The Glock Collector - Added A New Blog To The Link List Today

 Well, truth be told the blog is not not new, it is just new to my list under the header:

TAKE A SHOT WITH THESE SHOOTIST BLOGGERS, NOT AT THEM

 

The newly added blog is The Glock Collector. Now, some of you who are more attentive than me may immediately notice that said blog seems to have died three years ago in March 2020; that is the date of the last post. I only noticed after adding it to the link list and despite there being no new posts to it in over three years, I am going to keep it on the list because there seems to be lots of good info about Glocks within its pages. For instance, I was trying to determine how to tell if a Glock has been factory refurbished or rebuilt. The Glock Collector made it straightforward and pretty simple at these two pages:

https://glockcollector.info/2019/01/11/product-number-breakdown/

https://glockcollector.info/2019/11/21/case-label-colors-what-do-they-mean/

 Now that I am aware of that info, I may stop at Hot Springs, on my journey back to Texarkana from my sons place, to pick up a Glock 26 at the Lion's Club gun show. We stopped there yesterday and I would have bought it had I sold any of the guns I had brought with me. Later, after leaving the show, I found out that dealers at gun shows often sell rebuilt/refurbished Glocks as new - that was news to me. Because of the price this particular one had on it, it would be worth it to me to go back and check on it. If not rebuilt or refurbished and if still up for sale, I may own a new Glock 26 before I get back to my apartment.

All the best,

Glenn B

I Don't Know About You...

 ...but I do know that I need to make a trip to the range. I have both a shotgun & revolver I bought at auction back in late April, probably received them in early May and  have not shot them yet. The shotgun is a Savage Stevens Model 94C Hammered 12 gauge; it is a single shot. The revolver is a Ruger New Model Single Six Convertible, 22 LR & 22 WMR, in stainless steel. Both are in very nice condition and I am very happy about that because I bid on them without being able to check on their condition before bidding. I usually check at least a couple to a few days before the auction but my timing was off so I tried the day before the auction. That was no good and no go because they were too busy to do it at the auction house. That's okay by me because it was my bad as they say. 

Regardless of not being able to check, I wound up with two very nice firearms. As for the shotgun, I certainly did not buy it for anything like needing another shotgun, I think I have four of them right now, two Remington 870s, a Remington Model 10 and a Remington model 31. Those are more than enough for me, in fact I recently sold my Remington model 29. I bought this one thinking it would be a nice project gun on which I'd maybe touch up the bluing and refinish the wood stock. Right now, that is still the plan but I have no clue when I, THE Great Procrastinator will get around to it. Anyway here it is in pics:

 

 

As you can see it is in pretty good shape. I have almost half a mind to leave it as is but I also have just a bit more than half a mind to strip that ghastly dark finish off of the wood and replace it with one using tung oil and lots of rubbing it in; I am a fan of more natural looking wood and there is oft times beautiful wood grain under those old time dark finishes. I know many folks prefer the original finish and a good number of them think it almost sacrilegious to refinish an older gun like this but I have no qualms about doing so. After all, this is not some rare super expensive gun, I got it for a whopping total of about $130.00 or so and that includes shipping and an FFL fee.

 

As for the revolver, it is staying as is except maybe for me touching up the finish on the grips or replacing them with a better looking pair. Now, they do not look bad but there appears to be finish wear when seen up close & personal. That may only need a bit of polishing though. Here are some pics of it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I posted pics of these already but am just too lazy at 0545 hours of the morning to check. I got out of bed at 0350 or so and have not felt like jumping back under the covers, wide awake am I for some reason.

I bought these at auction, the same auction my son told me to bid on this for him, the this being a Glock 41 in 9mm. Here are some pics of it:

 

The Glock needs some repair, minor at that but repair nonetheless. Someone, an idiot I suppose, put an improperly sized pin into it as far as I can tell. It's the one above the trigger pin (its name eludes my little gray cells right now). It falls out when shot. No big deal if it is only the pin and not something internal. It will or should be an easy fix no matter what. I just hope Glock is again selling parts to the public. Apparently they had their own crisis during COVID and would not sell parts to the public for a while back then! If they are not selling parts, the pin may cost me about 10 times what it usually sells for from Glock.

