by Bill Clede
As one who's lived with guns all his life, I thought I had a pretty good idea which of the modern 9mm auto pistols I'd chose if I were to buy one. But an exercise on the range with five different guns changed my mind.
Since the Joint Services Small Arms Acquisition Program prodded the gunmakers into designing new double action autos, your choices are much broader now than they were just a few years ago. There are the Beretta full size and compact versions that won the military contract. There are as many models from Smith & Wesson and SIG-Sauer. Add the innovative Glock 17, the Steyr, the new DA 9s coming from Sturm Ruger and Browning and your decision is complicated by sheer numbers.
These pistols range from modifications of well known designs to a totally new approach designed by a man unencumbered with tradition. Some have thumb safeties and some don't. Some have magazine disconnectors and some don't. Some are designs whose origins date back 23 years or more and one first saw the light of day in 1982.
There are as many differences among these guns as there are differences in the people who intend to use them. That's why there are differences. But let's presume that you are interested in a double action, 9mm, semi-automatic pistol because it will be a "working" gun -- honest work, that is.
What's good for the military isn't necessarily good for police or personal protection. Because the designers of these guns were motivated, at least in part, by a potential military market, there are features that may seem strange.
The one point brought out emphatically by our range exercise was the need for an open mind. Leave your preconceived notions and traditional concepts home when you evaluate a group of new guns.
My example is that of a medium size eastern police department conducting evaluations of several auto pistols being considered for adoption by the department. But each shooter is an individual. My opinions changed on the basis of what happened to me on the firing line, not to others. It's something that you can do on your own without spending a carload of ammunition. And it's well worth the effort.
On the basis of my own experience, you don't know which auto pistol is best for you until you've done something like this.
The exercise consisted of firing a two round magazine and a three round magazine to get familiar with the pistol. Then a dummy round was substituted for one of the three in the second magazine for the second go around, shot as if you were in a gun fight. This required each of the 19 shooters to reload and to clear a jam. The sequence was repeated for each gun.
The shooters were officers representing a cross section from the newest recruit to the most veteran officer, from both patrol and detective divisions, male and female, small and large statured, line and staff.
Certainly some are familiar with autos. One is an Army reserve officer who carries the GI 45 as comfortably as his police duty revolver. A few others own autos of various brands and they've practiced off duty. But most are not gun aficionados. Their only firearms training is what they got through the police department -- and that was all with revolvers.
The guns used in this exercise were the Beretta 92F, Glock 17, SIG P226, S&W 459, and S&W 469.
Instructor Frank Starnes prepared a form listing eight points each shooter was asked to rate each gun on a scale of one to seven. This provides a means to numerically average the opinions of the group. Then the form asks for comments on what was liked most and least, if it would be desired as a duty gun, if it would be worn off duty, and any other remarks.
Now, how our evaluation turned out isn't really pertinent. It represents the collective opinions of this particular group of people and your results will likely be different. Each of the guns in our test has been selected as a duty gun by a number of police departments. The important thing is going through the exercise to learn just how you feel.
This is important even for an individual considering the purchase of one gun. My own opinions were biased before I completed this session on the range. They are entirely different now and this is a strictly personal reaction.
After firing each gun, each shooter rated it on eight points.
1. Grips: how does it feel in your hand? Most of these wheelgun people aren't familiar with the differences between a revolver and an auto but "feel and fit" are mighty important for a gun you must learn to use instinctively.
2. Controls: ease of use; ease of handling and function of magazine release, safety, and trigger. The operation of each pistol had been explained beforehand.
3. Sights: sight picture, ease of picking up front sight quickly.
4. Safety: how is it to use, carry, operate, store; tendency to discharge unintentionally.
5. Loading: loading rounds into magazine, getting magazine into pistol, releasing slide, clearing a malfunction.
6. Unloading: removing magazine, clearing chamber, making gun safe.
7. Firing: accuracy, recoil, comfort, pointability, getting it on target.
8. Takedown: disassembly for cleaning, ease of cleaning, reassembly.
As you can imagine, responses ranged to either extreme. Some didn't like a gun because it had no thumb safety. Others didn't like another because it had a thumb safety. Same for the magazine disconnector. Some felt a particular gun was too small. Others said the same gun was too big. That's to be expected. It's important when a police department is determining the "least common denominator" of factors to select one gun that's best for most of its people.
While the ranking of the guns tested isn't relevant to the story, you must be as curious as I was to see the results.
For "feel," Beretta and SIG were ahead of the Glock and S&W 459. The 469 was rated low. That surprises me because it fits my modest size hand better than the 459.
The "controls" of the Beretta and SIG lead with the Glock, 459 and 469 following in that order. Both 459 and 469 slide releases must be operated with the weak hand thumb while others are accessible to the gun hand thumb without breaking your grip.
"Sights" were rated best on the Beretta and Glock with SIG a close third and 459 a close fourth. Beretta uses a two-dot system like the SIG. The Glock has a dot on the front sight and a rear white outline big enough to see.
For "safety," the SIG and Beretta tied with the 459 a close third. The 469 was fourth and the Glock a distant fifth. I attribute this to people not understanding the Glock system. It seems like it's "cocked and locked," but it isn't.
The unique trigger design is, in effect, a double action, but not really.
