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Nice video. I have a Coonan Classic (aka model C). It has a longer beaver tail on the grip safety so that issue was fixed. I have three magazines and all of them are easy to load without any tools. I can just press on the round eyelets on the follower and drop cartridges in. Mine has been extremely reliable with all full power .357 Mag ammo. Anything loaded to a lower velocity can cause issues with cycling. Overall it has remained as one of my favorite guns since I purchased it new around 2016.
My father and I owned so many of these Coonans in the 80s but sold or traded them at tanner gun shows in Colorado. I should have kept a couple but very fun to shoot.
When I was in the correctional academy, a classmate had one of these as his duty weapon. He let me try it out, and I was surprised by how well it shot and handled. I always wanted one, but couldn’t afford one. Thanks for sharing.
Having finished the video, I can say that the problems you had with your pistol were not shared by the one that I tried out. It didn’t hammer bite, shot to point of aim, and the sights were drift adjustable in the rear dovetail. It was probably a later production model and the manufacturer most likely had fixed the issues. If I remember correctly, there was a warning about using certain ammunition in it. I remember that my colleague used.38 Special ammo in it as well. His version also loaded pretty easily, much like you would load a .22 LR semiautomatic magazine, being careful not to get the rims in the wrong location.
@@thetexasgunvault It was my classmates gun, but I think it was an improved model. It was 1989, and the gun had been out for awhile already. It didn’t have bad recoil, and as I have large hands it wasn’t too big for me to grip. I don’t remember any hammer bite at all, and my 1911 Colt bites me regularly. I’m a guy who needs a good beavertail. His gun shot to point of aim for me, and as I recall was quite accurate. I had been skeptical of the gun before shooting it, but after trying it I was quite impressed.
A taller rear sight would help by raising the front sight point of aim even a couple thousands of an inch changes, I have the same problem with my 45 acp 1911 .
The Model A has a 1911 style 'swinging link' barrel which was changed on the Model B to a 'High Power' linkless type. Trigger also changed and I've owned a B since they were introduced and it's not shown any of the problems this A model has in this review. Accuracy is good and sights properly aligned as well as they have a longer tang to help with the hammer bite. I bought 5 spare mags when I got the pistol and this proved to be a good move because the mags became scarce and for a time were worth more than the pistol. Prices have gone insane on the Coonans with $3000+ listed on GunBroker....just crazy. Mine will run reliably with 158 grain loaded to about 1050 but any slower and it's not happy. Full power ammo is 100% and the mags are SO easy to load as long as you have something to hold down the follower which is not something worth complaining about. If you happen to find a NIB Coonan...be aware of them tending to gall when breaking in so they need greased well until this is finished. Once broken in they're no different than any 1911 other than the grip is really long to accommodate the cartridge. Compared to the 357 Desert Eagle it's a much smaller package and lighter though you do give up a few rounds of magazine capacity. I had both guns for comparison and still have the Coonan while the DE went to another home. It was too big to carry where the Coonan is easy as any 1911 though I don't carry it anymore...too valuable and if needed, which means the police will take it for evidence....not going to take that chance.
👏NICE - I have a very rare classic model that Dan Coonan made called a “Special Cut”. The front of that square frame is cut like a regular 1911. Only a handful of these were made and sold to some top dealers. I got my hands on one from a dealer. Amazing gun.
Love it or hate it, I don't care. I still want one. I've wanted one ever since I first heard about it many years ago. I've always been a big .357 fan and and big 1911 fan. This is the perfect combination, even with all of it's issues. Granted, this isn't a carry gun. Rather something for the collector and light range use. Plus is really does have some serious cool factor.
I function tested my Walther PPK this weekend and it has always caused slide bite but it was worse than ever this time taking a piece of meat out of my upper thumb knuckle. I'm glad I do not have to depend on it for anything and if I never shoot it again it will not be any time too soon.
Never understood the crude finish and heavy triggers on these. And now there's 8 shot 357 revolvers with much better triggers, if that's what I was going for.
Thanks for the review. I was eyeballing one of those at one time but never did pull the trigger (no pun intended) juice not worth the squeeze especially with those mags.
I would have liked to seen you disassemble it. I was wondering if it used the same pivot link on the bottom of the barrel as a 1911 or it uses an elongated hole in the barrel lug like so many modern pistols do. Didn’t know if the standard barrel locking lugs and barrel tilt mechanism would hold up to the 357 magnum recoil.
It would be a lot cooler if it was Conan Arms, like the barbarian. Beautiful pistol. From a practical sense, I prefer revolvers for rimmed cartridges except maybe .22LR.
