In 2007 I was first exposed to the concept of a firearm training aid when I was handed a rubber ducky (rubber M16 replica) and tossed into a pool for a swim qualification.
The concept made sense, why toss working rifles that would require extensive maintenance into the chlorinated water (or nasty mud pit) when an equally cumbersome stand in can be used and then cleaned with a hose?
2009, with my certification as a shooting instructor, I saw and handled several other examples.
Not kidding, this was a training aid.
A training aid is a device to increase the effectiveness of training.
Armament Systems and Procedures, makers of several fine flashlights I am a fan of, have an extensive line of training aids. ASP donates millions of dollars in free training to law enforcement organizations nation wide and the training aids were designed and spun up to support that life saving mission. Better trained officers save lives, theirs and others.
ASP wanted to discuss their TA’s at SHOT and I ordered a few. Some P226 magazines, some MP5 magazines, some AR magazines.
And a G36K model because until I get the extra cash for a T36 build from Tommy Built Tactical it’s as close as I am getting.
Both the magazines and the Red Gun’s themselves are built of a dense durable polymer and are weighted to feel more like their real steel loaded counterparts.
For anyone wondering ASP switched polymer blends and sent me the new blend G36, it’s brighter. The blend is more durable and the mold is a closer facsimile to the G36K.
I’ve thoroughly abused these training aids within and beyond their parameters and they have withstood being dropped, thrown, ground down, and modified. I use them consistently in dry fire and demonstrative settings and they serve their purpose admirably.
Well done ASP.
Why use training aids?
Like the definition in Merriam Webster says, “To increase the effectiveness of training.”
If you’re teaching a class how to do a pat down for weapons it pays massive dividends to give them something to find. The same for searching a vehicle.
For force on force training or practicing room clearing techniques Red Guns are worth their weight in platinum as safe stand ins for the endless close observation demonstrations and pointing at live actors/role players. This additionally removes the risk of damaging a far more expensive live firearm during training that doesn’t require a live firearm to be effective. Many have rails so the flashlights, lasers, and optics can be added for greater training value.
For working with novices and persons more nervous around firearms a facsimile keeps you, as the instructor, safer and can generate more confident handling in the student because it “isn’t a real one”. They can then translate the pantomime techniques from the Red Gun to the live weapon instead of plunging in full nervous wreck. As someone who works with very new shooters often, incorporating red guns has a positive influence on safety and understanding.
I know a local Police Academy that acclimates their classes to carrying by making them EDC a red gun, assisting in normalizing the presence of the weapon and doing every day tasks while wearing one.
Red Guns allow a greater and more immersive exposure in a wider set of environments. They’re usable in situations where rules preclude live firearms.
ASP Modified
From their factory default the ASP magazines are not meant to interact with a live firearm. The are a stand in. However I found that the MP5 magazines would seat properly with the bolt locked open.
The AR15 magazines would with reasonable reliability too, after dremeling open the magazine retention tab, on an open bolt and both prevented the bolt being closed precluding even a single live round from being chambered.
The modifications allowed me another method of reload practice and a safer stand in if a weapon were to be used force on force. The inserted magazine prevents a bolt closure. No closed bolt, no fired rounds.
In Short
ASP-USA’s training aid selection allows trainers and end users to increase the structure in which they gain positive exposure to training techniques. From personal dryfire practice, to team room clearing tactics, to force on force, and any number of non-live fire valuable training exercises.
Especially if you are an individual in charge of an organizational training program, adding training aids like the ASP Red Guns will allow you to better capitalize on your limited training times.
Anytime you are handling a firearm, you must follow the 4 Rules of Gun Safety with great care.
When you’re at a range, it’s very clear what is down range, but what if you are at your home, a hotel, a classroom, or somewhere else where you have to manipulate your firearm? Rounds go through walls and can leave houses and buildings. If you’re not in a place with a proper backstop, you must establish what is a safe direction that can minimize damage if a round was accidentally discharged.
Create a safe direction by using a sandbag, shelf with books or magazines, a small Kevlar plate, or a ballistic material called “Safe Direction.” Kathy Jackson of The Cornered Cat says, “You must be certain that an unintended shοt could not do any possible harm other than minor property damage (and embarrassment). What will stop a handgun bullet in the home? Not an interior wall. Not a standard exterior wall unless it is made from solid brick. Not the couch, not the TV, not the front door.”
Kathy offers several options of how you can create safe direction in your home:
• Brick fireplace, but ricochet potential
• Cement basement wall, but ricochet potential
• Full bookshelf if you fire from the side
• Bullet-resistant vest hung on the wall
• “Safe Direction” practice pad
• 5-gallon bucket of sand, which could be disguised inside a decorative basket with a plant or hidden with other decor.
Always follow the 4 Rules of Gun Safety. Always = always.
Last Friday another school shooting dominated the headlines of the nation. A 17 year old student killed 8 fellow students and 2 teachers with an assault weapon.
Assault weapon in so much that the .38 revolver and pump shotgun, firearm technology that has been around for the better part of two centuries, were used in a deadly assault.
This attack threw a wrench into a narrative that the AR-15 and its ‘Assault Weapon’ peers are the cause of such high casualty numbers.
USA Today went so far in trying to adjust for this as to claim the shooter was using ‘less lethal’ weapons. Implying then that the carnage that COULD have happened if an AR had been involved would have been astronomically greater.
But more level heads in the debate, many who otherwise are against citizen ownership of the AR’s, have come to a hard conclusion… ALL firearms are capably lethal. So what is the point of banning just the ‘Assault Weapons’?
Arguments that held at least emotional teeth because a scary firearm was involved, a semi-auto handgun or rifle, are being shown under a harsh new light. The two firearms involved this time are the ones they implied were safe. The “I support the 2A but…” crowd just had the ‘good’ guns commit a horrendous act.
Plus the IED’s and Molotov’s that the shooter did not get to utilize. What ban prevented them?
This attack starkly displayed the evidence of what the Pro-2A community has been saying for a long time.
AR’s and other so labeled assault weapons are not uniquely lethal
A planned attack, conducted with deliberate method and lack of concern for the violence inflicted, will only be stopped by the attacker’s own choice or enough force in opposition
None of the measures proposed by the anti-2A crowd would have prevented this attack
It has brought the argument to its intellectually honest end state.
Do you propose to ban the private ownership of firearms? Do you propose to repeal the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because you are convinced, despite plenty of contrary evidence, it is the lynch pin we need to curb deaths?
For my part I can only hope that this pushes the hardening of school’s physical security more seriously into the forefront… I doubt it though, that’s a scary discussion where certain truths have to be spoken that nobody wants to speak.
A principal or superintendent isn’t going to come out and say “We can’t keep your child safe.”, even though that is the truth. They can only try their best, or sometimes just try their best in a politically correct manner, to keep them safe.
And we have a segment of society that does not want to acknowledge that we do not value life they way we claim to.
All this said school is still one of the safest places a child can be. But ‘safest’ should not ever be confused with ‘safe’. No where is safe if a person is given sufficient motivation to make it otherwise.
The PDW concept came to be at the end of the 1980s and was a product of a NATO request. NATO wanted to replace their 9mm submachine guns. They wanted a weapon that wasn’t as large as a rifle, but more potent than a submachine gun. NATO specifically wanted something that could efficiently defeat body armor. That’s the military/NATO PDW, but today we are going to talk the civilian PDW.
