An alternate title for this lecture could have been “How to Not Talk Your Way Into Handcuffs”.
Lee did a great job of taking what can be a rather dry and overwhelming subject like Constitutional Law, and make it both relevant and engaging, at least enough so to hold the attention of one hungover, sleep-deprived student on a Sunday morning (….me. I mean me).
Lee starts off by saying that, while there are over 18,000 different law enforcement organizations in the US, they’re kind of like churches: All of them basically do the same thing with the same goals in mind, it’s just that the rules can change up a little.
He goes into the definitions of significant terms like reasonableness, seizure, probably cause, and the like. Here’s a brief summary of the terms and concepts that are covered in the class:
– reasonableness
– seizure – legal authority – suspicion – probable cause – consensual encounter – consent – investigative detention – totality of circumstances – custodial arrest – use of force – objective reasonableness – Terry v. Ohio – US v. Arizona – PA v. Mimms – MD v. Wilson – Graham v. Connor – TN v. Garner
We got brief summaries of the case studies that were referenced in the presentation, and how they relate to our rights as citizens, and how they impact how the cops do their job. A big focus of the talk was understanding the difference between what an officer is required to do and what they can do legally if the citizen doesn’t know better. There’s quite a bit of grey area in terms of implied authority, meaning that an officer can make a request that would be received as instruction. While the citizen is fully within their rights to decline the request, they may not be aware that it’s an option. It’s basically Jedi mind tricks for the Supreme Court.
Shamelessly stealing the Short Barrelled Shepherd’s 3×3 Model for AARs, here’s the breakdown:
The top 3 things covered in the class:
Case Law & Doctrines
Definition of legal terms & how they impact the everyday citizen
How to protect your rights and guard against the effectively communicate with law enforcement
The top 3 things I learned from the class:
There are times & places where it’s perfectly ok to say No to a cop and there’s nothing they can do but send you on your way
Most of the time, you’ve got to be already engaged in some kind of suspicious behavior for them to come talk to you in the first place.
PC = reasonable & prudent person / Suspicion = reasonable & prudent Peace Officer
Top 3 things I’ll do differently: There’s really just the 1: Better familiarize myself with the case law
Let’s start right back up with point number 4 that NPR says is a “Major Takeaway”.
4. In five years, the number of illegal machine gun conversion devices recovered by law enforcement agencies has jumped 570%
Conversion devices make semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic machines guns.
And note that they are legal if the proper NFA paperwork is completed by a manufacturer. They are not legal in general circulation. They are not complex devices either. There is a reason that the ‘coat hanger’ and 3D printed auto-sears for AR-15’s keep popping up problematically, they are a very simple series of parts.
To put this new data into context, from 2012 to 2016, ATF reported the recovery of 814 machine gun conversion devices, the agency told NPR. From 2017 to 2021, however, that number skyrocketed to 5,454 recoveries.
Even though these devices, also called switches, have been illegal for decades “they are just more readily available and accessible than they’ve ever been,” Densley said.
Thank you Wish.com.
Most of these were ‘switches’ that replace the backplate of a Glock, and for a while they were easily orderable. You saw ads for them on Facebook, IG, and other social media advertising them as an ‘airsoft’ accessory. Then there’s the whole simple possession vs constructive possession of the parts and a gun that can take them, similar to simple possession or constructive possession of the parts to assemble an SBR, but different due to the closed nature of the machine gun registry portion of the NFA Registrar. It’s a quagmirical mess of legalese that argues about what the definition of ‘is’ is instead of putting violent criminals in prison.
3D Printing, fast multi-source data access, and the fact that firearms are not overly complicated machines make illegal and inaccessible two very different things. The machine gun is an old invention, dating from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. We’ve gotten a little better at making them and the materials they are made out of, but they haven’t dramatically changed in function in over a century.
So while the internet and some modern technologies have made them ‘more readily available’ they’ve never really been unavailable, making them is not overly complicated. It’s not a simple as assembling a TV stand you ordered from Amazon, but it’s not significantly more complex than measuring out and building your own TV stand from from scratch lumber from the hardware store. To make one well, it takes some middle level mechanical and material understanding and access to some not inexpensive but not prohibitively expensive machinery.
The relatively few automatics in circulation is a combination of the risk and the practicality. Having an automatic isn’t actually that much more useful to a criminal and the penalty for being caught with one, not the inability to possess one, are much steeper than a semi-auto. The ‘WishSwitches’ changed that equation by upping the ease of access which is why we saw the number spike. That Chinese device, and China doesn’t care about our laws one bit, changed the ease of access dramatically while all the other risks remained static.
Making a Glock blaze ammo in a direction is only marginally more dangerous, and in some instances less dangerous, than having it throw rounds vaguely in that direction in semi-auto. A drive-by type shooting that sprays 50 rounds of 9mm at full auto from one guy with one Glock and a drum magazine, or 51 rounds of semi-auto from three with normal Glocks and normal magazines or one guy with a the same drum as the first example, or one guy with 5 rounds of 00 buckshot in a cheap pump shotgun all constitute roughly the same risk environment to those being shot at. The risk to the shooter(s) varies fairly dramatically, from a legal standpoint. The shooting is obviously illegal, automatic is super extra illegal but made the shooting logistically easier to do, the three gun approach is illegal for more involved but regular Glocks are much easier to get and will come with the requisite normal capacity magazine, the shotgun involves the least amount logistically and is the easiest to acquire but it is larger and far less concealable for circumstances before and after the planned attack.
Throughout all of that, the initial illegality of the shooting doesn’t change and the people who commit these crimes accept that. Having an automatic in the commission of that or a similar violent attack won’t really materially alter the risk of a long or life sentence that the attempted homicide or homicide will net them.
Mandalay Bay and North Hollywood both are illustrative real world examples of ‘high fire rate does not equal a comparative high body count’, even with the circumstances decidedly favoring the shooter at Mandalay Bay. That was a terrifyingly well put together attack that was mitigated by the amateur level of fire discipline and the fact he never detonated the explosives. It throws its example in the face of those who say ‘well, the shooter was carrying enough ammo to commit a bigger atrocity!’. Yes, and we have a real world example of someone attempting that very atrocity against a densely populated target and firing that dramatically larger number of rounds and still running into a damage inflicted cap as the actions of those attacked and those responding to the attack got them out of immediate danger and put pressure on the shooter, who then eventually killed himself.
Point,
In the dozen other deadliest mass shootings in the US, the number of dead compared to the number of injured usually ratios closely.
The highest injured ratio is a little over 1:2 in Fort Hood and the lowest is 13.5:1 in Newtown. Newtown was a close deadly enclosed environment against mostly children and the shooter was contained there. We have only one other shooting to compare Mandalay to with greater than 100 casualties in the US. We have a few in Europe, the Bataclan being most the comparable. But the circumstances surrounding each of these attacks and how the casualty counts were ultimately generated vary widely.
The near automatic fire rate, range, and space for people to spread out once they recognized the noise of the bump stock equipped rifles in Las Vegas resulted in the dead to injured ratio of nearly 1:7 killed to injured by gunfire, we are excluding circumstantial injuries since we are discussing the lethality of high fire rates specifically. Had the shooter employed more discipline in their attack, given what we see from Pulse and Virginia Tech as the two next deadliest attacks, he could have produced a body count in the hundreds given the entrapped and densely populated environment. The body and injury count could have skyrocketed further had the IEDs been placed, made properly for maximum casualty infliction, and detonated when surrounded by the fleeing. There are dozens of plausible scenarios that make Mandalay Bay far more horrific, and they all deal with competence.
No law would prevent it. No law would change the raw casualty causing potential possessed by the attacker even if we partially illegalize firearm type or possession. Other firearms would have equal and potentially greater injurious impact.
Automatic fire does not necessarily produce more deaths, it is a variation on an already highly dangerous method of injury that is already capable of producing staggering casualties. It can produce a high casualty count but it does not outstrip what a similar semi-automatic firearm, or explosives, or vehicle could produce and has produced in a similar densely populated environment.
TL;DR: Automatic fire is not a special risk in the already extreme risk circumstance of a shooting. Multiple other methods of injury exist that could reasonably cause the same level of injury and damage and those are left far less regulated in meaningfully inhibitive ways than an automatic firearm is. It’s about the equivalent of asking whether the 9.1 or 9.3 earthquake that destroyed the town was more dangerous, they were both well beyond the catastrophe threshold.
We are trying to stop the most deranged and dedicated to destructive action members of humanity and deter them with a ‘no parking between 8am and noon’ sign.
