23 July 02

>From a friend setting up his new Benelli Super-90 shotgun for defensive purposes:

"I was able to have my gunsmith shorten the stock by an inch and a half without interfering with the recoil mechanism. I got a nicely centered, four inch group (Foster slugs) at fifty meters, about as tight a group as I and the Benelli are capable of (ghost-ring sights). I then fired one slug offhand at twenty-five meters. It hit dead-center. At seventy-five meters, slugs printed two inches low. Six inches low at one hundred meters.

I then patterned Federal 00 buckshot through the same shotgun at twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, ten, and seven meters. All rounds cycled normally. I got a twelve-inch diameter pattern (centered) at twenty meters. Eighteen inches (low) at twenty-five. My conclusion is that twenty meters is going to be the practical range limit of my shotgun with 00 buckshot. With slugs, I am comfortable taking a shot at a standing human out to seventy-five meters, but no further."

Lessons: Stocks on most commercial shotguns are fine for some kinds of hunting, but are too long for defensive purposes. When used for defensive purposes, most shotgun stocks need to be shortened at least an inch, even if the gun is to be used by an averaged-sized male. It is also helpful to generously round off the top edge of the butt pad, so that it does not interfere with rapid mounting.

When adjusting shotgun sights, slugs should zero at fifty meters. Thus set up, slugs will print a half-inch high at twenty-five meters and will be dead-on at closer ranges. Thus, for all practical purposes a fifty-meter zero IS simultaneously a twenty-five meter zero.

With most defensive shotguns, twenty meters is the practical range limit when using 00 buckshot. With smaller sized buckshot, the range limit is even closer.

A slug-shooting shotgun does not come close to duplicating the capabilities of a rifle, despite all the miraculous stories one may hear. Slugs are reasonably accurate from most shotguns out to seventy-five meters. Accurate shots at further ranges are mostly wishful thinking. Rifled shotgun bores, combined with sabot slugs, can extend that range, but rifled shotguns are unserviceable with buckshot.

Hans Vang (Vang-Comp), and Irv Stone (Bar-Sto) both make shotgun barrels that, through various internal modifications, extend useable 00 buckshot range from twenty meters to thirty meters, a respectable improvement! The Wad Wizard device, which screws into internal threads at the shotgun's muzzle, performs an identical function. Highly recommended for defensive shotguns.

/John

24 July 02

NYPD and the G17/19

NYPD started converting the entire department from revolvers to 9mm Glock pistols in 1994. S&W and some other brands of autoloaders are also allowed, but the G17/19 has emerged as the pistols most carried by NYPD officers at present. Current ammunition is the Speed 124gr Gold Dot.

NYPD Range staff started complaining about a freakish malfunction of the G17/19 several years ago, and the issue has finally garnered the attention of both the NYPD brass and Glock. It happens with extreme infrequency and is nearly impossible to recreate, but NYPD has coined the term, "Phase Three Stoppage" to describe it.

As represented, a fired case rim sticks under the extractor, and the case mouth simultaneously lodges at the mouth of the barrel hood. The standard, Tap-Rack-Bang drill will not dislodge it, and the slide cannot be manually moved in either direction. I've seen similar stoppages (not just with Glocks, but with nearly every other pistol) but I can usually move the slide. However, I have seen case rims stuck under the extractor so tightly that I had to poke them out from underneath (through the magazine well) with a Dejammer. So, I'm not sure I fully understand what is happening in NY, but it has become an "item."

As with most big city PDs, individual weapon maintenance is poor and poorly supervised. Issue Glock pistols work remarkable well in spite of that, but deficient individual maintenance may still be a contributing factor.

Not wanting to lose the account, Glock has established a permanent presence at NYPD's City Island range facility. As officers come to qualify, they are replacing extractors and regrinding ejection ports in a desperate attempt to solve the problem. Other "fixes" may emerge before it is all over. I personally doubt that anything can be done that will guarantee the problem will never occur again.

My opinion is that NYPD will not abandon the Glock pistol. I've seen fired cases eject, flip around, fall back into the ejection port, and then jam into the chamber backwards. That is another extremely rare phenomenon, and it indeed takes the pistol out of action in the short term. If you spend enough time on the range, you'll see them all! You can worry yourself to death about such things, or you can accept the fact that freak events are going to happen (albeit rarely) no matter how well a product is engineered and tested.

That is why all police officers should (1) practice regular and competent individual weapon maintenance and (2) routinely carry second guns.

/John