Of course Jason another range report... Very nice looking pistol bruh. I also want to thank Thomas for subscribing, leaving a thumbs up and commenting which helps the channel immensely in small portions but it adds up! Thank you Jason..! Lmao, what's up Jason. I agree with you on those grips they are not appealing to me at all, how old is the pistol? Depending on when the pistol was built may have a little to do with trigger weight. Now how do you explain to the Jacks their guns suck, lol... As usual great detailed and informative video my man..! 😎
Blocky 1911s are all the thing now. That said, the Coonan is far from a 1911 in spite of the look. The trigger mechanism is entirely different than a 1911.
Please support my sponsor for this video -
Browne Works Inc. - They are a manufacturer of customized exotic wood grips for all your firearms. Each grip set is made to order and can be customized based on material, color, finish and even custom engraving. If there is something you want and do not see on the website, contact Mark, the owner, personally and he will do his best to make anything for your needs!
browneworks.com?aff=11
Or use the discount code TGV10 to save 10% on your order.
instagram.com/browne.works.inc/
.....is that .357 MAGNUM semi-auto pistol reliable or does it malfunction often ?
I always wanted one of these. So much lighter and more ergonomic than a Desert Eagle.
I can see that.
Nice video. I have a Coonan Classic (aka model C). It has a longer beaver tail on the grip safety so that issue was fixed. I have three magazines and all of them are easy to load without any tools. I can just press on the round eyelets on the follower and drop cartridges in. Mine has been extremely reliable with all full power .357 Mag ammo. Anything loaded to a lower velocity can cause issues with cycling. Overall it has remained as one of my favorite guns since I purchased it new around 2016.
That is great to hear. I am glad they addressed some issues in the later models.
These guns were really interesting back in the late 80's
Now 357 sig, 10mm 9x25d make more sense.
I completely agree.
Super cool pistol
Yes it is!
My father and I owned so many of these Coonans in the 80s but sold or traded them at tanner gun shows in Colorado. I should have kept a couple but very fun to shoot.
Wow! I know many are worth a lot today.
Mr Coonan wrote his engineering thesis on the anti-rim lock. He designed the magazine while in school as I remember.
I did not know that.
Robocop: "I'd buy that for a dollar!" Always thought those were neat.
They are interesting for sure.
Gotta love a 1911, yes, it's an old design.... but with each upcoming generation it's a new experience ;-) My Coonan in .45 ACP is wonderful
That is a good way of looking at it.
When I was in the correctional academy, a classmate had one of these as his duty weapon. He let me try it out, and I was surprised by how well it shot and handled. I always wanted one, but couldn’t afford one. Thanks for sharing.
Having finished the video, I can say that the problems you had with your pistol were not shared by the one that I tried out. It didn’t hammer bite, shot to point of aim, and the sights were drift adjustable in the rear dovetail. It was probably a later production model and the manufacturer most likely had fixed the issues. If I remember correctly, there was a warning about using certain ammunition in it. I remember that my colleague used.38 Special ammo in it as well. His version also loaded pretty easily, much like you would load a .22 LR semiautomatic magazine, being careful not to get the rims in the wrong location.
I hear that the model B and C had many improvements. Did you have a model A?
@@thetexasgunvault It was my classmates gun, but I think it was an improved model. It was 1989, and the gun had been out for awhile already. It didn’t have bad recoil, and as I have large hands it wasn’t too big for me to grip. I don’t remember any hammer bite at all, and my 1911 Colt bites me regularly. I’m a guy who needs a good beavertail. His gun shot to point of aim for me, and as I recall was quite accurate. I had been skeptical of the gun before shooting it, but after trying it I was quite impressed.
A taller rear sight would help by raising the front sight point of aim even a couple thousands of an inch changes, I have the same problem with my 45 acp 1911 .
The owner will have to look into that.
The Model A has a 1911 style 'swinging link' barrel which was changed on the Model B to a 'High Power' linkless type. Trigger also changed and I've owned a B since they were introduced and it's not shown any of the problems this A model has in this review. Accuracy is good and sights properly aligned as well as they have a longer tang to help with the hammer bite.
I bought 5 spare mags when I got the pistol and this proved to be a good move because the mags became scarce and for a time were worth more than the pistol. Prices have gone insane on the Coonans with $3000+ listed on GunBroker....just crazy.
Mine will run reliably with 158 grain loaded to about 1050 but any slower and it's not happy. Full power ammo is 100% and the mags are SO easy to load as long as you have something to hold down the follower which is not something worth complaining about.
If you happen to find a NIB Coonan...be aware of them tending to gall when breaking in so they need greased well until this is finished. Once broken in they're no different than any 1911 other than the grip is really long to accommodate the cartridge.
