Right now we’re seeing a lot of folks expressing an interest in self defense who previously never gave it a moment’s thought.
Those of us in the self defense space recognize that firearms can be the most effective tools for that role but those new to the idea may find it a little daunting or off-putting. Combine that with the fact that many of us tend to enthusiastically launch into dissertations on the subject whenever a glimmer of interest is shown, and it’s very easy to overwhelm someone who is just starting out.
PROTECT YOURSELF WITHOUT A GUN
I made this video in the hopes that it will serve as a primer for folks who are coming around to the idea of taking a more proactive role in their own protection and security. This is not indented as the be-all, end-all solution, and if you just do the things mentioned no further action is required. It is however designed to serve as a jumping off point.
Whether you’re the “gun person” in your circle, or if you’re just starting out yourself this can be a handy reference.
I’ve always wondered why there wasn’t one beloved website where instructors could list their classes and locations. A website where students can search their local area and locate a wide variety of firearm classes. Practiscore more or less provides that for competition, and some instructors do post classes on Practiscor, but that’s never taken off in a significant way, at least not in my area. I see a ton of instructors using websites like Eventbrite, but ShootingClasses.Com is the first I’ve seen to focus exclusively on firearms.
Shootingclasses.com
What’s ShootingClasses.Com
Admittedly, I don’t know much about the people behind ShootingClasses.Com, but it’s obvious they are pro-gun. The website is tailored to firearms training and allows ranges and instructors to post their classes and students to peruse classes in their area and across the United States.
ShootingClasses.Com provides a pretty robust search function that allows you to enter your area and what specifically you want from the shooting class you’re looking to attend. You can narrow it by weapon type, class type, or various events and competition shoots. You can get super specific with categories for NRA and USCCA courses, scenario-based instruction, virtual simulations, medical classes, and many more options pop up.
Shootingclasses.com
Just checkmark what you’re looking for, and you can search through a wide variety of classes. The search engine is very easy to use. I really like the fact they added a difficulty selection. Whenever I’m looking for classes, I’m always curious about what Instructor A’s pistol class is compared to Instructor B’s. If I get to a beginner class, I’ll feel a little shorted. Allowing instructors to check the difficulty level is a great way to ensure good customer service.
I did a search in my local area and found several instructors and classes. A surprising amount, to be honest. I didn’t even know some of these companies even existed, and I’ve lived here forever and have been a part of the local firearms scene for quite some time.
The Catch
It sounds too good to be true, so what’s the catch? For students, the website is free. No subscription or payment is required. For Instructors and Ranges, there is a monthly subscription of 19 dollars a month. There is also a 5-dollar student fee for classes that cost less than 100 and a charge of 10 dollars per student for classes that cost more than 100 bucks.
Sadly, it doesn’t run itself. According to the website, ShootingClasses.Com does offer you marketing aid, discount code functionality, registration log, rosters, class calendars, online sign-up, payment processing, and more. It’s not just Craigslist-style ads. Admittedly, there is a fair bit of support offered for your membership.
Shootingclasses.com
You can also pause your membership at any time if you take a break for instructing or maybe book a residency at a training center. It seems like a good deal, and they seemingly offer you support, but I can’t say. It seems like it’s pulling in instructors, so maybe they are onto something.
Beyond Being Handy
I see ShootingClasses.Com being a handy website, but it goes beyond just being handy. While EventBrite is currently popular with instructors, it would take a change of the wind for that to end. I’m surprised it lasted this long. Once some Angry Moms Demanding Action find out, I can see EventBrite closing those opportunities for instructors. I wouldn’t depend on it. I think ShootingClasses.Com has some real potential to be a website on par with PractiScore.
The Barrett MRADELR rifle is a high end military grade ELR (extreme long range) shooting platform with the ability to chamber modern large magnum rifle calibers such as .416 Barrett. Although it’s considered a production level rifle, its attention to fit, finish and basic design makes it as capable as many other custom built ELR rifles. In the case of the Barrett MRADELR, besides its Barrett designed, one of a kind bolt action interface, (that comes with the ability to swap bolt heads for caliber changes), the MRADELR also has a quick change barrel swapping interface that allows the end user to not only swap out different barrels as needed, but also effectively turns the MRADELR into a multi-caliber rifle with both interchangeable barrels and bolt heads. Changing bolt heads is tool-less and swapping out barrels requires only one tool and not too much time.
Photo By Sean Utley
BARRETT MRADELR BARRELS
Even though barrels are swappable, it does not mean that they do not get their fair share of attention as they are being manufactured. Barrett MRADELR barrels are all built from stainless steel to match grade specifications. When it comes to the rifling, these barrels use single point cut rifling and are hand lapped. Finally, as the MRADELR is designed to higher extreme long distance magnum rifle cartridges, it comes equipped with Barrett’s extremely effective three port QDL muzzle brake to tame down the magnum recoil.
