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T-Bone
08-06-2011, 04:56 PM
I have a couple safe queens that need a trip to the range. I'm trying to always have a plan, to have some drills, to shoot when I practice. I wonder if anyone out there has a checklist to break in a new pistol.

WDW
08-06-2011, 04:59 PM
My checklist to break-in a new pistol is, if it needs to be broken-in, I sell it. What are you shooting?

Kyle Reese
08-06-2011, 05:29 PM
What pistol are you shooting?

A 1949 Neuhausen SIG is a little different than a P30 9mm.

Generally speaking, modern service type handguns (M&P's, Glocks, P30, etc) do not require a break in period.

ToddG
08-07-2011, 08:12 AM
T-Bone, if you're talking about breaking in the pistol mechanically then it shouldn't matter what you do as long as you shoot it. Some guns (SIG's sigpro and the HK P30 come immediately to mind) benefit from having a couple hundred rounds of full power NATO-spec or +p ammo through them to start, but the majority of owners skip that step and have no problem.

From the standpoint of evaluating a new gun, Dot Torture (http://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture) plus the 99 Drill (http://pistol-training.com/drills/99-drill) in combination provide a lot of feedback on how the gun shoots and how well you interact with the gun.

Dagga Boy
08-08-2011, 01:16 PM
I think most trainers and serious shooters have a course of fire that they are very familiar with and know how they should perform on it. Todd G obviously can draw from several and has documented his performance really well to show the difference with various pistols. I use my old agency's SWAT Qualification course to evaluate performance. I know how I should shoot that course and I used to shoot it daily in my high round count years. Many times (Todd's blog addresses this as of late) what we "feel" is different than the actual performance. I have made some pretty big decisions over the years on my carry pistols by seeing my performance improve with a change in firearm, even though the "new" gun didn't "feel" as good as what I was carrying. I will do this with "new" techniques as well.

The key for me has been to then be able to test that new firearm or technique on the street for 6 months as an evaluation period to determine if it fits in my "doctrine". There have been both guns and techniques that did well on the range, but were utter failures when tested under stress, and with real people and with unpredictable circumstances.

T-Bone
08-08-2011, 04:28 PM
Sorry for being so non-specific about the gun and such. And thank you for the thoughtful responses. I was writing from frustation about not having that benchmark or index or standard to compare.
I had almost stopped going to the range until I found some drills on this site. I did not have a plan and spraying bullets is meaningless and too expensive anymore. And you are so right about whats good for
someone else may just not work for you. Glad I found the site. I'll tune into the blogs.
FYI, I was putting off shooting an XD 45 vs my faithful Glock 17. Different gun, different caliber and higher cost. Any maybe easier to sell if not fired. But then again I've never sold a gun. Those zombies are out there somewhere.

ToddG
08-08-2011, 04:36 PM
FYI, I was putting off shooting an XD 45 vs my faithful Glock 17. Different gun, different caliber and higher cost. Any maybe easier to sell if not fired. But then again I've never sold a gun. Those zombies are out there somewhere.

I've always suspected that the zombies are hiding inside the XD pistols!

JeffJ
08-09-2011, 03:39 PM
I've always suspected that the zombies are hiding inside the XD pistols!

I've slept better since selling mine.

shep854
08-09-2011, 07:03 PM
I have a couple safe queens that need a trip to the range. I'm trying to always have a plan, to have some drills, to shoot when I practice. I wonder if anyone out there has a checklist to break in a new pistol.

This reminds me of the (in)famous "Fluff & Buff" that many perform on NIB Kel-Tec pistols. The idea is to smooth out rough spots in the pistol's action (my take is that the guns are so light that even a slight roughness could hinder function). Anyway the idea is to polish rails, etc before shooting the gun. I simply clean, lube and shoot the pistol to smooth it out. I have two Kel-Tecs, and they run fine (until I wore out the recoil springs).