Tripods – The Support You Need
When the word “tripod” entered my mind, it seemed to be in only one or two contexts. Someone needed to take a stable photo. Or something belt-fed and fully automatic had come into play. As a former infantryman, I typically thought of M-60s and M240Bs, general-purpose machine guns or larger ones, such as the M2 Browning Heavy Machine Gun and the Mk-19 40mm automatic grenade launcher. Zeroing pistol optics off the tripod in a [...]
Math On The Range
Fun and math are two words that rarely intersect in my world. However, you need to step out of your comfort zone and try something different. PRS Before I retired, one of my guys frequently talked about his PRS (Precision Rifle Shooting) hobby. While it was an interesting conversation over [...]
Alternative Calibers For Police Rifle Training
For most users, the AR-15 pattern rifle in 5.56mm is the “go-to” answer for those needing a patrol rifle. However, there are times, particularly for training, when AR pattern rifles in alternate calibers warrant consideration. While the use of ARs in 9x19mm (aka Pistol Caliber Carbines or PCC) has been [...]
Selecting Your Patrol Rifle
The patrol rifle or patrol carbine has exploded in popularity in the last ten years. While some agencies had them long before that, I didn’t see them become as popular or prevalent in New England until the early 2000s. When I was first assigned to the Firearms Training Unit at [...]
Mk 3 For Thee
Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com, a magazine is defined as: noun - mag·a·zine ma-ge-zenˌ 5: a supply chamber: such as a : a holder in or on a gun for cartridges (see cartridge sense 1) to be fed into the gun chamber Finally, with the fifth definition, we get to the [...]
Trust A Process
Trust the process. We hear that phrase a lot. Do we have processes when it comes to our firearms? We previously addressed this issue and how it related to one's handgun. For police officers and lawfully armed citizens, that route is frequently traveled. What about a less frequently employed weapon, [...]
Colt’s Open Enrollment M-16/AR-15 Armorer’s Course
While some companies schedule and make factory armorer training available to a significant number of people, that is not always the case. Even as a retired sheriff’s sergeant who writes and teaches, there are some armorer courses I have not been able to take. It is extremely encouraging that Colt [...]
On Target: Reading Wind and Trajectory
Understanding the impact of wind on a projectile's trajectory is crucial for precision shooting. Trajectory refers to the path that a projectile or object follows through space because of external forces acting upon it. For bullets or other projectiles, this path is typically a curved line due to the influence [...]
Loading Mags — Angry Stag’s Electric AR-15 Magazine Loader
Emptying your loaded magazines by shooting them is fun; loading a bunch of magazines isn’t fun but is a necessity in classes, equipment testing, and organizational qualifications when the shooters aren’t rolling up with their loaded magazines. How do we get those loaded magazines? In the military, it was easy [...]
Staging Your Long Gun
A fair amount of defensive firearms training comes from the experience of domestic law enforcement. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can be experience-driven. Likely, it is vetted within local and federal statutes and case law. Unfortunately, it means development and evolution can be hampered by decades [...]
We Were Slingin’
A long time ago, in what was another country, I heard it said that a sling is to a rifle or shotgun what a holster is to a handgun. The sling fulfills several purposes. It is a way to secure (or store) your long gun when you want it handy [...]