Small Aid for PCC Unloaded Start Practice.

[Flatland Shooter]

To keep my dry fire practice as close to live fire as possible, I like to dry fire with magazines loaded with dummy rounds.   Most shooters probably feel that the extra weight due to the bullets is negligible so this may not be for you.  Also if you don't dry fire much, this is probably of little interest.

 

On unloaded starts, I wanted my to practice to include not only seating the magazine but also racking the charging handle.   Its a bit of a pain picking up and putting the dummy rounds back in the magazine.

 

In another thread someone gave a link for a small piece of plastic that holds the dummy rounds far enough down in the mag that they do not chamber.  Neat idea but it has two drawbacks.  #1 - After placing the order I have to wait until snail mail decides to deliver.  #2 - With shipping, they cost a lot for a small piece of plastic.  (I'm not only impatient but also cheap.)

 

Probably not the most elegant solution, but most likely the least expensive one, I took a scrap piece of kydex and trimmed it to 1" x 1-1/2".  After heating it to the point where it flexible, I pushed it into the bottom of the magazine tube (Glock 33 rd) and forced to the within 1/2" of the feed lips with a trimmed to fit piece of wood.  Allowed to cool and harden, the kydex piece is now sort of "U" shaped.

 

Total elapsed time less than 10 minutes. (Does not include the time rummaging around the garage looking for the kydex.)

 

Turns out the hard part of this mini-project was loading the 9mm dummy rounds into the magazine without them getting all jumbled up.  To keep them lined up, I laid out a half dozen dummy rounds on a strip of Scotch tape. Slide them into the mag and repeat until I had 24 dummy rounds in the mag all nicely lined up.  More weight might be better but that was enough for me.  

 

To keep everything tight and rattle free, I cut a few coils off of an old worn out spring from a 17 rd mag.  (I'm cheap and a pack rat.)  Its long enough to hold the dummy rounds securely in place but short enough that its easy to reassemble the magazine.  Put the short spring and Glock follower into the mag tube, replace the Dawson basepad and I'm good to go.

 

So far its held together and allows me to actuate the charging handle.

 

Hope someone finds this helpful.  If you read this far and do not find it helpful, sorry.  But then I did kind of warn you at the end of the first paragraph.

 

Thanks.

[mstamper]

got any pics of this creation?

[Flatland Shooter]

Not tonight but if you want one I can do it in the morning.

[fishhunter3]

https://coolfiretrainer.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fav=0&fpage=1&page=1&categoryID=11&productID=39&pStart=0&recNum=0

 

coolfire trainer has these to place as the top round to keep the slide/bolt from locking open

[Hammer002]

I used an old Glock magazine.  Have not brought myself to sacrifice a 33 round one yet, so its just an old generation 17 round.  I used to use it for practicing glock reloads long ago when I shot a glock..  I took the spring out, put the follower in and filled it with a mixture of BBS and hot glue for weight, but no rattle.  Filed off the slide stop portion of the follower too for practicing empty starts.  Have made dummy shotgun shells the same way for practicing shotgun reloads.  

 

I am with you on wanting the weight in dry fire.  I also use this mag loaded in the gun for draw practice so the gun feels the same.  I havent yet, but plan to do the same for my Tactical Sports sometime soon.  

[stick]

5 hours ago, Flatland Shooter said:

To keep my dry fire practice as close to live fire as possible, I like to dry fire with magazines loaded with dummy rounds.   Most shooters probably feel that the extra weight due to the bullets is negligible so this may not be for you.  Also if you don't dry fire much, this is probably of little interest.

 

On unloaded starts, I wanted my to practice to include not only seating the magazine but also racking the charging handle.   Its a bit of a pain picking up and putting the dummy rounds back in the magazine.

 

 

 

53 minutes ago, Hammer002 said:

I

I am with you on wanting the weight in dry fire.  I also use this mag loaded in the gun for draw practice so the gun feels the same.  I havent yet, but plan to do the same for my Tactical Sports sometime soon.  

I agree with both of you on the weighted mags for dryfire.  I haven't practiced unloaded starts too much because like Flatland shooters said it's a pain picking up the dummy round.  Hammer002  I use an ETS mags for dryfire, they are cheap and work well enough.  I was thinking of weighing the mag with dummy rounds and matching the weight with some type of material and possibly hot glue.  I was also thinking of removing the follower and spring.

[Flatland Shooter]

Pics of the aid.