While P226s have been around since the 1970s, the hyper-accurate XFIVE was hard to get on this side of the Atlantic. Essentially a match-quality single-action-only 226 longslide with a 5-inch barrel, the original was a Teutonic range beast, tipping the scales at almost 50 ounces due to the fact it was all stainless steel except for the grips. They shipped with a 25-meter target that usually showed all-touching bullet holes neatly punched into the paper.
Only made until 2012, the XFIVE was more likely to show up in French action movies associated with Luc Besson or in auction houses than on dealers’ shelves.
A rare, german-made P226 XFive Scandic.
Well, that all changed this week when good old New Hampshire-based SIG announced they now have an updated XFIVE with either custom Hogue Cocobolo or Hogue H10 Piranha grips installed. The new guns, much like the old, still run a 5-inch bull barrel with a stainless steel frame and slide. New is an adjustable Dawson-style rear sight plate that can be removed to direct-mount a SIG Romeo 1/2, or any other optic using the standard Delta Point Pro/RMR footprint. A fiber-optic front sight is standard as is an M1913 accessory rail and an alloy magwell.
The M1911A1 has a Colt GI Military frame, SN 904594, of 1943 production with GHD inspector’s stamp (left) complete with a dummy mark (!) and ordnance wheel/US Property/M1911A1 US Army stamps on the right.
Rather than the original slide, it has a “hard” GI replacement slide with FSN (Federal Stock Number) #7790314 M (magnaflux inspection) TZ (IMI Israeli, who supplied such slides under contract to the U.S.) with a minty chrome-lined barrel marked with FSN #7791193 91. The plastic grips have “24” rack number.
A FOIA shows that it was still in circulation with a unit somewhere until 2010 when it was sent to AAD for a decade of storage prior to being sent to CMP
It had been set to accept packets postmarked in September but now it looks like the new cutoff date is October 31, 2022.
So if you haven’t gotten yours in yet and missed out on the first two rounds, now is your chance.
Background on the CMP M1911 Program
One of the biggest boondoggles has been the Army’s repeated attempt at getting rid of its M1911 .45 ACP pistols. With over 2 million made, the classic “Government Issue” pistol was the staple of American fighting men in both world wars as well as Korea and Vietnam. The Army, after trying and failing in the 1950s and 60s to replace the old warhorse with a more compact 9mm that held more ammunition, finally managed to pull it off in 1985 with the adoption of the M9 Beretta. By then, even the newest of the M1911s in stock had been manufactured and delivered in 1945, making them downright elderly. Nonetheless, the military still used the single-action .45 throughout the Cold War and into the Global War on Terror, as the gun remained much-loved by commando types– Special Forces A-teams were still carrying it in Afghanistan post-9/11.
However, even SOCOM eventually put the old M1911 out to pasture, replaced by easier-to-maintain Glocks and SIGs. This left the Army in 2016 with about 100,000 guns still left in storage at Anniston Army Depot, with a cost of about $1.5 million a year to keep clean and dry. This led to a push from the Congressman who represented the Anniston area to donate the guns to CMP for sale and, by 2018, Congress had approved the transfer at a rate of 10,000 pistols per year provided the organization carefully secured the guns (including building a $700,000 handgun vault) and meticulously managed how they were sold– more on the latter in a minute.
This led to a lottery system that the CMP has used since late 2018 to sell the M1911s portioned out to the organization by the Army. The process is simple, with the applicant filling out an eight-page packet similar to that for an M1 Garand and mailing it to their Anniston office.
Once approved, the CMP will email the applicant a number randomly assigned in the current year’s drawing and then the fun begins with about 800 or so pistols shipped out each month.
When the lucky applicant’s number comes up, they will get a call from a usually very chipper young woman with the CMP and be told what grades are available at the time, ranging from Rack grade ($1,050) to Field grade ($1,150) to Service grade ($1,250) of which all will be functional, historic guns. There is also a Range grade for $1,100 that has been modified– usually by Army unit armorers while in service– to contain a lot of commercial aftermarket parts. Like the Garands sold through CMP, the M1911s will typically have been rebuilt a time or two either by unit armorers or Army arsenals since 1945 and usually will have mix-matched parts, for instance with a Colt-marked slide, Ithaca barrel, and Remington frame.
During that call, you can ask for a particular manufacturer (Colt, Ithaca, etc.) and may get lucky, if they have it in stock. Then, after paying, it will arrive at your FFL in a matter of days, complete with a single magazine and a reprint of the Army field manual on the gun, often all inside a very nice CMP-branded Pelican case.
