Robery Situation....

[Guest jps37033]

I have a question. I some times sit with my mother at her work. She works at an all night gas station that is not in the best part of town with the best customers. But, the crowd tends to be the same ol' folks that would not harm a fly and they love her. BUT.... I was sitting there talking to her the other night and wondering....

I was in the store the day before with my son (he is 2) talking to her at the register. A guy was looking at the medicine rack behind us on the first isle. He was 10 feet behind me at 7 o'clock. After noticing him pacing up and down the isle for 10 minutes, talking to himself, with a large coat on and hands in pocket (its 75 degrees out), I ask my mom if he is a regular or if she notices him. She hadnt noticed, but said he is regular.

It got me to thinking. When I carry, and god forbid I am ever confronted with this situation, what do you think?

The rest of the night I thought about what would have happened had he came to the register, pulled a gun (my son behind me and my mom at the sh** end of the stick), and demanded... I knew I would draw at his pumpkin pull the trigger, and have questions for my soul later. The reason I am posting is this......

What weapon would you want to have right then? All I could think is I would want a glock 23 with a good hollowpoint. And I sat half of today trying to think what would happen if that glock FTF.

I know I want a glock 23 on my side. Should I worry that if a situation arise like that, I have any brand of ammo loaded, point at a pumpkin, that it will FTF?

Any opinions, situations, comments. Thanks

[kwe45919]

Caliber can be inportant but don't dewll on it. I carry a Glock 26 (9mm with either Win. 124gr Ranger or 115gr Hornaday Critical Defense) and I'm more than confident that it will proform as needed when the time comes. Precision shots and quick thinking usually prevail in these situations along with knowing and maintaining your firearm properly....and let's not forget practice. During that practice, as most recomend, shoot the ammo you plan to carry. It's possible to find issues then, not on the battle field.

If your planning on headshots all the time, I'd suggest a light caliber such as a .22 to a .380....not a Glock 23. Maybe it's just me but it seems you haven't actually investigated the pro's/con's of the various calibers out there enough to know what could be best suited for your situation. Personally, a .357 would be the choice for me or at least a .38, then again, people are afraid of wheel guns since they have 6 maybe 8 shots. Doesn't mean they aren't an awsome choice for "store sitting" with your mom and 2yr old.

If you've really thought about saftey for your mother and son, then you need to research everything out there. It's possible a Glock 23 won't fit your hand or feel right to you. Maybe a 1911 .45 or a CZ 9mm fits and feels better. Like I said, don't know what you have or haven't done when it comes to firearms, but it seems like you need more information to make a decision you'll be happy and feel confident with.

Edited October 1, 2009 by kwe45919

[GoVols]

Hmmm... a Glock 23 would be fine. I guess I would want to make sure I had a very well tried and true Glock 23 (whatever brand/make) that I have put a a lot of rounds through both FMJ and my favorite hollowpoint to make sure it works everytime. That way I worry less about FTF and more about where the pumpkin guts are going to land! hehe

Mom, you, and son stay safe out there.

Edited October 1, 2009 by GoVols

[Guest jps37033]

Its not the glock I guess I thought about all day, It ws the "If I draw, aim, and pull the trigger, will it go bang". Cause all I could think about was "what if I draw, point, and shot, it does not go bang, then its his turn".

I guess I should just trust that if it has never had a hiccup shooting the same ammo around the house, it wont in that situation. I guess it was a moment of realization and anxiety now that I worry less about myself and more about my son.

[GoVols]

yeah I have no clue what to do if it didn't go bang...prolly try and tackle the dude? who knows.... something.... b/c I definetly wouldn't stand there and piss my pants and wait for him to pop me or someone else. who knows....

[kwe45919]

Its not the glock I guess I thought about all day, It ws the "If I draw, aim, and pull the trigger, will it go bang". Cause all I could think about was "what if I draw, point, and shot, it does not go bang, then its his turn".

I guess I should just trust that if it has never had a hiccup shooting the same ammo around the house, it wont in that situation. I guess it was a moment of realization and anxiety now that I worry less about myself and more about my son.

