Survival and Emergency Preparedness

My son and I had the opportunity to hit the range this afternoon. Took several different pistols to vet.

Taurus TX22

We fired 150 rounds. A total of 10 malfunctions, all with the same brand. Four were completely ammo related as the rounds didn't fire. Not unexpected with rimfire ammunition. This was the Federal 325 round 40 grain lead solid bullet. Which isn't a bad ammo and it was 120 of the 150 rounds we fired during this range trip. Of the other 6 malfunctions, two were stovepipes and four were FTE. There were no FTF malfunctions. The second type of ammo was Remington 22 Golden Bullet high velocity plated round nose. There were no malfunctions with this ammo brand and it is what we finished up with.

Accuracy was excellent. Recoil of course was just above a pellet pistol. There were no malfunctions during rapid fire pulling the trigger as fast as I could.

My son laughed when he picked it up do to how light the pistol feels in the hand. He commented he has Nerf guns that weigh more, lol. We both enjoyed shooting this pistol and it's the kind of pistol you could shoot all day long.

The sights are smallish. Bigger would be better but they are acceptable for a plinking, range pistol. I think this is a pistol my wife will enjoy shooting due to the very low recoil.

Trigger was fine. No, it's not a match grade competition trigger. But it's completely acceptable/serviceable. Very short trigger travel with a crisp break. For a plinker it was actually quite nice.

Overall impression is it's a nice pistol and a fun plinker. I think with the right ammo selection it could be used as a SD pistol by my wife if she chose to use it with the caveat that rimfire isn't always as reliable as center fire ammo. I'd want her to vet it with a couple of hundred rounds of a quality ammo to make sure there are no issues. There are no plans to use this pistol as anything other than a trainer for her, but SD is always an option should it become necessary. I'm happy with the purchase and look forward to shooting it more.

Sig P265XL w/Romeo Zero

I'll break this review down into two parts; the pistol and the red dot optic.

This is the second XL that I have, this one I purchased for my wife. She likes the feel and how easy it is to rack the slide. She plans to use this as night stand pistol.

At the range it fired flawlessly and was accurate (in terms of groups on target). As with the XL I carry, I like the flat trigger and it's just easy to shoot this pistol well. Short trigger travel and very crisp 90 degree break. I don't find the recoil to be excessive and quite pleasant to shoot. As expected there were zero malfunctions. I quite like this pistol. My son liked the pistol but prefers his P365 over the XL as he is more use to that pistol.

As far as the optic...didn't care for it at all. I had to drift it a bit to get it centered but no matter what I did I was still shooting high. Good groups but the rounds were hitting several inches higher than where I was putting the dot. I'm not a stranger to red dots in that we use to use red dots on our shotguns at work. However they were taken out of service over 25 years ago. I found that I was taking time trying to get the red dot on target which slowed me down as opposed to simply getting the front sight on target and getting rounds off (within 25 yards I normally point shoot as I was trained decades ago and it works quite well for me to get off fast, accurate shots). So I would not use an optic on my pistol personally. I simply prefer iron sights on a pistol and with iron sights I'm very accurate with my XL. So I don't place the blame for shooting high on the pistol but rather my lack of ability with the red dot. I'm going to keep the red dot on the XL, for now, and see how well my wife does with it. It may simply work better for her so I don't want to put my experience onto her without her trying it for herself. If it works for her then great, if not it can be removed and the rear sight put back on. I can always get a mounted laser for her it she likes.

Overall impression is that I'm glad I picked this second XL up for her and I think regardless of iron or optic she'll quite enjoy it. And she will have a quality pistol with very good capacity as a night stand/HD pistol.

Sig P226

What can I say but....WOW! This police trade-in was made in 2004. The G10 grip was pure joy to shoot with. Filled the hand and gave a sure purchase on the pistol even with the heavier recoil of the 40S&W and 357sig. The heavier DA first trigger pull was beautifully smooth. Estimate perhaps 10lbs give-or-take perhaps a bit less. The SA was REALLY smooth and short and felt like it broke at 4lbs or less. Getting use to it the SA shot actually surprised me a couple of times.

Accuracy was impressive. Head shots at 12-15 yards was nothing. Recoil with both 40S&W and 357sig was stout. Definitely more felt recoil than with either my HK USPc or P2000. But for me it was completely fine (I grew up on full house 357 magnum revolvers so recoil just isn't that big of a deal to me with the exception of an LCP). My son felt the recoil a lot more but he doesn't have the same experience I have with heavier recoiling rounds. But he did very much enjoy this pistol, particularly the SA trigger.

As expected, no malfunctions with either barrel. Felt and shot like a quality pistol.

Overall impression is that I'm glad I picked this pistol up at an excellent price. Very happy with the G10 grip. I'd carry this pistol for SD in a heart beat.

