The Problem with Glock Pistols

I have enjoyed your site for many years. I started reading it when you were still in Argentina.  We here in the U.S. are still headed down that same self destructive path but maybe a little slower that one would expect.
Even though I am a Sig fan ,(P226, P228, P290), I must agree with your article on the Sig P320.  I strongly disagree with your assessment of Glocks.  Many professionals and truly experienced gunners here in the U.S. are dropping the Glocks in favor of a safer designed pistols.   The Glock is 90% cocked with NO safety.  Anything coming in contact with the very light trigger will fire the weapon as has been demonstrated by and ever increasing number of accidental discharges.  These are referred to as "Being Glocked".   The Springfield XD series pistols and Heckler & Koch both are much better weapons.  The XD has the grip safety, (similar to 1911), and a drop safety.  It is in my opinion, and many experts agree, that it is also of higher build quality than Glock.  The Military did make a mistake by going with the P320 but the Glock would not have been the right choice. In fact they should stick with a proven gun such as the Sig p226, FN, or HK.  But then opinions are like A-holes, we all have one.
-Jack

Hello Jack,
Thanks for your message.
If you read my book “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse”, you know that I’ve had accidental discharges before. If you shoot thousands and thousands of rounds, it’s not a matter of it but when. When it eventually happens, you better hope the other safety rules aren’t broken as well (be sure of your backstop, always point your gun in a safe direction)
Some people prefer to use ND, negligent discharge, but I don’t think they are the same thing. Negligence involves a certain incompetence and purposeful misuse of the firearm (playing with it, knowingly leaving it loaded, in dangerous positions or pointing it in unsafe directions). Accidental discharges are just that, accidents which can and will eventually happen to all of us, simply because we are imperfect humans. The only difference is that those that remember the safety rules will have a hole in a dresser, floor or wall. Those that don’t will get someone killed. I’ve have an AD with a Glock and with a revolver, which perfectly illustrates what I have to say about this topic: If a gun fires when you pull the trigger that’s not the guns fault, that’s on you. A gun is supposed to fire when you pull the trigger. A gun with safety makes no difference if you disengage the safety and pull the trigger. A manual safety lever isn’t some magical insurance, it won’t avoid the tragedy if you fire a round you don’t intend to.

The Glock is basically as safe as a revolver, and no one ever complained about revolvers not having enough manual safeties nor did It ever occur to anyone to put one in them(although there is such model). Like the revolver, part of the safety of the Glock is its sheath, which should be rigid, made of hard polymer and completely cover the trigger guard.
Never use leather holsters. Leather softens when wet (rain, sweat) and can deform enough to get caught inside the trigger guard when reholstering. Use polymer. I’ve used and strongly recommend this IWB holster, the Blatech Phanton. It’s affordable and extremely safe and reliable.

Blade Tech Industries Phantom Inside the Waistband Fits Glock 17/22/31 Holster,  $21.78

 

The Glock with a round in the chamber is on a half cocked position so to speak. The striker isnt fully pulled back which is done when pulling the trigger, therefore the loaded Glock is perfectly safe and even if dropped it will not fire. What will cause it to fire is something actually pulling the trigger, which is why you should never try to “catch” any gun when dropped.

Most serious professionals that I know of carry Glock. I’m sure that if Glocks were that bad, over 60% of the PD in USA wouldn’t be issuing them. The famous “Glock leg” or as you say “being Glocked”, is simply a consequence of two things. First, AD simply being a fact of life. They do happen and sometimes people end up shooting themselves. Second, the prevalence of Glock, especially among law enforcement. Put these two together and you see why so many AD include Glocks.

I don’t think the Glock trigger is that light. There’s far lighter triggers and again, something actually has to pull it for it to fire. If Glocks were that dangerous, they wouldn’t be in the holsters of most pros, used by more LE than any other gun.
As you say, everyone has an opinion and I sure respect yours and appreciate your email.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Getting ready for Hurricane Harvey

Hope everyone is sheltered-in-place already and prepared for Hurricane Harvey. You should already have plenty of stored water, food and other essential supplies.
Try to stay put, stay off the roads, make sure everything it locked and tied down to reduce the amount of flying debris out there.
Any updates you want to share with the rest of us leave your comments below.
Good luck everyone and stay safe!
FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

SIG P320 Drop Test: What’s wrong with the US Army’s new sidearm?

