robert johnson

Some Things Should Know About Your Ammunition

Selecting and caring for ammunition is unending issue I’m asked about is carry ammo.In particular, how often do we change it out? I’m not going to say that I’m an expert, but have learned a few things over the years.

For example- most people do not carry rifles around 24/7. You rarely see police even carrying their rifles unless something extremely unusual is going on- like a manhunt/standoff situation. Here is an item that perhaps you did not know- if you carry around .223 /5.56 hollow points for a year in your thigh pouch, you get very expensive ball ammunition. The tips will beat themselves shut by walking around. If you want good terminal performance without this concern, check out a round with a polymer tip for just such an occasion. This type of round is also a good performer in certain barrel lengths of AR pistols.

You will need to do your own research on this, but they work, as do bonded bullets. I can also tell you that if you must contend with things like windshields, a bonded bullet far out performs conventional carry rounds. These are things you learn after shooting a few dozen windshields in the name of science. Bonded bullets, whether pistol or rifle rounds, do not deflect nearly as much, and are superior for still having the terminal energy to stop the offender. The disclaimer here is that all bullets do strange things when they meet glass.

Carry ammunition is expensive, yet some are willing to do dangerous things to avoid spending money. The most dangerous is called setback. This occurs when people repeatedly load the pistol, chambering a round, and eventually the bullet is set back, into the casing. This is incredibly dangerous, as it causes a LOT of extra chamber pressure, should firing that round become necessary. I’m sure you can see this via Google Images, but I don’t want to borrow someones copyright protected image, and be sued for it. If you have rounds like this, you likely have a friend who reloads. Give those rounds to them, and under no circumstance should you attempt to fire them.

Color is a key consideration. If you like a particular round, buy at least enough ammo to load all of your magazines at least twice, and buy a box to fire through the firearm to ensure reliability.What you will find is that some firearms have feed ramps that might not like big empty hollow point rounds, and they won’t chamber reliably as a consequence. Again, this is a wonderful example of carrying rounds with a polymer filler in that hollow point cavity.

Color- what we’re getting at is that new brass is shiny. Nickel coated cartridges can be a little more difficult, but they too will fade with time. If your cartridges are considerably faded, you may consider changing out your rounds. These are fine to fire, and should be , while you’re practicing at the range. You should have old rounds around for this reason- recoil impulse. A carry round will have a stiffer recoil impulse, because it’s a performance round. Something I personally feel is silly is the idea of training with a .22, and then expecting this to be equal to whatever it is you use in “real life”. You’re going to be in for 1 hell of a surprise when you’re likely fighting for your life. Do you really want/need that?

Verdigris- in the event you didn’t know- things like copper turn green with age, and this is called verdigris. This can occur in extremely damp climates, and/or you have a filthy gun, and probably rounds that will not work. If you are guilty of this, don’t tell anyone, but seek professional help, as this is insane.

Top round is more golden than other rounds in your carry bullets. This is about as serious as setback, and this is why. This means that you have been over lubricating your firearm, and there’s a pretty good chance that this round will no longer function as designed. Some lubricants are quite capable of penetrating cartridge casings, and fouling the propellant. In the moment of truth, do you want to hear a subdued “pop”, and see wisps of smoke, because your propellant has balled up, and cannot do its job?

Over lubrication of the firearm can mess up the chambered round. This can set up what is known as a “squib”, or “primer pop”. I have seen these dozens of times over the years, and they can be fatal, especially if a rifle is the culprit. I’ve witnessed an example of a person who had went a little nuts with the lubrication, pressed the shot, and it did not sound correct. As I turned to stop him, he pressed a second shot. Thankfully, the fouled propellant had enough energy to propel the bad round out of the barrel, and there was no injury. Eyewear is mandatory for shooting, and this individuals face was completely fouled grayish black, except for where his eyepro was. He said that he “should have stopped when it didn’t feel/sound right”, but he opted not to- so he has a self deprecating story to tell, if he chooses. These rounds were full powered duty ammo, not FMJ, so he could have gotten seriously injured. By the way, this guy is full on Ninja, just ask him, and he’ll tell you the same.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I had a female shooter who is squared away, and in the middle of some fairly intense moving/shooting drills, she was surrounded by several other people, all taking care of their areas of responsibility. She heard a primer pop, and immediately ceased fire. I was on her side within a second, and within an inch of the muzzle, there was the bullet. Had she decided to send another round, it could have been a very bad day. Remembering the segments of training where these types of malfunctions are covered -she did the right thing.Though the male Ninja has moved on, we still have this squared away young woman who can definitely hand out punishment, if required. These are 2 examples of 2 bad bullets, and 2 different personalities/shooting attitudes. No injuries occurred, but ultimately, you are responsible for you.

