Chronicling the depravities of the State.
Not that the caliber wars ever ended. But people supporting the 9mm always say it has to be good since our military dumped the .45 for it. Well more evidence is showing our military is looking at reinstating the .45 with a firearm to be designated the M45.
Lets the pissing match CONTINUE!
Some time ago I mentioned I was doing a comparison of the XD and Glock lines of pistols. Of course I didn’t follow up on that in any reasonable time but here is the follow up. Before making posts comparing the two I’m going to go over the two pistols being compared, the Springfield XD Compact in .45 and the Glock 30SF also in .45.
Both guns are the compact versions of each companies .45 pistol. The XD Compact I’m testing has a 4.04″ barrel while the Glock 30SF has a 3.78″ barrel. Not a lot of difference there I must say. Meanwhile the XD is 5″ high while the Glock is 4.76″ when using the flush 9 round magazine (I only have 10 round magazines for the Glock). For width the XD is 1.21″ while the Glock is 1.27″ which is so negligible that it’s almost unnoticeable. The XD does look quite a bit thinner due to the fact the top of the slide is thinned while the Glock slide is the same width from top to bottom. According to company provided statistics with an empty 10 round magazine inserted the XD weighs in at 29 oz. while the Glock weighs in at 26.49 oz. This surprises me a bit since the Glock feels slightly heavier.
Both guns are capable of using their bigger siblings larger capacity magazines give both the capability of 13+1 rounds. One difference is Springfield has spacers for their magazines to make the 13 round magazines fit flush with the shorter grip compact model while Glock offers no such piece. Standard they take 10 round magazines giving both guns the same capacity.
On the exterior the guns only differ in appearance and a slight number of features. The XD comes with a striker cocked indicator and a grip safety. Both guns have a loaded chamber indicator but whereas the XD indicator is a separate piece on the stop of the barrel the Glock’s extractor doubles as a loaded chamber indicator. This is not achievable on the XD since it uses an internal extractor while the Glock uses an external one. Both guns have a trigger safety mean to prevent the firearm from going off if the trigger gains enough inertia but somebody isn’t pulling it.
The Glock grip is at a steeper angle than the XD. Some people hate this about the Glock while others like it but I found it easy to adapt to with a little time. The XD grip angle is similar to that of the CZ line of pistols from which much of its design came. Meanwhile the barrel axis of the Glock is noticeably lower than that of the XD. This in theory reduced felt recoil but to make up for that fact the XD has a much heavier recoil spring in it than the Glock does.
Those are the two pistols, if you want more details just do a Google search. Most people know the guns well enough that this post isn’t really needed but being this is an experiment I feel the need to list all information.
Checking Springfield Armory’s website I found that they introduced a new pistol, the XD(M) 3.8. It appears to more or less be an XD(M) with a 3.8 inch barrel and different slide serration.
Right now it only appears to come in 9mm but I’m sure .40 S&W will be coming along shortly. Although it’s being marketed at concealed carry it appears the grip is still the standard XD(M) length at the gun takes 19 round magazines. Personally I can conceal a 5″ barrel no problem it’s the grip of the pistol that I find most difficult to conceal. But that’s just an observation. Overall the XD(M) 3.8 doesn’t appear to be anything groundbreaking but may be a nice addition to the line.
Sometimes you get good news in the morning and sometimes not. This is one of those nots. The Firearm Blog reports that Metal Storm is approaching bankruptcy.
For those of you who don’t know Metal Storm it’s an Australian based company that developed a new feeding mechanism for firearms. Instead of having detachable magazines Metal Storm’s guns stack ammunition in the barrel. The ammunition has no casing instead it’s simply powder, bullet, powder, bullet, etc. Small electrodes are placed in the barrel where the powder lays. These electrodes ignite the powder sending the round on it’s way. The advantage to this was the capability to create a weapon with less moving parts and a much higher rate of fire.
They made some rather wicked machine guns and grenade launchers. It’ll be a sad day if they go under (down under?).
