It's also too slippery for me to rack the slide, since I have to take such a deathgrip on the slippery beauty, I don't have enough wrist strength to actually pull back the slide.
So I put away the lovely Hogue goncala alves and aluminum grip sets, and settle with some hum-drum, but vey tacky, wrap-around rubber grips.
So here are the results of the second trip to the range, where I spent more time testing the ammo than the new grips.
As before, the handgun is performing better than I am, but it's such a comfy and forgiving weapon, it makes me look better than I deserve to be. :)
But the main point of the range time was to test out the Remington Disintegrator 9mm +P 105gr leadless, heavy-metal-less practice round. While the blurb on the box says "same point of aim, same recoil as comparable service ammo", THEY LIE! It shoots to the same point of aim, and fed flawlessly, just like the Speer 115gr FMJ from the earlier session. But even at +P pressures, and only 10gr lighter, this was definitely a creampuff compared to the ball ammo. And this from a handgun set up for spring rates for regular service ammo. I'll have to see how my other 9mms like this stuff.
The reason I was testing the Disintegrator is because
1. The store got in a pallet of this stuff, without warning
2. The MSRP is $29.95 for box of 50
3. Premium defensive 9mm ammo is reaching $60 per box of 25
4. Generic 9mm FMJ will be approaching this price when new production enters the stream of commerce
Beyond that, the bullet itself is made of compressed and hardened iron "dust". The jacket is .8mm of pure brass electroplated over the iron core. It just has to be strong enough to keep everything together until the bullet hits the backstop, where it disintegrates into a cloud of iron that quickly loses energy. It also will not ricochet off of any surface.
This is certainly a "green" bullet, in that there is no lead, no jacketing materials, and no heavy metals in the primer. Second, the Disintegrator line includes .40S&W, .45ACP, 5.56mm and .22-250 rifle rounds (for "varmint hunting"), plus 12ga 00 buckshot and rifled sabot slugs.
On an indoor range, this is certainly a great benefit because everything is cleaner, and it doesn't slowly beat the hell out of a backstop like even lead eventually does. This ammunition has been out for a few years now, but I never really paid much attention to it. The Remington site lists all its sterling qualities, along with "other special uses". No further explanation.
I think that's a hint this could be a good, less costly home defense round, but Remington can't/won't say it. There are no ballistic gel tests that I know of, but the guys at the store say it performs like FMJ, except it will totally disintegrate on contact with anything as hard as bone, much less steel backplate. Over-penetration does not seem to be an issue. You are free to speculate on the odd fact that the calibers available, except for .22-250, which really is a varmint round, are common law-enforcement/home defense rounds.
One final caveat emptor: a lot of dealers are tacking another $20 to the MSRP, and trying to push it as another premium defense round. Apparently a lot of this just hit the market, and supplies are good. But they're counting on the 9mm ammo drought (after newbies suddenly realized a box of 50 won't get them through even a minor zombie uprising), so some dealers are hoping to rip them off again.
I'm eager to find some .40 and .45 in this line, but I've grabbed five boxes of the 9mm, just to be prudent. This ammo does everything every leftist greenie demands, but it still seems to be pretty lethal in some very specific circumstances. If you see any at the proper price, buy at least two boxes, one for testing, the other for saving.