Aluminum cases are out there, and I’m sure that they are the greatest things ever, depending on who you talk to, but here is another example of things I’ve witnessed over the years. I ran into some alluminium cased rounds in a revolver, the lubricant of choice was WD40. It was also recommended to spray the bullets down too (I guess to keep them looking like new?) Long story short, these rounds had been carried on duty for YEARS, and not rotated out. What we found was that at least 80% of them would not even give a primer pop, because the primers had been deactivated by the lube. Comforting, no? I guess at that point, use the revolver as a club, or perhaps the big Mag Lite. Some of you may remember those days.

Another tricky issue with aluminum casings in semi autos, if you opt to do this, is that case expansion can cause all sorts of malfunctions. If you use these rounds and they work for you, great, just be very careful what you choose to maintain the firearm with. This has no bearing on case expansion, but if you like them, fine.

With carbines/rifles, you can get knock back. This can occur due to the top round not chambering/getting slammed against the locking lugs, and the bullet is knocked back into the casing. Another cause for this COULD BE a live/dead round that’s chambered, and did not eject. If there’s a live un-fired round in the chamber, there are ways to remove it, just be extremely careful. A rifle round suffering from knock back is of no further use- give it to the re-loader you know. Often times, the propellant will trickle out if you invert the round. Remember that the primer is still alive.

Hang fire- I can honestly report that after over 40 years of shooting lots of things, I’ve had exactly 2 hang fires, and both were with .22 rimfire. Both occurred after they failed to fire in an ancient 22 rifle that I had acquired from past familial generations. Both were old crappy rounds to begin with, and both scared the bejeepers out of me, because I’d been holding onto them. As I tossed them to the side, both went off. This was not the same day, the incidents were on separate occasions.

I’m not exactly sure what would happen to your hand in this circumstance, but I’m in no hurry to find out, either. Bottom line is this; these things will happen- if you have a round that has been struck on the primer, do NOT hang onto it, or give it careful scrutiny. Put it somewhere safe to let it go off, should that happen. Again, I’ve had a few hundred of these over the years, but none have ever detonated (so far). Be cautious in your handling of such events.Remind you friends that bullets are tiny little bombs, in essence.

So- what did we cover?

1-Carry ammo is a personal choice, so choose wisely.

2-Carry ammo is expensive, but we have to test it for accuracy/reliability. We don’t simply stuff these rounds into magazines, and consider ourselves armed.

3-Over lubrication of the firearm can ruin the top round that we chamber

4-Set back can ruin the top round that we chamber. If the round has set back, we give it to our reloader friend.

5-Discolored rounds that don’t have set back become practice rounds.

6-If the rounds in our magazine turn green, we have a filthy gun, and rounds for our reloader friend. It’s time to scrub that gun, and reload with fresh carry ammo.

7- Knock back in a carbine/rifle may mean the chamber is obstructed with a casing, or live round. Extractors can break, and the rest of the firearm will work as designed.

8- Aluminum cased ammunition can be problematic in some combinations, as can any other ammunition type.

9-Polymer tipped hollow points are superior to conventional hollow points for reliable loading in most firearms.Bonded bullets are better than conventional hollow points, too, in most cases.

10- WD40 should not ever be considered a legitimate cleaner/lubricant for firearms. It’s wonderful stuff, but keep it away from firearms.

Stay Safe, Train Often

Full Circle: Tachypsychia, Shooting, Scanning and Safety Circles

The Full Circle: Tachypsychia, Shooting, Scanning and Safety Circle

If we have no choice but to engage a threat, we need to scan after the threat has been stopped. Scanning helps us begin a (hopefully) rapid return to normalcy post traumatic event. We need to scan 360 degrees, as there are likely several other things going on. Begin with an area scan, looking for additional threats, helpful friendlies as well as perhaps secondary casualties. Maybe there’s someone able to dial 911 (you may not be able to punch digits into a phone right now)

Look around the area for things you may have dropped, (like empty or partial magazines), consider holstering up if you’re certain there are no additional threats, and give yourself a pat down to see if maybe you’re wounded and not aware of it yet. How can you hope to accomplish all of this if you don’t scan?

