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Gabe Suarez on Glocks

morgan — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:13:27 +0000

At the SHOT Show, I had dinner with Gabe Suarez. Here are some of his thoughts on Glocks. Check out his extensive Training Schedule with classes held all over the USA using many different firearms.

ADVANCED COMBAT GLOCK

There is always a great temptation to minimize everything. This is usually followed by a rationalization of what you need. You will hear the drone, “All you need is this”, or “all you need is that”.

Truly, the only things you need are food, water and even shelter is sometimes arguable. But who the heck wants to settle for that. Nope…the America I know was not formed on needs, but rather on wants. Once your needs are seen to, as they are for almost everyone here in the USA, one begins to focus on wants. That is what makes us a great capitalist nation. That one can actually attain and reach what he wants instead of settling for the mediocrity of the egalitarian liberal who wants to make everyone equally poor, and equally miserable, not mention everyone settle for less.

In the world of weapons and tactics, where I live, we see those two sides. We are a starnge people for where there is no middle ground. It seems that if you don’t like a particluar accessory on your rifle, everybody lumps you into the rusty WASR10 with corroded cold war ammo. Or if you don’t care for a certain type of sight on your Glock, you must simply hate Glocks. Such silly thinking causes people to go to either extreme. Specifically never upgrading a weapons platform, or upgrading it every week with a new accessory. Neither path is correct, but rather a middle ground that accomplishes the mission at the highest level of efficinecy and deadliness possible.

If I have given the impression that I am against optimizing a weapon platform in the past, I want to set the record straight now. I think all weapons platforms…even a rock, will do fine, but even the hairiest and stinkiest caveman put an edge on that rock and eventually tied it to a stick to form an axe. This year I will focus on optimizing the various platforms we live and work with. Specifically the Glock, the Kalashnikov, the Saiga Shotgun, and others.

With the Glocks there are a number of things that can optimize their performance. Again, if all you want to have is “good enough”, never mind. But if you want the best tools to match the high level of skill then there are some things to consider.

One of course is the grip. For me the stock grip works fine, but if that is not the case with you, don’t put the gun down and go buy a lesser weapon, or a more tempermental weapon, all the plastic frame pistols out there can be modified. Guys like Cope Reynolds and David Bowie have been doing this for years. And even Glock itself realized they were not Austria’s answer to perfection and have issued the new versions with adaptable back straps.

The internals can also be made to fit better. I cannot speak for the M&P or XD since I don’t know their internals as well as the Glock. The Glock can benefit from some polishing of internal bearing surfaces. It can also benefit from the addition of a 3.5# connector and a titanium safety plunger. I like to add Lone Wolf barrels to my Glocks not only because I find they are a little bit more accurate than the stock barrels, but also because I like the capability to add a Gemtech can on the end. This is not essential, but it is a low cost addition that will enhance accuracy as well as allow you to use certain types of ammo not desirable to shoot in a Glock barrel.

One area where the pistol can benefit most is in the area of sights. Truly, for close range gunfighting inside of five yards, you do not need any sights. But for precise shots up close as might be seen with an adversary partially exposed from around cover, or for a distant shot out past 10 yards, careful sight selection may mean the difference between hitting and missing.

The greatest advancement has been seen is in the development of miniature red dot sights. If a red dot sight will benefit your rifle shooting, then it will do the same for your pistol shooting. I have studied these sights carefully and the two that I consider best are the J-Point Red Dot Sight, and the Trijicon RMR series in either electronic or tritium fiber optic. What these sights do for you that no iron sights can do is that they allow a shooter with aging eyes to still hit small targets, and at distances that are no longer possible for him. Moreover the issue of low light is gone as is the issue of needing to close one eye to obtain a greater degree of sight refinement. These types of sights have been placed on rifles for a very long time and thanks to advancements in their desing, they are now small enough to be used on CCW pistols. I know that there will be naysayers about this concept, but please remember that the same thing was said about the use of airsoft for training, the idea of dynamic movement and our preference for the Kalashnikov system. Try it before you dismiss it as unworkable. Me, I am convinced it is the future in pistol sights.

