A CCW is a compromise. A Glock 17 is a great shooter. Nice long sight radius, 17 rounds of 9mm in the mag, great ergonomics, easily controlled recoil and a caliber that gets the job done (no we're not doing the 9mm debate here). Great gun. Most people can't carry a Glock 17 concealed so they cut the barrel down and cut the grip short and named it the Glock 26. But it's still a good sized gun. It's a double stack and it's a fatty.
I've carried a few different 'go to' CCWs. I had an M&P compact 9. I had a SIG P239 in 9. I had an SW1911ES in .45. All nice guns but you need a belt holster for them. I've done OWB, IWB, SOB (that's 'small of back', not my father-in-law). I'm not a belt holster guy. Frankly I don't dress for it, my job doesn't let me and casually it's just not something I do. I don't carry my mobile phone on my belt either. I'm a pocket-carry guy.
Shite, talk about compromise. I went from a 1911ES to a Kel Tec P3AT. Yah. Little bit of a difference there. (Well they had somethings in common, they're both ammo-sensitive finicky bitches) Yes Derek, I expected my boyfriend to defend me. Ha ha, .380, wimpy blah blah. Cekim dubbed my gun the 'Noisy Cricket' but you know what? I carried it every day. A CCW in the safe is useless. Yes I worried about the 9mm kurtz getting the job done which brings me to - cue dramatic music - the SEARCH.
Getting caught up in the panic over 'we're never getting another chance at a Glock 'cause Obama and Patrick are takin' all our guns away' I was going to go G26 - until I put one in my pocket. Nope. Too big. Then I saw a PM 9 by Kahr. In my head I conflated Kahr and Kel Tec for reliability so turned up my nose, until I actually did some research. Hmmm. OK, maybe my old Home Town of Worcester MA DID get something right.
Now to find one. After many false starts and a few aggravations I got lucky and got one from NESer Glock - who is a great guy by the way.
First off she's small. A little bigger than my Kel Tec, a few ounces heavier but not that much bigger
That's a 9mm bore brush next to it for scale. You can see it's a 3" barrel with a 6 rounder with a pinky extension and also comes with a 7 rounder that protrudes below the grip. Note the external safety - required for the Ma**h*** edition. The free state doesn't have one - nor does it need one. It's a striker gun and like most out there it does require the slide to rack to 'partially cock' the striker. To fire it has a long smooth pull - feels like a DA revolver. About 5lbs pull so it's very easy to shoot accurately but it's a looooong pull. You can stage it. If you're used to shooting revolvers you'll feel right at home as that's exactly what it feels like - just lighter on the trigger pull.
The Ma**h*** edition also comes with a loaded chamber indicator that protrudes up like below when a round is chambered (hold the safety lynch mob, it's a snap cap).
The build quality is excellent. Look at the ramp - not sure if you can see it in the photo but it's mirror smooth - like the smoothest I've ever seen. Out of the box it looks like a gun that's been worked over by a smith.
The gun easily fits in any decent sized front pocket. It has about the same weight as a large mobile phone. You WILL feel it's in there but it's not going to pull your pants down or be banging against your leg when you walk. I decent pocket holster IS a must however.
The safety is a useless POS. Down is safe, up is hot. Down it disconnects the trigger. It's small, it's placed weird and there ain't no way you're going to get it off while drawing or presenting - so unless you want to say 'wait a minute while I flip this switch'. That works about as well as carrying with a snap-cap so when the bad guy takes it away from you he'll be surprised and you'll be able to take it back (use the search feature on that one, seriously, it's worth the effort for the laugh). Best not to use it and rely on that looooong pull and a holster that covers the trigger to keep it safe.
Shooting the beast: Very pleasant actually. I was expecting the misery that the P3AT brings - after all this is just a little larger/heavier but with a MUCH hotter round. Nope. No more recoil than a Glock. 'But Bob,' you say, 'Isn't it ammo sensitive? I've heard that.' Nope. Not this one. Win white, Federal FMJ. Yum yum. 124g Hydrashoks: Yum yum. 118g Critical Defense with the weird nose? Yum yum. AND this sucker wasn't even broken in - it was still under 200rds. Not any more it ain't. One quirk I DID find was that if you sling shot it the first round hangs up for a second on the ramp. Use the slide release and it doesn't. The slide release is at least as beefy as the take-down lever on a SIG so there's no issues with trying to get your finger on it etc.
Slide locked back every time. Both style mags fed no problem.
Polygonal rifling so this thing is accurate. Once I got used the the trigger (4 rounds) I was shooting a 3 inch group at 7 yds - while not rapid fire more than fast enough to piss off Fudds. The gun went Nom nom nom on whatever I wanted to feed it. I was banging plates with it at 25 yds. My biggest issue? Not over-gripping it because I was expecting more recoil from such a small gun.