Photo By Sean Utley
The rifle’s name is a creative portmanteau of the abbreviations “MRAD” and “ELR”. MRAD stands for “milliradian”, a popular unit of angular measure used in optics and precision shooting. “ELR” on the other hand is simply an abbreviation of “extreme long range.” To learn more about the Barrett MRADELR and to see a better detailed and more comprehensive list of details, features, design cues and additional technical specifications, please visit Barrett’s website at https://barrett.net/
We’ve hit a few different points of stagnation in the gun world. Ammo doesn’t have much room to improve; guns have hit their foreseeable peak, and the same goes for red dots. While we probably won’t see anything revolutionary, we will see small improvements. Ammo cases are becoming lightweight, guns are getting smaller but hold just as many rounds, and Williams Gun Sight flipped a red dot upside down. By doing so, they created what they call the Low Reflex Sight, or LRS for short.
This isn’t a full review but an overview. I find it so interesting I think it’s worth two articles instead of one very long article. Williams Gun Sight is well known for creating iron sights for shotguns and rifles of various types. Their Firesights were one of the first to use high-visibility fiber optics for various iron sights. This is their first advance into the world of red dots, and instead of releasing another generic, mostly fine red dot optic, they released the LRS.
Let’s see what the LRS is and is not.
What The LRS Is
The LRS is a mini red dot sight that uses a unique design that takes the standard mini red dot and flips it upside down. They then mount the sight to a cover. At the bottom, we don’t have a traditional mounting platform. The bottom of the optic is open, for lack of a better term. It attaches to its various mounts via four screws that attach to the sides of the mount and not the top.
The LRS features a reticle that’s a 32 MOA segmented circle with a 2 MOA dot in the center. I’m a fan of designs like this for shotguns because they are big, eye-grabbing, and give you a method to zero your buckshot load inside the circle at certain ranges. With that said, this optic is designed for long guns, especially shotguns. Williams Gun Sights make mounts for Mossbergs, Remingtons, and Benellis.
The LRS comes ready out of the box with a battery and Picatinny rail. It features six illumination levels, and holy crap, does it get bright. The LRS has no problems with daylight bright situations. Two controls allow you to adjust the brightness level, and holding down the down button shuts the optic off.
The main benefit of the LRS is that it sits super low. It’s roughly 30% lower than most red dots. When I compare the LRS with other red dots, it appears that the LRS sits as low on a standard shotgun as the red dot on my Mossberg 940 with its receiver cut design.
What the LRS Isn’t
The LRS is not an enclosed red dot. Just by looking at the pictures, I can see why someone would assume it’s an enclosed emitter design, but it’s not. On the flip side, the emitter is better protected from the elements than the standard mini-red dot.
This is not a pistol red dot. It’s not rated for pistols according to William Gun Sights, and I don’t see a way for you to mount it to a handgun due to the design. The LRS doesn’t have any means to attach to a standard pistol. However, it will mount to handguns that lack reciprocating slides and have picatinny top rails, like the various Ruger MK pistols.
This isn’t your standard red dot. It’s designed for weapons that need optics to sit nice and low, which really makes it almost purpose-built for shotguns. However, it could work on lever guns and other more traditional platforms.
The Review
I haven’t had a ton of time to shoot with the LRS, but a full review is coming soon. Take this as a teaser. It’s the first red dot innovation I’ve seen this year, and I hope it works as well as it seems to. It’s currently mounted to my Mossberg 590 in 20 gauge, and I can’t wait to give it the full run around.
I love B&T and its dedication to subguns. Sure, they make other stuff, including great suppressors the APC223, but they are the most dedicated subgun producer I know of. Every gun they make is seemingly a banger, too. They make good guns, but their magazines often leave something to be desired. The mags for the APC9 series are used for several different guns, and they are the weak point of an awesome firearm. KCI’s APC9 magazines look to be a welcome upgrade.
It’s not that they don’t feed reliably. They do, and they tend to be as reliable as it gets. The problems come from the polymer design. It’s a bit brittle, and the polymer feed lips have been known to break and fail after a fairly short amount of abuse. B&T treats them as disposable parts, and admittedly, magazines are disposable, but they tend to be disposed of a bit quicker than other magazines. Plus, at $60, they aren’t cheap. Oh, and don’t drop them ever because if you do, they will spray out your loaded cartridges like a fountain.
The B&T magazines were just waiting for an aftermarket solution. You expect Magpul, or even Lancer, heck, or even ETS, to take the task to heart. Yet, it was the Korean manufacturer KCI who took the challenge and released a new APC9 Magazine. KCI is well known for producing affordable, fairly reliable magazines for ARs, Glocks, and AKs. They aren’t often considered duty-grade magazines, but they are very functional for the price point. The KCI APC9 magazines might be a reputation-breaking effort.