Scanning helps us with a term that goes by at least 3 names, and here they are- “tunnel vision”, tachypsychia, and Kalnienk Vision. They all mean the same thing- in a high stress encounter, you will get super focused on things like a person trying to kill you. It can literally appear to be like looking at everything through a double barrel shotgun.

Scanning is not a guaranteed cure for tunnel vision, but it can help with the mitigation process, or help you locate a second threat should one exist. If we must fight, we do not want to hold still, and once we have prevailed, we need to look for the next threat.

Another thing that will happen is called auditory exclusion, and what this boils down to is that gunfire in a high stress situation often sounds muffled. This is a coping mechanism of the brain to help you, but hearing damage will still occur. There will also likely be the appearance of things happening in extremely slow motion, and you may perform actions like reloads without consciously doing so. This does not make you a liar when you believe you only fired two rounds- but if you give the number as a statement to find out later you actually fired 10 rounds, it won’t look good in court. Speaking immediately after a shooting is not a good idea.

Tactical breathing actually helps with stressful events. Chances are good that someone gave the action a different name, but to get people to buy into something, just add the word “tactical”, and ears perk up. Basically what you do is pull in a LOT of air through the nose, and exhale through the mouth. This will help you get your beats per minute back to normal.

I would say that the bastardization of a proper scan is the largest training scar foisted upon all shooters who employ it, as well as low hanging fruit for those who do not understand it.

A full circle is 360 degrees, and you need to scan 360 degrees. Ask yourself now- do you feel comfortable having a chambered firearm in hand, at Low Ready position, and turning a full circle? I bet you can, but, good luck attempting it at a range. You would likely be banned for life, and your grandchildren won’t ever get to be members, either. The NRA teaches a technique called the Safty Circle.

The Safety Circle was introduced over 20 years ago by Clive Shepherd as part of the NRA Law Enforcement Division’s training courses. The concept is to point the muzzle down when working in and around other people who did not need to be shot. Unlike the range with a berm, in the world there may not be a recognizable safe place to point the muzzle. The safest place to point the muzzle when the firearm is drawn is straight down and not pointed at your feet.

I’ve trained with a lot of people from a lot of different agencies, and if you want to see grown men (predominantly) get extremely nervous, incorporate a Safety Circle. Why ? Because those who are allegedly smarter than ourselves do not trust us. If you follow all 4 Cardinal Rules, there is nothing to fear, but, let 1 person do something foolish and all bets are off. To avoid liability, you will likely not ever perform a Safety Circle on a civilian range.

As if this initial scar is not bad enough, there is often times a second that is at least as bad, if not worse, and that is holstering an empty pistol, then scanning. Holy crap, Batman, if we’ve ran the thing to slide lock, an Immediate Speed Reload is absolutely necessary. However, I’ve seen it for years- run the gun empty, holster up, slide to rear. This action completely undermines the entire sequence for survival, but it is likely occurring on a range somewhere even as I type this. How many times have you heard the expression “practice as you play”, or “Train like you fight”. Don’t be surprised when you don’t get the results you expect from the things you didn’t do.

This is a HUGE disservice/training scar, when you preach to people to scan every time, prior to reluctantly holstering. The act of holstering is not a race, ever. If you’ve had no choice but to engage/neutralize someone, holstering might be very difficult. Now factor in the absolute gut wrenching after effects, like perhaps vomiting to get rid of all that excess adrenaline (it happens), hearing sirens approaching, perhaps being subjected to speculation by “witnesses” on the scene, etc, and the chance for a negligent discharge is extremely high. After all, life as you knew it just changed. Hopefully you don’t have a 10$ cheapo holster crammed into your belt line.

Pat Mac’s short clip called “Range Theatrics” provides an excellent dissertation on bastardized scanning. This gentleman manages to sum things up quite handily in about 2 minutes.

So, what can we learn from this latest installment?

1-Scanning is extremely important

2-We can suffer a laundry list of effects post shooting- none of them are positive

3-Life as we knew it is over, and there may be a rough road ahead for us.

4-We need to scan every time

5-We need to reluctantly holster, everytime.

6- We need to practice all of this, and research the effects of shootings

7-We need to get familiar with what to do- post shooting

8-We need high quality holsters for that reluctant holstering part

9-To prevail, we need constant ongoing education

10- Pat Mac is the man, and if you don’t already know who he is acquaint yourself with his stuff. You won’t regret it.

