handguns

All posts tagged handguns

“Tacticool” Pressure

Posted by adam on October 28, 2016
Posted in: Carrying a deadly weapon, Defense Mentality, Self Defense, Training, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Sometimes I go to training and see the guys with $3,000+ rifles, $1500+ handguns, and $1,000+ worth of accessories with the latest and greatest of everything Tactical; the latest 5.11 Tactical gear, hats, gloves, plate carrier, helmet, so on and so forth… Then I look up my gear and realize it’s a working man’s load out, I have maybe $1,000 into my rifle and then less than $500 in my hand gun.  I am sometimes embarrassed by my “Poor Man’s” load out; then I realized, it’s not just about high-end gear, it is about a whole lot more…

America has become pretentious as a whole. Unless you have the latest car, nicest clothes, and biggest house you are somehow inferior to everyone else. This worldview carries over into the tactical world, believe that. Tactical is synonymous with macho/ego at times, only serving to exacerbate this problem. Some folks look down on people for not being able to afford the all the highest end gear, others may not want to spend that much even if they can.

I understand the feeling, most intimately I assure you. As and instructor I get people of all walks come through our courses. Often I have someone come in with everything nicer than me, and that is ok. Other folks have what some would call “cheap” gear, but that is all they can afford. I don’t understand this attitude of: “you suck unless you have nice gear”. This irritates me to no end. I have known a lot of folks who do not have much money, however, they are good at what they do for this reason: They buy a decent tool, and spend time with it…

Now, let me clarify something real quick: I am not saying that you cannot have nice things, not at all. If you can afford the high end gear, go for it! However, you should avoid at all costs judging others based on their gear! On a related note: worn out gear, of decent quality, is a sign of experience and time, don’t let worn out gear fool you. In my construction days we would joke about the guys who roll up on a site with all new tools; this was a dead give away to that guy not having a clue what he was doing. His tools were all new because he has never used them.

Back on topic now, what is most important is learning to use the tool. Say for example you have a $1000 budget for a new handgun. You could buy a $1000 dollar gun sure, OR you could buy a $5/600 gun, spend a hundred bucks on getting some professional instruction, and spend what ever you have left ($3/400) on ammo and time on the range. You will learn more about your gun in a week like this than most learn in years!

The cold hard reality is %95 of the population does not need the best gear, they need good gear and the best training! So, next time you are at the range or a training and you see “Tactical Tommy” over there, wearing his AR-500 plates and carrier, ballistic helmet, 14 AR mags, thigh holster and 12 inch “tactical” knife ask yourself this question: “Will any of those things help me defend myself and my family”? If you wake up in the middle of the night, are you gonna throw on all that gear, or when you are at a Gala, will you be wearing your plates? I highly doubt it… Train for the fight you are most likely to have. All of the tactical gear is fun, believe me, and it has its place, but don’t get to caught up in all of the flash and forget the substance…

What can we learn:

  • Gear does not define a man, character does
  • Do not get so caught up in the gear itself, you never bother become proficient with it
  • Will all of the tactical gear equip you to better protect you and your family in the “real world”?
  • Do not allow yourself to judge others based on equipment, not everyone has the ability to have the latest and greatest

Stay Sharp

Adam

Guns are not always the answer

Posted by adam on October 11, 2016
Posted in: Carrying a deadly weapon, Defense Mentality, Gun Free Zones, Hand to Hand, Intermediate Weapons, No-Gun Defense, Self Defense, Training, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Yeah… I said it! I’ll say it again too; Guns are not always the answer! Well, now that you are yelling at your screen let us take a quick walk through the park to cool off. We are walking through the park on a brisk evening, enjoying a display of lights just before Christmas. There are a lot of other people in the park all around us but, it is fairly secluded and peaceful in this section. Before you realize what is going on some punk jumps out from behind a well decorated pine tree.  He is not holding a weapon, you see both his hands and they are empty. He is making erroneous threats and saying he will beat you up and take your wallet if you don’t give it to him. He has not touched either us, he is about 6 feet away, and he is alone as far as far you can tell. There are two of us, we are both carrying guns, and there are a lot of people around including small children just on the other side of the bushes. What do you do!?

Hold up! Before you answer; think through the entirety of the scenario. Can you shoot him? We are both packing after all. What lethal threat has he presented to authorize you such action? If you see any, I missed it. Even if you are in a “stand your ground” state, justifying that shoot would be a stretch at best. If you are in a “duty to retreat” state, you must run away from the guy before you use lethal force, even if it is justified.

