HANDGUN “FIT” AND OTHER LIES
Today's firearm consumer has been trained (by manufacturers no less) that your handgun must "fit" your hand in order to shoot properly. Pure bunk, aka pure crap. The Colt Single Action Army pistol introduced in 1873 and still produced today has the exact same pistol grip. Millions of shooters adapted to the pistol; the pistol did not adapt to the individual shooter. Wild Bill, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Annie Oakley are just a few whom made a name for themselves using the Colt. Annie Oakely was 5' tall on a good day. Wild Bill and Wyatt Earp were over 6' feet tall. One had teeny hands, one medium, one XL. All same grips. All experts with the Colt SAA. Yes Alex we know Wild Bill primarily carried the 1851 Navy; not the point. 1911 introduced around, gee, 1911 is produced today (nigh to 120 years later) and still has the same pistol grip. Millions of shooters adapted to the 1911. The 1911 did not adapt to them. Beretta M9 served our military for 35 years or so. Same pistol grip used by millions of shooters whom adapted to the pistol. Numerous top tier gunslingers and gunriters actually assembled an eclectic group of pistols with different grips and discovered "grip size" and fit has nigh to no impact on "shootability", speed, or accuracy. Keep in mind we are speaking of the same size/type of handguns across the manufacturer's spectrum; ie, full size vs full size, compact vs compact, etc.
Regardless of pistol fit or grip a weak grip or weak shooter will never be able to optimize a pistol's potential regardless of grip size, yet a shooter with a firm and strong grip will be able to bounce up and down the spectrum with nary a difference in performance.
In other words rather than worry so much about whether a pistol "fits" or not you should first work to enhance your grip strength. Rubber ball's are fine but to optimize grip strength check out "Captains of Crush" grippers; and oh hey, you ain't that strong so start with the "novice 60lb" or "warm-up conditioning 80lb".
Modular backstraps suck. Supposedly to fit your hand.. so what happens when you are wearing gloves? Change the backstrap? Weak handed drills; change the backstrap? Cold outside. Hands shrink. Gonna change backstrap? 110 degrees outside. Hands swell. Gonna change your backstrap? Exercise, hiking, stress; an increased heart rate will swell your hands. Gonna change the backstrap.. again? Ever had a backstrap fall off, Break off? Bend? This is so far out of hand the military has now demanded a pistol with changeable backstraps so we can "fit" each soldier individually. Let alone how farsical this is think of the supply logistics of this absurd policy. We actually have to keep an inventory of tens of thousands of replacement backstraps at supply depots and in theatre to replace lost/broken backstraps at the tune of gamillions.
What prompted this diatribe? A customer actually was buying a sub-compact 10mm pistol (G29) and stated he would have to return it cause it does not "fit his hand". You can call this gent uninformed or simply a dumbass if you prefer but a SUB COMPACT PISTOL IS NOT SUPPOSED TO FIT YOUR HAND! It was designed and built for concealability and the smallest possible size, sub meaning "underneath or lower (smaller) than". Means it is underneath or lower (smaller) than a COMPACT pistol which is underneath or lower (smaller) than a full sized pistol. All of which means it has a smaller magazine and round count, the smallest grip possible, and the grip itself is nothing more than a thingy to wrap three fingers around. It ain't supposed to "fit" anything except your pocket.
Worse yet this is the type of individual you simply cannot talk to.. a "know it all" whom of course is far superior in intellect, status, wealth, experience.. or simply a dumbass.
Of course there is a BUT. There are a very small percentage of shooters with big fat mongoloid hands whom have the slide tear their skin up between the thumb and forefinger on pistols without a beavertail type grip (aka Glock). There are numerous slap on beavertail adaptors to alleviate this very small minority of oversized mongoloids (like me) without resorting to the 5 backstrap hoopla.
