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SIG SAUER Academy to Host SIG Relentless Warrior Championship for Military Academy Cadets

SIG SAUER Academy, the leading provider of the highest quality firearms instruction and tactical training in the world, is honored to host the SIG Relentless Warrior Championship Saturday, March 28, 2020 at the SIG SAUER Academy (SSA) facility in Epping, New Hampshire. 

The SIG Relentless Warrior Championship is the premier competitive shooting championship for America’s future military leaders.  Cadets from the United State Military Academy at West Point, United States Air Force Academy, United States Naval Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, Virginia Military Institute (VMI), and Texas A&M will compete against one another to become the “Ultimate Warrior” through a high-level skills course developed by match director Chad Barber.

“For 2020 we have raised the level of competition for the cadets at the SIG Relentless Warrior Championship,” said Steve Matulewicz, Vice President, SIG SAUER Academy.  “The course is going to be even more challenging with new elements that will certainly test their skills, decision making, and agility.” 

Additional sponsors of the SIG Relentless Warrior Championship include the National Rifle Association, Atlas PyroVision Entertainment Group, GT Targets, Marathon Target, Elimintaor Systems Inc., Comp-Tac Victory Gear and High Speed Gear, Shark-Co, and Nanuk.

The SIG Relentless Warrior Championship will begin at 8:00am at the SIG SAUER Academy located at 233 Exeter Road in Epping, New Hampshire.  For updates about the SIG Relentless Warrior Championship please visit the official SIG Relentless Warrior Facebook Page.

About SIG SAUER, Inc.
SIG SAUER, Inc. is  a leading provider and manufacturer of firearms, electro-optics, ammunition, airguns, suppressors, and training. For over 150 years SIG SAUER, Inc. has evolved, and thrived, by blending American ingenuity, German engineering, and Swiss precision. Today, SIG SAUER is synonymous with industry-leading quality and innovation which has made it the brand of choice amongst the U.S. Military, the global defense community, law enforcement, competitive shooters, hunters, and responsible citizens. Additionally, SIG SAUER is the premier provider of elite firearms instruction and tactical training at the SIG SAUER Academy. Headquartered in Newington, New Hampshire, SIG SAUER has almost 2,000 employees across eight locations. For more information about the company and product line visit: sigsauer.com.

First Match with the MAGPUL Pro 700 Chassis and Hardware

Match COF (Course of Fire)

The first match I shot with the Magpul Pro700 Chassis was a field style team match ran by Isaiah Curtis in Missouri. Taking it to a field style match instead of a square range match will really show how comfortable this chassis can be for me, due to target aquisition and differently elevated target engagemenents.

I ran, as the title might have clued you in on, the Magpul Pro700 Chassis, Vortex Razor Gen II EBR 7-C, 6.5C Defiance Deviant Tactical Medium action, and Atlas B10 bipod.

It was 10 degrees, windy, and there was a lot of snow on the ground, however, the Chassis performed.

The match CoF was a fun one. Each stage was scored on impacts. First round impact you got 4 points, 2nd round, 3 points and so on so forth. You then multiply that number with the range of the target. For instance, we shot a 4 and a 3 on a 1170 yd target, which means we scored 8,190 pts on that stage.

In this one day match, I shot off a tripod, thin wall on a deer stand, and bipod prone. Throwing the gun down onto the Armageddon Gear Mini Gamechanger bag was easy addition, the Arca Rail sat level, and point of balance was easily established.

During this stage, you had to be within arms length of the tree stump that this competitor is shooting off of.

Equipment Performance

In my previous article, I wrote about the night before the match set up. In all, I shot 10 rounds with this chassis before the match. Even with that small amount of practice on it though, I attacked positions with ease with the chassis.

With many stocks and chassis I worry about my handsize. With this, I didn’t know if the thumb rest that is molded onto the chassis would work, but my hand found it naturally. The adjustment of the pistol grip was great as well. I could adjust it so that my finger didn’t have to reach and I could easily rest my finger 90 degrees on the trigger.

I ran AICS short-action PMAG and had no issues there either. Despite the cold everything kept working.

Making things repeatable is huge when shooting precision rifle. The vortex optic made adjustments easily repeatable, and the chassis made building a position repeatable. I was able to easily manipulate the stock with pressure on the bag.

Equipment Adjustments

Going forward, I will probably experiment with some different larger bags, as I do with the Mini Gamechanger and the chassis, it sat a little low for me. I will also add a M-LOK thumbrest to the left side of the rail.

I did have issues with pressing the mag onto a position, affecting feeding of the round. That is pretty standard though, and can be fixed with training, repetition, and body positioning.

Results

My teammate and I (unofficially due to my teammate being Match Director) ended up scoring 2nd out of about 15 teams. Scoring 34,862 pts in all. It was a fun match. My equipment performed and showed what I want to tweak.

Isaiah and my rifles

The Winners of the Curtis Custom Weapons Team Match

As always, thank you to Vortex Optics for always being such a large supporter of the shooting community and donating your time and equipment for the shooters.

“You’re full of shit.” -Joe Biden, Winning over Auto-Workers in Michigan

Well done, Joe. Your articulate and well reasoned response has reassured gun owners everywhere that you respect their 2nd Amendment rights. You and Beto “Hell yeah we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK47…” O’Rourke are just huge constitutional supporters and this guy just didn’t get it.

He must be confused by the sudden drastic population reduction from the 150 Million people who you found out died from gun violence, that no one else… not even the FBI, CDC, or Local LEOs around the nation picked up on. Our mistake.

How could one argue against someone who speaks so clearly and knowledgeable on a subject, “I support the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment — just like right now, if you yelled ‘fire,’ that’s not free speech,” Biden continued. “And from the very beginning — I have a shotgun, I have a 20-gauge, a 12-gauge. My sons hunt. Guess what? You’re not allowed to own any weapon. I’m not taking your gun away at all.”

No? But Beto… Ah, if Beto does it you didn’t! Sneaky.

“Don’t tell me that, pal, or I’m going to go out and slap you in the face.” – Joe Biden, responding to the auto-worker who said, “This is not okay, alright?” after Biden spewed forth trivial nonsense not remotely correct about the subject he was speaking on.

“You’re working for me, man!” the worker said. As a public servant that’s true. As an autoworker maybe more so since the UAW is typically a direct funder of democratic candidates.

“I’m not working for you,” Biden said. “Don’t be such a horse’s ass.”

Good ole’ Uncle Joe winning hearts and minds. A real public servant and so eloquent with his assurances to this citizen that his rights are safe in Joe’s hands.

It’s really good audio quality.

The Razor Gen III is almost here… now what’s the difference?

We’re about a month away from Vortex Razor Gen III’s shipping en mass. Preorders are all over and I’ve got two coming (since I had to give the first one back to Steve Fisher) to round out the optics lineup.

