PURCHASE ANY NEW WALTHER PDP AND RECEIVE A FREE AMERIGLO HAVEN® OPTIC
Walther is excited to announce this new free red dot promotion in partnership with AMERIGLO.
Beginning 03/13/2023 and running through 04/17/2023 any law-abiding consumer who purchases a new, standard PDP or PDP F-Series will receive a free AMERIGLO Haven® Handgun Red Dot Sight (MSRP Value: $379.)
“This is an incredible value add to any consumer looking for a quality red dot to install on their new PDP.” said Rob McCanna, CEO of Walther Arms Inc. He went on to say, “This promotion will really help consumers get into shooting with a red dot by making it much easier for them to acquire and mount a quality dot.”
ABOUT THE WALTHER PDP AND PDP F-SERIES
F-Series
With revolutionary Red Dot Ergonomics engineered into the pistol, the PDP platform has been designed around making the switch to the popular red-dot sight system easier for the new RDS shooter and faster for the RDS veterans. The SuperTerrain serrations are uniquely shaped to protrude above the surface of the slide allowing for quicker and more responsive hands-on engagement with the pistol. Walther’s Performance Duty Trigger shortens the length of travel and increases the tactile definition of the trigger break making the best striker-fired trigger on the market even better. The PDP is the most modular and versatile pistol ever designed by Walther and every PDP model comes red dot READY.
ABOUT THE AMERIGLO HAVEN®
The AMERIGLO Haven® is designed for everyday reliability, for everyday carry, in any environment. Defending your family and your home requires 24/7 reliability, immediate target acquisition, intuitive controls, and innovative electronics you can trust to work every time.
The HAVEN® is guaranteed to survive continuous firing and recoil from today’s harshest handguns and is compatible with today’s most common IWB/OWB holsters. Ready for immediate install on today’s most popular optics-ready pistols, the HAVEN® uses the Trijicon RMR® footprint. Its smart electronics offer a 12-hour runtime followed by a 12- hour, motion-activated auto-on. 2-year battery life on a mid-setting with a common CR2032 battery. Also available with optional iron sights as a Carry-Ready™ Combo.
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE AMERIGLO HAVEN®
The consumer must submit a valid receipt showing that they purchased a new Walther PDP model within the giveaway dates/time frame (between 03/13/2023 and 04/17/2023) and submit it along with a picture of the label on the box showing the serial number.
Only one redemption per serial number is allowed but we will allow multiple redemptions to customers who purchase multiple pistols. Redemptions should be done online only and we should encourage dealers to do the redemptions for their customers if the customers are not tech-savvy.
Please allow 1-4 weeks for processing and handling of the optics. Purchases must be made between 03/13/2023 and 04/17/2023 and redemptions must be submitted by 05/17/2023.
THIS PROMOTION INCLUDES ONLY THE FOLLOWING WALTHER PDP MODELS: (SKU NUMBERS PROVIDED BELOW) 2842475, 2858126, 2844001, 2858134, 2851237, 2854694, 2851229, 2854686, 2858169, 2844222, 2849313, 2842734, 2871823, 2871831.
*This promotion does NOT include PDP Pro SD models, LE models or PDP color variations.
Must be over the age of 18 to participate and must follow all State, local and federal regulations. Walther Arms Inc. reserves the right to modify, change, deny or discontinue this rebate at any time for any reason.
About Walther
“It’s your DUTY to be READY” is a message to clearly and concisely show that Walther is doing everything in its power to support shooters everywhere with not just the absolute best in firearm innovation and performance but also access to the best training and informative firearms community as well. History has shown Walther’s
dedication to this message, beginning in 1886 and continuing today with the innovative spirit that builds off the invention of the concealed carry pistol by creating duty grade weapons such as the PDP and world-class rimfire products such as the P22. Walther will continue its long tradition of technical expertise and innovation in the design and production of firearms to meet the demands of any customer. Excellent service and superior quality will continue to be benchmarks of Walther’s success. www.waltherarms.com
In this episode, the boys go off the rails immediately and start discussing the recent crazy person on an airplane incident. Eventually, everyone calms down and they get to the actual subject: what’s a practical use case for a discreet carbine in a bag as an EDC?
Arex got off the ground making Slovenia-built SIG P226 clones but have steadily grown into their own category of striker-fired, semi-automatic handguns. The Arex Delta Gen.2 series is here and offering affordable firearms for the masses. They’ve produced several variants of the gun, and today we are looking at what they call the Delta Tactical variant. Alongside the tactical, we have an X, a Long boi, and a standard model.
The base of the Delta Gen.2 series is a compact frame firearm in the same realm as the Glock 19. The L model features a longer 4.5-inch barrel, the M model is the standard, and the X Model features an extended grip but a compact length barrel.
Let’s look at the numbers. That gives us a better idea as to what the gun is and does. The barrel is 4.6 inches long with threading. The gun is 7.7 inches long and 4.9 inches tall. It’s 1.2 inches wide at its widest, and it has a grip that’s only 1.18 inches wide. The Delta Tactical only comes in 9mm and has both a 15-round flush-fitting magazine and a slightly extended 17-round magazine. These magazines are also compatible with the CZ P10C series.
Ergonomics
It’s fairly average when it comes to specs outside of the rather thin grip module. At 1.18 inches, it’s thinner than most standard double-stack guns. It’s considerably thinner than Glocks, FNs, CZs, and the usual suspects. It feels great in hand, and I appreciate its somewhat lithe nature.
The grip texture is suitably aggressive and locks the gun into your hands quite well. It’s easy to hold onto. You get three backstraps that allow you to customize the grip to your needs. Slide serrations top the front and rear of the slide with an aggressive and grippy texture that makes them easy to manipulate.
The magazine release is an extended version with the tactical model, and while it’s right-handed, Arex included a left-handed version in the box for an at-home swap. The extended device is an excellent feature, and it really sticks out nice and far for easy engagement and quick mag swaps.
Overall it’s a solid showing in the ergonomics department. It’s not going to blow minds, but it’s impressive, and for the price, even more so. Its much slicked than a Glock lower.
At the Range
The Arex Delta Tactical handles, like most 9mm, compact frame pistols. It’s not going to be a handheld revolution, but it doesn’t need to be. Recoil is plenty controllable, and the combination of a nice high grip with the aggressive grip texture gives you an unmovable gun.
The big steel sights are nice and co-witness well with standard red dot sights, and with my Primary Arms optic, I have no issues snapping on target. The trigger is a bit more refined than most striker-fired options. It follows the trend of partially cocked actions but offers a smooth and consistent pull with an audible and tactile reset that leans on the shorter side. I started at 15 yards and backed out to 50 yards, and consistently landed shots at every distance in between.
A red dot makes it easy, but so does a gun that’s easy to shoot. The Delta Tactical was capable of hitting an IPSC target at 50 yards with ease in the hands of a mediocre shooter. From 15 to 35 yards, I kept a 10-inch gong swinging back and forth but got a bit more challenged by it from 40 yards. It’s sufficiently accurate for concealed carry, home defense, and even duty use.