Last year, The Trace and VICE News documented the rise of these automatic conversion devices. These small switches “easily modify semiautomatic weapons to fire more than 1,200 rounds per minute, and sidestep the federal government’s strict licensing requirements for automatic weapons.”
Accessing these illegal devices has become easier in recent years, thanks to the rise of social media and the internet, Densley said. There are videos online teaching people how to make them at home with a 3D printer, he said. They’re also coming from overseas, mainly China.
You can slap a penalty on it, you cannot prevent access to it. That penalty can be steep, it is even. It is 10 years in prison and $250,000.00. But we do not very evenly apply that penalty, often let violators plea out, and in general acknowledge without actually changing the laws to reflect the reality that it is a hostile act with a weapon that is the problem, not the weapon itself.
The huge jump in law enforcement agencies recovering these devices is thanks to the ATF’s effort over the past two years to educate local agencies on the identification and reporting of conversion devices, the agency said.
Or their sudden influx thanks to Wish.com and China, but pat yourselves on the back ATF. The public has access to all this information but I’m sure law enforcement could only figure it out through the ATF’s efforts. [/sarc]
Crime labs are the ones confirming these devices and the working or otherwise condition of the firearms.
Guns fitted with these devices and used in shootings are hard to control and often result in serious collateral damage, Densley said.
That continues to fly in the face of the assertions that more lethal, we are now saying they are more damaging to the general environment. Which is it? It’s almost like the employment of a machine gun is a complicated combat skill and its mere presence doesn’t make a situation eminently more dangerous than ‘deranged lunatic with a gun’ already does.
“This is where you get those shootings where it’s like we found 100 shell casings on the floor. And you know, 20 people got shot at the bar,” he said.
Would this shooting have materially changed much by changing the firearm? That is the question we need to ask when we are discussing these things. Yes, these were the circumstances for this particular shooting, but would those circumstances be easily repeatable with different variables. The answer to that question is invariably, ‘Yes these circumstances would be easily repeatable with a number of other non-automatic firearms and non–firearm methods of injury’ and we keep glossing over that fact in a rush to prove how dangerous this specific shooting was that an extra illegal gun, used often by people who aren’t allowed to legally have guns anyway, was very dangerous and we need to make it more illegalerer-er than it is already more illegal to stop these people from dangerously illegaling.
5. Pistols represented nearly 70% of the crime guns traced between 2017 and 2021
Semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 often make headlines when they are used to commit mass shootings in the United States. But handguns are most often used to commit crimes, according to ATF data.
The common handgun. Most stolen. Most found at crime scenes.
The percentage of these handguns recovered in crimes and submitted for tracing by law enforcement agencies increased from 62% in 2017 to 75% in 2020. And of the more than 1.3 million pistols used in crimes traced between 2017 and 2021, 19.6% were manufactured by Glock.
Let’s also admit that this is a bit of misdirection in its own right. The ATF count revolvers, an additional 11% of crime guns with 211,590 traces, as a separate category despite the fact that revolvers are handguns. Small, concealable, and multishot, the revolver is very serviceable.
Meaning a total of 79% of crime firearms are handguns.
“But Keith!” You cry out, “There are super dangerous rifle caliber pistols, AR and AK types! Surely those represent a massive portion of ‘pistols’ in the total, right?”
Nope… 5.56 (6,940) and 7.62 (10,713, no distinction is made between .300BLK, 7.62×39, or 7.62×51) account for a total of 1.3% of traced crime handguns. The anemic .25 ACP is a more popular caliber at 2.4%, 31,591 guns, recovered and traced.
So excluding rifle caliber handguns, 77.7% of crime guns are traditional handguns or traditional revolvers.
Notice NPR stopped using full numbers and dropped to just percentages? Remember that 19.6% is 255,055 guns. We wouldn’t want that number to clash with dramatically smaller numbers, like 5,454 machine guns (which were mostly Glocks or Glock clones too, because that is what a switch fits).
When we can say things like 570% increase and 5,454 guns we make both of those numbers sound terrifying. They seem dramatically less terrifying against numbers like 647,014, which was the number of regular 9mm semi-autos traced from a crime.
“It’s probably also the most likely to be stolen. And it’s also the most likely to wind up on the streets,” Densley said of the Glock pistol.
Glock is the most popular handgun manufacturer in the world. I would bet they also account for a significant portion of the number of guns stolen from government sources. 25,904 guns stolen from the government if you’ll recall, unknown how many were Glocks.
This gun is both well designed and well marketed, he said. They also allow for the popular conversion devices to be put into these guns, making them more lethal and used in crimes more often.
Eh, we just said there were only 5,454 machine guns recovered and not all of those are going to be ‘switched’ guns so how much ‘more often’ was it really?
“There’s a cachet with the Glock versus some other brands as well,” he said. “And so I think all of that contributes to that phenomenon.”
Most. Popular. Handgun. Worldwide.
I don’t think we need to dig into the obvious too deeply here. We are going to see a surge in Sig pistol market share soon too. Why? They got popular after the M17 contract and several other wins.
It is no surprise to anyone with a few neurons that fire correctly that the influx of ‘stimulus’ amounts that happen to match the price of popular handgun models led directly to a lot of those gun sales. The government actually funded this problem as part of their ‘fix’ to the other problem they created by hard stopping the US economic systems and letting inner cities burn here and there.
But let’s not look at that one too hard. Wouldn’t want to imply any government culpability in both over straining, and then arming the strained groups with just enough money for that and not much else, and then acting surprised when some of those strained populations used the currency of violence to solve issues they were experiencing. Especially prevalent among groups already comfortable with violence as one of their currency and communication forms.
Weird, right?
Why are we acting surprised that people armed up during the pandemic and the riots? Legally or otherwise.
6. There’s a lot of data, but it’s still limited
Of course it’s ‘still limited’. But it is indicative of many things and we can draw conclusions, ones that you at NPR don’t necessarily want to draw, as it points out the limits of regulatory efficacy, the actual scale of various risks, and what the real problems are when we combine it with other available data.
The report only reflects a glimpse of the full picture when it comes to guns in the U.S.]
Shocking. Let’s start with between 2017 and 2021 there were 1,482,861 traces for crime guns but 158,358,886 NICS checks. The NICS deny rate for the last two of those years was 1.33% combined, 2020’s rate was slightly higher than 2021’s. If we use that deny rate as a base for the whole five years we end up with 2,106,173 denied transfers, allegedly. Which doesn’t line up with the math, funny enough, as that is more denials than NICS has delivered in its entire history, 2,039,507.
The better extrapolated number that doesn’t get clearly conveyed in the report is 1.33% of the 31% of checks referred to NICS record check and not immediately passed (69% of checks), this is only approximately 652,913 denials in those five years, 338,949 of those confirmed in 2020 and 2021.
Meaning denied background check volume accounts for about half of the comparable criminal trace volume and only a 0.41% actual denial rate. So what exactly are background checks accomplishing? For every denied background check two crime guns were recovered, do we have any data indicative of whether those with a denied check were found as a possessor of one of these crime guns?
[Firearm tracing, as well as ballistic imaging policies and practices, vary across these local agencies, the ATF said.
The results presented in the report are thus limited and is not “representative of all crime guns used by offenders in the U.S. during this study period,” the agency said in its report.
They don’t have to be representative of all if they are representative of a large enough sample. That is how statistical modeling and sampling work, if we collect enough data and enough instances we will be accurately projecting the rest of the data within a very reasonable error margin.
I harp on crime being from a unique motivator and individually accountable perspective but from the larger analysis of motivators we can categorize and see these things from the macro picture level. That is useful information. What we can’t do is think that our macro solution concepts influence the individual motivations directly. Making murder illegal doesn’t remove the motives for murder, it just places a potential consequence into the more complex socioeconomic equation of commiting a murder.
In 2021, 47.2% of law enforcement agencies (8,679 out of 17,981 agencies) were participating in ATF’s eTrace program, which tracks firearms used in crimes. And as of 2021, there were only 259 cities with National Integrated Ballistic Information Network sites (which analyzes ballistic information). These databases are where the ATF pulled information for this report.
Even with this caveat, the ATF and experts say this information is a huge step in better understanding gun violence in the U.S. It comes at a time when data is pointing to a rise in deadly gun violence across the country.
Now, policymakers have another tool to address the problem, Densley said. “This is important information for understanding how gun violence evolves over time.”
Yes, equally important is the actual understanding of the information and not cherry picking stats to make your particular pet point look scarier than it is.
We’re constantly told ‘Assault Weapons’ are a huge problem, then 77.7% of crime guns are handguns.
