Handguns

If we were to list the reasons for the boom in popularity of the semiautomatic handgun, high capacity would be at the top. The highest-capacity pistols are typically chambered for 9mm because the cartridges are slender and you could pile a lot of them on top of each other. In this test we will shoot three 9mm pistols that subscribe heartily to the plan of carrying as many rounds as the frame will permit. With the rush on guns and ammo we actually had some difficulty putting this test together, but we found everything we needed at Jim Pruett's Anti-Terrorist Headquarters.

Each pistol represents the highest capacity available from the respective manufacturer. The $749 Springfield Armory XDM9211HCSP is the 9mm version of the largest-framed Croatian police pistol that was introduced chambered for 40 S&W just a few months ago. The $695 CZ SP-01 Phantom No. 91158 is a fresh variation of the venerable CZ75 pistol. It features a polymer frame with interchangeable panels at the rear of the grip. Our third pistol is a benchmark among high-capacity 9mm pistols. The $680 Glock 34 takes the large-receiver Model 17 and tops it with a longer barrel and adjustable sights. The design of each of these guns has been influenced by the demands of the Practical Shooting crowd and should make ideal weapons for home defense, duty carry, or open carry for the civilian.

With the possible exception of the CZ pistol, the operation of each gun was a known quantity. So our evaluation will spend most of its time and ink on performance and describing a test drive. With maximum available sight radius available on each gun (another benefit of the full-size pistol), we chose to record accuracy data from a distance of 25 yards. For support we used a $49 Caldwell Rock Jr. shooting rest beneath the dust cover of each pistol and a $19 pre-filled Caldwell Elbow Bag to support our hands, both from battenfeldtechnologies.com. The Rock Jr. proved stable without being unnecessarily heavy. The pre-filled bag stayed tight and didn't compress so much that we had to reset the guns after every shot. With these tools we were able to do our best despite the gusting winds racing across the Texas plains.

To learn more about the rapid-fire capability of each weapon, we created an action test. We placed three targets downrange in a triangular pattern. The central target was directly in front of the shooter 50 feet downrange. The flanking targets were each 30 feet downrange and 15 feet from the center line. The targets were police training targets with a 3-inch circle of Caldwell Orange Peel target pasted at dead center. The drill was to raise the pistol from a tactical low ready (a drop of the sights from the target low enough to give view of the subject's hands), and engage the targets from left to right with two shots each. Beginning with a full magazine, the drill was fired in six-shot strings until the magazine was empty. The test was concluded when we had exhausted two full magazines worth of ammunition. Our pace was held to about the same for each pistol. We wanted to see consistent hits and collect shooter feedback. This means what the shooter saw and what adjustments had to be made to land the required hits.

Test ammunition consisted of the latest generation of Black Hills 124-grain FMJ remanufactured ammunition and new manufacture 115-grain FMJ rounds. The 124s were used in our multiple-target drill. We also fired 124-grain Speer Gold Dot Hollowpoints, which gave us a scare during our chronograph of the Glock pistol. Without warning one of the rounds appeared to overpressure, causing the G34 to jump violently. Recorded velocity of that round was 1311 fps. This was more than 100 fps faster compared to previous shots through the chronograph. We did not recall a similar experience when firing from the bench, so we do not think this interfered with the accuracy of our data. Range conditions offered amenable temperatures but gusting winds and shifting light. Let's see what we learned about these three high-capacity sidearms.

JUNEAU - Governor Sarah Palin encouraged U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to support recently adopted regulations allowing concealed weapons in national parks and wildlife refuges. Secretary Salazar has directed a review of the regulations that were approved by the previous administration.

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The Brady Campaign has released its annual state scorecards, which the group claims 'rate each state on the strength of its gun laws.'

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has introduced the Respecting States’ Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act.

This was one sharp-looking pistol, and fit and finish were well done, we thought. The frame was black polymer and the slide was stainless steel. Both components had sculptured panels and functional cutouts, giving the gun a modern look.

Ruger has several versions of the P345. One has a blued slide; another has a spring-loaded decocker instead of our version's non-rebounding, hammer-dropping, ambidextrous safety; yet another is DAO.

EPPING, N.H. -- Sig Sauer Academy is offering a 30% discount on its February 21-22, 2009 Defensive Pistol course. The two-day course regularly costs $395, the special offer price is $277.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Smith & Wesson Corp. has begun shipping both full-size and compact M&P pistols, in all calibers, with an optional frame-mounted thumb safety. Originally available only on the M&P45, the optional frame-mounted thumb safety is now being offered on M&P pistols chambered in 9mm, .40 S&W and .357 SIG.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has approved select models from Smith & Wesson Corp.'s Military & Police (M&P) Pistol Series as authorized firearms.

