Phred

I heard it's not safe as accidents have happened w/ the support hand over the port. I don't cover the ejection port, and the accidents happen from racking the last round out of the gun. Never cover the ejection port with your palm when you unload and show clear! +2. be ++3. While RO'ing last weekend a shooter had an ejector fired round during U-L-A-S-C. NOT a fun experience for me or the shooter. Perhaps a little off-topic but maybe worth the warning. The shooter had a stuck round and in an effort to dislodge it during ULASC he grasped the rear of the slide with his support hand holding the gun while attempting to drive the frame forward with his strong hand. On about the third blow the slide moved to the rear but his hand had moved partially covering the ejection port. The the round un-stuck, came out of the chamber, didn't eject, the action partially closed and BANG. Bullet ended up resting half on the feed ramp and half in the chamber, case was ejected, powder burns to the shooters hand and I'm very happy to be able to report the RO survived.. Phred

John Howard, the Prime Minister (some might say dictator..) of Australia, has launched yet another attack on shooters in Australia. This time it looks as if he’s trying for a total ban. In the next day or so it will be the 10th anniversary of the Port Authur shootings and Howard appeared on a current affairs program tonight saying things like: "We just do not need guns". “"I don't think Australians need guns”. Over the last ten years Howard has used federal funding to the states as a big stick to get the states to enact gun control legislation. The first round, just after Port Arthur, included the banning of semi-auto rifles and shotguns. The second round (three years ago) banned semi-auto handguns with barrel lengths shorter than 121mm (4.75”) and “high” capacity magazines. Both bans were accompanied by costly compensation programs to “buy back” the effected items. An estimate of the cost to tax payers is well in excess of 100 million dollars. And now he’s at it again. Unfortunately Howard’s party has majority control in both the upper and lower house – that means the opposition is powerless to bring any balance into the equation. And so far when Howard threatens to withhold all sales tax revenues from the states, they cave in too. Australia has no bill of rights, a weak constitution and didn’t fight for their independence. Need I say anymore. Phred Very depressed.

Shoot. And did you want to know about mud as well.. ? .. The mud More mud Playing in the mud Cheers, Phred

ROFL - very funny!

First, if you think you need a test then get your hygiene in order and stop all of the obvious intake sources of your lead. Do it today particularly if your lifestyle risks are high like having young children in the house. It costs virtually nothing to improve your hygiene. From my experience, in the state where I get tested, there are two kinds of basic lead tests; one is called occupational lead and the other just lead. Occupational version is relatively expensive, requires mandatory reporting including providing some information you may, or may not, want to provide; your name and current employer for example. They want to know the source of the lead. This might worry some given the consequences. The other doesn’t require mandatory reporting and is half the cost (my last test was I believe $130), however, some doctors/labs do everything in their power to not let you do anything other than the occupational test. There are ways around this, legal, but I won’t go into the details – think anonymous. If you don’t have high lifestyle risks, before running down to have a test get informed. Take a few days to find and read about lead testing, read about mandatory reporting, read about what happens if you return a lead level anything much above the median let alone high. Assess your situation, risks, and then get tested. Cheers, Phred

Outdoor ranges - that’s a much better situation than the vast majority of indoor facilities. In addition to better hygiene and drugs/diet to reduce my lead levels, the major change I made seven years ago was to stop all indoor training. Probably the most contaminated areas at an outdoor range are steel plates, poppers and the areas just in front of plates/rails. If I were in your situation I would avoid handling steel – during stage set-up/pull-down, or during the match when scoring/patching/resetting the steel. And of course hygiene. There’s a liquid soap specifically designed for use by those working around lead and I believe there’s a waterless hand cleaner version. It was expensive but perhaps worth it to you. I’ll try and find the details. Cheers, Phred

sandman, Don’t panic. The pregnancy risk is for a person with already elevated lead levels. From your post it doesn’t seem highly likely your wife would be in that category. That said it makes absolute sense to minimize her exposure to lead. You can start by taking the hygiene precautions mentioned. If your wife is still concerned get a blood test. Once the baby arrives you should re-double your hygiene routine - SHOES! Why? ‘Cause the little critters crawl on the floor, over the carpet, on the sofa, in the bed, in your lap – and if you’ve tracked lead into the house where’s the first place things go – into the universal testing machine – the kids mouth. For the very young lead at pretty low levels is considered a risk. Once lead gets into carpet/upholstery is difficult to get back out. If you are concerned do some searches on lead risks. If you read enough you’ll get a feeling about what’s right for you. Its better that you know now and have options. Do you shoot indoors or outdoors? Cheers, Phred