We need to ban ‘Assault Weapons’ and yet the combined total of ALL pistols and rifles recovered in ‘Assault Weapon’ calibers, which means we have some overlap with non-‘Assault Weapon’ firearms in the same calibers, is 116,332. Meaning Glock handguns in their boringly regular state account for a 219.24% greater risk of being used in a crime than all assault weapons during this five year period. That period includes the chaotic and particularly violent 2020 and 2021. Indications are the ’22 and ’23 are looked and are looking better, amazing what happens when we re-engage socially cohesive services.
The damage to social and societal trust during this period will have a longer and less predictable fallout and healing period.
I will give them credit for the overall effort, the obfuscation contained is mildly annoying at most. I might just be jaded and expecting it though.
What we end up seeing is that the things that we are told are problems look very different in wide context vs in isolation. In the wider context there are hundreds of millions of guns, gun owners, and only a small percentage are a problem on any given day. A substantial percentage of that small percentage are also habituals problems and any number of variables can come together to make a tragic result.
We must not let up on our efforts to reduce the occurrences of the problems but blowing those problems out of proportion does far more harm than good when it comes to crafting truly effective policy solutions and wider socioeconomic goals because it will breed exaggerated overreactions and cultivate an environment of unkept promises from the policymakers who promise the impossible and fail to deliver.
We cannot rid ourselves of ‘gun crime’ because that is a misnomer. We cannot rid ourselves of most forms of violence because the motivators, subjective, and objective gains from the violent action are hard to mitigate and provide total non-violent sources for. That is especially true of the subjective gains where the violence is tied to a cause or ego driven motive.
The best we can do is strive a little everyday to make our little piece of this place a little better and not worry about the things we cannot change and should have little motivation too, it isn’t worth our finite time. Violence will always be with us, when the firearm is obsolete as the individual weapon of choice we will have whatever is next. We keep that reality in check by making the best of life as we can.
We can’t pass a law against gun violence any more than we can pass a law to enforce happiness, so we do these things the hard ways with no guarantees as the only ways. We need to stop believing the snake oil sales folk who are attracted to the political life.
From left to right, a ring crimped primer pocket without the primer, a ring crimped primer pocket, and a 4 stab crimped primer pocket.
Background story: When I first started reloading I was mainly reloading for my 6.5 Creedmoor. This meant brand new Lapua brass and no issue with primer pockets. Then I started shooting .223, a lot of it. Therefore, I wanted to buy once fired .223 brass and start playing with that first. Many local gunstores have .223 once fired brass. So I take a trip and get two bags of 250 IMI brass cases without even a thought of looking at the primer pockets. Instead, I just verify that they all have the same headstamp. Turns out, all of these pieces of brass had crimped primer pockets meaning, when I remove the primer and go to seat another one, it will not seat and each pocket will need to be shaved out. HEAVY SIGH. More work, more time…more knowledge.
When loading for .223 knowledge on crimped primer pockets will need to be had as many .223 casings have it. These crimped primers can cause you to run into issues such as primers not seating and more equipment needed to remedy that. T get around it all together, specific brass types can be bought.
There are multiple different types of crimped primer pockets. Photo: QuoraForums
What is a crimped primer pocket?
Many NATO type ammunition will have crimped primer pockets due to wanting to prevent popped primers. In the simplest of terms this means that the primer is sealed into the pocket by crimping or almost like a staking/swaging to prevent a primer from coming loose from the case. There are a couple of different styles of this. For example, a ring crimp will have a circle type crimp all the way around the primer. If you don’t know to look for it you won’t notice it. There is then stab crimping. There is a 3 stab and 4 stab. This looks like 3 or 4 stake markings around the primer.
How do I find brass without a crimped primer pocket?
First, stick to unfired/brand new brass. If it is unfired that means that there has never been a primer seated into the brass, thus no crimping. If you don’t want to do that, stick to the civilian stuff and..do your research. Some civilian ammo still has crimped primers so be sure to either research or look at the once fired brass in the plastic bag before you buy it.
How do I fix it?
Alright, this is where things can get confusing and/or tick off reloaders and their preference of equipment. Before going into equipment, first let’s talk about what actually needs to be done.
If you have a crimped primer case first thing that needs to happen is the primer needs to be removed in order to seat a new primer. When popping that out due to it being staked in and harder to press out, it is recommended to use a Universal decapping die instead of your seating die. You don’t want to brake or have to adjust your seating die due to a really hard to remove primer so just go with a simple and cheap universal die like the Universal Lee Decapping Die.
Now, this is really important. The crimp needs to be entirely removed to avoid any issues while seating the primer. Having a primer get stuck midway into the pocket and the hand primer or whatever primer seating tool you’re using can get weird. It is not good to force the primers in either as they can explode. I personally have seen it happen to friends.
So how do you remove it? There are a few different ways and pieces of equipment but you will need something that has “swaging” or “reaming” in the name. Below are some recommendations.
The Hornady Primer Pocket Reamer is great to ream out primer pocket crimps. Some stick this in their own drill and some use it in their Case Prep Duo or Trio. It is important when using a reamer to ensure that it is straight and not angled inside the primer pocket. If it is inserted an angle it can remove too much brass and damage your primer pocket.
The Hornady Lock N Load Trio runs off of a plug in and rotates each accessory with the case of a button. Multiple case prep accessories are available such as a reamer and inside/outside the neck chamfer tools.
Moral of the story, when you are thinking about what kind of brass to pick up for loading .223 ensure that you check for crimped primer pockets and that you know how to properly remove ALL of the crimp.
I love a good, modern carry gun. The P365 fits my needs just perfectly. However, that doesn’t make it my favorite carry gun. It’s just the one that works best for me. In fact, I feel like a lot of great guns have come and gone without much celebration. Today we are going to look a the five most underrated carry guns.
Beretta 92FS Compact
Some guns really fit into this just right category. The Beretta 92 FS Compact is one of those guns, specifically the railed variant. It’s a bit slimmer and smaller than the full-sized 92FS, but not too small. You could easily conceal the weapon, but it’s big enough to be easy to shoot and control. The rail allows you to add a light, which makes it an option for home defense.
While the Beretta compact isn’t light, it eats up recoil. The DA/SA design remains one of my favorite options for trigger designs and tosses in a decocker-only safety lever, and we are cooking with gas. The Langdon Tactical optics-ready models are exquisite fighting pistols, and the entire Beretta 92 Compact series is criminally underrated.
The KelTec P32
Yep, I’ll stand behind the KelTec P32, and I mean that literally. KelTec has a rough rep from QA issues with their guns. While I can acknowledge their issues, I can say the P32 seems exempt. Maybe it’s because it’s been around for 24 years now. It was the first real modern pocket pistol and remained the lightest on the market.
32 ACP isn’t a ballistic powerhouse, but with the right ammo, it penetrates deep enough to matter. The recoil is fairly light, and the gun is easy to shoot and control. When compared to guns like the LCP or even the P-3AT, the P32 is downright pleasant. At 6.6 ounces, you’ll be hard strapped to find something lighter. The P32 and .32 ACP round, in general, is underrated.
Walther P99c
The Walther P99 is a criminally underrated gun. It almost sickens me to see Caniks being so successful when they simply cloned the P99. This DA/SA striker-fired gun is an innovative little firearm that never caught fire. The compact variant was roughly Glock 26-sized with one of the best double-action triggers ever.
The single action was also no joke. The P99c is fairly rare, and if you have one, hold onto it or sell it to me. These guns were reliable, easy to use, lightweight, and packed a punch. Sadly no one seems to like the DA/SA striker-fired design, and they never enjoyed a ton of success. That’s a shame because the gun is solid, just underrated.
CZ Rami 2075
As a flannel-wearing tactical hipster, I love me some CZ, and the 2075 RAMI never got the love it deserved. As the third DA/SA design, I’m starting to see a pattern. These guns came in 9mm and 40 S&W and both metal and polymer frames. Oddly enough, the all-metal versions weighed the same as a Glock 26.
These guns used CZ 75 magazines and came with a flush fitting ten rounder and a 14-rounder with a grip extension. What made these guns stand out was the brilliant ergonomics and ease of control. The Czechs just know how my hands work, and the gun delivered a nice high grip that made controlling it easy and enjoyable. It’s odd, but a very underrated CZ.
Compact Revolvers With 3-Inch Barrels
I don’t care who makes it! Well, I do a little. Snub noses are great, but I really love compact revolvers with 3-inch barrels in .38 or even .357 Magnum. If I was going to carry a .357 Magnum, it would have a 3-inch barrel. Something like the Ruger SP101, or better yet, the new 605 TORO series. They are severely underrated.
