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March 18, 2008

Here's "Big Bertha" with all seven of her mags.

I've been on a bit of a roll lately in "Baddest Tactical Pistol" mode, mainly I suppose since there's a distinct possibility of a Hillary or Obama administration taking power in the fall election, but then any excuse is a good excuse to buy firearms, pistols, rifles, shotguns, howitzers, mortars... whatever I can afford. (Just kidding on the howitzers and mortars, Mr. ATF)

As a card-carrying member of the "Gun Nuts 'R' Us" fraternity, I feel it my patriotic duty to buy as many firearms as possible under the philosophy of my favorite Democrat, retired U.S. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who said in an NRA keynote address: "I've already got more guns than I need but I don't have as many guns as I want."

Sounds like a perfectly good life philosophy to me.

My CZ75 SP01 Custom, right out of the box, ready to go to the range.

Anyway, I started this binge with Baddest Tactical Pistol No. 1, a Llama IX-C, the wideframe hi-cap 1911 pistol made by the now defunct Spanish manufacturer. I picked "Big Bertha" up used for $350 at my favorite gun shop, Mid South Guns in fabulous downtown Wagram, NC.

Some kind soul, presumably the former owner, had upgraded her with Novak three-dot sights and a new skeletonized trigger that's just right at 4 lbs., 3.4 oz. as measured on my Lyman Digital Trigger Scale. The only down note was she came with a Clinton ban 10-rd. factory mag. Boo!

But I remedied that failing with a pair of 13-rd. factory Llama mags from Joe R. Lowe Clips & Mags for the princely price of $45 each. Ouch! Now I see they're up to $55 each. Double-ouch!

Then I found a couple of Promags at a gun show that fit Bertha, one 14-rd. and one 20-rd. for $55 total. Much better! Both are after-market for Para Ord 14 and needed a slight widening of the notch for the mag-release button to work, but once so modified they both work just fine.

Here she is in a Blade-Tech Drop Offset Holster I also got from Angus.

Armed with that knowledge I purchased another pair of 14-rd. Mec-Gar mags for Para-Ord 14 from CDNN Sports for $20 each and had them modified in the same manner, a slight widening of the mag notch on the upper end.

Both of those work fine, too, so I have since promoted "Big Bertha" to be my car gun with the two Mec-Gar 14-rd. mags.

If 29 rounds of 185 gr. Federal Hydra-Shok HPs won't get me out of trouble, it's time to call in the Marines.

Baddest Tactical Pistol No. 2

An unknown John Myers in London, England, wanted it far worse than I wanted to keep it. Through a domain name broker, this other unknown John Myers made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I took the money and run.

So I took a chunk of my ill-gotten gains and bought my very first (and perhaps only) customized pistol, a CZ75 SP01 Custom 9mm from the CZ Custom Shop of Angus Hobdell, leader of the CZ Pistol Team.

Here's one of several SP01 targets with 38 holes in the gut, two mags. That flyer in the shoulder was pretty typical of most of my groups. One round in just about every group surprised me with that super-light SA trigger. That's a nice problem to have. Ain't she beautiful? But it might be a "he" as I'm thinking of naming it Angus.

My wife almost had a heart attack when I told her I spent $900 on a pistol (plus shipping, plus holster, et c. but who's counting?).

But I let her keep the rest of the cash to do ordinary stuff, like pay bills, plus I bought her a new computer and a digital camera. I bought myself a new digital camera, too, but who's counting cameras either?

Anyway, the SP01 was a bit of an adventure. Here's my first range report:

Range Report No. 1

Picked it up as soon as I got off work at noon (love those early Fridays), came home just long enough to snag my range bag and off to the range.

What's not to love? Tuned 2.5-lb. SA trigger and feels lighter, DA trigger is so smooth I don't see how Para's LDA could be any lighter or sweeter.

Great balance, great looks, 19-rd. "full capacity" mags, shoots like a dream, this pistol makes me a much better shot than I was. And it's got ambi safeties! I'm a lefty, so that's a real big feature for me.

And here's one of several SP01 targets with 38 holes in the head, or close enough to it.

I put 150 rds. of WWB FMJs through her and 100 rds. of UMC HPs, just to see if there's any difference.

Mostly fed either one OK, maybe a dozen bobbles, mostly FTXs and semi-stovepipes, a few FTFeeds and two or three FTFires.

On the FTFires, all I had to do was pull the DA trigger for a second strike and every time she went Boom!

The bobbles started with the first mag of FMJs and diminished as I kept shooting. By the time I got to the box of 100 HPs, there were maybe 2 or 3 FTwhatevers.

A dozen out of 250 ain't bad for a start. If I'm still having problems at 500 rds., then I'll start worrying about it.

I guess even custom pistols need a bit of breaking in.

I gave her a pretty good workout over about two hours and shot up all the range ammo I brought.

Shoulda brought more ammo. Will do next time.

Targets are 11x17" Small Red Man B27, fired at seven yards, standing offhand, rapid fire.

