Dry practice without access to firearms

[Shawn Dodson]

Swap out the barrel on your G19 with a training barrel?

https://cpwsa.com/product/glock-inst...safety-barrel/

[dontshakepandas]

Swap out the barrel on your G19 with a training barrel?

https://cpwsa.com/product/glock-inst...safety-barrel/

I didn't know that was available. This is my vote now.

Should be much easier to show your wife that even though it is a real gun, it isn't capable of firing with this installed and your real barrel stored elsewhere than it would with the firing pin modification.

Edit: They have one less G19 barrel in orange now. $10 for shipping isn't cool though.

[BN]

I would suggest getting all the guns and accessories out of the house and stored at a distant place. Nothing to do with the guns should be present.

Put a lock on the door to your room that only you and your girlfriend have and carry the keys with you, not stored in the house. Keep the door locked when you or she are not present.

You will probably need to forgo dry fire for the present.

We are living in perilous times. Be safe.

[MichaelTheMouseGun]

I have experience with all three of your options.

I have two KWA "G19" GBB airsoft pistols I bought about 20 years ago. Their triggers are okay but they're more single action than striker, because it requires a hammer to strike the valve that releases the gas to propel the airsoft BB. (I assume the Umarex G19 version works the same way.)

I have two SIRT 115C pistols. The trigger is okay, and it's adjustable. (I haven't adjusted mine.) The trigger is better than my airsofts but not quite the same as my G19. I turned off the "takeup laser". I got them for two reasons: 1) if I suddenly thought of something while having a beer, then I could experiment with a safe "pistol" while my brain was in the moment, and 2) force on force training.

(I also have an Umarex G19 CO2 BB pistol. I removed the trigger safety because the trigger sits farther forward in the trigger guard than an actual G19. It's trigger is nowhere like a G19.)

In short, whatever you get the trigger isn't going to be like the trigger on an actual G19.

The SIRT pistol has the better trigger. Mine have the green "shot" laser with the red "prep" (take up) laser. (For you, you could use the "prep" laser to simulate your red dot optic, which will help you to practice "target focus" instead of "dot focus", or mount a laser sight to the rail on the pistol (if you don't want your finger on the trigger to activate the "prep" laser.)

Good luck!

Thank you for confirming my suspicions with using an airsoft replica. I think you have the pro/teacher model of the SIRT and I'm not sure if that is worth around $400, IIRC. Airsoft might be fun for its own sake, but I guess it'll have limited benefit over my other options.

I have a KWA G19-ish clone. It fits all my holsters and the weight/balance is about the same. The trigger, not quite so similar.

I used it for a few FOF classes, and for dry fire and drills in my basement. I actually had a little trap set up with insulation to catch all the bb's.

It's not the same as live fire, but you gotta work with what you got.

I completely agree with your last sentence! This is definitely not ideal, but I enjoy dry practice/occasional comps as its own thing. Despite the wanting to get better, I am also a big fan of the journey, and this could all be enough for me.

To answer your question- Close but no cigar.



My limited direct exposure concurs with the opinion of those who have posted up to date- the trigger is simply off.



THREAD DRIFT FOLLOWS:

I base the rest of what I am typing on 30 years of legal practice beginning as a law clerk in the juvenile court division, the county court and the local US attys office in law school, 5 years of private practice where our office was regularly appointed to represent parties in Juvenile Court as part of our “pro bono’ work, 18 months of working as an atty in that realm and 27 years as a federal prosecutor- Perhaps other questions to be asking yourself-


Are you willing to give up firearms and meaningful access to the so long a this presently 13 y/o male has access to your home?

Are you willing to give up firearms and meaningful access to them re protecting yourselves from the world in general and the world this male has already put you in given his associations to date and apparent threats of school shooting(s)?

I note your use of the word “situations” meaning plural breaches of your home and incidents at school?

How many years of good grades, generally good life good decisions and medical compliance re counseling and/or meds etc would it take before you trusted this male to be alone in your home?


Not every male child who at 13, who brings his friends to roam thru the house and go thru their parents things goes on to have meaningful negative law enforcement contact.

Not every male child who at 13, comes to the attention of a school authorities re any type of a school shooting becomes a school shooter.


But when the above is overlayed with
1. No prior and/or permanent positive male role model in the life of the male child
2. Prior and/or ongoing academic challenges at school
3. Even moderate challenges of those in a parental role re income, housing, employment, access to quality medical/mental heath care etc
4. Threats of self harm, harm to others, harm to animals


AND you put these data points together with the above, absent an inordinate expenditure of time/talent/treasure, these type of situations may not end well.


Be safe and well.

I really appreciate your input as you have experience and present constructive points -- I posted this on reddit and a lot of it read as just criticism. For what I bolded: this is the one thing that actually bothers me the most. I can put up with not making ideal progress, but the defense part is what bothers me, too. This event actually occurred yesterday and my partner is quite emotionally stressed, so I haven't brought that up yet. I plan to at a better time. For what I put in blue: No, the threat turned out to be a "prank" with other boys he was with over the weekend. Still serious but according to the local PD he is not the one who made it, but it was with his phone and he was present -- I still judge on that. The going in our room was one time. By other situations specifically, I mean he has boxed other kids (with consent and gloves, but still) in a public park, had to go to court with mom for shooting a BB gun in a public park with another kid. He is pretty much a straight A student and does take the "advanced" classes, but his circle of friends and mental health could use improvement, IMHO. Thank you for your thoughts!

