Para P12-45, Colt Cobra .38 and S&W 65-3 .357 Mag. showoff time

In the spirit of "It's my blog and I can show off if I want to" I finally got around to taking some new photos of my latest carry pieces yesterday, so here they are.

My new-to-me Para Ordnance P12-45 is first up, along with the Galco shoulder harness with double-mag holder which was purchased along with the pistol from the former owner, a retired Navy chief corpsman.

The P12 has several custom features, including ambi thumb safeties and a 3-hole adjustable trigger, which I presume was done by Cylinder & Slide since that shop also customized the chief's former P14-45, which I'm in the process of purchasing also.

I didn't appreciate the customization fully until I tried to order a set of wood grips and discovered that stock P12 grips are not fitted for ambi safeties, like mine. So either I find somebody who can custom fit some grips or just stick with the black Para grips that have already been custom fitted to the pistol. Probably the latter.

Then there's my new-to-me Colt Cobra .38 Special snubby, which is almost paid off. I took the liberty of finding some new grips for it after discovering the painful truth that the original grips fit too high and the back of the trigger guard raps your knuckle when you shoot it.

I have test-fired it with a new set of wood grips, shown installed, and they work fine. Also got a set of rubber grips which I haven't tested yet, but I suspect I'll stick with the new wood grips. I'll be carrying it with my small-of-back Galco holster, belt holsters or a new Bianchi shoulder rig, shown with the Colt.

My Colt Cobra, according to Bluebook, was made sometime prior to 1972.

COBRA (FIRST ISSUE)- .22 LR, .32 Colt NP, .38 Colt NP, or .38 Spl. cal., first issue, 2, 3, or 4 (square butt on early model, later models had round butt) in. barrel, blue or nickel finish, similar to Detective Special, only alloy frame and available in .22 LR, very early guns had plastic grips with silver medallions, changed to plastic w/o medallions, and finally changed to wood grips. Mfg. 1950-72.

It has a square-butt frame, which makes it an early model, but it came with wood grips, which makes it a later model? Go figure. It's old, that I know for sure, and it has a great trigger so it will be a fine backup carry piece. Plus it's a D-Frame Colt, same size as a K-Frame S&W, so it's a 6-shooter, not a 5-shooter, like the Smith J-Frames. I'm math challenged, but I am pretty sure 6 shots in a snubby beats 5 shots.

And last but certainly not least is my new-to-me Smith and Wesson 65-3 with 3" barrel, a great set of grips and a custom trigger job from the S&W Performance Center.

Bluebook says this about it: MODEL 65- .357 Mag. cal., stainless version of Model 13, K-frame, has 3 (round butt, disc. 2000) or 4 (square butt) in. heavy barrels, satin stainless steel, current production uses Uncle Mike's grips, fixed sights, 35 oz. Disc. 2004.

The grips may be the "smooth Dymondwood combat grips" which Bluebook says came on the Model 65 Ladysmith. Whatever they are, they fit my hand perfect and shoot great. I love the 3" barrel, which carries great and shoots great too. I have learned that shooting really hot .357 Magnum loads, like 180-grain Cor-Bon, is not a good idea with a K-Frame. Save those for your N-Frame Smiths. It shoots just fine with 110-grain .357 Magnum loads, which are more than adequate to stop anything short of a charging rhinoceros.

So long EAA Witness P-Carry, hello Para Ord P12-45

Tomorrow is my first Para Ordnance carry day! The Good Lord sent me a buyer for my EAA Witness P-Compact .38 Super/.45 ACP at the gun show in Hickory over the weekend, attended by the other folks at the gun shop where I work. So far I've been able to get away with not spending my weekends at gun shows with the rest of the crew.

That enabled me to get my new-to-me Para Ordnance P12-45 out of hock at the gun shop today and bring her home for good. So tomorrow I'll be carrying the Para and 12+1 rds. of Winchester PDX1 230-gr. JHP Bonded Personal Protection loads, plus a couple of spare magazines of 12 and a backup piece.

I shot the Para P12-45 again this past Saturday at the range and she just loves those 230-grain loads with the sights dead-on at 15 yards. She has a Cylinder & Slide trigger job and some other custom touches, including ambi safeties which makes her perfect for a lefty like me.

I also got my Charter Arms Patriot .327 Magnum back from a gunsmith at the Hickory show, so that will be my backup tomorrow. The gunsmith tried unsuccessfully to install a lighter weight hammer/trigger spring, but said he couldn't find one that would also fire cartridges of any type. That's sorta essential for a firearm, that it actually fires, certainly more important than a lighter trigger pull.

Speaking of lighter trigger pull, I've been carrying my new-to-me Smith & Wesson Model 65-3 stainless .357 Magnum revolver lately, second photo. This little 3" barrel darling has a trigger job from the S&W Performance Center that has to be felt to be believed. Everybody who has tried that trigger has had a shocked expression and a mouth that falls open. It's that good. I guess one great trigger job is enough for the moment.

I got enough from the EAA sale to pay off the Para Ord and also make a down payment on my next acquisition, a Colt Cobra .38 Special 6-shot snubby, third photo.

The Cobra is the same frame size as the Smith 65-3, K-Frame for S&W and D-Frame for Colt. It's a dead ringer for the famed Colt Detective Special, the only difference being an alloy frame vs. the all-steel Dick Tracy snubby. I've got nothing against light carry pieces if they shoot good.

And the Colt Cobra shot just fine when I took her for a test run this past Saturday. She has a good trigger and she's a 6-shot vs. the usual 5-shot J-Frame Smith snubbies, plus the grip is also a bit bigger which works well for my large, long-fingered hands.

