Thanks Virgil. I am not new to USCCA but just never really paid attention that they have a forum now. Now that I know there is a forum, I will be looking a lot more. I’ve had my CWP for roughly 30 years now. I originally got it because I was being threatened by a group and in my state at that time, you couldn’t legally carry in your car at all unless you had a permit. Things have changed since then, but they still limit where you can carry without a permit in your car.
My philosophy on what guns I carry is simple. If I don’t know that gun I don’t carry it. Some I know a lot better than others. One I will never carry even after I learn it. I’m turning into a competition gun. I have smaller hands so there are certain things I have to do to almost every full size gun I have in order to carry them. Polymer frames all get stippled and a slight frame reduction of some sort. My G43X is fine grip size wise but I still want to get a right handed carry stipple job so I can grip it tighter without it sliding in my hands. My hands tend to sweat when I grip my guns harder. My Wilson 4” is just as I bought it. The G10 grips have good texture where I can grip it and it fits my hands well. It won’t be long before I have to change out the factory WC night sights. They are starting to dim. I will send it back to Wilson when I have it done. That way it stays “stock.” I have done some things to it but they are all internal parts that I bought from Wilson like the titanium firing pin and something else that I can’t remember. The things I did to it are things Wilson didn’t do to them from the factory unless ordered that way but they sold the parts to be DIY. Now some of those parts are automatically installed in every gun the make so mine is factory according to the way they build them now.
As a person that owns a fair number of defensive tools, I must say there has only been two that I have made modifications to; one is in my carry rotation, the other sits in the safe. The one I carry has an Apex trigger kit which did not significantly change manufacturers specifications, nor did it degrade the functionality, or void my warranty.
The other is a short solid trigger shoe applied to a 1911, again it did not change the specs, degrade or alter the functionality so as to void the warranty.
Otherwise, I make no modifications. My rationale for this is that while we may conclude “administratively” that a trigger is heavy, when put under stress or with a SD situation, how many of us can say the same thing, that the trigger was heavy? I guess that’s the point.
Did the apex trigger you installed have different spring choices and a flow chart to select a pull weight, or an advertised pull weight, and…did you use a gauge to measure?
I ask because I had several Apex triggers and I followed their flow chart to a ~5 lb pull but they felt pretty darn light (as well as short). I put my trigger pull gauge on them and got as low as 2.8 lbs for what Apex says should have been something like 5.05 lbs. That is one of the straws that broke the proverbial camel’s back (I will not carry with the Apex trigger guns any more)
Factory triggers all weighed what manufacturers aid the should. Geissele AR triggers also tested lighter than advertised but not by as much of a difference as Apex
No sir, I don’t fool with springs. What I should have written was that I “specifically” swapped out the trigger shoe, the springs are still in the plastic baggy. However, the trigger shoe is smoother than the stock trigger shoe, IMO. I don’t need my EDC trigger being too fast, or faster than I intend, lol. I do not want to end up saying like some others, “it just went off!” My sympathetic nerves are not going to regard trigger weight when it’s time to press it.
I have astigmatism as well and all my optics are red dots. I tend to keep the brightness down and I do not see the flare on the dot. If I run the brightness up I’ll get the dreaded flare or starburst.
At the time of purchase red dots were either my best or only option. I have a Aimpoint PRO that is only in red, my Deltapoint micro is only in red, and the Crimson Trace RAD I want a 3 MOA dot which is only in red. I would have gotten any of these in green if it was an option. Now on my 92FS I had the front sight modified and now have a green fiber sight but I am thinking of changing it to a blue fiber optic.
The main tactical advantage to a green dot, is that green dot does not cause your personal ability to see in low light to change whereas a red dot does
So true, thanks. You probably remember when the military started using green light filters vs red for night and NVG ops. It was so much easier on the eyes than the red was.
I would say that whoever this guy is is basing it on his own opinion and not on any precedence of law. If you carry a gun strictly for self-defense and you make modifications to your carry weapon to make it more effective for that purpose, then it would be difficult for a prosecutor to make the case that you made said modifications because you were looking for an excuse to shoot someone. In regards to the trigger, you could always say that you have arthritis in your hands (as I do) and that reducing the trigger pull was a necessity in order to be able to use it at all.
I don’t think your argument would hold up, not because it isn’t logical but because they could say that it is not safe because it is out of spec. Unless you could get the manufacture to say it was to spec.
According to “The Armed Attorneys” the mods that can get you in trouble are the ones that might show you looking to kill, such as “Smile, wait for the flash” or “Exterminator” on the dust cover or somewhere on the gun. If the mod makes you more accurate and a better shooter, therefore keeping bystanders safe, not a problem. But as you say, anything will be used against you. But I go with them.
Exactly! If you fire a weapon in self defense, hitting your intended target is the most important consideration. Anything that improves the odds is fair game in my opinion. If you shoot someone in self defense then everything else is a moot point. Defense lawyer- You pulled your weapon on my client ( that was stabbing your wife) and shot him? Yes I did. DL- You had an improved trigger to make your shots more accurate? Yes I did. DL- So your pistol was potentially more deadly? That was my desire.
I am going with Ayoob on this one: "Many of us modify our carry guns so we can shoot them better. Smoother trigger pulls, sights that suit us better, modifications of grips to better fit our hands, etc. These kinds of modifications are easily defensible in court. The mechanical modifications which get people in trouble tend to cluster into two areas: removing or deactivating safety devices, and particularly, what laymen (and certain prosecutors and plaintiff’s lawyers) call “hair triggers.”
If I were to purchase a carry or defensive gun and then had to drop another wad of cash to make it where it suited me, I would be inclined to suspect I may have purchased the wrong gun in the first place.