Ryan Cleckner covers how to gather and organize D.O.P.E. (Data On Previous Engagements) and how to organize this information to make it readily available in the field. (NSSF Video)
I Recommend These Books & Resources:
Gun Digest 2012, The World's Greatest Gun Book, 66th Edition – New!
Gun Digest 1944 + 2011, Bundle
Gun Digest 1944-2009 3-DVD Set
2012 Standard Catalog of Firearms
Shop more at gundigeststore.com
The Army's Sniper School at Fort Benning trains soldiers in the art and science of long-range shooting as well as observational skills.
Occasionally, the mainstream media publishes something worthwhile. In addition to the video above, I thought you'd find the associated story (U.S. military snipers are changing warfare) published in USA Today to be a good read. Here's a snippet:
When Marine Sgt. Jonathan Charles' unit arrived in Afghanistan, the American troops faced an entrenched enemy that picked a fight with the Marines almost every time they stepped off base.
“They couldn't get outside the wire more than 50 meters before it was a barrage of fire,” said Charles, a scout sniper.
The Marine battalion quickly dispersed well-camouflaged scout sniper teams throughout the Musa Qala area in southern Afghanistan, the former Taliban heartland. The teams would hide for days, holed up in crevices, among boulders or in mud-walled homes, and wait for unsuspecting militants to walk into a trap.
The result: Dozens of militants were killed by an enemy they never saw. Word of unseen killers began to spread among the “few who got away,” Charles said. Within weeks, the tide had begun to turn and by the end of the unit's seven-month deployment in March 2011, the battalion's 33-man sniper platoon had 185 enemy kills. Read more
Source: USA Today
My Recommended Tactical Rifle Resources
Gun Digest Book of The Tactical Rifle
Gun Digest Buyer's Guide to Tactical Rifles
Own the Night: Selection and Use of Tactical Lights and Laser Sights
USA-based Magnum Research – manufacturers of the Desert Eagle, Baby Desert Eagle and BFR revolvers – announces its newly reconstructed website.
The new Magnum Research website offers:
* Improved graphics
* Dealers and wholesalers by state
* E-commerce page complete with product specs and pricing
* Accessories and parts page
* Q&A page.
* Fun MRI videos
* Complete list of movies that featured MRI products.
The site also features the new All-American face of Magnum Research and Kahr Arms, model Jessica Roberts.
Click here to check out the new Magnum Research website.
UPDATE: Click here to watch a video of Kelly McMillan discussing the Bank of America controversy.
Arizona-based McMillan, which produces custom-made rifles, ammunition, gunstocks and other related gear, recently announced that the Bank of America had apparently stopped doing business with McMillan because it made and sold firearms.
According to FoxNews, “Kelly McMillan, operations director of the McMillan companies, said a bank vice president explained at a meeting [recently] that he no longer wanted McMillan's business because the companies manufacture firearms.”
“This has nothing to do with our financial position,” McMillan said. “He said the bank needed to assess the risk of doing business with a firearms manufacturer.”
McMillan added that he was visited, “by another Bank of America executive with essentially the same message and was not even offered an opportunity to restructure his debt or make some other deal, though his company has never missed a payment or bounced a check.”
A Bank of America spokeswoman denied McMillan's account, and told Fox News that Bank of America has never had any policies prohibiting them from banking or lending to clients in the firearms industry. She said that the bank has longstanding relationships with many companies in the industry.
One of the key elements of being effective with your concealed carry handgun is building the muscle memory you need to automatically function in a high-stress environment.
The other elements include proper mindset and situational awareness, but we will talk about those later. Right now it's all about practice. Those with a cynical view of concealed carry will say you are practicing for something that, in all likelihood will not happen. The chances of you needing to draw your weapon from its holster and engage a hostile target are very slim. But if it does happen, only a handgun will save you and you had better do everything right. So, we practice because of the possibility, not the probability. I can't really teach you to shoot your pistol in this much space, so I expect you to get training from a competent instructor and continue that training with further self-defense education.
