- Nice catalogs, as usual.
- The new Springfield Armory laser-cut logo grips on the MilSpec and Loaded models look a little fruity.
- The .45 GAP Nano Compact, or whatever they were calling it, seems to have vanished without a trace. It's gone from their website, too. Hmm.
- The new G10 grips on the TRPs are pretty sexy.
- The inclusion of a kydex holster w/light rail with the GI models is a head-scratcher. Grandpa didn't carry a kydex holster ashore at Omaha Beach. At least, I'm fairly sure he didn't.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Boomsticks: Springfield Armory observations.
We got our 2006 Springfield Armory catalogs in at work yesterday.
"The inclusion of a kydex holster w/light rail with the GI models is a head-scratcher. Grandpa didn't carry a kydex holster ashore at Omaha Beach."
ReplyDeleteI think that was in one of the Harry Turtledove books. :-)
.45 gap, .357sig
ReplyDeleteUh, why?
Why 357 SIG?
ReplyDeleteGood barrier penetration, effective amount of energy delivered to target, flat trajectory, very reliably feeding bottleneck cartridge, manageable recoil.
Plus the noise and flash keeps folks from thinking I'm shooting 9mm
&8-)
45 GAP...last weekend my club hosted a Glock match, sponsored by Glock, on our action ranges, with 2 steel stages and 2 paper stages. I RO'd one of the paper stages, and noticed afterward a preponderance of 40 S&W brass, 9MM coming in second. Some 45 ACP brass, a small handful of 357 SIG, didn't see any GAP (308 shooters for the weekend, many shooting the same stage in multiple classes, often with multiple guns). The score sheets recorded the gun model, but I didn't bother to check the tally. Lots of white, yellow and green ammo boxes in the trash cans, got the impression not much reloading was going on with these folks.
ReplyDeleteYesterday we had our monthly IPSC match on the same set of stages, and I noticed a lot of 45 GAP brass on the two stages that had been used for Glock steel. I estimated 50% 40 cal, 5% 9MM, 5% 45 ACP, the rest GAP. I don't know how much got scrounged after the Glock match, if any did I think it would mostly be ACP brass.
What's interesting is this: IPSC shooters kept picking up GAP brass and asking "what is this?" Some of them were shooting Limited with Glocks on their hips. That tells me 45 GAP is one of the better kept secrets in Gastons' empire.
It's always seemed, to me at least, to be an answer to a question no one ever asked. I can think of very few instances where a round .150"- .200" shorter offers a great advantage. Kel-Tec's new sub-compact 9MM mght be a place where development of the gun eventually leads to a tiny 45, but if a gun can handle the girth of a 45 cartridge, the action should be able to handle cycling something .200" longer. At which point development would probably stop at 40 S&W to keep gun width down.
I'm not sure the 357 SIG is in the same category, since I see a lot more brass on all our ranges from that than I do GAP, but that "lot more" is relative. It's still a very, very small percentage of the 40 and 9 brass left lying about.
So, the 2006 GI (better put that in quotes, if they're going that far afield from canon) "GI" models will have Tac Rails?
ReplyDelete(Not that I'm complaining, Recent Events Around my house have me searching for a UTL for my USP (.40), but that's not my first choice anymore (night sights have half-lifed), and well... .40!, and I was just about to see about ordering a frame and building one up)
" So, the 2006 GI (better put that in quotes, if they're going that far afield from canon) "GI" models will have Tac Rails?"
ReplyDeleteNo, no, the holster has a tac rail.
You can now get tac rails on holsters, scopes, scope rings, front sights for carbines... I'm waiting to see a tac rail with a tac rail. Sort of a "meta tac rail", if you will...
Wait, wait, wait. I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteThe holster has a sight rail?
Are we supposed to be aiming the holsters? Somebody forgot to tell me about this new tactic.
Whoa, back up a second. The holster has a rail? Wha?
ReplyDeleteIs that so you can have a handy spot to park your M3 until you get your gun out of the holster? But, the GI model doesn't come with a rail? So is that for your BACKUP gun?
Or is it some kind of viral marketing device? "No, seriously. We'll put a rail on the holster. Follow me here, guys. They'll see how kewl it is to have a rail on something, and they'll demand a rail on their next gun!!"
I'm going to be up all night trying to figure this out. My brain hurts already.
(I liked the .355 SIG better when it was called the 9x19mm, and you could get more rounds in the magazine.)
It's times like this I wish companies like SA bothered to, you know, update their website like more than once a decade.
ReplyDeleteCause, I'm confused.
OK, BTW, Tam, what's the cheapest you can get into the 1911s with a tac-rail?
Did Springfield ever release the 3/4 scaled 1911 in .45 GAP or 9mm? That did seem like a neat idea.
ReplyDelete