A pistol can feel amazing when you’re shooting slow. Nice grip, decent trigger, good sights, it points naturally… and then you put a timer on it and suddenly the gun starts showing you where the compromises are. Sometimes it’s the reset. Sometimes it’s how the slide tracks. Sometimes it’s a grip shape that feels good but doesn’t lock in under recoil. Drills don’t lie, and they’re brutal about exposing what a gun is really like when you’re trying to shoot fast and clean.
SIG P238
The P238 feels great in the hand and shoots surprisingly soft for its size, which is why people love it as a “nice little carry gun.” Timed drills expose the downside: tiny controls, small sight picture, and a platform that makes consistent grip and consistent trigger press harder when you’re running speed. The trigger can be good, but the small grip makes it easy to change pressure from shot to shot, and that’s where your splits get weird and your hits drift. It also encourages people to shoot it like a bigger pistol, which turns into over-gripping and inconsistent recoil management. You can shoot a P238 well, but it takes reps and it takes a realistic expectation of what a micro .380 can do under speed. A lot of folks fall in love with it slow and then realize they don’t actually want to train hard with it.
Kimber Micro 9
Micro 9s feel slick and “premium,” and they carry well. On drills, you learn quickly that short-slide, small-frame pistols can be less forgiving when you try to run them at pace. Grip consistency becomes everything, and small changes in hand position show up as bigger deviations in the sights. Also, many Micro 9 owners run into little reliability or timing quirks when they push round counts, which tends to show up during timed work because you’re not babying the cycle. Even when it’s reliable, the gun can feel snappy and the cadence feels harder to maintain compared to slightly larger compacts. That’s not a knock on the idea—it’s just reality. Timers expose the difference between “pleasant to shoot” and “easy to shoot well fast.”
Glock 19 (stock trigger cadence for some shooters)
A Glock 19 feels perfect to a lot of people because it just works, it points predictably, and it’s easy to maintain. Then drills reveal the part some shooters struggle with: the trigger’s wall and break feel different than what they shoot best with, and the reset can make them either ride it too hard or slap it trying to go fast. The G19 isn’t “bad” on a timer—it’s a workhorse—but it absolutely exposes shooter discipline. If your grip isn’t consistent, you’ll see low-left/low-right hits under speed. If your trigger control isn’t clean, you’ll see it immediately in splits and accuracy. That’s why people either become Glock monsters or they quietly sell them and say “it just didn’t fit me.” The gun is fine. Drills just make you honest about your fundamentals.
Springfield Hellcat
The Hellcat feels great in the store and it can shoot well for a micro, but a timer will show you how snappy it really is compared to compact pistols. The grip is short, and most shooters end up clamping harder than they do on larger guns, which makes the gun track inconsistently in recoil. Your first shot might be fine, then your follow-ups start walking. The sights and trigger are workable, but the platform is less forgiving when you’re pushing speed. Drills like Bill Drills or fast pairs at 10–15 yards will show whether you can keep the gun returning to the same sight picture. Most people can’t until they’ve put real reps into it. It’s a great carry option, but it’s not a free pass to shoot like you do with a duty gun.
SIG P365 (standard grip module)
The P365 is a top-tier carry pistol, but timed work shows how much the grip size matters. On slow fire, it feels controlled and accurate. On drills, you learn fast that the short grip gives you less leverage, and the gun will punish any inconsistency in pressure. It also makes it easier to start “choking” the gun as you speed up, which leads to jerky trigger presses and bad splits. Guys who shoot them well typically have a very consistent grip and they’ve practiced their cadence with that specific platform. Guys who don’t shoot them well usually say “I love it, but I don’t enjoy shooting it,” and that’s the timer talking. A slightly longer grip module can change the whole experience, which tells you it wasn’t magic—it was leverage.
Walther PDP (great feel, but fast cadence can get away from you)
The PDP feels awesome in the hand and has a trigger a lot of people like. Timed drills expose that it can be a little lively in recoil depending on configuration, and some shooters find their cadence gets ahead of their sight recovery. That’s not the gun’s fault. It’s what happens when the gun returns fast and the shooter starts chasing speed. You’ll see it on the timer: splits look good, hits start drifting. Another thing drills expose is whether you’re truly gripping the gun consistently, because the PDP’s ergonomics can feel so natural that people get lazy and stop locking in hard. It’s a great pistol, but like any modern striker gun, it rewards a disciplined grip and a disciplined trigger press. The timer makes you pay for shortcuts.
CZ P-10 C
The P-10 C feels like a “best of both worlds” pistol—good ergonomics, decent trigger, solid accuracy. Timed drills are where you find out if your hands and that trigger actually get along. Some shooters run the P-10 like a dream. Others find the reset and break timing makes them jerk the gun when they’re trying to go fast. It’s usually not the pistol being inaccurate. It’s the shooter’s timing with that trigger feel. The P-10 also encourages a very high grip, and some shooters start riding the slide stop under speed without realizing it, which creates inconsistent lock-back and adds frustration. If you’ve ever watched a guy shoot a P-10 beautifully slow and then start getting ragged at pace, it’s almost always grip pressure and trigger timing—not the barrel.
