I know, its not like most of us are going to Antarctica anytime soon.
Thought for the day:
“It’s not the size of the cat, it’s the size of the fight in the cat”
I know this post is going to seem silly and trivial this morning and I would be inclined to agree with you. As an instructor, I have often used obscure examples to illustrate a point because I believe it holds the attention of the group and makes the material more interesting. I am listing a video of a cat making some very sound tactical decisions fighting off three coyotes. I know, go ahead and laugh now.))
As you can see, the cat is facing imminent death, and, apparently decided he wasn’t going out without a fight. Bravo on the mindset. Being a tactical cat, he uses the wall to his advantage, never allowing a coyote to circle around to his rear, one of the golden rules in surviving anything from a street fight to a combat operation. Somehow, someway, you must always protect you rear. No tactical team ever makes entry without a trusted man at rear guard.
It has been my experience that if you have to deal with multiple attackers ( not armed and shooting at you) someone is always the appointed “leader”, usually the one with the biggest mouth and urging the orders to follow his lead. You will notice the one coyote who jumped of the ledge to advance, the cat, instead of running, decided fuck this and went after the attacker and then turned to the other two. Sound tactical decision here, the cat turned the tables on the attacker, broke his attack mindset and created confusion with the leader, and, once more returned to the wall, he attacked twice more. A good example of going on the offensive is often your best option. The coyotes were bigger, stronger, and had the numerical advantage. Would they have eventually won if the cat’s owner hadn’t come? Of course. But there is lesson here: Facing overwhelming odds, gather your courage and decide you will not die without a fight.
Training:
Took an off day yesterday, only did about 20 minutes of dry fire practice.
Question of the day:
Do you own a good pair of hiking boots? if not, and you are planning on buying a pair, here is some decent guidance.
The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Hiking Boots | KEEN Footwear
1 Like
Thought for the day:
“Humility allows you to become a better human being… not perfect, just better, because ‘perfect’ is an impossible task. Rest assured, if you do not remain humble, life will quickly rectify that issue”
Training:
landmine presses in various forms and tennis ball throws.
Question of of the day:
Do you walk with your head up in public? I don’t see a lot of that, mainly people walking everywhere staring at their phone. Remember 5 feet and 25 feet, know what’s around you.
That cat is bad ass and I’m not even a “fan” of cats!
Thought this was a good refresher:
I like what he said about gathering basic info before calling 911. I know my instinct would’ve been to call it in ASAP once I made the decision to help, but I really wouldn’t be able to tell the dispatcher much other than “Uh, there’s been an accident. Who and how many? Not sure. How bad? Um, not sure.”
1 Like
Thanks, Chris. Great information for everyone.
Thought for the day: Just a reminder of the basics.
Another opinion on gear and training. The author is dead on here, and, based on my recent experience, getting worse. Don’t be a Gucci warrior.
Gear in general (that is to say guns, knives, carriers, armor, bags, ect) should never be a static plan. When choosing your gear, identify what your objectives are. When I go to the range, there is almost always someone there all tac’ed out with for carrier and armor, some high speed helmet, ridiculous glasses, and foot gear that they likely only wear when at the range. And they do this every – single – time, thinking that this is getting them somewhere. These are the same people that still tea-cup hold a pistol, or carry in the small of their back. And of course, they have very little, if any professional training.
All of your gear should not only have a purpose, it should have many of them. When you finally settle on what’s best for you, it’s time to put it through its paces. You can’t just stand still and run accuracy and speed drills, you have to get out and burn some calories. How does your setup work while you are running? How about kneeling? Does it maintain mobility or accessibility in a vehicle? What’s going to happen if it gets dirty, or rocks in it? Have you tried manipulating it under pressure or exhaustion? How do you function running that setup in different temperatures (winter vs. summer) or weather (sunny, snowy, rainy) These are all important aspects of any load out.
