My birthday was a few days ago so my best friend agreed that he would take me to a rental range and put it on his tab. Today we went and did just that. We got 1000 rounds of 9mm and 1000 rounds of 45 ACP and hit it to the rental counter.
Our 9mm's included:
Beretta PX4 Compact
Glock 19 Gen 4
H&K P30
Sig P226 Combat
S&W M&P9c
Our 45 ACP's included:
S&W 1911 SC E Series 4"
Sig P220
Nighthawk 1911 (Not Sure of the exact model)
Glock 21
XDM
Kimber 1911 (Not sure of exact model)
My impressions of the 9mm's:
Beretta PX4 - This was my least favorite. I loved the feel of the gun in my hand and how smooth the trigger was as well as the decoker. This was my first gun I shot, so maybe that's why I didn't shoot as well as the others.
Glock 19 Gen 4 - I shot this one the second best of the group of 9mm's. Smooth trigger, love the feel of the Gen 4 grips. I can tell a difference in this compared to Gen 3 G19's as it relates to recoil.
H&K P30 – Boy did I have high expectations for this one. It felt the best in the hand of any others period. However, I was just not as accurate with it as I had hoped. In fact, I shot better with the G19 than I did this one. Bummer
SIG P226 Combat – This was the crème de la crème of the 9mm’s. Smooth action and must have had the SRT trigger installed. Man this one was on the money! My only complaint was it was a little bulky in my hand.
M&P9c – I wanted to try this as I own a full sized M&P 9. Having shot it last of the group, I was somewhat spoiled to the others trigger resets. All were very distinctive, except for the M&P’s. It was a real downer.
Conclusion on 9mm’s: While the Sig was a true tack driver, the G19 Gen4 was probably my favorite of the group. Lightweight, crisp trigger with a very noticeable reset point.
My Impressions on the 45's:
S&W 1911 SC E-Series – This was the first 45 ACP we shot and also the worst one that we experienced. This gun was SOO tight we could barely rack the slide. The first 2-3 rounds of each mag would cause the gun to fail to go fully into battery after the first shot was fired.
Sig P220 – This one is tied for second place with the Nighthawk IMO. Very smooth and accurate. I loved the grips that it had on it. It actually felt slimmer than the S&W 1911.
Nighthawk 1911 – This 1911 was a whole ‘nuther experience compared to the S&W. This thing was dead on target. The grips were slimmer than the S&W model and made a huge difference in how the gun felt in the hand.
Glock 21 Gen 3 – I’ve shot this gun once before and was initially impressed. However today I was not. Groupings were not that great at all and it felt SOOO bulky in my hands.
XDM – I had high expectations for this one as well. The trigger was much better than the G21 but groupings were about the same. It did feel much better and slimmer in my hand than the G21. Pretty amazing considering they both hold the same number of rounds.
Kimber 1911 – This was the best shooter of the day! I’m talking 4-5 shots almost in the same hole repeatedly, not only for myself but for my friend also. We switched back and forth and both of us were driving tacks with it.
Conclusion on 45's: Well the 45 was much more expensive to shoot ($400 for 1000 vs $250 for 1000 9mm). If I were to make a transition to 45 ACP in the future, it would likely be a Kimber 1911 or Sig P220. The Nighthawk was sweet, but out of my price range.
LASTLY – we ended our day with a few full auto rentals An UZI in 9mm and an H&K UMP 45. Both were amazing. The UZI was WAY more controllable holding full auto than the UMP. The UMP began walking off target whereas the UZI I could hold the trigger an put all rounds inside the 9 ring in a nice little group at 25’.
Our 9mm's included:
Beretta PX4 Compact
Glock 19 Gen 4
H&K P30
Sig P226 Combat
S&W M&P9c
Our 45 ACP's included:
S&W 1911 SC E Series 4"
Sig P220
Nighthawk 1911 (Not Sure of the exact model)
Glock 21
XDM
Kimber 1911 (Not sure of exact model)
My impressions of the 9mm's:
Beretta PX4 - This was my least favorite. I loved the feel of the gun in my hand and how smooth the trigger was as well as the decoker. This was my first gun I shot, so maybe that's why I didn't shoot as well as the others.
Glock 19 Gen 4 - I shot this one the second best of the group of 9mm's. Smooth trigger, love the feel of the Gen 4 grips. I can tell a difference in this compared to Gen 3 G19's as it relates to recoil.
H&K P30 – Boy did I have high expectations for this one. It felt the best in the hand of any others period. However, I was just not as accurate with it as I had hoped. In fact, I shot better with the G19 than I did this one. Bummer
SIG P226 Combat – This was the crème de la crème of the 9mm’s. Smooth action and must have had the SRT trigger installed. Man this one was on the money! My only complaint was it was a little bulky in my hand.
M&P9c – I wanted to try this as I own a full sized M&P 9. Having shot it last of the group, I was somewhat spoiled to the others trigger resets. All were very distinctive, except for the M&P’s. It was a real downer.
Conclusion on 9mm’s: While the Sig was a true tack driver, the G19 Gen4 was probably my favorite of the group. Lightweight, crisp trigger with a very noticeable reset point.
My Impressions on the 45's:
S&W 1911 SC E-Series – This was the first 45 ACP we shot and also the worst one that we experienced. This gun was SOO tight we could barely rack the slide. The first 2-3 rounds of each mag would cause the gun to fail to go fully into battery after the first shot was fired.
Sig P220 – This one is tied for second place with the Nighthawk IMO. Very smooth and accurate. I loved the grips that it had on it. It actually felt slimmer than the S&W 1911.
Nighthawk 1911 – This 1911 was a whole ‘nuther experience compared to the S&W. This thing was dead on target. The grips were slimmer than the S&W model and made a huge difference in how the gun felt in the hand.
Glock 21 Gen 3 – I’ve shot this gun once before and was initially impressed. However today I was not. Groupings were not that great at all and it felt SOOO bulky in my hands.
XDM – I had high expectations for this one as well. The trigger was much better than the G21 but groupings were about the same. It did feel much better and slimmer in my hand than the G21. Pretty amazing considering they both hold the same number of rounds.
Kimber 1911 – This was the best shooter of the day! I’m talking 4-5 shots almost in the same hole repeatedly, not only for myself but for my friend also. We switched back and forth and both of us were driving tacks with it.
Conclusion on 45's: Well the 45 was much more expensive to shoot ($400 for 1000 vs $250 for 1000 9mm). If I were to make a transition to 45 ACP in the future, it would likely be a Kimber 1911 or Sig P220. The Nighthawk was sweet, but out of my price range.
LASTLY – we ended our day with a few full auto rentals
An UZI in 9mm and an H&K UMP 45. Both were amazing. The UZI was WAY more controllable holding full auto than the UMP. The UMP began walking off target whereas the UZI I could hold the trigger an put all rounds inside the 9 ring in a nice little group at 25’.