Make SURE that sidearm works!

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Have changed carries several times over the years. Gub style Colt 32, Colt 1911, Para Warthog, Makarov, and now a Sig 232 380-getting lazier in my old age. I parked the Warthog because a dust bunny got behind the hammer and it would not come back far enough to fire. The Mak. is the AK of pistols and fires no matter what. The Sig is just as reliable and very accurate. My worst dream: walked up on about 15 thugs breaking the windows out of my old station wagon. Threw down on them, ordered them to freeze, but they didn't. Everyone of them came out with these Matrix looking street sweepers with belted ammo and started firing---I woke up in a frenzy looking for holes to patch. My wife laughed at me but you know how real dreams can seem--I was not laughing.
 
Plus many people buy cheap guns, I would post a fifty fifty bet that it was some junk .25 by Jennings. I have had people give those to me and they are everywhere. Every one I fired jammed within 3 shots and sometimes on the first.

Add to the fact the street thugs tend to throw around their little pistols and treat em like garbage, Never clean, never lube, get packed with pocket lint etc.

I am not surprised at the outcome one bit.
 
Not much in that story except "The victims tried to fire back but their gun was jammed"

They don't even say if a single shot was fired off by the victims. If they shot even one round then it jammed while firing. If no shots where fired then they where carrying condition 3 and had the gun jam up when they tried to rack in a round. If they where carrying condition 1 and it "jammed" they didn't take off a safety.

I'm curious which one it is because it would show why a carry condition is less than ideal, or it might show that training and practice is important and the other would be to make sure you shoot enough ammo in your carry gun to make sure it functions correctly with it.

Not enough info to make a definite judgment call.
 
I would not worry isn't Charlotte is one of the safest cities in America to be in.
 
I keep a 1911 by my bed cocked and locked with the safety on. it takes 3 deliberate movements to go from that state to BOOM but you can do them all at once (thumb safety, grip safety, trigger)

There's always a round in the chamber, and I take it out to the range when I go to make sure everything still works.
 
Gee -- isn't there a thread about "would you carry a gun that was less than reliable?"
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And this story clearly shows that it is a good idea. The victims are alive. If they couldn't even muster the threat of return fire, they would conceivably be dead. Wonder if they got any shots off. Not many pistols jam before the first shot!
 
Hence I pack a Glock 26/27 and Smith J .38.

Jam they don't.

Deaf
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My G22 and shift partner's G23 both had malfunctions at qualifications last week. I was trucking along with the qualification course and my palm was getting sore from tap/rack/bang. Every few rounds it would stay in lock back.

After we ruled out limp wristing and user my thumb riding the slide release the PD armorer replaced both Glock's mag releases. Running smooth since.

Scary thought for us, even if I do carry a BUG on-duty. It was a good reminder for me to shoot my duty weapon more often.
 
armoredman-very good post. Myself, a several weeks ago went to the range and discovered that my Taurus Millenium .40 magazine release spring was defective so I had it replaced.
Keeping firearms in good order is critical. Going to the range regularly too helps not only with accuracy but also exercises the weapon as well.
 
Its also possible that the victims panicked and did not fire but initially thought they did. Studies of soldiers in combat have shown that up to half the soldiers who thought they had fired their weapons never fired a round due to fear or something else. This was back in the Vietnam era and might not apply to today's much better trained and experienced US military forces. However, it might well apply to civilians who have never been shot at and who froze when they should have fired back.
 
Studies of soldiers in combat have shown that up to half the soldiers who thought they had fired their weapons never fired a round due to fear or something else.
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Those "studies" were done by SLA Marshall, and modern research has shown he made the whole thing up -- he never conducted the hundreds of in-depth interviews he claimed his "reasearch" was based on.


This was back in the Vietnam era and might not apply to today's much better trained and experienced US military forces
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As a company commander in Viet Nam, I guarentee you our troops shot -- in fact, I had to impose a $50 fine on anyone who fired an M16 full auto.
 
Also a few people I have met in the past have purchased used guns from acquaintances that knew little to nothing about the gun. They haul it around and show it off only to have someone more knowledgeable tell them that the firing pin is snapped off and it cant go boom if you need it to. :scrutiny:

How many thug youth dry fire the heck out of their 50$ street deals only to break something later?
 
To help ensure reliability, I never carry a gun that hasn't been fired since it was cleaned.

Taking a gun apart, cleaning it and then putting it back together to carry seems silly to me. It's not such a bad idea when you're accompanied by a squad of troops that have all recently cleaned their weapons. (What's the chance of them all malfunctioning?) But it's more of a risk than I'm willing to take on one untested gun. YMMV
 
I had some work done on my Colt 1991 by a local gunsmith, adjustable trigger and slide cut for Novac sights. After I picked it up it went back to being my carry gun, just loaded it and carried.

After nearly a week I was able to make it to the range and to my surprise it would not fire. I took it back to the gunsmith and he had forgotten to re-engage the series 80 safety.

What shook me up was that I was using it as my CCW for nearly a week. After that I test fire EVERY gun I have worked on, and no matter what I will not trust it to function until I personally test fire it.
 
The problem probably was the their cheap guns probably failed to fire, I wouldn't doubt if the ppl in the car were carrying some cheap $100-$150 380's or 9mm autos, possible even something like a raven 22 or 25
 
Not much talk about the chance of limp wristing it, or failing to rack the slide well enough to chamber a round.

How often do you practice pulling your weapon from your driver seat, with someone shooting at you?

I could see fumbling with the gun. Maybe you're more focused on the bullets flying at you than what your hands are doing...
 
Not much talk about the chance of limp wristing it, or failing to rack the slide well enough to chamber a round.
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I carry a revolver, so I don't spend much time worrying about stuff like that. ;)

Limp wristing and failing to rack the slide only affect the second shot or folks who forgot to load a round in the pipe before they left home. In this case it sounds like they had other problems.
 
Sport45 said:
I carry a revolver, so I don't spend much time worrying about stuff like that. ;)

Limp wristing and failing to rack the slide only affect the second shot or folks who forgot to load a round in the pipe before they left home. In this case it sounds like they had other problems.
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The thing is that revolvers may be generally more reliable but if they mess up its not a tap, rack, bang drill to get it back in order it needs a visit to the armorer or at the very least a careful examination. I've even heard of expensive S&W guns binding up during firing.
 
Guns "jam" for a variety of reasons. You have to understand that a "jam" as reported in the media is a stoppage whereby a shot won't discharge. I have read about a gun that was jammed because the shooter had engaged the safety while firing. Well, sure, I guess you could call that a design jam...if you engage the safety, the gun isn't supposed to fire.

No round in chamber? Jam.
Slide gets locked back? Jam.
Gun being held by slide when fired and does not eject or load, next round is a ...Jam.
Foreign object gets worked into some part of the mechanisms (hammer, trigger, slide, port, cylinder, etc.). Jam.
Stovepipe. Jam.
Fail to detonate. Jam.
Fail to cock. Jam.

If the gun stops firing unexpectantly, then it must have jammed, be it a mechanical firearm problem, ammo problem, user problem, or situation problem.
 
Murphy is a 24/7 kinda guy.

My Glock 23 never jams and my 180gr HST jhp's don't leave them walking.
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Don't mean to poke the bunny, but "famous last words".
 
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