S&W 629 .44 Magnum 3" Talo Exclusive

     Back when I started my career in law enforcement the local lads and lasses in blue/brown/grey/what have you were about evenly split on revolvers and semi-auto pistols.  I'd been gobbling up all the firearms information I could for years (pretty much my whole life) and saw the advantages offered by the semi-auto when it came to law enforcement and self-defense.  In my early days of dispatching and spending my off hours riding along "playing reserve" I toted what I had:  a 4" S&W model 19 .357 magnum and later a 2 1/2" S&W Model 66 .357 magnum.  I carried these, making do and learning a bit about concealment as I went.  I made 'em work during our atrociously hot and humid summers but they weren't what you might call "comfortable."  When I was looking at going at last to the police academy, I made what was for me a HUGE investment of about $400 and bought a brand-spanking-new Browning Hi-Power.  That pistol served me well for many years and I still have it today.

     Now here I am retired and finding myself more and more drawn back to revolvers.  I've had and have a host of J-frames and K-frames (or their non-S&W equivalents)  and Mini revolvers from NAA.  A few I (foolishly) traded, while others were issued to me from my former PD's stockpile of condemned weapons.  What I've always wanted, however, even back in my days of steadfastly clinging to semi-autos, is a compact N-frame.  I've always been a fan of the .41 magnum, weirdo that I am, but admit the .44 is much more available and in a wider variety of rounds from which to select.  There was always just "something" about a "chopped and channeled" N-frame that made me smile.

     Now retired and owning most of the guns I'll ever need or want, there are very few on my list that will make me dip into my hard-earned and miserly-saved funds to purchase.  As it happened, I'd been saving for nearly a year, stashing away dollars into my "gun fund" when the latest gun show rolled into town.  I did my usual tour of the show, looking at everything, memorizing tables and prices and found a few items that I thought made excellent "definite maybes."  BUT THEN ... ah, but then, I saw it .... I saw IT.  There, in the case of my favorite gun show dealer was a S&W model 629-6, round-butt .44 magnum with a 3" barrel (the Talo exclusive).  I looked at it, handled it, then handed it back.  Thirty minutes later I was back and filling out the ATF Form 4473.  My Lifetime Retired LEO CCW does not, as happens, have an issued date so I had to go through the whole background check thing.  Unlike usual, there was no delay (some bad guy somewhere has a few numbers in common with me, I guess).  Then, revolver and all original case and stuff tucked under my arm, I bought a couple of boxes of Hornady Custom 240 gr XTP magnum ammo from the charming lady who also frequents these shows and, much like the aforementioned dealer, nearly always walks away with a chunk of my money (though the prices of both tables are not to be beaten).

S&W 3" Model 629 .44 Magnum TALO 

"A civilized weapon for a more ..." well, you know the quote ^_^

    A few minutes online and I had an IWB holster, speed loader, and pair of speed strips en route as well.  At last the dream was mine.


     Now then, this big N-frame comes with some absolutely beautiful wooden stocks.  They hug the round-butt profile and have a "fish scale" pattern on the sides which seems to grant good purchase without being abusive to the skin.  Along the backstrap the wood protrudes a barely discernible amount past the metal of the frame.  I was worried this would make for painful shooting, but later found this to not be the case at all.  Otherwise, fit and finish are typical Smith & Wesson quality and to me, on par with what one can expect for a revolver with a $864 price tag (taxes bumped this up to just over $900 bucks making this THE MOST EXPENSIVE gun I own ... or I should say the most I've ever paid for any of my guns as allegedly I own a few that are worth that or more even though I got them much more cheaply).  Double action trigger pull is stout but smooth.  Single action is smooth, very light (I mean VERY light) and breaks like the proverbial (or maybe trite) glass rod.  Sights are fully adjustable featuring a white outline rear and a red-ramp insert front.

  

Relative size differences between N-frame (top), K-frame (center) and J-frame (bottom).

The mighty magnum pair -- NAA .22 magnum (bottom) and S&W 629 (top)

 

In it's "chopped and channeled" format, the 3" .44 magnum is roughly
the same size as the Walther P99, though much thicker and heavier

     My holster (Tagua gun leather) came in and I've been toting it around in the early May heat here with just a light shirt over a tank-top.  The only one I found immediately available was for a 4" N-frame, but experience has taught me short barreled guns, especially short barreled heavy guns sometimes don't stabilize well in the belt.  I figured that extra inch of leather would provide a soft stabilizing fin.  Well, that and given the scarcity (and price) of left-handed N-frame IWB holsters, I took what I could get.  I lucked out and got this with free express shipping for a cost less than I'd have paid for the shipping.  I've had Tagua products before and I rate them on par with Galco and DeSantis though often for half or even a third of the price.

Tagua Gunleather IWB holster

Holster is for a 4" but given the availability of left-handed IWB  holsters
for N-frames, and the price of this one, I took what I could get.

Despite being a HUGE "hawgleg" with the right belt and
holster an N-frame can tuck away very nicely for concealed carry.

     Carrying the revolver around a bit, I found it conceals very well in this holster.  However, a good belt (Galco instructor's belt in my case) is essential for a big, heavy gun like this one.  While waiting for the holster, I've utilized the old-cop standby of "Mex-carry" (stuck in the waistband like the brave Mexican rebels who fought for independence and whose success is celebrated this very month with  muchas cervezas.  To be honest, holsterless carry was only so-so.  The large cylinder had to slide below the belt to be secure which hampered draw speed.  Oh, and of course, in the interest of not sounding like I encourage such [ahem] blah-blah-blah, only use a holster, blah-blah, yadda, yadda.  Y'all on board now?  Got a holster?  Good then let's carry on.

     Today I got a chance to at least put it through its paces if not do a full evaluation.  I had a selection of ammo (Fiocchi 240 gr JSP magnums, PPU 240 gr JHPs, Hornady Custom 240 gr XTP JHPs, and Hornady 180 gr XTP .44 Specials).  I hung up a B-27 target, propped up a couple of Pepper poppers and made ready.