And the Colt Cobra trigger is pretty slick too, not as slick as the Smith 65-3 but definitely better than the Charter Patriot .327 Magnum. It's destined to be my everyday backup carry piece.

My only caveat at the range was the discovery that hot .38 Special loads banged the back of the trigger guard on the knuckle of my middle finger no matter how I tried to adjust my grip. I'm gonna find some of those grip fillers for the front of the grip frame that will fit a D-Frame Colt.

Singin' the Single-Action, Double-Action Boogie Woogie

What's better than a great single-action trigger? Only a great double-action trigger, and I have found both and experienced both in a single day.

After my concealed-carry class yesterday, I got my first chance to take my two newest-to-me handguns for a test run and both passed with flying colors. As if they wouldn't. But you never really know how sweet a handgun really is until you shoot it. At left is my new-to-me Smith & Wesson 65-3, a stainless-steel double-action .357 Magnum with 3" barrel, and at right is my new-to-me Para Ordnance 12-45, a 3.5" barrel 1911 .45 ACP semi-auto with a single-action trigger to die for.

The gentleman who sold us the used Para Ord has sent it off to Cylinder & Slide for a trigger job and who knows what else. It has ambi safeties for one, which I'm pretty sure a stock Para 12-45 doesn't have, but the P 12-45 is discontinued, so I can't look it up on the Para Ord website.

It certainly passed the live fire test with the toughest drill I could conjure up. I loaded one of it's 12-rd. mags with a mixture of four different JHPs, two different Winchester 230-grain loads, a Federal 180-grain HydraShok load and some Remington Golden Saber 230-grainers.

The Para Ord munched through that mixed bag like it was its regular diet without a single hiccup. And the single-action trigger can't be more than 3 lbs. or so, but my Lyman Digital Trigger Gauge went tango-uniform some time ago, so I just have to guess about the weight.

And the great double-action trigger? I would have said before I first held the S&W 65-3 there is no way I would ever pull a DA trigger better than the S&W 14-3 K-38 Target Masterpiece .38 Special I purchased from the shop a while back. And then I pulled the 65-3 trigger.

The guy who sold it to us said he sent it to the S&W Performance Center for a trigger job and I believe it. This trigger is so smooth you fall off your chair when you pull it. Add to that a set of finger-groove combat grips that fit my hand like a glove and it was love at first trigger pull.

For you non-Smith lovers, the 65-3 is a stainless version of the S&W Model 13, a blue-steel beefed-up Model 10 K-Frame. Any Smith revolver starting with a 6 is stainless steel. The 65-3 with it's heavy barrel is the 357 Magnum version of the Model 10 .38 Special, the original Military & Police revolver carried by lawmen for nigh unto seven or eight decades.

And this particular Smith 65-3 with 3" barrel is the first such barrel length I've ever shot and I gotta say, three inches is just right for balance and point shooting. The fixed sights are dead on with a Duke's mixture of .357 Magnums and .38 Special +P loads I tried in it, four total.

I'm in love again and this time it's with a great single-action trigger and a great double-action one. For a gun nut like me, it just hardly don't get no better than this.

Fell in love with two new sweethearts at the gun shop

I've done fell in love again with not just one but two new "sweethearts" among the used guns either traded or sold to the gun shop where I work. First along came a Smith & Wesson 65-3 Stainless .357 Magnum revolver with a trigger job from the S&W Performance Center, 3" barrel and a set of black wood fingergroove combat grips that fit my hand just perfectly. That trigger is so smooth I fell in love instantly with the first pull. Right into the layaway safe it went until I can get it paid off.

Believe it or else, I haven't owned a .357 Magnum or .38 Special revolver since I sold my S&W 19 some three years ago. No self-respecting gun nut can possibly live without at least one .357 Magnum or .38 Special revolver. That's wrote on the wall somewhere.

Then yesterday, a gent sold us a whole passel of high-dollar guns, including a Para 12-45 with a trigger job from Cylinder & Slide. One test of that trigger and it was love at first pull again. Now I gotta sell something to raise the cash for the Para 12. My EAA .38 Super/.45 ACP is going on gunbroker as soon as I can find the time to take photos and list it. That's it in the photo with the .38 Super slide in Wonder finish on it.

I've decided to call that adventure a failure. I acquired it in a trade as an EAA Witness P-Compact .45 ACP. I didn't care for the snappy way it shot with .45 ACP, that polymer frame just can't handle the recoil very well. So I bought a .38 Super slide assembly and three 12-rd. mags, upgraded the trigger from milled-face to smooth-face and added ambi safeties.

But which would I rather have, an EAA in a weird caliber that's hard to find ammo for and won't shoot .45 ACP well plus only 8 rds. in a mag, or a Para 12-45 with a great trigger job? Mama didn't raise no fools and that decision is foolproof. I like .38 Super, but I love .45 ACP and I don't have a carry pistol in that caliber. I've got a full-size double-stack Llama IX-C that shoots great and holds 15 rounds of .45 ACP, plus a newly acquired Sig P220 .22LR that will get an upgrade with a .45 ACP slide assembly when I get the cash. But neither of those is a carry .45 pistol.

But a compact 12-rd. Para Ordnance .45 ACP has been on my gotta-have list for quite some time before this perfect condition used one showed up. The Witness .38 Super/.45 ACP is outta here.

In the meantime, I'll add that Para 12-45 to the layaway safe until I can raise the cash.