Would grinding down the firing pin of an actual G19 to make it inoperable be an option?

If so, you could get a second firing pin and swap them out when needed, or my preference would be a second slide that you could paint or something to clearly mark it as inoperable so you can visually see which one you have. Leave the working slide with your other guns, and only bring the inoperable one home.

I've thought about this, but I think it might be too "similar" to a gun for my girlfriend. Up until this point she has been fine with me shooting and has even gone with me a few times, but doesn't even know how to field strip a glock and I'm not sure she would understand this. I could maybe bring it up at a later date.

I won't get into the issues and nuance of the larger questions involved...but I will say that I practice with a G26 sized Blue Gun on a daily basis and I feel that it is very helpful in keeping the hand / eye coordination involved in gun manipulation and aiming fresh. There is no realistic trigger pull, of course, but it hasn't hurt my trigger press during actual range sessions.

Good luck moving forward with the issues you face. I applaud your taking ownership and responsibility.

I appreciate your experience using a blue gun daily. To clarify, do you do pseudo trigger pulls with it? I feel like it might be close enough to the idea of pulling on a dead trigger (e.g., What Stoeger talks about), but a bit different. For starters, the plastic is further up the trigger guard than a dead trigger would be on an actual glock.

How about practicing with a Simunition or UTM conversion kit (so you can keep your grip exactly the same) or getting a G19T? Probably will have to scout around used on GunBroker or something, or else need to know someone that could hook you up, but it would arguably be the highest fidelity dry practice.

I actually haven't thought about that. I've seen the UTM conversion, but I'm concerned that is too "similar" to a gun for her. I answered similarly/more detail to dontshakepandas. I get it is not logical for the likelihood that teens would be able to be able to access the correct parts to make it able to fire ammunition.

In my experience, SIRT pistols are great for force on force training, especially when you don't want to use all the protective gear required for simunitions, however, they are terrible for dry fire and are detrimental to your ability to visually process what your sights are doing.

This seems to be the consensus for SIRTs. I knew the laser would not be helpful and was hoping I could work around that if it had a realistic trigger.

Being proficient and practicing for a gun you don't even have or carry doesn't make any sense at all, and seems like indications of much larger problems. BUT, to each there own, and away we go...

There are a few options. If bringing them to school/public etc is a concern they would probably still need to be kept in a safe. And at that point we're back to the overall fundamental issues... but...

Blue gun. I use one everyday. Live with it.
Glock 17T. (19 in lesser numbers) This will only function with sumunition. It is a live firearm. The trigger is the same, function is the same. Low odds of him getting simunition rounds.
Glock 17P. (19 in lesser numbers) Fully function, non firing pistol. Requires FFL as it is a serialized firearm, but isn't capable of shooting. Pretty cool, can be hard to get.
Glock 17R. (19 in lesser numbers) Essentially a "P" model with resetting trigger. I have never handled one. Requires FFL as it is a serialized firearm, but isn't capable of shooting. Pretty cool, can be hard to get.
SIRT. I wouldn't bother. the trigger is different, and while the laser is good for beginner level lessons I think it's a hinderance to visual development long term. Overall I would lose the trigger and use a blue gun.
Airsoft. Similar downfalls as the SIRT regarding trigger. But, you get to potentially add an odd and weaker recoil if you think that will benefit you.
Empty hands. You can visually move from spot to spot and picture things in your head with nothing. You can also work on movement without a firearm.

All of the official Glock models will cost you full handgun price, need an FFL, and likely be restricted to LE because you're poor and Glock hates you.



I know it seems like I'm throwing a couple jabs, but I'm not. I hope you guys figure things out. Good luck.

I get it. As I said above, the process of dry practice and occasional matches is enough to keep me going even if it's not ideal. According to her, she thinks he doesn't even know I have firearms as I've kept it secret in terms of transport/dry practice/etc. I'm hoping this isn't long term. I'll look into the 17T and see if I could obtain one. If not, I guess I'll use the blue gun. Now, I just need to figure out how to mount my RDS.


As an aside, has anyone had experience with Ace XR? I've heard mixed things.

[Grouse870]

I have a wetech Glock gen5 mos. The weight is pretty close the trigger isn’t bad and it’s very close size wise (the slide is a tad thicker and doesn’t fit in all holsters) I mostly use it with a piece of cardboard (just like a normal Glock so I can actuate the trigger). It has the mos plates and I added a fake rmr on it. It gets used a lot and I haven’t had any issues. I have broken a few of the fake rmr though.

[BillSWPA]

I suggest a SIRT pistol with Laserx training software. The software will use the camera on your phone or iPad to record the timing and placement of your shots on a “target” allowing you to focus completely on the sights and target without looking for the laser. Having this feedback is helpful.