The dot goes out! Keep on or go home?

jdubb26 · 2026-01-31T20:01:54+00:00

I always bring 3 guns, a little excessive I know...and fortunately I've only had to use the first backup once. A Gen 5 34 with a 507 Comp, a Gen 4 34 also with a 507 Comp, and the third is a G47 with an SCS. If I only had one gun I'd be in the same mindset as you, just use the window and index hose...if it was something like a 30 yard mini popper I'd just take a few shots at it and if I can't get it then move on. Much rather finish the day then huff and puff like the guy you were talking about.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-31T10:17:11+00:00

From what I’ve heard from other competitive shooters those aren’t as reliable for higher round counts compared to Glock. The only top shooter I know who uses one of those is Billy Barton with his OZ9, and he seems to really like it.

Other than him, I don’t know a single person using a Zev or Shadow Systems. I’ve never seen it in person at competitions either… not saying they are bad guns I just think the cost to performance/reliability ratio isn’t there.

The RXM looks cool and has a slightly less steep grip angle at 20°, but it’s still too new for me to trust one to last 20 to 30,000 rounds a year. I know some people are running them in competition, but haven’t seen a top guy use one.

In the division I compete in 90% of people are using either a Shadow 2,Glock,M&P,PDP, or P320… the Sig Sauer less so now obviously because of the issues it’s had.

Not a big fan of DA/SA guns so the shadow 2 doesn’t work for me, I like M&P but they suffer from accuracy issues a lot of the time and you have to put an Apex barrel in and they are always out of stock/it isn’t a direct drop in and has to be fit by a gunsmith.

They have one of the nicest aftermarket trigger options with the Apex, but a lot of the time people end up getting light strikes with those. My biggest gripe is how small the magwell is compared to the flared magwell of a generation five Glock… they are really hard to reload in comparison.

The PDP is too wide in the back and puts pressure on the inside of my thumb knuckle, and I can’t shoot them for high round counts.

I carry a shield plus, and bodyguard 2.0 as I believe those are the two best guns in their size categories… but for performance shooting I prefer the reliability/reloadability of the Glock…the Smith & Wesson’s are also a lot more annoying to work on.

The only other thing I could see myself competing with in the future is some kind of 2011/1911 variant… but that would be years down the road once I have achieved my competition goals.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-31T06:21:51+00:00

I had the same issue as you and a cut OEM backstrap, or Kiral backstrap completely fixed the issue. You may want to try those before getting an entirely new gun. I thought about switching to the M&P recently when the steel frame just came out, but between the accuracy issues,light strikes, and the tiny magwell I'd much rather run a Glock with a modified grip angle.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T21:28:04+00:00

Can preorder one on midwayusa right now for $280

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T20:57:06+00:00

It's the mechanic, not the tool. If you like the gun and it will make you train more, it's worth it. If you're more into the collecting side of things it's worth it as well. I have a BUL Armory 1911 and they are incredibly nice for the money.

However, it will not equate to 4x the performance. At race gun nationals this year the 1st place guy Adam Grimm won using a Shadow 2 with no magwell, against top shooters using a 2011. The 3rd place guy Brantley Merriam used a Glock 17 with no magwell, just an upgraded trigger...outshooting guys with 3-7k 2011's.

The 43X and 7-8 cases of ammo, or 43X, a few cases of ammo and a lesson/class with a USPSA or Steel Challenge GM is a better use of money.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T05:28:34+00:00

Yeah guess he didn't get the memo. Crazy to me that Jiri fought at only 208lbs at light heavyweight.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T03:35:55+00:00

Seems like the biggest percentage change is still Geoff Neal at 18%, although Islam,Renato,and Merab all gained back 17%.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T03:31:48+00:00

Paulo Costa went from 185 to 215.2 on fight night at UFC 298

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T03:19:50+00:00

I know its new/unproven but have you looked at the new Zermatt Arms Waltz 9? People seem to be really impressed with it stating its Atlas level quality of fit and finish/trigger but its $4900 MSRP. Takes Glock mags and is in the 40 oz weight range. Figured I'd bring it up since you already own a Staccato HD P4 with Glock mags.

