Glock +2's

[dakotasin]

went to visit the ol' gunshop this afternoon to get some more mags for my new glock 35. while i was chatting w/ the proprietor, i noticed there are factory +2 bases available - which would (presumably) turn my 15 rounders into 17's. so... now i have questions.

1- are these pads any good?

2- do i have to replace the spring (w/ one that is longer) to get them to run consistently and reliably?

3- how far will they stick out of the bottom of the gun?

4- will there be any rules i would have to worry about for competition (limited or production - whatever a glock 35 runs in)?

5- if these should be skipped, can you tell me why?

thanks for any help.

[DMH]

I have +2's on all my glock mags, with factory springs I've never had a problem. As far as I know as long as you only load 10 rds, no problem in production.

[Clay1]

I've heard this a couple of different ways. One there is a ruling out by NROI (National Range Officer Institute) that any factory part from one model from a particular manufacturer can be put on any other model from the same manufacturer. So if it is a Glock +2 basepad they could presumably be used in the Production division.

Your G35, depending on how it is set up can be shot in Production, Limited 10 or limited.

There is another school of thought that speaks to added weight to the mags not being legal in production. There is some gray area here. Check out the rules at this link: http://www.uspsa.org/

[dakotasin]

dmh- thanks - i was worried about function w/ factory-issue 15-round springs.

clay- where i'll be shooting is a small club. i think they will be a little bit open to a looser interpretation of the rules and not so inclined to be hard core cut-and-dry. especially for a beginner just trying to find the ropes.

i think i'll go ahead and get a few +2's and try them out. i am more concerned about aesthetics, i guess. its a fault i have because of my rifles and makes no sense, but i can't help it.

[Flexmoney]

1- are these pads any good?

Used to be that they sucked. That was with the early generations, which could come off and "speed unload" your mags. The news ones lock in somewhat. They may be fine. I don't know.

2- do i have to replace the spring (w/ one that is longer) to get them to run consistently and reliably?

Stock spring should be fine.

3- how far will they stick out of the bottom of the gun?

I'm not sure how to answer that. You saw them, right? I think they do tend to give you a square bottom to the mag, as opposed to an angled one.

4- will there be any rules i would have to worry about for competition (limited or production - whatever a glock 35 runs in)?

No worries in Limited. They won't reach the 140mm mag length restriction there. I would suggest getting at least one +5 mag extension for your starter mag, however. You will be behind the curve if your are starting with 17 and your competition is stating with 20. (It will make a difference.)

For Production...iffy. You can't use them in IPSC, but the USPSA rules don't directly disallow them. I didn't see anything covering this specifically on the USPSA Forum. I'll bet we have a thread on this in on this forum...might have to do a search.

5- if these should be skipped, can you tell me why?

I skip them. They are of limited utility in Limited Division. Just not enough rounds. I think they'd be OK for a few cheap extra rounds on your reload magazines, but that is about it.

They do give you a bit more "handle" to seat the mags (over the stock/flat basepad). But, I just haven't seen any performance advantage from running a base pad over stock.

I'm not sure why you'd want to run them in Production? Any perceived advantage would be lost if these proved illegal and you had to lose them. And, any trouble you are having with standard mags ought to be easy enough to train away with just the minimum of practice. (dryfire)

Whatever the rule is, it should be equally applied...no matter if the match is local or large.

[dakotasin]

flex- no, i haven't seen them... i mean, i have the factory 15's, but have no idea what the +2's look like on the mag - i haven't seen those.

+5 mag extension, eh? ok, where, how much, what brand, how many, etc... 'member, i am new to this, and haven't a clue what's good and what's real good to stay away from.

thanks for the rest of the input. i just got an email from the club, and they are starting out their indoor club stuff now until it gets warm enough to go back outdoors. since i don't have all my gear just yet, i probably won't shoot right away, but i am hoping to have everything ready by the time the outdoor league starts. would be nice to be able to run a little indoors in the interim, though.

[JFD]

Dawson extensions from Shooters Connection. $30 each and they come with a spring. I think 2 is the minimum, but you'll want more later. I can get a reloadable 19 in my new mags. I only get 16 in the mags with Glock +2 extensions, but I can use them on short courses and the mags are still easy to seat with my ICE magwell. That alone makes them worth the effort, especially if you don't want to buy a bunch of Dawson extensions right away.