But for anyone wanting a real quick rundown on the differences, Vortex has answers.

A quick 5 minute breakdown on the two optics and what is improved on the Gen III over the Gen II in short terms. For a more indepth review click on my breakdown here.

The Great Hand Sanitizer Panic of 2020

Has anybody else seen on the news that Purell and other alcohol-based hand sanitizers have disappeared from store shelves because of panic buying?

Yeah the sudden cleanliness push, plus panic buying, plus the supply chain disruption all associated with COVID-19 have all come to an intersection right on your local store shelves.

It’s almost as if no one has ever washed their hands before now. I wonder if people are going to tell their grandchildren about that time when they had to go through an epidemic totally without fruity-scented alcohol gel to rub their hands with.

It’s gotten so bad that there was even a post on social media the other day noting that no, you cannot use 80 proof vodka as a hand sanitizer – because it’s only 40% alcohol, and it has to be a minimum of 60% to be useful against viruses. I admit that this is a piece of advice that I never thought I’d need to pass along, but there it is.

The Great Hand Sanitizer Panic of 2020 resulted in Fox News publishing an article telling you how to make your own hand sanitizer with rubbing alcohol and aloe vera gel. This is when you know things are getting ridiculous. Nevermind the fact that homebrew sanitizer is less than ideal and many experts don’t recommend it.

Naturally after reading those articles I immediately ran out to see if I could still buy 151 proof grain alcohol (purely for journalistic research purposes of course).

Purely for “research” purposes.

I was successful in my quest, but then when I looked for aloe vera just for giggles, I found the Walmart shelves virtually empty. That one lone bottle you see in the back of the shelf? That is aloe vera, but because most aloe vera is sold as a sunburn relief, it also contains lidocaine, which is a topical anaesthetic. 

For when you want your hands to be numb.

The lidocaine is not in a really high concentration, but I picture all those poor slobs who bought it to make hand sanitizer, now running in a panic to the ER because their hands suddenly feel a little numb. I can’t even face palm because I’m not supposed to touch my face.

But seriously – when you think about long term storage prepping in general, is alcohol-based hand sanitizer on your list of essential must haves? It really wasn’t high on mine. Soap, sure. Bleach, sure. But not hand sanitizer – because it’s really a single-purpose item, and I prefer to store items that are multi-use. Though I suppose you could use it as a fire starter too in a pinch.

That said, some form of high proof alcohol can be helpful to have on hand in your stash. Not just for drinking purposes (although a watermelon soaked in Everclear may help you forget your troubles for awhile), but because ethyl alcohol has so many applications. 

Storing ethanol (rather than isopropyl alcohol which cannot be taken internally) means that you can use it in many different ways. In addition to being able to consume it in diluted small quantities, Ethyl alcohol is considered to be a superior surface disinfectant to isopropyl at 70% concentration. (150 proof liquor is 75% ethanol)

Ethanol is also useful for making extracts of herbs and spices – for cooking as well as herbal medicine applications. You can drink (diluted) ethanol as a recreational beverage, do surface disinfection with it, clean/degrease with it, and even burn it in an alcohol lamp. Why buy an item that only has one purpose when you can buy and store an item you can use in multiple ways?

Now let’s see how fast high proof alcohol disappears from liquor stores.

I also feel I need to include a little disclaimer here – because people are stupid. Do NOT drink industrial alcohol, “denatured alcohol” or methanol for gawd sake. Fourteen people in Iran were apparently that stupid and died. Don’t be those people, mmkay? They got “cured” of Coronavirus – the hard and final way.

Yeah, and the hand sanitizer thing? I’ve still got some left from SHOT Show, so I’m fine. But plain old soap and water are still better.

I’m not talking specialized industrial-size bottle antibacterial soap. I mean plain old bar soap – which there’s still a ton of left at Walmart. And you might as well pick up some hand lotion too, because with all that hand washing, you are going to need it. As one who washes her hands upwards of 60 times every day for my job, ask me how I know.

I realize that won’t be as exciting to tell your grandchildren about though.

Ultimate Urban Rifle – A TFB Series with Aero Precision

James Reeves over at TFB TV goes over some of the lessons learned last year at the Aero Precision Media Event hosted at Thunder Ranch. In short, what is the ultimate urban defense carbine look like? More importantly, what do you need to be able to do with that carbine?

It’s a great video and when you have a moment with 25 consecutive minutes I’d suggest watching the whole thing. But the opening gives you the complete picture of your start point. Clint Smith, in his no nonsense straight to the point manner, gives you the start of the answer.

“Every single one of you, right now, need to know how to shoot an AR. Load it, unload it, paper plate at 25 yards… Every single one of you need to know how to shoot an AK47. Load it, unload it, paper plate at 25 yards.”

That sums it up rather nicely. The two most prolific carbine platforms and knowledge of both will pretty much allow you to figure out everything else. If you can pick it up, load it, unload it, and rapidly keep 100% of your rounds in a ~8″ space at 25 yards you’re on the right track.

Should you pick an AR or AK? (The video is about the awesomeness of the Aero rifles and, having helped with the layout of these, I’m fond of the equipment on them) But does it matter which you pick?

Not if you do the right things and stock for it. Ammo for both are prolific, but if scavenging ammo is high on your list of desirable qualities you’re thinking wrong. Stockable cost effective ammo so you can supply yourself is magnitudes more important.

Well what about 7.62x39mm vs 5.56x45mm vs 5.45x39mm vs 7.62x51mm (.308) vs 300BLK (7.62x35mm) vs 6.8SPC vs 6.5 Grendel vs 6.5 Creedmoor vs .277 Fury (6.8x51mm)?!? Again, you’re thinking all wrong. Pick one and stock for it. You can then pick more than one if you want.

We aren’t talking just end of the world due to Corona and lack of toilet paper here, we’re a talking about you supplying a rotating stock of useable practice and protection ammo for one rifle. If you train at a prolific level (by national standards) this will be in the neighborhood of 2,000 rounds a year. That’s enough for a good rifle class and at least an equivalent number in practice on your own time.

Note: You should be doing this with your EDC handgun too, more so based on likelihood you’ll need it. Chances you need the handgun and have it are substantially better than need the rifle and have it, but know and have both. You don’t get rid of a the lethal gas detectors in your home just because the fire alarm is more likely to be the one that saves your life.

You’ll need a couple magazines of your defensive ammo at most for the home defense role. Rifle FMJ rounds can work in that space (defensive) magnitudes better than pistol rounds can (it’s physics). So it’s no substantial skin off your back if you only bought a single magazine worth of defensive rifle ammo.

What else do you need on the rifle

In order of priority

  1. Reliable Light (assuming iron sights are present)
  2. Quality 2-Point Sling
  3. Reliable Upgraded Sight (RDS, LPVO, ACOG)

All three are important. All three are high value additions to the rifle. They should, if at all feasible, be added to the rifle from the start. However, for material flexibilities sake, if you had to go without one or more this would be a logical acquisition order.

