Press Check

The practice of press checking (or visually and physically checking to see if there is a round in the chamber) does not seem to be as widely used as it needs to be. This is an administrative procedure you should learn to do with your pistol.

I see many students during class whose first live fire experience results in a “click”. This is usually due to the fact that they have inserted a loaded magazine but forgot to rack the slide. Occasionally it is due to the magazine not being fully seated and a round is not stripped when the slide is racked.

The procedure I use when I pick up a gun that has been out of my sight is to first remove the magazine and make sure it is loaded and then fully seat it and tug on it to make sure. Then I partially retract the slide with my support hand (I use the overhand method but you can put your hand under the slide as well) and look to see if there is a round in the chamber and physically touch it with my trigger finger just in case it may be dark. Make sure you keep all parts of your hand away from the muzzle.

Some guns have a loaded chamber indicator but it is often difficult to see and I like to use the same manual of arms for all guns. Please ensure that the slide goes back into battery. The last thing I do is rub my fingers across the top of the slide to feel that the barrel has in fact locked up with the slide.

If you get into the habit of doing this whenever you holster your carry pistol you will always know it is ready to go if you need it.

Ambidextrous Gunfighting

When we do our firearm qualification with the Sheriff’s Department we shoot at a target of a bad guy holding the gun and I’m always amazed at how often that gun and/or hand and arm has holes in it. Also, during my force on force classes it’s very common for your gun hand and arm to be hit. Part of this is due to the fact that your gun hand is out in front of you between you and your opponent. Part of it is due to the fact that your eyes are naturally drawn to the threat.

The moral of this story is that you need to be able to shoot with either hand. Most of us rarely practice weak hand shooting but it is a skill you should develop. Like any other skill it will probably take thousands of rounds to really feel comfortable with it and yes, it’s yet another drill you can practice dry fire.

Learn how to shoot well with either hand and double your chances of surviving a gunfight.

Holstering

OK, here is one of my pet peeves regarding gun handling skills. I was watching Personal Defense TV the other night and the host had to look at his holster each time he put his gun back in. Even worse, he was fumbling around trying to get it in. Now maybe he was using a borrowed gun and/or holster but I’m sorry, if you are putting this stuff on TV you need to at least have the perception of professionalism.

My point is that you should be so comfortable with both your carry gun and your carry holster that you are able to holster without looking. And of course the corollary is true – you are able to draw you gun without looking for the grip.

And yes, this is another drill that you do without going to the range. Spend some time developing this skill and you’ll look even better than the experts on TV.

Three safeties

I've trained with Gabe Suarez of Suarez International for many years and consider him to be one of best instructors that cater to the civilian shooter. I believe in his training on the 3 safeties and I pass it on to you:

1). Your Brain, which is telling you to Shoot or Not Shoot, based on what you see. If your mind is not switched on and dialed in to the events around you, you have no business with a gun in your hand. Period.

2). Your educated trigger finger, which is indexed along the frame until the brain decides to shoot or not to shoot.

3). The mechanical safety/decocking lever (if present) – to be used just prior to holstering the weapon.

Anytime the weapon is in hand, the safety should be disengaged. When you decide to relinquish control of the weapon to holster, then engage the safety. Some team tactics school may have different ideas about this, but I focus on teaching private citizens most of the time and private citizens must fight on their own.

Witness the Glock pistol with which such a vast number of police, security professionals, and civilian defenders are armed with. Where is the safety/decocking lever? There is not one, and Glock shooters operate using the methodology we described. Is the Glock unsafe? No. So why would we consider a cocked an unlocked 1911 or a cocked Beretta 92 unsafe? They are just as safe as a Glock pistol.

Remember, we are in the fight to win. This usually means hitting the other man before he hits us. Anything that detracts from that mission, either tactical, technical, or equipment, should be discarded and replaced with a better system. When it comes to manipulating the safety, the better system is In Hand/ Safety Off -In Holster/Safety On.

Shooting with gloves

A few days ago the high temperature here was 6 degrees – and that’s not counting the wind chill. When it gets this cold I usually wear gloves whenever I’m outside. So the question of the day is, how much do you practice shooting with gloves?

Whenever I plow my shooting range in the winter I practice shooting my carry gun with the gloves I typically wear. I can tell you that it is an entirely different feel and if you don’t practice it you might be quite surprised if you are forced to shoot when in this situation.

The first big issue is that many of the normal winter gloves are too thick to even put your finger in the trigger guard. Unless I’m snowmobiling I wear Hatch shooting gloves and I give up a little warmth in order to be able to shoot with them on.