Stay Safe, Train Often

Photo courtesy of Travis Pike

Magazines: Know When to Hold Them, Know When to Fold Them

Magazines: Manipulation, Care and Feeding

Magazines and the firearms they fit can be fickle. Some guns will hum along on whatever magazine you put in them, while others…not so much. At this point, I will again say that no maker that might be named pays me anything. I do indeed have one “diva rifle”, that doesn’t like certain magazines, and I have a few pistols that are the same way. You may have similar experience. If such is the case, get specific magazines for that specific gun, and , if you’re in a profession that requires a firearm that cannot have this personality trait, take a different gun to the fight.

Tearing magazines apart and cleaning them is not necessary unless you find yourself constantly in sand, or salt water environments.We do not ever lubricate magazine springs. We also know that the 2 things that kill magazines are the constant loading/unloading (which is why we have dedicated range mags) and the nervous do-gooder types who have an obsessive need to take things apart.

If you have friends who are also shooters (chances are you do if you’re rolling through this website) get together and shoot a wide variety of magazine types to see which works best in what. This is easy with the AR platform, but pistols tend to be more difficult based on personal preferences.

Now, we look at the concept of concealed carry. We’ll gloss over things like your legal right to carry, you’re a solid citizen, you’re intimate with the Force Continuum for your state, and so on. We’ll even go so far as to say that you’re a darn good shot, and you’ve got proven rounds for the firearm. Please carry spare magazines.

A lot of us use more than one pistol if we live in a state that allows such. When it’s cooler (what’s known as winter for me 12 months of the year), we can tote a full sized fighting gun. When it’s warmer, we tend to carry smaller pistols. Smaller pistols equal smaller bullet counts. I perpetually carry at least three magazines.

I’m a Glock guy- with reason. My employment demands that we document everything to death, and with a quarter century of documentation, I’m confident in them. My “small gun” is a Kahr, and I have very little data to stack against the Glock. This is not bad- if I had a quarter century with this platform, I’d have more facts, but I don’t. That makes me extremely conservative in my decision making.

Every 3 years, the mags I’ve carried on the street become range mags. Period. None of these mags have failed, but, I still do the exchange. My primary Kahr will eat whatever I feed it for plinking, but when it comes down to anti-two legger rounds, it is finicky. This leads me to have quite a few defensive rounds of a certain type. When I’m waddling around with a Kahr, and three mags, it’s kind of like a Glock with one.

Let’s explore the 2 basic reload types, being the Speed Reload, which means “Oh dear, I’ve ran this thing to slide lock, and must do something”, and the Tactical Reload, being” I’ve got cover, and 1 miscreant neutralized. I need to top off, since things are quiet at the moment, and miscreants do not move alone.” Needless to say, you have to have both types down pat, especially when you switch from a double column magazine to a single stack.

If the magazine is empty, shuck it out vigorously. There is nothing more useless than an empty magazine. Don’t be found dead with an empty magazine in your hand. This is embarrassing. Even worse would be if you were the person who foolishly believed that spare mags were not necessary…Train yourself to count your rounds, especially with a single stack mag.

Perhaps the mere presence of yourself with a firearm will stop the action that was being directed against you, perhaps not. Don’t be willing to risk your life on this type of posturing.Remember there is a lawyer nailed to every round you press at the threats.

Let’s focus on single stack magazines for a moment. When we go to the range, we may not be able to work at “full speed”, as some ranges have very Draconian rules about what you can and cannot do. Acquire realistic targets of people,holding guns, as close to actual size as possible. Anatomical targets are very valuable, to see what structures you’re destroying with your bullets.

One item that should be allowed everywhere (but verify this) is the usage of dummy rounds. Have your range buddy sneak one into your magazines, here and there, and work on strings of fire as you move around (if allowed), and you’ll likely see that movement is different than standing still. You will also quickly learn that perhaps your trigger control isn’t picture perfect anymore, either.The third thing you’ll quickly learn is that with a single stack, even 1 “bad” round equals a significant percentage of loss to your defense.

The fourth thing you will learn is that you’d better get your Immediate Action Drills squared away. The fifth thing is very important.Look at how many times you shoot the hand holding the gun, on the target. The brain identifies the threat, and bullets will go there.The range is the place to learn, as the learning curve during an actual confrontation is much more severe.Once you’ve got all of this down, try to count your rounds. To finish all of this off, introduce a stop watch, or PACT timer.Please be safe in your exertions, and if all of this is too much initially, work your way into these items, 1 at a time.This is far superior to shooting 50 rounds in 2 hours into 1 small hole and convincing yourself that you’re a Pistolero. Bravado can be fatal.

