Every time I go to the range I see the exact same thing going on. Shooters spending somewhere near 70% of their time feeding magazines and only about 30% of their time actually pulling the trigger. That may be a slight exaggeration, but think about your last range trip and how much time you spent […]
Contributor John Sprague gave us his take on the manual safety in the piece entitled, In Praise of the Manual Safety. In it, Mr. Sprague says that a manual safety strikes the perfect balance for him in terms of safety versus a reduction of readiness. Good for him. Real world experience has driven me to the […]
By John Sprague There is a large contingent of gun users — many of them here — who are adamant that the only safety a gun needs is a little control over your booger hook. I would like to present an alternative view. Manual safeties are not the enemy of readiness that some would have […]
An Oklahoma Department of Corrections escapee reportedly beat a homeless man over the head with a baseball bat before he met his match in an Oklahoma City police officer. When Kirk Dustin Shields charged the cop with a crowbar or pipe, the cop initially ran for his life to create some distance. In doing so, […]
By Jim Barrett When you make the decision to carry a gun, you’ve taken responsibility for the safety of yourself and your loved ones back from the agents of the State. The decision to use your gun in the defense of your loved ones is a no-brainer. The tricky question is whether or not to […]
No one wants to have to defend themselves or their family with a gun. At the same time, as gun owners, we’re prepared to do that if circumstances demand it. For many of us, it’s the reason we own a gun in the first place. But you don’t want to survive a deadly confrontation with […]
We’ve all seen it. Someone holding a gun incorrectly at the range. Or, more alarming, someone failing to follow one or more of the four rules of firearm safety. As in the photo above. If you’re at a supervised range, you’d hope the range safety officer would step in when someone does something dangerous. But […]
Do you do dry fire practice at home in your spare time? If not, why not? It’s one of the best, easiest ways to improve your shooting. One of the problems some shooters have with dry fire, though, is they either 1) don’t want to pull the trigger on an empty chamber, or 2) don’t like […]
“Carry condition” isn’t as hotly debated in the gun community as, say, stopping power or GLOCK vs. 1911, but it’s up there. What is a carry condition? It’s the state of readiness you use for a handgun (usually one you’re carrying). It’s a sort of code for the number of steps needed to make the […]
There are a variety of individual aspects that to shooting a gun which, when practiced and mastered, result in improved handgun accuracy. One of the most misunderstood and sometimes misused is trigger reset. The Basics Trigger reset is the part of the trigger return process after firing during which the sear is re-engaged as the […]
Ultimately, when seconds count, help is just minutes away. This applies for police emergencies, as well as fire and medical. And in places with large numbers of people, those present become first responders, whether they want that role or not. I’ve attended a number of church security seminars and courses. Some themes consistently appear in […]
Shoot a semi-automatic pistol often enough — any brand or model — and it will eventually fail to fire. It may be the gun’s fault (you bought a jam-o-matic), the magazine’s fault (a frequent culprit), the ammunition’s fault (cheap or out-of-spec loads) or your fault (limp-wristing, a dirty gun). Whatever the reason, pulling the trigger […]
