Randy reports on Springfield's new Enhanced Micro Pistol, billed as "the smallest 1911 in the world."  Made smaller because it was built for the 9mm cartridge, not the .45 ACP.

Good review.  Check it out.

Randy mentions trying out the new Wolf Gold JHP with a 147-grain bullet.  Although the Wolf Gold is a new line, the 147-grain bullet isn't a new thing.  When I carried a 9mm, I loaded it with Hornady XTP in that bullet weight.  My P-95 was 100% reliable only with 147-grain ammunition.

(Let the umbrage at suggesting the P-95 isn't perfectly reliable begin).

I would have just left a comment over there about the Hornady ammo but comments aren't turned on and there doesn't appear to be an email address anywhere for contact.

At The Snubnose Files.

Range Evaluation:  Ruger SP-101 with 3 1/16" Barrel by Stephen A. Camp,

...and...

The Ruger SP-101 by George (mad ogre) Hill.

Thanks to Syd for tipping me by email.


UPDATE:  Posted this for my 357 Magnum category as reference.  The SP101 is my usual carry gun.

I was planning on taking the camera to the range today but I forgot it.  I went to our "private range."

I started with some factory PMC loaded with 158 grain JSP (jacketed soft point).  Recoil was pleasant but not intimidating, and it turned out that this was by far the most accurate (as in, already zeroed--no sight adjustment required) load for the range at which I was shooting, which was 50 yards.  The rifle was probably as accurate as it could be with me doing the shooting.  Although I would not have been able to drive nails with it, if my dad had been there I'm sure he would have said, "that'll drop a deer."

I had only 10 rounds or so of the PMC stuff left from previous handgun shooting, so it didn't take me long to finish it off and start on the various handloads that I have.  I didn't load them, but the person who did gave me all the details about them for my future reference.

The first batch was shooting 158 grain JSP's with 13.3 grains of Hercules 2400.  Maybe that means something to you reloaders, but it didn't mean much to me.  Until I shot it, that is.  These were some serious reloads.  The recoil even punched me pretty hard a couple of times when the butt wasn't seated in just exactly the right spot of my shoulder.  These loads shot high, but grouped well.  Next time I might try some 100-yard shooting and see how these work.  These might turn out to be good 100-yard loads, and judging by the recoil, they would easily drop a deer.

Also, our backstop is made of a couple of layers of heavy metal sheets angled to deflect the bullets downward.  The PMC factory loads just clanged and ricocheted into the dirt.  These reloads were hitting so hard the bullets were exploding into puffs of lead dust upon impact.  They were both loaded with the same kind of bullet.  Like I said, these were some serious reloads.  I'm amazed that I've actually used these in the SP-101 before.

After that I tried two other reloads, one a very lightly loaded .357 magnum and the other a plain old .38 Special.  Both were made to be very easy-recoiling target practice loads for snubby revolvers.  Shooting them in the rifle was an anticlimax and sort of disappointing after the first two loads.  The .38 Special was so wimpy they almost felt like squibs, but weren't.  Both of them shot very low.  I still have quite a few of these left, and will save them strictly for snubby practice.

Next step is to figure out exactly how the PMC factory stuff is loaded so I can duplicate it.  I think I may eventually start reloading just to keep myself supplied with .357.

As far as function, the rifle functioned well.  There were no serious cycling problems, only a few minor ones because I was sometimes ejecting carefully to keep from losing any brass.  When I worked the lever like I was supposed to, it worked perfectly.  The trigger is light and crisp, although I have no way to actually measure it.  One quibble is that although this is supposed to hold 10 rounds in the tube, I can't get more than 9 rounds in it.  Still, 9 rounds of .357 magnum from a rifle is some pretty good firepower, especially if you have another one or two .357 magnum revolvers nearby to back it up.