DISCRETIONARY INCOME
Is awesome. We got some . We spend it on stuff we don't need but want and is cool. Supports the economy. After 10 years jumping out of planes and helicopters and jets from C-123's to Blackhawk's and beyond got out.. flat broke and beat to chit. Worked our asses off, took a couple right turns in the road, had some luck, and got some dough. Can buy and carry pretty much anything we want from planes, trains, and automobiles. Goody for us. Found out along the way that if you can buy the best, do so. Trying to save money on this cheap version then trade for the next version then upgrade again.. hell you could have saved money by buying the best upfront. Don't misconstrue what I am saying however; a $440 Glock Gen 3 G17 does not shoot any straighter or better for the average shooter than a $5000 Nighthawk Custom.. it's just that some of us want that $5K NC. Makes us happy. If you cannot afford it nobody is calling you a dumbass - but just move along. We don't want to hear your bitching either. In fact read the next post about Abraham Lincoln. It was written for you!
THE REAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The most misquoted President in history. Held up high as an example by liberals and democrats whom have routinely for decades quoted parts and pieces of his speeches to further their own goals and agenda. All out of context. The real Abraham Lincoln?
Let's translate.. Quit bitching, quit being resentful, go out, work your ass off and acquire your own "stuff". Then protect it from those whom refuse to do same, those whom feel entitled, those whom are professional victims.
9MM IS KING. PERIOD.
But shoot what you want, what you are comfortable with; you know the one that actually makes a hole appear where you aim. The one that makes you happy. Do so with the realization the Glock 9mm is the best defensive weapon in the world. And since this is random thoughts what is with this PC defensive crap? I can cite a dozen instances lickety split where the pistol is the obvious offensive choice over an M4. Facts: The 9mm the .45 ACP have the exact same killing and debilitating effects in real life shootings. Non negotiable. Fact. Proven. Not theory. Percentile wise each are indistinguishable from each other using current manufacture quality hollow point bullets. Puhleeze send Alex back to his chatroom. You are not in Syria. You are not shooting FMJ. The 9mm has less recoil enabling you to get on target faster, holds more rounds, more concealable, more reliable, lasts longer, better ammunition availability, parts availability, ad infinitum yada yada.
GLOCK GEN 7 MATCH BARREL
Yep, you gotta get a Gen 7 cause the barrel is more accurate and it will make you a better shooter! No it will not. Nor will a match barrel in a Glock G19 or G17 out perform an OEM Gen 3 barrel for that matter. Simply too much going on but let's talk trigger "pull" alone. The only realistic way you are going to see any difference in barrel accuracy is with the firearm rested and or supported and with an awesome single action trigger enabling the firearm sights for all practical purposes to be immobile when the primer ignites. Which not only was this pistol specifically NOT designed for but we specifically never address as we are tactical shooters with the mindset we train to use lethal force to stop opponents. Meaning kill them and or at the least knock them down so they are no longer a viable threat to us. Meaning you ain't a bullseye shooter and neither is the Glock.
SHOOTERS WHOM KNOW IT ALL
Now you know we have trigger time and some experience, so here's some cheap advice and insight based on what we see each week. Sunday AM we stand in line at Ben Avery to be the first shooting group. Within an hour over 100 shooters are on line, week in, week out. Not one pistol shooter drops his magazines on the ground and does any type of actual real life my god I'm in a firefight reload. As each mags ammo is expended the magazine is carefully removed and placed on the table whilst another is sought and is carefully inserted in the magazine well. Erstwhile, Rockegroup's magazines are bouncing off the concrete, being stepped and stomped on, and kicked out on the range in the sand. Oh yeah; did I mention? They are Glock plastic magazines bouncing hither and yon. 72 of them by the time we are done, all on the ground. Pick em up, take em to the shop, reload em, back in the bucket. No mag malfunctions, never bothered cleaning em either. How's those steel mags holding up? Let me enter a funny story here.. so one of the drills we do is a malfunction drill; tap, rack, and roll. We insert a fresh full mag, fire one round, pretend there is a malfunction and tap, rack, and roll. So you fire one and eject one, then fire, then tap rack and roll which ejects another live round at which point we fire the subsequent round and repeat till dry. It is a drill which expends every other round.. so an old know it all coot walks over and says "you know you wouldn't have so many malfunctions if you didn't drop all your magazines on the ground!". Funny or sad? He reckons he is a Gunslinger but does not know of nor practice a malfunction drill. One more true story out of thousands which is germane to our topic. Marine goes to Iraq, firefight, insurgent down and crawling, Marine is alone, runs dry, does mag change the way he was taught which is remove magazine, open mag pouch, insert expended magazine in ammo pouch, remove full magazine, enter into carbine, release catch, reacquire target and resume fighting. Which takes a lifetime of seconds in a life or death situation. Marine while doing his mag change the way he was taught thousands of times which takes forever seconds was shot by the "down" insurgent through the guts into the spine. Lived. Is paralyzed. Forever. He is the first to declare unequivocally if he had dumped the mag and done a "speed" reload he would still be good to go. You will fight the way you train; so why are you not dumping magazines? By the by the military at the time (all branches) never told any of us magazines were expendable.. we all did the same.
