If you’ve read anything here, ever, you know I’m a Smith & Wesson fan. They have their own set of problems, absolutely! Many Glock fans will tell you that, “Glock Perfection,” is a real thing, and that Gaston Glock only lets diamonds slip out from Smyrna. It’s all hyperbole though; every firearm is man-made and thus fallible. They all have idiosyncrasies and if you haven’t discovered those, then you either don’t shoot much, or you haven’t been trying very hard.

Here’s a few of the idiosyncrasies of Glocks, and what I do to counter them. Like I’ve said before, this is every brand of carry gun…live with them long enough through real use, and you’ll find these. And this isn’t a gripe session of, “this does this,” its more of a prep for the casual user to realize that these machines do strange things sometimes, but they do them regularly, and many are endemic to their specific species.

SLIDE BITE

I am a large man. Commensurate with that height, comes large hands. With any kind of extended shooting (>one 15 round magazine) I get gnawed up by the reciprocation of the slide. I have scars from shooting tens of thousands of rounds through Glock 19’s. I know what the Instagram diehard fans are going to say, and while adding the Generation 4 or 5 backstraps with the beavertails is an option, I don’t want to make a girthy pistol any larger in diameter, so those don’t work for me. Adding a Crimson Trace laser grip is a solution, albeit an expensive one, but it works. It provides a beaver tail that contains the electronics of the sight system, and you get the added bonus of having a laser indicator pointing at the target. A less expensive, and user adaptable solution is the Grip Force Adapter. This consists of a plastic part that attaches to the back strap of the pistol, and allows the user to get a high hold, ideal for recoil management and solidity of the firing grip on the draw, but keeps the reciprocating slide from contacting the shooter’s hand.

BRASS TO THE FACE…AKA BTF

Some Glocks eject their empty brass cases right into your face. I guess it depends on how big your face is, but mine tend to launch them right into my forehead. I know others who’ve gotten them in the eyes before, which could obviously be hazardous, especially if it’s in a self defense situation where you aren’t proactively wearing eye glasses of some sort. I’ve heard of many cures for this issue, ranging from changing the extractor, ejector or even changing how the gun is held. I don’t know which of these work and which don’t, and I’d wager to say it probably varies gun to gun. I just anticipate that every Glock I use is going to launch about 3/15 cases into my forehead. It’s annoying, yeah, but with issued guns, you can’t often do much other than grin and bear it. I recommend that anyone willingly going into harm’s way wear some kind of eye protection. On the range eye protection is a, “duh,” to be sure, but on the street, it’s often overlooked. When I worked on the armored trucks I wore sunglasses in the sun (imagine that!) and clear or amber lenses when it was overcast or nighttime. Yes, it does give the wearer a Walter Sobchak look, but it beats getting an eye full of hot brass, a squirt of errant pepper spray, or a glob of bloody saliva from the neighborhood turd. No thanks, I’ll pass.

Accuracy is important. Next to safety, and professional gun handling (which is, by definition, safe) accuracy is paramount. Not enough people put in the time to achieve even a moderate level of accuracy, and that’s where you, gentle reader, enter the picture. Encourage your friends to strive for 100% accuracy in all their endeavors, and do the same by leading by example.

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Regards,

Dr. House

A gym membership. Can’t afford a gym membership? Get outside and walk. Do ten pushups every commercial break whilst watching your favorite TV program.

There are very few equipment or gear items that will save your bacon when the chips are down. A few examples notwithstanding…if you’re going up against North Hollywood Bank Robbers that are wearing armor, you’re going to need something that’ll punch through the armor. If you have a fire in your kitchen, you’ll need a fire extinguisher. And if you’re faced with a deadly force threat, you’ll need a gun. But once those basic denominators are met (there are others, but you get the point), the hardware portion of the equation has been met. And while hardware is a factor, it never supersedes the gravitas of software.

The first time I ever had a Civilian gunfight survivor in one of my classes, he very matter-of-factly told the class how he luckily thwarted a home invasion robbery by shooting dead, three suspects. I was moved by this man’s story. He said he was training now, so that if it ever happened again, he’d be better equipped to handle it. He’d changed guns, after the incident, to something with more, “firepower.” After the first hour on the range, he had to quit the class, because the mild heat (low 80’s) and bending over to police empty magazines after shot strings was too much for him that handle. His face would turn bright, fire engine red and he’d become short of breath. My point is, it does you or anyone else in your charge little good if you’re a real-life Paul Kersey, but you stroke out after the fight in the immediate aftermath.

Our hearts are complex organs, and they are constantly at work. Conditioning the cardiovascular system through exercise is something that has immediate tangible health effects, and is beneficial to EVERY body. I’m a firm believer in the regenerative healing power of exercise.

Tom Givens once said words to the effect of, “If you have to eat a toad, do it first thing in the morning, then whatever happens the rest of the day, it isn’t that bad.” Our bodies don’t physiologically, “know,” the difference between rigorous exercise and mutual human combat, running away from a herd of stampeding buffalo, or wrestling/subduing a marauding bear. The hormones, endorphins, and psychoactive chemicals that are endogenously produced by our brains are identical, regardless of the scenario. If you use this to your advantage, by exercising and, “fighting a bear,” most days of the week, you’ll benefit greatly when the time comes to fight anything…your body already knows what’s required.

The overall health of the training community is decent, but needs more work. With the advent of the fighting sports being commonplace amongst multi-disciplinary practitioners, an understanding of the requirements to maintain a baseline of physical performance is well documented. But it isn’t just the Jujitsu and kick boxing badasses that benefit from regular, rigorous exercise. Men and women, young and old, ALL will benefit from any increase in daily caloric expenditure, no matter how small.

So stop worrying about whether you chose the right striker-fired pistol for your EDC, or if the magazine pouch you’re using gives you the fastest emergency reload. Hit the track, or the stadium stairs, carry a tourniquet, and breathe in MORE air. All of your trials and tribulations through life, will be exponentially easier, the higher your exercise capacity is.

It’s 2018. Be the superhero kids read about in comic books.