Match Guns & Gehmann & Triggers

[Marilyn]

I spoke today with Neal Stepp and understand that Match Guns has made an arrangement with Gehmann to distribute their guns to the U.S. At the same time, Neal received information from Gehmann outlining the Match Guns available and their features at a very high level.

It indicated the MG1 (air), MG2 (std & rapid fire 'trim') and MG5 (free) are all available in mechanical or electronic triggers. There are conversion kits for the MG5 free pistol between mechanical and electronic trigger. (There is also a conversion kit for the MG2 from standard to rapid fire 'trim'.)

Does anyone have any information about the electronic trigger being used with the Match Guns? Are they purchasing it from Pardini or someone else? Is it 'bug' free? Has anyone shot it? (Pardini took a bit of time to get their trigger reliable, I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig for this one!)

This new arrangement with Gehmann probably explains the hold up getting Match Guns into the U.S. They probably sat on orders until it was finalized.

[Matvei]

That MG electronic trigger issue is not clear. Electronics was announced at Swiss Arms Manufacture site, a manufacturer of their own SAM brand (www.samarms.ch). At the end of the page there are pictures of MG guns, but they seem to be with mechanical triggers. So, there is evidently nothing before we get some concrete announcements from the manufacturer (MatchGuns, Parma, Italy)?

[Mark Briggs]

Hi Marilyn,

Glad to hear you're still alive and kicking up in that thin Colorado air! Thanks for your update w.r.t. the US distribution of Matchguns. I've recently ordered another MG-2 through our local Gehmann dealer and can confirm the same arrangement exists in Canada.

I've also recently picked up a Pardini SP1 Electronic. Of course I still have the MG-2, so have been able to do some comparing of the two models.

From a RapidFire perspective, the electronic trigger is an advantage for dryfire training - of that there's no doubt. As well, the electronic gives a constant "feel", even after the sear breaks and the shot fires. The third advantage I can identify with the Pardini electronic trigger is that one only needs to release the trigger's second stage in order to be prepared to fire a subsequent shot. On the disadvantage side of the equation is that first stage weight cannot be adjusted below a certain minimum, and that's pretty high, likely around 500-600 grams on my pistol.

By contrast, the MG-2 possesses an excellent mechanical trigger, quite different from that of the GSP and other similar-vintage pistols. It's design is such that one can have pretty realistic "feel" for multiple dry-fires, without re-cocking the gun. That is to say that it's feel does not change very much whether you're actually actuating the sear or not. Like the Pardini electronic, the MG-2 only requires the second stage to be released in order to be made ready to fire a subsequent shot. However, unlike the Pardini electronic, the shooter can actually feel the trigger disconnector re-engaging to signal the trigger is ready for the next shot. I find this to be an advantage in RF.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that the MG-2 mechanical trigger is very good and not likely to be improved upon very much by going to an electronic version. Since Cesare Morini was involved in the design of the original electronic triggers found in Morini air and free pistols one would assume that he would be able to produce a pretty good set of electronics for the Matchguns series of pistols. Given that Matchguns appears to be at the "bleeding edge" of introducing this technology to their product line I think I'd have a strong tendancy to stick with the mechanical trigger version of the MG products for a while.

If we get a chance at the Nats this summer I'll let you try both the Pardini and MG-2 in a side-by-side comparison so you can draw your own conclusions.

[_trinity_]

Hey Mark,

Whoa, so where have you been investing? Hehe, your slush fund must be doing pretty well to afford all these new toys! :-p

When I was at the CWG, I noticed this guy (from India I think), shooting the AW93 for RF. Remembering your experiences, I immediately thought, "oh man is this guy going to be in for a shock when he goes to the 4s stage". But boy was I wrong, I was the one in shock as he blazed through and I think he ended up second.

Afterwards, Yuri went and asked him (I think, or maybe it was his coach). Anyway, and found out that his AW93 has been extensively customized :-p

trinity

[Mark Briggs]

The word on the street is that FWB is soon to release a couple of new models, including one optimized for RF. In its stock configuration I would say the AW93 is a good starting point for heavy tweaking and customization. I'm glad to see that somebody has put some effort into making the pistol work for RF, and hope the factory pays attention to that individual's efforts and the resulting RF performance gains.

Glad to hear you're back from Melbourne safe and sound!