On January 19, 2017, it was announced that the SIG Sauer P320 had won the United States Military XM17 Modular Handgun System competition. Becoming the new US armed forces sidearm was a huge deal, even more so because it beat their hated rival in the process, the Glock pistol.
Fans quickly flocked to buy the newly crowned champion. Fanboys made a huge deal over it, blowing the P320 out of proportion and crowning it the best invention ever in mankind’s history. If that sounds exaggerated you should have seen some of the threads discussing the contract win back then…
Anyway, the difference between fanboys and actual firearms experts is that anyone that knows the first thing about weapons design knows that the P320, in spite of its design pro and cons, simply hadn’t past the ultimate test: Time.
You see, when certain people (me included) recommend Glock and mention it as without a doubt the best combat handgun in the world, we don’t do so out of blind fan adoration, we do it out of clinical observation. Simplicity, weight, accuracy, durability, reliability, commonality, ease of use, these are all important and they are the reason why the Glock is the most copied combat handgun design, but none of this would matter if it hadn’t passed the test of time.
You see, the Glock 17 was adopted by the Austrian military and police forces in 1982. Shortly after by the Norwegian and Swedish armed forces and more recently in 2013 the British Army adopted the Glock 17 Gen 4 to replace their Browning Hi-Power pistols. Why didn’t the US Military adopt it as well? All excuses aside, it came down to a matter of politics. The American military doesn’t want to carry around all day long a very non-American, rather very European firearm. Silly? Maybe, but it’s the same reason why they didn’t go for the FAL and chose the M14 instead while the rest of the world saw the potential of “the right arm of the free world”.
But all this brings us to the fact that way too many people spend their hard earned money on a gun that wasn’t nearly as proven as they thought it was. They believed that the army adopting it instantly gave it all the credentials they needed. Guns & Ammo ran with this now infamous cover.

And then someone dropped his P320.

You see, the trigger in the P320 is too heavy, and inertia is enough to dischage the weapon when dropped. Glock covers this potential issue with its trigger safety, which the P320 lacks.
Now Sig fanboys are on meltdown mode. Quite honestly a modern firearm with such a massive design flow should not be carried. That Sig chose to play dump and not do an official recall and instead offer an upgrade in their “voluntarily recall” added offense to insult. The upgraded trigger isnt looking very good either.
Is the P320 a viable carry option? Of course its not, at least not with such a design flaw it isn’t, and the upgraded trigger is having problems of its own.
Good guns are like good software or good cars, they need to be tested and get the bugs sorted out. In the case of guns we’re talking about decades of recorded use in the field, both battlefield and street.
For your concealed carry gun, its particularly important to stick to reliable, well proven models which you know you can count on. The P320 simply isn’t that gun, at least not today.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

EDC Saves the day! 3 lessons Learned

A couple days ago something happened to me that in my opinion perfectly illustrates what EDC is all about.
My wife needed something from the grocery store down the street, just a couple blocks away. Its pretty close but I like going with her so that she doesn’t have to carry heave stuff.  I was wearing just underwear and a tshirt. It’s pretty hot around here in Costa del Sol this time of the year. So I quickly put on my 5.11 taclite shorts and head out with her. Since it was just a couple blocks I didn’t bother checking my EDC much, it was just what I had in my pant’s pockets.
As we approached the store,  we saw these two cars parked, several people were screaming and a baby crying.
Some bystanders were staring but didn't want to get involved in what seemed to be a family dispute, but there was a lot of shouting and crying, mostly around the baby which the woman kept pressed against her chest.
My wife told me not to get involved, and usually I wouldn't but the baby crying was a bit too much. It crossed my mind that if that was my wife and that was one of my kids, I would want people to help and not just stand there.
I approached them and asked what’s going on but I already saw that the baby's ear was somehow stuck to its mother chest.
"Scissors! Scissors!" they all started shouting when they notice me. I had my Leatherman Charge with me so I brought it out.
Somehow the baby got its earring stuck awfully bad in its mother's bunched up top, pulling at the ear almost to the point of tearing the baby's ear off, which looked like an elastic band about to snap.
The Leatherman Charge has a hook for cutting belts but push cutting was not an option. The baby's ear was pulling extremely tight and I saw no chance of using the hook without ripping the baby’s ear. Even the serrated emergency blade seemed like a poor option, so I used the main blade which out of pure coincidence I had sharpened razor sharp a few days ago. All this went through my mind in a fraction of a second.
So the baby was desperately crying, the mother was crying, what I assume was the grandma was pulling and holding the clothes for me to cut and the idiot husband and some other guy were shouting and pushing at the mother for her to stay still and none of them would stop moving. And I had like 1/4 of an inch of room to put the tip of the knife through and cut, which I did. As soon as I touched the fabric it cut through it like a hot knife through butter. The baby was free with a piece of cloth still attached to her earing and the mom had a big hole on her top.
Anyway, never thought I'd end up using my Leatherman for that in a million years. It was as these things usually are, completely unexpected.
After a decade of continuous use, I can say my Leatherman Charge has been the tool that I have used the most, the one that has been more critical when needed and the last one I would want to part with. I just cant recommend it enough. If its too pricy, the Leatherman Wave is every bit as functional, just make sure you get the pocket clip for it and carry the thing every day.