There isn’t a hard and fast definition of civilian PDW, and I wanted to explore the concept. Your standard civilian weapon for day to day use is a concealed handgun. I’ve been studying the concept over three different platforms, and this will be a 4 part series. Today we are merely looking at the idea and defining what I think the civilian PDW package would be.
A civilian PDW should be a weapon that offers a substantial advantage over a carried handgun.
The advantage could be power, range, or even significant capacity differences. The idea is that a civilian PDW would be designed for situations where a handgun is insufficient. A civilian PDW gives its user an edge in a violent situation.
A civilian PDW still needs to be compact, so it’s easily carried and stored in a vehicle or even on the body in some circumstances.
Lastly, the gun needs to be easy to use, and preferably in a common platform.
I also want to stay away from NFA weapons. NFA weapons are undoubtedly awesome PDWs, but do require some stamps, some money, time, and may not be legal under your state laws.
What is a Civilian PDW For?
A civilian PDW is for events where a handgun is overwhelmed and not enough. This could be an active shooter. To be perfectly honest a PDW is still likely not a fair match for a rifle, but it’s a substantially more equal option than a handgun.
You could be in a situation where you are facing multiple opponents. It could also be carried only occasionally when times of civil unrest seem likely, recent riots over police actions come to mind.
One reason I applaud the concept is that I travel frequently and I’m often staying overnight in a new location. I’m not bringing an arsenal with me, just my EDC and a PDW. In this case, I always have a weapon that offers me something more substantial than my EDC handgun.
The idea is simple. A civilian PDW is a gun that’s small enough to be carried easily, but large enough to offer a substantial advantage over my handgun.
Will You Ever Really Need it?
Oh man, I hope not!
I also hope I never need my EDC handgun or my Emerson CQC-7. Either way, I carry them. I don’t need a PDW every day, but I like the concept enough that I see value in it for niche situations. I’ve never needed my decked out bolt gun, but I have it.
The three guns we will be examining as Civilian PDWS are the following:
The Backpack AR
The Pistol Caliber Carbine
The PGO 12 Gauge
We are going to examine each of these platforms, their concept fulfillment, and dig out the pros and cons of each.
By: Jason “Jabo” Long, Swat Police Officer/Team Leader and co-owner of Ronin Combat Strategies – MASF Member
Originally Published in MASF Quarterly Online Magazine Fall 2015 issue
Hello, my name is Jabo and I’m a recovering terrible-marksman. I mean it; I was bad. Like the whole couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn type situation. The good news is that the nerd finally got the girl, the right vampire won or whatever, and I now co-own a marginally successful shooting instruction organization. How did I accomplish this pray tell??? Well I hope to give you an idea of what helped me, and perhaps help some others, during the course of this article, which will be the opener to a series. But first a little background:
My father is a helluva shooter. He was selected as the first instructor hired when John Shaw (Google him) started the Mid-South Institute of Combat Shooting in Walls, MS many moons ago. He taught there for many years and rubbed elbows with the some of the top shooters in the world and now owns his own training business. He also produced a super fast swimmer which would grow to become a bouncing baby man (that process is covered in a future article) who was both taller and much more handsome than his paterfamilias. Only one problem: the kid couldn’t shoot. He was missing the X-ring chromosome it would seem. It was further frustrating that the world class tutoring that was available to him at the time could not overcome the awkward lad’s complete inability to process it. Fast forward a few years and this mental midget was barely passing the qualifications to graduate the police academy. He did make it by the skin of his teeth and immediately set his sights upon achieving the lofty goal of being selected for his agency’s full-time SWAT team. Small hurdle: they carried lots of guns, and he still couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a freakin’ boat. So after several years of beat work (and barely passing annual qualifications), he was eligible to apply for the next SWAT selection. This audition begins with a one day screener to assess applicants who will then be either dismissed from the process or invited to attempt the 5 week selection course based on their performance. And of course there were the pistol qualifications under extremely intimidating circumstances. So there I was: young, balding (still handsome), physically fit (or so I thought), and absolutely terrified of the shooting qual. So in the weeks leading up to the screener, a buddy and I worked out together and practiced shooting (completely willy nilly) and by sheer will, I got marginally better at falling way short of achieving the required score of 95% out of 100.
Sidebar time. See, let me pause in the story for a moment to address the massive pink pachyderm in the room. Here’s the thing: most cops can’t shoot. I mean like really can’t shoot. I was definitely in the majority skills-wise. On yearly quals our regular officers pass with a 75% out of 100. And if they fail they end up getting something like 8 chances to re-shoot before getting their weapon taken if they still can’t pass. Now there are some incredible shooters and some really good shooters in the LE community but they make up less than 15% according to a statistic that I just made up to prove my point. Most are “C”average students and a few of them struggle every year just to keep their jobs. Pretty scary right? Well consider this: in America it’s now the cutesy-patootsy thing to give everybody a trophy whether they deserve it or not. I mean they gave me a job right? See my point? So you have more people being pushed through academies because of either lower standards or refusal to enforce standards (“Give them ONE more try….again…..”.) Also nowadays less and less people want to work in law enforcement due to the current social climate so they need bodies. Most cops will never receive any significant additional firearms training after their academy unless they have a proactive command staff or are assigned to a special operations unit. And a lot of them won’t participate even when it is offered to them. My agency has open practice days several times a month to assist shooters of all skill levels and most of them can’t be bothered to show up. The truth is we don’t like to do activities at which we suck. And since I’m on this soapbox let me go ahead and hit this item real quick. If you are one of those people who carry a gun for a living and you say that you “aren’t going to train if they aren’t paying you to” or that “you don’t have time” please punch yourself in the plumbing right now. I call bullshit. No, BULLSHIT. I don’t care if money’s tight, you can find enough extra $$ every month to buy a box of rounds. Maybe drink Natty Light instead of Stella one day a week or something. You can trim somewhere to find that cash. And okay, if you are the one person in the financial position to be able to afford nothing, check this little nugget out: Recoil management is about the only thing that you can’t train for by dry-firing in the comfort of your own home.Think about it: almost every other fundamental of marksmanship or weapons manipulation can be practiced dry. And the “no time” thing? You have the same amount of hours in the day as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mother Teresa, and the lead singer of Whitesnake and all of those badass people found the time to accomplish some pretty phenomenal stuff. You’re telling me that you don’t have ten minutes a day to dry fire while you watch some dumbass singing competition or “reality” show? Here’s a dose of reality: it’s only your life at stake. Actually it’s all of the other cops and citizens that you swore to protect who’s lives are at stake. We’re responsible for every round that we send downrange. The abilities must be there. You are not going to revert to your training under stress; you are going to revert to the level of training that you have mastered and made second nature. This is why I love responsibly-armed citizens. They devote their time and energy towards skills that they understand are essential for preserving life. Give me a class of citizens who spent their own hard-earned cash to be there over some cops whose agency forced them to attend any day. To my LE brothers and sisters: I love you and thank you for what you do, but if you have ever uttered either of those excuses, then it’s come-to Jesus time. The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters. Take your excuses and shove them up the tops of your legs, shut the *&^% up, and get training.