     Accuracy was okay.  I got a few rounds in the same hole if I did my part (which became increasingly difficult, truth be told).  The sights were not set to point-of-aim for me so I did a lot of adjusting and testing.  I got them dialed in "pretty close" and by then my hands were, in my opinion, no longer capable of fine motor skills.  Even at the worst, however, the weapon was "combat accurate" and I kept every shot in places that, were the target a bad guy, he would be instantly "reformed."  I just like to be able to make one big, ragged hole when I shoot.  I suspect I'd have been able to with carefully tuned and much softer loadings.  As it was ... well, hey, it was absolutely fine and I didn't buy it for a target gun.  For all that, too, it did not seem to really prefer one of the tested rounds over another and they all felt like they were every bit of "full house magnums."

     In the interest of full disclosure I need to point out that some of the problem was me.  In addition to my new gun jitters (it's a real thing), I was getting frustrated because twice as I had the sights almost dialed in perfectly, my skipped lunch, hypoglycemic self goofed up and I had to start all over.  When I finally got tired of shooting paper (again, I'd managed to put multiple shots in one hole a few times from 7 yards and hits from 15 and 25 yards were respectable), I started going for the Pepper Poppers.  By this time my hands simply hurt.  Those beautiful wooden stocks do not fit my hand well at all and frankly beat the ever loving Hades out of my thumb joints.  I alternated hands since my primary shooting hand (left) has a worse case of osteoarthritis, but after a few cylinder fulls, the balls of both thumbs had had quite enough, thank you so very much.  So, from 25 and 30 yards I just aimed one-handed (left and right respectively) and shot the poppers.  Both took good, very solid hits.  Come to find, despite my performance on paper, both hits were centered and were pretty much right where I'd been aiming.  So, maybe I got it sighted in after all.

Although these are some of the most beautiful revolver stocks
I've ever seen, they do not fit my hand well at all.

That top corner beats the ball of the thumb like a ball-peen hammer
being swung by an iron worker out the window of a passing pickup truck!

     I plan on replacing those stunningly gorgeous stocks with some recoil absorbing rubber ones ASAP.  This is a gun I plan on carrying quite a bit and shooting more than just every once in a while.  I know it is capable of far better than the admittedly quite good performance I wrung out of it today and maybe having my hands not shaking in shock will help.  That said, recoil is not horrible and if I had to crank off one or six rounds fast even now, about six hours after shooting a silly amount of magnum ammo, I could do it without a problem.  I once shot a Scantium airweight j-frame, firing 5 rounds of standard pressure 158 grain .38 special ammo with one hand and 5 rounds of 158 gr +p with the other.  Had my now sadly passed friend (owner of said weapon) offered me twenty bucks I would not have fired one more cylinder full that day.  Today I only stopped because I had started to add up the cost of what I'd already fired and remembered I don't get paid again until the end of the month.  Nope, common sense and the preservation of my hands' dexterity had nothing to do with me stopping ... same as way back when another dear friend introduced me to his S&W Model 629 "Mountain Revolver" .44 magnum.  By the end of that day we were cursing every time he found so much as one more round for us to dare the other to shoot.  Back in those days we lived on dares and testosterone and that's how we kept the herd thinned out of weak ones.  Ah, youth...

    The .44 specials I fired were quite comfortable even after my hands were throbbing from the full-house magnums.  They tended to impact just a tad low, as one might expect.  I dialed the rear sight down as far as I could and they were still just under the black oval containing the X-ring on the B-27 target.  So, if you aimed at the heart you'd get the bottom of the heart.  Aim center-chest and you'll get heart and spine of a bad guy.  Just know they shoot a tiny bit lower so if you're, say, aiming for the head of a water moccasin (as I was nearly called up to do about an hour later and elsewhere) you might wanna know to aim a wee bit high).  The old adage of loading your .44 magnum with .44 specials for anti-personnel use is not bad advice, especially given the improvements in that old .44 special cartridge.  I'll be experimenting with some other loadings as I can lay my mitts upon them.  Note to self:  clean up junk room, set reloading press back up, and get .44 magnum dies.

     I'm quite happy with my big/little revolver!  Empties ejected smoothly and completely every time and the brass looked good.  It points and aims with that quality that only a revolver can have and despite its weight and girth (cylinder girth) it tucks away quite well behind the hip.  It'll take a while for my hip and waist (now with less padding than it's had in years) to get used to the new hawgleg, but that's part of the fun.  I imagine my Walther P99 will get far more belt-time but I can see me toting this piece of street artillery more often than I thought I would.  It's plenty accurate (I will work on my technique and ammo selection to see just HOW accurate it can be), and just feels good in the hand.  Yes, the recoil with full power .44 magnum ammo is, to say the least, bracing.  But I'll leave you with the words of another friend and former co-worker of mine who (all 4'10", 90 pound of her) had just cranked off 7 rapid shots from my 1911 .45 and commented, "Yeah, it kicks.  So what?!  Are your friends a bunch of p[wimps]ies?!"

Walther P99 AS

Walther P99 AS

My name is Tim and I’m a Waltherholic.  Yep, given pretty much any similar choice and I’ll take the one with that famous banner stamped thereupon.  Way back in 1997, the year before I made detective (man, that statement makes me feel old!) Walther introduced the P99 and it was an immediate hit.  Not only did it impress several nations’ militaries and police forces, but it was a hit with me.  Something about it just struck a nerve and I knew I had to have one.  The pistol has gone through several variations through the years and we now arrive at the P99 AS (Anti-Stress) pistol.  Gone is the proprietary rail on the dustcover and in its place we find not only cleaner lines but a more universal rail allowing the end user to fit a wider variation of his or her preferred aftermarket implements such as lights and lasers.  More on that in a wee bit.  I wanted a P99 and I have finally at long last brought one home.

