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

 

Wasted day - well maybe not...

...that is not if I go fishing tonight. I had been planning on going to the outdoor range at The Long Island Shooting Center of Brookhaven today but let too much of the day slip by to make the trip worthwhile. They charge about $23 per day for shooting pistol and rifle, and $5 per trap session; the drive is about 60 miles each way to reach the place. Well by the time I got done puttering around the house it was about 1:30 and they end shooting at 4:15. Since it would take me over an hour to get there that would not be worth it at all. So I decided to go to the nearby indoor Nassau County Rifle and Pistol Range. They are closed on Saturdays and Sundays and I would swear it is September already, and well within their business hours, but they just did not - maybe would not - answer the telephone. Not like it was when Republicans ran the county - oh well. maybe they are still closed since this is Labor Day weekend. You would think they would be open though since the Nassau County website only says they are closed on weekends during July and August.

So, tough noogies for me I suppose. I had wanted to try out the latest acquisition - the Mosin Nagant 91/30, and to shoot the Yugo M44 too. I was also going to sight in the Marlin 336 since I removed the scope and scope mount to clean the rifle (much to my dismay finding some pretty bad rust under the scope mount but nothing terrible). Now that I had the scope on and off and on again, it needs zeroing for sure. I also had half a mind to shoot the Yugo SKS and to find out if the stripper clips I bought actually are made for the SKS and function properly in it. Well, I suppose there is always tomorrow for the outdoor range. I think I will leave right after breakfast.

As for the remainder to today, there is not much to do. I may go out fishing tonight if the party boats are not too crowded. yeah, I know, good luck this weekend. Then again I may get lucky. They are fishing at night for Striped Bass and Bluefish; I always bring a bottom rig too to see whatever down there might be biting if the blues and strippers are not. I have gone home with a bagful of Ling in past years when others had nothing. The boats leave at 7, I like to be there by 6, so I have plenty of time to do whatever else I can think of before heading out at about 5. I suppose I ought to spend at least an hour or two making sure my rod, reel and tackle box are in order. If I do go out it will probably be on the old and very slow captain Al. A slow boat but usually excellent mates and good fishing. There area lot of other boats to choose from, but in recent years I have chosen them for the few trips on which I have gone fishing. See: http://www.thefishingline.com/party.htm.

I also suppose I am taking a chance that I will throw out my back or shoulder. They are still both aching but not as bad as they have been over the past week, especially the past couple of days. The Arthrotec pills I was given by the doc are working somewhat, but not all that much to tell the truth. Still though I am feeling a bit better. Maybe that bit better is good enough to handle a bite from a nice bluefish or a cow striper. Mmm, broiled Striped Bass and grilled bluefish sound really good for tomorrow after the range.

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

Ballseye's Firearms Training and Tactics - Breaking In A Pistol (and Glock 26 Range Report)

Old timers probably remember, in years gone by, that when you bought a new car it came with a break in period. During that period you were supposed to drive the car moderately with regard to speed, distance, and braking. It was new and it needed to get settled or broken in. Cars today are not the same. You drive em out of the showroom ready to go. Still though, I think there is a break in period for new cars, and that would be the first several hundred miles (driving here in the NYC area) or maybe the first one thousand miles elsewhere with less traffic, less stop and go, less potholes, and so on. Its not a time when I baby the car either, but rather one wherein I give it a good long once over test drive to see if it is truly road worthy for say a vacation trip, daily commuting and so forth with my family in it. What I am driving at is that if it does not show itself as having problems in that time, well then nothing catastrophic - like a wheel falling off, the brakes failing, the steering failing - is likely to happen afterwards when I am driving it with my wife and kids in there with me. My testing it like this is a prudent thing to do with a new car instead of just blindly depending on it as being truly road worthy for all road conditions.