The second issue is that the feel of the gun in your hand and especially the trigger pull are vastly different. The only thing you can do is to practice, practice and practice some more. The good news is that most of this can be done during dry fire exercises. PLEASE make sure the gun is unloaded before trying this!

So if you EVER carry your gun in the winter, you owe is to yourself to practice shooting with your gloves on.

Book Review

Today I’ll be reviewing the book, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” by Marcus Luttrell.

This is the true story of four US Navy Seals in a fight to the death against 150 Taliban warriors in the mountains of Afghanistan in June of 2005. I won’t give away the whole story, but this group gets dropped in the middle of enemy territory in the hopes of capturing bin Laden’s right hand man. It’s a story about the amazing training regimen of our special forces soldiers as well as a story of courage under fire and in the most extreme of conditions.

The action flows like a fast paced thriller and I found the book difficult to put down. Its gut wrenching, it’s emotional, it’s humbling and it’s a tribute to our fearless soldiers. The camaraderie and brotherhood of the soldiers and their families and friends just oozes out in the story.

There is a tipping point in the book that involves a difficult and ethical decision by the group. I don’t know that I would have done anything different than they did with the info they had at the time, but it sure changed everything that followed.

I had read this book a couple of months ago but saw an article in yesterday’s paper that Lieutenant Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor – and I think it was well deserved. The book is only available in hardcover right now but will be coming out in paperback in March. It was my favorite book of 2007.

Stimulus?

President Bush has proposed a $150 billion package to stimulate the economy. So far we have no way of knowing what the final package will look like. Bush is looking for something simple and fast - but that is not how our legislature works. But the games have begun and there are all sorts of complicated proposals being put forward. And I really cringe when I hear the word "stimulus". I think of the adrenaline dump I get during a building search with gun drawn and I'm feeling pretty darn strong - and then the nausea and jitters that take over when adrenaline wears off.

So I have several problems with "stimulus" packages. First, they are very temporary. Second, who really pays for them besides you and me? Third, how much of the package is clearly not stimulus but political opportunism? And lastly, do they really work? In 2001 Bush instituted a huge multi billion dollar program and academic studies since then have shown that most of the money went into savings. While this is a good thing, it hardly does anything to pump up the immediate economy.

I believe that if most taxpayers receive some sort of rebate or payment it'll just go towards paying down their credit card debt or maybe their tax bill. Here again, not much in the way of stimulus.

In short, I doubt the stimulus package will do much good and will be akin to spitting on a forest fire. What it really does is to show how much are politicians care about being re-elected (oops, I mean how concerned they are about our problems) and are willing to spend our money to prove their concern.

Trigger Control

Trigger control is by far the most important thing to learn in order to hit what you are aiming at. I use two different drills in order to help teach this skill. The first drill is easy to do and only requires dry firing. If your gun has a laser sight, it makes it real easy. Make sure your gun is unloaded, pick a small object to sight on and smoothly pull the trigger. You should see only a very small movement of the red dot on the target. The Crimson Trace laser grips are outstanding in this regard. This immediate feedback works very well in reinforcing good trigger control. The alternative to this drill with a semi-auto is to put a coin or cartridge case on the slide just behind the front sight. You should be able to do 20 trigger pulls in a row without the case or coin falling off.

The other drill is to have the student hold their loaded gun at the range and line up the sights while I pull the trigger. They are usually amazed at how well they can shoot. Mastering the trigger control of a handgun normally pays dividends for all of your other shooting as well. Shooting a handgun well is a tough skill to master for several reasons. First, holding a handgun out at arms length is difficult and awkward. Secondly, you typically have a 5 to 10 pound trigger pull on a 2 pound gun and it is very easy to disturb that sight picture.

Practice some of these trigger control skills in your spare time and watch your group sizes go down next time you are at the range.

Concealed Pistols License

I have been teaching the CPL classes since early 2001, with over 2200 students so far. Normally there is little demand during the winter and I get to hibernate and spend more time on my other business - Financial Planning. But this winter has been different. I had one class in November and December, another last weekend, and one scheduled for next weekend. So why the renewed interest? It seems that people are worried about the election and want to lock in 5 years of their ability to carry concealed. The other reason is that we have had a couple of nasty crimes in our area that have spooked a lot of people. The other interesting thing is that I'm seeing a lot more "non-gun" people taking the class. In my last class not a single person owned a handgun - and that's a first for me. Three of the students had never even held a handgun before. I have actually found that these people are the easiest to train in that they don't have any bad habits to unlearn. The good news is that we now have about 160,000 CPL holders in Michigan and the number continues to grow.

WELCOME!

The eagle has landed here in northern Michigan and I'll be talking about shooting and a whole lot more. Pull up a chair (close to the fire if possible) and let me know if any of this makes sense to you at all.