Beretta 92FS (DA/SA transition under time)
A 92 can feel perfect when you’re doing slow fire and enjoying that smooth single-action. Timed drills expose the transition: the first double-action shot is a different animal, and if you don’t train it, you’ll lose time and lose accuracy right out of the holster. Then you go into SA and now your cadence changes again. The gun itself is stable and shoots flat, but the trigger system demands consistency. On a timer, inconsistency shows up as a slow first shot or a thrown first shot, followed by faster shots that don’t match the first one. That’s how you end up with “this gun is great but I’m not great with it.” It’s a training issue more than a design issue, but drills are exactly what reveal that gap.
HK VP9
The VP9 feels great in the hand and points naturally for a lot of shooters. Timed work exposes that some people don’t get along with the trigger reset feel at speed. They either short-stroke it slightly when they’re trying to run fast, or they over-confirm the reset and slow down. Another issue drills expose is grip pressure consistency. The VP9’s ergonomics are so comfortable that shooters sometimes get a little relaxed and don’t clamp down the same way every rep. That changes how the gun tracks, which changes where follow-up shots land. None of this means the VP9 is unreliable or inaccurate—it means it’s still a pistol that rewards a consistent grip and consistent trigger mechanics. Timed drills punish “comfortable” if it turns into “lazy.”
Ruger LCP Max
The LCP Max feels like a miracle because it’s so small and still shootable. Slow fire makes people think they found the perfect pocket gun. The timer exposes reality: tiny guns are hard to run fast without losing the sights. The grip is small, the recoil is snappy, and your trigger press becomes a bigger variable because the gun is moving more in your hands. On drills, the LCP Max tends to turn into “I can hit, but I can’t do it fast,” which is an honest result for a pocket pistol. It’s not meant to feel like a compact 9. People who accept that love it. People who try to train it like a duty gun get frustrated. Timed drills simply reveal what the platform actually is: a carry solution, not a high-volume training machine.
Taurus G3C
The G3C can feel like a great value and it can shoot surprisingly well slow. Timed drills expose two things: trigger consistency and platform stability. Some samples have triggers that feel fine until you run speed and realize the break and reset don’t give you the same feedback every rep. That leads to hesitation or slapping. The other thing is the gun’s recoil behavior—when you speed up, you find out whether it returns to the same sight picture or if it wants to bounce and twist. That “bounce and twist” becomes a big deal when you’re trying to run controlled pairs. You can absolutely make a G3C work, but drills are where the gap between “okay slow” and “easy fast” shows up, and that’s where people decide whether they actually want to put reps into it.
S&W M&P Shield Plus
The Shield Plus feels great as a carry pistol, and a lot of shooters love it slow because it points well and the capacity is strong for the size. Timed drills expose the same micro-compact truth: shorter grip, less leverage, more sensitivity to grip errors. The Shield Plus can be run fast, but it demands a consistent clamp and consistent trigger press. If you’re slightly inconsistent, your hits start stacking low or stringing in odd ways past 10 yards. Another issue drills reveal is whether you’re riding the slide stop unintentionally. Some shooters lose lock-back and think it’s a gun problem. It’s usually thumbs. When you’re moving fast, small grip mistakes get magnified. The Shield Plus is good—it just makes you earn your speed.
1911 Government model (when you start pushing reloads and manipulations)
A full-size 1911 feels perfect in slow fire because the trigger is usually clean and the gun points naturally. Timed drills reveal the parts that can slow you down: manual safety use, reload speed, and how you manage malfunctions and admin handling under stress. If your thumb safety work isn’t automatic, you’ll lose time or you’ll fumble. If your mags aren’t great, you’ll see it when you start doing speed reloads. If your extractor is marginal, drills expose it faster because you’re putting the gun through higher cadence and more heat. None of this is “1911s are bad.” It’s “1911s demand skill and maintenance.” Slow fire hides sloppy manipulation. Timers put it in bright lights.
Ruger Security-9
The Security-9 feels fine in the hand and can shoot decent groups slow. Timed work exposes that some shooters don’t like the trigger’s feel at speed, especially if it stacks or has a less-defined wall. Under the timer, that lack of a clean wall can make people hesitate before the break, then slap through it, and the gun will show it on target. The gun can also feel a little more “springy” in recoil than other compacts, which can mess with cadence. It’s not that it can’t be shot well. It’s that it’s not always as easy to shoot well fast as something with a more consistent trigger feel and a more stable recoil impulse. Timed drills force you to stop guessing and start seeing what the pistol actually does when you push it.
Canik TP9 series (great trigger, but some shooters outrun the sights)
Caniks often feel perfect because the trigger is easy to like. Timed drills expose a different issue: people get greedy. The good trigger makes shooters press faster than their grip and sight tracking can support, and then their hits open up. They blame the gun because “it felt so good,” but the truth is they outran their own recoil control. Another thing drills reveal is whether the grip shape actually locks into your hand the same way every time, because if the gun shifts even slightly during recoil, your next press is off. A good trigger doesn’t replace a consistent grip. Caniks can be great. They also encourage bad habits if you let the trigger convince you you’re ready to run faster than your sights can settle.
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