Gun Appreciation Thread - Page 158

I like it. You can feel it reset as well but with the audio feedback it seems so much easier to deal with. I'm sure you know how much fun it is trying to feel a trigger reset on say a Glock when your hands are half frozen and your fingers are numb. No worries with the SRT Sig system. Click bang, click bang, click bang, click bang.

Well, I never much rely on the audible reset "click" while shooting.  I do use it for dry practice to help students understand the concept of trigger reset.  With practice, one develops a feel for the reset distance, and the trigger finger will conitnue to move within that range of motion.  Frozen fingers will have problems regardless.  After training with the Glock, I have had problems shooting other handguns.  For example, I was shooting a standard H&K USP 40.  After firing the first shot, my finger toggled the trigger, but no follow up rounds were discharged.  It took me a minute to figure out that my finger wasn't letting the trigger out far enough to reset.  But I imagine this effect will vary from person to person.

Obviously I believe in taking every advantage one can to shave time from shot to shot. On the firearms that I'm very familiar with I'll take advantage of a short reset if it has that capability. On anything else I tend to default to treating it like it's a DAO revolver and let the trigger fully return before pulling the trigger. again. I personally believe that Sig purposely made the reset loud to give a shooter a secondary confirmation that the gun is ready to fire again. No doubt it's very useful for people who are transitioning to the platform. I also see some very significant value when one is under high stress and all the fine motor skills are long gone.

Speaking of short trigger resets I'm sure you've seen some of the interesting things that happen when these guys pick up a revolver and shoot it DAO. I've watched the cylinder go round and round with no bangs.

I have mixed opinions about changing platforms.  On the one hand, there is some benefit to sticking mainly with one system.  You become very fast and efficient with its operation and gain familiarity with its idiosyncrasies.  On the other hand, the time may come when you don't have your gun. And you have to pick up whatever is handy.  You should be able to use it effectively.  So I still recommend cross platform training.  But not everyone does it.

So very true. My thoughts on the subject are identical.

Whether or not others would recommend it, I've spent my life making sure to change it up quite often. Sure, if I had a choice, I'd reach for a Glock, but I'd like to be confident with whatever happens to be around. Once you run enough rounds, draws, and malfunction drills through a platform, picking it up again is like riding that metaphorical bicycle. In the end, all the different means of clambering, changing mags and dealing with the very infrequent misfeed (I maintain my pistols) has become instinctive. The part that took the longest to incorporate and accept cleanly was the slight differences in grip angle and sight height to bring it up on target quickly and consistently.

How often do you guys clean your magazines? I shoot my 1911 infrequently, but I've been putting a couple hundred rounds a week through my Ruger SR9c and was wondering how I'm even supposed to take a magazine apart if I were to clean it..

In my case, it depends on the ammunition I'm using.  I stick to better ammo that doesn't leave behind as much residue.  I don't notice much residue or debris in the magazines.  So I will clean them occasionally, but that usually consists of a dry rub down with a cleaning patch or cloth.  I'm not familiar with Ruger magazines.  But there is generally a release on the floor plate that will let you pull out the spring and follower.

Magazine maintenance is something on which I am probably remiss. I reserve one or two magazines for non-range use and keep them loaded with defensive rounds. The others tend not to get cleaned very often, other than a wipedown of the exterior and follower with a patch spritzed in MPro7 cleaner. When I get back from a training course I will try to break down all the mags used in the course to give them a more thorough cleaning, since they will collect mud and crud from being repeatedly dropped on the deck. If too much dirt gets inside the magazine tube, it can bind up the rounds and prevent smooth feeding.

To pull apart a magazine, you push a punch or screwdriver through the hole in the floorplate to relieve the spring pressure, then push the floorplate off of the magazine. Make sure you watch out for the spring when the floorplate comes off, since not all magazines will retain the spring when the floor comes off (eye pro is a must here). Once the floorplate is off, work the spring and follower out through the bottom. Be on the lookout for a spring retention clip that sits at the bottom of the spring above the floorplate. When you have everything off, you want to clean the inside of the magazine tube, the floorplate, and the spring, and very lightly lubricate them before reassembling.

You also want to inspect the feed lips to make sure they are not dinged or bent, and I like to do this when I have all the magazines lined up for cleaning so that I can do a visual comparison. I learned a good lesson on magazine maintenance at my last course. We had someone had their gun go down with a live round jammed partially up the feedway. The round wouldn't move in either direction due to bent feed lips, and the round was far enough forward to prevent stripping out the magazine in a normal type 3 malfunction protocol. The on site armorer did some careful work to unstick the mess without causing an out of battery detonation--a live round stuck halfway up the ramp is never a good thing.

Speaking of magazines, these just came in...only had to wait a month:

A month?  That's not bad.  I experimented with back orders for AR magazines.  US Cav quoted me 2,756 days before expected delivery  .  .  .

Dang. I ordered them a few days after Sandy Hook. AR mags would probably come with a longer wait. These were normal prices - which most online retailers are sticking to (you just can't get them). Local shops are gouging.

The better retailers are holding the price down and limiting the number of mags you can buy.  The better ones let you get in the backorder queue.  I received one email notification of a restock (from a site that doesn't take back orders).  I logged on immediately, but they sold out before I could finish the checkout page!

Open Carry

The Supreme Court has given my state, Illinois, until July to conform with the 2nd Amendment. If they haven't passed a CCW law by July, adults who are non felons can carry any way they wish, no permits needed. Chicago & the rest of the state want some kind of control and a bill is expected around May. An element that is part of the current bill demands open carry. I expect that portion will probably be dropped, but if it isn't, I'd be curious how guys in open carry only states handle it. In Spring-Summer, I can see carrying a Glock 26 or a snub nose that would be visible but not overly conspicuous. How do you handle it when wearing a suit or the winter?

It's pretty simple really. Open carry is exactly as it sounds. It means no part of the firearm can be concealed. Here in MO we have both concealed carry and open carry options.