Category: Guns and Gear

Another New Shooter

This weekend ended up being a combination of ups and downs. Being this isn’t the personal life of Christopher Burg blog (Most of the time) I’ll leave the downs out of it. The up of this weekend was I got another new shooter out to the range.

Well I shouldn’t say a new shooter but a shooter whom went only once and wasn’t thrilled. I don’t know why people think starting off a new shooter with a 12 gauge shotgun is a good idea but they seem to keep doing it. Anyways the new shooter, Monica, wanted to try handguns and needless to say I’ve got a couple of those on hand. I also have another female friend who likes to shoot and came along. I find that it’s best to have another woman around when you’re taking a new woman shooting and that proved to be a good move again.

I started her off with my Glock 30SF equipped with the Advantage Arms .22 conversion kit. This proved to be a mistake on my behalf because it was so cold the kit was malfunctioning left and right. On top of that Monica appeared to be afraid of the Glock. So I switched her over to my Smith and Wesson 686 .357 magnum revolver loaded up with underloaded solid lead .38 special rounds. She liked that gun a lot more than the Glock. Surprisingly with very little coaching she was hitting paper no problem with it. Usually when you give somebody a large firearm their instinct is to flinch which throws the rounds south.

We also had Monic shoot my other friend’s EAA Witness in .45 auto. I figured it best to start Monica off with a .45 from an all steel gun as opposed to my recoil happy lighter than air subcompact Glock. In the end she decided the .38 special was more to her liking and kept shooting that.

By the end of the range trip she was happy and enjoyed the new experience. Nothing like taking a new shooter out to make your weekend good.

.50 BMG Goes Boom

We’ve all ready stories about Glock, XD, AR-15, and various other gun kabooms. But rarely have I seen one involving a .50 BMG rifle. Well here one is. The rifle doesn’t look to banged up but by God the aftermath looked pretty bad.

It sounds like the shooter used a hammer to close his bolt. Pro tip, if the bolt isn’t closing properly that’s the rifle’s way of telling you there is something wrong.

Glock New York 1 Trigger Spring

After a rant I thought I’d post some actual content that is worth reading. I purchase and installed a Glock New York 1 (Known most commonly as the NY1) trigger spring into my 30SF.

For those who aren’t familiar with Glock pistols or their various factory trigger the NY1 spring replaces the standard s-shaped trigger spring in Glock pistols. It does two things. First is makes the trigger pull more consistent. But more importantly, in my case, it increases the trigger pull weight. A stock Glock trigger pull is about 5.5 pounds depending on where you measure it. Installing the NY1 spring bumps that weight to roughly 8 pounds.

Increasing the trigger pull weight may seem strange, most people try to lighten their trigger. For those of you who read my previous post Two Schools of Carry Permit Holders you probably already know why I dropped in the NY1 trigger. For those who didn’t the reason is to avoid a charge of accidental discharge in a self defense situation.

I like taking advice from people who have experience and knowledge greater than mine (In other words almost everybody). I’m reading Combat Handgunnery by Massad Ayoob. In the beginning on the book he talks about various popular guns. In the section about Glock pistols he mentions he has and often carries at Glock 30 with the NY1 trigger spring in it. The justification made sense to me. It increases the weight of the trigger pull to such a point that a lawyer is going to have a hard time claiming you accidentally shot a person.

This is an argument that has been used before when a police officer had to use his gun in self defense. In the case the officer was accused of pulling back the hammer of his revolver making the trigger pull weight almost nothing. The lawyer then continued to argue that the police officer most likely didn’t mean to pull the trigger but accidentally set it off during the excitement.

Well I really don’t want that kind of trouble. Increasing the trigger weight isn’t a problem for me either. My first handgun was a Smith and Wesson 686 .357 magnum. Although it has a hammer I almost always shot it in double action. Likewise my Ruger LCP is double action only. I’m used to heavy triggers and my accuracy (What little I have) isn’t hampered by them. So long as the trigger is consistent I’m pretty much set.