The KCI APC9 Magazines – Notable Differences
The first and most important difference is that KCI fixed the weakest part of the APC9 magazine, the feed lips. KCI uses metal feed lips. This reinforcement will help prevent the most common damage to APC9 magazines. Broken feed lips plague the B&T mags. The KCI APC9 magazines do lack the bumper that some B&T magazines offer, but I prefer metal feed lips.
When you drop the mags, they are less likely to break and won’t go off like a fountain when they strike the ground. The reinforced feed lips are a nice touch, but not the only nice touch. The KCI APC9K magazines are more translucent than stock B&T options. They are also a lot easier to load. There is a lot less pressure on the follower, and the last five rounds are easy to insert and load.
The magazines glide into the magwell with ease and lock in place rather nicely. Doing quick reloads won’t be much of a challenge, and loading a fresh mag on a closed bolt isn’t tough either. The B&T mags would often be quite difficult to insert on a closed bolt fully loaded. It’s surprisingly robust and seems very well made. Of course, a lot of nice features mean absolutely nothing if the magazines don’t run reliably.
To the Range
With a single KCI APC9 magazine, I hit the range, and to quote Frank Reynolds, I started blasting! In a safe and proper manner. Using my ammo to run drills rather than diving into the temptation to mag dump into trash I was able to track feeding reliability. I used a mixed bag of ammo for testing, with the majority being brass-cased 115-grain rounds. I mixed in some hollow points, some 147-grain, and some steel-cased stuff to find a weak point. In terms of just feeding, the magazine didn’t falter or fail. I loaded on an open bolt, a closed bolt, and more. There were no malfunctions to speak of.
I did some classic and largely useless shoot one reload shoot one drills just to test dropping the magazines. I only had one KCI mag, but the stock B&T mag worked fine for reloads. In this reload practice, I noticed the KCI APC9 magazine slid in easier and smoother than the stock APC9 mag. I let the KCI clash to the ground over and over.
Outside of reload drills, I loaded the magazine and let it drop on concrete. I dropped it at different angles, including directly on the feed lip. When dropped fully loaded, a round or two will fly out, but no more than two have ever popped out. The magazine body didn’t break, and the metal feed lips didn’t falter. The KCI APC9 magazines feel solid and well-made.
Three Cheers for KCI
The KCI APC9 magazine is substantially cheaper than the B&T model. If I go to GunMagWarehouse right now, I can get the KCI APC9 mags for $20 on sale. That’s a bargain compared to the stock standard B&T mags. My sample size is one, but if the KCI APC9 magazines function this well across the board, I don’t see a reason to buy OEM magazines anymore.
We’ve all heard the expression used. Generally it’s when someone is insisting that you HAVE to carry a full sized handgun (preferably with a +5 mag extension), at least one spare mag, a backup gun, a fighting knife, and there’s usually some kind of gimmicky impact weapon in the mix too.
If these same people truly subscribed to this mantra, they’d be in peak physical condition, drive the safest vehicle as they could as little as possible, and live such risk averse lives that there’d be question as to whether they were actually alive or not!
The fact is that it’s both. Everything we do is a balancing act, making sure that we’re not taking undue risks, and the ones we do assume are calculated and mitigated as much as we realistically can.
Yes, given a choice I’ll always opt for my dotted G19 above anything else in the inventory, however there are circumstances where trying to cram that solution into the equation would be inappropriate or unrealistic.
Just as with “it works for me”, if there’s a clearly articulable reason for what you’re doing, and you’re taken an honest assessment of your needs and knowledge, skillset and abilities, then run with it. But don’t expect to be taken at face value just because it hasn’t failed for you YET.
The aptly named Wilson Combat ACP pistol encompasses all of the essentials envisioned by the crew at Wilson Combat in what an elementary fighting single stack 1911 needs. The Wilson Combat American Combat Pistol (ACP) is available in both .45 ACP and 9mm Luger. Build wise, the Wilson Combat ACP makes use of the company’s Eagle Claw texturing around its grips, frontstrap and backstrap. In addition, the slide features only rear cocking serrations and uses Wilson Combat Battlesights, which consist of a plain black rear sight and a fiber optic front sight with a red fiber optic insert. Projectiles are sent downrange by way of a fitted match grade 5-inch barrel that sits flush and beveled with the bushing at the muzzle. Likewise all of its internal parts and mechanisms come from Wilson Combat’s famed line of Bullet Proof parts.