 

As I said, I need a trip to the range. I was thinking only with the Savage Stevens & the Ruger but I guess with the Glock as well since my son gave it to me to fix being I used to be a Glock Armorer & Advanced Glock Armorer. I said used to be because I never recertified once my certification expired the last time which was the fourth certification or so for me over the years. I figured why waste the money to recertify with Glock @ of a few hundred dollars when they were not selling parts to the public. I guess when I get it fixed thought I should shoot it to make sure I got it right.

 

Anyway, as I said, I need a range trip. Maybe Friday, sounds good anyway.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

In With The New - Out With The Old - Goodbye Old Friend

It was a sunny crisp February day two days ago when I drove up to the NYPD range at Rodman’s Neck for my agency’s quarterly qualifications on Tuesday. I was up that way early enough though to make a stop to fortify myself with a hearty breakfast (brunch for you yuppies), so I stopped at the City Island Diner first for a nice helping of bacon and eggs, home fries, toast and coffee. With that all inside of the old furnace I was able to better withstand the cool air at the range over the next several hours. The thing about the range is that even when a day is sunny and has little humidity, it is kind of damp because it is on the water front; and it is virtually always windy or breezy at the least.

As for the business at hand that day, I had to turn in my issue Glock 19. I suppose it was ceremonious on my part, but on Monday night I gave it a good cleaning. It had already been cleaned recently, but certainly not as thoroughly as I did on Monday night. I got into every nook and cranny in my search for fouling, and although there was not much to be found I did come up with a somewhat dirty patch and q-tip or two. Then I packed away the Glock 19 into its original box, with its original set of instructions and warranty paperwork, and with the cleaning rod and feeding device that had come with it. Out of the few folks who had not yet converted to the new issue SIG 229 DAKs, I was the only one who had his Glock in its original box. It really didn’t matter, the head primary firearms instructor took the old pistol, made sure it was unloaded and literally tossed it into a large cardboard box with a bunch of other ones. Then I was handed another gun box, this one containing a supposedly brand new SIG 229 DAK (in .40 S&W), with four 12 round magazines, a gun lock and an instruction manual.

I sat down and took a look inside the box as instructed. Everything was there; but when I checked on the pistol I saw it has a ding on the slide, and further inspection showed it to have an awful lot of fouling and unburned powder residue inside of it. I noted this to the PFI who just told me maybe it was a test gun. I have to wonder if it had been issued and returned for some reason, but will admit that as I shot it that day I could not figure out any such reason so I imagine he may have been right about it being used as a test gun. We got a lecture on the workings of the SIG 229 DAK a double action only pistol. I had heard that scores overall had dropped some when switching to this pistol. I will not name the source but he has been a reliable one and definitely is in the position to know about all of the range scores in my office. During the lecture we were told that was all BS and that scores had improved with this pistol. I found t hard to believe at that moment that scores with a long travel DAO trigger pull would improve over those achieved with a Glock, but time would tell.

After the lecture inside the fairly warm classroom, it was off to the outdoors chill of the range. The temp had already dropped a bit or so it seemed to have done and it was only about 3PM. Once at Frank Range we got to the business of cleaning the new pistols, and especially the mags which had a light coat of something akin to Cosmoline on them. Then we picked up 6 boxes of .40S&W ammo and loaded for some introductory familiarization drills. Even if someone already had been issued one of the SIGs over the past quarter or two, they had to repeat the familiarization drills and that is probably a good idea since the triggers on these things will sure take some getting used to, especially for those of us who had been issued Glocks before. I can say without a doubt that I dreaded the prospect of the long trigger travel necessary to shoot these pistols, and now that I have fired them I dread ever having to use one in a bad situation simply because of the split second longer it seemingly takes to fire each shot as compared to firing a Glock. One thing that we were notified of was that in order for the trigger to reset, it only had to travel about halfway forward, and once a click was heard and sort of felt, the shooter could activate the trigger from that halfway mark and refire the pistol. Of course that would be a good feature in any DAO pistol but then again you would either have to be able to feel or hear that click reliably each time you fired to know when the trigger had rest. What with the added recoil of the 40S&W cartridge, I had a hard time knowing when the trigger was actually reset, and it traveled fully forward at least 75 percent of the time before I realized it had reset. I do not like the amount of trigger travel required from the fully forward trigger position without knowing when the trigger first reset, and I still do not like the amount of trigger travel required even from about the midway point once it has actually reset. In short I do not like the amount of trigger travel required for this pistol.