My new Walther P99 AS

Upon my retirement from the police agency with whom I spent most of my career, our Animal Control officer, knowing my love of the design, brought his P99 .40 to work with him so I could have the experience of shooting it.  I shot it quite a bit that last day and greatly enjoyed it.  Call me a stickler, though, but I wanted the 9x19mm version.  Ballistic reasons aside, once I retired I would no longer have the key to the ammo closet and would thus need to secure my own shooting fodder.  Costs to income ratio being what they are, I wanted a more affordable round.  Also, every .40 S&W caliber pistol I’ve ever shot had quite pronounced recoil and muzzle flip (well ahead of the .45 acp, in my opinion) and my friend’s P99 was no different.  Although it was softer shooting than our issued SIG P226s and P229s, it was still quite a thump to my somewhat arthritic hands. 

I looked for, handled and priced several examples but all were priced well outside my range.  The last example I saw at a local gun show, admittedly in excellent condition, was priced at $600 used.  Fast forward about 3 years and I found a like new in box, with all the goodies Walther P99 on an auction site.  Cost, 2-day shipping and transfer fee at my LGS all totaled $400.  How could I say no?  Obviously I didn’t and I thus became the proud owner of a very nice pistol.

My high-cap 9x19mm choices for CCW these days is usually my Browning Hi-Power or my Glock 26.  I love that old Hi-Power and despite its 13 round magazine, it hides pretty well even under a t-shirt.  Alas, it has a lot of sharp edges (and a notoriously stabby hammer spur) and, not to sound wimpy, but it’s a might heavy too.  Normally that’s not an issue and goodness knows it’s ridden many a day IWB back in my “I have one duty/off-duty gun” days.  But now, in my 50s, things like sciatica and other old-man issued limit how much weight I can tote all day, every day (or at least some days).  The Glock 26 has been a long-time companion as well, both as a backup and at times as a primary duty pistol.  I keep three mags loaded for it, a flush-fit 10-round mag, another 10-rounder fitted with a +2 floorplate giving me a pinky rest and a total mag capacity of 12 rounds, and a 17-round magazine fitted with an X-grip to fill in the space between the floorplate and the bottom of the pistol’s abbreviated grip.  The latter choice essentially gives me a model 17 with a model 26 barrel.  That’s the way I keep it for in-the-house and bedside duties and frequently how I carried it, although the 12 round mag probably got a little bit more time for IWB carry.  That baby Glock is great, easy to shoot, and surprisingly accurate.  Alas, like all hi-cap Glocks, it’s a bit thick.  Call me old fashioned but I absent a thumb safety I like my first shot to be Double-Action as well.  Yeah, yeah, but that’s how I feel.

I’ve looked at and considered a Glock 19, one of the pistols I consider about perfect for overall carry.  The 26 is so short that it doesn’t stabilize well in most IWB holsters I’ve tried (with the exception of Aliengear’s excellent hybrid rig).  The 19 has just enough more barrel length to stabilize the piece and the little bit of extra grip length barely compromises discreet carry (body size and carry methods vary, of course). But the Walther P99 is overall just a fraction shorter, and though it’s ever so slightly taller (.21”) it’s 1.65 ounces lighter. and .7” thinner.  That thinness is important for anything that shares my waistband.  While I’m not obese and am considerably lighter than I was when I retired (how I hate that fat guy photo of me that hangs on the wall in my old department) thinner is generally better for IWB carry.

The weapon arrived and other than a tiny scratch on the left side of the slide just below the front edge of the wide ejection port, it looked like it had never been out of the box.  Frankly, that could well have occurred during shipping from the factory as a few weeks of nearly constant carry have produced a bit more wear that that tiny, hard to see scratch.  I’m not saying to the finish isn’t durable and there is certainly no rust.  But there are very faint marks on the trigger guard where the security device in one of my holster engages.  Again, hardly noticeable, and any gun you carry is going to get banged up some.  If such bothers you, leave it in the safe.  Along with the weapon was the case, all the paperwork including warranty card and test target from the Walther factory.  Three alternate sized backstraps were included along with four front sights of differing heights (one came installed on the pistol).  Two 15 round magazines came along as well.  The medium sized backstrap was installed on the weapon and it fit me fine.  I tried the smaller one, though and though it was barely perceptibly smaller, it felt quite good and I figured adds just a pinch to concealability so that’s the one I went with.

I dug out three holsters for it, one a Don Hume leather clip-on IWB leather holster.  It was made for a SIG P229 but fits the P99 very well so I figured it would give me a fair assessment without me having to purchase what might be yet another resident for the dreaded Box of Misfit Holsters (c’mon, we all have one).  The  Aliengear hybrid IWB for my Glock 26 fit it securely enough that I used it for a while too.  Finally I have a Safariland 578 GLS paddle holster that adjusts to fit a wide variety of similarly sized pistols.  It was fitted to my Glock 26 and the P99 fit into it fine but it could move about just a little.  So a turn or two with an Allen wrench and it now fits my Walther like it was made for it.  Lacking belt tension (the main manner of security for the two IWB holsters I mentioned, the GLS needs to fit a pistol just right.  Too tight and you’ll play havoc drawing it, too loose and … well, I doubt your weapon will fall out as that trigger guard catch is pretty darn secure, but it will rattle around a bit and why risk breaking a holster and/or losing a gun?  

The pistol carries quite well whether in a holsters similar to those I mentioned or with just a Kydex trigger-guard cover and lanyard.  For that matter, although not prescribed and certainly not to be recommended (L-I-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y) it carries well in the old “Mex-Carry” holsterless, stuffed-in-the-waistband-behind-a-snug-belt manner too.  That’s how we did it “back in MY day” when those of us who carried off duty couldn’t afford expensive holsters but were leery of anything cheap enough to be in our cop-pay price range.  A little forward cant (i.e. FBI tilt) keeps the pistol from printing even under a t-shirt.  Frankly I’m amazed I can walk around carrying it while shopping, walking the dog in the park, etc. and a duty-sized (if arguably compact) pistol can go unnoticed even when only covered by a t-shirt.  The weapon is light enough to be quite comfortable for all day carry as well.  That's something that cannot always be said for many other weapons featuring all steel frames (although I do love those heavy, solid frames, great throw-back that I am).

