I have been accused of being a “Fudd,” here and othe places, because of my taste in firearms and because I don’t always say nice things about black guns. Or something like that.
Admittedly, I like classic things a bit more. Old Smith & Wesson autos, C3 Corvettes, Les Paul guitars and Marshall amplifiers.
But there are a number of poly-striker pistols that I’ve handled and/or shot that I ended up really liking for various reasons. Most of the time, plastic pistols leave me cold; they feel too artificial, too much like a “product” while the metal frame guns – Beretta 92s, CZ-75s and their clones, 1911s – feel like they have something approaching a soul.
I shot my first GLOCK more than a decade ago, and every time I try another one it’s basically the same result. It’s accurate, it eats whatever you feed it, but it just feels numb. If I were a police officer, I would carry one in a heartbeat because I wouldn’t care about holster wear and wouldn’t get sentimental if I was issued something else. But if I’m dropping $500 or more of my hard-earned cash? I’d better like whatever it is.
That said, there are some striker-fired guns that this Fudd loves.
The Heckler & Koch VP9SK is the most comfortable of the striker pistol that I’ve ever handled. The trigger was incredible, which is the thing that usually turns me off about factory striker guns. Their bangswitches just feels…kind of dead, compared to many DA/SA semi-autos and DA revolvers and certainly any halfway decent 1911 trigger. But the trigger on the VP9s and VP9SKs that I’ve handled were slick, just sort of “snicking” to the back like a short-throw manual.
If you gave me $600 and told me I had to come back with a striker-fired gun, I would have a hard time buying anything else.
The Walther PPS M2 feels better than any of the subcompact single stacks. I get why people like the GLOCK 43, but this one just feels better. At least to me. YMMV.
As far as the fully full-size striker guns, the one I’d have is the Smith & Wesson M&P9. Great capacity, ergonomically excellent, and quite affordable. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to shoot.
Say what you want, the Taurus PT111 Millennium G2 – Taurus is apparently in the middle of rebranding it as the G2C – is cheap and cheerful. If I only had $250 to blow on a gun, that would be the one. It feels decent enough, the trigger is good and it really isn’t a bad gun, all things considered.
Lastly, the original Smith & Wesson M&P9 Compact is/was one of the best compact guns I’ve ever fired. Comfortable, accurate and very carryable with decent capacity. No, the trigger wasn’t the best, but I liked it enough to not care about that so much…though not enough to buy one the last time I rented one at my LGS.
So I’m not a total Fudd in my taste for guns. I just happen to lean that way.
Have you ever tried a gun you thought you’d hate because you generally don’t like the kind of gun it is, only to fall in love?
[This article was originally published in 2018.]
