Quarterly Qualifications...

...went well for me today, and this old man is proud of himself. I shot a 244/250 on the first qualification round with the Glock 19. On the second round I shot 250/250 with the same pistol. I then shot a perfect score on the shotgun qualification 5/5 of 12 gauge slug. I also shot a perfect score 250/250 with the HK MP-5. Since this may have been my last chance to shoot the MP-5 in qualifications I am pretty happy with that score. I am also quite happy that m scores improved back to normal, up from what I have scored the last 2 or 3 qualifications at the range. Those scores were not terrible, just not up to my regular ability, and I thought my last couple or few qualification scores had been effected by my no longer so great eyesight. My vision seems to come and go from better to worse back to better, to worse. Today I was seeing things a little clearer than I have been lately, but I was also concentrating hard on doing things right as I shot, taking my own advice and mentally talking myself through each shot, even on rapid fire. Funny that I also started an exercise program lately and my vision seemed to improve right after that. Of course, I do not think exercise has anything to do with improving vision, so maybe it was just coincidence, but I do need to ask my doc about that. Whatever the reason, I shot better today than at least my last 2 qualifications and that was a good thing.

As usual we also shot a good number of rounds in tactical shooting exercises. We did man down, seated shooting (simulating shooting from a car), malfunction drills, and one handed loading of the semi-auto pistol. It was one heck of a nice day, the weather was great, blue skies, a light breeze, and great temps. Only 5 shooters showed up, I think about that many cancelled for one reason or another. Well actually we had 6, but one agent had to leave being called away on something for one of his cases.

One of the best things about the day was I got a good amount of practice ammo to use at my local range or at the range I belong to in NYC. The government is full of bureaucracy, but I can say without a doubt, time qualifying at the range is something I will truly miss once I retire.

All the best,
Glenn B

Losing An Old Friend...

...can come in many forms. Today is my assigned range day for quarterly qualifications, and as usual I'll shoot the Glock 19, the HK MP-5, and the Remington 870. I like them all, but for sheer fun, and as my weapon of choice for my type of work out of the 3, I have to go with the MP-5. So it is with some sadness that I look forward to this day because it may well be the last day that I qualify with the MP-5. I was recently told that my employer plans on doing away with them in the near future. That is a true shame since the MP-5 is a versatile weapon. It is well suited for urban, suburban and rural environments. It is capable of firing semi-automatic, or in three round bursts (others can fire fully automatic too). It chambers the 9mm, but other models in other calibers are available. It can be used well close in, but can be shot out to some distance with accuracy and reliability, at least to 125 yards and probably out to 150. It also is an excellent weapon of choice for many of the types of operation which my agency conducts. It has sufficient firepower if ever called upon in a defensive situation. It is a well made and reliable firearm that is user friendly in its operation. It is also one of my favorite weapons, and when I have gone out on potentially dangerous operations it often has been my long arm of choice, even over my much touted (by me) Remington 870. I have to admit, while it has given me some comfort to have carried it on numerous operations, I am quite satisfied that I never had to shoot anyone with it. While I am prepared to do so if need be, I can tell you without a doubt, if you are a moral person to any degree, if you have respect for other people and respect for life to a good degree, you will suffer in conscious after shooting someone, even if to save another life. But I digress, so back to the MP-5.

If they do take them out of service, I will surely miss mine. So today, when I am at the range, I will try my best to shoot my best with it. If I have to give it up in the near future, I'd at least like to be able to remember that the last time I shot it, I was right on target with it. As usual, after shooting it, I'll give it a good cleaning, or two. I usually clean it once, wait a few days to a week, then clean it again. Even when you think you have cleaned one of these well the first time around, the second time around proves you wrong. Despite the pain in the neck cleaning them, and yes it is a chore, I will miss this one if they take them out of service.

All the best,
Glenn B

Glock 26

Okay, I have another offer to purchase a pistol direct from the manufacturer through my employer. This time it is for a Glock 26, 9mm pistol. This is the so called 'Baby' Glock. It is going for $477, with 2 magazines and Trijicon (or is it Tritium?) night sights. This offer seems more tempting than the ones I can get through my job for a SIG or an HK. Why, well because both the SIG and the HK are offered only in a law enforcement configuration which means both have a double action only trigger pull, and that trigger pull is horrendous. At least on the Glock I have a choice of the 5 lb.or 8 lb. trigger pull. This beats the HK by at least 4 pounds, and by 7 pounds if I get the lighter of the two offered on the Glock.

The Glock I think is also the smallest of the three pistols I have been considering. It is also the least expensive. I have also carried a Glock 19 for about the past 15 years; man it has been a long time. I am very familiar with it, and have had no major problems with it in all that time. There have been magazine exchanges where Glock has sent new mags to my employer to replace old ones, but they took care of problem mag designs very well in that regard. They now seem to have gotten it right. I also probably have a few of my own spare Glock magazines around. They are usable in the Glock model 26.

Now of course, the Glock 26 does not come in .40 S&W caliber, it is a 9mm. That will have to do, as for some reason my job did not authorize a personally owned Glock 27 in .40 S&W to be carried. That is strange since the HK and the SIG have to be in .40 S&W. Go figure, but that is the goobermint. Despite that, I have to tell you, this one is really tempting. It would be a great gun for retirement if only because of its small size thus making it quite concealable. In addition, I shoot very well with it (I carried a model 26 as backup on my job for several years and shot better with it than with the larger model 19). Yep, I think this may be the one. I have scrimped, and saved, and sold things I already owned to gather the cash (and payday is Monday) toward the purchase of a new pistol, and I think I may have to act before they pull the deal or raise the price.

Now for the tough decision - Olive Drab or Black? Basic Black has always suited me in my Glocks, so I suppose I'll stick with it. Tomorrow I will fill out the order form and the required purchase letter from my office. I already did that for the HK, but trashed that letter once I saw the deal on the Glock 26. This is going to be the one - really - it is the one.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Surely Cannot Afford One...

...but I sure as heck want one. Its an H&K P2000SK. See: http://www.hk-usa.com/le_p2000sk_general.html for more eye candy. There has got to be some way that I can wrangle myself into picking up one of these, especially since I can purchase one direct from H&K through my employer at an incredible price (that for some reason eludes me right now, but I was told it is a great price.

It would be a great pistol, especially one in .40 S&W caliber, to carry after I retire; and I will probably retire at the end of this year. I may just have to get a second job snow shoveling (oh let it snow tonight baby), or start collecting bottles and cans for rebates, or begging (no not by way of this site, but maybe panhandling in the Bowery), or saving my lunch money, or hitting up the super seKrit stash I have in the credit union in California (which of course is already earmarked for the tax man, and what I have stashed out there is just less than half of what I owe in taxes). Woe is me right now, but you can bet I am going to try to think of something. I do have a reptile show coming up on March 2nd, and I have a few lizards and snakes to sell. I could potentially make a few hundred to five hundred bucks or so, and then invest that into one of these beauties. Then I still need to worry about the tax man and what I owe him. Who knows - maybe I can pay off my taxes on a timed interest free plan.

I want one, I want one, I want one, I want one, I want one. Where in Hades is Donald Trump when I am throwing a fit and could use a handout (or even a few days work)! Oh well, I just had to get that out of me. Nope, you guessed right, it is not out of me quite yet. So I will be scheming because there has got to be some way for me to be able to afford one of these in the direct sales H&K offers to me because of my job. Anybody wanna buy a bridge (yep in Brooklyn no less).

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