Do not carry your naked spare magazine in your grubby pocket. You would be amazed how many people do, and you would be even more amazed at what will find its way in there. This will likely give you a nasty malfunction in the moment of truth. That would be a dandy time for a third magazine drawn from a pouch, now wouldn’t it? Ammunition equals options, people. No ammunition means you have no more options. Perhaps you’re a world class knife fighter…who knows?

Do NOT train yourself (or allow others to train you) to drop the magazine if you get a “click/no bang” scenario. If you drop the magazine, and you brought no spares, be prepared to be assuming ambient temperature. There are many out there who train to immediately drop the magazine to the deck if they hit a bad round. I see this constantly. This is very bad-inoperable firearm-and mad scramble to procure a spare magazine begins. Now you have an overwhelmed shooter attempting to multitask, and they stop moving. If ever there is a time to move, it’s when the firearm needs to be fed, or has a hiccup. After all of this gets sorted out, what do you suppose the next issue is? That’s right, they manage to seat the spare magazine, but fail to eject the bad round that started the whole darn process. This may sound humorous, but the stakes are high.

The beauty of range training is that you go HOME at the end of the day, to practice, and return again.You may be at your computer now thinking you wouldn’t ever do this, but actually try these exercises mentioned above, and be prepared to purchase a dead crow to snack on.

Getting the magazine out of the gun. This should be easy, correct? Magazines don’t stick in the well, do they? If you’ve got the liberty of movement at your range- bring along your range buddy. Let’s say that you have put in the time to get good at moving, shooting, coping with dummy rounds, and round counting, under time. We can now take our drills a step forward. We need to put increased heart rate into the picture. Have 3 mags loaded for the pistol, each with a dummy- 1 in the gun, the other 2 concealed as you carry them. Jog in place for 45 seconds. Your range buddy has the timer, and they are in charge.

Your shooting positions are Standing, Kneeling, and Prone. Have your buddy call cadence like “2 standing, 2 prone, 8 seconds”.On the agreed stimulus, execute what your buddy said. Long story short, working with pistol or carbine, you will inevitably “monopod” a mag, and it will not come out easily. The fun of this type drill is you get to run your buddy through it next. Be realistic and safe, and learn. To be sadistic- acquire some Glock Non-Drop-Free magazines if you’re a Glock shooter, and throw these magazines into the mix.Remember to relentlessly seek cover. If you have 10 round magazines, mix these in with high capacity mags, and have your range buddy insert the mag so you’re not exactly sure how many rounds you have on tap.

These drills are pretty modular, and can polish up issues you may currently possess. When proficiency is developed, start doing drills with the Support Hand. Anybody can hit all day long Strong Hand. You will be shot in the Strong Hand, by the way- remember the 5th learning tip from earlier. All of these drills are done with range mags- don’t go back out into the mean old world using mags that you beat up on the range. Get used to placing the mags where they are hidden, but accessible.

One of the best tests you can do when you’ve mastered all of this is to fill magazines completely with dummy rounds, and work on disabled drills, in DRY FIRE mode. Disabled drills are when you simulate an injury which puts one hand out of action. Performing disabled drills with a hot gun is an invitation to shoot yourself or someone else for real, so don’t just jump into this after reading an article.

The next step in our education is to NOT take our eyes off the threat as you reload and relentlessly seek cover.Once you get this down, start working on Tactical Reloads from cover, and stow your partial magazines somewhere OTHER than the pouch you took it out of. This is why- if you stick a partial back in a pouch, Murphy’s Law dictates you will reload the partial, believing it is full. This is bad juju.Whenever possible, based on how/where you carry those spare magazines, grab the magazine furthest from your Strong Hand first.

This is why- when you get hit in the Strong Hand, you’re now operating Support Hand only (if the hand is severely damaged) It is only prudent to have access to the closest magazine, not the furthest.With a rifle, things are even more difficult, due to more weight/length of the firearm.I’m sure all of you have already pondered this, though.

All of this might be a lot to take in a single dose, so let us retouch on lessons learned for this segment;

1-We carry to defend ourselves, and we have spare magazines, properly covered, and stowed.

2-We have correctly functional magazines loaded with proven rounds that our firearm will reliably digest.

3-We likely carry different firearms seasonally, so it’s critical to recognize exactly what we have on tap

4-Ammunition=options. No ammunition=no options.

5-We constantly visually look at cover to perform our Tactical Reloads from, because we know that man makes magazines and bullets, so failure could indeed occur.

