Common Mistakes
People tend to select a pistol for the wrong reasons, such
as its appearance in a movie or the centerfold spread of a
gun magazine. Women or their husbands often buy a pistol
that is too small to shoot well. Guys often make this
mistake as well. A pistol should be reliable, point well,
be large enough to easily aim and manipulate, offer
easy-to-use controls, sport clear sights, feature a
manageable trigger, and be comfortable enough to fire a
couple of hundred round in an afternoon. This rules out
about 99% of the pistols on the market.
Shooting a pistol well in a relaxed environment is hard.
Doing so under stress is extremely hard. Start with an
easy-to-use pistol to stack the odds in your favor. As for
the issue of size, Clint Smith stated: “Your carry gun
should be comforting, not comfortable.” Unless you’re
an advanced shooter, I’d recommend sticking with
medium-sized pistols like those recommend in the
following section. Small pistols, particularly
snub-nosed revolvers, are difficult to shoot well due
to the small grip, short sight radius, and tightly
clustered controls. They’re also not comfortable to
train with. Only start considering such pistols after
you’ve mastered a medium-sized one, as many of the
skills transfer to smaller pistols.
Recommended Models
For the avid, well-heeled pistolero, there's probably no
better choice than a full-sized, Series 70 1911. Downsides
include starting prices north of $1,000, the likely need
for a few hundred dollars in gunsmithing and parts on top
of that, and a relatively difficult takedown and cleaning
procedure. 45 ACP ammunition also costs about 50% more than
9 mm. However, the pistol's ergonomics, accuracy, and
ecosystem of aftermarket parts allow it to dominate
high-level pistol competition, and it stays a top pick
among elite law enforcement and military units a hundred
years after its introduction. The original 1911 design uses
a single-stack magazine, which leads to a slim grip and
makes the pistol very friendly to small-handed shooters.
Unfortunately, most pistols ship with a long trigger that
negates this advantage, but that’s easy to fix.
Many 1911s sadly implement a firing pin safety. This is a
solution in search of a problem, so the best bet is to find
a pistol that doesn't have one. The two main approaches are
the Colt Series 80 safety, which is deactivated by the
trigger, and the Swartz safety, which is deactivated by the
grip safety. You'll find the Series 80 safety in Para
Ordinance and SIG models. It hurts the trigger pull but is
fairly reliable. The Swartz safety appears in Kimber and
S&W and has reliability problems. Ways exist to remove
and/or deactivate these safeties.
Both Springfield Armory and Kimber produce good 1911s, although
Kimber now installs the goofy Swartz safety in theirs.
Stick with the 5” barreled models. The smaller ones
aren’t much easier to carry/conceal but are harder to
shoot well. I highly recommend a set of Gunner Grips. They have a very
aggressive pattern that keeps the pistol in place even
if your hands are wet. If the front strap isn’t
checkered, either send it to a gunsmith for this work
or use a piece of skateboard tape.
Better choices these days include Glocks, Springfield's XDs, and S&W's Military and Polices
(M&P). Recommended models from these companies
include the Glock 19, 4-inch XD 9 mm, and M&P 4.25” 9 mm. All of these
pistols use a polymer frame that houses a double-stack
magazine. They’re all very reliable and much easier to
disassemble for cleaning than the 1911. The Glock was
introduced in the early 1980s, the XD in 2002, and the
M&P in 2005. The XD is actually a licensed version
of the HS2000, a Croatian pistol introduced in
1999. The M&P came as a huge surprise to many
people including me, as S&W had for years produced
one atrocious autoloading pistol after the next and
suddenly knocked one out of the park.
The Glock family of pistols makes a good choice for people
with medium or large hands. Those of us with smaller hands
(including me) find the large grip interferes with good
trigger control. Glocks occasionally have issues with
magazines dropping free, and the magazine can pinch your
hand when seating a new one. Some folks also don’t like
that Glock uses a slightly different grip angle than the
1911. Other things in the Glock’s favor include a low bore
axis that minimizes muzzle flip and a large ecosystem of
aftermarket parts. The stock sights are not very good, but
that okay because everyone that makes sights makes models
that fit Glocks.
Both the Springfield XD and S&W M&P have smaller
grip dimensions and a shorter trigger reach than the Glock.
Both the XD and M&P point just like a 1911 due to the
common grip angle. Also unlike the Glock, XD and M&P
magazines are relieved around the back of the grip to
prevent pinching and drop free more reliably. Of the two, I
prefer the M&P. The bore axis of the M&P sits lower
than the XD, which reduces muzzle flip, and the grip fits
my hand a bit better. The M&P has a slightly better
out-of-the-box trigger than the XD, and it’s also more
easily improved. The M&P has interchangeable grip
inserts that allow the shooter to customize the pistol's
fit. The XD also has a grip safety that some folks report
having trouble deactivating, but I suspect it’s a training
issue.
One funny thing with the M&P and XD is that they're
both halfway to being ambidextrous pistols. The M&P has
an ambidexterous slide release, but the magazine release is
switchable between left or right handed. The XD has an
ambidexterous magazine release, but the slide release is
set up for right handers. It’s easier to drop the magazine
with your index finger than it is to work a slide release
with it, so the nod goes to the M&P in this department.
