Hello gents,
I wanted to show you guys my new carry gun. Folks here who know me know I usually only bother to carry a J-frame but I prefer to shoot Beretta 92s when actually shooting. I have Glock 19s, 30s, Shields, etc. So I have other guns but I usually just carry my J. My dream carry gun (the handgun I would want if I was going to be thrown into a gunfight) is a Beretta 92G Elite. Why...
1. I shoot it the fastest. This has been confirmed over and over during drills on a timer.
2. I shoot it very accurately. The gun shoots more accurately than any of my plastic guns, and is roughly on par with my Wilson CQB (raw bullseye groups seem tighter with the Wilson, but just barely).
3. I never have any malfunctions, shooter induced or otherwise. The controls on the Beretta are very forgiving of my super high grip style. I often will lock open the slide on my .45 Glock during recoil, and I had serious issues with my HK P30s with long levers, and would always swap my P2000 to low profile levers). These are all training issues (my problem), but nevertheless, the 92 and the 1911 have their slide levers situated where they are never an issue.
4.It is a very safe gun to handle. I am old-fashioned. I have never accepted the idea that virtually single action safteyless handguns are as safe as double action (or LEM style). This really sank in for me about 10 years ago when my first child was born. I stoped leaving 1911s and Glock beside the bed and migrated to revolvers and DA because I wanted an extra layer of protection during an emergency. I understand the arguments for keeping your finger off the trigger being all you need, but this works better for me.
The big problem with the 92 is that it is big and sort of heavy. I always looked at the Compacts but they appeared to have Glock 19 length slides on G26 length grip frames. I don't mind stubby grips, but if I am going that far I want a short muzzle to boot. But I realized after handling one that the grip on the Compact is nearly as long as a G19. The pinky extension is really just for people with very large hands. I have perfectly average sized male hands (which means I rarely care about grip sizes on guns since they are typically designed for me, lol). Anyway, so I decided I would Sell my spare Glock 19 and a few items on Ebay and pick up a Langdon Compact. Perversely, Langdon hasn't adjusted his prices to reflect the current market butt rape so you can get a custom Langdon for about the same price as one without the trigger job and sights on the open market. So I ordered the Compact with tritium Spartan sights and the LTT trigger job. It arrived very quickly. And it was perfect right out of the box. The finish was perfect and they installed the sights without marring the finish. They even included the spare parts they took out for the trigger job.
IMG_5146 by stoiclawyer, on Flickr
IMG_5148 by stoiclawyer, on Flickr
First things first, if you have a Beretta 92, get the Langdon trigger job. It is insane. Frankly, the DA is so good the SA may be superfluous. It has take-up, but the travel is so smooth and light it is absurd. I would gladly have this gun in DA only. I was shooting my Gen 3 Glock 30S and enjoying it. Then I swapped to the Beretta and was stunned at how terrible the Glock trigger was by comparison. Obviously, a Glock SHOULD be way worse than an expensive aftermarket trigger but I can't express clearly how stark the difference was.
Second, I swapped out the pinky extensions for the base plates off some worn out mags. The new Mec-Gar mags carry 15 rounds. I am a bit concerned about this so I am going to make sure to always load 15 rounds into the mags when practicing to monitor reliability. Langdon swears by them, so I will trust them. But I am always suspicious when magazines suddenly start taking extra rounds (I am looking at you HK).
The sights shot perfect POI/POA exactly the way I like it. Shooting a shoebox size steel plate was easy peasy all the way out to 100 feet (about as far as my pistol pit allows).
The gun carries, for all practical purposes, just like a Glock 19 The widest point is the ambi decocker and it sits above the waistband and has no real carry consequence. The Compact has a bobbed hopper so the entire back fo the gun has a natural carry profile with very little to print. They trimmed off other stuff like the lanyard ring, etc. The gun weighs about 7 more oz than a G19 and just isn't a big deal for me. It is easier to carry than my G30s, but that is to be expected given the .45 frame.
IMG_5084 by stoiclawyer, on Flickr
The gun is basically perfect for serious concealed carry. It is as small as it can be made and still fill the average male hand and can be reloaded without fear of pinching your hand with the reload. Further, the controls are all standard sized, so there is not changing of the grip to control the gun and/or to avoid malfunctions. Plus, the barrel on this thing is 4.25 inches, so basically you have the barrel of a full sized combat autoloader.
Shooting the gun is amazing. There is really no difference between shooting this gun and a full sized beretta. It absolutely flies. And the Spartan sights are basically a low fi RMR (very bright orange).
IMG_5144 by stoiclawyer, on Flickr
I have now shot 200 rounds of Winchester white box, 50 Rounds of S&B, 50 Rounds of Magtech, 15 rounds of HST 147 and 20 rounds of Ranger 147. So far so good. Unfortunately, the days of 200 round range sessions seem to be behind me, at least for a little while. But so far so good.
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Originally Posted by Sikiguya
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