February 3, 2012

Tips and Tricks for Dealing with Difficult Match Conditions
Filed under: Shooting Techniques,Training — Tags: , , — pkelley @ 4:19 pm    

Feet don’t fail me now!

Bring, buy or borrow a second set of footwear suited to conditions “other” than your primary set of boots or shoes. I am a boot guy and bring an aggressive tread rated for mud, grass, sand and a second set that offer good traction on rocks and hard, dry surfaces. Having two sets of footwear is a good idea if only to have one set drying out while you wear the second. Your feet are your wheels, keeping them well shod improves your ability to get out-of-the-gate and into position.

The Eyes Have It!

We can only reliably and safely shoot at and hit, targets we can SEE! Seeing better in poor lighting conditions can be improved with the proper selection of protective eyewear. Here, I run glasses that have interchangeable lenses. Colors can range from (Joe Cool) midnight black mirrored to ice blue, smoked and plain old clear. My favorite Vermillion lenses can be counted on for good target and iron sight contrast in most conditions with me only swapping to clear or yellow when it is overcast or dark. Be aware that yellow lenses can fatigue the eyes in bright conditions. Be sure to keep a few anti-fog wipes in your range bag too, so your baby blues can see through your “Joe Cool’s.”

Shape-up! (round is a shape)

Many of us could be in better shape, I know I could, but giving up chocolate chip cookies and my wife’s smoked salmon fettuccine for treadmills and free weights just ain’t gonna happen! So how do I (or you) get through a physically tough match without being particularly fit? Let me tell you what you are up against and then maybe I’ll share.

One of the toughest 3-gun matches on the “circuit” is the MGM Iron Man. It is an epic match with more shooting than any other three matches combined! Between the running and gunning and oversize kiddy-slide. The 100+ yard zip-line and breeching door. A surprise stage shot by flashlight in a dark house and the carrying of an 80-pound stage dummy and you have by any measure one heck of a physical match! Damn fun too! Last, you have to do all that crazy stuff with enough ammo on your body to complete one of the ten, 80+ round stages!

You say you are “strong like bull” and the dummy’s “not heavy, he’s your brother?” Good for you, Mondo. Tell me, big boy, how well do you breathe at 6,700 feet after running up hill, over rocks and dead fall, with your rifle slung on your shoulder while shooting a dozen rounds out of your shotgun, leaving it behind smoking and empty only to transition to your pistol, running that empty too, then un-slinging your long stick, loading it and shooting at targets over 150 yards away off-hand? Say what? I can’t understand you dude, are you OK? Stop your wheezing and talk to me!

That was pretty much describes several stages at Denise and JJ Johnson’s widely known and loved JP Enterprises Rocky Mountain 3-Gun. When August rolls around I know it’s time to head to the NRA’s expansive Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. Not only do you get to shoot this awesome match but you get to do it in one of the most beautiful ranges in the USA! Recalling that for you, reminds me, that I better lay off the cookies and pasta and hit the treadmill!

Hydration and Homework: (aw Mom, do I have too?)

The more physical the match is, the more importance I place on a good night’s sleep. At my age (52), sleeping in the car does not work as well as it used too. Quiet hotels with working A/C and comfortable beds help much when at these “away games.” Keeping fully hydrated ranks even higher for me than sleep and is not to be overlooked nor underestimated. Grab your favorite electrolyte brew and drink a bunch before, during and after each day. This keeps your brain and body working to capacity. At higher elevations, this is even more important! In addition to quality sleep and hydration, I snack all day. Dried fruit, nuts and sweets in the form of trail mix and breakfast bars are consumed between stages. This helps to keep me working well for the whole day. Again, I am not an exercise fanatic (not that there is anything wrong with that). I do walk and try not to overeat, holding my midsection down to a modern “mini spare.” In addition, the body parts you fail to warm up by stretching, you may break on race day. Make no mistake, the practical shooting game is an athletic endeavor, treat it as such.

As I have said before, the competitors at the top of the game know how to shoot; we have mastered the fundamentals. It is the application of those fundamentals under the stress and strain of match conditions that can make or break a winning performance. Now you know how I prepare for changing match conditions, the question is—are you ready?

