SIGnificant News

You've likely heard of the news story of the Air Force airman who, as it was originally related, was shot by his Sig M18 while it was in the holster untouched?

Apparently that's not quite what actually happened: 

Air Force Times: Air Force makes arrest in airman’s shooting death involving M18 pistol 

The Air Force has arrested an airman in connection with the July 20 death of another airman, which involved a Sig Sauer M18 and led the service to suspend the use of the pistol following the incident.In a Friday statement, a Department of the Air Force spokesperson said that the unidentified arrested person is accused of making a false official statement, obstruction of justice and involuntary manslaughter.

That story was the last straw that made the SIG P320 pistol non grata at ranges, competitions,  instructional firearms classes, and many law enforcement departments nationwide.  

As someone else noted on the internet:

The say 15 reported documented cases of UDs vs 4 million P320s in circulation. That’s a ratio of around 266,667:1; hardly a number suggesting a systemic design flaw. Let’s even be generous and say the number is closer to 100 incidents. That still only yields a 1 in 40,000 occurrence. To put that into perspective, the odds of being struck by lightning are around 1 in 15,000. 

Certainly puts some perspective on the problem.

Now, the SIG trigger when pulled makes the firearm go off, and the trigger doesn't much care what pulls it, be it an ill-fitting holster, a key (which is potentially what caused the Michigan State Police discharge in the FBI report), or your finger. If the trigger gets pulled past the point of no return and off it goes. I'd also say it's a tad lighter than the typical Glock trigger with less resistance to such a movement rearward into the firing position.

So far, there's been no real explanation for the undocumented discharges, nor repeatability of the problem, and Bruce Gray, who likely knows more about the SIG P320 than just about anyone alive is about to release a series of videos he has done extensively testing the pistol.  So far, he's only found one way to make it have an uncommanded discharge, and it requires placing a 45/10mm take-down lever in a 9mm SIG and a few other unlikely modifications in order for it to happen. 

So are SIG P320s unsafe or are we getting a lot of social media panic over it?  I simply do not know the answer to that at this time.

In terms of anecdote and not data, I've run thousands of rounds through my SIG P320s in competition and in casual/practice shooting at the range, drawing and holstering and carrying them live with zero issues.  Again, anecdote and not data, and certainly not definitive, nor proof of anything.

Remember when Glocks first came out and reports of negligent discharges from police officers and others unfamiliar with using the striker-fired action were unfortunately shooting themselves?  Remember all the claims that the Glock was dangerous, defective, and unsafe as a result? Is the issues with the SIG P320s the same sort of reaction, now heightened by social media,  or is there a manufacturing or design defect affecting a small number of the pistols?  We will still have to see.

SIG's public relations and handling of the issue certainly hasn't been the best.  

I do hope that Bruce Gray's analysis gets released soon and does lead to a definitive answer to the situation. For now, I don't have an answer to the question as to whether there is a real design/manufacturing problem affecting the SIG P3230 or if this is a real user-induced problem.

So You're Saying There's A Chance To Save These Artifacts?

Canada issued the Hi-Power Pistol manufactured in Canada by Inglis in World War 2. 

They then soldiered on for years as the armed forces service pistol. 

These were finally replaced by the Sig P320 series as the C22 in 2024 after many years of service.

TWZ.com:  Canadian Military’s WWII-Era Browning Hi-Power Pistols Are Finally Being Replaced

The 11,000 service pistols were then all going to be destroyed in line with Trudeau and the Liberal's anti-gun agenda.

But, they thankfully by a strange turn of events were not.

Instead, they were sent to Ukraine.

The Ottawa Citizen: Canadian military Second World War pistols slated for destruction will instead be sent to Ukraine

So there's now a chance these historic firearms can be imported as surplus, or indeed could be swapped with the Ukrainians for Glocks or what not, and imported to the USA from Ukraine and saved from destruction.

Anybody know a surplus importer than can make this happen? 

History of The M16A2

Widener's has a nice article up on the history and development of the M-16A2 rifle.