I do likewise with guns, especially with firearms that are meant for self defense purposes. If I am going to trust my life to a pistol, or revolver, or shotgun, or rifle, well you can be darned certain that I have tested it before betting my life on it working when I need it to go bang. Of course that goes out the window in an emergency when I might just grab any gun at hand, but my regular carry pistol or revolver, or my regular home defense shotgun or rifle, has had a good deal of ammunition run through it before I will use it to defend my life or that of another.

Now many a shooter buys a new gun, and buys a box or three of ammo, then takes the gun to the range to shoot it. They shoot up a box or two and save the other box to have enough ammo to load up the gun for self defense purposes with some left over. So it turns out that maybe they fired 50 to 100 rounds through a new pistol or revolver, and probably less through a new rifle or shotgun. If they encounter repeated failures to feed, to fire, to extract or to eject - they usually guess that there is something wrong with the gun. That is a good guess, but not always right. On the other hand, if they had just a jam or three they usually attribute them to the firearm being new, and to it needing the kinks worked out of it. They, like on the other guess with more jams, may or may not be right on that one too. Some of them may even guess it is the ammo that is at fault, and they too could be right. On the other side of the coin, they may have no malfunctions at all, and therefore arrive at the conclusion that the firearm is in perfect (relatively speaking) working order. Again they may be right, but again they may be wrong.

As far as pistols go, the thing is though that running just 50 rounds, or even a hundred, through a pistol to run it through a break in period, is just not enough ammunition to test its reliability. Sure it may seem like a good amount of ammunition to shoot, but it is often not enough to make something go kerplunk when instead it should have gone click, bang, rack, click, bang, and so on. What I am driving at here is that I have, in my almost 35 years of pistol shooting, seen many a pistol fail, and most of them that I have seen fail have either failed after having many thousands of rounds of ammunition fired through them, or have failed after only having a few hundred rounds shot through them at most. What that translates to is this:

A pistol, that has been fired again and again with proper maintenance will usually fire many many thousands of rounds before it fails. When it fails, it usually fails due to things like a broken part, metal fatigue, a worn piece, a weakened spring and so on. This is actually to be expected as a pistol gets older and older and is fired more and more. Parts need to be checked and replaced as needed. Of course all of this relates to a pistol that has been broken in and that has proven itself reliable from the start.

There are problems that arise with pistols, like all of those I mentioned above, that can start happening anywhere from the first round fired through the first hundred rounds fired, or in fact anywhere after that. While I just mentioned they can happen at anytime, they are less likely to happen, to a pistol that has proven itself reliable during a break in period, before you have reached the point where several thousand rounds have been put through it. What I am saying is that the break in period is the time during which many a problem due to faulty manufacture of the pistol's parts, or due to improper assembly, will become evident.

So what does one do to properly break in and test fire a pistol to check its reliability. Well first of all, and I am talking a newly acquired pistol that is either new in the box or used, you get the manual for it and read it. After doing that you ascertain that the pistol is safe, then disassemble it as recommended by the manufacturer for a good cleaning. After cleaning it, lubricate any parts that the manufacturer recommends lubricating, then reassemble it. Now the fun begins because now you take it to the local range with at least 400 to 500 rounds of ammunition to test fire it; and that ammunition should be the same ammunition you plan on carrying in it when you use it for self defense purposes.