Crimson Trace MVF-515
Filed under: Buyer's Guide,Firearm Accessories,Reviews,SHOT Show — Tags: , , , , — aspurlin @ 2:05 pm    

Everyone in the shooting world is talking about the 2012 SHOT Show that occurred in Las Vegas in January. For those of you who have not heard of SHOT Show, it is the largest venue for firearms in the known universe. It showcases every vendor and their new products coming out in the next year for consumers like you and me. A lot of the products are high-end, expensive, wish-list items such as top of the line rifles with optics and all the accessories you could ever dream of with a price tag upward of 10,000 dollars. Awesome stuff to look at and want, but it usually ends there for us as spectators.

I have been able to test out one piece of equipment for a few months that really impressed me. It is the new Crimson Trace MVF-515 integrated laser light vertical foregrip. It is available with a red or a green laser, and has a 150/200 lumen LED light module as well. There are two halves—one being the light, and one being the laser. The batteries go in between the two and the total time to install the batteries, mount it to any picatinny rail and get it dialed in took me about five minutes. In other words, this thing is made for a simple installation in a dynamic situation. There are no cables or cords. Everything is tight and compact. It is very light and best of all, the light and laser activation switches are ambidextrous.

Crimson Trace AR-15 MVF-515 Green Laser and Tactical Light Foregrip

Crimson Trace AR-15 MVF-515 Green Laser and Tactical Light Foregrip

The light itself has three modes:

  • Momentary, which means the light stays on as long as you put pressure on the switch
  • Strobe, which has a disorienting effect at night on any persons vision
  • Constant on, which means it stays on until you want it off

The light is very bright for its size and will easily provide any shooter quick target recognition in low light scenarios. Are there brighter lights on the market? Yes, of course. Are there any that come in a package this size and come in this light in weight? I have not seen any yet that could compete.

Crimson Trace also realized different units like different options, so they made a green laser and a red laser available for the user. Again, to change between the two would take the user under five minutes to take it off the rail, divide it into two sections, swap out the laser half, and reattach it. That is it. It is very simple to change out the laser color or the batteries.

The green laser is very nice, and is visible for as far as your vision will allow you to see at night. During daytime hours, it is easily identifiable and easier to see than a red laser. Please keep in mind, every situation is different, so results will vary based on weather and time of day as well as your environment. But either way, Crimson Trace has you covered with two color options and one compact light with three modes that will work in every situation. It might be time to update your older, bulkier foregrip and light combo. If you are thinking about it, please give this product a look.

Thanks for reading. Now go shoot! —Ashley Spurlin

Specifications and Features

  • 5mw peak beam intensity
  • 520-540 nm, class 3R laser
  • Replaceable, 150/200 lumen LED white light
  • Rotate to select LED light intensity
  • Programmable laser and light functions
  • Three illumination modes: independent momentary, strobe, or constant on
  • Instinctive activation
  • Ambidextrous dual side activation switches
  • Rugged hard polymer grip panels with hard anodized 6061 T6 aircraft aluminum tang
  • Windage and elevation adjustable
  • Master on and off switch
  • 0.5-inch diameter dot at 50 feet
  • Two CR123 lithium batteries
  • Three year complete warranty
Being a Credible Threat
Filed under: AK,Carbines,Defensive Tactics,Rifles,Self Defense,Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — olegv @ 1:15 am    
Even a single shot .22 can be a credible weapon

Even a single shot .22 can be a credible weapon.

Both are lethal, but the gun gets taken more seriously.

Both weapons are lethal, but the gun gets taken more seriously.

At the end of last year, an eleven year old girl armed with a single shot .22 rifle faced off three intruders. The perps fled in fear, even though they probably could have won by a determined attack. The defender posed a credible threat and they believed it enough to retreat. What do you think the outcome would have been had she relied on pepper spray or an electric stunner or a baseball bat? When people argue in favor of improvised weapons or “anything but a gun,” they are greatly increasing the chance that a criminal would try their defenses. The sword has been a lethal military weapon for millennia, but would a modern thug take it seriously? For better or worse, people are conditioned to treat firearms seriously for two reasons: guns require minimal strength to operate and they work at extended ranges.