Technorati Tags: 357 magnum, e.m.f, winchester 1892

Way back last September I mentioned a new Taurus revolver that uses either the .44-40 or the .410 shotshell.  I had just read about it in the new Gun Digest and it wasn't yet on Taurus' website at the time.  The writer in the Digest had it slightly wrong, it actually shoots either the .410 or the .45 Colt, and it has since been added to the website here.

Back in June, Jim Shepherd of Shooting Wire got one of these guns and sent a review of it in his regular email.  He doesn't have a web archive for these emails yet, but I asked him today via email about this, and he said he had no problem with posting the emails, as long as credit is given.  So here is his review of the Taurus 4410, all credit due to Jim Shepherd of Shooting Wire.

Photo from Taurus website.

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Call It What You Like...

Occasionally, I take advantage of the opportunity to try out new shooting products. Not being a ballistics expert, a gunsmith, or even a high-level competitive shooter, my reviews omit the confusing tables of chronograph results, ballistic tables and powder blends. I also am totally uninterested in writing long dissertations on the history of various calibers.

In other words, I consider myself the "average guy" and look at new products in that light. If they require specialized educations, multiple lessons for accurate operation, or excessive maintenance, I'm not really interested. When it comes to firearms, I'm Frank Lloyd Wright - I believe form follows function. I appreciate the artistry of fine engraving and the beauty of fine wood firearms furniture, but I'm a nuts-and-bolts shooter.

That's why I've been waiting -impatiently- for the arrival of a new revolver from Taurus.

Bob Morrison, Taurus' CEO, has been telling me about a new revolver for both the trail or the home. Personally, I'm skeptical at the idea of a multi-purpose firearm. Afield, I'm torn between carrying a heavy-hitting revolver (big animals) or a small shotgun (snakes). Usually, I wind up carrying a .22 caliber revolver with at least two cylinders full of snake-shot and hoping I don't run across a "significant" animal.

Late last week, the gun store called to tell me my package had arrived.

What had arrived was the new Taurus Model 4410 - a revolver that accommodates either .45 Long Colt or .410 shot shells.

The .45 Long Colt cylinder is elongated in order to handle 2 1/2" .410 shotgun shells - giving it a passing resemblance to a flare gun.

Built on Taurus' compact revolver frame, the 4410 is capable of packing stopping power into a 32-ounce package. With Taurus' "ribber" grips (ribbed rubber), it has been designed to fire the .45 Long Colts or .410 slugs without administering excessive punishment to the shooter.

With that combination of user-friendly, target-unfriendly rounds, the 4410 offers the stopping power of a heavy centerfire round combined with the snake-blasting capabilities of the relatively-mild .410 shotgun load.

With that in mind, I happily headed out to the range to see just what the little revolver could do. Morrison had already told me they had achieved some "spectacular" test results on targets at car-jacking distances. Since car-jacking to me implies "up close and personal" I tried the gun at a variety of close ranges.

It didn't disappoint. As expected, the 250-grain .45 Long Colt rounds (from my cowboy action pistol) delivered good results, blithely ventilating the requisite water-filled plastic jugs with very good accuracy. With the .410 shot shells (#6 shot), the little pistol was more than capable of zapping water hose (my snake simulation) at ranges up to twenty feet. Beyond that, I didn't figure there was any need to be shooting snakes. I didn't figure any closer was worth risking a richochet of shot from the hose.

When I decided to load.410 slugs, the 4410 demonstrated awesome stopping power. At eight feet, the slugs didn't ventilate my plastic jugs, they eviscerated them. That "little .410" round in slugs roughly equivalent to three rounds of 9mm - simultaneously delivered. The .9mm pistol may be criticized for a lack of stopping power, but there's no doubt that three .36 caliber slugs deliverd simultaneously packs a serious wallop.

As promised, the 4410 is a serious option to consider if you want home defense without the considerations of over-penetration and unmanageable power. With a mix of shotshells, slugs and .45 Long Colts, it offers everything from warning capability to lethal stopping power.

