Para P12-45 shines; G29-.357 Sig stumbles; PF-9 CT Grip on red dot

This Saturday I had the choice of going to a local Friends of the NRA banquet or going shooting. Since the gun shop was supplying the guns, I knew what would be on hand for a chance to win a ticket on, so I passed on the NRA meeting. Nothing tripped my ticker so I took the day off instead and went shooting.

Any day at the range is a good day and I finally got a chance this afternoon to go to DeWitt's Range and do some shooting. It had been so long the rangemaster forgot my name. It's been a real busy summer and the gun shop where I work has been working me so hard I just haven't had the time.

But today had an urgency to it as I just got back my Para P12-45 from the Para-USA shop in Pineville, NC, where it got the PXT power extractor and a new guide-rod and recoil-spring assembly.

The first two magazines of ball ammo produced one stove-pipe and a couple of feeding jams, but after the teething period was over, all was well. As I finished out 114 rounds from nine magazines, no more bobbles.

I was shooting standing rapid fire from 10 yards at the 11x17" Redman target, just function testing, but I did slow down with the last magazine and try for a head shot. Two out of 12 in that little red head and three in the neck ain't too bad for old codger who don't see so good any more.

And she passed the acid test, one full magazine of my preferred carry load, Winchester Ranger-T 230-gr., and a mixed magazine of two other Winchester loads, one Remington and one Federal, all without a bobble.

I am delighted to welcome the P12-45 back into my carry rotation for work and elsewhere.

Round two was another unmitigated disaster for my Glock 29 subcompact 10mm with a .357 Sig barrel from Lone Wolf Distributing. I loaded up some range ammo and some Ranger-T JHPs for a second test and the results were even worse than the first. I never got a successful feed of JHPs without a jam. Worse than the first time out, when I did manage to get a few rounds off without a jam with the same JHPs.

It does feed the range ammo OK, so the problem is undoubtedly those JHPs sticking against the front wall of the magazine well after they slide too far forward in the wider 10mm magazine than .357 Sigs are used to feeding from. Every jam resulted with the nose of the JHP stuck against the front wall of the mag well.

My last hope of redeeming this disaster is to find another hollow-point load that will feed right from the G29 magazines, but this may be a lost cause. But I won't give it up until I've tried all my other .357 Sig JHPs.

My G29 is heavily customized, specifically set up for Double-Tap 10mm loads, so I probably should just be content with a great-shooting 10mm Glock. But it would be nice if I can make the .357 Sig barrel useful.

Round three was another success, and two out of three ain't bad. My Kel-Tec PF9 just got a new Crimson Trace Lasersight and I wanted to try it out. On a bright sunny day, the red dot did not show up well on my 11x17" Redman targets, but well enough to make a few holes and confirm she shoots to point of aim.

A few of the holes are from my G29 .357 Sig in between jams before I gave up on it.

But most of the holes are from four magazines from the Kel-Tec, eight at the time, standing from both 7 yards and 10 yards.

Good enough to give me confidence in carry with the Crimson Trace Lasergrip.

IMHO, a small pistol like the PF9 really needs the red dot lasersight and I'm confident that when push comes to shove, it most likely won't be in bright sunlight. It will most likely be in low light or even no light when a CT lasersight could be the difference between life and death, life for me and death for any possible assailant.

I'll feel a lot better about carrying the PF9 for backup or sole carry with the Crimson Trace Lasergrip.