Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
12 Gauge #4 Buckshot to the FACE!
My friend (the real) Dr. House writes up a case of a patient being shot in the face twice with number four buckshot at a range less than 10 yards. He lost an eye, but was not incapacitated. The guy did not lose consciousness and fled the scene on foot. This is why I generally recommend against #4 Buck for defensive purposes.
The Four Corners Approach to Unlocking Peak Performance
“The trick for success is that you must expand the base in all directions more or less equally to actually raise the maximum potential. Expanding one corner of the pyramid very far in one direction without expanding the others might move the peak of the pyramid up a little bit, but it is still limited by the other three points.”
It Wasn’t a ‘Teen Takeover’ in Chicago Over the Weekend, It Was a Riot
It’s springtime. The season of rioting begins. Watch what happened here. You don’t want to be anywhere near a place like that.
Why I’m carrying a Ruger LCR .22 LR
I regularly carry a .22 Magnum snub revolver as my CCW gun for many of the same reasons John elucidates here. It’s a controversial idea. Todd Green once wrote about the topic in an article titled Enough Gun.
You may also like to read The .22 LR For Self Defense: Good, Bad Or Crazy?
If I still haven’t convinced you, please consider that the sub-caliber revolver might work well when you have the Necessity for an Alternate Carry Mode.
Trainers Talk: Defensive Shotgun
Erick Gelhaus talks shotguns. Erick also published an article about Developing Training Plans this week. Overachiever.
Nothing in This House is Worth Dying For
Signs like these are universally a bad idea.
Top 5 Travel Safety Tips for Women
Some travel safety tips you ladies might not have considered. This is also one of the rare occasions where you’ll see my writing outside my website. If you want links to all my other articles posted on different sites, see my Media Page.
Pistol Sights Under Various Lighting Conditions
Photos of how different sights appear under different lighting conditions. Sights are a very personal preference. I currently have the Trijicon HD XR sights on all my carry handguns. If you haven’t found a useful sight picture yet, I’d suggest that you give them a try.
Strategies and Standards for Defensive Handgun Training 2023 Edition
What I’m reading…
I just finished this one. It’s going on my Recommended Reading list. This is an update to the 2019 edition and contains 80 more pages of information. It is an excellent reference and I’m grateful that Karl and John included excerpts from several of my articles in their book.
Protecting Our Daughters’ Virtue
I have thus far avoided bringing a daughter (or a son, for that matter) into the world. That fact should make you very happy.
But if I did have a daughter, I’d only hope to be smart enough to heed Chris’ sage advice.
Lightning Strikes Thrice: Lessons From One Officer’s Shootings
Lessons learned from three police shootings.
“You can’t read enough; you can’t train enough. Don’t take it for granted that you’re going to go home,” Rippy wants you to know. “If you don’t educate yourself on current trends, you’re making a mistake.”
Speaking of police shootings, you may also want to read The Day the Arkansas State Police Fought a Gun Battle with a Remnant of the Barrow Gang
The Risks of NPE “Non-Detectible” Knives
Phil shares his advice about carrying non-metallic blades in “non-permissive environments.” My favorite option is to carry a ceramic knife (make sure the handle has no metal), but they are becoming harder to find. You might also like Phil’s advice about the classic “hobo-tactical” weapon. He’s absolutely correct. I’ve stabbed deer and pig carcasses with screwdrivers in my classes. You want a Phillips head with about a four inch shank for optimal performance.
Jack Weaver: The Real Weaver Stance
The best history lesson you will read this week.
Pelvic Shots: Fight Stoppers or Self-Defense Fiction?
Dave Spaulding shares his thoughts about pelvic shots.
Real Talk about Race and Murder Rates
This incredibly well-researched article should come with a trigger warning for some readers. The author shows why race, number of available guns, and economic status don’t directly explain the relatively high murder rate in the USA compared to many other countries. The author suggests another variable might be more causative than the three I listed above. You’ll have to read the article to figure out what that variable is.
Memento Mori : Negative Visualization Practice
“Everything, up to and including our ability to breathe, is a fleeting magical gift from infinity. If something is taken from you, be thankful that you had the opportunity to enjoy it. We’re going to be OK.”
The Negative Visualization practices Mark discusses here helped me tremendously when I was dying from Covid and when I was diagnosed with a couple different types of cancer. If you want to read more about a similar concept, check out Tim Ferriss’ article on Cosmic Insignificance Therapy.
Green Tip 5.56: Is It Anything Special?
At various times during the last two decades we have underwent periods of time when ammo became very expensive and/or unavailable. In each of those situations, 5.56mm Green Tips have gone for exorbitant prices despite less than stellar defensive performance.
While we are talking about ammo becoming unavailable, you might also be interested in Is Another Ammo Shortage On the Horizon?
DON’T SHOOT!
Lots of my readers practice shooting. How many of you practice not shooting?
Citizens Safety Academy Effective Assistant Instructor Webinar Review
A class you should consider taking.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Handgun Shooting for the Cross Dominant
I’ve had a partially written article on this topic in my website’s “drafts” folder for the last couple years. I’m going to delete it. I had planned on discussing everything Melody talked about here. She covers the topic well and uses better photos than I would have taken to illustrate the concepts. If you want to learn about cross-eye dominant shooting, this is the article to read.
The Problem With Mag Fed Shotguns
I’m not a big fan of magazine-fed shotguns. While reloads are faster, I’ve never seen an armed citizen shotgun gunfight that involved a reload. In my classes, the mag-fed shotguns have always had huge reliability issues unless they’ve been worked over by a competent gunsmith.
WE HAVE LOST ANOTHER GREAT GUN GUY
I never met Tiger or trained with him. With that said, I always enjoyed his writing. He will be missed. Life doesn’t last forever. Train with those instructors you want to study with while they are still around.
.38 Special vs 9mm In Snub Nosed Revolvers
Comparing the two different rounds out of a snub revolver.
Some of the above links (from Amazon.com) are affiliate links. If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