RANGE SHOOTING AT 15 YARDS. ARE YOU NUTS?
Our range has target slots at 5, 10, 15, and 25 yards for pistol shooting. And where do you all set up? First time shooters set up at 25 yards (whom knows why), experienced repeat shooters set up at 10 or 15 yards, and Rockegroup sets up at 5 yards. Why 5 yards? cause they won't let us set up at 2 yards. Alex is going apeshit now.. see I told you they were frauds they wanna shoot at 2 yards arggghhh! What are you training for? Ask anyone up and down the line and you will hear self defense 99% of the time. If so you should be training at contact distance cause odds are that's where your fight will be. How many of you training at 15 yards (45) feet have any room in your home that long? FBI statistics show more than 90% of civilian gunfights occur at contact distance. Keep training at 45 feet. Good for you. Yes we train at all distances but 90% of our training revolves around reality. So 5 yards. 15 feet. Cause we can't put targets at 2 yards. Let's really twist Alex up now! We also train at 200 yards with our pistols admittedly cause it is fun. Put a silhouette at 200 yards and I guarantee a hit within 3 rounds. Standing up. With a G17. As Kerry say's "for the most part".
COMPENSATED PISTOLS
Ok, we are the first to admit we do not follow our own advice (but we do have a reason). Compensated pistols should not be used in the tactical self defense arena, yet all of our carry and practice firearms are Glock 17 and 45 compensated pistols. Compensated Glock's expel surprisingly voluminous amounts of gases and debris thru the barrel and slide ports. In a contact distance fight your pistol may not be extended at all and as it discharges while held close to the body these gasses may/will head straight for the eyeballs which will seriously impede your ability to stay in the fight. In addition any Glock Compensated pistol will become shockingly filthy at an indescribable rate in comparison to a non comp Glock. The average shooter gains nothing worthwhile overall when going to a compensated pistol; but for a serious voluminous round count shooter whom wants to put out an inordinate amount of ordnance to stop a CQB threat the compensated pistol will allow several more rounds per split second (yeah Alex split second). So it works for us, and we train to use the compensated pistol at contact and take measures to alleviate expelled gas issues.
FIGHT YOUR WAY TO A LONG GUN
You go ahead. I'll just kill you with my pistol. Whom came up with that happy crappy and regurgitated it in print? Why am I going to fight my way to a long gun? Again you are not in Afghanistan cleaning the crappers cause you got an Article 15 and need to fight to the team room for your "long gun". Let's talk home defense. An M4? AR? Shotgun? Fer what? A civilian legal AR platform has a 16 inch barrel which makes you a whack job for using it when you hear a bump in the night. Think contact distance fight. I hope YOU have an AR so I can kick your ass with my G17. All day. I am more maneuverable, have easier light access, can use one hand independent of the other without sacrificing lethality (oh yeah, we practice one handed too Alex), and am proficient. Shotgun? "Yeah when they hear me rack the slide it will send shivers up and down their spine and they will crap their pants and run"; or when they hear you lumbering around to get that 52 inch long thingy and you "rack the slide" they just shoot you. Duh.
NIGHT SIGHTS AND MORE
Every pistol must have night sights. Statistically the first thing a shooter replaces on their pistol are factory sights for night sights. A multi-million dollar industry revolves soley around night sights so they gotta be a must have! Well, not so fast.. let's think about this. For the 5th time we are not in Afghanistan! Name one situation where you can legally, morally, or ethically engage a target as an LEO or civilian and not KNOW what you are shooting. Night sights allow an enhanced view of your sights in dark environments. They do not illuminate, define, nor identify whatever you are pointing at and afraid of. That's why you have a Surefire under the G17 right? And when you turn it on and identify the target the night sights are useless right? Now you are using the front post and rear sight window silhouetted in the light, not night sights. That said our pistols do have night sights on them specifically Trijicon HD Orange. I personally find them invaluable on the weekends as I get up before my significant other; as I go into the closet the night sights allow me to find my pants at a glance (since my G17 is belted and holstered on them) slip them on, and depart the AO without her knowing I am up since no lights were turned on. Priceless.
