1 Attachment(s)
Shooting the Rr51 Unique Pistol
Attachment 318158
Well, Wednesday got here and I got to run through the course with The Rr-51. I was not able to thin the R-17 magazine quite enough to be fully functional, but it works! A bit stiff to remove or insert, but it feeds and latches up just fine. I started out with the 3 yard line as usual, and things went OK. I was a little worried about being able to make time while dealing with the Safety. It sets pretty far forward and it is a stretch to reach it with the shooting hand thumb. With a bit of apprehension, I set the timer and waited for the beep.
Turns out I was only a little slower with this than with the 1910/1922. Both runs were in the 2.7 second range, and all 4 shots were in the scoring rings, though low in the 8 and 7 rings. 6.67 seconds elapsed for the strong and weak hand only drills at the 5 yard line, with shots tending a bit low. That was cutting things a bit fine, there is only 7 seconds allowed for the draw, 3 shots strong hand, then the transfer to the weak hand for the final 3 shots. I have to break my grip and pivot the gun slightly to flick off the safety and then re-acquire my grip and that slowed me up a bit. The 7 yard line was no problem; all 6 shots were comfortably in the scoring rings with plenty of time left. The 10 yard line however, things went off the tracks a bit.
I was shooting with an acquaintance named Robin, who was breaking in a new Canik. He was shooting at 10 yards, and I was slightly behind and to the right of him, holding the timer where he could hear it despite the ear muffs. When he heard the beep, he drew, fired, and the spent case flew back and managed to find the less than 1 inch gap between my hat and eyeglasses and deflect down into my right eye. Not only was that case hot on my eyelid, but it sprinkled a little powder or ash that got in my eye and it was watering like crazy. Well, I took a break for about 10 minutes while Robin shot up the rest of his ammo, and then I decided to resume firing and finish up the course. Because my eye was still bugging me, I thought that I’d just sight with my left eye, and so I did. However, I must have canted the gun, because I printed a decent group that consisted of four misses out to the left and a couple of hits down that way. Ah well, I rinsed my eye with my water bottle and after a few minutes, I went back to the 15 yard line. There I had a bit of trouble with the reload owing to the still somewhat-oversize modified R-17 magazine, but managed to finish on time with all 8 shots in scoring rings. My final score was a passing 26/30, but I really can’t blame my eye trouble on the gun.
The Unique pistol is a good gun. With a 9 shot magazine, decent sights, a 5-6 pound trigger, it performs well. The heavy weight, coupled with the low power of the 32 ACP makes for a soft recoiling gun. The gun points a little low for me, but not as much as the Mauser 1914 or the H&R. The Safety, though, is a nuisance. It sets too far forward to be easily operated by the shooting hand of a right handed person, though a lefty has no problems flicking off the safety with the trigger finger. Likewise, the lack of a mechanism to lock the slide back when the empty magazine is removed greatly slows the reloading. It works best to just let the slide go closed when the empty mag is removed and then work the slide after the fresh magazine is inserted. Despite these shortcomings, I would have no qualms about carrying this were I restricted to a 32 caliber pistol. The safety is operable with one hand, albeit slightly awkwardly. To the capacity of the gun, it will work as well as most other 32 Automatics for self-defense. The lack of spare parts means that what you've got is what you have. But it seems to be very well made and parts seem to be stronger than necessary. It shoots reliably and feeds hollow point ammunition without a wobble, in limited testing. As long as I keep the gunk out of my eyes, it does just fine.
[B]The Walther Model 4[/B]
Prior to about 1912, the Carl Walther firm was a “boutique,”sporting rifle concern. They made 1st quality rifles for discerning sportsmen. That however, was a limited market. Then as now, the number of wealthy clients was less than you might imagine and the competition was pretty fierce. However, in 1908, Carl Walther’s sons, Fritz and Wilhelm began designing a series of small pistols, initially in 6.35, but also with an eye to a larger pistol. Once their patent was granted, they geared up for production of the Model 1909 and in 1910 or early 1911 began selling them. There is a bit of conflict on the dates when these guns were first made, but given that they were marketed starting in late 1910, it would seem that is the likely date of introduction. Almost immediately, the brothers began to work on a second 25 ACP/6.35mm pistol, the Model 2 (and retroactively re-naming the Model 1909 as the Model 1) and the similar, but larger, 7.65mm/32 ACP Models 3, and 4. These were simpler than the Model 1, cheaper and easier to build and assemble, using the Walther 1913 patents as their blue print. The first 3 guns were small, vest pocket pistols, while the Number 4 was intended as a police service pistol. Production of the second batch of pistols began in 1914, just in time for the company to get a few of them into Military hands before the commencement of the Great War. Carl Walther would die in 1915 and his son Fritz would take over the management of the company. The quality and simplicity of their pistols soon garnered them lucrative contracts for over 250,000 for rear echelon soldiers, and guns would be manufactured by several sub-contractors with a total production of at least 225,000 before wars end. The Model 4 would soldier on in Police service after the war with production continuing until 1929 when the famous Polizei Pistole was introduced as its replacement. Were it not for the Model 4, I think we would not have seen the Walther Firm become the powerhouse that it has.