For example, we didn’t all use lights at Thunder Ranch. This didn’t invalidate the quality of the rest of the rifle or the usability of its components. It was just a missing item that needed to be corrected at earliest convenience.

Maintain your proficency

Put in the range time and dedicated training time to be certain you can efficiently work the gun. You don’t have to be working the fastest competition grade reloads and absolute minimum time smallest percentage maximum efficiency control layout with every gadget and gizmo. But knowing you can do a 3 second or under reload from vest, belt, or your back pocket and do so with on point repeatability, that does matter. Knowing you can shoulder the rifle, acquire the sight, and make an on demand hit does matter.

Review: “Why Meadow Died” by Gila Hayes

[Ed: Why Meadow Died is a powerful testament by the father of one of the murdered students of the Parkland killings. Unlike most of those who hit the media after that, his is a rational voice for the protection of children in schools. While guns are necessary, much more change is required too. We thank Gila Haye’s at the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Fund who allows us to republish this, first appearing in the ACLDF’s March Network Journal. This is long, but worth it; lightly edited for clarity.]

Meadow Pollack, 18, was murdered on February 14, 2018 in Building 12 of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School in Parkland, FL. Her father has since become a very genuine voice advocating true school safety reform. Determined to fix the unconscionable discipline breakdown he found in Broward County, FL schools and schools all across the nation, Andrew Pollak has also founded a non-profit foundation to fix school safety issues and demand justice for the families of school violence victims.

His transformation into school safety activist from businessman and father is chronicled in Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies That Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students, co-written with education policy expert, Max Eden. “This book is about exposing what went wrong in the schools so that parents across the country can learn from the MSD tragedy, find out what’s happening in their own kids’ schools, and keep their kids safe,” they write.

[H]e refuses to use the name of the murderer through much of his book, instead referring to FL prisoner number 18-1958. Much of the book illustrates the problems caused by leniency programs by recounting multiple failures to treat or punish 18-1958’s criminal behavior.

“Students told the media after the tragedy that 18-1958 had committed all sorts of crimes in school without consequence. If he’d been arrested, he could have been prohibited from buying a gun. Or maybe an arrest would have made the FBI follow up on, rather than drop, tips that 18-1958 might shoot up the school.” Students told reporters that he “threatened to kill them; he brought knives and bullets to school; he brought dead animals to school and bragged about mutilating them,” so many warnings existed before the killings, Pollack writes. How could all the crimes go ignored? Pollack and others began to investigate.

Pollock and his associates learned that failure to interdict violent students is a growing problem. In 2013, the Broward school superintendent rose to national fame in an article asserting, “Harsh discipline policies are falling out of favor across the country, but Broward County, Fla., is hoping to do away with them entirely.” Superintendent Robert Runcie had previously implemented leniency policies in the Chicago Public Schools earning praise from President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and spawning a leniency initiative dubbed PROMISE. After the Parkland murders, a reporter found that 18-1958 had been ordered to attend PROMISE in middle school but skipped out with no effort made to enforce his attendance.

The problem is much bigger than Broward County. Pollock cites 27 state laws mandating reductions in suspensions expulsions and/or arrests for crimes committed at schools. Pressure on schools to reduce discipline prevents educators from reporting student crimes and violent students are left in place where they disrupt classrooms instead of being moved into therapeutic settings that can treat their dysfunction.

In Broward County, the school district and sheriff’s office agreed to allow students three misdemeanor crimes per year before any report was filed with law enforcement. The negligence extended outside the schools. Sheriff Scott Israel had publicly stated, “We measure our success by the kids we keep out of jail, not by the kids we put in jail.” This mirrored schools across the nation that had also established campuses as “no-go zones for law enforcement.”

Liberals floated accusations that “racially biased teachers were unfairly punishing minority students” and pushed leniency in the name of equality. Max Eden writes that PROMISE projected “bottom lines” of lower suspensions, higher test scores and graduation rates in urban schools. Instead, standards dropped, school administrators created work-arounds to further avoid reporting student crime, and “principals across the district had dropped standards so low that students no longer needed to attend school in order to graduate.”

Nationwide, teachers and security personnel have been punished for reporting student misbehavior. They made tremendous allowances for fear of being sued by parents and suffering retaliation from school administrators. . .  Pollock concludes that the culture of tolerance assured students that the school would run interference on their behalf keeping them out of trouble even if they brought guns to school, sexually assaulted students and teachers, stole, trespassed or committed other crimes.

18-1958 didn’t slip through the cracks, Pollock asserts, his problems were deliberately ignored. After the murders, school administrators, judges and others excused and complimented one another; . . . a judge went so far as to describe the murder of the 17 MSD students a “so-called tragedy” and labeled as “racist” anyone wanting . . .  to punish students who commit crimes.

Why Meadow Died is divided into [four parts]. The first is told through the experiences of Parkland survivors, including a teacher who relied on training received elsewhere and kept her kids in the classroom when the fire alarms went off. Another source is a Venezuelan immigrant. His son was shot five times but survived. Other teachers’ and students’ stories are included. 19 year old home-schooled Kenneth Preston is a prominent voice in this book. He pursued the truth and wrote extensively about facts his research uncovered, but the school superintendent and school board smeared his reputation and recanted information they gave him.

[Preston] was not the only one treated badly. Parents and teachers, before and after the murders, were routinely brushed off by Broward school administration. Pollock asserts that, “the self-righteous and contemptuous attitude displayed by Broward’s leaders after the MSD tragedy helps to explain why it happened.”

In a troubling Part 2, the authors study the upbringing of 18-1958 (whose mother had a violent criminal history related to drugs): his adoption and home life, early violent acts, and school history. He was only briefly treated at a school for students with extreme behavioral disabilities, returning to MSD despite continued obsession with violence because he asked to be “mainstreamed.”

After 18-1958 instigated a particularly vicious fight, school officials ordered students who took videos of the fight to delete them, fearing embarrassment if the footage showed up on YouTube. Frightened, the students begged for help, complaining that he had “threatened to kill them and/or their families; he had threatened to rape people; he brought dead animals, knives, and bullets to school.”

The mental health agency charged with ordering treatment for 18-1958 interviewed him four days before February 14, 2018 but failed to refute the obvious when he denied suicide attempts while displaying cuts he had made on his arms. A frightened school counselor appealed to the mental health agency that had treated 18-1958, but the agency “decided [he] didn’t even merit observation,” although he had stated his intent to obtain firearms. Sheriff’s deputies [had] responded to 18-1958’s home 45 times prior to his killing rampage but when a citizen warned about 18-1985’s Instagram of guns and comments that he planned to kill people in his school, law enforcement declined [even] to . . . write a report.

