My initial impressions on a few different pistols I shot over the weekend.
Walther P22: I didn't really expect much from this pistol despite it being a Walther but I'm glad to say I was wrong. It's a small lightweight pocket pistol chambered in .22lr. When I first saw one of these in a display case I was underwhelmed by it's looks but I have to say that everything worked well and it was more accurate than it had any rights to. Most BB/pellet pistols have more felt recoil than this thing and worked wonders for taming my fiance's initial jitters about firing handguns. Her exact words were "It's so
cute! I can't, like, kill anything with it though can I?". After explaining that normally no, but with the accuracy she has, probably, if she hits where she's aiming and isn't afraid to shoot 2-3 times to make sure. This is a great, inexpensive, 'starter gun' or short range plinker. You can even get a laser sight designed to compliment the guns lines for even more fun shooting. While researching the laser I did find a few issues that I didn't encounter but will pass along: First, it doesn't like hollow point ammo and can fail to feed without tweaking the gun. Second, and more importantly, the slide is manufactured from a cast zinc alloy and some people are experiencing fractures and cracks. They seem to be few and far between but it IS a concern if you plan on shooting it for a long, long time.
Ruger LCP in .38 spl: A very popular, internal hammer pistol that is finding favor with small handed shooters. This gun, along with the Walter, belong to a friends wife and you can NOT talk her into trading it away, even for another pistol she
really wants. That being said, I didn't like it. I didn't really shoot it enough to make a full review but my initial feeling is that it's too small for my 'medium' sized hands. Accuracy was on par for a snub nosed revolver and the trigger was better than most double action revolvers I've shot but had an odd feel to it. I'd liken it to a compound bow where it's hard to pull initially but then 'lets off' sharply towards the end. With practice, it would probably feel better than a 'normal' trigger but I could only pry it out of her hands for 5 rounds while she shot my XD... Like I said, she loves that gun.
My biggest complaint and the main reason I didn't like it was due to it's size. It consistently rotated out of my hand when it fired. That's something I expect from a .357 mag (and larger), not from a .38 snubbie. Even with nice Hogue grips, I had to readjust my grip between shots and that's not something I look for in a pistol. Oddly enough, she didn't have the same problem with her smaller hands but it did buck her quite far from target, about a foot up and to the right. I am guessing that she rides out the recoil where I am striving for quick 2nd shot alignment. That's the trade off of an ultralight carry pistol though so it would be up to you to decide what you're willing to live with! So, in short, this is one of those pistols that you should shoot before purchasing to make sure it works for you before deciding to purchase.
S&W Sigma in .40: The half price Glock. S&W copied the Glock to the point where they have to pay royalties to them for every one they produce! The good, it's about half the price of a new Glock. The bad, cheaper feel and a chunky, clunky trigger pull. S&W uses some pretty thin stamped steel for the slide release which I feel was a bad move but time will tell if it ever becomes a problem. Otherwise, it looks and feels and even shoots like a Glock except for that darn trigger! The trigger is a two piece polymer contraption that emulates the safety trigger of a glock but without the smoothness. This trigger is
heavy and always feels like it needs more lubrication. It's so bad that trying to smoothly pull it are flat out impossible, it feels almost like there are 4 notches to overcome in order to get to the 'real' trigger. Factory estimate is 8-12 lbs. but it feels like 15lbs+!!! With all that being said, I still like it! I feel like it's more accurate than my XD in fact! Once I ignored the trigger, I was hitting within a half inch of where I wanted, every time, while aiming (unlike my XD which I have to point shoot). The good news is that there IS a fix for the trigger. My friend is sending it in to Smith and for $60 they'll replace the trigger springs and it
should have the same trigger as the higher end guns. He is claiming the M&P but we'll see once it gets back.
On a related note, the gun range had a sale on Winchester 'Ranger' ammunition in .40 cal. The price was cheaper than even their FMJ ball ammo so my friend bought more than a couple boxes, defense ammo cheaper than plinker prices, why not? During our time at the range, he had a half dozen rounds fail to fire in 3 different pistols!!! He asked me what I thought the problem was and my response after the first one was "It happens, wait a couple seconds then rack the slide, and eject it down range and try again", the 2nd round fired and the 3rd misfired again. I told him the gun was probably dirty (rental) and they should probably just swap it out. They did and in the next gun it was firing about every other round as well. Now I was getting worried and told them to wait 5 seconds and then capture the duds to see if they were getting a weak primer strike. Nope! Deep, almost to the point of piercing the primer on all of them... So for anyone tempted to buy a bunch of Ranger ammo, be aware that there might be some 'returns' being resold to gun stores! They were renting everything in .40 cal trying to decide on a B-day present for his wife so they shot a wider variety than I did so I told them they could do one of two things. Demand a refund or exchange for more expensive ammo, or keep shooting and use it as a training tool to practice malfunction drills. I'm happy to say they both chose the second option (very forward thinking and practical people, both of them!) and it turned what could have been a bad day at the range into a learning experience with a wider range of weapons than they normally had access to. We did inform the range master of the problem and they're looking into the origins of the ammo as we speak.
Whew! That's a lotta typing so I apologize for any eye strain you may get.
I like hearing the opinions of everybody here because blogs are occasionally written with sales in mind, and the same thing for gun forums. Usually fanboys on the forums, but the same type of thing. I can count on you guys being honest.
