Scott Skawronska
Ranter Level 5
Karma: 81
Posts: 1151
Don't Pick Me.
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« Reply #24 on: November 23, 2008, 11:41:57 AM » |
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Different strokes for different folks.
I tend to gravitate more towards "factory" configurations for my pistols for two reasons:
1) I see customization as a "crutch", making the pistol easier to shoot for me, which means in my mind, my skills are deficient if I can't do the same thing with a factory gun. Therefore, I work on my skills, not my hardware. Because my skills are transferable, my hardware is not. I never know if the gun I pick up or am handed to defend myself is going to be mine or not -- probability is it will be, but as a good Wog, knowing the factory hardware means the greatest amount of flexibility when/if someone asks me: "Hey, you can use a Glock 17, right?" -- you bet I can. Stock. Did it for years. Gimme.
2) Any customizations you make to a pistol decrease its marketability and value. Becuase you've customized it for YOU, not your customer -- so if you ever have to SELL your guns, it stands to reason that while you may GET more money for your customized pistol IF you find the right buyer who WANTS that combination of customizations, you will SELL IT SOONER if it's in stock configuration. Again, because more people are comfortable in the factory config.
That being said, I have customized my own pistols a little bit, after much soul-searching and testing. Here are the "customizations" I have made:
1) Night sights for all my Glocks.
I believe these should be factory from the get-go. I used to be down on night sights, first and foremost because of the expense involved, and because I bought into the "straw man" argument that if it's too dark to see your sights, it's too dark to see your target clearly and you shouldn't be shooting in the first place.
Well, that argument went out the window very early on in my Bail career (In Security, either you were in a well-lighted area that was your property, or you were in the dark, completely.), from the cover of darkness, with my target area (with a cooperating agent near the target) having to watch to possibly shoot my target FROM that cover of darkness...
...and I realized Night Sights had their place, and it was for shooting from concealment.
This ESPECIALLY applies in Home Defense situations, where, once they have entered your home, you don't HAVE to identify yourself, or say "Halt" or any other damn thing, according to the law IN MY STATE (other locations may vary, so if it does, disregard this entire paragraph and move on to "Night sights are expensive..."). That person is there to rob or kill you or have his way with your children. He has already identified himself as a forcible felon by his actions and he is IN YOUR HOUSE. He has ALREADY picked the time and place of his criminal activity, and placed YOU at the significant disadvantage. I consider this a completely appropriate situation to shoot him from the cover of darkness without saying a word. As SK says, "You can justify it all to yourself -- LATER".
Night sights are expensive, but do nothing to change the exterior characteristics of the gun. They are merely an aiming device that you can use when you are in darkness -- but it is ASSUMED you are a responsible enough shooter that you have VERIFIED your target before sending high-velocity base metal downrange. With that ASSUMPTION, I highly recommend Night Sights if you can afford them, ESPECIALLY for home defense.
The other "customization" I've put on my Glocks is an extended slide release. A FACTORY one. You'll notice that many of the more modern "Practical-Tactical" Glocks have a slight bump on the factory slide release; That's a FACTORY "Extended Slide Release".
All I've done is retrofitted that slide release to my older Glocks.
In my mind, it's still a "Factory" part that does what I want it to do.
I'm big on Factory. And it makes my Glocks faster for me to reload, because I got little-bitty stumpy fingers. I also have the extended slide release on my .45.
But if you were to look at my Glock, there's no light, there are no radical "Customizations" -- just two minor ones that make all the difference to me, but that most folks wouldn't give a second glance to if they were buying it, or having to use it and were accustomed to the Stock Factory configuration.
Again, your mileage may vary.
My .45's are moderately customized, mostly because I learned the hard way that if you run 185 +P JHP Cor-Bons through a Colt Lightweight Commander, the factory grip safety will SPLIT YOUR SKIN at the web of the thumb after about 250 rounds.
OW.
Solution 1: Stop using those hot @#$%ing loads.
Solution 2: Get a "drop in" beavertail grip safety from Wilson Combat.
Well, as many of you may well know, I'm a BIG fan of Wilson Combat. I use their magazines EXCLUSIVELY for personal defense, as I have tested about twenty (That is NOT an exaggeration) different brands/styles of 1911 magazines, from Chip McCormick to original Colt, to USGI contract, to knockoff, to Pachmayr, to a couple of other brands I can't remember off the top of my head right now -- and Wilson Combat has come out to be the most reliable and durable 1911 magazine I have ever used. Sorry to sound like a commercial, but in the Wog "What does it do, how well does it do it?" scale, the Wilson Combat mags simply are the best. Period.
