self defense story - Glaser rounds

[karhu]

Hi,

i found this story while using Google...

Hi. My name is Guy, I am 23 years old and I live in South Africa. 3 weeks ago, Sat 30 September 1995 @ +/- 3:20 am, I was shot once in the leg and once across the head (flesh wound) during an attempted armed robbery. I thought I would share my experiences, as some of you might be interested and maybe I just need to get it off my chest.
I have been doing martial arts for about 4 years and have been shooting seriously for about 2 years. I carry a Colt .45 gov model and mostly carry Black Talons (Yes they are legal here)

About 4 months ago, 4 of us bought a black nightclub where I acted as the Head of Security, (taking guns, bossing bouncers around and occasionally getting a bit messy myself). At our club, I carried pepper-spray and my spyderco as well. I also would change my chambered round for a Blue-Tip Glaser. Needless to say I also carry cocked and locked (which probably saved my life)

On Saturday morning, after locking up and doing cash-up, one of partners was letting the bar staff out when this guy rushed through and started shooting at me. I was in a crouched position behind the reception counter, checking for anything that had been dropped, when I looked up and saw this guy running at me and shooting at me. The 1st 2 shots missed and the 3rd shot got me in the left leg just below the knee as I stood up. By the time, I was up, he was close enough to me, for me to grab his gun. So I was struggling to get his gun pointed away from me, when I drew my gun and shot him point blank in the bottom half of his right lung, with my Blue-Tip Glaser. NO IMMEDIATE REACTION FROM HIM !!!!!!. Because I was only controlling his gun hand with my left hand, he was able to point the gun down and shoot me across the head. Why didn't I keep blasting ? MY GUN JAMMED!!! I was able to determine later, that it had cycled properly, but the hammer had stayed forward. (I still haven't figured out how - any suggestions ?????)

Anyway, After pressing the trigger a couple of times, I realised the my gun had jammed, so I dropped it and went back to controlling his gun with both hands. After what felt like forever, I sensed that he was weakening, so I tripped him up and after breaking a couple of his fingers, was ale to wrench his gun away from him and shot him in the upper chest with his gun. He was carrying a five-chamber .32 revolver, so that shot was the last live round in his gun. I was aware that my gun was behind me, and I couldn't let him get to it, so I started kicking him in the face, and punching him and I even tried to rip his eyes out. All this time, he was still struggling to get up and putting up a fight, and I could feel myself getting weaker and the pain was starting to come through. I saw one of the barmen crawling around upstairs, so I shouted to him to open the doors.

As he had run through the door, one of my partners had put a tonfur (night-stick) through the handles of the door, which prevented his two friends from coming in. 2 partners had broken through the back door to go and get help and they were now banging on the front door, with one of my bouncers. So they came through and took over from where I left off, where I went to retrieve my gun, and go and sit down. I was then rushed off to hospital.
He died a couple of days later in hospital, the details of which I don't know.


This is what I have learnt from my experience :

1) NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF ADRENALIN. I was shot in the leg and although I knew I was shot in the leg, was able to use it normally until I had sat down, and only then did it really start to hurt. This guy was so pumped and so full of murder and hatred, he never felt a thing and should have been unconcious from the beating that he took. He was still conscious when I went to hospital. (breathing through a hole in his chest and all)

2) ALTHOUGH THE GLASER IS A GOOD ROUND, IT IS NOT A GUARENTEED STOPPER. I personally do not believe in "one-stop" rounds in any handgun, and my belief in this has only been strengthend by my experience. I believe placement and quantity are the best defense, however both of these were denied to me in my experience. If I had brought my gun higher to shoot him where it counts most, he would have seen it and probably grabbed it as i had grabbed his.

3) CYCLING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET IN ANY SEMI-AUTO Polish your ramp, use rounds that you KNOW will cycle well, clean your magazines as well as you clean your gun.

4) BE PSYCHOLOGICALLY PREPARED. My training in combat courses and martial arts saved my life. That is the only certainty I have.
OK - I'll shutup now, I could go one about the aftermath .... The fact that I have difficulty sleeping, the fact that I feel like I'm living on "borrowed time" and the fact that I am petrified when I walk in the streets now, but I won't.