The longer barrels make the gun easier to shoot, grant a longer sight radius and add more velocity to that 125-grain JHP. The .38 Special versions, like the 856 TORO, offer six rounds and a pleasant shooting experience. Luckily this genre seems to be growing, and we are getting a few more compact revolvers with 3-inch barrels.
Beyond the Micro Compact
I get it. Guns like the P365 rule these days. Hell, I even carry one. While those guns have some serious advantages, that doesn’t mean they are the best gun for every person or situation. Sometimes you need to look outside the current box, and you’ll be surprised at what you find.
PHLster, the innovative concealment company behind state of the art appendix inside the waistband (AIWB) holsters and the successful Enigma Concealment System is officially releasing the next generation of its Floodlight AIWB / IWB concealment holster, the PHLster Floodlight 2.
The Floodlight 2 is a modern ambidextrous universal concealment holster meant to carry almost any duty sided double stack handgun. It supports either the Streamlight TLR-1 or the Surefire X-300 U A or B weapon lights. The holster easily accommodates handguns with slide mounted red dot sights and tall “suppressor height” iron sights too. My thoughts on the first iteration of the Floodlight are well-known and it has been my serious EDC holster for years. I put that holster through its paces, not only driving thousands of miles across the country wearing it, but I have also carried it across various conditions and situations. From training classes to private practice sessions and competitions, I definitely subjected my original Floodlight to hard use and came to really like that holster. Naturally, I was thrilled to learn that PHLster had been working on that holster’s successor behind the scenes for some time now.
Generally speaking, when people think of “universal” fit, they are oftentimes left with a less than good feeling about the product, especially when it comes to handgun holsters. “Jack of all trades, master of none” as they say, or the even less flattering “floppy nylon gun sock.” When it comes to the PHLster Floodlight family, this is not the case. In short, the PHLster Floodlight and Floodlight 2 are designed to fully grip and close in around the weapon light itself thus making them gun-agnostic. Moreover, the end user is able to adjust the final retention levels. Finally, these holsters were designed with industry-standard spaced slots. Depending on the hardware and the position of the belt attachment system, the Floodlight family works as either an appendix holster or can be set up for strong side IWB carry.
I like going to USPSA matches and shooting them from concealment with my Beretta 92X Performance. The Beretta 92X Performance has Brigadier slide which is fairly thick. This pistol is also quite heavy for its size. Neither of these presented any issue for the Floodlight 2. Like the term “universal”, the term ambidextrous also used to have a negative connotation in the holster space yesteryear. Nowadays, this is not the case. As a serious shooter, I think that the hallmark of any modern concealment holster worth its salt is that it be perfectly symmetrical and truly fully ambidextrous. The Floodlight 2 (and its predecessor) fit the bill perfectly.
Top view of either side of the new Floodlight 2.
FLOODLIGHT 2 NEW CHANGES
Perhaps the Floodlight 2’s biggest difference is the way the new holster looks since the PHLster design team re-profiled it and took care to eliminate any “dead” space. They also consolidated the holster’s remaining real estate. Curves and corners are more rounded and radiused as needed to increase comfort to the wearer, especially on the bottom edge of the holster. Furthermore, adding to the holster’s organic shapely improvement are PHLster’s patented ComfortScape ribs. These raised ribs primarily allow for ventilation in order to reduce hotspots and provide moisture management from sweat from carrying all day.
Improving the Floodlight 2’s concealability, not only consisted of reshaping and reprofiling and making use of the ComfortScape ribs, but PHLster also took a look at the belt attachment options. The original Floodlight shipped standard with classic pull-the-dot soft loops (the go-to choice when the original concept was first conceived) and had a series of upper slots to attach said loops on the holster body. The new Floodlight 2 lacks these topmost slots because the PHLster team designed the new holster to work exclusively with the proven Discreet Carry Concepts Mod 4 steel clips. As far as they are concerned the PTD soft loops are a thing of the past.
The old and new holsters are the same thickness.
The original Floodlight’s Boltaron body has been replaced with stronger high impact polymer shells. Internally, not much is different on the Floodlight 2, but the area where the holster material grabs the light has been tweaked to better grab the weapon light. At launch, which is officially today, March 6, 2023 PHLster will be offering the Floodlight 2 in four different colors: black, sage green, tundra (white), and flat dark earth. The new holster is also available under the PHLster Enigma Express product line.
FLOODLIGHT 2 PERSONAL THOUGHTS
For the past few months, I have been primarily carrying my Glock 45 and Surefire X-300 U/A appendix–the same combination I carried with the original holster aside from the match Beretta. Switching from the old holster to the new one was seamless other than getting used to the Discreet Carry Concepts Mod 4 clips instead of the pull-the-dot soft loops. Concealment wise, the Floodlight 2 carries quite flat against the body and I have not had trouble concealing my Glock in spite of the size. It took some getting used to the DCC Mod 4 clips instead of the classic PTD soft loops. Initially I was not happy to give up a tried and true belt attachment system. After wearing the holster more, I have been slowly coming around to the Discreet Carry Concepts steel clips and understanding what they offer the modern concealed carrier. These clips are slightly more challenging to snap on and remove, but they snugly keep the holster and gun in the same place on the beltline without fail. Floodlight 2 users would be wise to apply some thread locking compound (PHLster recommends Vibratite VC3) in order to protect the holster’s hardware from the rigors of daily carry and avoid some of the holster’s screws from backing out.
My hands-on time with the Floodlight 2 has taken place during the past autumn and winter, so I have not had a chance to see the ComfortScape sweat ventilation capabilities first hand. Because Holster sweat and hotspots are a general concern of mine due to local heat and humidity, this is a feature I am personally excited about and I cannot wait to see it in action during the hottest days of the year. My own Floodlight 2 holster will continue where the other one left of as part of my full size EDC kit. Please visit PHLster’s website for additional information on their new holster.
The boys are back, and they’re talking about the legendary video that @GarandThumb aired – the Saga of 22 Man. Plus, they discuss the new S&W folding carbine!
The Governor of the State of West Virginia signed a bill Wednesday which would allow concealed carry of personal firearms on the college campuses of the state, CBS News reported.
West Virginia has had Constitutional Carry as state law for several years, but that didn’t stop everyone from university presidents to physician groups from voicing their opposition. They trotted out the same tropes as always, but thanks to support from the West Virginia Citizens Defense League the job got done.
Now we wait for the mad scramble as institutions of higher learning across the state rush to cobble together their own “rules” for how this law will be folded into their “Campus Safety” plans.
Stolen guns, untraceable weapons and other deadly devices are becoming more prevalent in U.S. gun crimes, new federal data shows.
Eh… hold on NPR. Before we make this claim too strongly we should look at 2022 and 2023’s data as it comes in. 2021 was a bad year. So before we start saying ‘more prevalent’ as a permanent trend, we should acknowledge that 2020 and 2021 had some extreme external stimuli related to the pandemic and government response to it. Those years were not business as normal.
Data from 2022 suggests we should see it land inbetween 2019 and 2020, at least that is what Chicago did.
2023 in Chicago also appears to be continuing the reductions from the pandemic years, although we are still above average for the decade.
Back to NPR’s 6 takeaways,
1. Legally purchased guns can change hands and end up being used in crimes
…
Well that one opens the list as broad and vague as possible. I wonder, can legally purchased alcohol change hands and end up being drunk before driving too? By a minor even? Spectacular analysis.
The ATF found that 54% of traced crime guns were recovered by law enforcement more than three years after their purchase. Those guns werelegally purchased, but were later used in crimes, the report indicated.
Time to crime is a factor that is tracked, as well as locations, common FFLs, and as much information as possible to see where guns used in crime come from and what can be done to intervene. But the answer to that is one people don’t like. Crime guns come from a tremendous number of sources and represent a small fraction of firearms transfers in any given year. So, we can only do so much to stop them.
“Crime guns may change hands a number of times after that first retail sale, and some of those transactions may be a theft or violate one or more regulations on firearm commerce,” the ATF’s report reflected.
In other words, once it leaves the initial regulated retail chain of custody anything could happen. Sometimes the thing that happens is not legal and the gun is therefore used in a crime. We are again stating the obvious.
“But what we know is from the large numbers of gun sales, there are lots of ways that legal guns end up in the hands of prohibited persons.”
*Sigh* We are again again stating the obvious.
Trace requests are up significantly since 2000, very true. But that 174% increase did not happen in a vacuum, it was not only the factor in the firearm space that increased in frequency.
Now compare trace requests against NICS transfer requests.
