Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Is A Sub Caliber Enough Gun For Concealed Carry?
I think this decision really comes down to an evaluation of both skillset and relative risk.
Tested: Buffalo Bore 25 ACP 60 Grain Hard Cast Ammunition
If we are talking about subcaliber guns, things don’t get much weaker than the .25. If these rounds these were reliable and shot to my sights, I’d carry them as defensive loads in my .25 autos.
New Flashlight Accessory
I don’t have any of these yet, but they look like useful accessories.
What If We Begin Discussions of Guns With Our Commonalities Rather Than Differences?
This strategy makes a lot of sense to me even though it isn’t well embraced in our “tribal” society.
Selco: What an “Average Day” Is REALLY Like When the SHTF
On the topic of survival, read Selco’s account of what daily life was like in war-torn Bosnia in the early 1990s.
Medicinal Plants List
One more survival-themed article for you this week. Here’s how to identify and use 10 common “weeds” as medicine.
Bees: Now 40% Angrier
Tamara does some gel testing of three different 5.7mm defensive loads.
Does Birdshot Overpenetrate?
Here’s the deal. If it is going to have effective penetration in human flesh, it will most certainly penetrate a few layers of drywall. Don’t handicap your defense with poor performing rounds. Instead, select proper lanes of fire and minimize your missed shots.
What Does “Mindset” Actually Mean? (Part 1)
Some thoughts on mindset.
The Pelvic Shot: Breaking Down Barriers
Taking a look at the logic behind pelvic shots.
Defensive Use of a Knife
Cecil drops some knowledge about using a blade for self defense. His comments below are absolutely correct. That’s why I spend so much time in my classes working on drawing and opening from adverse positions. Stabbing is easy. It’s getting the knife in play that’s hard.
“Let’s address the first point from above about people not training the knife in an appropriate manner. What I have seen over the past 30 years is tons of people and lots of methodologies working knife fighting, but absolutely ZERO working accessing and deploying the blade under real world conditions. Everyone loves to work the fun bit- using the knife when it is out and ready to go and you are mentally and physically prepared to fight. No one, outside of a very tiny group, works getting a knife into play when they have to deal with the adrenal dump of a sudden and startling threat, and then has to integrate the knife draw with maintaining distance and trying to deploy it effectively.”
AR-15s are Mindbogglingly Safe
“AR-15 murders are somewhere between “Death By Bucket” and “Death By Lawnmower” in the United States. They’re a little bit more common than getting struck by lightning, a little over half as common as “Death By Bees,” and less than a tenth as likely as “Death By Falling Out Of Bed.” Over twice as many people kill themselves during masturbation as die from AR-15 murders, and triple the number of people die by hitting errant deer with their cars at night as are murdered by AR-15. Feel free to check the sources, they’re in the graph. I have never yet heard a politician claim we were experiencing an Epidemic of Death By Lawnmower.”
Can You Run for Your Life? A Prepper’s Plan for Physical Fitness
Solid advice on a topic that most of my readers should be embracing a bit more.
Gunfights, Statistics and You Averages Don’t Care About Your Encounter
You might know a certain “noted firearms instructor” mentioned in the article.
.22 Magnum for Personal Defense – Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?
An excellent gelatin testing comparison of three different loads in both .22 long rifle and .22 magnum in bare gel and heavy clothing.
Creating our own Wilderness
I think having regular “wilderness passages” is an important component of personal growth.
“We deliberately eject ourselves from the Ordinary World. Like Dorothy or Alice, we enter an Inverted Universe where everything is new and nothing we thought we knew can help us or aid us in finding or keeping our bearings. Our aim, like Charlie’s, is to return home a different person—battered a bit, and chastened perhaps, but wiser, and with a deeper understanding of ourselves and of life.”
AAR: 2023 Texas Ice Storm
Paul Martin talks about preparedness following a recent Texas ice storm.
Gun Theft Happens: How to Reduce Your Risk
In more than two decades as a cop, I never saw a single case where a gun was stolen from a safe, neither a safe in a house or a safe bolted someplace in a car. We occasionally see unsecured guns taken from a burglary, but the vast majority of gun thefts I’ve responded to have been thefts of unsecured guns out of unlocked cars. Don’t leave a gun in your car unless it is in a safe securely chained or bolted to one of the vehicle’s structural components.
The Reasoning Behind The High Lady Award
Annette’s thoughts on separate male/female classes in shooting competitions.
The Way is in Training
What I’m reading…
Blood-Type and NKA Patches: Worthwhile or “Tacticool”?
I think these are stupid. Unlike in the military, civilian EMS units don’t generally carry whole blood. And no hospital will give you blood without typing your blood first.
Seasickness/Motion Sickness
Prescription anti-nausea meds aren’t mentioned in this article. My go-to travel nausea med is ondansetron (Zofran). On a cruise to Antacrctica, I made friends with the ship’s doctor. He told me that ondansetron doesn’t work as well for sea sickness as it does for other nausea related conditions. He recommended promethazine (Phenergan) instead.
How To: Safe Re-Holstering Tips
I regularly see my students holstering with very vigorous motions without looking at the holster itself. It’s a recipe for a gunshot wound to the leg. Pay attention to Massad Ayoob’s advice here.
The Gas Pedal Drill
A useful handgun shooting drill. You might also like The FBI Shotgun Qual — Fedboi Shoot 2.0.
Georgia Arms Ultimate Defense .38 Spl Wadcutter
I shot a bunch of these at Gunsite’s Revolver Roundup last year. My friend Mark Fricke is writing a book about using wadcutters for defensive ammunition. He’s chronographed and gel tested almost 100 different wadcutter loadings across multiple calibers. In his research, he told me that .38 wadcutters traveling between 700 and 750 feet per second seemed to be the best combination of adequate penetration balanced with light recoil. These Georgia Arms wadcutters are designed expressly to meet that standard.
Tactical Anatomy Instructor Development Course
Chuck Haggard, Dr. Williams and me hanging out at Gunsite
I attended Dr. Williams’ very first presentation of this material at an ASLET seminar more than 20 years ago. I’ve been a fan ever since. He’s trying to get the material out to new instructors before he retires and is holding an instructor course at the outstanding Mead Hall Range in Oklahoma.
I just talked to Dr. Williams. He has the legendary marshal Chuck Haggard and Dave Maglio as assistant instructors. I will be there as a student along with John Hearne and Darryl Bolke. It should be an excellent class at an air-conditioned modern classroom facility. I hope to see some of you there!
Tactical AK: Making the AK Modern Part 1
Improving the performance of your AK rifle.
Officers Properly Detain Aggressive Meth User
I think this is an important video to watch even if you are not a cop. I’ve seen guys like this dude intentionally amping themselves up for the fight. Understand that they have already made the decision to attack. They are just using words, gestures, and posturing to build the courage to do it. It is very unlikely that your de-escalation efforts will work on one of those people.
The Importance of Shooting in Bad Weather
Shooting in inclement weather isn’t fun, but it is an experience you should cultivate to become a more capable fighter.
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.
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