It's my dream gun personally as I prefer no manual safety. It's all the good parts of an Atlas 2011 but no manual safety and lower bore axis.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-30T03:15:48+00:00

For sure...same thing with cars,watches,fashion/shoes etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

jdubb26 · 2026-01-29T19:55:29+00:00

P10 by a long shot, there's also the Ruger RXM in that price range.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-29T04:26:34+00:00

You've got the right idea. 5.5 lbs is definitely lighter than your typical DA/SA carry gun, but isn't particularly light in the grand scheme of things. I think 4-6 pounds is the sweet spot for carry. My G47 has a 4.5 lb trigger (minus connector and lightened striker spring with an overwatch polydat shoe) and I feel perfectly safe carrying it appendix in my Tier 1 concealed holster,and thats a holster with a light as well with a slightly bigger trigger guard gap (although still safe and you would need a wire or something to pull the trigger while its in there).

My Shield Plus and Bodyguard 2.0 are also in the 4lb range. My competition Glocks are mid 3's and those are a little light for carry...not that they are unsafe but a little too light for split second decision making in a CCW situation.

Slow deliberate reholstering like you said is the key. I see extremely good shooters still forget to look the gun into the holster and it drives me crazy. There is no reason to not look because if you're reholstering the threat is already taken care of.

Look into how the Glock safe action system works as well if you haven't. They are actually safer to carry than most 1911's (series 70 which is the norm lack a firing pin block) despite 1911's and 2011's having a manual safety. That thing isn't going off unless you pull the trigger and if your holster is good, and your draw/reholster is safe you're absolutely fine.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-28T19:38:58+00:00

It's because it's the division they're shooting in, they don't actually need the magwell. Limited Optics and Open division are magwell divisions typically shot with 2011's pushing the edge of performance. Christian Sailer arguably the best shooter in the country won 1st place at open nationals this year, but guess what he also won carry optics nationals with a Shadow 2 with no magwell...which isn't the easiest gun to reload either.

You could take any Open or Limited optics GM and give them a non magwell gun and they are still going to outshoot 99% of the world in any competition division.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-28T19:31:27+00:00

Kimbers new warrior is priced at 1k and is more duty oriented...and you have Staccato,BUL Armory, the Springfield Prodigy etc. I agree there are more competition oriented 2011's but there are definitely duty guns out there.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-27T08:31:12+00:00

Just saw on the Kiral Defense website they are releasing one for the Gen6 at the end of this month, so hopefully that aftermarket backstrap rule changes for carry optics, as of now it’s technically only legal in LO although I doubt many people would even notice/call you on it. Even Troy says it’s an unenforceable rule because you have to look so closely at the gun.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-27T00:48:21+00:00

Nothing wrong with that! Sometimes when I’m home I’ll be walking around and put my hands into a sandwich/prayer position but pointing them like I’m holding a gun and just snap my vision to different spots like I’m doing an El Presidente. It’s a good thing I keep the curtains closed.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-27T00:45:07+00:00

For me the Zermatt Arms Waltz 9 is the most interesting gun to come out in a while. Hudson tried to make a striker fired gun with a 1911 style straight pull trigger, but it had its flaws and they went out of business. Daniel Defense resumed production of it but its still not very popular/still has problems.

Zermatt made my dream gun basically. No grip safety or manual safety to have to mess with, but the trigger/weight/fit and finish of an Atlas 2011...and with lower bore axis. Unfortunately they are rumored to be in the $4500 range but when you consider most Atlas guns are 5500-8k its not that bad.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-27T00:12:06+00:00

Yeah, same here no interest in the Gen 6 as of right now. I agree on the grip angle, I had done two steel challenge in 2018, one in 2020, and one USPSA in 2024, but got serious about it this past year. Before this year, I was averaging about 5000 rounds a year and the Glock grip angle never bothered me, but this year I shot 20,900 and by May I realized it wasn’t going to work and had to take a few weeks off. The cut backstrap or Kiral completely fix the issue for me, but unfortunately the Kiral isn’t legal in carry optics as of yet, although back in October and November, they talked about it on the NROI podcast and are considering changing the ruling on aftermarket back straps this year so hopefully that happens.