The good thing about Eastern European guns is that they tend to run reliably, and that was the case here. It ate through steel, and brass-cased ammo, some JHPs, and even a handful of old 95-grain reduced recoil 9mm rounds. After 400 rounds without issue and a handful of weird ammo, I can say the gun runs and runs well.
What’s Impressive
The combination of the gun’s parts makes it a solid contender in a crowded market. The Arex Defense Delta Tactical might not blow the roof off the industry, but there is an impressive feature I haven’t mentioned yet. The price. The gun retails for around 550 dollars. That’s average for most pistols, but most pistols aren’t coming optics ready, with a threaded barrel, suppressor height sights, and extended controls.
It’s a solid gun for the money, and I’d declare it a downright bargain. I’ve found myself going to it more than less, even among my many similar handguns .it’s an above-average polymer frame pistol with a below-average price, and I can certainly respect that.
Dry fire can often feel like one of those necessary evils. You have to do it to succeed, but you often really don’t want to. It’s understandable. It can be quite boring. With most guns, you have to cock the gun, aim, pull the trigger, and repeat over and over again until you are sick of it. However, dry fire is invaluable to becoming a better shooter. How can we make dry fire a lot less boring? Better yet, how can we make it more efficient and effective?
Dummy Rounds
Dummy rounds are an outstanding and affordable tool to liven up dry fire practice. These can be used for numerous purposes while dry firing. This includes realistic reloading, as well as setting up jams and malfunctions. For shotgunners, reloading is a key part of your success, and dummy rounds make it safe and easy to practice.
Dry Fire Cards
The Dry Fire Cards is a deck of cards that present a diverse set of challenges for the shooter. They are primarily designed to work in coordination with the SIRT pistol but can be used with your own handgun with some modifications to some drills. They act as a guided form of dry fire training. You may not ever think to implement low light training, but the Dry Fire Cards have your back. They are fun, easy to use, and often have you doing something different and creative.
Roger Shooting School TRT Training Aids
The TRT Training aids are inexpensive little pieces of plastic designed to fit into your magazines. They are not dummy rounds but tools to press your follower low enough to prevent triggering the slide lock. This allows you to practice your tap rack bang training, as well as your reloads. They are cheap but handy. They come in most all pistol calibers, as well as a special model for AR magazines.
Pistol Triangulation Exercise
If you want to embrace some 1980s Army training, you’ll need some paper, a pencil, some tape, and your favorite firearm. Draw a small dot on the paper. It should be no larger than a pencil eraser. Wrap a standard number 2 pencil in tape until it fits just right in your barrel. It should enter and exit smoothly and not be too tight. Hang the paper up and aim your gun. You should be nearly point blank on the paper.
Aim at the dot and dry fire. The firing pin will propel the pencil forward and dot the paper. Your goal is to keep your ‘dot’ group as small as possible. It’s low-tech and easy to improvise anywhere you have your gun and a pencil.
The Mantis Suite of Gear
Mantis has changed the game. Holy crap, do they make some great stuff! We have the mantis X10 device, which measures your trigger pull and movement when you dry-fire the gun. It provides helpful tips to allow you to get better every time you pull the trigger.
Their Laser Academy setup is another awesome addition to the market. It’s a training app that combines with special targets and a laser cartridge to provide you with real-time feedback on your shots fired. It’s simple to use and a lot of fun. It has various does to train drawing, reloading, and beyond.
Finally, the Blackbeard drop-in bolt system for AR-15s allows you to train with a semi-auto laser system. It uses a magazine as a battery and uses a trigger reset system to make your dry fire a ton of fun. This is probably the best system on the market for tactical rifles.
Trained Up
Dry fire doesn’t have to suck. There are plenty of items to get your motor running and to spice up your dry fire. Sometimes a little creativity is all it takes to get a bit better and to make dry fire a little more enjoyable.
These ten pages hide the incredibly annoying 3rd suggestion which walks like a gun registry, quacks like a gun registry, and would effectively be an instantly searchable database of 4473s, and therefore gun owners and their purchase information.
Expand the Use of NTC Connect Program: NTC Connect is a free service available to manufacturers, importers and wholesalers who maintain electronic Acquisition and Disposition (A&D) records. NTC Connect utilizes a secure web-based application through which authorized NTC personnel, when conducting a crime gun trace, can send a query, by serial number only, against an FFL’s electronic firearm acquisition records and retrieve the corresponding disposition data if available.]
They promise, by serial number only. They promise they won’t query it to build a database of gun owners and what they own. The promise it will only be searchable by S/N and that the API won’t allow for more than that.
[The data remains the property of the FFL and is not housed at ATF. Participation in the program is voluntary and can reduce FFL costs associated with maintaining personnel on staff to provide a response to NTC crime gun trace requests. At the same time, this program benefits the NTC by providing immediate access to a participant’s firearms data on a 24/7 basis, thereby allowing for operations to continue outside of normal business hours and leading to improved response times in completing crime gun trace requests for LEAs engaged in active and urgent criminal investigations. NTC Connect seems to produce efficiencies in trace response and completion time as well as cost savings to the participating licensed firearms industry members, however it does introduce additional overhead and costs to the government, which limit the overall scalability of the program.
Look…
There is no denying the usefulness of the digital age. Having the 4473 information digitally done, digitally accessible, and with autofill technology helping complete all the required paperwork for a transfer makes things convenient and cuts down on time and errors. Having LEAs able to query that info from their computer near instantly instead of calling, faxing, emailing, etc. would also be a massive time savings and engage far less people in the search. That is true.
But here’s the thing about protecting rights, such as privacy of ownership. It’s supposed to be a pain in the ass to violate. It is supposed to take time and be annoying, so you only do it when you need to. The government should be incredibly inconvenienced in anything of this sort.
An integrated, opted in database of 4473s from FFLs to LEAs and the ATF sounds great, right? It is ‘voluntary’, after all. The FFL still owns the data (that they have to give up on close of business to the ATF and are heavily liable for).
Until it isn’t voluntary anymore and you are required to be on the connected system. Of course then the UI only allows the ATF and LEAs to query any given form via a serial number trace, and that would be only off a recovered crime gun… until it isn’t. But ALL the information on ALL the forms has to be accessible by the system in order for the system to work and filter. It would only require a little bit of very simple program work to generate a full database of all the information off of all the 4473s which could then be date sorted for the most recent list of who owns what.
The system, as proposed, would not technically be a list. It would just be everything they need to make a list at any point in time they choose with or without congressional, judicial, or executive oversight.
But the government would never misuse data they have access to but shouldn’t, right?
The ATF in not so subtle language, and with full knowledge they are not allowed to have a useless, bloated, expensive database of firearms and owners, wants one that they promise totally isn’t a database of firearms and their owners “technically” because they promise to only use the right filter to show the data. That’s what is protecting it from being a list of gun owners and their guns, a filter algorithm.
I’m not buying it, and neither should you. Even if the government never misuses the data, even if they do exactly as promised and permanently lock this integrated data into a case by case trace system that is never used to itemize a list of guns and owners, all that data exists in a searchable format and anyone with enough gumption to try can probably trojan their way into making it make the list for them either from the FFL upload portal end or the LEA inquiry portal end.
