Tactical Talk

IDPA is changing. The International Defensive Pistol Association has changed and not for the better. Accompanying this change is the requirement that current SOs test out on the new rule book. IDPA should be about shooting your best tactics and having fun. IDPA has tightened the rules in an effort to eliminate cheating and level the playing field. This has lost IDPA the sense of wonderment that came with a sport that let you try out your tactical skills and compare them to other shooters. The comment “Good tactics!” from an experienced IDPA shooter meant more than winning first place. Now it’s about points, power factors, challenging the scores and rulings and legal dissection of distances, word meanings, management levels, and being a five gun master. There was a time when we asked each shooter if they understood the course of fire and if they didn’t, the safety officer would re-explain it. No...

Commonality

Massad Ayoob explores "What Cops and Armed Citizens Have In Common" in the January 2025 issue of American Handgunner. I’d like to believe “America’s police and nation’s armed citizens have much in common…natural allies in the war on crime.” But I can’t fully accept it. In all the CCW courses I’ve taught, I stressed that your carry permit does not make you an ‘associate’ police officer or give you special powers. That’s the first big difference. While it is an attractive fantasy that during a spree shooting or armed robbery, the armed citizen would, by force of arms, stop the crime. Perhaps even apprehend the criminal for the police. I fall victim to this myself. I cannot tell you how often while watching the news I think, if only an armed citizen was present. But ask the next question. Who would I shoot? You might assume the criminal is trying to drag another ...

Long Time Between

"It's a Damn Long Time between Drinks" is the famous statement allegedly made in 1838, when North Carolina governor Edward B. Dudley purportedly said it to South Carolina governor Pierce Mason. The quotation has been used at least since 1891 as a catchphrase for any long and tedious process. I’m here to tell you it’s been a damn long time between rounds down range. I had shoulder surgery for a torn left rotator cuff and the therapist told me physical therapy for a shoulder replacement goes faster than repair. In any case, after five months, I couldn’t wait to be release and get out to the range. Of course, Mother Nature is a capricious harpy, and after days of rain and bad weather I got out to shoot. I elected to shoot what some people call a range qualifier. It’s a very basic test to look at shooting strong hand, weak hand (or to be more politically correct: non-dominant hand) and two-handed. We can round it out withdrawing from the holster and a slid...

Devil Dog Side Charger

In general, I keep my self-defence tools stock, at least I thought so until I went over my list of modifications. Most of my modifications are user transparent. My AR has the same basic control as any rack-grade rifle. Why? I don’t want to condition myself to reach for a control that might not be there if I grab a non-customized rifle. I added a larger trigger guard for a gloved finger, an ambidextrous charging handle to facilitate clearing jams and other problems, and a light for low-light operation. A group of Marine Veterans have formed a company called... My intention to remain largely stock may change. Recently, Kevin Dockery (author of 'Stalkers and Shooters') showed me a side hard charger that converts your stock AR to a left-hand side charger from Devil Dog Concepts. https://devildogconcepts.com/ I thought, “Is this a solution looking for a problem?" The side charger fits on your rail and is anchored with set screws After I looked...

The Cardboard Whisperer

Stay....Stay.....Easy boy!...

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