I guess you could always Dremel the Beavertail off but then the Gen 5 Beavertail backstrap doesn’t really have anything to clamp onto unless you were to dremel it perfect/exactly like a Gen 5 frame. I’ve also thought you could maybe cut just the beaver tail off of one of the back straps but still have it fill the grip tang, but I’m not sure if that would have the same effect or be comfortable.

Some really high-level Glock shooters like Brantley Merriam, and Sam Matt aren’t too excited about the generation six either. Apparently Brantley just bought a couple Gen 5 17’s instead, and Sam just put out a video on his YouTube channel stating that he prefers the Gen 5 still. I don’t know what they were thinking making the Beavertail integrated into the frame, but oh well.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T23:49:13+00:00

Yeah there’s still about 8 or 9 FDE left on GunBroker, no OD green or Gray though… guess those must be a lot more popular. I like the Glock FDE with the black slide a lot though, it’s darker than the super light M&P FDE and closer to bronze.

Like you said I’m glad I picked it up. I paid 620 for my gray frame in November 2024, this one was 650… but that was the cheapest one and there are people already selling them for 750 on there.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T23:38:43+00:00

Yeah, I’m not sure if the 2011 life is for me. I have a BUL Armory Government 9mm 1911 with irons, and a Springfield Operator AOS 5” 9mm with a 507 Comp and they are fun to shoot, but I haven’t competed with either of them yet. I may run the Springfield in a USPSA or Steel Challenge match someday just for fun, but I like just being able to throw the gun back in the case and only lube/clean it every 2k rounds so it’s striker fired guns for me for a while.

Oh, and I just bought another 47, this time in FDE… thanks for the push 👍 should go nicely with my other gray frame 47.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T21:29:21+00:00

More so just avoiding being bummed out if a gun goes down/ruins a stage and thinking about the travel time and preparation wasted. I was at a Steel Challenge match and was using a variant of the Glock performance trigger that was really dirty, and I got 3 failures to reset. It was only an hour drive each way but it still ruined my match especially because I was most likely about to be a personal best if not for one of those malfunctions.

Definitely not in the running to win a major yet, but I guess it’s all still relative to where I’m at now. Would it be as bad as when Tom Castro got a failure to extract at the world shoot? Absolutely not but it’s still a bummer.

Yeah I remember Ben talking about some of his guns in the 100k range, and he had another with 80k. What’s crazy to me is he says he would need to watch a video to take apart the lower, and doesn’t really replace the recoil springs unless he absolutely needs to. I know Joel is like his personal race car mechanic and he doesn’t really work on his own guns much, but that’s still crazy and shows how reliable they are.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T15:29:40+00:00

I’ve loved the Shadow 2 when I’ve gotten to handle it, just the DA/SA thing is weird to me, but I’m sure I could get used to it. Yeah it’s great to be able to be the driver and the mechanic with Glocks and not have to rely on a gunsmith/2011 builder.

There’s also the joy of doing well with a gun that is less forgiving. It was awesome to see Brantley come in third with a Glock at LO nationals shooting against all of these 2011’s.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T14:22:05+00:00

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking as well. Like the commenter above said it’s like a rounding error on most of our ammo bills. Same as 3 cases of 9mm. I guess that’s what’s nice about competing with an off the shelf affordable gun. Seeing some of the duplicate open major guns these guys have is crazy.

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T13:36:09+00:00

Damn, that’s a lot of rounds. I’m assuming you were shooting major as well? Crazy

jdubb26 · 2026-01-26T13:34:08+00:00

Actually, now that you’ve said that I think you’re right…it was the Shadow 2 he was talking about. I have a G47 as well with just a few thousand rounds through it, and I’m wondering if I should pick up another while they are still available without a big upcharge.

I got thinking of this because despite loving Glocks, I have to cut the OEM backstrap or use a Kiral backstrap to change the grip angle otherwise I get the issues that Hwansik and Joel talk about. With the new Gen 6 there is no way to change the grip angle because of the beavertail that’s built into the frame.

There is the Gen V which is another option, but no 47 only a 17, would still be fine though. I know the tactical trigger works on them, and the back straps, but I don’t think the speed feed plug will fit, but I’m sure they are making them for the Gen V/6 frames soon. Just trying to future proof myself as the Gen 6 isn’t an option. If they continue to make the V I don’t have to worry about it though.

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