Why so much ammo? Well because firing that many rounds through a pistol usually makes something go pppffffzzzt or kerplunk, or splat when it should being doing otherwise. If there is a weak part, something that is likely to break, well then that many rounds through the pistol will likely bring that problem to your attention whereas 50 rounds may not be enough. In other words, from my experience in over 35 years of shooting pistol and 14 years as a firearms instructor, and from what I have been told by other instructors, putting 400 to 500 rounds though a new pistol is a fairly reliable way to make it break if it was manufactured in a faulty manner. Another thing about using that much ammo is that the gun gets kind of dirty with that many rounds through it. So if it was put together to specs that were to tight and the guns starts to action slowly after say 300-400 rounds, it may also be a good indicator that the gun will not tolerate dirt and fouling as well as one would hope. Now while you are shooting 400-500 rounds at a single range session to break in a pistol, you can bet that if you were firing at a good steady pace, the gun is prone to get hot. This will also provide another indication of if it will function properly when needed in a tight spot. Some pistols begin to seize up when they get hot. If you fire this many rounds through it and yours does not, well bravo. One other reason to fire this many rounds, doing so will smooth out the operation of almost any pistol that was properly manufactured. What I means is that when a standard commercial pistol is manufactured there are bound to be tool marks and burrs on the metal. maybe not ones visible at first glance without magnification but they are likely there. Firing a pistol several hundred times, after having cleaned and lubricated it properly will smooth off many of these imperfections. This will allow the pistol to operate more smoothly. In addition if the pistol was finished to very tight specs, firing 400-500 rounds through it should also help to loosen things up just enough to help assure smoother and easier functioning.

Besides using that many rounds, you maybe wondering why I said to use only the ammunition you plan to use in the gun when you actually use it for self defense purposes. If you were wondering, well good for you, it is a good question. The reason I recommend not mixing ammunition, or simply using a cheaper ammo for practice and a better one for self defense, is this: You want to be absolutely sure that not only does your new pistol shoot, and that it shoots reliable, but YOU WANT TO MAKE DARNED SURE IT SHOOTS RELIABLY AND ACCURATELY WITH WHATEVER YOU PLAN TO USE TO DEFEND YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF YOUR LOVED ONES. You can take a pistol to the range, and then shoot Winchester White Box ball ammo (an inexpensive type of ammo sold for plinking and informal target shooting) though it for the 400 to 500 recommended rounds. The pistol may handle it flawlessly. They you leave the range, clean the pistol, and then load it with 115 grain Speer Gold Dot Plus P ammunition. You put the gun up on the closet shelf in the bedroom and that is that.

Well that was that at least until a few days later when you are awakened in the middle of the night by strange noises downstairs. Your wife is awake too and she is scared, she says she heard glass breaking and footsteps crunching the broken glass. You are sure it is a burglar. You have the wife call the cops and you get the pistol loaded with the hollow points (yes the ammo I described is HP ammo). Suddenly the bedroom door is hit and an armed intruder bursts into the room in a rage. You see him pointing a shotgun at your wife and you fire, the first shot going god knows where, and you try to squeeze off another shot, but for some reason the pistol has gone kerplunk instead of bang/rack/bang. When the police arrive they find you dead in a pool of your own blood. You wife has also been shot but she has survived. The bad guy has fled. When police examine your pistol they discover that the hollow points you were using would not reliable feed into the pistol and the somewhat rather rough feed ramp caused the jam. Too bad for you. that you tested your gun with ammunition that you did not depend upon to save your life; and too bad you assumed that if cheaper ammo fed in your pistol then more expensive ammo would feed too. Think that was too dramatic? Don't believe it could happen to you? I have seen it happen, that is the jamming thing, with many people's guns at the range. I'd rather not see the results, firsthand when it happens in a bad situation - though I have read accounts and seen photos of guns that have jammed for various reason, all when they were needed most. That is why I highly recommend using only the ammo with which you will defend yourself as your break in ammo for a new pistol, and why I recommend a break in test in the first place. Of course you can fire other types of ammo through your gun, but be darned sure you can fire the ammo with which you plan to defend yourself, that your gun operates reliably using that ammo, and that you can shoot accurately with that ammo.

There is another reason to go to the range and fire off about 400-500 rounds of ammo with any new pistol. It helps to assure that you are familiar with the pistol, and it should let you know whether or not you need to correct any bad shooting habits or if you need to adjust the sights to achieve accuracy with the new gun. Yes new guns are sort of like new cars, they are both machines, each make and model of both a car and a gun have a distinctive feel about them that you need to get used to, and they can offer quite the fun experience to use - as in drive or shoot while at the same time can also offer pure utility to the user.

