Pistols for Everyday Use

It’s true, and you probably already knew this – I like firearms and have enjoyed plinking since I was kid.  Following my Astra Constable debacle, I’ve acquired yet another Walther PP “clone” – a FEG PA63 in .380 caliber, a Glock 42, and an FNS-9c.  Additionally, I’ve also discovered what I thought was my FN Browning M1900 is actually an “Asian” or Chinese copy possibly manufactured in the 1920s or 1930s in a warlord’s armory.

High Standard Supermatic Flite-King

With weighted barrel, this .22 LR pistol is a joy to shoot – close to zero recoil and not much report.

Walther PPK & Kel-Tec P32

These are two pistols I’ve carried at various times.  The P32 is great for bicycling and kayaking but was defective upon purchase and required warranty work.  Since the factory repairs, it’s been 100 percent reliable.  The Walther I have been keeping locked away now that I’ve got other, less irreplaceable options.

FEG PA63 .380

I traded an older pistol that looked like it’d spent 50 years at the bottom of a well after having exhumed from a roadside ditch.  The PA63 is an accurate pistol and reliably cycles even antique ammunition.  As a bonus, it fits in a couple of my PPK holsters and I have a lot of .380 ammunition.

Glock 42

I traded, at considerable loss, my Astra Constable toward this Glock 42 back in June of last year.  The Glock malfunctions every round using the lower power, antique Peters and the modern PPU ammunition, however the antique Western Ammunition Service ammo induces no malfunctions.  The Glock also reliably cycles Buffalo Bore +P ammunition, which is what I keep in the magazine.

FNS-9c, Anniversary Edition

Caution-Lady, my wife, picked out a ring with a lot of small diamonds in it to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.  What I wanted was a Walther P99 in 9×19, but I was unable to locate one at a price I was willing to pay around the same time as I bought my wife her new ring.  What I did find, and it felt like a kind of consolation prize, was a used FNS-9c.  After I bought it, I learned that FNH America has issued a voluntary recall on the FNS series.  I ordered Theis EZ-Clip holster for 9c and sent it back to the factory for service.  The holster arrived a couple of days before the pistol was returned.  Here are a couple of pictures of the weapon holstered – the first is all Pinteresty-looking.  Yes, the staged image is my attempt at a joke.  The second’s just a picture.

About the FNS-9c – it’s the only semi-automatic pistol I own that’s not malfunctioned due to cheap practice ammo or operator error.  I’ve fired close to 500 rounds of mixed quality inexpensive range ammunition and 41 rounds of good quality self-defense ammunition.  While it is not as aesthetically pleasing as a Walther P99c, the FNS-9c is a pistol I shoot accurately with confidence in its reliability.  I’m glad I’ve got it.

Astra Constable Parts!

My family and I got in late yesterday afternoon from the annual 4th of July visit at the farm.  The crops – soybeans and field corn – look really good this year.  The post office yesterday delivered our held mail and in the bundle I was delighted to find…? That’s right, the TWO ejector/slide-stop parts I ordered from that excellent fellow, Mike McClellan, at M & M Gunsmithing of Hazel Green, Alabama.  I got two because one might not be enough.  Various threads on several gun-owners’ discussion boards indicate this part has been known to break.  My own experience indicates replacements are not easy to come by.

Here are a couple of pictures, front and back, of the broken part:

Mystery Solved & Broken Pistol

Solution

Duh.  I’d overeaten at a Chinese buffet Friday night.  No wonder I didn’t feel like riding in the evening after I got home.  And Saturday’s lethargy is explained.  Maybe also why I nearly vomited two or three times Sunday morning.  Lesson learned.

Disappointing Machine-Part Failure

Also, Saturday’s impulse purchase – a nearly new-looking Astra Constable in .380 – broke Sunday afternoon at the range at about the 80th round.  The ejector/slide-catch part broke – a long, odd-looking part that when pictured in the exploding diagram (Numrich’s diagram – click it to visit their site) as part no. 19 resembles half of the Enterprise from Star Trek.  So bummed.  If the pistol proved reliable I’d planned to make it my go-to as it was inexpensive and I’ve got a good holster for it, plenty of .380 ammunition.  Most of the information I’ve found on the Astra Constable indicates it’s a pretty reliable firearm.  Maybe there was a labor dispute at Guernica on the day mine was made.  I knew the Astra was inexpensive; I didn’t know it was fragile.  So bummed.  Behold the broken part: