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Taran Tactical Magazine Extensions: First Look

Record numbers of new shooters combined with a HUGE number of firearms instructors with combat experience have created an explosion in firearms training. In almost all cases, the schools are delivering great instruction. But most students leaving these classes are buying into one, two, or three of the following gun training myths…even though the instructors don’t believe in these myths and don’t want their students to fall for them either. This is important, regardless of whether you’re an instructor or whether you’ve trained with an instructor in the past, plan on doing so at some point in the future, or just plan on doing your own things with tips you pick up online, on books, or on DVDs. Myth #1 Training Is Practice I want to start off by saying that I’m a big fan of live firearms training. I’ve been to dozens of classes with dozens of high-speed instructors over the years and even the “mediocre” classes were great experiences and this is not a criticism of firearms instructors at all. They’re given the almost impossible task of conveying a lifetime of instruction, practice, and experience into as short of a class as possible at a price that students can afford. With that out of the way, myth #1 is that firearms training is equivalent to practice. It’s not. Training: Where a student is taught how to do something by an instructor. Practice: Where a student repeats what they’ve been trained to do until they can do it automatically, or without thought. It becomes a conditioned response that bypasses the parts of the brain that are most paralyzed in extreme stress situations. Training is when you watch proper technique and try to duplicate it until the instructor says, “you’ve got it” and you move to learning the next technique. Practice is when you repeat that perfect form at various speeds, consciously paying attention to every detail, until one day you wake up and realize that you can do it perfectly, automatically, and FAST, without having to think about it. Training is what most civilian and law enforcement shooters do. Practice is what elite SWAT units, military units, and competitive shooters who consistently win do. When shooters are looking for a firearms class to go to, most want to get as much training as possible for their time and money, so they look for the class with the most credible instructor who’s covering the most “cool stuff” in as few days as possible. (This is a false economy but that’s a conversation for another day) Instructors, on the other hand, know that they may only have one shot with a student and the student may live or die based on the information they’re taught. It’s a heavy burden that causes instructors to try to cram as much information and training as possible into the limited class time that they have. I get it. I appreciate it. But it’s not practice; it’s not how most instructors learned and became good; and it’s not a good long term solution for students. This approach may get students performing to a given standard during the class, but it won’t “stick” without repetition. Most experts agree that students will lose 60-80% of the benefit of what they learned within a few short weeks without frequent and timely practice after the initial instruction. Practice is truly the single biggest missing ingredient in modern firearms training. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty passionate about it. That’s why I co-wrote Tactical Firearms Training Secrets, co-created Dry Fire Training Cards, and 21 Day Alpha Shooter work closely with Matt Seibert in promoting Insight Firearms Training’s Deadly Accuracy Course, helped former Force Recon Marine, Chris Graham, launch 30-10Pistol, and helped Retired Navy SEAL, Larry Yatch, launch Concealed Carry Masters Course. We want to revolutionize firearms training and take it from a model where the focus is on getting students to be able to perform by the end of the class to a model where firearms instructors not only get students to perform in class, but focus on teaching students how to practice properly, after the training, so that they can get the full benefit of the training that they paid for. In the meantime, here’s what you can do as a student. When you’re taking a class and taking notes, constantly ask yourself, “What points do I need to write down so I can practice this properly when I get home?” At the end of a class, in addition to having notes of facts, figures, and how-to’s, you should also have specific drills to do that are based on what you learned in the class. Some of them should be dry fire drills and some should be live fire drills, but ALL of them should be ones that you can shut your eyes and rehearse in your mind. Again, the sooner you start this practice after your training and the more frequently you do it, the more long term benefit you’ll get from the training. Myth #2 All Gun, All The Time Most shooters go to firearms classes to get trigger time in, to shoot better, and/or to learn and practice tactics. As a result, that’s the kind of classes that are mostly offered. And an increasing number of defensive shooting classes teach a little bit of situational