Widener's:  Colt M16A2: Battle Rifle Evolution

A neat look at the choices that went into the many mods of its predecessor to make it the replacement, including the  more precise sights and the three-round burst controversy.

I remember at Camp Perry using the A2 for a SAFS match, and having to dry click the trigger twice before loading a round to get a good trigger pull for the single round at a time series, as the other two trigger pulls in the series were less than great, especially when you really wanted to have a chance at hitting the X-ring.

It's a nice and informative article that gives some nice in-depth history on the evolution of the M-16 family.  

Interestingly enough, they used a vintage camera of a similar age, the Nikon F-3, to do the photos for the article. 

Nicely done. 

A Classic Hi Power

My FLGS had kindly transferred in for me this Fabrique Nationale Mk III  Hi Power

 It's an Israeli contract FN Hi Power pistol.

Complete with Star of David marking.

 I've been wanting one of these for a long time.  I remember when they first came in and I couldn't get one as none of my local dealers would do a transfer at the time, which sucked.

So I finally have one, and its rather nice,  Decent sights, a decent trigger even with the magazine safety in place.the MK III safety is easy to operate, and it feels good in the hand.

Nice to have this classic in the collection.  If the weather holds up. I may take it to the range this weekend.

At My FLGS T'Other Day

So I went to my FLGS to discuss some things and I'm also there to pickup a transfer, of which I'll discuss later..

He's not just my dealer,  but also a client, and he's currently passing a rather detailed ATF audit, one might even describe it as a proctology-level exam, with flying colors.  They actually told him he's one of the top stores in the state in terms of his records being done right and his inventory being in tip-top shape which is a very good thing.

Fellow pulls up in a truck and comes in wearing a very patriotic gear type t-shirt and looks around.

My client greets him warmly and asks what he can help him with.

Fellow says he's been shooting for awhile and enjoying it and he's been shooting a particular gun for a while now and wants to buy it. 

So my FLGS asks him what he's looking to buy.

He wants to buy a Glock 1911.

Client explains Glock doesn't make a 1911. Fellow then says "Oh it must be a Glock 38 then".

Probably not, given that Glock 38s are a compact sized Glock in 45 GAP. It is pretty unlikely to be the gun he was shooting as it's not a particularly popular choice for local ranges to have out for rental nor is 45GAP regulatory stocked. 

Turns out he was not, in fact, shooting a Glock 38.

Most likely, he was shooting a Glock 30 or  Glock 21 in 45 ACP, and that's where the confusion has come in. 

Glock's model nomenclature really doesn't help either.

I headed out and let them continue the discussion.

Speaking Of Perjury

In a local case, I have come across some nice perjury by the other side.

I represent the co-trustee of her now deceased husband's trust.

The other co-trustee is the daughter of the husband from the prior marriage.

This is really bad planning on the now deceased husband's part, as daughter of the husband from the prior marriage is harassing the widow and trying to get her out of the house that the husband left to her so long as she lives there by making ridiculous demands as co-trustee.

She also has a very aggressive lawyer that is doing her best to make things as difficult and expensive as possible.

Indeed, they keep demanding, among other things, a key so they can access and insect the house whenever they want which is not provided for in the trust nor does my client want that, especially as some of the family are less than savory characters.

Now when the husband died, co-trustee daughter and brother came and picked up his firearms.

Whole the trust says this stuff should be sold (and my client gets 40% of it per the trust) they refused to sell them.

They have also been claiming my client still has the handgun. My client says no it was picked up with the long guns and there's a picture of it on the table with the guns the day they picked them up.

So I do some digging.

1.  We find out the brother is a convicted felon and shouldn't be in possession of the firearms. 

2.  I send the other attorney some discovery and in the answers find that they still claim my client has the handgun, claiming she told them she would keep it, and they sold firearms on November 11 2024 without notice to us - and while claiming they still had them and were refusing to sell them!  They were sold for very low amounts I might add.  But they don't reveal what they actually sold - but they did include a copy of the check showing the store they sold them at.

