First impression....Alpa Proj BRNO 9mm Short Cylinder Revolver

cableguy

cableguy

CGN Regular
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Hello and good day.


My first 9mm revolver and I'll have to say...it's awesome.

Alph Proj BRNO 9251C 9mm short cylinder.








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The bluing is very nice and the fit and finish is between S&W and Ruger.

I like the grips...they are not as tacky and soft as Hogues in terms of texture but they don't feel like cheap plastic.








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I'm in love with the target trigger and hammer.

The action from swinging out the cylinder to cocking the hammer to trigger pull is just as smooth as my 686.









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For those wondering if you can load without moonclips.....yes...no problem....the chambers are tapered to just allow the casing to fit.

The extractor will not eject the spent casings, but I had no problem unloading them with just tapping the cylinder on my palm and letting gravity do the work.









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I think this is a unique design with the barrel being a full 4.5" and the cylinder shortened to make the overall length of this thing shoot like a prohib 4".








I think for the money...just a tad over $600 all in, you're getting a great quality, well balance, smooth operating revolver that rivals S&W.

There are many other calibers and I might just pick up the 4.5" in .22lr.


Thanks again for sharing your time with me CGNers.




***Update Feb 17 2014***

So after about 500 rounds of Blazer 115g, I can say it's an absolute joy to shoot.

With this being a short form factor, there is a bit more punch but not muzzle flip.

I find the muzzle flip to be on par with the Glock 17 but there is a bit more recoil...like shooting +P 9mm.

And after the first 100 rounds, I stopped using the moon clips because the spent shells just fall out on their own....the odd one or two just needed a bump on the palm of my hand.

No photos of the targets but at 15m, I was grouping 2-3" without trying too hard

Trigger pull was exceptionally smooth on DA and just the smallest creep in SA.

I'm going to install the light spring kit from Rusty Wood and it should be on par with my tuned 686.

Stop reading this post and go get one now!




***Update Feb 22 2014***


The new reduced mainsprings are great...no issues with light primer strikes.

Got a new grip for the .22lr...a bit big for my fingers...the grooves need some adjusting to.






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The bluing is very nice and the fit and finish is between S&W and Ruger.
Click to expand...

really?
then your pics must be bad cause that thing looks no where near ruger or S&W, the one i saw in the store wasnt as nice either. granted for the price point it was fine, but ruger/S&W it was not.

i was interested in these guns but that massive gap between the frame and the cylinder just set the whole look of the gun off for me.
i wanna take one out and give it a good try though especially since they are 9mm and that really is appealing.
 
Thanks for the review. A range report with how it shoots and how the da/same trigger is would be appreciated.

Expecting the finish to match a S&W or even a Ruger, at this price point seems unreasonable to me.
 
wayupnorth said:
really?
then your pics must be bad cause that thing looks no where near ruger or S&W, the one i saw in the store wasnt as nice either. granted for the price point it was fine, but ruger/S&W it was not.

i was interested in these guns but that massive gap between the frame and the cylinder just set the whole look of the gun off for me.
i wanna take one out and give it a good try though especially since they are 9mm and that really is appealing.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about the quality of the blueing. The gap is due to the short cylinder 9mm model. There's a larger cylinder for 9mm that fills the gap but you loose the look of a 4"bbl.
Cableguy, thanks for your first impressions I'm interested if the spent casing will pop out just as easy as live rounds. Still, I'd consider one of these and the 22lr sounds good too! Anyone get one?
 
Thanks for the comments.

I'm sure there are inconsistencies but the one I have is almost perfect except for a little rough spot around the crane hinge.

I did have some range time and as stated, the casings did come out fairly easy.

A few dropped out on it's own while a tap on the palm got the rest.

The trigger pull is about on par with my 686 in DA and SA, with SA having just a tad of travel.

For comparison, it shot just the same in terms of recoil and accuracy as my 5" 686 with .38spl loads.



Just for now, this is better built than the last 3 Ruger pistols I've purchased and that includes my latest SP101 .22lr

I don't know what's up with Rugers QC these days but it sure has been consistently spotty for me.
 
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Just to add, I only shot with factory ammo and they all fell out with ease.

Maybe reloads and the inconsistencies there might have minor issues but you can always poke them out from the other side with a chopstick.
 
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Interesting! They adopted what some Custom PPC smiths do to .38 Spl Wadcutter only cylinders. I've always felt this was the way to go for .45 ACP and 9mm Luger rounds.
Best yet, you have the look of a 4" Prohib.

Looking forward to range reports on paper. :)
 
Cool looking revolver. How much space is left in the changer with a round in? I wounder if it would allow for some creative (longer OAL) 9mm loads :D
 
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