Gun safety and Rule #1

Gabe Suarez has a blog post about 'combat gun safety' here:
http://www.warriortalknews.com/2010/05/true-combat-gun-safety.html

Rule One: Treat All guns as if they were loaded. Notice I did not say the traditional - All Guns Are Always Loaded, because truly they are not. Yet, guns are useless if they are not loaded. So we always begin with the assumption that they ARE loaded. When handling the piece in an administrative manner - we first check it to verify its condition and if necessary, we unload it. We always run a hot range. If you can't be trusted with a loaded gun why are you even in class?

I couldn't agree more.   I don't know how many times I've heard someone tell me some spiel about "All guns are always loaded period, and you need to know that it's always loaded in your heart" or "How can you tell if a gun is unloaded?  Trick question! All guns are always loaded!"

I don't believe in trying to deceive myself, nor would that work on me.

Grant Cunningham has a similar view on rule 1
http://grantcunningham.com/blog_files/01cd852e1047ef52554640508d2bf118-258.html

While Rule #1 logically admits that there is such a thing as an unloaded gun, it asks us to pretend that it doesn't really exist. This is important, as the rule only makes sense if the state of being 'unloaded' exists, but it implores us to make believe that such a state doesn't really exist. This situation is called cognitive dissonance: holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously. It's a state of mind that humans don't tolerate all that well.

If one accepts the fallacy that an unloaded state doesn't exist, it becomes clear in the mind that the remaining three rules apply only to loaded guns. After all, the first rule says that there is no such thing as an unloaded gun; therefore, the other three rules can apply only to loaded guns, because - remember! - unloaded guns "don't exist."

[...] One of the best shooting instructors I know - Georges Rahbani - has done just that. He acknowledged the problem and dealt with the issue by eliminating what I'll call "Traditional Rule #1" from his curriculum. Instead, he teaches that any and all guns, loaded or unloaded, are treated to the same standards, which he calls The Three Commandments of Gun Safety

Welcome to Earf

There are about 6300 results on Google for "welcome to earf"
http://www.google.com/search?q="welcome+to+earf" which people are claiming is what Will Smith said in Independence Day.  This is despite the fact that in the movie he clearly articulated the 'th' at the end of Earth.



How did this start and get so widespread?  It seems a little weird since Will Smith and other actors did plenty of dumb stuff in that movie to make fun of.

See also:
The Office Seagon 6 episode "Body Language"

Darryl: "That sounds alright"
Dwight: "It sounds a lot better than just 'aight.'"
Darryl: "I didn't say 'aight.'"

Wikipedia wanderings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_line_%28parades%29
->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_funeral
->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_K-Doe
->
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-in-Law_%28song%29


What a terrific song, a brutal rip on the singer's mother in law wrapped in a relatively upbeat song. There's an interesting and always fun kind of song where the lyrics are totally incongruous with the music. See also Nina Gordon's cover of Straight out of Compton




or


A good man is easy to kill by Beulah

On stance and skeletal alignment for shooting

A lot of people say that shooting stance is a matter of personal preference, which is true, but at the same time there are certainly reasons why one stance might be objectively better than another, especially in specific contexts.

Thesis: If your goal is to shoot rapidly with minimal muzzle rise, then the ideal stance has your skeleton aligned to resist recoil, without needing to use a lot of muscle.

Recoil is something pushing you straight backwards away from the target.  What would you do naturally if someone walked up to you and was about to shove you back, hard?  You'd probably do something like a wrestler's stance.  You'd lower your level by bending your knees, and square up to the person with your feet, knees, hips, shoulders, and head all facing them, and raise both arms up to about shoulder level with your hands facing them.  You'd generally want one leg back so that your rear leg can give you a forward push.

Something like this:

This stance is ideal to resist a person pushing you, and it's similarly good to resist the effects of recoil.
That's because it has good skeletal alignment towards a target.  Note: I'm not saying you would bend forward that much when shooting or otherwise look exactly like that; it's just to give you a general idea.

You are skeletally aligned if:
Your head, shoulders, hips, knees, and feet are all connected more or less in a straight line.  You might be bent forward a little bit, but there should be no misalignment sideways.

