4-Pistol Shootout.

[PNWguy]

Didn't start out as such, but after a few hours of shoveling gravel and building a deck at the cabin, my dad and I decided to break in our new pistol range with whatever guns we happened to have with us.

I brought a range bag that had my Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley in .45 Colt in it along with some leftover WWB ammo, some bear loads for the Colt, and some .40 S&W loads I had tried out and didn't like.

In my SUV, I had my two carry guns; a Springfield Armory XDS in .40 S&W and my Taurus G2c.

Dad had his Ruger EC9s that is his new favorite carry piece.

So, we had three compact carry semi-autos and one big, bad, and undoubtedly awesome thumper pistol.

For the new range, dad had mostly set up scrap wood with crude bullseyes on them, along with some silhouette targets and his steel target. 

We started off just doing some rapid fire point shooting with each (except the SBH), then we started hitting the steel.  We both agreed that out of the three defensive compact pistols, the Ruger had the better trigger.  But the XDS had superior sights and superior quality and feel.  The Taurus actually felt higher quality than the Ruger and dad was impressed with it's overall size and how well it pointed and shot.  But...  That trigger just ruins the gun.  Dad also noticed that the slide of the Taurus was worn to the metal on the edges after I've only owned it a few months and it spends most of it's time in the center console of my Yukon.

After the wringing out of the guns, dad decided to go seed some newly logged areas and left me with a box of 9mm in WWB and 15 rounds of .40 S&W reloads to get rid of.  I decided to shoot each of the three defensive pistols offhand, at 7 yards, and record the groups to see which was more accurate.

I was a little surprised.  The winner, of course, was the Ruger SBH.  It is expected to get 1" groups at 25yds so a 1" group at 7 yards off-hand should be child's play.  And it was.

Second place was a bit of a tie between the XDS and the G2c.  Both grouped very closely, but the XDS was just easier with it's heavy but clean-breaking trigger.

The surprise was the Ruger.  It had the best trigger of the autos, but it was just not accurate.  First shot would go dead center and then the next would be 3" upper right, then the next close to center, then the next a couple of inches off.  

So, the most accurate, best quality, and overall winner was my preferred daily CCQ; the XDS.

But, it only holds 6 rounds with the flush fit magazine.  7 with the extra length magazine.  The Ruger holds 7, and the Taurus, 12.

All pistols were within a half an inch of overall dimensions with each other, so it was a draw between the Ruger and the SA.  Taurus was the clear winner in capacity.

Summary:

All pistols performed flawlessly with one FTF that occurred in the Taurus and was determined to be due to the crappy WWB ammo.  The XDS exhibited superior fit and finish and was the most accurate with the best sights.  The Ruger wasn't bad, it also wasn't good.  It was the cheapest feeling of the three with the worst accuracy and worst sights (not even 3-dot, just black post and notch style).

The Taurus could have been the clear winner if it wasn't for the weak slide finish and the inexcusably awful trigger.  It feels like the trigger safety is catching in the frame of the gun.  But it isn't.  I have dry-fired this thing hundreds of times and replaced the factory plastic striker guide with an aftermarket stainless steel version and while it lightened the pull and made it a little crisper, it did not get rid of that clicking feel half-way through the trigger pull.  It makes me want to send hate mail to Taurus...

Cost wise, I paid around $425 for the XDS, $200 for the Taurus, and dad got his Ruger for under $400.  The Blackhawk was around $680.

It was fun to shoot three different compact carry pistols and compare and contrast.  Recoil was not noticeable between all three.  Even the .40 S&W XDS had no more felt recoil than it's 9mm brethren.  The Blackhawk with 300gr cast bear loads made me pee a little...

I will replace the Taurus with something with a better trigger and and at least 10-round capacity.  Likely a Glock 26 gen 5 or a S&W M&P9c.

 

 

[norton]

Nice.  Looks like you guys are fortunate to own property in the woods.

I really like the Ruger.  I am a wheel gun guy at heart. 

Not crazy about tiny autoloaders.  Great for carry, not for shooting so much.  but of course they have their place. 

 

[PNWguy]

10 hours ago, norton said:

 

Not crazy about tiny autoloaders.  Great for carry, not for shooting so much.  but of course they have their place. 

 

The smallest pistol I had owned prior was the S&W M&P40c.  Held ten rounds of .40 S&W and fit me perfectly.  Loved it.  But it was just a little chunky.  So I started looking at the sub-compacts.  My XDS is amazingly accurate at 25yds and with the rubber grip sleeve, is far more pleasant to shoot than my S&W 640 with .357 Mag loads.

[norton]

the only tiny autoloader I own is a Glock 43.  Don't enjoy shooting it at the range, crappy trigger.  It is small however. 

[PNWguy]

It's funny that the only pistol I don't enjoy shooting, sort of, is the Ruger Bisley with the full-power bear loads I developed for it.

I mean, I chuckle when I touch off a round, but when I was developing loads for it and shooting 5-shot groups for accuracy, I started wearing a glove.

It's nothing extreme like...

 

 

[norton]

3 minutes ago, PNWguy said:

It's funny that the only pistol I don't enjoy shooting, sort of, is the Ruger Bisley with the full-power bear loads I developed for it.

I mean, I chuckle when I touch off a round, but when I was developing loads for it and shooting 5-shot groups for accuracy, I started wearing a glove.

It's nothing extreme like...

 

 

People  who allow inexperienced shooters to fire big bore handguns are idiots.  that video could have turned out very badly.