Volcano Alert

Luckily it is more remote than Redoubt... 940 miles from Anchorage.

Front Sight: Review Intro

Earlier in December we blogged about attending a firearms training course. We were attending Front Sight out in Nevada. Heather was able to take the four day handgun course and I took four day rifle with my new AR-15; previously, Heather had taken the two day ropes class as well.

We will post our impressions and review the classes in the future here at Arma. We'll also talk about how we got into Front Sight and our thoughts on it.

Because I love to spoil surprises, I'll say right up front that we would rate this training as, say, a "6 or 7 out of 10." It is good, safe firearms training. It could be faster paced, it could be better, but we felt it was a good value and worth out time. I know we both learned quite a bit. I will also admit that the advertising for Front Sight looks like a used car salesman's pyramid scheme--still, I care most about the training received and the safety procedures in place, not the advertising copy.

Home Invaders Charged with Manslaughter

You may remember that we recently discussed a home invasion in which four perps attacked a homeowner, and two perps were killed by defensive gunfire. Gwen, the anti-gun bigot over at GASG, called this a murder, except she mixed up the offender; she was blaming the homeowner, who has been declared "clearly within his rights" by the DA.

The two survivors have been charged with manslaughter:
Pico and Pfister are being prosecuted because they were part of the conspiracy that resulted in the killing of Johnson and Trantham, Fayette said. Their actions were reckless and the possibility that one or more of them could have been killed was "foreseeable," especially in Alaska, which has a large percentage of armed residents, Fayette said.

http://www.adn.com/2011/12/16/2221449/grand-jury-indicts-2-in-deaths.html

Interestingly, the homeowner had some pot plants in his house. That would technically be a federal firearms violation. It could also make the defensive use of the firearm a crime under Alaska law (you can't use a firearm to defend your drug stash). Because the DA and police were so supportive of the homeowner I'm thinking that the homeowner may have had a medical marijuana card or something.

The bottom line though is that this looks like it is being handled by the authorities as a legit DGU; even better for justice, they're holding the actual criminals accountable for getting their buddies shot and killed.

For some reason, Blogger is having trouble with Linkage...

Culture Wars

After a day of driving through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, naturally the conversation turned to TV shows such as "Swamp People" and "Hillbilly Handfishin'," particularly after having recently read an NPR article (or, more relevantly, the comments) on the subject.

Me: "They should make TV shows about northern liberals doing stupid stuff."
Chris:  "It's called MSNBC."

Rapiscan in Anchorage

Good to see one of our local legislators backing a civil liberties issue.
http://www.adn.com/2011/12/19/2225221/anchorage-politician-feuds-with.html

Tuck said he always opts for a private pat-down whenever he is traveling and confronted with a body scanner. "The reason why I do the private pat-downs is because, as a political official, I don't want there to be a picture of me, because everybody has a phone and cameras, a picture of me with my arms up being frisked as if I'm a criminal," he said.


So do I. It also has the benefit of gumming up the works, slowing down the line, and inconveniencing TSA. While I'm sure many of them enjoy groping victims, I like to look them in the eye and ask uncomfortable personal questions while they feel me up.

Compliance with Criminals

Sometimes, even when you comply with the demands of the bad guys, they still kill you.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/14/unc-student-fatally-shot-had-asked-captors-to-pray-before-death-according-to/?intcmp=obnetwork

The student body president at UNC Chapel Hill was abducted, sexually assaulted, and then robbed. She plead for her life, and also asked her captors to pray with her. They shot her four times with a handgun then shot her in the head with a shotgun.

Of course, the victim had no ability to defend herself. She wasn't 21 and thus couldn't legally purchase a handgun. She was a student in a victim disarmament zone (college campus). The criminals -- prohibited persons and multiple felons, but I'll let Sean provide the details -- ignored multiple laws in the course of their murderous spree. Our victim was left with few options, tried to comply, and still got killed.
http://ncguns.blogspot.com/

Yet somehow, gun control activists will spin this as something to use to score political points. In fact, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence already did a blood dance and discussed how they could exploit the Carson murder for political gain ("Chuck said it is a mistake not to take advantage of the high profile of the Eve Carson shooting.").
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCsQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fncgv.org%2Ffiles%2FMinutes_3-11-08_board_mtg.doc&ei=9AjwTtCjAaKLsgK089ikCQ&usg=AFQjCNFX7KdqSwAyaLYEvkAkkE5OIrkPsA

Interestingly, they decided that writing to the paper was not effective:
"We will no longer write letters to the N&O in response to a shooting. This does not work. Roxane had a conversation with Winston-Salem member, Ann Robinson whose husband works with a newspaper. She found that for every letter we write there are several more from the other side. Sue said her minister was devastated about Eve Carson’s shooting and did not want to hear about anything on our issue. "

They did discuss, "getting a packet of information to every university safety officer to offer our help." What kind of help is a gun control group going to offer to a campus cop? Can NCGV call upon the combined powers of the VPC and Brady Campaign to fix the flux capacitor in the gun-free zone's magic anti-gun forcefield? Apparently the device is malfunctioning if felons with multiple convictions can get onto campus with their firearms in order to commit armed mayhem.