Other than the amount of trigger travel required, I did not find any fault with this pistol on my first try of it but I must point out that 300 rounds through it is not enough to satisfy me of anything as to this pistols reliability. I much prefer to shot at least 500 rounds through any pistol on its first outing. I had asked for more ammo so I could practice on my own, but we all got the news that ammo is in short supply and that the PFI expects a shipment of about ¾ of a million rounds to come in soon. Once it arrives we will supposedly be issued ammo for practice; and I hope that is correct as I’d like to put it through some of my own testing. As for my day at the range, I will admit I got used to the trigger pull, if not to the recoil, very quickly. Now mind you, I am not a wimp as to recoil, it is simply that firing this will take some getting used to after having fired primarily a 9mm for the past 15 to 20 years or so with the Glock. Man has it been that long, I suppose so, maybe even longer! But I digress, so back to the SIG.

Mine functioned flawlessly. The guy next to me had some problems. He kept getting failures to eject leading to double feeds. I think that was shooter induced, in fact I hope it was, because no pistol costing as much as a SIG should have problems like that. As to cost, how much did they go for? I don’t know, but if you go to this link,  there is an article about the DHS contract with SIG. The price shown for the pistols in a sidebar is over $900 apiece. I cannot believe that is the government price and will have to read the article more than I have already done to see if it mentions the contract price. Yet, even if that is retail, that is darned expensive as compared to something like a Glock which would probably sell at government contract for about half of that by my guess. Again I digress, so let me get back to the shooting of this rather large pistol. Did I say large, funny how the uniformed inspectors at CBP reportedly got smaller versions, and we who work in plain clothes and conceal our pistols got larger ones. Go figure but that is the gooberment for ya.

Like I said, while shooting it, it worked flawlessly, at least mine did. Luckily I had no problems with inadvertently dropping the mags while shooting. What is that about you wonder! Well the PFI explained in the classroom that these have a large overly sensitive magazine release button. As it turns out I had to make a concentrated effort to keep the thumb of my right hand off of it while shooting. In fact we were even told not to take a normal grip of this pistol to avoid hitting the mag release. That is fine at the range, but how many will remember to take that extra step if under fire in a shootout? Leave it to the gooberment to order something that is broken before it ever gets touched! I do not know if anyone on Tuesday dropped any mags because of the design, but to me that seems a design flaw that needs to be addressed immediately, in fact that should have been addressed before the pistol every went into production and if discovered only after production then it should have been remedied before they were ever issued. The other thing I see as a design flaw is the slide stop since it reportedly, again according to our PFI, can be activated by the thumb of the left hand when shooting from a two hand hold unless you hold this pistol differently than I have ever held any other pistol I have fired. I had no problem with that, and I held it a few different ways just to see if I would have the problem. I cannot attest to whether or not anyone else had problems, at the first shoot, but I can tell you there sure seemed to be an awful lot of alibi shots fired, more so than on previous range days when everyone was shooting pistols other than these SIGs.

As for hitting the target, I did well. We shot three qualification courses. Since I also have a Glock 26 as a secondary firearm, I shot twice for qualification with the SIG and once with the Glock. I scored 247 and 249 respectively with the SIG (out of a possible 250). I scored 249 with the Glock. A friend of mine of many years shot 3 perfect scores with the SIG. Some others did well, but it seemed a bunch did not shoot as well, and at least three shooters had to requalify, one at least two extra times before he achieved a passing score. There will be some teething issues with the changeover for some shooters for sure. As for my shooting, since it was getting markedly colder by the time we got around to the quals, I put on leather gloves for the 2nd qual with the SIG. With the gloves on it made the trigger travel seem much less on follow-up shots. The gloves fit well into the trigger guard of the SIG, nowhere near as tight as they went into the Glock trigger guard. I did note that after having fired a good number of rounds through the SIG and then firing the Glock, some of my shots with the Glock were going several inches higher than usual. I attributed this both to wearing gloves and to having been somewhat effected by the long trigger pull of the SIG. What I mean is that once the Glock had fired, as I followed through and came back toward a firing position, I had already tightened my trigger finger somewhat on the trigger (I suppose due to muscle memory of the longer trigger pull on the SIG, and due to the fact that I had on gloves which already had pressure on the trigger a bit with the Glock and its smaller trigger guard area). So I wound up firing when on target but before fully following through on recoil – thus a bit high for some shots. Thus when switching from the SIG to the Glock in the future I will have to make a conscious effort to remember the qualities of the trigger pull on each. Although I don’t think would have happened without my having on gloves, it did happen nonetheless. Things likes this are one reason that I strongly recommend carry a backup pistol that is essentially the same as your primary handgun in almost all respects; that way there is no adjustment that you need to make between firing one or the other. As to other operation of the Glock as compared to the SIG, everything else is similar enough to not require any drastic change in how to operate one from the other when shooting.

