Mixed Ammo
15 Sept 99 We are in the middle of a training program with a Midwest police department right now. Yesterday, and officer using a SIG P220 in 45ACP mistakenly mixed in a 40S&W round in one of his magazines. The 40S&W round “fired” (actually, it makes a “poof” sound), and the pistol immediately jammed up. […]
Range Safety
9 Sept 99 From a friend in the Midwest: “I had the chance to got to the new, local sporting good store, called ‘Outdoor World.’ At their indoor range: 1) All firearms must be checked in at the guest-services area. Store employees open gun cases and install a trigger lock on all weapons, then put […]
Definitions of “carry mode”
31 Aug 99 During a Defensive Handgun Class we conducted on the West Coast last weekend, two students (out of eighteen) brought two-stage decocking pistols. One was a S&W 5916. The other was a Beretta 92F. The student with the S&W pistol was a working police officer whose department is one of the very few […]
Follow up on the full auto AR-15
24 Aug 99 “I talked to the engineer at Olympic Arms today. He knew what the problem was before I even finished the first sentence. I get the impression this has happened before. I was told that the rifle uses a spring-loaded firing pin. Either this spring became weak and allowed the pin to stay […]
Follow-up on striker-fired pistols
24 Aug 99 This is from a good friend who does a lot of work with Glocks: “…I EMPHATICALLY DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT ANYONE “SLIGHTLY ROUND THE TOP LOCKING LUG” on the Glock pistol. Everyone’s idea of what “slightly” means is different, and the “basement gunsmith” may be courting disaster here. When kept minimally clean […]
H&K rifles on the range
24 Aug 99 At a Rifle/Shotgun Course last weekend in the Midwest, a student used his H&K-91. The weapon itself worked just fine, although it did, true to form, beat him up. However, the rear sight came off! This is the first time I’ve seen an H&K rear sight even come loose. I know from […]
S&W (Walther) P99
17 Aug 99 One of my students last week was using a S&W P99 in 9mm. The pistol is very ergonomic and flows over the hand, much like the Sigma. It’s surely functional, but the decocking “button” on the left rear of the slide is extremely difficult to operate with any finger on the strong […]
Even more on striker-fired pistols
17 Aug 99 From another trainer on the East Coast: “Light firing pin hits in Glocks can usually be traced to either weak-wristing the gun or underpowered, unjacketed ammo. If shooters use anything other than jacketed ammo in a Glock, the ensuing firing debris will accumulate in the chamber and cause the gun to fail […]
More on striker-fired pistols
16 Aug 99 With regard to light primer hits with Glocks and Sigmas: From a trainer on the East Coast: “The problem (at least with Glocks) is usually the slide not going completely into battery. Once the gun is cleaned, and the slide closes completely, the problem usually disappears.” From another trainer: “We see this […]
Gun problems
15 Aug 99 At a recent Rifle/Shotgun Course on the East Coast, our students experienced significant problems with a Savage bolt-action rifle (their “Scout Rifle”) and a Mossberg autoloading shotgun (“Jungle Gun”). The bolt gun was a 308 with a forward-mounted scout scope. On the rear of the bolt itself is a block which serves, […]
Striker-fired pistols
8 Aug 99 My friends at S&W tell me that they have had the same occasional light hammer hit with the Sigma pistol as we often see with Glocks. Once in a while, a cartridge with a hard primer fails to go off in a Glock. Pistols with a traditional, arching hammer rarely experience the […]
From a friend in California
4 Aug 99 This from a friend in California: “Retired officer Angelo Glorioso, formally of the Alhambra, CA PD, petitioned the Department for a CCW-endorsed identification card. Officer Glorioso recently retired on a medical disability (work-related knee injuries) after twenty year of service with the department. Issuance of such cards is required by California law. […]
Incident
2 Aug 99 I just received this from a friend with a large department on the East Coast: “Late last week our officer shot the bank-robbery suspect twice in the face, from a distance of two feet. The (deceased) suspect had powder stippling over most of his face. The suspect was driving a car that […]
Going armed
2 Aug 99 A friend works in an office building in Atlanta. She was at work when the Atlanta shooting took place last week. Her building is on the same block as the building where the incident happened. News of the incident spread through her building rapidly as it was still going on. Panic broke […]
Tossing Rounds
28 July 99 Late last week, while in foot pursuit of a knife-wielding suspect, a uniformed Chicago PD officer fired several shots from his pistol, ostensibly at the suspect. One of his rounds struck an uninvolved motorist in the head, seriously injuring him. The suspect was never apprehended. The incident is currently “under investigation.” Lesson: […]
Incident in Columbia
28 July 99 This incident just occurred in Bogota Columbia: “Two cloistered Roman Catholic nuns killed a thief with a gun they bought from the army after their convent was burglarized nine times, Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro reported Saturday. The burglar was shot in the face and hand shortly after he broke into the convent […]
Catching the link
26 July 99 Vicki and I recently completed a Patrol Rifle Course in Yakima, WA. We just received this from one of our students: “I attended your 4-hour Urban Rifle course in Yakima, WA on July 21, 1999. Although I’m a police department firearms instructor, my experience has been nearly exclusively with our service pistol. […]
Gunshot Wounds
26 July 99 From Gunshot Wounds, by Vincent Di Maio: “The limiting factor for consciousness is the oxygen supply to the brain. When the oxygen to the brain is consumed, unconsciousness occurs. Experiments have shown that an individual can continue to function without a functioning heart for a short period of time. Thus, if no […]
“Instructors”
21 July 99 This is from a friend who is a PI in FL: “I completed the three-day course required by the state of Florida to obtain an investigator’s, statewide carry permit, not to be confused with the citizen’s carry permit, which I already have. You just wouldn’t believe the ‘instructor!’ While lecturing, he slowly […]
+2 Base Plates
19 July 99 This from a friend in the federal system: “All “+2 base plates” for Glock magazines should be highly avoided. We experience regular terminal failures with them while performing reload and immediate-action drills. These base plates routinely blow off, dumping rounds into the dirt leaving the empty mag body in the gun. We’ve […]
