I recently had the opportunity to return to Vintage Military Match shooting at our Club, but didn't have a pistol that met the Vintage Match requirements. That event requires pistols adopted by any military force prior to January 1, 1948, which in turn means one with cursory old military sights like those on the G.I. 1911's.
I recalled that our Match Manual allows the M1911 clones and Hi Power clones to be used in Vintage Military Pistol competition as long they are faithful to the original designs and have the older small military sights on them. So, since one of my favorite pistols of all time is the FEG PJK 9HP marketed by KBI Inc. for many years, I went looking for an older one with the small military sights. I was hoping to find a new/old one someone had bought twenty years ago and stuck away in his safe without firing it. And darn if I didn't find a gentleman farmer who had done exactly that.
Here's how it looked still in the box.
To make a long story short, I bought a 1992-issue PJK 9HP that was still in the factory oil…and the factory plastic bag… and then the factory box, with all the warranty cards, instruction manual and warning placards in perfect condition as well. It not only had the needed older military sights, it also had a very nice trigger – even with the magazine disconnector still in it.
Here's how it looked when I got it out of the factory plastic bag.
Like all of my other PJK's, (this is #4) this one had a beautiful blue/black blue job on it and it was very smooth when racked. The slide to frame fit was nice and tight as well. It was also clean as a pin inside, as were all of the new FEG-produced pistols I've encountered, and this includes their magazines as well. The slide stop had to be tapped in and out lightly the first few times with a small screwdriver handle, and the small safety lever was characteristically hard to operate. But then the gun had been sitting unused in its original oil for around 19 years without having been fired even once, so no surprises here. The recoil spring measured the same length as a new Browning Hi Power spring, and the extractor spring tension was nice and heavy. The grips were unusually attractive because they had dark vertical streaks running up the light colored wooden grip panels, which I really like.
Here's how it looked all cleaned up. In my opinion, pistols just don't get much more handsome than this.
The next step was a range test, so I cleaned it anyway, oiled it up heavily with 0W40 Mobil 1, grabbed three different loads and headed for the range. Because it had been sitting for so long I decided to fire only a few rounds and then take it home for a thorough field strip and examination before firing it more. Here are the three five shot groups my new/old pistol and old/old eyes produced.
These three groups were fired using 68 year old eyesight and motor skills, the magazine disconnector still installed, and the latest in high tech bench rests - a plastic pistol case stacked on top of another plastic pistol case with a rag between them to keep the top one from sliding around. I thought the little pistol did just fine with all of that working against it. POA was 6 o'clock to the 2" orange discs.
From this brief test, past experience suggests several things.
1. The pistol is quite accurate and it will only get better with use.
2. It is not going to be very finicky about which loads it will shoot accurately, and POI won't shift much between 115 and 124 grain loads.
3. I'm pulling the tiny front sight just a skosh left at the instant of firing, pulling the groups to the left.
4. Boy am I going to have to practice to shoot those tiny sights well at 25 yards offhand!!
So that's my happiest score of the year. I have a particular liking for the FEG pistols and they practically have to throw me in rehab every time a really nice one comes up for sale to keep me from buying it. In case you gents haven't heard this yet, now that these guns are out of production, they have been "discovered" and the prices are going up steadily. They're becoming more and more "discovered" every day, so if you'd like to have one, especially a nice one, I'd suggest you move on it sooner than later. Best wishes.
JayPee
I recalled that our Match Manual allows the M1911 clones and Hi Power clones to be used in Vintage Military Pistol competition as long they are faithful to the original designs and have the older small military sights on them. So, since one of my favorite pistols of all time is the FEG PJK 9HP marketed by KBI Inc. for many years, I went looking for an older one with the small military sights. I was hoping to find a new/old one someone had bought twenty years ago and stuck away in his safe without firing it. And darn if I didn't find a gentleman farmer who had done exactly that.
Here's how it looked still in the box.
To make a long story short, I bought a 1992-issue PJK 9HP that was still in the factory oil…and the factory plastic bag… and then the factory box, with all the warranty cards, instruction manual and warning placards in perfect condition as well. It not only had the needed older military sights, it also had a very nice trigger – even with the magazine disconnector still in it.
Here's how it looked when I got it out of the factory plastic bag.
Like all of my other PJK's, (this is #4) this one had a beautiful blue/black blue job on it and it was very smooth when racked. The slide to frame fit was nice and tight as well. It was also clean as a pin inside, as were all of the new FEG-produced pistols I've encountered, and this includes their magazines as well. The slide stop had to be tapped in and out lightly the first few times with a small screwdriver handle, and the small safety lever was characteristically hard to operate. But then the gun had been sitting unused in its original oil for around 19 years without having been fired even once, so no surprises here. The recoil spring measured the same length as a new Browning Hi Power spring, and the extractor spring tension was nice and heavy. The grips were unusually attractive because they had dark vertical streaks running up the light colored wooden grip panels, which I really like.
Here's how it looked all cleaned up. In my opinion, pistols just don't get much more handsome than this.
The next step was a range test, so I cleaned it anyway, oiled it up heavily with 0W40 Mobil 1, grabbed three different loads and headed for the range. Because it had been sitting for so long I decided to fire only a few rounds and then take it home for a thorough field strip and examination before firing it more. Here are the three five shot groups my new/old pistol and old/old eyes produced.
These three groups were fired using 68 year old eyesight and motor skills, the magazine disconnector still installed, and the latest in high tech bench rests - a plastic pistol case stacked on top of another plastic pistol case with a rag between them to keep the top one from sliding around. I thought the little pistol did just fine with all of that working against it. POA was 6 o'clock to the 2" orange discs.
From this brief test, past experience suggests several things.
1. The pistol is quite accurate and it will only get better with use.
2. It is not going to be very finicky about which loads it will shoot accurately, and POI won't shift much between 115 and 124 grain loads.
3. I'm pulling the tiny front sight just a skosh left at the instant of firing, pulling the groups to the left.
4. Boy am I going to have to practice to shoot those tiny sights well at 25 yards offhand!!
So that's my happiest score of the year. I have a particular liking for the FEG pistols and they practically have to throw me in rehab every time a really nice one comes up for sale to keep me from buying it. In case you gents haven't heard this yet, now that these guns are out of production, they have been "discovered" and the prices are going up steadily. They're becoming more and more "discovered" every day, so if you'd like to have one, especially a nice one, I'd suggest you move on it sooner than later. Best wishes.
JayPee
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