I believe in the Second Amendment and the fighting spirit of the patriots who founded this country. I believe in the right of self preservation and the right to carry a firearm outside the home. This blog expresses my views on the current world we live in and the effect of gun ownership has on it. I will also discuss gun and gear reviews as well as gun culture.
On this day, 238 years ago, the United States declared its independence from the British. While we celebrate this holiday with trips to the beach, barbeque's, and fireworks; this isn't the real reason for the holiday. Independence day is about how we, as a united people, broke away and fought a revolution against an oppressive government which did not represent its people. Not much different than the fight our Patriots face today.
Politcal cartoon by Benjamin Franklin
While most people are familiar with the adage "No taxation without representation" was a huge motivating factor behind the war; its not how the war started. The first shots fired were in Concord, Massachusetts in 1775 over gun control, not surprisingly. British troops were marching into the city to confiscate guns and ammunition from the colonists. The thought process behind this was to prevent retaliation if a rebellion occurred.
You learned in school about Paul Revere's midnight ride, at least I hope so. Well his ride was to warn the towns about the coming of the redcoats for this very gun confiscation. The word of the British approach quickly traveled and the colonist were able to assemble a resistance against the redcoats. So, you see, gun control has been a means to control people for centuries.
In 1775, we were willing to fight for our right to keep our guns.We face the same problems today. A government with overreaching bounds. A government willing to tax your wages without your consent (Obamacare). A government hell bent on disarming its citizens in an effort to control them.
On this July 4th, please remember what the country was founded on, what out fore fathers fought for. They fought for Liberty. I believe there is a reason why they made the Right to bear arms the second amendment, in the event the first one fails. Do not let your own government take your rights away from you willingly. Fight for rights and remember the fighting spirit of our Founding Fathers.
Going all the way back to my post You Don't Know Jack, I have discussed the importance of taking professional training if you plan to own and especially carry a firearm. I believe the 2nd Amendment allows all free men (and women) to own a firearm but I think its the individual's responsibility to learn to effectively, safely and proficiently use those firearms.
As part of my Apocalypse list and a birthday gift to myself, I decided to take the Defensive Handgun 1 class from Range Time Tactical (Cory07ink on Youtube). If you read some of my other posts you will see why I chose RTT, especially since they are almost 800 miles away from me. In this post, I want to give my impressions of RTT, both staff and class, as well as "is it worth it?" The class covered many things from the 7 fundamentals of shooting all the way to dynamic shooting while moving. The staff did tell us that every class is different, as it is tailored around the students and what they believe they need. There was a gentleman in our class who had taken it before and stated that our class was vastly different, albeit better, than his first class.
First, let me talk about the range itself. It is positioned between the towns of Lewis and Blackhawk Indiana and is nothing more than cleared farming land with a large berm built up about 300 yards from the road. There are a few homemade tables and benches off to side for students and gear. And that's pretty much it, Don't let this fool you, RTT did not need some fancy tactical range to produce a quality class. They offered a top quality training in what is basically a cow pasture. As a matter of fact, there were cows in the field next door.
The staff at RTT was very helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable. We were lucky enough to have Cory, Sam, Steve and Kyle for the class, so it was nice to get a chance to meet each of these guys and see what they each brought to the RTT family. While everyone was very professional, it was a group of all guys, so there was some good-natured ribbing going on which helped keep the class light and jovial. The instructors were all very competent and were willing to answer any question or even take extra time to help someone on a drill. Safety was also a key factor, as each day started with a safety briefing.
