Hardscrabble

I reload plated 230gr ball, and that's 90% of what I shoot. I just bought a bunch of Win Supreme PDX 1 to test in a couple of new 1911's. If you're buying ammo, it's hard to beat the S&B 230gr ball. Fairly inexpensive for practice, but it's reliable and has some punch. I have carried it for a long time and didn't feel rained on any. I wouldn't worry a bit about practicing with one load, but using a different load for SD. What is a big deal to me is that I shoot enough of that SD load to know it's going to function in the pistol I'm carrying it in. I never met a 1911 that wouldn't eat all flavors of ball ammo, but I've seen several that didn't like this or that brand of hollow point ammo. IMO, you're asking for trouble if you shoot white box every weekend, but you carry something else you don't have much experience with...and I mean hundreds of rounds. Not because you'll somehow get different results in terms of POA/POI, or that the gun "feels different" and this somehow reduces your effectiveness, but because you might end up tap-racking when you should be bang-banging.

Since I bad-mouthed my Kahr CM9 on this thread, I thought it fair that I updated: Since it came back from the factory I have fired 350 rounds through it (mixed from Win 115gr Walmart loads to Fed 124gr Hydroshocks). There were no problems. Maybe another couple hundred through it without a problem, and I'll keep it around.

This is a topic I have done a bunch of research on lately. I have a semi permanent headache from it, because it is so hard to sift through the information. Almost all the folks that publish magazines are very reluctant to say anything bad about a product. Much, if not most, of posted comments are either loyal owners in love with a piece of metal or a dissatisfied customer bashing heck out of a company for a firearm that failed to do what was advertised. There is very little input from folks like Rob, who gets to observe more gunfire than almost any of us, and should have an informed opinion based on actual successes and failures. We should listen because for most of us the darn sample size is too small to form reliable opinions on any pistol. At the same time, every one of us has to make many important decisions regarding what, when, where, how and even if to carry a handgun for protection. Some make this decision pretty lightly and get on with it. Others, like me, want as much information as we can get so we can make an unbiased decision based on facts. In spite of my good intentions, I have always been extremely biased towards 1911's. I trained on them in the Marines. I collected US marked pistols for many years. I often carry a 1911, when I carry at all. The last course I took (which was years ago) the instructor warned me about the complexity of use (that darned safety) and the failure rate (mine didn't, but I've sure seen them fail before) and let me run part of the course with his Glock. I listened, bought a G22, G23 and a G27 and carried them for several years. They are all gone now. I let my personal bias get in the way and I stopped shooting them, then stopped carrying them, then sold them. That was a dumb, biased decision. There is no doubt in my mind: even though I shoot a couple thousand rounds of 45acp a year, I'd be better off in a fight with a Glock, or some other more reliable striker-fired pistol. Note: I'd be much, much better off with a high capacity pump shotgun, if that happened to be an option. That is my unbiased opinion. Recently, I started looking for a sub compact "pocket pistol". I don't like carrying a pistol. No matter what it is, it's in the way more often than it's not (and a 1911 is the worst of the bunch). The Glock 27 was close: a great little pistol, but it wouldn't really fit in my pocket. I wanted something small, light and at least a 38 or 9MM. So I started doing the research, and ended up with a Kahr CM9. They get high marks from their owners on the internet. They appear to be a good design (very much a Glock design). I actually like the trigger, and I shoot the thing well. It is very close to being comfortable in my front pocket, inside a pocket holster. The only problem is that the pistol didn't run right and as it turns out, lots of them don't. I should have googled "kahr problems"...not "kahr reviews"...they have a very loyal fan base. Just got it back from the factory, and I haven't re-tested. It's going to have to fly like a bird for me to trust it now, though...I'm thinking 500 rounds of different ammo types without a misfire or FTF before I even think about putting it in my pocket. I am close to forming an opinion that there are no pistols that are going to meet all my needs. (Which are simple: reliable, pocket sized, striker fired, at least 9mm.) I may have to consciously make the decision that I am better off with an imperfect pistol in my pocket that might not be as reliable as a Glock, and that I won't shoot nearly as well as I shoot a 1911, but at least it will be in my pocket and not at home in the safe because I don't like to wear a holster. As an aside, it looks to me like there are lots and lots of small carrying pistols hitting the market, and it looks like all of them have a bug or two that the makers are working their way through. I'm hopeful that one of these will rise to the top in the next year or two. The other decision I've recently made, for what it's worth, is that I'm going to replace my ready home defense handgun with a 12ga. loaded with buckshot, and I'm going to find and take a shotgun course. I don't have to try to put my home defense weapon on my hip, so there really is no reason to compromise.