- Location
- Aaaaaadmontin AB
I dunno if you boys ever read the novels by W.E.B. Griffin or not...but I love them. Most of it is repetitious, derivative mil-fiction set in times long gone but as I get older I find myself appreciating stuff like that more. In one passage about the Marines, Killer McCoy, Sgt. Earnie and Colonel Pickering are stumped when they are presented with the then-new M1 Carbine. The characters hem and haw about it and seem to shrug it off as not particularly useful but not really useless either. They love their pistols, and they loved the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine just seemed to inspire indifference in Our Heroes.
With that in mind I figured I would try my own chit house evaluation of the PDW the same way W.E.B. Griffin's characters did with the M1 carbine back in the day. Like them, I have my preferred rifle (currently an M1A match gun) and my pistol (national match .45, also by Springfield Armoury)...and something in between the two is new to me. Keep in mind this was just play time at the range for chits n' giggles; what follows is a preliminary range report fraught with fail - I haven't any experience with the PDW, I haven't had a chance to find out what it likes to eat, and I totally suck at bench resting pistols, and I understand we are comparing apples to oranges. If you wish to contradict and correct my scholarly studies by all means - please do so! At best this can only be considered a collection of first impressions. Bring out the contestants!
As mentioned before, that's a Black Rain PDW. It's currently wearing a Zeiss 3x9; that will be replaced with a proper optic in due course. We're shooting factory Fiocchi 55 grainers today. Sitting beside that is the Springfield National Match .45. Ammo is some old jacketed 200 grain reloads I cobbled together 4 years ago. A note about these guns - as a newbie to the PDW all I can say is that these guns can make a horrible first impression if you aren't familiar with them. The muzzle blast is rude as hell and you really have to watch your ballistics and ammo choices. I first shot mine with some 77 gr. HPBT match loads and was utterly disgusted with the gun. Accuracy that bad usually indicates to me that the bullets weren't stabalizing - I would have had a hard time keeping them all in the black at 50m! Also note: your ballistics go straight to hell with these shorties - I am hitting about a foot low with the 55 grainers at 50m!
I called that flyer that opened it up to 2-1/8". Much better performance than my homebrewed match ammo! I'll be damned. I'm pretty sure this beast has a 1:8 twist...I woulda thunk the match ammo would have done much better. This is encouraging though - maybe things will get better once I've had a chance to experiment a bit! Bring on the pistol!
That is a 7-1/8" group at 50m, without that bechitted flyer to open things up the group is 3-7/8". From an accuracy perspective the PDW wins hands down...but what about offhand accuracy in a slow fire bullseye sense?
PDW: I shot 3-5/8" off my hind feet. I had to aim about a foot high so my shooting is a bit sloppy and doesn't do the gun justice. A thorough evaluation would require the gun to at least be sighted in.
Pistol: The shots are printing high and I didn't have a ruler but that group looked to come in around 6" off hand for the pistol. Again - the gun is sighted for 20m so in addition to poor marksmanship, there is some procedural slop going on here as well. All due apologies to the self proclaimed experts and gun gurus alike.
Conclusions:
As an ageing Fudd and gun club duffer, my impressions will differ from the squaddie that kicks down doors and actually confronts the Talibangers, turdies and jacknasties that give guys like me sleepless nights. In the real world a guy like me has absolutely no use for a weapon like this. It's a rude little gun to shoot, a pistol is handier, and for rifle work...well, I would prefer a rifle! But for the squaddie? Well, he needs to get shots on target FAST - and he isn't going to do that with a pistol in the heat of battle, IMHO...so this thing definitely warrants their consideration for CQB!
And - having said all that, while it serves no real purpose to an old fart on the range...there is something really, really compelling about these little guns. It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
With that in mind I figured I would try my own chit house evaluation of the PDW the same way W.E.B. Griffin's characters did with the M1 carbine back in the day. Like them, I have my preferred rifle (currently an M1A match gun) and my pistol (national match .45, also by Springfield Armoury)...and something in between the two is new to me. Keep in mind this was just play time at the range for chits n' giggles; what follows is a preliminary range report fraught with fail - I haven't any experience with the PDW, I haven't had a chance to find out what it likes to eat, and I totally suck at bench resting pistols, and I understand we are comparing apples to oranges. If you wish to contradict and correct my scholarly studies by all means - please do so! At best this can only be considered a collection of first impressions. Bring out the contestants!
As mentioned before, that's a Black Rain PDW. It's currently wearing a Zeiss 3x9; that will be replaced with a proper optic in due course. We're shooting factory Fiocchi 55 grainers today. Sitting beside that is the Springfield National Match .45. Ammo is some old jacketed 200 grain reloads I cobbled together 4 years ago. A note about these guns - as a newbie to the PDW all I can say is that these guns can make a horrible first impression if you aren't familiar with them. The muzzle blast is rude as hell and you really have to watch your ballistics and ammo choices. I first shot mine with some 77 gr. HPBT match loads and was utterly disgusted with the gun. Accuracy that bad usually indicates to me that the bullets weren't stabalizing - I would have had a hard time keeping them all in the black at 50m! Also note: your ballistics go straight to hell with these shorties - I am hitting about a foot low with the 55 grainers at 50m!
I called that flyer that opened it up to 2-1/8". Much better performance than my homebrewed match ammo! I'll be damned. I'm pretty sure this beast has a 1:8 twist...I woulda thunk the match ammo would have done much better. This is encouraging though - maybe things will get better once I've had a chance to experiment a bit! Bring on the pistol!
That is a 7-1/8" group at 50m, without that bechitted flyer to open things up the group is 3-7/8". From an accuracy perspective the PDW wins hands down...but what about offhand accuracy in a slow fire bullseye sense?
PDW: I shot 3-5/8" off my hind feet. I had to aim about a foot high so my shooting is a bit sloppy and doesn't do the gun justice. A thorough evaluation would require the gun to at least be sighted in.
Pistol: The shots are printing high and I didn't have a ruler but that group looked to come in around 6" off hand for the pistol. Again - the gun is sighted for 20m so in addition to poor marksmanship, there is some procedural slop going on here as well. All due apologies to the self proclaimed experts and gun gurus alike.
Conclusions:
As an ageing Fudd and gun club duffer, my impressions will differ from the squaddie that kicks down doors and actually confronts the Talibangers, turdies and jacknasties that give guys like me sleepless nights. In the real world a guy like me has absolutely no use for a weapon like this. It's a rude little gun to shoot, a pistol is handier, and for rifle work...well, I would prefer a rifle! But for the squaddie? Well, he needs to get shots on target FAST - and he isn't going to do that with a pistol in the heat of battle, IMHO...so this thing definitely warrants their consideration for CQB!
And - having said all that, while it serves no real purpose to an old fart on the range...there is something really, really compelling about these little guns. It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
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