Today we are talking about volume. It takes 3000 to 5000 repetitions to build the muscle memory needed to perform a function correctly without thinking it through. The stress of a deadly force encounter will mean that you are focused on the threat, not the action of drawing your weapon, verbalizing (to turn bystanders into witnesses and to make sure you keep breathing), focusing on the front sight and pressing the trigger.
Rather than do that with expensive centerfire ammo. Get a pistol that offers a conversion option and shoot .22 LR ammo. The Advantage Arms conversion kit for my Glock 22 takes my pistol from .40 S&W to .22 LR in 10 seconds drastically reducing my ammo costs. Let's take a look.
Recommended Glock Resources:
The Gun Digest Book of the Glock, 2nd Edition
Glock Disassembly & Reassembly DVD
In this clip from Jeff Cooper's Defensive Pistolcraft DVD, the renowned instructor reviews the concept of the “surprise break.” This is when the operator slowly squeezes the trigger, not knowing exactly when it will release.
Cooper says it's helpful for training because it increases the operator's focus. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
Tip: Learn more about surprise break and more in Jeff Cooper's Defensive Pistol Craft DVD here.
I had the chance to shoot Kimber's new 9mm Solo concealed carry pistol yesterday and I am impressed! Accuracy, reliability, power and the classic Kimber quality combine to make a great little pistol.
This is everything you could want in a small 9mm. For a full review of this excellent gun, check out the Special Concealed Carry Edition of Gun Digest the Magazine, hitting the newsstands in Mid-June.
Recommended gun books for those who carry concealed handguns:
The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry
The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery
Effective Handgun Defense, A Comprehensive Guide to Concealed Carry
Find more resources at gundigeststore.com/tactical
Opinions are like shopping bags: cheap and ubiquitous. Mine get about as much notice. Most recently, I’ve held forth on Chihuahuas, subsidized soybeans and motorists who drive 55 in the left lane. The soybean has kept its record reasonably clean, so I’ve managed one positive review.
Firearms have tripped me up. To report on them as tools is to ignore their soul. To admit that they have soul takes Darwinism to a new level. It also leaves some current guns with poor marks. It’s no trick to make firearms that work. Brilliant 19th-century inventors did that. CAD drawings, CNC machines and better steel can improve hardware, but they don’t add or maintain soul – or even elemental “gunniness.”
Before John Browning tired of sending designs to Winchester, he came up with some of the most fetching rifles ever, from the 1886 to the 1894. For decades after the Civil War, lever-actions proved as popular as the Homestead Act. Then came the Model 1895, a lever rifle for the government’s powerful .30-40, .30-03 and .30-06 cartridges.
I’m not a fan of the 1895. It does show the wonderful machining and finish common to firearms of its day. It does function reliably, and permits use of pointed bullets. But the 1895 is a cruel rifle. The stock comb is sharp and has lots of drop. It jabs you viciously in the chops. The sights don’t line up for me. When I cycle the action, the lever pinches my fingers. All that shuffling steel smacks of machinery by International Harvester. In the 95 you can also sense an incipient loss of soul.
Lest you think I’m heaping dung on a grave, I’d buy a minty 95 in a heartbeat, were it affordable.
Had anyone asked me, I’d have suggested that certain elements of the 95 (and its forebears) be carried forward. Soul resides in design, fit and walnut. Surely, the best hand-laid carbon-fiber stocks are clean to the point of elegance in profile, besides being strong, lightweight and waterproof. Still, the most attractive guns wear walnut. Claims of wood bending to the whims of weather have over-stepped. Most hunters can’t shoot well enough afield to tell if a stock is nudging the barrel or not. And wood is durable. That’s why trees worth cutting for gun-stocks live longer than we will. Even straight-grained walnut has character to plumb, like the plain girl no one thought would become a CEO, or the “square” who later earned a PhD and a Guggenheim. Polymer has the eye appeal of tractor tires. Every black polymer stock is the same, as soul-less as it is colorless.
Had anyone asked me, I’d have suggested that synthetic stocks dress in color. Henry Ford had to buy lots of paint, and sticking to black gave him the leverage of volume. It also absolved him of having to decide which color the next customer would want. Eventually, even Henry conceded there were other profitable colors. Many gunmakers remain hung up on black. While hand-laid stocks do come in a variety of shades, and McMillan offers a giddy selection, the rule is still black. I’m tired of it.
