MadcapMagician
Regular
- Location
- Thunder Bay, Ontario
Well this is my first foray into the Range Report world as well as Restricted Firearms world in general.
As of writing this I've taken all of these pistols out before and put some rounds down range but I didn't have the time to test them out properly and actually attempt to shoot them as best as I could.
Well.... That all changed today. A beautiful +16 day in Thunder Bay and I loaded the truck to go shootin.
Bear with me as we go through as I am hardly an expert. And also am not particularly accurate or skilled when it comes to pistols. So take everything with a grain of salt. Just my 2 cents.
Note: I shot all pistols at 9 Yards because I can't shoot consistently at a longer range yet.
The guns I was using were:
Smith and Wesson SD9VE in 9mm.
Diamond Back DB9FS in 9mm.
Norinco NP22 in 9mm.
I'll start with the Smith and Wesson first.
First impressions. I love the feel of the pistol. It is light weight and seems to point naturally. The polymer lower seems to mate well with the slide and the mags are wicked shiny. The biggest beef everyone has on this pistol is the trigger and that beef is 100% deserved. The trigger is rubbish. It creeps like a greasy haired pedo and is a heavy pull to finally make it go bang.
But if you pull slow and consistent it isn't unmanageable. But the groups show its weakness. The picture below shows the 10 round group with the mandatory flyer in the bottom left. Overall I'm pretty happy with this group given how crappy the trigger is but it can definitely get better. To that end I bought the Apex Tactical Polymer trigger for this reason. I haven't installed it yet as evidenced by my "Pre-Trigger Job" comment. If you're wondering where you can get the trigger, you can get it here: http://ctcsupplies.ca/products/apex-tactical-polymer-sd-action-enhancement-trigger
Or at least that's where I got mine. There is also a spring kit you can get to lighten the trigger a bit too and eventually I'll get that as well once I find it.
Enough with the crap. What does this thing do well? I love the sights. They are by far the nicest out of the DB and Norc. Granted the rear sight is plastic but the white dots are bright. The fit and finish on the pistol is surprisingly good for it being S&W's cheapest. I bought this bad boy Used off the EE for $300.00 to my door and I've never looked back.
Overall I love the pistol minus the trigger. Hopefully the Apex kit will solve some of those problems. If you're looking for a budget pistol and want a 9mm this ones a winner.
Next up we have the Diamond Back DB9FS. I bought this one off of iRunGuns for $350.00 USD like so many other folks on the board. This pistol has been plagued by problem after problem, at least for everyone else. Mine has been MINT! Came in a nice hard case that is completely useless in Canada as you can't store it with the lock on. But it looks wicked cool.
It seems people have been having problems with Light Strikes and broken extractors. The only issue I have has so far has been with LCW steel cased crap 9mm. About 2-3% have failed to go boom. I don't know at this point if it's because of the crap ammo or if its because this particular pistol doesn't like the primers. At any rate I pick the round up and cycle it a second time and it always goes off. Once I start loading and getting some better ammo I'll have a better idea if its the pistol or the ammo. Regardles it runs great. I've got about 300 rounds through mine now with nary a hiccup aside from the ammo.
This pistol is in the same line as the SD9VE in that it has an all polymer lower with nice steel slide.
One gripe I have is that the pistol only came with one magazine which kinda sucked. But that was quickly remedied by buying 2 more off the EE.
This pistol for me is my best shooter by far. I'm pretty happy with my groups overall and it just feels good in your hand. Very Glockish as I'm led to believe. Nice trigger, nice finish, nice pistol.
Picture below is 10 rounds at 9 yards.
And last but not least, the brick s**thouse, the Norinco NP22. I bought this off my local dealer for $420.00 + HST and love it. It is the Chinese clone of the Sig 226 and does a good job of imitating it (at least as far as I know as I've never handled a 226).
Apparently these bad boys are made from recycled railroad ties and if you run out of ammo in the zombie apocalypse you can at least beat them to death with it. Or pound in nails. Either or.
The sights are decent. White dots look like they were applied by 5 year old kids (and probably were) but it shoots straight. Fells good in the hand and fit and finish is remarkably good. Shes got some weight but its not unnatural. Comes with 2 mags and other mandatory junk.
This pistol has never not gone off. I've fed 300 rounds of LCW crap through it and its gobbled em all up no problem. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a good $400.00 pistol.
Overall impressions. My aim needs to improve a bit, especially as longer range. Pistols just make me smile. I jumped whole hog into the pistol world. I have 6 now with a 7th due to arrive Wednesday from iRunGuns (CANIK TP9SA YESSS!!!!!) and I've never looked back. Onward and upward. Visa loves me but the wife hates me.
Anyways. If anyone has any questions about the particular pieces please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. Keep in mind I am no expert. Just a lowly commoner with guns.