This is absolutely something companies do with your data already. Amazon, Best Buy, Chewie and so forth all have data on you to better advertise to you in helpful ways. This data has measurable value.
But we know unscrupulous activists will misuse gun ownership data, they published a whole NY County with a FOIA request and exposed names and addresses of gun owners to the world. All because they believed everyone had a right to know if you were a gun owner or not and where you lived. That newspaper, that media outlet, took it upon themselves to put every single one of those people in danger. of theft, harassment, and retaliation for the offense of daring to be a gun permit holder. Now we want a database that gives potential seekers who view themselves on some moral mission or other to have more detailed information than that situation resulted in and for the whole nation?
No.
Not okay. We’ve multiple instances of this type with collected data being breached and abused, and that is before accounting for willful government abuses. We cannot trust and should have no faith in the government to execute the protection of this information from third party abusers and should be suspect of their ability to keep from misusing it themselves.
The Ruger Security 380 is well made of good material.
Many people cannot handle a hard kicking snub nose .38, .357, Magnum revolver, or a .45 ACP automatic. Some have difficulty racking a slide. Some may enjoy a bit of a kick and even a strong muzzle report, while others do not. There are a number of factors that add up to a sharp recoil. The bump we tend to feel in recoil is mostly the effect of the slide coming to a stop at the end of its travel. The occasional shooters do not have the time and inclination to truly master a powerful handgun, but they realize they do need a handgun. This is what the 2nd amendment is all about, men and women who want to protect home from crime and danger. One of Ruger’s latest introductions is easily one of the more practical handguns offered for personal defense in the past decade. This handgun is designed for those that have difficulty manipulating a slide or handling moderate to snappy recoil. The Ruger .380 is a perfect fit for those who can’t handle recoil and are an occasional shooter looking to protect home and family.
A full size slide and .380 ACP strength recoil spring are easier to handle than most. This pistol also features excellent combat sights with bright fiber optic front sights, and the rear sight is well designed with a wide notch. The frame features a light rail for mounting a combat light, and with the handle fits most hands well. The fixed barrel on it may increase accuracy as well. Like many modern handguns the security 380 is a polymer frame handgun. The action is a hammer fired double action only. It also requires less effort than fully cocking the hammer because when the slide is racked back it leaves the hammer partially cocked. The trigger action is very smooth and controllable, while the slide lock and safety are very easily manipulated. This all makes it very similar to the Security 9 9mm caliber Ruger pistol. But the .380 does differ in these important particulars. The 380 isn’t any more accurate than the Security 9 in my opinion, however, it is easy to use well.
The rear sight is well designed for rapid acquisition.A fiber optic front sight is a good feature.A TruGlo combat light is a good addition to the Ruger pistol.Note sturdy attachment of the fiber optic front sight.
The magazines supplied with the 380 are a contrast to many of the modern 9mm sub compact high capacity magazines. It is supplied with two steel magazines, one is a ten round flush fit magazine. While the other is an extended fifteen round magazine. The extended magazine features a filler that takes up the space between the grip frame and magazine base. This pistol fits most hands well and the recoil is modest. Recoil control is excellent, the recoil is much lighter than a 9mm handgun and also lighter and smaller than most .380 ACP handguns. I began shooting with FMJ ammunition including PMC and Winchester types. The magazines were also easily loaded to full capacity.
The Ruger Security 380 is a fun gun and that means a lot. I believe the occasional shooter will enjoy practicing with this handgun and that is never a bad idea. I enjoyed the testing of this pistol, I went beyond the usual allotment of ammunition and purchased whatever was cheapest. I fired the pistol in fast paced range drills at 5, 7, and 10 yards. Getting on target was fairly easy, results were good to excellent. Only a few loads need to apply in this caliber. I tested the Federal Train & Protect loading with its “versatile hollow point” in 85 grains. At about 1,000 fps in the Ruger Security 380 this load proved accurate and reliable for most chores. The trigger is easily controllable with sharper reset than most double action types. The sights, trigger, and recoil add up to good results. The 380 is superior to .22s and .32s and offers reliability. The security 380 is an ideal home defense firearm based on reliability, accuracy, easy handling, and a generous ammunition reserve.
Reliability was confirmed with a good mix of ammunition.
The problem is of course power. My 83 year old mother in law and my thin boned granddaughter aren’t comfortable with a snubnose .38 Special- and truth be told a lot of men aren’t. One of the greatest men I have known has physical problems that limit his handling of the formidable handguns in his safe. The .380 ACP offers reliability and good accuracy. Penetration is important and perhaps a non expanding bullet may be best in this caliber. That is a separate issue. The Ruger Security 380 is as accurate and reliable as a pistol this size may be. It is certainly a reasonable choice for many shooters.
The fact that some people actually need to be told “Americans love guns” is indicative of a broader disconnect between the half of the country that identifies themselves primarily by their politics. Occasionally though, even the most obvious thing can be stated well enough to justify the repetition. This is just such a statement.
Whatever else one might think about Rick Wilson, his explanation of why Democrats can’t win for losing on the topic of Americans not wanting to be separated from their rights or their arms is not only simple, but entirely on point. That broad disconnect we referenced above is put on display nowhere as blatantly as with the issue of anti-gun legislation. The inability or unwillingness of those who would restrict 2A rights to recognize any value in firearms –genuinely or out of political expedience– is what has exacerbated this policy rift into an issue of seemingly existential importance for both sides. One can live their entire life having no idea that Americans love guns, because they never encountered one personally.
Being separated from something in real life via both culture and legislation, and learning about it exclusively through the media –news and entertainment are equally culpable– would twist ones perception of anything into a caricature of the reality. Firearms, perhaps to a more extreme extent than most topics, given their location as an oppositional focus for both major political parties, suffer from this effect like anything would.
We’ll let you read the full text at the link, but we have to share our favorite passage first. Mr. Wilson certainly tells it like it is.
“I’m not arguing policy with you. I’m telling you what the real politics are, and they’re not what you think. First, you’re fooling absolutely no one with the phrase ‘sensible gun safety.’ We all know perfectly well that phrase came out of a focus group. You say that, and red state voters hear “gun confiscation.” You conflate criminals and the insane with lawful gun owners and users, and you can’t imagine why my side doesn’t think you’re reasonable. Let me use an esoteric, technical polling phrase for you: Americans fucking love guns.”
You likely aren’t familiar with the name Dieudonné Saive, but you are likely familiar with his work. It might be a little unfair to call him the Browning of Belgium since Browning did so much important work in Belgium for FN. Dieudonné Saive was a contemporary of Browning’s and worked on several of his projects during his time at FN as his assistant. Perhaps it was due to the fact he worked with Browning on so many projects that his name is often forgotten. Today we are looking at the firearms he helped design and examining his influence on firearms technology.