The 4410 certainly isn't the only handgun offering that choice of .45/.410 rounds. One well-known option is the Bond derringer. It's a pocket cannon, but candidly, I have problems bringing it to bear accurately - that's no fault of the Bond, it's my presbyopia.

The 441-even in the 2 1/2 inch barrel length I tested, let me put the .410s on target quickly and group the .45 Long Colts respectably out to ten yards -perfectly adequate for either a personal defense weapon or a trail gun.

Taurus' website suggests taking a case of .410s out to the range and trying it on clay targets. Frankly, I think that's beyond my abilities. As a farm boy, it would certainly have been useful - and fun - when evicting rats from corn cribs.

The 4410 will need a bit more cleaning than the average revolver. Due to the long cylinder, cowboy load 45s will leave residue in the cylinder and the .410s mean the barrel needs a good cleaning on a regular basis as well.

Available in a short (2 1/2inch) or long (6 1/2 inch) barrel lengths, the 4410 offers the choice of blue or stainless finishes, and is a double/single action. The MSRP is $469 (blue) or $531 (stainless).

A note of caution: since it is a handgun capable of firing shotshells, the 4410 isn't legal in California.

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Thanks again to Jim Shepherd and Shooting Wire.

I went to my dad's house today to check on his animals and put out some food for them, because he's on vacation.  So I took a box of .22 shells along and me and the kids made some Independence Day noise.

Some time ago, one of these turned up in my dad's inventory.  It shows a lot of wear on the barrel, and I think someone in the past must have been practicing his quick-draw with it.


This gun from High Standard was never meant to be a high-end tack-driving target gun.  It was meant to be an affordable gun for the average Joe.  It shoots the .22 Long Rifle (of course it should shoot the .22 Short and Long as well).  This is a real high-cap revolver, which allows you to shoot nine shots before reloading.  Woo hoo!  It's also double action.


Although this gun's finish is worn, mostly on the end of the barrel, there was no rust or any other problems with it.  It was a well-used, and still very usable old gun.

It fit my hand well and was easy to point and shoot.  The double action pull isn't going to thrill you if you're used to shooting old S&Ws, but it isn't bad.  It's not terribly heavy, it's just not the smoothest.  The main thing I didn't like about shooting it double action are the grooves in the front of the trigger.  They seemed unecessarily protrusive (is that a word?) and dug in very uncomfortably on my trigger finger.  Shooting it single action was really sweet, though, just a light touch required to set it off.

UPDATE, after a little internet research:  I think this gun was made in the 1960's.  It has an anodized aluminum frame, which explains why it's considerably lighter than my Ruger Single-Six.  In fact, it's so light that there was a little bit of noticeable recoil even with .22 Long Rifle.

The rod is a combination ejector/release rod.  The cylinder is opened by pulling the rod forward.  This releases the cylinder to swing out like a typical double action gun.  Then the rod is pushed backward to eject the empties.  There is no spring return on the rod, it must be pulled back forward manually to be reseated before loading.


We improvised a target in a safe area and popped away at it.  This is my attempt at firing a cylinder full, double action at about 7 yards.  Not good enough for shooting turtles, but good enough to slay an army of attacking coke cans (or Whataburger cups, in this case).


This is a little better.  The same distance, single action.  It seems to shoot slightly to the left.  Much further and more extensive shooting from a rest, rather than off-hand, would be required for me to determine if this is my fault or the gun's fault.  Based on my other guns and the consistency of this group, I think this is a gun problem.  Still not up to shooting turtles in the head from across the tank, but not too bad for sneaking up on squirrels.

The kids got their chance, too, although they were heavily supervised.  They fired a few shots each, and each one actually managed to hit the cup once!  You should have seen the looks on their faces when they realized the cup had moved because they had hit it.


Squinting into the morning sun.  Here's a picture sure to make the GFWs cringe in horror.  The dog is my dad's leopard cowdog pup.  Both kids have been heavily schooled on the four rules, but I left the cylinder open just to show them how to be extra safe while we took the picture.