Taking the gun down for cleaning is a breeze, and I much prefer the method used to disassemble the SIG as compared to that of the Glock. Yes it is also very easy to disassemble a Glock, but the Glock requires that you activate the trigger to be able to field strip it. This is not good in my estimation and can lead, and probably has led, to unintentional discharges of Glocks. With the SIG, you take out the source of ammo (the magazine), then empty any round out of the chamber that might be in it, then lock the slide to the rear. Once the slide is locked back you can operate the disassembly lever on the left side of the frame and then pull the slide off of the frame. Remove the recoil spring and guide rod, then take the barrel from the slide, then clean it. Reassembly is also a snap. Where as the Glocks did not like it wet, the SIG reportedly likes it wet so a good application of oil was recommended to all metal parts that move against one another.

I have noted one thing about the SIG that is of some concern to me, and just noticed that this morning. While it is a DAO pistol, and the hammer is bobbed so you can not manually cock it with your thumb, and the interior section of the hammer apparently has no full cock notch, the SIG can be set at what amounts to half cock by partial activation of the trigger. That in itself is of little concern to me as it seems the amount of trigger travel required to fire the pistol from half cock is the same as if it were fired from an uncocked position. What is of concern is that if someone inadvertently places enough pressure on the trigger to have the hammer go into what seems to amount to the half cock position, there is no way to decock the pistol from that position without activating the trigger to its full extent. That is at first glance. I have to check the manual on that, but I did not see any decocking or safety lever on the SIG, and we were not given any instruction about that at the range or in the classroom. Of course, I plan to point this out to the firearms instructors as soon as feasible. I imagine the biggest risk with the pistol being at half cock would be if it was dropped and could fire from that position. Our instructors told us that these pistols have been drop tested repeatedly and have not fired, but I wonder if they were first set in the half cock position and dropped in that condition, or were just drop tested with the hammer fully down! The other problem I see with the pistol being able to go into half cock, is that some shooter not as familiar with guns as another, might see the pistol in that condition and then try to remedy it or get it back to hammer down position and may wind up pulling the trigger on a live round having been distracted by the problem of how to drop the hammer. Yes that would be an idiot, but they are out there, a few even working for government law enforcement agencies. I need to make a phone call on that pronto, so my article ends here.

Edited on 02/21/09 to add: Okay, so it did not end there where I just said it ended the reason being that I have some info on the half cock thing. It is a normal feature for this pistol, albeit a very confusing one at least for me. One of the range officers told me it is normal, and they forgot to mention it in the classroom the day I was there. He was happy I brought it back to mind because they want to make sure everyone knows it a normal feature of these pistols. The thing that confuses me is there is no reason I can see for having the pistol go into half cock when you pull the slide back and then let it slingshot forward. I guess it could be looked at as an indicator that you just loaded the pistol if you had a mag in it when you pulled back and slingshotted the slide, but why bother? Now you are left with a half cocked pistol, with no way of lowering the hammer except to unload the gun and squeeze the trigger. Yep, that is right, there is no decocking mechanism. Now mind you, the hammer being partially back does not indicate there is a round in the chamber, you can do the same thing without any ammo in the gun - so again I say why bother. All I see the half cocked hammer as being is a place into which lint and other debris can gather to screw up the works. It seem ridiculous to me to have this gun go into half cock each time you activate the slide. Of course maybe SIG has a good reason for this, but if they do I have to wonder why it is not mentioned in the manual.

