The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery. Massad Ayoob
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Make sure magazines go in and out cleanly. Some guns (1911, for example) are designed for the magazines to fall completely away when the release button is pressed. If the test gun won’t do this with new magazines that you know are in good shape, there could be some serious warpage in the grip-frame or, more probably, something wrong with the magazine release mechanism.
Some guns (early Glocks, most Browning Hi-Powers, any pistol with a butt-heel magazine release) can’t be expected to drop their magazines free. However, the magazine should still run cleanly in and out of the passageway in the grip frame.
You want to check the sear mechanism with a hammer-fired pistol to make sure there won’t be “hammer follow.” The test itself is abusive, and you want to make sure it’s OK with the current owner before you do it. Insert the empty magazine and lock the slide back. Making sure nothing is contacting the trigger, press the slide release lever and let the gun slam closed. Watch the hammer. If the hammer follows to the half-cock position or the at-rest position, the sear isn’t working right. Either it has been dropped and knocked out of alignment, or more probably, someone did a kitchen table trigger job on it, and the sear is down to a perilously weak razor’s edge. Soon, it will start doing the same with live rounds, which will keep you from firing subsequent shots until you’ve manually cocked the hammer. Soon after that, if the malady goes untreated, you will attempt to fire one shot and this pistol will go “full automatic.”
Because the mechanism was designed to be cushioned by the cartridge that the slide strips off the magazine during the firing cycle, it batters the extractor (and, on 1911-type guns, the sear) to perform this test. However, it’s the best way to see if the sear is working on a duty type gun. (Most target pistols have finely ground sears and won’t pass this test, which is yet another reason you don’t want a light-triggered target pistol for combat shooting.) If this test is unacceptable to the gun’s owner, try the following. Hold the gun in the firing hand, cock it, and with the thumb of the support hand push the hammer all the way back past full cock and then release. If when it comes forward it slips by the full cock position and keeps going, the gun is going to need some serious repair.
Checking the manual safety/sear engagement on a 1911. First, cock the empty gun, put the manual safety in the “on safe” position, and pull the trigger firmly as shown…
If the pistol has a grip safety, cock the hammer of the empty gun, hold it in such a way that there is no pressure on the grip safety, and press the trigger back. If the hammer falls, the grip safety is not working.
If the gun has a hammer-drop feature (i.e., decocking lever), cock the hammer and drop a #2 pencil or a flathead Bic Stik pen down the bore, with the tip of the writing instrument pointing toward the muzzle. With the fingers clear of the trigger, activate the decocking lever. If the pencil or pen just quivers when the hammer falls, the decocking mechanism is in good working order. However, if the pen or pencil flies from the barrel, that means it was hit by the firing pin. You’re holding a dangerously broken gun, one that would have fired the round in the chamber if you had tried to decock it while loaded.
…now, remove finger from trigger guard…
Now, to test the firing pin, we’ll use the Bic Stik or the #2 pencil again. This time, we’ll pull the trigger. If the writing implement is launched clear of the barrel, you have a healthy firing pin strike. If it isn’t, either the firing pin is broken or the firing pin spring is worn out.
Caution: In both of the last two tests, wear safety glasses and have a clear “line of fire” with no one in the way! That sharp-tipped pen or pencil will come flying out of the barrel with enough force to cause a cut or nasty eye damage! Also in both of these tests, you’ll need an empty magazine in place if the pistol has a magazine disconnector safety.
To make sure that the magazine disconnector safety is operating, remove the magazine from the empty pistol, point it in a safe direction, and pull the trigger. If the hammer falls, the disconnector device either is not working or has been disconnected.
A sloppily fitted auto pistol is not likely to deliver much in the way of accuracy. Bring the slide forward on the empty gun, put the tip of a finger in the muzzle, and wiggle it around. If it’s tight, it bodes well for accuracy. If it slops around a lot, the opposite can be expected. With the slide still forward, bring a thumb to the back of the barrel where it is exposed at the ejection port, and press downward. If it gives a lot, that tells you that the rear lockup isn’t as solid as you’ll need for really good accuracy. In either of these measurements, it’s hard to explain how much play is too much. Try this test with some guns of known accuracy, and you’ll quickly develop a “feel” for what is and is not what you’re looking for with that particular make and model.
Summary
Well-selected “pre-owned” handguns are an excellent value. Firearms are the ultimate “durable goods.” How many people do you know who drive their grandfather’s car or keep the family food supply in their grandmother’s ice box? Probably not too many. But if you start asking, you’ll be amazed how many people you know still cherish their grandparents’ firearms.
It’s no trick at all to find a perfectly functional combat handgun, revolver or auto, on the second-hand shelf at half the price of a new one. That leaves you more money for ammo, training, skill-building…and enjoying the life and the people you bought that gun to protect.
…and release the thumb safety. If hammer stays motionless as shown, that portion of the mechanism is in good working order. If hammer falls at this point, gun is DANGEROUSLY damaged!
C HAPTER T HREE Modern Paradigms
The Glock
Gaston Glock had made a fortune producing assorted polymer items at his factory in Austria. His reputation was such that more than one firearms company soon approached him to make a polymer pistol frame. Being (a) a manufacturer, (b) a businessman, (c) a designer, and (d) smarter than hell, it occurred to him that he could design his own gun to manufacture. He set his design team to work, giving them a clean sheet of paper.
In the early 1980s, there was little new under the sun in the form of handguns. The most high-tech auto pistols were largely refinements of older designs. For example: take the 1950 Beretta service pistol, add on a 1930s vintage Walther-type hammer-drop safety and a 1908 vintage Luger magazine release, and you had the “new” Beretta. But what came off the Glock drawing board was something new indeed.
It looked like something out of Star Trek. It was sleek, with a raked back grip angle that could be compared to a Luger or a Ruger only in the angle, not in the shape. It was square at front and back. It had no hammer, inside or out; the pistol was striker fired. The polymer frame, plus a design created from the ground up for economy of manufacture, ensured under-bidding of the competition. The other makers’ guns carried 14 to 16 rounds of 9mm Parabellum, but this one carried 18. The trigger pull was very controllable, and consistent from first shot to last. More importantly, the thing worked with utter reliability and survived torture tests.