Although she frequently called for police intervention, 18-1958’s mother lied to investigators about her son’s problems and late in 2016 allowed her son to buy his first gun. By then, he had turned 18 and many options to intervene had evaporated. His adoptive father died and then his mother. When his cousin asked the sheriff’s office to seize 18-1958’s firearms in the wake of his mother’s death, a deputy refused to write a report about her concerns.

The negligence compounded on the day of the shooting. A gate that school policy mandated should be locked was routinely left open for the convenience of loading buses of special education students. A campus security monitor riding a golf cart around the perimeter recognized 18-1958 as he got out of an Uber ride carrying a black canvas rifle bag. The monitor considered approaching him but was afraid to, so he radioed another security monitor.

Either man could have called a “Code Red” warning, but did not, later stating that training allowed “Code Reds” only if a gun [i]s seen. Additionally, the principal had mandated that only he was allowed to call a Code Red, although he was out of the country on vacation with his girlfriend [that day]. The assistant principal . . . in charge said the volume on his portable radio was turned down so he did not hear the first gunshots nor any of the early radio warnings about 18-1958’s intrusion on to campus.

The perimeter security monitor radioed another monitor to report [that] 18-1958 [was] headed into Building 12. This monitor, presuming 18-1958 planned to go upstairs, ran into a stairwell intending to visually observe the intruder. 18-1958 instead loaded a magazine for his rifle and started killing. After warning a freshman to get out of the way, he shot and injured a band student on her way to the bathroom, then killed three students. The second security monitor heard the shots and still did not call a Code Red. Finally, a fire alarm activated, prompting the assistant principal to evacuate the building, exposing a host of students to deadly danger . . . [as they] rushed out of classrooms and crowded into the hallways. If a Code Red had been announced, their teachers would have secured them inside the classrooms.

Meanwhile Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, the school’s SRO, arrived outside building 12 and ordered security monitors to get out of the building. Peterson drew his gun and hid outside for nearly an hour. When other Broward County deputies arrived, they, too, remained outside. 18-1958 moved through the school unimpeded. A student and two heroic teachers were killed as they shielded students or helped them escape. 18-1958 dropped his rifle and walked out in the crowd of escaping students. He was later picked up by law enforcement several miles from the school.

Woven through the history of discipline-free schools, is the story of Andrew Pollack dealing with his daughter’s death. As Meadow’s senior class celebrated graduation, Pollock reports that he went out of town to support “a new generation of armed guards to protect schools under the Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program. It meant the world to me to watch those guards get trained. Because I know that if Aaron Feis had had a gun, Meadow would be alive,” he explains.

The school later unanimously rejected funding for armed guards under the program named for Feis, the heroic coach who died at their school trying to save children from 18-1958. After months of blustering, the school hired eight of the 80 armed guards originally authorized. Metal detectors were promised as well, but two weeks before the 2019 school year started, Runcie decided not to install them and it was later learned that they had never even been ordered.

Frustrated by the official inaction, Pollock busied himself raising funds for a memorial playground built to honor his daughter and the other victims killed February 14, 2018, campaigned for election of school board members who would change Broward School District, and continued to investigate and dispute lies by the many officials involved in Meadow’s death, from SRO Scott Peterson to Superintendent Runcie.

Nationwide, David Hogg greedily sought the spotlight to politicize the murders of the 17 at MSD. His pursuit of fame eclipsed much of what went wrong in the Broward schools. In counterpoint, Why Meadow Died tells–often in his own words–the story of another young man, a physically frail 19-year-old who worked tirelessly to expose the truth about the Broward School District, Broward Teacher’s Union and all the corrupt administrators and elected officials. Kenneth Preston’s influence is felt in nearly every chapter of Why Meadow Died, and while he’ll never get a second of time in the mainstream media’s spotlight, that young man’s hours of hard work should have been the counter-balance to Hogg’s insatiable lust for fame.

Unlike most of the books we review, Why Meadow Died is not a gun book, it is not about legal defense or about the courts or even about personal safety. The book outlines the factors that allowed 18-1985 to become who he was, get a gun, and go to his school to murder students. The book underscores how schools are manipulated for political and material gain, and although in the end, Pollock wasn’t able to change Broward School District, there have been schools that have discarded failed leniency policies and schools that may be able, through understanding the connections Pollock and Eden draw, to save their schools from deteriorating as badly as the Broward County, FL schools.

Pollock’s final words are, “Talk to your kids’ teachers. Talk off the record so that they’ll tell you the truth. And if they’re telling you that the social justice discipline stuff is a problem, then take the issue to your school board. Tell them to get rid of ‘restorative justice’ or ‘Multi-Tiered System of Supports’ or ‘Response to Intervention’ or whatever else they call it. Tell them to get back to the old system that the social justice activists say is now politically incorrect: rules, warnings, and consequences. And if you can’t convince them, vote them out of office,” he urges. “The only reason that our schools work this way is because we, the parents, allow it. You simply have to step up, get involved, and make a difference for your children. You can’t let your schools be run like the Broward County Public Schools district.”

Pollock is right . . . [No other parent or reviewer] could . . . ever wield the same power as Andrew Pollock’s story of Why Meadow Died.

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Gila Hayes manages operations for the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, and serves as editor of the Network’s online journal, with two decades of shooting and firearms training experience. Gila authored the books Effective Defense, Personal Defense for Women and Concealed Carry for Womenwas Women’s Editor for Gun Digest, and has published many articles in firearm magazines.

Imagine Being So Anti-Gun That…

Roosevelt Twyne, 25, Arrested for "Illegally Carrying with hollow point ammunition" while having a license to carry in New Jersey and carrying ammunition, given to him for that purpose by his employer, that is expressly permitted by NJ law.

You arrest a fully licensed security guard for carrying illegal ammunition but that ammo is specifically stated by name to be allowable as ‘non-hollow’ point by the state. All for a tinted window stop.

You would be New Jersey.

Roosevelt Twyne, 25, is a licensed security guard with a permit from the State of New Jersey to carry a firearm. The Critical Duty ammunition he had (and was arrested for) was given to him for work by his employer and in accordance with New Jersey law.

New Jersey has subsequently railroaded the young man with the illegal carry and illegal ammo charges anyway.

This is a potent example of the excesses of government via gun control. Twyne has a constitutional and natural right to carry a firearm. It is Twyne’s job to carry a firearm as an armed security guard. Twyne’s employer provided ammunition in compliance with New Jersey law, the fact that the law is patently stupid is unfortunately beside the point. Twyne has the appropriate license from the state to exercise his right.

Despite having done all the things the state requires to not be arrested over a firearm, Twyne was arrested over the firearm and approved ammo. The one thing that is expressly not supposed to happen because you paid your ‘rights tax’ and checked the list to make sure what you were using was on the ‘good list’.

