I'm going off topic here: firearms!

[harkamus]

So...I just got a new toy, a Hi-power. It's actually a Charles Daly HP, which is a Hi-power with a few improvements. Browning Hi-powers were known to have mushy feeling safeties, so Charles Daly improved on the safety. It has a positive click when engaging/disengaging. Charles Daly also changed the sights to a 1911 dovetail instead of the Browning Hi-power dovetail. Charles Daly was actually the importer. Two companies finished them here in the US when Daly imported them, Dan Wesson and Magnum Research. The Magnum Research ones (serial number starting with HPM such as the one I bought) is the one that has the 1911 dovetail sights. Regardless of which company finished them, they built the Hi-powers here in the USA with parts imported from overseas, which means this one is actually stamped Made in the USA.

Anyway, I just gave it a thorough cleaning. I bought it NIB, unfired. It was a safe queen. It was too good a deal to pass up. The trigger pull is so short, it's crazy. It has very little take up, something like 1/6 of an inch, and then it breaks with ZERO overtravel. The trigger pull is so short it's deceptive in how heavy the trigger pull actually is. I couldn't actually gauge it since it was so crisp, but apparently Hi-powers are known to have heavy trigger pulls. I'm anxious to see if my range has a trigger pull gauge so I can test it.

I have a few mods in mind in the next couple months. I want to change the trigger because doing so removes the mag disconnect which not only makes the trigger pull crisper and lighter, but makes the firearm drop the mags freely. With the mag disconnect in place, mags do not drop freely. I want to add an ambi safety, which means I may have to send to a pistol smith. I'm debating on a beavertail as well, but not quite sure. That would be an aesthetic thing for me, since I don't think I'll get hammer bite the way it is now. But, who knows? I've yet to shoot it. Will take it out next week. I also want to get the gun finished in Poly T-2 from Robar Finishes. I almost forgot about the first mod. I think I will get some g10 VZ grips to replace the stock ones.

It feels good to have another all steel frame firearm. Steel frames are my preference. I do love my HK45 though and nothing will replace that. The HP is just one of those things you get with the intention of modding them. That's where the fun is anyway.

So this thread is about firearms. Post what you have, what you like, what you want to get, etc.

 

[MT Damascus]

Only gun I own or need, H&K compact USP .40, packed with Cor Bon 165 gr JHP. I bought it new and will never part with it. I have a concealed weapons permit.

 

[harkamus]

HK USP. Such an iconic firearm. Very nice. Ever try the LEM trigger system? I hear the Glock fans go crazy once they try LEM.

 

[MT Damascus]

"LEM (Law Enforcement Modification) Trigger Developed especially for the U.S. government, the Law Enforcement Modification (or LEM for short), is a USP DAO (Double-Action Only) model with a unique trigger mechanism. This mechanism improves the double action trigger performance and reduces the weight of the DAO trigger pull to 7.5–8.5 pounds-force (33–38 N), uses a stronger hammer spring, and shortens the trigger reset. Aside from the LEM mechanism, it is identical to the USP Variant 7 (DAO) model" Wikipedia

I have not tried it, sounds good though. I really like the de-cocking feature on mine though.

 

[Steven65]

I carried a BHP from my teens for a number of years. It kept me safe in a very turbulent time in our history.
I replaced it in the 90's with a G19 for daily carry and retired the old girl to the range and the safe. I decided to build her into a range gun only and one of our talented local gunsmiths went to work on her. I still take her out to range occasionally and she still shoots beautifully.
The High Power is still one of the most beautiful pistols ever made.

 

[harkamus]

"LEM (Law Enforcement Modification) Trigger Developed especially for the U.S. government, the Law Enforcement Modification (or LEM for short), is a USP DAO (Double-Action Only) model with a unique trigger mechanism. This mechanism improves the double action trigger performance and reduces the weight of the DAO trigger pull to 7.5–8.5 pounds-force (33–38 N), uses a stronger hammer spring, and shortens the trigger reset. Aside from the LEM mechanism, it is identical to the USP Variant 7 (DAO) model" Wikipedia

I have not tried it, sounds good though. I really like the de-cocking feature on mine though.