6-If we empty the mag, we get rid of it forcefully, and seat the next mag the same way. If we hit a malfunction, we clear it forcefully while keeping eyes on the threat.

7-We stay sharp with practice, and don’t feel bad when we beat up our range mags.

8-Each time we practice, we incorporate movement, dummy rounds, time pressure, increased heart rate, reloads, round counts,and the relentless pursuit of cover.

9-We don’t want to be caught dead clutching an empty magazine because it’s bad form.

10- We will dominate the fight, as we did not choose it. If no cover exists, we will aggress the threat to stop it quickly.

Bonus tip- do not EVER mix 223 rounds/ firearms with 300 Blackout rounds/ firearms. Bad things WILL happen.

Stay Safe, Train Often

Modern Gun Magazines (The Paper Kind): Worth Ten Bucks?

There’s an old adage about poker- if you’ve been at the table half an hour and haven’t spotted the sucker- it is you. This is how I recently felt when I paid TEN dollars for a magazine to pass the time.

Inevitably, the magazines have a very small handful of people doing the lions share of the articles. Inevitably, the articles cover just about…nothing. This magazine honestly contained a 5 step draw sequence, via photos that were potentially relevant in 1989. The guy in the pictures was of the necessarily shaved head type- complete with tactical pants and his war face on. I know I got shivers, and I’m secure enough within myself to admit it.

There were 2 articles on normal pistols that the authors had acquired, but of course, these firearms just were not quite good enough. Thus there were rambling lists of nonsensical adaptations and modifications to reduce/polish and pretty up a firearm that was fine to begin with. The really arrogant part was at the end of said articles when it came to the prices. In each case, the price was “N/A”. Really? So, if I’m a self described “newbie” and have drank your glorious Kool -Aid, I cannot know how much this absolutely marvelous gun costs? Buzzkill.

Another interesting article ( if you’re into narcissism) was from a guy who’d went to an acclaimed school back in 1989 (not the same guy with the shaved head, but I’m not making this up) and he was promoting the virtues of a revolver for self defense. As you often hear on late night infomercials, let me inject this phrase- “but wait, there’s more”. The revolver in question couldn’t even be in a conventional revolver cartridge, it was chambered in .45 ACP. This means that if you’re of a belief that 5 or 6 bullets are indeed enough to end a confrontation, these cartridges depend on a moon clip for reloading. This is assuming that you have a spare moon clip on your person (they’re really easy to hide) and that you have superhuman abilities in the reloading department.

And the article continued to get worse. The barrel has a screwdriver type slot on the muzzle, but under no circumstance are you, the end user, to tinker with it. This barrel was installed by experts, after all. To make this tedious and arduous dissertation brief, this barrel came loose in less than 250 rounds, and several shooters on hand could not hit a 2×2 foot steel plate at 50 yards. The bottom line left me perplexed. After all, this outdated tool that was well over a thousand dollars was the nexus of the article, and it FAILED. However, the author (slightly out of touch with reality) continued to sing its praises.

I look at the loss of my ten dollars as a teaching point for those who may be kind enough to digest what I type up for the editor. It seems fortuitous to pass on 10 things that I learned from being a sucker.

1-Accept the firearm you purchased to be fine as it is. It was built by professionals. The ability to become highly skilled with it is up to you. If you insist on changing something, put night sights on it.

2-Understand that obsessing over a firearm (especially a pistol), and spending thousands of dollars on it will look wonderful for you in court.

3-Understand that if you have thousands of dollars to arbitrarily fling to the wind, that equals more magazines, and lots of ammo to practice with.

4- On the whole mags/ammo thing- cut those funds in half, and take a quality class led by quality people- outdated illustrations from last century do not a ninja make.

5-Do not vilify me for saying revolvers are ineffectual. Horses once had a purpose, too.

6-No amount of hankering for the past makes up for our violent present. There will be no time out when your overpriced revolver barrel loosens. A 500 dollar semi-auto would be very handy at that point.

7-Buy the best equipment that you can afford. A multi thousand pistol sprinkled with fairy dust and unicorn tears does not a ninja make.

8-Read and learn from those who have been to the circus, and don’t pick up the souvenirs offered by the clowns

9-Understand that your situational awareness will see you through the encounter you weren’t even aware of. If you are plugged in to your surroundings, the meat eaters will likely pass you by

10-Situational awareness must be developed by you- and it is a lifelong commitment. The best sources for this come from those who do this stuff for real, and chances are, they will be happy to teach you. If they are not, chances are, they got their war face from a ten dollar magazine.