The Hi-Power
John Browning’s last design was the Browning Hi-Power. As we know, he famously passed away before the weapon could be complete. What’s not often talked about is how he was initially not interested in designing the firearm. The French requested a 9mm pistol that could hold 15 rounds.
Browning believes a single-stack magazine holding seven or eight rounds was enough. Dieudonné Saive wasn’t so reluctant. He went to work designing a double-stack magazine for the design. He looked at the SMGs of the time for inspiration. Saive would later meld his new double-stack magazine with a heavily modified FN Model 1903. Dieudonné Saive delivered the working magazines to Browning, who designed the initial Hi-Power.
After Browning’s death, his son Val offered the gun to FN, who were interested. Dieudonné Saive came in to refine the design and produce a finished version of what would become the Hi-Power. Later during World War 2, after Belgium was invaded, he worked with Enfield. He provided technical drawings to help the Brits make their own Hi-Power. He even designed the famous wooden stock for the Hi-Power for the Chinese.
The Baby Browning
The Baby Browning bears Browning’s name but was designed by Dieudonné Saive. Admittedly the pistol was more or less based on the massively successful Model 1905 Vest Pocket pistol. The Baby Browning trimmed about a quarter of the weight off of the Model 1905. Almost a half inch of length was trimmed, and the gun even had a slightly longer barrel.
The grip safety was eliminated, and the manual safety was placed on the grip for easier access. A cocking indicator was added, and a magazine safety was added. Much like the Model 1905, the Bbay Browning proved to be quite popular, so much so the Commandos of MACV SOG carried them as last resort guns.
The FN 49
One of Dieudonné Saive’s first breaks away from Browning came in the form of the short-stroke gas piston gun with a tilting bolt. The gun became the FN 49. This battle rifle was adopted by nearly a dozen countries, including Belgium. It had an excellent reputation for reliability and heartiness. In fact, it was often compared favorably to every other World War 2 battle rifle, including the Garand. Although by this era, most military forces were looking for modern rifles with removable magazines.
While the lifespan of the rifle was short, it was successful and well-made.
The FN FAL
I hope I’m not too bold in saying the FN FAL was Dieudonné Saive’s crowning achievement. It was the right arm of the free world and arguably the most successful battle rifle of the era. This rifle was adopted by dozens of countries and is still in use today. It’s extremely well made and a very capable weapon with its famed tilting breechblock design.
The rifle featured all the modern necessities, including a removable magazine, selective fire capability, and a modern 7.62 NATO chambering. More than once, both sides of a conflict utilized the FN FAL. That’s just how widespread it was. The Germans worked with the Spanish on the G3 since the Belgians, fresh from two World War invasions, refused to license the design to them. The untied States even considered it, but then we went with the abomination that was the M-14.
Dieudonné Saive – The Brownign of Belgium
Dieudonné Saive will likely never get the credit he deserves. He was an accomplished arms designer and survivor of two invasions. He was seemingly a brilliant man unafraid to do something different. Hopefully, more people will learn his name and give him the credit he deserves.
An alternate title for this lecture could have been “How to Not Talk Your Way Into Handcuffs”.
Lee did a great job of taking what can be a rather dry and overwhelming subject like Constitutional Law, and make it both relevant and engaging, at least enough so to hold the attention of one hungover, sleep-deprived student on a Sunday morning (….me. I mean me).
Lee starts off by saying that, while there are over 18,000 different law enforcement organizations in the US, they’re kind of like churches: All of them basically do the same thing with the same goals in mind, it’s just that the rules can change up a little.
He goes into the definitions of significant terms like reasonableness, seizure, probably cause, and the like. Here’s a brief summary of the terms and concepts that are covered in the class:
– reasonableness
– seizure – legal authority – suspicion – probable cause – consensual encounter – consent – investigative detention – totality of circumstances – custodial arrest – use of force – objective reasonableness – Terry v. Ohio – US v. Arizona – PA v. Mimms – MD v. Wilson – Graham v. Connor – TN v. Garner
We got brief summaries of the case studies that were referenced in the presentation, and how they relate to our rights as citizens, and how they impact how the cops do their job. A big focus of the talk was understanding the difference between what an officer is required to do and what they can do legally if the citizen doesn’t know better. There’s quite a bit of grey area in terms of implied authority, meaning that an officer can make a request that would be received as instruction. While the citizen is fully within their rights to decline the request, they may not be aware that it’s an option. It’s basically Jedi mind tricks for the Supreme Court.
Shamelessly stealing the Short Barrelled Shepherd’s 3×3 Model for AARs, here’s the breakdown:
The top 3 things covered in the class:
Case Law & Doctrines
Definition of legal terms & how they impact the everyday citizen
How to protect your rights and guard against the effectively communicate with law enforcement
The top 3 things I learned from the class:
There are times & places where it’s perfectly ok to say No to a cop and there’s nothing they can do but send you on your way
Most of the time, you’ve got to be already engaged in some kind of suspicious behavior for them to come talk to you in the first place.
PC = reasonable & prudent person / Suspicion = reasonable & prudent Peace Officer
Top 3 things I’ll do differently: There’s really just the 1: Better familiarize myself with the case law
Let’s start right back up with point number 4 that NPR says is a “Major Takeaway”.
4. In five years, the number of illegal machine gun conversion devices recovered by law enforcement agencies has jumped 570%
Conversion devices make semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic machines guns.
And note that they are legal if the proper NFA paperwork is completed by a manufacturer. They are not legal in general circulation. They are not complex devices either. There is a reason that the ‘coat hanger’ and 3D printed auto-sears for AR-15’s keep popping up problematically, they are a very simple series of parts.
To put this new data into context, from 2012 to 2016, ATF reported the recovery of 814 machine gun conversion devices, the agency told NPR. From 2017 to 2021, however, that number skyrocketed to 5,454 recoveries.
Even though these devices, also called switches, have been illegal for decades “they are just more readily available and accessible than they’ve ever been,” Densley said.
Thank you Wish.com.
Most of these were ‘switches’ that replace the backplate of a Glock, and for a while they were easily orderable. You saw ads for them on Facebook, IG, and other social media advertising them as an ‘airsoft’ accessory. Then there’s the whole simple possession vs constructive possession of the parts and a gun that can take them, similar to simple possession or constructive possession of the parts to assemble an SBR, but different due to the closed nature of the machine gun registry portion of the NFA Registrar. It’s a quagmirical mess of legalese that argues about what the definition of ‘is’ is instead of putting violent criminals in prison.
3D Printing, fast multi-source data access, and the fact that firearms are not overly complicated machines make illegal and inaccessible two very different things. The machine gun is an old invention, dating from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We’ve gotten a little better at making them and the materials they are made out of, but they haven’t dramatically changed in function in over a century.
So while the internet and some modern technologies have made them ‘more readily available’ they’ve never really been unavailable, making them is not overly complicated. It’s not a simple as assembling a TV stand you ordered from Amazon, but it’s not significantly more complex than measuring out and building your own TV stand from from scratch lumber from the hardware store. To make one well, it takes some middle level mechanical and material understanding and access to some not inexpensive but not prohibitively expensive machinery.