Sig P250

I wanted to put a few more rounds through this one while we were at the range. Again, very satisfied with the accuracy. As above, my experience started with DA revolvers, DAO and DA/SA pistols. So to me the trigger is long but very smooth. Probably 6-8lbs tops. As before, more felt recoil in 40S&W than with either HK but nothing that concerns me in any way. My son had a different impression, lol. He's not use to a DAO trigger. He was 'generally' accurate with it such that in a SD situation he's easily be on target but he's not at the level he'd put on ragged hole in the target with the DAO trigger. He's use to his G19.5FS and Sig P365 which is fine. But he was close enough that he could shoot this if needed.

Very much like the X-Carry grip module. It's comfortable to me, even with heavier recoiling ammunition. I feel like I can really get a solid purchase on the grip.

Overall impression is this is my 12+1 shot revolver for woods carry. Glad I purchased this one with all the mags at a great price. Only downside is night sights (particularly the rear) since it was discontinued in 2017.

LCP II

Just put a couple of mags through this to end the range trip. As before, zero malfunctions. Heavy recoil since it's such a light pistol. I'd rather shoot 40S&W or 357sig all day out of my P226 or P250 rather than 380 out of this pistol. But it serves a purpose and I like to stay proficient with it. And it's perfectly fine out to 15 yards.

Overall impression is that it's fine for it's intended purpose.

Took the LCP Max to the range today. Fired a total of 168 rounds. 50 rounds 0f WWB FMJ, 50 rounds of PMC FMJ and 68 rounds of assorted HP's including FXT, XTP, Gold Dot and Golden Sabre.

Malfunctions: Zero. Very pleased with it's performance. Slide locked back every time. I was even able to drop the slide with my thumb, which worked well since I can't fully use my left hand till I heal up further.

Accuracy: Pistol didn't care much for the WWB as opposed to the PMC and hollow points. Accuracy with the WWB was okay and I would still have hit a man-sized target in the torso at 7 yards but the WWB seemed to have more flyers. The PMC and all the HP's all held a much tighter group. I was pulling slightly to the left but that was me shooting strictly one-handed and getting use to the pistol. With the PMC and HP's I could still do head shots at 7 yards shooting at a fair pace. So overall I'd say the accuracy at typical SD distances was very acceptable to very good with the right ammo. Normally I could easily make head shots at 12-15 yards with the LCP 2 I had using a two-hand hold and taking my time. I suspect I'll be able to do that with this pistol as well once I'm back to using a firm two-hand hold.

Trigger: This is not a $2k match grade race gun trigger. But for what it is I'd say it's quite acceptable. Definite wall and then fairly 'heavy/crisp' break that was consistent from shot to shot. I liked this trigger better than the trigger on my LCP 2.

Recoil: You still know your shooting a 10 ounce pistol. But I was able to shoot all 168 rounds one-handed. Started to get a slight blister on my trigger finger towards the end but I could say the recoil overall did feel like it was better distributed than with my LCP or LCP 2. With my LCP I was done after a couple of mags. The LCP 2 was fine for 50-100 rounds. This one was doable for 168 one-handed. Still need to have a firm grip on it though to control it. I was able to rapid fire 'fairly' quickly one-handed but a firm two-hand grip would definitely make it quicker.

Mags: I have one 10-rnd and one 12-rnd. No issues loading either (son did the majority of the loading). I was able to slowly load some rounds into the 12-rounder so I was pleased with that.

Sights: Well what can I say? Going from milled in nubs to actual real sights is night and day. Very pleased with how easy the front sight is to pick up and how bright the night sight is. The U-notch makes it easy to pick up the front sight.

Texture: Aggressive enough to allow you to keep a grip but bot so much it's going to cause a problem tearing up your pocket. Nothing particularly special.

Overall I'm pleased with my decision to move from the LCP 2 to the Max. Now that I've done some vetting I'll start pocket carrying it to form an opinion on how it carries compared to the LCP 2. I don't suspect any substantial difference.

Thanks for the review. Looks like a good little pistol. If your going to carry a sub caliber, more is better.

Mac66 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 8:22 am Thanks for the review. Looks like a good little pistol. If your going to carry a sub caliber, more is better.

Been a month or so since I picked up the Max. I continue to feel it was a very good choice to upgrade. The Max is no more in the pocket than the LCP 2, which is to say that I forget I'm carrying it most of the time. Which is the point of this type of pistol. I find myself carrying it in/around the house as well as to places like physical therapy and family gatherings. That way I have something but it isn't cumbersome.

Waiting for Ammo Armor to come out with a mag holder for the Max. I like them as it protects the mag while in the pocket. I just checked their website and they are available for pre-order for Sep 6th so I ordered one. Protects the mag, keeps out lint and stuff but is light yet strong.

I've found myself carrying with the 10-round mag and the 12-rounder as the spare.

Walther PPS V1

So today sucked! All in all, it was not that bad, but I expect better....I don't think I have been to the range in a year!!!!!

