Thunder Ranch Countersniper With Fieldcraft AAR

Ask almost any supposedly reputable source for training on the obscure body of knowledge that includes fieldcraft, stalking, hides, camouflage, in short: “sniper skills,” and the answer is almost always the same: “…but we don’t teach that stuff to civilians.” It’s probably best if I reserve further ... Read More

November 23, 2017

AAR | Precision Rifle | Tactical

Range Estimation Brain Teaser - Part II

Well, a few months ago when I wrote the last article, I had a few tests I decided to run at our spring Precision Optics Workshop and the great folks who attended were all willing guinea pigs. In the previous article, I postulated that the ability to accurately estimate the range to a target using a ... Read More

June 18, 2017

AAR | Advice | Gear | Precision Rifle | Tactical

Range Estimation Brain Teaser

I suppose it is in my nature to try and resolve certain observed phenomena down to the mathematical formulae that can reliably and logically explain them. This is surprising, given that I flunked Calculus 2 three times consecutively in college and eventually had to change majors because that dog jus... Read More

March 16, 2017

Advice | Precision Rifle | Tactical

HOW TO USE ALL THE ADJUSTMENTS

Some of mankind’s first applications of the principles of ergonomics were with weapons. It probably started with the smoother rock,and evolved into the club or spear that was easier to grip, to the more balanced sword, down through the ages until eventually we arrived at the blocky polymer grips of ... Read More

March 2, 2017

Advice | Gear | Precision Rifle

Scoped Rifle Diagnostics

The generally accepted measure of the mechanical precision of a firearm/ammo/optic combination along with the skill or consistency of the rifleman is the ability to shoot tight groups. Too much time shooting groups, however, can encourage an excessive reliance on precision rather than accuracy and t... Read More

December 15, 2016

Advice | Precision Rifle

AAR - Thunder Ranch Urban Precision Rifle

August 2016: back on the long road from Northwest Ohio to Southern Oregon for another pilgrimage to Thunder Ranch, this time for their Urban Precision Rifle class. This is my 8th time training with Clint and Co. It has been almost 3 years since my last visit, and it occurred to me while crossing the... Read More

August 30, 2016

AAR | Precision Rifle

Dear Firearms Training "Community"...

Friends, We don't need any more posts, videos, articles, memes, epistles, or other complaints about the state of the industry. They were interesting at first, but we have had quite enough of them now, thank you. The shark has been thoroughly jumped. Any additional kicking of the dead horse just make... Read More

June 6, 2016

Advice | Liberty | Mindset | Second Amendment | Tactical

Surviving restrictive firearms legislation

For those of you who don't remember the Clinton-era "assault weapons ban" or weren't part of the shooting community at that time, this article is for your benefit. Let's turn back the clock a few years... 1993 sees Arkansas democrat Bill Clinton elected to the presidency of the USA, he quickly ... Read More

June 4, 2016

Advice | Liberty | Second Amendment

Workplace Standards for "Active Shooter" Prevention and Response

Recently, ASIS International (an international organization for security professionals) and NFPA (National Fire Prevention Association) teamed up to talk about writing a standard for "active shooter" prevention and response in the workplace. You can read the notes of their January 19, 2016 meeting o... Read More

February 26, 2016

Liberty | Mindset | Second Amendment | Tactical

"Huh..?" How hearing protection works (or doesn't).