 Like this:

In addition, your feet, knees, hips, shoulders, and head should all be facing in the same direction, with bilateral symmetry.  In other words, your body is not twisted or tilted in any way.   Like this:

You are misaligned if these 2 things are not true.
Like this:

Misalignment due to the head being tilted to the side

Bilateral symmetry is broken because one shoulder is higher than the other

Bilateral symmetry is broken because the head is twisted to one side, not everything is facing the same direction.











When you have good skeletal alignment, resisting something pushing you back is relatively easy and you can stay relaxed.   When you are misaligned, you can still do it, but it takes a lot more energy and requires you to get more tense. 

Let's say you had to do a bench press.   Would you keep your head, shoulders, hips, and knees facing up towards the ceiling, or would you turn your knees facing to the right and your head facing to the left?  Now, maybe you could do the bench press while misaligned, but you'd have to use a lot more muscle, and get tired faster.  And probably injure yourself if using any heavy weight.  Why make it hard for yourself?

In wrestling or grappling, your goal is to always keep yourself aligned and to misalign your opponent.  In gunfighting, your opponent probably is not going to be able to touch you, so the only reason you'd be misaligned is if you did it to yourself.

I'm not saying everything has to be perfectly aligned and bilateral.  For example, you probably would want to have one foot back, which gives you a base to the rear so you can push forward, which is not  bilateral.  And your rear foot might naturally feel more comfortable pointed out 10 or 20 degrees. A little bit of slack is fine as long as there is a good reason for it, but the general principle of alignment holds true.


Quiz: which is more aligned?  Which would be superior for shooting quickly while minimizing muzzle rise?

Notes:

Aside from the obvious twisting of your body when doing a bladed stance, also look at your shoulders.  Often when you do a bladed stance, you end up with your shooting shoulder higher than your other shoulder, which is no good.

With isosceles your skeletal structure helps reduce the effects of recoil, so there's no need for the push-pull that Weaver requires.  Having to do an isometric push-pull will cause your muscles to get tired prematurely, and is antithetical to being relaxed, which is required for optimum performance in any sport.

When using a rifle or shotgun, if you stand more square, you need a shorter stock.  You should mount the stock a little more inboard towards your chest as opposed to out towards your arm, because you want to minimize the effect of having your shooting shoulder pushed back by recoil (which would reduce your bilateral symmetry).

When shooting any kind of gun, keeping your elbows pointed out sideways rather than down helps reduce muzzle rise, because when your elbows are pointing down, that naturally allows your arms to bend upwards (like doing a bicep curl).  Some uber-tactical guys might complain that keeping your elbow out sideways makes it more likely to get shot off, and that may be true, but I wouldn't worry about it that much.  You can always keep your elbow down when rolling out from behind a barricade.

When you mount a long gun you should always keep your head upright in a natural position without moving it, and raise the gun to your face, don't put your head down on the gun.  Moving your head will usually end up with your head misaligned.

Other advantages of standing square vs bladed:
- If your body is bladed with your hips facing to the right, then you're going to have a harder time tracking a target moving to the left.  This is because you're starting out with your upper body already twisted to the left, so if you twist more to the left it becomes really uncomfortable.   If you start square, you can twist to either side a certain amount if you had to.
- If you're wearing body armor, standing square has obvious advantages.

- Another thing you can do to reduce muzzle rise is to put your support hand farther forward on the forearm of the long gun.   This helps reduce muzzle rise and gives a bit finer control when moving the muzzle around(like how when you write with a pen, you hold the pen close to the tip).   Holding the forearm farther out does have the disadvantage that it's a bit less stable, since it's farther away from you, the rifle feels heavier due to leverage.  So for fighting, it's useful to stand square and hold your support hand near the muzzle for fine control of the muzzle and good control of recoil and muzzle rise for rapid shooting.  For target shooting, it's better to stand sideways and hold the forearm very close to your body with your support arm, with your support elbow resting against your hip for stability, since you only care about stability and not about moving the muzzle from target to target, nor about muzzle rise.

- Standing bladed may make your body a smaller target, but any hit on the target will probably go through two or more vital organs.  Standing square, a hit is probably going to go through one at most.   I wouldn't say either square or bladed has an advantage in this regard.