2020 had 465% the volume of firearm transfer checks through FBI NICS that the year 2000 had, and 2021 was 455% the volume. So comparatively, the firearms economy in the nation grew more than twice as fast as the number of traces over the same timeframe. The rate of traces when compared to the number of transfers decreased.
During the period from 2000 to 2021, 77% (5,894,667 of 7,633,131) of all trace requests were completed. Since 2016, the trace completion rate has remained above 80%, the system is better and the market is full of newer post 68 firearms. Of the 23% of requests that were not completed, 1,738,464 trace requests in total, 366,281 (4.7%) requests were duplicates, 44,785 (0.58%) were stopped by requestor, 869,440 (11.4%) had invalid or inadequate firearm markings, and 457,958 (6%) were pre-GCA weapons and not required to be marked, as they were made prior to the 1968 Gun Control Act which began requiring specific marking.
During the time period, 2000 to 2021, a total of 401,545,091 requests were submitted to FBI NICS and denials (including 1998 and 1999) were only 2,039,507. So in the majority of the history of our national background check system and the mandate to use it by federal dealers, only 0.5% were denied the transfer. 1 in 200.
Now two million denials sounds like a lot, two million prohibited ‘dangerous’ people who were stopped from getting a gun… from a licensed dealer at least.
For 2020 and 2021, the highest years for traces and worst in recent history for crimes, a total of 338,949 transfers were denied out of 78,571,988 requests. This means in the two worst years for violence recently, the denial rate was below average, at just 0.43%.
But of those denials in 2020 and 2021 there were 48,843 appeals were filed. Of those 48,843 appeals only 34,858 were sustained, meaning the false positive rate in NICS checks cases that are then appealed is a staggering 28.7%. Now to give FBI NICS the benefit of the doubt, let’s assume that every single case that didn’t file an appeal was an accurate denial to a prohibited person. That’s an absurd assumption but I’m going to give them it anyway, best case scenario as it were. The best case suggests NICS issues a false denial in 4.12% of cases, the actual rate is higher than that but is unlikely to match the abysmal 28.7% among appellants. It will be somewhere between.
Why did I deviate from the ATF report?
Context matters. 99.57% of background checks in recent NICS records are passed and the historical record maintains that rate, approximately 99.5%, throughout NICS operational history. These do not get referenced in the ATF report and a more negative image of the general outlook gets portrayed by NPR commentary than the ATF report manages to convey.
Lindsay Nichols, policy director with the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told NPR: “This report is a major development for ATF in terms of their transparency.” NPR quotes a few paragraphs above the current section, and that is true. But that transparency also points out inefficacies and non-problems as often as where the ATF is doing work.
2. More than 1 million guns were stolen from private citizens from 2017 to 2021
A huge way those legally purchased firearms get into the hands of criminals is through theft, the ATF said. In five years, there were more than 1 million firearms stolen from private citizens and reported to authorities.
Criminals will commit crime to arm themselves for crime? Interesting.
There’s a caveat here, however. Federal law doesn’t require individual gun owners to report the loss or theft of their firearm to police. And while local laws vary, it also isn’t a requirement in many states to report a stolen gun, either — so the number of gun thefts could be much higher.
Do we have an estimate of how much higher?
In 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey provided data that citizens reported about 75% of firearm thefts to a LEA that, presumably, reports all thefts to the FBI NCIC.20 As such, the annual total number of stolen firearms in the U.S. can be estimated at approximately 266,000 per year during the study period.
So we actually have a good estimate that is probably 1.35 million thefts and 25% go unreported.
Regardless, Nichols, with Giffords, called this number “horrifying.”
I would use the more tempered ‘concerning’, you’ll see why below.
“It shows that we really have a serious problem with guns that are not being stored safely in order to prevent this,” she said.
Do we? Is a firearm theft automatically a case of negligence and improper storage?
ATF and FBI data documented approximately 215,000 guns stolen and reported to LEAs annually during the study period. Most stolen firearms originated from thefts from private citizens’ homes and vehicles.
The ATF does not have the same data on private thefts as they do the smaller number of FFL thefts. Private thefts account for 96% of stolen firearms and most private thefts involved a single firearm. We do not have adequate data on storage methods so we cannot say with any certainty that they were stored ‘unsafely’ just because they were stolen.
What obligation are we implying on an owner must take on for criminal damage to their property to constitute safe storage? Locked doors and windows? Stored out of site? Additional locking room? Where do we stop blaming the victim and blame only the thief?
From 2017 to 2021, LEAs reported 770,642 private theft incidents involving 1,026,538 firearms to the FBI NCIC (Figure PT-01). The number of reported private firearm theft incidents did not change significantly during the study period. Throughout the study period, most of these private theft incidents involved a single firearm. –Part V Pg 19
Thefts from private citizens account for nearly 96% (1,026,538) of all firearms reported stolen from 2017 to 2021. About 60% of private theft incidents (480,542) occurred in the South, and Southern states were more likely to have higher rates of private thefts per 100,000 population. About 71% (729,560) of firearms reported stolen from private citizens were pistols and the most prevalent caliber was 9mm (38%; 392,876). From 2017 to 2021, there were 296,787 firearms recovered that were associated with a private theft incident. When firearms are recovered, they tend to be recovered in the state in which they were stolen (92%; 271,916).
There are enough firearms stolen on an annual basis to arm all offenders who commit firearm homicides, firearm assaults, and firearm robberies each year.22 However, less than 5% of surveyed firearm offenders report acquiring their most recent crime gun through theft; firearm offenders frequently report informal acquisitions of firearms from friends, family members, and street sources.23 Hence, most firearm offenders do not appear to obtain crime guns through direct theft. Instead, stolen firearms play an indirect role in trafficking and diversion to the underground firearm markets used by prohibited persons, juveniles, and other risky individuals seeking firearms. Given the very large scale of firearm thefts in the U.S., it seems likely that stolen firearms are a significant source of firearms to violent criminals. Unfortunately, NCIC and ATF information resources are limited in determining whether recovered crime guns were stolen from private citizens.
Reducing firearm theft would help curtail an important supply line of crime guns to prospective firearm offenders. Local problem-oriented policing initiatives24 have been effective in controlling a wide range of theft problems, including burglary, thefts from vehicles, and shoplifting.25 The approach has also been used to analyze and disrupt underground markets for stolen goods. 26 Police departments could apply the problem-oriented approach in specific jurisdictions to address stolen firearms emanating from residential burglaries, vehicle break-ins, “smash-and-grab” theft operations that target licensed dealers, and street fences who transfer stolen firearms to criminals. 27 –Pg23
So yes, theft is a problem and then the thieves likely fuel the illegal market demand. Criminals arm criminals. But the implication from Giffords Center is that the victims are too blame for being victimized as their victimization enabled another.
Because a storage mandate too stringent will directly impact the readiness of a firearm to be used in defense, thus defeating the constitutional purpose of having a firearm and impacting DGUs.
This new data from the ATF can further educate policymakers on the need for regulations mandating safe storage, Nichols said.
That’s a common theme in this whole piece, ‘Data can further educate policymakers about the NEED for regulations’. The assumption is there is a need for regulation or further regulation if there is any negative stat, those talking about policy and referencing places like Giffords or Everytown tend to obfuscate and decontextualize in order to make a stat feel scarier.
It isn’t to say that any given problem, thefts, suicides, assaults, and so forth are not problems or that they do not need addressing, observation, and best practices of intervention and risk mitigation. But there is a dramatic difference between monitoring and recommending best practices and that every problem needs a regulation. There are plenty of instances that are beyond influence of regulation because the motivations and actions are too disparate, too separated, from what a regulation can influence.
Roughly 4.6 million children live in a home with loaded and unlocked firearms, studies have shown.
And there are myriad of mitigatable circumstances that result in those 4.6 million children only injuring themselves [x] times in a given year.
We can always wish and work for the numbers of deliberate self injuries and unintentional injuries to be lower, but we do not gain anything by oversimplifying the problem to ‘this child lived in a home with a loaded and unlocked firearm’ and was injured or killed. We lose nuance, we lose circumstance, we lose motivation when we over simplify and bracket these very complicated issues and organizations like Everytown and Giffords have motive to obfuscate the data and often do.
Even the American Academy of Pediatrics is guilty of this obfuscation by not separating children, those with inability to reason with full self agency, and those with full adult self agency. The categories separate in the early teens and preteens but the AAP lumps them all together into one ‘Youth’ group despite the method and motive for injury being dramatically different.
