Nemesis Lead

I had an XD-45 once and I really liked it. My only real criticism was that the slide was a huge and heavy chunk of reciprocating mass. It was otherwise a great gun. I am not sure if the move to XDMs solved that issue.

Thank you. Actually, defensive use but with a large handgun, e.g., home defense.

Hi All, I live in Kalifornia where we have a "safe handgun roster" that basically means that you cannot buy any "new" handguns. For example, Californians can only buy Gen 3 Glocks. As a result of these laws, I have not paid any attention to all of the new offerings from CZ, Canik, Walther, Glock, S&W, etc. over the last 15 years. Since I literally cannot even handle, buy or shoot these guns, I know almost nothing about them. But I may be leaving CA in the near future. My question is......what are the best polymer framed 9mm handguns on the market for defensive use right now? Best in terms of reliability, shootability, ergonomics, ease of maintenance, etc.. I understand that this is totally subjective and that one man's trash is another man's treasure. I also get that some guns work well with certain hands and shooting styles and not with others. I just want to gather opinions to help create a short list of guns to start the research process. Many thanks in advance.

Well, I am M Class in both PCC and Production. While there are certainly better shooters than me, most people are not. But I will continue to shoot PCC. Thank you so much for your input. You do your journey, I will do mine.

For me, this was me bump firing the gun. My trigger was too light and I was not getting my finger off the trigger. I put a heavier trigger in and slapped the trigger a bit more.

I am the OP for this years old thread, lol. I came in here and was stunned to see that it is still active and near the top of the forum list after all of these years! I have since moved to CO and PCC and just shoot dots. Shooting dots with both eyes open is easy since you are target focused. My own theory is that I am close to "equally eye dominant." If I made a minor change in my head position, I would find my left eye "taking over" and I would be looking at the left side of the slide of my gun. Squinting and/or putting a little tape over my left eye was a big help, but I just could not shoot matches like this. I still do wish that I was able to learn both eyes open with iron sights. I loved shooting Production (with one eye open). It just was not in the cards for me.

Thank you, but I am now a little confused. 12 o'clock has the compensator ports straight up. 1:30 is 45 degrees. 3 o'clock is 90 degrees. Are you maybe at 1 o'clock (slightly less than 45 degrees)?

Thank you! Looking forward to trying this out!

Sorry to respond to a 5 month old thread. I just bought one of these Armanov Equalizer compensators. When you say that you put it on at a 45 degree angle......is that tilted 45 degrees toward your strong hand side when shooting the PCC?

Define a lot? I mean, I don't track the data as it happens. What I do do is this. When I see someone's PCC crap out, I will ask them who the manufacturer is and make a mental note of it. Is this a scientific observation? Of course not. It could be poor maintenance, poor ammo, user induced malfunctions, users adding incorrect parts to their rifles, etc.. Is it is scientific sample? Of course not. I live in a wealthy area of the country and see about as many JPs as I see Lead Stars. But I have always been really surprised by the number of problems high dollar JPs have and how few problems the Lead Stars have. Just one man's observation.

Odd how people spot different trends. I have seen A LOT of malfunctions on JPs in 9mm and 223. I see far fewer on 9mm Lead Stars which are a fraction of the cost of a JP. I own JPs and am moving to Lead Stars. Seriously. But YMMV. The MPX is a softer shooter, hands down but is harder to maintain as others have mentioned. It is all about what YOU value in a gun.

Good thought, Tony.

I run a Trigger Tech. I started with the competition trigger but I would occasionally bump fire it. Now I run the TT Combat Trigger and I love it.

I have run a compensator on my PCCs for years. I was considering removing compensators from my PCCs. Why? I wonder if there is even enough gas at the muzzle to drive the compensator. If this is the case (note that I am not sure and looking for comment), then what does the compensator do for you? Collecting carbon degrading accuracy? Making my rifle a little longer and adding weight to the muzzle? I was thinking of moving to a 16.1 inch barrel with just a thread protector on the muzzle. Am I incorrect in my thinking? Is there any evidence that a 9mm generates enough gas at the muzzle to drive a comp?