Nappen said the ammunition that led to Twyne’s arrest was the same ammunition issued by his employer. He also pointed to a New Jersey State Police website that says the polymer-tipped Hornady “Critical Duty” ammunition in question is “not considered to be hollow point ammunition” and not illegal to possess in the state—the website goes so far as to specifically name “Critical Duty” as an example of legal ammunition.

“It’s lawful,” Nappen told the Free Beacon. “It’s publicly announced as lawful because it is. It’s not hollow. It’s filled.”

Roselle Park police chief Daniel J. McCaffery did not return a request for comment. The Union County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to questions about the charges against Twyne but did say his case will be heard next month in New Jersey Superior Court.

A state whose central government is fervently against their people exercising the right to bear arms will ultimately not care what ‘provisions’ they put in place for its exercise. The state mentality is against an armed citizenry, they will act and err on the side of the state and people like Twyne will suffer for it. If the state mentality were different, even with the laws still in place, institutional thinking would be more likely to side with Twyne.

I’ve seen it here in my home state as we got further and further into our shall issue concealed carry. Officers in the state largely don’t care that someone they interact with is armed, its normal. They expect to run into it and it is no more bothersome than any other traffic stop or interaction. Behavior is where my friends in Michigan law enforcement always take their que, being armed is normal, but does someone’s behavior merit action?

In New Jersey and states like it, you know who they are, the very act of being armed is seen as a suspicious act. It’s evidently clear that, regardless of politicos lip service to national or state constitutions and protecting the rights of their citizens, they don’t believe it. At least where being lawfully armed is concerned, they at their very core do not believe anyone (except them of course, they’re special) have the need to access defense. They cannot fathom it, there is a fundamental disconnect in their reasoning even if they can run the logic through on a parallel tangent.

It’s maddening, and it hurts people like Roosevelt Twyne.

I am Not a Hoarder…

I suppose this article could either be considered “survivalist”, “old fashioned” or “trendy/green” – depending upon your point of view. You are welcome to take your pick.

These days the catchphrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” has become a thing. As people become more concerned about the waste stream, they are becoming more interested in ways to control what they throw away (and what thus goes to a landfill).

But in a larger view, this isn’t “new” or trendy at all. Our ancestors took that view all that time, except it was in the form of the adages,

“Waste Not, Want Not”

“Willful Waste Makes Woeful Want”

and

“Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, Or Do Without.”

If we are writing from a “Survival” perspective, these adages and attitudes still apply. If you can no longer skip on down to the big box store to get what you want, you have to figure out a way to make what you want out of what you already have.

I started thinking about writing this article the day I pulled an empty two quart bottle out of the office garbage can. It wasn’t quite dumpster diving, but only by a matter of degrees.

I swear I’m not a hoarder, but I realized how much my worldview on this stuff has changed in the past few years. When I saw that bottle, instead of trash, I saw a myriad different ways I could use it – from mixing up fertilizer water for my plants, to long term storage for rice or pasta. I swallowed my pride, rinsed that bottle out, and took it home. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

So, I’ll ask you to indulge me for a few minutes as I talk about a few ways you can turn one thing that is no longer useful into another thing that IS. Because whether due to zombie virus or environmental destruction or economic collapse, sooner or later this may be how we all HAVE to live. And if you can save a few bucks in the process, well why not?

Plastic bottles/jars

The ubiquitous and much maligned plastic bottle doesn’t have to be trash. It can – depending on the size and shape – be repurposed into things like: 

-Long-term storage of rice or pasta (flat bottles stack and stand better than bags)

Rice storage with a dessicator pack.

-Funnel from of the top half of the bottle

-Planter from of the bottom half of the bottle – I wrap clear plastic versions in colored duct tape to protect roots from light, give a little structural integrity to flimsier plastic, and to make my window garden look nicer.

Funnel and planter from a popcorn bottle.

-Scoop from of a jug  – I’ve made a potting soil scoop and a kitty litter scoop out of jugs that would have otherwise gone in the garbage.

Scoops from jugs.

-Water in the freezer – I refill empty Gatorade type bottles (they’re sturdier) and put them in the freezer. They can then be used as freezies in a cooler, and you can drink the water when it thaws (you can’t drink that blue stuff). Or grab a bottle before a trip to the range and it’ll be partially thawed by the time you want to drink it.

Cardboard/Paper

Do you have an overload of Amazon boxes? If you have a yard or garden, you can use that cardboard instead of sending it to landfill oblivion. Broken down cardboard boxes can be used as a weed/grass smothering underlayer when planting new beds or creating paths through your yard/garden. It eventually breaks down and works like mulch. And worms apparently love it.

Expanding the garden bed with cardboard.

The tubes from toilet paper and paper towels can be turned into seed starters, which break down in the soil when planted. Why spend money on buying peat pots? Use old take-out boxes as the humidity chamber, and you will have spent zero additional money.

Who can hate free seed starters?

I line shoeboxes with empty grocery sacks and use them as veggie planters in my window garden.

Shoeboxes to veggies.

Empty egg cartons go to the farmer’s market chicken/egg guy for reuse.

Cereal boxes, old bills, and junk mail paper can be shredded and used as a carbon source in your compost.

You are Composting, Aren’t You?

If you have a yard or garden and aren’t composting you are just throwing money away. There is no need for a huge ugly heap in your backyard – I have successfully composted chopped up kitchen scraps (fruit peels, coffee grounds, celery ends, squash rinds, eggs shells, etc)  in a contractor bag in my garage. Because it’s not a big enough volume to generate heat, you have to be careful about seeds and such, but it does work and I have the photos to prove it.

Compost before.
Compost after.

I haven’t thrown away kitchen scraps in two years, and in the process have “created” the equivalent of five or six bags of potting soil/amendment for my garden that I didn’t have to buy. And I’m just a household of one. In the event of an economic collapse that’s going to be important for your survival garden.

Glass jars and bottles

What about that empty spaghetti sauce jar? Or that empty soy sauce bottle?

Jars can be used for dry storage of dehydrated foods and herbs. You can sometimes even use empty commercial jars for water bath canning if the canning lids fit, but they can have a higher breakage rate. 

Bottles can be used for making salad dressing, herb-flavored vinegars, or even homemade wine.

Dried peppers in a molasses jar, atop a flannel sheet turned kitchen towel.

Cloth goods

I have cut up worn out flannel sheets and sewn them into kitchen towels and dishcloths. I ran through a lot of them when learning canning last year, and it saves on paper towels. Worn flannel also makes really soft handkerchiefs. (You know – those washable things people used before tissues?)

Sticking a damped piece of worn out T-shirt or sock on the bottom of your swiffer, mops up kitchen spills nicely, and costs nothing. You can even wash it and use it again. (Or throw it out without guilt after it is really disgusting)

Shovel into AK

Finally – for those of you who are bored with anything not gun-related – Did you know that you can upcycle an old shovel into an AK? Here ya go. You’re welcome.

