To give a little history as introduction, when I finished grad school and moved out to Colorado to start working, I had no guns despite growing up shooting rifles, shotguns, and pistols during the summers at the family "farm", and hunting upland birds (Ha! What a joke! It's mostly slogging through swamps!), deer, and the occaisonal rabbit. When I discovered that I could get a CCW here in Larimer County, Colorado, and realized that I should become self-sufficient with respect to self-defense, I got interested in handguns. I have shot IDPA and "steel" matches in the last 3 or 4 years, and probably go through 8,000 centerfire handgun rounds per year.
Long story made shorter, I started with a USP40, got a Glock 27 next, then a Glock 19, then a Glock 32/23, then a CZ-75B-SA, then a Browning Hi-Power (9x19). (That's just the semi-autos..
)
To contrast the two ends of that spectrum:
The Glock is a near-ideal "self-defense appliance" -- nothing needs changing, as long as it comes with steel night sights, and they are ready to go out of the box. "Full" capacity magazines are available. The trigger is.. unique, but indubitably tractible. Evidence of this is that they can be competitive in IDPA and other "action pistol" competition.
The BHP, on the other hand, is the "original" wondernine. Designed by JMB, it has a simplicity of design that is attractive. This all-steel pistol is very slim in the hand (with good grips, e.g. Spegels), points well, and is relatively robust. It's also pleasing to the eye, which the Glock is, well, not. The BHP trigger leaves something to be desired. It can be tuned quite well in some respects (crispness and lightness), but its take-up and reset cannot be tuned to the level of a 1911 or even, dare I say, Glock.
My personal biases are that: I am biased against double-action or DA/SA pistols. I expect my trigger pull to be identical shot to shot, and C&L is the way to carry a pistol. I think a grip safety is redundant and just adds extra complexity and possibility for failure (e.g. a certain high grip can fail to disengage the safety). An ideal trigger would have minimal take-up, a 4-4.25 lbs "glass rod" break, and minimal overtravel. Trigger reset would be extremely short and very tactilely positive (i.e., you can feel it with your finger).
So my "ultimate" wondernine would be basically a BHP with a 1911-quality trigger. Does such a beast exist? Are there any double-stack 1911's in 9x19? With hi-caps available? Suitable for carry? It should be 100% reliable (as my Glocks and BHP have been) and eagerly digest European-spec 9x19. I have no problem paying for quality...
I realize that some may mention the CZ-75/85 line as fulfilling my request. I have experience with these owning a CZ-75B-SA and shooting a friend's CZ-85 Combat. Their trigger design is an improvement over the BHP's trigger design, however, it still does not match what is possible with a 1911 trigger. Take-up can be reduced somewhat, but not a lot or removed. Reset distance is relatively long and can only be reduced somewhat. There are also some sporadic reliability concerns with the CZ-75's regarding premature slidelock.
regards
Zak
PS- please no diatribes against 9x19 in favor of any other caliber. I agree that .45ACP has superior terminal ballistics per shot, and that a 1911 is most likely the "best" platform for launching it.
Long story made shorter, I started with a USP40, got a Glock 27 next, then a Glock 19, then a Glock 32/23, then a CZ-75B-SA, then a Browning Hi-Power (9x19). (That's just the semi-autos..
)To contrast the two ends of that spectrum:
The Glock is a near-ideal "self-defense appliance" -- nothing needs changing, as long as it comes with steel night sights, and they are ready to go out of the box. "Full" capacity magazines are available. The trigger is.. unique, but indubitably tractible. Evidence of this is that they can be competitive in IDPA and other "action pistol" competition.
The BHP, on the other hand, is the "original" wondernine. Designed by JMB, it has a simplicity of design that is attractive. This all-steel pistol is very slim in the hand (with good grips, e.g. Spegels), points well, and is relatively robust. It's also pleasing to the eye, which the Glock is, well, not. The BHP trigger leaves something to be desired. It can be tuned quite well in some respects (crispness and lightness), but its take-up and reset cannot be tuned to the level of a 1911 or even, dare I say, Glock.
My personal biases are that: I am biased against double-action or DA/SA pistols. I expect my trigger pull to be identical shot to shot, and C&L is the way to carry a pistol. I think a grip safety is redundant and just adds extra complexity and possibility for failure (e.g. a certain high grip can fail to disengage the safety). An ideal trigger would have minimal take-up, a 4-4.25 lbs "glass rod" break, and minimal overtravel. Trigger reset would be extremely short and very tactilely positive (i.e., you can feel it with your finger).
So my "ultimate" wondernine would be basically a BHP with a 1911-quality trigger. Does such a beast exist? Are there any double-stack 1911's in 9x19? With hi-caps available? Suitable for carry? It should be 100% reliable (as my Glocks and BHP have been) and eagerly digest European-spec 9x19. I have no problem paying for quality...
I realize that some may mention the CZ-75/85 line as fulfilling my request. I have experience with these owning a CZ-75B-SA and shooting a friend's CZ-85 Combat. Their trigger design is an improvement over the BHP's trigger design, however, it still does not match what is possible with a 1911 trigger. Take-up can be reduced somewhat, but not a lot or removed. Reset distance is relatively long and can only be reduced somewhat. There are also some sporadic reliability concerns with the CZ-75's regarding premature slidelock.
regards
Zak
PS- please no diatribes against 9x19 in favor of any other caliber. I agree that .45ACP has superior terminal ballistics per shot, and that a 1911 is most likely the "best" platform for launching it.
