Joined
·
737 Posts
So I went to the range today with my mother and brother. He brought his new Sig P239 to shoot for the first time, Mom brought her Kel-Tec P11 (which is her primary defensive pistol, she doesn't carry but it lives in the nightstand), and I had my P11 and my new Commander. I got a 12 round magazine for the P11 a few months back but never had the opportunity to test it out. Because of this I've never carried the P11 with that magazine. That turned out to be a REALLY good idea. I started out by firing a 10 round magazine of my carry ammo, Federal Hydra-Shocks, then fired another ten round mag of FMJ. After that, I put the 12 rounder in, stocked with FMJ. I pulled the trigger, got a BANG, then nothing on the second trigger pull. I looked down and noticed that the slide was locked back. The second round had nose-dived and jammed up the slide. I cleared the jam, dropped the mag and emptied it, never to use it again. 10+1 rounds is all I'll carry in that pistol from here on out. The pistol has been 100% reliable through 250+ rounds of mixed FMJ and JHP with the standard 10 round mags. It was a sobering experience to look down at that jam and think of what might have happened had I carried that mag. I considered doing just that for a few minutes after receiving it in the mail. The thought of two more rounds was tempting. I opted to stick with proven reliability, thank God.
On the plus side, my Commander performed flawlessly. I put about 120 rounds of FMJ through it without a single failure of any kind. It's accurate too, far more so than I can make use of. I was shooting about 6-8" groups at 25'. My brother put two mags through it and shot out the center of his target with the first one. I'll convert him to the 1911 cult yet! He already likes the .45, but prefers Sigs at this point. At least he's chosen well among the inferior designs. :tongue: One other amusing anecdote from our visit; I've grown used to the mild recoil from shooting 9mm autos, so the .45 took a little getting used to. It's not unpleasant, just different. I wasn't leaning into the gun much, and during aimed fire that wasn't a big deal. Then I tried rapid fire and after four rounds felt myself tipping over backward! Lesson learned, respect the power of the .45!
Back on my own topic; test your gear everyone. I got lucky and learned my lesson on the range. Don't learn it on the street, you may not get a chance to put the lesson into practice.
On the plus side, my Commander performed flawlessly. I put about 120 rounds of FMJ through it without a single failure of any kind. It's accurate too, far more so than I can make use of. I was shooting about 6-8" groups at 25'. My brother put two mags through it and shot out the center of his target with the first one. I'll convert him to the 1911 cult yet! He already likes the .45, but prefers Sigs at this point. At least he's chosen well among the inferior designs. :tongue: One other amusing anecdote from our visit; I've grown used to the mild recoil from shooting 9mm autos, so the .45 took a little getting used to. It's not unpleasant, just different. I wasn't leaning into the gun much, and during aimed fire that wasn't a big deal. Then I tried rapid fire and after four rounds felt myself tipping over backward! Lesson learned, respect the power of the .45!
Back on my own topic; test your gear everyone. I got lucky and learned my lesson on the range. Don't learn it on the street, you may not get a chance to put the lesson into practice.