Another item that will never get any cheaper, go out of style, or take up toomuch space is magazines. While there are plenty of cheaply made Korean magazines flooding the market these days for everyday serious carry, nothing but the stock Glock magazines will do. The last place you want your magazine to fail is when you are mid-gunfight with a trio of armed robbers. Buy quality…and buy many. The standard magazines are fine, but I suggest a set of the 33 round magazines as well that we call “Happy Sticks“. For those who run the Glock 21, you can get Kriss SMG magazines that fit right in your Glock.

Finally, for use as a home defense/business defense weapon in reduced light situation, a weapon mounted light is a good idea. I recall the old weapon lights of a decade ago. Heavy, ungainly and cumbersome, they were used only by specialized shooters. Today, you can add or remove one of these very easily due to the accessory rails common on the newer Glock pistols. One of the better ones available is made by the same company – the Glock Weapon Light.

If all you want is “good enough”, all I can say is – enjoy your medicocrity. On the other hand, if your goal is to be the best fighter you can be, in this case with your Glock, and you are reaching the limits of your performance with basic equipment, a little effort and upgrading will not only potentially make you a better and more accurate shooter, but also give you tactical flexibility that was impossible with entry level equipment.

I Hate My Glock!

morgan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:57:56 +0000

Morgan,

I’m really sick of my GLock 19!! I’ve shot it so much and I still cant hit anything!! Me and dad have gone to people and asked for advice, tried all the techniques by all the shooting masters and everything!!! I’ve gotten so discouraged I dont even like to shoot any more.

Dylan
P.S. How about the Browning Hi-Power,Beretta 92FS Inox

Dylan,

I’m sorry to hear of your frustration. Shooting can be a tricky business. As much as we would like to find fault with our equipment, the responsibility of success or failure rests only with the man. As a martial artist, I’m sure you recognize that it is your mind more than anything that must be trained.

You are young. I would hate to see you sour on shooting at this time in your life. You and your father have many years to enjoy shooting together. Take a step back and let’s re-boot your shooting training.

Your Glock is a fine pistol. Glocks are absolutely the simplest semi-auto to operate. Unfortunately, ease-of-operation does not immediately translate into easiest-to-shoot-well. There are a lot of things working against the new shooter with a Glock.

1) Glocks have an ambiguous trigger. The ingenious trigger mechanism in your Glock feels and operates like no other trigger in any other gun. It’s squishy, irregular, interacted with from a somewhat unusual angle and has that weird safety lever-thingy in the middle. It pulls sort of like a revolver, sort of like a cheap plastic squirt gun. With experience, the Glock trigger can be controlled like no other. And it can be easily modified. It is, however, not kind to new shooters.

2) Glocks are fat and blocky. We pay a price for all that ammo capacity. Sure it’s great to have 17 rounds ready to go in your Glock 17, but remember that you’re going to have to wrap your fingers around that box of ammo. For many beginning shooters, the Glock grip is just not suitable in size or shape.

3) Glocks are light. For an experienced shooter, light weight is great. For a newer shooter, a light gun means snappy recoil and that can mean a flinch. Light guns are inherently less stable. They bobble with the slightest muscular tremble or nervous twitch.

I love Glocks, but I’m glad I didn’t learn to shoot using a Glock. About a thousand years ago, when my father taught me to shoot, I used three guns. A heavy competition .22 caliber semi-auto pistol, a Henry lever-action .22 caliber rifle and a Python .357 magnum revolver loaded with .38 Specials. Why were these three guns the perfect training trio? I didn’t know it at the time, but the features of these guns were in perfect balance.

I don’t remember the make of the .22 pistol, but I do remember its main attribute. It was boring. I hated how heavy it was. I hated the thumb-rest grip. I hated the thick barrel and the little Pipp! sound it made when I shot it. But you know what? I learned to love that trigger. It was so light that I could just think that gun to fire. I got so I could put those little holes anywhere I wanted. Anywhere I could imagine, really. And that was exciting.

The little Henry was my hunting gun. It taught me about life and death. It taught me how heavy a little rifle can get for a nine-year-old on a long hot hike. The long sight radius gave me practice reaching way out with iron sights. It taught me to clean my gun and clean my rabbits.

That old Colt Python was my baby. Naturally I graduated to full-house magnum loads later on for competitions and hunting, but a cylinder full of little .38s is a great way to work the long heavy pull of a double-action revolver trigger. That is control. And that is what sticks with you over the years: Mastery.