THE RN AND CCW
There is a percentage of the population that has acquired perceptions that simply cannot be corrected regardless of fact or evidence. As an example an intelligent individual whom is an RN, has a couple degrees to include business accolades has routinely stated if she was confronted by a bad guy/gal she would shoot em in the leg. Say whatever you want to say you cannot change her mind. On the semi bright side she does not own nor carry a firearm. Recent events caused her to change her thought processes and take a CCW class and a separate shooting class with the goal to acquire a "self defense" pistol. Upon her graduation(s) and additional training she still stated she would just "shoot em in the leg". Overwhelmed with frustration I finally asked her to have me stand at whatever distance she felt she would feel compelled to shoot the threat "in the leg" and whenever she felt ready to draw her pistol to engage. At 10 feet it was a no brainer for me to beat the draw and in a simulated fashion kill her. How fast can you cover 10 feet? As fast as you can blink; which is why all tactical self defense training is center mass shots again as Kerry say's "for the most part".
THEN WHAT IS CQB SELF DEFENSE TRAINING?
Being simplistic, I say again being simplistic, having the ability to put numerous rounds in a kill zone in an extremely fast and efficient manner at close distance under pressure negating or killing said threat. Numerous rounds in an extremely fast and efficient (accurate) manner. At contact distance to 30 feet. Yet you practice shooting one round, looking up over your pistol to see where you hit, lowering your head and shooting another round, raising your head to see where you hit again. Hey If I gotta get in a gunfight can I choose you? Step off 30' and have some kid show you how fast he can cover it and then stick you in the neck with a Benchmade. Numerous rounds in a split second all on target to negate the threat. Not one. Numerous rounds. Then some more until I am positive you are out of the fight. Thousands of documented cases where opponent's were shot dozens of times and stayed in the fight. Quit looking keep squeezing. Or pressing. Or whatever is currently in vogue that you do to a trigger to make it go bang.
GUNSLINGER INSTRUCTORS
Everyone needs continuing education in the evolving concept of Gunfighting. Problem is half of our instructors are, well, not so great! Pretty easy for a new shooter to get entry level instruction as there are a plethora of entry level qualified instructors available. A one or two day course however simply does not cut it; Gunsite 250 pistol course is a 5 day course and is awesome for the new or semi-experienced shooter. And, um, hey.. if you shoot 20 rounds at the range every other week you can call yourself "semi-experienced". Maybe. The problem arises for the intermediate to advanced shooter to get an experienced educated instructor. The majority of these instructors seem to believe we are in Afghanistan and train as such; crawling over and under, jumping hither and yon, running for cover. No. My fight is at Walmart not Afghanistan. Was at the "highest level" pistol training course offered (supposedly) where one of the instructors keeps yapping about how he was a Green Beret Medic. No such thing. There are Special Forces Aidman (300F1) trained to the level of ER Doctors in the longest (and hardest) Special Forces Course in existence. Yeah I oughta know and yes it's on my DD214. He is also a "pilot", Hollywood stunt man, business expert, the list just does not stop and nor does his mouth. So anyhoo he has us at 25 yards, 75', long way. Ok I get it. We DO need to be able to whack at 25 yards.. scenario is no cover, no retreat, we are in a fight to the death. So his instruction is to fire one round, skimmy hoople two steps right (using the special skimmy hoople technique), fire another round, skimmy hoople two steps left, fire another round. Gotta keep moving so we are harder to hit! Yeah. No. In the above scenario I'm not moving left right nowhere. In fact I am going to move toward my opponent in a fast and efficient manner while constantly pulling the trigger; let him him hoople skim left and right and I'll simply ventilate him. Alot. Point being after you gain enough experience you need to evaluate and sift through information provided to you, keep what you can use and makes sense, and discard the rest. This same instructor was one whom said you do not need to ever look behind you AFTER your threat is down. Huh? What? Soon as my threat is not a threat I am checking my six FAST and if clear reloading with a full mag. I can do bad instructor stories all day long.. just do some checking and get some bona fides or talk to the guy and feel em out. Another "instructor" promoted himself as a hot shit Marine Force Recon (Mustang) and fooled everyone for a decade. Took one of his courses with my wife, sat in the car after, called bullshit. Chicken shit AR course of no value. Turns out he was a fraud. No one in the community ever asked to see his bona fides or DD214. And hey you don't need a veteran to be your instructor either. Colonel Cooper used to only allow and hire instructor's whom "have been shot at". Sorry but that's just dumb. What about the ex navy SEAL whom is now an instructor and has you skinny up a telephone pole and engage targets with your pistol? Say what? There's an "instructor" whom hangs out at our local coffee shop. Calls himself "Reaper". Really. Apparently was in the Army 3 years and claims his platoon gave him the nickname. The Reaper. My ass. Anyone having you call them the "Reaper" or "Terminator" or "Killer" is a wannabe. Stay away from em.