Sheesh, sorry for the rant. Where was I? Oh yeah, okay SWAT selection. So as a former “don’t have time” type of shooter, I had waited too long to begin preparing for the screener. My only chance: lots of prayer. I went straight Bon Jovi and was living on that stuff and lo and behold on the day of the screener, the Good Lord saw fit to perform the miracle of allowing me to pass the shooting portion. Hallelujah! I then survived selection and made it onto the Team. And we lived happily ever after……..until the next time that I had to qualify. I failed and was put on 30 days probation. I had made it and now I was in danger of losing it. I didn’t know that I had to CONSISTENTLY shoot well! I pulled it out of my ass and was returned to full status but the anxiety remained. I wouldn’t sleep for several nights leading up to any training day and I went through a lot of toilet paper. The breaking point for me was being the only one of my peers to fail a shooting qual. required to gain entry into a course. Something had to give. Enter my instructor:
When an instructor tells you that you are “jerking” or “slapping” the trigger it’s almost always an incorrect assessment. I mean, you may in fact be aggressively manipulating the trigger, but it is almost never enough force to create the extreme misses that we see in courses. I’m talking 12-14 inches off at 7 yards kind of missing. What is almost always occurring is that the other three fingers and thumb of the shooting hand are pulsing at the moment that the weapon fires in anticipation of the recoil. I often tell shooters that I don’t care how much or how little trigger finger they are using as long as the hand isn’t helping them to discharge the weapon. Someone way smarter than I (thanks Ross) dubbed this the “three amigos”, as in the three other fingers have been drinking margaritas and are trying to join the party. It is usually very difficult to get a student to realize this, and they will often vehemently deny that this is the case, i.e. “my sights are off”, “it’s the gun”, and my personal favorite “I’m simulating combat.” I’m pretty sure that the goal in combat is to hit what you’re aiming at. So out come the dummy rounds. They are the cheapest instructor that you will ever find. I use them on students and myself all of the time. Think you aren’t adding impulse from the hand when shooting? Let your buddy load your mags with some dummy rounds snuck in and let the laughs fly when you flinch like the first time you saw The Blair Witch Project. So once we have established that this is indeed the causation of many many misses, we use dummy rounds in every mag. The bonus is that we also get reps at immediate action drills for re-functioning the weapon. I began using these all of the time and after a lot of red-faced shame, I started losing the flinch. I went back a year later and passed that course. Obviously this isn’t a cure-all, but I’m telling you it will expose a flinch problem faster than seeing your parents naked. Stay tuned for next time when I’ll continue to waste most of my space on stupid stuff and then give you two sentences of potentially helpful suggestions. Deuces.
BIO – Jason “Jabo” Long – Currently serving as Team Leader on a full-time SWAT Team with a large law enforcement agency. He began his career in 1997 and has an extensive background in both conducting and training others for high-risk law enforcement operations. He is a lifelong student, sometimes instructor, and is a graduate of the Dept. of the Army/FBI Hazardous Devices School (Bomb Technician), DARC LECTC-01, and DARC LECTC-02. Jabo is the co-owner of Ronin Combat Strategies and is an instructor for TOSS.
By Sandra Kozero, Facilitator of San Antonio, TX Chapter
What sport did the founding fathers support for ALL citizens? When did the revolutionary war start? What gave the outnumbered patriots an edge over the accomplished British forces in the Lexington-Concord battles? Name a few heroic revolutionary war women and how they helped win freedom from England? Learn the answers to all these questions and more while throwing lead down range with your favorite rifle. What a fantastic way to spend a late summer weekend.
A dozen ladies from the Austin, New Braunfels, and San Antonio Chapters of A Girl & A Gun came together in south Texas at Lone Star Handgun to attempt to accomplish the prestigious Rifleman badge with Project Appleseed in a Ladyseed two-day class. Project Appleseed assembled a fantastic group of mentors that included a shoot boss, multiple line bosses, instructors, instructors-in-training, and Applecore volunteers, along with the Texas State Coordinator, to teach to basic skills of rifle marksmanship and the rifleman’s role in the United States’ independence from England.
On the first day, the ladies learned to shoot rifles from standing (or offhand), several different sitting/kneeling positions, and prone (lying on your stomach). The shooters engaged “red coats” at simulated 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards from these positions, including transitioning between the positions. This target also has the challenging Morgan’s Shingle which mimics a head shot at 250 yards. The proper use of a two-point sling was taught to help support the rifle during shooting. Natural respiratory pause and natural point of aim were also excellent methods of fine tuning targeting.
In between the tactile learning sequences, the instructors told stories around the Lexington-Concord battles during the revolutionary war intertwining how rifle marksmanship lead to winning our independence. Stories were spun around the ride of Paul Revere and his compatriots from Boston through Lexington to Concord and back to Boston on the 18th and 19th day of April, 1775.
The second day was saved for practicing the skills from the first day in a quest for the title of Rifleman. Using Appleseed Qualification Targets, stages of 10 shots at up to 5 points each from standing, sitting and prone; timed and transitioning between positions; and from 100-400 yards for a score of 210 out of a rare perfect score of 250 was needed to become a Rifleman. Only one in ten first-time Appleseed shooters meets this goal and the New Braunfels facilitator, Bonnie O’Connor, was awarded her patch (she choose the coveted purple patch) for shooting a 219.
Find a Ladyseed class near you to improve your rifle marksmanship and learn a little bit of American history, too.
“Most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on ‘pucker factor’ than the inherent accuracy of the gun.”
A note on accuracy.
It is a widely abused term.
If a rifle isn’t ‘Sub-MOA’ (even if the person asking has no notion what that means) or a handgun doesn’t stack rounds at ten yards in their hands then the gun in question “Isn’t all that accurate.”
Quick Reminder: The gun is almost universally more accurate than the shooter. The shooter is the greatest detriment to the firearm’s accuracy.
Variations on the theme of ‘combat’ accuracy abound. One of the most common terms thrown around is ‘Minute of Man’. Minute of Man describes a rifle or firearm that is considered accurate enough for a fight but not at the level of a precision rifle.
AK’s often get this label despite numerous examples of AK’s able to pace AR’s shot for shot.
So what is objective combat accuracy?
First a quick aside to define Minute of Angle (MOA) for those unfamiliar with the term. A Minute of Angle is 1/60th of a Degree of Angle which is 1/360th the space on the circumference of a circle. As the circle gets larger (distance increases) the physical space an MOA covers increases. The rough reliable translation is an MOA covers a 1″ space per 100 yards of distance
Let’s take a look at the U.S. Military for that combat accuracy standard.
The M16A4 and M4A1 service rifles firing with the (now retiring) M855/SS109 round had a minimal acceptable combined accuracy of 4 MOA. 2 MOA was allotted to the rifle and 2 MOA for the ammunition. If the rifles can group 4″ at 100 yards they are considered serviceable (I’ve never seen a rifle perform that poorly, most hover around 2 MOA).
This, at the rifles rough effective range of 500 yards/meters, will result in a 20″ group vs an 18″ human average torso width equating mathematically to a 90% hit percentage.
This is the minimally ‘combat’ accurate standard for a functioning rifle.
Handguns are held to an 8 MOA standard, 4″ group at 50 meters, for the new M17/M18 (Sig P320 and competing MHS contenders) giving a 16″ group roughly at 100 meters.
Are you generating these results when you shoot? If not it’s more than likely your shooting and not the firearm.
If you have a decent off the shelf handgun, tactical carbine, or shotgun it is combat accurate. But are you?
Stress induced accuracy reduction will open your accuracy up depending entirely upon how personally disciplined you are. Someone who is amped up on an adrenaline dump but disciplined enough to maintain mental and physical control could still see their accuracy halve. If you lose discipline in the fight their is no accuracy standard, you’re throwing rounds.
