When it comes to concealed carry, I have always been partial to a small semi-automatic in a pocket holster. Of course, it's always a good idea to train with the gun you carry, and on one trip to the range, my carry gun experienced several malfunctions. This was disconcerting enough on its own, but when I discovered the cause, I really felt dumb. The culprit was a magazine full of two months' worth of pocket lint.
How many times have I told students in my pistol class a gun is a mechanical device that can fail? That they should clean it every time they shoot it? When it comes to the gun you carry every day, such advice is clearly not enough. Your personal-protection gun attracts dirt, moisture, lint and dust on a constant basis. It's a good idea to fieldstrip it and clean the gunk out at least on a weekly basis.
Many of us, even those of us who clean our concealed-carry handguns regularly, are still guilty of neglecting one of the pistol's most important parts—the magazine—as I discovered to my chagrin. Magazines should be regularly disassembled and cleaned to ensure reliability and proper feeding. Of course, this is easier said than done for some models.
Glock pistols remain incredibly popular with civilians and law enforcement alike, but sadly, they have one of the most frustrating magazines to disassemble. For most magazines, simply depressing the plunger on the floorplate allows it to slide off easily. This is not the case for Glock mags. They feature additional locking tabs molded into the base of the magazine body to help firmly secure the floorplate.
It feels like you need more than two hands to disassemble a Glock magazine. The sides of the magazine body must be squeezed at the bottom while you simultaneously depress the plunger and slide the floorplate forward. I have enough scratched-up floorplates and bruised knuckles to attest to the difficulty of this maneuver.
Thankfully, GTUL has come up with a crazy-simple tool that makes maintaining Glock magazines so easy and fast, it is almost a pleasure. GTUL's system comes with your choice of polymer C-shaped clamps available in three colors: red for 9 mm and .40 S&W mags, green for 10 mm and .45 ACP, and blue for single-stack .45 ACP.
Indentations on the inside of the clamp match up with the locking tabs on the magazine body. Squeezing the tool so the open ends meet applies the right amount of pressure, allowing you to use the steel punch at the grip end of the supplied nylon brush to depress the plunger at the bottom of the magazine. By angling it forward, the floorplate comes off with ease.
The basic kit with one clamp has an MSRP of $21.95, and additional clamps are available for $11.95. For more information, visit www.mygtul.com.