Had anyone asked me, I’d have insisted that metal never “stand proud” of the stock; that rifle and shotgun stocks, fit more neatly than the doors on a tool shed. While CNC tooling has reduced variation in dimensions, tolerances in mating parts seem to have increased. Close fit shows care in manufacture. Once you could get it in a Winchester 94, millions of which traded for under $100.
Had anyone asked me, I’d have required any firm contemplating a commemorative floorplate to install a boxcar-size façade with said plating on the lawn of company headquarters. If it looks good there, it will probably pass muster on a floorplate. Otherwise, plain blued steel works fine. Triggers of bright pot metal might also accede to steel. Ditto plastic grip caps. Steel too costly? Omit floorplate and grip cap. If they’ve been stamped with decoration borrowed from lawn ornaments, it’s best they leave anyway.
Had anyone asked me, I’d have scotched superfluous parts, starting with automatic and redundant safeties. A firearm’s function is to fire. Multiple impediments make it as useless as a boat with holes.
Had anyone asked me, I’d have declared fixed throttles more useful than non-adjustable triggers. Pulls as heavy as a rifle’s weight almost ensure the rifle will move as the trigger breaks – just as double-action handgun pulls with the resistance of a bumper jack ruin accuracy.
While my opinions are mostly dismissed, gunmakers still sell serviceable products. Shooters still buy them, as 100 years ago they made peace with the mulish kick and finger-chomping lever of the 95.
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The Rock Island Auction Co. based in Rock Island, Illinois, hosted its largest antique gun auction of the decade on April 20, 21 and 22, 2012. The auction generated $12.6 million in sales.
I just had the chance to look over and try on a new holster from Nate Squared Tactical. This inside the waistband concealed carry holster is not just the best of “both” worlds, it is the best of several worlds: Comfort, concealment, retention, adaptability. This line of holsters has a lot to offer.
The IWB holsters offered by Nate Squared Tactical have been called “the most comfortable concealed carry holsters on the market today.” Subjective? Yes, but the design in patented, the materials are top-notch and the system is so simple you want to slap your head and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Nate Squared Holsters combine oil-tanned leather with a soft suede backing to make a thin yet supportive and comfortable platform for the holster. The Original and Orignal Tuckable models use an elastic band to secure the pistol, the Professional model uses molded polycarbonate shell to allow for easy re-holstering.
I have tried on both style holsters and simply love the fit and feel. Yes it is nearly impossible to reholster with the Original model, but the reality of a deadly force situation means you will likely not reholster until the situation is clear. At that point the police will likely tell to put your weapon on the ground. Follow their instructions. This holster allows for comfortable all-day concealed carry. If you have to pull your gun you likely won’t be worrying about putting it away until you feel safe.
I like the simplicity, quality and comfort these holsters offer. You can find the complete line at www.n82tactical.com
Holster manufacturer CrossBreed Holsters, LLC, has announced its sponsorship of the Personal Defense Network (PDN) Training Tour 2012.
“CrossBreed is proud to partner with the best of the industry on many levels,” says Mark Craighead of CrossBreed. “We think that PDN and [lead instructor] Rob Pincus are doing a great thing with a worthy cause, and we are glad to lend our support.”
For its first-ever cross-country Training Tour, PDN has brought together top instructors in the industry to train students from coast to coast. The PDN tour truck actually began in March. But between now and July, the Tour will make approximately three dozen stops at cities all over the U.S.
The tour covers a variety of fundamental and advanced personal defense topics such as Combat Focus® Shooting, Martial Blade Concepts and Advanced Pistol Handling.
PDN was formed to provide high-quality personal defense instructional videos and articles for conscientious civilians, law enforcement personnel and military operators interested in learning the most efficient and complete methods of personal defense. Course fees vary.
To view tour dates and registration information, visit Personal Defense Network.
Here are seven concealed carry firearms and services worth checking out.
1) For Concealed Carry Target Practice: MGM Targets
Go to the MGM Targets website.
