Remington R-51 Post Range Initial Thoughts

I am sure many of you saw the video I posted with my concerns with the Remington R-51 that was sent to me for review, since that video I have been able to get the gun out to the range and wanted to write down some thoughts.

The fit of the gun in your hand is actually pretty decent, but there were a few issues that I had with it. The first few shots I made with it I felt like I was getting slide bite, but I checked my hand placement and there was plenty off room for the side to function and not catch the meat of my hand. After a few more rounds I realized what it was that kept biting my hand, it wasn't the slide. Instead it was the palm swell safety (grip safety) that was pinching my hand after every shot. Being that the small gun is so snappy in 9mm it causes your hand to move a bit and get pinched when the safety is depressed again. No matter what I tried I couldn't figure out a way to change my grip to alleviate this problem, which made it very unpleasant to shoot without gloves on.

Like I said above the gun is unbelievably snappy, there are other sub compact 9mm's that I have shot that had some snap to them but not like this one. Despite being snappy it was easy to keep on target, and the sights were very easy to use. The magazines both dropped freely from the gun, and it achieved slide lock every time a mag was empty. The trigger isn't terrible, but the reset isn't tactile, meaning you can't feel or hear it and you really have to take your finger completely off the trigger for it to reset. The trigger pull is smooth and consistent.

Another issue that I had was the slide became very stiff and hard to rack after achieving slide lock and inserting another mag. It wasn't impossible to do it, but it did require a little extra effort. What I found weird was this began after 6 mags (under 50 rounds) had been run through the gun, but it felt and looked like there was a thousand rounds worth of grime inside the gun. The gun continued to run for the rest of the time I shot it, which ended up being around 100 rounds total. There was only one malfunction and that was a failure to load, but I am unsure wether it was the shooter's grip or the gun since there weren't any other issues like it.

If you look close at the barrel and sleeve above you can see the scratches in them, they are pretty deep too. I noticed these when I was taking the gun apart to give it a cleaning since it apparently runs very dirty compared to some of my other guns. I am not sure if this is due to poor machining, poor fitment, or if this is just normal "wear" on the parts, but it is something I am surprised to see after only 100 rounds. 

The sleeve has scratches like this all the way around it, and if you look at the picture of the barrel below you can tell where the sleeve and spring had been jumping around on it. Granted there is a lot of force and stress on guns, but when they are machined and fitted properly they don't show hard wear as fast as I am seeing with this gun.

I plan on running the gun out to the range one more time before sending it back to Remington, but at this point I can't recommend this gun to someone. There are just too many smaller issues that will more than likely become bigger issues down the road. While I really wanted to like this gun, I am not a fan of how snappy it is with recoil or the fact that the grip safety pinches my hand after each shot. If Remington fixes the issues and improves the gun I will be all for getting my hands on the next generation and giving it a go, if they fix the issues.

Make sure to check back for the range video soon, I will make sure to go give a visual of the issues I have talked about in this post on the video. 

Lionheart Industries LH9C Expanded Initial Thoughts

So yesterday I posted a video with my initial thoughts on the Lionheart Industries LH9C and I figured that I would expand a little more with this post.

Fit and Finish

The LH9C is a very well made pistol, when you get one in your hands you can see how good the quality of the workmanship is. The slide moves easily on the frame with minimal play, and I can actually grip it with one hand and rack the slide back (not that I would ever really need to do that). There aren't any rough or sharp edges on the gun, and the Cerakote finish gives it an extremely clean look and very durable finish.

The serrations are deep and plentiful on the gun making it easy to rack the slide even when covered with dirt or your hands are slick. The serrations on the backstrap of the gun do offer a nice amount of grip to keep the gun from moving side to side, while remaining comfortable and not digging into your hand.

The grips are beastly, the diamond pattern is deep and gives a very positive hold to your hands. They aren't rubber like they would appear in pictures, but a more solid polymer/plastic which makes them a little less comfortable.

Ergonomics and Shooting

The ergonomics of the LH9C are pretty good, it does fit well in my hands and it is very easy to "point" without having to make adjustments. While the safety isn't really needed because of the DA+ feature it is easy to manipulate, even though it is opposite the 1911 safety direction which would take some getting used to.

One thing that I did notice was the trigger guard rubs my finger which would cause it to rub that finger raw during a class. This was actually an issue I ran into with my Glock 19 also, but I was able to fix that with an undercut whereas the LH9C cannot have that modification done to it.

Having the Novak sights is a very nice feature since they are stout and would stand up to a lot of abuse, but like I said in the video I am not a big fan of the fact that they ramp up and there isn't a way to use the rear sight to rack the slide if you need to.

Using the DA+ trigger is very different and takes some getting used to. One thing that I will say that I like about the DA+ is the fact that it's not a "de-cocker" like most other hammer fired guns, instead it makes getting into SA from DA easy. The problem I have is that it can throw you off target a bit when the hammer does drop back into SA mode. I am sure this is something you can train and adjust to if this gun would be a primary carry, but for me this is something I am just not a fan of.

The single action pull is actually one of the better ones I have felt on a stock hammer fired gun, and the reset is solid. It is very easy to get off quick successive rounds with this gun and remain on target. The double action pull is crazy heavy but I understand why, but is also the reason why if I carried this gun I would carry in the DA+ mode.

