The lights are out

The lights are out,someone is downstairs.
Your weapon of choice,jams and you can’t fix it. Your only choice is to breakdown your weapon( readjust a spring,clean some carbon quickly etc).

The question? Can you, have you recently. Or ever, practiced disassembly and reassembly in the dark?

How did it go?
How long did it take?
What is the benefit of being able to do this,in your home.
Do you have any weapons with interchangeable parts(springs etc,modular weapons) etc.

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I keep 3 pistols in my nightstand which I might carry during the day, depending on circumstances. All are in holsters. I doubt that all three will have serious malfunctions at the same time. Maybe having a second pistol is a better solution than trying to disassemble/reassemble in the dark while sitting on the side of my bed. I have to assume that would be a massive fail whether I practiced or not.

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Yaaa, I have 4 firearms within reach, throw that one down and grab another. One is none and two is one.

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What kind of malfunction requires spring adjustment and carbon removal?
Awe skip it, grab the 357 wheel gun…

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Or the pump 12, 5 rounds of steel T shot.

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At this point I’m in immediate danger and I’ve fired/attempted to fire a round and have a malfunction, so I would tap rack and if that didn’t work it’d probably be tossed at the attacker to buy time to escape and get my family to safety.

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The real point was obviously our practice,but here are a few qualifications
The recoil assembly guide rod to the spring and the spring are a quick topic here.

  1. if on some weapons the spring isn’t put on the guide rod properly,it forces the guide rod out the front of the weapon and the weapon does not fire properly.

The fix is simple,but obviously you pull the barrell,reseat the guide rod and spring and the functions (seconds to fix)

  1. you have two different weapons one out of ammo,the second has ammo but a plastic guide rod that has issues, the first is a metal guide rod,the important point obviously is that they be interchangeable. You interchange and go on.

I agree most of us would want to drop and pick up something else( makes perfect sense).

This is about how and what we train for?

Multiple weapons,do we train with oops it doesn’t work, immediately pick up the other weapon,do we do this thinking about gross motor skills as opposed to normal fine motor skills.

There is a level of expertise that dark or blind disassembly and assembly required,that if mastered,even under stress, translates into our stress behavior and being able to control it( the stress).

I say this thinking about myself also,how prepared am I given that most encounters are far different from what we think.

As you most likely know,about the ccw victim in va,followed home by three thugs 1 with a gun,the shoot out happened in his driveway. He died,the thug was wounded,others ran. He had multiple vehicles for cover,yet somehow apparently used none(appropriately). He was armed,knew they were following him etc etc.

And died. I’m not sure we can ever train enough, or think outside the box enought.

But unless forced too,I would most likely grab the next weapon to.

But I do practice blindfolded just in case I run into something that is different than my thinking.

Cheers: Thanks for the response

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I had many thoughts here,in a certain scenario,I agree totally. But awhile ago I was in a state(ca) where you had a duty(even if in your house) to retreat to the furthest most point,while waiting(hopefully not dying) for the police.

In that particular case our house had a downstairs with multiple entry ways but as you came up the stairs to the second floor you entered a natural choke point.

When you came down the hall( at the ends were the main bedroom on the left with a bathroom attached and two childrens rooms on the right.

The area also sported a prison not to far away( nice area,with a prison - didn’t know until much later it was there)

I often at that time looked at keeping intruders at the choke point,retreating into the bedroom,and then into the bathroom(last resort).

Truth be told,however ,at the time if I wasn’t in the bathroom to start,I probably would have been arrested for not retreating far enough away from the criminals.

P.s. Glad,I moved, but it isn’t texas where I am now,wish it was(lol)

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Have in the past trained in the dark to disassemble and reassemble the 1911, M16, Uzi, Browning Hi-Power, …
But at home… have a a semiautomatic handgun… and a revolver both within reach… if one fails, the other is there… plus shotgun …

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Which one is this? I can not find that story … do you have a link or information.

I think he meant Michigan

OK. I was wondering. I have not heard of one in Va, but then… I do not get the news from all over the state…

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I can’t imagine any situation where I would be taking apart and repairing a firearm while a stranger is rummaging through my house. First off all my firearms are well maintained and stored in a ready to use condition. On the very unlikely chance there was a malfunction I wouldn’t know it till I had pointed it at an immediate threat and pulled the trigger. Then if the usual clearing drills did not solve the problem I would have no time or choice but to find another tool or deal with the problem hand to hand.

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I fall in with some of the earlier responses. I do basic functions checks on my pistols when I assemble them, and I inspect them before I load them. Most malfunctions I encounter can be fixed by racking the slide. If there’s a threat in my house and I have to disassemble a weapon, then I’m grabbing another weapon. It doesn’t matter if the lights are on or not, I’m not about to disassemble my firearm when there’s a threat nearby.

My “Safe Space” where I would retreat to has a safe with an extra pistol in it, and a rifle with a bayonet and 2 ready clips. My alternate retreat has a rifle with 3 loaded magazines. My wife has her pistol. The bolt action rifle is in the closet. I have knives all over the house, a literal sword, and a couple of baseball bats (don’t discount the bats). There are sharp or blunt objects everywhere, and by the time I get to many of them, I’ve reached a door where I can escape. And lest we forget one of our most important weapons, the cell phone. Why would I stop and disassemble a firearm?

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I don’t have any firearms that aren’t reliable, and if I did they certainly wouldn’t be in the rotation for HD. Having said that… Murphy can be quite the jerk, so in the event I get a click w/no bang, the immediate response is malfunction drills, if it STILL doesn’t work, it’s time to retreat and find another weapon.

I can honestly say trying to disassemble a firearm in that moment is very likely not in the cards. I’d probably attempt to use it as a bludgeon first.

Once all the drama is over, I would also have to change into clean pants.

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Thought provoking, especially on the need for better prep, and continuous safety training.

You might have just made hundreds of us clean and oil our weapons this weekend; Mine was long overdue, by coincidence, did mine’s today, before I saw your post. You also bring light to pro’s & con’s of a revolver, rifle, shot-gun.

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I’ll look for it today,I saw it yesterday,thought it was va but I could be mistaken. Ccw was a black businessman who was followed home by three thugs, 1 armed they pulled into his driveway and a shootout ensued. He was killed,apparently not seeking cover from any of the other vehicles in his driveway. Later the armed thug showed up at the hospital with bullet wounds,he has not been charged yet,however police say he will be.

From memory!

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Classic, I taught this in the Marine Corps. It is nice to be in a foxhole and be able to break down your weapon and put it back together in the dark with cold numb hands. The retaining pen is the worst, I usually kept it in my mouth. It is a good thing to be so familiar with your gun that you know it well inside and out, just like your girl.

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Michigan. It is a topic in the forum…
I had seen it, but had not heard about one in Virginia.

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.detroitnews.com/amp/4070716001

It was southfield detroit,he never got out of his car, there is suveillance video ,but not in this explanation(police released it- google name)

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