eaacorp.com/davidsons-exclusive-girsan-mc-p35-pi-ops/I bought this yesterday, it is a Girsan MCP35 PI OPS (a Davidson's Special), it is a used model, it is not a Lightweight model. The gun came with three 15 round magazines, which were made by Mec-Gar. The grips you see in the picture were installed on it and the original walnut grips were in the box, as well as some cleaning tools and manual.
I took it to an Action Pistol match today to give it a bit of a workout. I did reasonably well in the match until the third stage when I tried to use some factory reloads which the gun really disliked. During the first two stages I used some Winchester 115 gr. FMJs that worked pretty well.
The gun ran pretty well at the match with Winchester 115 gr target ammo, only once failing to go into battery, however, it did not care for the cheap factory reloads that I had on hand, no surprise there. Upon looking more closely at the factory reloads, it was noted that the rounds were not crimped particularly well. This being the case, many of the rounds would get hung up on the feed ramp, causing the gun to fail to go into battery.
After the match I tried some hollow points in the gun; it absolutely choked on the Federal 124 gr. hydra-shocks, as well as the Sig Sauer 124 gr. V-Crown JHPs. With both of these loads, I tried to run about 10 rounds each and nearly every round failed to go into battery (might be why it was up for sale). Last, I fired a magazine full of Hornady 115 gr. XTP American Gunner, I had no failures to feed and the group was reasonably small (probably about 2.5 inches off hand @ 10 - 15 yds). Good enough that I would find this an acceptable defense load in this gun if I could run another 100 or so rounds through it without incident.
I'm a little ambivalent about the gun's ergonomics, it feels like a Hi Power, but has some distinct differences.
This gun does not have a magazine safety and will fire without a magazine in place.
Flat faced trigger; this is a first for me and I can take it or leave it, no real difference that I can discern. Having said that, I measured the trigger pull and it came out at a fairly heavy 6 to 6.5 lbs, however, the break is excellent, very crisp. I had no trouble shooting groups and the gun shot lots of "A"s during the competition if I did my part.
The curve at the bottom of the grip is an obvious difference, I didn't like it much at first, I have fairly large hands and could feel it when I gripped the gun. After shooting the gun for a bit I really didn't notice it anymore and it became a non-issue.
There is the Picatinny rail up front, which I will probably never use and will force me to buy a new holster since my Kramer Leather Hi Power holster will not accommodate this gun. I believe they make this model without the rail.
The ambidextrous safety works as it should and the extended beavertail on the grip is comfortable and well executed. I find the beavertail unnecessary, as I haven't really had an issue with hammer bite. For those that do have that issue this will be a nice addition.
The sights are three dot (white, equal sized) and work as well as any I have ever used. The rear sight looks to be a plate and the slide is optics-cut for a Shield RMSc footprint. But the rear sight is part of the plate and with the plate removed there is no rear sight. I'm not sure if there is a way to add one once the plate is gone. The front sight is low so there probably would not be a way to co-witness the sights in either case. The front sight is dovetailed so it might be relatively easy to replace.
The mag release appears to be somewhat extended and it worked well during the match, I was forced to use it a couple of extra times when having issues with the ammunition.
The slide release worked properly, I use a high thumbs grip, riding the safety and did not have an issue with the slide locking back on empty.
There is a relief cut under the trigger guard to allow a higher, locked-in grip (much like the one on my Colt Delta Elite), I really like this option, it worked well for me.
When I disassembled the gun last night I found that removing the Recoil Spring Guide was difficult. It seems that the recoil spring guide is a sort of two part affair consisting of a guide and plug, with a really powerful spring. If you are considering buying one of these have a look at the exploded drawing in the manual, it is different and not a lot of fun. Sometimes I'm not a mechanical genius so maybe it's just me, but be forewarned. I plan to look around on youtube to see if there is something I'm not understanding.
I own a Browning Hi-Power and a SA35, I am a big fan of these types of guns. This gun is fun to shoot, comfortable and accurate. I'm not sure about how reliable it is going to be, I need to shoot it quite a bit more to figure out what it likes. It is possible that the former owner may have taken some liberties with this gun, I plan to do more research about the guide rod and other things. In general it's an interesting gun, I like the size, the abbreviated barrel and slide are pretty cool, though if you don't need the rail I would recommend the other model. If I can get this model to run well I would consider the lightweight model for sure, as I think it would be a nice carry gun.
Time will tell if I am going to be happy that I bought this gun. If I can figure out which ammo it prefers I think it will be a fun gun for shooting pistol matches and even possibly using as a carry gun.