I tried my best to slow down a bit and aim more to evaluate accuracy with a new pistol, but this pistol just absolutely begs to be shot faster and faster. Great pistol!

Here's one of BigTaco's targets, the famous Anthony Arms Blue Man, shot in Pittsburgh at Anthony Arms indoor range at 25 yards. That's BT's bony finger pointing at a group of five that linked together. A sixth round from the same group is right above the ragged hole with a "3" on the circle around it. You can call that one a "flyer" if you want, like BT did. Looks like mighty fine shooting to me, all six of them.

Ordered a Blade Tech Dropped Offset Holster from Angus and ordered four 16-rd. Mec-Gar mags from Midway just a while ago, so I should be good to go.

Just gotta go shooting! I'm taking it with me to Pittsburgh for Christmas.

Here's my range reports on two trips to shoot the SP01 while in Pittsburgh for Christmas:

Range Report No. 2

Emailed Angus Hobdell at his CZ Custom Shop and he didn't beat around the bush. Send it back and we'll get it fixed pronto, the man said. So I did.

But I waited until BigTaco (NC native friend who lives in Pittsburgh) got back to Pittsburgh from his Christmas trip home to NC with his folks 'cause I knew he would want to shoot it. He did and we did.

Range Report No. 3

Difference was, he didn't load the six mags, 2 CZ factory and 4 Mec-Gar, to full capacity.

Here's six of my pistols ready to load for our Family and Friends Shootout at the Farm. From left, Steyr M9-A1, CZ75 SP01 Custom 9mm at top, G29 custom 10mm at bottom; middle top S&W Model 21-4 .44 Special, middle bottom S&W 22A-1 .22LR with new grips and TruGlo 2.5X Red Dot Scope; and right, Steyr M357-A1. Not shown are Llama IX-C .45 ACP and Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm, both on car duty and already loaded up and ready to travel.

Sent the pistol to Angus Friday morning with an explanation of it's almost cured behavior.

He wrote back and said "we will take the gun out and do an extensive test fire" to figure out what's going on.

If it's a mag issue, seems strange it's constant over six mags when all are loaded to capacity. But hey, what do I know? Not much.

I'll give Angus time to sort it out. I'm sure he'll do it right.

Angus kept me posted after it arrived at his shop. His first report: "I test fired it yesterday and out of 150 rounds: 100 reloads (92 failures to feed) 50 Winchester white box (Zero problems).

"We have it back in the shop to check the feeding issue. I think there may be an extractor problem, once that is done we will take is BACK out to test fire."

Wow! It sure don't like reloads, 92 out of 100 failures! I'll stick to WWB and other factory ammo as he noted, no problems with that.

Here's a group shot at the end of the Family and Friends Shootout day, everybody armed with empty weapons so don't nobody stroke out about a couple of them with fingers on the triggers. (They're rookies so the rangemaster probably wasn't as strict as he should have been.) My friend's wife, second from left, is holding the CZ75. This English lady who recently became a U.S. Citizen has fired a pistol a few times before, but not much. But she shot everything I brought, including .45 ACP, .44 Special, 10mm and 357 Sig, and didn't blink an eye and hit what she was shooting at very well. You shoulda seen her rattling off 18 rounds of 9mm with the CZ, filling that target with holes! We need more women citizens like Stephanie, who was deciding what she likes to buy her own pistol. Is this a great country or what?

I was forced to use reload lead bullets due to range rules at the first indoor range I went to in Pittsburgh, but the FTE frequency wasn't too bad. Sounds like it went from not bad to terrible in the shop.

But whatever Angus and crew did, they fixed my SP01 just fine. Not a single FTE/FTF since I got it back, no failures of any kind period. Angus and his boys do fine work.

Range report No. 4

Got the CZ back Monday and finally got a chance today to blow a couple of 19-rd. mags through it a gun shop range while I was test firing another pistol I considered buying.

Nary a hitch. Had some aluminum cans flying all over the place with 38 rds. of 9mm popping away!

When I got home, I applied my Lyman Digital Trigger Gauge to the SP01 and here's what I found: SA 2 lbs., 8.8 oz.; DA 7 lbs. 8.5 oz. Right on the money for what was promised by the CZ Custom Shop.

I say again, Angus Hodbell and his crew do fine work.

Range report No. 5

Finally got a chance to shoot my CZ75 SP01 Custom again and she got a good workout with absolutely no problems at all.

Had a Family and Friends Shootout at the Farm with my son and daughter and spouse and boyfriend, me and my wife and a friend and his wife at the friend's farm.

Seven young and old folks plus one grandson, all shooting pistols and rifles and having a high ol' time.

IMHO, the CZ75 was the star of the show.

The girls thought it was too heavy until they shot it and all loved it. A bit big for a purse gun, but they loved the way it shoots.

I used all six of my mags loaded and also finished off a box of 100 FMJs, so the CZ got a good workout and passed with flying colors.

Got a few offers to buy it but she's not for sale.