Always check your CCW!

[jsalcedo]

I was getting ready to go out to dinner a few nights ago and as always I grabbed my Makarov in its Fobus Paddle holster.

I wanted to make sure that the gun hadn't developed any rust
and to see if it needed oil.

As soon as I removed it from the holster the magazine fell out and hit the floor.

Somehow in my daily activities I must have bumped the mag catch on the bottom of the grip. Not sure when because I hadn't checked it in a few weeks.

This would have been disasterous if I had needed the Mak in a hurry.

So maybe I'm preaching to the choir but I've learned my lesson.

Its not good to take your carry gun for granted.

 

[TarpleyG]

Function test every day.... (And check for rust and wipe down anyway)

GT

 

[El Tejon]

jsal, cheap lesson to learn.

When you can ensure your mag is seated by grasping your weapon with the fore and middle finger and pressing the mag to check its status. This can happen on all mag release systems, but happens a lot on Euro releases.

 

[CB900F]

Fellas;
Just a thought here. When was the last time you checked the expiration date on your permit? The consequenses of forgetting that one can be far more serious than spacing out the driver's lisence, no? 900F

 

[Marko Kloos]

Mine expires in December. (Has it been four years already? Yikes.)

One advantage of CCW'ing a revolver is the fact that you have no magazine to lose or unseat. I have, on occasion, unlatched the magazine on the P32 in my front pocket.

 

[SquirrelNuts]

I always check to make sure there is a round in the chamber, and the magazine, even if I have not let it out of my sight. In Cooper's The Art of the Rifle he has a quote that goes something like "the worst thing in the world is hearing a click when you expect a bang."

-SquirrelNuts

 

[Standing Wolf]

I find I've developed the habit of opening and closing the cylinder before I ease my little .357 magnum into its holster. There's no need, but it can't hurt.

 

[45-auto]

If you're gonna pack, you gotta know the condition of the weapon, beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Check it. Check it every time it's been out of your sight.

It won't hurt anytime and sometime it may save a huge pile of trouble.

 

[Dave R]

Great advice.

I have also experienced the "magazine falls out when you withdraw the gun" phenomenon.

 

[labgrade]

Everytime before I CCW, I'll do a press-check to ensure a round is chambered, unseat/check the mag for "depth" & reseat - BHP.

Few weeks back though, we got to spend some time in-house w/grand kids, etc. so had the BHP unloaded, but w/mag in & safety on & buried in a duffle-thing under my head while sleeping (kid-proofing).

When out of "the house," I cycled a coupla of those rounds that were usually chamber - a function check. Two wouldn't rechamber. Looked perfectly normal in every aspect, but wouldn't cycle through the mag .....

All factory high-end rounds, but .... may have functioned fine "at speed"?under firting conditions, but put a real crimp in my faith in semis (again).

 

[SquirrelNuts]

labgrade,

Is this gun a .40 S&W? I have heard of this happening with a .40

-SquirrelNuts

 

[labgrade]

Nope.

A 9 with Rem's GS 124+ factories.

Disconcerting to say the least.

 

[SquirrelNuts]

Wow!

I carry two 9mm's and have never had a problem with them. I load and unload all the time, especially the 1911.

I carry Winchester Ranger SXT 127 gr HP's (Black Talon) in my Glock 17 and Winchester white box 115 gr FMJ's in my 1911.

-SquirrelNuts

 

[jsalcedo]

I've had a problem with chambering a particular round more than once. It seems to push the bullet back into the case slightly.

After a couple times the round is too short to feed reliably from the magazine. It noses down instead of upward toward the chamber.

I either use tighter crimp on my ammo or chamber by hand.

 

[labgrade]

Me neither, SN, & why I thought it worthy enough to bring up.

Not a single blemish, or nada to indicate this round shouldn't have rechamber - but it wouldn't feed.

I've recycled rounds 100s of times/switched between the first mag-feed & rechambered, etc. & this one was a hitch.

Beats me, but did make me rethink some stuff.

 

[SquirrelNuts]

Maybe load a factory FMJ round as the one in the chamber?

-SquirrelNuts

 

[labgrade]

Wasn't the point.

The round I did have in chamber, when I did the mag-feed & stuffed that one it wouldn't (re-chamber).

Somehow, through the cycling process, this round got "snuffed" enough that it wouldn't any longer.

Like I said, it may have worked wonderfully under "stress," but that's the last time I'd want to find out.

Love my BHP & rely on it daily ... just throwing out that I had a FTF on what appeared to be a perfectly normal round.

Only reason I discovered the FTF was by accident.

Still can't get this same round to feed out an otherwise perfect mag, BTW.

Just one of those curiosities that can kill ya.

FWIW is all.

 

[Jesse H]

I mark the first round to be chambered of my carry ammo with a permanent marker. Since I dry fire often, I don't want to be constantly chambering the same round. Drop mag, unload the round in the pipe, dryfire.

When I'm done dryfiring, I empty the mag, making note of the order the ammo came out. Put the +1 round at the bottom of the mag, and reload the ammo in the order it came out so everything moves up one.

So I can now have drop my mag and pop out a round 16 (15+1) times before any rounds are chambered more than once. Anal, perhaps, but I've had my carry Corbons not fire from being chambered often.