So, how does it shoot?  Quite well, as one should expect.  A bit of a caveat here is in order, however.  First off, do not, unless you want to embarrass yourself and ruin your trip to the range, even think about putting aluminum cased ammo in this pistol.  I bought a 100 round box of Independence brand aluminum 115 gr FMJs that my local big box store had on sale.  I got a failure to eject (dreaded double-feed) during the first magazine run and by round #38 I had a failure to extract that resulted in an aluminum case stuck firmly in the chamber.  I was later able to get it out without damaging the weapon but that box of ammo is a definite no-go for me, at least for this weapon.  The Walther’s massive extractor darn near tore the rim off the cartridge case, too, so there’s that.

Oh, and if you do any research you’ll find that there is one often repeated criticism of the pistol and that is the design of its windage adjustable rear sight.  The manual says just turn the screw, you know, like you do with any other screw-adjusted rear sight?  Alas, it lies.  See, there is this spring powered plunger that rises out of the top of the slide on the right side.  The top of the plunger has a notch.  The adjustment screw on the rear site has a square head.  Do you see where this is going?  To adjust the sight, the plunger needs to be held down very, very carefully and the screw turned by ¼ turn increments.  Make very sure when all is said and done the rear sight screw is firmly sitting in that slot on the plunger.  Most likely you’ll turn the screw, and wind up popping off the rear sight.  Don’t fret if that happens.  Set the sight atop its slot, guesstimate where it needs to be, turn the screw until it looks right, reinsert the sight in its notch from the left while holding down the plunger and fitting it to the screw-head.   Yeah … or just replace the rear sight with one that doesn’t require that silly, over-thought, over-engineered spring/plunger assembly bit of engineering madness.  Hey, it’s a German gun so something had to be over-engineered.   More than likely you won’t need to adjust the rear sight anyway as it comes sighted from the factory (although there are stories of one test-firer at Walther who feels the need to drift rear sights all the way to the left … ah, but I digress).  If it shoots low or high with your chosen carry load, simply replace the front sight with one of the extras.  That process is fairly simply.  Or, hey, choose another load.  Handgun rounds aren’t death-rays, so likely as not whatever you wind up carrying will do about as well as anything else.  Reliability and Accuracy are the primary qualities in a handgun of this type.

Anyway, following my learning experience with alternate ammunition casings, I returned to the range with a much better selection of ammo, including rounds from Federal, CCI, and other top name brands (I'm pretty sure brass cases ammo of good manufacture should work fine).  115 and 124 grain rounds were quite accurate and the installed front sight was indeed the correct one, saving me any further drama.  I began by shooting at 7 yards.  I fired 5 rounds of CCI 115 grain FMJs going for something close to one round per second or slightly slower.  I was initially shocked and chagrined to see only two holes in the target.  One, right where I’d been aiming, and another not quite an inch higher and left.  My angst turn to pride, however, as I got closer and realized that three rounds went into the first hole and two in the second.  Not bad, not bad at all, new gun jitters and everything!  I fired some more, varying from a few steps to 25 yards, but I won’t bore you with the details.  Suffice to say it is a very accurate handgun.  I noticed it was still shooting just a pinch to the right.  I fumbled with the rear sight for a bit and it now shoots ever so slightly to the left.  I mean not so much that you’d notice, especially at combat ranges and even at 25 yards it was all around the bulls-eye.  At 50 yards I could hit a Pepper popper every shot aiming dead center.  But at 75 yards I had to aim right about the width of the front sight blade to knock down a Pepper popper.  At that point I was just showing off so I left the sights where they were.  Please note in the below groups that I had "new gun jitters" which, I suspect, accounted for more of the off-center shots, especially elevation issues) than did any sight mis-alignment.  Of course, that also means that any degree of decent accuracy is due more to the pistol's inherent accuracy and ease of shooting than to my own skills.  Hmm ... I probably should have left that bit out, eh? ^_^

A quick 5-shot group from 7 yards
              (yes that's 5 hits, 3 in one hole, 2 in another) 

Five more shots, from 15 yards this time
               (total of 10 hits showing)

And five more 25 yards (showing the total group)

I tried some rapid draw-and-fire drills and found the weapon pointed very naturally.  In one drill, I started maybe 3 yards from the target, drew and began firing while stepping to the side and then backpedaling.  I stopped shooting once I got almost to the seven yard line.  I was shooting very fast and I don’t think I did more than just glance at the sights once or twice.  Nevertheless I could cover all the shots with the bottom of one of the P99’s magazines.  It didn’t seem to favor one brand or weight (115 or 124 gr) over another, at least in my informal and practical testing.  If I were shooting bulls-eye matches I’d probably test many other loads.  Or more likely I’d be loading my own.  For that matter, if I were doing any serious bulls-eye shooting I most likely would be using a purpose built target pistol and not a compact duty weapon.

The "AS" in the model name P99 AS means "Anti-Stress" and refers to it's trigger action.  When one first loads the weapon in the common manner for loading a semi-automatic pistol, the internal striker is cocked, making the weapon in essence, a single-action pistol.  The trigger, however, stays forward.  That is the "Anti-Stress" setting which let's you have a single-action pistol with the trigger in the same starting point as it would be if it were being carried double action.  When you apply the initial tiny bit of pressure to the trigger, it rolls back effortlessly with your continued finger pressure to the "cocked" position where it stacks to about a 4.5 pound single action pull weight. That "cocked" position is also where the trigger stops after being fired and on subsequent shots.  The shooter has two options here.  First, if you like to keep things short and light, once you've fired and want to go back to trigger-forward mode, you can retract the slide just about 1/8 of an inch and let it got back home (mine is still so new and stiff I usually have to give it a bump on the rear of the slide to be totally sure it's back in battery).  The trigger will jump back into its forward post once more.  Or, if you want your first shot to be double action (a'la ye olde typical DA/SA semi-auto "wondernine") simply depress the little oblong button on top of the left side of the slide, just a wee bit forward of the rear sight.  That will decock the firing mechanism and your first shot will then require a longer yet smooth and quite manageable trigger pull (9 pounds according to the factory).  This is the way I prefer to carry mine as I am quite used to the DA/SA style of pistol and lacking a manual safety (I know, I know, I'm a dinosaur) I would rather have a slightly heavier and longer initial trigger pull.  Sure, I know, there are ten thousand reasons why I'm wrong but I did carry a gun for most of my life (professionally), went through a LOT of upscale firearms training (including FBI's SWAT course back in my SWAT days), and have had to "draw down" on more than a few folks who were determined to bring harm to myself or others.  So I like to think I have at least some degree of first hand knowledge over some arm-chair commandos and range rats regarding what works well vs. what might not.  That said, I really like the options on this pistol and find shooting it either way (with the relatively light DA first shot or with the respectably light and smooth SA) to be accurate and easy.