Your first post was misleading. I was hoping with your post count you weren't a newbie with firearms but couldn't figure out what was up as your post was kinda hard to read. I see now you have a G23 at your house already. Sounded like you didn't have a gun at all. Now hopefully you can see why I responded like I did. I wasn't trying to sound like a d*ck.

[DWARREN123]

You can have a problem with any firearm but Glocks have a very good rep for working.

[Guest Marine03]

Practice your FTF drill. Tap the magazine, rack the slide, and fire again. Do this with an empty gun repeatedly. With practice you can do this in a matter of split seconds mabye before the BG can gather his wits to return fire. You can also practice this at the range, put a dummy round somewhere in your mag when it FTF execute the drill. This will speed up your reaction times and awareness of FTF situations.

Or get a DA/SA (Walther, HK, Berretta ect.) that allows you to pull the trigger after the hammer has fallen and get a second strike. Something like 70% of rounds will fire on the second strike.

[Guest canynracer]

Just to note, that IF he has a gun pointed at someone, and his finger on the trigger, a bullet to the side of his head MAY cause him to tighten up, and still shoot....

the question is, have you and your mom discussed the "what ifs" do you both have a plan if you are there and the SHTF?

not bashing you in any way, and not saying you are wrong...just something to think about..

on a side note...I wouldnt worry about your 23...

[G27]

I've never tried this myself, but why not carry a snap cap with you when you're out shooing and randomly stick it in the middle of a mag to practice? Assuming you load several mags, then mix them up, and assuming a snap cap will feed properly - this should work well.

[Guest FlyntG]

in the almost impossibly unlikely event your glock 23 doesn't go bang, while the perp is turning his attention toward you, your mother pulls her heretofore unmentioned glock 30 from her inside the waistband holster and, well, 2 glocks will not fail to go bang.

besides..you can't be there all the time.

[Guest jackdm3]

Many of us have dreams where the gun doesn't go BANG! despite how many times you pull the trigger. It is certainly a concern. So maybe lots and lots of range time can reassure you. This may also get you satisfying dreams of actually killing/shooting the BG and waking up smiling.

[billkill]

What weapon would you want to have right then? All I could think is I would want a glock 23 with a good hollowpoint. And I sat half of today trying to think what would happen if that glock FTF.

I know I want a glock 23 on my side. Should I worry that if a situation arise like that, I have any brand of ammo loaded, point at a pumpkin, that it will FTF?

Any opinions, situations, comments. Thanks

Good choice on the Glock!

Now what I think you should do is take it to the range (every chance you get) and shoot it, until you are 100% confident in your weapon and ammo.

+1 on the FTF drills...I need to pick up some dummy rounds and practice that myself.

[SavageSig]

Revolver don't jam.

But I agree...if you're that worried about it, get your Mom a gun and teach her to use it.

[Guest db99wj]

Practice, practice, then practice, make sure you trust your gun to go bang. But also, practice ftf drils, tap rack fire.

[Guest Ben]

This is all a training and confidence issue, not a weapon issue. You are simply reflecting your fear of potential failure by asking "what if the gun goes click instead of bang?"

The true question you need to ask is "what is my muscle memory, immediate response to a failure to fire situation?"

If your current response/action is to stop in place, mumble a curse word, scratch your head and then fix the issue, you need to work on your confidence and muscle memory building exercises, over and over and over again, every range session, until you literally make an immediate response (see below) when you encounter a FTF, and I mean immediate!

It will feel as if you cannot help but do these actions (pure muscle memory training), as if they are a part of you, as natural as breathing.

Your responses to this situation must be one of the following:

1) Immediately upon hearing the "click", you move off the "X"/line of attack, drawing attention to yourself and away from your son and your mother, while clearing your malfunction, ready to return accurate fire

2)You immediately charge your attacker and use some type of close combat technique to disarm or disable the attacker (if you practice these techniques)

(this is not the best of the 2 options, but it still gives you not only a fighting chance, but also allows your mother and your son to escape the area which for me would be the main priority.) Again, this is not a Hollywood action movie and this is a dangerous option but sometimes it might be your only option when you truly have no other choice!

