High Exposure

When you decide what you are going to carry, spend $45 and pick up a blue gun for draw practice. They are a huge help in becoming proficient with the tools of your choice safely.

Those Unity slides are nice. Which magwell do you have in the FDE G17 there?

For you guys running comped guns, something to be aware of: Seems the seam between the slide and the comp gets hung up on the ALS release.

Ok cool. That's the exact trigger and magwell I was looking at. Was contemplating an Agency or a Robar trigger, but leaning towards the Overwatch. For the Magwell, I was looking at the RCS Freya, the ZEV, and the SLR as well, but so far I preferred the Agency. I'm glad the millwork worked out.

What trigger and magwell are on there and how do you like them?

I though I saw you there.

I agree that competitions can be great practice, but they aren't training. Training is what you get while performing repeatable tasks under the watchful eye of a quality instructor. There is a goal and the tasks work towards that goal. Training is also where you learn the why along with the how - which is extremely important - especially when you start linking tasks together into techniques, and applying those techniques towards tactics. You then take those tasks and techniques - usually in the forms of shooting drills - and repeat them on your own or with others as practice with the goal being the 4th level of achievement***: unconscious competence. I strongly suggest you obtain quality training prior to participating in USPSA or IDPA type games. Get your weapon manipulations at least to the 2nd level of achievement: conscious incompetence - which is where you can recognize your mistakes and how to fix them. You often times need to do things a certain way to succeed in the gun games. That way is often times contrived and maybe not the best way to handle a particular situation in a real gunfight. You need experience so you can take and discard things you may do in competition and recognize them as either a useful skill, useful tactic, or useful technique vs something that is fun and works in the comp, but has no business being employed in a real gunfight. ***Four Levels of Achievement: Unconscious incompetence - you don't know what you don't know. You are making mistakes but don't even realize they are mistakes Conscious incompetence - You realize you are making mistakes and can identify them along with corrective measures Conscious competence - You know what to do and how to do it correctly, but you have to think about it. This takes away from your ability to remain situationally aware and make critical decisions in the heat of the moment. Unconscious competence - Autopilot. You know what to do, how to do it, and are so comfortable you can do it without thinking. This frees up your intellect to make important decisions like shoot/no shoot discrimination, proper use of cover, ammo management, communication, etc... while you automatically run the gun.

Nothing Ninja about it. There are no advanced gunfighting skills - just the basics executed faster and more accurately than your threat, with a proper mindset dedicated to winning. If you can understand Boyd's cycle/OODA loop and how to make it work for you, then legitimatley master the basics - recognize, ID, acquire, stance, grip, draw, present, aim, press, evaluate, follow through, process, post engagement sequence - with the ability to consistently execute them to your best ability on demand (That's different than on command), you are set. The physical aspects of gunfighting are relatively easy. It's the mental part that's hard.

Everyone is different. If you have limitations that prohibit consistent strong side carry, than you adapt to what works for you. If that is cross draw, then embrace it and plan for it. Know it's limitations and address them in a fashion that works for you and lets you do what you have to do safely. Dress around your carry style - pick clothes that let you access your pistol quickly while concealing well. Spend the extra $ and get some quality holsters designed to carry your gun in the manner you want. Don't just buy a regular strong side holster and throw it on your support side hip. Oh, and it doesn't matter what you do, you will end up with a box full of holsters you tried and didn't like and 1 or 2 holsters that are your "go to" carry rigs. Spend money on a quality belt designed to carry a gun - don't just go to Kohl's and buy a leather belt. A quality gun belt is worth every penny. It supports and distributes the weight of the gun much more comfortably and keeps the gun in one place. I like Ares Gear for everyday use (Volund Gearwoks is good too) and I have a nice CompTac leather belt for dressing up. Finally, get training then practice. A few minutes a day doing dry fire will help a lot with efficiency and that translates to speed. But get some training first so you aren't practicing the wrong thing and short circuiting your procedural memory. I have found that the most important facet of the practical side of carrying a handgun, after basic safety, is being consistent. If you can do the same thing every time, you are 90% there.

I am assuming you want training on shooting from a concealed holster and by "class" you mean a shooting class, and not a classroom lecture or permitting class. If that's the case, look no further - Sights and Trigger: April 22nd, Concealed Carry, Steel City Gun Club, Bethlehem PA http://www.sightsandtrigger.com/site/3ca3207e22524b0293624bd2b8893501/home?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsightsandtrigger.com%2F#2838 Joe is outstanding instructor that offers affordable classes with a reasonable round count. I will likely be there myself. I missed his CCW class the last two years. Now, regarding cross draw v. strong side carry. I currently carry a Taser in a cross draw holster at work. This is by policy and is one facet of a policy designed to help with weapon confusion - so you don't draw your pistol when you want a Taser and vise-versa. It is a much slower draw and is very uncomfortable. Yes, with a cross draw rig the potential to muzzle sweep a body part or a partner/loved one standing to your support side during the drawstroke, especially during a high stress situation like the beginning of a gun fight, is one issue. Another is weapon retention both in and out of a holster - you are able to get more leverage on the gun to keep it in your holster when it's on the strong side and if you are doing a speed-rock or draw to retention engagement, the pistol is vulnerable as you cross your body with it. In my experience it's easier to conceal with a strong side carry (I carry just behind my hip at ~4:00). A cross draw would be carried in front of the weak side hip (so for me as a right hander that would be 10:00ish) which is harder to conceal. Also, a drawstroke from a cross draw holster is a much bigger move. Much more obvious, a little slower, less effecient and you have more time off target than on until the completion of the presentation. With a strong side carry, I can point my muzzle in the general direction of my threat from the instant the muzzle clears my holster just by dropping my strong side elbow to my hip. With a cross draw, I have almost 90* of horizontal travel to complete before my muzzle is anywhere near my threat area.

