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Too Much Situational Awareness?

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Have you ever considered that you may be practicing too much situational awareness?   I was out on a date a few weeks ago.  We were eating at a local restaurant.  She knew that I am a retired cop.  During dinner she said:   “I’m really kind of surprised.  You […]

Posted on November 10, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in News and Tactical Advice
David Deida, situational awareness View Post

My Favorite CCW Belt

Written by Greg Ellifritz   If you’ve spent any real time carrying a concealed handgun, you will understand the importance of mating your holster with a high quality belt made to carry a gun.  In general, the double thickness leather gun belts or the ultra-stiff nylon belts make it both easier and more comfortable to […]

Posted on November 9, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Gear Reviews
ccw, gun belts, holsters View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- November 5, 2021

Knowledge to make your life better.  If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   6 Dead Giveaways That You’re Armed “The operative word in “concealed carry” is “concealed.” While a lot of the public, even including some potential criminals, might not notice a lot beyond body language clues…but […]

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, ambush, American Partisan, Annette Evans, Boondocks Training Center, Brian Hill\, Caleb Giddings, Calibre Press, ccw, crime statistics, David Yamane, firearms training, Gun Culture 2.0, Havok Journal, holsters, home security, Legal, On Her Own, pepper spray, PHLster, police, Primary and Secondary, red dot sights, robbery, situational awareness, Tamara Keel, Target Barn, That Shotgun Blog, The Art of Manliness, The Revolver Guy View Post

Shooting Drill- Rangemaster Bullseye Course

Written by: Greg Ellifritz I like shooting drills that are timed and scored.  Shooting drills that have standards allow shooters to track performance over time.  A structured training program with performance tracking is the difference between training and “plinking.”   I generally start out each of my handgun range sessions with a standard drill.  That […]

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Shooting Drills
Prepared Gun Owner, Rangemaster, shooting drills View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump – October 29, 2021

Knowledge to make your life better.  If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   2 Concealed Carry Seat Belt Hacks Very useful information for those of you who carry your gun while driving.     Philadelphia Police Consider Charges Against Bystanders During Rape Why it’s absolutely critical to […]

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Andrew Branca, Ballistic Radio, Bob Vogel, Breach Bang Clear, ccw, Chris Cypert, Claude Werner, family safety, firearms training, GAT Daily, Grant Cunningham, handgun stopping power, Jeff Cooper, Karl Rehn, Kevin Creighton, Legal, Mark Manson, Pew Pew Tactical, pocket carry, police training, Recoil Magazine, school shootings, Seth Godin, shooting drills, shotguns, Swift Silent Deadly, That Shotgun Blog, The Tactical Wire, vehicle tactics View Post

Free Books- Part 238

Amazon has a tremendous number of FREE ebooks on their website.  You can find thousands of free kindle books on Amazon’s site every day.  These books can be downloaded to a Kindle reader or a free App on your phone or personal computer.  Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a free […]

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Uncategorized
View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- October 22, 2021

Knowledge to make your life better.  If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   The Perfect Hiking Load-Out? Since I retired from my police job last year, I’ve made it a point to do much more hiking.  For the last year, I’ve averaged hiking 15-20 hours a week […]

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
'Winning Mind, Active Self Protection, Annette Evans, AR-15, Ballistic Magazine, Caleb Giddings, CarryTrainer, ccw, concealed carry, David Yamane, edible plants, EM Docs, firearms training, hiking, Lucky Gunner, magazines, medical skills, Michael Bane, Pew Pew Tactical, police shootings, police training, Recoil Magazine, red dot sights, Reflex Handgun, revolvers, shooting drills, The Revolver Guy View Post

Handgun Bullet Penetration Through Interior Walls

Written by: Greg Ellifritz Handgun Bullets: How Do They Penetrate in Home Materials? is an interesting study evaluating how deeply modern defensive handgun rounds penetrate in common building materials.  The data is useful.  The author’s opinions and analysis are less so.   Let’s cut to the chase.  We should not be choosing our handgun ammunition based […]

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Reader Questions
ammunition, ammunition testing, handgun stopping power, home defense View Post

The 500th Weekend Knowledge Dump

Before we get started with this week’s batch of links, I want to note that this is the 500th edition of the Weekend Knowledge Dump!  Since I started the project, you’ve received the Weekend Knowledge Dump every week without a single exception for almost 10 years.  Think about it.  How many other tactical blogs do […]

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, Annette Evans, Caleb Giddings, Dave Spaulding, firearms training, gelatin testing, Grant Cunningham, Gun Mag Warehouse, holsters, Kahr, Ken Hackathorn, Lucky Gunner, medical skills, Paul Martin, PHLster, Primary and Secondary, Primer Peak, Range Hot, Seth Godin, shooting drills, shotguns, statistics, survival, Swift Silent Deadly View Post