awareness, deterrence, and disengagement, but the vast majority of the class is still focused on the gun because that’s what students demand. Again, I get it. I love guns. I love gun stories. I love learning about guns. I love shooting. But my day has gone incredibly bad if I ever have to fire my gun in self defense. One of the sayings I keep in my head is: “An Ounce of Deterrence Is Worth a Pound of Lead” And, I have to add in situational awareness and disengagement to deterrence. Sun Tzu may have said it better, “The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.” Regardless, if you can avoid conflicts with pre-fight skills, then hopefully you may never have to find out whether your gun skills are adequate or not. You probably realized this, but the skill of being able to avoid and deter confrontation becomes more and more valuable as you get older. It may not be as sexy as gun play, but you get to use it a lot more and it might save you from a conflict escalating to where you have to use your gun at all. How can you practice this? 1. Every day, watch people and situations. Study them. Evaluate the people around you and your surroundings to get a general feel for how safe or unsafe you are. Then, BE COMFORTABLE LEAVING situations when things start getting hairy. Click >HERE< for a systematic proven approach for this. 2. As you find yourself in disagreements and conflicts, begin the practice of disciplining yourself to add water to the fire, rather than fuel. 3. In disagreements, step back mentally while they’re happening and “take the temperature” of both yourself and the other person. Pay attention to the impact of the words you use, the volume, and your body language. And be prepared to physically leave and regroup if one or both of you can’t calm down or you run out of verbal tools to calm things down. Myth #3 The 21 Foot Rule Two fundamentals of fighting that have been around for thousands of years are: 1. Use deception. 2. Close distance before surprising and engaging your opponent. Bad guys know these rules…and they use them. While we’re practicing being in our lane at the range, squaring up to a target 10, 11, or 21 feet away and drawing and engaging from the holster, bad guys in real life approach from the side or behind and hide their true intent until they’re too close for you react when they finally expose their intent. Don’t get me wrong…many bad guys are dumb as a box of rocks. And I thank God for them. They expose their intent from a distance or are dumbfounded when their “victim” turns the table on them. But I don’t want the effectiveness of my training to depend on an attacker being from the shallow end of the gene pool. You want your training to reflect reality…not just a best case scenario. “If you learn “indoor” techniques, you will think narrowly and forget the true Way. Thus you will have difficulty in actual encounters.” Miyamoto Musashi, “The Book of 5 Rings” It’s definitely OK to practice shooting at targets on a one-way range at set distances. It’s a great way to develop fundamental skills. But make sure that you also practice responding to threats to your right side, left side, and behind you. What would you do if you were 2 feet away from someone who pulled a knife on you? Would you bet that he won’t stab you while you take 1-4 seconds to get a concealed gun into the fight? I wouldn’t. There’s no one right answer to this question, but there are definitely some wrong answers and there are some answers that are more effective than others. When you get a response, test it out with a training partner and an inert training platform. If it works, practice it until it’s automatic. If it doesn’t work, try something else. And, I would deserve a trip behind the wood shed if I didn’t give you a one-stop answer to an incredibly effective way to address these three training myths in the comfort of your own home, for a fraction of the cost of the live training equivalent. The SEALed Mindset Concealed Carry Masters Course addresses all three of these myths, head on, and gives students and instructors a framework for their training that reflects the realities of the world we live in in addition to the constraints of a linear range. It’s a unique and innovative approach to firearms training that takes advantage of time-proven accelerated teaching and learning techniques that have only been affordable to military and elite law enforcement units, until now. If you’re not familiar with it, I strongly suggest checking it out at www.ConcealedCarryMastersCourse.com What are your thoughts? Have you unintentionally bought into any of these myths? If you’re an instructor, have you found any novel solutions to these problems? Please share by commenting below. Ox out. by Mike Ox Mike Ox is an avid defensive and competitive shooter who has co-created several firearms training products, including Dry Fire Training Cards, Dry Fire Fit, 21 Day Alpha Shooter, and See Faster, Shoot Faster. His brain based training focuses on accelerated learning techniques for shooting as well as controlling brain state and brain chemistry for optimal performance in extreme stress situations. Learn more about dynamic dry fire training for defense and competition at www.DryFireTrainingCards.com/blog