One day in the late 90’s I went shooting with some friends from work out on a piece of rural property one of them owned a little east of Cincinnati, Ohio. I remember my hearing and eye protection drew a guffaw from one old timer who made some remark to me about just having to “toughen up my ears,” t... Read More

October 16, 2015

Advice | Gear

AAR for ADC's Close Quarters/Vehicles Class

By: Kyle Crippen On the weekend of 29-30 August, 2015, I attended the Defensive Pistol Applications - Close Quarters/Vehicles class instructed by Adaptive Defense Concepts (ADC). I have been an NRA Instructor for Basic Pistol and Personnel Protection in the Home, as well as a Range Safety Officer fo... Read More

September 11, 2015

Uncategorized

AAR for ADC’s Defensive Carbine Elements Course

By Defensive Carbine Elements Student Robert K. July 25-26, 2015 Training Location: Sandusky County Sportsman’s Club Training day 1: Bright and sunny, high of 86° Training day 2. Cloudy, high of 90° Equipment used: Carbine: AR-15 style (direct impingement) Stag Arms lower, Rock River upper, Adco fir... Read More

August 31, 2015

AAR

To chest rig or not? ...for the "citizen carbine operator.”

So I’m going to try really hard to stay in my lane in this article, as the saying goes. The question at hand: to chest rig or not as a “citizen carbine operator. “ Before anyone freaks out too badly, because I can already sense blood pressures rising from an army of keyboard commandos ready to deal ... Read More

August 5, 2015

Advice | Gear | Tactical

Prioritizing Your Defensive Dollar

Prioritizing Your Defensive Dollar - By ADC Instructor Michael Lake We all know that time and money are finite resources and most of us normal folks have to make careful decisions about how to spend them, after all, most of us hand more than 1/3 of it to Uncle Sam so he can piss it away. That doesn’... Read More

July 31, 2015

Advice | Gear | Liberty | Mindset | Survival | Tactical | Uncategorized

Rear Bag Basics

By: Instructor Jeremy Decker Precision rifle shots can be taken from a variety of field positions, however, it is widely accepted that shooting from prone offers the most stability, it’s also typically the first position used while learning scoped rifle-craft. What makes the prone position most stab... Read More

April 19, 2015

Advice | DIY | Gear | Precision Rifle

Assembling Your Survival Kit.

By: Instructor Michael Lake There are a number of different names for them: "bug out" bags, "72-hour" bags, "get home" bags, etc... They all refer to a duffle-bag full of stuff that may mean the difference between life and death, or at least between marginal comfort and severe discomfort during an e... Read More

April 11, 2015

Advice | Gear | Mindset | Survival

Scoping the Precision Rifle

By: Instructor Michael Lake So you need a scope for your precision rifle and there are just too many confusing options... let me take a few minutes to help you sort some of this out. There are a lot of other articles written by a lot of other people covering some of this stuff, albeit partially, so ... Read More

February 22, 2015

Advice | Gear | Precision Rifle | Tactical

"Just the Tip..." Why You Should Be Concerned About BATFE's Attack on M855

It's Valentines day and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is up to their old tricks with a proposal to ban the Green Tip Penetrator, commonly available M855 (steel core) ammunition, on the basis that it "has no sporting purpose," and it "might" be armor piercing, despite previ... Read More

February 14, 2015

Liberty | Second Amendment

Sinister Studies: Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part VIII)

Hey boys and girls, you’ve had a few months to practice all of those techniques we talked about in Sinister Studies 1 through 6, and hopefully you've squared away your eye dominance as well like we discussed in Sinister Studies 7. This next installment isn't going to address technique as much as it ... Read More

January 18, 2015

Advice | Gear | Lefty | Precision Rifle | Uncategorized

The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Shooting Pics and Vids Suck.

It’s the gift-giving time of year, people will be getting and giving firearms, which is a fine tradition and a very exciting thing, particularly for a new shooter. What inevitably follows are pics and videos posted to social media of trips to the shooting range. Here are a few tips on what to avoid:... Read More

December 2, 2014

Advice | Liberty | Mindset | Second Amendment

Writing a Worthwhile AAR

AAR is an acronym for “After Action Report or Review.” These are typically completed by both military and law enforcement agencies as well as private organizations to evaluate what happened after any particular event. The intent is to identify the causal factors of the event, failures and successes ... Read More