Thoughts So Far

The LH9C is an extremely well made gun, there is a lot of care put into the manufacturing of the gun itself and it does have some good upgrades on it when compared to some of the other hammer fired guns in it's price point. The fact that it comes with a soft carry case, Cerakote, novack sights, and 2 magazines is pretty cool because a lot of the other companies don't include things like that.

I am looking forward to getting a few hundred more rounds through the gun and seeing if it grows on me or not. I have been impressed by the fact that it was able to clear itself out enough to function despite being completely covered in the red Oklahoma dirt out at the range.

Like I said in the video, this isn't an ideal carry gun for me. However that is my opinion and preference and not a review of this gun.

Glock 42 First Range Trip Thoughts

Today I took the Glock 42 out to the range for a quick session, although I wasn't able to get video due to the wind being strong enough to blow the tripod over I was able to get some decent trigger time. 

One of the biggest things I have been hearing from people is how Glock screwed up by making it a .380 and also making it the size it is (too big) for a .380, while I personally would have prefered it in a 9mm single stack the .380 is still a decent round.

Let me start off with this, for those who complain that it is too large for a .380 handgun there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to the size of a handgun. When you get so small like the Ruger LCP or the Kahr .380, you get to a point that the gun is no longer comfortable to shoot, and when a gun becomes uncomfortable to shoot you don't train with it. 

In my opinion the Glock 42 is the exact size that it needs to be, it disappears when I carry it appendix IWB and I myself hardly realize it's there. Sure it is a little big to be a pocket pistol, but I have to wonder if it would be practical to draw from your pocket anyways. 

I think the fact that Glock made it the size they did is great, as I said before it is very comfortable to both carry and shoot. I am confident I would have no issue taking a class with it (as long as I could find enough mags). 

This range trip I ran 107 rounds of ammo through it, 7 were PDX1 Self Defense rounds, 50 were PPU 95gr FMJ, and 50 were Remington 95gr FMJ. There were no issues with feeding or firing, the only issue I ran into was the slide not locking back on empty. While it wouldn't lock back on empty with both hands it would lock back with one hand, so I'm thinking it's an issue with hand placement and I will need to work on that.

The 42 was an absolute pleasure to shoot and I was fairly accurate with it also. With the gun being the size it is, it will take me another trip to get it zeroed in. I am looking forward to running quite a few hundred rounds through this gun, and hopefully this next trip out I can actually get some video. 

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Some of My Glock Modifications

As many of you have seen on the Facebook page there are a number of modifications that I have completed on my Glock 19. There are a number of reason for what I have done, but I wanted to do a quick run down on a couple of them to help people understand why I did what I did.

The very first thing that I did to the Glock was the "candle method" grip reduction. While this is not as drastic as other reductions it did help change the grip angle enough to make it more comfortable to me. 

The "candle method" is literally taking your Glock and holding it over a candle to heat the back strap up to the point that it is "moldable". Once it is heated up enough you press the back strap down on a solid surface, rolling it side to side to keep it even. What this does is flatten out the Glock "hump" which gives the Glock it's infamous grip angle.

One thing to be very careful with is to make sure you don't melt the polymer (see picture above), this was a mistake that I made but was able to "repair" the damage by stippling the frame. I ended up using a heat gun set on low and slowly heated the back of the grip up so I could form it to be comfortable for me.

The second modification I completed was stippling the grip. Since I had already melted bubbles into the back strap I knew I was going to have to sand it down and do a stippling job. So I sanded the burned area down along with all of the factory grip dots. 

One of the biggest reasons people stipple their grips is to add additional grip to their guns, for those times when you've been out long enough that your hands are really sweaty, or your gun gets dropped in the mud, etc. I did it because I like the way it feels in my hands and the extra grip is an added bonus.

Once I had the area smoothed out I took my wood burning tool with the small tip and went to work. I had started with doing the small dot pattern but wasn't happy with the way that it looked, so I started to angle the tip and came up with this pattern.

At first I thought it might have been too aggressive of a stipple but have come to really appreciate it. Even though it looks aggressive it does not rub your hands raw, but it does give a nice "stickiness" to the gun.

The third thing that I completed was removing the finger grooves from the grip. I did this because my fingers did not land right on the grip and it was uncomfortable. 

I accomplished this using a Dremel with a sand drum, slowly removing the grooves until everything was even and smoothed out. I was surprised at how much of a difference this made. I could have smoothed it out with sandpaper but had already decided I was going to do a 360* stipple so once the grooves were gone I started stippling. The picture below is after the stippling was all completed.

While there are many reasons on the Internet for doing the modifications that I completed on this gun, it really is up to the individual user on what they want to do. The slight grip reduction has made the gun much more comfortable for me to shoot, while removing the finger grooves was also another comfort modification. 

Stippling has a few advantages as I listed before, but it also gives a uniqueness to your individual firearm. 

There are a lot of great companies out there that are offering their modification services, and there are also a lot of bad companies who turn out terrible work. I personally am a do it yourselfer and truly enjoyed taking on the project. I feel that the personal touch I put into the gun makes it that much more fun to shoot.

In closing I will ask. What have you done as far as aesthetic modifications to your gun?