WILSON COMBAT ACP
In the case of the American Combat Pistol, basic doesn’t mean no-frills, it means that this pistol has the required attributes needed in a good fighting 1911. The American Combat Pistol is still hand built and hand fitted, after all. With that being said, as an “elementary” fighting 1911, the Wilson Combat ACP is also a prime candidate for further customizations and enhancements like some of the other pistols in Wilson Combat’s lineup.
Wilson Combat American Combat Pistol Specifications:
Caliber: .45 ACP
Full Size Carbon Steel frame
Eagle Claw front strap/mainspring housing treatment
High-grip Bullet Proof® beavertail grip safety
Tactical Bullet Proof® thumb safety
3.5 lb – 4.5 lb crisp trigger pull with medium pad
Bullet Proof® magazine release
Contoured magazine well
G10 Eagle Claw grips with black medallions
5 inch Carbon Steel slide
Eagle Claw rear cocking serrations
Battlesight with red fiber optic front sight
5 inch Stainless match grade barrel and bushing, flush cut
While I don’t believe that B8 targets are a replacement for your personality, I do believe that the B8 is an awesome target. I used to be of the opinion that you needed a hyper-realistic target to train with. While I still see the benefits of realistic targets, I’ve learned of the benefits and the advantages of the super simple B8 target.
The B8 doesn’t have a ton of documented history. Who designed it and when it was first used seems to be lost to time. We know it’s an NRA target and that the NRA Bullseye matches have been using the target since 1941, so it’s at least that old. The B8 is named because the ‘black’ portion of the target is eight inches in diameter. It’s designed to be a rapid-fire bull’s eye target.
The design is about as simple as it gets. It’s a five-ring target, with each ring wearing a designator. The centermost ring is the X and is 1.695 inches in diameter. The 10-ring is 3.36 inches in diameter, the 9-ring is 5.54 inches wide, and finally, the 8-ring is 8 inches in diameter. The 9, 10, and X rings are all black and often referred to as the ‘black.’
The Rise in Popularity of the B8
I don’t think NRA Bullseye Matches have exploded in popularity, especially amongst the tactical community. Obviously, one of the big reasons why the B8 is famous is the memes. If you hang around the higher-informed gun social media circles, you’ll see the B8 mentioned, you’ll see tag groups, and people asking to see your B8 in the midst of an argument. Those memes have an origin with reputable instructors.
Instructors like Steve Fisher and Bill Blowers are champions of the B8. I’m sure they aren’t the only two, but they are the two that come to mind. The B8 provides a very simple target and versatile target. I’m not saying this is why those instructors use these targets, but logistically, it makes sense. They are cheap, easy to find, and can even be printed if you so choose.
These targets provide an understandable and easy-to-read scoring system. This scoring system provides you with objective information that allows you to improve. It’s a bit like a shot timer, but it shows exactly where you’re hitting. The target can be used at a multitude of ranges and for a ton of different training applications.
A Vital Target
The size of the B8 very conveniently matches the sizes of most human vitals. Hold it up to your chest. It’s roughly the same size as your heart, lungs, and the artery area in the chest. Hold it up to your head. As long as you’re hitting within the black, you’re effectively making headshots. The B8 even makes a great replica of a human turned to the side.
The B8’s dimensions are close to other common targets and can be used in place of them. Fold in the sides of one, and it’s basically an IPSC A-Zone. The B8 is also the subject of numerous drills aimed at improving shooter’s skills.
The B8 forces a shooter to aim small and miss small. Rather than be happy with a shot hitting a massive man-sized target, the shooter is forced to improve their shooting skills and shoot smaller targets.
While the B8 seems so old and out of date, it turns out it’s one of the most versatile target options out there. Plus, it’s cheap, readily available, and easy to stash in a range bag. Give one a spin, and it becomes self-explanatory.
Gun owners have a weird crossover with a number of other hobbies. These include the predictable, like archery, but also, for some reason, including planes, anime, and 3D printing. Obviously, the world of 3D printing is pretty friendly to firearms, with the movement of 3D-printed firearms gaining plenty of steam. I’ve been functionally curious about 3D printing, so with some Amazon gift cards I got for Christmas, I purchased a basic 3D printer from Creality and have been learning the ropes.
3D Printing & Self-Defense Gear
I’m still an amateur with a lot to learn, and while I plan to one day try to print and build a Glock clone, I’m waiting til I learn a bit more about printing. A 3d printed frame is a lot easier than an 80% lower. Learning about printing means printing things, and since I can only print so many Warhammer 40K figurines, I’ve looked into gun-adjacent gear I can 3D print. This led me to a few interesting and easy-to-print items related to firearms training. Well, that and tactical bean holders. Here are my favorite 3D-printed pieces of training gear.
Target Stand (By Bucky11)
Over at Printables, I found a target stand that makes building a target super cheap. Outside of the stand, you’ll need a furring strip, a cardboard target backer, and two tent stakes. The total construction of the entire thing costs less than $10. The target stand at the core of this design is very simple but super effective. It’s what really convinced me that 3D printing and firearms training gear can work out well together.
