Report – Glock 30

glock-30-magsWe wanted to report on Damsel’s Para Ordinance Warthog, but she’s still breaking it in. We will post something next week for sure.

Today, however, I would like to report on my new Glock 30. The picture at the right shows the pistol in a Bianchi holster. Two ten-round magazines are supplied with the pistol and are shown loaded with .45ACP ammo.

I really like this gun. As is the case with my Glock 26 9mm pistol, it’s accurate, smooth and easily stripped for cleaning. I’ve had it out to the range three times now and have had no problems.

Out of the box, it just started performing like an already-broken-in semi-automatic pistol. No jams, no feeding problems and the only complaint I have is with my own ability to hand-load the last of the 10 rounds into the magazine. I eventually get it done, but it takes considerable force. (I am NOT a wimp!) Eventually, the springs will relax and it will be easier to load.

The Glock 30 is an affordable .45 ACP carry gun. It offers a compromise between size and capacity coupled with the stopping power of the venerable .45 ACP.

Photo courtesy of Damsel – Click on the image to see a life-sized picture.

Factory specifications are listed below. Continue reading…

Curb Appeal Repulsion

ron-paul-houseI’d hate to be the guy across the street from this house. He’ll have to see this every day until Paul gets dumped from the campaign trail, or, worse yet, when Paul loses as a third-party candidate in the general election a year from now.

This large, expensive and obnoxious sign is displayed prominently on a house not too far from ours. Damsel took this as we were driving to the supermarket and to the sporting goods store for some ammo and targets. We saw this a few weeks ago and finally decided to drive by for a photo. Click on it for the glorious 640×480 image. Or not.

And then there’s this (FoxNews.com):

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $4.2 million in nearly 24 hours.

Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day.

Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie “V for Vendetta.” Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: “Remember, remember the 5th of November.”

Paul’s total deposed Mitt Romney as the single-day fundraising record holder in the Republican presidential field. When it comes to sums amassed in one day, Paul now ranks only behind Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, who raised nearly $6.2 million on June 30, and Barack Obama.

It seems like Paul’s eccentric supporters have a few bucks to spare.

Baby Boomer

para-poofWe’re preparing a report on Damsel’s new Para Ordinance Warthog; it should be done in a day or two. We just seem to run out of evenings and weekends before getting everything done.

Since I wanted some backup graphics for the report, I took a couple of short videos as we fired the .45s. This is a still frame from a video I was taking when Damsel fired the Warthog; it nicely shows the plume that is visible as the pistol discharges the bullet toward the target. For a petite gun, it sure exhibits a full-blown plume and report. “Baby Boomer” seemed to be an appropriate designation for this little gun.

Happy Bear

“Bear” is our family pet. On Sundays, after going to the shooting range, we give her a “Frosty Paws” frozen dog treat – it’s like ice cream, but without stuff that might be bad for dogs. When she finishes her treat, she often strikes this relaxed, happy pose.

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Hers ‘n’ Hers

A little over a year ago, we got a pair of Smith & Wesson 908 9mm pistols: a 908s for Damsel and a black 908 for me. I took a photo at that time similar to this one that Damsel took today after cleaning the guns.

The interesting thing about this picture (to me) is that the apparently smaller of the two is a .45 caliber compact Para Ordinance Warthog with a 10-round magazine capacity, while the 908 is a 9mm, 8-round magazine capacity pistol. When Para claims this is the “most compact 1911,” I tend to believe them.

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The Devil’s Suppository

wadcutters.jpgA wadcutter is a bullet specially designed for shooting paper targets, usually at close range and with significantly subsonic velocities under 800 ft/s (244 m/s) such as are found in handgun and airgun competitions. A wadcutter has a flat or nearly flat front, which acts to cut a very clean hole through the target, making it easier to score and ideally reducing errors in scoring to the favor of the shooter. Because the flat nosed bullet is not well suited for feeding out of a firearm’s magazine, wadcutters are normally used in revolvers or specially designed semi-automatic pistols. Wadcutters are also sometimes known as the Devil’s Suppository.

Text and title stolen from WikiPedia. Click the image for big.

The Wait Is Over

Again.

On Tuesday evening, we finally were able to take delivery of our new .45 ACP pistols. Damsel got her new Para Warthog and I got my Glock 30. We went into the range and put about fifty rounds through each of our new guns.

The Glock 30 performed about like my Glock 26, but with a more robust kick and a louder report. It was a little difficult for me to get the last couple of rounds in the magazines, but I managed to do so without using the loader tool. The magazine springs will eventually break in and loading should be easier in the future.

My accuracy using this pistol will need some improvement, but first shots generally were in the black with a couple outside the outer ring and maybe one on the red bull. I’ll keep trying.

Damsel’s Warthog magazines were a little easier to load, but there is no indicator to let you know how many rounds are inside. It seemed best to count out ten rounds and then load them into the magazine.

When shooting, the pistol performed pretty well, but a couple of times the action jammed. When that happened, we removed the magazine and cleared the action back which kicked out the stuck round. At this point, we don’t know why it jammed and the rest of the time it performed flawlessly.

In my mind, the acquisition of the .45s was to have been our last. Over the past year and a half, we purchased firearms that we wanted for entertainment and for home protection. I thought these two pistols were the last on the list. But then Damsel saw this . . .

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