Careful. YMMV. I had a hip replacement and did all the PT. I was walking in a week. But it took me 9 months to get back to being able to run. The problem was not the hip joint. It was all of the muscles that got stretched out during surgery. The muscles simply would not respond to my brain's command to "run." Something happened in surgery. My doctor told me 3 months to running. After I told him that I was not running, he said "sometimes these things take up to a year."

I know. There is a HUGE thread on the best trigger for PCCs. I have found, however, that the best trigger often depends upon the specific bolt you are running. So my question is.......for you GMR-15 users using the JP Bolt Carrier Group......what trigger has worked well? Are there any triggers that HAVE NOT worked well? FYI, my stock trigger is Kaput. So please exclude stock trigger answers. I am looking for a drop in unit. Many thanks, in advance.

I shoot PCC with standard ear plugs. When I shoot .223, I put the over ear protection on and had the same issue as you. I solved this by going to a slightly higher optic mount. The difference between co-witness height and lower third co-witness height is more significant than you think. A "close" check weld vs a "looser" one. It may not work, but it is worth a try if you have a collection of optic mounts like I do.

Thank you. Saw that link. LIttle mention of the Holosun unit.

Yes

I have used the Crimson Trace CMR-206 green laser in matches. The laser seems as bright as current laws allow and I am satisfied with the brightness considering. It holds zero really well too. The problem is that I rarely use my lasers in matches--usually only for really big leans where I can't get the rifle on my shoulder. My club has a lot of Open shooters who hate PCC and we do get a number of stages with huge leans or tight quarters designed to trip up PCC shooters (please don't get me started). But when I do use the CMR-206, the failure rate seems really high. Once a battery died on me despite being a new battery and hardly having any use on it. The most recent time the unit just stopped working. With Murphy's Law, both failures were in matches when I needed the laser the most. I have an email into Crimson Trace for warranty and I am waiting a response. The Holosun LS177G is two to three times as expensive. But does anyone have experience with it? Some questions: 1) Is it as bright as the CMR-206? 2) Is it reliable? 3) How is the quality of the mounting? Does it hold zero? 4) How is the battery life? Many thanks in advance!

Hi Mike, Sorry for not responding sooner. I got no email notification. I am at 3.6 grains of N320 under a 147 grain bullet (1.13 OAL). About 142 PF. I recognize that this is pretty stout. I am moving to 3.8 grains of N320 under a 124 grain bullet (1.10 OAL). About 133 PF. all bullets are plated or jacketed. I had ZERO symptoms. I found the broken firing pin when I cleaned the gun.

I ordered two JP firing pins and they sent me a free one under warranty. They are supposed to be the new style. To my eye, they look exactly like my old ones though. Does anyone have pictures (or can you describe) how the new firing pin differs from the old one? My old one (broken) is in the trash.....

If I line up a target at 25 yards and move my head so that the dot moves closer to the edge of the optic.......the dot moves 2 to 3 inches off target. I have not done more experimenting than that.

You can see parallax on any optic. Take your optic off your rifle and put it on your kitchen counter. Line the dot up with a small target. Now take your hands off the optic so it just sits on the kitchen counter and cannot move. Move your head around and look through the optic. Push the dot to the edges of the glass. You will see that the dot moves around and may actually come off the target. Of course, the optic and target are not moving, so what you are seeing is parallax error. It sounds terrible, but it is not as important as one might think. So long as your eye is directly behind the optic, you will never have an issue. But when you are in awkward positions and your eye is not directly behind the optic.....parallax error comes into play. These guys studied this and found that EO Techs were the best for reducing parallax error. https://www.greeneyetactical.com/2017/07/27/comparative-study-of-red-dot-sight-parallax/ Again (before anyone jumps all over me)......the only way this would affect you is if your eye was significantly out of position behind the optic. You will look through your optic and say "whoa this optic is crap" but will rarely be forced into weird positions where this comes into play.

Yes--I love it. Great field of view. Very clear glass. 1 MOA dot, but when you turn up the brightness, it really stands out (very bright). Easy to mount and zero. Great controls. No extra mount needed. Lower 1/3 cowitness height which is great. Great battery life. Downsides. Expensive. Not the lightest option. More parallax than I would like (really only the EO Techs are great here in my experience).