UPDATE:  The Pistolero also had some Independence Day .22 shooting fun.

The P22 is designed to be nearly identical to, although smaller than, Walther's P99 (a 9mm or .40 S&W gun).  I decided to take my new one out today for some shooting.  Please excuse some of the blurry pictures, I was in a hurry because it was about to start raining (unfortunately, the rain didn't last long).

I like guns with a lot of history. It doesn't need to be famous history, just a gun that you can tell has seen lots of good use throughout the years. About 20 years ago, an elderly lady who my family knew decided to sell her last gun. My dad bought it for a very small price. I have used it a couple of times since then, but never carried it for plinking or hunting because it's significantly heavier than the short-barreled Rossi pump I used to have. Heavier even than the longer-barreled Winchester Model 61 pump action which I have now (it used to be my grandfather's). I did some target shooting with it a couple of times way back then. My dad never used it at all, and it became consigned to a back corner of a closet where it sat forgotten until a few days ago, when I suddenly remembered it and asked my dad, "Hey, you still got that old single-shot .22?"

Savage Arms has a new version of the Stevens Favorite.
I am calling the gun I have a Stevens Favorite because I can't find any other model that fits it. Mine, however, is not the same as a standard Favorite. The Savage version is, as far as I can tell, the same as the original, with only a 21" barrel and overall length of 36 3/4", it weighs 4 1/2 lbs.

Stevens manufactured the Favorite from 1890 to 1939. Besides the .22, it was also chambered for now-obsolete .25 and .32 rimfire ammo. According to what I have read, the original Favorite sold for $6, but the standard barrel could be lengthened for the cost of $1 additional per inch. If true, then the one I have must have cost $13.

Here are a couple of pictures. Excuse the poor quality, I have a lousy, cheap digital camera.

That last one looks quite impressive, and may give you a better impression of the barrel. The version I have has an overall length of 42 1/2", with the barrel at a whopping 28". It is very fore-heavy, which is why I never used it much. The first 9 3/4" of the barrel at the breech end is octagonal, the rest is round. This gun has what I would call a bull barrel. The overall diameter of the barrel is a good 3/4", quite hefty compared to the 1/2" diameter of my Model 61. It has a blade front sight and a ramp adjustable rear sight. I was going to weigh it with my fish scale, but can't find it, so with a bathroom scale and my best guess, I'm calling it at least 6 pounds.

It has a falling block lever action as can be seen here, opened and closed:

This gun was specified for .22 Long Rifle only, although I can tell you from experience that any of the three standard .22 lengths can be used in it (not the magnum, though, that's a whole 'nother beast). Longs and Long Rifles work easily, but special care must be used with Shorts. This is because when the breech is opened, the extractor stands out a short distance from the breech. The cartridge is inserted into the breech and the rim end falls into the "U" of the extractor. Shorts are too short to do this easily, and can cause loading problems, but are possible and safe to use if you pay attention and watch what you're doing when you load.

The Favorite has no safety, but it does have a hammer position in which the hammer is pushed backwards and locked into place by the block when opened for loading. In this position, the hammer can't be forced into the firing pin, it is in "safe" condition. The hammer must be cocked manually before shooting. I have read that some of these had extraction problems, but I'm guessing that was just from worn-out extractors on old guns. The one I have still extracts very positively with no problems at all. The shell throws backwards a couple of inches and falls straight down off the side of the gun.