If your fear is truly weapons related, you really need to shoot it until you gain confidence in your weapon. This does not necessarily mean ZERO failures, as certain reloaded ammunition can cause a malfunction where your carry or factory ammunition might not.

It simply means that you are so confident in your chosen weapon that you really know for certain that you would not want any other pistol besides the one you have in a life or death situation. You KNOW that this weapon is as familiar to you as your right hand and is almost like an extension of your arm.

This is one of the reasons why I only carry one model of one pistol, but own two of the same ones (one to carry, one to leave in the house.)

Yes, it is always important to familiarize yourself with all makes and models of all types of weapons (in case you need to use someone else's weapon) but when it comes to keeping things simple, there is nothing better than being a man (or woman) who owns one type of pistol and truly knows how to use it in all areas of necessity (loading, shooting, clearing malfunctions, cleaning, etc...).

You don't want to carry three different types of primary pistols on different days, as this may confuse you when you need it most. (For example...one has a safety, one does not. one has a de-cocker, one does not. one has a thick slide, one has a thin slide. One has a mag release on the trigger guard, one has it on the grip etc...) This can get confusing and will cost you precious seconds.

In a nutshell, train hard, train often, dry fire and live fire, practice all malfunction drills, practice charging your target and attacking the target with your empty pistol, with your fists, with a blade....whatever.

You never know where a fight will take place, how many adversaries there will be and what Mr. Murphy has in store for you.

FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE

[Guest JustMyLuck]

If you have good quality factory ammo, that you shoot regularly ...

I wouldn't worry too much about your gun failing to fire. Glocks have a great record of reliability. But if your still concerned you can always carry a BUG.

[GoVols]

+1 million to what Ben said.

[Guest AmericanWorkMule]

also, +1 million to what Ben said, too.

FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE, until the end of your life.

[GoVols]

FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE, until the end of your life.

right on

[Guest Tiny G]

I've carried a Glock 23 everyday for the last 6 months. Now that I've got over 1000 rounds through it at the range I am more comfortable. I do target shooting with it every month and different drills.

Next comes the C.I.S. defensive pistol class as soon as they will do one on a Saturday (can't do Sundays). Before I'm done I want to know this weapon is mine if I pick it up in a pitch black room.

I would also LOVE a range that would allow 3-D targets like mannequins or dummies. Shooting a flat piece of paper with a silhouette all the time could give a false sense of your abilities (at least I think it is for me).

Oh, and I've shot 8 different kinds/brands of ammo in my Glock. Haven't had a single failure except once or twice the slide not locking back on the last round.

[Guest H0TSH0T]

i have had just as many problems with my Glock 23 as my Browning .308

both on the same day, the browning had a hot dummy load, factory ammo of a good brand, bad primer round didn't go down range it stayed in the brass after trigger was pulled, the glock fired around 150 rounds or so that day , well the first 5 or 6 rounds went where intended and the following round did not feed into the barrel, a simple rack of the slide and it continued to work flawlessly. i inspected the round and it looked fine i put it in the mag racked it into the chamber and it didn't have an issue this time. so it is a big ? why it didn't feed the first time.

that being said i trust both firearms with my life, but also recognize the necessary need to practice for jams, reloading ect when shooting to improve my self-defense skills.

[Guest oldhack62]

This is a question all of us who carry deal with (or not, if we've done our due homework) every day: do we trust our carry weapon to fire when needed?

This is a significant part of the reason I take multiple weapons to the range at least quarterly -- if I'm going to carry then, not only do I want to be sure I can fire them accurately and in diverse ways, but I also want to know they work!

That said, the UltraCompact Bersa 9mm and 45-caliber I have have never failed to fire over several hundred -- perhaps 1000+ now, regarding the 9mm -- rounds. The 45 fails to feed very sporadically with SD ammo, which is resolved with a quick, sharp rap on the butt of the mag. My Bersa .380

ACP fires and feeds every time and is easy to conceal.

Anyway, it's not hard to figure which I carry: the Bersa 9 or .380. The 45 makes a pretty good 'house gun', but those occasional feeding problems give me pause for everyday carry.

It's not the brand or the caliber, it's the trust.