Firearms are the leading cause of death in children and youth 0 to 24 years of age in the United States. In 2020, firearms resulted in 10 197 deaths (fatality rate 9.91 per 100 000 youth 0–24 years old). Firearms are the leading mechanism of death in pediatric suicides and homicides. Reads the AAPs Nov 28, 2022 report. But then we get into the data a bit.
We should really see this data broken down by specific age and demographic data about their socioeconomic circumstances. Notice fatalities under 10 are negligible and under 14 are incredibly low?
Let’s go back the ATF data now. Recovered firearms where in whose hands by age range?
50% of stolen firearms from FFLs were recovered on ‘ Children and Youths’, according to the AAP definition, might that have something to do with their mortality rate? I doubt that the graph would look much different if we had age data on recovered firearms stolen from the public. Its entirely disingenuous, and frankly borders on outright criminal dishonesty, to lump ‘firearm mortality’ into a category for so broad an age range as 0-24 when there are so clearly demonstrable differences in causation.
Homicide by Age, Ethnicity, and GenderSuicide by Age, Ethnicity, and Gender
Weird isn’t it? That when people hit that age of self determination, when their minds start developing from child to adult functionality, suddenly those death rates from two motives spike.
The AAP report could easily read ‘Older Teens and Young Adults’ and the title be far more honest. But no, ‘Children’ are what get people paying attention. So pediatricians are not above click baiting and hoping you don’t read beyond the headline too.
How about those unintended deaths, what do those rates look like?
Unintentional firearm fatality rates by race and ethnicity, average 2010 to 2020. NH, non-Hispanic. Data obtained from: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars.
Hmm, ‘unlocked and loaded’ in front of an alleged 4.6 million children does not appear to be the problem they claim. It appears to be several problems in very different scales and that the 4.6 million number is for dramatic effect alone. If we take that number, 4.6 million, and use it to scale each of those death rates up to per million, we get a handful to a few dozen deaths in each demographic which tracks with CDC data.
CDC is showing 694 unintentional deaths due to firearms between 2010 and 2020 for age range 0-14, there are 44,203 deaths for other unintended injury types.
Yes, NPR, we are dealing with several different problems here. Lets stop trying to victim blame those that had their firearms stolen.
3. Ghost guns remain difficult to track and are increasingly used in crime
Privately made firearms, also called “ghost guns,”]
Because scary… Boo. Ghost gun is an entirely fabricated term for propaganda. Also ‘increasingly used’ is an interesting turn of phrase that we will examine below.
[and their involvement in crime “is an emerging issue,” the ATF said in its analysis. Still, law enforcement agencies are just beginning to establish uniform training on how to recognize, identify, and report ghost guns.
Recognize?
They’re kit built firearms with no legal need for a serial number on them, if they were at a crime scene it is equally illegal to crime with a non-serialized firearm as a serialized one. It is equally as felonious to be in possession of a non-serialized firearm as it is a serialized one if you are a felon. Lacking an inventory number does not increase the criminality or risk.
The number of suspected ghost guns recovered by law enforcement agencies and sent to the ATF for tracing and tracking “increased by 1,083% from 2017 (1,629) to 2021 (19,273).” This indicates, for one thing, that these ghost guns are increasingly being used to commit crimes, the ATF concludes.
Kit built guns also wildly increased in popularity during that time period too, but we shouldn’t talk about that I suppose. We could possibly correlate the sudden popularity of a particular item with an increase in its misuse as well, hello Draco AK pistols, now could we?
How does that compare to say… Glocks?
Of the 1,306,804 pistol type crime guns traced between 2017 and 2021, nearly 20% (255,055) were manufactured by Glock –Part III Page 19
And total PMFs?
Of the 37,980 recovered and traced suspected PMFs, pistols accounted for 59% (22,546), rifles accounted for 14% (5,446), machine guns accounted for 12% (4,459), firearm receivers or frames accounted for 4% (1,588), and silencers accounted for 1% (345).
Ah, so Glock alone and all their serial numbers remains over 6 times as problematic as all kit built firearms. How are those serial numbers helping exactly? The common, and serial numbered, handgun remains king of crime at 70% of the traced crime guns in the United States. PMFs, while a problem in isolation, do no represent a significant portion of criminal firearms. Of the 1,922,577 trace requests, only 37,980 (1.97%) were PMFs in the five year timeframe.
But those weapons are tough to track, given that they have no serial numbers or other markings for tracing.
“Those guns are not serialized. Therefore, they’re really attractive to criminals who believe they can escape from accountability for their crimes and who are often not eligible to possess a gun,” Nichols said. “But because these guns are untraceable, they’re able to obtain them pretty easily.”
Let me repeat some hard info for gun controllers.
Serial numbers aren’t magic. They do not confer GPS data, or user history, or any other of these mythical “trackable” stats that people imply they do. It is an inventory number.
These weapons do not pose any significantly greater threat than an equivalent serialized weapon in the criminal space, a 9mm handgun is still a 9mm handgun. A 5.56x45mm carbine/pistol/SBR is that level of risk, whether a number exists on the side or not.
Remember, a completed trace means that they found the 4473 the firearm went out on to an owner, or its theft record, or determined it was a government firearm, and if it got displaced after that the ATF still considers it a complete trace and therefore a successful use of the system. It in no way, shape, or form correlates to the necessity of a trace in solving a crime or completing a prosecution.
Criminals are able to obtain firearms “pretty easily” full stop. If PMFs were so dramatic a problem in criminal hands and so much easier for them to use, I would expect them to account for more than
So PMFs are a problem, but not a dramatic one. You know what else is a problem? Theft from LEAs, .Gov, and DoD. How many firearms came back as government property in the 5 year timeframe?
25,904.
How many traced guns were simply too old to trace?
65,945.
Guns being old was twice the problem of guns not having a serial number.
How many firearms with serial numbers had it ground off/defaced?
48,601.
So, in summary, firearms being too old were way more of a problem than PMFs. Firearms being modified by removing the serial number were more of a problem than PMFs. Firearms being stolen fromthegovernment, who can have machine guns and special ammo and things that we aren’t allowed, were nearly as problematic as PMFs.
So we can stop pretending serialized or non-serialized matters that much. It is a tangential data point. I urge anyone to produce the data were traces were crucial in a criminal prosecution and would have resulted in a criminal walking without it.
I’m having to split this into two parts to break down the full six points, there is a lot to unpack in NPRs oversimplifications and it gets far worse in number 4, so that will start Part 2.
In this photo is a roll pin starter punch, a roll pin punch, and the Gas Tube Pin Tool from Forward Controls. All of these tools will help you install a gas tube pin without any broken punches or broken feelings.
Installing and removing an AR-15 Gas tube pin can be a pain. The difficulty is mainly due to the gas tube and gas block being the main area for carbon build up. Now put a super small pin into that gas block and you have at home gunsmithing problems. Punching this pin out without the proper tools often leads to broken punches and a lot of frustration. Thankfully, there are some tips and tricks for doing this as well as some nifty tools, such as the Forward Controls Gas Tube Pin Removal Tool.
The largest obstacle when it comes to punching out that small 5/64″ roll pin (or spring pin dependent on the manufacturer) is that you can’t get a flat surface to rest the awkward barrel and low profile gas block on. Every time you punch on the pin that barrel will roll, thus leading to an angled hit of the hammer and often a bent/broken punch. The Gas Tube Pin Tool from Forward Controls Design helps with that. This tool is basically a jig that you can rest your barrel and gas block in while punching out the pin. There is a spot for the pin to fall into as you’re punching and the jig will fit most low profile gas blocks.
The GPT is a small and lightweight jig that won’t take up a lot of room on your bench and honestly, is nice to look at as Forward Controls Cerakote guys do a great job. It is strong and will handle a hit from your hammer (we all miss sometimes it’s okay) as it is Machined in 6061 aluminum and Type III hard coat anodized.
This tool will help with installation of the gas tube pin as well.
Notice the recesses on each side of the gas block. These are spaces for your fingers when holding onto the gas block. Ensure that a properly sized nippled punch is used when removing the gas tube pin. If too large of a size is chosen the nipple could cause the pin to mushroom inside itself and damage it.
Note: This tool was made with in collaboration with Modern Armory. They have their own version however it looks like it is no longer being made as it is unavailable everywhere.
Features
Can be clamped into a vise due to a rebated base.
Rounded corners and edges for easy holding
Scalloped finger recesses to hold the gas block into the jig
Green color to allow a black gas block to stand out
Compatible with most gas blocks including Modern Armory, our GBF (Gas Block, Forward Controls), BCM, Rainier, VLTOR, Knight’s Armament, Badger Ordnance, Daniel Defense, SLR, or other low profile gas blocks based on the original Crane design. Known incompatible low profile gas blocks: Aero, Luth AR, and DPMS, and adjustable gas blocks.
