Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Modern Holsters: Carrying into the Future
Tamara Keel writes a superb article about the design features available on modern IWB holsters. If you don’t know about “wings,” “claws,” and “wedges,” you should probably take the time to read the article.
Complete Gun Safe Buying Guide
Good tips for those of you in the market for a new gun safe.
Lovelady
My friend Marcus Wynne’s book is free on Kindle through the weekend. For more free books, check out Practical Eschatology’s Ebooks: Apocalyptic Bunkers & Fallout Shelters.
1911 Test Time—Safety Checks 101
If you carry a 1911, do you know how to check to verify your weapon’s safeties are functioning properly?
The Guns of the Highway Patrol: A Three-Way Six-Incher Showdown
Taking a look back at the most popular guns for highway patrolmen in the 1960s through the 1980s.
Before You Buy AK – Checklist! Must Watch!
Things to look out for when purchasing an AK-47.
What To Do When No One Is Coming To Save You
The woman stand on a dark street on a background of the man. night time
“The more you self-actualize and come to terms with all your successes, failures, loves, losses, tears and smiles, the more your life will be enriched. If you take on this mindset, the more positive growth you undoubtedly will have. The more you point fingers and blame, the less secure your life will become. The more you accept what cards life decides to deal, the more secure your life will be. Again, no one is coming to save you, so you need to develop the mental fortitude to find solutions to whatever problems come your way. If this all still appears too intimidating a task to accept, then you have instead accepted that the safety of your life and those you love isn’t the top priority.”
Firearms Training or Trends?
“It seems the firearms training industry is driven more by celebrity than it is by substance. “Old school” you say? How about referring to them as techniques that have been proven in conflict over many years, things that are known to work. They just may not look flashy.”
Self-Defense While Bicycling
Practical Eschatology comments on the article I wrote last week about safe cycling, adding his own commentary as well as links to other bicycling-related self defense articles. It’s a good compendium of information.
Barrel Length and Precision Rifles — Why shorter barrels are often better
I prefer the shorter barrels on my precision rifles. My two police sniper rifles have 18″ and 20″ barrels.
Boat Guns: Top 5 Long Guns For Boating Defense
As I don’t own a boat, I’ve never really thought about the idea of a “boat gun” before. It’s an interesting thought exercise. If traveling to other countries where guns aren’t legal, I’d also consider buying a sturdy 26.5 mm flare pistol and a sub-caliber adapter insert to keep absolutely hidden somewhere on the vessel. It may only be a single shot, but that’s better than nothing.
A nifty script.
An example of using non-violent communication in a potential defensive encounter. More on the topic HERE.
How to make Sure a Pistol ‘Fits’ You
The objective factors that lead one to believe a gun “fits” or it doesn’t.
Comparing Revolver and Autopistol Reliability
Valuable commentary about revolver reliability. On a similar topic, read Is the Revolver the Ultimate Survival Gun?
Should You Keep a Rifle Ready for Neighborhood Defense?
A useful concept to consider. My primary home defense guns are handguns and shotguns. I still keep a loaded AR-15 in a quicj access safe in my bedroom in the exceedingly rare event that I may need to leave my house to do some work.
The AR-15 does a lot of things well. Except this.
One more piece of carbine content for you this week. Height over bore is a real issue with AR-15 rifles, especially when making a precision shot at close range. My officers (who shot about 1000 rounds a year out of their AR-15s) regularly forgot to adjust for this when shooting inside of 25 meters.
Do You See the Threats?
“You can prevent potentially threatening behavior from developing into active threat behavior by initially identifying specific threat indicators. These observable actions are readily available pre-attack indicators that communicate to you that an undesired event may be developing around you. Some examples of threat indicators include body posture, eye contact, and an intercept course.”
Eye Trauma Off The Grid
Good tips on a medical subject that doesn’t get much coverage in the “tactical” world. Eye injuries are common on the range.
KR Training’s 3 Seconds or Less Drill
A very good set of drills to shoot with your real carry gun and the holster you wear every day. This one isn’t for your custom 1911 run from a “battle belt.” Read my take on the drill HERE.
It’s Okay to Cry
We know that women cry more often than men, so why are male firearms instructors astonished when they see a female student crying on the range? This is a good article for male firearms instructors to read and understand. Here’s another article covering the same author’s thoughts about why some women hate guns.
The Shotgun Red Dot — Why Your Scattergun Needs One
I plan on joining the shotgun red dot crew by putting a red dot optic on my new Beretta 1301.
New York Officers Respond To Shots Fired Call
A lot of stuff going on in this video. The cops actually got quite lucky here. We need more work on close quarters gunfighting and teamwork in a situation like this. Although this was a cop scenario, the same thing could happen if your family or a group of friends is targeted by a violent criminal. The crux of the issue is “how do I best neutralize the suspect without hitting someone in my group?” Those skills aren’t regularly taught in most police or civilian gun classes.
I think the Tactical Defense Institute is one of the exceptions. They are doing really fine work in this area. Students in the higher level gun classes will be taught “partner rescue” techniques. Those techniques will then be tested in a force on force scenario training environment. TDI is one of the few shooting schools that offer solutions to the multiple party entangled gunfight.
How to protect your home from rioting mobs using fire as a weapon
Have you ever considered that you may have to protect your house from criminal firebombs? Besides criminals using fire, some of you will be interested in protecting against forest fires as well. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this article series to learn about that.
Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman: Never Trust Your Gut Unless You Can Say Yes to These 3 Questions
Adding some science to your intuition.
BALLISTIC RADIO – Handgun WMLs Are Not *Necessary*
Chuck Haggard and John Johnston provide valuable commentary on the utility of weapon mounted lights.
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