Be a heel
I discussed having a Curio and Relic Firearms Collector’s license in a previous post, and today, I wish to offer a recommendation for firearms makers that occurred to me as I contemplated the Walther P38 that I recently acquired—mine is a post-World War II model made for the West German Bundeswehr and thus much cheaper than one made in the Nazi period, so I can enjoy putting rounds through it without feeling guilty about wearing out a significant piece of history or being frivolous with my bank account.
Its double-action trigger fits into Jeff Cooper’s assessment of European fighting philosophy that the first shot is not meant to accomplish anything but to make noise, and in single action, the let off is a squishy event somewhere along the squeeze, but the P38 does appeal to my love of old designs—it is also a firearm that shows up in so many of the war movies that I watched from my youth onward—and it allows me to inspect an illustration of how Walther and Beretta looked over each other’s homework for much the twentieth century. In common with the 92FS design, I expect no difficulties out of the P38 while cycling hollow points, thanks to the straight slide of rounds from the magazine into the chamber, for example.
But there is at least one feature that would annoy many contemporary American pistoleros: the heel latch to retain and release the magazine.
Okay, I know that John Moses Browning, peace be upon him, put a button high on the grip where a right-handed person’s thumb can be the pressing instrument on the M1911, and with my dominate left hand, I can poke the magazine release in a more positive manner with my index finger while feeling sorry for the majority of the population who have to fumble about on many other pistol designs, their buttons being buried in a trench somewhere in the grip panel.
As much respect as I have for Browning’s inventiveness, however, I have to express a bit of heresy: I may prefer the heel latch.
I can hear the gasps of competitive shooters across the Internet, and since I am slaughtering sacred cows here, I will compound the outrage and say that such people, along with the bearded tacticool fellows who would like to enroll us in their classes, have too much influence on today’s handgun market.
What I mean here deals with a statistical claim that is often quoted, but tough to track down, namely the asserted fact that in the average case in which a private citizen will discharge a gun in self-defense, the situation will be over in three rounds fired in three seconds at a target no more than three yards away. Is this true? Massad Ayoob apparently puts the round count at five to six, with the caveat that what happens most times does not mean every time.
In any case, we are still within my P38’s capacity of eight cartridges in the magazine, plus one in the chamber (a small number that is a second cause for distress over its design for some shooters) and well under the limit of many pistols that hold fifteen or more rounds.
I am not expressing a position here on efforts among gun control advocates to limit everyone to “ten bullets.” The P38’s grip is slender, but I doubt that I would object if it were wide enough to accommodate the equivalent of a Browning Hi-Power’s magazine. What I am questioning here is the notion that there is only one acceptable method by which we must be able to drop a magazine away with the press of a single digit and slap in another.
Consider the tactical reload, the removal of the currently inserted and depleted, but not empty magazine to replace it with a full one. The goal here is to retain the partial load in case of later need, while having a topped-off pistol right now, with retain being an important element. Yes, it is possible to fulfill that with the push-button designs whose magazines drop away, but a mechanical reminder to keep this magazine even when inserting that one is not a bad idea for a distressing scenario.
And then there is the problem of the button up on the grip being depressed when that is not wanted. Yes, the heel release may get caught on something, but to me, that seems a less likely event than having the grip shift while I am moving about or sitting down, with my belt or holster performing the job that only my forefinger is supposed to do—the latter being something that does happen from time to time. The best tap-rack-bang correction that has to be executed is the one that we do not need at all.
And so, I would like to see more heel latches for handgun magazines. I realize that this is not going to be a popular request, and since Americans are far and away the majority of civilian gun purchasers, manufacturers are not inclined to listen to me, but the concept is worth a thought.
Or perhaps I am a damned socialist who is spreading propaganda for damned socialist firearms.
Addenda:
The P38 does not like hollow point rounds. The magazine follower leaves too much of a gap before the chamber.
The trigger turns out not to be a problem, at least when I was punching paper plates at twenty yards.
I really like the heel release.