Leatherman - Charge TTI Multi-Tool, Stainless Steel with Nylon Sheath (FFP) $169.85

A few lessons learned:
1)Carry your edc. You never know when it may come in handy. Even more critical, you never know when it can prevent serious injury or even death. This time it was a baby’s ear. Sometimes it’s a rope or cord, or wire around someone’s neck. Or clothes or hair caught in machinery. A couple years ago I remember a kid dying when accidentally tangling cord around his neck and slipping in a slide in a playground. You just never know, but having a cutting tool, wire cutters and saw to break someone free may be critical when seconds count.

2) Layers work. That day I left home without my wallet, which I take with me 99% of the time when I walk out the door. I could have easily left behind the tools I ended up needed. My point is that you need to plan on screwing up, and here is where layers of tools make a big different. My keys are that core layer. There I have my trusty Minichamp and a spare AAA flashlight. If nothing else, I have those. Since I need the keys to open the door and get back into my house, chances are very slim that I’ll leave home without them.

3)Keep your EDC in top notch condition. Your tools need to be checked and serviced. Your CCW needs to be fired often, your ammo replaced, magazines checked. Your flashlight needs to have working batteries, and your knife should be as sharp as realistically possible. Some people that carry knives carry DULL blades. This simply isn’t acceptable. I’ve used the blade in my Leatherman Charge more than any other knife in recent years. It’s visibly worn but it is razor sharp and I touch it up when I notice it isn’t biting as much. In this case, like when a baby’s ear is stuck and you need to cut with as little effort as possible, then it’s crucial for that blade to be like a scalpel.
Take care people, and don’t leave your EDC behind!

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

New terror attack in Barcelona: 5 easy tips to Remember

You probably know by now that a van plowed into the crowd on Las Ramblas avenue in Barcelona, killing 13 and injuring 100 people.

As soon as I heard about the attack I called my brother who was visiting family in Barcelona. Fortunately he left yesterday, a day earlier than expected. He had been thinking of staying another day. He easily could have been caught walking La Rambla if they had stayed another day.
Another terrorist attack, another lunatic picking a big vehicle and just mowing people.

What can you do?
You can’t do much to stop these events because cars are readily available and it takes very little research to figure out the most packed locations.
You can do something about letting known terrorist out and about. You can deport know radicals rather than give them some slack and just hope they don’t murder innocent people.
Above all, you can remove every single mosque that doesn’t publicly condemn these attacks and cooperates with authorities 100%. The number of imams that refuse to do so is astonishing and getting rid of those would be a big step forward in getting rid of their most visible and obvious indoctrination centres. It seems though that not enough blood has been spilled to overcome political correctness.
What can you do on a more personal level?

1)Know where they attack. They usually go for high profile targets. Large, emblematic cities, attacking in their centres.

2)Avoid these potential targets, especially at time of peak activity with target rich locations. Concerts, festivals, peak holyday season. Wherever you have a lot of people packed together, that’s an ideal target for a terrorist. I’m not saying not to live your life, just understand the risks when it comes to terrorists.

3)Awareness. Mind your surroundings. Look ahead of you and behind you. What’s going on 100 yards ahead and 100 yards behind. LISTEN. This is usually a great indicator of trouble. Shots fired, screams. In my experience you usually hear trouble before you see it.

4)Take action. Avoid being the deer caught in the headlights. When you see, listen or feel something is wrong, do something. In most cases that “something” should be start moving towards a safer direction, either getting behind cover, avoiding a speeding vehicle or attacker heading towards you.

5) Carry your EDC kit, especially a first aid kit in your EDC bag when at high risk locations as the ones mentioned above. Celox gauze, a tourniquet. Add a blow out kit if you got trainning on how to use it. Don’t forget your EDC, a knife can be used to cut open clothes, remove cords or clothes or seatbelts wrapped around people’s neck. Heck, I used my knife today to help out a baby girl in the street (more on this tomorrow) Where and when legal, you should carry your CCW too.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”