The relatively few automatics in circulation is a combination of the risk and the practicality. Having an automatic isn’t actually that much more useful to a criminal and the penalty for being caught with one, not the inability to possess one, are much steeper than a semi-auto. The ‘WishSwitches’ changed that equation by upping the ease of access which is why we saw the number spike. That Chinese device, and China doesn’t care about our laws one bit, changed the ease of access dramatically while all the other risks remained static.
Making a Glock blaze ammo in a direction is only marginally more dangerous, and in some instances less dangerous, than having it throw rounds vaguely in that direction in semi-auto. A drive-by type shooting that sprays 50 rounds of 9mm at full auto from one guy with one Glock and a drum magazine, or 51 rounds of semi-auto from three with normal Glocks and normal magazines or one guy with a the same drum as the first example, or one guy with 5 rounds of 00 buckshot in a cheap pump shotgun all constitute roughly the same risk environment to those being shot at. The risk to the shooter(s) varies fairly dramatically, from a legal standpoint. The shooting is obviously illegal, automatic is super extra illegal but made the shooting logistically easier to do, the three gun approach is illegal for more involved but regular Glocks are much easier to get and will come with the requisite normal capacity magazine, the shotgun involves the least amount logistically and is the easiest to acquire but it is larger and far less concealable for circumstances before and after the planned attack.
Throughout all of that, the initial illegality of the shooting doesn’t change and the people who commit these crimes accept that. Having an automatic in the commission of that or a similar violent attack won’t really materially alter the risk of a long or life sentence that the attempted homicide or homicide will net them.
Mandalay Bay and North Hollywood both are illustrative real world examples of ‘high fire rate does not equal a comparative high body count’, even with the circumstances decidedly favoring the shooter at Mandalay Bay. That was a terrifyingly well put together attack that was mitigated by the amateur level of fire discipline and the fact he never detonated the explosives. It throws its example in the face of those who say ‘well, the shooter was carrying enough ammo to commit a bigger atrocity!’. Yes, and we have a real world example of someone attempting that very atrocity against a densely populated target and firing that dramatically larger number of rounds and still running into a damage inflicted cap as the actions of those attacked and those responding to the attack got them out of immediate danger and put pressure on the shooter, who then eventually killed himself.
Point,
In the dozen other deadliest mass shootings in the US, the number of dead compared to the number of injured usually ratios closely.
The highest injured ratio is a little over 1:2 in Fort Hood and the lowest is 13.5:1 in Newtown. Newtown was a close deadly enclosed environment against mostly children and the shooter was contained there. We have only one other shooting to compare Mandalay to with greater than 100 casualties in the US. We have a few in Europe, the Bataclan being most the comparable. But the circumstances surrounding each of these attacks and how the casualty counts were ultimately generated vary widely.
The near automatic fire rate, range, and space for people to spread out once they recognized the noise of the bump stock equipped rifles in Las Vegas resulted in the dead to injured ratio of nearly 1:7 killed to injured by gunfire, we are excluding circumstantial injuries since we are discussing the lethality of high fire rates specifically. Had the shooter employed more discipline in their attack, given what we see from Pulse and Virginia Tech as the two next deadliest attacks, he could have produced a body count in the hundreds given the entrapped and densely populated environment. The body and injury count could have skyrocketed further had the IEDs been placed, made properly for maximum casualty infliction, and detonated when surrounded by the fleeing. There are dozens of plausible scenarios that make Mandalay Bay far more horrific, and they all deal with competence.
No law would prevent it. No law would change the raw casualty causing potential possessed by the attacker even if we partially illegalize firearm type or possession. Other firearms would have equal and potentially greater injurious impact.
Automatic fire does not necessarily produce more deaths, it is a variation on an already highly dangerous method of injury that is already capable of producing staggering casualties. It can produce a high casualty count but it does not outstrip what a similar semi-automatic firearm, or explosives, or vehicle could produce and has produced in a similar densely populated environment.
TL;DR: Automatic fire is not a special risk in the already extreme risk circumstance of a shooting. Multiple other methods of injury exist that could reasonably cause the same level of injury and damage and those are left far less regulated in meaningfully inhibitive ways than an automatic firearm is. It’s about the equivalent of asking whether the 9.1 or 9.3 earthquake that destroyed the town was more dangerous, they were both well beyond the catastrophe threshold.
We are trying to stop the most deranged and dedicated to destructive action members of humanity and deter them with a ‘no parking between 8am and noon’ sign.
Last year, The Trace and VICE News documented the rise of these automatic conversion devices. These small switches “easily modify semiautomatic weapons to fire more than 1,200 rounds per minute, and sidestep the federal government’s strict licensing requirements for automatic weapons.”
Accessing these illegal devices has become easier in recent years, thanks to the rise of social media and the internet, Densley said. There are videos online teaching people how to make them at home with a 3D printer, he said. They’re also coming from overseas, mainly China.
You can slap a penalty on it, you cannot prevent access to it. That penalty can be steep, it is even. It is 10 years in prison and $250,000.00. But we do not very evenly apply that penalty, often let violators plea out, and in general acknowledge without actually changing the laws to reflect the reality that it is a hostile act with a weapon that is the problem, not the weapon itself.
The huge jump in law enforcement agencies recovering these devices is thanks to the ATF’s effort over the past two years to educate local agencies on the identification and reporting of conversion devices, the agency said.
Or their sudden influx thanks to Wish.com and China, but pat yourselves on the back ATF. The public has access to all this information but I’m sure law enforcement could only figure it out through the ATF’s efforts. [/sarc]
Crime labs are the ones confirming these devices and the working or otherwise condition of the firearms.
Guns fitted with these devices and used in shootings are hard to control and often result in serious collateral damage, Densley said.
That continues to fly in the face of the assertions that more lethal, we are now saying they are more damaging to the general environment. Which is it? It’s almost like the employment of a machine gun is a complicated combat skill and its mere presence doesn’t make a situation eminently more dangerous than ‘deranged lunatic with a gun’ already does.
“This is where you get those shootings where it’s like we found 100 shell casings on the floor. And you know, 20 people got shot at the bar,” he said.
Would this shooting have materially changed much by changing the firearm? That is the question we need to ask when we are discussing these things. Yes, these were the circumstances for this particular shooting, but would those circumstances be easily repeatable with different variables. The answer to that question is invariably, ‘Yes these circumstances would be easily repeatable with a number of other non-automatic firearms and non–firearm methods of injury’ and we keep glossing over that fact in a rush to prove how dangerous this specific shooting was that an extra illegal gun, used often by people who aren’t allowed to legally have guns anyway, was very dangerous and we need to make it more illegalerer-er than it is already more illegal to stop these people from dangerously illegaling.
5. Pistols represented nearly 70% of the crime guns traced between 2017 and 2021
Semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 often make headlines when they are used to commit mass shootings in the United States. But handguns are most often used to commit crimes, according to ATF data.
The common handgun. Most stolen. Most found at crime scenes.