Now the Walther Model 4, while designated a service pistol, is not all that large. 6 1/8" inches long, just a shade under 4 ¼" tall, and 1.06 inches wide at its thickest, the Model 4 weighs only 19 ounces, empty. It is a hammer fired pistol, with an 8 shot magazine--though neither of the ones I have will take more than 7. If you compare it to the Browning 1910, you’ll find darned little difference in the measurements. The only pronounced external differences are the safety configuration and the slide length. Operation of the safety on the Walther is a 180 degree affair. It can be operated with one hand but I foresee some difficulty in making time.
A common problem on many pre-war, pocket pistols is the lack of a truly usable safety. Some of them merely block the trigger or trigger bar, while leaving the sear and striker free to wander. None of them had a firing pin block to my knowledge, though there could be something out there. Indeed, some had no safety at all like the early Colt 1900 pistols—others had only a grip safety, like the Polish Radom 9mm and the otherwise excellent Hungarian 380 Model 37. The safety on the Model 4 blocks the sear and hammer and it is quite good.
1 Attachment(s)
Shooting The Walther Model 4
Attachment 318373
Well, the Walther Model 4 had its turn in the barrel today, and I was not impressed. At the 3 yard line, both runs were passing, but barely. 2.77 seconds for the first draw and two rounds, 2.71 for the second. All 4 shots were hits, but low, in the 8 and 7 rings. The safety is very slow to manipulate, it takes just slightly less than a 180 ° throw to move it from “S” to “F,” and the safety is on the very back of the frame, so that you have to take your hand off the grip to get the right thumb back to reach the safety. For sure, it is not the most ergonomic feature in handgun design. I am thinking more kindly of the Mauser 1914 now.
Anyway, I moved back to the 5 yard line and ran The Walther through the Strong Hand-Weak Hand drill. Here it gave a better account of itself. All hits were pretty well centered; a little bit low, but nothing to be ashamed of. The good trigger and useable sights were responsible for that. The Walther has one of the better trigger pulls that I have run across in a pocket pistol, not super light, but short and crisp. I like a longer trigger reach, but this one is not too bad. At the seven yard line, I dropped my first miss, when fumbling both the draw and the safety ran me out of time, so that I only got off five shots. However, the shots I did get off were pretty good ones, pretty well centered in the bottom of the 10, and 9 rings, with one flier out in the 7 ring.
I dropped a miss at the 10 yard line trying to shoot faster than I could see the sights. The time was good; 7.17 seconds, but I left nearly 3 seconds on the table making a fast noise. The other shots were none too great either. I had timer trouble at the 15 yard line, so I can’t really say yea or nay about that time, but I did drop a miss low from the left kneeling position. I am not the kangaroo I once was and the down-up-down drill is a little tough on my 69 year old frame. At the end, I had 27 hits, 3 misses, for exactly 90%. Neither bad nor great, but it was passing.
I am of somewhat mixed emotions about the Walther Model 4. Mine is reliable with both magazines—from Triple K, nonetheless, and seems to shoot cast ok in very limited testing (1 magazine full was all I had with me.) It has useable sights, a good trigger and shoots pretty close to point of aim. The left side ejection port is mildly objectionable as the empties fly across your field of vision. But that safety, ai yi yi, That is terrible. If you have watched many of the C&Rsenal videos, you know that the final question that Othais would put to Mae would be, “Would you go to war with it?” In the case of the Walther Model 4, I’d have to say “not only no, but heck no.” Going on a trench raid with it, then trying to fumble that safety off in time to keep some Tommy from sticking me with a bayonet might be well beyond my capabilities. Either the Mauser or the Luger would be preferable to this, and neither have safeties to endear them to SA auto aficionados trained on J Browning's 1911 (or for that matter, on his 1903 or 1910 pistols). Were I to carry this for defensive purposes, I'd have to go with condition 3, empty chamber and and safety off and rely on having both hands free to rack the slide if the balloon went up. Oh, and careful observers will note that there are 3 misses on the paper, yet I only said I had 2 and a saved round. Well, I used the saved round to try and find where my expensive brass was going and deliberately aimed outside the scoring rings while watching the looong flight of the spent case. The Walther likes the Norma stuff, but it launches them 15 to 20 feet out to the left. Which was tossing them into the weeds on the left berm. Where I could only find about half or them.:sad:
Shooting the Beretta 1935.