October 16, 2014

Uncategorized

Rifle Recoil Management

When the Clinton-Era crime bill banned "assault rifle" characteristics on "sporting arms," it meant no more flash hiders on our semi-autos. Before that time, the idea of putting a muzzle brake on an AR-15 seemed just silly. Muzzle brakes were for .300 win mags, not .223's! But, those plain, crowned ... Read More

September 22, 2014

Uncategorized

Sinister Studies: Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part VII)

So far, we have focused on weapon specific techniques, and there’s more of that to come, but let’s take a moment to look at some of the other challenges faced by the left-handed marksman. Eye Dominance In over 30 years of shooting, I personally never set much stock by eye dominance – though I have o... Read More

July 31, 2014

Uncategorized

Sinister Studies Part 6 – серьезному анализу в стрельбе юго перебирали

After practicing the various malfunction drills on AR’s, some of you are probably thinking about changing weapons to something that has a reputation for more reliability. In most shooters, this instantly summons a mental image of General Kalashnikov’s contribution to Anglo-Soviet relations. Ahh, yes... Read More

July 15, 2014

Uncategorized

S.M.A.R.T. Holsters

There are plenty of holster options out there, unfortunately, most of the good ones aren't typically what you find at the local gun and sporting goods stores. They certainly carry a variety of holsters, but for critical uses like concealed carry, the holster is an integral part of your overall weapo... Read More

June 3, 2014

Advice | Gear

All kinds of stuff about 10/22's

It's been over 50 years since Bill Ruger introduced his semi-automatic, rotary box magazine-fed rimfire: the 10/22. For those of you new to the 10/22, I suppose a little introduction is necessary. The 10/22 was basically a semi-auto .22 rimfire about as popular as any other until Ram-Line company in... Read More

May 13, 2014

Advice | Gear | Survival

Sinister Studies: Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part V.2)

We left off on part IV with basic left-handed AR manipulations, but it doesn’t end there, like any semi-automatic firearm, AR’s can sputter, cough or puke occasionally. The military teaches a malfunction clearance drill called “SPORTS” which is an acronym for: “Slap” the magazine, “Pull” the chargin... Read More

April 20, 2014

Advice | Lefty | Tactical

Arms and Social Stratification

In Ancient Greece, the Helots, who were Sparta's serfs, or state-owned slaves, would receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless of any wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves, and to keep them from raising their heads, they were not permitted to own weapons, m... Read More

April 1, 2014

Liberty | Mindset | Second Amendment

AAR: Sigma 3 Survival School Basic Standard Class

In early March, 2014, I attended the 5-day "basic standard" survival class put on my Sigma 3 Survival School near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Sigma 3 seems to be a relatively new player in this industry, yet they have apparently managed to attract a very strong talent base, including former military elite... Read More

March 21, 2014

AAR | Survival

Sinister Studies: Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part IV)

In 1954 Eugene Stoner and ArmaLite brought forth on this continent a new rifle, conceived in aluminum alloy, but not totally dedicated to the proposition that all were created equal, in particular: lefties. The original design, the AR-10, featured a charging handle on top of the upper receiver in th... Read More

March 2, 2014

Advice | Lefty | Tactical

Sinister Studies: Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part III)

By now, you’re probably thinking “boy, it seems like there’s an awful lot of difficult manipulations involved with semi-autos that aren’t very easy for lefties,” and maybe you’re considering that switching to a wheel-gun may simplify your world somewhat. Because after all, if you have spent any time... Read More

February 23, 2014

Advice | Lefty | Tactical

Sinister Studies, Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part 2)

In the previous article, we addressed basic 2-handed manipulations of common semi-automatic handguns for left-hand dominant shooters. Now let’s talk about one-handed manipulations specific to the left hand. As a left or right-handed shooter, who knows which hand you will have to use for this? For th... Read More

February 17, 2014

Advice | Lefty | Tactical

Sinister Studies: Serious Scrutiny into Southpaw Shooting (Part 1)