Installation of the trigger also reaffirmed how simple Glock pistols are. I’m not going to write out how to do it because it’s something best put in video form. Luckily Eric Shelton from the Handgun Podcast already made a video about doing exactly this. So here it is:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p52Z75UAKC8]

Anyways with the NY1 trigger spring installed there is a noticeable difference. The trigger is heavier and requires more force. With that said it’s still comfortable to pull back. I think increasing the weight much further wouldn’t gain much benefit as the NY1 trigger spring adds enough weight where I feel a negligent discharge is doing to be unlikely. Furthermore the NY1 trigger spring is built heavier than the factory spring (Which is just a spring) so it will probably last longer. Overall it’s a good, cheap (The part is under $3.00), and easy modification to make.

The trigger also lacks the various pull weight. The factory Glock trigger seems to get heavier as you’re pulling it back (I’m not referring to the slack at the beginning of the pull but when the trigger starts exerting pressure). I know quite a few people put in a NY1 trigger spring with a 3.5 pound connector to gain a more consistent trigger without increasing the weight. I can definitely see why that is done, although I don’t see the gain being worth the cost of the 3.5 pound connector (Which is actually fairly expensive for a Glock trigger part).

Crossbreed Holster Service

For daily carry I use a Crossbreed SuperTuck in the waistband holster. Over my time with a carry permit I’ve purchased three of their holsters; one of the XD, one of the Glock, and one for my 1911. As I mentioned a while ago a crack developed in the Kydex on the XD holster. Well I sent it in for service and finally received it back.

First when I say finally I mean nothing ill, I sent it a week before Christmas. I wasn’t expecting it back until after the holiday season. Well it came back to me last week. I was rather impressed when I opened the box and it contained an entirely new holster.

I was expecting them to simply replace the Kydex. Once again when I say this I wasn’t think any ill, I figured the leather was still good so why not just swap out the broken part. Either way I have a new holster and they even send me a roll of Lifesavers. Anyways this is more or less a post just stating that I’m very happy with their service. Their holsters are a touch expensive but if something goes wrong it’s not my problem which is well worth the additional cost.

Advantage Arms Conversion Kit in Cold Weather

Here is yet another post dealing with my Advantage Arms .22 conversion kit for my Glock 30SF. On Saturday my friend, his father, and I went out to the range. This of course may sound like a bad idea to those who were in Minnesota and know it was about -10 (Fahrenheit since I’m a mangy American). But if you can’t deal with those temperatures then you don’t get much trigger time in January and February here.

As most people with .22 conversion kits know they generally work on two basic principals; hope and prayers. Because of this less than ideal situations may cause issues and issues were caused on Saturday. When I first slapped on the conversion kit it was banging away pretty well. The long it was out and thus more exposure to cold it received the worse it started working.

Towards the end I’m not exaggerating when I say I experienced about eight feeding failures per ten rounds. That means only two rounds in the magazine successfully fed into the gun. Just racking the slide was enough to tell you the problem, it was friggin’ cold and the conversion kit wanted none of that.

I’m not knocking the kit at all. It was ten below zero and these kits are notoriously sensitive to everything. They’re made for cheap practice not cold weather use. But it certainly is something to note if you live up in the northern half of the planet.

Some Things I Just Don’t Get

Recently at the range I was preceded by another person. He was shooting a Sig in 9mm while the only gun I brought was my Glock 30SF. I’m one to never insult another person’s gun at the range. If you like it I’m happy for you and who am I to judge? This guy didn’t not have that same belief.

No sooner did I put the target up and get the gun out of its holster he had to comment. “Is that a Glock?” A simple enough question to which I answered, “Yes.” That was my entire answer, nothing snobbish followed or preceded. His response on the other hand was, “Pfft plastic tupperware. Why not get a real gun made out of metal?” This struck me as odd because the range I attend is almost exclusively populated by decent people. Of course we’re putting a new door up so currently anybody can waltz right in so he may not have been a member, in fact I’m doubting he was one.

My answer was simply, “Because I like it.” After that I put on double ear protection in the vain attempt to not be able to hear him. He made a few more quips but I pretended I couldn’t hear them and just kept shooting.

