GUNS ACROSS THE BORDER | What Border Lawmen Used a Century Ago
Twice a year gun writer Dick Williams organizes a three-day theme shoot. Recently I attended one of these events at Gunsite. The theme was what handguns peace officers working on the Southern border used in the period of 1900-1917. The class would cover single and double-action revolvers and semiautomatics from that time period or modern variations with a different platform used each day. DRILLS Instructors Lew Gosnell and Aimee Grant did a great job [...]
INTERMEDIATE SNIPER WEAPONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT
Comparisons are often drawn between law enforcement (LE) and military snipers. Law enforcement snipers are dealing with significantly shorter ranges compared to their military counterparts. Although trained to do rural operations, most law enforcement sniper ops are urban in nature. Law enforcement snipers operate almost exclusively with their tactical [...]
BALLISTIC BREACHING WITH A SHOTGUN
Speed is essential in any dynamic entry. Breaching must be both rapid and effective. There are a variety of methods mechanical, thermal, explosive and ballistic that may be employed depending on what is to be breached and the tactical situation. SHOTGUN BREACHING From a military perspective, since combat has migrated [...]
RUNNING A WHEELGUN — Revolvers for Today’s World
In late 1972, I was hitchhiking home, on leave. Not many troops wore uniforms in public in those days, but I was in Class A’s, with spit-shined jump boots, ‘cuz dad was a retired Airborne Command Sergeant Major and asked me to. As I passed a small gun store, The [...]
STANDOFF HANDGUN DRILLS Accuracy at Situational Speed
As you look at the news and recent attacks you can see a clear trend of bad guys clueing in to the effectiveness of long guns. Whether the attack is on a church, a school, an event or an office the trendline suggests that the man or woman in a [...]
SEMI-AUTO ON STEROIDS SRM Arms 1216 Shotgun
Most fighting shotguns are descendants of hunting shotguns modified for use in a defensive/offensive role. Many, such as the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500/590 series, have served with distinction. But due to their genealogy, they share the common complaint of minimal ammunition capacity. Even “tactical” shotguns are somewhat limited. For [...]
AMERICAN GENIUS Nighthawk Custom Hi-Power
When it comes to firearms designers, one stands out above all others—John Moses Browning. Born in Ogden, Utah in 1855, he made his first firearm at the tender age of 13 and received his first patent at age 24. During his life he designed or made improvements to lever-action rifles—including [...]
RISING FROM THE ASHES Cutaway Instructional Firearm
After my house was destroyed by a fire on 10 April 2005, Kevin McClung of Mad Dog Knives helped me clean up my firearms so I could read the serial numbers and report them as lost to the BATF. Firemen had unceremoniously dumped them all into a pile in my [...]
$300 SHOOTOUT Buying Bargain Blasters
Poking around the Internet a new shooter stands a high probability of coming away with one of two impressions. First that he or she is best off with a 1911, but only certain makes and models will do, and those only after sending it off for sundry modifications and reliability [...]
Chair Qual: Barricade Skills With A Simple Folding Chair
In many carbine classes shooters are shown several ways to adapt their long gun to cover to make a mid-range hit. This is often exposure to a technique, but without a great way to measure or track performance and subsequently carbineros do not sustain those capabilities to a high degree.
After Action Report: Nightmare On Sesame Street
Back in 2012 I received an email from a friend that said he had been asked to see if I would like to attend a three-day carbine class and would it be OK to forward my contact information to the instructor. My friend admitted up front that he had not [...]