Concealed Carry Handguns – August 2019

side of slide, you’ll see a recoil spring

that doesn’t look large enough for a

9mm pistol. This is all that is necessary

as the rotating barrel arrests most of

the recoil energy.

As the Bullpup 9mm fires, the barrel

and slide are locked together until the

bullet exists the barrel in the usual

locked breech short recoil operation.

The rotating barrel features three

locking lugs. These lugs lock the barrel

to the slide and to the locking block.

After the bullet exits the barrel, the

barrel and slide move together briefly

and the slide moves to the rear as the

barrel rotates.

The spent cartridge case is ejected

during this cycle. At this point, the

fingers that are part of the feed mech-

anism snatch the rim of the next car-

tridge and pull it backwards from the

magazine. The cartridge is fed into the

chamber, the slide then moves forward

and the cartridge is chambered.

TRADE-OFFS

The slide doesn’t lock open on the last

shot. The magazines do not drop free.

The magazines must be pulled from

the frame after the pistol is empty and

the magazine release is depressed. To

lock the slide to the rear the take down

lever may be locked at the 6 o’clock

position.

The original design demanded a heavy

coat of grease at the interface of the

barrel and locking block. The design

was prone to over-heating in long

practice sessions. There is a reason why

we use oil for some parts and grease

for others. The need to keep the pistol

greased was a practical drawback.

Grease also tends to collect powder

ash and grit. This design begged for a

modern coating such as Teflon or NP3.

Bond Arms discovered self-lubricating

RF85 and applied it to the Bullpup9.

The coating covers the barrel lugs and

locking block, a previous concern with

the Boberg 9mm design. While lubri-

cation is also needed, this coating goes

a long way toward solving function

problems with minimal lubrication.

SHOTS FIRED

I began with the SIG Sauer 9mm

124-grain FMJ. The pistol is surpris-

ingly comfortable to fire despite the

pistol’s light weight, and it handles

well. The grip is short but offers plenty

of adhesion and abrasion. The nicely

checkered wooden grips are ideal

for this handgun. I fired a half dozen

loads in the pistol, including the SIG

Sauer Elite 124-grain V Crown, the SIG

Sauer Elite 147-grain V Crown JHP, the

Hornady 115-grain Critical Defense and

the Hornady Critical Duty 135-grain

Flex Lock.

These are formidable loads. Shot

placement is most important, but

LEFT: In range

work the backward

feeding magazine

worked well.

RIGHT TOP: The

flap hammer strikes

a hard blow to the

firing pin. This is an

unusual but reliable

action.

RIGHT BOTTOM:

Note the rearward

feeding magazine.

The magazine at

left is unloaded.

There is no follower.

BOTTOM: Note the

thin recoil spring,

rotating barrel,

barrel block and

feeding ram.

126 CONCEALED CARRY HANDGUNS • FALL 2019