This brings me to something I just don’t get. That something is a hatred of plastic framed pistols. I understand if you prefer metal guns, that’s your business. But it’s kind of hard to claim plastic frame pistols are junk when most of them have proven very reliable. The Glock, XD, and M&P lines of pistols are pretty well known for reliability. Yes there are lemons but for the most part they work well. In a carry gun that’s my primary concern, reliability. I want the gun to go bang when I pull the trigger and no go bang when I’m not pulling the trigger. But I also want something light as possible which plastic does well. I’m also a fan of how resistant plastic is to corrosion (In other words it doesn’t corrode). The gun is sitting against my body all day which means sweat and oil is getting on it, something resistant to corrosion is very nice.

I’ve not heard one conclusive argument stating why plastic guns are worse than steel guns. Yes they are lighter and therefore you received more felt recoil. That’s not really a concern of mine and it is a poor argument against a gun. That argument would lead one to accept heavier guns are better and therefore Hi-Points are the cream of the crop.

Another argument I hear and often laugh at is you can’t club somebody with a plastic frame pistol. Yes you can. The entire slide is still metal and the plastic is pretty impact resistant so it’s not going to crack under stress form beating somebody with the slide. But if you’re in a position where you must use the gun as a club instead of a gun you have bigger immediate issues than what your gun is made out of.

My friend often jokes that the gun will melt if you put it in an oven at 400 degrees (Fahrenheit since I’m in the United State). Of course many people say such things and are serious. Here is the fact of the matter. If your in a temperature hot enough to melt your gun’s frame you’re also dying from that same heat. The human body can’t take as much heat as the plastic frame of a pistol. I’m also not one to accidentally leave my gun in an oven.

One thing I will say is in a kaboom situation plastic frame guns generally fare worse than their metal frame brethren. But you really have to look at the common cause of kaboom situations. It’s generally done with reloaded ammunition (The reloader made a mistake and overloaded the round) or ammunition that has been constantly rechambered again and again (Bullet setback increases pressure when the round is finally fired). Both of these can be avoided and should be.

I understand if you prefer metal guns, that’s great. But if it’s due to anything beyond personal preference I don’t think you’re criteria are as realistic as you believe.

That is all.

On Pocket Carry

Well it seems like pocket carry is the gun blog discussion of the week. As a person who has a Ruger LCP and an accompanying pocket holster I want to chime in.

In my opinion pocket carry is a good idea, if it’s the only viable option. For instance here in Minnesota it gets damned cold which usually means we wear heavy winter gear. I wear a Swiss surplus wool greatcoat. Needless to say there is almost no chance of my getting to the .45 on my hip when out and about during the winter. What I can get at is the LCP in the front pocket of my coat.

Pocket holsters are not idea in my opinion, but it beats nothing by a long shot. I still prefer my .45 nestled in its Crossbreed SuperTuck on my hip. But I’d also prefer having a 12 gauge shotgun. Practicality often trumps the best options.

Update on Advantage Arms Conversion Kit

Hey I thought I might as well give a small updates on the conversion kit for the Glock 30.

I was able to take it out again today and test it with the recommended Remington Golden Bullets. They worked great. In fact I’d go so far as to say they’re a very good choice to run in the kit considering how cheap they are per 525.

It’s still malfunctioning once in a while but being I’m firing .22LR ammunition which I’ve always found on the side of unreliable I’m not surprised. But it’s getting better so it may still be breaking in.

Advantage Arms .22 Conversion Kit for the Glock 30

For Christmas to myself from myself I obtained an Advantage Arms .22 Conversion Kit for my Glock 30SF. The 30SF is my new primary carry gun and thus I want to practice with it as much as humanly possible. Alas a predicament exists the 30SF fires .45 auto ammunition which is a touch expensive. On the other hand nothing I’m aware of is cheaper than .22LR. Thankfully Advantage Arms decided a market exists in combining both full size pistols and .22LR ammunition.

First what the kit is and what it isn’t. What the kit consists of is a replacement slide and magazine. The slide consists of your usual stuff including a firing pin, barrel, and recoil spring. One very nice thing about the slide is the size and shape are the same as your Glock so with the kit on you can still practice with your standard holster. The kit also allows you to practice with the trigger on your Glock, be it the stock one or an aftermarket one. What the kit isn’t is a perfectly accurate representation of your Glock, the slide weighs much less than the factory one. This in itself is fairly obvious because a puny .22LR round isn’t going to budge a slide made for a .45.

