Home | Site Map | Intro | Net Portfolio | Photos | Journalist | Features | Bible Q&A
Webwork Rates | Contact | Resume | Photoj Sites | PhotoJ Q&A | Saved | Guests

See all my social commentary columns.
See all my Bible Questions and Answers columns.
See all my feature articles with photos.

April 23, 2007

Don't ever say what you won't ever do. If you had told me I would ever let my beloved S&W 1076 10mm semi-auto pistol out of my hands, I woulda said, "Not 'til you pry it outa my dead, cold fingers."

My Smith & Wesson 1076, former king of my sock drawer.

Pair of 10's: 1076 for a G29

Would I be interested in swapping my 1076, he asked? There's only one pistol in the whole wide world I would consider swapping my beloved 1076 for. Guess what? That's what he offered, a Glock 29, the "baby Glock" in 10mm. And if I had any remaining doubts, this G29 had been heavily customized.

My 1076 has been my pride and joy since I bought her in 2001, but it was finally time to let her go.

So I boxed up my 1076 and shipped it to him on Monday and sure enough, the G29 arrived in return on Tuesday. He's happy and I am, too.

My Glock G29 10mm semi-auto pistol, new king of my pistols.

And my new G29 was customized right by the Glock armorer the previous owner bought it from. The G29 has had a full grip reduction to mimic the grip angle of a 1911. (How do you change the grip angle on a Glock? Sounds like magic to me.) And the entire grip has been stippled so that your hands will not slip when sweaty or wet. I'm told that's one of the few gripes about the stock Glock grip, slippery when wet. No more.

It has an extended slide release, a stainless-steel guide rod and all new heavy-duty Wolff springs. The Houston owner said he's shot some Double Tap 10mm ammo in it, so those new springs got a workout. If she can handle Double Tap, the hottest 10mm rounds available, she can handle anything you put in her.

The slide has been refinished to a stainless/satin finish by CCR Refinishing. (Scroll about halfway down the page past the rifles and there you'll find a G29 slide with the stainless look. Gotta be mine!)

The trigger has also been customized, with pull reduced from stock 5.5 lbs. to about 2.5 lbs. It came with four 10-round magazines and two of those have grip extensions, stippled to match the frame.

Now my only problem is to find time to get to the range to shoot her. Last weekend was a bust. I'll try again this weekend. The suspense is killing me.

Honey, I shrunk the Smith!

My briefly owned Steyr M40-A1 in .40 S&W cal.

I bought the M40-A1 in early March thinking I was sure to love it as much as my M357-A1 with cheaper ammo to boot. If I had bought the 40 first, I'm sure I woulda loved it just fine as wine. But comparing it to the 357 Sig, I just couldn't find the love. So I decided to see if I could find a good subcompact to swap it for.

I shipped my big S&W 1076 10mm out on Monday in a swap for a customized G29 10mm and by Friday I'm back in the Smith business again with a close relative, smaller and more soft-spoken, but with the same good S&W genes.

Anyway, the dealer's happy and I am, too. The 669 is a 3.5" barrel subcompact and I stopped off at a friend's house in the country after the gun shop and burned about 75 rounds of FMJs and HPs through it. Sweet DA/SA shooter that seemed to be hitting dead on. Gave several tin cans a good dose of the ol' time religion. They were a lot holier when I got through with 'em. The 669 ain't a Steyr S357-A1 subcompact, but she'll will do until Steyr delivers on the promise of that new model coming soon.

My Smith & Wesson 669, little brother of my former 1076.

BTW, my friend got out his Steyr GB to shoot a few, too. Suhweeeet! And though there's little or no resemblance in looks to the MA1, somehow the "feel" is familiar. (No, his GB is NOT FOR SALE!)

The 669 looks like a little brother of my S&W 1076, though it's a generation younger, introduced in 1985 vs. the 1990 introduction of the 10 series. Like the 10, she has a DA/SA trigger with a decocker. Same nonspur hammer and very similar looks, just smaller and lighter. And one pleasant surprise, the decocker/safety has a switch on each side of the slide, mighty handy for lefties like me.

I field-stripped her and cleaned her and was pleasantly surprised to find she was pretty clean inside. Either she hadn't been shot much or the previous owner took good care of her. Either way, that's a very good sign.

And to my surprise, the alloy frame is about as light as the polymer frames on my G29 or my M357-A1. All the weight is in the stainless-steel slide.

And the difference in 10mm and 9mm is of course dramatic on the business end. Instead of the impressive "Boom!" of the 1076, the 669 has a polite, little 9mm "pop" but she does hold 12 rds. vs. 9 for the big 1076. I've also read that 15-round S&W magazines will fit the 669. And of course, the barrel is three-quarter's of an inch shorter than the 4.25" 1076 and she's a heck of a lot lighter.

I never pretended that my 1076 was well suited for carry, though FBI agents toted them around under suit coats as their duty weapon from 1990-95. But this little 669 will be a fine carry piece that will be easier to hide than my M357-A1 with its 4" barrel and also easier to hide than my new (to me) G29 with its 3.76" barrel, not to mention slimmer and lighter than the G29 and about the same weight as my M357-A1 but half an inch shorter.

As the French used to say back before Le Revolution, "The King is dead! Long live the King!"

If you see the dethroned king, my 1076, in Houston, Texas, say goodbye for me.