I took it out this morning and shot it so I would have a target to show off. This gun would benefit greatly from a decent rest, as I said the barrel makes it quite heavy to the forward end. This target was shot at about 22 yards or so, while I was sitting on the ground using my knees and elbows for a rest. The first shot went high (you can't see it), striking just above the target but dead center. After that I took a different sight picture and got these five shots:

This target is slightly less than 3" in diameter, and the 10-ring is just a hair less than an inch across. Not the best shooting, but then I haven't fired a rifle in over a year (yeah, yeah, I know, but I've been preoccupied with handgun shooting), and I was being eaten alive by several dozen mosquitoes at the time (as if that's any excuse). I think with a little more practice I could at least keep all my shots inside the 9-ring, and then I'll be ready for some serious squirrel sniping. I'm also going to tweak the back sight a little so I'm more comfortable with the sight picture.

I have a sneaking suspicion that somone is going to read this and tell me that it isn't actually a Favorite, but some other similar Stevens model of which I am unaware. I will gladly welcome any corrections.

The wood on this gun has its fair share of nicks and scratches, and the metal finish isn't the best anymore, either. The original buttplate is gone, and someone long ago replaced it with a strap of leather. This is a gun that has probably spent several decades feeding a hungry family on rabbits and squirrels, and I'm looking forward to taking it out again sometime soon. It's been a long time since I've had squirrel stew.

Disclaimer: If you are already familiar with black powder firearms, you will probably not find this informative. If you have never used one, you may find this useful.

Some recent discussions about the .50 BMG (see Carnival of Cordite #13) put me in mind of a few years ago when someone I know (at the time he was a co-worker) had purchased a single-shot .50 BMG (I forget the exact make & model). We were discussing it at work, which involved me asking lots of questions and him answering them. Someone overheard and asked if I had a "fifty." Sure, I replied, a .50 Hawken. What's that? they asked. "It's a muzzle loader," I answered. "It sounds like thunder and makes a big cloud of blue smoke that smells like the fires of hell." A somewhat overblown description, perhaps, but not entirely inaccurate.

My earliest memory of anything to do with the Hawken is the movie Jeremiah Johnson. For years as a kid, I was under the impression that this was an immensely powerful rifle that only the baddest and toughest could shoot. I mean, after all, the first time Jeremiah shot it, it flipped him over backwards. My impression can be excused as childhood ignorance, I hope. That said, it is still quite a potent firearm in the realm of black powder.

In my opinion, every gun buff should own at least one black powder muzzle-loading rifle. Perhaps, arguably, he/she should own a handgun as well. I say arguably, because I don't own a black powder handgun myself yet. I would like a single-shot pistol such as the "Hawken style" pistols that can be found to match the rifle, but I would also not mind having one of these:


That's a replica Walker Colt, the .44 Magnum of black powder revolvers.

But I digress. As I said, I think every gun buff/nut/owner should also own a muzzle loader. Not one of those fancy-shmancy bastard guns inline abominations that eat Pyrodex pellets, for goodness sake, but a real replica (can you have a real replica?) of the olden days when every shot had to count and speed loading wasn't really an option.

Mine looks like this:


Except that mine is a left-handed version (the patch box, hammer, and nipple/fire hole are on the left side of the gun). I would have nothing against a Pennsylvania/Kentucky rifle either, but after talking it over a lot with another blackpowder gun owner, I decided to go with the Hawken style because the hooked breech design makes cleaning a lot easier.

Why do I say that you should own a gun like this? Because using it will give you a whole new perspective.

Make sure you go shooting on a nice, hot summer day. Even better if you live somewhere (like I do) where the summertime (that is, April through November) humidity rarely falls below 80%. Be sure and use black powder. You can use Pyrodex and a few other substitutes, but that's cheating. They don't foul enough. I can't speak of the other substitutes because I've never used them, but I can also add that Pyrodex has a higher ignition point than black powder, so in practical terms, black powder will fire off faster and more reliably. Besides, Pyrodex is fake. According to what I have read, back when it was first invented, it was too clean. It didn't smoke enough, and it didn't smell like black powder. So they added some extra goop to make it more closely simulate black powder. Just use the real thing. You won't be sorry.

