I stumbled upon this link for the weapons for a mod called NATO 3, for a variant of the PC game Rainbow Six. Though it’s for a computer game, their section on primary and secondary weapons is actually very informative with regards to the historical developmental context of these arms. The tactics portion of the descriptions, though, probably should be kept within the context of the game…I have no idea how accurate they are.
There was a Gun Show in Concord, New Hampshire this weekend, so I went Sunday morning to check it out. Haven’t been to one since a friend of mine brought me to one in upstate New York years ago.
Didn’t see anything particularly interesting. I did find another magazine for my Beretta 92SB Compact Type M, a single-stack 8 rounder that’s a bit difficult to find. It was about the same as I’d have paid online + shipping, but I got to bring it home today.
I also picked up a couple new Chip McCormick 8-round blued 1911 magazines and some extra Fobus holsters and mag carriers for the other guns. I’ve been wanting to shoot the Kimber TLE, but lacked anything to carry it in.
I was tempted to pick up one of those huge extended Glock mags for the novelty value, but didn’t.
I was hoping to see an HK P7-M13 or Rohrbaugh R9 somewhere, but no such luck. A lot of AR-15s, and lots of Walther G22 22s. There was a Mossberg Mariner shotgun and also a Mossberg 590 12gauge that caught my eye. I saw another Ruger PC4, and some kind of 9mm AR carbine that looked like an AR-7…not sure. It looked like a toy, but was kind of interesting. Maybe the most exotic thing that caught my eye was an HK VP-70.
That was about it…took about an hour to meander through the entire show. It occured to me that I need to learn more about rifles. There’s lots of interesting looking guns out there.
I thought I wanted the Kahr P9, but I mixed it up with the Rohrbaugh R9. I saw it in the September/October issue of American Handgunner. Seems like a nifty little gun in 9mm, 6+1 capacity, small enough for pocket carry.
The image shows the R9 with some kind of laser pocket thingy that’s in the Rohrbaugh store. “Prints like a wallet”.
On the downside, it’s almost $900.
My $8.95 Pachmayr Slip-On Grip arrived from pistol-gear.com, very quickly I might add. It’s a rubber sleeve you can tug onto the handle of your pistol. This particular one is a ‘universal sleeve’, fitting Berettas, Brownings, CZs, larger Glocks, Rugers, and SIGs among others. So it’s not exactly cut ideally for the Springfield XD-9.
After about 30 minutes of grunting and swearing, I got the thing on. It’s a durable rubber that seems to take to this pretty well…reminds me a bit of some kind of tire rubber (smells like it too). It would have been cool if it was trimmed exactly to fit the gun, but alas that was not meant to be. You can see how the back of the sleeve just kisses the grip safety of the XD. The material actually is a little loose if you pull it that high, because of the way the handle curves in, so it doesn’t end up really causing an operational problem. You might be able to tell this from the picture on the right.
I haven’t tried this at the range, but the gun does feel more graspable and hopefully more controllable. I was noticing that the gun was moving around more than it should have. Given the pain it was to tug on, I think it will stay put under stress, but we’ll see.
There are some nice things about this sleeve:
I actually like the way it feels despite the additional girth. Which makes me wonder if maybe one of those Para-Ordinance double-stack .45s is in my future. After paying my taxes today, I figure that will be the distant future.
UPDATE 05/25/05
There is some slight movement, I’ve noticed, after maybe a hundred or so practice draw-fire drills. Not a lot, but a noticeable drop for that front finger groove relative to the bottom of the trigger guard. Maybe a millimeter.
I can’t quite bring the groove high enough without starting to cover the back of the XD’s grip safety, however that part of the grip curves in more extremely than the shape of the sleeve, so it doesn’t squeeze it.
I’m thinking of trying that AGrip stuff that WDE mentioned next.
Did a little more moving without not quite so much missing. Again I’m pushing a little too fast, but the new grip (when I can get it) is still taking some getting used to. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was firing a Marlin 1898 (?) lever-action rifle chambered for .44 magnum. It had a significant kick to it. I didn’t shoot that well with it, but it’s a neat gun.
The SIG armorer at the range told me that he’d looked over my SIG 226-40, and found that the hammer spur was broken in half. He’s replacing it when the part comes in tomorrow or so. I also got the replacement 226 mag for .40/.357SIG that was missing with the gun, a greasy new 12 rounder. I had heard that SIG packed their stuff in this tacky greasy stuff, but this was the first time I’d actually seen it. I understand that new SIGs come well-greased, and it takes some doing to get it all off. Even then, they’re kind of sticky for a while afterwards.
I went to Riley’s up in Hookset today to look at smaller carry guns, taking a couple hours to browse everything. Did a lot of gun holding but no buying.
Went to try out the newly-acquired SIG P226-40 and also try some of WDE’s shooting grip tips with the Springfield XD-9.