As for the drills themselves, I will say we did a lot more than I thought they could squeeze into two days. Some of the topics covered were:
7 fundamentals of shooting (Sight picture, sight alignment, grip, stance, breathing, trigger control and follow through; as it has now been thorough ingrained in my head)
One handed shooting both strong and weak hands
Reloads both two handed and one handed
Clearing Malfunctions two handed and one handed
Shooting from standing, kneeling, back, prone and urban prone positions as well as transitioning to/from each position
Shooting while moving including moving around obstacles while maintaining focus and fire on a target
Use of cover and concealment
Buddy shooting (providing cover fire)
IDPA style shooting (moving/running between multiple targets)
There is probably more that I am forgetting, but you get the idea. Now, I have been watching Cory on YouTube for about a year before taking this class, so I felt confident I had learned a lot from their videos. Well my friends, I will tell you what I saw on YouTube didn't even scratch the surface of what I learned in class. Watching the videos online then trying to mimic what you saw does not compare to having the instructor in front of you demonstrating then critiquing your technique. To add to this, I
will say Cory and his crew are far more impressive in person with their shooting skills.I remember watching Cory drill holes through other holes effortlessly, thinking "Well, fuck..."
All in all I really have nothing bad to say about my experience. If I had to provide some tips, I would say brings lots of magazines and a speed loader. The website says to bring 5 mags, I only had four (my buddy only 3)so I emailed Cory in advance to ask if that was alright. While he said that was fine, I found out quickly that a good bit of time was spent reloading and Cory did gave us a little slack for only having 3 or 4 mags.
While successful completion of Defensive Handgun 1 allows me to take
Defensive Handgun 2, I don't think my skill level is up to par. At the
end of our class, Cory and Sam recommended we retake this class or a
similar class at a different training facility. I would want to go into DH2 having master the skills of DH1 to make sure I got the most out of the class.
So the big question, "Was it worth it?" Was it worth the time off work? The 13 hour drive each way? The almost $1000 spent between extra gear, ammo, class, hotels, food and gas? Yes. Absolutely it was, every penny and I would do it again. I went in thinking I was a solid range shooter and left realizing I didn't know jack. While I didn't leave RTT a tactical, Chuck Norris, ninja bad ass; I learned a lot. I learned what I needed to be practicing and how to practice. I learned what is real and what is just hype, I can take the skills and practices I learned at RTT to the range to continue to work on my skills level to hopefully, one day, be as good as the guys that taught me. So this class wasn't the the crux of my firearm training, but instead the beginning of my training. I must take it upon myself to master the skills presented to me.
My class was lucky enough to be video taped for one of their YouTube videos, so you can see first hand what we did. I will post it below . If you have any questions about the class, gear, instructors, etc. Please feel free to ask below. I highly recommend taking a class like this,and if possible taking it with Range Time.
I wanted to do a quick DIY of installing front and rear sights on an M&P. Both the full size and compact take the same sights. While the Shield takes a different, smaller sight, the installation is the same. This particular installation is for XS Big Dots but all sights should be fairly the same
The XS sights came with practically everything you need install the sight. In the package:
Front Big Dot Tritium sight
Rear white stripe sight
Plastic non-marring punch
Locktite
Allen key for new set screw
What you need that is not included:
Non-marring hammer
Steel/brass punch
Allen key for set screw on factory sights
Steel file
Bench vise with soft jaws (optional)
Installation was really simple and took less than an hour going slowly. This was my first attempt at this and I believe almost anyone could do it. While the vice with soft jaws is optional it is highly recommended that way you don't mark up your slide and you have two hands free.The steps are as follows:
Ensure firearm is unloaded, safe and field strip the firearm.
Clamp the slide into the vise. i did not have soft jaws, so I just used cardboard. This should go without saying, but do not over clamp the slide as you could damage it. It just needs to be tight enough to hold it still.
We will start with the rear sight. There is a set screw that needs to be loosened. Once removed, used the metal punch to lightly tap the base of the rear sight toward the ejection port side.
Go slowly as there is a spring loaded plunger under the sight. If you go to fast it will go flying out and well, you will be crawling around on hands and knees looking for it.
