The new grips work just fine, but…

For some reason the P226’s slide is not locking back on empty magazines now. I’ll take it apart and look at it later, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to figure anything out; I’m kind of an amateur at this.

On the plus side, the E2 grip replacement worked fine. I shot a box of ammo through the .22 upper, and a box through the 9 mm upper without any problems (slide issues excepted). It was nice to see that the range had recently laid down gravel over the dirt road, so mud wasn’t a problem.

Aside from the cold and the wind and my decided lack of high-speed/low-dragness, it was a great way to turn $25 into noise.

Any suggestions as to what’s causing the slide-lockback issues, and how best to fix it, are welcome.

UPDATE: Thanks to the fine folks at arfcom, I think the problem is that my thumb was riding the slide stop; when I racked the slide on an empty magazine (and made sure my thumb wasn’t on the stop), it locked back just fine.

UPDATE II – The Revengening: I got the grip flush with the frame; all I had to do was smack it a couple times on either side with a rubber mallet, and it snapped right into place. Violence really is the answer!

Test drive complete!

And the 9mm slide functions almost flawlessly!

I had a couple of stovepipes with the Tula ammo I was using, but the WWB worked without issue.  In ten magazines worth of shooting (150 rounds, 50 Tula and 100 WWB), I think I had about 4 instances where the slide failed to hold back after the last round.

After reading online, that’s probably caused by either a weak magazine spring or a bunch of crap around the slide release lever.  I’ll clean it and get some new magazines before taking it out again, and that should clear up what’s causing the problems.

The gun shoots better than I do, but I still got ~2/3 of the shots on the 4″ targets at 10 yards (and the misses were only off the target by an inch or two), so that’s more than acceptable for defense.

Shooting 5500 rounds of .22 through the P226 really helped my accuracy, though; I’m far more accurate with the 9 mm that I just got than I am with the .380 I’ve had for 8 months.

Adventures in gun cleaning

I started in on finally cleaning my P226 Classic 22, and while the gun is easy to disassemble (and reassemble, for that matter), the bottle of cleaning solvent I knocked over and spilled all over the table is harder to rebottle.  I cleaned up the spill as best I could and put the gun back together; I’ll finish cleaning it after buying some more solvent.  Next time I’ll be sure to have plenty of room to spread out the gun parts and cleaning implements.

I did get the return receipt back from Sig Sauer; when I sent in the coupon for the 9mm caliber exchange kit for the P226 a couple weeks back, I sent it return receipt requested.  The coupon said it should take 8-12 weeks to get the kit, so worst case I’ll be able to switch my P226 from .22 to 9mm by the end of the year.

I’ll be more comfortable carrying the P226 than the Bersa .380, I think; mostly because I shoot the Sig better (the sights on the Bersa are small, as is the sight radius).  I’ve also shot the Sig easily ten times as much; cheap ammo is a wonderful thing, and .380 is nothing if not expensive.

I’ve put it through its paces

And after 5500 rounds (easy to remember; it’s 10 boxes of Federal bulk pack from Walmart!), I think it’s time to clean my P226 classic 22.  It’s performed flawlessly; any failures to fire (and there haven’t been many; maybe a handful or so per box of ammunition) are most likely due to the ammo than the gun.

However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t need to clean it; I’ve been running a bore snake through the barrel every hundred or so rounds, but after 5500 (and rimfire is notoriously dirty), there’s a good bit of build-up in the gun that needs to be cleaned out.  Fortunately the internet won’t let me down!  I’ve found several videos on youtube that should help me clean and reassemble the gun.

Shooting that much rimfire has also saved me a ton of money; ten boxes of Federal bulk pack runs ~$150 plus tax; an equivalent number of rounds in .380 ACP would cost ~$1650.  Even after subtracting what I paid for the P226 and extra magazines, and the rimfire ammo, I’m still almost $900 ahead!

I’m going to fill out the coupon that came with the gun and send it off this coming week; I’ve decided that the little 380 I’ve been carrying (and to be honest, it’s not really that little, either) isn’t enough, and the rimfire practice would carry over better to a full-size caliber on the same frame.  I’m leaning heavily towards sending off for the 9mm conversion (mostly cause the magazines can carry 18 rounds), but I may decide on the .40 S&W conversion instead.  The .357 Sig option is right out; while I’ve read good things about that caliber, the ammunition available is all more expensive even than .380.

Once that comes in, I’ll get some ammunition and get comfortable shooting it, and then order some carry gear from Comp-Tac; they get good reviews for all their gear.  I’ll order a gun belt (reinforced with Kydex and a size smaller than they recommend; I’ve been needing a new belt anyway, and this way I’ll be sure it will last longer than if I order one that’s the right size for me right now), a magazine and flashlight pouch (my pockets are getting pretty damn full, what with two spare .380 magazines, a flashlight, and all the other crap I carry around in them), and an IWB Minotaur holster.

I haven’t had any issues carrying the .380 IWB, but I prefer Comp-Tac’s clip options to Supertuck’s (which is the brand I currently use).

What I really need to get is a dedicated .22 upper for my AR-15; I haven’t shot it as much as I’d like, and the cost of good ammo is still high (reloading is supposed to be easy, but I’m not quite comfortable doing that in an apartment, or without anyone to teach me WTF I’m doing).

In other news, I’ve been seeking help for my addiction to parentheses (but it hasn’t been too effective (and a damn good thing, too; they say the next step is supposed to cure semi-colon addiction as well, and semi-colons are the greatest punctuation mark yet conceived!)).

I bought a set of these the other day

Though not this pair, and from Academy Sports (and I got a box of Federal Champion .22 LR ammo, too).  Two grip trainers for $5.99; I keep one in the car and the other is by my desktop.  While out driving, I’ve been doing sets of 25 on each hand; it adds up after a while.  So far today I’ve done ~200 on each hand, and I’ll probably do at least another 100 before the end of the day.