3. So, I subpoena the store for their records of the transaction, as one does.

Lo and behold, the handgun  --the very one they still claim my client has --  is one of the firearms sold to the store and the Michigan transfer form for the handgun is signed by the co-trustee herself. The same co-trustee who claims that my client still has the handgun.

Oops.

Incidentally, they sold a nice Colt .22 target pistol worth between $500-900 (given the condition of it seen in the picture likely nearer the high end) for $225.00.

Now the co-trustee has clearly lied in her discovery responses, which is likely why, in contravention to the court rules, she did not sign nor swear to their validity as is required.

I've asked her attorney to have her do so (obviously without telling her what I just found), and then we'll have some nice sworn perjury, which should help getting them to stop being such idiots and may help resolve the case.  We will see.

255 Days Later

255 Days Later sounds like a very slow-moving Zombie Movie doesn't it?

Yes, 255 days later, the approval and stamp arrived, and I could legally pick it up from suppressor jail. A bit more 4473 paperwork, and it was all mine.

 

It is a SilencerCo Octane 45.  

Purchased last year when SilencerCo was having a "Buy a suppressor, get a free Octane" deal.  So for the $200 tax stamp and 255 day wait (from the day it arrived at my dealer, not the date of purchase so it was actually quite a bit longer), I now have a 45 cal can.  

It is much lighter and narrower than the Hybrid 46 that it was purchased with at the same time.

Now to set it up, as you have to install the appropriate piston, sold separately, to match it to the appropriate pistol caliber you're going to use it with.  Then to take it to the range and try it out.

Saturday: To The Gun Show

Went to the Novi Gun & Knife Show with couple friends today.

Got there at about 10 am and the  place was rather humming:

 

So we wandered around the aisles.

Interestingly, quite a few aisles had quite an odor of instant NICS denial. 

I suspect quite a few marijuana users were about to run headlong into Form 4473 Question 21.e. 

They were about to find out that while it may be legal to use marijuana in Michigan, the Feds still do not allow you to purchase firearms if you're a marijuana user, and given the way the smell permeated entire areas of the show, and oft appeared like a halo around some folks, there were quite a few heavy users there.

Overall, the show was rather entertaining in terms of walking around and getting to look at things.  It was even more entertaining to see what dealers were charging for things. 

SKSs were in the $900+ range, Mosin Nagants in the $550-800 range, there was a Turkish Mauser at $600 that looked like Johnny Turk hadn't cleaned it since Gallipoli. Even the more modern stuff was priced above retail:  Tavors at over 2K; Century Arms AP-5s at $2,500; and Ruger LC Carbines for $1100 (You can buy these at Cabelas, or online all day at $799 and even paying your LGS the $20 for the transfer you're still way ahead over the show price. Ammo and magazines were similarly priced at or even above the top of the market.

In short, the prices at my friendly LGS were much better than those at the Gun Show where deals were supposed to abound. No bargains were to be found after wandering the aisles looking for them.

I did, however, almost buy this to deal with the Driveway of Doom™ this winter:

The purchase was, however, not approved by she-who-must-be-obeyed when it comes to considerations of snow clearance while not scaring the neighbors, so it is on hold for now pending further negotiation.

So, overall, it was more of a looking expedition, fun people-watching and listening, especially to dealers tell stories about firearms that were rather entertaining and often flat-out wrong.  

For example, contrary to the dealer talking to an interested show attendant, India did not convert 2A1 Ishapore Enfield rifles into 7.62 Jungle Carbines and then use them as such making it a "rare historic rifle for $1,500". 

What instead you have there sir is a Navy Arms/Gibbs rifle conversion that was done after they purchased the full-sized rifle as surplus from India, cut it down and cleaned it up, and it was never used by the Indian military as a jungle carbine.  It was a nice-looking rifle for all that, but caveat emptor indeed.

So yep, a fun time walking around and worth the $10 price of admission, even if I didn't find anything worth buying that I couldn't find retailing anywhere else for much less.

Then my friends and I went out for Korean food for lunch, and one friend who was stationed in Korea some years ago stated it was indeed most authentic and really good - and indeed it was really good. 

