Gaston Glock R.I.P. (July 19, 1929-Dec 27,1994)

[Geoff Coenen]

I just read of his passing. In the 1980's several of my customers were Bridgeport, CT Police Officers. On their late night shift patrolling Section Green 34 where my warehouse was located they would see the lights on in my warehouse and stop by. Even back then it was not a safe area and they convinced me to get a couple of Glocks. They were purchased from another Police Officer who also a licensed gun broker. They were state of the art and have never malfunctioned or jammed. Unfortunately, the CT laws changed and their 14 round magazines are now restricted and replaced with 10 round magazines.

Coincidentally I went to the range on Dec 27 to renew my yearly membership and work on my trigger pull. It was so busy with 8 out of 10 lanes shooting that even with my SafariLand head phones it was difficult to concentrate. But I managed to dump 200 rounds of 9mm into the target. I do like the smell of the old style gun powder someone was shooting.

PS I also favor my friends Sig Sauer and Smith & Wesson and have this greeting on my office door.

 

[phantomjock]

On our last trip camping in the van, we stopped by a county-operated range. Well run, friendly operation - but we each dumpped about 200 rounds into "paper."

Two weeks later, for a treat, I bought us 2 Airsoft S&W40 full Blow Back. I modified them to keep cycling without BBs (elminate last round lock out). Now we get to dry-fire to our heart's content with blow back realism. (Well, CO2 cart expenditure of course.) I made a full size stand-up for our targets for indoors practice, and added a laser for feedback.
Now, we look forward to our next trip to a range and expending only about 50 rounds each. We are "shooting for" all hits @ 9+!
Like anything else, Practice makes Perfect - BUT Practice takes Time!

Gaston Glock's designs and methods are legend and he lived to 94 - not a bad run. George Kelgren (Kel-Tec) is equally innovative and still just touching 80. Now all the innovation comes from independent designers and 3D printing.
OH NO! Another Tool - Another "Hobby!"

Cheers - Jim

BTW - Nice "Security Signs!"

 

[Geoff Coenen]

My EDC is this Sig P365 with a Green Laser. I know what you mean about lasers. Got my wife one for hers also. Also changed mine to a Wilson Combat grip module – it is very tactile, sure footed (or rather handed) a good grip and not really expensive like their complete guns. It fits my hand better than the smaller stock grip. If, God forbid I get into a moving situation, the laser will help aiming when you just can't get your arms out stretched with a line of sight. Now I've just got to develop that consistent muscle memory for the trigger response, that way you can shoot more accurately faster. Due to the CT state limits on magazine capacity I also cart 2 extra clips on my belt.

I'm sure you've seen that Kel-Tec 50 round semi-auto - 22. You really have to do a lot of plinking to add that to the arsenal. I subscribe to Hickock 45, Wilson Combat and Colin Noir on utube.

This town Bridgeport, CT is typical of low income intercity with crime from the usual ethnic groups. I vow not to become a passive victim. A few years back a bullet was short thru a window in my warehouse and lodged in a door frame. A stray from the drug gangs at one of the local projects. The trajectory led back to an 8 story government hi rise low income apartment building – that is just across the freeway from the Police Dept. Headquarters. This week it was announced, the government is now going to tear down this brick building and replace it with another. Same chit, different day.

 

[BBShark]

Two weeks later, for a treat, I bought us 2 Airsoft S&W40 full Blow Back. I modified them to keep cycling without BBs (elminate last round lock out). Now we get to dry-fire to our heart's content with blow back realism. (Well, CO2 cart expenditure of course.) I made a full size stand-up for our targets for indoors practice, and added a laser for feedback.
Now, we look forward to our next trip to a range and expending only about 50 rounds each. We are "shooting for" all hits @ 9+!

I've never heard of the blow back guns. That seems like a good way to get some practice in without the cost and time going to the range. A while back I got the Laser Hit app. It's OK but not really useful for practice, you can't see what you did until your done.

 

[phantomjock]

I went with the Airsoft approach, as I didn't want our weapons compromised.
There are laser training devices you can use in a weapon, that replaces the barrel and gives a laser fire.

But in our case (S&W M&P) you'd still need to rack the slide for each "shot."
The Blow Back Airsoft (sometimes called "toys") run about $130-150. Non-blowback about half that.
They do use a bit of extra CO2 to rack the slide, but worth the cartrige for the increased realism.
By removing the magazine spring setup elminates the last round fired, which happens after every shot if not removed.
I hadn't seen that mod done, but did it on the fly, and it works! But - its like having an unlimited magazine. And, no last-round lock back.
Removing the spring elminates that magazine from BB action, but the pistol can still shoot with an unmodified mag.

The Laser Ammo Spider is attached to the rail and the discharge (motion) fires the laser.

I'd say batteries are the weak link - you have to take them out after a session - or they go dead. Found that out!
We use it with some cheapie eBay/Amazon laser score devices. Give real time lites and "bells." and after a number of hits sound like an arcade/vegas slot machine.

and,
have a magnet on the back.
Here is an example of the target stand I copied:


All up, it was like buying a set of new pistols. But (mostly) we plan to elminate the ammo cost, and the range rental.
Shoot (oops pun alert), we really do plan on splitting one bay for an hour and about 50 rounds each.
I'll report back on this after a month or so of "Dry Training."

Cheers - Jim