Edited on 01/25/2011 to add: After a good long while of shooting the SIG 226 DAK, there are some issues with it that I would like to point out or reiterate. Quite a few of the other agents, with whom I qualified, inadvertently hit the magazine release while shooting it (and a few did so while holstering or drawing it) causing the magazine to fall out our at least pop out part way. This was a problem for several shooters and happened again and again. Another problem was with the slide stop being activated while shooting. It happened over and over again throughout several qualifications for some of the shooters and took a long while for them to adjust their grip to avoid doing so. Then there are the grip screws and the frame material. The screws are steel and the screw holes are in an aluminum alloy frame. They were easy to over tighten and thus to ruin the threads in the frame. In addition, the screws became easily rusted in normal use of the pistol, much more easily than in any other pistol I have owned .(I am guessing because of the quality of the steel or the finish or both as I am talking rust while being worn in the holster without a lot of sweat getting on them.) As I think I said earlier, I also do not like the trigger pull, too much travel and too heavy. I got used to it but much preferred the trigger on my previously issued Glock 19 and personal Glock 26.

Later for you.

All the best,
GB

My Glock 26...

...arrived today. There I was sitting at the duty desk in my office when in walked the FedEx lady. I had to sign for two packages for folks in my office. Once I signed, she asked me how to spell my last name for input on her keypad. As I was telling her, I looked at the packages and surprise, one was for me. What a coincidence! I showed her how to spell it; then I checked out the return address. It was - Smyrna, GA, home of Glock USA.

Well yippee, the Glock 26 had arrived, only about a month and a half, at most, after I had sent in the order, though it seems like less time. Not bad at all considering it has taken months for others in my office to receive their pistols ordered likewise.

Now the one n the picture, is not the exact same one I received, but it will have to do for now. Virtually the same pistol, so not much else to show by me posting a pic of the actual one I just got, but I'll take a pic tonight when I get home and post it anyhow just because that way I will have shown you my actual Glock 26. For now though it remains in the box, unopened. Well I opened the shipping box, but not the actual plastic gun case that Glocks markets with these pistols. I'll wait til tonight to do that, when I am home and relaxed. if I get the chance, I'll take it out over the weekend and shoot it at a range, you know just to make sure there are no glitches, bugs or kinks that need to be worked out of it. I imagine that about 400-500 rounds of 9MM should do the trick, you know- to break it in - so to speak.

All the best,

Glenn B

My Career Firearms

Yes the thought just hit me (after being up for over an hour and a half already and trying to think of something about which to write) that it might be interesting (at least for myself) if I was to list the firearms that I have carried so far throughout my career in federal law enforcement.

I started my career as a Border Patrol Agent, in that garden spot of the world: Calexico, California. That was back in 1979. The first thing I was offered as an issue revolver was a Smith and Wesson model 19 with 4" barrel, blued steel. I did not like it. I wanted one of those wonderfully heavy revolvers I had shot at the academy, a Colt Border Patrol. The guy handing out the guns gave me the hairy eyeball, and probably thought I was crazy, but I got just what I had wanted. (Sorry I don't know which one that is in the pic. My goodness was I ever really that thin, and that young - I guess I was, a long time ago.) The piece was a lot heavier than the Smith, and its trigger pull a lot stiffer, but I liked it. Why? Well because the cylinder rotated along the natural pull of the thumb so as to make reloading more efficient. More efficient because as you loaded, if only part way through and you had to slam the cylinder shut and fire, the next click would likely go bang. Smith cylinders move in the opposite direction. If you look at a Smith & Wesson revolver from the rear, as you would when holding it to fire it, and then operate it so the cylinder turns, you will note the cylinder moving in a counter-clockwise direction. The natural movement of your thumb, when reloading, is to pull the cylinder in a counterclockwise direction. This means that if you close the cylinder before being fully reloaded, as you might in a combat situation, the rounds are likely not going to come up immediately under the firing pin. Instead empty chambers will first pass the firing pin. Not good tactically speaking when a split second could be of the essence to your winning a gunfight. Now when you load a colt, this does not happen. You see the action of the Colt revolver is such that the cylinder moves in a clockwise direction. So when your thumb pulls it counterclockwise as you reload, and you then have to quickly close a partially loaded gun, the first chamber to fall under the hammer would likely be one that you have just loaded. That is good.