There is some serious talent out there to learn from and one of the better ones is Ernest Langdon. Look him up and take a couple of his courses. And no I don't agree with everything he teaches but he is an awesome instructor regardless!
SAD BUT TRUE HUNTING STORIES
Booked a hunt in Utah for Elk. Operation was run by a family with 5 or 6 sons. Our "guide" (one of the sons) picked us up at the airport and during the 70 minute drive we came across literally 5 miles of construction cones on the freeway. He ran over every one of them. Intentionally. Said "that's what we do here". It went downhill from there. Shoulda coulda woulda had em turn around and take us back to the airport!
Same outfitter had six of us in camp and at dinner one of the "hunters" told us he came every year. Left his rifle there every year. Never practiced, ever. His arrogance was beyond the pale; while we were discussing tactics, checking equipment, dry-firing, and checking our zeroes he literally drank red wine and laughed at us. He did get his shot opportunity and shot an Elk in the ass which subsequently ran off never to be seen again. I find this individual and his ilk disgusting and literally reprehensible. A "Hunter" owes his quarry an ethical quick clean kill. A "Hunter" should know his limitations and be mentally mature and strong enough to recognize and adhere to his limitations.
Colorado Elk hunt the outfitter had three hunters with guides spread across the front of a mountain range overlooking a valley. Each A.M. a herd of Elk would come in off the plains and take a different path up the mountains. Elk went center and up; the hunter stationed "center" shot at these Elk eight times. I am not kidding. Really. Eight times. Shoot. Reload. Shoot Reload. His guide encouraged him to keep shooting! Didn't hit squat. Elk backtracked down the mountain and bedded down in the plains, in the open, 1200 yards away or so. Smart Elk. They could hang out there all day with 360 degrees of visibility. They radioed my guide; we hoofed down the mountain and subsequently low crawled to a ridge 555 yards from the bull we wanted. One shot, heart. Done. I had practiced, had confidence, and knew exactly where my shot would be at 550 yards using that specific platform. That's not arrogance; that's confidence in my ability with that equipment after eons of practice. By the by that same hunter had an afternoon shot opportunity and missed four more times. There was a range not 5 miles from where we were and we could shoot during the afternoon lull; I very kindly offered to take him there and help him out. No way. Too macho. Too much testosterone. Had bragged about all the game he killed "back East". After this I orally tortured the crap out of him with analogies from baseball on.. "yeah you're a major league pitcher who just walked twelve batters" Guess what? Manager just pulled you out of the game hot shot.. on and on until he packed up and drove away. Good riddance. As an aside as long as he was running around shooting holes in trees and chasing Elk all over Kingdom Come the other hunters didn't have a chance.. like my wife. So yeah; screw him.
We could do this all day but here's some insight. Most "guides" are just locals whom know the "outfitter" and work on a part time basis. Does not mean they are experienced nor pros. How about the "guide" in Alaska whom pulled out a bic and lit it to see "which way the wind is blowing". Umm.. we were in a 12' aluminum boat which was skipping forward at about 8 knots. Which way do you think the wind was blowing?