There is a round hole in the rear of the slide through with the red colored end of the striker's cocking indicator will protrude if the weapon is not in DA mode.  You can watch the indicator drop back into the slide when you press the decock button atop the slide.

Oh, insofar as my chosen load, I decided against my normal “old boy” load of Federal's excellent 9BPLE 124 gr +P+ and went instead with Federal’s standard pressure 124 grain HST jacketed hollow points.  I did a lot of research and I’m not losing much velocity (well under 100fps) but in all the test I’ve seen the HST performs spectacularly and without the added wear I might bring to my pistol with +P+ pressures.  I’m not saying this is my forever load but I like it and the pistol likes it (that’s what I was hitting the poppers with at 50 and 75 yards).  Again, though, any quality load you choose should serve you quite well.  I've said it many times, pistol bullets poke little holes, period.  Shove a piece of 9mm drill rod (or 10mm, or 11mm, or what have you) and the results I would imagine will be very similar to what a similarly sized handgun bullet will do, with the exception of bone fragmentation.  Okay, also, contact shots add the effects of expanding gases going into the wound but insofar as the damage from a bullet's path, I stand by my drill rod analogy.  Still, you may want something with enough "uumph" to get through light cover and to reach the vitals of a bad guy even at weird angles, but not exit a human body (or at least not go two blocks down the road and through an exterior wall into someone's nursery).  Frankly, that's asking a lot from any handgun round, but modern defensive ammo manufacturers have come a long way and, IMHO, the HST line is usually about the closest as we can get to that magic bullet.

To sum up, the Walther P99 is an excellent pistol for someone searching for either a great service pistol or a good home defense or CCW handgun.  We're in the height of spring here on the sunny (and bloody hot) Alabama Gulf Coast so we'll see how well it carries in the dreaded summer heat soon enough.  I expect it'll stand up to Summertime abuses far better than I usually manage to.  My prediction is that my new P99 will prove an excellent summer carry pistol and may even get carried in times and places where I may only otherwise have had "just" a micro .380.  Time will tell.  In the meantime, I think I need to go shoot my new pistol some more.

 Overall Observations

Dimensions / Weight	7.1” length, 5.3” height, 1.1” width
Caliber / Capacity	9x19mm / 15 round magazines (.40 S&W available with 12 rd mags)
Action	DA/SA striker fired with “Anti-Stress” option
Pros	·         Very accurate and Reliable (with good ammo) ·         Lightweight for the size/capacity, ·         Rounded Edges that make for quite comfortable carry. ·         Overall a very ambidextrous design ·         Affordable after-market holsters, sights, magazines, parts and such are easy to find.
Cons	·         Rear sight is over-engineered and if you need to tinker with it, be careful or better yet, replace it (not a huge deal but worth noting). ·         Not a fan of aluminum cased ammo (again, not a big deal but you need to know this in case you hit the bargain bin on your way to the range).
Comments:	It’s a Walther!  Enough said! J

Kahr CW-380

Kahr CW-380

            Not so very long ago, presumably to cash in on the quite understandable popularity of micro-mini-.380 pistols, Kahr introduced the P380.  Though it quite frankly looks bigger than, say, the Kel-Tec P3AT or that (in my humble opinion) blatant copy, the Ruger LCP, it is in all honesty about the same size, overall (.4” taller and .3” shorter front to back).  It weights slightly more (9.97 ounces vs 7.75 ounces), but I can drop either on in a pair of walking shorts or even lounge pants (hey, don’t judge) and tote it about without a problem.  What the Kahr has that my previous favorite lacks are a set of serious, very usable yet low-profile sights.   It also features an external slide lock.  I don’t mean some itty-bitty vestigial “feel-good” bit of metal added as a last minute touch of feature creep.  I mean it has a real, usable, full “combat-style” slide lock.  More in a bit on why that is important beyond the obvious like cleaning and, oh, say attending pretty much any shooting classes where the range-master will insist you lock your slide open to prove it’s empty --- oh, yours doesn't lock back?  So sorry, no refunds, please leave now and get a real gun.  Okay, it wouldn't likely be that bad, but not being able to lock your weapon open to “show clear” could make the difference between your weapon (i.e. the one you’re actually going to use in real life) being accepted for a carry class and not.

Kahr CW380 & Kel-Tec P3AT - Two Tiny .380s

CW380 literally fits in the palm of the hand.

            A friend of mine had one when he moved back into my fair state and I had the privilege of shooting it.  I loved the way it shot, not too snappy, very accurate, uber-smooth trigger, etc., etc.  What I didn't like was the price.  I mean, I could make my quarterly house insurance payment (in a hurricane prone area, south of the arbitrary “flood zone”) for the price of a P380!  Gadzooks, man!  What was a miserly professional gun-toter like me going to do about this?!  Well, not to worry, as I have previously purchased two, count ‘em TWO Kahr .40 caliber pistols (K-40 Covert and PM-40) for quite a bit below retail (admittedly they were slightly used … two mags fired through the former and two rounds fired through the latter before they went up for sale for cheap).  I’m a Kahr fan and seem to be a magnet for good deals.  Or so I was.  I couldn’t find such a sweet deal on the P-380.