Free Books- Part 237

Amazon has a tremendous number of FREE ebooks on their website.  You can find thousands of free kindle books on Amazon’s site every day.  These books can be downloaded to a Kindle reader or a free App on your phone or personal computer.  Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a free […]

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Uncategorized
View Post

The 9mm Revolver: Boom x 6 or 5 or 7

*This is a guest post from Travis Pike.  To learn more about him, check out the “about the author” blurb at the end of the article.  Travis is a big revolver fan and thought that my audience might appreciate this piece.  I think you will enjoy it. -Greg   When talking about revolvers as a […]

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles, Firearm Reviews
guest author, revolvers, Travis Pike View Post

Revolver Squib Loads

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   During a recent range training session, I was doing some shooting with a couple of my revolvers for a change of pace.  While shooting a beat up Model 10 Smith and Wesson, I experienced a squib load.   I shoot a bunch of .38 ammo every year and I can’t […]

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
firearms training, revolver View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- October 8, 2021

Knowledge to make your life better.  If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   5 Steps to (Actually) Make America Great Some very good advice here.     Soft Skills in the Survival Spectrum — Here’s Why They’re So Important It’s not always about shooting and fighting.   […]

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, Brian Hill\, Dave Grossman, driving, Ed Lovette, Grant Cunningham, Havok Journal, home defense, ITS Tactical, Kyle Lamb, Mountain Guerilla, police shootings, police training, revolvers, shooting drills, Skinny Medic, Steve Tarani, Swift Silent Deadly, The Revolver Guy, tourniquets, vehicle tactics View Post

Two Different Kidnappings- Would You Intervene?

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   One of the goals of any type of combative training is to “remove novelty.”  Novel situations combined with stress often force our brains to operate in a more instinctive manner.  When operating this way, higher order thinking isn’t possible.  Our goal as trainers is to introduce our students to as […]

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Tactical Training Scenarios
kidnapping View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- October 1, 2021

Knowledge to make your life better.  If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   9 Signs You’re Tactically Stupid “Ask for evidence, sources, or a point of reference. There are lots of good subject matter experts out there, and they often have business pages chock full of free […]

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
active killer, active shooter, Breach Bang Clear, Chuck Taylor, Close quarter shooting, drones, gelatin testing, Growing Up Guns, knife fighting, Lucky Gunner, Massad Ayoob, Michael Janich, Nassim Taleb, pepper spray, police training, Rangemaster, Recoil Magazine, red dot sights, revolvers, Tamara Keel View Post

Lessons Learned After Two Months With Covid-19

  Today marks the six-week mark since I’ve been released from the hospital after suffering a bad case of Covid-19.  I caught the bug in Ecuador.  I first noticed symptoms on July 30.  I tried to battle the virus myself without any medical attention until August 9th when I flew home to the USA.  I […]

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in What's New
Covid-19, medical skills, third world travel, travel View Post

Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 24, 2021

Knowledge to make your life better.  If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.   My new favorite gun I really like my LCP .22, but I’m not yet convinced of its reliability enough to carry it.  I’ve put 260 rounds through mine and had nine malfunctions.  I’m hoping […]

Posted on September 24, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Weekend Knowledge Dump
Active Self Protection, appendix carry, building search tactics, Caleb Giddings, Combat Sports Law, Ernest Langdon, firearms training, John Johnston, John Mosby, Kerry Davis, medical skills, Michael Janich, Mountain Guerilla, Organic Prepper, Pat Rogers, police, police training, Prepared Gun Owners, psychology, Recoil Magazine, Spotter Up, terrorism View Post

Free Books- Part 236

Amazon has a tremendous number of FREE ebooks on their website.  You can find thousands of free kindle books on Amazon’s site every day.  These books can be downloaded to a Kindle reader or a free App on your phone or personal computer.  Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download a free […]

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Uncategorized
View Post

The Sub-Second Draw

  The internet has been abuzz with talk of the relative importance of the skillset of being able to draw and fire a gun from concealment in under a second.  If you want to catch up on what has been said and gain an understanding of the debate, I would suggest the references below.   […]

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles
Caleb Giddings, ccw, firearms training, holsters, Lee Weems View Post

Contact Distance Shooting…Rescuing a Friend or Family Member

Written by: Greg Ellifritz   Have you ever thought about how you would rescue a friend, partner, or loved one who was engaged in a life or death struggle with a criminal?   It may be a little more complex than you have imagined.   A while back a concealed carry permit holder named Perry […]

Posted on September 20, 2021 by Greg Ellifritz in Articles, News and Tactical Advice
contact shots, extreme close range, partner rescue, police shootings View Post
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