You don’t have to be an environmentalist or a survivalist to put some of this stuff into practice – you could just be a CheapAss like me. It takes a little extra effort, but I have found it to be worth the trouble.

Because sure, buying some of those things outright may only cost a couple bucks, but a couple bucks here, and a couple bucks there and soon you’re talking about a down payment for a car, or a vacation, or a new gun. So – Waste Not, Want Not, Baby!

The Razor HD LHT from Vortex

BARNEVELD, Wis. – From mountain peaks to thick timber, the Razor® HD LHT™ is a versatile long-range hunting optic that can do it all. Offering best-in-class optical quality in an ultra-lightweight package, the LHT™ packs a full suite of precision tools into an optic that’s among the lightest in its class.

The Razor® HD LHT™ shines brightest when it’s time to stretch your effective range. A single-piece, aircraft-grade aluminum, 30mm tube provides plenty of room for dialing, and makes for an incredibly durable build. The locking elevation turret and capped windage turret will keep your turret safe from environmental bumps and bruises.

Vortex’s® new RevStop™ Zero System, a patented zero stop, provides reliable returns to zero after turret adjustments. The RevStop™ Zero System is one of the fastest and easiest to set zero stops available on the market. In addition, a coupon for a free custom ballistic strip from Kenton Industries can be found in each package.

The LHT™ comes equipped with an HD optical system, with XR™ Plus Lens Coatings for maximum light transmission and peak clarity. Optically indexed lenses make for optimized image sharpness and brightness, edge to edge, for a crystal-clear field of view all the way out to where the big bulls roam.

Easy to access, push-button illumination of the reticle’s center dot is intelligently integrated and recessed within the left-side parallax. Features 10 levels of brightness for optimal performance in low-light conditions.

The elite, long-range hunter now has the perfect tool to place shots with the utmost confidence. The Razor® HD LHT™. Go lighter for heavier packouts.

MSRP:
$1,399.99 – Razor® HD LHT™ 3-15×42 (MOA) 
$1,399.99 – Razor® HD LHT™ 3-15×42 (MRAD)
$1,499.99 – Razor® HD LHT™ 3-15×50 (MRAD)

About Vortex Optics: American owned, veteran-owned, Wisconsin-based Vortex Optics designs, engineers, produces, and distributes a complete line of premium sport optics, accessories, and apparel. Dedicated to providing unrivaled customer service and exceptional quality, Vortex® backs its products with the unconditional, transferrable, lifetime VIP Warranty. Built on over 30 years of experience in the optics industry, Vortex® has emerged as a leader in the optics market. 

9-Hole: Josh and Henry Pregame for Tarkov – SLR104F with 1p29 Optic

In the most recent episode of 9-Hole the guys take out a 5.45 AK with that classic com-bloc optic. The AK using militaries of the world, even those using modern variants of the AK, are often still slow to use optics and the optics in inventory are for ‘specialists’ within their job fields.

The 1p29 is one such optic. Like the POSP and other fixed powers, this quick attach fixed power 4x is mean to allow a single or couple members of a squad with 5.45 AKs to have one with greater effective observation and slightly more effective range. Com-bloc optics always seem strange to those of us used to western designs but the engineers do tend to produce a useable and durable end product.

Josh and Henry also very effectively illustrate that the 5.45 round has parity with the 5.56. Rifles chambered for 5.45 are capable of plenty of accuracy, low controllable recoil, and ergonomic ease.

Maybe I’m just on an AK kick after getting this RD NATO but good rifles and optics are good rifles and optics. It’s a shame 5.45 surplus dried up so completely. But 5.56 AKs and 7.62 AKs are still fairly easy to feed, so go get you some. Remember, go give them a follow.

STREAMLIGHT® INTRODUCES TLR-1 HL® DUAL REMOTE SWITCH KIT

EAGLEVILLE, PA, March 3, 2020 – Streamlight, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance lighting and weapon light/laser sighting devices, launched the TLR-1 HL® Dual Remote Kit. The new kit, with included TLR-1 HL light, allows for the individual or simultaneous activation of the light and an external aiming device. With direct mounting to all MIL-STD-1913 (Picatinny) rails, the Dual Remote Pressure Switch permits momentary or constant activation. The company also introduced the TLR® Dual Remote Switch Accessory for use with the Streamlight TLR-1® and TLR-2® series lights and an accompanying external aiming device.

“Tactical users and outdoor enthusiasts who also want to use an external aiming laser can now do so, conveniently and easily, with the TLR-1 HL Kit or the TLR Dual Remote Switch Accessory,” said Streamlight President and Chief Executive Officer Ray Sharrah. “Both provide users with what they need, and have been requesting to connect to their TLR weapon mounted lights.”

The new TLR-1 HL Kit includes the TLR-1 HL weapon light with Safe Off Tail switch, lithium batteries, a Dual Remote Pressure Switch, and mounting clips. The TLR Dual Remote Switch Accessory includes a Dual Remote Pressure Switch for use with TLR-1 or TLR-2 series lights (sold separately) and mounting clips.

The TLR-1 HL Dual Remote Switch Kit and the TLR Dual Remote Switch Accessory have MSRPs of $351.63 and $75.00, respectively, and include Streamlight’s Limited Lifetime Warranty.

Vermont State Police Adopts SIG SAUER M400 Pro Rifles as Patrol Rifle

NEWINGTON, N.H., (March 5, 2020) – SIG SAUER, Inc. is pleased to announce the Vermont State Police has adopted the SIG SAUER M400 Pro Rifle as the official patrol rifle of the Vermont State Troopers.  The Vermont State Police has jurisdiction for public safety throughout the Green Mountain State, with over 300 sworn state troopers.

“We chose the SIG SAUER M400 Pro Rifle because of the superior quality, reliability, and accuracy of the rifle.  This was an ideal choice for our department because the firearm has been extensively tested for reliability in extreme conditions, and the service and support from SIG SAUER has been outstanding,” said Sergeant Eugene Duplissis, Head Firearm Instructor and Armorer, Vermont State Police.  “Our Troopers transition to the M400 Pro has been flawless and motivating because of their familiarity with the platform, performance, reliability, accuracy, and capabilities of the rifle.  Vermont State Troopers are proud to have this rifle and confident it will help them protect the people of Vermont.”

The SIG SAUER M400 Pro is an AR-platform rifle with a direct impingement gas operating system.  The M400 features a full-length free-float M-LOK™ hand guard, enhanced SIG trigger, 6 position telescoping stock, a rotating lock bolt, and is chambered in 5.56 NATO.

“We are honored that the Vermont State Police has chosen to join the growing list of law enforcement across the country that are deploying the SIG SAUER M400 Pro,” said Tom Jankiewicz, Executive Vice president, Law Enforcement Sales, SIG SAUER, Inc.  “Our commitment to the law enforcement community is to provide them with superior firearms to protect and serve their communities, and the quality, reliability, and performance of the M400 Pro truly exemplifies this commitment.”