Stay Safe, and Train Often

Some Thoughts on Guns With Lights

Modern firearms often come equipped with rails to accept, well, anything that may fit on them. A lot of people feel that a firearm is not complete without a light. We know there are tons of vendors willing to sell you lots of things you don’t need. The “lightweight rifle” won’t remain that way if you attach a fraction of one percent of all the gadgets out there.

Since the civilian firearms are copies of what the military/police use, they come with the same furniture. The professionals who chase people hither and yon require differing items than what the civilian user needs. Now that people are upset about not having those exact items, consider that the items used are likely restricted from civilian usage in the first place. Feel free to pick up your lollipop out of the dirt now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiI6diEamUY

Since any responsible citizen knows that they cannot chase barbarians away from their gates, they should realize that they do NOT need a light over more than 100 lumens to do their castle wall defending with.We also know that it’s not 1993 anymore and LED lights are superior to white lights.

If we do not listen to those who actually use lights in offensive/defensive tactics, we will indeed buy something with a lumen count in the hundreds. If you use one of the million candle power super lights inside your house, you will blind yourself with the reflection of excessive light off of the walls. Even if you have a sight picture on the primary offender (albeit briefly) you’ll fail to see his accomplice. Bad guys travel in packs.

Since it’s not 1993, we know that any device employing a cord,or pressure switch will eventually get tangled with…something, so avoid them. This is an inevitability.

Any light for home defense needs to have a battery that we can actually find in a store which doesn’t cost more than the light. Any light claiming to be rechargeable means that it is an expensive container to haul around dead batteries in.

I recommend against a light with a strobe feature. Having too much light in a room is bad enough, but when you have too much light in a room blinking super fast, it messes you up as badly as the threat. This is simply foolish.

Realistically, where is the optimal point of placement for your light on your AR platform? The answer is- wherever the hell you decide it should go. Knowing that, think about this- if you do any type of room clearing- even in your home, you’ll be using Support Shoulder half the time. Maybe a good idea is to put the light on the top rail, where it can be manipulated with either hand, from either shoulder. this also translates to shotguns, because, after all, we understand that defending a home with a pistol is an absolutely dismal choice.

Practice maneuvering around with an empty firearm, becoming proficient with both hands and light usage. The ability to have positive identification of a hostile threat is paramount. There have been tragedies of parents shooting their children who didn’t hear their parents, due to earbuds.

Believe it or not, there are people wandering around with lights on their pistols, too. There are even people who have this type of set up, and carry the whole shebang hidden in their pants. If you can do that, fantastic. Most people cannot have this arrangement tucked inside their pants, due to physical imperfections, age,tactical girth, etc.

Remember that with a light on your gun, you muzzle anything you point the light at. The same rule applies to pistols as rifles- that is- if you’ve got a light on a gun, don’t be using it to find the keys you dropped in the floor board. Indirect lighting can avoid this. This is where the super bright modern lights shine.

Did we touch on anything new here? Hopefully, yes we did. There are people who commit cardinal sins with lights/firearms every day/night.

Photo courtesy of Tim M.

Becoming a Firearms Instructor: A Thinking Persons Game

I have the greatest job in the world, in that I am a professional firearms instructor. I get paid to teach people to shoot, and give them various skill sets which allow them to persevere in worst case scenarios. As a result, I’ve been fortunate enough to train with some of the best people our country can produce, as well as elite personnel from other parts of the world.

I can say to you that people have used things they’ve learned from our group, and applied them. To have a person return from deployment and tell you how they used something from training is moving. To have the grizzled cop realize that he can shoot a bad guy at 100 yards plus with a pistol is an epiphany for him, but something I’ve known and practiced for decades.

In order to teach, you must have the propensity to learn. The concept is known as “wearing your Humble Hat”. Things change all the time, and as a result, if you do not stay current in your proper skill set, the world moves on. I’ll give you the crux of things, but not EVERYTHING. My career involves teaching, not enabling.

Back to the Humble Hat concept. It was last fall, 2017, and our cadre had to get re-certified as Handgun Instructors. Having done this a few times over the decades, here’s a little advice,if you’re not the dirtiest, most tired person on the range at the end of the day, you’re not doing something right.

You are the one your department has selected to get your people squared away, and if you believe that you can accomplish that by putting in the same 8 hour day as your trainees, well, you either have the luxury of operating with a bunch of chrome dipped studs, or you’re delusional.

