More New Stuff

Stopped by one of my LGS’s yesterday and saw the new S&W Shield .380.

First of all, it isn’t a shield. It’s longer barreled and seems larger altogether. It has a grip safety. It has 1911-type ambi safeties. It is light. I mean light. It is not a pocket gun, which the Shield arguably can be. But two things stick out about it.

First, the recoil spring is really, really light. For anyone with weak hands (old people, women) this thing is insanely easy to load.

Second, it’s a locked breech design. ?Why do I think that’s important. First, it has allowed for the much lighter springing, so the slide is easy to rack. But more importantly, .380 has become a serious self-defense round. Back in the day it was a kind of lackluster round. Nowadays it sports modern bullet design, powder designed to complete burning in shorter barrels, and will shoot a 9mm bullet of 95 gr at 1,000 fps. That, boys and girls, is no slouch. But with that comes increased pressure, so shooting a locked breech gives an extra margin of safety.

?How many locked breech .380’s do you know of. I can think of only 2 - Ruger LC380 and Glock 42. I believe there was one back a ways ago, but not sure what it was. Blowback was always considered adequate for the 9mm Kurz. But I don’t think that’s true anymore.

You guys should check out this piece, if nothing else, for grins.

Hmms....

Will do, Dev. Maybe for the Princess...

I’m thinking the same thing. My wife can rack this thing and it shoots a real round. Hornady Critical Defense is made for short barrel guns.
The +P+ Critical Duty doesn’’t finish burning in the short barrels so doesn’t actually develop the needed speed. It is designed for duty guns.

I believe somewhere I read Sig has developed a line of ammo called “365”, after their short POS. But the ammo is good.

Is the 365 still a POS?

Talked to a LGS owner at the Friends of the NRA dinner about the lil' SIG (Our booth's prize was the 365.) After 4 recalls, he's just a bit PO'd with SIG and their 365. However, he believes the last recall was the final required fix. He's now 3 month back-ordered on the gun - our prize was one of the few he's seen in the wild for months.  

Admittedly, he is a LGS owner, and bullshite is his stock and trade, but he seemed to honestly admire the bitty SIG, especially for its 12 round capacity.

Interestingly, he can't understand what happened to SIG; foisting a flawed, partially tested piece - a critical, last chance, defensive firearm - on the public. "That'd nevah happen in the ol' days."  And, if it did, the executives responsible would be the testing targets for the recalled firearms. Apparently, Mother SIG is adopting some of Remington's <spit> attitudes toward manufacturing and quality control. Apparently, with the guidance of a Quality Control exec recruited from <oh, gawds> KelTec.

Still loves the P320, tho....

Twelve rounds in a G43 sized package?... Color me interested.

You know Sig has had WAY too much trouble with the striker in that 365. I know over on SigTalk it’s the rave thing, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I would trust my life to that POS.

Some of this may be because Sig went cheap a couple years ago and started using MIMM parts. Some of the parts are OK, but the overall Sig line seems to have weakened. I note I generally have old Sigs, with the exception of the 227. (and the P320) I don’t mind the 227 but it does feel a little more plasticy. One improvement has been the two-piece E2 grips. I really like the E2’s but not how they go on and off. Lots of people have complained about those although I haven’t had an issue with mine - yet.

Gonna give the 365 another year before any possible purchase.

That discipline has saved my pocketbook several times. Only exception was the Ruger PCC, which I bought after about 3 months on the market. But, 1) It's a Ruger. 2) It was needed to fill a significant self-defense gap. 3) It's getting weird out there.