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

No, Really, Don't Do That With Your Pistol

Texting while driving is bad.  Shooting yourself while driving is even worse.

Fox 2: Man accidentally shoots self with unholstered pistol while driving on I-94

The fellow had a CPL, but apparently lacked the sense to carry in a holster. He apparently then "shifted" the firearm while driving and shot himself in the leg.

No information is provided as to what kind of pistol it was, but I'd suspect it was a striker-fired pistol of some sort, and with the trigger unprotected by a holster, he likely nudged the trigger enough while moving the firearm in his pants to cause it to fire.

Firearms and holsters are like peanut butter and jelly - a great combination and one is not great for carrying alone by itself without the other. 

Shoving a firearm down your pants without a holster to protect the trigger is highly sub-optimal.  

Then playing with it as it likely moved from where you shoved it as you don't have it in a holster makes it worse.  That messing about with it opens opportunities for you to discharge it in a manner you would not expect nor desire. In addition, not having it in a holster and having it move about as it may will cut down on your ability to effectively access it should you need it to protect your life - having to find it after it has fallen down your pants leg and potentially got stuck there probably doesn't give you quick access to it at your moment of need.

If you carry a gun, have a quality holster for it that not just protects the trigger but also protects you and keeps the gun where you placed it so it doesn't go flopping about just anywhere.  

If you can afford to carry a gun, you certainly should afford to carry it in a decent holster.  The leg (or other body parts) you save might be your own, or your passengers, or an innocent in another car.

No It Actually Doesn't Raise That Issue

The Detroit Free Press:  Guard's accidental gunfire in Oxford school raises issue of arming school employees

Instead, it raises a very real training issue for proper arming of school employees:

Monday’s incident at Oxford Middle School, which is on the border of Oxford Village and Oxford Township, occurred when a school security guard was using the single-stall staff restroom, near the field house, and he placed his handgun on a door hook, the school district said in a statement.

Quick Tip:  You never, ever, hang your firearm by the trigger-guard on a hook in the washroom, or anywhere else for that matter.  It's ridiculously unsafe and there's no need to do it at all. Just you leave it in your holster.

It is rather amazing that someone actually did this at all as it displays some impressive lack of gun handling training. 

Scarily enough, the security guard is describes as having "28 years of law enforcement training".

You would have thought proper gunhandling habits would have been brought up sometime in those 28 years.

Impressively, not only was no one hurt, but no one in the entire school except the guard apparently even noticed the negligent discharge.

The New Boomstick

It's a Turknelli Coppolla T4 - A Turkish Copy of the Benelli M4 shotgun.

It is rather imaginatively and totally originally given the model number of T4. 

My first semi-auto shotgun.

 

It's a verbatim clone of the M4 Benelli, apparently with full parts interchangeability, for about a 1/4 of the cost of a real M4.

I did some upgrades, adding a replacement larger and far more ergonomic bolt changing handle, and a Quick Bolt Release Tab, which is a game-changer and highly recommended for any Benelli M4 or clone.  

 I also mounted a Holosun 507C X2 Red Dot on a Scalarworks Mount which fit amazingly.

Taking it to the range for the first time today, the Holosun needed no zeroing and was perfect as installed. Shot impact went right to the dot. Red dots on shotguns are awesome, very fast to track and transition between targets.

The Turknelli handled Nobel Sport LE 12 pellet 00 Buck (the replacement shipment from Lucky Gunner) with aplomb.  I fired 60 rounds through in rapid succession to break it in, zero issues and tons of fun to shoot.  Accurate as all get out.

Tosh enjoyed shooting it as well.His first time ever shooting a shotgun.   I also let him shoot my Remington 870, as he had not shot shotguns before and is planning to buy a pump.

It then handled Fetter 7.5 shotshells at 1280 fps without a hicupp.

It started to choke on the Fiocchi 7.5 shot  at 1250 fps, clearly not getting enough velocity and failing to reliably cycle.

After 200 rounds, it was getting dirty and then had trouble with Federal 7.5 at 1250 fps but still shot the Fetter without a problem.