Did I just mention fun, why yes I did. Shooting is good old American style past time that is lots of fun. The more you shoot, the more fun you have, well up to a point and dependent upon caliber anyhow. If you go out and shoot a .454 Casull 400 to 500 times in a day - well either you are a man of steel or are out and out nuts. Why? Well because you are bound to be hurtin bad if you are a mere mortal like me and fire that many of those big rounds in one day. Some pistol and revolvers require a few days break in period to shoot that many rounds, and those days may be spread out over weeks. With the lowly 9MM round however, it is a different story. You can probably easily shoot 400-500 rounds in a single trip to the range if you are a shooter of average build and strength.

Heck I did it today even though I have not been feeling my best lately. The truth is I had fun, and I was quite satisfied with my new Glock 26's operation at the range. I fired at least 400 rounds, and think it was actually 430 rounds I put through her today. I had a blast both figuratively and literally. I found out the new Glock 26:

1) Is an accurate shooter, probably more accurate than I can be with it.

2) Was probably made well, and will probably go a long time before breaking, since it fired every round with which it was loaded without a failure to feed, to fire, to extract, or to eject. (I had once failure to feed but only because I had not fully inserted a mag - shooter error - no fault of the Glock. I did have about 4 or 5 ejections where the shell casing came back at my face, and one or two that actually went to the left of the gun, I need to check on the ejector and make sure it is not bent at all; though most shell casings ejected properly.)

3) Can cause a blister on my trigger finger after firing 430 rounds within an hour.

4) Gets my fingers really dirty. I have to check into that, I don't remember that happening with other Glocks I have fired.

Here are the pics of some targets I shot. The one at 7 yards is the second magazine ful of round I fired from my new Baby Glock. The first 7 were shot into an already used target, I had been shooting my Ortgies Pocket Pistol in .32 ACP also. That first group looked to me to be a slightly better group, but a pic of that would have made a poor pic with .32 caliber holes and 9mm holes mixed together. All the targets are annotated to show at what distance they were set, and all have a U.S. quarter to sow scale for group size.








































As you can see, there was probably some shooter error. I don't mean as to group size, that was more than good enough for me; but you can see I am shooting a tad to the left of center of paper (where I aimed) when shooting at anything further out than 7 yards. I'll have to work on that.

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

Quarterly Qualifications

It was a warm day for one in the beginning of February today, at least by New York City standards, warm and damp, and even sometime wet. The steel gray clouds held low and promised rain, and every now and again they obliged that promise today, and the rains fell. Mostly gentle drizzle, sometimes a bit harder, up to a steady rain, but nothing to severe. Then back to being just damp again. That was okay by me, it had my spirits pretty high because I had to go to the range today for quarterly qualifications and the range is an outdoor one. With great timing, great for us shooters, the skies held back their tears as we left our training in the classroom and headed outside to shoot. So it turned out to be damp and warm, at least for a February qual. Warm meaning about in the low to mid 50s; and you can bet, that was good.

What wasn't so good though was my first score on the pistol course of fire. I have not shot as poorly as that in at least 24 years , and I mean that literally. When my range officer got done scoring it, he looked at it again, and asked me: "Where were you?" Where was I indeed to have scored a 220 out of a possible 250. I don't know, though I can think of some excuses, but excuses don't make one shoot better, or do they. I figured on what to do to improve by examining those excuses and a couple of other possible variables, and I then shot a 241 out of 250 on the second go round. Now that is none to great either. I have been known to shoot my fair share of perfect scores, but not that much in the last couple of years. That drop in score from the mid to high 240s, from scores in the mid to low 240s, which is what I usually shoot lately, is probably due to the eyesight not being what it once was. Oh well, that I can live with. A 220 score though, that is a tough one to live down for me, but I guess we can all have our off moments - better those off moments come at the range than in a gunfight.

