The Tactical Life

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Wow that’s a hella fish right there!

Was skimming the thread about vehicle stoppage & stuff and my fav round was listed - 338 Lapua Mag. Of course of those listed, a 50 is best, but the 338 does significant damage at a good range.

Then there’s the run and gun raining being applicable to real world stuff. I second that static shooting is not. It’s only good for marksmanship competition and a live fire check for a given firearm IMO. As much as I enjoy the occasional cutting of holes with 45 rounds, no one gets time to take that level of care aiming in a situation.

You guys are keeping my thought processes on training going so thx!

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The Cooper 12 minute run is a measure of overall cardio vascular fitness (VO2max correlation) not a field simulation (foot pursuit). It still gets used because of the high correlation to a desired metric and the ease of use. There’s no special equipment needed, just a flat course and a stopwatch.

Sorry…this should have attached under Batman’s post about 8 posts ago.

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I agree that cooper gets used because it’s easy. I’ve also read that it’s legally defensible because it is heavily researched. I still think it’s a very poor measure of operational readiness.

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So this happened near me. Probation officer and the judge returned fire. There’s two LEO jobs who usually aren’t in the line of fire. Good on them for being prepared.

https://www.circa.com/story/2017/08/21/nation/judge-joseph-j-bruzzese-jr-ambushed-shot-outside-jefferson-county-courthouse-in-ohio

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Thought for the day (1)

"There is always going to be a hundred excuses you can make to yourself or others. It’s so simple to justify to yourself that you didn’t get blessed with the right genetics, you’ll start training next week or that you’re tired and your better off having some time off. End of the day it comes down to your sacrifices and whether you’re prepared to work hard.
The harder you work, the luckier you get. Simple as that".

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Thought for the day (2)

“_A stone is heavy and the sand is weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.” _
― Frank Herbert, Dune

The video listed below is brutal example that size and strength does not always equal victory. Know your strengths and weaknesses. As BagofBro said several years ago: Skill, Conditioning, and Strength for the triad of survival.

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Solid thread, thanks to everyone contributing, especially Idaho.

I’ve got a bit of a conundrum presently: I’ve had a fair bit of involvement in various combat sports over the last 10 or so years and have always encouraged my friends and partners to get involved, as the skills you pick up in terms of self-defense, or at the very least the sobering knowledge that other people can impose themselves on you physically, is valuable.

This has largely been successful, with a fair few people in my life engaging and becoming - I hope - a little better at handling themselves, whether big/small, male/female.

But here’s the kicker: I’ve recently figured that it’s probably time for me to get some basic firearms training, and as usual opened up this possibility to my mates to join me, as most of them have never touched a firearm before. The response from many has been a “I don’t like guns, and that’s not necessary, as when am I going to be put in a situation when I need that knowledge?”. These people aren’t idiots and I’m not asking them to like shooting, or guns in general, just consider that just knowing the basics of firearm operation could be a valuable skill in terms of preserving their autonomy should an (relatively, given the incidence of gun crime/terrorism in Australia) unlikely situation arise. I’m Australian, and we’re not really that rabidly anti-gun over here in general, so I’m surprised in some cases of the refusal to discuss this, as these individuals take ownership of their defense and security in other aspects of their lives?

Long and the short of it: Any advice on communicating to people who you care about who really, really, dislike firearms (without ever having been involved with them) that learning how to operate them is valuable?

Warm Regards,
Steak

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That moment you realize your max bench don’t mean shit. What a waste…

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If these are people you know well, and have mutual trust with, I’d hit them with the following question…

Why shouldn’t I learn how to operate a firearm?

Let them explain to you why they think it is a bad idea. Just let them talk.

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A few things to get you started:

First with women; I am going to list a blog site started by a woman a couple of years ago that is for new women shooters. Here are couple of quotes from her decision:

" I did not grow up with guns. I was never interested in guns. Frankly, they kinda scared me."

" My home defense system was a schutzhund-trained German Shepherd and my wicked swing with a golf club or bat, with my kitchen knife as backup"

Sound familar?

https://www.gunterest.net/blog/2016/1/21/the-accidental-leadslinger

https://www.gunterest.net/blog/

Now for general information to start the discussion with anyone:

How about an active shooter? terrorists? Didn’t an Australian coffee shop get hit last year?

Never, ever, get caught in the “won’t happen to me” mindset.

Really, Didn’t the government have a massive campain to disarm its citizens in the 90"s ? Are handguns legal to own and carry or is it like New Zealand?

Look, I have never understood the “I dont like guns comment”. A gun is a tool just like a hammer, an ax, or a truck. If you left a gun and a hammer lying on a table, neither one is going to get up on its own and kill you. How do they explain that? Ask them if a gun has some type magical demon power that will force them to kill the innocent.

Finally, inform them Australia is not immune to active shooters, terrorists or nutcases. why would they not train in every legal way possible? To save their kids, families, co-workers.

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Cheers, and yeah I’m hoping that gradually that idea ferments somewhere and gradually the light may come on.

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Yeah, I was under the impression you couldn’t so much as carry a knife in Oz, unless it was needed for work etc. I thought they were culturally anti-carry at least if not anti-gun (much like my homeland).

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@idaho Cheers, those links will definitely be useful.

That’s one of the things I find decidedly weird: the response goes down probability lines, not “what is the human cost of it happening”. I don’t get it either.

