Two weeks ago, I spent three days teaching at the Rangemaster Tactical Training Conference in Dallas. I’ve now taught at the last ten Tactical conferences and my TacCon blocks are regularly the most fun classes I teach every year. The conference consists of three days of material taught by 40 different world-class […]
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Involuntary Hand Clenches Leading to Accidental Discharge
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Written by: Greg Ellifritz Cops and armed citizens shoot themselves with alarming frequency. One recent story discussed how a police officer shot himself after slipping on the ice while serving a warrant. That type of accidental shooting is far more common than you might think. It’s critical as tacticians that we understand how it […]
AR-15 Maintenance and Repair- Five Tips from Armorer’s School
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In the course of my 13-year stint as weapons armorer for the police department where I worked, I attended numerous AR-15 armorer schools. Recently, I was looking back at my notes from one of the classes I attended (it was put on by Colt) and thought the information I learned would be useful for […]
Conducting Quality Force-on-Force Training
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Daniel Coyle is the author of the book The Talent Code. He conducts outstanding research in the field of enhancing human performance. His blog post, Your Best Training Session Ever, got me thinking about how a lot of firearms and combatives force-on-force training could be dramatically improved. Read Daniel’s account of a trauma surgeon […]
Lessons from Shotgun Instructor School
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Last month I drove to the amazing Royal Range in Nashville to take Rangemaster’s Defensive Shotgun Instructor class. I had previously taken all three levels of the Rangemaster handgun instructor classes and the one-day shotgun user class. It was time to get the shotgun instructor cert. I was a little worried. The class […]
Guide to Concealed Carry Holsters and Accessories
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There are many different options for carrying your handgun in a concealed manner. Body type, clothing selection, firearm, holster type, and mission all mandate different styles of carry. It ultimately comes down to personal preference, but here are a few hints and guidelines to help you make your decision. If you are new to […]
Gunsite Revolver Roundup Ballistic Gel Testing
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One of the more popular demonstrations at the annual Pat Rogers Memorial Gunsite Revolver Roundup every year is the ballistic gelatin testing block conducted by Chuck Haggard and Mark Fricke. Last week, Mark got all the bullet penetration, expansion, and velocity information categorized into an easily digestible table. Mark and Chuck […]
Skill Development- When Are You Good Enough?
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Written by: Greg Ellifritz “I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent efficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession and degree of specialization that doesn’t appeal to me. Once I reach that 80 percent level I like to go off and do […]
Top 10 Most Popular Articles of 2022
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Seth Godin once made a very powerful statement in a blog post. “My most popular blog posts this year…weren’t my best ones. As usual, the most popular music wasn’t the best recorded this year either. Same for the highest-grossing movies, restaurants and politicians doing fundraising. “Best” is rarely the same as “popular.” Which means […]
The Body Language of Deceit
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Written by: Greg Ellifritz During my police career, my department sent me to several schools covering criminal interview and interrogation tactics. Most of the classes I took involved what is known as “Reid Interviewing.” The Reid Method teaches a very specific interview method that won’t be useful for most of you. However, some of […]
Revolver Reliability- Part 2
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This is a guest post from my friend Darryl Bolke. It is a followup to the Thoughts on Revolver Reliability post he contributed last week. The original is published on Darryl’s Facebook page DB’s Shooting Adventures. Darryl is the co-owner of Hardwired Tactical and a very well-established firearms instructor. All of you revolver […]
Thoughts on Revolver Reliability
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This is a guest post from my friend Darryl Bolke. Darryl is the co-owner of Hardwired Tactical and a very well established firearms instructor. I saw this posting on Darryl’s Facebook page DB’s Shooting Adventures. In the piece, Darryl discusses his view of revolvers as defensive sidearms. All of you revolver shooters and instructors should […]
Post Election Violence?
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Written by Greg Ellifritz Unless you have been hiding under a rock you’ll know that tomorrow marks the day of the mid-term political elections in the United States. As a result of the election, congress may soon be under the control of a different political party. That often creates some cultural friction. Most […]
Active Killer Response Options for Armed Citizens
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Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve been thinking a lot lately about active killer events. I’m convinced that it is getting incrementally more and more dangerous to intervene in such an attack. A study came out last week stating that 8% of Americans have a CCW permit/license. Unlicensed carry is also completely legal in 24 states. […]
Backup Guns vs Hideout Guns
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Written by: Greg Ellifritz I’ve seen some recent articles on the internet talking about citizens with CCW permits carrying more than one gun in public. While I carry two pistols in uniform every day, I rarely carry a second pistol when I am off duty and on my own time. I have nothing against […]
Confronting the Mobile Killer
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*After the recent Canada active stabbers and the shooter in Memphis yesterday, I think I need to re-post this one. -Greg Anyone researching the tactics of active killers is quickly confronted with the fact that killers study police response tactics. Being informed by their research, the killers adapt their own tactics in order to […]
“I’m in Fear for My Life!”
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Written by Greg Ellifritz “I’m in fear for my life!” I’ve heard this phrase pop up a couple of times in the last month. The first time was during a close quarters shooting class I was teaching. The students were working a weapon retention drill and I had instructed them to use loud, […]
I Worry That Masks Are Coming Back
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I’ve been traveling a lot lately and am seeing a gradual increase in public mask wearing across the country and worldwide. I was in Colombia last month. There were no mask requirements when I arrived. In less than three weeks, masks were required in the airport and on all flights to and from […]
Trigger Finger Positioning, Hand Clenches, and Accidental Discharges
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Ten years ago, an experienced handgun instructor contacted me to help him reconstruct the events of an accidental shooting. This instructor shot himself while reholstering after doing a demonstration during a basic concealed handgun class. I know what you are thinking…. “He shouldn’t have had his finger on the trigger when […]
What Do I Say After a Shooting?
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Written by: Greg Ellifritz You’ve just shot the criminal who broke into your house and threatened you with a weapon. The threat has been neutralized and police have been called. You’ve read my articles in the past, so you know it’s not a good idea to have a gun in your hand when the […]