Why a hot, summer day? Why high humidity? After 30 to 40 minutes of constantly loading, shooting, and barrel-swabbing, you will begin to realize it's like work. If you have a flintlock, it's going to be even more like work. High humidity makes the fouling that much stickier and gunkier. It could mean the difference between swabbing the barrel every other shot (high humidity) or every fourth or fifth shot (lower humidity).

And I can guarantee it's not going to knock you over backwards. That's just Hollywood hooey. I once touched off one of those enormous sabot slugs backed up with 90 grains of the black stuff and the recoil only made me take about half a step backwards to regain my balance. It's not that big of a deal. Just make sure you have your shoulder firmly seated in the curve of the butt. A little bit off-center and one of those sharp ends might make you yelp.

Sometimes I feel like I'm still, well, cheating. I started out using pre-lubed patches, but that was just too easy and not authentic enough. So I went to some patches that I lubed myself with Neatsfoot Oil. It works quite well, but I tried some other stuff called Bore Butter and it seems to help reduce fouling better than Neatsfoot. So I've been using Bore Butter ever since, but in an emergency I could go back to Neatsfoot if I had to. I just wish they made an unscented version of Bore Butter. The stuff I have smells like wintergreen. I've heard they also have a pine-scented version (good grief!).

I once ran into a guy who was into cowboy action shooting and black powder shooting. Ah ha, I thought, this is the guy to ask about patches. I told him what I had been using and asked him what he used. "Oh," he said, "I just use the pre-lubed stuff." Go figure.

So anyway. If you are looking for nice, tight groups with a muzzle loader you not only have to carefully aim each shot, but you also have to carefully make sure each shot is loaded exactly the same if you want to have any kind of consistant accuracy. This may sound obvious, but what it means is that your powder measure has to be topped off at the same level every time, your patch has to be completely and throroughly lubed the same way every time, your ball has to be centered exactly in the patch every time, and the whole package has to be rammed and packed in the same way every time. After you've taken care of all these loading details, then you can shoot.

My accuracy is still kind of lousy. I can get all my shots onto the standard rifle target at 100 yards, but getting them inside even the outer ring is another question. But, I didn't really buy this gun for hunting. I bought it for fun.

With everything I've said, it may sound like I'm trying to discourage anyone from owning one of these. Not at all. I said everyone should own one, and I meant it. After a day of thunderous, brimstone-infused target shooting, you will come home dirty, grimy, and smelling, like, well, brimstone. (Some people say rotten eggs but to me brimstone sounds much cooler). Oh, and when you get home, the day isn't over. You know how when you go shoot your suppository smokeless powder gun of choice, and you sometimes just "wait until later" to clean it? That doesn't go with black powder. It is highly corrosive and will eat the metal of your gun away if it isn't cleaned well. That's where the hooked breech design of the Hawken comes in. The barrel easily detaches from the stock. You just fill up a 5-gallon bucket with very hot soapy water (I just use Dawn dish soap), put a cleaning patch on a jag, and work it up and down in the barrel. This will cause a sort of hydraulic action by pulling and pushing water in and out through the fire hole. Use very hot water so that when you take it out, it will quicky evaporate and air-dry itself. Then run a dry patch through a few times just for completion's sake.

Some people have asked me what the difference is. In simplistic terms, a smokeless powder rifle will go crack, and the recoil is a sharp kick. A black powder rifle will go boom, and the recoil is a fast push. Also, a black powder rifle makes a big cloud of blue smoke that smells like the fires of hell. Did I already mention that?

It will give you a whole new perspective. Shooting a cartridge firearm afterwards will almost seem like cheating. And you will have a whole new respect for those guys who didn't have a choice in the matter. The mountain men, the Minutemen, those guys at that place called the Alamo, that lone farmer homesteading on the prairie, with a wife and kids, and nothing between him and the wilderness but a lead ball, a patch, and 75 grains of gunpowder.