Do you train to reduce stress induced accuracy degradation?
Do you train?
Here’s a place to get started. Next, get to a class.
AAR Sentinel Concepts, Vehicle CQB Course
May 29-31, 2015
Location: Alliance, Ohio PD Training Facility
Instructors: William Petty & Steve Fisher
Course description:
Live fire problem solving course focused on fighting around vehicles. Also included was a ballistics demonstration of various caliber ammunition in pistol, rifle, shotgun to assess effective cover locations on a car. Identify weak areas to avoid while engaged in a violent encounter. Test the ballistic protection of windows, sections of the car, front/rear windshields and doors. Live fire drills consisted of single and two person partner scenarios. Fighting outside around the vehicle as well as fighting from inside the car to outside. Daylight as well as low light scenarios drills. Stress induced exercise (alphabet soup) designed to track threats and practice shooting above, around and under the car, while maximizing use of cover. We took breaks watching dash cam video of actual shootings that occurred from the LEO perspective. On the last training day, we finished with force on force UTM practice against each other to summarize cumulative lessons learned. This was an open enrollment class consisting mainly of LEO’s, military veterans, contractors, and civilians like myself. It was my first time training with cars so I was happy to be learning from the SME’s of this course.
Weather: TD1 morning was sunny and hot in the high 80’s. Held throughout the day. TD2 was overcast in the morning then fluctuated with sun and sporadic showers. At night time it cooled down a bit to around the mid 60’s and 70’s that ended in a downpour aroundmidnight. TD3 was sunny in the morning in the 80’s with sporadic showers. In the afternoon it was overcast.
Goals: To learn how to effectively fight around and in vehicles.
TD1: After getting our paperwork and intros out of the way in the classroom, we geared up, stepped on the line for basic warm ups/draw strokes. Eventually we progressed to shooting in unorthodox positions. From squatting position, to knees, proned out on our backs and stomach. Eventually the “urban prone” would be an unorthodox position that we all were familiar with by the end of the training session.
We took a break to discuss the physical design of the vehicle. The protective functions of cars, safety purposes of protecting occupants. The body of the vehicle from the front of the car (A) to the rear (C or D) was dissected and broken down into pillars. The engine block, tire and rims and the chassis areas between doors were designated to pillars A,B,C, and (D if a van or SUV). These areas would be essential throughout the course as primary cover areas against incoming rounds. A critical area to take cover, maneuver around, do administrative work, reloads, remedial action if necessary, etc.
After setting up paper targets around multiple cars, we started dry practicing movement from pillar to pillar, squatting, kneeling, and urban prone position. Then went live, took turns engaging targets above, to the front and rear of the car as well as underneath with 2 pant legs simulating a threat. After, we headed back in the class room to watch dash cam videos, debrief on the drills thus far, questions, concerns, etc. At this point since I was very new to this, I felt really awkward and sloppy. Eventually I would get more comfortable with more repetitions and practice.
After lunch, we had the ballistics demonstration. A paper target was set up parallel to the passenger side of the car. William and Yeti alternated, shot on pillar A with various fmj and jhp, bonded as well as non bonded ammo. We started with 380 auto going all the way to 45 cal, then 1 oz slugs, then 5.56, blackout, up to 308. Throughout each test, we examined if penetration occurred through 1 or 2 pillars, through the car completely and onto the paper target. The results were astonishing. Most did not even penetrate through one pillar. I was certain at least the 308 round would hit paper, but only managed to break through pillar 1 and stop at pillar 2. Within the car, most projectiles were trapped inside the first pillar, or broke through 1 pillar and hit the front windshield or the rear view mirror. Next, we focused on ballistic protection of doors. A target was placed in front of an opened door about 4 meters out. Yeti shot through the driver side door. First spreading a group around different locations of the door, then stacking rounds in one hole. The door failed miserably as pistol rounds easily penetrated through. Stacking rounds increased effectiveness in connecting accurate hits on target. After we tested front and rear windshields. I was thinking rounds would cut right through. Especially since we used 1 oz slug for this portion. I was wrong again. From our results, shooting rounds from the front to the rear proved sufficient cover. Rounds going in the front windshield tended to deviate trajectory towards the front seat. Meaning very good to be behind the rear of the car, very bad to be fighting seated against an armed threat. Overall we were all in shock of the results of this tests. Practically all of my guesses were incorrect.
After the ballistics demo, a small hydration break, we went back into live fire drills with 2 man partner drills. Doc was my partner and helped me greatly throughout the drill. We had a smooth run communicating and effectively clearing each car. Targets were located in the same manner as the first exercise. Use of temple index to ensure safe muzzle discipline was of the highest importance during this drill. Overall we all did fine, some mistakes, indexing while kneeling, or indexing too much while approaching the next car where potential threats were. We ended the day around5pm, debriefed in the classroom.
TD2: We started the day at10am. Getting back into live fire, we were introduced to the dreaded “Alphabet soup”. I had no idea what I was getting into, and was curious as to why we were setting up multiple targets and steel with letters and numbers around the van. The primary objective was to track threats, above, below and around the vehicle. William or Yeti would yell out the letter or number indicated to engage. And change the location sporadically. And if the wrong target was hit or the student was not in urban prone when shooting the parallel targets to the front and rear end of the car, you would be DQ’ed. This drill required extreme focus, compartmentalization of information as well as stamina. For most of us, we completed the drill fine. It was mentally and physically stressful, failure points were reached, marksmanship declined. Although I finished, I could feel my body mechanics getting sloppy. Marksmanship degraded as fatigue increased. I had to force myself to breath and slow down to get effective hits on target. After finishing the drill we were all exhausted and out of breath. We took a break, debriefed, re-hydrated, and carried on.
Next, we did a dry fire run from inside the car with a partner. One driver and one front side passenger. We were reminded to stack rounds through one hole to make positive hits on target. 2 steel targets were placed about 3 yards from the front windshield. Going live, we each had 2 runs, alternating as a driver and front side passenger starting seated inside the car, seat belt on. Once the audible signal of “threat” was given. We engaged the steel targets in front of us through the front wind shield, unbuckled, exiting and shooting on the move to the rear or temple indexing (moving) to the rear of the car using pillars and the rear windshield as cover, switching sides while maintaining muzzle discipline, temple indexing when appropriate.
We took a long meal break before getting into low light drills. Night runs were more difficult in addition to rain. Overall we all did fine working from one car to the next. Some students used support side lights while shooting strong side. Most students used wml’s on their pistols. An extra step of lumens was added to the equation in order to obtain visual situational awareness, information gathering in order to solve the problem. I made the mistake of tac reloading before clearing the rest of a car. I was getting more used to urban prone, and less sloppy on my body mechanics. At this point, I got better using pillars for scanning, reloading, malfunction clearance, etc.
TD3: We started the day reviewing lessons learned so far. Use of cover, ballistic protection in the pillars, windshields, more mindset tips, etc. We began live fire drills with a partner clearing cars, communicating with each other and then moving on to the next car. I was happy to have Doc help me out again. I started to rush most of the time and had to force myself to slow down. After break, we had another session of alphabet soup. I felt better the second time around took deep breathes throughout the drill. I felt more improvement second time around, able to track targets audibly by William. I had trouble getting the steel targets in the middle. After the first minute, fatigue had already started affecting shot placement. I was just trying to remember using the pillars while reloading or squatting low to transition from target to target. Focusing on maintaining muzzle discipline, staying behind the gun, constantly scanning, and staying low. Even though it was about 2 and a half minutes, it felt like 30 minutes of hell. Just mentally and physically frustrating to the point where I was completely out of curse words to yell at myself in order to press on. Drill ended, and I was just happy to have fished. Overall we all did great.
