How are Glocks Numbered? By Patent of Course

 

 

Glock Patent Numbers
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Have you wondered how Glocks are Numbered?  I have.  However, I constantly get asked what I think about the Glock 324B* or some other obscure number

I never bothered to memorize the Glock numbering scheme. I just ask for a specific size and caliber.  Since, I prefer a compact 9mm.  Therefore, I typically buy a Glock 19.

The reason I don’t keep up with the numbering system is that it does not make sense for the user.  They are not numbered in order of caliber or size. 

Glocks are numbered by the order Gaston Glock gets patent number.  I would prefer them listed by caliber and size.

Why not put all the 9mm guns in a row, then number by size.  Glock 1, 2, and 3 could be the standard, compact, subcompact.   Then the 4,5, and 6 could be the .40 S&W guns.  Next could come the .45 ACP in the 7, 8, and 9 models.

That would be much easier for me to remember.  In contrast, the reason Glock pistols start at 17 is that Gaston Glock had 16 patents before guns.  He originally made polymer kitchen utensils before he decided to go after an Austrian military contract for a new pistol.

(* I made that number up.  There is not a Glock 324 but I expect some day Glock may make one)

Here is a Basic Breakdown

  • Glock 17 is a 9mm full size
  • The 18 is the select fire version
  • Nest, the Glock 19 is the 9mm compact
  • 20, 21, 22 are all full size, with the 20 chambered in 10mm, the 21 in .45 acp, and the 22 in .40 S&W
  • 22, 23, and 24 are all .40 with the difference being size.  The 23 is compact, the 24 is sized for competition.
  • Glock 25 is a compact .380
  • 26-30 are all sub compacts.  In order of caliber, they are: 9mm, .40, .380, 10mm.  Lastly the 30 is a .45acp
  • 31, 32, and 33 are all chambered in .357 sig.  the 31 is fill sized, the 32 compact, and the 33 is subcompact.  This is the series the TN Highway patrol carries.
  • 34 and 35 are competition guns.  the 34 is 9mm.  the 35 is .40 S&W
  • The Glock 36 is a slimline .45 acp
  • Lastly, the 37, 38, and 39 are chambered in .45GAP.  the 37 is the standard full size, the 38 compact, and the 39 the sub compact.

 

How to Remove Cosmoline

How to Remove Cosmoline

Removing Cosmoline
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There are several ways and opinions about how to remove cosmoline, and many curses heaped on the head of this product over the years.

Cosmoline is not evil, if it was not for its preservative effects, we would not be able to enjoy shooting old military surplus guns as they would not have survived over the years.

You Need to Understand Cosmoline

Before learning how to remove Cosmoline, you first need to understand that it is chemically similar to Vaseline, and is applied by dipping guns into a vat of molten Cosmoline. This means that the preservative is not just gunked up on the gun, but is embedded in every nook and cranny in the gun. If you are going to remove cosmoline from a gun, you will have to disassemble and detail clean it.

Some like to use chemicals to clean out the petroleum based Cosmoline.  I have read accounts of people using gasoline a 55 gallon drums. I think that this is overly dangerous and under-effective. Mineral oil and brake cleaner work just as well.

Hot Water Method

I personally use hot water for the metal, and sun and gently heat for the wood. Some do not like the idea of using water, but in my experience using heat alone runs the risk of cooking out the oil and leaving the dark tar-like crud. Water seems to both heat the oil and help float it away.

The way I do it is to strip off all the wood, and disassemble the gun to is smallest user level parts. I don’t do an armorer level disassemble, but just a detailed field strip. I then put all the small parts in a stainless pot that the wife won’t kill me for ruining (I actually have my own kitchen set by now), and boil them clean.

The Cosmoline will float to the top as it melts. When I take the hot metal out of the water, and quickly clean it with bore solvent, it dries rather quickly and I oil it well so it does not rust.
The longer parts like the barrel, takes more work.

I boil them in a large stock pot, and repeatedly pour hot water down the barrel to loosen up the Cosmoline. A rod will need to be pushed down the barrel as it will be plugged with the Cosmoline.

Attention to Detail Helps

Take special care on the action, as with guns such as the Mosin Nagant, In the video I show a Mosin, but this is not a how to remove cosmoline from Mosin Nagant article.

Cosmoline is notorious for being hard to remove. It may cycle fine, but after a shot or two, the Cosmoline will become tacky and the bolt will be hard to cycle. Additionally, If you fire the gun a lot with the Cosmoline on the action, it will bake on and make a small problem a huge nightmare.

