IMPRESSIONS FROM IWA AND GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
The purpose of this article is to share with you as many impressions from IWA as possible.
I shall focus on the information that is relevant on our market: guns or accessories which are available in our country as well. The reason: I believe it is more practical to talk about “toys” which we can “play” with, if we observe the legal conditions, instead of talking about an El Dorado that we only dream of.
I will allow myself to share with you also some personal appreciations and preferences based on experience.
Pistols
Since I am a shooter in the “Production” class, I shall begin with the sport pistols from this class.
SIG SAUER presented two new interesting models: X Five Allround and P 226 LDC. They both have a de-cocker. First of all, the obvious difference lies in the design (the former takes over the very attractive design of the new X-Five series) but also in the quality of the materials and the finishing and is also reflected in the price: almost from simple to double.
Being a “connoisseur” of the “old” P 226 (S model ), I have particularly liked the fact that SIG SAUER managed to eliminate in the new Allround what I considered to be the greatest weakness of its DA/SA triggers: the post breaking behavior of the trigger both in DA and especially in SA. It is probably a subjective perception, but I didn’t like the trigger after breaking- joy only did it miss trigger stop (which made it continue its movement a few mm after it broke) but also it seemed to me that the entire setting did not support a rapid (the reset was rather long) and accurate fire. By contrast, the SA triggers of the “old” X-Five or X-Six seemed to be from another world. And to counteract the remarks I already can see coming: I realize that from a construction point of view, there is a fundamental difference between the SA triggers and the SA mode of the DA/SA, differences which can be felt in the characteristic of the trigger. However, the contrast at the old Allround/226 (S) family seemed too strong to me – AFTER ALL IT IS A MATTER OF TASTE.
I am glad SIG SAUER has managed to eliminate what at least I considered to be a shortcoming. This way they have gained a new fan. This because, in my opinion, except for the trigger, the pistol was a success. Now, it has become even better.
I must mention the fact that the SIGs remain, once the steel SPHINX pistols production was ceased (at least until the Sphinx resumes production of these pistols) one of the very few pistols from the “Production” division list made of steel mostly by milling.
When the gun is used very intensely, the production manner can be felt: the probability that the slide or the grip breaks is far lower with such steel pistols made on CNC. The same is valid for the components.
It is true that the price is (or at least the Allround is expensive – it remains to be seen how much the LDC will cost and who is going to import it) 2.5 times or even higher than a steel grip pistol made by different casting manners or equivalent. It is for everyone to decide for themselves what is more important: the price or the lastingness.
The decision shall not be an easy one, for, at least in the IPSC, the qualities of the shooter shall always be more important than the firing pistol. That’s why a champion shall shoot well with any pistol, following a very brief adjustment period. Or, the shooter’s qualities are achieved by firing a lot of ammo. The pistol is very important, but much more important is the quality of the training and especially the number of cartridges.
In this context, the decision what to invest your money in is not easy, for with the price difference you can get a lot of cartridges. But a durable pistol is not changed so often and it doesn’t make surprises when you least expect it.
Don’t get me wrong: I do not intend to advertise SIG or to make an apology of expensive pistols. It’s just that after I have significantly participated in the extremely intense use (partly until the break) of four pistols of the same type in a relatively reasonable price class (not to mention the number of front sights, slide releases, extracting claws, trigger springs etc I have changed, the number of which I can not even recall) I can pretend that I have the necessary experience to say that the decision regarding the price of the pistol versus the ammunition you can buy for the price difference is a very difficult one.
My suggestion is to consider all the mentioned factors.
To which you should also add the compatibility with the ammunition: the machined pistols sometimes have very little tolerances between components, which makes them sensitive to certain types of ammunition. If you do not want to have surprises which shall affect your performance in a bad way, it is advisable that you test the behavior of the pistol (regardless of the price class) with a certain type of ammunition. Also preferable in competition conditions: e.g. In IPSC you might have to shoot up to 12 or even more stages with up to 200 or 300 cartridges in one day. It is important to know how the pistol behaves under such wearing and residues deposits circumstances. If there is a risk of malfunctions, you must include the cleaning and the lubrication in the competition routine.
The functionality guarantee also includes the availability of a stock of spare parts in order to be certain that you can restart using your pistol again as quickly as possible.
I decided to start using my fifth (in a row, not in parallel) pistol of a relatively reasonable price – which I would use the mostly in training. This because, with the price difference, I’d rather fire cartridges. It remains to be seen what I will (be able to) use in the competition.
But going back to our pistols:
Moving to sport pistols from more reasonable price classes, another production pistol which caught my attention is the X-caliber from Grand Power. Its trigger has also been improved by the manufacturer. The new trigger I have tested in the IWA (dry firing, obviously), has a much pre-travel and breaks in SA at approximately 1 kg (unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to measure the distance with my Lyman trigger gauge yet; the first chance I get, I will measure it).
I find this pistol to be extremely accurate in practical shooting. Of course, it is a matter of subjectivity, but the angle of the grip compared to the pistol body suits me very well, which leads to the significant ease of the aiming process (the so-called natural pointing).
This aspect has a direct impact on the aiming process’ duration (“searching” the target and focusing on the target) and on the probability of hitting small and very small targets at large distances.
In order to explain this phenomenon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiUadjZGxlc a short film: one day, very early in the morning, without any warm-up whatsoever and approximately a month after I had last fired an X-caliber, I tried hit mini poppers at approximately 50 meters away with a speed as close as possible to the one I would need for a stage. The film speaks for itself and exemplifies how important the compatibility of the shooter-gun-ammunition system is.
Specification: I do not own an X-caliber nor I am advertising for them. I am simply exemplifying on how much the compatibility with a certain pistol can mean and how much it can help.
IN THE NEXT ARTICLE I SHALL SHARE A FEW THINGS ON LONG GUNS.