A few things to be aware of is that, unlike the M1 Garand program, CMP is required to ship the M1911s to an FFL, so the transaction is much like buying an out-of-state gun from Gunbroker, Armslist, or Guns.com in that respect. Further, as the packet is only entered after the CMP does a NICS background check on the buyer, at least two such checks are done. This is part of the extra scrutiny that the Army wanted CMP to agree to before sending over the pistols.
There have been two rounds of lotteries done thus far, with a bit over 20,000 guns sold, and CMP just recently completed the enrollment period for the third round at the end of September 2022. It is likely the fourth round will occur sometime in late 2023, so stay tuned for that.
Is the price that CMP sets a lot of money for an M1911? Not if you want a legit Army surplus gun it isn’t as such pieces often resell for twice that much. If you want just an inexpensive M1911 GI pistol to bang around at the range, you may be better off with an imported clone such as a Turkish-made Tisas or Philippine-made Rock Island, either of which can typically be had for around $450-$500 but don’t have any history attached.
In October 1526, Mastro Bartolomeo Beretta of Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, Italy, received 296 ducats as payment for 185 arquebus barrels sold to the Arsenal of Venice, marking the first documented sale of Beretta-made firearm products in the known world.
I’ve written a lot about Beretta over the years and have had the opportunity to visit with them both in Tennessee and Maryland (alas, not in Italy– at least not yet) but these two guns from their vault are interesting and I don’t believe that I’ve ever written about them before:
Yes, this is a Beretta M1934 (Mod. 34) equipped with a barbed wire cutter. By the early 1930s, the company had developed a 7+1 capacity blowback semi-auto for the Royal Italian Army, the M1934, which was chambered in “9mm Corto,” which is basically just spicy .380ACP by another name. Over a million were produced, with the pistol remaining in Italian military service for a generation as well as being used in Africa and the Balkans as late as the 1990s.
The Beretta M1951R. The ‘R‘ stands for Raffica, or ‘”gust” in Italian. It is a super rare select fire model with a 1,000-rpm rate of fire, hence the foregrip. This is very much the predecessor to the even spicier Beretta 93R.
BTW, Beretta USA is “offering a special promotion on our website as part of our celebration during this “birthday” occasion. From now until October 7th, consumers can receive 20% off their purchase sitewide on Beretta.com using code 22BDAY20.”
So there’s that, if you are looking for some accessories, mags, grips, or whatnot.
The Guide Gun, a hard-hitting carbine with an 18.5-inch barrel chambered in .45-70 Government, was one of the “old” Marlin’s staples, produced from 1998 until 2020 when the brand shuttered with the bankruptcy of Remington Outdoors.
The Marlin 1895G/SG from the maker’s 2018 catalog.
Now, with Marlin since acquired by Ruger and moved under the house of the Red Phoenix, the Guide is back in the field. Still based on the M1895 lever gun with a .45-70 chambering, the new “big loop” model goes a little longer than past carbines, stretching the alloy steel barrel to 19.1 inches for an overall length of 37.25 inches.
What is new is that the cold hammer-forged barrel is threaded– 11/16″-24TPI– and a companion 6+1 mag tube (versus 4+1 in the old 1895G) which explains the bump in length. The gun, Ruger’s first introduction of an alloy steel Marlin rifle with a blued finish, weighs 7.4 pounds.
Plus, it is about $200-250 less than Muger’s other M1895s…
Back around 2012, my carry choice was a SIG Sauer P229R, a 13+1, a platform that I had lots of experience with as I carried one and instructed others on it in my “day job” as a contractor with the Dept. of Homeland Security. While I owned Glocks already, they were in .45 GAP and .40S&W (hey, it was 2012).
Downshifting to the more compact G19 in 9mm, I picked up a brand new Gen 3 model and found it easy and even fun to shoot. Soon, it was my everyday carry. The reason was obvious. While roughly the same length and height as a Glock 19, a P229 loaded with 14 rounds of 147-grain JHPs hits my kitchen scales at 37 ounces. The G19, with 16 rounds loaded, weighs 31 ounces. Plus, with the striker-fired action, there was no need for working a decocker or the hassle of a hammer catching on clothing. The Glock was point-and-shoot while at the same time being more snag-free.
Fast forward a decade and the question is: is it still a valid carry gun? The answer may surprise.
If you don’t care about a red dot-equipped pistol or fingergrooves, the Gen 3 G19 still stacks up despite being a lot older. Not bad for a pistol introduced the same year the Beastie Boys released Intergalactic.
So on my plate in the next few weeks are these beauties by way of Fabrique Nationale’s hipper new American subsidiary, FN USA. I met both of these hoglegs in prototype/first run format at SHOT Show/NRAAM earlier this year and finally got hooked up with production versions of them for T&E purposes.