So, if I can’t shoot him, what can do? Now you are asking the right question. The answer: A lot! There are many options available to you that can be summarized in this phrase: Non-Lethal. Anything that is not likely to result in serious physical injury or death is on the table. Here is one I like: Pepper Spray. It is cheap, easy to obtain, effective, and easy enough to deploy a child can do it, and most importantly, it is not lethal.

This punk is a threat no doubt, he is threatening to beat us up and seems to be willing and capable of doing so, or at least trying. But he is not a lethal threat as described. That leaves us with a gun that we have trained with and a moment we have physically and mentally prepared for, and we can’t use the gun… The gun is not the answer here. Firearms are great for defense in the narrow field of lethal force. There are only a few triggers that allow for lethal force. In contrast however, there are a plethora of triggers for non lethal force.

Quick side note: Don’t hear me saying that you should stop thinking about your gun and training with it. Even though it may be a narrow field, lethal force is extremely serious and you should be proficient and ready to meet this force with your handgun. What I am saying is you need to prepare and be prepared for those encounters where the gun cannot help you. Additionally, the threat as described above could become lethal in an instant. Just because you don’t see a knife or gun does not mean he does not have one, but I digress.

I want to get you out of this single track mindset of get to my gun. Do you need to be prepared and well-trained with your gun, you betcha! However, there are countless scenarios in which you need to defend yourself and your loved one(s) with non-lethal force. Please, promise me one thing: If you decide to start carrying pepper spray with you, do not leave it buried in your purse, pocket, or glove box… Like your gun, you need to be able to get to it in an emergency and quickly. Whatever non lethal tool(s) and/or systems you wish to employ train in them and with them. Train hard, and fight like your life depends on it, it just might.

What can we learn?

  • Guns are not always the answer
  • I love guns, I mean I really really enjoy guns; that said, guns are still not always the answer
  • Guns are a last resort, you would be amazed at how much you can do for your personal safety before you ever get to the solution that is a gun. These are a small part of a big picture, albeit a critical one
  • There are countless situations in which you need a non lethal solution, get some non lethal tools, train with them, carry them, and be prepared to deploy them
  • Understand the laws in your state. Be very clear on what the law allows for lethal force, learn it so well that you don’t have to think about it in the moment, you can just react appropriately

Stay Sharp,

Adam

Speed kills…sometimes

Posted by adam on September 14, 2016
Posted in: Carrying a deadly weapon, Defense Mentality, Self Defense, Training, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I have seen countless videos on social media and other venues of guys and gals shooting with extreme speed and accuracy in competition. Moving from one target to another after one shot with incredible fluidity, engaging with one shot to drop a steel target. This is no doubt impressive, and I encourage you to find your balance of speed and accuracy, push yourself and grow!

Before we get going, let me make one thing clear: I am not bashing competition, I compete when my schedule allows it. There are many benefits to structured competition, but that is another article.

I am going to come right out and say it: Competition speed shooting builds a false sense of reality when you shoot once and the target falls, that is just not reality. One of my first times shooting an IDPA match I found myself allowing speed to trump accuracy! While I support the saying: A fast four is better than a slow 5, there needs to be a balance. What I saw myself doing was getting a fast 2 or 3 and moving so fast that my time makes up for my poor shooting, this is not permissible!

The thing that bothers me most about watching these folks shoot 10 rounds in 3 seconds, engaging 10 targets is this: It creates within you that you shoot the target once, and the threat is neutralized, this is just not true, especially when we are talking handguns (unless you hit the “light switch”). According to a study performed over 12 years at King-Drew Medical center in Los Angles, they found that only 24.5% of handgun gunshot wounds to the heart were fatal (learn more here)!

What I am getting at here is don’t allow competition, or watching others compete, influence your tactics. While there are situations in which you may need to engage numerous targets in rapid succession, don’t get in this habit of shooting once and disengaging. You can still engage numerous targets in a short time by planting a few well placed rounds in one target and moving on. It takes you more time to transition from one target to another than it does to squeeze your trigger finger a few more times.

Side note: Consider training for head shots. With the ever-increasing availability of body armor, “center mass”  shots may not get you where you are going. Training for head shots within 7 yards will not be a waste of time and resources, I promise. If you want to train for the one shot and move on kind of engagement, you must train for head shots.