As for shotgun, a perfect score. As to the MP-5 Submachine gun, I shot a 243 out of 250, which was good enough to satisfy me. Had I not turned around my pistol score though on that second go round, I would have been heartily disappointed for the rest of the day, maybe the rest of the week. I still cannot believe I shot a low score like a 220, very disappointing indeed. Still though it was uplifting to have brought up my score the second time around; so I guess I left the range a happy camper, qualified for another quarter, and with some extra ammo for practice. I'll be pretty sure to be shooting the practice ammo in the near future, I don’t want another 220 next time. As for the clouds, they remained friendly, the air remained crisp (or warm depending on how you look at it for February), and all in all it made for a great day at the range. Yes you can even shoot poorly and still have a great day at the range. Like fishing, a bad day shooting is better than a great day in the office; and this while not my best of days at the range, was far from a bad one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Day At The Range...

...another day in Paradise. Getting back to work was great if only because I spent most of the afternoon at the range for quarterly qualifications. I didn't shoot as well as usual, but I guess that is sort of understandable what with my health in the dumpers over the past several weeks. I did manage to do fairly well though and scored a 138 and 137 out of 150 on both quals with my Glock 19. Then I shot a perfect score with my Remington 870, and shot a 246 out of 250 with my MP5. Those Glock scores had me a bit on the downside, but as the range officer said - he could tell I had been ill. I am sure next time, my score will be up where it belongs in the high 140s to 150. I also enjoyed some tactical exercises, and some defensive tactics training regarding defense against knives. All very informative, though I hope I never have to try to use those techniques.

Work can have its good days, and range days usually are very good indeed.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Day Of Renewal...

...is what today wound up being at least for my soon to expire annual membership at the Westside Rifle & Pistol Range located in midtown Manhattan, and for my Collectors of Curios and Relics FFL license for another three years. As I look at it both of these are two worthwhile investments.

I have only used the FFL C&R license about 3 or 4 times to purchase firearms that were shipped directly to me instead of through a dealer. Still that made it well worth it, and well worth it to renew for a second renewal, at only $30 for three years. The renewal cost is about what it would cost me, at the low end, to have an FFL holder around where I live accept and transfer a rifle for me. I have had my eye on another Yugo SKS, and hope to buy one as soon as they become available once again at surplus dealers like Classic Arms, or Inter Ordnance.

As far as my range membership goes, I paid $100 for an annual membership renewal. I have heard from some people that they think said price is a ripoff. I actually think it a great deal for anything of that nature in the middle of New York City. I easily used said range at least once per month over the last year, and it was probably more like 15-20 times. Yes it works out to quite the bargain. Of course, the regular price is quite a bit higher, this is a discount price for LEOs, and one that I could not turn down.

While I was at the range earlier this afternoon to renew my membership, I also decided to get in some shooting. I didn't have all that long to shoot since I got there at about 2:15PM and had to work a 4x12 shift; but that little bit of shooting I did was also another thing that was well worth my ammo expenditure, the range membership fee, and my time. I only shot up about 300 rounds of 9MM thorough one of my Beretta 92Fs pistols, but I had a blast (pardon the pun). Besides just having fun, I shot about as good as I have in years, and all in all I wound off relieving a lot of stress. I almost always find my time at the range shooting to be very relaxing - something about the concentration, the complete focus on something I enjoy, that just seems to wipe away any stresses.

So no ranting about politics, world events, or other things for now, I am just too relaxed to bother with that stuff right now. I'll probably get back to the regular grind tomorrow, or later tonight if I have the time. Right now my break is just about over, back to work for me.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Son, A Shotgun, and Some Shells...

...are a combination that amount to a good time at the Trap Range. I had expected to spend a good part of the day at the range today, but as things would have it I wound up having to watch my mom last night and for part of today. My sister-in-law came out to relieve me today and brought my son Brendan with her. Brendan and I then headed to the range. We only had just over an hour to shoot so we went to the Trap Range.