The front sight it next. While there is no set screw, mine was thoroughly pressed in. It took some serious hits with my hammer to get it to move. You can drift it out either way, just make sure you use the metal punch and you are hitting at the base. Also as it starts to move, make sure it moves evenly. It can cant a little bit which will cause it to bind.
Once both sights are out, take a minute to clean up the surfaces of any dirt, chemicals, etc. i used rubbing alcohol on q-tips to do this.
To install the front sight, apply the provided locktite to the slide and base of the new sight.
Push the sight about 1/3 of the way into the slide. If the sight doesn't go in that far, remove and run it over a metal file a few times, then try to fit again. Repeat until it the sight fits 1/3 of the way on.
Once its in place, you the plastic non-marring punch to drive the sight into place Luckily, it was really easy to center the front sight as the edges of the sight and the machining lines on the slide line up.
The rear goes on even easier. Just slide on the rear, making sure to push down the plunger. Mine was able to slide all the way on without a need for a punch. Once you think it is centered, then tighten down the rear set screw.
Now the set screw will not hold the rear sight on alone. Just make sure it appears straight.
At this point you will need to test fire the weapon and make any windage adjustments as needed. Once you find your zero, apply locktite to each side of the rear sight. If later on you need to adjust, just use the non marring punch and hammer to drift left or right.
While not required, I know you are gonna find a dark room and try out the tritium.
And that is pretty much it. It was a pretty simple install in my opinion. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask below. For a review of these sights, please see my post XS Big Dots
Recently, I decided to upgrade my sights to my M&P9c since it is my carry gun. I wanted a night sight since, statistically speaking, attacks happen more often in low light conditions. Basically it breaks down to two choices: Tritium or Fiber Optic. The Fiber Optics are nice, but require some type of ambient light, so I decided tritium would be the ticket for me. Tritium, for those that don't know, is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen,which glows a light green color. For the record, it is low energy emitting and perfectly safe. I looked at several companies that offered tritium night sights including Trijicon, TRUGLO and others but they were basically just 3-dot sight with tritium inserts. The XS sight system, with its "Big Dot" gave a unique approach to how the sights are used in a defensive situation. I have never used these sights before, but after reading reviews by
James Yeager, Range Time Tactical and several forums, I made me decide to
try them out.
The XS Big dots incorporates a single tritium sight, inside a thick white dot for the front sight, while the rear is a shallow "V" with a thin white vertical stripe (the company offers a tritium rear stripe on certain models, the M&P does not). The reason these are so much different, is to allow a faster, more defensive minded sighting system. Think about it... on your 3-dot system the front sight can hide behind the the left or rights sides of the rear sight. In a defensive (read: emergency) situation, with low light, are you going to be able to quickly decipher which dot it the front? Also, 3-dot systems make the front sight look small. The XS systems solves this problem by allowing your eyes to easily acquire the front sight. Since the rear is low cut and only has a centered stripe and front sight has a large white circle with a tritium center, your eyes naturally find that front sight. Quickly acquiring your front sight translates to quicker target acquisition. I like to put it like this: Find the golf ball and put it on whatever you want to hit, and you'll hit it.
I installed the sights a couple weeks before my 2-day training class. I will say the first time at the range was weird and took a minute to adjust. Basically inside of 15 yards, the center of the dot is the point-of-aim. At about 25 yards and up, the top of the dot was the point of aim. I put about 50 rds down range before taking the gun to my class. At the end of the 50 rds, I wasn't 100% sold.
That all changed during my class. The first day we shot about 350 rds on paper, so I became a lot more comfortable with where to aim the pistol. But the second day, we started shooting steel and doing moving/running drills where we transitioned from one target to another. Geez, were these sights fast! As soon as I drove out the pistol, my eye instantly focused on the front sight, making my first shot and follow up shots so fast. I saw other guys struggling to get the proper sight picture before making their first shot. I felt I was on target faster than the guys running 3 dots. Below is a video of my class with two drills where I have my go pro attached to my head. You can see on the steel targets how fast after the draw I was able to make the first shot.
