Practical and Impractical Handguns: A Case for Both

So, I've reached that stage in life where eyesight is becoming an increasing issue. For reading, computer work and such, I have taken to keeping a pair of glasses that are my reading prescription only at my desk. They are way more comfortable to use in that type of work compared to trying to use the reading portion of a pair of bifocals. 

However, they don't help with this; trying to get a good "sight picture" while shooting my handguns! Last year, I installed a pair of higher profile tritium embedded "night-sights" and they help some, but by no means improve the fuzzy image my aging eyes give me. Therefore, I've been looking at using an "RDS" (Red Dot Sight) on my regular handgun (Walther PPQ). That's all fine and good (other than the cost of course), but you might be aware, that for us non-Glock users, there aren't a ton of options. For PPQ, users like me, those are as follows:

• Send your slide off to one of 2 companies that will do a "slide cut" on a Walther and buy a special plate to mount the RDS. That'll run around $300 when all is said-and-done, and that's not including buying the red dot, so we'll say $500 total.
• Or buy a PPQ Q4, which already has it's slide cut for an optic, comes with adapter plate(s) and have another handgun for around $600 plus the RDS.

I'm going to say that I was leaning toward the second option, and then this....... 

happened! If you haven't seen one of these before, it's a Brugger & Thomet (B&T) Universal Service Weapon (USW). Well, actually, it's a adapter chassis for a PPQ that transforms the Walther into the rough equivalent of the actual USW which is a Sphinx that's been modified to be like the above but actually sleeker since it's not a "chassis" that you have to put a handgun into. Never-the-less, I love the concept (which I'll get to later) and snapped it up as soon as I found it on a random website of a gun shop in North Carolina called Tar Heel Firearms. It was expensive (more than I originally paid for my PPQ), but is a precision Swiss made product machined out of aluminum. So, what is it and why did it cause me to engage in this bout of lunacy? 

The above images are only 2 of probably 10-15 different versions of the same concept generically known as "Carbine Conversion" kits. Basically the idea is to extend the range of a common pistol (Glock, S&W, Sig etc), out to 100 yards give or take. And they are generally effective in achieving this goal. But I'm certain that you've detected some issues here, right?

• They're kind of big and clunky making them no easier to conceal and carry than a short carbine.
• You're still saddled with the original pistol caliber with it's inherent limitations in range and effectiveness. 
• They are often expensive ranging from the $300s to the $500s and more when you add BUIS (back up iron sights), RDS (red dot sight), weapon lights and more.
• So are difficult and require tools to install the handgun.
• Limitations of models that they are designed to fit.

So, what am I doing talking about, and looking into them? Here's the thing: I'm not going to rationalize that it's a logical decision on my part. I will blame a number of factors that impact my personal weirdness that made me the way I am!

• I've always been a pistol guy, not completely certain why. I just like them way more than long guns, always have. The fact that I'm a cross-eyed dominant, meaning that I'm right-handed but see way better with my left eye, so that hampers my effectiveness with a rifle.
• I should have grown up with transformers, but I didn't. However, I still LOVE things that can be transformed from one application into another.
• I like the unusual. Like Volvo station wagons, mechanical cameras, and airplanes like the A10 Warthog and P38 Lightning.

So, when the original B&T USW-A1 came out, it was love at first sight! The only problem(s)? It's $2500, not including the NFA Form 1 tax stamp for it being a "short barreled rifle". Also, I'm kind of wedded to the Walther ecosystem and didn't want to buy into something that takes the CZ magazine etc. Why are we talking then? Well.... look at it! It's so "cool", and it offers the ability to extend the usable range beyond the normal handgun while still keeping it in a form that's NOT the size of a carbine. How does this affect my situation? 

My current PPQ is being turned into an SBR by eFiling a Form 1 with the ATF, so it can go into the USW chassis. But since I really don't want to take it in and out of the chassis, I'm going to bite the bullet and save up for a PPQ Q4/M1 that'll serve as my regular handgun. I'll mount a RDS to it's adapter plate and all will be well!

 

 

My Favorite Pistol: Walther P99 and Evolution

Christmas came early! Let's just hope that I continue to practice good firearms safety and don't "shoot my eye out". In the last week, I've bought or arranged to buy 2 pistols. Neither really fit into a plan as such (maybe 1 of them...... a little bit). They're mostly because I like them, and they both have to do with my favorite gun: the Walther P99 and it's evolutionary progeny, the PPQ. 

So, I'll start here. This is the original (Gen1), Walther P99. Some may recognize it as the Pierce Brosnan Bond Walther, when they decided to move the Bond character to a more plausible primary weapon, vs the much loved, but rather illogical 7.65mm Walther PPK...... if you didn't already know, yes indeed, it was a .32acp version of that gun he supposedly carried. Might as well have been a .22LR! Anyway, that's not the reason I like that pistol anyway. Well..... look at it! More importantly, hold it. I know, it's a very personal thing, but that grip fits me like no other. In fact, I traded my HK VP9 for one of these a while back, but then I traded that for a PPQ.....

This is it. My favorite pistol! That which the P99 became after evolutionary improvements. I like it so much that, I'm about to have 3 versions of it. 

The Umarex (part of Walther Gmb), PPQ CO2 powered, .177 BB/Pellet gun.  

