| 35,395 rounds | 8 stoppages (+1 w/non-LCI extractor) |
0 malfunctions | 0 parts breakages |
All of this week’s shooting was done during an Aim Fast Hit Fast class in Virginia. Here’s a video of my version of Ken Hackathorn’s version of Scott Warren’s famous “Barrel” or “Figure Eight” drill:
The target — which you cannot see due to glare — is the 8″ circle of a “Q” PTC. Hits outside the circle add one second to overall time; hits outside the bottle add five seconds. I had two one-second misses but a good time for a total score under 20 seconds which is not something I can do every time on demand.
Some of the students generously offered to stay Sunday evening and do a little more shooting which gave me a chance to send some rounds downrange at plate racks and other sundry inanimate objects. It made for much more shooting than I normally get in during a weekend class and I really appreciate it, guys!
The pistol suffered another “slide over base” stoppage during the class. It was a different magazine than previous but it seems likely the mag springs are giving up the ghost. Almost all of my shooting has been done with six dedicated training magazines each of which has seen 5,000+ rounds so far. All six magazines are getting replaced. While the problem would most likely go away with a simple mag spring change, it’s always been my personal policy that a bad mag is a Bad Mag and needs to be destroyed. When mag springs go bad, followers and feed lips and floorplates may not be far behind. Unless you live in a state where your pre-ban standard-capacity freedom-loving magazine tubes are irreplaceable, the best approach to fixing a problematic magazine involves crushing it and then replacing it with a nice new magazine.
Let’s see, what else did I do this week? Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. I spent two full days racing around the incredible Barber Motorsports Park at the Porsche Sport Driving School.
Yes, that giant metal spider really is in the middle of the track area. The 2.4mi course has fifteen turns and eighty feet of elevation changes. Over two days, I sat behind the wheels of a Cayman S, Cayenne S, Boxter, Panamera Turbo, and multiple Carrera S’s … wearing my G17 in a Custom Carry Concepts Shaggy the entire time.
Not only did the gun conceal well — none of the other students or instructors ever noticed — but it was so perfectly comfortable I frankly forgot it was there. Whether doing 115mph down a straightaway or taking the hairpin, accelerating up a curvy incline in a Carrera S or driving down a ridiculously steep off-track slope during the Cayenne offroad training I never had a moment of discomfort or any need to shift the gun from its normal everyday position. Go Shaggy!
A good friend and shooting buddy is in town this weekend so hopefully that will get the G17 test back into some quadruple digit numbers for next week’s report.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous Glock 17 gen4 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Week 25
- Week 24
- Week 23
- Week 22
- Week 21
- Week 20
- Week 19
- Week 18
- 25,000 Rounds with the G17 gen4
- Week 17
- Week 15
- Week 13
- Week 12
- Week 11
- Week 10
- Week 9
- Week 8
- Week 6
- Week 5
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
- 99.8%
- It Lives
- Week Zero
- When Will It Stop?
- Announcement
The figure 8 drill is hard only because counting >me.
OK Todd,
I am now officially jealous! The Shaggy is seeing more action than I am.
A whole weekend at the Porsche Driving School!!!
I’m trying to make time for a track day to put my Kat 600(kan-o-tuna) through it’s paces. (no room in the leathers for a Shaggy!)
Todd, did the evasive driving course you took a while back make for an enhanced experience at Porsche? In other words, did you get more from this course than you would have had you not done the previous one?
Well, I hope the Porsche Driving School is carry-friendly. Otherwise, they’ll soon have magnetometers, a’la TSA, that everyone will have to go through before entering the facility.
Todd,
You suck and I hate you.
@Josh… I too hate the counting. Love the drill, but hate the counting.
mark — Definitely. I had a leg up in terms of things like threshold braking and skid control. However, the Porsche class gave me a much better appreciation for pushing the car to my limit whereas in the evasive driving class I was much wilder during the track/speed sessions.
re: counting during the figure eight barrel drill, you’re not supposed to like it. It adds dramatically to the challenge. You have to think about your sights & trigger, your movement, and counting shots all at the same time. It adds stress and complexity. It’s supposed to.
Did you Kill the Spider????? I mean you had a G17 on you…. If you can’t kill it with Fire kill it with the G17…….
Gamer. you really should hit a few matches again dude.
Todd,
Thanks for the post about the figure 8 drill and the driving school. As for the drill, what is it trying to teach?
Robbie — The only game that will let me play from appendix is USPSA Limited, and there’s no way I’m going to be competitive without learning a lot of game-only stuff (footwork, setups) that just doesn’t interest me.
George — It’s more of a test than anything else. It forces you to make constant changes both depth and lateral while maintaining spatial awareness (some may think of it in terms of situational awareness). At the same time, the brain is busy processing shot-counting which detracts from the ability to think about front sight/press and footwork and tends to show a much better evaluation of what you can actually do under stress.
pish and tosh. you already so setups and the footwork (look at the video you just posted), and you’re shooting ability would make you very competitive even in Open. I know the gaming aspect itself doesn’t really appeal to you, but I honestly think it would be useful to you.
You keep talking about the Custom Carry concepts stuff which is frustrating as all hell because they haven’t been taking orders since march or maybe even sooner.