Compared to the 357 Desert Eagle it's a much smaller package and lighter though you do give up a few rounds of magazine capacity. I had both guns for comparison and still have the Coonan while the DE went to another home. It was too big to carry where the Coonan is easy as any 1911 though I don't carry it anymore...too valuable and if needed, which means the police will take it for evidence....not going to take that chance.
Great information! Thank you for sharing what you know.
👏NICE - I have a very rare classic model that Dan Coonan made called a “Special Cut”. The front of that square frame is cut like a regular 1911. Only a handful of these were made and sold to some top dealers. I got my hands on one from a dealer. Amazing gun.
That sounds amazing. Congrats!
The value has skyrocketed on the gun for sure really hard to find but a lot of small issues like you said
That is what I have heard.
The Browning 1911 frame is the best design in the history of firearms, emulated by almost every gunsmith!!!
Yes it is.
Love it or hate it, I don't care. I still want one. I've wanted one ever since I first heard about it many years ago. I've always been a big .357 fan and and big 1911 fan. This is the perfect combination, even with all of it's issues. Granted, this isn't a carry gun. Rather something for the collector and light range use. Plus is really does have some serious cool factor.
I hope you are able to get one someday!
I love the asthetics, has a beautiful 80's look to it
It does look very 1980s for sure.
I function tested my Walther PPK this weekend and it has always caused slide bite but it was worse than ever this time taking a piece of meat out of my upper thumb knuckle. I'm glad I do not have to depend on it for anything and if I never shoot it again it will not be any time too soon.
I am sorry to hear you are having that issue.
Loading that magazine looks similar to a lot of .22 pistol magazines.
Yeah, it kind of does.
Looks cool for smaller hands never seen one of those...thnx for the upload....
You are very welcome and thank you for watching!
Never understood the crude finish and heavy triggers on these. And now there's 8 shot 357 revolvers with much better triggers, if that's what I was going for.
I agree and can understand your thoughts on that.
Thanks for the review. I was eyeballing one of those at one time but never did pull the trigger (no pun intended) juice not worth the squeeze especially with those mags.
I agree and you are very welcome.
You could try to get a shim under the rear sight to get it to shoot higher? Or file down the front sight or maybe some of both?
Thst might be a possibility, but this is not my pistol so I don't want to change anything on it.
Perhaps the trigger design was to compensate for the deeper grip frame to help decrease trigger reach length.
That might be the case.
This is definitely a rare gun but 357 Sig is where it's at
I think so too.
I would have liked to seen you disassemble it. I was wondering if it used the same pivot link on the bottom of the barrel as a 1911 or it uses an elongated hole in the barrel lug like so many modern pistols do. Didn’t know if the standard barrel locking lugs and barrel tilt mechanism would hold up to the 357 magnum recoil.
Yes it does. It comes apart just like a typical 1911 and that is why I did not make a field strip video about it.
@@thetexasgunvault Thanks!
I had a 1911 in 38 super. Then tried 9x23. HOT!!!
Very nice!
Try a 9x25 dillon
It would be a lot cooler if it was Conan Arms, like the barbarian. Beautiful pistol. From a practical sense, I prefer revolvers for rimmed cartridges except maybe .22LR.
I completely agree.
savin my pennys for MY coonan!!
Do you think it would've been easier and cheaper to just make a
.357 mag rimless case?
That's pretty much what .357 Sig is.
Of course Jason another range report... Very nice looking pistol bruh. I also want to thank Thomas for subscribing, leaving a thumbs up and commenting which helps the channel immensely in small portions but it adds up! Thank you Jason..! Lmao, what's up Jason. I agree with you on those grips they are not appealing to me at all, how old is the pistol? Depending on when the pistol was built may have a little to do with trigger weight. Now how do you explain to the Jacks their guns suck, lol... As usual great detailed and informative video my man..! 😎
LOL, Thank you for everything and Jack always wants me to give my honest opinions. He is a great guy!
@@thetexasgunvault Kool lol... 😎
That is a beautiful damn gun. It looks like a cigarette lighter from 1975. So sexy.
I can see that too.
The rear sight is too low. Anyway, 38 super or major 9 is as good with alot more capacity.
I agree.
Blocky 1911s are all the thing now. That said, the Coonan is far from a 1911 in spite of the look. The trigger mechanism is entirely different than a 1911.
Yes they are.
Model B is a much nicer gun,
That is what I hear.
The lever behind the trigger is an odd design choice...
Yes it is.
You were using some light 357, no ring of fire and very little fireball. Kind of subverts the point of a 357 semi auto.
Sometimes, the camera doesn't catch the flash due to the frame rate.
Great review I will pass on Coonan
Thank you so much!
try different types of ammo ..
something a lil more hot maybe.
I did and got the same results.
I have the B model
Do you like it?
@@thetexasgunvault yes only can no longer get more mags for it