Glock 17 Race Gun - How big is the real performance difference between a modern practical gun and a racing gun? I decided to take some very unscientific tests and see for myself what a difference it made at my current skill level. Perhaps the first thing to determine is the definition of each species.
In my opinion, a practical modern gun is one that is small enough to carry and large enough to shoot without losing the primary performance. For me personally, the line starts at a Glock 48 or Sig P365XL and goes up to a Glock 17/HK VP9/Sig P320 caliber pistol. It can be different for everyone. When I use guns like the Sig P365 or Glock 43, I start to notice a drop in performance mainly due to the size of the stock. I have large hands and less grip than compact pistols. They certainly have their place and can certainly be effective, but this is where I personally find them harder to shoot. For the purposes of this article, examples of my carry guns are a Gen 5 Glock 19 MOS with a factory trigger, a Holosun 509T, and a Streamlight TLR7A holstered inside the belt at 3 hours.
Glock 17 Race Gun
So what is a racing gun? The term originates from the competitive world and is used to describe a handgun whose primary purpose is performance regardless of stealth, sometimes weight, and in some cases reliability. They are usually offset, have an optical red dot, hold a lot of ammunition, and usually have an adjustable trigger that weighs two pounds or less. They are often set at low reliability, have large reload hoppers to aid in reloading, and are often impractical for anything but gaming. However, they work very well for their intended purpose, and that is performance. My examples are a Staccato XC with a 1lb 14oz trigger, a Holosun 509T and a Surefire 300XU-B to add more weight to the gun and make it fit in a holster. The holster is a Filster that sits outside the belt and doesn't hold it in place.
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An unscientific way to answer my question is to do a few drills with both pistols and note any differences in total time, draw time, and accuracy. I did three exercises. The first version is a version of the classic Bill Drill that responds to the alarm, pulls from the holster, and fires six rounds as fast as possible. In the drill version I shot, it fired at 8 yards at a steel target in Zone C. This drill is designed to handle pull speed and high-speed recoil while maintaining accuracy. I'm focused on the speed of this version and I'll take any hit on the drive. To quote the great Ricky Bobby, "I wanna go fast."
The next drill is one I'm developing for an upcoming CCW Safe project, and I call it the 3-2-1 drill. It's aimed at greater accuracy, requiring a bit more recoil control and some minor conversions. The target is printed on 8.5 x 11 sheets of printer paper. It is fired from a distance of 5 yards and requires you to react to the signal, draw and fire three arrows into the large square, two arrows into the middle square and one arrow into the small square. The small square is only under 1.5 inches, so at 5 yards you need to focus on hitting. I have not measured this split.
The last drill bit is a disc holder 10 meters away. The rack holds six 6-inch circular drives. It requires a lot more precision than something like the Bill Drill, and you have to manage the conversion.
Both work 100% without problems. So what did I learn? The first thing that comes to mind is that the drawing method is the biggest factor. My hidden draw is not good and my open draw is good. If you look at the results, the time I spent shooting after removing the gun was no different between the guns. This is the captain's trading style. Concealed is slower than open carry for most, but I know for sure now that it's 0.3-0.4 slower in skinning and the difference in firing time isn't that big. However, there is a difference, so we will consider them in detail.
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Bill Drill: There is a small and completely meaningless difference in timing. The biggest difference here is the accuracy of the target. Staccato shot so flat that on most runs I could close the group with my hands and pull the trigger as fast as I could. Shooting a Glock at the same velocity causes the target to spread more and occasionally fly off the edge of the target. This can certainly be addressed with improved grips, but I would argue that there is a real advantage to guns built in this type of shooting. It was a speed beyond my capabilities.
3-2-1 Drill: The biggest thing I've noticed is that the trigger is much better on the XC, allowing me to gain speed on tighter pulls without having to worry about hitting the trigger well with the Glock. With the Glock on the last little square, I had to focus to get a good shot and pull the trigger without moving the gun. With Staccato, it's more important to see the dot on the target and pull the trigger. Also, the XC doesn't require recoil control on multiple shots because the slide basically goes back and forth without vertical movement. The point is in the mirror. With a Glock, it just requires more concentration and diligence on the grip and trigger.
Plate Holder: The XC is much easier to transition because it's so flat through the transition. Another example of setting the complex and spring as intended. The Glock 19 doesn't move much, but it moves more than a synthetic gun. Another important difference is the trigger. A Glock requires attention to a good image, a stable grip and a good trigger. With the XC I see the white dot, pull the trigger and move on to the next plate without paying much attention to the process and more mistakes when pulling the trigger is not good.
Conclusion: When it comes down to it, I don't think there will be much difference between the two for me. I think it turned out to be true. It played exactly as I expected, the biggest difference being the gun's trigger and how much more evenly the XC fires. It's hard to describe unless you've shot a setup like the XC. All the people I shot with pretty much had the same reaction: "It's like cheating." With an extremely light trigger and not much recoil, it's very comfortable to shoot.
Glock 17 Race Gun
I mostly shoot as fast as a Glock, but when you play any standard of accuracy, it takes more care and attention to the process. There is no margin of error in the process like there is with racing guns. Overall, I'm happy with the results, because to me it shows that a cheap carry gun in a real life carry case isn't that far from an impractical racing gun, it's a hindrance in an impractical carry method won't be.
Another thing is that for me, the cost/benefit ratio started to increase once I switched to the Glock 19/Holosun 509 combo. A Glock with points and plates is less than $1000. Staccato $4300, $300 point, $140 plate and $70 magazine claim. In fact, the XC is five times more expensive than the Glock. It's not that XC is overpriced, because that's not my opinion. This is a great pistol that I love to shoot with.
What I've learned is that, as with most industries, once you reach a certain level of performance, the costs for small incremental improvements start to add up very quickly. I think you can absolutely buy performance, but if you don't invest the time and effort into training to maximize and understand any changes in the rig, it's the wrong way to improve. My final thoughts on this little experiment are that racing guns are a blast, but modern carry pistols are very capable pistols that can be trusted in the real world without giving up much.
Justin is the Content Manager for CCW Safe. He is a lifelong shooter and competitor
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