The Walther PPQ/22LR, which of course shoots a .22 long rifle. It's direct blowback, as you can see by the fixed barrel and the magazine. It's unfortunately, not paddle released, but hey..... I'm going to pick this one up next weekend and is part of my early Christmas, but is there more?

 

Is there more!?! Does Santa wear red? I came across this and bought it. It looks vaguely familiar doesn't it? What is it? Why, is a Magnum Research (of Desert Eagle fame), MR9, sometimes labeled the "Baby" Desert Eagle. OK, what is it really? It's a Walther P99, licensed to Magnum Research with a slightly altered frame made by Walther, upper parts made and assembled by MR in Pillager, MN (one of my favorite town names). 

Here's a little bit of history and commentary for you. Don't worry, I'll let you know which is history and which is my commentary. Back in the late 80's and into the 90's, Walther wasn't in as good of a business situation as it is now and needed some help selling in the large American market, so they hooked up with Smith and Wesson. At the time, Walther needed a company with a big footprint here in North America and Smith was trying to get involved in the polymer gun market, so it looked like a marriage made in gun heaven. So, Smith took over the importation and distribution of Walthers and as such, you see the P99s of that time with the S&W rollmarks. That part is the history. This next part is my commentary. Don't get me wrong; I don't like S&W as a company, but I respect their guns. This whole thing turned into a conflict of interest for them and Smith for their part pretty much ripped off Walther's technology which you see today in the Smith & Wesson M&P line lifted from the Walther P99 and the S&W Shield derived from the Walther PPS. In the meantime, Smith did a piss-poor job of marketing Walther's products, so much so that Walther ended up breaking away and forming their own distribution based in Ft. Smith, AR. All that is fine, because in the gun-world, everybody copies everybody else. In fact, Walther hired away one of Glock's top engineers when it started the P99 project to compete against the Glock 17. The part I take exception to? Look at that top image..... that's the S&W SW99. It's a Walther manufactured lower mated to a Smith upper. It's awkward, ugly and an affront to it's Germanic roots! Walther agree to some rather interesting partnerships to push more units at that time. The Magnum Research MR9 was a part of that, although, clearly a much more aesthetically pleasing one than the SW99! So yeah; I've gotten myself into the collecting and enthusiast aspects of gun ownership. 

That part of me would rather have had picked up the later 4.5" version of the MR9 with the Desert Eagle-esque slide than the 4", but I'll take it. Of course there are other members of this family tree that I'd like to get as well.

The next most likely would be this; the Q4 Tactical. It's unfortunate that it only comes in the M2 or "button release" version, but I'd really like to have the longer threaded barrel and the slide already cut for RMR attachment plates. 

A more far-fetch addition would be the target/race-gun versions. The Walther Q5 Match, and the Canik TP9SFX. Not because I don't want one of these sci-fi looking variants, but mostly due to their $600-700 selling price!

Speaking of....... Canik....... If you didn't already know, the Walther P99 has been copied,..... a lot. One of the main culprits has been the Turks. There's been a number of firms, such as Sarzimaz, but by far the most successful has been Canik. A brand brought into the U.S. by Century Arms of Delray Beach Florida. The Canik TP9 is basically a clone of the Walther P99, down to the decocker on top of the slide. They are so close to the various Walthers, that there are videos showing people interchanging slides and barrels between the TP9 and the Walther PPQ. The reviews for them have been very good, particularly when you calculate in the big difference the selling price difference between the brands! Canik has done so well that they've released a number of different models. If I were a betting man, I'd put money on me picking one of these $300-350 9mm models at some point and adding to my growing collection!

License To Carry

I almost feel like this when I say "License To Carry", but that's not really it. It feels funny saying it, and it's not because, this was my least favorite Bond of them all! Last weekend, I took the Texas "License to carry a handgun proficiency course" and now I have a "certificate of training". This is what's necessary in Texas to be licensed by the state to carry a handgun, either "open carry" or "conceal carry". Of course, there's still come paperwork to be done, but I've done it and soon, I'll be fully legal to carry a handgun around (unless, it's an illegal location such as a school etc.). Why would I do that.

It's mostly because of this. Well actually, let me start from the beginning. I'm not afraid of bad neighborhoods and bad people. I've lived in New Orleans and Chicago. Been to Cabrini Green and regularly went to the St. Louis No. 1 Cemetary in New Orleans which is literally right up against the projects. But the stuff represented by the imagery above scares the "Dickens" out of me (aren't you glad I didn't use another Bond title Living Daylights as a pun here). There are more and more groups (of both side) which are advocating violence and concepts of anti-authoritarianism. I just don't want to turn the corner in the wrong place at the wrong time and be in the wrong situation with no recourse. 

So now, this will be me. Which gets me to the gun itself. Although, I'll start by packing my Walther PPQ which is what I have. However, I don't see it as being the optimal solution. It's just too big for the summer months here in Texas where shorts and T-Shirts are the norm. Eventually, I'll get around to picking up something that's smaller, lighter and more conducive to every day carry. 

Right now, the front-runner is this: the Walther PPS, M1 (or "old") version with the paddle mag release. It's a single stack (read thin) with a much shorter grip making it way easier to conceal, which is after all, the name of the game!  I will have to get over the awkward proportions and general ugliness, but I don't want to have to develop a different muscle memory for a magazine change. I'm a paddle-release guy and will probably continue to be that unless I switch primary handguns. 

Whichever way I go, I know I'll feel a lot better out and about with my family in today's increasing unstable society.