TTI Glock Base Pads

Who wouldn’t want more bullets?

I’ve been using the Taran Tactical Innovations extra capacity basepads on my Glock for most of my practice for the past few months. My goal wasn’t to avoid reload practice, though. I was wringing them out to see if I could trust them for everyday concealed carry in my Glock 19.

So far I’ve had two issues:

• Putting a +4 basepad on a G19 magazine and keeping it loaded led to failures to lock back pretty quickly. That problem has been resolved completely by using Wolff +10% magazine springs.
• One of my mags (G19 mag, TTI +4 basepad, Wolff +10% spring) when loaded to maximum capacity and slammed into the gun with the slide closed led to a complete mag failure. The follower got jammed in the basepad at the bottom of the magazine and the magazine would not feed rounds into the gun. This required complete disassembly of the magazine to fix. My current workaround is to load only 18 rounds in the magazine instead of all 19. My hope is that once this particular magazine has been kept loaded for a few days it will be as dependable as the others (the ones that had been loaded 24hr a day).

For 9mm, TTI makes two different extra capacity basepads. The smaller adds 4 rounds while the larger adds 6.  For G19 mags, TTI suggests the +4 instead of the +6. G17 mags work fine with both. The 6 also comes with a custom G17 magazine spring to improve reliability.

So why use them?

First, unlike many competing products, the TTI basepads use a lockable metal pin (seen in the photo below) which makes them arguably more secure than the stock part.

Second, they’re extremely space efficient. You can see various stock and TTI options below, shown from lowest capacity to highest, left to right.

My daily carry is a stock G19 mag in the gun (15+1) and either a G19 mag w/TTI+4 or G17 mag w/TTI+4. The G17+4 is just long enough to make concealed carry a little less discreet. The 23rd combo, at least for me with my gear and my clothes, is just too long. However, it makes a great third magazine that I keep in a small gear bag (along with things like a spare flashlight and the CLEER Medical EDC Pocket Kit) that I can toss over a shoulder.

I may even begin using one of the G19+4 mags in the gun. It extends so little that it conceals better than the full size Glock 17 that I carried for a long time (and holds more ammo). That’s 20 rounds in the gun, a total of 39 on the belt, and 62 including the mag in the bag. Bite me, zombies! OK, that might be the wrong choice of words…

The +4 pads are about $30 while the +6 is $42 and they are available in a wide choice of colors (except orange, dammit). I’ll probably end up adding them to most of my G19 and all of my G17 mags over time.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

And don’t forget:

Posted in Competition, G19, Gear, Tacticality | 20 Comments »

Ernest Langdon Awards F.A.S.T. Coin #12

John M. of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Bureau earned F.A.S.T. Coin number 12 during a law enforcement class held by Ernest Langdon of Langdon Tactical, Inc.

John was using a Beretta 92A1 and shot from his duty tactical gear including a Safariland retention holster.

The drill was shot cold (without any warm up). John’s first run was 4.69 seconds and his second run was 4.79. John had earned a F.A.S.T. pin from Langdon previously.

Congratulations, John!

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Competition, Teaching | 8 Comments »

Modifications & Safety

There has been quite a bit of discussion about the Gadget over the past few days, both pro and con.

What strikes me is that safety improvements are held to a different standard that other modifications.

People will change their sights, triggers, even permanently modify the grip of a gun all in the name of shooting better. Now, we all know that — at the end of the day — you could just practice a lot more. But not every movement of the finger is going to be ideal and people make mistakes. Having modifications that make you perform better are improvements, simple as that. The fact that “paying more attention” and “training more” can also improve those things doesn’t detract from the simple fact that sometimes, an improvement is just an improvement. Freud would understand that.

But suggest that someone could improve safety the same way and immediately the Monks of the Holy Order of Self-Righteous Range Safety (see The Safety Sin, Revisited from 2013) object most subjectively. A modification that makes you more accurate is ok. A modification that makes you faster is ok. A modification that supposedly could make you safer? Blasphemy. For All who handle The Gun should already have Safety infallibly within Their Hearts (and Fingers).

If you think you can jerk the trigger or anticipate or heel the gun or fail to track your sights, then you’ve come to realize you’re capable of making mistakes. Welcome to the entire human population. So if you pretend that your safety habits are somehow immune to your human behavior… who are you trying to convince?