Someone came to this blog by Googling "Ruger P95D report." I don't know if they were looking for info on the gun in general, or if by "report" they were wondering about how it sounds when it goes bang. I do own one, and have mentioned it previously. I guess more comments on it would make as good an entry as any.

Southpaw shooters might be interested in this information. I bought the P95D primarily because of two things: its ambidextrousness and its price. Ambidextrousness is an important consideration for lefties which many gun companies have overlooked/ignored until the past few years (or so it seems to me). Ruger semi-autos have long had ambi tendencies because Bill Ruger himself was left-handed (or so I've read). The P95D is about as ambidextrous as they come, with an ambi magazine release and ambi decocker. It does not have an ambidextrous slide release, and of course, as with just about all semi-autos, ejects the empties to the right. If standing in an isosceles position, my pistol ejects at an obtuse enough angle that all the empties miss (miss hitting me, that is). If shooting one-handed (with the left hand), and presenting a narrow side profile to the target, the empties come nowhere near me. However, shooting in the Weaver stance gets me tapped in the right shoulder/right side of head with almost every empty. This is only a mild annoyance and since I'm usually wearing a hat anyway it doesn't bother me. The slide release is not a problem during normal operation, since a pull back on the slide itself releases it, just like any semi-auto. It is only a problem during disassembly for cleaning. It might be easier to disassemble for a righty, but I don't know. It has always seemed to be a little bit of a trick to me to line up the marks so the release can be pulled out. I would also add that although I am primarily left-handed, I am also somewhat ambidextrous, and when practicing, I alternate hands every time I put in a fresh magazine. (My left eye is my strong eye).

As the name implies, this version is decocker only, it does not have a "safety" that locks the trigger or any such thing. You draw it, you pull the trigger, it goes bang. No unnecessary extra steps. This is another reason I chose it. The first, double-action shot does have a long, heavy trigger pull, and it pays to do lots of practice decocking after every shot so you can get used to that first pull. After that, single-action follow-ups are a piece of cake.

I have shot a full-size M1911 as well as a more compact version, both of which were all metal. Compared to the P95D, which has a polymer body, the P95D (vs. the 1911 in .45) seems to have a much sharper recoil. I have attributed this to the very light lower body against the very heavy slide assembly. The 1911 is more of a push, while the P95D is more of a twist, if that makes any sense. It is a very sharp twist that, to me, is harder to recover from than when shooting the good ol' 1911 in .45.

This is Ruger's idea of a "compact" gun but I think if they put their minds to it they could come up with something that really is compact. This is still a fairly large gun, strictly speaking about how much space it takes up. I have carried it concealed, but not comfortably.

One problem with mine is that I have yet to have it function 100% reliably with 115-grain ammo. It works perfectly and has never failed with 147-grain, but the lighter ammo sometimes fails to feed. I have not yet tried any of the 124-grain version. My carry ammo (when I carried it) was 147 grain Hornady XTP.

This pistol was the first semi-auto I ever purchased, back when I was planning on first getting a CHL (Concealed Handgun License, for you non-Texans). I have since kind of started leaning toward the "anti-9mm" crowd, but I don't ever plan on getting rid of this gun, mostly because I want to have at least one of each of the most popular calibers in my collection, and this one makes a fine representative of the 9mm. In fact, I would someday like to add one of Ruger's 9mm carbines to the collection, so I'll have ammo and mags that will fit both a pistol and a long gun.

I used this gun for a carry piece for a while, but for the past few years have switched to a Ruger SP-101 loaded with .357 magnum (I like revolvers, and wanted something that generally inflicts more damage than a 9mm). I have also recently purchased a Springfield XD40 and am still working it through a break-in period. When I feel confident enough with it, I intend for it to replace the SP-101.

I mentioned price at the beginning. This P95D (blued slide) cost me $350 at a gun show about 5 years ago. Ruger has a nice way of coming out on top of the cost/quality scale.

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a professional gun review. It is just a few of my own impressions based on my own experience. Your mileage may vary.