The percentage of these handguns recovered in crimes and submitted for tracing by law enforcement agencies increased from 62% in 2017 to 75% in 2020. And of the more than 1.3 million pistols used in crimes traced between 2017 and 2021, 19.6% were manufactured by Glock.
Let’s also admit that this is a bit of misdirection in its own right. The ATF count revolvers, an additional 11% of crime guns with 211,590 traces, as a separate category despite the fact that revolvers are handguns. Small, concealable, and multishot, the revolver is very serviceable.
Meaning a total of 79% of crime firearms are handguns.
“But Keith!” You cry out, “There are super dangerous rifle caliber pistols, AR and AK types! Surely those represent a massive portion of ‘pistols’ in the total, right?”
Nope… 5.56 (6,940) and 7.62 (10,713, no distinction is made between .300BLK, 7.62×39, or 7.62×51) account for a total of 1.3% of traced crime handguns. The anemic .25 ACP is a more popular caliber at 2.4%, 31,591 guns, recovered and traced.
So excluding rifle caliber handguns, 77.7% of crime guns are traditional handguns or traditional revolvers.
Notice NPR stopped using full numbers and dropped to just percentages? Remember that 19.6% is 255,055 guns. We wouldn’t want that number to clash with dramatically smaller numbers, like 5,454 machine guns (which were mostly Glocks or Glock clones too, because that is what a switch fits).
When we can say things like 570% increase and 5,454 guns we make both of those numbers sound terrifying. They seem dramatically less terrifying against numbers like 647,014, which was the number of regular 9mm semi-autos traced from a crime.
“It’s probably also the most likely to be stolen. And it’s also the most likely to wind up on the streets,” Densley said of the Glock pistol.
Glock is the most popular handgun manufacturer in the world. I would bet they also account for a significant portion of the number of guns stolen from government sources. 25,904 guns stolen from the government if you’ll recall, unknown how many were Glocks.
This gun is both well designed and well marketed, he said. They also allow for the popular conversion devices to be put into these guns, making them more lethal and used in crimes more often.
Eh, we just said there were only 5,454 machine guns recovered and not all of those are going to be ‘switched’ guns so how much ‘more often’ was it really?
“There’s a cachet with the Glock versus some other brands as well,” he said. “And so I think all of that contributes to that phenomenon.”
Most. Popular. Handgun. Worldwide.
I don’t think we need to dig into the obvious too deeply here. We are going to see a surge in Sig pistol market share soon too. Why? They got popular after the M17 contract and several other wins.
It is no surprise to anyone with a few neurons that fire correctly that the influx of ‘stimulus’ amounts that happen to match the price of popular handgun models led directly to a lot of those gun sales. The government actually funded this problem as part of their ‘fix’ to the other problem they created by hard stopping the US economic systems and letting inner cities burn here and there.
But let’s not look at that one too hard. Wouldn’t want to imply any government culpability in both over straining, and then arming the strained groups with just enough money for that and not much else, and then acting surprised when some of those strained populations used the currency of violence to solve issues they were experiencing. Especially prevalent among groups already comfortable with violence as one of their currency and communication forms.
Weird, right?
Why are we acting surprised that people armed up during the pandemic and the riots? Legally or otherwise.
6. There’s a lot of data, but it’s still limited
Of course it’s ‘still limited’. But it is indicative of many things and we can draw conclusions, ones that you at NPR don’t necessarily want to draw, as it points out the limits of regulatory efficacy, the actual scale of various risks, and what the real problems are when we combine it with other available data.
The report only reflects a glimpse of the full picture when it comes to guns in the U.S.]
Shocking. Let’s start with between 2017 and 2021 there were 1,482,861 traces for crime guns but 158,358,886 NICS checks. The NICS deny rate for the last two of those years was 1.33% combined, 2020’s rate was slightly higher than 2021’s. If we use that deny rate as a base for the whole five years we end up with 2,106,173 denied transfers, allegedly. Which doesn’t line up with the math, funny enough, as that is more denials than NICS has delivered in its entire history, 2,039,507.
The better extrapolated number that doesn’t get clearly conveyed in the report is 1.33% of the 31% of checks referred to NICS record check and not immediately passed (69% of checks), this is only approximately 652,913 denials in those five years, 338,949 of those confirmed in 2020 and 2021.
Meaning denied background check volume accounts for about half of the comparable criminal trace volume and only a 0.41% actual denial rate. So what exactly are background checks accomplishing? For every denied background check two crime guns were recovered, do we have any data indicative of whether those with a denied check were found as a possessor of one of these crime guns?
[Firearm tracing, as well as ballistic imaging policies and practices, vary across these local agencies, the ATF said.
The results presented in the report are thus limited and is not “representative of all crime guns used by offenders in the U.S. during this study period,” the agency said in its report.
They don’t have to be representative of all if they are representative of a large enough sample. That is how statistical modeling and sampling work, if we collect enough data and enough instances we will be accurately projecting the rest of the data within a very reasonable error margin.
I harp on crime being from a unique motivator and individually accountable perspective but from the larger analysis of motivators we can categorize and see these things from the macro picture level. That is useful information. What we can’t do is think that our macro solution concepts influence the individual motivations directly. Making murder illegal doesn’t remove the motives for murder, it just places a potential consequence into the more complex socioeconomic equation of commiting a murder.
In 2021, 47.2% of law enforcement agencies (8,679 out of 17,981 agencies) were participating in ATF’s eTrace program, which tracks firearms used in crimes. And as of 2021, there were only 259 cities with National Integrated Ballistic Information Network sites (which analyzes ballistic information). These databases are where the ATF pulled information for this report.
Even with this caveat, the ATF and experts say this information is a huge step in better understanding gun violence in the U.S. It comes at a time when data is pointing to a rise in deadly gun violence across the country.
Now, policymakers have another tool to address the problem, Densley said. “This is important information for understanding how gun violence evolves over time.”
Yes, equally important is the actual understanding of the information and not cherry picking stats to make your particular pet point look scarier than it is.
We’re constantly told ‘Assault Weapons’ are a huge problem, then 77.7% of crime guns are handguns.
We need to ban ‘Assault Weapons’ and yet the combined total of ALL pistols and rifles recovered in ‘Assault Weapon’ calibers, which means we have some overlap with non-‘Assault Weapon’ firearms in the same calibers, is 116,332. Meaning Glock handguns in their boringly regular state account for a 219.24% greater risk of being used in a crime than all assault weapons during this five year period. That period includes the chaotic and particularly violent 2020 and 2021. Indications are the ’22 and ’23 are looked and are looking better, amazing what happens when we re-engage socially cohesive services.
The damage to social and societal trust during this period will have a longer and less predictable fallout and healing period.
I will give them credit for the overall effort, the obfuscation contained is mildly annoying at most. I might just be jaded and expecting it though.
What we end up seeing is that the things that we are told are problems look very different in wide context vs in isolation. In the wider context there are hundreds of millions of guns, gun owners, and only a small percentage are a problem on any given day. A substantial percentage of that small percentage are also habituals problems and any number of variables can come together to make a tragic result.