The same concept is even more important if you’re hosting a class. Weekends are made for setting things up- not breaking out the old ‘Wham” CD’s and relaxing. Hosting a class means the guys teaching don’t know your set up, and you facilitate them 200%.

We had a pair of trainers to get us through the class, knowing full well that we would get pressed to prove our abilities. Do not ever think you’re too cool for the Instructor, he didn’t get the job because he swoons over students. Here’s another tip- if your classes revolve around a “puppy mill” mentality- you’re merely pencil whipping a requirement, and that kind of mindset promotes complacency. Complacency kills, in the worst case.

I’d not met either of these men, but again, this type of class was/is nothing new for us. It is truly awesome to be able to say this, and it’s not boasting-it’s gratitude. A class is a chance to learn things, whether good, or bad. A bad class may be the chance to learn that what’s being taught won’t ever be used by you, again. I’ve attended a few of these, as well. A bad class can test ideas you may have been wondering about in the first place. Once the idea has been verified, it can be laid to rest.

Suffice to say, it was a good class. Our range was used, which was good for us; we have intimate familiarity with it, and this allowed us to keep the required items on tap. This also allowed me to get some insights from the Trainers, and give them insights, as well. This is part of the Humble Hat philosophy- a professional listens, and tries. If what you’ve given him is rubbish, he knows it, and will still thank you at the end of the day. Especially if he’s burning your ammo to make up his mind that you were full of beans from the onset.

What genuinely struck me the most was that I was asked if I’d ever considered writing articles for the general population out there in Internet Land. I had not considered this, at all. My departmental requirements keep me more than occupied, but the request also kept buzzing around in my head. I learned that this guy asking me to write was from a galaxy way above my stature, but he felt that a lowly person like myself had something to offer.

The word is “gobsmacked”- Google it. I grew up in the woods plinking things, and shooting handguns at ridiculous distances because I didn’t know any better. One day, my wife saw an ad in the paper saying that people were needed for a certain skill set, and that I might fit in. That job led me to all of the wonderful things I’ve typed for you with both trigger fingers. The moral of the story is this- you have 2 ears, and 1 mouth for a reason. Listen, then speak.

This is another reason to wear your Humble Hat- you have no idea who may be in attendance in your class. Over the years, I’ve rubbed shoulders with some amazing people, and all of them were “nondescript”. They are masters at imparting knowledge, and will lay out what works- embrace it, or not. To embrace their methods will save a lot of unnecessary time and money. Ultimately, in the worst case scenario, it can save lives.

So, here we are. I ultimately embraced the suggestion to type for you with both fingers. I was fortunate enough to listen to a guy who is the Real Deal, and he possesses the knowledge to see that I have some things that may help you. I’m extremely opinionated, and due to requirements that exist in my career capacity, some will argue that my insights are limited.

I will agree, with a caveat- there are literally hundreds of different firearms out there, so I’ll try not to preach up one brand. I will also fail repeatedly. I’ve been an armorer for several firearms systems out there, and I like what I know is proven. My pledge to you, is to not call people or products out for negative reasons. I’ll also try to steer you into looking at everyday items with a new set of eyes. A goal of mine is to help you shoot more, and better, while saving money.

Having been extremely fortunate in being allowed to procure things, and beat the bejeepers out of them, I’ll let you know what works. I’m an inveterate fan of the Under Dog, as well as a crusader for the Anti-Logo people out there who wish to separate you from all of your money in order to swagger with the right amount of Tacticool strut because you possess an item that you likely don’t need in the first place. I will also try to close every article with a list of ten things we may have learned.

As an instructor, for a specific career with a specific mission, you must operate within the parameters to maintain the safety of yourself, and your people. You are responsible for your actions at all times- not me. If you have to fire on someone, know your Lethal Force parameters, chapter and verse. Also know that there is a lawyer taped to every bullet you fire. Also know, that the mission is to prevail.

So, what did we learn?

Be professional

Profession aside, there is more than 1 way to do virtually everything

Wearing your Humble Hat may keep you from appearing as a fool in a class environment, and allow you to meet some amazing people

Have the propensity to learn- life is an unending education

Pursue life as a student

Put all of your energy into all of your pursuits

Listen twice as much as you talk

New opportunities may appear before you, regardless of age

If you want to write articles for a website- learn to type. Overthinking everything you do, and recreating/parsing it multiple times with 2 fingers is TEDIOUS!

There are still Wham cd’s out there, and people still listen to them