The guns are the FN Five-seveN Mk3 MRD, the company’s third generation take on the 20+1 capacity 5.7x28mm pistol, and the new 17+1 9mm FN High Power, which looks a lot like Mr. Browning’s/M. Saive’s Hi-Power of old (notice the difference in spelling) but only looks that way.
Following a 6-3 ruling this summer from the U.S. Supreme Court concerning New York’s unconstitutional “may issue” concealed carry permitting scheme, state lawmakers scrambled to pass a flurry of new anti-gun bills in a matter of days. Breathlessly signed into law by Kathy Hochul, New York’s unelected governor, these included NY Senate Bill S51001 which bans the carry of legally possessed firearms– even with a permit– in “sensitive” places.
The thing is, on S51001’s sweeping list are libraries, museums, parks, performance venues, schools of all stripes, and just about any facility owned by Federal, state, or local governments, with zero exceptions. What this means for reenactors at New York’s historical forts and battlefields is that, while they may be welcome, their antique flintlocks, percussion muskets, pistols, and revolvers are not– under a threat of a felony charge.
Traditional gun salutes honoring the late Queen Elizabeth rang out across the United Kingdom on Friday “and at saluting stations at home and abroad as the world watched on and mourned her loss.”
The 96-gun salutes, one for each of her years, typically took an average of 16 minutes to ring out in slow fire, one round every 10 seconds.
The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fired the Death Gun Salute in Hyde Park from Great War-era 13-pounder Field Guns.
The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire the Death Gun Salute in Hyde Park
And at the same time, it was also fired at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) in ceremonial attire. The latter salute is fired from four 25- pounder guns located on Tower Wharf facing the River Thames.
The Death Gun Salute was fired at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company.
Meanwhile in Scotland 96 rounds also rang out from the battlements of Edinburgh Castle as 105 Regiment Royal Artillery, an Army Reserve regiment that recruits across Scotland and in Northern Ireland, fired the salute with Major Brian Robson RA in charge. They use the current 105mm light howitzer the L118 (the U.S. Army uses a modified version, the M119 for airborne and light infantry units.)
Soldiers of 105 Regiment Royal Artillery fired three L118 Light Guns at Edinburgh Castle
In Wales, salutes rang out as 104 Regiment Royal Artillery, the only Army Reserve Artillery regiment in Wales, fired their salutes amid the sunshine and showers at Cardiff Castle.
In Colchester and East Essex Cricket Club, the salutes were fired by members of 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery from Colchester Garrison.
The Airborne gunners of F (Sphinx) Parachute Battery 7 Royal Horse Artillery fired 96 rounds from their L118s
In York, where the salutes took place at the York Museum Gardens, Lt Col Matt Brockleby, Commanding Officer, 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, said: “This is an honor for the Regiment.”
L118s of 4 Regiment Royal Artillery fire their Gun Salute at York Museum Gardens on Friday 9 September 2022
And over in Northern Ireland, Captain Joshua McKee, of 206 Battery 105 Regiment Royal Artillery, gave the order to fire the salutes as people laid flowers outside the walls of Hillsborough Castle.
A 96 Gun salute, conducted by 206 (Ulster) Battery, Royal Artillery at Royal Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland.
The ship’s company of HMS Queen Elizabeth mustered on the flight deck mid-Atlantic for their own 96-gun salute and to mark the passing of “the boss.”
Unless you have been under a rock for the past 24 hours, we have witnessed the end of the second Elizabethan age as Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral, Scotland, aged 96. Born early in one century and laid to rest well into another, she was crowned the same year Edmund Hillary ascended Mount Everest and an unsteady truce neared in the Korean War. Since then, she saw 14 U.S. Presidents, met with 15 Prime Ministers (Churchill was in office when she was coronated!), and saw the last leader of the Soviet Union buried.
I’m not here to eulogize, and indeed around the world lots of leftists and know-nothings, who bemoan everything British– without noting the ascendance of guys like Idi Amin/Yoweri Museveni, Robert Mugambe, and Yahya Jammeh to fill the vacuum the old Empire left behind– are celebrating her passing like a bunch of ghouls.
What I am going to do is point out her WWII military service, and the fact that she served at least 80 years continuously in the military.
Per the IWM:
During the Second World War, King George VI was reluctant to let his daughter – and heir – join any of the organisations that women could serve in during the war. However, in February 1945, Princess Elizabeth was allowed to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor, as she was known, was part of Number 1 ‘Beaufront’ Company and trained as a mechanic and truck driver in Surrey. Her classes included practical maintenance, mechanics theory and map reading. She told a friend, “I never worked so hard in my life. But I enjoyed it very much.” The princess graduated as a fully qualified driver, but the war ended before she was able to make practical use of her new skills
She remained a Junior Commander, Women’s Royal Army Corps after the war, rising to Captain by 1952 with semi-regular periods of service.