Fits Most Low Profile Gas Blocks- MAX gas block length: 1.00, MAX gas block height: 1.35
Made in the USA
This is a cool photo taken from Forward Controls website. Shown here is a GPT that has been used for over 2000 gas tube pin installs. This just shows how strong the tool is for having a gas block bang into it about 6000 times. Photo: Forward Controls Design
How to Properly Remove the Gas Tube Pin
Below is a video from School of the American Rifle on properly removing a gas tube from the gas block using the GPT. The biggest thing to take away from this video and know when doing this install/removal is that the proper punches need to be used. The proper punches being a starter punch and a nippled roll pin punch. Start with a strong starter punch that is not immediately tapered as this will get stuck inside the hole. After the carbon is broken up a bit from those first hits then you can move to your very small and easy breakable 5/64ths nippled punch.
When installing the pin into the gas block a roll pin starter punch will be needed. This punch is hollowed out at the end so that small pins can sit into the punch. Instead of you trying to hold the pin with your fingers or pliers, the roll pin starter punch does it for you.
If the proper punches, including sizes of punches, are not used
the punch can break inside the roll pin.
the roll pin can start to bend over itself and collapse inside the block, or mushroom out of the block. This makes the pin unusable and makes the pin harder to remove.
the punch can bend, and you will often continue to try with this bent punch, and then it will break. If a punch is bent it is already weakened and will most likely break on the next couple hits
Some armorers will also put CLP or lubrication inside the hole to get carbon moving and let it soak for a bit before moving forward with the removal of the pin.
Pro Tip: When removing a gas tube pin it is in your best interest to have an extra pin on hand as the pins often get damaged during removal because they are so small and thin. It is a small purchase that can be a lifesaver.
What the hell is action steel? It’s honestly not easy to answer. The simple answer is that it’s a competitive shooting event based on time, and it uses steel targets. The problem with defining Action Steel is that it’s not an officially sanctioned sport shooting event. There isn’t a rulebook that defines stages, weapons to be used, or any particular set of standards. It’s a growing and relatively new style of competitive shooting.
As the name implies, the targets are all steel, and it’s shot on the run. Action Steel is the bastard child of USPSA and Steel Challenge. Steel Challenge is a largely stationary sport where shooters engage steel targets at predetermined ranges and in predetermined stage configurations. USPSA is an action shooting sport that involves lots of movement, use of cover, and unique stage designs.
Action Steel works on a speed scoring system, much like Steel Challenge, but has shooter navigating and shooting a wide variety of unique stages. Along the way, there are reloads, multiple positions, and the use of cover at times. There is no governing rulebook that states what type of targets can be used, what courses should look like or any designation of accuracy or shots on target requirement.
While different clubs and organizations can essentially make their own rules due to the design of the matches and requirements, it seems to be all about speed. How fast can you shoot every target while not snagging a procedural penalty? That’s what matters.
My Experience with Action Steel
The Action Steel match I shot with Asymmetric Solutions of North Florida is a great example of how diverse, and interesting the sport can be. The course had you moving and shooting, as well as challenging you with single-arm engagements, multiple positions, movement, and even targets that had to be shot in a specific order.
Ready boxes restricted movement and made it easy to grab a procedural if you failed to think about your movement. Sometimes you had to decide how to move or the right order for you to shoot multiple targets. Some targets required two shots and others one. I even goofed on this in one course of fire, where I fired two rounds on every target when a set of targets only required a single shot. That added to my time.
In general, I had a ton of fun. It was challenging, dynamic, and well-hosted. Each of the stages required a diverse set of skills to fire, and each was quite fun. Some were stationary, and some involved movement. Some involved firing from a vehicle. It’s quite a diverse setup.
The Benefits of Action Steel
Action Steel really blends the best features of USPSA and Steel Challenge. Steel Challenge gives you that fun ding with every shot and provides immediate and satisfactory feedback. The problem with Steel Challenge is that it’s a bit boring at times. Only one stage has movement, and the stages never change. It really is an all-gas, no-brakes style match.
USPSA is a more dynamic, moving match with more creativity used in their stage design. It’s a blast. The main problem comes from a slow reset. Pasting paper is never fun and seems to take forever. Also, the ding is a ton of fun to hear with steel, and you don’t get that with USPSA. USPSA, IPSC, and IDPA do have more challenging accuracy requirements, admittedly, and good accuracy matters.
I think Action Steel is perfect for someone like me, a newbie to competition shooting. It’s easy to approach and understand, and it’s fun. It could act as a funnel to other shooting sports, or it could just be a fun offshoot of two shooting sports. If you have a club hosting an Action Steel match, I certainly encourage you to give it a try. It’s an absolute ton of fun.
I’ll start off with some basic “dos and don’ts” to set the expectations of the course:
DO:
Treat this like a college/continuing education course, not like you’re regular weekend of burning through ammo
Bring a laptop. There’s so much material covered that I would have never been able to keep up with it trying to take notes by hand. Hell there were a few times where I got bogged down even whilst typing.
Have some prior training/experience. This is not an introductory course. This is not a course to teach you what gun to buy or what holster to carry.
Be proficient in basic gun handling/marksmanship.
Bring gear as close to your daily carry as possible. Not a requirement, just a good idea.
DON’T:
Be “that guy”. This is generally the first rule of any class. Don’t think you know everything, don’t be the one that says “but I do it this way”.
Get bogged down in gear selection. There was a bunch of time that got tied up (unnecessarily in my opinion) with “what pistol do you carry?”, “what holster do you use?” from novice attendees. Don’t think that gear is going to make you a better shooter.
Expect a shooting course. The ballistic portion of this class pretty much serves the same purpose as the shooting portion of your Concealed Carry qual: to show you’re responsible/effective/competent with a handgun. You’re not going to learn some new high-speed reloading technique, you’re not going to learn “transitional, dynamic multiple threat engagement” (That’s trademarked, by the way. You can’t just use that)
Make this your first shooting course. There is a lot of very intense material covered here, so generally it’s better if you’ve already got some time studying/thinking about mindset/negative outcomes/ etc.
OK, now to the review:
*DISCLAIMER*With my version of the course, the shooting portion was taught by a local instructor, certified by Mas, and then he taught the classroom portion. So, for me, the first 2 days were the range-portion, and days 3-4 were the classroom. When Mas teaches the whole thing, they tend to spread out the shooting and classroom both over all 4 days. You can tell which one you’re signing up for based on if your class specifies “MAG 40” vs. “MAG 20 Range” and MAG 20 Classroom”. Mas arrived around this time, and at that point the instructors shot the qualification to show us what it looked like, provide some context as to the time frame, etc. At that point, everyone shot the qualifier and was graded. If I remember, a passing score was 240 or better out of 300 (80%)
RANGE:
Day 1: Showed up to the range, signed your life away with the requisite paper work (waivers and the like), reviewed the basic firearm safety rules, and then we hit the firing line. They started with the basics first: grip, stance, trigger press, etc. Then they moved on to reloads. They didn’t really teach a specific technique, the understanding being that students already had basic gun handling down. From there they went into the different stances (Isosceles, Weaver, Chapman). You got some exposure to the different distances and times that you’d be shooting at.
Day 2: We continued over what was covered on Day 1. We then started working from the holster, and then went through the specific stages of the qualification, which entails:4 yards: 6 rounds off hand – reload – 6 rounds strong hand. 8 seconds. 7 yards: 6 rounds – reload – 6 rounds. Stance of your choice. 25 seconds. 10 yards: 6 rounds “Cover Crouch” – reload – 6 rounds High Kneeling – reload – 6 rounds Low Kneeling. 75 seconds. 15 yards: 6 rounds Weaver – reload – 6 rounds Chapman – reload – 6 rounds Isosceles. We shot each section 3 times. Once under no time constraint, once under the time limit for each stage, and once “as fast as you can” (while still keeping them in the A-zone).
The purpose of the range work is to create a discoverable reference to your shooting competency. While there is some value as to the history and evolution of pistolcraft, with the proliferation of smartphones and YouTube, it’s easier now to create your own records of your shooting ability. I would be hard pressed to say that the full 40 hour course is as essential as just the 20 hour classroom portion that I’ll discuss in the next article.
