Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
WHAT COPS KNOW
A long form article that gives the reader an accurate perception of the kinds of things big city cops do on a daily basis.
Situational Awareness In Terrorist Age
Worthwhile reading, especially for those of you who travel internationally.
Thoughts On the Partial Revolver Reload
Reloading a revolver using speed strips or loose cartridges is a relatively slow process as compared to reloading a semi-automatic pistol. In the middle of a gunfight, it may be better to drop one or two rounds into the cylinder and fire rather than take the time to completely reload the weapon. If you carry a revolver for self protection, you should be practicing this skill set.
Robber Targets Guard for His Pistol
That openly carried pistol may be more of a target than a deterrent.
When Your Defensive Ammo Fails
It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally your ammunition will fail in a gunfight. Do you have a backup plan? Reduce the chance of ammunition failure by reducing the number of times you chamber each cartridge and replacing your carry ammo at least annual.
Hate Is My Pre-Workout
I agree with Paul here. I’ve never felt a need to use any pre-workout stimulants.
HSM 9mm 124 gr XTP gel test and review
I’m not a big fan of the Hornady XTP bullet, no matter which company loads it. Across most calibers it consistently fails to expand when shot through clothing.
Institutional Inbreeding: Pop the Dogma Bubble
This is an enormous problem in the training industry. People take all their training from a single instructor (either out of a sense of loyalty or because the instructor’s cult of personality) and fail to learn new or different ways of doing things.
“If we are trapped in the dogma bubble and only follow a cult of personality around or only can access certain Anointed One’s to get information from in our training network, we do not get all the information we need.”
Finding Snub Stocks That Fit Your Hand
This is an older article, but it’s one of the best written article on revolver stocks that I’ve read.
How to Eat Street Food Anywhere in the World Without Getting Sick
In the developing world, street food is often safer to eat than food in restaurants. I eat at places like this as often as possible. The food can be absolutely amazing and you have a very low chance of getting sick if you follow the tips in this article.
Staying safe in an unstable environment
General safety tips from some top experts in the field.
21 Things a Burglar Won’t Tell You
I had no idea that Readers Digest still exists. It does and they put together a decent article about burglary prevention. They got the information from a book titled Burglars on the Job. I found that book to be an essential reference for understanding how this criminal subculture operates.
Five deadly concealed-carry mistakes
A good article for those of you who regularly carry concealed firearms.
Med Kits: The Most Important Thing to Have at the Range
You should definitely have a first aid kit with you every time you go to the range. This article will help you sort out what you need.
Envenomations: Initial Management of Common U.S. Snakebites
Speaking of medical issues, I get a whole lot of questions about snakebite first aid in my medical classes. This article will get you squared away on a treatment plan if you are bitten by a venomous snake.
Verbal Communication: A Critical Defensive Skill
Sound advice regarding verbal interactions with potential criminals. Read Gabe Suarez’ thoughts about verbal commands as well.
Portland PD says Antifa used feces, urine, and unknown chemicals
My cop friends (and anyone who hangs out at protest sites) should be aware of the latest ANTIFA tactic. In addition to using urine and feces bombs, they also released “gopher gas” grenades in Portland.
If you are unfamiliar with these, they are like smoke bombs that you throw down groundhog holes. Only instead of smoke, they release a poisonous gas that kills rodents and other animals.
I don’t know what small amounts of that gas will do to humans, but it can’t be good.
Make sure you have and wear a gas mask if you are working at a demonstration site. If you are doing the demonstrating, be alert to people on your side releasing poisonous gas grenades. The smoke doesn’t discriminate.
3 Wild Plants That Have Healing Properties
Three very effective and easy to identify medicinal plants. These grow almost everywhere in the eastern half of the USA. You probably have plantain in your yard. Yarrow grows in sunny spots. Jewelweed almost always grows in damp shady places near water. I’ve used all three of these plants medicinally and they all work well.
Use of Force
What I’m reading….
Brad Thor writes some great action-packed thrillers. This one starts off with a terrorist suicide bombing at Burning Man. How could I resist that?
Case Law Study Guides
My cop friends may find these two study guides to be useful for self study or roll call training at the department. Both are single pages and open up to PDFs. The first is about Taser Law. The second is about General Use of Force Guidelines.
5 Deadly Force Cases with Heavy Legal Consequences for the Good Guy
Massad Ayoob describes some nightmare prosecutions that should temper any desire to use your defensive firearm without absolute necessity.
If you carry a Glock, you should also read Massad’s article about the “gadget” safety device. I’ve seen several come through recent classes and haven’t seen any problems with them.
Cops aren’t shooters, but they should be
“You chose a career that requires you to carry a weapon and repeatedly put yourself in situations when you may need to use it. Don’t you feel you owe it to your loved ones to be as prepared as you can be? And, are you as best prepared as you can be? By these standards, is the training provided to you adequate? If not, it is your responsibility to get the training and trigger time you need.”
Why the AR-15 Stomps the Mini-14
I’ve seen the same articles that the author describes. For some reason, industry shills are touting the Mini-14 again. Don’t be fooled. I wrote about the problems with the Mini-14 a couple years ago. Nothing has changed.
10 Things I Hate About Concealed Carry
Melody talks about some of the challenges you’ll experience when carrying a concealed handgun.
Visualization Skills, or “Shooting With The Minds’s Eye”
Marcus Wynne talks you through an NLP-based visualization exercise to optimize how you “see” your visualization practices. This is kind of fun and worth doing.
Rangemaster Newsletter
Tom wrote a couple of really good articles in this month’s edition of the Rangemaster Newsletter. Opens to PDF.
Affordable Glock Armorer Training From AGI!
Blue Sheepdog posted this announcement a couple days ago. This link leads to the opportunity to buy the AGI’s Glock Armorer Class video for the inexpensive price of only $7.00.
I purchased the course and watched the video last night. It’s two hours long and starts with a detailed 30 minute description of exactly how the pistol functions. The video then covers complete detail stripping, cleaning, and reassembly of the Glock pistol. Near the end, it covers how the G42 and G43 differ from their larger cousins.
I’ve been to the real Glock armorer school four times now. This video was not nearly as good as the course, but it did an adequate job explaining how the pistol works and how to take it apart. For a Glock shooter with no knowledge of the internal parts of the pistol, it’s definitely worth the $7.00. During the buying process, the company attempts to “upsell” by offering a couple additional references and videos for a higher price. Be alert to what boxes your are checking during the buying process so that you don’t end up paying more than you want to.
Some of the above links (from Amazon.com) are affiliate links. If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
