How's the weight? balance? Accuracy? relaibility? have you tried it with XD mags?
Any other thoughts would really be helpful. (i think they are supposed to take XD mags with only very minor modification or something.)
Edit to add: Can you see that front sight when firing? Is there a sight channel down the back of the slide? The front sight just looks awfully low, like you wouldn't even be able to see it!
Went through about 500 rounds at the range today.
Gun is heavy... really heavy. But that is to be expected, it is a military weapon. Front heavy, a full mag helps level it out. Grip is on the wider side, and the front grip panel does not have a nice contour to it. Has very squared off edges. There is a slight Beretta like feel to it, as to be expected as that was one of the influencing designs, but is in no way as comfortable as a 92 or Cougar. I have fairly large hands, so it wasn't a bad grip at all, just not as comfortable as either of the parent pistols. Overall balance pretty decent bordering on one of the better shooters for feel and balance. As I said previously, it is no 92 or P38 though.
Sights; My first opinion: They sucked. The front sight is small, the rear is hard to define against the front. You have alot of slide to see over before picking up the front sight, which is a little low. I was first shooting high and slightly to the left. Regardless of how I adjusted my grip, I was still shooting high. Just an ever so slight drop of the front sight brought me pretty close to poa. Being a military weapon, I am assuming that it is sighted in at 50+ yards or so. I could be wrong, but I am sticking with that to explain my earlier poor shooting. Now used to them, they aren't great, but decent for a mil spec sight. Accuracy I was very impressed with, once I was able to really get a good sight picture I was getting smaller and smaller groups. Best 5 shot group was roughly under 3" and 7 yards. Best 10 shot group slightly over 3", and after awhile I was able to regularly get 15 shot groups around 4-5".
Reliability seems fine. It requires a realy firm grip to make sure it cycles fully. Any sort of limp wristing or light hold it will not chamber correctly. Also, it eats up +P and +P+ like crazy. It does not like low pressure ammo, had some extraction issues and feed issues with low velocity rounds. I was experiencing quite a few FTFs at first, but I am blaming the magazines for this. It wasn't feeding quite right, and it wouldn't hold open on last shot. It got better the more rounds I put through, but I am betting that is just from moving the grit and grime in the mags around. I am pretty sure the springs are weak as well. It is the one area I didn't check or clean before shooting. Goes to show you, never neglect any aspect of cleaning or maintenance, regardless.
The mags are the same as the XD mags, and minor cutting with a Dremel should open up a notch for the release catch. The XD mag release is on the front(?) of the mag, the PHP is on the side. I can either mod XD mags, or just get replacement springs and followers.
Anyway, enough bable from me. Everyone have a great new year!!!