It’s a pyramid-like design with a slot for a furring strip to drop in the middle. It holds the strip upright, and a set of tent stakes keeps it set into the dirt regardless of the external conditions. It’s perfect for holding cardboard IPSC/USPSA targets or just cardboard backers to support your B8, your A zone, 3×5 cards, or whatever. The target stand takes several hours to print with a basic printer but came out pretty well till the very end, where my printer slipped a layer. It happens, but it was an easy fix with a file.
MantisX Rails
So you’ve got a MantisX, but your weapon doesn’t have a Picatinny rail. Maybe it’s a Beretta 92 or a revolver. You can probably buy a rail and stick it to a magazine, but you could also print an entirely new magazine baseplate or slip-on adapter. There are tons of different MantisX rail adapters for tons of different guns. These baseplates are designed by a multitude of creators.
A quick glance shows models for SIG, Glock, 1911s, Berettas, and many more. I’ve even seen a few for revolvers, which is a nice touch. These are quick and easy to produce and allow you to use your MantisX series device on various handguns. They’re great if your gun doesn’t have a rail or that rail might be occupied. Either way, these give you a cheap way to get your MantisX training in. Unlike a lot of 3D printing, these are quick and easy to print.
Slide Stop Disabling Dry Fire Dummy Round (By Michael_227585)
If you want to work your dry fire reloads without having to deal with the slide locking open, then the Slide Stop Disabling Dummy Round is for you. This simple little device is super neat and very handy. This device pushes the magazine follower downward just enough to prevent it from engaging with the slide lock and locking the slide open.
When you place one in your magazine, you can work your reload on the fly and dry. These are super handy for dry fire training, and you can work reloads, malfunctions, and more. If you don’t want the slide to lock to the rear, this five-minute 3D-printed wonder is for you.
Training Weapons
There is an entire culture of ‘blue’ weapons across the world of 3D printing. We all know the value of blue guns and how a nongun can be a very handy piece of training gear. They can be somewhat expensive, and if you want a simple option for training, 3D printing makes it easy to get a cheap one. I printed a training knife just because.
(Although the print went a little awry, again, I’m still new to 3D printing and learning.)
I’m planning to print a P32 replica so I can practice drawing from my pocket indoors without needing to unload my P32 and without having any safety concerns. These can be longer prints, especially if you want a durable model with complete infill.
The 9mm JamCap V3 (By Raft3r)
Our final addition to the 3D printing firearm training hall of fame is the 9mm JamCap V3. This is designed to sit inside your magazine and can be randomly placed amongst a field of live ammo. When it comes to its term feed, it creates a complicated malfunction, similar to a double feed. While it looks like a cartridge, the ‘projectile’ stand-in is a big ball that can’t load successfully.
These are fairly disposable and will likely get beat up pretty quickly. Print with 100% infill to make them as tough as can be. Still, they are only plastic and will likely break after a few uses. Luckily, they cost literal cents to make. (The JamCap V3 does not work in Glock mags, sadly.)
3D Printing & Training
While a ton of people focus on building guns with their 3D printers, the ability to print numerous firearm accessories seems to be almost limitless. These provide a cheap and easy way to train in new and different ways on demand. A creative instructor could use 3D printing to produce on-demand firearms training gear, and a stickler for saving money can do the same. I think 3D printers will continue to be a growing part of firearms culture, training, and even our rights.
Cover Photo: Another great shot from Jaq from my last training class with Green Ops.
This is a quick “journal-esque” piece about the Walther PDP Match Steel Frame pistol I’ve been shooting since mid-December. It was originally reviewed for Shooting Illustrated. As the title suggests, I have approximately 1,500 rounds through the Walther PDP SF at the time of this writing. It is roughly 1000 rounds over the original review’s 500-round count estimate. Obviously, with more trigger time behind the pistol now, my initial thoughts have evolved.
PDP MATCH SF ROUND COUNT & AMMO
For some 1,500 rounds of 9mm isn’t much. But considering the number of pistols I’m working with on a regular basis for review, it’s a fair amount. Especially since more than 90% of 9mm ammo has been out of my personal stash). To date, 115-grain Blazer Aluminum is the what I’ve shot the most through this Walther. I’ve also started reloading again to replenish my depleted stock of hand-loaded 9mm, and the pistol cycles these like champ. Everything has been a mixture of factory rounds from Federal, Fiocchi, Nosler, Winchester, and CCI. Other than some self-induced malfunctions by my floating left-handed thumb blocking ejection, I’ve had no legitimate malfunctions.