I take care with the stock, and do not introduce boiling water as that will damage the old wood. What I do is to gently heat it up in the sun on a hot day (or VERY gently heat with a hairdryer) and wipe the Cosmoline off with a towel. With repeated heatings and wipe downs you can remove the Cosmoline without damaging the wood. If you go to fast or too aggressive you can strip out the moisture and mess up the stock. I also use murphy’s oil soap to help remove the oily Cosmoline from the wood.

I know this is not an easy process, its messy, and will most likely cause a little bit of marital stress, but look at it as a rite of passage, and a way to help preserve history. Heck, if you get a C&R license, you may even consider buying a curio gun and leave it in its Cosmoline wrapping to allow your kids and grand kids this pleasure.

Mosin Nagant Cleaning Rod Tip

Mosin Nagant Cleaning Rod Tip
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At a recent NRA instructor class we got into a Curio and Relic discussion on one of the breaks, and one of the students told me he found a solution to the short cleaning rods that come with the Mosin Nagant 91/30s.

As always, I was open to learning how someone else did things, so I was all ears to hear about his Cleaning Rod Tip

What he did was to take a simple ¼ inch dowel rod and use that to push his patches down the bore.

Since it is wood, it won’t scratch the rifling – it is long enough to push the patch from the breech to the muzzle – and being slightly smaller than .30 it is a nice tight fit.

I like it, and now have a dowel rod near my cleaning bench.  This is a great way to clean guns as the wood will not scratch the bore, it is cheap, and it keeps me from switching jags back and forth.  For some reason I hate unscrewing and changing tips on my cleaning rod.  With the cost of dowel rods and the ease at drilling one out for a jag I can afford to have a few.

Try it, and tell me what you think.

Glock Maritime Spring Cups

What Glock Maritime Spring Cups Actually Do

 

Glock Maritime Spring Cups
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There are some misconceptions about Glock maritime spring cups and shooting Glock pistols underwater that I want to clear up in this article.

You can shoot a Glock underwater without special maritime spring cups.  Any Glock can be shot underwater.

However, water does not compress.  Additionally it flows slower than air.  This means that water can bind in the firing pin chamber and cause your Glock fail to cycle.  Basically making it a single shot handgun.

To remedy this malfunction in water, Glock created maritime spring cups.

What Are Maritime Spring Cups?

Spring cups are two half cylinder shaped stops that fit in the firing pin spring and cup the firing pin connecting the two so that the spring can cause the firing pin to function. Spring cups are called the “million dollar part” because if you break them or lose one the gun WILL NOT function.

Normal spring cups are solid plastic, maritime spring cups have two channels cut into them to allow water to flow past them and empty out of the firing pin chamber, so that it can move fast enough to fire the handgun.

Spring Cups Allow Glocks to be More Reliable When Wet

Maritime cups don’t actually allow the gun to fire underwater; they just allow the gun to function more reliably when wet. While the gun CAN fire submerged, the idea is that when working in maritime environments like on rivers or swamps, if the gun is submerged you can pick it up and start firing without having to shake the water out or perform maintenance. In the Glock 18 courses they actually fire the full auto Glock until it smokes, dump it in 5 gallon buckets of water to cool, and then return to firing by using the maritime cups.

Shooting Guns While Underwater Can Cause Internal Injury

But besides the impact to on the gun, the water also impacts your body. When shooting on dry land, the atmosphere does not impact on the gun the same way the water does. Since the water does not compress, firing a gun underwater causes shockwaves.  The impact of repeated underwater shockwaves can do major damage to a person’s internal organs. Therefore, this is one of those things that, just because you CAN, does not mean you SHOULD.  There are several very cool you tube videos showing high speed camera footage of shockwaves caused by underwater gunfire.

Watch Your Backstop

Unfortunately enough people have tried out their maritime spring cups in their bathrooms, toilet bowls, and above ground pools that Glock considers the spring cups to be restricted items. Only law enforcement agencies can buy factory maritime cups, and only on official letterhead signed by the agency head.

Maritime Spring Cups Are Not Always The Best Choice

You can buy aftermarket cups, but you should know that they have less material to support the firing pin, so they are more prone to failure, they are not able to be seen without disassembling the slide, and if they break the gun is useless until repaired.

Spring cups are always replaced in a set of two.  Glock only sells them in pairs, and factory cups are only a dollar. I do not see a need for using the maritime cups.  If you want to run maritime spring cups, I am not mad at you, its your gun.