It does take some getting used to, to go to a gun that has no safeties or decockers like a Glock. You can also get an LEM in the light variant that changes the trigger pull to 4.5 to 5.5 pounds.

I carried a BHP from my teens for a number of years. It kept me safe in a very turbulent time in our history.
I replaced it in the 90's with a G19 for daily carry and retired the old girl to the range and the safe. I decided to build her into a range gun only and one of our talented local gunsmiths went to work on her. I still take her out to range occasionally and she still shoots beautifully.
The High Power is still one of the most beautiful pistols ever made.

I have a thing for square trigger guards and full length dust covers. That thing looks magnificent. Guessing the port hides an extended barrel? I'm gonna guess 5.5 inches? I also noticed the two holes on the frame. I assume that's for mounting a sight bracket. Finally great stippling and what looks like a jet funnel of sorts.

 

[Apec]

Smith and Wesson 1911PD Commander
HK USP 45f

I am somewhat annoyed at S&W's QC. My 1911 came with a dent in the forward cocking serrations (other side). Apparently some folks got Performance Center firearms that had poor finish and other tooling marks/dents.

 

[harkamus]

Here she is! Already removed the mag disconnect. Now my mags drop freely, and the trigger pull feels even better.

Click for higher res:

 

[Mountain Wildman]

I carried a Browning BDM 9 for over 15 years.
Now it's either my Kahr PM9

Or my Sig P220 Elite

Or both.

 

[Steven65]

I have a thing for square trigger guards and full length dust covers. That thing looks magnificent. Guessing the port hides an extended barrel? I'm gonna guess 5.5 inches? I also noticed the two holes on the frame. I assume that's for mounting a sight bracket. Finally great stippling and what looks like a jet funnel of sorts.

The barrel is a standard FN unit. Here in South Africa in a strange twist of law it was not the frame that is the actual licensed part but the barrel. So changing them was always a pain. I would have loved a 6" Bar-Sto but at the time I built the gun, getting them was all but impossible. The standard unit still shoots excellently though.

Your Charles Daly is a beauty.....Elegant and purposeful. You must be delighted.

As a boy I always loved the guns built by Austen Behrlert. I would see them in American Handgunner and drool. Bill Laughridge at the The Cylinder and Slide shop also built beautiful guns. I purchased a bunch of High Power parts from him at the SHOT Show in the 90's for another HP build but I never got around to doing it and I sold them off.

Even today when I pick up a stock HP it still feels so good in the hand. John Moses really was a genius.

 

[Dirk]

I once had a nice little collection of guns back in the 90's. I wish I still had them! Maybe I will have some more down the road.

My favorites were S&W N Frames. I had an awesome 4" 29. I developed some excellent loads for it. A former co-worker was a firearms instructor and had a nice range on his property. I would go out there on my day off and shoot bowling pins from a small hill about 160 yrds from the table. My best was 5 pins off the table with 6 shots! It usually took about 12-15. Not my favorite, but probably the most accurate was a 6" 686 with silhouette sights(adjustable front blade and wider rear site) my best with that was a group of 6 in about the size of a cd 100yrds off hand. I had other people shoot it and they were able to make some awesome groups at long range with it. Of course, this was when I had very good eye sight. AAHH youth.

While I loved 1911's, Glocks, Sigs, HK's, my favorite was probably a Browning Hi-Power MkIII. No recoil, fit my hand perfectly and was very accurate.

I am going to have to find a range that rents guns and check out the new stuff. There is a lot of interesting stuff out there.

 

[harkamus]

my favorite was probably a Browning Hi-Power MkIII. No recoil, fit my hand perfectly and was very accurate.

I cannot wait to take the new Hi-power to the range on Monday.

As far as new stuff...they even make bulpup handguns now.

[youtube]-TSva89jbNM[/youtube] I read about a guy that bought recently. They're about a grand, but for the size of a Rohrbaugh, you get a 3.4 inch barrel since it's bulpup.