I would say the XS sights are not as "accurate" at longer distances. The 3 dot system would be better for competition style shooting, giving tighter groups at 25 yards and up. But, for a defensive handgun, where your average conflict is within 3 yards and 3 seconds, the XS sights are far superior. The install was fairly simple and I am going to hopefully write up a DIY on the sight install in the next few weeks.If you are interested in getting a better sight for your carry gun or even your house gun, I highly recommend you give the XS sight system a try.
Today is my birthday. As Tennessee Ernie Ford said "Another day older and deeper in debt."
If you've followed my blog, you've seen me talk about taking a training class this year. As a birthday gift to myself, I am taking one of Range Time Tactical's courses up in Indiana. If you've never heard of RTT, in addition to their training company, they run a very popular YouTube channel Range Time TS (previously Cory07ink). You can find their channel HERE When I first got into the firearm hobby, I stumbled across several YouTube channels offering gear reviews, tech tips, tactics etc., one of which was RTT. So I have been watching these guys (and gal) for over a year now.
I've been asked a lot, why drive all the way from Florida to Indiana when training can be had a lot closer. My response is always the same: I learned so much from them over the last year just from watching their YouTube channel, imagine what I'll learn actually taking a class from them.
My Defensive Handgun 01 class is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Due to the distance from my city it's a full days drive there and another to return. Luckily I have a friend coming with me, so it will make the class more enjoyable and the drive more bearable. In addition to time, gas, hotels, etc., the class also requires some extra gear and a fair bit of ammo. I terms of guns and gear I'll be using:
My everyday carry S&W M&P9c with XS Big Dot sights and Talon grips
My everyday holster Crossbreed Supertuck w/ combat cut option
A total of 4 magazines: 2 fullsize 17rd, 2 compact 12rd
1000rds of 124gr 9mm from Freedommunitions
Hearing protection is Howard Leight Impact Sport electronic ear muffs.
Eye protection are Serfas glasses with interchangeable lenses
In addition to this, I will also be bringing my Beretta 92 and holster as a backup in the event my S&W or my buddy's Sig fails (not that I think they will). I will be bringing along my camera and GoPro to hopefully get some good video and pictures from the class. If you have any questions about this class, please feel free to ask me or of course contact RTT. Above is a video that RTT has on YouTube about the class I am taking. I will also post links to all the companies I listed above. Thanks, and as always, Keep Calm and Carry On!
I was recently approached by a family friend for some advice on purchasing a new handgun. Of course, being a "gun guy" I was glad to help with any questions they may have had, if nothing else, it would give me a
chance to show off. Digging a little deeper into what their concerns
were (budget, size, pistol vs revolver, etc) I found out they were
actually looking for two guns. One for him and one for his wife.
"Awesome," I thought, double the fun! However, I also uncovered the fact
that neither one of them had touched a gun in 20+ years nor had much experience with them. Well this would be interesting...
My Nephew shooting a 22LR and my Dad spotting him
Instead of just talking the guy's ear off on all the things that are debated on Internet forums like: polymer vs alloy, striker vs hammer, 9 vs 40 vs 45; I decided the best course of action would be to invite them to join me for a range day, so I could better explain the nuances of each type of handgun and really get a feel for what their wants/needs are. We setup a date about a week later, I brought all the hardware, all they had to do was bring themselves. The firearms I brought with me were as follows:
Beretta 92A1 - DA/SA trigger, metal frame, full size, 9mm
S&W M&P9C - Striker fired, polymer frame, compact, 9mm
Taurus 85 Ultralite - Double Action revolver, 38 special
Taurus TCP - DAO, polymer framed, sub-compact, .380acp
Father in Law shooting German Luger
As you can see, My goal was to have wide assortment of sizes, action types, and weights for the "newbies" to try." It was my job to educate them on proper grip, stance, sight alignment, and safe operation of each firearm. We fired about 100 rds between all the guns and it flawlessly, except one incident when one of the "newbies" shot the cable that the targets ride on and the whole thing fell down. But it was humorous, the range officer didn't seem too concerned, and we all had a good laugh. I know I had a great time, and I think they did as well. More importantly, I think I provided some valuable information and helped ease some anxiety around handling and operating the handguns.