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Competition, Gear, Safety, Tacticality | 15 Comments »

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAL!

Thanks to a Mr. Anonymous (which is clearly the most common surname on the Internet) and his contribution toward a pair of Gadgets, the Gadget Striker Control Device campaign on Indiegogo has already met its original goal in less than two days!

Again, Tom and I want to thank all of the contributors and supporters who have made this possible as well as the testers who spent so much of their time (and ammo budgets!) putting Gadgets through more than 300,000 rounds of shooting.

Thanks to this huge outpouring of support, Tau Development Group would like to announce another announcement that will be announced Soon™ that should make all of the contributors so far very happy. Watch here for the announcement of the announcement as soon as it is announced. Soon™.

The Indiegogo campaign has not ended. Please let your friends and fellow shooters that there are still Gadgets to be had as long as they make their contributions (and claim their perks) in the next 43 days. No matter how many Gadgets get committed through this campaign, they will all be produced and delivered as part of the first production run.

Train hard & stay safe! TomJ and ToddG

Posted in Gear, Safety, Tacticality | 5 Comments »

Day One of the Gadget Campaign

We made it onto Indiegogo’s front page as a “trending campaign.” When the page went live at 00:00 MDT, so many had stayed up for the midnight deal that we literally overwhelmed the Indiegogo servers. Thanks to everyone who contributed and encouraged us!

Final day one tally:

• Almost $37,000 raised
• 92% of our original goal already reached
• 382 contributors
• 786 Gadgets already promised as perks

Posted in Gear, Safety, Tacticality | 4 Comments »

GO! GO!

Posted in Gear, Safety, Tacticality | 19 Comments »

Gadget Campaign Begins In:

Posted in Gear, Safety, Tacticality | 8 Comments »

Brace Yourself

Posted in Gear, Humor, Safety | 2 Comments »

Gadget Striker Control Device

Tau Development Group is proud to announce that fans of the long-awaited Gadget Striker Control Device will be able to participate in our upcoming crowdfunding program. Exact details will be posted here on the day the campaign begins, Friday July 10th.

The Gadget Striker Control Device allows the user to impede movement of the action of a Glock — similar to placing your thumb on the hammer of a hammer fired gun — to reduce the odds of an AD while holstering.

Those who contribute at least $55 will automatically receive a Gadget Striker Control Device. That’s below MSRP and even includes free shipping! Additional contribution options will include receiving multiple “Gadgets” at an even greater discount. This way, you’ll be able to put your name on the list for a guaranteed unit from the very first production run.

Additionally, for those who are the earliest of early adopters, the first five contributors will receive a Gadget Striker Control Device for merely a $1 contribution.

And for anyone else who participates on the first day, the required contribution level for a shipped Gadget Striker Control Device will be just $50.

The campaign will run for forty-five days. Once it ends, no further orders will be accepted until all of the qualifying contributors have received their Gadget Striker Control Device.

Todd Green & Tom Jones sincerely appreciate the patience and enthusiasm so many of you have demonstrated over the past few years while we jumped through all the necessary hoops to deliver a tested, proven product that we can stand behind with pride. And to all of our beta testers, thank you for the huge role you played. This could not have happened without you.

See you next Friday.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG & TomJ

Posted in Gear, Safety | 27 Comments »

Wilson Combat Beretta Action Kits

After more than a year of development and testing, Wilson Combat is finally releasing its Ultimate Action Tune Kit for 90-series Beretta pistols. Designed with Beretta expert and champion shooter Ernest Langdon, the highlight of this kit is the new trigger bar featuring completely re-engineered geometry that dramatically improves both trigger feel and reset.

LTT 1

I’ve had the opportunity to shoot Ernest’s personal Ultimate Action Tune Kit pistol on a few occasions and the difference is pretty spectacular. I’ve been shooting Berettas for more than 15 years and none have ever come close to the trigger on these kits. Even my own Langdon-tuned pistol (“LTT 1“), excellent as it is, becomes overshadowed as soon as you compare it to a gun that has one of these new trigger bars and a little expert know-how.

My guess is that these will become standard on every Beretta in the hands of serious users.

It’s great to see the Beretta 90-series gun making a comeback now that someone like Ernest Langdon and a company like Wilson Combat are teaming up with Beretta USA. Expect to see more developments from this partnership in the coming months!

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Gear | 2 Comments »