Verdict: Fun to shoot, easy to hide, hits what you're aiming at with a round big enough to give the bad guy an decent owie.
Best thing to have come out of Worcester since, well me![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
I've carried a few different 'go to' CCWs. I had an M&P compact 9. I had a SIG P239 in 9. I had an SW1911ES in .45. All nice guns but you need a belt holster for them. I've done OWB, IWB, SOB (that's 'small of back', not my father-in-law). I'm not a belt holster guy. Frankly I don't dress for it, my job doesn't let me and casually it's just not something I do. I don't carry my mobile phone on my belt either. I'm a pocket-carry guy.
Shite, talk about compromise. I went from a 1911ES to a Kel Tec P3AT. Yah. Little bit of a difference there. (Well they had somethings in common, they're both ammo-sensitive finicky bitches) Yes Derek, I expected my boyfriend to defend me. Ha ha, .380, wimpy blah blah. Cekim dubbed my gun the 'Noisy Cricket' but you know what? I carried it every day. A CCW in the safe is useless. Yes I worried about the 9mm kurtz getting the job done which brings me to - cue dramatic music - the SEARCH.
Getting caught up in the panic over 'we're never getting another chance at a Glock 'cause Obama and Patrick are takin' all our guns away' I was going to go G26 - until I put one in my pocket. Nope. Too big. Then I saw a PM 9 by Kahr. In my head I conflated Kahr and Kel Tec for reliability so turned up my nose, until I actually did some research. Hmmm. OK, maybe my old Home Town of Worcester MA DID get something right.
Now to find one. After many false starts and a few aggravations I got lucky and got one from NESer Glock - who is a great guy by the way.
First off she's small. A little bigger than my Kel Tec, a few ounces heavier but not that much bigger
That's a 9mm bore brush next to it for scale. You can see it's a 3" barrel with a 6 rounder with a pinky extension and also comes with a 7 rounder that protrudes below the grip. Note the external safety - required for the Ma**h*** edition. The free state doesn't have one - nor does it need one. It's a striker gun and like most out there it does require the slide to rack to 'partially cock' the striker. To fire it has a long smooth pull - feels like a DA revolver. About 5lbs pull so it's very easy to shoot accurately but it's a looooong pull. You can stage it. If you're used to shooting revolvers you'll feel right at home as that's exactly what it feels like - just lighter on the trigger pull.
The Ma**h*** edition also comes with a loaded chamber indicator that protrudes up like below when a round is chambered (hold the safety lynch mob, it's a snap cap).
The build quality is excellent. Look at the ramp - not sure if you can see it in the photo but it's mirror smooth - like the smoothest I've ever seen. Out of the box it looks like a gun that's been worked over by a smith.
The gun easily fits in any decent sized front pocket. It has about the same weight as a large mobile phone. You WILL feel it's in there but it's not going to pull your pants down or be banging against your leg when you walk. I decent pocket holster IS a must however.
The safety is a useless POS. Down is safe, up is hot. Down it disconnects the trigger. It's small, it's placed weird and there ain't no way you're going to get it off while drawing or presenting - so unless you want to say 'wait a minute while I flip this switch'. That works about as well as carrying with a snap-cap so when the bad guy takes it away from you he'll be surprised and you'll be able to take it back (use the search feature on that one, seriously, it's worth the effort for the laugh). Best not to use it and rely on that looooong pull and a holster that covers the trigger to keep it safe.
Shooting the beast: Very pleasant actually. I was expecting the misery that the P3AT brings - after all this is just a little larger/heavier but with a MUCH hotter round. Nope. No more recoil than a Glock. 'But Bob,' you say, 'Isn't it ammo sensitive? I've heard that.' Nope. Not this one. Win white, Federal FMJ. Yum yum. 124g Hydrashoks: Yum yum. 118g Critical Defense with the weird nose? Yum yum. AND this sucker wasn't even broken in - it was still under 200rds. Not any more it ain't. One quirk I DID find was that if you sling shot it the first round hangs up for a second on the ramp. Use the slide release and it doesn't. The slide release is at least as beefy as the take-down lever on a SIG so there's no issues with trying to get your finger on it etc.
Slide locked back every time. Both style mags fed no problem.
Polygonal rifling so this thing is accurate. Once I got used the the trigger (4 rounds) I was shooting a 3 inch group at 7 yds - while not rapid fire more than fast enough to piss off Fudds. The gun went Nom nom nom on whatever I wanted to feed it. I was banging plates with it at 25 yds. My biggest issue? Not over-gripping it because I was expecting more recoil from such a small gun.
Verdict: Fun to shoot, easy to hide, hits what you're aiming at with a round big enough to give the bad guy an decent owie.
Best thing to have come out of Worcester since, well me