A great example of this is hiking. Most people new to hiking learn an important lesson very quickly, gear is great but weight is not. After a few camping trips, gear tends to either get smaller, or disappear altogether as people realize that your skill base is more important than your tool box. Another lesson that is quickly learned is planning your pack up, and weight distribution. Having too much weight too high, and you will have your hiking party laughing up a storm as you go head over feet down a hill. Packing important items you need more frequently or quickly at the bottom of your pack also presents a few lessons to be learned.
The lesson to be learned here is a simple one: push your skill sets and your gear to the limits, and learn from them before you need them to save your life. Take video of your drills, identify weaknesses or failures, and correct as needed. Don’t be a Gucci-range queen, get out there and get dirty.
Training: combinations on the heavy bag. speed bag and ground and pound on a training dummy. (not a human:)))
Question of the day:
Read over the list I posted. What is your weakest area?
1 Like
This post might be convoluted [maybe a little long too] in what I’m trying to convey but I hope not. Obviously ask me questions to clear up any of my confusing points.
Every night before I shower and get ready for bed I unload my Glock 26 [9mm] and then leave the slide open but I place the round that was previously in the chamber at the top of the magazine that I place in the gun again. As a result of this routine the nose of the bullet is rounded over after a week or two and instead of a wide opening the point is so tight that eventually the nose has a needle tip sized hole. I carry Speer Gold Dot because that is what the departments all carry in my home state, plus I carry the +P rounds so there is more energy carried into the target. 1) Should I just put the rounds aside to save for practice once I notice the nose closing in? 2) Or should I not worry about it because I try to always practice/fire in groups of three, so if the first round fails to expand there would be two more follow-up rounds following the failed to expand round? 3) Just out of curiosity; does the round expand on contact or is it the air that causes the bullet to mushroom? 4) If the rounded bullet still expands, is there a negative to leaving the round at the top? 5) If I were to mix practice ball ammo with the Speer, isn’t there a higher chance of the bullet blowing through a target so I should just stick with the Speer in the mags? In May of 2005 I had a very horrific and severe motorcycle wreck [I lost use of my Right arm and I have some road rash on my R knee] and after that wreck I wasn’t allowed to drive for a while. I’m not sure if I lost the “privilege” to drive or the therapists didn’t want me to drive. Regardless I was driving shortly after. 7) Can you lose the right to carry because of a wreck that resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury? 8) My home state is a Constitutional Carry [thank GOD] and I have their enhanced concealed carry license but should I worry if I ever lost that particular right previously? 9) Just out of curiosity, do you think there will ever be a national carry permit? 9 b) My enhanced permit allows me to carry in many, many states just not ones like Comifornia, or Sicknois and we can’t forget Nazi Yonkers; does anyone think that will ever change?
This is firearms related but not related to human self-defense. I have a FNH .45 and my best friend lives in Alaska where moose and bear outnumber the bunnies we have in the lower forty-eight [not literally, but they do have a few!] and I was going to start carrying the FNH on my backpacking trips here in the lower part of the continent and up in the true rugged outdoors, when I visit. 10) Now I realize that shot placement will drop any American mammal but if while I am backpacking up north and I inadvertently find myself between a grizzly sow and her cub/s, I know my courage and skill are nothing in comparison to @idaho but is there are hunting round I can use to stop a sow or even a charging moose? With sixteen rounds I feel that even as feces run down my leg, I have odds in my favor in stopping the threat. I would rather clean up those pants rather than leave my wonderful wife with four kids.
I nearly forgot! 11) Recently I got a green laser for my .45 and wen I practice with my .45 the laser shakes; is this really normal? 12) How hard should I run around and cause myself to be dehydrated and practice so my shakes are exacerbated? That is kind of related to the article our host just posted.
Thanks for the great thread by the way!
edit - "sow aNd her cubs, and "have soME road rash.
I swear I try to proofread my text here and personal text messages. Added eleven and twelve.
@KneeDragger_79 I had some of your questions answered, but I deleted my answers. I have to be straight with you here my dude. Please understand that I’m trying to be helpful.