First off installation is a breeze. You remove the slide from your Glock and than put the Advantage Arms slide on. It’s no different than field stripping your Glock and than putting the slide back on. You couldn’t make it any easier. Likewise you need to use the Advantage Arms magazine with the slide since a regular Glock magazine isn’t going to hold .22LR ammunition.

The magazine is simple enough. Form-wise it’s almost exactly the same as the Glock factory magazines. This means it goes right into the grip without any need for an adapter. It also drops free, usually. The Advantage Arms magazines don’t have the full metal liner that Glock magazines do any hence it’s lighter. Usually the magazine simply drops free but oftentimes you have to make sure you really push in the magazine release. If it doesn’t drop free you just have to give the gun a firm shake downwards. Advantage Arms is located in the People’s Republic of California so 10 round magazines is all you can get. And they’re expensive coming in at $25.00 a piece from the manufacturer. Also they’re in short supply at the moment as nobody has any in stock (much like the kit itself). And finally the kit only comes with one magazine which is a drag in my opinion, but whatever.

There are two types of kits. The target and the law enforcement ones. You don’t have to be a law enforcement officer to get the law enforcement model, and that’s the model I got. The difference between the two types has to do with the sights. The law enforcement model uses stock Glock sights. You can replace them with any sight that fits a Glock. The target model has proprietary sights that are raised up higher than standard Glock sights. From the factory the law enforcement model has a stock Glock front sight and an adjustable Glock rear sight. I really like the fact that this kit uses standard Glock sights. If you want to put night sights on your Glock you can and you can also put those same night sights on the Advantage Arms kit so you’re practicing with the same setup.

When you open the box there is a very large orange piece of paper alerting you to the fact the kit is finicky with ammunition. They recommend Remington Glod Bullets or CCI Mini-Mags. The not also strong recommends against any Remington Thunderbolt, Federal, or Winchester ammunition. I had some CCI Mini-Mags and Remington Cyclones around so those are what I tested with.

Since I’m talking ammunition let’s start with that. Another note mentioned that the kit may not settle in for a couple hundred rounds so until then you may experience higher failure rates than expected. I notice this. With both types of ammunition I had with I experience on average one failure per 10 rounds. But as I shot more and more rounds through it the failure rate started dropping pretty decisively. I got about 200 rounds through today and the last fifty fed through with only two failures. Both ammunitions performed roughly the same although I noticed slightly more failures with the Remington ammunition. I expected as much since I always have more failures with bulk Remington ammunition, but for the price I don’t care. And even with all the failures the kit is more reliably than my Smith and Wesson 22A I got for uber cheap.

The failures aren’t all bad either. Since the kit operates the exact same as the standard Glock setup failures make great opportunities to practice failure drills. Tap, rack, bang works just fine with the Advantage Arms kit.

Accuracy was very good for a .22 pistol. I had no problems hitting a man sized target at 25 yards with it. My groups weren’t great but again they never are. With multiple magazines you can practice reload drills but I only have the single magazine the kit comes with at the moment. Still performing draw and fire drills is great with this kit. Likewise I can work on my point shooting without feeling like I’m wasting a ton of expensive .45 ammunition. All these reasons are why I wanted this kit in the first place and it does very well at all of them. Overall I’m very happy with this kit.

Unfortunately nothing is prefect. The kit itself is the price of a .22 pistol coming in at $265.00. Still I think the advantage of being able to practice cheaply on your desired platform is worth the money. Likewise if you pistol is a .45 auto like mine (Advantage Arms makes kits for 1911s and other Glock models as well) you save a butt load of money when using the kit. This will make up for the cost of the kit after some time.

Because many people hate reading entire reviews I’m going to include a simple bullet point summary.

Pros:
– Easy installation and removal
– Perfectly mimics the function of your pistol
– You can practice with the same trigger
– .22LR is much cheaper than .45 auto
– Uses standard Glock sights

Cons:
– Expensive
– One includes one magazine
– Magazines are expensive and capped at 10 rounds