For the left-handed shooter, aligning the sights and pressing the trigger may look like a mirror-image activity of a right-handed shooter, and physically it may be, but psychologically... well, we’ll get into that later. The physical firearms manipulations preceding and following the actual act of s... Read More

February 10, 2014

Advice | Lefty | Tactical

Keep Calm and Other Bad Advice

“No enemy is worse than bad advice.” ~Sophocles Today was one of those interesting days when I got to watch several people under the guise of authority give a bunch of other people really bad advice. Bad advice is reaching epidemic proportions in this country. Thanks to the miracle of social media, ... Read More

January 22, 2014

Uncategorized

Precision Rifle Cases (By Instructor Jeremy Decker)

A few years ago I picked up an Eagle HSRC (Hybrid Sniper Rifle Carrier) and have used it as the primary way to carry my precision rifle and accompanying gear. Along the way a lot of people checked it out as it's among the more comprehensive shooting mat/rifle carrying systems on the market. While it... Read More

January 9, 2014

Advice | Gear | Precision Rifle

Some recommendations on cleaning equipment...

Firearms cleaning is a subject that tends to get overcomplicated. There are a lot of good products out there and a lot of opinions on the best ways to clean, but I'm going to offer my $.02 on the subject. You may have heard the adage before from someone in the barrel industry that "they've seen more... Read More

January 6, 2014

Advice

DIY Shooting Sticks

Here's a quick and cheap way to make yourself some really good shooting sticks. Start with 3 fiberglass driveway markers from the local hardware store. These sticks are 4-foot long and approximately 1/4" in diameter. They are available at the local hardware store for about $2.00 each usually. You al... Read More

December 6, 2013

Advice | DIY | Gear | Precision Rifle

AAR: Thunder Ranch High Angle Rifle II

This post is meant to be a review of the High Angle Rifle 2 class I attended at Thunder Ranch in November of 2013, but the journey itself, as travel often does, offered a few life perspectives worth sharing, so you'll have to pardon my indulgence in a few philosophical wanderings along the way. For ... Read More

December 4, 2013

AAR

"Competent" Firearms Instruction

Once people pass that difficult mental threshold of "possession-equates-to-competence," and realize that they would benefit from some formal, professional firearms training, the difficult task of selecting good instruction begins. Being somewhat of a connoisseur of firearms training, here is my $.02... Read More

November 1, 2013

Advice

Why "Smart" Guns are Dumb

http://modernarms.net/blog/california-approves-sale-of-smart-gun/ So California just approved a new "Smart Gun" for use in their state. I am reminded of the classic line from Jurrasic Park: Dr. Ian Malcolm: "... your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't sto... Read More

October 31, 2013

Uncategorized

Only the "LEOnely"

"Violent crimes, shootings, are not ever prevented by the presence of a police officer, no matter how many thousands of police officers you have," ~Carty Finkbeiner, Mayor – Toledo, Ohio. May 2009 Recently, a firearms-based publication caused quite a stir and wound up alienating a portion of of its ... Read More

August 12, 2013

Advice

AAR: Tactical Response Fighting Pistol and Fighting Rifle

This AAR is probably more tailored towards an audience that is already somewhat more "experienced" in defensive use of firearms or at least in some "advanced" firearms training. If I use terminology here that you are not familiar with, don't be a goof... ask me what I mean and I will be happy to giv... Read More

August 12, 2013

AAR

Speed, Timing and Firearms Manipulations

"I've never seen a stop watch in a gunfight" ~ Clint Smith I think the jist of this statement is that in a real life-or-death situation, victory is not decided by "points" or the reading of a stopwatch as in shooting games, but that should not make anyone think that timing and speed aren't criti... Read More

October 14, 2012

Tactical

What you know and what you think you know

"The only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing." ~Socrates I think anyone who has studied anything with any dedication or depth has probably stumbled across the feeling at one time or another, that you had just penetrated a new level of understanding, and with it came the discovery that your... Read More

September 24, 2012

Tactical