I don't care how good it looks

ADulay · June 14, 2015

All,

Yep, I really don't care how good your carry gun looks. If it malfunctions when you NEED it, you may as well carry a brick.

Once again we had a guy show up at the range to shoot. Nice guy, good equipment. Said he was going to shoot his daily carry gun.

Fine, that's what I do too! We hit it off nicely.

First stage, his gun malfunctions with multiple stove pipes.
Second stage, two failure to feeds and a bad cartridge.
Third stage I hear a faint "pop" and immediately stop the stage. Yes, a squib load.

I recommended that he call it a day, check the gun and especially the ammuniton and come on back on Monday.

He agreed and he got a DNF (did not finish) for the match.

The gun was quite nice. Way out of my price range, but a beautiful 45 that anybody would be proud to own and shoot.

Unless you actually need it to function, in which case it was a disaster.

There is a lesson here:

No matter what you paid for your sidearm. No matter how exquisite it looks and feels. If it won't produce a bullet at the end of the muzzle on command, it's just a beauty accessory for bragging rights. This particular shooter did email me later to say it took him quite some time to clear that bullet from the muzzle after I called the stop.

Once again, I'll say it again. Test yourself and your sidearm with some real pressure and be SURE you can both work as a team.
Pretty much any of the shooting sports will allow you to do that. Drag your buddy down to some venue and have at it. You owe it to yourself.

AD (stepping off the soap box, once again)

daniellawecki · June 14, 2015

Was he a reloader if so his ammo is the problem. You have to go the extra mile when reloading. Once I test fire some rounds that are proven then I load hundreds or a couple thousand. He's very lucky he didn't pull the trigger on the squib good catch on your part.

ADulay · June 14, 2015

daniellawecki said:

That was my guess at first but he said he was using Armscor (sp?) commercial ammo.

If he has problems on Monday I'll swap him out some 45ACP from my stash and see if it helps out overall.

I'm sure his ammo will run through my Glock unless it was his own reloaded ammo, in which case he can keep it!

AD

MikeH121 · June 15, 2015

I have used ArmsCor 40 cal in my Springfield XD.

Never had an issue. Of course my XD even eats Tula underpowered crappy ammo.

You never mentioned who made the 45. If a 1911 from say Kimber is new it has to be broke in.

Unlike John Brownings original design. Tolerances are way too tight. The old 45 had rattles. They were built like an AK.

The first day 6000 rounds out of the 1911 for Army testing. Not one malfunction. The only complaint from the Soldiers who were shooting was it was getting hot.

Browning dunked it in a bucket of water handed it back and they kept shooting. On day 2 Browning didn't even goto the testing range.

You want a well made gun, but too tight can be bad. Too loose can also, but have seen and heard a lot of hiccups with a Kimber 1911.

ADulay · June 15, 2015

MikeH121 said:

I generally try to avoid mentioning a specific gun maker when posting these range reports as different guns work, well, differently for various people!

We'll try it again at tonight's match and see if we can clear up some of the problems. I tend to agree it may well be an "ammo" problem with a tight gun that really hasn't been tested with a lot of different ammunition.

We'll play it by ear and see what happens. Perhaps "Mr. Wilson's" gun will perform better tonight with a change in ammo.

AD

daniellawecki · June 15, 2015

I've shot Kimber, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Springfield, & Colt. Every new gun gets shot with at least 500 rounds before going on the clock.

MikeH121 · June 15, 2015

Colt filed CHP 11 today.... My Springfield XD 40 has run outta the box and 8000+ still going.

We will see on the Smith, Shield 9.

A guy at the local indoor range has a Kimber 1911 he said after a few break in rds, 4-500, he has now shot close to 9000

but it now needs a new spring. Only thing I have done so far with my XD is Breakfree. A little before I shoot it, by the

third patch the barrel is clean. Clean inside scrub with a toothbrush just to knock of the dingleberries down inside.

Breakfree it all and wait till next trip.

ADulay · June 16, 2015

Here's the update to last week's problem gun.

Turns out he's not really sure just who's ammo is running through the gun. Says he just dumps it all in a box and pulls it out as needed.

Whatever.

I traded him two boxes of my Freedom stuff for his "Box O Bullets" stuff and his gun ran just fine all night.

He did have one bad magazine exchange but that was an operator problem, not a gun problem.

He's slow, but getting better. At least he didn't point the muzzle at himself this week. Well, at least he didn't after I "mentioned" it to him on the line.

On a different note, we had three shooters in the BUG (back up gun) division and I came in as the 2nd runner up.

I think I'll stick to shooting the 45's for a few weeks to get my ego put back into place.

AD

daniellawecki · June 16, 2015

So as I thought it was a ammo problem. You never know what some people will do. People don't understand that they are holding at arms length. The pressure in some guns go from a mild 9,000 up to 40,000 psi that's a lot of trouble at arms length. Well hopefully he will learn from this. When I was on the board at our club there was indentation in the wall & ceiling. Turned out someone's revolver let loose. The top strap left a deep mark in the ceiling cylinder left dent in wall. There was no blood trail and no one fessed up. I would guess someone's wife found some dirty laundry.