No revolving cylinder shotguns in NJ. Looks like Crye will get no love here in the PRNJ for their little beast. The Judge and Governer get a pass because they have some rifling in their barrels to facilitate the firing of the pistol cartridges they also shoot, and therefore technically aren't shotguns - the NJ definition of a shotgun requires a "smooth bore".

We got about 3" here by Sandy Hook. I always think of this bit when I hear weather reports of feet of snow: It's all funny, but the part from about 5:15 on is what I think of.

Undergassed guns can cause nosediving of the next round in the mag if the BCG drags and doesn't have enough "umph" to clear the top round and get behind it to strip it from the mag. Failure to lock back on an empty mag is the standard test for undergassed. If it is passing that, you're probably good there and it's something else.....

Hmmmm.... I don't have a .300blk but I was looking into one. Everything I was looking at was stating that a pistol length gas system was the way to go. The cartridge was designed to be fired out of short barrels, like 7"-10", and therefore the powder fully burns faster. With the powder burning up so fast, the extra distance from the chamber to the gas block can cause the guns to run undergassed - which is what your malfunction sounds like, an undergassed gun. Now your gun ran before, but not now, so I am like 50% on that being your issue. Another possible culprit is a lack of M4 feed ramps in your upper receiver. I see your barrel extension has them, does the receiver continue them?

What length gas system? Pistol or Carbine?

Yeah. I saw that. I like it.

I like that. The brake is slim enough to let the gas block slide over - so you can still get the barrel nut of your choice on there, then slide the gas block on. Forward thinking!

If you find an A1 length stock for a decent price, let me know. I prefer it to the A2 stocks, but they have been difficult to find. As far as DPMS sucking it - I am shocked. /sarcasm All parts aren't created equal much to the chagrin of the "Parts is parts" crowd.

It's going around bro. It's miserable. Feel better. Ran through everyone in my house last week. I missed 2 days of work. Little guy, wife and MiL all had it. I have never in my life puked so hard.

Interesting and unexpected opinion from a senior ATF boss. And I believe his recommended changes are doable with a friendly DOJ. http://soldiersystems.net/2017/02/06/atf-associate-deputy-director-suggests-lifting-many-firearms-regulations/#comments Link to actual 11 page white paper: http://soldiersystems.net/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Options-to-Reduce-or-Modify-Firearms-Regulation.pdf I have some other thoughts on this as well, specifically the why this was leaked, but I want to see what others have to say before I bring them up and influence anything.

I still think cutting a spring is bad on a few levels. It is not permanent (all you need is 5 seconds to install a $3.50 part and it is back to full capacity). Caveat - unless you epoxy the floorplate on, or permanently attach it another way. I agree a rivet is not permanent. It imagine it will be fairy time consuming to make the block fit properly in the mag to support the shortened spring. Properly functioning mags are supremely important to the function of an AR (Any semi-auto firearm really) . I can track 75% of the malfunctions in my shooters directly back to bad mags. Sometimes it's the feed lips, often times it's weak mag springs. Springs are designed to work as a whole, not coil by coil. If I cut off 1 coil from a mag spring, will the single coil exert the same amount of force when compressed as the entire uncut spring did? Will the 15 remaining coils on the now cut magazine spring be as strong as the uncut spring was? How about if I cut 2 coils off? How about 3? I don't believe for a second that a cut spring will be as reliable as a full spring and I predict using one will cause feeding issues. Using a true 15 round mag spring over a block would be reliable. The mag block I linked to above installed in a Pmag with the floorplate epoxied on is 100% permanent in the eyes of NJSP. The only way to get the block out would be to destroy the magazine. They only cost $4.50 and install in seconds. Search this site for HexMag reliability issues. Seems they can be problematic. Your mags, your process. Good luck,

It's not really permanent. If you wanted to, you could buy a replacement spring and bring it back to full capacity. You would have to epoxy the floorplate after blocking. Instead of measuring a block and shaping it to fit under a cut spring, an easier solution is to go here: http://www.magazineblocks.com/magento/gen-m3-pmag-mcl-15-30-block-new-15-round-limiter.html Install the block then epoxy the floorplate on.

:rofl:

Or a Canadian Buttload of ammo and 3 big time training classes.

My buddy in CT has one (with the LAM, soft case, original issue Safariland thigh rig, and correct suppressor). He is an enormous HK fanboy and has more $$ than sense sometimes It's a really nice, extremely accurate, soft shooting handgun. The thing is HUGE. He sometimes refers to it as a "Crew served pistol". He does CCW it occasionally in a custom rig by Blackpoint Tactical. Parts are expensive and hard to find, preventative maintenance is minimal though. I never had a desire to own one. Shooting one didn't do anything to change that. I had the money I would probably spend it on something else. But, if I wanted one, even a little bit, I'd get one and not look back.