Our first Technical Tuesday in a while, we’re taking a look at a customer’s gun that was damaged by a squib load. We’ll first talk about what a squib load is and how to identify it when you’re shooting and then we will take a look at how the gun held up to being blown up.

First how did this happen? The customer was shooting some rather light ammunition–it was factory ammo, 147 grain, subsonic. He had a magazine with about four of those rounds followed by a defense load duty ammo. What the customer did not notice was that one of the soft load bullets was a squib load. What is a squib load? It means there was no powder. The primer has enough oomf to push the bullet partially down the barrel but not enough for it to fire out of the gun. So the squib load traveled partially down the barrel and stopped. The customer then fired a defense round. This caused the gun to burst right in the middle of the barrel, because one bullet was obstructing the bore when the other was fired causing the gun to blow up.

So how did the MR918 Elite handle being blown up? The frame actually remained in quite good condition, with the frame rails still intact. Our rails are some of the toughest in the industry. Really the only real damage the frame endured was a crack along the serial plate. We use a glass-filled, high-strength polymer for our frame, and that is why it was tough enough to survive. Most of the other internal parts sustained minimal or no damage, with the locking block remaining intact. The barrel and slide are completely ruined and nearly fused together, with the bullet still stuck in the barrel.

Our warranty does not cover this type of customer-caused damage, however, we pride ourselves on standing with the customer to do our best to fix issues even when they aren’t product flaws, so we are repairing this customer’s gun for a very nominal cost. Each of these issues is handled on a case-by-case basis, so give us a call if you have an issue and we will do our best to help! 469.458.6808

This week, we are looking at the bore axis of different polymer frames as it compares to the MR918 frame. One of the main pieces of feedback we are hearing from customers who have purchased the MR918 is how flat it shoots–what that means is there is not a lot of muzzle flip during firing.

One of the main differences as you start to compare polymer frames is the height of the bore as it relates to the hand. If you look at a Walther P99 or a Sig Sauer P320, it has a relatively high bore axis, in that you see there is a lot of slide and a lot of beavertail between the hand and the sights. If you then compare that to the MR918, you will see there really is not a lot of slide or beavertail between the hand and the sights. The location of the bore relative to the hand on the MR918 is very low–that is the principle of low bore axis. When the gun is firing, it doesn’t get the same amount of leverage in your hand. The principle of low bore axis means that you will get less muzzle flip.

What did we do to achieve a low bore axis when designing the MR918? A lot of the things we learned before designing this frame came from our time in the custom world, doing customization packages on Glock pistols. Through the process of that, we really learned what works well. If you look at how the bottom of the trigger guard is shaped, how high and relatively flat the beavertail is, how we have narrowed the frame and recontoured it to allow it to sit really low in your hand. We have also removed material from the trigger well, so if you have short fingers, maybe a young shooter or a female shooter, you will have an easier time of reaching the trigger on the MR918 than on other polymer framed pistols out there.

Our goal from the very beginning in designing this pistol was to control recoil, to bring the very best out of the custom world, and put it into a production gun.

So, go get your hands on one and we are confident you will feel the difference and you’ll be aware of that low bore axis on the MR918.

As always, we love to hear from you with questions and feedback–give us a call at 469.458.6808.

This week, we’re going to answer the top three customer service questions we’ve received so far about the MR918.

The first is Assembly and Disassembly:
1. People seem to have a tendency to pull the slide back a bit too far when they are disassembling the MR918. Because the platform is somewhat similar to the Glock platform, it may be that folks familiar with Glocks aren’t used to our aggressive serrations on the MR918 and that allows for the slide to go back a bit further than you need during disassembly. When disassembling, your start point should be gun empty, no magazine, trigger to the rear. You only need to pull the slide back 1/16 of an inch, a really tiny amount, then pull down on the slide lock to release the slide from the frame.

2. Because of the way we’ve engineered our barrel to locking block and slide to slide rail fit, our top end is just a bit tighter of a fit than a Glock pistol, for example. Therefore, some folks have found, especially on a new gun, that the lugs will hang up a bit on the slide lock as you reassemble. If you get this issue, just give the slide lock the tiniest nudge downward and the slide will ease back onto the frame.

The second question we’ve seen a bit is “how do I get the backstraps off?” They do fit nice and tight on the dovetail, so let’s take a look at how to do that. First, be sure you’re using the tool that comes with your pistol. You will push on the pin from either side and slide it out. Once you remove the pin, you really do need to use the palm of your hand or thumbs to push it off the dovetail. It does take a bit of a push to get started, but once it gets started it comes off quite easily.

Lastly, the magazine well. We’ve had one customer break a magazine well plug when they installed it; we think maybe the plug was in upside down. When you put the plug in, you want to be sure it sits nice and flat into its recess. If it isn’t seated flat, you may break it off. So, once the plug is set, the magazine well hooks on from the front first, then it will snap into place int he back. At that point, you can reinstall your pins. The longer pin, that was already in the gun, goes into the backstrap side and the shorter pin from your kit goes into the bottom. Just a side note, as we’ve been asked this a bit, our magwell system is a proprietary system that is specific to our MR918 and will not fit any other after market magwells in the market.

Those are the top questions we’ve heard from customers so far, but if you have a different question we haven’t answered here, drop it in the comments or drop us a line at 469.458.6808.

Image credit: instagram.com/rogue_texan1

Ok, so you bought your first gun…now what? This week’s Technical Tuesday is for the new shooters out there with some recommendations of what you should do and what to focus on to get started in shooting sports with your new pistol.

Start out by reading our manual–we know, this sounds like a given, but we did put some extra practical information into our manual, such as an introduction to pistol marksmanship and additional, real-world safety practices. For those of you who are new shooters who didn’t buy an MR918, we will be publishing this information in the coming days on our blog. Check back here for links.

Understand the safety rules, and then don’t ever lose respect for those safety rules.

There is no replacement for good instruction. Go to your local range and ask them if they have an instructor on staff or if they work with an instructor that they recommend. The NRA also has a nation-wide training program, which could be a great resource for you. Get someone who knows what they’re doing to teach you.

Once you’ve had some instruction and you’ve learned your techniques and you want to get better, here’s the secret. You actually don’t need ammunition to get better with your shooting techniques. Most competitive shooters will tell you that they actually got better and got faster with dry firing. Work at home with your unloaded pistol to run through your techniques and drills until you feel really comfortable with them. Use dry fire as a very inexpensive way to get better at shooting.

You still need to go and shoot live at the range to solidify those techniques. If you are trying to choose to spend your money on the next cool gadget or buying $200 in ammunition to go practice at the range, buy the ammo. Practice will do much more good for you than the next new gadget.

As always, if you have any other questions or just want to talk shooting with our team, give us a call at 469.458.6808.

Taran Butler and Jade Struck visit with the Shadow Systems team and take a look at the MR918, Shadow Systems Barrels, and the new Trijicon SRO optic.