Another columnist (possibly associated with the NCGV, I'm not sure) devolved into Markley's Law, making penis jokes:
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/one-nation-under-guns/Content?oid=1207774

Any you wonder why we can't have a discussion with the gun control people. They refuse to engage on a rational level and fail to provide any actionable solutions while insisting that law abiding people turn themselves into victims-in-waiting.

Maybe They're Onto Something...

So this was the second place I have taken a handgun course.  It is also the second place that has asked me to consider working for them.  I really enjoyed line coaching up in Alaska, so I got my NRA credentials.  This latest request has definitely firmed up my desire to pursue firearms instruction as a side job (or more, if I can't get a full-time position in my field after this move.  Who knows?).  The place did say that I could commute from across the country, two weeks on, two weeks off, but I don't know about that...

Constitution Free Zone

We recently traveled through the American South West. During our drive I came across an elaborate checkpoint out in the middle of nowhere on a two-lane highway. A border patrol person started asking me where I was going and if I was a US citizen while his buddy started around the car with a dog.

Luckily, in this case, the agents were helpful and told us the road ahead was closed due to a winter storm.
http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2011/12/19/deadly-southwestern-snowstorm-brings-dangerous-conditions-halts-travel/?test=latestnews

We doubled back and took another highway that was open. We then ran into another checkpoint, where I had a quick chat with the border patrol guy. I used the TSA strategy of responding to questions with a vague answer and a question of my own. The guy was a nice guy, also happened to be a military guardsman or reservist (didn't stick around to figure out which). No issues.

This also identified some strange cameras we'd seen elsewhere on the highway. Earlier on the day in the median we'd noticed a plain white unmarked trailer with a bank of cameras pointing at the road. The checkpoint had an identical set of cameras. I wonder if they are just being monitored or if they have license plate tracking technology.

I did a bit of research and found that this sort of temporary detention and questioning is totally legit. No RAS or PC is required to send you to a secondary detention area for more questioning either. They are allowed within 100 aerial miles of the border.

It was definitely a weird, Kafka-esque moment to be stopped at a permanent checkpoint inside the country, though. I can't imagine what message this sends to Americans living south of the border: has the border patrol just given up on actually enforcing the real border? How does cracking down on legitimate traffic inside the US improve security on a porous border? Is the war on drugs really worth detaining Americans regularly at a police checkpoint? If you live to the South of the checkpoint I can imagine that you'd feel like the government has given up on you, just moving the border 100 miles north, and treating you with suspicion.

Even though this has nothing to do with TSA, I figured as it falls into the "desensitizing Americans to deal with searches/seizures/detentions/questioning without any PC or RAS" category much like TSA.

Rifles to 300 Yards

We're in the middle of some multi-day shooting classes so this will be brief. Today I was working a scenario course with my AR during a rifle course. There were some "shoot" targets from 5-50 yards; no problem, double tapped them with solid rings on steel. There was a no-shoot target; I went above and beyond and did some verbal commands rather than just ignoring it, and also made good use of cover while dealing with it.

Then I saw a target that was about 300 yards away (range estimated using front sight post, so is rough). First I ignored it and dealt with another target that was closer. Then I went for cover and wormed my way up a berm to look at the distant target. I asked the instructor shadowing me if it was in the scenario, to which the answer was affirmative.

I then had a blinding realization: I'm holding a rifle, not a handgun.

This, I believe, is because the rifle is a tool of power. A good rifleman can bring kinetic power to bear upon his environment. He can reach out and cause things to happen decisively and selectively at a distance.

Cooper, Jeff (2010). Art Of The Rifle (p. 17). Paladin Press. Kindle Edition.

So I settled in (already prone), worked on sight alignment, sight picture, breath, and trigger (follow through/reset), and pinged the steel within a few seconds. Then did it again, because anything worth shooting once is probably worth shooting again.

I felt good about making the shots with iron sights in low light (it was twilight with the sun below the horizon) against black targets under a bit of time pressure from an improvised field position against a range-unknown target. It was definitely a "lightning bolt" moment for me: this is a rifle. My shooting of military-pattern "AR" style rifles has almost always been at 200 yards or less. Most of it has been at 25 yard indoor ranges shooting "simulated 300 yard" targets. There's a lot of difference between 300 yards in twilight and "sim 300 yards" at the end of a well lit indoor 25 yard range.