Good info Carina. Lead is easy to hate.!. Given most shooters would fall into the non-occupational lead exposure category, and therefore not be subject to regular testing, I suspect more of us potentially have lead exposure problems than is apparent. What’s particularly worrying is that even very low lead levels are a real concern to young children. An adult can test five to ten times the level considered safe for young children and still be relatively ok. The problem is that if we are testing high, what are we bringing home to our kids (children, grandchildren, ..) on our shoes, clothes and hands? Indoor shooting is particularly problematic as pointed out. Vaporized lead from many sources (primers, fragmented projectiles (even jacketed) hitting traps and burning powder melting lead) gets deposited as dust (fine film) over everything. Something even possibly more insidious. I recently read that lead passes through the placenta to the fetus. Unlike some other blood borne substances lead is tightly attached to red blood cells making the mother -> fetus transfer that much worse. If you’re a female, have high lead levels and could conceive, this is potentially a serious problem – it takes a very long time (longer than nine months) to lower an adult’s lead level. As pointed out, but can’t be stressed enough, practicing good hygiene is of the utmost importance in managing ones lead levels and potentially the lead levels of those living with you. Wash exposed skin thoroughly, minimize (don’t) eating when at the range or working around lead and have clothes, including shoes, that you manage separately from the rest of the families. Don’t wear your range clothes/shoes into the house – if lead comes off onto any carpet or upholstery it remains there for the kids to crawl around on. Cheers, Phred BLL 38ug/dl -> less than 20

Quote: from Custom Glock Racing on 11:56 am on Oct. 9, 2002 The new GLock brand tritium sights use a staked front. The manual does show a tool for staking but I was told by Glock it does not really work and they are trying to get a new tool out there. Just great ! New sight attachment method but no tool – excellent; and I’m the prod owner of three of the little buggers. Too small to be used as either a boat anchor or as a paperweight. I’ve always held that we all can learn by example (good or bad). So, if I can’t be a good example may as well be a bad example: Don’t do what I did – if you’re after Glock style night sights buy Meprolight.. Cheers, Phred P.S. Thanks CGR for the input

Quote: from SiG Lady on 9:15 pm on Oct. 8, 2002 Both pistols have a great feel [] The only changes I made to both pistols were full Hogue rubber gripss Sig offer a factory trigger job that makes an already good DA trigger into an exceptional DA trigger. The work is approved and accomplished by Sig - the result is a safe trigger job with an excellent DA feel. Phone Exeter and talk to service if you’re interested. BTW if you don’t already know, when/if the need arises you can order parts directly from Sig. While on the subject of Sig – the Sig Academy is extremely good value. Unfortunately,, well not really that unfortunate Oregon is a lovely place,, the Academy is located near the factory in New Hampshire. Still if the opportunity presents itself, IMHO grab it. Cheers, Phred

Help! Received some new Glock front night sights (1983/4274) and they don’t seem to have the traditional screw attachment. What’s also a bit worrying is that in the new (2002) Glock Armorer’s manual there are two front night sight installation sections; one using the 3/32” sight attachment tool and another showing what appears to be a crimping/swaging plier like device (in addition to copious amounts of Loctite). Are these non-screw, crimped/swaged, front night sights something new? Have I overlooked the obvious?? Cheers, Phred

Quote: from SiG Lady on 10:32 pm on Oct. 7, 2002 I was dyin' to read the book the moment I discovered it was available. One of the two will arrive eventually (maybe both). If it's as magical as this lively Website, then it's everything I might've expected... and then some. A little aside - have you seen the BE interview on Matt’s DVD? I’m still trying to come to grips, well actually not blink – lol.., with all the wisdom there in. Well worth the price of admission. I can’t wait to read BE’s book. Cheers, Phred

Ron, It does seem that a large proportion of shooting in IPSC is of the run’n/gun’n ilk and that surely can erode precision skills if one doesn’t watch out. Heck, it’s darn hard for me to find IPSC facilities that can accommodate shooting distances over 25m full stop. Aney did mention that she (my apologies if I got that wrong) is a new shooter and, depending on how new, IMHO the first place to start work on the fundamentals is at 5/7m. If you can’t shoot tight groups at short distances then the fundamentals aren’t there to shoot at long distances. Another perspective - BE stated in the Matt Burkett interview that he likes to start his students out on the bench rest. If they can’t shoot at the inherent accuracy of the gun then fundamentals need work. Cheers, Phred (Edited by Phred at 7:17 pm on Oct. 2, 2002)

Following Vince’s posts regarding what’s IPSC Production Division legal and what’s not, filing or machining a larger gap in a rear sight or machining a narrower front sight post isn’t allowed. Of the IPSC Prod Div allowed sight replacements for a G17 could anyone shed some light on which have the largest front to rear sight gap? . Glock Night Sights (any larger than the standard sights?) . Heinie - Any difference between the Heinies . SlantPro (315/318) . Standard (320) Cheers, Phred

