Free For All Friday 7-25-2014: Paint, used guns and lasers!
You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers for your mind!
Want to paint a fill in color on my Glock slide, was told Testers made the best paint, and Brownells, Inc. has color sticks that do the same thing. Any suggestions to get me started? -Steven L.
There’s nothing like a personalized gun. The sad part it, most affordable customizations are internal parts. To really beef up things, it costs a bit of cash…with one big exception: painting. One of the easiest paintings is just filling in the letters. It’s actually quite amazing how much of a difference such a little detail can make. Personally, I’m fond of Testers for that particular painting task. It seems to be a bit more resilient to cleaning, solvents and such. It’s what I used in the painting tutorial on our horribly neglected YouTube channel. The technique would be the same regardless of firearm.
I am thinking about buying a used gun. To this point, everything has been new. I was in my local shop and saw a pretty .38 that is on consignment. My question is, what to look for? If you buy it over Gun Broker, or another site, how do you know the gun is in decent shape or in need of repair. I am fine with the pricing ( I read your post on that). But I am leery of buying a gun without knowing what I am getting into. Thanks as always! -Skylar R.
Buying a used gun is amazingly like buying a used car…except you can’t take it for a test drive…and you don’t have something like Carfax to check it out. In the end, it really is a buyer beware type of situation. The bright side is there are some obvious things to look out for. One of the big things is how well the gun was maintained. This is separate from wear and tear, mind you. No matter how well you take care of the gun, regular use is going to take its toll on the appearance. For maintenance, I’m looking for rust and corrosion. Also, field strip the gun and look at the internals. If the person doesn’t want you field stripping the gun, walk away. Oftentimes a store will give the gun a quick cleaning before they put it out to sell but even then, there’s only so much a good cleaning can cover up.
Next, if it’s a semi-auto pistol, rack the slide a few times to check the recoil spring. As we spoke in an article a while back, a worn recoil spring can quickly destroy a gun. If the gun looks well used and the recoil spring looks like it has never been replaced, that would be a warning sign. If the spring doesn’t give any resistance at all, that’s also a big warning sign. If this was being shot with too light of a spring, it would have put a significant strain on the frame.
Finally, do some dry fire. A lot of stores don’t like you dry firing brand new guns, at least not without asking first. They shouldn’t have any problems with you dry firing a used gun. Still, ask first and also make absolutely sure that it’s not loaded. Side note: Pretty much all of the negligent discharges that have happened in gun stores were from used guns. Don’t ever rely on gun store employees to check the gun for you. Anyway, if the trigger works and feels OK, you’re good to go.
Any suggestions for a green laser light combo for a Glock? -@RealistRager
I have recently fallen in love with green lasers for gun. Admittedly, I wrote them off as a novelty at first because they were noticeably more expensive than red lasers and, in my mind at least, a laser was a laser. I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. Not only have they come down in price but the green is so much easier to pick up. Also, they’re so bright that you can actually see the beam without having to spray anything into the air. Combining that awesome laser with a nice, bright LED flashlight is an unbeatable combo.
The bright side (get it? bright side? eh? eh?) is that there are lots of great options. I’m a big fan of the stuff from Viridian but pretty much any of the big manufacturers will do. One thing I would avoid, however, are the cheap $30 combos you see at places like Academy sports and such. They’ll work for a while but after a bit of shooting they really start to fall apart. I’ve also had trouble with them holding zero on the laser. You want laser-like precision (that’s another pun) and the super cheap ones just can’t handle it. Also, I haven’t had much luck with those no-name brands in the green boxes that you see at gun shows. There always seems to be one dude selling those crazy red dot sights/scope/laser/flashlight combo units that come in a green box with an absurdly reasonable price. Buyer beware, there’s a reason they’re so cheap. As much as I hate to say it, a lot of stuff in the firearm world does have a price vs. quality equivalent. With that being regrettably said, look for the $300 and up price range and the quality will be there.
Thanks for the questions!
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