Another guide whom was a quarterback on a college team and was called up (or whatever) to the "pro's". Played one play in one game and was done but FOR CHRISTOPHER'S SAKE every freaking minute of every freaking day was about him and his football "glory day's" think Bruce Springsteen. He was 35 years old at the time. Drove a beat up old truck, was broke, divorced, and had nothing. Wonder why.
We hunted in Pike County for years and of course you have to have a "guide" to hunt. One year we were hunting Turkey's and it started raining. "Guide" said we had to go in cause Turkey's apparently beam to another dimension when it rains. We stayed out and bagged our two Turkeys. Yep they were wet and didn't look so good dead n wet but a blowdryer before pics fixed that..
Canadian guide bragged up and down about how a rifle was just a tool the same as a hammer and NEVER cleaned his rifle. Then kept talking smack about what an awesome shot he was. Prior to the hunt we wanted to check our zeroes (demanded) and finally he relented. Shot our groups, all fine, zeroes good. Told him to check his; show us how awesome he is. At 100 yards he was not within a foot of paper..
Accidental (Negligent) Discharges
My first autopsy was at Ft. Bragg. Two 82d Airborne grunts were playing quick draw in the barracks when one of the “unloaded” .45s went off. Since he was slightly bent over when he was shot the round skimmed the myocardium blew thru ribs and after exploding the liver exited. At Womack Army Hospital he was DOA but never let a training opportunity go to waste.. so they split em open from stem to stern, did open heart massage, stuck full O.R. towels behind the liver (I mean the .45 blew the liver apart).. ad infinitum. So I show up to do the autopsy (remember never let a good training opportunity slip away? SF 300F1 and select others have this opportunity at military posts under the supervision of the Medical Doctor directly in charge of the autopsy. You do the cutting, hoisting, cleaning, weighing while he gabs in a microphone) and the first think we do is weigh the corpse. Leather straps under him, crank em up on a huge scale; body slips sideways and since they split em stem to stern a gallon of blood guts parts and pieces splats to the floor. Great clean up job (for someone else). But it will never happen to you, right? Let’s share some more.. I know this guy who was SF with three MOS(s), certificated sniper/sniper instructor, competition match shooter for a decade. Trained and worked with Blackwater and others. Match shoot in Colorado played by big boy rules. No Loading table supervision, no unloading table requirement or supervision in direct conflict with all sanctioned match rules. So rather than load the required rounds for the match loaded all weapons to their max capability. After the stage since there was no unloading table he walked off to go the next stage. Completely focused on the next stage some part of his mind for whatever reason decided to rest the trigger springs and he pulled the trigger. Round exploded 2″ in front of his foot. At least he kept the firearm pointed in a safe direction... figure out whom that idjit was? Me. Safe to say anyone who has gone on enough patrols has had someone in the patrol accidently pop of a round. Think about the potential consequences of that... We had a.338 prototype sent to us and had it loaded and chambered to shoot. It slipped from my hand 6″ max above the table and discharged blowing a hole thru two walls and coming to rest in a safe. No finger near the trigger. For real. Easy fix to the above. EVERY FRIGGIN WEAPON IS LOADED PERIOD. This has to be your mindset 100% of the time! Just cleaned your weapon and did a chamber check? It is definitely unloaded? Bullshit every weapon must be treated as loaded NO EXCUSE. Easy fix #2. NEVER POINT YOUR WEAPON AT ANYONE FOR ANY REASON UNLESS YOU WANT TO KILL EM. Weapons are pointed up or down and never sweep a person’s torso. Reread above. Ever been in a gun store and seen a novice sweeping the barrel of a firearm around? Doesn’t make your hair stand on end? Guarantee it makes any pro spooky.. reread above again. Point is you ain’t that smart and you ain’t that good so don’t fool yourself. A lot of civvies think the Navy Seals are awesome (they are). Real pros. They send the good ones to Ft. Bragg to go thru a couple Special Forces courses so they must be OK (pun intended). Anyway this Seal had a couple and decided to play with his “unloaded” pistol, put it to his head, pulled the trigger, adios brains. Years of training and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money in the toilet because he didn’t follow two simple frigging rules. But you know better, huh?