2) For Concealed Carry Training: American Gunsmithing Institute
The American Gunsmithing Institute's popular Armorer's Courses are packed with exclusive information and equal to a complete Factory Armorer's Course. These how-to Technical Manuals on DVD cover 52 different firearms. We use an exclusive cutaway gun to explain in detail the design of the feeding and locking mechanisms, the trigger system, proper ejection, and other functions with views of the intricate internal workings not normally visible. We also show you complete disassembly and reassembly, and teach you basic trouble shooting and repairs at an Armorer's level. AGI keeps you out of trouble by telling you what parts you should never remove! Each DVD includes a FREE printable schematic.
To take advantage of this deal Click Here or call 1-800-797-0867
3) For Concealed Carry Firearms & Accessories: CDNN Sports, Inc.
Go to CDNN Sports.
4) For Concealed Carry 9mm Pistols: Kel-Tec
The Kel-Tec PF-9 is a semi-automatic, locked breech pistol, chambered for the 9mm Luger cartridge. It has been developed from our highly successful P-11 and P-3AT pistols with maximum concealability in mind. The PF-9 has a single stack magazine holding 7 rounds. It is one of the lightest and flattest 9mm ever made. Firing mechanism is Double-Action Only with an automatic hammer block safety.
The PF-9 is nearly identical to the P-11 in length and height and shares the same exterior controls. The shorter trigger system with integral hammer block and the extraction system are adapted from the P-3AT.
For more information, please visit: www.keltecweapons.com
5) For Concealed Carry .45 Pistols: Springfield XDM
Since we introduced the XD(M)® Compact in 9mm and .40, our Customer Service department has been swamped with requests for a .45 version. So, we've been frantically developing an amazing product that combines concealability and high capacity, with a big bullet, that, like all XD® and XD(M)® models focuses on Point & Shoot Ergonomics™.
The genius of the XD(M)® Compact design is that it doubles as a full-size frame model with the use of the XD(M) Gear® Mag X-Tension™ (US Pat. 7191556) that offers a full-capacity back-up magazine. It's also a great range option for people that don't want to have to buy both a CCW, and a range pistol.
For more information about the XD(M)® Compact .45ACP, along with all XD(M)® models, please visit www.The-M-Factor.com
6) For Concealed Carry Holsters: Nate Squared Tactical
The IWB holsters offered by Nate Squared Tactical have been called “the most comfortable concealed carry holsters on the market today.” This patented design allows you to carry your handgun all day, everyday. Our Professional series has an adjustable cant, is tuckable, and also a positive retention feature that makes it the ultimate inside the waistband design. All of these holsters are handmade in the USA and include a Lifetime Warranty. Try a Nate Squared Tactical holster today and end your search for a comfortable concealed carry holster. With Nate Squared Tactical comfortable concealed carry is a reality, not just a slogan.
For more information, please visit: www.n82tactical.com.
7) For Concealed Carry Legal & Ethical Information: Seven Things You Must Know Before Drawing Your Gun
FREE Concealed Carry Special Report…
If you've decided to carry a firearm for personal protection (or even if you're just thinking about it), I applaud your decision.
Most people are not willing to do what is necessary to protect themselves, their family members, and even complete strangers from the ruthless attack of a violent felon…
It is critical that you realize that the MOMENT you're forced to draw your gun in self-defense there will be 100+ decisions that you'll need to make in a split second.
Get your FREE download today, Click here now.
In this video from Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT), the M.A.K.-1 and Extrik-8-R are put through some glass-breaking tests. What do you think of the design of these rescue tools? Leave your comments below.
Tactical Gear Recommends: BLACKHAWK! Hook Serrated
Simple, portable and effective are words to describe the BLACKHAWK! Hook Serrated rescue tool. Professionals and civilians will find it's perfect for breaking windows, cutting wires, slicing seat belts and more.
Click here to order the BLACKHAWK! Hook rescue tool for $31.99 ($8 off retail).
In this video from the Cato Institute, Massad Ayoob draws on his decades of experience to critically examine so-called “Stand Your Ground” and “Castle Doctrine” laws.
Ayoob was one of many to speak at the Cato Institute about this hot topic issue.
