You all know how I love my oddball rounds, so when I saw a Glock 31 sitting on the shelf at my local gun store, I knew then what my graduation gift to myself was going to be. The 31 is the full size Glock, it has a 4.48in barrel with 6.49 inches between the sights, and a 15 round magazine. It came with a series of removable backstraps and 3 magazines. I opted for the medium backstrap with a beaver tail. We all know what a Glock looks like. Took me a few days to track down a source of ammo, but I ended up getting 100 rounds of 125gr American Eagle to take to the range. The box said that typical muzzle velocity was around 1350 fps. And I was shooting at a climate controlled indoor range for those who care. My first 5 shots were at 7 yards and aside from one outlier the results were very positive. After that I took aim at the next target over and finished off my first magazine. So far, so good. Those were slow, deliberately aimed shots, so for my second mag I just kind of rapid fired, and ended up with my shots going over my target. After marking those I sent the target out to 15 yards to see what I could do. I'm not much of a pistol shooter, so my grouping really surprised me. Ok, so far so good, Range maxes out at 30 yards, Can I keep it up? NOPE! I was aiming at the two circles on the left and other than that one lucky shot, everything was going to the right, I need to get out to the range more. So, how'd she handle? Surprisingly well! Recoil was very manageable, bit more than a 9mm and smoother than a .40. Got a pretty decent fireball even with the lighter range ammo, but it wasn't enough to effect target re-acquisition. The only thing sore afterwords was my trigger finger, where that "safe action" trigger bit into my finger.
Seems like a pretty good shooter to me. I need to get to the range with my son - it's been a while. I wonder if the range will let me bring my own barn door to use as a target?
Not bad. I'm pretty skeptical of the need for the newer pistol calibers (and I say this as an owner of a Glock 20 10mm). I regularly shoot 9mm, .40, and .45 and this seems like at least 1 cartridge too many. Still, the .357 SIG/Auto does look like a pretty cool round and it does duplicate the performance of a very effective defense load: the 125 grain .357 Magnum. Based on the incredible performance of the new .327 Federal Magnum (which duplicates the energy levels of the .357 Magnum in a considerably smaller cartridge), I can't help but wonder if the next breakthrough in pistol cartridges isn't a hot 8mm/.32 with 9mm +P performance. We'd get more rounds in small guns--especially important for carry--without sacrificing power.
That's the thing, these newer rounds are, for the most part, performing better than the classics, and in shorter cartridges. If you were going for pure performance you could drop both the 9 and the .40 for the .357 sig.
The problem with the 357 SIG is that the cartridge is just too big. With the advances in materials and bullet designs, I think the time is right for a high performance .32. I think we could get 400-500 ft-lbs out of a new .32, while gaining extra capacity over the 9mm (and significantly more than the .357 SIG/.40 S&W). Barring a new cartridge, I think we have the existing spectrum covered. Adherents can argue the merits of their favorite cartridges, but for defensive purposes, I think anything from .380 up to .357 Magnum will suffice. Choose what best suits you. (My personal choice is a .45 ACP, but I freely admit the difference between it, a .40, and a 9mm is pretty small with modern ammo.)
Agreed. I love .45ACP, but chose 9mm for the last two pistols I bought (one for me, one for my wife) because I'd rather have a few more rounds in the magazine.
I think people put too much focus on capacity. The average number of rounds a civilian fires in a self defense situation is 2. If you're worried about multiple, determined assailants, keep a spare mag with your piece and practice reloading. Build muscle memory. Trust me, when the adrenaline gets flowing and you have that muscle memory, you won't even notice that you've reloaded.
