Three full-size 9mm handguns
“I think it’s time to compare three full-sized 9mm handguns,” announces Joe last Wednesday. Wednesdays are the days when we visit the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office range around 10 a.m. We often meet up with other shooter friends and we’re there to assist newcomers to the sport. “Okay. Which guns are we discussing this week?” “How about my Tara, the H&K P30L you stole from me for a year, and your Springfield XDM with the match barrel?” “Wait just a minute,” I reply. “Stole is a pretty harsh word. I just, um, appropriated your H&K to compete with for a while. You do have it back, don’t you? And, sure, I’ll pit my Springfield against Tara and even that H&K any day of the week.” I’m pretty confident. My Springfield is almost a half an inch longer than the others. It has a barrel of 5.25 inches while Tara’s is 4.5 inches and H&K is 4.45 inches long. Generally, the longer the barrel, the more accurate the gun. Like the spin on a football, the extra spin of the rifling of the barrel should aid in making the bullet hit the target just where you want it. And my Springfield has a red dot reflex sight on it. Place the red dot of the sight to the red of the bull’s-eye on the target and the bullet ought to go straight where you want it. I think sighting is much easier with the red dot than going to the trouble of aligning the white dot sights on Tara and H&K. The third reason that I’m confident is that an armorer friend of ours adjusted the trigger pull on my Springfield. You have to be super careful shooting this gun as the trigger pull is less than 3 pounds. It’s a very light trigger pull. So, for all these reasons, the Springfield will beat out the others, and I’m not afraid to compete with Joe’s guns. Generally, the more mass a gun has, the more accurate it will be. A lighter gun will have more recoil and be snappier in your hands. According to AI: “heavier rifles absorb more recoil, reducing felt recoil.” Again, Springfield wins out by weighing more than Tara or H&K. Springfield weighs 30 ounces, Tara weighs 26 ounces, and H&K weighs 27.5 ounces. And trigger pull? Again, Springfield has less than 3 pounds, while Tara has what they are calling a DARE trigger system, which, without going deeply into it has a striker-fired trigger that acts similar to a da/sa hammer gun. Since this is a story unto itself, that’s all I’m saying about Tara’s trigger, except… Except that Tara has a very long and very hard trigger. While the Springfield has a tender, less than 3-pound trigger, Tara’s trigger is at least 7 pounds. That’s a lot of trigger. Add to that a long, long trigger pull, Tara is not meant to be a target gun. It’s a defensive weapon. It doesn’t need a safety, because, with a trigger like this, it is not going to fire accidentally. Joe and I both like trigger pull and trigger travel of the H&K P30L. Pull is easy, but not tender like the Springfield, and travel is not long. You could fire the H&K numerous times and your finger won’t object. Grips on all three handguns are fairly fat, and it would be a rare person who would experience ‘pinky dangle.’ The H&K has finger grooves in it which made my small hands fit fairly well, but all three are big for me. They fit Joe well. Tara’s magazines come holding either 15 or 17 rounds. Springfield holds 19 rounds and the H&K holds 15 rounds. Which handgun will be the most accurate? With its extra barrel length and easy easy trigger, I still expect my Springfield to win. Hands down. With its awful long and hard trigger, I just know I’ll be lucky to hit the target with Tara. And my index finger won’t be happy. With a nice trigger pull and travel, I expect the H&K to give the Springfield a hard time. Part of the reason it was, ahem, in my possession for a year or so was that Joe had sent it to a famous gunsmith to have its internals worked over. Now, the H&K is a real slick shooter. I begin with my favorite: the Springfield on the left target. I’m shooting three rounds each. Ah! The light trigger of this gun! The long barrel! Three shots with this guy on an 8-inch target and… What? The first bullet only hits the 7-ring? That’s not so good. The next bullet hits the 9-ring. Better, but I expect more out of Springfield. The last bullet finally hits within the center ring. Next comes three rounds on the right target with the H&K. About time. A bull’s-eye. That’s more like it. The next two bullets hit the 9-ring. This H&K is nicely accurate. Guess that’s why I had it so long. Drat. Should’a kept it. Last, I shoot the Tara. I saved it for last because I remember shooting it a few years ago. It is simply not fun to shoot with its long, hard trigger and I have low expectations. Low. I aim and pull and pull. Is this thing ever going off? Finally, it fires. Whack. Right into the bull’s-eye. And another! I shake out my sore finger and fire the third shot. Okay, smack on the 8-ring. How is this possible? Joe’s Tara and H&K both beat out my nice Springfield! That just doesn’t make any sense to me. Jon Wayne Taylor, in The Truth About Guns said: “The TM-9X’s reliability was nothing short of perfection.” Clearly, I wouldn’t shoot the Tara as a target gun, but as a defensive handgun? You bet. It’s spot on. The H&K? Yes, it’s a fine gun and I’d compete with it again. In a heartbeat. The Springfield? It’s a mighty fine target gun, but I’m going to have to take it back to the range. Several times.
Marj Law is the former director of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful who has become an avid shooter in retirement.