In Love with all that's "Black"

First of all let’s set one thing straight, I’m not talking about any specific group of the human species, I’m talking GUNS! 

Maybe 8 years ago my oldest son decided he wanted a Glock 19 for his birthday.  For the life of me I couldn’t understand why anyone but LEO’s or the likes would want such a gun.  I wasn’t then and never have been anti-gun if that’s what your thinking, I just had “Brown” guns with real wood stocks.  Well, back to the story, he convinced us that it would be a fun gun and he was thinking about a career in law enforcement at the time so he got the gun.  We shot it a little and I still didn’t think much of it, a few years passed and he was married by this time when he called and asked if I would be interested in going to a CCW or as Oklahoma calls it a SDA Permit class with him.  I figured it would be a opportunity to spend some time with my son so I agreed.  At first I was going to just use one of my .22s or share his Glock 19 for the class but I decided if I was going to do this I needed an appropriate gun.  I went to my local gun store and purchased a Springfield XD 40 Compact for the class.

The class was a breeze and about 11 weeks later I got my nice new permit and started my life as a armed citizen.  After carrying the Compact XD around for a while I decided it was a bit big to comfortably carry and conceal.  I purchased S&W M&P .40, this time a Sub-Compact and it was much better so I carried it along with a S&W M&P .357 Mag Snubby in a pocket holster for those days when I just couldn’t conceal a IWB/OWB holster. 

In the fall of 2008 I attended a Long Range Pistol class out in Farmington, NM at Southwest Shooting Authority and learned the difference in service AKA Black pistols and their triggers.  Anyone that knows Cope Reynolds or listens to his podcast “The Shooting Bench” knows he’s a die-hard Glock Fan.  By this time my son had decided the same thing I had that the compact pistols weren’t so compact so I bought the Glock 19 from him and he purchased a Sub-Compact Springfield XD .40.  I was shooting my original 4” Springfield XD Compact .40 S&W and doing pretty good but Cope really got us working on our trigger control to improve our accuracy.  After much discussion on how the XD’s trigger was less than desirable I conceded and pulled out the Glock 19 to try it.  With It’s stock trigger I immediately saw a difference and a improvement in my shooting.  Cope did a little work on at the range then at the end of the day we took it back to his store and he worked over the trigger, installed new sights and magazine release.

The next day on the range, wow!  What a difference, the stock trigger was much better than the Springfield but the “Cope Reynolds” trigger was 110% better.  by the end of the 2nd day I put 3 rounds out of about 12 or 15 on a 3’ square target at 200 yards with the “Cope Reynolds” Glock 19. 

Since then I’ve shot a 10” round target at 125 yards and have been able to make about 50% to 60% hits on it with the Glock 19 and now carry at Glock 23 which one of these days I’ll go back to see Cope again and get his blessing on it to. 

I’ve also branched into “Black” rifles which I hunt with and have found out that they are extremely accurate.  With their flexible configurations you can adapt them to the job at hand whether it’s home protection, long range varmint hunting, medium range deer hunting or just keeping the critters around the house thinned out.

I guess the old saying “Once you go Black, You’ll never go back!” has some truth to it.  I’ve haven’t purchased a “Brown” gun in over 20 years now.  And of course my son reminds me from time to time what I told him when he asked for his Glock 19 and I have to keep a close watch on it now since it’s re-work by Cope he wants it back.

Thanks Kevin!

Comments

[Kevin Jantz]

Don't worry Dad, I wont let you forget that I am always right, neither will Haylee. As far as the Glock 19 goes, I know where you keep it, if it ever comes up missing, don't ask me. It is a pretty sweet gun now, but I love my XD.It has proved to be a pretty accurate gun itsellf, although at only 30-50 yards. I'm not so sure about the 100+ yard shots, but I might have to try it out one of these days.