There's also a lot of difference between 300 yards in twilight with irons on a 14.5" AR and 300 yards with a 20+" bolt gun with a 3-9x optic in the daylight. I feel confident about being able to hit the vitals of a big game animal out to 300 yards with my X-Bolt but the AR is a bit of a different story.

Of course, a pop-up target at the very end of the course housed me: the thing was about 35 yards away and I blasted two shots into the dirt. I then knelt behind cover, and took another pair of effective shots once I remembered my fundamentals.

USPSA was definitely helpful, even on this "unknown" course that I couldn't map out ahead of time, even though I was using a totally different weapons system. The philosophy of either engaging, moving, or getting to cover (i.e., NOT standing still in befuddlement) is also helpful.

But the real big thing for me was realizing that I can really reach out there with a rifle on more dynamic scenarios. There is a huge difference from handguns.

"When considering the objectives of a shooting program, I have settled upon the premise that the object of the practical rifleman is the achievement of first-round hits, on appropriate targets, at unknown ranges, from improvised firing positions, against the clock."

Cooper, Jeff (2010). Art Of The Rifle (p. 21). Paladin Press. Kindle Edition.

I can't do that consistently with my AR yet throughout the ballistic envelope of the weapon but I'm starting to assemble the skills needed to do it. This is probably no great shakes for many of those reading this blog, but I'm pretty excited about increasing my confidence level on these shots.

Who knows, maybe I'll be ready for a Boomershot sometime in the near future!

Slow Going...

Day one of a four day handgun class (rifle for Chris) in the middle of another giant move.  Don't expect much out of us at the moment!

Rucksacks

It has finally occurred: My Bugout Gear (brandname) ruck sack has reached the end of its useful service life, after about eight years of service. The bag has been my carryon for just about every air trip I've taken, been stuffed full of books as a college backpack, and used for some rough overseas trips in difficult conditions. Some of the seams have ripped out, creating large holes, as have the shoulder straps. The bag will make one more run as a backpack full of stuff for our car trip but I think this is the last hurrah for it.

I'm looking for a replacement. One obvious choice is just to get another Bugout Gear ruck, but for the price they run these days I might be able to upgrade to something nicer for not much more. Any ideas? A minimum requirement is that the ruck must be able to hold a ton of stuff including a full size laptop as well as fit into an airline overhead bin as a carryon.

Supertuck Velcro

Recently Bob asked how the Supertuck velcro performs in some, ahem, non-standard situations.

How does the Velcro perform when your pants aren't buttoned?

One of the things I like about the clips is the support they provide to the holster against the belt when getting dressed or using the facilities.

I've been very impressed and pleased with my Supertuck for my Taurus PT145.
If the Velco is stable enough, it would be nice to have as another option.

The velcro provides a bit less support than the clips. With sturdy pants (I usually wear jeans or 5.11 casual pants, the ones with hidden pockets) the velcro works fairly well however. The holster is still secured at four points: two on the belt, two on the pants.

The bigger issue is tucking your shirt back in. It is a bit of a pain to get bloused out properly and to tuck in around the holster. It is also tough to verify that things look right without a mirror. So you might find yourself finishing your business, doing the best tuck you can, ducking out to check your look out in the washroom mirror, then having to subtly adjust out there (or duck back into a stall for more extensive adjustments).

Supertuck Problem and Update

I've been very happy with my Supertuck IWB holster, however I'e been having a problem that needs to be reported. While carrying a S&W M&P compact, the magazine has come loose and does not remain securely seated.

The first time this happened, I chalked it up to coincidence. The second time was worrisome, and the third event was a disturbing pattern. I am not quite sure if this is an issue with the holster or the gun, however, this does not seem to be a common issue with the M&P and I have had no trouble with holsters of other makes (Bianchi, Fobus, serpa-retention style, etc). Neither has Heather, who also carries an M&P. That leads me to suspect the holster.

The best theory I've come up with is that the mag release is getting pushed in by the holster when I sit or wear it. The kydex portion of the holster does not cover the mag release. Moreover the leather near the mag release is scuffed slightly.

I am not giving up on the supertuck. As an immediate measure I've started checking the mag to make sure it is securely seated. I've also thought about the whole "tap rack bang" malfunction clearance issue. I'm going to change where I carry the supertuck and see if changing the position from 5:00 to 3:00 or 4:00 mitigates the issue. I can also change the height at which the holster rides which may help.

Still, a trend of the mag release getting hit which pops a mag out, which would induce a malfunction if I had to fire the pistol, is very problematic.