Red Flag Laws versus Reality

(from wikipedia.org)

As the 2020 Virginia Legislative session draws to a close this week, it appears that a version of a “Red Flag” law (House version; Senate version) will be sent to Governor “Blackface” Northam for his signature. I thought I had exhausted my complaints about these laws previously, but Virginia’s Bloomberg-purchased Democrats made changes that plumb new depths: “extreme risk” was lowered to “substantial risk” and the usual time frame of “imminent” was expanded to  “near future.”

Determining whether or not “substantial” refers to the likelihood or magnitude of the harm is an exercise left for judges to determine. But they receive no more guidance regarding risk assessment than whatever evidence they “shall” consider, leaving respondents at their mercy and reducing courts to the Chanceries of old.

Virginians can look to Florida to see what we’re in for. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence recently released a report of its examination of the usage of Florida’s Red Flag law, an “extreme risk protection order,” in Broward County.  The report opens with their justification for these laws:

“People who carry out violence against themselves or others often exhibit dangerous behavior and warning signs. Restricting firearm access in these moments of crisis is a critical way to prevent gun violence and save lives. Extreme risk laws give law enforcement a process to do just that.”

The key premise of Red Flag laws is that there is a category of behaviors that are neither criminal nor due to a mental illness that merits civil commitment, that indicate that the person is at such risk of violence that his/her enumerated rights should be immediately violated ex parte for the protection of the subject and those around them. Yet of 255 unique petitions filed between March 9, 2018 and March 9, 2019 in Broward County, not one of the cases could not have been managed under existing laws, either by mental health commitment or by the criminal justice system.

The report opens with a case study that demonstrates all the problems with the use of Red Flag laws.  One individual’s guns were taken following the conclusion that there was “extensive evidence of danger” based upon the following, that:

“. . . he always carried around a backpack, that he often seemed disengaged and disinterested during church service, and that he was easily agitated . . .

“. . . he carried around a heavy workout plate in his backpack and was claiming that he was training for the military. He also carried firearms, both in his backpack and on his person. . .

“He also held up his 10-pound metal workout plate and asked another youth group participant, ‘What would happen if I smack you in the head with this?’

“A search of his social media found posts stating that he ‘hates God’ and ‘hates church.’ He also published social media posts talking about the Parkland shooter and posing with an AR-15-style assault weapon.

“  . . he was obsessed with the idea of treating gunshot wounds and talked about shooting a dog to have a subject on which to practice his developing medical skills. He also talked about how he wanted to get a gun like one that snipers use because they are more powerful, and said that he liked the idea of ‘one shot, one kill.’”

Taking this data in the light most favorable to the Giffords position, that “he might turn into the next Parkland shooter,” can we rest easy knowing that his guns have been confiscated but he continues to move freely about in the community?  This is the glaring deficiency of Red Flag laws: guns are removed, but individuals remain unhelped. In this case, the young man actually committed assault when he held up the workout plate and asked “What would happen if I smack you in the head with this?” This proves that even without his guns, he posed a risk to those around him, and yet the report makes no comment on this.

Nor does the report provide any follow-up information after the confiscation of his firearms. That’s because these laws, and the people who support them, are interested in neither the subjects of these petitions nor in the general public that is supposed to be protected—they just want the guns. This is even more obvious in the summary of statistics about the law’s usage:  “412 guns seized, 3 per seizure, 67 guns surrendered by one individual.” The report was silent about lives saved, and not from intellectual honesty. That is not their main goal, and they can’t tell anyway.

The report puts the Florida experience in the context of other states that have had similar laws for many years:

“For example, recent studies show that for every 10 to 20 firearm removals under Connecticut’s and Indiana’s extreme risk laws, approximately one life was saved through an averted suicide. Studies also suggest that these firearm removals result in population-level reductions in gun suicides: Connecticut’s and Indiana’s extreme risk laws have been associated with

14% and 7.5% reductions in firearm suicide rates in these states, respectively.”

The “10 to 20” figure is offered as a feature instead of the bug it is. This means that from 9 to 19 people’s enumerated rights were violated without any benefit to anyone, and 1 person’s rights were violated but we don’t even know whether that dangerous person received any help.

Although gun-related suicide might have decreased, overall suicide numbers continued rising. Looking specifically at Florida after implementation of its Red Flag law, despite 3,500 confiscations Florida’s rate of suicide is climbing as it is in other states with Red Flag laws.

Red flag laws were designed by confiscationists to keep the focus on guns because it’s part of their plan to demonize them and those who own them. They want us to equate guns with their misused lethality, as if guns have no other purposes (like sports, self-defense or therapy). The report makes this clear in one item in its list of “risk factors”:

Risk Factor Prevalence: . . . Has recently acquired firearms or ammunition”

We know better, and we have to do better at getting the truth out.  Open Source Defense recently offered the following statistic which defines “well-regulated” for the 21st century:

“There are 423 million guns in the US. Each year, about 14,500 of them are used in a murder. Those are extensively studied, and that’s good. So now is a good time to start studying the other 99.9965721%.”

Keep in mind that influenza kills about three times as many each year.  Cars are implicated in over twice the number of deaths. Guns are not the problem.  “Gun violence” is a misnomer for human violence perpetrated with a certain type of weapon.

In the same way that we address human behavior to contain the spread of disease and to make our roads safer, let’s focus on people, not the weapons. We can much more surely make our communities safer by using the constitutional tools of criminal justice and mental health civil commitment laws.

.

.

–Dennis Petrocelli, MD is a clinical and forensic psychiatrist who has practiced for nearly 20 years in Virginia. He took up shooting in 2019 for mind-body training and self-defense, and is in the fight for Virginians’ gun rights.

All DRGO articles by Dennis Petrocelli, MD

Simplifying Firearm Techniques: When is Simple, Too Simple?

I recently read an article on an Army Publication Resource called PS Magazine that, while it had good intent, it was executed poorly.

Many articles that are geared towards the military try to simplify things, this is due to trying to reach a massive (literally millions) group of people that may not have the same interests, background, daily job requirements, or time to invest, as the publisher who is putting out. While they don’t have the same interests, the information still needs to be taught and implemented to train the soldier(s). This creates a fine line to walk between putting out good simple info, and putting out overly complicated info that loses your audience, even if accurate.

Note: This is meant for a standard operator that does not have a lot of time on the gun. Some techniques will be changed based on skill level and application.

The Topic: Malfunctions and Loading procedures for a M16/M4 series rifle.

Pretty simple, right?

The article, being written already, shows us (“Big Army”) that simple techniques involving malfunctions and loading procedures are being done incorrectly. Great, let’s fix that problem. However, the article put out oversimplified information and wandered into subjective and incorrect information.

