Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Close Quarters Shooting
In this short video Paul Sharp provides a great overview of close quarters pistol shooting techniques.
Feed Family Of 4 For 1 Year at $300 Cost
For everyone who thinks that having an emergency food supply is “too expensive.” I would postulate that if you have a $1000 television, but haven’t stockpiled some extra food for your family, your priorities are somewhat skewed.
Should you carry or keep your self defense gun on an empty chamber?
I’ve stopped trying to convince people not to carry guns with an empty chamber. It isn’t worth my time and effort. The folks who carry empty chamber aren’t generally convinced by the logical arguments presented in articles like this. They won’t be persuaded by my arguments either. I’ve come to realize that if someone “doesn’t feel comfortable” with a round in the chamber, maybe it’s safer for all of us if they carry chamber-empty. Let natural selection take its course.
13 Reasons a Rural Retreat May Not Be the Safe Refuge You Might Think
Everyone wants to “run for the hills” in the event of an economic or social crisis. Rural retreats seem appealing, but they have their downsides too. If you liked this article, check out the author’s book as well.
You might be surprised at how resistant to gunfire some locks are. I’ve had better luck actually targeting the shackle itself rather than the body of the lock.
‘Close Your Eyes and Pretend to Be Dead’
A minute-by-minute account of the events that transpired in the al-Shabab attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. This is a long article. Take the time to read it. If you don’t have time to read this one, at least read Weapons Man’s summary of it.
Improvised Tourniquets
Kerry Davis from Dark Angel Medical provides an overview on making and using an improvised tourniquet to control life threatening bleeding. Even if you carry medical gear, you may not have enough to handle a mass casualty situation. You need to know how to improvise in the event that you have more casualties than tourniquets. Here is an alternate method of improvising a tourniquet using a key ring and a carabiner.
Speaking of mass casualties, A SHTF Guide to Mass Casualty Incidents is a useful article to read as well.
Mindset and Life
Excellent guidelines for conflict avoidance. Marc MacYoung shares even more information on the topi in his recent article Interrupting Violence.
The Surprising Thing That Some People Are Doing With Floor Tiles
Floor tiles as improvised body armor? I don’t think I’ll be ditching my ceramic rifle plates anytime soon, but these might figure into an inexpensive construction plan for a hardened “safe room.”
Celox and Quikclot to Control Bleeding
The basics of using hemostatic agents to control severe bleeding. These work well, but they are NOT first-line treatments. Tourniquets are more effective. If the severe bleeding is on the patient’s limb, use a tourniquet first. Where hemostatic agents come in handy are for wounds with spurting arterial bleeding where a tourniquet can’t be applied (neck, groin, shoulder, etc.). Both Quick-Clot and Celox Combat Gauze are available on Amazon.com.
The 1911: Strip it, lube it, put it back together
Do you know how to take your 1911 apart? Watch this video and you will. Here are a few more interesting facts about gunsmithing the 1911.
How to be a Bad Dude, Being the Last Dude on Earth, and Dealing with Post-Apocalyptic Women
James LaFond has some very interesting thoughts about surviving in the urban landscape. The same author wrote a good book that analyzed 250 real life knife attacks in his home city of Baltimore, Maryland. His perspective is fairly different from most authors in the field, but I enjoy it.
How to Shoot Small Pistols Better
A few tips to help you keep your mouse gun rounds on target.
Patrick Van Horne | Left of Bang (Episode 432)
An excellent podcast interview of Patrick Van Horne who co-authored the book Left of Bang. In the interview he talks about the Marine Corps “Combat Profiling” system and how to adapt it for spotting criminals or terrorists here at home.
The Semi-Auto Pistol Grip: The how’s and why’s
Are you gripping your semi-auto pistol correctly? Dave Spaulding explains how you should be holding your gun.
How They Got Their Guns
An interesting look at how 14 active killers acquired their weapons. Almost all passed background checks and bought them legally. Weapons Man explains the apparent dichotomy between how most street criminals use stolen weapons and most active killers use legally purchased ones.
15 Tips for Surviving a School Shooting
With the recent school shooting in Oregon, this wouldn’t be a bad time to review some basic strategies for surviving school shootings. The author’s book is an excellent resource for more information. So is Concealed Carry magazine’s article Inside School Shootings- What Have We Learned (opens to PDF). You may also want to check out my articles A Parent’s Guide to School Shootings and Armed Citizen Response to an Active Killer.
Thank You, Greg Ellifritz
For those of you who think I am an insensitive monster, here is evidence to the contrary. Melody Lauer writes about all the good things she’s learned from my classes…and I didn’t even have to pay her to do it! Thanks Melody! You all should check out her blog. Besides writing overly complimentary articles about the people who have trained her, Melody provides some excellent tactical advice. especially for female shooters.
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* Some of the above links (from Amazon.com) are affiliate links. If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the selling price.