1. I tried shooting left eye / right handed. That actually worked great. Or, at least as good as I should have expected.

2. I need to make peace with the front sight. Slide is grey with black dots. I painted the center dot white. No like. Hard to acquire. Suggestions?


At 7 yards, 97 out of 100 hit the silhouette. A lot of 8/9 ring and head/face/neck shots.

Still....all over the place. I really need some work with this gun!

I think some was long time - no shoot
I think some was left eye / right hand
I think some was front sight dot
I think some was just 3.2" barrel

I suspect I'd do much better with my USP/HP/92 etc....Still, just sucked.

Bob wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 10:05 pm Hard to acquire. Suggestions?

Set of night sights with an orange insert on the front may help.

And yes, shooting is a perishable skill so a year layoff can have a toll. Don't get discouraged. I mean, it's not like you were a good shot to begin with...

I think I would be more than satisfied with my USP performance....but let's not test that!

Time on trigger. $ for ammo, which is getting reasonable. I feel a hundred rounds a week for a bit.

Finally got the chance to go to the range this afternoon with my son.

Glock 21.3

Brought me back to the days when I carried one of these on duty. This is the police trade-in that Gene and I bought at Shark Coast Tactical. For $399 it was a good deal. I put on new night sights. Accuracy was fine with both 230g FMJ and 230g HST +P. The HST +P definitely shot with some authority but noting unpleasant. Shot out to 20 yards which would be the distance from my front door to my sliding glass door at the rear of the house. All shots were solid COM hits so this would make a good HD pistol. It would also make a good night stand or woods carry pistol as well. Haven't fully decided on it's role.

Zero malfunctions.

Glock 35.4

Also bought from SCT as a police trade-in pistol. New night sights as well. Started off with the SS 9mm conversion barrel. This is suppose to be a Lone Wolf production overrun that is pre-logo. Shot very nice, no malfunctions. Very accurate, again out to 20 yards (which is the max of this particular range). Very manageable recoil and overall very pleasant to shoot. Even more so that the G21. I prefer the grip texture on the Gen 4 & 5 Glocks over the Gen 3. I'd have no issue using this as a HD or night stand pistol with the 9mm conversion barrel.

With the stock 40S&W barrel it was overall fine. Had three issues with 180g Blazer Brass FMJ getting hung up on the feed ramp with the same mag. No issues at all with 165g Gold Dot and that definitely had some authority. I like 40S&W but I think overall I enjoyed it with the 9mm conversion barrel more.

LCP Max

I brought it for grins and figured I'd shoot a mag full through. As expected, accurate (shot out to about 12 yards) and zero malfunctions.

Taurus TX22

Ran 4 mags through it. The Federal bulk box. That stuff is straight up dirty ammo and it was creating a pretty decent cloud after every shot. Had a FTE and a stove pipe but not unexpected. I haven't cleaned or lubed it since the day I bought it almost a year ago. I did this on purpose just to test it out a bit. So considering the pistol was dirty and not lubed very well/at all and considering it was shooting dirty bulk ammo it actually did very well. Still a fun pistol to shoot. After the 45 and the 40 it was just fun to plink with.

TX22

I ran my Saturday night match as an IDPA classifier last week. I don't care much for IDPA as an organization, but their classifier is one of the most comprehensive standardized shooting tests available. I mix it in from time to time so my shooters can keep track of their overall skill level.
We hadn't shot it in several years due to the craziness so everyone was interested to see where they stood.
I tried it with my standard TX since I've started running it at matches recently. I'm still a little sloppy with it compared to my G17. I'll usually throw a few points trying to go too fast at 20 yards, but I ended up like 13 points down overall. Once I get more used to all the differences, I'm sure I'll be a little tighter with it.
I like also having the standard model because it emulates my Glock better than the Competition model. I use the standard indoors and the Comp for multi-gun and other matches outdoors.
Obviously, there's no rimfire division so I just used the hardest scoring criteria. <72sec is Master in Carry Optics and Enhanced Service Pistol so basically the IDPA version of race guns. I finished in 69.03 so I feel comfortable calling it a Master score.
I think my last classifier with the G17 was 65ish.

So - went shooting with my oldest son (now in the army - infantry, 101st Airborne). Good times!

1. He has a 14" (16 with flash suppressor) AR and an Eotech. The army definitely upped his rifle game. Shoots better than old man with that just standing. Fun fast handling gun to shoot!

2. I sighted in the HD Mossberg 500 at 21 yards with 30 slugs (ouch!). Needed to to get my HD Eotch all in order. That said, if I now need to swap to a slug and shoot a hostage taker in the head from front door to the street - no problem!

3. Shot my HK USP first time in a while. Shot left eye / Right hand - my new thing. Flawless and excellent as always. That's my nightstand gun, so always good to know!

4. Shot my "Race Glock" also - Something about that jet funnel just makes that gun work for me now. Thinking about a flat trigger and a compensator.

Also - I still shoot pistol way better than the boy (young man), good to know I'm not out to pasture yet!