Posted: 9/1/2018 8:28:26 AM EDT
Posted in Survival Gear, Handgun General and General Disc.
I recently put together a survival vest (for general aviation flying) built on the SV-2B vest platform, which includes a section that allows for carry of a firearm (far left).
In that section I put my Glock 19 (carried unchambered) and a spare mag. Thirty rounds total of Speer Gold Dot 124+P.
The interior of the section is lined with loop material so I used the ITS Holster Insert, which includes a webbing strap to hold that spare mag.
Sorta-disclaimer: I put this gun into the vest after three 3-Gun matches and had NOT cleaned or greased it
As an overall test I jumped in the pool with the fully loaded vest. Rather easy to swim around. I can do the survival float, I can even float on my back, without inflating anything.
The next week, in Panama City Beach, I took a water survival training class, designed primarily for pilots. The first day, in the morning, was class session, with the afternoon and evening as hands-on practice in the Gulf of Mexico, ie saltwater.
The second day was pool time in a chair dunker.
So all told the Glock, the two mags and the ammo, saw about two hours of pool water the first time, about 4 hours of saltwater the second time and 1 hour of pool water the third time.
For all these situations I INTENTIONALLY left the Glock alone, to basically air dry on its own.
I then let it sit in the vest this last week.
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OBSERVATIONS:
In this first pic take note of the ejector. The orange originally went all the way to the tip. This is the only part I touched and the orange rubbed right off. So my suspicion of this being only surface oxidation seems to hold up, despite the horrendous looking nature of the photos
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FUNCTION TEST:
The slide hand cycled with barely noticeable extra effort, though it wasn’t smooth, but neither did it necessarily hang up on itself.
The trigger was slightly rougher and heavier.
But otherwise everything seemed to function fine.
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RANGE TEST:
I took it out to the range last night. The first round chambered fine lol .
The whole mag fired fine, every round went bang; no delays, no hang-fires.
Five yards. This gun has always shot low but the group size shows I’m a bit more rusty than the gun
Second mag, same observations (this time aiming at the top of the green)
After these two mags I loaded the mags with Fiocchi 115 range ammo and popped off 50 rounds 3-Gun style. Glock and mags functioned fine.
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CONCLUSION:
It seems that finding oneself in the water and subsequently onto land won’t present a problem to the firearm in the short term, so I’m happy with that.
I’m going to detail strip the Glock and the mags and use an M16 toothbrush to clean everything off. I suspect it will all literally brush off.
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CLEANING UPDATE
It was 50/50/50 whether the surface oxidation was blown off, the oxidation covered over with burnt powder, or the oxidation wiped off when I started scrubbing
The only persistent area was the guide rod and spring assembly. That area mostly wiped off with the plastic M16 brush. I'll have to try a bit further with a copper brush.
Otherwise a normal field strip seemed to be enough to restore super-smooth function to the slide and trigger
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KNIFE UPDATE
Ontario Knife Company 499 Survival Knife.
Average bushcraft knife ... at best. Too steep of an edge grind and the pommel on the spine side limits the use of your thumb as support on the spine. Plus more things I'm sure lol.
But damn does it feel good in the hand. I wasn't expecting that. I bought it for the price and history of .mil use.
Short history: This item was designed as an ASEK, Aircrew Survival Egress Knife, ie: real meaning ADT, Aircraft Disassembly Tool. When you look at it in light of getting out of your straps and/or having to cut through aircraft paneling the design makes a bit more sense, with the bushcraft aspect playing second fiddle to the more important part of just getting out lol.
I took it out yesterday. It went through everything the Glock went through and has been sitting in the leather sheath of the SV-2B vest, untouched, since late August.
BEFORE and AFTER. A couple of minutes with the magic eraser followed up by a couple of minutes with the rough, green side of a yellow/green kitchen scotchbrite pad
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I did touch up the edge on a stone as well.
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