            I was not alone.  Kahr apparently realized this was a problem and introduced their CW line.  These are essentially the same pistols with some cost-saving steps taken in manufacturing which bring them more into line with the average middle income budget, no need for a second mortgage (I jest, but the full-on K, MK, P, and PM series are quite pricey … think SIG-Sauer P226 pricey, but like those, well worth the money).  So, what are these drastic cost-saving steps, you ask?  What butchery or sad lack of fitting does it take to cut a couple hundred (or so) bucks off the cost of an otherwise fine firearm?  Well, the CW line features, in lieu of the polygonally rifled barrels of the other series, Ye Olde Standard button-rifled barrel.  You know, like most every quality firearms manufacturer uses and is quite happy with.   Oh, yeah the marking on the slide?  On the higher end models these are laser etched.  The CW line makes do with simple roll-makings (which are, to me, much more crisp and clear) … again, just like most every other firearms manufacturer.  Oh, and they only come with one magazine.  Annoying, but certainly a problem easily sorted.  Those are the only differences I can find.  Chime in if you personally know more.

            So, weekend before my Wedding Anniversary/Valentine’s Day, there was a local gun show.  Since my retiring last year after an illustrious (or at least stress-filled) 25+ year police career, the chief of a local tiny town and long-time friend of mine chased me around asking, demanding, insisting, and pleading, and eventually plying me with booze until I agreed to take a part-time post with their police department (“VERY part-time” I insisted … she just laughed, and laughed …).  I’d just finished my first month of “I thought this was supposed to be part-time work!” and had, as happens, a fist full of money.  More importantly this was unbudgeted money.  As happens, there was a local gun show that weekend.  Joined by my friend, the P380 owner, I set about on a quest to find me a cool new shooting iron.  About two hours later I came home with a brand new CW380.  A quick online check showed Kahr mags available from Kahr directly for about $40 each.  Midway USA had them for something like $28 each which I found much more reasonable.  I even paid for the faster shipping because I might be a miser, but once I spend money, I’m rather impatient.  I also picked up some A-Zoom aluminum snap caps (5-pack) of .380 for function testing and getting used to the trigger until I could get some range time.

            Next I did some side-by-side comparisons of my new pistol to my other two aforementioned Kahr .40s.  My CW380 looks like a shrunken version of my PM40 in virtually every detail.  Actually, in comparing them, I was reminded just how incredibly tiny my PM40 is (yes, it’s a brute to shoot, but we all have our crosses to bear).  When looking at the two one is apt to think, “Gee, that little .380 is only a little bit smaller than that .40, so why not just carry the .40?”  Why not indeed.  Once we see how much thicker the PM40 is when compared to the CW380 however, we can see how in many types of pants (jeans, say) the PM40 can print rather significantly and anything that can cover that print will be big enough to cause a lot of suspicious or at least curious looks at that pocket.  The CW380, roughly the same thickness as the P3AT (.2” thinner than the Kel-Tec, actually), lends its self very well to deep cover concealment and as that nearly perfect “always gun.”

CW380 and PM40 

PM40 & CW380 - which do you think fits in a pocket better?

            Five days went by and I was finally able to get to my preferred shooting range.  First, a word about Kahr pistols.  The manual says to load the first round out of a magazine into an empty chamber by first locking back the slide (THIS is that other reason slide locks are important on Kahr pistols), inserting the loaded mag, and tripping the release.  This is sage advice, especially with a new pistol and failure to heed this advice caused nearly all my troubles on the range.  When loading from the traditional sling-shot method I suppose I either did not pull the slide completely to the rear or inadvertently let my hand ride it forward a fraction.  I had very, very few problems loading as the manual said to do it (when all else fails read the bloody directions, y’know?).   Kahr also recommends a 200 round break-in phase.  Yep, you are expected to put a couple o’hundred rounds though their pistols before trusting them with your life.  Crazy, right?  I mean, why not just grab a hunk of machinery made by fallible human hands, toss in whatever load strikes your fancy and just drop it on a pocket.  WRONG!  N-E-V-E-R trust A-N-Y firearm, especially a new one (or a very well used one) without a test period that should include some of the ammo you intend to carry in it.  Back in MY day, EVERY semi-auto was expected to go through that 200 round break-in phase.  Malfunctions were expected (and happened) but the repeated use smoothed bearing surfaces, wore away tiny burrs, and soon the whole thing was polished up inside and ran like you expected it to.  We've been spoiled by Glocks and SIGs and a few others but honestly, I've seen most top brand pistols have trouble out-of-the-box.  Some just needed breaking in, some were apparently “Monday or Friday guns” (you know, crew in a hurry to leave for the weekend on Friday and still hung over come Monday) and needed to go back to the factory for rework or replacement.

            So, internet pundits’ ravings and rants aside, I have no problem with a break-in period because I intend to give all my new and new-to-me such a trial.  Mine, by the way, broke in with 100 rounds.  First up, I ran some Blazer Brass 95 grain FMJs through it, then some Remington 95 grain FMJs, a few Winchester “flat points,” their “White Box” FMJs, and last some of my cherished stash of carry ammo:  Federal 90 grain Hydra-Shoks.  Accuracy was fine with all.  To be honest, the pistol could shoot better than I could as I had in my new contacts and they don’t do well with near vision.  So, I made do with low-powered reading glasses to get a mostly clear sight picture and a very to extremely blurry sight picture.