There is an observation I’ve noticed after shooting a lot of the CCI Blazer Aluminum. The ammo is great and works nicely without giving up accuracy or anything, but after higher round counts or shooting the gun aggressively, small flecks of aluminum off the cartridge casings do tend to accumulate to a higher degree than brass flecks. It’s easily wiped down, but it’s something to keep in mind. And one more thing about this alternative-cased ammo… Like the HK VP9, Walther PDP barrels have stepped chambers and conventional wisdom says to avoid steel-cased cartridges. After shooting scores of Blazer aluminum across three separate PDPs, Blazer Aluminum hasn’t caused issues.
OPTICS MOUNTED ON THE PDP SF
As soon as I took the gun home from the FFL in early December, I immediately mounted my first-wave T&E Gideon Optics Omega Green Reflex sight using the included Walther OEM optics mounting plate. My experience with the Gideon Omega is something else that will eventually be released in another write-up. But for now it has seen over 800 rounds while mounted on the PDP Match SF.
After SHOT Show, I swapped out the Omega for Trijicon’s new enclosed-emitter RCR reflex sight. The RCR uses the novel capstan screw mounting system. In addition to dry-fire with the RCR, I’ve taken it to Green Ops AAPM One-Day class and my most recent local weekend club USPSA match. So, I estimate round count to be around 600ish to date. Interestingly enough, I’ve never used the iron sights on this pistol. All rounds have been aimed with a mounted pistol dot-sight. I’m not to worried about the lack of BUIS on this piece, since I do not carry it for self-defense. For the foreseeable future, I plan on keeping the RCR mounted on this pistol. As the RCR will eventually also get its own write-up like the Gideon Omega.
EVENTS ATTENDED WITH THE PDP SF
Besides my original “review” session and shooting it once or twice with family around Christmas-time 2023 and New Year’s 2024, I’ve only taken the Walther PDP Match SF to four other events. Three weekend club USPSA matches and the already-mentioned Green Ops pistol class.
Both my latest match and that Green Ops class were my inspiration for this “follow-up” post. Not only did I cross the 1,000 round count milestone during the Green Ops course, but I also pushed performance as best as I could with the PDP SF that day. And I followed this up at that recent match from four days ago. Although my competition prowess is modest at best, I shot a fairly good match. At one point, I hit a personal record — the first time ever shooting .13 and .11 splits with any gun. But now I know it’s physically possible for me with the PDP Match SF. What a gun!
CURRENT THOUGHTS
The more I shoot the gun, the more I like it. What I’ll describe next is completely subjective and emotional: the Walther PDP Match SF is well-made and shoots amazingly. In one’s hands, it feels like a rheostat–it spits out as much or as little performance as one inputs into it. Even though the Dynamic Performance Trigger has a breaking weight closer to five pounds than it does to three pounds, I’ve come to really appreciate its flat face, especially after the trigger control lessons during the Green Ops class. Along with the short take up, the flat face allows a higher and more precise degree of manipulation, and it shows.
Sure, this pistol’s weight is probably its biggest downside, but it’s also its biggest asset too. The gun hardly recoils, after all. At the same time, drawing and shooting from concealment all day at the Green Ops class, made my forearm tired as if I had been doing front kettle-bell swings all day! Fully loaded with a 20-round magazine, dot and light the PDP Match SF weighs 57 ounces.
PRACTICAL & TACTICAL
Going forward, I’m interested in experimenting with aftermarket stocks to see how they change the contour and feel of the grip. Because this pistol is made from metal, it doesn’t have the same characteristics as the original PDP’s grip. As far as evolving thoughts, when I first got my hands on it in December, I viewed this more as a match gun than anything else. Not only is it in the name, but since it comes with its magwell installed from the factory which mentally primed to think “competition.” Sure, it’s 100% “race-ready” for most USPSA divisions, but more and more, the pistol doesn’t strike me as merely a competition piece. It’s proving itself to be such a well-rounded 9mm handgun that it can make for a great full-size general-purpose piece, especially if you don’t mind a little extra weight. Walther’s marketing campaign paints the gun both as “practical” and “tactical” and so far it might actually be looking that way.
Last month, I discussed the Essentials Target from RE Factor Tactical. I purchased these as a multi-purpose target I could use for various training drills, zeroing, and more. Along the way, I discovered a drill attached to the Essentials Target known as the Kill Card Challenge. This particular drill is designed around three of the targets on the Essentials Target. It is a fairly simple drill but also a fairly hard drill with some strict accuracy and time standards.
This year, I’m setting a shooting goal for myself every month. This month’s goal is to clear this drill. If I accomplish this before the month ends, I’ll add concealment, or switch to a smaller pistol, or something else to make it difficult. Let’s dig into the Kill Card Challenge, and hopefully, by the time you read this, I will have conquered it.
