Category Archives: Handguns

Oorah! Marine Corps authorizes Glocks!

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In a Marine Corps first, the service recently added a Glock pistol to its list of authorized individual weapons, optics and modular attachments.

via Glock pistols approved for special operations Marines.

You read that right. The United States Marine Corps has just approved Glocks! Specifically the Glock 19! But to be clear, it’s not a Corps-wide edict. This is only for personnel assigned to Marine Corps Special Operations Command and will carry a non-Marine inventory number because it is a U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOC) asset.

You can read more at the Marine Times website. It is an interesting development given some of the controversy surrounding the USMC’s purchase of new Colt 1911s for Force Recon and MARSOC personnel a few years back. I’m pretty sure R. Lee Ermey, aka “The Gunny” approves!

-GM

Interesting new Glock optics mount from ALG Defense

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image

Larry Vickers posted this on FB. He says it was developed per SOF request. Personally, it’s hard to imagine anyone using a dedicated optically sight pistol outside the IPSC/USPSA or other competitive shooting environments. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen. After all, the Army is using Aimpoint optics as the only sight on many M4s and we so those in IPSC for years before the military adopted them.

Correction: The rail shows above is in fact from ALG Defense (it was previously reported as being a Geissele product). I couldn’t see the ALG Insignia on my phone when I posted the photo yesterday based on Vicker’s announcement. I still think this is more game gear than anything else. Any holster would have to be specific to this rail and knowing what it costs some manufacturers to tool up for a new gun (as much as $20,000), I just don’t see anyone other than ALG Defense themselves or a smaller custom shop creating a rig for guns configured with this rail mounted.

GM

Army Rejects M9A3 Proposal, Opts for New Pistol | Military.com

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by late December, it was all over for Beretta’s engineering change proposal for the M9. The Army’s Configuration Control Board decided not to evaluate the M9A3, according to a source familiar with the decision.

The move clears the way for the Army to release a pending request for proposal that will launch the MHS competition.

via Army Rejects M9A3 Proposal, Opts for New Pistol | Military.com.

Looks like Beretta is officially getting kicked off the government tit. I don’t blame them for trying and it really would have been a logical move by the Army and Department of Defense to adopt the M9A3 but, it sounds like the majority of people with stroke on such decisions are committed to going in a new direction. Chances are this will be some polymer framed pistol as that is the “modern” method of manufacturing pistols these days. Many polymer framed pistols allow a great deal more versatility with respect to fitting a wide variety of hands compared to traditionally manufactured pistols. Time will tell.

-GM

Taurus announces the Curve

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From Taurus USA:

The world’s first and only curved firearm engineered to fit the unique contours of your body, Taurus Curve™ is one ultra-comfortable, ultra-reliable personal defense handgun.

Your body has curves, so why aren’t pistols shaped to match? That’s precisely the question our engineering team challenged themselves to answer-and the results are unlike anything you’ve seen before. Introducing the Taurus Curve™, the world’s first and only curved firearm. Engineered to fit the unique contours of your body with no visible printing, the Curve is easily one of the most groundbreaking firearms ever conceived. An extreme departure from your typical compact .380, you’ll find the Curve takes form and function to an entirely unprecedented level. With its patented, snag-free design, the Curve boasts the industry’s first-ever light and laser built right into the frame. Exceptionally accurate and extremely lightweight at just 10.2 ounces, the Curve is one ultra-comfortable, ultra-reliable personal defense handgun.

via Taurus International Manufacturing Inc.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been hearing about this gun since 2013. A friend even had an early prototype in his shop last year but, couldn’t show it to me because of a disclosure agreement. He said it would have everyone thinking, “Why didn’t I think of that!” I still say, “meh.” We’ll see. It is a Taurus after all. But, they’ve got a new CEO and a new direction…They fired the old one, Mark Kresser, apparently for being honest and admitting to the company’s spotty quality control and designs. Time will tell where this goes. But I sure hope they remember make one of lefties. But as it stands, they’ve apparently given up on the concept of an ambidextrous gun.

-GM

Follow up to double-feed/failure to extract

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So, yesterday I posted a video of an alternative method to clear an extended pistol stoppage commonly called a double-feed. More often than not, this is actually a result of a failure to extract the previously fired round but, it can also be induced by a shooter who short strokes a slide with a round already in the chamber producing an double-feed. The latter being more common with new/inexperienced shooters trying to load/reload their pistol.

The most common method for resolving this sort of stoppage is fairly straight forward. Experienced shooters will often pick up on this malfunction without even looking at the gun because the auditory and tactile feedback immediately tells them the slide has failed to go into battery. To clear the stoppage, the shooter first locks the slide to the rear. Next, the shooter rips the magazine out of the gun with his support hand and stows that magazine under his strong-side arm or tucks it into is support-side waistband area.  The shooter then racks the slide vigorously at least three times. Having racked the slide, the shooter now retrieves the magazine he just pulled out of the gun or a fully charged magazine from his mag carrier and inserts it the gun smartly to seat the magazine. Finally, the shooter racks the slide to load the gun and decides if he needs to continue servicing his threat/target with additional rounds. You can see an example here…http://youtu.be/BxTcQV-4R9w.

Now, I said when I posted this “new method,” that I couldn’t vouch for it and would have to try it. A friend of the show, Mate, pointed out that Todd Louis Green of Pistol-Training.com had developed the method some years ago. Still, I said I’d try it and try it I have, with all of my medium to full-size Glocks (17, 19, 23, 34, & 35). With those guns, it works consistently and reliably. But we don’t all carry Glocks and I knew I needed to try it on other guns I have on hand. So this evening, I tried it with the 9mm M&P Shield.

Well, I can tell you that it works with my gun…Some times. Whether it works is highly dependent on how much ammunition is left in the magazine and how tightly the top round in the magazine is wedged between the round in the chamber and the feed ramp. Specifically, the method failed outright with anything less than three rounds in the magazine. And it was only marginally usable with anything less than a full magazine. And while I’m tempted to try it on my 1911s, Sigs, HKs, and other guns, the fact that it doesn’t work on a gun I carry regularly means it simply isn’t worth changing a process I already know works just fine without the added issue of discarding what might be my only/last magazine.

-GM