(November 2011 Quips)
1 Nov 11 S&W BG380. Comments from one of our Instructors: “I bought a new S&W BG380 last month, and I’ve been impressed! Among its virtues: It has been unfailingly reliable. Eats everything it gets fed, digests it, and gingerly disposes of the remains. S&W appears to have gotten magazine and feed-ramp geometry absolutely perfect. […]
(October 2011 Quips)
7 Oct 11 Tucson 911 A friend in Tucson, AZ reports that Tucson’s emergency number, 911, is not working well these days. In fact, it is not working at all! The helpful response of the fire department, who runs the faulty system, is to automatically channel your 911 call to another number, where you can […]
(September 2011 Quips)
1 Sept 11 Blame-shifting as “SOP:” In West Virginia last Tuesday, three wounds were inflicted, on two deputies, by a single bullet. The 45-caliber bullet (45ACP or 45GAP, unclear as to which), fired from a Glock (model unknown), produced a hand-wound on one deputy and an additional hand-wound on the second deputy, as well as […]
(August 2011 Quips)
1 Aug 11 These follow-up comments from a retired South African Army Officer, now living in the UK: “I cannot remain silent! The same stupid rules applied in SA during our War! I personally campaigned, against all odds, for concealed-carry handguns for my Section. After putting my commission on the table, several times, I was […]
(July 2011 Quips)
2 July 11 This info from a friend currently deployed overseas: “‘Standard’ M4 PMags do not run in our HK 416s. However, Magpul does make an ‘Emag’ specifically for the 416, and other Euro-spec rifles. They run fine. God forbid we’d standardize on anything!” Comment: H&K’s 416 (gas-piston M4) got off to a fast start, […]
(June 2011 Quips)
4 June 11 Greetings from Africa! I’m in Africa right now, teaching and hunting. I have wonderful friends over here who entertain me shamelessly! After two frustrating days unsuccessfully trying to get a shot at a Fallow Deer on a nearby farm (Fallow Deer, native to the UK, have thrived nearly everywhere they’ve been exported, […]
(May 2011 Quips)
1 May 11 We don’t need enemies! Last Wednesday, “behind-the-wire” in a building near the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan, eight American officers, plus an American contractor, were murdered, execution style, buy a single Afghan trainee, armed with a Beretta M9 Pistol, issued to him by (you guessed it!) the US Air Force. This is the […]
(April 2011 Quips)
1 Apr 11 DTI Instructor’s Course: We generally run only one DTI Instructor’s Course per year. This year, it is in Rochester, IN on the weekend of 21-22 May 11. Students are trained in our instructional techniques, and we do a lot of shooting (Handgun, Rifle, Shotgun) as we review and exercise principles of effective […]
(March 2011 Quips)
2 Mar 11 Lubrication of serious rifles during serious use: The current generation of high-tech lubricants available to us for gun maintenance are vastly superior to what was available just a few decades ago. Superior, both in terms of their ability to efficaciously lubricate moving parts and in their ability to continue to lubricate adequately […]
(February 2011 Quips)
2 Feb 11 Bears as Predators This is paraphrased from a group of guard-dog owners with regard to bears. Bears are not much different from most others predators. They know they need to eat, and they know how to get food. Humans, in the eyes of most bears, are a soft and chewy mixture of […]
(January 2011 Quips)
1 Jan 11 Your life will depend upon your gear! This important lesson from a patrol officer and colleague: “In our department, we all have our own beat-cars, set up to our individual liking. Two days ago, another officer, a recent hire, had to use my vehicle, as heavy snow prevented her from getting to […]
(December 2010 Quips)
1 Dec 10 Ned Christianson’s famous 5.56 Chamber Reamer: From a local riflesmith: “I have one of Ned’s reamers, and also a copy of his 5.56×45 drop-gauge (when it drops all the way into the chamber, it passes the ‘5.56 test’) Of ten, factory/AR carbon-steel barrels I regularly test, only Colt’s and BCM’s (Bravo Arms) […]
(November 2010 Quips)
2 Nov 10 American Bison Today, for the first time in my life, I went bison hunting! We were at a private hunting preserve in OH. When I got my opportunity, I had a broadside shot at fifty meters, but I had no tree upon which to rest my rifle, so I opted to seize […]
(October 2010 Quips)
1 Oct 10 This sage advice to women, from a female LEO and instructor, with many years of practical experience: “Purses/handbags are issues unto themselves! I am a woman, and I do not carry a purse. I did as a young girl, but even shoulder-bags were a hassle. I always carry a wallet. My keys […]
(September 2010 Quips)
1 Sept 10 Of Cops and Rifles… For as long as most can remember, American police have been armed with pistols. Pistols, both exposed and concealed, have gone hand-in-hand with American policing for at least the past one-hundred years. Shotguns, and more recently, rifles, have always been perfunctorily referred to as “secondary,” “back-up,” and “supplemental” […]
(August 2010 Quips)
2 Aug 10 Interesting comments from a friend in the Phillippines with regard to looming changes in the law and potential work-arounds: “Even ‘practice’ ammunition here in 357SIG is expensive, and not nearly as available as is the case with other calibers. High-performance ammunition in 357SIG is really hard to find and preposterously expensive when […]
(July 2010 Quips)
4 July 10 We celebrated Independence Day in the most appropriate manner: A day at the Range! One of my Urban Rifle students used a SIG/556. The rifle ran fine for the duration, as they always do. But it was equipped with a forward-mounted vertical forend, an accessory supplied by SIG. Integral with the vertical […]
(June 2010 Quips)
3 June 10 Gelatin Tests: Last weekend in PA, I was witness to a series of gelatin tests of various pistol rounds. We shot assorted brands of factory ammunition from pistols we were actually carrying at the time, and most were concealed and thus compact. All ammunition was chronographed first, then shot into gelatin blocks. […]
(May 2010 Quips)
4 May 10 Additional on batteries, from friends at Aimpoint: “AA Lithium batteries, at low temperatures, render performance superior to all others. I recommend to all military units deploying to cold climates, to include those operating at altitude in Afghanistan, to purchase USA-manufactured AA Lithiums. Our Aimpoint CompM4 and CompM4S will operate for ten years […]
(April 2010 Quips)
1 Apr 10 Additional on rifle magazines: As silly as it sounds, during rapid reloading, it is easy to partially insert an upside-down magazine into a rifle’s magazine-well! I occasionally see the phenomenon in training, with ARs, XCRs, SIG/556s, M1 Carbines, and M1As. In fact, a newspaper photo of a uniformed officer holding her AR, […]
Gun industry legends Dave Spaulding, Massad Ayoob, Mike Boyle, and John Farnam join Fernando Coelho to dive deep into the history of the gun industry, shedding light on how firearms and firearms training have transformed over the decades. They discuss the dramatic shift from traditional print reviews to the digital age of internet forums, social media influencers, and YouTube personalities of the industry.