The snub nose revolver is a classic carry gun. The ole snub nose was a favorite of detectives, security guards, and of course, concealed carriers. They’re small, light, and easy to conceal. On the flip side, that ultra-short barrel has some drawbacks. While 2 inches is the established standard, most modern snub noses are a mere 1.87 inches long. The problem comes down to terminal effectiveness. Modern defensive hollowpoints were designed to function and expand at velocities snub nose revolvers simply can’t reach. With that in mind, a company called Georgia Arms created the ultimate defensive snub-nose ammo.
It’s actually called Ultimate Defense .38 Special snub nose. This isn’t a jacketed hollow point but a wadcutter. A full wadcutter at that. Wadcutters were initially designed for bull’s eye competitions because they left nice, perfectly round holes in paper targets. It turns out those same projectiles function well from a snub nose revolver for defensive use.
The Georgia Arms Wadcutters
These rounds look odd. The wadcutter sits into the case, and there is seemingly no projectile poking out of the case. The Georgia Arms wadcutters are a little different. They were optimized for defensive use and reached 750 feet per second from a 1.87-inch barrel with a 148-grain projectile. They are made from premium components. Most wadcutter loads are loaded a little slower for pleasant recoil. As we know, velocity helps penetration, so Georgia Arms amped it up.
At the same time, it’s not an uncontrollable round that’s painful and tough to shoot. Georgia Arms balanced the round to be effective but also easy to handle in those lightweight, snub-nose revolvers. The benefit of the wadcutter is numerous. In an optimum situation, you’d have a jacketed hollow point fired from a revolver with a 4-inch barrel. This round would expand and create a larger wound track.
When the projectile doesn’t expand, it’s not exactly effective. We know these rounds don’t expand consistently or even often from a short barrel. Normal .38 Special ball rounds will still zip through a target when fired from a .38 Special and risk overpenetration. Additionally, the roundish shape of a normal .38 Special doesn’t do a whole lot of damage as it zips on through.
The Wadcutter Difference
The Georgia Arms wadcutter hits the body and destroys tissue, creating a nice little hole as it travels through the body. It creates a larger wound cavity, and while it’s still just punching holes, it’s punching the biggest hole a .38 Special can. At the same time, the round loses speed quickly and penetrates sufficiently without over-penetrating and creating undue risk.
The Georgia Arms wadcutter is built from the ground up to be a defensive load from the modern snub nose revolver. Plenty of experts in the revolver realm agree it’s the way to go. This is becoming a very popular round with snub-nose shooters and is likely the best option on the market for the guy with the short nose. Check it out here if interested.
For hunting, home defense, and suppressed shooting, the 300 Blackout is a popular and flexible cartridge. To get the most out of your 300 Blackout, it’s essential to choose the right barrel length. Let’s examine the different barrel lengths available for the 300 Blackout and where to find them.
The main question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you plan on using a suppressor. If you’re looking for the quietest and best handling setup, one could easily go as short as 7.5″, which is offered by Faxon Firearms.
How Much Does Barrel Length Affect Velocity?
Based on our personal experience and research, the 9″ 300 blackout barrel is the best overall barrel length with or without a suppressor, especially since an 8″ barrel is the minimum warranty barrel length for many suppressor manufacturers.
Best Barrel Length For Suppressed 300 Blackout
For optimal performance with a suppressed .300 BLK, it is recommended to use a barrel length of 8″-10″.
Attaching a 6″ suppressor to this barrel length results in a total length of 14″ to 16″, which provides optimal muzzle velocity for accurate long-range shots.
For the longer range engagements with a suppressed 300 Blackout, use a 16″ barrel with a suppressor for an average velocity of over 2,630 fps, leading to more effective shots and minimal bullet drop.
Best 300 Blackout Barrel Length For Home Defense
The .300 Blackout round is an excellent choice for home defense as it combines power and efficiency with lethality when fired from a short-barreled rifle.
Using a short-barreled rifle is ideal for home defense as its compactness makes it easier to maneuver throughout the home. Despite its compact size, a .300 BLK round fired from a short barrel can still hit targets up to 100 yards away.
For optimal home defense with the .300 Blackout, a barrel length of at least 6″ to 8″ is recommended
Best 300 Blackout Barrel Length For Hunting
The ideal barrel length when hunting with .300 Blackout is one able to reach long-range targets with sufficient bullet velocity and energy on target for a lethal impact.
Longer barrel lengths offer greater accuracy and velocity, with a maximum length of 16″ for the .300 BLK. This length ensures complete gunpowder combustion to generate maximum force and stabilizes the bullet for a flatter trajectory and improved accuracy.
Additionally, a 16″ barrel offers a long line of sight for better aim, making it the recommended choice for long-range hunting.
Choosing the right barrel length for the .300 BLK Can Be Hard
At 10″, the muzzle velocity has not yet reached its peak. Heavy subsonic ammo in a 10″ barrel may have lower velocities but allows for the use of a suppressor without damaging your hearing. Supersonic ammo out of a 10″ barrel retains rifle caliber velocities but with more significant bullet drop at longer distances.
At 16″, muzzle velocities are near their maximum. As a result, heavy-grain subsonic bullets struggle to retain their subsonic terminal performance, while supersonic ammo has increased effective range and reduced bullet drop. The 16″ barrel also provides greater energy upon impact, regardless of ammo type.
The barrel twist rate also impacts performance and should be considered when selecting barrel length and determining the effective range of the .300 BLK. For example, a 1:8 twist is best for lightweight supersonic rounds, while the 1:7 twist is recommended for heavy subsonic rounds with a suppressor.
There are a few factors to consider when selecting the ideal barrel length for the .300 BLK rifle and determining its effective range.
One of the great new product lines presented at SHOT Show 2023 was by Streamlight. The ProTac 2.0 line of flashlights and weapons lights features a larger and longer lasting battery, but the big advantage is that they are USB-C rechargeable. You don’t even have to remove the battery from the device in order to plug it in! This part is huge, because it means that if some emergency happens in the middle of a charge you can just grab the device and go – no fumbled emergency reassembly.
There is even a color signal to indicate charge status. The circled red area turns green at full charge.
I was able to test-out the updated ProTac 2.0 handheld light, and all I can say is Wow! This new model features a programmable switch called the TEN-TAP which allows the user to select one of three different programs. Those are: High-Strobe-Low, High Only, or Low-Medium-High. I am a simple gal, so my preference was High only, but there are many uses for the other features – especially the strobe in a defense situation.
Despite its power, this light is surprisingly -well – “light”. It doesn’t feel any heavier than my phone. It is a hair over 6 inches long and weighs 8.25 oz. It comes with a belt holster and recharge cord in the package as well.
Everything you need is in the package.
Brightness-wise with this light, Low is 100 lumens, Med is 570 lumens, and High is a blazing 2000 lumens. Just FYI, a 2000 lumen flashlight is really fricken bright. I’m just gonna put that out there. Because for those of us who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s with a dim 2 C-cell Eveready on our nightstands to keep the monsters at bay, this flashlight would have been the Holy Grail.
Back then I only needed to light up my closet or underneath the bed. This StreamLight on the other hand would illuminate a monster all the way across the street from my second story bedroom window. I’m not kidding. I went out on my back deck at 7:30 at night in February with this ProTac 2.0 and lit up my backyard, the neighbor behind me’s backyard, and all the way out to the street that runs in front of their house. Monsters beware!
Of course what I consider “monstrous” nowadays is considerably different than when I was five. Nowadays, instead of piles of laundry that look like shoggoths, the “monsters” I’m concerned about are things like home invaders and four legged garden vandals. And that’s just when I’m home.
When I’m away from home – whether camping, exercise walking at dusk, staying in a hotel room, or whatever else, this powerful handheld flashlight can be even more useful – or even lifesaving. Escaping a hotel room in a fire at night? No? How about finding the campground outhouse at midnight in the rain after supper at a Mexican restaurant? Yeah, don’t even tell me that’s not a lifesaver.
The USB-C rechargeability is also a travel godsend. No trying to find batteries at the QwikMart when you are out of town and don’t know where anything is or what kind of neighborhood it’s in. I carry a USB outlet port with my phone recharger when I travel, so I can recharge this light right in the safety of my room – or even in my car while I’m driving to the next destination.
Belt clip or holster – you choose.When you just want to use the clip.
I’m looking forward to carrying this light next month on a sunset Woodcock walk at a local preserve, and on summer camping trips, and maybe in the wee hours to a turkey blind this spring. My plans for it are legion.
I realize that 2000 lumens may not be for everybody, but personally I want ALL the lumens. Even the low beam on this Streamlight would beat out my childhood flashlight by a mile. I don’t need to carry the sun around on my belt, but a smaller star would certainly be nice.
