parts with Apex Tactical upgrades. The current generation M&Ps have much better triggers, so this should let me pretty much pull even. Not really bad right now, but if I can do better, I will. This will join my special group of trusted and proven SHTF weapons.
Speer 125gr FMJs shot well, with just a bit of muzzle jump, a straight push back, and no "slap" to the palm of my hand when I shoot to much of a round in too little of a weapon. My wrist gets a little sore about round 49 when I shoot .45ACP, which I consider an easier round for me to handle compared to the occasional 9mm or .40S&W.
The Remingtons are almost supernatural. At 100gr, NO muzzle flash (a good trick on a .357SiG) and just some gentle recoil. Very impressive performance for something that's basically a flying grenade. The salesman took a few shots with it when I offered it to him. We both noticed the muzzle blast move paper scrap from targets to about 20 yards downrange. But except for one or two tiny muzzle flashes about the size of an orange, we watched from behind and to the side of the gun, and didn't see any. Considering some of my brands of .357 SiG puts out a fireball that blinds two firing points on both sides of me, this is impressive performance.
As soon as I got home, I ordered another 500 rounds online. The next day, I noticed their entire listing for the Remington Disintegrators had vanished. Aaaaannnnddd, I ordered an aftermarket barrel in .357 for my FNX-40, since FNH abandoned that round years ago, too.
I feel like I'm doing my part to preserve the ammunition Of the Sig, By the Sig, and For the Sig from vanishing from the face of the Earth. :)
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