First, a bar, inset into the trigger, must be depressed to pull the trigger. That prevents the old drop on muzzle accidental discharge. The first 7mm of movement sort of cocks the striker, but not really. At that stage, the striker is not under spring tension, according to Glock's Karl Walter. The normal "uncocked" condition is with the striker slightly back to engage the safety block. The second stage of trigger pull completes the cocking and releasing of the striker to fire the cartridge.
But if you don't complete the trigger pull, the striker returns to this "uncocked" position -- just like a double action revolver. As Karl Walter said, "In effect, you have a double action revolver in a 17-shot pistol."
Some shooters expressed concern that there is no safety or decocking lever on the Glock. If you retract the slide a quarter inch, you hear the striker click into that "half cock" notch but that's deceiving. If the striker is not under spring tension, it's not really cocked. So there's no need to "decock" the gun after clearing it. Thus, no need for a "decocking" lever.
SIG and Beretta were scored neck and neck in "loading," "unloading," and "firing." The S&W 459 was a close third in each category, with the Glock tying the 459 in firing characteristics.
In "takedown," the Beretta rated highest with its takedown lever. The SIG and Glock virtually tied for a close second place. And this is the one characteristic where S&W ranked low. When you reassemble an S&W 9mm, three levers protrude above the top line of the frame. They must be depressed in turn before you can pull the slide over them. Not being accustomed to pistols, some of the shooters found that complicated.
This seems to confirm the Joint Services testing where the Beretta and SIG ran nearly a dead heat. Glock wasn't tested simply because it wasn't here then. Glock Inc. was set up in the US in early January 1986.
Taking the time and trouble to do shooting tests like this is important if you are picking your personal gun. At this point, objectivity suffers because you are the one who must live with the gun of your selection. Your preferences are important but are they valid?
The thumb safety is reassuring when you're handling the gun but it's never left "on" when you're carrying a double action combat pistol. Simply a matter of training, I thought, to develop the habit of using the thumb safety only as a decocking lever.
But it wasn't such a minor matter when, in clearing the jam, I inadvertently pushed the thumb safety partially "on." There I stood, stroking the trigger, and wondering why the damned gun wouldn't fire. This also occurred with another of the shooters.
In a combat situation, that could be hazardous to your health.
And this happened with the very gun I would have bought. Now I would buy something else.
Another shooter had an accidental discharge while unloading a gun having no thumb safety nor magazine disconnector. He's very familiar with the GI 45 and unconsciously used a familiar routine.
"This is a dangerous gun," he said.
"Did you pull the trigger?" I asked.
"Of course."
"Well, that's what the gun is supposed to do," I cajoled. "When you pull the trigger, it shoots."
It was easy to see the effects of personal preferences in the evaluation sheets each shooter filled out on each gun. But with so many shooters, it averages out. There's nothing to average if the only shooter is you. That's why you need to re-evaluate your personal preferences and don't let them prejudice you.
On the Smiths, like the GI Colt, the slide lock is positioned far enough forward so you have to release it with the weak hand thumb. But on guns with the slide release under the gun hand thumb, might you inadvertently hold it down when the last shot is fired? Then the slide doesn't lock back after the last shot for a fast reload. This actually happened with one of our shooters.
The magazine disconnector prevents the gun from firing unless a magazine is inserted. But suppose you're reloading with a cartridge in the chamber and some scumbag jumps you after you've dropped the old magazine and the fresh one is still in your weak hand?
The counter argument is that, with a magazine disconnector, if someone tries to get the gun away from you, just push the magazine release button. He couldn't fire the gun if he got it. Or should you have learned techniques that prevent him from getting the gun in the first place?
Every point we bring up can be argued either way.
On the Glock, the magazine doesn't always fall free when you depress the magazine release. It needs a flick of your fingernail. But this is a feature the military insists on so magazines won't be lost in combat. It didn't seem to slow down my reloading hardly at all.
The thumb safety is traditional with autos. Single action models need a safety if you are to carry them with a full magazine and one in the chamber. "Condition One," "Cocked and locked," are the terms indicating a pistol ready for instant use.
At this point, we should recognize that Colt improved the design of their SA auto to make Condition One safer. Mark IV Series 80 pistols have a firing pin lock that immobilizes the firing pin unless the trigger is pulled. The hammer is modified so there's no half-cock "notch" to preclude the misconceived notion that it was a carrying safety. There's now a safety "stop." If the hammer should slip from under your thumb while cocking it, with the trigger pulled, it will be stopped by a flat face against the sear. This safety stop is situated so that the hammer is nearly down. You can trigger the sear off of the safety stop but there's not enough hammer travel left to fire the cartridge.
The whole idea of double action is so you can carry the gun safety uncocked, yet shoot it simply by pulling the trigger. Modern DA revolvers have a hammer block that prevents the firing pin from reaching the primer unless the trigger is pulled. Modern DA autos have a firing pin lock to immobilize it unless the trigger is pulled. It achieves the same result.
But as new safety devices were added, the old ones were left as they were. What's the point of a thumb safety blocking a firing pin that's already locked? Okay, so it drops the hammer. That means you must remember to flip it back up, unless it functions strictly as a decocking lever, dropping the hammer and automatically returning to its normal position, as on the SIG.
It's easy to see that there is a lot to consider, and re-consider, before you drop several hundred bucks on a new pistol.
The wise Indian said, "Let me not judge a man until I've walked a mile in his moccasins." Well, neither can you judge a gun until you've done at least this five-shot exercise. It could give you something new to think about.