We must not let up on our efforts to reduce the occurrences of the problems but blowing those problems out of proportion does far more harm than good when it comes to crafting truly effective policy solutions and wider socioeconomic goals because it will breed exaggerated overreactions and cultivate an environment of unkept promises from the policymakers who promise the impossible and fail to deliver.
We cannot rid ourselves of ‘gun crime’ because that is a misnomer. We cannot rid ourselves of most forms of violence because the motivators, subjective, and objective gains from the violent action are hard to mitigate and provide total non-violent sources for. That is especially true of the subjective gains where the violence is tied to a cause or ego driven motive.
The best we can do is strive a little everyday to make our little piece of this place a little better and not worry about the things we cannot change and should have little motivation too, it isn’t worth our finite time. Violence will always be with us, when the firearm is obsolete as the individual weapon of choice we will have whatever is next. We keep that reality in check by making the best of life as we can.
We can’t pass a law against gun violence any more than we can pass a law to enforce happiness, so we do these things the hard ways with no guarantees as the only ways. We need to stop believing the snake oil sales folk who are attracted to the political life.
From left to right, a ring crimped primer pocket without the primer, a ring crimped primer pocket, and a 4 stab crimped primer pocket.
Background story: When I first started reloading I was mainly reloading for my 6.5 Creedmoor. This meant brand new Lapua brass and no issue with primer pockets. Then I started shooting .223, a lot of it. Therefore, I wanted to buy once fired .223 brass and start playing with that first. Many local gunstores have .223 once fired brass. So I take a trip and get two bags of 250 IMI brass cases without even a thought of looking at the primer pockets. Instead, I just verify that they all have the same headstamp. Turns out, all of these pieces of brass had crimped primer pockets meaning, when I remove the primer and go to seat another one, it will not seat and each pocket will need to be shaved out. HEAVY SIGH. More work, more time…more knowledge.
When loading for .223 knowledge on crimped primer pockets will need to be had as many .223 casings have it. These crimped primers can cause you to run into issues such as primers not seating and more equipment needed to remedy that. T get around it all together, specific brass types can be bought.
There are multiple different types of crimped primer pockets. Photo: QuoraForums
What is a crimped primer pocket?
Many NATO type ammunition will have crimped primer pockets due to wanting to prevent popped primers. In the simplest of terms this means that the primer is sealed into the pocket by crimping or almost like a staking/swaging to prevent a primer from coming loose from the case. There are a couple of different styles of this. For example, a ring crimp will have a circle type crimp all the way around the primer. If you don’t know to look for it you won’t notice it. There is then stab crimping. There is a 3 stab and 4 stab. This looks like 3 or 4 stake markings around the primer.
How do I find brass without a crimped primer pocket?
First, stick to unfired/brand new brass. If it is unfired that means that there has never been a primer seated into the brass, thus no crimping. If you don’t want to do that, stick to the civilian stuff and..do your research. Some civilian ammo still has crimped primers so be sure to either research or look at the once fired brass in the plastic bag before you buy it.
How do I fix it?
Alright, this is where things can get confusing and/or tick off reloaders and their preference of equipment. Before going into equipment, first let’s talk about what actually needs to be done.
If you have a crimped primer case first thing that needs to happen is the primer needs to be removed in order to seat a new primer. When popping that out due to it being staked in and harder to press out, it is recommended to use a Universal decapping die instead of your seating die. You don’t want to brake or have to adjust your seating die due to a really hard to remove primer so just go with a simple and cheap universal die like the Universal Lee Decapping Die.
Now, this is really important. The crimp needs to be entirely removed to avoid any issues while seating the primer. Having a primer get stuck midway into the pocket and the hand primer or whatever primer seating tool you’re using can get weird. It is not good to force the primers in either as they can explode. I personally have seen it happen to friends.
So how do you remove it? There are a few different ways and pieces of equipment but you will need something that has “swaging” or “reaming” in the name. Below are some recommendations.
The Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer is great to ream out primer pocket crimps. Some stick this in their own drill and some use it in their Case Prep Duo or Trio. It is important when using a reamer to ensure that it is straight and not angled inside the primer pocket. If it is inserted an angle it can remove too much brass and damage your primer pocket.
The Hornady Lock N Load Trio runs off of a plug in and rotates each accessory with the case of a button. Multiple case prep accessories are available such as a reamer and inside/outside the neck chamfer tools.
Moral of the story, when you are thinking about what kind of brass to pick up for loading .223 ensure that you check for crimped primer pockets and that you know how to properly remove ALL of the crimp.
I love a good, modern carry gun. The P365 fits my needs just perfectly. However, that doesn’t make it my favorite carry gun. It’s just the one that works best for me. In fact, I feel like a lot of great guns have come and gone without much celebration. Today we are going to look a the five most underrated carry guns.
Beretta 92FS Compact
Some guns really fit into this just right category. The Beretta 92 FS Compact is one of those guns, specifically the railed variant. It’s a bit slimmer and smaller than the full-sized 92FS, but not too small. You could easily conceal the weapon, but it’s big enough to be easy to shoot and control. The rail allows you to add a light, which makes it an option for home defense.
While the Beretta compact isn’t light, it eats up recoil. The DA/SA design remains one of my favorite options for trigger designs and tosses in a decocker-only safety lever, and we are cooking with gas. The Langdon Tactical optics-ready models are exquisite fighting pistols, and the entire Beretta 92 Compact series is criminally underrated.
The KelTec P32
Yep, I’ll stand behind the KelTec P32, and I mean that literally. KelTec has a rough rep from QA issues with their guns. While I can acknowledge their issues, I can say the P32 seems exempt. Maybe it’s because it’s been around for 24 years now. It was the first real modern pocket pistol and remained the lightest on the market.
32 ACP isn’t a ballistic powerhouse, but with the right ammo, it penetrates deep enough to matter. The recoil is fairly light, and the gun is easy to shoot and control. When compared to guns like the LCP or even the P-3AT, the P32 is downright pleasant. At 6.6 ounces, you’ll be hard strapped to find something lighter. The P32 and .32 ACP round, in general, is underrated.
Walther P99c
The Walther P99 is a criminally underrated gun. It almost sickens me to see Caniks being so successful when they simply cloned the P99. This DA/SA striker-fired gun is an innovative little firearm that never caught fire. The compact variant was roughly Glock 26-sized with one of the best double-action triggers ever.
The single action was also no joke. The P99c is fairly rare, and if you have one, hold onto it or sell it to me. These guns were reliable, easy to use, lightweight, and packed a punch. Sadly no one seems to like the DA/SA striker-fired design, and they never enjoyed a ton of success. That’s a shame because the gun is solid, just underrated.
CZ Rami 2075
As a flannel-wearing tactical hipster, I love me some CZ, and the 2075 RAMI never got the love it deserved. As the third DA/SA design, I’m starting to see a pattern. These guns came in 9mm and 40 S&W and both metal and polymer frames. Oddly enough, the all-metal versions weighed the same as a Glock 26.