Ugly bugger, but effective.

Smith and Wesson 1911PD Commander

I am somewhat annoyed at S&W's QC. My 1911 came with a dent in the forward cocking serrations (other side). Apparently some folks got Performance Center firearms that had poor finish and other tooling marks/dents.

How's the external extractor treating ya on the S&W 1911?

 

[Apec]

How's the external extractor treating ya on the S&W 1911?

Not bad at all.

Saw video of the Boberg being fired using the middle finger as the trigger finger. Guy's tip of his index finger looked awfully close to the muzzle.

 

[harkamus]

So I put 150 rounds through the Charles Daly Hi-power today. They were all reloads with Montana Gold 124 gr. hollow points and Vihtavouri n320 powder (the good stuff). Every round fed flawlessly. I was kinda disappointed though in that my shots seemed to be 5 inches high of aiming. I shot my HK45 before that and they were all the same. I guess it really is true that different sight radius will make you shoot differently. Both guns have XS Sights on them. My HK45 has the aftermarket XS Big Dots (thanks again to the DDR forumites that surprised me with them for Christmas). The Charles Daly came stock with XS Dots (standard white dots). The HK45, I just shoot by aiming the front bead on whatever I want to hit. POA = POI up to 15 yards on the HK45. On the Charles Daly, I couldn't fire the same way by aiming just the front bead on the target. I had to actually pay attention to the front and rear sights to get the impact where I was aiming. Once I got that figured out, the groupings got a lot better. The Hi-power shoots so unbelievably softly. I only shot out to 12 yards with the Hi-power, but it was much easier at 12 yards than my HK45 is.

All in all I was impressed at the trigger and how soft shooting the Hi-power was. I haven't shot a steel framed 9mm since my Jericho 941. It's funny how the 941 has a bit more recoil in 9mm despite having a more substantial frame and therefore heft to it. We're talking like half a pound difference between the 941 and the Hi-power. Yet, the Hi-power feels softer when I shoot it.

The guy next to me was shooting a Smith and Wesson 1006, which is a 10mm full steel framed 5 inch barreled semi-automatic. It's funny because my bro and I were talking about the 1006 in the car ride to the range today, and the guy next to us happened to be shooting it. 10mm is a powerful cartridge. Puts 357 magnum to shame. We're talking something like 730 foot pounds of energy out of a 200 gr bullet traveling 1300 fps. Needles to say, the old man shooting it didn't like the recoil impulse. His groupings were all over the place, so he asked one of the range staff if the sights were off since that guy also happens to own a 1006. That guy put rounds where they should have been, but agreed the sights were a tad off. I am tempted to get my bro to buy the 1006, but we don't have the reloading dies for 10mm, nor do we have .40 cal bullets for reloading; 10mm rounds use .40 s&w bullets.

 

[Apec]

So I put 150 rounds through the Charles Daly Hi-power today. They were all reloads with Montana Gold 124 gr. hollow points and Vihtavouri n320 powder (the good stuff). Every round fed flawlessly. I was kinda disappointed though in that my shots seemed to be 5 inches high of aiming. I shot my HK45 before that and they were all the same. I guess it really is true that different sight radius will make you shoot differently. Both guns have XS Sights on them. My HK45 has the aftermarket XS Big Dots (thanks again to the DDR forumites that surprised me with them for Christmas). The Charles Daly came stock with XS Dots (standard white dots). The HK45, I just shoot by aiming the front bead on whatever I want to hit. POA = POI up to 15 yards on the HK45. On the Charles Daly, I couldn't fire the same way by aiming just the front bead on the target. I had to actually pay attention to the front and rear sights to get the impact where I was aiming. Once I got that figured out, the groupings got a lot better. The Hi-power shoots so unbelievably softly. I only shot out to 12 yards with the Hi-power, but it was much easier at 12 yards than my HK45 is.