There is a lot to like on the Beretta 1935, but it is not suitable for reactive defensive use.
The safety is utterly awful. Unless you have hands like a gorilla, you can not easily manipulate the safety, and even if you do, it is a long, circular throw to push it off. I was officially "Unk" by the time I finished the 7 yard line. 4 saved rounds, at the 3 yard line, another two at the 5 yard line, and one miss at either the 5 or 7 yard line. (I'm not sure which, I didn't notice it at the 5 yard line, but it might have been there and I just didn't see it.) Even if I had gone clean for the rest of the course, I was already down 7 and the best I could hope for would be a 23/30, or 76.67%. It takes 80 to pass. I can not operate the safety fast enough to draw from concealment and get off 2 shots at the 3 yard line in 3 seconds.
I will give it a mulligan and reshoot next week using the Israeli technique of carrying with the hammer down, the safety off and a loaded magazine. And I'll practice a bit beforehand, but I can safely state that this one won't be cracking my EDC rotation.
What bites hardest about this is that the Beretta is quite accurate and very reliable. At 15 yards, off hand, shooting at the head, at a rapid fire cadence I put 6 out of 8 on target. The gun feels good in the hand, recoil is negligible, the sights are OK, but it takes simply too long to make the gun go from safe to shooting.
The Walther Polizei Pistole PP
Prior to 1929, the Walther Pistols had little to distinguish them from their counterparts throughout Europe. Simple, single-action, blowback pistols of mostly 7.65 or 6.35 Browning caliber, the only difference might be better quality materials and better fit and finish. But this came to a crashing halt with the introduction of the Polizei Pistole. Overnight the landscape changed. Though still a blowback pistol, this, the Walther PP, was the first double action pistol marketed. One cannot overstate the importance of this design on the development of the semi-automatic pistol. Excluding the 1911 designs of John Browning, no other handgun had a greater impact on firearms design in the 20th century. Dozens of pistols would be designed to utilize this system over the next 60 years. With the safety serving as a firing pin block and a de-cocker, it allowed an officer to carry an automatic that was just as safe as a revolver, and yet was instantly available for use when danger arose with just a pull of the trigger. Subsequent follow up shots were light, short single action ones. And when the festivities were finished, a flick of the safety dropped the hammer safely and restored the pistol to a safe condition.
It is fair to say that the PP was an overnight sensation. Even in the depression years, it sold in comfortable numbers. Police and private commercial sales amounted to nearly 50,000, before the NAZI government began purchasing them in quantity, buying nearly 200,000 PP pistols and 150,000 of the slightly smaller PPK’s. They’d have sold even more, save that their other war work kept Walther busy as beavers. Can you say P-38? Hitler, Himmler, Von Ribbentrop were only a few of the Nazi officials who owned them, either PPKs or PPs. Many high ranking officers in the Army and in the Luftwaffe also carried them. The war’s end did not see the end of the pistol either. Walther relocated from Thuringia to West Germany after the occupation of the former by the Russians and soon licensed Manurhin in France to make the PP and PPK for police service. They have been used by police in Great Britain, West Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and France and sold throughout the world commercially as well as to various police agencies in areas ranging from Latvia to Madagascar and points east and west. Walther has since resumed control over the PP series, after licensing it for a number of years to various companies in the United States such as Ranger Arms (Interarms), and more recently S&W. The compact PPK is still being made by Walther here in their plant in Arkansas.
Mine is a Manurhin made PP in the 7.65 caliber. I have previously owned a post war German PPK, also in 7.65, and a PPK/s made by Ranger Arms that was a 380 and I have shot a couple of others. I do not recommend the 380 Interarms models manufactured by Ranger. Magazines were not interchangeable with the German Guns and reliability was poor compared to the French and German guns, at least in my experience. Parts are readily available, though some searching may be required to find exactly what you need. Excellent aftermarket magazines are available from Mec-Gar which are cheaper and every bit as good as the originals.
The DA pull on these is very heavy and long. Though relatively smooth, eat your Wheaties before yanking on the trigger--you'll need the strength. Mine has one of the lighter pulls that I have encountered and it's still closer to 15 pounds than 10 in my estimation. The SA pull is much lighter, 6-7 lbs and with a very short reset. The gun itself is just about 6 and 5/8" long, 4 and 13/16ths tall, and just about 1 13/16ths thick at its widest point. It weighs just over 23 ounces. Everyone I've ever seen was blue steel, though some were reportedly nickeled and others were ornately engraved and gold or silver plated. The magazine holds 8 rounds of 32 ACP, one more than the PPK and the same number as the PPK/s. 380 magazines have one fewer round capacities.
Well, I should put on a dinner jacket and black tie when I go out to the range this week and practice my Scottish accent. Pity I don't know anyone to lend me an Aston Martin.