Pricing

	Missouri Shooter LLC *Basic & Advanced Concealed Carry Training MissouriKansasFlorida* Law Enforcement Handgun/Shotgun Instructor: Don Treece Ph# 816-898-3320 or 816-455-2491	Kansas City's Hometown Trainer

If you carry a Semi-Auto for self defense you MUST learn to safely clear a variety of malfunctions. You can only SAFELY become proficient working with Inert Training rounds. These are sometimes referred to as Dummy rounds but I really don't like the connotation of "Dummy" being associated with weapons so I prefer Inert. Over the years I have used many different types of Inert rounds from plastic ones which wear out almost immediately to aluminum ones that last only slightly longer. For several years now I have been using a brand that has literally lasted me for years and are still going strong. As a service to my students I have started stocking this brand and offering it at discount to my students. I carry the most popular calibers which you can purchase in class or I can ship to you for a small shipping charge. They have a real bullet case with a hard full length plastic bullet-shaped insert. The case lasts a long time and the plastic bullet-shaped insert allows it to feed reliably as well as keeping it from being pushed down into the case, a problem with cheaper Inert Training rounds.

Type-1 malfunction: this is a failure to fire malfunction. You pull the trigger and you get a "click" instead of a boom. This is the simplest type of malfunction, the most common type, and the easiest to fix.
- Often a type-1 malfunction is a misfeed, in which a round was not loaded into the chamber (e.g. you didn't rack the slide after you loaded a magazine, or the magazine wasn't seated enough to load a round, etc.).
- Another option is that the round has a dud primer (known as a "misfire"), and so the round did not fire when the firing pin hit the primer.
- A potentially dangerous situation is a "hangfire" in which the burning of the cartridge's propellant is delayed. Only attempt to immediately clear the malfunction during a real confrontation. This is due to the risk of the round eventually firing. If you experience a hangfire, keep the firearm pointed down range for at least 30 seconds before attempting to clear.
- A more serious problem is if the firing pin has broken, this is a "jam" (a broken part which does not allow the gun to fire). In which case you must go for your back-up gun or make a hasty tactical withdrawal (retreat)!
- 1. Tap the bottom of the magazine firmly.
  
  2. Rack the slide and flip the gun to the right.
  
  If your handgun isn't broken, the solution is simple: tap, rack/flip. To practice: load a full magazine into the gun with an empty chamber. Point at the target, pull the trigger, feel the "click". With the heel of your palm hit the bottom of your magazine (with some fervor — this is the "tap"). Then twist your gun 90-degrees to the right (so the ejection port is down) and rack the gun by pulling the slide straight back and letting go; do not ride the slide forward, let it slam (this the "flip" and "rack" part of the drill). This will drop a possibly dud round out of the chamber and load a new round into the chamber.
- A relatively dangerous malfunction is the "Squib load", where there is not enough force to propel the projectile out of the barrel. In semi-automatic pistols, a squib is easily noticeable, as the slide will not cycle and a new round will not be chambered. If a squib load happens, remove the magazine and clear the obstruction immediately.
Type-2 malfunction: a failure to eject is a common problem on older 1911 and other guns with shorter ejectors. This type of malfunction is affectionately known as a "stove pipe" because on the short-ejector handguns the spent brass would stick half way out of the ejection port and resemble the top of an old stove's pipe.
- Type-2 malfunctions are almost as simple to fix as a type-1 with only one addition. Type-2s won't mean something is broken on your gun which is a comforting thought, but it is a problem nonetheless.
- The symptom of this malfunction is a "dead trigger" (no click, just a little bit of movement), and most likely some brass sticking out of your ejection port (but not necessarily), and the slide is not completely in battery (all the way forward).
- 0. Setup the Type-2 malfunction.
  1. Point the gun up to see the "high brass"
  
  2. Tap the bottom of the magazine firmly.
  
  3. Rack the slide and flip the gun to the right.
  
  To practice: remove the magazine from the gun, and empty the chamber. Lock the slide back and rotate the gun 90-degrees to the left; many guns have a flat section on the opposite side of the ejection port. Place a round (live or empty brass — doesn't matter) standing vertically on that flat section, and pull back on your slide and ease it forward to trap the round in the ejection port. Now load a magazine into the gun. Point at the target (Glocks have to "trip the trigger" which is just a matter of pressing the trigger safety in so the trigger falls to the "dead" position) and pull the trigger. Feel that it doesn't move (much) and there is no click. Now tilt your gun upward so you can easily see that there is brass sticking out of the ejection port (this is known as "high-brass"). Then tap, rack/flip. After that, you should be back in business.
Type-3 malfunction: this is known as "the mother of all malfunctions" by some, because at best you can clear it in about four or five Seconds (the other malfunctions should take about one to one and a half seconds). This is a feed-way stoppage (also known as a "double feed", which means that too much brass is in the chamber at the same time.
- A type-3 malfunction can occur when the extractor didn't get a good grip on the spent round, or the extractor is gummed up or broken.
- It can also happen if you rack your slide and you don't rack it with enough fervor.
- Often there will be a visible casing seated in the chamber (fired, or ready to be fired) and another round from the magazine has been pressed up against it trapping it.
- If you do get a type-3 many pistol masters will tell you just to grab for your back-up. Of course, if that is not an option you should find cover before executing the clearing.
- 0. Setup the Type-3 malfunction.
  