After debriefing and a break. We packed up our pistols and ammo, got briefed in the classroom about the force on force drills to finish the course. We put on extra layers to absorb the utm rounds, frisked each other to make sure no back up pistols or knives were on our persons. Then got to it. One student would start at the front right tire, other student at the rear left tire. We alternated use of helmets and with our face protection took turns engaging each other, practicing use of pillars shooting above and around the car. Once hit, the winner would stay, those defeated would allow another student to challenge the winner. At first my utm pistol wasn’t in battery. I went up against Ollie and got tagged pretty good. We went again and the second time around we both knocked each other out. After this final exercise, we cleaned up the range, swept all broken glass and debris, moved steel targets back. Debriefed outside on the benches, received our certs, said our good byes and headed home.
Lessons learned: William and Yeti pretty much explained the whole curriculum at the start. It really didn’t make sense until all the videos, dry/live fire exercises, force on force and especially the ballistics tests put everything into context. Adding on to what I learned in previous classes with Yeti, in particular the handgun shoot house. It is essential to compartmentalize information, especially when the SHTF combined with adrenaline, tunnel vision affecting the decision making process. Obtaining information is already difficult under stress, without composure and focus, critical mistakes could be made, moving too fast outside of cover, muzzle discipline deteriorating, improper identification of threat/non threat. A million things can go wrong at a second’s notice and then you are faced with a snap decision. Inaction or the wrong action could be fatal or degrade further.
Just like in hand gun shoot house. It’s all about using angles to your benefit. You may not like where you are when SHTF, but you must respect the geometry of the fight. Use angles to your advantage. Positioning yourself with optimal cover behind pillars, minimizing your exposure, positively identifying threats and acting decisively with the information available.
Muzzle discipline is of the highest priority. From observing others and taking note of myself. There were times where muzzles came too close to feet in urban prone. Or with fatigue grabbing onto the vehicle and muzzling an arm. Or while practicing temple index. I know I was guilty of indexing once or twice on my knee. But as the training progressed I got more comfortable using it. Yeti reinforced it best. “Stay behind the gun. Gun first, it always takes priority.”
Photos by: Jerry Sarkody, Rat Mountain Design
Act “sooner rather than faster”. This was repeated frequently. You don’t realize how fast you are moving under stress, with adrenaline, the unnecessary motions and exposure could be costly. What I got from this phrase and this class is, you can still be proactive, maximize your movement to your advantage and be efficient provided you have the necessary information to act. Not to be mistaken with rushing. But more or less capitalizing on time rather than wasting time making the wrong snap decision, then wasting more time trying to correct your mistake. A couple seconds may seem like a lifetime, but acting too quickly without thinking leads to bad decisions. Every movement should have a focused objective. If not by necessity to evade, deliberate action should always lead to a position of strategic advantage, ie, better cover, line of sight to obtain more information or engage, or important territory to control.
Fight from high to low. I was also wrong at first scanning low under the car, then to above. Always identify threat from above and engage under if that is your best option to minimize exposure. If the only available target is the feet, legs. Chop that tree down and go to work until the threat is stopped. I questioned when to maintain close distance to the vehicle. It is when threats have the advantage of an elevated position.
Body mechanics was something to take note of in others as well as myself. With fatigue inevitably coming to us all. It was easy to see sloppiness, moving sluggishly, keeping the head too high, not staying low behind cover, marksmanship deteriorate, muzzle discipline degrading. Doing administrative functions, reloads, remedial action behind insufficient cover such as behind doors, in between pillars etc. So much is already going on. I made critical mistakes going beyond the pillars. I got better towards the end with my movement, keeping my core tight, taking deep breathes throughout, squatting low and moving side to side. I eventually figured out a more efficient way to get into urban prone. By judging the distance to the end of the car, staging my knees first at a certain reference point on the doors, then elbows in order to lay parallel behind pillars with just my head and pistol protruding enough around the front or rear tires. But importantly, doing so with minimal exposure of the torso. The first time doing alphabet soup, fatigue had gotten me to misjudge my distance and urban prone too far out exposing my upper torso. The second time around, I felt better, more fluid in my movement and this helped me focus on using the pillars more efficiently. This would prove to be essential during force on force.
Photos by: Jerry Sarkody, Rat Mountain Design
Train with the gear that fits your needs and your daily EDC. Utilize your own customized setup, either a LEO with body armor, duty belt, or a CHP holder concealing IWB, appendix, strong side, etc. Too often, and I admit I have been guilty in the past of this, training with different gear and not the current EDC tools that we live our lives in. This time, I made sure to give honest trigger time with my Raven VG2 appendix. Did some draw strokes, got used to the mechanics, etc. After I felt comfortable, I switched over to my kydex holsters for winter time carry. Made a sincere effort to run them hard like I would be in a fight for my life, scratched them up, making sure my every day gear does not reach unacceptable failure points.
Evolving beyond square range mentality. From watching the dash cam video. The definition of a violent encounter is displayed. An altercation that happens in seconds notice. In a short time frame, usually very violent in nature. William emphasized fighting from the position you are in, rather than a position of comfort. I think many of us, especially civilians become complacent with square range mentality. It’s one thing to have a timer and be set in your fighting stance, shooting comfortably at paper targets. It is a completely different animal when that paper target is shooting back at you. Depending on the mission at hand, whether you are a LEO doing a routine traffic stop with too many unknown factors, or a civilian like myself going from point A to B, where violent encounters have occurred, road rage, armed robberies, kidnappings, etc. Train with your own personal setup and get used to shooting from positions where you are in your daily life, sitting (car, at a restaurant, movie theater), on your back, lying down, squatting, kneeling, urban prone. It would be nice if bad guys gave us the opportunity to get comfortable, in our fighting stances, press check, then begin the fight. But the real world just does not work like that.
This was reinforced during our final force on force exercise. All that square range crap goes out the window. I wasn’t in battery when we started. Even though I asked. I should have made sure to confirm the condition of my pistol. When we started, Ollie within seconds closed distance and shot me even before I could respond with remedial action. We restarted, second time around I did better staying low behind the pillars. Even though we both knocked each other out at the same time, had a draw. It raises important questions for those who take self-defense seriously. Observing the utm hits on my body. I was struck the first time on my upper left chest, two to the abdomen. Second round I got hit on the left wrist and shoulder. Would I be able to fight with just my strong side? If there were more problems after this altercation, such as multiple threats, would I be able to fight injured? Have the focus to scan loved ones and myself for serious injury? Is my EDC sufficient for this? Can I apply a tourniquet to myself or a loved one hit and maintain composure? I sincerely hope I would.
I am humbled to have realized how easily it is to be shot at within such a short time frame. As said above. From common sessions on the square range, qualifying for a job, or just doing drills on the clock. Most of us only train to shoot at paper targets but rarely think about how easily it is to be shot back. William said it best. “Assume your threat is more skilled or just as prepared as you.” I am glad I went up against an aggressive skilled opponent like Ollie. Because it was an important moment of learning for me. That just because you have the tools, train with them, do you honestly challenge yourself enough, treat it seriously as if your life and those you love depend on it? Is your current training regimen sufficient enough to survive against one or multiple bad guys? I’ve never really done force on force, but I now see why it is so damn important to participate in.