What I’m not saying: Single shots are ineffective. A single, well placed shot does something, what exactly, varies based on the situation. I was talking with an officer friend of mine, and he was telling me about an encounter a friend of his had out west. He shot a suspect 3 times (it was justified for the record), the suspect then began to fight, and hard. The officer was in the fight of and for his life for over 30 seconds, which might as well have been 30 hours. An autopsy of the suspect revealed that the officer’s first shot blew the suspect heart to pieces. He was dead but he did not know it for 30 seconds. Thirty seconds are a long time do serious damage…

Speed and accuracy are critical for effective handgun self-defense, but, they are not everything. We must use sound tactics; which means addressing the threat until it is no longer a threat. Shooting once and disengaging may leave the threat intact, I mean, what if you miss?! This is why follow through is so important. If you decide to use your handgun use it to its maximum potential, don’t hit it and quit it…

What can we learn?

  • Speed kills; Question is, will it be you or the threat? You decide that through your tactics.
  • Don’t shoot once and move on!
  • If you compete do not allow your time to influence your shooting.
    • Hold fast to your commitment to accuracy and shot placement, speed will come naturally.
  • The majority of handgun wounds are not fatal, that goes for you and the threat both.
  • Follow through to ensure that the threat stops being a threat.
  • Everything you do is training, act like it.

Stay Sharp,

Adam

Practice makes permanent

Posted by adam on July 4, 2016
Posted in: Carrying a deadly weapon, Defense Mentality, Hand to Hand, Intermediate Weapons, No-Gun Defense, Self Defense, Training, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

We talk about practice an awful lot; well, training anyway. This article is a follow up to an article we did a little while back titled Practice makes perfect… Or does it? In that article we discussed practicing, training, and the difference. This week, we are talking about practice, and what it does to us, or for us.

As the title of this article states, practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent. We can practice all day long, but if we are not improving, we are only making our inability permanent. Yeah, I said it. If you stink, and never improve, you are going to be really good at being lousy.

Well then, how do I improve? Great question! With time, and proper instruction. A good teacher combined with dedicated time to practice will help you improve. Easily formulated, complexly accomplished; I know. But, as my Mamma always said, “nothing worth doing is easy”; or if you prefer “anything worth doing, is worth doing right”.

So, back to this permanent thing. Have you ever heard of muscle memory? If you have been around us here at Strategic Defense Group for very long at all, you know we are sticklers, and quite picky about semantics. Muscle memory is a common term and generally accepted. However, there is no such thing. Muscles cannot create memory. Muscle memory is simply motor learning through procedural memory. Basically, we do something so much, we do not have to think about doing it any more. For example, if you type on a keyboard a lot, or play an instrument a great deal, you fingers just go to where they need to go to do what you want; you don’t have to tell yourself, hey left index finger: place yourself on the third fret on the A string (for guitar).

Muscle memory is actually procedural memory? Yes. So is practicing to permanency bad then? NO! It is a great blessing! However, there is an underlying danger… The horrific “training scars” *gasp*! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, training scars are very real, and very dangerous. These nightmarish things can come from no training, or worse yet, bad training and instruction. A training scar is:A procedure or process learned and practiced into a procedural memory that is wrong and or dangerous. We will pick up training scars in another article.

You were saying that there is a good side to training to permanency?.. Oh yes! There are many, too many to list in any singular entry or book even, advantages to procedural memory. Everything that is not bad, is good. Learning where all the functions on your firearm are and keeping your knife or keys in the same exact spot all the time are good examples of major positives.

I am a monumental fan of consistency. It makes us better at everything we do. Through being consistent, we develop procedural memory, and that is our friend. Thanks to Hyper-vigilance and the need to move we know that our brain does not function like normal in combat, we have to have a plan already. That is precisely why practice making permanent can be a good thing.

Take your time, and do it right. If you shave corners in training and practice, you will surely do it in combat; and cutting corners in combat will get you killed… If you do not make a tight fist when you train punching the air you will make a weak fist in combat. Then on your very first punch, you will break your hand, and be down in the fight. Do not give your opponent that gift. Take a little extra time, make a little extra effort, and find a good teacher; then you will be the best.

What can we learn?

  • Practice makes permanent, not perfect
  • Permanent is not a bad thing, unless it is, then, you better fix it and now!
  • Muscle memory is not real, it is a lazy way of saying Motor learning through procedural memory
  • Training scars are real, and real scary. Once procedural memory is established, it takes some time and effort to correct
  • Procedural memory is a real blessing, take full advantage of it!

Stay Sharp,

Adam