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Well, had a new one yesterday. In the past, I have had students show up with some "off-brand" ammo that would repeatedly jam or Fail To Fire so I implemented a requirement that students could only use "Name Brand" "Brass Cased" ammunition. That fixed that problem. Yesterday had a student with a Glock 19 and Remington ammunition. When shooting the proficiency demo, things started well enough, everything in the 9 ring or better (lots of 10s and X's). Then, Student had a Failure To Feed malfunction--not a big deal and the student applied appropriate drill. A couple of rounds later it happened again. Then I started paying attention and noticed that the slide seemed to be having difficulty returning to full battery and was requiring a tap on the rear of the slide to chamber the round. Student completed the course of fire and passed, but with grouping of all rounds fired inside the 9 ring, I and Student were disappointed in the score.

After the course of fire, went into the shop and asked Student if I could disassemble the pistol. The build-up of carbon and what appeared to be tractor grease was unbelievable. I did not fully clean, but wiped it down with some CLP and SCRAPED the gunk out of the slide. Student stated that the only cleaning done was to run a bore snake down the barrel and a spray of WD-40 into the chamber. Recommended to the Student that a GOOD, THOROUGH cleaning with gun cleaning solvent with the gun disassembled was necessary before I would carry that gun and that a new recoil spring might be in order. I admit that I do not clean my Glocks after EVERY use and I have heard the stories about those who have fired thousands of rounds with never cleaning, but think this one proved a point to me. Now, in addition to my ammo requirement, I intend to inspect the Student's firearm and have cleaning supplies available for them if it does not meet functioning standards.

Always something new.