            First, the bad.   Yes, I had some feeding issues.  Mostly I had failure to go fully into battery and a simple push on the rear of the slide was all it took to set things back right again.  I had maybe five or six what are to me uniquely Kahr feeding failures.   It’s almost like the cartridge is too long and it wedges with the upper part of the tip just inside the chamber, the tip of the rim seems to be at the bottom of the extractor and no amount of pushing, or finagling will get it seated.  The only way to run it is to do what you should do anyway, tap-rack-ready (tap the mag to be sure it’s seated, rack the slide to clear everything and reload, and then re-evaluate the target/threat/situation).  Those cleared up before the end.  Again, I stress, the piece was brand new and began to get pretty dirty from the assorted (old) ammo I was putting through it.  Once, about 2/3 of the way through all of this, I ran an impromptu patch through the chamber and the problem did not repeat.  Ejection was positive but not overly energetic.  By that, I mean the empties got clear, life was good, and I didn't get whacked in the forehead with the brass.  I had a couple of weird stovepipe-like jams where the empty was caught long ways between the breech face and the top of the chamber mouth.  These instance were almost certainly my fault and were due to my grip as I kept falling back on my standard duty-pistol grip (support hand mainly holds the weapon, firing hand is just there to pull the trigger, firing hand thumb across base of support thumb, support thumb alongside the frame, pointed at the target).  This is not going to work with such a small and snappy pistol.  Felt recoil was not at all unpleasant (less than my Kel-Tec P3AT) but you must really grip this little blaster so that its slide and springs do all the work.  Hold a bit too loosely and … well, if you don’t understand that, you probably don’t need to be carrying such a weapon.  Some careful study showed that the two-handed "duty pistol grip" as described above allows a minute gap between part of the tiny backstrap and the shooting hand resulting in a less than fully secure hold.  This, I've found to be the case with most if not all micro-mini-guns.  You have to HOLD them VERY FIRMLY and they are really meant for quick one-handed shooting, not careful two-handed aimed fire.
            By the last three mags, I had no feeding issues whatsoever.  One mag stovepiped the last round.  The next did that weird Kahr lengthwise stovepipe.  The last simply did not lock back after the last round was fired.  Those are all primarily symptoms of my grip relaxing a bit on the last round.  As I was concentrating on shooting tiny groups with my aforementioned visual issues, I could well have eased up my grip.  This did not happen when I was shooting fast, one-handed combat-style at various targets.  In fact, when shooting it fast and one-handed, after the first few mags went through it, I had zero problems.  This is not a target pistol or a range pistol.  It’s meant to be pulled and fired one-handed (though it is capable of quite good accuracy).

            Next, the good.  The little pistol is VERY accurate.  From 21 feet I tore up the center of the target (mini-silhouette).  I often as not got two rounds in one ragged hole.  This pistol is far more accurate and its sights far more usable than anyone has a right to expect such a weapon to be.  Part of the credit goes to the excellent and very smooth DAO trigger.  I could hit “Pepper-poppers” from 25 yards with boring regularity.  As often as not I could hit them from 40 yards.  50 yards … well … a man just has to know his limits, I suppose.  Actually I was shooting a bent ‘popper that functioned as a gong.  Chances are, even if I hit it, I’d not have heard the “ding!”  But lacking firm evidence to the contrary, we’ll call the fifty yard shots misses.  I’m not proud … much.  Recoil, as I said, was mild, especially for a tiny .380 pistol.  Actually the front and backstraps of the grip are very aggressively checkered and gripping it hard enough to ensure no error on my part was far less comfortable than actually firing the weapon.

First 15 rounds scored me a 100%
 on our BUG/OD course!

Hard to tell, but that's SIX rounds
(fired from 7 yards)

Up to 18 rounds in by this point (7 yards)
 - gotta count the holes very carefully.

I kind of lost count at this point.
I was up to either a total of 4 or 5 mags.
Point is, if the bad guy is at across the living room range, he's toast. 

            Magazines fall free and fresh ones go in smoothly.  After a while, I could load from slide lock by pulling the slide the rest of the way back and releasing it smartly.  This is good as not only do I shoot left-handed but that is the proper way to reload from slide-lock under stress as lock levers take much finer motor skills than you’re likely to possess in such times.

            Yes, I like my new CW380.  After this last outing it is riding in my left front pocket in a holster I made for it.  The two spares are in the opposite side pocket in a repurposed nylon card wallet.  No, I don’t worry about a possible stovepipe on the last round.  Why?  Because I’ll be bringing the weapon up close into my “work space,” dropping the empty mag, ramming in a fresh one, and racking the slide.  It makes no difference whether the slide is locked by its latch or an empty casing.  That is assuming I will even have the opportunity in a gun fight to reload.  Honestly, if there are multiple threats closing and they don't scatter after I start shooting, there likely won't be time for reloading.  In any event, there were only three such FTE issues throughout my 100 rounds of shooting.  Thus I wager Ejection Issues won't be an issue over the next 100 rounds or less.  So, I have my summertime main gun, my “always gun,” and the boon companion to my other two Kahr pistols.  I think I made out well indeed!  J

           

A quick 3 shots at a target of
opportunity (7 yards)

Another target of opportunity
and another quick 3 shots.

**** UPDATE! ****

     I've now had this little wonder for almost a year and have had more range time with it.  I've learned a couple of things.  First off, do NOT feed it steel cased ammo unless you want to spend the afternoon performing malfunction clearance drills.  Second, I am now convinced all of my earlier issue were simply due to my grip.  Shooting one-handed, even rapid fire has produced zero malfunctions (so long as I wasn't "trying to save a few bucks" by shooting steel cased .380 ammo).  Shooting two-handed using the old "Cup and Saucer" hold produced excellent groups and 100% reliability.   So in my case the "break-in period" was to break ME of shooting it like a larger duty weapon.  I have several carry weapons on rotation (particularly now that I'm back to purely Retired LEO status now) yet this tiny Kahr CW380 winds up in my pocket (and occasionally in my waistband) more often than just about any other firearm.

  

Glock "+" Floorplates

Glock "+" Floorplates

     I've carried a Glock model 26 on and off since about 1996.  At the time it was the smallest pistol to hold more than just a hand full of rounds.  When I got mine, a co-worker who was a Glock armorer had one as well and traded me one of my flat-bottomed 10 round mags for one of his featuring a Pearce Grip finger extension.  This did not add any rounds to the overall capacity.  It was the waning years of the Clinton era assault on firearms after all, and "manufacturing" a magazine that held more than 10 rounds and was not marked LEO/Military Use Only could land even stalwart young officers such as ourselves in Club Fed ... at least in theory.  What the little pinky hook did was allow a full three-finger grip on the frame.  Also, if one tucked the piece on one's waistband "cavalry-style" (butt-forward) it served as some extra insurance that the piece would not slip down one's trousers.  I know, I know, but back then pretty much everyone in these parts (and, I suspect, many parts) carried off-duty by just stuffing one's weapon into one's waistband.  Not one of us ever shot our butts or privates off, and we never had a weapon fall out while exerting ourselves (or sitting in a restaurant).  I'm not advocating such, I'm just saying how it was back then.

