After futzing about with micro-guns for the past several range trips and taking a break from them while new gear is on the way to more fully evaluate, I took a look at the fourteen-year-old Glock 19 I was wearing and decided it was time to make a change – at least for a while. There's a Gen 4 Glock 19 in the bullpen but it requires a bit more work before it takes over my daily care. The Glock 30s – a ten-shot compact .45 Auto with a slide and barrel as thin as the single stack Glock 36 – was hauled out. It fits the regularly used Bianchi Model 135 Suppression holster. I wanted to get a feel for the piece again, so I took the .45 out to the range. It was supported by ammo from Black Hills, Federal and Hornady. I used the Safariland Model 578 GLS Pro-Fit Holster introduced at SHOT. It combines the GLS (Grip Locking System) with an adjustable holster body made to fit a wide variety of guns with a single holster. It's designed to fit more than 60 firearms based on barrel length and to be customizable for a perfect fit. The holster fit the Glock 19 without adjustment and, not surprisingly, it fit the similar-size Glock 30s without any adjustment. The single magazine pouch was from Comp-Tac Victory gear.

Safariland Model 578 GLS Pro-Fit Holster.

I posted a target from Champion targets – the LE "Anatomy" silhouette. I modified it by drawing a "FBI-QIT" line part way down the target, drew a gun outline on the target and put a 'scoring box' on the high chest. Except for the 'dead line' about 2/3 of the way down the target, the other decoration was just to try out some stencils. As I expected, I needed the work out. I had more outliers than I like, but this was 're-familiarization.' A target from the end of practice serves no purpose. A target from a cold FBI Qual does. The ammo varied a little. The Hornady "American Gunner" 185 grain XTP hollow-point is pleasant to shoot. I also used Federal 230 grain Hydra-Shok and Black Hills 230 grain JHP. These loads are similar enough to be virtually indistinguishable when mixed in a magazine. They're service-level loads which make the test relevant. As is my tendency, I felt I was "slow" and tried to speed up. 12 rounds are out of the little scoring box, three of which are low enough to irritate me. That's trigger-jerking and it's all me. The one in the face was an intentional failure-to-stop. I try to do a few of those each range session. The Glock 30s is still running reliably, the Ameriglo "Spaulding" CAP sights draw the eye. The Safariland 578 is incredibly fast. I've been wearing the little .45 for a month or so now, including an end-of-week trip that saw me behind the wheel for around 700 miles. Wearing a 10-shot .45 Auto, along with a spare 13-round magazine, was no chore. I think I can see why this pistol is popular. If you like the .45 cartridge, this is a good way to carry it. -- Rich Grassi