Just please be aware of the entire issue before you decide to tinker.  There are a lot of modifications to Glocks that are factory blessed.  I have done most of them to mine to show you exactly what they are.  My favorite is a tie between the larger magazine release and the smooth trigger.  In my new free PDF section I have a collection of Glock manuals

Complete C&R License Process from Form to First Purchase

Complete C&R License Process from Form to First Purchase

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Shooting: C&R License from form to first purchase
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I recently got my Type 03 Federal Firearm License (more commonly called a C&R License).  Stubbornly, I put off getting a Curio and Relics license for years.  Once I saw how easy it was to get one I knew I should have done it decades ago.

If you are interested in older guns, war surplus, or inexpensive guns, then the Curio and Relic FFL ( what C&R stands for) might be something to look into.

There are some misconceptions about this type of federal firearm license.  For some of you there might be some hesitance in getting a license to go about exercising a Constitutional Right.  However, there are a lot of practical benefits of getting such a license.

Practical Benefits of a Curio and Relics License.

A C&R license gives you almost all the benefits of a Type 1 or Dealer FFL. The only two differences are that a Curio Relic license is for guns older than 50 years old that have historical value.  However, some newer guns are also C&R guns depending on historical significance.  You also cannot use this license to engage in the commercial business of dealing guns.

The BATFE Determines if a Gun is a Curio or Relic.

According to the ATF website:

To be recognized as curios or relics, firearms must fall within one of the following categories:

  • Have been manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof; or
  • Be certified by the curator of a municipal, State, or Federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest; or
  • Derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or from the fact of their association with some historical figure, period, or event.

They have a published list here: http://www.atf.gov/publications/firearms/curios-relics/index.html

You Can’t be a Dealer on a C&R License, but You Can Make Occasional Sales

It is also important to know that you CAN sell parts of your collection; you just cannot buy a gun for the specific purpose of selling it. For an example – There are places where you can buy a crate of 20 Mosin Nagant rifles for around $1900, but if you do not have the cash, you cannot make a deal with your 10 buddies to sell them a rifle to make up the difference.

What I like about the type 03 license is that I can order guns directly from distributors and have them shipped to my door without background checks – even from out of state. I can also get the guns at dealer pricing.

As a matter of fact many places like have dealer pricing that is available when you send them a copy of your license. I actually saved more money on the first order on parts from midway then I spent on the license. (Unfortunately I believe Midway and Brownells have discontinued dealer pricing for C&R Licensees.)

The cost of the license is $30 for three years. But as you write the check or put in your credit card, now that the ATF will cash your payment the day they get it, but it may take weeks to months before you get the actual license.

The process to get the C&R license is very easy:

  • Download the application form at the BATFE website.
  • Copy 1 of the download is to be filled out and submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives along with the application fee.
  • Copy 2 of the download is to be filled out and sent to the Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO)in your community.
    • The CLEO is typically the Chief of Police or Sheriff where you live.
    • The form asks for the CLEO to sign that there is no legal reason you should be denied the license, not that he approves.
    • As long as you can legally own firearms then the CLEO does not have a reason not to sign.
  • Submit your fee and your paperwork

The approval process can take anywhere from about six weeks to three months, depending upon the backlog at the ATF. Once approved, you will need to renew your C&R FFL every three years or anytime you move to a new address.

Once you get your license there are some things to do

(some you can do while you wait)

  • The first thing to do is make a lot of copies of the license.
  • Place the original in a safe place (like your gun safe).
  • It makes it easy if you then sign a copy and scan it as a PDF – you will need to send a signed copy to anyone you use you C&R with, either to buy guns or receive dealer discounts.
  • Next you need to buy a logbook. At the bottom of this article I have a link to the logbook I bought. It is one of the cheaper logbooks, has a lot of room, and is good quality.
    • You must have a logbook, because you have to log each gun you buy on your license. However, if you buy a gun that is not related to your C&R it does not have to be logged (Actually it SHOULD NOT be logged in your C&R log). i.e. If you buy a Gen 4 Glock or some other new manufacture gun do not log them.
    • Any gun purchased on the license must also be logged out when it is disposed of – meaning if you sell something in your collection, you must log who you sold it to, when you sold it, and list the number off some form of government issued identification issued to them – Driver License or FFL number.

Home Visit Misconceptions

Many people say they won’t get an FFL because that allow the Feds to come into your home without a warrant. This is a misconception. The BATFE does have the right to inspect you C&R inventory and log book once a year, but you can bring your paperwork and collection to them.

If you have a Type 01 FFL, they can do one unannounced yearly inspection during your posted business hours, but typically the structure listed on a commercial FFL is not someone’s home.

Getting my Curio license has been worthwhile to me.  Buying a Mosin Nagant at C&R price of $110 including shipping sure $150 for the same gun at a dealer.  One gun makes your money back.

Being able to buy guns and having them shipped to my door is really cool.