It still had no problem with Federal Flite Control 9 pellet buck at 1350 , but  had some trouble with 8 pellet Flite Control that ran at a lower velocity.  Probably really, really dirty by then.

It still gave solid A zone hits to the headzone with Flite Control, which resulted in no headzone after the hits landed.  Amazing stuff.

It still had no problem finishing its first time out with a box of magnum rifle slugs that literally knocked steel targets right off their stands, which was much fun. 

Going to take it down and clean it thoroughly and then shoot it again to see if it clears up the feeding issues with the 8 pellet flite control.

I do believe it's a keeper.

Great Customer Service From Lucky Gunner

I had ordered some 12 gauge ammunition from Lucky Gunner to get some practice in and for a class I'll be attending this summer.  I had ordered a pack of 250 rounds.  Lucky Gunner then very quickly shipped it and I figured I would get it soon.

Unfortunately, Fedex had other ideas. 

Got a message from Fedex the very next day that the shipment had a problem and had been damaged in transit. Not Good.  Apparently the damaged shipment was being sent back to Lucky Gunner by Fedex.

I contacted Lucky Gunner and they immediately sent a replacement shipment, no hesitation at all, and since they were out of the ammo I had bought, they sent the next higher quality ammo at no difference in cost.

Really excellent customer service on their part,  I definitely will order from them again.

Hooray! The Gadget Is Back!

The Striker Control Device is now going to be manufactured and offered for sale by Langdon Tactical.

If you have a Glock, it offers a valuable additional level of safety when re-holstering your firearm, and especially so when carrying your Glock in an appendix holster.

If you carry a Glock, it's a highly recommended enhancement. 

It's great to know that Langdon Tactical, a highly reputable company, will be carrying the torch for Tau Development Group and keeping the SCD available for Glock users.

Yes, You Need A Light At Night Along With Your Defensive Firearm

Positive Identification of a potential threat at night is vital, and for that you need illumination.

Otherwise tragedies like this happen:

10WBNS: Sources: Man fatally shoots 16-year-old daughter after mistaking her for home intruder

Mistakes like this continue to happen and there's absolutely no reason for them to happen.

"Know your target and what is beyond" is not just a suggestion. 

And before you get all "Hurr Durr a light will give away my tactical position."  You're likely in your house at handgun range.  You're unlikely going to be  acting like a silent ninja at 3am when you hear breaking glass or your home alarm goes off, more likely you're going to be stumbling around grabbing your stuff,  and making some noise dialing 911.   Walking around through a pitch dark house when you think there's an intruder somewhere there is dumb. There's nothing tactical about it.  

Pointing a gun at and pulling the trigger on an unidentified shadow is a recipe for disaster.

A good light will let you most importantly accurately identify and hit your target -- if such target even needs to be hit to defend yourself. As a potential bonus, a good quality light may even temporarily blind or disorient your opponent as well.

Have a light so you don't have a completely avoidable  tragedy.

 Take a low light shooting course, it's rather illuminating as to why you need a light and what a light can do for you.

Update:  Eaton Rapids Joe also offers some cogent thoughts on the matter.

Lugers! Elegant Firearms From A Less Civilized Age

I've been chasing P.08 Lugers on auction sites for awhile now, and they keep getting bid out of my reach.  

I try to decide what amount I'm willing to buy for an item for at an auction and then not go over once decided no matter what.  That way I don't get auction fever and thus I end up with no regrets or as the kids say today - no regerts.

So I bid what I bid, which was kinda on the lowish side, and the auction came around.

And - I was away from my computer at the time they came around, and it turned out I had won two of them.  I was not expecting that.  Oops, that was not intended.

They arrived, interestingly enough shipped by the auction house via Priority Mail.  The Post Office dumped the box at the door, and claimed on the delivery tracking that it had been signed for by a resident and it had not.  Nice.

Well I opened the package and got to look closely at what I had won.

One is a World War One Era Luger, manufactured by Erfurt and dated 1912, complete with a German Imperial crown.

 
 

The other is a World War Two Era Mauser manufactured Luger marked S/42 and dated 1938

 

Both are all matching numbers except the magazines.

