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SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

SIG SAUER Electro-Optics announced that the OSCAR8 HDX Variable Power Spotting Scope has received the Outdoor Life “2020 Editor’s Choice Award” for Best New Spotting Scope.
Leica’s PRS 5-30x56i riflescope beat 13 other entries to win top honors in the Precision Riflescope category of Outdoor Life’s annual Optics Test.
William “Tom” Collins, 50, of Maumee, Ohio, earned the CMP’s Distinguished Rifleman Badge #2500 this July. The Civilian Marksmanship Program issued Distinguished Badges to competitors who collect at least 30 Excellence-In-Competition “leg” points – earned by placing in the top 10 percent of an EIC match.

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) announced that Team Ruger claimed multiple divisional wins this past weekend at the Truglo Texas State IDPA Championship held at the Mission 160 Range in Whitewright, TX.
Lipsey's, a premier firearms distributor, has unveiled the new Lipsey's Exclusive GLOCK P80 -- a historical reproduction of the original, innovative GLOCK pistol adopted by the Austrian Army in 1982.
Galco introduces theSwitchback belt holster for both 4"- 5” 1911 pistols, accommodating versions with and without red dot sights. A hybrid design, it can be worn bilaterally, strong-side or cross draw.

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office has deployed the FACT Duty Weapon-Mounted Camera. The county encompasses over 18,000 square miles and the S.O. has experienced recent officer-involved shootings.
Delta Defense, LLC – which provides services to the United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) – has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s fastest-growing companies.
RubLine Marketing is proud to announce the addition of Reid Vander Veen, who has led the marketing efforts for organizations of all sizes, to the agency’s tea

Wilson Combat has an immediate opening for a Warehouse Supervisor.
The Second Amendment Foundation has launched an ambitious television advertising campaign promoting its “Second Amendment First Responder” program, promoting gun rights activism as the fall campaign season kicks off.
Born from the Trijicon RMR, the thinner, lower profile RMRcc provides fast, both-eyes-open target acquisition, accurate aiming, and proven reliability for concealed carry pistols. For popular subcompact and single stack pistols, the RMRcc weighs an ounce and is less than an inch wide.

New episodes of Gun Talk’s First Person Defender are ready for an eighth season. New content premieres each Sunday at GunTalkTV.com.
Pulsar announced the release of the Thermion XG50 thermal riflescope. This riflescope boasts 640x480 microbolometer strength and 12-micron pixel detail to detect heat signatures up to 2,400-yards.
The United States Concealed Carry Association recently launched a new training to help individuals become more prepared in the event of a disaster and confident in their ability to provide for themselves and their families.

Tom Nash, a life-long industry veteran and shooting sports advocate died unexpectedly at the age of 67 on Saturday August 22, 2020. Tom worked for over 40 years in the firearms industry, most recently serving as a Buyer and Key Accounts Executive for Bangers LP.
Starting Monday, August 31, and running through Monday, September 7, Apex Tactical Specialties is offering free shipping on all orders from their online store at ApexTactical.com during this Labor Day weekend. In addition, any order over $100 will receive a free Apex patch.
Faxon Firearms has teamed up with Crimson Trace and six other premier companies to offer a custom Crimson Trace themed Faxon FX-19 Patriot Pistol Prize Pack.
September’s Shooting Industry features “Training And The Gun-Store Business,” which illustrates how training can lead to add-on opportunities for store owners, and includes starting points for operations that haven’t added training as a service to increase revenue.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Robert Slick was exercising off-duty Wednesday when he saw a mobile home in Spring Lake engulfed in flames. Slick and a neighbor were able to rescue the woman from the burning structure.
 

I was recently notified of the pending reissue of the gun that turned firearms manufacture on its head: the GLOCK P80. Never heard of it?

According to material from Lipsey’s and elsewhere, the gun is a near reproduction of the gun built for the Austrian military trials announced in 1980, conducted in 1981. The new plastic frame, striker-fired pistol became the Austrian P80 in 1982. It was released commercially as the G17.

You’ve heard of that. It was the beginning of a police and military pistol that is still in production and was the basis for a range of sidearms across calibers and formats.

The commemorative box (above) contains the "tupperware-"style box (below) and a certificate of authenticity.

The essentials of the gun itself include the original P80/Gen 1 frame (except the Austrian pistols didn’t have the serial plate in the frame; that was a US import/sales requirement). The frame features the pebble texture and there are “P80” slide markings, in the original font. The trigger face is smooth (not grooved), there’s a flat extractor (of the original type), polymer sights and a single pin frame.

The gun includes a pair of magazines – current metal-lined versions – boxed in the “Tupperware-“ style peel-top box with a certificate of authenticity.

Like any G17, it has the 4.49” barrel (the current 14mm barrel, not the thin 13.5mm barrel of the original), has polygonal rifling, uses Gen 1-3 trigger, connectors, etc., and the gun weighs just over 32 ounces. The Pistole 80 was adopted by both military and police forces in Austria in 1982.

It took three years to get these guns made. Lipsey’s is known for GLOCK project guns and they made it happen. The original frame molds were long gone, but GLOCK stepped up for this commemorative project; the P80 is all GLOCK and nothing but; it’s not the “Polymer 80.” The MSRP is $669.

I shot the new-old gun from the 25 yard bench with four loads. I found that it was easily a three-inch group gun at that distance.

 

TABLE: Accuracy, 25 yards, from seated rest; five-shot groups.

 

Load

Group

Notes

Winchester 9mm “NATO” 124 FMJ

3”

3/5 into 1.5”

Speer 124 gr. Gold Dot HP

2”

3/5 into .75” (!)

Hornady Critical Defense “LITE” 100gr FTX

4.5”

3/5 into 2”, didn’t function the gun

Speer 115gr. GDHP

2”

 

It shoots inside of three inches, more accuracy than it needs. The trigger was a little stout but clean – and, I fear, a good number of likely buyers may never shoot this gun. And that’s a shame.

But it’s a service pistol and I felt like I should compare it to other service handguns, so I shot it on the Comparative Standards. There’s a discussion of that here. Suffice to say that I was slow; those sights are tight with little light on either side of the front sight when looking at it through the rear. Didn’t matter, I shot the course clean – for the first time, thank you – though very slowly. The holster was the Safariland 7TS, worn concealed, and the ammo was the Winchester 9mm “NATO” 124 gr. ball round – keeping it ‘service correct.’

Service-style Safariland 7TS holster and Winchester "9mm NATO" ball were used in the comparative standards.

I averaged nearly three seconds to the single hit from 25 yards – vastly too slow. The “single from guard” best effort from fifteen yards was still just over one second (should be under) and the pair from ten yards was .01 second under the standard in Hackathorn’s Wizard Drill. The reload and single “high value” shot from five yards were likewise a bit slow, with other times coming in “about right.”

The stock sights didn’t help, the old-fashioned frame texture didn’t actually hurt – and did I say I shot it clean?

It does take a little jolt to run the gun. Not necessarily “+P” or NATO standard, but a bit of a jolt. The “made for compact guns” Critical Defense LITE was not a good choice for this envelope … but it’s a new (old-style) gun and I imagine it’d digest the flyweight Hornady load after it’d been shot some.

I see why the Austrians selected it, just like I can see why – at its peak – around 80% of US civilian law enforcement selected this gun. It just works and it shoots quite well.

Lipsey’s has done it again and GLOCK does it still.

-- Rich Grassi

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