Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
PARTICIPATION VS. OBSERVATION IN SEMINARS
I think Hock gets this one exactly right. I often feel like I’m wasting my time if I’m watching other students fight one on one in a class. I’ll do it if I think the experience is exceptional, but it eats up a massive amount of time that can often be better utilized another way.
Navigating The Optics-Ready Market
A useful footprint chart for those of you interested in mounting red dots to your slide.
What Should You Do If Protestors Surround Your Car?
Great advice from Dave Young about what to do if “protestors” attack your car. I also like larger pepper spray dispensers for this purpose if things get really bad.
The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Affiliate Marketing
Firearms and tactics folks would do well to spend time learning material like this.
Travel Security Starts with You—The Armed Traveler
Michael Janich has some good information on low key travel weapons.
Robber Pulls A Knife On Houston Truck Driver
Sometimes violence doesn’t even look like violence.
AIWB Skills Class – Mount Gilead OH
My good friend Spencer Keepers is teaching a couple classes in Ohio next month. Spencer is an excellent instructor and I promise he will tune up your shooting. Consider taking these classes.
HISTORICAL ANALYSIS 2
“The point to remember is that more often than not, the criminal decides at what range the violence will occur, and you need to be prepared for that, rather than live in a fantasy camp where things will always go the way you want/think.”
Self-Defense Gun Owner Insurance Programs Compared
This is one of the best self defense benefit program comparisons that I have seen. This chart was just updated last week and now adds information about appeals coverage and recoupment clauses.
AYOOB: DO YOU MAKE THESE 1911 MISTAKES?
Massad provides a graduate education on using the 1911.
COMPARING 380 VS 38 SPECIAL
I carry both, but I have to say that I trust the .38spl a little bit more than the .380.
Why The Most Expensive US Martial Pistol Exploded A Lot
Some neat history of the Walker Colt that I didn’t know.
Buckshot vs. Slug – Best Shotgun Shells for Home Defense
“The ultimate deciding factor in the buckshot vs. slug debate is circumstances. What do your shot profiles look like, and how would you expect to use the gun? If it’s all close range/in-home stuff, buckshot is the way. Longer distances might require slugs. So, having a few on hand to change out your buckshot load is a good idea.
Regardless of what you pick, you absolutely must know what your shotgun patterns look like, and what your groups are with slugs. All bullets hit something, after all. We need to make sure we only hit stuff that needs a bullet.”
You may also like How to Shoot Shotgun Slugs Accurately.
Shooting Off the Ruck
I claim no advanced sniper knowledge beyond attending a couple police SWAT sniper schools and getting certified to teach the topic in my state. I was my agency’s sniper for a long time, but seldom deployed. For what it’s worth, I always shoot better off a ruck than off a bipod.
DENIM THROWDOWN: You Don’t Need To Buy Tactical Jeans! Regular Denim for Concealed Carry Performance
For those of you more sartorially inclined than I am, Alex provides a discussion on different denim jean options for concealed carry.
Ambush-Style Shootings Of Police Up 126% So Far In 2021
Updated numbers for all my police readers. Please be careful out there until you can find a job that actually values your life.
Identifying Good Training
“It’s very easy to find experts in the age of social media. The availability of information means that most anyone with a browser has access to the collective learning of humankind – and that’s a powerful, dangerous thing. More than anything, it means that Caveat Emptor needs to be a lifestyle if you want to dodge the snake oil and tactical carpetbaggers looking to make a buck off naivety.”
Self defense: FBI personal protection and rare video of fairbairn system
Things have changed a lot in the last 60 years. Some of this is good. Some isn’t. It’s a very useful study of state of the art police fighting skills back in the 1950s and 1960s. Thanks to Karl Rehn for finding the video.
Constitutional Carry’s Impact on CCW Classes
Like with open carry, I am in favor of the right of constitutional carry. Also like open carry, I really wish people would exercise more responsibility. I think one should be able to carry a gun, but one shouldn’t want to do so until he or she was reasonably safe and competent in its use. Unfortunately, not many people think like I do.
Lever Action Rifles for Personal Protection Part I: Gun Choices
Although my current lever action rifles consist of a couple .22s and a .30-30, if I was buying a new lever gun primarily for self/home protection, I’d choose a .357 magnum from Marlin or Henry.
Armed private security fills police void in downtown Portland where riots, shootouts occurred
Who could have predicted that? I’m sorry to say that my crystal ball with regards to policing has been pretty accurate.
I’m Alive
This might be a valuable re-frame for those of you into combatives training.
Suspect Held at Gunpoint (temporarily)
Claude Werner describes yet another “negative outcome” from a defensive encounter. Is it really worth dying over to keep someone from stealing from your car?
MICRO PRY TOOL: POCKET PREPS PRYBAR
A couple of these might also make excellent low key fistloads.
Study Suggests BJJ Chokes Do Not Impair Cognitive Function And May Improve Arterial Blood Flow
“In conclusion, the sustained elevation in resting cerebral perfusion provides preliminary evidence for adaptive neuroprotection that is independent of CRF and likely mediated by choke-induced cerebral preconditioning and/or lifelong exposure to BJJ-specific high-intensity interval training.”
TUNING A RIMFIRE RIFLE WITH A TORQUE WRENCH
I’ve never actually tried this, but it seems like a cheap solution for making your rimfire rifles a little more accurate.
To Vertical Grip or Not – Pros and Cons
There was a time where I wouldn’t consider running my police duty rifle without a vertical foregrip. I’m less dogmatic now. They have their utility, but I’m not currently running any on my self defense rifles.
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