     Fast forward a few years into my tenure as a detective and in a holster trade with one of my partners I wound up with  a 17 round mag from a Glock 17 he used to carry.  That put me on the losing side insofar as cash value, but I was actually quite happy with the acquisition.  It was a "Pre-Ban" mag prior to the sunsetting of that ridiculous law restricting magazine capacity.  Yes, it stuck out of the grip a bit, but on special assignments it gave me a very compact, fast-into-action pistol with 18 rounds on board of our issued 115gr +P+ JHP ammo.  The short barrel also gave much less leverage to a would-be gun-grabber than a longer barreled pistol.  I carried the Glock as backup and occasionally as a primary duty weapon, depending on circumstances.  

     I'm now retired but still carry daily both by virtue of 18 USC 926C and a lifetime permit from my state.  The Glock goes with me sometimes although at least as frequently it's some other weapon sharing space in my waistband or weighing down my pocket.  Whatever my daily carry happens to be, though that "baby" Glock is usually my go-to-in-the-night pistol.  It sits ready-to-hand each night by my bed with the trigger-guard cover in place (so it takes two hands to get into action ... just one more step to help make sure I'm wide awake) with the 17 round mag in place.  Several months ago, I got a X-Grip adapter to use with that 17 round magazine.  It gives the weapon a nice, rounded butt profile which is not only vastly more comfortably in the hand, but helps with concealment by rounding corners on which a shirt or jacket may otherwise catch.  Reportedly shooting the shorter pistol with the longer magazine in place begs for a jam due to finger pressure on the magazine.  After thousands of rounds I've never had that problem.  But with the grip, at least that's one less thing to potentially go wrong.  A couple years back, I made a nice trigger-guard cover out of Kydex which features a 550 cord lanyard.  A pull on the lanyard by either a support hand or having it looped over one's belt yanks the guard off the weapon making it instantly ready.  While in place, it keeps fingers and other items away from the trigger.  A very minimalist holster offered by many manufacturers, it's a vast improvement over our old method of just sticking it in our pants.

     The other day I noticed CDNN (http://www.cdnnsports.com/) had a sale on Glock brand plus magazine floorplates.  Now, this concept of getting extra rounds in by making a deeper floorplate is nothing new.  I knew several officers and a fed or two that used "+2" floorplates on their Glocks back in the late 1990s.  Again, once upon a dark and dreary time (pre-George W. Bush era) that was only legal if your magazine already held more than 10 rounds.  Now in a much more enlightened era (at at least one without an insane national magazine capacity restriction), I figured it was long past time I tried some of these.  I'd heard mixed reviews on the off-brand extra capacity floorplates but have only heard good reviews of the actual Glock brand models.  I've also been made to understand the original springs in the magazines are sufficiently robust so as to handle the additional force of the extra load.  I am hardly a spring expert, however, so keep an eye on your spring, as I'd hope you'd do anyway.  These new generation floorpates are now called simply "+" floorplates, by the way.  It seems some folks possessing Glocks chambered in .40 S&W or .357 SIG (whose magazines take the same floorplate) were distressed to learn that when they put the older extension onto their mags, the "+2" stamp on the bottom was not, in fact, a magical incantation which allowed them to violate the laws of physics.  You get two additional rounds in 9x19mm but with the fatter rounds of .40 S&W or .357 SIG you only get one extra round.  Either way, you get to get a full three-finger grip on the frontstrap for a surprisingly tiny bit of extra bulk. 

     I added one of these floorplates to my 17 round mag.  That way, if I have to grab it in the middle of the night, I have 20 rounds of 9mm Luger (currently Federal's excellent 124 grain +P+ JHP) on board ready to go.  If I can't solve the problem with twenty shots of near .357 snub level rounds, it probably was beyond my ability to solve with anything short of a full squad with long-guns.  This gives me all the same advantages I had when I used this setup for duty:  A small, fast-to-draw pistol with a barrel short enough to make a gun-grab more difficult, and with enough ammo on board (now two additional rounds!) to handle most anything I'm likely to be able to handle with a pistol.     

     The other floorplate I put on the magazine that was formerly the home to that Pearce grip finger rest.  That gives me 13 rounds on board in a very concealable and comfortable package.  In fact, that gives me only one round less than I get with my stock magazines in my old favorite, original duty pistol, my Browning Hi-Power.  My Baby Glock is not as elegant as that fine Belgian pistol.  It lacks the graceful lines and solid, all steel frame.  But my Glock 26 is lighter (polymer frame) and can actually (again, depending on the pants) fit into a pocket for discreet carry.  Sure, it's bulky and thicker than the Hi-Power, but overall it's easier to carry tucked up close to one's tender skin.  Just don't tell my beloved Hi-Power I said any of that, okay?  It's still one of my favorite pistols of all time.

    Just to check and see how concealable my pistol was, I used the trigger cover (550 cord looped over my belt, pistol tucked securely inside my waistband) and with the now almost silly looking 19 round magazine and grip adapter in place, hidden by a XXL Aloha shirt (quite popular here on the Gulf Coast  -- vanity insists that I note, although I'm hardly thin, I actually "fit" an XL -- the XXLs hide well though and after a couple of turns through the washer and dryer, I stop looking like I'm wearing some giant fat guy's shirt).  So adorned and so armed, my wife and I went on an errand and then proceeded to find an agreeable restaurant in which to have our late evening supper.  Honestly the weapon was so comfortable even with the larger surface area touching me (longer mag) I pretty much forgot it was there.  Also, we never found it printing under that shirt.  Normally, under a shirt that fit any better, I'd just use the newly modified 12 round magazine but I wanted to see a worst-case scenario.  I'm thinking it'd make a great traveling gun with the 19 round mag in place.  Tonight's adventure showed me that on rest stops, pit stops and dinner stops I could, if needs be, stash it under a loose travelling shirt with the huge mag in place without any problem.

     We never know if trouble will strike or when or where.  We also never know how many rounds we'll end up needing.  I think it's great to have a handy device that with maybe a finger-width of added bulk gives us two additional life-saving rounds (in 9mm, settle for just one and an improved grip if you carry the fatter bullets ... and I recommend in that case an after-market barrel with full case-head support).