I don’t mean to sound patronizing or come across like a dick, but the questions you are asking indicate large knowledge gaps in your understanding of firearms and firearms law. I consider a basic understanding of ballistics to be essential before one goes out in public carrying a loaded gun. Not knowing this and being unsure of whether your health conditions put you into a prohibited person category tells me there’s likely to be other important information you don’t know.
Here are my recommendations for you my dude.
-
Ask the mental health professional/therapist you’ve previously seen about the carry laws in your area. They will know if your condition puts you in a prohibited person category.
Constitutional Carry does not mean anyone can carry. It means any non-prohibited person can carry without a permit. You NEED to make sure, for your sake and everyone else’s, that you do NOT fall into that prohibited person category. -
Assuming you are not a prohibited person, seek training under qualified instruction. Start with an NRA basic pistol course. They are reasonably-priced and it will be worth every penny.
1 Like
That is an unusual problem which may be the ammo being too fragile, you are reloading the round by dropping the side each time with the side release, or I suspect there may be a burr on your loading ramp. Always manually rack the side, saves wear and tear and is better for your pistol, dropping the side with the release should be saved for either speed reloads on the range or in an actual lethal force situation. Dropping the slide also puts tremendous pressure on your ejector and it will eventually break.
Don’t worry about that, just be calm enough to put the rounds where they need to go.
on contact. And that is a big if, because for reliable expansion each time, most rounds need to be travelling around 1100 to 1300 feet per second for reliable expansion and that is hard for any round to do from a short barrel. Remember ammo companies are in business to sell product, they claim a lot of things that simply do not prove out. Also ammo companies love to use big ads showing their bullets looking like a grappling hook, consumer be aware. I seen a lot of people shot with hard nose and they didn’t fair so well, bullet placement is the key.
No.
Never carry ball ammo on the street, excessive penetration for by standers and a massive ricochet factor.
I don’t know. I do know several military personnel with TBI, that have CCL. I would assume that is state regulated issue.
Again, I believe that is state issue, and, no would not worry about losing your privilege. As long as you have not been legally declared mentally ill or convicted of domestic battery , you should be ok .
No. our political parties are too divided to do anything.
I am not any better than the people I served or work with. I cannot even count the number of times, I have been scared shitless. Courage is just trying to do you job under difficult conditions. Courage is also a single mother working two jobs to support her child. Courage comes in many forms and not just in lethal situations. My skills are just average on a Tier 1 or 2 operator scale. I stopped comparing myself long ago, there is always someone better.
Do some research on grizzles, if I am not mistaken, they can run about thirty miles an hour. NO pistol round can stop a charging grizzly reliably. get between a mother and her cubs, you might as well use the gun on yourself. Most guides either carry a heavy bore rifle or a .12 gauge with slugs. 16 rounds is fine if you are up a tree, but, you will not have time to fire that many rounds unless you start at 50 yards. Carry the bear spray they recommend and the pistol for a last ditch stand.
on a pistol? all the time.
Never, ever get dehydrated, causes a severe reduction in cognitive ability. I run into this a lot. Training in tactics and firearms is not a high intensity workout, that is what a gym is for. You cannot hit shit if you are shaking, in real life (usually) the shakes come after a fight. When you train, train for improvement on your fundamentals and decision making. Save the shakes for the gym.
I hope this helps. Read TJS’s post, follow his advice on the NRA and training.
Excellent advise , brother. Hope that mat training is going well.
This. There’s stories of park rangers finding multiple high-caliber rounds in grizzlies that eventually had to be put down. Their skulls are also so thick and sloped that more often than not, bullets ricochet off their heads. An angry charging grizzly is almost always disaster.
Source: hunting in western Canada for years, multiple friends and family members who hunt as well.
Just to chime in, when you repeatedly chamber a round it can force the bullet deeper into the shell casing, which is bad. When I was dry firing more regularly than I do now, 3-4 times a week, at the end of the week I would toss the round that had been chambered into a baggy and shoot it at the range. I never noticed any deformations in those “used” rounds, and never had any of them cause a failure, but you’re talking about something that your life, or your families’ lives may depend on. If the bullet looks deformed, I wouldn’t shoot it at all.