This month we take a look at three combat pistols that have graced our pages previously, to see if they improved from our previous evaluations. Since last reviewed in December 2007, the Ruger SR9 ($525) was subject to a massive safety recall. Despite its double-action design, the gun could go off when dropped, if the manual safety was not engaged. As a result, Ruger redesigned the entire trigger group. The most visible change was a twin-blade trigger, rather than its original single-blade design. The recall process was far from smooth, and was chronicled on our sister website, www.gunreports.com. We recently looked at the Sig Sauer P250 in the two-tone option back in April 2008. This time we had the Black Nitron No. 2509005 version ($699). Both models recently received a trigger-bar upgrade, said to increase its lifespan from 20,000 to more than 50,000 rounds. The last gun in our trio was the Smith & Wesson M&P Compact 9mm No. 209304, $656. A gun in this series posted a poor grade back in April 2007 when it failed to feed the last round from the magazine, locking open in the process. Other M&Ps had fared well in other tests, so we wanted to look at the Compact once more in hopes Smith & Wesson had fixed what ailed the gun.In the process of the doing the reviews, we found another test could be performed: both Sig Sauer and Smith & Wesson had initial problems requiring factory attention. As a result we could now rate their responsiveness to resolve each guns problems.

This month we take a look at three combat pistols that have graced our pages previously, to see if they improved from our previous evaluations. Since last reviewed in December 2007, the Ruger SR9 ($525) was subject to a massive safety recall. Despite its double-action design, the gun could go off when dropped, if the manual safety was not engaged. As a result, Ruger redesigned the entire trigger group. The most visible change was a twin-blade trigger, rather than its original single-blade design. The recall process was far from smooth, and was chronicled on our sister website, www.gunreports.com. We recently looked at the Sig Sauer P250 in the two-tone option back in April 2008. This time we had the Black Nitron No. 2509005 version ($699). Both models recently received a trigger-bar upgrade, said to increase its lifespan from 20,000 to more than 50,000 rounds. The last gun in our trio was the Smith & Wesson M&P Compact 9mm No. 209304, $656. A gun in this series posted a poor grade back in April 2007 when it failed to feed the last round from the magazine, locking open in the process. Other M&Ps had fared well in other tests, so we wanted to look at the Compact once more in hopes Smith & Wesson had fixed what ailed the gun.In the process of the doing the reviews, we found another test could be performed: both Sig Sauer and Smith & Wesson had initial problems requiring factory attention. As a result we could now rate their responsiveness to resolve each guns problems.

An the opinion of many experienced shooters, the 45 Auto is the caliber of choice in self-defensive pistols. However, most of these guns, like the classic 1911 Colt, are big and heavy. Therefore, they often get left behind for a lighter piece, which generally is of lower power. If you still want the power of a 45, why not go to a smaller and lighter gun?

We found three such pistols for this test, and gave them a wring-out. They were a Colt CCO, no longer in the Colt stable but available on the used or new-old-service market for about $1250, depending on condition; the recently introduced SIG Sauer 1911 C3 No. 19GS0031, $1143; and a new PM45-series pistol from Kahr, the PM4543, $855. The Kahr was not quite the same setup but clearly had the same intent as the other two, to deliver big power in a smaller, lighter package.

Both the SIG and Colt had aluminum frames, and they featured the old Colt Officer's Model handle with the Commander-length slide. Most of our test group believes this is the ideal setup for a 1911-type 45 auto, but those with large, wide hands might prefer a gun like the lightweight Commander, which has a bigger grip. The Kahr had its usual ergonomically designed polymer grip with stainless slide, and of course was DAO. We tested with three types of ammunition, Federal 185-grain Hi-Shok JHP, Federal 230-grain ball, and with Cor-Bon 185-grain JHP. We also tried a few groups with Federal Gold-Medal Match, 185-grain TC bullets. Here's what we found.

An the opinion of many experienced shooters, the 45 Auto is the caliber of choice in self-defensive pistols. However, most of these guns, like the classic 1911 Colt, are big and heavy. Therefore, they often get left behind for a lighter piece, which generally is of lower power. If you still want the power of a 45, why not go to a smaller and lighter gun?

We found three such pistols for this test, and gave them a wring-out. They were a Colt CCO, no longer in the Colt stable but available on the used or new-old-service market for about $1250, depending on condition; the recently introduced SIG Sauer 1911 C3 No. 19GS0031, $1143; and a new PM45-series pistol from Kahr, the PM4543, $855. The Kahr was not quite the same setup but clearly had the same intent as the other two, to deliver big power in a smaller, lighter package.

Both the SIG and Colt had aluminum frames, and they featured the old Colt Officer's Model handle with the Commander-length slide. Most of our test group believes this is the ideal setup for a 1911-type 45 auto, but those with large, wide hands might prefer a gun like the lightweight Commander, which has a bigger grip. The Kahr had its usual ergonomically designed polymer grip with stainless slide, and of course was DAO. We tested with three types of ammunition, Federal 185-grain Hi-Shok JHP, Federal 230-grain ball, and with Cor-Bon 185-grain JHP. We also tried a few groups with Federal Gold-Medal Match, 185-grain TC bullets. Here's what we found.