And that's when the love affair with Wilson Combat started.
It continued on with their "drop-in" customization parts -- parts I could put on my gun myself without having to cut on the frame. Parts I could fit with a locksmith's file and a diagram so they fit perfectly (and SAFELY -- The first grip safety I installed I took to my gunsmith to verify I'd done it right. I had. I told him how I did it -- that's how I got his business to work on his safes) and correctly.
Then I bought a gun that had seen better days, a Sistema 1927 Colt Licensed Copy from Argentina. It had been the victim of a "shade tree trigger job" -- so I tore the gun down completely, replaced the sear/disconnector/grip safety spring with a brand new Wolff one (We call 'em the "finger springs" because it's a flat piece of spring steel that looks like fingers), replaced the mainspring with a new one from Wolff (Oh yeah, Wolff springs are the Best in the Business -- and guess what kind of springs Wilson Combat uses in their magazines? Yeah. Go ahead, guess.), then replaced the trigger (because someone had filed it down too thin at the engagement point to the sear/disconnector, making it worthless), then replaced the sear and hammer with Wilson Combat "Budget Line Hammer and Sear" which are factory-tuned to work together (thus eliminating the time-consuming and VERY delicate process of having to fit one to the other, which is what had been botched on the existing hammer and sear to make it unsafe), and putting on an Extended Slide Release (little bitty fingers, remember?)
I also ended up having to FIT the thumb safety to the sear -- another rather delicate filing operation. But with great care, more than I'd used with the grip safety, honestly, I fitted the two parts so now they lock up like two cobalt balls in a top-quality padlock.
Of course I had my gunsmith check all my work before I fired it.
Now the 1927 is CUSTOMIZED...it looks it. I will never get out of it what I put into it money wise, but I don't WANT to. It's now my gun, and I took it to the range yesterday afternoon and ran the hottest loads through it, the crappiest loads through it, and the cheapest loads through it...and it ran like a champ.
But do I recommend everyone do that to his gun? No. Only if it needs it.
A light is a matter of taste. The reason I have neither a light nor a laser is because I have this aversion to giving my position away by anything other than a muzzle flash which, if dealing with only one assailant, becomes a moot point after the first double-tap IF I'm on target. Strong motivation to hit what you're aiming at, eh?
I don't like the glocks with the rail -- had a bad experience trying to draw a Factory 3rd Generation Glock 19 from a Factory Glock Sport Combat Holster.
The cross-channel of the rail snagged on the underside of the holster on the draw.
When "Factory" is incompatible with "Factory" -- my inclination is to do away with "new" and go back to a "factory" that works. Thus, my preference for 2nd and 1st gen Glocks: They work with "Factory."
A light makes it difficult to find a holster. A light gives you something that can fail in the field when you most need it. A light changes the balance of your pistol. A light can give away your position. And finally, if you need that light as just a light, you're pointing a FIREARM at anything you're lighting, and that can include family members, a gas can, or other things you DON'T want to be pointing that firearm at.
So now you have my position. Your mileage may vary.
I like to subscribe to the KISS theory (Keep it Simple, Stupid) because under stress, your higher thought functions SHUT DOWN and you revert to that which you have trained to repetitive boredom and "have down pat" also known as "muscle memory" (although it really isn't -- it's a well-trained psychomotor skill) -- in other words, you "revert to your lowest form of training".
So keep it simple, for when you're STUPID.
Or you could die. This IS deadly force we're talking about. Think about the circumstances under which you may be deploying this for real and understand the physical and psychological parameters of those circumstances, and the condition you will be in physically and psychologically when they occur.
Dying is not a desirable option.
Not at all.
Train like you plan on living.
Equip like you plan on living.
Mentally prepare, like you plan on living.
And that means making correct training and equipment choices when you're NOT under stress, and then TESTING them under ARTIFICIAL stresses in a CONTROLLED environment so you can weed out what DOESN'T WORK.
Because the field for real is the wrong time to realize that those "customizations" just got in your way. You won't have that realization long, because in the case of a defensive firearm, any screwup can get you dead faster.
This is why gun games such as IDPA are so useful: They give you realistic scenarios, with the artificial stress of competition with which to test your mental skills, psychomotor skills, and your equipment, without the consequences of dying.
Take advantage of them if you can. You will quickly find out what works for you, and what does not.
It would make me the happiest if information I gave you was enough to teach you the process by which you can help save your life. I'm not so arrogant as to believe that's so, but that's the goal I'm shooting for (pun intended, groan now).
S
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