I don’t know about the capabilities of the FNX, but I would only trust a hardcast .45 super round for Grizzly bear defense. .45 ACP doesn’t penetrate hard barriers very well and a Grizzly’s skull is pretty hard, and sloped. Again, I don’t know if your FNX can safely handle .45 Super. I bet that it can’t. You might want to look at something else.
Like idaho said, range time should be working on fundamentals and decision making (assuming you have access to a range that will let you move beyond standing still punching paper). I would also add, there is nothing wrong with doing some stress shooting (doing something physical for a few seconds to get the heart rate up just prior to shooting a drill), but the bulk of your training should be building those fundamentals and then working on drills that reinforce them/force you to focus on them. Stress shooting is best reserved for after you have a solid foundation, otherwise you will just be chasing your tail.
Having said that, easiest stress drill would be something akin to a set of pushups just behind the firing line. Immediately after the last rep, pop tall, draw and shoot whatever drill you are working on. The intent of stress shooting is not to run yourself into the ground till you can barely hold up the gun and then try to perform. The point is to get the heart rate and breathing up just enough that you have to focus on controlling your breathing in order to place your shots. God forbid you are ever in the situation where you have to draw and use your weapon in self defense, you are going to be hit with a massive surge of adrenaline and other hormones. The easiest way to replicate that is through physical exertion.
Where I live, it’s less about tactical guns and more about practical knives. Any input on which type is should be? I’m leaning towards a khukri blade, as it seems to be the only thing with good cutting power under a dicklength. As fun as thrusting can be, it’s lifechanging ability often comes intertwined with some sort of extended hugging and panting which can become a serious affair very quickly. Stick and move I say. Probably the same applies to fighting, I wonder.
Any experience or opinions?
There was a vid way up thread wherein a guy comes up to another, full of bravado, chest out. Other guy had hands at sides/concealed and critically wounded him in a fraction of a second.
So, concealment wins.
In the few scraps I’ve been in involving knives–the guy brandishing to do the poke thing got owned. I wouldn’t do that.
In a few others I know of the brandishing thing failed then too.
I have a fixed blade CRKT that will do what I need when I need it to.
Columbia River Knife & Tool CRKT Obake Fixed Blade Knife: Burnley Titanium Nitride Plain Edge EDC Knife, Outdoor Utility Knife with Handle Wrap, Etched Blade, and Nylon Sheath 2367, Grey Titanium Nitride w/ Etch Pattern https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I04SZMI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VXIqEbW0QA45R
It’s basically a shank with a sheath.
I am going to assume you are not in the states, but, if you are, be aware of the local laws. A lot of major cities have ordinances that classify a blade over 3 inches as a"concealed weapon". I am not familiar with European law on knives, but, you will probably go to prison for twenty years for even having a pen knife in Britain.
IMHO, based on my experience, any serious fighting knife must have a tang, which will keep your hand from sliding on the blade, on a thrust. I carry folders like everyone else, but, are aware of the limitations. an example: We were trying to cut the harness off an injured man and once I sliced through the webbing, my hand did not stop from the force and I sliced my palm open, requiring 8 stitches, and, a shit load of embarrassment. On folders, consider at least having a thumb break.
Thought for the day:
Training:
Range work and loaded carries.
Question of the day:
Do you know these terms? Choil? Jimping? Thumb ramp? Ricasso?
I read a case n the local paper (Liverpool, UK ) last night where a 26 year old man was caught with two knives, one a lock knife and one a fixed blade. Long story short he punched a guy to the ground, pulled the fixed blade in its sheath and told the guy he wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
He got four months, suspended for eighteen months…
Thank you for the information. I am surprised he got such a light sentence. I was being sarcastic with my comment, but, it was based on information I had received from two LEO contacts in London. I was sent a photo of some campaign in London trying to achieve less knife violence with the slogan “only cowards carry knives” . I guess that makes me a coward.