There’s no denying that after the Port Arthur massacre, the restrictions put in place are tight, and make gun ownership a bit of a (costly) pain. It’s legal to own handguns for a variety of reasons (self defense is specifically excluded…) but the normal process people go through to obtain a category H license is by completing some basic courses, requesting a permit for sport shooting, and having to shoot multiple times per year at a club. Carrying, unless you’re profession requires it, is essentially a non-possibility, and the storage restrictions are tight as well. Generally though, I hang around a very broad cross-section of the community, and the attitude is pretty much thus: guns are tools, but we are a little afraid of what we don’t know. Broadly, Australians (the people) don’t like the idea of easy access to buying firearms (mostly we see it as practical to have extensive police checks, monitoring etc), but most of us don’t have any issue with people owning them.

I understand the correlate in many minds of guns with violence and not protection (particularly over here), but yes, I’ve mentioned the inanimate piece of metal point as well, and further have pointed out that even if they endorse that guns make violence (negative or positive) easier to achieve, do they believe that they themselves will become more violent or contribute to violence in just learning to use them? It’s even hard to get to this point with some people though, many will just state that they don’t like guns, and end it there… Hence my crux…

@batman730 the knife thing: you can carry most knives (not daggers, flicks, opening assisted etc) if you are using them in a non criminal activity such as cooking, recreation, etc (that is not self-defense…) or in traveling to or from said activity. For several jobs I’ve held I’ve had either a leatherman or fixed blade on my belt, in the inner-city, and had no problems at work or in transit, though can’t do that in schools and somewhere else I believe. A lot of people have pocket knives etc, and yes, I would say we are culturally anti-carry for firearms, but unless you’ve got a ~scary~ Ka-Bar on your belt, no-ones going to freak usually.

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so tragic. but very enlightening.

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So, if I understand you correctly, the Australian government has decided to deny you the basic law of man: the right to self-defense, the right to fight for your life, the right to fight for your children. They have stripped away your basic right, but, what about the predator? They did nothing about his right to kill you at leisure.

Look this is not a criticism of you, but, you now have a government that wants a nation of sheep, willing lambs, with no right to defend themselves from predators.

Your government is like most European governments, the ability to disarm the citizen, to have strict “gun control” is more important than a citizen’s life. If you wife/ sister/ daughter/lover is shot dead today by some terroristic asshole, then your only recourse is to thank your government for allowing them to die.

Barcelona is the latest example, use that as talking point. Tell them the Spanish reacted like everyone else, build a memorial, light candles, and bring flowers. Fuck that, it’s time to make a commitment to your personal defense.

Hell, you cannot even carry a knife………………

So, only those in power have the weapons? Nice, got to keep those pesky civilians under control.

I find people who have never been exposed to violence to be basically naive and borderline stupid.

Good Grief.

Steak_Lover,
you really have a problem, ever thought about this slogan “vote the bastards out”

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Oh you have no idea Idaho. So sick of the bullshit ‘nanny state’ this country has become.

Not to go into details, but sometimes we (the civilians) have to take things into our own hands.

What is your opinion on turning your back while firing?

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Same as his, I have to see where I am going, especially in clearing a structure. Once, we went in after a badguy in a abandoned storage silo for aircraft parts. Crap piled everywhere, had to be careful not to fall and impel yourself on iron rods. Got to see, to move and shoot.

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And in that specific case, don’t spend the evening drinking and arguing with shady individuals whether size beats skill and how you’re the baddest mofo around.

I’m a just a regular gun-owning civilian so I won’t pretend that I can contribute anything useful to this amazing thread except one thing - and that is that different cultures, societies and religions have different thresholds and pathways for violence.

This can be a difference between a innocuous incident, grievous body harm or even a prison stint. So if you’re traveling abroad I suggest you inquire about local customs especially if you plan on going out, drinking or mingling with the locals as I believe if an incident occurs you fall back your existing cultural norms about escalation/deescalation.

Here are two wildly differing examples of societal norms to illustrate what I’m talking about - for example, Persians are prone to bitch fits - hysterical shrieking, outlandish threats (“I kill you, your family”) yet they eschew any form of physical contact. Usually after the performance the situation calms down in a few minutes and things return back to normal, almost as if nothing has happened. I’m not saying one must be vigilant, but it’s a part of that culture’s folklore and usually there’s no reason to escalate it.

On the other side of the spectrum would be Chechens/Dagestanis and Albanians as they always reach for a knife or a gun. Even a innocuous “hey man, do you mind…” can get you stabbed, with the difference that a Chechen/Dagestani would stab/shoot you immediately, while an Albanian would quietly wait until you go outside before surrounding you with his friends.

Over simplified stereotypes? Yeah, probably. But there’s some truth in it. So don’t expect a fair fight.

To illustrate my point, here’s how a well known Dagestani MMA fighter Shamalaev reacted a day later to a shoving incident in this bar. He’s the guy with the hoodie, the security guard is wearing the blue shirt.

1 Like
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So hoodie guy and security guy shoot it out and security guy jogs out. Odd. I assume hoodie guy is deceased?

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Not odd. That’s Dagestan. Shamhalaev was shot multiple times, spent a week in an induced coma, everything ended with a miraculous survival. Allegedly plans to compete again.