So don’t throw out your Glock, just because it doesn’t suit your skill level yet. You are still in training. Instead of going toward another expensive, complicated semi-auto, I’d regroup. Pick up a .22 rifle, a Ruger 10-22 or Marlin lever-action. For a few bucks you can spend most of the day shooting .22s. Work on trigger control. Work on sight alignment. Breathing. Work on quieting your mind and placing the bullet in the target where your mind sends it. Shooting is an internal exploration. A meditation, if you will.

Mastery is a long road. Take it slow and steady.

Stick with it, Dylan.

Morgan

Harmless Toy Gun Nearly Kills Student

morgan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:15:02 +0000

As guns are removed from everyday life, yet allowed to persist as “toy” guns and movie images, society forgets the grave responsibility of firearms and treats them all as props and playthings.

Weapons are not going to disapper, they are just going to get more dangerous as we collectively eliminate familiarity with them. If society suddenly stopped teaching people how to drive cars, there would still be a few who fearlessly formed groups to drive safely. If the government prohibited learning how to drive, yet still allowed cars on the roads, our highways would be very dangerous indeed! There would shortly arise an effort to outlaw those deadly vehicles. That’s exactly what we’re seeing with guns.

The article below is an example of kids messing around with a harmless toy because they don’t have the training with real guns.

Keep on Glockin’,

Morgan

A centimeter from death

By LARRY HENDRICKS
Assistant City Editor
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

He was minding his own business, on his way to the Blockbuster video store on Woodlands Village Boulevard.

The BB or pellet somebody fired from Citizens Cemetery lodged about a centimeter from one of the large veins and arteries in his neck. After examining the wound, a doctor at Flagstaff Medical Center decided to leave the projectile in his neck. It might work its way out, or it may remain in his neck the rest of his life.

The 20-year-old NAU junior, who, as a victim of a crime, asked not to be identified, said the hospital staff told him if the pellet had hit one of the big veins or arteries in his neck, he likely would have died.

While police continue to search for whoever may have shot the young man, a friend has stepped forward to offer a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

The young man said the shooting happened at about 9:45 p.m. Saturday. He was driving southbound on South San Francisco Street. A friend was in the passenger seat.

“I had my window down and I heard a CO2 (pressurized carbon dioxide) noise just when I felt something hit my neck,” the young man said. He initially thought he might have been hit with a paintball. Then, he put his hand to his neck and saw he was bleeding.

He turned to his friend.

“And I said, ‘I think someone just shot me in the neck.’”

After pulling over to the side of the road for a moment and noticing he wasn’t bleeding badly, he decided to continue on to Blockbuster. The young man placed a call to his dad, and his father told him to go to the campus police department.

At the station, he told the night dispatcher what had happened, he said. Almost immediately, an officer was at the station, and soon a half-dozen city and university officers were combing the cemetery. Police suggested the young man go to the hospital.

He drove himself, he said.

According to NAU police reports, officers searched the cemetery and surrounding area with no results. The case has been closed unless more leads develop.

At the hospital, the young man said he was rushed into the trauma room at the emergency department when staff heard what had happened.

He was put on an IV and had a CT scan taken of the wound.

The physician in charge told him that trying to take the pellet from his neck would likely do more harm than good, he said. Staff also said that had the pellet entered a centimeter over, it would have killed him.

Dr. Eric Henley, medical director for the central region of North Country HealthCare, said that necks have large veins and arteries on either side. A hole in an artery leads to a quicker loss of blood than veins because the pressure in an artery is greater.

The quickness of blood loss depends on the size of the rupture, Henley added.

The young man said he thinks he was shot by some younger juveniles who had no concept of what could have happened. An adult knowingly shooting at passing cars was a disturbing concept to him.

His incident was not the only that night. According to information from NAU police, another victim had been driving in the same area when his window was shattered by a pellet.

“I just unluckily had my window down,” he said.

He added that he is not angry and is glad he was the one shot rather than another person who might have been more vulnerable.

“I just want whoever did it to realize how serious it is,” he said.

His friend, Chip Casner, a longtime Flagstaff resident, was upset that something like getting shot in the neck with a pellet happened to such a nice person. He’s offering a $1,000 reward to anybody who turns over information on who did the shooting.

“It was the least I could do,” Casner said.

Anybody with information about the case is asked to contact the NAU Police Department at 523-3611, or call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME.

Larry Hendricks can be reached at 556-2262 or lhendricks@azdailysun.com.