Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
TangoFoxtrot’s Rifle Dust Tests: Mini-14, AUG, ARX-100, SCAR
Some interesting dust tests using common rifles. Now you know why I hate the Mini-14. Even more interesting to me (since I don’t live in a desert) is the Military Arms Channel’s Ice Tests.
Additional Thoughts on the AR Pistol
Michael Bane shares some of the advantages that an AR-15 pistol has over a short barreled rifle. I agree. I carry an AR “pistol” with the Sig arm brace when I travel. With the LAW folding stock adapter installed, the pistol fits into a laptop case. Another point Michael didn’t mention is that since it is a “pistol” your pistol permit covers your carrying it.
Gunfighter Moment – Ken Hackathorn
If you don’t have an AR pistol, you might have the rifle version of the same gun. Is it adequately equipped? In this article, Ken tells you exactly what you need (and don’t need) as accessories for your AR-15 rifle.
What Do You Need? Some Thoughts on Mindset and EDC…
I don’t know that I could do too much better if asked to provide some advice about “everyday carry.”
- “You NEED to carry a gun that is reliable, that you can shoot accurately, and that is carried in such a manner that you can access it quickly while under physical and emotional duress.
- You NEED to have a modicum of physical fitness in accordance with your age and medical conditions. Some disabilities are not negotiable, but most can be improved with diet and exercise.
- You NEED to cultivate the appropriate mindset, and this encompasses not only the wherewithal to fight back when offered violence, but also the situational awareness to preemptively avoid violent encounters.
- You NEED some basic first aid knowledge, if only to control life-threatening bleeding from injuries incurred in a fight for your life.
- Finally, I think you NEED to have some good self-defense training classes beyond that required to obtain your concealed carry permit. The information covered in a required concealed carry class is invaluable, but often has very little to do with actually fighting with a firearm.”
Phenomenal training advice for the aging athlete. If you fit in that category, you’ll also like Cecil Burch’s advice about BJJ for the Older Athlete.
Some more fitness advice…Max talks about a fitness standard he uses to assess whether students are fit enough to attend his class. It look like a pretty reasonable standard to see evaluate fitness for combat. If you can do this drill, your are probably fitter than most folks and are fairly well prepared (physically) for a longer duration fight. To make it a little more fun, turn the test into a shooting drill by setting up a target and firing a few rounds at each of those positions.
Pistols vs. Revolvers: World War One
Very cool excerpt from a 1935 book titled A Rifleman Went to War. The topic is the debate about revolvers versus autopistols written from the experience of a WWI soldier. As you can see, the arguments haven’t changed much in 100 years.
Ballistic Testing of G2 Research Civic Duty in 9mm
The G2 “Civic Duty” is the deeper penetrating version of the G2 “RIP” round. It shows good expansion, but still has inadequate penetration. I wouldn’t consider it for defensive use.
The right approach to concealed carry
A very insightful approach to the practice of concealed carry. All of you folks who carry guns would benefit from following Tim’s advice.
Choosing the ‘pool gun’ for your family and home defense: what’s best?
Does your family have a “pool gun?” I’ve found that a 20 gauge double barrel coach gun, a .30 carbine, or a Ruger 10/22 with a red dot are generally very easy to use even by the non shooters in your house.
Carl of the Open Carry Movement; Don’t Be Carl
“If I were to put on the Hadji man dress I bought when I was in Iraq, let my beard grow out and show up at the mall with an AK-47 to exercise my constitutional right, you would take notice now wouldn’t you? Appearance matters. If you insist it doesn’t, you’re not being intellectually honest. If you lack the ability to exude the professionalism we all hope is at the end of that weapon, then just don’t do it. If all your range time is spent increasing your kill/death ratio on Call of Duty, stay home. You can still serve your vital constitutional role from your mom’s basement. If we need you to keep the public safe, we’ll send you a text or something.”
This article is written primarily for police trainers, but is applicable to any occupation that involves training new recruits. People learn by failing, but failure in police work is punished harshly. That creates a fearful, mechanical worker who is afraid to make decisions or create “out of the box” solutions. The article suggests a couple ways to fix the problem.
Surviving an Active Shooter
Great advice from Michael Janich about surviving a confrontation with an active killer, even if you are unarmed.
Officer Shoots and Kills Suspect Who Shot His Partner
A thorough analysis of a police shooting from John at Active Self Protection. This is a prime example where cops being too nice and not using force when they legally could escalates a situation into a gunfight. We often talk about cops using force too quickly, but there is another element to police/criminal interactions. If the criminal recognizes that you are reluctant to use force, it emboldens him. This gunfight shouldn’t have happened. As soon as the officer sensed resistance here, he and his partner should have slammed the gunman on the ground and immobilized his hands. In this case, trying to “talk a suspect into cuffs” got a cop shot.
Holster Wizard
This might be a good resource for those of you looking for a new holster. H/T to Jerking the Trigger for finding the link.
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* Some of the above links (from Amazon.com) are affiliate links. If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the selling price.
