dbman

Got any sources for this theory, any case law? No he does not because it is urban legend, gunstore commando BS. With that said, you should follow your department guidelines. You're right, I don't. As I said I am not a lawyer. I relayed a caution I have received from multiple (what I consider to be reliable) sources. Maybe that in itself makes it urban legend. Do what you want. Sorry I spoke out. I apologize for the thread hijack, thirtycal. Maybe this can move to new thread if anyone else has more to say.

Thirtycal, let me say this before anything else: I am not a lawyer (and I hate acronyms ). I also do not want to disparage any advice from Mr. Henning, as I am sure the suggestions he poses will go a long way toward fixing your issues, but you being a law enforcement officer especially have to consider the legal aspects of self modifications to your duty weapon and/or carry ammunition. I was told several times by both instructors and experienced officers to never, ever use hand-loads for my defensive carry ammo, because the D.A. or opposition lawyer could rip you apart on the stand if on trial regarding an incident. This warning applies to self-modification or self-repair of your duty/carry firearms as well (e.g. "Officer Thirtycal, are you a gunsmith?"). The general theme of such hypothetical questioning would be to make you out to be a vigilante who specifically went out looking for trouble with specialized self-crafted equipment or ammunition that wasn't perhaps "factory stock" or "department issue". This might apply less to a sworn officer, but still I would check with the department for policy on allowed carry ammo and duty weapon modifications before doing anything yourself. Using a reputable gunsmith and keeping records and receipts for any work done would definitely be the order of the day. Of course if you are an accredited gunsmith, that's different - you already are in paperwork up to your ears . It is my sincere hope you never have to draw and fire in self defense. That wish extends to everyone, except the bad guys of course. But if you do, preparation will go a long way to clearing your name and getting you back to duty quickly. OK, my 2 cents are spent. (Edited to clarify defensive carry ammo)

I just wanted to interject my $0.02 on this issue in the Tanfoglios/EAA Witness. I have one in .45 and it is normally an excellent and trouble-free lead-slinging machine. For about 6 months I have had the issue of the slide not locking back on last round on Meggar mags, but not on factory Tanfoglio mags. I thought it was due to different mag follower dimensions, and if you look they are a bit different in that crucial area where the slide stop is pushed up by the follower. But recently I started to have the malfunction when using the Tanfoglio mags. I went back to basics. I took the slide off the gun, replaced the slide lock pin, and inserted my mags one at a time to watch what happened. I saw the follower clearly missing the slide stop nub on the Meggars, but just barely missing the follower on the Tanfoglio mags. It was a force fit thing, too, where to eject the mag I had to physically pull the mag out of the mag well with quite a bit of force because the slide stop pin nub was pushing so hard against the mag follower. Not good. I remembered the Witness was based on the tried and true CZ-75 design. I got a hold of a CZ-75 and set it up the same way - no slide, slide stop pin in. The slide stop pin nub on the CZ is quite a bit longer, almost by a quarter inch. It also looks a lot like the second ASCII "drawing" made by USAFA82 ("=|\"). Using the CZ slide stop pin in the Witness, *NOT FIRING IT* (details in a sec) but just working the slide, I noted that every magazine worked perfectly every time. (I couldn't fire the gun with the CZ pin because it is for a 9mm, and would probably break the first time I tried it in the .45 with my luck.) I though back to what I had changed on the gun. Then I remembered that before putting the gun in the safe for a while about 9-10 months before, I had changed the mag release to actuate from the right side of the gun. Being a reversible mag catch was a great feature in my opinion, and I thought I could actually work the mag release better with it on that side. Bad mistake. The inverted mag release was pushing the magazine, and thus the follower, *away* from the slide stop pin! I reverted the mag release back to the left side, and lo and behold all my mags started working again with the factory Tanfoglio pin! Who would have thought that there was that much play in the mag well? Anyway, lesson learned. And now due to the slide stop pin nub having chewed up the side of a couple of the Meggar followers, it looks like it will be a mistake that costs money. Luckily not a lot of money this time. Hope this helps someone else.