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Gun Guru Rob Pincus: Don’t Waste Time Clearing a Carbine Malf

Robert Farago - comments No comments

Rob’s the man. But I’d like to point out that there’s no way to make the smooth transition demonstrated above if  . . . wait for it . . . you don’t have a handgun. In a holster. Sure, if something bad’s going down in the middle of the night, it’s gonna be either or. (My preference: handgun, gather friendlies, shotgun.) Otherwise, you need that pistol right there in case your long gun, she no run. The trick here: always wear a sidearm. Question for Rob: how do you train for both situations? You should clear a malfunction if you don’t have a handgun. But in the adrenalin moment, you might reach for something that’s not there when you could have been busy clearing your carbine or shotgun’s MALF. What’s best practice?

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Gun Guru Rob Pincus: Don’t Waste Time Clearing a Carbine Malf”

  1. NewYorks “Moronically Named SAFE ACT”!! There fixed that!! Even though the AWB was shot down it ain’t over. They will constantly keep pushing registration and other BS that they know doesn’t work as long as they are in/connected to any political office/position.
    BTW: Hey Colorado…how’s that losing an $85million a year business going to work out for ya??!! Sucks doesn’t it!!

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    • I’m thinking that MagPul is going to leave, taking its hundreds of jobs and tens of millions in revenue with it. Then, the bills will be overturned, and CO will still have lost the jobs and revenue. I hope I then get the opportunity to throat-punch (either figuratively or literally) those responsible.

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  2. Enter ERIC HOLDER to the rescue for criminals, I hear he’s starting a new company with OBAMA
    The criminals under the table gun store”!
    Get’ em while there HOT!

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  3. Your statement’s in the form of a question, but I can think of many variables. I pretty much would go for my .45 and spare clip, since the, er, the semi-automatic defense rifle is in a closet nearby. My grandson’s over from time to time, and the Remington 870’s hid so far away I wouldn’t even consider it.

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  4. So, are magazines bigger than 15-rounders grandfathered? If so, the new law is completely unenforceable. Barring a national law that puts a date stamp on the mags they cannot police it. Pretty dumb actually. What are they smoking over there???

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    • The typical solution for unenforceability is to wait a few years and pass a law requiring disposition of the previously grandfathered magazines. This is what has happened in NY and seems to be contemplated in CA right now. When it pours it rains, it may just take a while for this fact to become apparent. Also, how long before CO goes for an AWB?

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  5. “The problem has been that we’re too nice; we have been victims of our own benevolence.”

    Absolutely correct!!!

    And I also agree completely that we need to go on the offensive.

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  6. Well old ‘pooper sure turned that into a big photo op, didn’t the scumbag? How he must like suckling at the Bloomberg teat

    Rimfire= Old Jim D

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  7. You don’t hear these weasels talk about other NGOs that way. I want to hear this from MSNBC during the next Washington budget impasse :
    “Why should AARP have a stranglehold over issues of our economic future? “

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  8. I love how in the same day liberals can blame the NRA for single-handily blocking the AWB and then turn around and claim it’s a scam coercing me out of my hard earned money and doing nothing to represent my interests.

    Does anybody want to connect the dots for them?

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  9. “Why should [the UN] have a stranglehold over issues of war and peace in the world? It is time to confront them and defeat them and remove them from their dominance in our politics.”

    There, F.I.F.Y., Messrs. Alter and Bashir.

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  10. Some people here have been saying that cost of ammunition would limit FA use if all restrictions on them were lifted. However they are forgetting the laws of supply and demand. Specifically there would be a lot of demand that would generate additional hiring and expansion at ammunition manufacturers to meet the higher civilian demand. Ammo makers could easily double their annual profits in effort to meet this demand. The increased capacity to meet this demand would keep prices reasonable if not low.

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  11. Go to the Gun Policy center. I would guess the the
    number came from them or a similar group.

    http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states

    http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_06.pdf

    Average out the number of deaths at 30,000 annually
    since 1968 and you get approx. 1.3 million.
    The citation of the number states that accidental
    and self-inflicted are included (surprise, surprise).
    Using the source, if you factor out accidents and
    suicides, the number is reduced by almost 2/3
    or approx. 430,000. This number coincides with
    FBI stats for homicide via firearm.

    http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8

    I’m sure everyone here is shocked that the numbers
    are being inflated to push the anti-civil rights agenda.