Less lethal weapons are often dismissed precisely for their lack of permanent effect. Quaint and unusual lethal weapons, such as swords, spears and bows get little respect because today’s thugs are unused to their effects, and also because violent criminals do not expect the ferocity necessary for melee fighting from their victims. But guns, “as everyone knows” require but a finger twitch with the muzzle pointed in the right direction. So the shout of “he’s got a gun!” is more likely to get would-be attackers to run than would some other weapon — even though the close-range effect of a sword may exceed the actual effect of a single shot .22. At the same time, the kind of good guys who would prefer not to shoot even in self-defense but are OK with improvised arms are clearly unfamiliar with the amount of effort required for victory in close combat. Keeping a Louisville Slugger for unbidden guests without any experience in fighting with it puts the defender at risk of losing due to lack of training — and at risk of a major emotional epiphany in case of victory. Improvised weapons aren’t any more gentle than firearms as the mechanism of incapacitation is similar. The only difference is the lack of range with the attendant increase in exposure to violence and enemy’s bio-hazardous bodily fluids.

AK47 is instantly recognizable

AK47 is instantly recognizable.

We know from solders’ memoirs that the martial appearance would sometimes break morale of the enemy. Special Forces in Vietnam reported that sound-suppressed submachine guns were often less effective than more conventional guns precisely because they lacked the thundering report — the pursuing NVA troops believed themselves unopposed and pressed on that much harder. So a mild-looking home defender with a stick or a length of metal with a sharp edge may have to employ deadly force in earnest to run off an intruder, whereas the same person with a firearm would be able to intimidate without firing. Call it the “personal nuclear option” — conventional bombing has killed many more people than nukes ever had, but it’s not 4-pound incendiary bomb that figures prominently in anybody’s nightmares. Likewise, few thugs expect to get spitted on a pike or bashed with a golf club, but most of them have an existing fear of being shot. Play into that fear!

February 2, 2012

Eric Holder Testifies Again, More Politicians Call For His Job, $25 Million Lawsuit Filed Against BATFE
Filed under: Legal Issues — Tags: , , , , , , — CTD Mike @ 5:04 pm    

Attorney General Eric Holder testified in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today as the “gunwalking” scandal surrounding the failed Operation Fast and Furious entered a new stage. Chairman Darrell Issa and other Republicans grilled Holder for stonewalling their attempts to get to the bottom of what happened. Under Holder, the Justice Department has only released 8% of the documents demanded by Congress and has refused to allow investigators access to witnesses who participated in the operation. Congress has been denied interviews with 48 Justice Department officials regarding Fast and Furious, including one who plead the 5th Amendment after being subpoenaed.

Issa not impressed

California's Darrell Issa is unimpressed with Attorney General Eric Holder's testimony

Holder invoked the doctrine of Executive Privilege to justify his lack of cooperation with the investigation. This argument states that if Justice Department employees had to worry about their emails, memos, and other correspondence being presented as evidence in Congress at some point in the future, they wouldn’t ever write emails or memos about anything important and nothing would ever get done. Therefore, Holder argued, all of those documents and witness testimony should be left alone in the name of preserving government efficiency.

Democrats on the committee defended Holder to the best of their ability, attempting to draw ties between Fast and Furious and Operation Wide Receiver, a similar mission conducted jointly between the US and Mexico during the Bush Administration. Wide Receiver was a cooperative effort, but the Mexican government was deliberately kept in the dark about Fast and Furious even after guns supplied by the BATFE began turning up at Mexican crime scenes. As Republicans pointed out the differences between the two programs, Holder’s Democrat defenders were forced to change away from the “blame Bush” tactic.