In short for what I bid, I likely got a screaming good deal on them.

The toggle action is really rather neat.  Take-down and reassembly is more involved and requires a fair bit more fiddling than with a modern pistol, but not bad once you get the hang of it.

I disassembled them both. Cleaned and lubricated them.  Both came quite clean but dry from the auction house, which was nice.  A little lubrication and they move along very smoothly.  Both have really nice triggers, I was quite impressed with how nice the triggers feel.

So I took them to the range today and met up with Tosh.  First time for both of us to ever fire a Luger.  Started with a single round loading from the magazines, then two in the magazines to test firing and feeding.  No problems so we then tried five rounds, and finally went on to full magazines.

Both Lugers functioned absolutely flawlessly.

The Lugers really sit nicely in the hand.  Recoil is practically non-existent, allowing for very fast shooting.  Sights are certainly small but usable and line up on target very quickly. The Luger toggle action is ridiculously cool.

For fun with our last 5 rounds each we did a 3x2 drill with them, from a low ready and on safe, as I have no holster that fits the Luger.

Not bad, a clean run in 3.24 for a first time out for a pistol made in 1912.

Tosh tried it with the 1938 Luger.

3.44 with a miss outside the head box. 

Two very nice pieces of working military history.

Your Designers Were So Preoccupied With Whether They Could, They Didn’t Stop To Think If They Should

Designers at Ghost Robotics and Sword Defense Systems worked together to combine an autonomous robotic security dog with an automated sniper rifle system.

Ghost Robotics and the Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle

What could possibly go wrong?

 

 

Biden Admin Finds Another Way To Harm American Gun Owners

So who is the Biden administration trying to hurt more (a) American Gun owners or (b) The Russian Government? The answer gets pretty to figure out in just two headlines.

BBC News: Biden lifts US sanctions on major Russian pipeline

Yep, billions of dollars of revenue to Russia now that the pipeline is no longer being sanctioned and blocked by the US.

and  US Department of State: United States Imposes Additional Costs on Russia for the Poisoning of Aleksey Navalny 

The Biden administration is banning future imports of Russian-made firearms and ammunition to the US.  Just as the ammo shortage was starting to ease, the Biden admin goes off and does this - appearing to be tough on Russia in one minor area while making sure American firearm owners, who tend not to be Biden fans suffer accordingly.  This is a much smaller financial loss to Russia than blocking the pipeline would be but it gives the finger to his domestic non-fans.

Funny how that happens.

Great Customer Service From Holosun

My Holosun 509T developed a problem during the MDFI Low Light Handgun class.

I don't know precisely when or how, as, after all, it was pitch black at the time, but the rubber over the - button tore or ripped away, leaving the circuitry open to the elements.

  I didn't notice when it happened, as the sight kept right on chugging along, but noticed it when we had finished and were putting everything away and reloading our carry ammo for the trip back.  Even with that open it did not have any issues.

So I contacted Holosun and they immediately sent me an RMA and a priority mail label to return it.  They received it and immediately sent a replacement priority mail, and I got it back fast and it is now installed back on the firearm.

That's a very quick turnaround, and some great customer service.

MDFI - Low Light Handgun Class

On Friday Duffy and I headed to Albion, Michigan, for MDFI's Low Light Handgun class.

We got to the range at about 4:00, and checked in, getting there a half hour early.

Traffic and construction on I-94 caught a few of the participants so it was a bit after 5:00 before the introduction and safety briefing started.

We had a very detailed safety brief and objective of the course brief, by Trek, the head instructor, and Shane the assistant instructor.  The thoroughness was welcome, considering we would be shooting in darkness.  

Then on to the qualifier.

Overall it's pretty easy, with 6 second time limits for each component of the drill, shooting at 7 yards.
5 shots from compressed ready
4 shots from the holster
1 round speed reload 2 rounds
1 round with an empty magazine, reload from slide lock, 1 round.

This is pretty simple, but it was complicated by the sun being right above and behind the targets and shining right in our eyes, and between my shooting glasses and the glass of the red dot, just seeing the target was difficult as the glare was blinding. 