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  12. I did my part, sent 10 standard capacity mags to Operation Mountain Standard. Mostly for Handguns I no longer own and a few British Imperial Defense.
    Good Karma to pass on.
    -From the still free state of Washington.

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  13. Ah yes… Arm one narco-terror group so they can fight another… works very well IF you ignore that as soon as they get the arms, everybody is a target, not just their competition as these so called “operation leaders” want the world to believe. (I have to question if they all believe it will give the desired results, or as more than likely, they don’t really care because they want mayhem in the streets and more power.

    by the way, perhaps I missed it, but what does a video about cartels recruiting more women into their organizations have to do with B.O. and Withholding arming them?

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  14. I am a Vietnam vet retiree; 5 years tanks, 19 years attack and recon aviation. Regardless of the perspective of any particular bureaucrat at any level in state or federal government agency, my experience (and the evident lesson of history) is that the highly predictable loyalty of the bulk of political and agency employees will be to paycheck and career rather than to U.S. Constitution and citizen rights. Elected and appointed officials have great authority with little public accountability. Many see veterans as an an easy to control sub-group dependent upon government for money and medicine and also see military service, training and warrior ethic as a threat to their personal comfort and power. Odds are that ANY means to declare us unfit, unstable and unworthy will suffice. They may love face time with wounded warriors at parades, funerals and events but, in my view, politicians of both parties see all of us as low rent, incompetent and borderline members of a peasant population.
    Preservation of our Constitutional protections tends to be perceived by the elite ruling class of Kerry, Feinstein, Bloomberg and even Hussein himself as potential threat to their well being. Erosion of the Second Amendment is mere precursor to loss of the First and eventually all of the rest. These guys (and gals) are well schooled on how to eat the elephant of freedom; one bite at a time.

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  15. 1. Side arm and flashlight (I leave my gunbelt next to the bed). 2. M500 (20″ cylinder bore 8 shot tube) with attached light. First 5 are 00 buck, last 3 are slugs. (There is a reason for this.)

    I agree to train both ways, side arm and no side arm. I also agree it’s better to also have a side arm.
    To shotgun ammo: Bird shot is for birds. . . mostly. At very close range it ‘rat-holes’, still being inside the shot cup it hits like a giant safety slug and causes gross cavitation and a maze of overlapping and unpredictable penetration paths that are the stuff that keeps trauma surgeons going back for ‘continuing education’. However, it is not ideal and will still penetrate multiple walls with enough power to cause serious injury while at the same time doesn’t deliver enough energy transfer to the BG get ideal CNS shutdown. Bird shot really is the worst of all possible loadings short of beanbags or rubber bullets.
    Each time I read about birdshot for reduced penetration I know the commenter has never fired a shotgun inside a house. There is virtually no safe place from 4 shot anywhere unless it’s behind the shooter, the stove or fridge or perhaps in an old cast bathtub or some such. It gives a huge potential to wound. . . everybody, while still making one shot stops unlikely on anybody.
    00: It delivers a good spread at household ranges from appropriate guns. The individual pellets have sufficient diameter and mass to deliver good energy transfer and penetration and the pattern virtually guarantees that a center of mass aim point will result in multiple critical hits. The spread at most indoor residential ranges is small enough that a center of mass aim point is unlikely to result in any pellet completely missing the target, and with the deformation and energy loss over penetrating pellets generally lack much in the way of further penetration, certainly less than many pistol loadings. It will penetrate most building materials, structures and appliances in a home, but so will most pistols.
    If the scenario is that behind the BG is the nursery then the answer is don’t fire either 4 shot or 00. Either will penetrate interior walls to the point that serious injury is almost certain to anyone in the path of the shot on the other side. If your home is laid out so that such a shot is at all likely, move the crib. Saw it’s legs off so it rests on the floor, put a bookshelf full of thick books between the shot and the room behind the shot, open the wall, fill with bricks and replace the sheet rock, but do NOT trust that 4 shot is going to prevent wall penetration because it will penetrate.
    Nothing about a DGU is ever safe; there are only degrees of safety provided by training, equipment and preparedness.

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