Rifle Optics
11 Mar 13 At an Urban Rifle Course last weekend, a student brought an FN/SCAR/17S (7.62×51). His SCAR was equipped with a 3.5x ACOG Optic on top, and iron sights, offset on a 45-degree angle to the right, on LaRue offset mounts. The SCAR ran fine for the duration, without a single hiccup, as did […]
Update
8 Mar 13 I stopped at a big Cabela’s south of Austin, TX this afternoon. Here is what I found: No 223, 308, 9mm, 40S&W, 38Spl, 357Mg, 22LR ammunition anywhere in the store. No high-performance, nor hardball. Some 30-06, some 30-Carbine Gold-Dot, some 7.62x54R (Soviet equivalent of the 308), Some 45ACP Gold-Dot, three 20-round boxes […]
Big Cities
6 Mar 13 I had dinner with a deputy-chief of a big-city PD last week. We’ve known each other for a long time. When I first met him years ago, he was an enthusiastic, young patrolman/trainer. His patrolmen now carry SIG 229/DAKs in 40S&W. They issued WW/SXT for a while, but have recently seen superior […]
Polite Society 2013
3 Mar 13 I’m here in Memphis, TN at Tom Givens’ indoor range, participating in this year’s “Polite Society” Event. Tom Givens’ tireless effort in putting this clinic together every year is much appreciated by all of us. There is a live-fire shooting exercise, all done is low light, along with various scenario-based drills and […]
“It takes Disasters…”
1 Mar 13 This from a friend, recently retired from many years of respected service with the LAPD: “Yesterday was the 16th anniversary of our now-famous ‘North Hollywood Bank of America Shootout.’ Along with millions of other viewers, I watched the review on TV from my sofa at home. Two days after the event, I […]
Modern and Trendy:
1 Mar 13 The first of my books, “The Farnam Method of Defensive Handgun Shooting,” is now available on Kindle for $7.00! The rest will follow. Go to: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=farnam /John
Important and Non-important!
27 Feb 13 In light of our vice-president’s (if you can call him that) recent “advice” to frightened citizens, women in particular, I checked with friends with the Secret Service. They confirmed that they have not a single double-barrel shotgun in their entire inventory, but they do have lots of “hard-to-use,” and “difficult-to-aim” M4s. Imagine […]
NRA vote
26 Feb 13 As a voting NRA member of many years, I’m supporting Steve Schreiner for NRA Board Member, once again. Steve’s personal integrity, honesty, and devotion to the preservation of our Second Amendment Rights has been demonstrated countless times. There are many other good people running, but Steve tops the List! /John
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25 Feb 13 “When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead” Lyrics from “Rain,” written and sung by the Beatles in 1966 I was on the phone today with a long-time friend and colleague who happens to be an elected sheriff in a rural county and boldly […]
Language and Civilization
22 Feb 13 These excellent comments from a friend and academician: “Language serves us, not only by providing an ability to clearly and efficiently communicate, one person to another. It also provides us with an ecumenical ‘vocabulary of concepts.’ For us to integrate bits of raw information and, from that, form concepts and principles, our […]
Sloppy Language
21 Feb 13 In my Instructor Courses, I caution students against using sloppy, non-specific language when lecturing students. Such sloppiness is corrosive to the instructor’s credibility and degrades the value of instruction. An example is the over-use of “Madison Avenue-isms.” Commonly heard in modern advertising, but properly absent from genuine instruction, a “Madison Avenue-ism” is […]
NDs!
19 Feb 13 At a recent Course, one of my students had an ND in his hotel room. It was a single shot from a pistol that hit the floor (ground-floor room). No personal injury and only slight property damage, which my student graciously took care of promptly. The bullet (9mm hardball) demolished itself on […]
Heroes in Action
15 Feb 13 Classic American entrepreneurs, and my friends, Ronnie Barrett and Mark LaRue, both deserve our grateful recognition for taking a courageous stand that will be unpopular with socialist politicians, including mayors, governors, and presidents alike Both have publically declared that they will not sell guns, nor accouterments, to any government agency, nor any […]
Guide to Governance, Good and Bad
14 Feb 13 Benevolent governments enact laws prohibiting “harmful behaviors” on the part of individuals. Enlightened officials, elected and appointed, as a matter of personal honor, chivalrously subject themselves to the same laws they demand everyone else obey. Tyrannical governments enact laws prohibiting “things” that frighten them, like guns. Tyrannical officials, elected and appointed, with […]
Situation Update
11 Feb 13 Situation Update, from a large retailer in the Midwest: “No one in our industry ever thought anything like this current feeding-frenzy was even possible! I’ve watched our entire inventory sell-out over the past few weeks, and our pace of resupply doesn’t come close to keeping up! First, it was all our Stoner-System […]
IBD Story, from a friend and instructor in UT
8 Feb 13 IBD Story, from a friend and instructor in UT: “I work at a residential treatment center. Many of our admits struggle with suicidal ideation and self-harm impulses, like cutting. Our job is to help keep them safe while they participate in a lengthy, therapeutic and academic treatment program. And, since I completed […]
Sign of the times
6 Feb 13 Most big, metro police departments currently do not respond to electronic burglar-alarms on unoccupied property, particularly during high-activity periods like holiday weekends. The PD will eventually send an unsworn “community-service” officer to take a report, but will not dispatch a beat-car to the location when the alarm comes in. Now, cash-strapped Chicago […]
Getting worse!
5 Feb 13 This from a close friend in the industry: “I have been in the firearms/ammunition distribution business since I left my agency in 1988, and I have never seen Americans this desperate to buy anything and everything associated with weapons and effective fighting. The current situation is unprecedented! Not only guns and ammunition, […]
Gas-Adjustable, Military Rifles
1 Feb 13 At an Urban Rifle Course in South Florida earlier this week. I ran my XCR-M in 7.62×51 (308 Win) for two days, and several of my students were using gas-adjustable rifles as well. Some gas-piston rifles, like the ever-popular M1A, are not gas-adjustable, but many others, like the FAL, SIG/556, and the […]
FL Pig Hunt!
29 Jan 13 Late yesterday afternoon, on a ranch down here in south FL, I shot and killed a 125lb wild pig, using my LaRue/Aimpoint (T1) and Surefire (X300)-equipped XCR-M, with 168gr Cor-Bon DPX (308). We were ten minutes into an all-afternoon hunt. I was perched high on a swamp-buggy, along with my guides and […]
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.
