JPeel Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I recently started shooting a g34 for 3gun competition and am able to shoot it much better than a m&p pro I had. I have the gun modified with a zev competition spring kit, lightened striker, uncaptured guide rod and 14lb spring, zev magwell with small brass insert. The slide has a lightening cut on top. Trigger is nice and crisp 4 lbs. Sevigny FO front and Dawson comp rear sight. A couple of weeks ago I got a 17 in trade that feels almost identical to the 34 with a nice crisp trigger at 4lbs, I put the same sights on the 17 and same magwell/insert. I ran some tests the other day to compare the two and was surprised by some of the results. Maybe not as much surprised as I am at a loss to explain them. Doing a 2 shot drill at a std USPSA at 7 yds, time from draw to first shot with the 17 was 11% faster than with the 34, and the splits were 10% faster. This was using the average of 10 trials each gun using the same ammo. Doing a 5 shot drill at 7 yds, time from draw to first shot was 10% faster than the 34, but the difference in the overall time was only 6% better with the 17. This was using the average of 5 trials each gun. Accuracy was virtually the same for both. I can understand why the draw time is better with the 17, less gun to get out of the holster. And I can see why the split for the second shot is faster. My expectation from the 2 shot drill results would have put the 17 much faster at the 5 shot drill than the 34. But I only saw a small percentage difference for that drill. I realize that this is a pretty small sample data pool and that a larger data set may yield different results. But if that's not the answer, here's my question to someone more knowledgeable about this than me: Why wouldn't the differential on the 5 shot drill have been as high, or higher than on the 2 shot drill? Or... should I just shoot the 17 because it was faster in both drills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TH3180 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I would be curious to see what affect your splits would have if you lightened the charge in the ammo for the 34 so your power factor is the same in both guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polymerfeelsweirdman Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 maybe it is just your sample size? have you tried backing the target up and measuring splits then? I would expect the g34 to be a little better at longer shots another thing is that your sights could play a role in this. perhaps you get a marginally better sight picture with those sights at the g17 spacing versus the g34 spacing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polymerfeelsweirdman Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) double... Edited January 11, 2014 by polymerfeelsweirdman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetropolisLake Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) Yeah I would back up. 7 yards is very close from what I've seen. Try a small target at 15 to 25 yards and see if you get the same results. I've had multiple pros tell me that the draw time doesn't matter at all in 3-gun too. Edited January 11, 2014 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZackJones Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Any chance that the 17 is closer in size to the M&P you used to have and that's making a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPeel Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Yes, I'm not going to win a 3gun match on the speed of my draw. It was just a starting point for data to evaluate on a rainy day at the indoor range! A bill-drill is done at 7 yards so I figured I'd start there. Much more evaluation and comparison shooting on different types of stage set ups will be needed before I can decide which gun is the better choice for me. I was just curious as to why the 5 shot time didn't show the same percent improvement with the 17 as was seen in the two shot drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPeel Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Any chance that the 17 is closer in size to the M&P you used to have and that's making a difference? The 34 is closer to the m&p pro for sight radius. And I'm faster with the 34 than I was with the m&p. Go figure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I was faster with the 17 at first but 60k rds through the 34/35 platform changed that. I dont think there's any discernable difference between the 2 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&W686 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I did the same comparison last summer. I found that I was a little faster at close targets, but at longer distance the Glock 17 was no comparison to the Glock 34. I will stay with my Glock 34 for competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPeel Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 I didn't get to shoot yesterday but my son who also uses my pistols did go and said he felt a lot more comfortable on the longer shots with the 34. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winder Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Don't have any scientific explanation for it but my transitions between targets and target acquisition seems to be quicker with the 17. Long range accuracy is better with the 34. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPeel Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 (edited) I did some more drills at the range. 5 poppers at 10 yards and one popper at 30. 5 runs each gun from a box. Nearly identical time and one shot on the long popper each time. 3 papers at 10 yards, one popper at 30. 5 runs each gun from a box. Two shots each paper, one hit on popper. And again, nearly identical times but a light edge to the 34. It was odd because I felt faster on paper with the 17 and was able to track the sights better, but the numbers didn't support that. So.... I'm going to use the 34 in competition as is and use the 17 as my test gun for new triggers, etc... Edited January 19, 2014 by JPeel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Due to the way glocks are made, testing parts in one gun for a different gun is not very effective. There are enough variations from one to another that your results in your 17 may be quite different if you move the parts to your 34. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troupe Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 The shorter gun will point faster, your brain perceives a better sight picture up close. Like everyone said, try the same drill at distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dkrad1935 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 The shorter the string you are shooting the more important the draw time is in overall time. For example if you draw and shoot in 1.25 seconds and your splits are .25 seconds the draw is 5/6ths of the total time. if you add 3 more splits for 5 rounds the draw time is only 5/9ths....I dont have calculator so couldnt convert to % If your splits are slower than that then the effect is exagerated even more. So I totally expect the 17 to be faster out of the holster but I would bet in a blind test (haha) you wouldnt see time differences outside of the draw. You may or may not see accuracy differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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