So getting back into the swing of things has been slow. I’d apologize but hey this is my site and I can do as I please. According to The Firearm Blog the FBI is looking to acquire some equipment guaranteed to fuck somebody up.
The FBI is looking to acquire some 20mm cannons. For what? Who knows. But we do know one thing, 20mm of shell will hurt anything that gets struck by it. Maybe the FBI is looking into hunting dinosaurs.
Here is another article found via Says Uncle. I hear about the whole concept of using replica Airsoft pistols to practice shooting. Cheaper Than Dirt has a nice write up on their opinion of Airsoft and dry-fire practice.
I mostly agree with what is written there. Airsoft and dry-fire practice is good for doing first shot drills. The problem is neither of the two replicate the recoil of a real gun. This means if somebody spends all of their time practicing with either of the two methods they will lack the ability to properly do multiple-shot drills as those require compensating for recoil.
I do dry-fire practice quite often, usually when I’m watching a show. It helps build good muscle memory for proper trigger pulls. It also helps alleviate the flinch reaction some people (including myself before actually practicing) have. But I also go to the range as often as I can and practice with real ammunition.
I never got on board the whole Airsoft idea because I can’t justify spending as much for a replica gun as an actual gun. For just a little more money I can buy the actual gun, and then I have something I can use for gaining full familiarity with a firearm.
I also agree with the Cheaper Than Dirt post on holster draws and reload drills should be practiced a lot at home as opposed to dry-fire. Remember you can be the fastest and most accurate shooter on the planet. But if it takes you ages to get the gun from your holster to aiming at an attacker you’re screwed. Likewise if you run out of ammunition, or Odin help you you’re magazine fails, being able to reload quickly could make the difference (be in competition or a self defense situation).
But overall the key is practice. That fancy $500.00 gun is meaningless if you can’t use it effectively.
Via Gun Pundit I have found another example of somebody needing to tacticool up old guns. BEHOLD! A Tommy gun with rails.
Actually what was used to design it is the true story. A web application called Pimp My Gun allows you to drag and drop different features on various guns. It’s rather cool (it would actually be cool if it wasn’t written in Flash). I think I could entertain myself for a couple hours with this.
Note I said upgrade the M4 not replace it. The Firearm Blog let’s use know that the Army may be correcting some of the M4’s biggest criticisms.
Hit the link for the nitty gritty details. Needless to say they aren’t asking for much in the way of upgrades, just some little things.
The Firearm Blog points out that Remington is planning to reenter the handgun market. They seem to be coming a long ways from their “hunters only” history of the last several decades. First they introduce AR-15s, than the Bushmaster ACR, and now handguns. All they need to do is create some AK derivative and they too can be at the top of the Brady Hit List.
Man I hate Britain’s government. Seriously if anybody reading this blog is a Brit do yourselves a favor and start a revolt. Days of our Trailers provides another example of the stupidity of Britain’s gun control laws.
This story involves one Paul Clarke. He is a 27 year old former soldier who thought he was doing the right thing. For doing the right thing he was found guilty of a crime and now faces up to five years in prison. What was his crime? Possession of a gun. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? Well it’s not that simple. From the story:
Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.
Yes he found a shotgun. Believing it was his duty to dispose of it he personally took it to the police. Here is a thumbnail list of events:
he court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden.
In his statement, he said: “I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges.
“I didn’t know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him.
“At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall.”
Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells.
So Mr. Clarke found a shotgun. He didn’t try to illegally keep it. Instead he does what he thinks is the responsible thing and turns it in. He didn’t threaten anybody with it, he didn’t use it, he took it and went to straight to the police to turn it in. What the Hell was he supposed to do? Call the police and wait for them to pick it up? Oh wait they would be able to nail him anyways since the shotgun was in a liner and he had to remove it to see what it was. Oh damn catch 22.
If you live in Britain and you find a gun remember you’ll get the same punishment whether you turn it into the police or keep it. The only difference is if you keep you the police may never find it and therefore you won’t face jail time. Man that’s encouraging.
Finally I leave you with this golden quote from the story:
The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant.
We don’t need common sense we have laws!