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KaiserB wrote:

BigBlueDodge wrote:I've read MANY posts on this forum and other CCW type forms that have post like this

1. I got a new XXX <insert pistol name> at the gun show this weekend and it's now my new carry weapon.
1. I got a new XXX <insert pistol name> and took it to the range and shot a a box of shells, and it's now my new carry weapon

...
So the question I ask you, is what is your criteria for promoting your new weapon to daily carry status?

After I have taken it to the range, shot a few hundred rounds, including some carry ammo. And can shoot a target using rapid fire (10 shots in 15 seconds) to look like this at 10 yds.

Agreed.

I would carry any Glock new or used after a box of ammo or two. I've never had any problems with them. Whether people like them or not, they get called ugly a lot, but they just work. Period.

paadams wrote:I would carry any Glock new or used after a box of ammo or two. I've never had any problems with them. Whether people like them or not, they get called ugly a lot, but they just work. Period.

I am the biggest Glock fan you will come across and I have to disagree. I have a good bit of experience with them and own more of them than my wife knows about.

I have had them malfunction multiple times.....it has caused me to blush a time or two, but hopefully the lessons I learned might save my life.

I purchased a 2nd generation G17 and have decided to use it for IDPA (I prefer a 4" gun over the 34 I was shooting). I have had to replace just about everything in the gun to figure out what the problem with it is. I will shoot it this weekend with a new barrel to see if that solves the problem.

A previous owner decided to polish the feed ramp

I still say that you should try out any carry gun under some pressure to see how it really works out for you....a box or two sometimes just doesn't prove anything.

Jason

jbirds1210 wrote: A previous owner decided to polish the feed ramp

I still say that you should try out any carry gun under some pressure to see how it really works out for you....a box or two sometimes just doesn't prove anything.

Jason

You know that G19 in your possession has been polished on the slide using a holster, and it shoots flawlessly time after time.

I love that Glock 19.......it has alot of character. She is taken good care of, but can always go back to her rightful owner anytime you wish

Jason

KinnyLee wrote:

jbirds1210 wrote: A previous owner decided to polish the feed ramp

I still say that you should try out any carry gun under some pressure to see how it really works out for you....a box or two sometimes just doesn't prove anything.

Jason

You know that G19 in your possession has been polished on the slide using a holster, and it shoots flawlessly time after time.

Excaliber wrote: Since a used weapon has an unknown number of rounds through it, I would suggest replacing the recoil spring assembly (which has a defined service life) so you have a known starting point before testing or carrying the gun.

Excellent advice.

Excaliber wrote: Magazine rotation to "rest" the springs is unnecessary with modern spring construction, but, like chicken soup, it can't hurt anything either.

I'll share that information with my LEO friend. It's probably one of those cases of oral tradition/best practice handed down for years but based upon an outdated premise.

Thanks

There are still mags made with stainless steel springs that will take a 'set'.

However, more and more mags are made using chrome(ium?) silicon springs, which will not take a 'set'.

KaiserB you and I think alike!

that's 1 fine looking target... ...wouldn't want to be a bad guy messing with you!

There are still mags made with stainless steel springs that will take a 'set'.

This is a myth that was widely believed for many years, pretty much discounted for a while, and has now resurfaced. It's still a myth.

That being said, leaving a magazine loaded for extended periods, particularly if the magazine is actively carried (as in LE work), can cause some deformation to the cartridge cases themselves. If this process goes far enough, failures to feed may result from the misshapen cartridges. Some who experience this may blame the spring, but they're barking up the wrong tree. Prevention is as simple as emptying the magazine and reloading it from time to time, even with the same cartridges. This works just fine as long as the cartridges are not loaded in exactly the same position in the magazine each time.

My personal preference is to prevent loaded magazine storage issues by emptying all carry magazines through a full firing cycle at least a couple of times a year just to make sure everything works as designed. It's also a lot more fun than unstuffing and restuffing the magazines.

Abuse of the magazine spring such as stretching it to "improve feeding" is another issue, and will permanently damage a spring. The only way to restore reliability is to replace it.

I was personally more than a little dismayed to hear from a Marine recently back from Iraq that the troops in his unit were directed by their gunnies to disassemble their Beretta magazines and stretch the springs daily to "maintain feeding reliability" and prevent the failure to feed incidents they were experiencing. Apparently no one told them that the practice itself was the most obvious cause of the issues they encountered, and the risk was increased each time a spring was stretched.

A fairly detailed explanation of the science around the myth of pistol magazine spring set, as well as several firearm manufacturers' validation that spring set is not an issue, can be found in a May-June 2003 article from American Handgunner Magazine. The full text is available at:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... i_99130369

Maybe. My AR mag brand of choice is CProducts, LLC.

This from their website:

Q: Chrome silicon spring versus 17/7 stainless?
A: Every spring will take a set when compressed. A 17/7 stainless spring in a 20 or 30 round magazine will take a set the first time it is compressed and will continue to do so each time the magazine is reloaded eventually losing its load. A chrome silicon spring will take a set the first time and maintain that load each time the magazine is reloaded.

I don't know that I always trust book learning, either. As far as I'm concerned, Springfield has the top customer service department. Yet their cure to make my 4" run right was to use a stock recoil spring, cut to 14 coils.

Spring makers will tell you that this shouldn't work, but it does.

jbirds1210 wrote:I love that Glock 19.......it has alot of character. She is taken good care of, but can always go back to her rightful owner anytime you wish

Jason

Hehe, I'm just glad someone else enjoyed it as much as I did.
I still have that G17 by my side so it will keep me happy for a little bit. I need to go shooting with you guys again. I've been so busy lately.

Brownell's article (couldn't get it to format correctly here):

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTec ... &t=1&i=603

As I read the results table from the Brownell's article, this is what I see:

1. It confirmed that stainless steel, music wire, and chrome silicon springs all take an initial "set" when first compressed. This is not a bad thing - it's just a fact of life.

2. When chrome silicon, stainless steel and music wire springs are compared, the maximum difference in overall spring length after the first compression is less than 3/10 of an inch for a 20 round AR mag, and just about 4/100 of an inch for a 1911 mag.

3. Stainless steel springs show the greatest length reduction after initial compression (about 3/10 of an inch in a 20 round AR mag).

4. The difference in overall length reduction after initial compression for chrome silicon springs and music wire springs is only 4/100 of an inch in both 20 round AR and 1911 mags.

5. After initial compression, there was no additional reduction in spring length between days 3 and 10 with any of the spring types.

As Brownell's stated in the article, this is not a scientifically valid large sample test, but it does not contain any information that appears to conflict with the more detailed info in the American Handgunner report cited earlier.

I know that lots of people carry handguns and rarely ever fire them. I think that is very dangerous...for everyone. Actually I don't think it's a time issue. My personal philosophy is that I would never carry a gun until I knew it forwards, backwards, upside down, and wrong side out. Before I carry any handgun I am fully aware of what it will do and it's limitations and I'm also aware of my own abilities with the gun as well as my own limitation. Fully familiar with and and competent with all the controlls and safety/performance features. If you don't know your gun like that then you should not carry it. If you have to stop and think what to do or how this or that works you could be in real trouble.

To answer the question, I put a new gun into the rotation when I reach that level of experience with it. As often as I shoot that is never very long, time wise.

I have several different guns I carry under different circumstance and I am one, as they say, with every one of them.