Peglegjoe
Professional
So, I picked up the FDE Hellcat today. Color may just stay - it's not as "bright" as my brain made it out to be.
It was D-R-Y.
I wanted to take it right to the range, but there was NOTHING for lube on it. No assembly lube, no clean lube...nada. No damage...they just shipped it dry as a bone is all. So, I brought it home, did a good clean-and-lube...and (of course), shot it!
Runs nice. Ate two full mags of Wolf steel-case FMJ (I know...but it's what I was able to find these days...) with no hesitation. Trigger is finicky - if I have even the slightest side-push, the safety blade catches on the body and I have to adjust. Not the gun's fault - it's my crappy form. I also have to change my grip. It's a good thing I hook my pinky under the mag, because my strong-hand thumb hit the mag release halfway through a dump. Pinky held it in place enough to finish the dump....but I either need to change my grip, or I need to file the release a bit so it isn't SO easy to drop the mag. Tradeoff for that? I didn't hit the slide release and it locked back just like it should when the mag was empty!
Texture is what I remembered from when I rented one pre-covid - positive, solid, grippy, but not tear-your-hand-sandpaper. Sights are nice - I may actually change the rear U to a tritium TruGlo though, to complement the tritium factory front. She's fairly on-target right out of the box - I had good windage but was shooting about 2" high at 7 yards at first. I had that dot too high in the U, I suppose. I'll figure it out with practice - but for the first 25 rounds through it? I'm very happy. It's a great start.
Full mag, she's still lighter than my XD-s. Significantly lighter. I was amazed by that.
And, I'm super-happy I have an uplula...my God, those mags are a bitch to load!
I also experimented a bit. I run a Viridian R5 ECR green laser on my XD-s. I pulled it off to try it on the 'cat, and....with two VERY minor nips with a dremel, it'll work PERFECTLY! I'll post up what I mean about the nips. Basically, the top-rear corners of the laser, where the rail meets the trigger guard, pinch in just a bit too much for the Hellcat. The Hellcat has a boss radius in that location, that the XD-s doesn't. Talking less than 1/16" material here. But, it fits the rail perfectly, and it fits the guard perfectly. I'll start looking around online for one, but there's a local gun show next weekend and I'll likely wait till I can walk through there, to check show pricing.
I just hope I can keep finding enough ammo to break it in properly...so I can switch my carry from the XD-s to the Hellcat.
It was D-R-Y.
I wanted to take it right to the range, but there was NOTHING for lube on it. No assembly lube, no clean lube...nada. No damage...they just shipped it dry as a bone is all. So, I brought it home, did a good clean-and-lube...and (of course), shot it!
Runs nice. Ate two full mags of Wolf steel-case FMJ (I know...but it's what I was able to find these days...) with no hesitation. Trigger is finicky - if I have even the slightest side-push, the safety blade catches on the body and I have to adjust. Not the gun's fault - it's my crappy form. I also have to change my grip. It's a good thing I hook my pinky under the mag, because my strong-hand thumb hit the mag release halfway through a dump. Pinky held it in place enough to finish the dump....but I either need to change my grip, or I need to file the release a bit so it isn't SO easy to drop the mag. Tradeoff for that? I didn't hit the slide release and it locked back just like it should when the mag was empty!
Texture is what I remembered from when I rented one pre-covid - positive, solid, grippy, but not tear-your-hand-sandpaper. Sights are nice - I may actually change the rear U to a tritium TruGlo though, to complement the tritium factory front. She's fairly on-target right out of the box - I had good windage but was shooting about 2" high at 7 yards at first. I had that dot too high in the U, I suppose. I'll figure it out with practice - but for the first 25 rounds through it? I'm very happy. It's a great start.
Full mag, she's still lighter than my XD-s. Significantly lighter. I was amazed by that.
And, I'm super-happy I have an uplula...my God, those mags are a bitch to load!
I also experimented a bit. I run a Viridian R5 ECR green laser on my XD-s. I pulled it off to try it on the 'cat, and....with two VERY minor nips with a dremel, it'll work PERFECTLY! I'll post up what I mean about the nips. Basically, the top-rear corners of the laser, where the rail meets the trigger guard, pinch in just a bit too much for the Hellcat. The Hellcat has a boss radius in that location, that the XD-s doesn't. Talking less than 1/16" material here. But, it fits the rail perfectly, and it fits the guard perfectly. I'll start looking around online for one, but there's a local gun show next weekend and I'll likely wait till I can walk through there, to check show pricing.
I just hope I can keep finding enough ammo to break it in properly...so I can switch my carry from the XD-s to the Hellcat.