These guns used CZ 75 magazines and came with a flush fitting ten rounder and a 14-rounder with a grip extension. What made these guns stand out was the brilliant ergonomics and ease of control. The Czechs just know how my hands work, and the gun delivered a nice high grip that made controlling it easy and enjoyable. It’s odd, but a very underrated CZ.
Compact Revolvers With 3-Inch Barrels
I don’t care who makes it! Well, I do a little. Snub noses are great, but I really love compact revolvers with 3-inch barrels in .38 or even .357 Magnum. If I was going to carry a .357 Magnum, it would have a 3-inch barrel. Something like the Ruger SP101, or better yet, the new 605 TORO series. They are severely underrated.
The longer barrels make the gun easier to shoot, grant a longer sight radius and add more velocity to that 125-grain JHP. The .38 Special versions, like the 856 TORO, offer six rounds and a pleasant shooting experience. Luckily this genre seems to be growing, and we are getting a few more compact revolvers with 3-inch barrels.
Beyond the Micro Compact
I get it. Guns like the P365 rule these days. Hell, I even carry one. While those guns have some serious advantages, that doesn’t mean they are the best gun for every person or situation. Sometimes you need to look outside the current box, and you’ll be surprised at what you find.
PHLster, the innovative concealment company behind state of the art appendix inside the waistband (AIWB) holsters and the successful Enigma Concealment System is officially releasing the next generation of its Floodlight AIWB / IWB concealment holster, the PHLster Floodlight 2.
The Floodlight 2 is a modern ambidextrous universal concealment holster meant to carry almost any duty sided double stack handgun. It supports either the Streamlight TLR-1 or the Surefire X-300 U A or B weapon lights. The holster easily accommodates handguns with slide mounted red dot sights and tall “suppressor height” iron sights too. My thoughts on the first iteration of the Floodlight are well-known and it has been my serious EDC holster for years. I put that holster through its paces, not only driving thousands of miles across the country wearing it, but I have also carried it across various conditions and situations. From training classes to private practice sessions and competitions, I definitely subjected my original Floodlight to hard use and came to really like that holster. Naturally, I was thrilled to learn that PHLster had been working on that holster’s successor behind the scenes for some time now.
Generally speaking, when people think of “universal” fit, they are oftentimes left with a less than good feeling about the product, especially when it comes to handgun holsters. “Jack of all trades, master of none” as they say, or the even less flattering “floppy nylon gun sock.” When it comes to the PHLster Floodlight family, this is not the case. In short, the PHLster Floodlight and Floodlight 2 are designed to fully grip and close in around the weapon light itself thus making them gun-agnostic. Moreover, the end user is able to adjust the final retention levels. Finally, these holsters were designed with industry-standard spaced slots. Depending on the hardware and the position of the belt attachment system, the Floodlight family works as either an appendix holster or can be set up for strong side IWB carry.
I like going to USPSA matches and shooting them from concealment with my Beretta 92X Performance. The Beretta 92X Performance has Brigadier slide which is fairly thick. This pistol is also quite heavy for its size. Neither of these presented any issue for the Floodlight 2. Like the term “universal”, the term ambidextrous also used to have a negative connotation in the holster space yesteryear. Nowadays, this is not the case. As a serious shooter, I think that the hallmark of any modern concealment holster worth its salt is that it be perfectly symmetrical and truly fully ambidextrous. The Floodlight 2 (and its predecessor) fit the bill perfectly.
Top view of either side of the new Floodlight 2.
FLOODLIGHT 2 NEW CHANGES
Perhaps the Floodlight 2’s biggest difference is the way the new holster looks since the PHLster design team re-profiled it and took care to eliminate any “dead” space. They also consolidated the holster’s remaining real estate. Curves and corners are more rounded and radiused as needed to increase comfort to the wearer, especially on the bottom edge of the holster. Furthermore, adding to the holster’s organic shapely improvement are PHLster’s patented ComfortScape ribs. These raised ribs primarily allow for ventilation in order to reduce hotspots and provide moisture management from sweat from carrying all day.
Improving the Floodlight 2’s concealability, not only consisted of reshaping and reprofiling and making use of the ComfortScape ribs, but PHLster also took a look at the belt attachment options. The original Floodlight shipped standard with classic pull-the-dot soft loops (the go-to choice when the original concept was first conceived) and had a series of upper slots to attach said loops on the holster body. The new Floodlight 2 lacks these topmost slots because the PHLster team designed the new holster to work exclusively with the proven Discreet Carry Concepts Mod 4 steel clips. As far as they are concerned the PTD soft loops are a thing of the past.
The old and new holsters are the same thickness.
The original Floodlight’s Boltaron body has been replaced with stronger high impact polymer shells. Internally, not much is different on the Floodlight 2, but the area where the holster material grabs the light has been tweaked to better grab the weapon light. At launch, which is officially today, March 6, 2023 PHLster will be offering the Floodlight 2 in four different colors: black, sage green, tundra (white), and flat dark earth. The new holster is also available under the PHLster Enigma Express product line.
FLOODLIGHT 2 PERSONAL THOUGHTS
For the past few months, I have been primarily carrying my Glock 45 and Surefire X-300 U/A appendix–the same combination I carried with the original holster aside from the match Beretta. Switching from the old holster to the new one was seamless other than getting used to the Discreet Carry Concepts Mod 4 clips instead of the pull-the-dot soft loops. Concealment wise, the Floodlight 2 carries quite flat against the body and I have not had trouble concealing my Glock in spite of the size. It took some getting used to the DCC Mod 4 clips instead of the classic PTD soft loops. Initially I was not happy to give up a tried and true belt attachment system. After wearing the holster more, I have been slowly coming around to the Discreet Carry Concepts steel clips and understanding what they offer the modern concealed carrier. These clips are slightly more challenging to snap on and remove, but they snugly keep the holster and gun in the same place on the beltline without fail. Floodlight 2 users would be wise to apply some thread locking compound (PHLster recommends Vibratite VC3) in order to protect the holster’s hardware from the rigors of daily carry and avoid some of the holster’s screws from backing out.
My hands-on time with the Floodlight 2 has taken place during the past autumn and winter, so I have not had a chance to see the ComfortScape sweat ventilation capabilities first hand. Because Holster sweat and hotspots are a general concern of mine due to local heat and humidity, this is a feature I am personally excited about and I cannot wait to see it in action during the hottest days of the year. My own Floodlight 2 holster will continue where the other one left of as part of my full size EDC kit. Please visit PHLster’s website for additional information on their new holster.
The boys are back, and they’re talking about the legendary video that @GarandThumb aired – the Saga of 22 Man. Plus, they discuss the new S&W folding carbine!
The Governor of the State of West Virginia signed a bill Wednesday which would allow concealed carry of personal firearms on the college campuses of the state, CBS News reported.
West Virginia has had Constitutional Carry as state law for several years, but that didn’t stop everyone from university presidents to physician groups from voicing their opposition. They trotted out the same tropes as always, but thanks to support from the West Virginia Citizens Defense League the job got done.
Now we wait for the mad scramble as institutions of higher learning across the state rush to cobble together their own “rules” for how this law will be folded into their “Campus Safety” plans.