Quote: from Vince Pinto on 3:16 am on Sep. 29, 2002 Ian G, Two reasons: 2) Someone (I forget who) produced a letter from Glock USA confirming that they offer Heinie sights as a factory option. Hi Vince, Does this mean Heinie sights can be sourced as parts from one’s friendly Glock parts supplier?? Or is this a US only thing? Had a quick look at your web site and didn't see them listed under Optional sights. Cheers, Phred

Must be something in the water.. I’ve just started work on sight alignment and calling my shots also. Received Matt’s DVDs the other day and I’ve watched the interview with Brian four times. Getting out and trying/practicing what Brian describes has been an absolute revelation. Entirely eliminating the blink is darn hard but I’m getting there. By keeping the eyes open (no blink) and focusing on sight alignment my groups have improved dramatically. Times at first seemed slower but in fact I’m now (with little practice) smoother and times are back to previous levels if not faster. For the first time I’m actually _seeing_. Now, if I could only stop the darn blink 100% of the time! Cheers, Phred

From the perspective of a C (wanabe IPSC Production shooter I really like the challenge of difficult and longer distance shots, however, I would like to be in with at least some chance. A 60 point stage with two or three classic paper targets at 25m, bottom half covered with a penalty target (_very_ little A zone showing), using standard production gun sights,, well that's a big ask in my book no matter how much of a time penalty I suffer. Probably, strike that, definitely a good thing that stage scores can't go negative! Make those penalty targets hard cover instead, or reduce the ratio of penalty targets to overall stage points, IMHO the difficult remains but at least I'm for a chance of at least some score on the stage. Same holds for penalties behind poppers; I don't mind the challenge but either use larger poppers or reduce the ratio of penalty targets to overall stage points. Or am I simply kidding myself that a non-zero, all be it reduced, stage score is somehow any different than a zero stage score? Cheers, Phred

So, you must alter your lifestyle to eliminate as many of those places that prohibit carrying as you can from your activities. Lifestyle – that's it in a nutshell. That is what makes the US great, you can pick and choose. If you choose not to carry, just make sure you don't blame anyone but yourself if you find yourself in a place where you wish you had the comfort of a firearm.

Flexmoney's tip to squeeze the sides of the mag body (of course while inserting the disassembly tool/depressing the mag insert) works for me,, YMMV. Base plates pretty much just slide off.. Thanks Flex! Cheers, Phred

My G17 mags base plates don't slide all that easily. There's an indent on the base plate slide that locks with a catch on the mag body slide rail. I've found that by applying a little pressure to the base plate by levering against the front lip of the base plate against the mag body gets it to slide (of course while pressing the button the bottom of the base plate). Any other solutions?? Cheers, Phred

Quote: from Duane Thomas on 2:25 pm on Aug. 22, 2002 "Any middle aged CHL holder that works for my agency will find themselves seeking new employment if they carry at work." How do you know they're not carrying anyway? We are everywhere. We are everywhere flaunting the law? xsrdx went on to say "Much of my business, and recreation, is done on military installations - again, concealed carry is prohibited. I've chosen to obey the law, however misguided the rules might be." I would like to think there are many of us who abide by the law, carry where it's permitted and don't where it's not. Cheers, Phred

Quote: from Chriss Grube on 5:24 pm on Aug. 14, 2002 Go to the local public range for a day then tell me how responsible most gun owners are. Ahh, yep – scares the h**l outa me every time. And CCW demands more responsibility; now that’s getting really scary. CCW is 1,000 to 1 about avoiding conflict, avoiding being selected as a potential victim, _not_ shooting, versus the worst of all possible outcomes – actually having to take a shot. Good CCW training is all about; mental conditioning, keeping your head up, eyes open and the meat computer switched on. In real life one doesn’t get a walk-through. For me, responsible CCW means regular training throughout the year and at least one formal CCW class every twelve months. Consider the cost and time as additional _life_ insurance - for yourself and for that innocent bystander. Just one person view, YMMV.. Cheers, Phred

CyberSEAL, Take a CCW class. Look around, ask questions about the class curriculum. Any CCW class worth its entry fee will spend considerable time on concealment methods, holster selection and clothing options. Perhaps a bit too far away but maybe worth a short vacation, the Sig Arms Academy in New Hampshire provides excellent CCW classes taught by guys who’ve been there (ex-DEA). In general (always a suspect statement) IWB provides for more clothing options and better concealability. In addition to standard IWB holsters, there’s a category of IWB holsters (BladeTech UCH – ultimate concealment holster) that allow tucking the shirt over the gun. The problem with IWB is the burden of requiring larger waistband size pants to accommodate the gun/holster – 1 1/2” - 2”, with suit pants that gets into tailoring and gets expensive.. unfortunately I can’t wear FBI 511s everywhere I need to go - YMMV. :-) Without sounding like a broken record, you really should take a few CCW classes. Cheers, Phred

Duck, Is it the holstering or drawing that concerns you about a loaded (one in the chamber) Glock and an IWB holster? Do you have the same concerns about a belt holster? Just curious.. Cheers, Phred