In this video, defense expert Waysun Johnny Tsai reviews the DPx HEST 2.0 (Hostile Environment Survival Tool). This tactical knife has received a lot of buzz. After watching the video, would you add it to your tactical system?
Keep Tactical Knives Sharp in the Field
Retail: $30
Your Price: $24
For something that's supposed to maintain a tool, there sure aren't many durable pocket sharpeners out there. The GATCO DCS Diamond/Carbide Sharpener isn't one of them.
Big game that drops instantly to a shot is cause for concern.
Bullets don’t hurl animals to earth; an immediate collapse usually mean you’ve struck the spine. A severed spinal cord anchors the beast. If your bullet has also sent fragments through the chest or so shattered the forward spine as to deliver fatal shock, you won’t have to fire again.
Without knowing that, you’d best cycle the bolt and ready yourself for another shot. Bullets that strike spinal processes – those short appendages on vertebrae – also deliver a hammer-like blow. But the animal can recover, sometimes within seconds. Once it regains its feet, you’ll likely not bag it unless another hit follows, pronto.
You can expect reaction to both bullet strikes and near misses. If the buck doesn’t react instantly, you probably missed. A bullet arrives faster than you can get your scope back on target, and the reaction is involuntary. If you see the deer duck, and it runs with tail up, it is likely unscathed. A deer that stands as if puzzled by the blast and sonic crack is almost surely untouched. Sudden noise can be hard to place; animals often pause, to determine a safe exit.
Up close you’ll seldom see the eruption of hair, dust or water, the flinch, the caving to the blow when your bullet lands. The violence of recoil will obscure all.
At distance, depending on light conditions, bullet velocity and your recovery time, you will. The sound of a strike follows reaction to the hit. A .270 bullet leaving at 3,000 fps averages about 2,700 fps over its first 300 yards. It reaches a deer 300 yards away in a third of a second. The thud of impact takes a second ambling back. You’ll hear the hit about 1 1/3 seconds after you fire.
The solid “thwuck” of a bullet through front ribs is welcome music. A sharp “whock” means you struck big bone; a sodden, splashy, hollow landing means a paunch hit.
Always assume a hit. Always reload quickly. Excepting offhand shots up close in timber, I stay in shooting position for at least 10 seconds after a shot. If game appears after the shot, I make sure it is the same animal before firing again.
Always check if you suspect a miss. First, flag your shooting spot and the place where the animal was when you fired (I carry ribbon for this purpose). Many deer are lost because hunters don’t follow up intelligently after the shot. Blood may not appear on the trail for many yards, even if the damage is lethal. I’ve found dead deer and elk many yards from where they were hit and had to back-trail to see any blood. A bullet that doesn’t pass through may cause lots of internal hemorrhage, only to have elastic hide slip over the entry hole during escape, impeding leaks.
Once, after calling a good shot at a deer in open woodland, I watched it gallop off at an even and deliberate pace. I followed the hoofprints but found no blood. Returning to the site of the hit, I got down on hands and knees, searching in circles. A tiny pink pellet with a single deer hair caught my eye. Lung.
Carefully, I worked my way along the trail again. This time I found a drop of blood. At a turn in the trail, I spied a track I’d missed before. The buck lay a few steps farther on.
Game commonly makes an abrupt turn just before collapsing. A buck I hit too far back slipped into dense willows. I followed on hands and knees as the vegetation pressed in. There was no blood; it seemed as if the earth had swallowed this deer. Then I spotted a small gap to the side of what was now just a rabbit’s path. I crawled through it – and onto the carcass of the buck.
Perseverance is an asset. You might also call it a requisite. When you fire at big game, you have the responsibility to follow up. Some years ago, guiding a mule deer hunter, I spied a buck across a draw.
My client decided to shoot. The deer ran immediately. “Aw, I probably missed,” said the man, obviously not keen to cross the rugged draw and spend time on the deer’s trail. I insisted, though, and presently we stood where the animal had. “See, no blood.”
My companion wanted to start hunting again. I left him at the site and tracked the deer into timber, where I found it dead.
Lethal hits don’t always put game down immediately. In fact, most of the animals I’ve shot have moved before dropping. Regardless of the reaction, I always check and follow. As do all sportsmen.