You needed 12 in the inner rectangle for the advanced score.  I put all 14 in the rectangle.  Not bad for not being able to see the target.

Everyone passed the qualification.

We then did some shooting drills and warm ups as the sun began to set.

Next, was a discussion and demonstration and practice of handheld flashlight techniques and then weapon-mounted flashlight techniques and why and when to use each, including how to do a safe 360 degree scan of the area after engaging a target without muzzling anyone else or yourself for that matter.

Handheld techniques were the FBI, the modified FBI, the syringe, the neck index, temple index and the Harries techniques. 

We also covered purposes for using the lights, and how to do weapons malfunction clearances in the dark. 

We practiced all those in the twilight.

Then it started getting dark.

Everyone put on red glowsticks, one in front and one in back.

Targets then became pretty much invisible in the dark.

We ran the flashlight drills, both handheld and weapon mounted, and then we loaded up magazines with a mix of live rounds and fired casings and did malfunction clearance drills in the dark.

Then we did some shooting from cover and how to use the flashlights and not have the light flashback and blind you as you did it. Then from cover with simulated moving targets.  Adding to the fun were some strobe pyrotechnics and smoke that unexpectedly were added to make it a bit more stressful which was also a lot of fun.

We next worked on countering other people's lights and being able to see and identify them even when they were shining a light towards us, this was pretty useful.  I had a new Modlite as a hand-held and yes, it will punch through a Surefire light to identify a target holding it.  You can also throw the light beam at their feet and then see the target, which is a useful technique.

The final exercise was a blind run through a photo-realistic set of targets from behind cover.  - with a light from the targets pointing towards you. You had to identify with your light and not shoot the friendlies but engage the threats and quickly. 

 Overall I did very well, unlike someone else who shot the innocent old man holding a cane perfectly in the A zone.  But, I and every other single one of the 16 people in the class shot a target in a yellow windbreaker pointing a gun in our direction.

Unfortunately, on his belt, obscured by the glare of the light by the target with the target lined up just for that purpose was a very small badge on his belt.  Crap.  Nobody saw it during the drill, only in the debrief,  everyone focused on the weapon pointed towards us and didn't see the badge in the glare and shot.

Certainly a good primer on getting as much info on a possible threat as possible. 

We shot in the dark until midnight. 

It got rather cold, and I was shooting from concealment from appendix with mags also concealed, under a jacket and a hoody sweatshirt which made draws interesting.  Most other class attendees wore OWB ALS rigs which let them keep their jackets zipped up.  Good experience but next time I'm going to put on some polypropelyne under my shirt.

A few of the attendees had night vision rigs, and the instructors did as well and those were phenomenal.    The head instructor let everyone try his set out and it was amazing.  We had the assistant instructor about 20 yards away and he completely disappeared into the darkness. With the night vision , You literally could see him clearly in the dark and how many fingers he was holding up.    Spendy as all heck, but man, that's some impressive stuff.

Then on to a debrief. Everyone at the class shot well, there were no safety issues and we all learned a lot.

There's not a lot of opportunity for night shooting and night shooting classes so this was a very educational and eye-opening experience. I'd certainly recommend taking a night shooting class to any firearms owner, and MDFI offers a truly excellent one that is very professionally done, very organized and offers excellent skill development.

The ATEI Glock Doth Rock

Went to the range this morning to try it out.

The 509T was almost perfectly zeroed and just needed a few clicks to get it right there.

The dot-in-circle aiming reticle makes finding the dot and getting on target a super fast process.

So far I like it a lot.  I need to get used to the chopped grip a bit as my draws were slower than typical, but I was still doing sub-3 second bill drills from concealment at 7 yard A-zone target with all hits (still can use some improvement on that to get faster). Best draw to single hit on an A Zone at 7 yards was 1.4 seconds, and the 3&2 drill I was getitng 3 seconds and below.

I did clear a 6 rack plate in under 4 seconds form concealment, so that was something.

Zero malfunctions or issues with 244 rounds shot through it today.

Overall I do believe it's a keeper.