Another reason I liked the Colt was that if I ever ran out of bullets, I could use it as a more effective club than I could the Smith & Wesson. Man it sure felt a lot heavier. It was built to last for sure; and at the time, or within a year or two of that time, I discovered that Smiths were not being built that well. One thing not so great abut the Colt, beside the heavy trigger, was the fact that it was unforgiving if you decided that you were going to do something like take it apart and give it a really good cleaning in paces no one had looked at since it was manufactured. I soon found out that putting it back together was nowhere as easy as was reassembling a Smith Wesson. In fact, my first and only attempt to do this resulted in my sheepishly going to see our armorer (or the agent who passed for such) and begging him to make it new again. After he replaced one of the springs I had mangled it was just that good. That was quite embarrassking, as Popeye would have said.

Somewhere along the way, my Colt Border patrol was replaced by a S&W model 19. If I recall correctly, they collected all the Colts to get rid of them, too old or so I remember. The thing was, those Colts would have lasted another 50 years. The S&W 19 turned out okay for me. I actually got to shoot better with it than I did with the Colt, and I could actually take it apart to clean out its innards, and then get it back together and it still worked. I wound up buying a couple S&W model 66's when they came out with a Border Patrol commemorative. I got one with a 4' barrel and one with a 2 1/2" barrel. This was when I discovered that S&W quality control was not all it was made up to be. These revolvers actually clinked when you dry fired them. I took mine and shook them, and pieces of metal shavings fell out of them. What a sorry state for a brand new gun. I sold them quickly.

As for long guns, I was not issued one while in the BP except on a requested daily basis. In other words, I had to ask for one if I wanted it, and had to ask each day then return it at the end of my shift. We had Remington 870 shotguns in 12 gauge. I liked them a lot. I had quite some fun with them at the academy, and when we shot trap (or was it skeet) I hit every clay, even when they did doubles, and I sure don't shoot that well today (ah the adeptness of youth). We also had Remington model 760 rifles in .308 caliber, they were a pump action. They were fun rifles. I took one out now and then, but I preferred the shotgun for the type of work we mostly did, though I will say while out of town in the desert those rifles were my choice. It was sort of a nice thing to see they had the same basic action type as did our issue shotguns. No chance to forget, while under stress, which one you had, and therefore operate it incorrectly.

Now while I was in the Border Patrol, I was not allowed to carry a back-up handgun. I would never intentionally break the rules, so I was sometimes quite upset with myself when I reached into my pocket only to find a Beretta Jetfire in .25 Auto. I guess that happened now and then because I was a gun sort of a guy, but as I said, never intentionally! The slingshot I carried, a wrist-rocket or something with a similar name, now that I carried intentionally, but only for use on animals like sunks or stray dogs that would have otherwise interfered with my duties while out on patrol.

After 4 years in hell Calexico, the garden spot of the world, I was able to land a job with the U.S. Customs Service as a Customs Patrol Officer in new York City. Yes I am a New Yorker, and I wanted to get home, so badly in fact, that I took a job for which by then I was over qualified. In fact I never even looked into becoming a Customs Special Agent at the time, thinking instead the patrol officer job would be my foot in the door so to speak. Well the door slammed on my foot, and it took me many years to become an agent, but that is another story. As for my sidearms when I was a Customs patrol officer, I was issued a Smith & Wesson model 19 for uniform carry. I also got issued a S&W model 36, a 2" snub nose revolver in blue steel. Only a 5 shot, but that was okay by me, a back up piece that was issued was a big change from the Border Patrol. At sometime in my career with Customs I was issued a Colt detective Special, in .38 special, with a 6 shot cylinder. I liked having that extra shot, but that piece was not long lived, it was too old and worn to be shot as much as I liked to practice, so it was back to a S&W, this time a model 60 in stainless steel.

Within a few years, my job with Customs had changed to that of a Customs Investigator, basically the same job as a Customs Special Agent, but at lower pay that the high grade for an agent (later this job as found to be an illegal position by the OPM and all of the CI's had a position change to special agent). I was issued a S&W model 459. It was, in my opinion, apiece of junk, they all were. Later on (maybe when I became an agent) we were issued S&W model 6906's. (My backup with those was a S&W model 60, and the primary was the S&W, that is until they allowed us to carry personally owned firearms.) The 6906's were an improvement, but not by much as far as I am concerned. We had catastrophic failures with those that likely would have gotten you killed in a shootout.