In conclusion:
I could easily write more on this AAR but did my best to organize my thoughts on such vast information. In short, this has been the most eye opening, mentally/physically stressful course I have ever taken. I came with the expectation to learn an essential skill and didn’t expect to be so overloaded with important information. So many damn light bulbs happened, my notebook was just filled from page to page. On the first day, William marked 18 points of effective cover on a van. At the beginning, many of us completely underestimated a car’s protective capability. I thought for sure AK rounds cut through cars like a hot knife through butter. But the ballistics demonstration put all the false Hollywood assumptions to rest. Basically, for those serious about defending loved ones and yourself, as a civilian, especially LEO’s, this class should be a requirement. You will leave with very odd looking bruises and cuts on your torso, elbows, knees, but the lessons taught are priceless. I will take the course again just to get more repetitions in. It’s not often we get to shoot at cars and train around vehicles. So I have nothing but positive opinion from this course. Come humble, have gloves, knee/elbow pads, have decent cardio, and definitely bring a notebook/pen.
Finally, I can’t thank William and Yeti enough for the knowledge bombs they dropped on us. Not just the science and strategic information but also the mindset. Controlling emotions under stress proves to be extremely difficult, but training can at least mitigate the bad decisions often made during chaotic violent encounters. We can’t control when we get ambushed by belligerent violence nor can we control when we have to punch that card. But what we can control is using this knowledge and quality training, repetitions to fight our way out of bad situations into better ones, mainly to protect our loved ones and live another day. We have no choice but to perform our best under extreme duress, the worst conditions thinkable and hope we default to the extra knowledge gained and repetitions practiced. William said it best. It’s easy for anyone toMondaynight QB an opinion watching dash cam video, but say it again when you actually are in the situation, under stress, adrenaline, clouded by tunnel vision. Do some alphabet soup, then give an opinion after that. It isn’t sufficient amount of training that is lacking, but the type of training one receives. I pray to God that I will never have to use this knowledge in an actual fight, but I feel enriched with the knowledge gained from this course. So that’s it for now. God bless, stay safe and keep on rocking friends!
When a shooter, regardless of level of instruction, experiences a simple malfunction, she or he should go through standard correction steps. These steps are simple and effective, and above all, the safest and fastest way to put the gun back in battery. Just as you know your firearm safety laws, you should know your rapid malfunction steps.
The TAP-RACK-BANG drill, also known as the immediate action drill, is a simple process to effectively deal with a minor malfunction, such as a fail-to-eject or failure-to-feed. TAP-RACK-BANG has three steps, covered below:
TAP– The “Tap” is hitting the bottom of the grip to seat the magazine. A failure-to-feed is possible when the magazine was not securely seated into the weapon when the chambered round was fired and ejected. The next round in the magazine is too far below to be fed into the chamber, so the slide closes on an empty magazine. “Tap” the weapon by firmly gripping the frame in shooting grip, indexed trigger finger, muzzle down range. Using the heel of your support hand, pop the magazine base plate with a firm, solid strike ensuring the magazine locks into the frame.
RACK – The “Rack” is exactly that. Pull the pistol back into your torso and canting slightly inboard, still in a firm shooting grip, with your trigger finger indexed. Firmly grip the slide with your support hand, four fingers on the outside of the slide and thumb on the inside. Using a push-pull method, quickly push the frame with your strong hand and pull the slide with your support hand to fully rack the slide. Hopefully with the magazine seated, you have now chambered the round that the slide missed before and the weapon is back in battery. *NOTE – DO NOT RIDE THE SLIDE. LET IT SLAM HOME!
BANG – The “Bang” is the bang. Assess that your gun is in battery and safe to fire. Keep your firearm extended with a solid, forward-leaning stance and proper grip. Take a sight picture, focus on the front sight post, and complete your trigger press.
TAP-RACK-BANG works to clear malfunctions, such as stove pipes, missed empty cases, failure to feed, light strikes, etc. It will not clear a double feed; however, when you release the slide on the “RACK” you will notice the slide is not fully locking or “short.” At this point, you can lock the slide to the rear, observe the jam in the chamber, drop the mag, clear the round, and reset the magazine. For more serious malfunctions, such as a squib round, do not use this drill; it is important that your training includes assessing malfunctions so that you can quickly and appropriately manage any problem.
While not a fix-all for every problem and aside catastrophic failure, the TAP-RACK-BANG is the easiest way to get your weapon back in battery and get you back in the fight.
Dry Fire Practice can be a great way to improve your skills. You don’t have to be outside in 10′ of snow, or have the expense of range fees or ammo, and you can improve your muscle memory for trigger control, follow through, and speed of mag changes.
However, you must exercise extreme caution when pulling the trigger in your home. It is critical that you follow these dry-fire safety rules:
1. Make sure gun is safely unloaded.
2. Remove all live ammo from practice area/room.
3. Ensure you have a safe direction for unloading — and then reloading when you’re done.
4. No distractions. If you get a phone call or visitor to your space, stop. If you want to continue dry firing, start back at Step 1.
5. When you have made the decision to stop dry firing, stop. Do not go back and shoot again.
Do not allow any live ammo in the practice area and/or room. If there are ANY distractions, STOP. Sometimes people forget that they have loaded a live round and they will do just one more dry-fire drill. This is how they accidentally shoot their ΤV set.
Dry fire is a training tool that lets you focus on the fundamentals, which can save your life if the situation arises, impress your friends with tight groupings, and even win competitions. Need ideas for dry-fire drills? Our Shooting Journal has 12 months of dry-fire drills. We also offer Dry Fire Training Cards that have more than 50 dry fire exercises and drills contained in the Dry Fire Training Card Deck, you’ll always have another fun, powerful and exciting dry fire drill to look forward to!
What is your ‘necessary’ modification to any firearm or subset of firearms?
On handguns most people pick sights. Night sights are a near mandatory upgrade and picking a set and adding them before leaving the store is common. I’ve only personally avoided that upgrade on my last 3 handguns because they came standard from the factory.
SIG Legion P226 & P229G19X
The cost enveloped in the purchase, sometimes with a savings.
How about triggers?
Do you stay stock or do you modify?
Currently all my sidearms are factory stock. The Legions are a Gray Gun’s specials of the Sig SRT’s but still unmodified from out of the box.
My rifles however, almost universally run upgraded two stage triggers. Only one remains stock at present and that is on the list to upgrade. I’ve come to consider this my ‘necessary’ upgrade for rifles and carbines.
I’m still of the mind that factory stock triggers are fine. They work fine. But now when plotting a modification plan of a given platform, swapping the trigger has become a natural part of that plan.
What else?
Grips?
Cosmetics?
How about an NFA Title change?
Making a pistol firearm into an SBR or another such modification to Title II? Or revoking the stamp and reverting to Title I?
This is an idea I’m toying with currently and to satisfy my modification itch I’m adding the Maxim Defense CQB to my LWRCi PSD, shortening the length a bit more and placing it closer to the intended role I’m asking of it.
This poor rifle has endured more of my tinkering and experimenting than any other and as I would expect from it… it continues to run just fine. More optics, triggers, muzzle devices, grips, lights, and lasers have been given to this weapon to chew on than anything else. Likely this will continue.