Caliber
Paraphrasing a friend: the best round/weapon is the one
you’re most familiar and proficient with, and that comes
with lots of training and practice. 9 mm is the serious
round with which it’s easiest to get good with due to its
low recoil and relatively low cost, which lets you practice
more on the same budget. A central nervous system hit with
a 9 mm beats a gut shot with a .45. Shot placement is key,
and get used to firing multiple shots into your target just
in case.
Sights
Under no circumstances should a pistol intended for serious
use have an adjustable sight. I went through four
adjustable sights on my Kimber 1911 before installing a
fixed sight from Heinie, which has a serrated surface
with a simple notch that gives a clear sight picture.
Kimber’s MIM adjustable sights only lasted a few
thousand rounds, and Bo-Mar’s steel one hung on for nearly
ten thousand. The Heinie will last longer than I do.
I like the clean sight picture of the Heinie rear sights.
The serrations on the stock front sight allow you to
quickly check whether you’re focussing on the front sight:
if you can’t see the serrations, you’re probably focussing
on the target. I’m conscious of seeing the serrations as
part of a complete sight picture when shooting at longer
ranges.
The M&P unfortunately ships with the inexplicably
popular Novak sights, which have a scalloped
profile and rounded edges that make for a busy sight
picture. They’re also very smooth, which complicates
single-handed operation since they won’t easily catch
on a belt to cycle the slide. Fortunately, aftermarket
manufacturers (e.g., AmeriGlo, 10-8 and Warren Tactical) make after-market
sight that looks like a Heinie knock-offs. The XD's
sights split the difference. They're not as bad as the
Novaks, but not as clean as the Heinies. Heinie also
makes sights for both the M&P and XD.
Standard sights become invisible under low lighting. This
is something to consider on a pistol that may be used for
defensive purposes: it’s hard to get good sight alignment
if you can’t see the sights. A popular option is to install
a set of tritium sights like those form AmeriGlo. I like their rear sight will
easily catch on a belt for racking the slide one
handed. I have not used them, but the TruGlo TFOs also
look like a good design. This still leaves open the
question of seeing the target.
Grips
Pistol grips often don’t have enough texture to grip well.
Skateboard deck grip tape will solve this in a jiffy. It
also works well as poor-man’s checkering for the front
strap of 1911s. In this application, cut it wide enough to
fit under the grip panels. It will last a few thousand
rounds before smoothing out and needing replacement. Every
1911 should come with a set of Gunner Grips, which stick to your hands
incredibly well.
Polymer-framed pistols like the Glock, XD, and M&P
share factory grip texturing isn’t that doesn’t have a lot
of bite. These days, folks are texturing the surface of
their polymer pistols with a soldering iron or wood-burning tool. Kyle Defoor has an
excellent series of photos and a video on this process.
Trigger
A trigger should have minimal take-up, a crisp break, and a
short reset. The take-up is the initial pull to fire the
first shot and is always longer than the reset distance.
The reset is the movement as the trigger moves forward
after firing a shot until you can feel the sear re-engage.
You can test the trigger by unloading the pistol, racking
the slide, pressing the trigger to release the
hammer/striker, holding it back while racking the slide
again, and slowly releasing the trigger until you feel a
click. This is the reset distance. Then, start pressing the
trigger. The distance the trigger moves before it breaks is
the take-up. A good 1911 trigger has two or three
millimeters of reset and take-up, which is one reason it's
so easy to shoot a 1911 quickly. The reset on a Glock is
also rather short. The M&P and XD have longer resets
but are still manageable. Slicking up an M&P trigger is
simply a matter of dropping in the Apex Tactical trigger kit. These parts make the
M&P’s trigger feel as good as a decent 1911 one,
admittedly with more take-up and reset. Options for
the XD include kits from Stringer Precision and Powder River Precision, both of which
requires fitting.
Most autoloading pistols have so-called double-action
triggers, which have a heavy trigger pull for the first
shot followed by a short, light pull for subsequent shots.
This is a solution in search of a problem.
Holsters
My pal Mike Benedict was the world’s first
IDPA four-gun master and began designing holsters when he couldn’t find one he
liked. His A10 works great for carry and
competition. There’s no reason to buy a leather
holster these days. Be sure to get a pouch to carry a
spare magazine or two as well. I’ve heard good things
about Comp-Tac and Raven Concealment holsters but haven’t
tried them myself.
Software
Get professional training, practice (both live- and
dry-fire) to maintain your skills, and try some pistol
competitions (e.g., IDPA) and force-on-force drills with
Airspoft pistols to learn about
shooting under stress. Magpul’s The Art of the Dynamic Pistol is by far
the best pistol training video I’ve seen.
Ammunition
I’ve shot tens of thousands of rounds of Wolf 9 mm and 45 ACP and recommend it highly. Ammoman.com is a good place to order
ammunition, and their prices include shipping.
Qualifications
The author has an IDPA CDP expert rating and shoots clean,
sub-ten-second El Presidentes from concealment on good
days. He's trained with several world-class
pistoleros, and some of their knowledge has rubbed off
on him.
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Last edit: 14 July 2010