Charging that Issa was on a “witch hunt,” they repeatedly claimed that Republicans were simply trying to sink the Attorney General as an election year ploy to hit President Obama with a scandal between now and the November election. Attempting to soak up as much time as possible, Democrats began talking about Groundhog Day four times during the hearings, but Chairman Issa was determined to provoke an honest response out of Holder, accusing him of lying under oath. Earlier this week Issa wrote an official letter to Holder threatening to bring criminal charges against him, and he did not retreat from that position during the hearing. Other Republicans also went on the attack, including feisty New York congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle, who asked Holder point-blank how many federal agents deaths it would take before he would accept any responsibility. Holder refused to answer the question.

Afterward, South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint became the third U.S. Senator to call for Holder’s resignation or firing. One hundred and three members of the House of Representatives and all major Republican presidential candidates are also calling for Holder to step down or be kicked out. DeMint cited Fast and Furious and the federal raid on Gibson Guitar as his primary reasons. Gibson Guitar, a Republican campaign contributor, was ransacked by federal agents earlier this year over obscure regulations regarding importation of wood. Gibson’s main competitor and huge Democrat campaign donor, C.F. Martin & Co., was not raided despite using the same wood to build their guitars.

In related news, today the family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry filed a $25 million lawsuit against the BATFE alleging that the agency lied to them about the circumstances of his death during the cover up attempt. Internal documents originally showed two Fast and Furious AK-47s and a Fast and Furious SKS were recovered from the scene of Agent Terry’s murder. The SKS later disappeared from the BATFE’s documentation entirely and the existence of that gun is now completely denied by the Justice Department. The murder weapon itself has never been identified, and recently the case file in the prosecution of Terry’s alleged murderers has disappeared from Federal court records, apparently sealed by an unknown Federal Judge.  The lawsuit filed today alleges that US Attorney Dennis Burke told Terry’s family that the AK-47s came from a gun store in Texas and were not involved with Operation Fast and Furious. Emails uncovered later showed Mr. Burke knew the truth only hours after Agent Terry’s murder. Burke has since resigned from government service and has declined to discuss Fast and Furious with anyone, including Congress.

Ted Nugent Hi-Performance Hunting Ammunition
Filed under: Industry News,Reviews,SHOT Show — Tags: , , , , — CTD Suzanne @ 3:56 pm    

Ted Nugent is not only a guitar shredder, but a well-know target shredder and avid hunter. Uncle Ted’s show Spirit of the Wild is the Outdoor Channel’s number one hunting show. With his unabashed public view on our Second Amendment rights and a member of the Board of Directors of the NRA, it comes as no surprise that Ted Nugent has finally not only endorsed, but lent his name to a brand of hunting ammunition.

Ted Nugent Hi Performance Ammo

Ted Nugent Hi Performance Ammo

The Nug announced the custom ammo on his Twitter: “killer music killer attitude killer ammo for gungho killer shootists everywher git ya some”

Teaming up with Pierce Munitions and American Tactical Imports the ammunition is expects to be available through distributors and dealers in July. American Tactical Imports will be the distributer and Pierce Munitions is the manufacturer.

Pierce Munitions is located in New York and is making all the Ted Nugent Hi-Performance Hunting ammunition right here in the United States.

Ted Nugent Hi-Performance Hunting rifle ammunition features Barnes® Bullets, using Triple-Shock X (TSX™) and Tipped TSX™ (TTSX). Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets are well-known hunting bullets that take down game accurately and effectively. Pistol calibers use Speer Uni-Cor® bullets. Andrew Wright, Chief Marketing Officer of Pierce Munitions, LLC says, “combining these killer projectiles with meticulous testing, loading, and extreme quality control ensures that serious hunters will have the best load for their next hunting adventure.

Expect to see the following product line up in July:

  • 10 MM 180gr Speer® Uni-Cor® HP
  • .44 MAG 240gr Speer® Uni-Cor® HP
  • .223 55gr Barnes® TSX
  • .243 WIN 80gr Barnes® TTSX BT
  • .270 140gr Barnes® TSX BT
  • .300 WIN MAG 180gr Barnes® TTSX BT
  • .308 WIN 168gr Barnes® TTSX BT
  • .30-30 150gr Barnes® TSX FN
  • 50 BMG 647gr Barnes® TSX BT (Limited Edition)
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