Friend spotting for his Girlfriend shooting a Mosin Nagant
What's the point of this long winded story you may ask? Maybe you are a gun enthusiast... take it upon yourself to teach and educate others about guns and the culture that surrounds them. I'm not saying approach strangers on street and preach the word of John Browning, but help educate your own family and friends. Guns have gotten a bad reputation in the media as of lately, mostly due to a lack of knowledge or irrational fear of them. If we each taught someone else about firearms, the safe handling and practice of using them, maybe some of this "guns are evil" hype would disappear. On the other side of the coin, if you are reading this and you know very little or nothing about guns, or you are of the mindset guns are bad, but have never even put your hands on one; it is your job to seek out someone who can teach you. Ask a family member, friend, neighbor or anyone you feel comfortable to ask, I can almost 100% guarantee they would be glad to help you. We encourage you to inquire, we don't bite.
Personally, I love it when someone asks me for help on firearms. Whether it gun choice, ammo selection, gear, whatever. It allows my to help disperse any myths or presumptions someone may have, and provide them with real knowledge they can use. I love taking new people to the range. It's exciting for the newbie when they can start pulling in the those groups; and its exciting to us who help teach it because we see the excitement and improvement. Overall, as a gun guy, I love to see new people get into shooting. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures while at the range. However, I have taught helped several others (with the help of friends) educate otherss on firearms. All the pictures you see in this post are "first-timers" being helped by family and friends.
So whether you are a card carrying member of the NRA, or someone who's never thought twice about a gun, its your duty to help educate yourself or others on firearms. If you have any questions, please comment below, and I will be more than happy to answer them.
Since my last post I have added a few more items to my M&P9c to make it a better (in my opinion) carry weapon. The two most recent items are Talon Grips and XS Big Dot sights.
First, let me talk about the Talon grips. Talon Grips makes a textured adhesive grips for a multitude of firearms and even some none firearm related items like cell phones. They make both a granular (think sandpaper) and a rubberized grip. Personally, I am a big fan of the rubberized texture. To me, adding these grips
enhances my purchase on the gun, and makes the shooting experience so much sweeter. Installation is simple, as the grips
are adhesive. Applying heat from a heat gun or hair dryer allows the
grips to fully mold to the contours of the gun and get into all the nooks
and crannies. I have had a set on my TCP for over a year now and no sign of peeling up yet. For the low price of about $17, its worth trying out.
The other item, and perhaps the more interesting one, is the XS Big dot sights. These are "fast acquisition" sights based on the old school "express" sights that big game hunters used in Africa. I think their website describes it best:
"For handguns our
sight configuration is a "V" rear blade with a dot front sight. This
gives the user considerable advantages in the highly dynamic world of
threat situations. The large white area around the tritium in the front
sight allows the user to better see the front sight in the mid to low
light conditions that are so prevalent in these situations too. The
large size of our Big Dot allows unparalleled speed of user acquisition
and indexing onto threats in all sorts of light and stress conditions.
If you don't already know, Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Because of this, it glows. So placing it in your front sight allows you to see the front sight in low to no light conditions. Combine that with a shallow V with just a white stripe, these sights are a good bit faster than traditional 3 dot or notch-and-post sights. In the picture below you can see how the tritum glows even in medium light conditions. The only downside is that they are not as accurate long range. But then again, in a self defense situation, I will not not be engaging a target more than 10yds anyway. I will do a more comprehensive review of the XS sights and the install later. You can look at their website here at https://www.xssights.com/
As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please post them below.