I'll leave with this piece of advice - For those of you that haven't read it, read the GUNS.REC FAQ on WWW. (I forget the address) and any of you that would secretly like, but won't admit it to anyone, to be in a gun-fight - DON'T BE FOOLISH - It's not glamourous, It's not fun and it takes a hell of a long time to get over.
Sorry that this is so long and thanks for reading it. Please feel free to comment and if anyone would like to contact me or ask me anything further, please feel free to mail me.



http://www.streetpro.com/usp/stories.html

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[obiwan1]

Message to "Guy" if he reads this forum: Two things come to mind. 1. were your slide rails dry? and 2. did the slide go completely to the rear? I'm thinking that if the slide didn't go completely to the rear, then the hammer's full cock notch may not have mated with the sear. I use a lube that dries dry (Poly Pro Tec) but is no longer available (switching to Militec1). The lube doesn't drain out and my duty auto (Beretta 96D) functions completely reliably. You may want to try the Militec or Tetra Gun grease for slide rails/contact points.

P.S. Congrats on your VICTORY (forget the "survival" mindset).

 

[WeedWhacker]

Whoops. Nevermind.

 

[1911Tuner]

Malfunction

Have seen Glasers induce short-cycle malfunction in several 1911-pattern pistols...usually Commander-length or shorter...but have seen it a few times with 5-inch guns. The phenomenon of ultra-light bullet and uber high velocity seems to be the culprit. Dropping down to the next load rating on the recoil spring most often cured it.

 

[1911Tuner]

Backup

JCSS:

>Where was your backup revolver? Never depend completely on any automatic weapon.<
****************

Never mind...

 

[45auto]

He mentioned the "hammer stayed forward".

Does he mean the hammer followed the slide down?

Or the hammer "stayed forward" meaning it's still cocked "back" and he had a misfeed, slide not fully in battery?

 

[MCgunner]

Sounds like he never fired those frangibles for reliability testing. THAT is goofy! They have a very light weight bullet and don't produce the slide velocity of normal ammo. I'd bet that is what happened, slide didn't go back far enough to set the sear and the hammer followed it back down.

I'd never consider frangibles in an auto just due to price. It'd cost a small fortune to prove the weapon with 'em. Only way I'd use 'em is in a revolver and it'd likely have to have an adjustable sight as with those light bullets, they tend to hit very low. I'm sure you could make an auto work with 'em by going to a lighter spring, but man, I won't carry a round for serious use if I can't go out and shoot a hundred rounds of it in a match or something once in a while and have total confidence in it. Those things are just too expensive for that.

I suppose the thought in carrying 'em was to limit penetration in a crowd, good thought, actually. But, I'd sure have 'em in a revolver. I fail to see how his condition one carry "saved his life" either. I'm faster with a revolver, personally, just run out of ammo quicker. Dump six rounds of .357 in him center mass and I think it'd drain his adrenalin, though. Sounds like his gun was a single shot.

My moral to this story is, if you're gonna carry an autoloader, you'd better by golly know its manual of arms and know how to make it effective, or maybe better worded, know how NOT to make it INeffective. Nothing wrong with a condition one .45 and it certainly will let the patrons of that bar know who's boss, but you need to know how to feed and care for the gun and how it works as well as how to shoot it.

 

[Deer Hunter]

Uh oh, a 1911 jammed. Quick, cover up the article! Don't let anyone else see it! It never happened....

If he was carrying a glock 21... Well, you get the picture. Or a good revolver.

Interesting read though. It has thoroughly distracted me from drafting an essay that is due tomorrow for class. Good job.

 

[joneb]

For self defense in my .45 acp Colt mod. 70 I load 230 grn fmj or Fed. hydro-shocks, and I have fired anough of each to trust they're reliability.

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Where was your backup revolver? Never depend completely on any automatic weapon.

I think it was in the badguy's hand.

after breaking a couple of his fingers, was ale to wrench his gun away from him and shot him in the upper chest with his gun. He was carrying a five-chamber .32 revolver, so that shot was the last live round in his gun.

 

[Jim March]

Our hero should have had a wheelgun. Six 357s would have done the job where one 45 didn't. Regardless of ammo type.

 

[MCgunner]

I think you're right, Jim, considering he didn't have a clue how to feed his 1911. Revolvers are better for guys like that. If you're going to carry an automatic of any kind, not just a 1911, you need to get a clue.

 

[Soybomb]

I'd never use the frangible uber rounds in anything... ymmv.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Lot to be said for a stubby revolver in grapplin' situations...

 

[BHPshooter]

A malfunction like that (almost assuredly caused by the Glaser round) is why I don't agree with mixing different ammo types in mags. Sure, it's a fun "lemme see if I can make this jam," kind of thing at the range, but it's never a good idea in the real world.

Find a load that works conistently and reliably, and stick with it. There are enough variables as it is -- we don't need to go adding more.

Wes