We only have the one shotgun, an 870, so Brendan shot the first round. He only hit 4 of the clays. I shot next and hit 10 out of 25. Brendan then shot the next two rounds and got about 6 on his second round, but improved to 12 on the last round. He changed his style a bit by that third round and it seemed to make a good deal of difference and he improved considerably. This was the first outing to the Trap Range for us this year. Hopefully we will get to shoot there at least a few times during the spring and summer.

It sure was a nice day for this today. Temps in the low to mid 50s, slight breeze, blue skies; and some quality time spent with my son. Brendan got some color; and the freckles started to come out on both of us. Things don't get much better than that! If we had had more time, we would have hit the rifle range too, but things just did not work out that way. Maybe next time for the rifle range. All in all though it was a great time if only a short one; but then I guess we have to take happiness as it comes to us.

All the best,
Glenn B

Nice Day At The Range

I spent most of the morning today cleaning my issue H&K MP5, my issue 870 and my issue Glock 19. Only the shotgun needed cleaning, but it was a job I enjoyed doing on all three weapons. Make no mistake about it, these three firearms are my weapons when I am working. Hopefully I'll never have to shoot anyone with them, but I like to keep em ready to shoot well, even if only at the range.

This afternoon, I spent most of my time at the range for quarterly qualifications. I disappointed myself a bit with the Glock 19. I shot for score twice, the first time getting a 141 out of 150, the second time around I got a 147. Should have been a 150 second time around, but I made mistakes. Then I shot perfect with the shotgun, 5 out of 5 - yes we only shoot 5 shots at 25 yards to qualify. It was a fairly nice group as usual with the 870 in my hands. Then I shot a 247 out of 250 with the MP5; that really was a disappointment because I was shooting right on all the way, then my glasses fell off while shooting a few three round bursts. I kept shooting just like if it had been the real deal in the street, and put three rounds just out of the center ring losing 3 points. Oh well, stuff happens, and you have to keep on going.

All in all it was a great day. The weather was fine with temps in the mid fifties to low sixties, a slight breeze, and bright blue skies. The range officers were pleasant as usual, and that makes for fun shooting. Besides the qualifications we shot tactical stuff from behind cover. First though we ran about 40 yards or so, just enough to get a little bit pumped, then into the range sort of blind. Had 6 targets face, had to get behind cover, then fire at the bad guy targets. Only had 6 rounds per mag, but had to empty all the mags, so reloading would get done .I got em all, and did not shoot the good guy target. I also had a failure to extract, then the next round failed to feed. Did the tap rack, but did not reengage because it was obvious I had to strip out the mag, and reload a new one because it had not cleared. The range officers were quite pleased in how I handled the malfunction, and said so to me; that was nice of them. I am wondering why this one happened in the first place. It is not something that happens with any regularity for me, so I'll have to check the pistol over tonight. The range officers were quite pleased in how I handled the malfunction, and said so to me. It was nice of them to let me know I did that well, because they sure let you know if you foul up, and so they should do both.

All in all it was a great day, outside, and at the range.

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Day In Paradise...

...is what I say to folks at work when they ask me how things are going. Actually work stinks, but it could be worse. I put up with it mainly because I need the money. I guess being eligible to retire makes things a little easier to handle. Yet, if you were to ask me about how I expect things to go at work tomorrow, I would say 'Another Day In paradise" and really mean it. Quarterly firearms qualifications are tomorrow, and for me that means a good day at the range. Not so good as when I was a firearms instructor, but at least good for a day. I'll be firing the Glock 19, the H&K MP5, and the 12 gauge Remington 870. That always makes for a good day.

Then for this Saturday, I have plans to go out east on Long Island to the Brookhaven Range with my son Brendan. I imagine we will shoot some trap, and then go to the rifle range and shoot the SKS and a few other rifles. That should make for an even better day. I have never enjoyed a shooting partner more than my son or daughter (or my wife the one time she shot). Making it a family day, even if only my boy comes along, is a very good thing indeed.

Getting in some shooting twice in one week will be wonderful too. I am truly looking forward to it. Safe shooting.

All the best,
Glenn B