RE Factor Tactical Kill Card Challenge
The Essentials Target is required, and you’ll be shooting the Number 1 circle, the Number 7 Rectangle, and the Number 12 rectangle. As you can see, the three targets within the target vary in size and location, which presents us with our first challenge.
This drill is only fired from five yards, but don’t let that fool you. It’s still fairly difficult. You have to fire eight rounds and conduct two reloads in seven seconds to accomplish the drill. You need three magazines. Two magazines are loaded with two rounds, and one magazine is loaded with four rounds. Your course of fire looks like this.
Shooter starts with hands down or up, but off of the gun. At the beep, the shooter draws and fires two rounds into the number 1 target and conducts a reload. You need to reload with the magazine holding four rounds and shoot those rounds in target number 7. Now reload one more time and fire two rounds into target number 12.
Do all that in seven seconds, and you pass the Kill Card Challenge.
My Thoughts
The Kill Card Challenge does stress some core skills. You have to be fast with your reloads with your draw and make sure you’re placing your shots on target. Obviously, remembering the order of operations helps, but if this jar head can do it, so can you. Once you run through the drill a few times, moving quickly between targets isn’t tough, and some dry fire runs probably help a bit.
Going from small to big to small forces you to change gears. Personally, I found it easier to shoot the smaller targets and feel I can cut a lot of the split times down from the four shots fired if I hit the gas a little more when I get to the big target.
I did see my times quickly drop from around ten seconds to the mid-eights very quickly. That’s where things begin to slow down a bit, and scraping fractions of a second off becomes a little more difficult. On my first day, I got to 7.9 and have been working to scrape that 0.9 off. I really want to be able to do this in about five seconds with my current setup.
To do so, I’ve been practicing the individual movements in a dry fire environment. I’ve been stressing faster draws and reloads to drive the time down.
Killing the Card
If you can accomplish the Kill Card challenge with video proof and follow the rules stated on the RE Factor website, they’ll send you an exclusive patch and add your name to the list of those who got it done. I plan to do just that because I can’t resist a free patch! Plus, it falls in line well with my yearly goal.
The film Heat is a favorite of gun guys and gals across the county. Michael Mann is legendary for the degree of realism he brings to his films, especially when it comes to guns. In 1995, when the movie came out, chest rigs existed, but they weren’t exactly well-known or common. The film had a set of custom-made chest rigs for the characters to wear under their suits. The Heat chest rig isn’t your normal chest rig by any means.
It’s a vest that wears like a vest and is made from a softer nylon material. The Heat chest rig held eight AR-15 magazines, and in the film, the magazines were sewn in. Over the years, Airsoft variants have existed, and Forgotten Weapons released a god-awful version, which they never fixed or refunded, by the way (Ask me how I know). Inspired by the failures of others, the Kommando Store released its own Heat rig.
They happily sent me one, and I’ve been larping as Neil McCauley ever since. A carry-handle Bushmaster AR completes the look since a Colt 733 seems tough to find.
The Heat Chest Rig – LARP Central
True to the movie, the Heat chest rig holds eight 30-round magazines. The Heat chest rig comes in both medium and large, and the large fits my six-foot-five-inch frame well. The rig itself is adjustable at the shoulders and at the back or both length and width. It’s easy to adjust, and you can make it fit quite well. The rear of the vest is a mesh-like material to keep ya cool.
The Heat Chest rig comes with hook and loop tabs as well as an elastic bit. AR magazines are all roughly the same size, but not really. Polymer and metal magazines are slightly different in size and even length depending on the base plate.
The elastic pad and slightly adjustable hook and loop enclosure allow you to use Magpul mags, Lancers, and standard aluminum pretty easily. The magazines are topped out at 30 rounds, and even the DD-32 magazines are a bit too long to fit correctly. The entire setup feels super high quality. It’s clearly well made, and attention was paid to detail.
To The Range
The Heat chest rig isn’t something I’d use for serious shooting. I’m not going to storm bin Laden’s house wearing the Heat chest rig, but I want it to work well. It might sound silly, but I want to be able to hit the range and provide suppressing fire while my buddy carries our heist score to the car. With previous incarnations, you couldn’t walk at a brisk pace and expect them to retain the magazines. With the Kommando Store variant, the magazines stay locked in place.
You can sprint at full speed, and the magazines remain where you put them. The elastic band and hook and loop enclosure are super easy to defeat, and you can snatch and grab magazines and load your rifle. The Heat chest rig makes it super easy to keep your rifle tapped off in case you need to lay down suppression fire during a brazen daylight bank robbery.
The best way to make sure the rig works is to ensure it’s not too baggy. You need a little resistance to help draw the magazines quickly. If it’s too loose, the whole vest moves when you pull the magazine. Get it nice and tight, and the vest works best. You’ll need to experiment with orientation to make the reloads work. This is the only chest rig I know of that works this way, so it’s not going to work set up like a standard chest rig.