Somewhere in there, I think when I was a Customs Investigator, they allowed us to carry our personally owned firearms at work. I decided it was time to take out the Beretta 92SB in 9mm. This was the precursor to the 92F series later used by our military. It was and is one heck of a great firearm. In fact, I owe my life to it. It is the only pistol with which I ever shot someone, and that guy was someone trying to mug me when I was off duty (again that is another story, and if you want to read it, go to the links on the right side of my page, for the article about Ballseye - What is in a Name (or just click on this link). Later on, while still authorized to carry personally owned firearms, I bought a brace of Beretta 92F's. I carried both of them for awhile, then decided to carry only one, and preserve the other for my retirement gun.

Of course my love for the Remington 870 was not abated by the fact I now worked for the Customs Service. I shot one at every qualification, and I shot one whenever I had a chance as range officer. Yes Customs sent me to an NRA Firearms Instructor school and gave me those duties as collateral duties. I was a firearms instructor for about 14 years, and enjoyed the heck out of it, until they punished me for something and told me not to report back to the range. Nothing to do with the range as far as I am aware, but they will not tell me what it was for which I was being punished, so I think it was my big mouth with a boss. Oh well, I again digress, so let's get back to the long guns I used while in Customs. As to the 870s, I often carried one from work, but I also was able to carry my personally owned one for quite a few years before they changed the firearms policy. (The pic is of my son shooting the personally owned one I used to carry at work, yes we still have it and shoot it frequently.) It was nice to be able to carry my own since I knew my own gun was in excellent repair, and shooting it as much as I did kept me in good shape for the hunting season.

The other long guns I shot while in Customs were the Colt Ar15, the Ruger Mini14, and H&K MP5. As to the rifles, I much preferred the Ruger. It was a simpler rifle, much more reliable than the AR15, easier to disassemble and reassemble, and therefore easier to clean and maintain. Don't get me wrong though, I liked both of them very much. Now I cannot recall if it was while I was a customs investigator or as a special agent, that I was invited to attend H&K MP5 training; and after which I was immediately issued an MP5 sub-machine gun. I also became certified as an MP5 instructor. What a fun gun, and it is one heck of a weapon.

Sooner or later, Customs decided that personally owned firearms were not a good thing. I was then issued an 870 shotgun, and I was issued a Glock model 19, and later a backup of a Glock model 26. Of course I had to give up my issued S&W model 60 for the Glock 26, but it was well worth the change. The Glocks were much easier to shoot with more accuracy that any issue revolver I ever shot. Those extra rounds were also a plus. I wound up turning in the Glock 26. To this day I do not know why I turned it in and just held onto the model 19, but at least I do have the MP5 or shotgun if I am going out on an operation.

When I was transferred to ICE (Customs Agents and Immigration agents were all brought under DHS when that department was created, and they were combined into one agency under Immigration and Customs Enforcement - egad what a mess), I brought my assigned weapons from Customs with me. As for the MP5, I still carry that - well sort of anyway. I had the original issue they gave me for several years, turned it in after I was in ICE, then missed it so much that I had another issued to me. The shotgun I had under Customs was traded in a few years ago for a newer model 870. The newest Remington 870 I was issued has ghost ring sights. Man they are sweet. I do love the 870, but I think I said that already. I would have a rifle too, except you cannot be issued 2 long guns at the same time under current ICE firearms policy. For some reason, the MP5 is not within that restriction, and that is good for me. I would hate to have to decide between having only an 870 or an MP5 for a long gun. I still carry the Glock 19, I guess I've had that over 10 years now, maybe 12 or more. I do not carry a back-up handgun nowadays, but as I said, when I go out on an op, I can take either the MP5 or 870 in addition to my sidearm. That is a comfort to me.

Where does that leave me right now; well the pic at the left shows what I carry on a daily basis right now. The shot includes my issued Glock 19. I am also left at the point where the issued firearms I have now are probably the last firearms that I will be issued as a government agent. We are due to start being issued Sigs sometime in the future, but that could be as far as two years away. I doubt very much I will still be in government service in 2 years as I plan to retire in January 2009. I think I have covered all the firearms they have issued me in my 28 years and one day (so far) in government service, and all the firearms that were personally owned which they allowed me to carry. Of course, I have owned and shot many other types in all that time, but I'll save those for another rant.

All the best,
Glenn B