Why we should always test our daily setup...

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ccw_steve

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I experienced my first problem with my concealed carry setup at the range today...and have been kicking myself ever since.

About a week and a half ago, I decided to do a full disassembly/clean on my carry piece (Glock 19). I had never done this before, and was using a Youtube video as a guide. When replacing the slide release, I had to squeeze it in much harder than I would have expected. After I finally got the slide release to fit, I reassembled the rest of the gun and tested dry firing. No problems!

Today at the range, I fired one shot and my slide stuck open :scrutiny:

I tried over and over, and the slide release kept my slide back in the open position after every shot!

It seems I bent the spring on my slide release, and it was prematurely locking my slide back after every shot. After buying and replacing the slide release (the right way this time), the gun worked flawlessly as before.

I am SO lucky I did not have to use my carry piece during the last week and a half!

The lesson here: If something doesn't feel right during assembly/disassembly, it probably isnt. Also, TEST YOUR DAILY SETUP!
 
20 to 50 rounds off the back porch most every morning after coffee and breakfast. Any sign of a problem and I don't carry it. It gets cleaned on the weekend and a boresnake every day. I've migrated back to revolvers and currently carry the LCP.

t2e
 
One more reason to always carry chambered, it increases the chances of it going bang at least once tremendously.
 
I recently changed my carry gun from a 3" 1911 to one of my 3rd gen. 9mm S+W's (Three to choose from - all 3 in the carry rotation.) It had nothing to do with caliber, platform or capacity. It was strictly a matter of me shooting the 9's every time, pretty much all the time, when I went to the range. I carried the .45 but did not always shoot it when I went to the range. If I did shoot it, it was usually just a mag or two to tell myself: "yeah, everything's working ok".

Now, I never had a problem with the .45 (Springfield Micro-compact by the way), it was reliable and accurate, just not as much fun to shoot. I've just been loving the S+W's and shoot them the most, shoot them the best, so it just makes sense to me to carry them. I know people who carry guns that they haven't shot in years - literally years. Same situation, guns that have never given them problems. I just feel better about carrying guns that I am shooting a lot and am most familiar with and are running well..recently!.
 
I have always wondered if after we strip and clean our auto If we shouldn't test fire a couple Just to make sure it works right. Then quick wipe out of barrel and ready for carry.
 
the other option is get some snap caps fill a magazine and test it manualy by shooting a cap and pulling the slide to see ejection and extraction releasing the slide to see if it falls into battery properly and fireing again

and yes i know you dont need snap caps but it makes it easier to see if the gun would work with real ammo rather than just hearing for a click etc and you can check for extraction failures too
 
Snap caps are a good test...but in my case the snap caps worked perfectly. It was the force from the actual bullet that was causing my slide release to stick, and it couldn't be reproduced other than actually shooting the gun.

I wish I lived in an area where I could shoot off my back porch! I'm extremely jealous :neener:

I do agree with the comments above though, I think I will clean my gun AT the range, and then test fire a couple of shots just to make sure! Couldn't hurt anything...
 
Those are good points in the original post. The overall point is that devices can and will fail, especially mechanical devices. This failure is due to gun owner error, but it's a failure nonetheless with the same bad result.
 
Yeah putting that slide lock back in doesn't take much pressure at all, just a little dexterity to keep everything in place while you slide the pins back in place.
 
ccw_steve:

If you have to force anything while working on your Glock, stop immediately. No force is required at any time when assembling or disassembling the gun.

Ptooma Productions' Glock manual is very good. The Internet video may be good, but it appears that perhaps it was missing something.
 
If you're big into Glocks, try their Armorer's course. It's about $225.00, lasts a full day (they usually cater lunch) and you'll learn alot about your Glocks.
 
S.O.P.

Just a side note; agreeing with your recommendation.

Part of military standard procedure is to test fire all weapons prior to going out on a patrol.
 
mechanical aptitude

I'm posting this; not in the interest of challenge, but that it is so.

One of the benefits of the revolver, is that after cleaning it, to reassemble it, simply close the cylinder, or in the case of the single action reinstall the cylinder.
Less complicated.
 
James T Thomas said:
One of the benefits of the revolver, is that after cleaning it, to reassemble it, simply close the cylinder, or in the case of the single action reinstall the cylinder.
Less complicated.
Click to expand...

This is true, but for most modern semi-auto's, you can get away with simply locking the slide back and cleaning from there. (not that I do)

hell, my father has a Smith and Wesson M39 in stainless steel that he bought his first year out of college, in about 1965, that he STILL HAS NEVER FIELD STRIPPED:eek: . He doesn't even know how to :banghead:. He cleans it after every range session, by locking the slide back and cleaning what he can reach through the ejection port, magwell, etc, with wd-40, hopps #9, and rem oil. The gun still runs 100%, even with cheap ammo.

I've told him he needs to learn, and he promises that he'll let me teach him the next time I'm home.

on a positive note, he just bought a ruger mini-14, and actually read the manual and learned to break that one down all on his own.:D
 
people say you shouldn't but i carry a dirty gun.

i go to the range and will shoot 200-300 rounds. run a bore snake through it and load up my JHP's, reholster and go home. i do a complete strip once every 2Krnds and go right back to the range to make sure it runs, then again bore snake and go about my day.
 
It's really a matter of knowing your carry piece intimately. That means you've done many teardowns and many range sessions with it *BEFORE* you start to carry it. Aside from errors in reassembly, you need to be totally comfortable with it and your carry load.

If you have to force anything while working on your Glock, stop immediately
Click to expand...

That holds true for most all firearms, as I've learned to my regret more than once!

For Glocks, when I've owned them, I went to a Glock Certified Armorer for any fiddlin' They have their own peculiarities. That was one reason I stopped carrying the G23. I want to be knowledgeable enough about what I'm carrying to do what needs to be done with it.
 
I am SO lucky I did not have to use my carry piece during the last week and a half!
Click to expand...
As long as you were accurate with your first shot this would not be a problem.
:neener:

You make a good point. I always dry fire mine after field stripping and cleaning.

If I were going to do a more intensive tear down, I would not put the gun back in the rotation for CCing until I had a chance to fire it.

This is as good a reason as any to own more that one handgun. :D
 
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