Like all monarchs and members of the Windsor family, she kept up her military obligations, and for the past 70 years, from 6 February 1952 through 8 September 2022, was Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces. As such, it is possible she inspected more troops than any leader in history.
On Elizabeth’s sixteenth birthday, 21 April 1942, she was appointed Colonel of the Regiment of the Grenadier Guards and promptly inspected them in her first solo appearance. It was a responsibility she took seriously, after all, a war was on and some of the men were shipping out to North Africa shortly.
She would inspect “her” Grenadiers as well as the Paras just prior to D-Day.
Princess Elizabeth visits British Airborne Troops prior to DDay May 1944 IWM H 38603
Ultimatley, she was named Colonel-in-Chief of the: Royal Australian Engineers, Royal Australian Infantry Corps, Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps, le Régiment de la Chaudière, 48th Highlanders of Canada, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise’s), Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, Governor General’s Horse Guards, King’s Own Calgary Regiment, Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, Royal 22e Régiment, Governor General’s Foot Guards, Canadian Grenadier Guards, Carleton and York Regiment, Canadian Guards, Royal New Brunswick Regiment, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps, Calgary Highlanders, Wellington Regiment, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps, The Life Guards, Royal Horse Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, Royal Regiment of Artillery, Corps of Royal Engineers, Royal Tank Regiment, Malawi Rifles, Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons), Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, Corps of Royal Military Police, Queen’s Gurkha Engineers,Queen’s Royal Lancers, Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, Royal Welsh, Royal Regiment of Scotland, Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.
As well as the Air-Commodore-in-Chief of the Territorial Air Force of New Zealand, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Royal Air Force Regiment, Royal Observer Corps; Captain-General of the Honourable Artillery Company, Commandant-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force College, Countess of Ranfurly’s Own Auckland Regiment, et.al…
She was tied to the Forces in both public and private in every way, and it could be argued her primary job since the age of 16 had been that of a service member.
Special ties to the Fleet
Elizabeth was closely associated with the Royal Navy. After all, she was the daughter, wife, and mother of naval officers.
She was also a battleship sailor, having embarked on HMS Vanguard in 1947 for the Royal Cruise to Africa. She was familiar with the Royal Navy’s final (and largest) dreadnought, having christened her in 1944 while still Princess Elizabeth– the first time her standard was broken out on an RN vessel.
She also became possibly the only Queen in history with a Shellback certificate, as she took part in the traditional festivities upon Crossing the Line.
Elizabeth participated in the traditional line-crossing ceremony and was initiated into the Kingdom of Neptune. Elizabeth was a good sport but was excused from a few of the harsher hazings meted out to Pollywogs
She even got in some target practice from Vanguard’s decks in 1947 and was reportedly a good shot. Of note, while I have seen several images of her with a rifle, I have never seen her use eye or ear protection– and tough old bird indeed.
The 1953 Spithead Review, while smaller than some that came before, was the largest gathering of British warships that has not been surpassed since– and likely never will. Of note, Vanguard would grace the cover of the official commemorative as flagship.
The 1953 Spithead Coronation Review.
She also sponsored five other warships and submarines including the new carrier that holds her name, HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), the largest British warship ever built, and attended her christening in 2014. A bottle of fine Scotch from the 240-year-old Bowmore Distillery was broken across the carrier’s bow via an actuator that the Queen controlled via a push button.
In remembrance
Now, across the corners of the Commonwealth, there will be celebrations of her passing– heck, Biden has ordered all federal ensigns half-masted. The most notable, besides the looming pageantry of her state funeral, will be “Death Gun” 96-gun salutes fired from Cyprus to Sydney.
We will fire a Death Gun Salute marking the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the Wellington waterfront this evening.
16 Field Regiment will fire 96 rounds – one round for every year of Her Majesty’s life. The Death Gun Salute will commence at 6pm. The salute is expected to last at least 16 minutes.
Given the length of time the gun salute will take to conduct, it is recommended that hearing protection is worn by those planning to attend.
I’ll admit it: I do sometimes like to dress up my guns. I’m a grip guy first and foremost. Odds are, if a gun’s grip panels can be swapped out or otherwise upgraded (not stippled, don’t even get me on the soapbox about that abomination!) on a long enough timeline, it will happen if the pistol is in my collection long enough.
One of my latest is a set of curly maple panels for 1911s that I picked up from Bill Griffith (Griff’s Grips) for my Kimber Rapide 10mm.
Gotta say, they both feel great and look awesome. Judge me if you will…