Cheers and thanks for reading.
As of writing this I've taken all of these pistols out before and put some rounds down range but I didn't have the time to test them out properly and actually attempt to shoot them as best as I could.
Well.... That all changed today. A beautiful +16 day in Thunder Bay and I loaded the truck to go shootin.
Bear with me as we go through as I am hardly an expert. And also am not particularly accurate or skilled when it comes to pistols. So take everything with a grain of salt. Just my 2 cents.
Note: I shot all pistols at 9 Yards because I can't shoot consistently at a longer range yet.
The guns I was using were:
Smith and Wesson SD9VE in 9mm.
Diamond Back DB9FS in 9mm.
Norinco NP22 in 9mm.
I'll start with the Smith and Wesson first.
First impressions. I love the feel of the pistol. It is light weight and seems to point naturally. The polymer lower seems to mate well with the slide and the mags are wicked shiny. The biggest beef everyone has on this pistol is the trigger and that beef is 100% deserved. The trigger is rubbish. It creeps like a greasy haired pedo and is a heavy pull to finally make it go bang.
But if you pull slow and consistent it isn't unmanageable. But the groups show its weakness. The picture below shows the 10 round group with the mandatory flyer in the bottom left. Overall I'm pretty happy with this group given how crappy the trigger is but it can definitely get better. To that end I bought the Apex Tactical Polymer trigger for this reason. I haven't installed it yet as evidenced by my "Pre-Trigger Job" comment. If you're wondering where you can get the trigger, you can get it here: http://ctcsupplies.ca/products/apex-tactical-polymer-sd-action-enhancement-trigger
Or at least that's where I got mine. There is also a spring kit you can get to lighten the trigger a bit too and eventually I'll get that as well once I find it.
Enough with the crap. What does this thing do well? I love the sights. They are by far the nicest out of the DB and Norc. Granted the rear sight is plastic but the white dots are bright. The fit and finish on the pistol is surprisingly good for it being S&W's cheapest. I bought this bad boy Used off the EE for $300.00 to my door and I've never looked back.
Overall I love the pistol minus the trigger. Hopefully the Apex kit will solve some of those problems. If you're looking for a budget pistol and want a 9mm this ones a winner.
Next up we have the Diamond Back DB9FS. I bought this one off of iRunGuns for $350.00 USD like so many other folks on the board. This pistol has been plagued by problem after problem, at least for everyone else. Mine has been MINT! Came in a nice hard case that is completely useless in Canada as you can't store it with the lock on. But it looks wicked cool.
It seems people have been having problems with Light Strikes and broken extractors. The only issue I have has so far has been with LCW steel cased crap 9mm. About 2-3% have failed to go boom. I don't know at this point if it's because of the crap ammo or if its because this particular pistol doesn't like the primers. At any rate I pick the round up and cycle it a second time and it always goes off. Once I start loading and getting some better ammo I'll have a better idea if its the pistol or the ammo. Regardles it runs great. I've got about 300 rounds through mine now with nary a hiccup aside from the ammo.
This pistol is in the same line as the SD9VE in that it has an all polymer lower with nice steel slide.
One gripe I have is that the pistol only came with one magazine which kinda sucked. But that was quickly remedied by buying 2 more off the EE.
This pistol for me is my best shooter by far. I'm pretty happy with my groups overall and it just feels good in your hand. Very Glockish as I'm led to believe. Nice trigger, nice finish, nice pistol.
Picture below is 10 rounds at 9 yards.
And last but not least, the brick s**thouse, the Norinco NP22. I bought this off my local dealer for $420.00 + HST and love it. It is the Chinese clone of the Sig 226 and does a good job of imitating it (at least as far as I know as I've never handled a 226).
Apparently these bad boys are made from recycled railroad ties and if you run out of ammo in the zombie apocalypse you can at least beat them to death with it. Or pound in nails. Either or.
The sights are decent. White dots look like they were applied by 5 year old kids (and probably were) but it shoots straight. Fells good in the hand and fit and finish is remarkably good. Shes got some weight but its not unnatural. Comes with 2 mags and other mandatory junk.
This pistol has never not gone off. I've fed 300 rounds of LCW crap through it and its gobbled em all up no problem. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a good $400.00 pistol.
Overall impressions. My aim needs to improve a bit, especially as longer range. Pistols just make me smile. I jumped whole hog into the pistol world. I have 6 now with a 7th due to arrive Wednesday from iRunGuns (CANIK TP9SA YESSS!!!!!) and I've never looked back. Onward and upward. Visa loves me but the wife hates me.
Anyways. If anyone has any questions about the particular pieces please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. Keep in mind I am no expert. Just a lowly commoner with guns.
Cheers and thanks for reading.