Originally Published in MASF Quarterly Online Magazine Fall 2015 issue
My name is Samantha Harris. I’m a 23 year old college student living in California with a part time job. I live with my doting boyfriend and have a wonderful family. I have four siblings, 3 of which are older than me, and one who is younger. My mother and father are separated and my step-families have all departed from my life.
I grew up in a small, tight-knit community on the outskirts of Bakersfield, California. Having older siblings, I had the privilege of meeting some of the older children from the neighborhood. These individuals all became a family of sorts, with all of us supporting one another and maintaining contact even after everyone had packed up and moved on with their own, new families. After my father left, my mom remarried and I gained four additional siblings, but after 7 taxing years of marriage, this too came to an end.
When I was 17, my life revolved around my friends and school. I had dreams of going into culinary school to be a chef and was both excited and anxious to set out on my own. After school one day, my mom announced to me that my step-brother Anthony would be moving back in with us. She explained that we were tight on money and needed extra support and that Anthony was in need of a home. I had never been fond of Anthony, as he was always loud and short-tempered but I kept my thoughts to myself.
Anthony moved in the following week, and we worked quickly to unpack his belongings. He mentioned in passing that he had been laid off from work at a children’s hospital in Chicago and wanted desperately to go back to work. One evening, after finishing the unpacking process Anthony set out to contact old friends and managed to get a hold of his friend, Josh. I had known Josh throughout my entire life, longer than I had known Anthony. My family was close with his, and Josh’s house became a place of comfort and relaxation for many of my siblings. Still, I was always on edge around Josh knowing his short tempered personality and affinity for substance abuse.
Anthony excitedly told me that Josh had invited him over to his house for a beer and asked if I would like to join the two. I quickly declined the invitation, knowing this could either be the potential for disaster or ensuing boredom. Anthony urged me to come along, insisting that we would only be there for “5 minutes.” Those 5 minutes became the longest 5 minutes of my life. Anthony and I loaded into our barely running Ford Expedition and took to the backroads of our neighborhood. Josh lived with his parents, less than two miles away from us. We arrived within minutes and parked on the back acre, next to his work trucks.
Anthony and I got out of the Expedition and found Josh in his shed, hard at work. As we approached Josh, it appeared as though he had not noticed our arrival and continued about his work. We walked over and greeted him, only to be ignored. I asked him if he would rather us come back later, to which he replied, “No.” Anthony, seeing Josh lent a helping hand. The two of them made small talk while they collected wet brush and tumbleweeds, placing them into a small burn pit. I stood away, texting my friends while the two worked.
I noticed Josh walk into his shed and grab two gallons of gasoline, presumably for the fire. The two worked to ignite the fumes, standing close to the pit and pouring endless amounts of gasoline into the pit. As the two struggled to ignite the fire, I walked a distance away from the pit so as not to get burned by the ensuing fire. Finally, the fire grew at the bottom of the pit leaving the two men to celebrate their small success. I began walking away from the scene when I noticed Josh still had a canister of gasoline in his hands. Josh and I stood opposite of one another and briefly made eye contact before he sprayed me in the face with gasoline. I was instantly engulfed in a raging fire and quickly inhaled. I don’t remember much but my head hitting the cold, wet ground, my face still burning. Anthony and Josh worked to put out the flames, but I was quickly losing consciousness. Anthony rushed me over to a water hose and removed the debris from my eyes.
Being the middle of January, I shivered under my wet clothes and quickly went into shock. I looked around the property to find Josh but was disgruntled to see him casually drinking a beer. I quickly realized that neither Anthony nor Josh would be seeking medical assistance and I assumed that I was fine. Anthony quickly rushed me over to the Expedition and told me to wait while he gathered our belongings.
As we drove down the back roads, Anthony told me to not look at my reflection, afraid of what my reaction might be. I remained silent when Anthony suddenly told me not to tell anyone what had happened. Confused, I asked him what I should tell my mom to which he replied that he would handle it. My mom was waiting at the front door when we arrived. Startled, she asked what happened. Anthony explained to her that there had been a freak accident and that I had been caught in a nasty gust of wind when Josh worked to ignite the small fire.
That night, I was rushed to a nearby hospital where it was determined that I had sustained first, second, and partial third degree burns to my face, neck, and lungs. It wasn’t long before a sheriff entered the room and explained that he was called by the hospital staff and was suspicious of the underlying circumstances of my burns. He requested that my mother and I file criminal charges against step-brother and Josh. I refused, explaining that these were two men that I had known throughout my entire life and that they would never do anything like that. The sheriff gave my mother his card, insisting that we take time to reconsider our decision.
After the sheriff left, I was immediately transferred to a Burn Hospital where I underwent 3 grueling surgeries in an attempt to save my face and lungs from further damage. Upon my release from the hospital, Josh was waiting for me. I remember him sitting beside me as he explained why he wouldn’t be offering an apology. He explained that he simply did not know that I would be so badly injured by his actions and the entire situation was nothing more than an accident.Josh left the house and was not seen again until my mother and I filed a lawsuit against his parent’s Home Owner’s Insurance. There was a brief moment of hesitation from my attorneys as they explained that my situation appeared to be an assault rather than an accident, and that the insurance company would not offer any compensation if the claim was an assault. Still, my mom and I pushed forward with the lawsuit.
Days later, Anthony left the house in search of a place for better employment leaving an open room for my younger sister to move into. One afternoon Josh showed up at my mom’s house threatening violence against us for filing the lawsuit. I left the house, urging for my mom to call the police department in an attempt to escape Josh’s rage.
The situation escalated when Josh and his father started following my younger sister to local stores when she traveled along, cornering her and taunting her until she broke down in tears. Fearing for our safety, I filed for a restraining order against Josh. Unfortunately, due to my failing of following procedures the restraining order was struck down. In court, Josh claimed that I was “sue happy,” and humiliated him to the point where he could no longer function with his day-to-day life. He insisted that he was the victim and I the predator, the perpetrator of his pain. Furious, I stood and urged for him to stop and leave my family out of the situation, begging him to come to me if he had a problem so that we could set aside our differences. Still, Josh refused.
After we left the court house, my mom, younger sister and I made the decision to go in different directions to further deescalate the situation. My younger sister moved back to Texas and me with a close friend. The contact between Josh and I became less and less, with years passing before he would make an attempt to contact me.
Still, the totality of the situation left me with severe Post Traumatic Stress. I became afraid to leave my house without the constant fear that he would be there, watching and waiting for me to be alone. I stopped talking to friends and family out of fear and embarrassment that he would somehow find me, or worse; he would find them and hurt them to get to me. I spent much of the last 7 years fearing for my life and safety.
I’ve spent 7 years reviewing every moment from that incident, wondering if there was anything I could have done differently and, if there was then what could it have been? I was young, naïve, and took situations for granted, and this is where the answer lies. Had I trusted my instincts telling me not to go with Josh and Anthony, there’s a possibility that none of this would have happened. I failed to utilize basic survival instincts, such as situational awareness or self-defense tactics.
Over time, I came to an understanding that I had the correct instincts but failed to use them. With this, I transformed myself from a victim to a fighter. For the first time in years, I felt like fighting for my life rather than taking a back seat to my survival.