Even after only three days, I can tell that closing the grips has gotten a lot easier.  I may get a couple of the weaker grips from heavygrips.com; they have resistances starting at 100 lbs and going all the way up to 350 lbs!

I have no illusions about my ability to get to that point, but I think the 150 lb and 200 lb grips are within the realm of possibility.

P226 range report

This afternoon I braved the heat to shoot half a box of Winchester Xpert 22 cartridges through my brand new P226 Classic .22.  I only had a couple dud rounds and one failure to extract; not bad for 250 shots.  That’s the most I’ve shot in one go; if I’d done that with my .380, it would have cost me ~$100 instead of $13.  Two and a half more boxes and I’ll have paid for the P226 just with savings on ammunition!

The Sig is much easier to shoot than the Bersa is; it’s heavier and shooting a lighter cartridge, it’s larger with a longer sight radius, and it’s easier to get a good two-handed grip on.  The Bersa is much easier to conceal, though; with the right holster, I could probably conceal the Sig without too much trouble, but it would print a lot easier than the .380 does.

 

50 rounds at 10 yards, P226 classic 22

 

I really should take a class; I’ve picked up most of what I know of handgun shooting from watching videos and reading online.  That’s no substitute for someone who knows wtf they are doing explaining things and correcting your mistakes.

This pistol might end up costing me more money than it saves, especially if I blow through ammo at the rate I did this afternoon.  It only took me an hour to go through 250 rounds; if I do that a few times a week, I’ll actually be spending more on ammo than I was before!

Now I really want to get CMMG’s new M4 .22 dedicated upper; the only thing better than one .22 plinker is two .22 plinkers!

I don’t know when it got into town

Cause the store didn’t call me, but I picked up my P226 Classic .22 this afternoon!

 

Bersa Thunder .380 CC and Sig Sauer P226 Classic .22

 

I’ll go to the range tomorrow and see how well it works.  I thought about going this afternoon, but 104 degrees is a bit hot for me.

The P226 fits in my hand a lot better than the Thuner .380 does; I should have gone with a full size pistol originally, instead of buying a compact handgun for my first.

It did come with two magazines (giving me six total, thanks to Top Gun Supply), and a coupon to get a caliber x-change kit for $299 direct from Sig Sauer.  That’s $70 cheaper than anywhere else online, so I’ll probably end up doing that at some point (the coupon is good for a year from when I purchased the handgun).

In the mean time, I’ve got a lot of cheap shooting to do!

Courtesy of Amazon Prime and a 4-for-3 sale…

I should have the first four thrillers by Brad Thor by the end of the week (along with Strike Witches, Tenchi Muyo GXP, and some electronic hearing protection).

Hey, I never said my taste was good; I like me some lowbrow entertainment (as if you couldn’t tell from how much I liked the A-Team movie…).

The hearing protection (when used with the earplugs I’ve been using) should help me with flinching when I pull the trigger; that’s one (of many, no doubt) problems I’ve been having with my shooting.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice hits theaters Wednesday; I may go to the midnight showing they’re having tomorrow (but probably not).  Nic Cage is the best cheesy actor in Hollywood, and if they’re not going to come out with a National Treasure 3 any time soon, I’ll have to see him acting ridiculous in whatever I can.

The extra P226 .22 magazines I ordered from Top Gun Supply arrived today; they shipped them out real fast (they shipped on the 8th).  The Gun Source is taking their sweet time with shipping out the P226, though; it looks like it will go out tomorrow.

Hopefully it will get here by the end of the week and I can spend a few hours plinking away with cheap ammo, instead of husbanding my dwindling stash of .380!

It’s on the way!

But not to me; thanks to the requirements of federal law, the P226 Classic 22 I ordered is being shipped to my local gun store, who will take possession of it and transfer it to me for a modest fee.

Thanks to Robb, I was able to get it (even with shipping and transfer fees) for about $75 less than I would have paid over the counter at the store.  That money can buy a couple extra magazines!  I’m going to hold off on getting a caliber x-change kit for now; if I like the gun enough, I may buy one sooner and start carrying it instead of my .380.

This was my first time buying a gun online; it was pretty easy.  Once I’d placed the order, all I had to do was give my gun store my name and the order number, and he faxed a copy of his FFL (federal firearms license) with my info attached to the online retailer.  They got the info and will ship the gun to the store.  Once it’s come in, I’ll go pick it up after an instant background check and after I pay the transfer fee.

I can hear it calling me

But I must resist the siren song of the P226 Classic 22!  I’m afraid it will be a losing battle; I don’t have anyone to lash me to the mast or put beeswax in my ears.

I like that it’s a .22 pistol; I’ve been looking for one to practice with for a couple months now, and just haven’t been able to make up my mind.  I like that it’s functionally exactly the same as a regular P226.  And I really like that you can convert it to either 9mm, .40 S&W, or .357 Sig easily.

If I did that, I could buy a new holster and use the same gun to practice and carry; even though it’s larger than my .380 handgun, the right holster should make concealment pretty easy.

Had I done more research, I probably wouldn’t have gotten the .380 in the first place, though.  I didn’t look into ammunition availability or pricing when I was initially shopping around; had I done so, I wouldn’t have bought a gun chambered in such a rare and expensive caliber (I exaggerate, but only slightly; .380 ammo is still ~2x the price of 9mm).

A P226 in 9mm or .40 S&W would also meet the minimum requirements for IDPA competition; my .380 does not, since the cartridges aren’t long enough.  Reading Caleb’s posts has made me curious about the shooting sports; if I were a better shot and and had the proper equipment, I’d give it a shot at the matches my gun club holds regularly.