If you haven’t seen the video of actor Keanu Reeves training with Taran Tactical for his role in the “John Wick” film series then you haven’t been watching the internet enough. The actor’s video quickly went viral as he ran through the paces of a quick 3-gun session just over a year ago under the training of Taran Butler. While the video and the reaction has catapulted Taran Tactical Innovations into the national media attention, many of us already knew the company and their full line of products, to include the one we are highlighting today. The Taran Tactical Magazine Extensions, that are available for several brands and models of pistols.

It doesn’t matter if you are a 3-gun competitor, a conceal carry weapons permit holder or just the run of the mill average occasional shooter, everyone likes the ability to hold more rounds in their pistol. The ability to do that in a way that doesn’t permanently alter your gun or magazine is in our opinion a primary concern. Taran Tactical provides shooters the ability to squeeze a few extra rounds into your pistol and add a bit of weight to the magazine to help in assisting the empty magazine to drop free of your pistol.

Photo: Rick Dembroski
Replacing plastic with Aluminum floor plates

Taran Tactical uses high quality anodized Aluminum and CNC machine technology to produce these extensions for twelve different models of pistols, and three varieties of rifles to include Sig Sauers new MPX Carbine. The company has gone to great lengths to ensure that shooters can in some circumstances use their stock pistol springs with the magazine extensions. They also made the extensions in a way that all you need to be able to install them is a 1/16 Allen (Hex) style wrench and a flat head screwdriver.

Lets take a look at the run down of available models, prices and colors for the Taran Tactical Systems Magazine Extensions.

Specifications:

Maker: Taran Tactical Systems

Place of Manufacture: Simi Valley, California

Weight: approximately 1.6 oz

Pistol Models Supported: 

  • Smith & Wesson M&P
  • Glock full size 9mm/.40 S&W
  • Glock model 43
  • Glock model 19/43
  • Glock 42
  • Glock most models in .45 ACP
  • STI/SV
  • CZ 75
  • Springfield Xd (M)
  • Walther PPQ

Rifle Models Supported: 

  • AR-15
  • AR-10
  • Sig Sauer MPX

Colors Available: 

  • Black
  • Flat Black
  • Blue
  • Red
  • Olive Drab Green
  • Titanium Blue
  • Titanium Grey
  • Titanium Purple
  • Coyote Bronze (Not Available in all models)

Price Range: $27.99- $54.99 depending on model

Image: Rick Dembroski
Taran Tactical Extension for M&P 9mm

Installation:

I ordered two of the magazine extensions for the two factory Smith & Wesson magazines that came with my M&P 9mm, and they arrived via USPS mail about a week after I ordered them. Taran Tactical shipped them in the standard USPS flat bubble mailer and they arrived without instructions or diagrams. This was odd, but after a quick look on the web site they give very clear instructions on installing them into my magazines. I know it may seem like a very minor detail but some instructions or something telling me to look on the web site for instructions would have been helpful. Next all I needed was two tools, a small flathead screwdriver, and a 1/16″ Allen style key before I could get to work.

The first order of business was to prepare the magazine extensions to install, and this was done by simple pushing the steel pin in the magazine extension so that it fully protruded from the bottom. Next was to remove the original plastic base pad and bottom plastic follower from the existing magazine while not sending the spring flying across my garage. Once the original parts were removed I compressed the original magazine spring into the magazine and inserted a spare Allen (hex) style wrench I had into the round #11 sight hole. This captured the magazine spring and allowed me to slide on the Taran Tactical Magazine extension from the rear.

Once the extension slid into place I pushed up to fully extend the steel pin and used the 1/16 wrench to secure the pin in it’s correct position. A word of caution here, the company makes it very clear on their installation instructions that they do no warranty stripped locking screws on their magazine extensions. Using just enough force to firmly tighten down the set screw, shown in the above photos is the goal here, we are not trying to crank down on this screw. Once I was sure the screw was secure I removed the hex wrench that was capturing the magazine spring and tapped the magazine onto my work bench to ensure the spring was not hung up and securely in the magazine extension cup.

Image:Rick Dembroski
Reg base pad vs Taran Tactical Extension

Installing the extensions took about two minutes a piece and that was going slow. The extensions appear to be well made and do exactly what they were advertised to do for my Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm magazines. They added a few extra rounds of capacity per magazine and added approximately 1.6 oz more weight to each one. This little bit of extra weight allows my magazines to fall free from the pistol a little cleaner. So I get a few more rounds, hopefully a little faster reloading time and I get to keep using my stock springs that’s a lot of upside for 1.6 oz per magazine in my mind. I will be able to test out this theory when my M&P slide returns DP Customworks in around six weeks, I hope sooner.

If you are a user of one of the guns that Taran Tactical supports with their magazine extensions and want to squeeze a few extra rounds into your pistol I would suggest taking the time and checking them out. The price and extra capacity that you gain and price will vary depending on what model and caliber pistol you are trying to support. Check out the company’s offerings at the link in the first paragraph or the link below.

Taran Tactical Innovations products can be seen at their web site: WWW.TaranTacticalInnovations.com

Rick Dembroski

 

 

 

 

 

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About Rick Dembroski

I spent 10 of the best years of my life as a USAF Civil Engineer, traveling the globe, drinking beer, and causing chaos. My superiors dubbed me "King of Useless Knowledge" a title that I still love to this day. I separated in 2002 as a SSgt (E5- in the USAF), and chose to stay in the frozen north of Alaska, currently I work as an Emergency Management Specialist where I combine my love of chaos and preparedness to ensure people know how to survive disasters.

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