Now, I see an opportunity for survival. I have a solid understanding that my life is in my hands, and that if I utilize situational awareness and self-defense tactics that I can fight for my life rather than simply survive. I’m no longer upset over what happened, and I’ve made it a point to discuss the situation with others in hopes of sending a message of survival and inspiration to those that find themselves struggling with difficult situations. I urge others to use their instincts and to learn about situational awareness, as it could be the defining line between life and death.Today, my life is bursting with positivity. I’ve made it past my personal darkness and am now pursuing a dedicated career in Federal Law Enforcement with hopes of someday joining the military. I’m completing my BA in Sociology and will go on to pursue my Master’s Degree in Homeland Security. I have a wonderful boyfriend that takes absolute care of me, and we have hopes of one day starting our own life together. The truth is, my life didn’t end that day in the fire; it simply just began.
This little RDS has been on for 14 months without a single complaint. I wanted an MRO but one could not be acquired in time to attend my MP5 Operator’s Course. I ‘settled’ for this budget sight and it has given me no cause to complain. It has been jostled, bumped, wet, left on, and I have actually passively wanted it to die just to give it a hard limit. The MOTAC ‘move to turn on’ feature always seemed sketchy to me but.. it’s working, still. I want to find a reason to knock the sight down a peg but I cannot and so it’s the budget red dot I would recommend.
This Front Focal Plane 4.5-18x optic can be acquired for a very modest $550-$600 and has pleased shooters looking to scratch at the premium feature field of precision optics. With milliradian reticle and controls, side parallax adjustments, and lifetime warranty the MLX is batting a very high game per dollar. I know several shooters with them on a variety of rifles with great praise for this scope.
Category: Best All Purpose/General Purpose Optic
This is the ‘if you could only have one’ question and in my opinion it is a harder question to answer than the ‘one rifle’ or ‘one handgun’ question.
What do you need an all-role/multi-role optic to cover?
This 4x32mm Dual Illuminated optic has one of the most extensively documented combat pedigrees, including across the board adoption by the United States Marine Corps for the M16/M4 platforms with the TA11 and TA648 holding slots for the M249, M240, M27, and M2.
Does it hit the 3 categories?
Full Effective Range: The TA31’s 4x fixed power and wide field of view make engaging targets much quicker and simpler than with iron sights. The dual illuminated portion of the reticle, courtesy of the fiber optics and tritium, allow easy engagement from 0-300 yards/meters using the Bindon Aiming Concept (BAC) under 50m or so and conventional sight picture further out.
The ACOG was so effective in increasing the individual shooter’s abilities to take full advantage of weapon accuracy the DoD investigated the USMC wondering if they were executing enemy combatants (nope, just head shots).
Even on 7.62×51 platform estimating shots to 600 and 800 meters can be accomplished and 4x gives a far better observation capability than the naked eye.
Durability: The TA31 does not use an electronic component. It cannot run out of power and the tritium component only has to be replaced once in a decade plus. The 7075-T6 housings are incredibly strong and the sight weighs 10oz, lighter than any variable power optic and several competing red dots. This keeps the weight you’re hauling low too, saving you upwards of a pound and taxing endurance far less.
The TA31 is a hard sight to phase. Damage that would cause the sight to fail will just as likely bust the rifle too.
Maintenance/Up Keep: The battery devoid design makes it a nearly non perishable sight (the tritium is the only exception and it dimming does not nullify the sight operating). It’s waterproof to 100 meters (in case you feel like chilling 300+ feet underwater) and won’t risk loss in the rain and mud.
Basically check that screws are tight, look for obvious damage to the housing and fiber optic, dust it off. End of maintenance.
Reticle choice?
I was raised on the RCO Chevron.
I own an ECOS crosshair.
But my favorite would have to be the ACSS
In my opinion, nearly half way through 2018. The ACOG is still king.
This week, Brian takes a look at Thermal Defense Solutions. They were exhibitors at the Big 3 Media event this past March.
I wanted to do a quick write-up on a really innovative company we saw at the Big 3 Media Event. Thermal Defense Solutions or TDS for short is a new company making suppressors. As we often hear in the industry they have their roots in aerospace manufacturing. What makes them stand out is not so much the fact that they 3D print their suppressors, because they aren’t the first to use 3D printing technology, but the designs they are employing can only be economically created by a 3D printing process.
The design incorporates a traditional baffle stack is surrounded by a spiral structure. It is definitely a different design and according to them it eliminates the secondary ignition seen during rapid fire or full auto bursts. This is increasingly important for military applications as suppressed fire becomes more and more common for them and that secondary ignition is an obvious problem for our night-time war fighters. In my own shooting it did mitigate some of the gas to the face you typically receive shooting a suppressed DI system.
They have a wide variety of models so far but the one that really stood out to me was the Bantam. It is a centerfire 5.56 suppressor with a 1.25 inch outside diameter and 4.7 inches long weighing in at only 6.5 ounces!!! It is just not quite hearing safe however I did fire it without once just to see how bad it was. I wouldn’t recommend making a habit of it but in a hunting or home defense situation it is manageable. Combine that with the $699 asking price and I think I found my next suppressor purchase.
You can check out TDS at their websitefor more details about their product offerings.
Think about it: almost every other fundamental of marksmanship or weapons manipulation can be practiced dry. And the “no time” thing? You have the same amount of hours in the day as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mother Teresa, and the lead singer of Whitesnake and all of those badass people found the time to accomplish some pretty phenomenal stuff. You’re telling me that you don’t have ten minutes a day to dry fire while you watch some dumbass singing competition or “reality” show? Here’s a dose of reality: it’s only your life at stake. Actually it’s all of the other cops and citizens that you swore to protect who’s lives are at stake. We’re responsible for every round that we send downrange. The abilities must be there. You are not going to revert to your training under stress; you are going to revert to the level of training that you have mastered and made second nature. This is why I love responsibly-armed citizens. They devote their time and energy towards skills that they understand are essential for preserving life. Give me a class of citizens who spent their own hard-earned cash to be there over some cops whose agency forced them to attend any day. To my LE brothers and sisters: I love you and thank you for what you do, but if you have ever uttered either of those excuses, then it’s come-to Jesus time. The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters. Take your excuses and shove them up the tops of your legs, shut the *&^% up, and get training.
Weather: TD1 morning was sunny and hot in the high 80’s. Held throughout the day. TD2 was overcast in the morning then fluctuated with sun and sporadic showers. At night time it cooled down a bit to around the mid 60’s and 70’s that ended in a downpour around
Being the middle of January, I shivered under my wet clothes and quickly went into shock. I looked around the property to find Josh but was disgruntled to see him casually drinking a beer. I quickly realized that neither Anthony nor Josh would be seeking medical assistance and I assumed that I was fine. Anthony quickly rushed me over to the Expedition and told me to wait while he gathered our belongings.
Josh left the house and was not seen again until my mother and I filed a lawsuit against his parent’s Home Owner’s Insurance. There was a brief moment of hesitation from my attorneys as they explained that my situation appeared to be an assault rather than an accident, and that the insurance company would not offer any compensation if the claim was an assault. Still, my mom and I pushed forward with the lawsuit.
Today, my life is bursting with positivity. I’ve made it past my personal darkness and am now pursuing a dedicated career in Federal Law Enforcement with hopes of someday joining the military. I’m completing my BA in Sociology and will go on to pursue my Master’s Degree in Homeland Security. I have a wonderful boyfriend that takes absolute care of me, and we have hopes of one day starting our own life together. The truth is, my life didn’t end that day in the fire; it simply just began.