For more technique tips: http://jumpthestack.blogspot.com/search/label/shooting%20tips

New 10/22

I just impulse-bought a Ruger 10/22 with funky green laminated stock.  It looks like this(not the one I bought, but identical):

Some may call it gauche, but I like it.  Planned upgrades: I want to make it a 'Liberty Training Rifle" for Appleseed shooting.  Tech sights since I want a longer sight radius, and an auto bolt release and extended mag release, and a GI web sling.  It's kind of fun to have a tinkering gun, that's not for defensive purposes so I don't mind potentially messing it up.

I want to get into precision shooting; when I took carbine courses before, my groups during the sighting-in period were dreadful. 


Appleseed, here I come!

Well, after I get it out of 10-day California gun jail. :(

Raven Concealment holster review

Raven Concealment is a maker of modular Kydex holsters.

They're fairly unique in terms of the different options; a holster can be converted between IWB and OWB, and use different types of clips and loops, e.g. to become tuckable.

I ordered a Phantom holster with IWB tuckable soft loops for my government sized Dan Wesson 1911.  It fits well and the retention is good.  When worn as an OWB, it's comfortable and is held very tight to the body, and conceals well for an OWB.  

When worn as IWB with the loops, it conceals well and the tuckable feature works fine.  I did find it to be a bit uncomfortable, with both the holster and the gun's grip poking me a little bit if I moved around.  I do think it might be possible to move it around until I find a position that's comfortable, and get used to it.  

For an OWB it's great, but for comfortable all day IWB, I think something leather, especially with a leather body shield like the Crossbreed SuperTuck or Comp-Tac MTAC would be better.

AAR: Louis Awerbuck Yavapai Firearms Academy 2 day shotgun

This is a review for the Shotgun stage 2 class at Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara.  Note: This is actually the first level shotgun class.  The curriculum at classes at Reed's are slightly different from YFA classes at other ranges.  See http://reedsindoorrange.com/training.html for more.

The ammo requirement on the paper handout I got when I registered said 200 buck, 50 slugs, but in the actual class, buck was only required for the initial patterning stage(maybe 10 rounds at most), then the rest of the class, birdshot was acceptable.  I wish I had known that so I could have brought the much cheaper birdshot.  Slings are mandatory for the class.

 The first half of the first day was in the classroom where he discussed types of shotguns, accessories, ammo, and the importance of patterning shot for each combination of (barrel, choke, ammo, distance).  It's important to know both the group size and shape, since you're responsible for every pellet that goes downrange, and if you miss the target a stray pellet may hit some grandma 100 yards away.   On the other hand, for some situations like a riot, you may prefer a wider pattern, but either way you should know ahead of time what the gun and ammo will do.   He said he prefers to just use slugs exclusively to avoid worrying about the pattern at different ranges and to avoid needing to mix different kinds of ammo if a longer range shot is needed.

There was a lot of diversity in the class in terms of experience levels, and at least 4 different models of guns, with many different sling systems.  Four out of 12 were left handed.
A bunch of 870s, 3 Mossbergs, and 2 Benelli Super 90s, and 1 Benelli Nova.

He went over how to sling up, and how to load and unload and manipulate the safety, which took a while with all the different systems.  When loading, he said for most people, it's preferable to just load through the magazine and not through the ejection port.  For most people, it's too complicated to use two different ports for loading.   Ejection port loading is okay if you know you're empty and you're loading administratively, but while fighting, your bolt should always be forward since you always cycle the bolt after firing.  It's easier to just load from the mag tube, and if the chamber happens to be empty, to just quickly rack the slide and fire.

We patterned with buck at a few different ranges and observed the patterns growing.  Patterns varied greatly depending on gun and ammo used.   Federal buck with flite control wads had a very tight pattern.

We did the rolling thunder drill, where each person fires once, then twice, and so on, up to 5 shots per person.  Later we did a different version with  the order of firing and the number of shots fired at each step all scrambled up, so communication was important to indicate to the next person when it was their turn.

We did some shooting on negative targets, with a hole cut out of the chest of the target.  You'd only hit the paper if you missed.  After shooting 1-3 rounds we would reload immediately.

We did shooting at multiple target drills.   With a pump-action, it's important to shoot, then as you run the bolt you are already transitioning to the next target, so you're ready to shoot by the time the muzzle gets to the next target.  When you finish hitting your last target, swing the muzzle back to cover the first target, because he's the most likely that you need to deal with soon.