All in all I was impressed at the trigger and how soft shooting the Hi-power was. I haven't shot a steel framed 9mm since my Jericho 941. It's funny how the 941 has a bit more recoil in 9mm despite having a more substantial frame and therefore heft to it. We're talking like half a pound difference between the 941 and the Hi-power. Yet, the Hi-power feels softer when I shoot it.

The guy next to me was shooting a Smith and Wesson 1006, which is a 10mm full steel framed 5 inch barreled semi-automatic. It's funny because my bro and I were talking about the 1006 in the car ride to the range today, and the guy next to us happened to be shooting it. 10mm is a powerful cartridge. Puts 357 magnum to shame. We're talking something like 730 foot pounds of energy out of a 200 gr bullet traveling 1300 fps. Needles to say, the old man shooting it didn't like the recoil impulse. His groupings were all over the place, so he asked one of the range staff if the sights were off since that guy also happens to own a 1006. That guy put rounds where they should have been, but agreed the sights were a tad off. I am tempted to get my bro to buy the 1006, but we don't have the reloading dies for 10mm, nor do we have .40 cal bullets for reloading; 10mm rounds use .40 s&w bullets.

3rd Gen S&W steel/alloy autoloaders are great guns. Too bad those are hard to come by in this commie state. I wanted a 5926/5906/5903/5904, and perhaps even one of the 45XX single stack .45ACP's.

But the 10mm's are long discontinued and relatively uncommon, so if you think you'd really want one and you find a good price (prices have been all over the board), you can always buy reloading equipment/components later.

 

[harkamus]

But the 10mm's are long discontinued and relatively uncommon, so if you think you'd really want one and you find a good price (prices have been all over the board), you can always buy reloading equipment/components later.

Tempted to get my bro to buy it and just store it til he decides he wants to reload. It is somewhat rare like you said because of being discontinued for a few years now. They would look exactly like 1911s if the trigger guard shape were a bit different.

 

[Dirk]

10mm is awesome. If I were going for a do all round in an auto it would be a 10mm. I never liked S&W's 10mm's. They shot well, but were very uncomfortable for me. I take that back, the 610 was my favorite 10mm. Hey, wait, that's a revolver. What a shock! I had a Delta Elite. That was a great gun, but metalurgy of the time couldn't handle full 10mm loads for long. The Glock 20 is a great gun, very accurate and controllable. Just a bit large. Only real option now a days, I believe.

 

[Apec]

Tempted to get my bro to buy it and just store it til he decides he wants to reload. It is somewhat rare like you said because of being discontinued for a few years now. They would look exactly like 1911s if the trigger guard shape were a bit different.

The grail S&W autoloaders I'm after are the compact 945 Performance Centers. Almost jumped on one, but missed at the last second when I started researched at the last second and found out that my desired model/serial number ranges weren't on the Commiefornia "safe" handgun roster, despite having matching barrel lengths/finish/frame descriptions. Technically I could have gotten away with the description, but I didn't feel like cheating my FFL, nor would it be worth the trouble if things folded.

It's S&W's reinvented hybrid 1911 and 3rd gen .45 auto's, though different. Uses a Briley bushing and has a lower bore axis. Unfortunately they don't share mags.

 

[harkamus]

I like it but would want an ambi safety. I wonder if that's possible on a 945. I'm guessing the 945 slide is a modified version of another slide judging by the two circles below the rear sight on either side of the slide. I know the third gen steelies had the slide mounted safety levers there. I'm really liking that 945.

 

[Apec]

I like it but would want an ambi safety. I wonder if that's possible on a 945. I'm guessing the 945 slide is a modified version of another slide judging by the two circles below the rear sight on either side of the slide. I know the third gen steelies had the slide mounted safety levers there. I'm really liking that 945.

Ambi's are nice. Unfortunately in the industry, it seems standard to use the Swenson style safety that requires a cut on the right grip panel. It is a weak design compared to the King's. The grip panel is the only thing holding the right side safety on the Swenson, while the King's uses a reinforced hammer pin. Kimber makes an ambi similar to King's, and I believe Caspian does too, although I have not considered installing an ambi yet.