Drop of a Hat These Guys Will Rock and Roll
The Kommando Store Heat chest rig is a rock-solid, well-made piece of gear. It’s a novelty in many ways but a high-quality option. If it were 1995 and I needed to rob a bank or armored car, then the Heat Chest rig would be perfect. It offers a full sustainment load of eight magazines, has excellent retention, and is even comfy to weird with 240 rounds of 5.56 loaded. Check it out at the Kommadno Store, along with all their other awesome stuff.
The FN 15 Guardian is a fully featured 5.56mm AR pattern carbine with a mid-length 16-inch barrel. It’s outfitted with a full-size 15-inch free floating M-LOK compatible handguard. The handguard has 24 M-LOK slots across three different sides. The top pf the handguard has a full-length section of Picatinny rail to mount accessories easily.
Every major component in the new FN 15 Guardian is made to meet the standard military specifications or better. Let’s take Guardian’s bolt, which is made from 9310 steel, for example. The original specification calls for this part to be machined from Carpenter 158 alloy steel. The Guardian uses 9310 steel, which is approximately 7% stronger than Carpenter 158. Furthermore, many other firearms designs, semi-auto or full-auto alike, already incorporate 9310 steel into their schematics. And unlike Carpenter 158, which is a single source and proprietary alloy, 9310 is a standardized tool grade steel. Meaning it is more available and less expensive in the open market, which means that savings are passed down to the consumer.
FN 15 Guardian’s Receivers
The FN 15 Guardian’s receivers are made from the customary 7075-T6 aircraft grade aluminum alloy. The receivers are finished with the standard Type III hardcoat anodizing. The 16-inch barrel is made from 4150 chrome moly vanadium ordnance steel, which is the tried and true choice for ARs. Unlike true “mil-spec” carbines, the FN outfits their Guardian rifles with a mid-length gas tube. It benefits the entire system as whole with the reduction of operating pressures by virtue of its slightly longer length. This means that the shooter gets a rifle with a smoother recoil impulse that’s also less harsh on the action while still maintaining reliability. FN’s carbine has a retail price of $999.
Per Gun Violence Archive, Mass Murders in 2024. One State Leads...
As we enter the third month of 2024 one state is pulling dramatically ahead of the other 49 to take the lead in mass shooting events. So as I write this, California leads the nation in mass shootings.
Gavin “Every state should model their gun policies after us.” Newsom’s progressive policy’d paradise just recorded their fourth with a casualty count of eleven. Four dead, three men at the scene and a woman who died at the hospital. Three masked gunman attacked a birthday party from the reports, gang violence that will soon be forgotten…
California Leading The Nation In Mass Shooting
I hate that political animals like Newsom are likely sweating bullets, hoping for a crazier more conventional violent event to shift scrutiny away from their socio-economic disaster zones. Whenever there is relative peace they can credit their policies, but there tired tactic of blaming other states’ policy and legal definitions is continuing to ring more and more hollow.
Pretending that things like partial licensing or partial prohibitions or waiting periods will change the current norms of violence in the nation is laughable, tragically laughable but laughable nonetheless. Every well vetted study on this issue concludes that most of the popular gun control policies have no, and in some cases negative consequences on the situation overall when it comes to violence involving firearms.
My personal opinion on the subject isn’t that gun control produces more crime, I just think it has nearly no influence on a crime trend and tends to be passed when things are getting worse. Then, when trends turn due to enough of a change in the factors, parties, and socio-economic outlook, the policy setters can claim victory for policies that didn’t do anything beyond give seats to bureaucratic job seekers who need something to do. Tax money spends like the rest.
Congrats Gavin
So as we drive on towards the election, let us not be fooled by folks claiming credit for gains they had nothing to do with. Gun control is not shaping up to be a pinnacle issue this cycle, but both leading candidates have records on firearms that should be held in great suspicion. Trump banned bumpstocks arbitrarily through an ATF rule, not Congress. That issue is one we are currently in the process of resolving a whole presidential cycle later than when it was thrust into the public policy chaos. As niche as that rule change and that product was, what good did it do? So a bumpstock hasn’t been used in a heinous crime since, well it never had before Vegas either.
There was no minor stream of bumpstock involved crimes, but we have a minor epidemic of Glock switches thanks to Wish and Temu and other sites who sell the “airsoft” accessories. The ATF can’t stop them, they can only prosecute the caught. Those caught are often guilty of plenty of other crimes, making the gun charges superfluous. We often have DA’s who won’t push gun crimes to conclusion for their own political agendas, we can’t be seen to punish too many people of a vague demographic after all.
Anyway, congratulations Gavin. Really leading the way on ‘gun control works’ for 2024.