We zeroed with slugs.  He demonstrated shooting from prone or sitting and we had to choose one.
For precision shots, manipulate the trigger more like handgun/rifle, with squeeze and follow through.   In order to follow through properly, don't run the bolt right away on a pump.

Snap shots with slugs.

Slug select drill: mag tube must be downloaded by one.  Put slug in the mag tube and rack the slide to put it in the chamber.  This may eject a live round from the chamber, which is acceptable.

We did some drills where we had to mix slugs and buck in the mag tube and it quickly became confusing, which is the point; don't do it.
There were a few more drills I think but this is all that I remember.

I thought it was a good class and I learned a lot.  He mentioned that in a 2-day class, there isn't enough time to go over everything he'd want to, so he'd rather just cover certain things in depth than to try to cover everything briefly.   The class did not involve any shooting while moving, shooting a moving target, transitioning to handgun, or low light shooting.

Some other notes:
All defensive shotguns need, in order of importance:
 - a well fitted stock (stock fitting for fighting is not necessarily the same as fitting for trap/skeet)
 - a sling
 - a white light (SureFire forends are the best)

Proper length of pull is a function of neck and forearm length, not so much overall height.

For most people 12.5 - 13 inch is a good fit.  Generally the standard stock as it comes from the manufacturer is too long. With the stock on your bicep in the crook of your arm, the second knuckle from the fingertip should be on the trigger comfortably.
With a well fitted stock you can:
- reach the forend and rack the bolt comfortably
- mount the gun comfortably by raising it up to your face and not deviating your neck at all from its natural position.
- lean forward aggressively to control recoil
- stand more square with both hips facing the target.   If you have a more sideways stance with hips facing to the right, then you can't easily swivel to shoot a new target to the left.  A sideways stance would also be more uncomfortable when moving around.
An overly long stock may interfere with these things.

Mossberg safety position is good, can keep trigger finger straight as on rifle/pistol, and keep the same firing grip through all manipulations.
A crossbolt safety requires you to keep your trigger finger crooked on the safety which happens to be near the trigger.
But he prefers the 870 anyways, because it's a very reliable, sturdy design that hasn't changed since the 50s or 60s.


Bead vs ghost ring:
He said he generally will leave whatever came on the gun, and has a few of both.   He mentioned a soldier who could get a cloverleaf group at 50 yards with slugs and a bead sight, so it is possible to be accurate with a bead, although of course rifle / ghost ring sights are generally better at distance.  If you add sights to your barrel, you should always have the gunsmith use silver solder.  Don't trust any claims of super space shuttle epoxy, with any glue, that sight will be flying off at some point.

Vang comp:
choke / backboring is useful, porting is not so useful.   If tight pattern is desired, that can be accomplished more cheaply by picking the right ammo.

When using a traditional stock (non full pistol grip), always shoot with your thumb of your firing hand on top of the receiver, not wrapped around the receiver.  This is to avoid hitting yourself in the face with your thumb.

5.11 / Blade-Tech Revolution holster review

The 5.11 / Blade-Tech Revolution holster is an inexpensive polymer holster made for a wide variety of handguns.   It comes with attachments to use as a belt holster or as a paddle holster.  I have one for a SIG P220 and one for a XD9 subcompact.   I've used both of them for multiple day training classes with no problems.   They retail for around $30, and occasionally LAPolicegear.com has them on clearance.  I got one for my SIG P220 for 12 bucks.  

I found them to be sturdy, comfortable, and easy to use.  When you insert the gun it clicks audibly.   It has good retention in the sense that I feel comfortable that the gun will not fall out even if I were to roll around on the ground.  It doesn't have any kind of active retention like a Serpa or Safariland ALS, and it doesn't particularly conceal well.   I think the best use for this holster would be for range training or open carry in situations where you're not worried about people grabbing your gun, e.g. if you carry at home around a farm or ranch or something.  

Thumbs up if you need a holster fitting these parameters.

Review: Rio Royal low recoil 00 buckshot and Federal Tactical 00 buckshot

I recently took a few defensive shotgun classes, which I'll review later.

I'll keep this one short and sweet:

The Federal Tactical Low recoil 00 buck had a very tight pattern:
Out of a stock 18.5 inch cylinder bore Mossberg 500 barrel it did
2 inches at 5 yards
3.25 inches at 15 yards
6.5 inches at 25 yards

It also functioned flawlessly.  I bought it on http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/.