Malfunctions: Misfire

The worst term I see get used, and probably the most detrimental, is the term misfire. I don’t even like using that term because it has having two very different working meanings, an accidental (now more commonly known as negligent) discharge, or a malfunction not allowing the weapon to fire (misfire/failure to fire).

They both mean completely different things, yet misfire is often used to convey both. Clarity is paramount, it’s why we don’t say “Repeat” on the radio, since that is a fire command.

Note: Malfunctions are seen MUCH differently from safety standpoints depending on if a round was confirmed fired or not.

Second Note: This is why the term stoppage is emerging more and more but in practice and in “Big Army” the general term is still malfunction, and malfunction clearance.

Malfunction: Bolt Override

This is another one I recently saw talked about. Yet it was referred to as “an on top of the bolt jam”. Have some faith in these Soldiers to have an above 6th grade level reading vocabulary and call it what it is, a bolt override.

They will find it much faster in the google machine when they do finally want to learn about how to clear it. They can also describe it more easily to the person there to remedy it if said Soldier never learned more to the malfunction than an “on top of the bolt jam”.

They aren’t the nightmare people believe, see the video below.

gunsamerica.com

Proper Loading Procedures

Ah, a super simple technique yet we are still screwing it up.

Bolt Placement

This is all mission/situation dictated, adjust for what you’re actually doing, but for now I’m referring to an empty gun.

I always say, “Let the gun work as a gun.” “Let it do the work for you.”

If you are loading with the bolt closed, bringing the charging handle back, and letting it go forward to feed a round, you’re not letting the gun work for you like it can. There are a lot of moving parts on weapons, they’re good at their jobs if you let them be.

Bolt Carrier Groups need to go far enough back to clear that round, sometimes operator error doesn’t bring that bolt back enough to do that. The bolt also needs to properly lock into the chamber by going forward with enough force. If it doesn’t have the buffer and recoil spring loaded/compressed to help it do that, it may not lock properly.

Good technique when running an empty gun is to let the gun work for you. Lock the bolt to the rear/open, insert the magazine, push and pull to ensure the magazine is properly seated, and let the bolt go forward.

Note: Don’t slam in a magazine on an open bolt! There is no need to. It will insert and lock without effort, pulling will ensure its in place

So how do we ensure that a round is actually chambered? Ah, the next misconception.

Press checks

Press checks are great if applied correctly and safely. More often than not though, they are not done correctly.

I try to teach Soldiers what press checks are, just in case the question comes up, or if someone is doing it incorrectly. However, I don’t teach them to do it. Instead I teach them to do magazine checks. I, personally, learned this from a Soldier in a Special Forces Group unit but most rifle and carbine instructors will advocate it. If they don’t, it’s a sign to look elsewhere for more instruction.

To ensure that a round is properly chambered, look to see what side your last round is in the magazine, left or right. After properly loading (see above), remove the magazine, verify that the next round is on the other side than last seen. If it is, a round has been stripped and is chambered.

Why/why not Press Checks?

With rifles, cleanliness, parts life, and operator skill dependant, it can cause malfunctions. Sometimes as drastic a concern as headspace, which is a safety hazard.

On the M16/M4’s, the bolt needs to rotate and lock into the chamber. If that bolt doesn’t get pushed hard enough and all the way forward, it will not lock. Thus not allowing the weapon to fire. After a press check (which again, you don’t need to do), you can use the forward assist. It is placed to grip and push the serrations on the carrier and push the bolt into battery. Reminder: this doesn’t mean you use the forward assist for any malfunction, it can cause added harm. There is a reason the round didn’t go into the chamber, smashing it is probably a bad idea.

The Otis Cleaning Kit, Multitasker Series 3X, and CLP is a must during cleaning sessions.

Lubrication

In order for the gun to help you out, you need to help it out, with what? CLP!! Do a light coat on a stripped bolt carrier group. Also put some on the points of contact inside the lower receiver. AKA hammer and disconnects. This will let the gun move with ease and function the way it should. Add on: it also helps with cleaning later.

For cleaning I use both the Otis Cleaning Kit and Multitasker Series 3X.

The Organization

No matter who the publisher is, an operator of the weapon, an officer, an admin NCO, when information is being put out to an organization as important as the United States Army, or ANYONE operating a weapon, the info must be correct.

This is not me bashing the organization, it is an organization that I respect and still belong to. Soldiers deserve good information, their lives literally depend upon it. We don’t have to church it up, so get a technique to be understood and correct information put out. We are trying to get Soldiers to understand the idea. If they want to learn more about it give them the tools to find that information.

Editor’s Addendum

One of the single greatest frustrations of my military career (not Stephanie’s, this is Keith‘s soapbox now and I won’t speak for her, but her article here is on just such an occurrence) was the attitude on the part of senior personnel that Authority equated to Expertise.

It. Does. Not.

And the most unfortunate thing about that is it is incumbent upon that senior person to recognize where there expertise ends and where they must exercise their authority to bring in experts for the benefit of their troops. It might be expedient for a company commander to task a senior enlisted with readiness of troops for individual weapons qualification, but that does not make that CO or SNCO a subject matter expert in the field they must now deliver readiness in.

But, for the sake of expediency, they sacrifice the individual soldiers. They find the ‘gun nut’ or the soldier who ‘qualified expert’ and, regardless of their background, shoehorn them into being the SME with whatever half complete knowledge base they possess. Or the SNCO dusts off an old faded TM and just opens it up and brokenly reads it verbatim or powers up the old powerpoint presentation.

This leaves soldiers with one overwhelming conclusion, their chain of command doesn’t give a fuck about if they can use their M4. It isn’t a tool to save their life, it’s just one more check in the box that doesn’t matter. But you better get to the 6th SHARP brief and do your SSD level whatever if the .gov system for the course is working worth a damn.

There is no expectation, especially outside combat arms, that soldiers know what they are doing. There is no real emphasis that it matters and it shows from the top down because it is always the task that gets pushed and gets the least emphasis. Most soldiers can’t soldier, despite the job they are paid to do or paid a smaller amount to be ready to do they need to be ‘worked up’ back into basic soldiers because CoC’s don’t put priority on it or resources towards it in a way to prove that it matters.

This is now a deeply ingrained problem that the few actual SME’s and switched on seniors are fighting against. But in so many cases, the seniors are buried under a mound of other shit they have to do. So shooting, the most basic fundamental task of a soldier, is not a priority and senior attitudes prove it.

So the rocker heavy, the warrants, and the officers who want to see improvements in this space must check their seniority.. they must check their authority and supplement expertise. Either by seeking that clear expertise themselves with a deep understanding they can pass on to their soldiers or the more difficult task of putting in the ground work and finding someone who can. If CoC’s keep taking the expedient route, troops will continue to get the message that this doesn’t matter.