Baddest Tactical Pistol No. 1: Llama IX-C .45 ACP

By John W. Myers, Internet Photojournalist

Some three and half months after I started the quest for the "Baddest Tactical Pistol I can afford" I have acquired Baddest Tactical Pistol No. 1: Llama IX-C .45 ACP.

My two "finalists," Glock 20 in 10mm and Tangfolio/EAA Elite Match in .38 Super/9x23mm, got bypassed in the end by my "first love," a wide-frame 1911-type .45 ACP with "full capacity" of 13 rounds.

It was just too good a deal to pass up at about $100 less than either of the aforementioned pair.

So I ended up with a Llama .45 ACP Model IX-C after first giving her a test run at the shop's range to verify that she will cycle hollow-points reliably and shoot where I aim. She passed both tests with flying colors so she came home with me, $350 OTD from my favorite gun shop in fabulous downtown Wagram, NC.

Here's my new-to-me Llama with skeletonized trigger on the try-out-run target I shot at the gun store's range.

Mid South Guns fills to overflowing with firearms an old hardware store building out in the middle of nowhere in one of the poorest counties of rural North Carolina in a tiny, one-stoplight town.

Maybe that's why it's chock full of mostly used rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers at rock-bottom prices.

Almost every time I go in there I find a firearm I just gotta have. (My plan almost flew out the window when I spied a S&W .357 mag snubby with shrouded hammer for $359. Tempting. So many guns I want and so little money.)

Such was the case when I spied a coal-black Llama with a wide grip indicating a double-stack mag. She shows a wee bit of use on the slide and frame, mostly holster wear, but the bore is pristine and apparently the feed ramp has been polished and a custom trigger installed.

I say apparently because I don't know exactly what a stock Llama is, but everything I could find online about Llama .45s said they need a feed ramp polish job to cycle HPs and the stock trigger also needs work.

I found a photo of a stock Llama IX-C on a defunct Llama site and it has a solid trigger, unlike the skeletonized one on mine.

Plus my Llama IX-C trigger is so crisp and light it's almost scary, maybe less than 3 lbs., and the only work it needs is me getting used to it.

That's an 11x17" target, not a full-size "man" target, and there's 30 holes in it, fired at 10 paces as quickly as I could acquire a good sight picture for each shot.

The three big white dots on the sights worked very well for these ancient eyes. I could only stuff 10 rounds in the mag and I was having so much fun I had to reload it at least twice. That big ol' steel frame soaked up the recoil like I was shooting a 9.

Only reason I stopped is because it was the only box of .45s I bought and I didn't want to ride home with that beast unloaded.

Even though I had my regular "car gun" with me, my S&W 669 9mm, it just didn't seem right to carry that .45 home unloaded.

As soon as I run a hundred or two rounds through the Llama, she's going to be my new "car gun."

Top row, Steyr M357-A1 with light in nightstand-duty mode and Llama IX-C; middle row, Walther P22 .22LR and Glock 29 10mm; bottom row, pair of 9s, Kel-Tec PF-9 and S&W 669.

In the target shown, I think the three rounds in the "7" ring are light-trigger flyers.

On the first magazine, I was just "taking up slack" when she surprised me and went "Bang!"

On the third round of 10, there were no "7's" so I think I'm getting the hang of it.

No doubt, this is by far the lightest trigger among my now-six pistols and I'm going to love getting used to it.

My only gripe so far is I got a 10-rd. magazine with the pistol. But I found a site that has Llama factory 13-rd. mags, so I picked up a couple of those.

Color me happy as a pig in deep mud with my new Llama, the Clinton-ban 10-round mag that came with it, plus two "full-capacity" 13-round mags.

With one in the pipe and two mags in my Fobus double-mag carrier, that's 37 rounds of .45 ACP, which ought to handle most situations short of WWIII.

But I doubt I'll be carrying this monster except for the rare occasion when it seems appropriate to declare a "Big Gun Night."

No. 1B for my "Baddest Pistol" may be an IGB 16" barrel and buttstock, plus scope and mount, for my Steyr M357-A1.

The Llama is the baddest pistol I can afford right now. So I'll start saving up for my 357 Sig carbine parts.

Caliber	Grains	Type	Mfg.	FPS Muzzle	Ft.Lbs. Muzzle
357 Sig	125	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1450	584
.38 Super	125	JHP	Winchester	1240	427
9x23	124	JHP	Winchester	1460	587

I considered a used G20 to complement my G29 and share 10mm ammo at Summit Guns for $379, but it had no rail and the Llama doesn't either, so then the difference in price came into play with the G20 plus shipping and FFL transfer to total about $425.

So I'm back to my first love with pistols, a 1911, but this one holds 13+1, which is twice more than 7 rounds if I remember my 1st-grade math, so I'm a happy camper.

Or perhaps I'll zig instead of zag for Answer IB, or even Answer IC on my "Baddest Pistol" quest.

I've still got my eye on the Elite Match by Tangoloi/EAA in .38 Super and 9x23mm, 18+1 rounds of firepower that matches or exceeds .357 Sig in a CZ-clone frame with a great single-action trigger for only $460. What's not to like about that?

Of course, that would put my pistol ammo list up to seven calibers, but who's counting?

Join the conversation on Llama IX-C at M1911 Forum

Next: Baddest Tactical Pistols 1 & 2: Llama IX-C and CZ75 SP01 Custom 9mm

(John W. Myers is a photojournalist, Sunday School teacher and blogs at "Gun Nuts 'R' Us"