  1. Point the gun up and see all the brass in the chamber.
  2. Lock the slide back.
  
  3. Strip the magazine from the gun (throw it to the ground or use retention and hold it in your hand).
  4. Rack the slide three times.
  
  5. Load fresh magazine or the one you held.
  6. Rack the slide to chamber a round.
  
  To practice: remove the magazine from the gun, and empty the chamber. Lock the slide back and point the gun directly at the deck (the ground). Take a round (live or empty brass) and place it directly in the chamber. Now load a magazine into the gun and pull back and ease your slide forward. This should grab one of the rounds from the magazine and press it against the back of the chambered round (this should be perfectly safe if you don't let your slide slam against the round, but to be safe: do this at the range obeying all safety rules, or do it with snap-caps). Point at the target (Glocks, trip your trigger), press the trigger, notice that it doesn't move (much). Point the gun up and look into the chamber, see that there is way too much brass in there. Now the fun part: grab your slide, lock it back. Press the magazine eject (while your magazine may fall out on its own now, if it was a real type-3 it wouldn't) grab the magazine and throw it to the ground ("strip" it). Grab the slide again and rack it hard three times. Reach for a fresh magazine, put it in the gun (same as the tactical reload) and rack the slide one more time to load a round into the chamber.
- If the magazine you have in the gun happens to be the last one you have on your person, throwing it to the ground does not seem like a good idea. Instead, you can practice a type-3 reload with "retention". Instead of "stripping" the magazine, grip it good, and pull hard. Hold it in your support hand, or place it between your pinky and ring-finger on your firing hand. Then rack three times and load the magazine again, and rack.
Type-4 malfunction: this is pretty uncommon. This malfunction is where the slide does not go back into battery after firing. This might happen because your guide rod or guide rails are really gummed up, your guide spring is too weak, your chamber design is bad, or even your ammunition choice (hollow point ammunition especially loaded with cheap bullets can cause this). Either way, a well maintained, modern semi-automatic pistols should never have this happen. If it does there are several things you can do to attempt to prevent the malfunction from reoccurring. First, completely strip the firearm and give it a thorough cleaning. Second, try different types of ammunition, it could simply be that your firearm does not handle a specific bullet design well. If the malfunction continues seek help from a professional gunsmith as it is most likely a more serious mechanical problem.
- If this happens when you rack the slide, and ride the slide forward (like you should not be doing), it isn't as much of a problem, but if it happens after you fired a round, that's when you should start shopping for a new gun.
- If this malfunction happens in the middle of a gun fight it may be detrimental because you may feel the slide not go back into battery and you try the tap, rack/flip, but the slide still won't go back into battery. It may take a little bit of time to figure out what is happening. Ultimately, a single second is a very long time in the middle of a gun fight to find out what is happening to your gun.
Emergency reload is the reload in which you have spent all the rounds from your magazine and your slide is locked back. This should all be done while keeping your gun pointed at your target. Psychologically, lowering your gun gives your target an advantage. You should be able to load your gun quickly 100% of the time — without looking at your pistol, your hands, or your magazines.
- The technique is as follows: when the slide locks back, you want to grab another magazine (likely from a magazine pouch). As you move the fresh magazine toward the gun, eject the empty magazine letting it hit the ground (they should essentially pass each other during the drill). Place the rear of the magazine against the rear of the magazine well of the gun, align the two, and with some force (though there should be little resistance) seat the magazine using the heel of your palm; then depress the slide release.
Load a fresh magazine into the gun.

Tactical reload is the reload in which you encounter a lull in the gunfight and are able to place yourself behind cover. You know you have spent some rounds from the current magazine and want to prepare for whatever may come next (this can and should be executed before you re-holster so if you need to draw again you are fully prepared).
- This drill can be done at the ready, since it should be done from behind cover and the target may be visible, but not an immediate threat. Reach to your magazine pouch (or other magazine holder — a pocket maybe — make sure you have a magazine. Move back to the gun and eject the partially depleted magazine into your hand. Put the magazine in your pocket (separate from fresh magazines), and grab the fresh magazine your touched earlier and insert it into the gun in the same fashion as the emergency reload, but this reload doesn't require manipulation of the slide release.
When practicing, you should be able to feel and react immediately when the gun does not fire. If you feel a "click", tap and rack/flip. If there is no click, look at the malfunction and act accordingly (remember it may be an empty magazine too). After shooting for some time you should be able to easily feel when the magazine is depleted, allowing you to execute emergency reloads very quickly.