The Rio Royal low recoil 00 buck had a very wide pattern (I didn't measure it, but at 7 yards the pellets would be all over a human torso).   It also did not feed very well into my Mossberg 500's mag tube.  About one out of every four rounds,  the shell would stick a little bit as I was trying to shove it in, and I would have to wiggle it around a little to get it to go in.   It was usually sticking around where the brass entered the mag tube.   Feeding from the mag tube to the chamber, and extraction and ejection from the chamber was flawless.

The feeding issue with the Rio Royal was a big problem to me, I don't necessarily mind a wide pattern for training, but difficulty loading the gun is a deal breaker.  While it was significantly cheaper than other brands, I would not buy Rio Royal ammo again.   I think I bought it from http://www.cabelas.com.

Regarding feeding, Rio Royal is high brass while the Federal is low brass, but I don't think that was the problem.  I have tried some Remington ammo that was high brass and it fed into the mag tube without problems.  I think the Rio Royal brass was just slightly out of spec in its dimensions.

As an aside I should mention I also fired a bunch of Winchester Super-X birdshot, Winchester Super-X slugs, and Federal low recoil slugs.   All functioned perfectly.

AR-15 tip: homemade gapper to reduce chafing of finger on trigger guard

Most AR-15 trigger guards have a gap near the pistol grip.  When the top of your middle finger on your firing hand rubs against the gap, the metal edges of the gap scrape your finger painfully.

Some people stuff a foam earplug in there temporarily to reduce the issue.  This is mentioned in the book Green Eyes and Black Rifles.   I found it would inevitably fall out after a while.

There's also a product called the Gapper which is a foam piece specifically shaped to fit the gap.

A reviewer for the product on MidwayUSA mentioned that you can accomplish the same goal by using some hot glue from a hot glue gun in the gap to create your own gapper.   I tried it and found it works great.  The solid glue stays in the gap very well, and is not permanent; if you want you can actually remove it whole and use it in a different rifle.

Handgun grip technique

These articles/videos say it better than I could.

http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_training/combatg_100306/

Good article by Duane Thomas with tips from Brian Enos and Dave Sevigny on gripping the handgun.  While they have different nuances of their grip, they both use a thumbs forward, straight thumbs grip with the support wrist bent forward a little bit.

See also:
Magpul Dynamics on handgun grip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm9uG5bPubw

Springer Precision on handgun grip (check the 2 videos)
http://www.springerprecision.com/tip.asp


Maximizing the Combat Grip by Chris Fry
http://www.personaldefensenetwork.com/articles/handguns/maximizing-the-combat-grip/
Check the section about using grip tape to enhance the grip, and where the grip tape was applied


For more technique tips: http://jumpthestack.blogspot.com/search/label/shooting%20tips

Blackhawk Knoxx CompStock for Mossberg 500 review

My "Mossberg 500 Tactical" shotgun came from the factory with a ATI pistol grip stock with collapsible buttstock.
I wrote about pistol grip vs traditional before.

Mini-review on the ATI stock:
There was nothing particularly wrong with it, I found it comfortable and liked the ability to adjust the length.   Recoil was totally comfortable with birdshot, and noticeable but not too bad with buck and slugs.  It came with a shell holder on the side of the stock, which I didn't much care for.  A shell holder on the side of a stock prevents a cheek weld when shooting left handed, which one might need to do for whatever reason.

The ATI stock was okay, but I prefer a traditional style stock for the Mossberg; with the pistol grip on, you won't be able to manipulate the safety without taking your hand off the firing grip.  With the traditional style stock you can very easily and quickly manipulate the safety and slide release without moving from a firing grip, which is one of the strengths of the Mossberg shotguns.   I chose the CompStock over a regular fixed polymer or wood stock because I intend to take a few defensive shotgun classes and shooting 250 rounds of buck and 50 slugs in 2 days is presumably tough on the shoulder. 

The Knoxx CompStock for Mossberg 500 is a traditional style shotgun stock which uses a spring to reduce felt recoil.  Knoxx was bought by Blackhawk, so you sometimes see it called the Blackhawk CompStock.   Note: the Knoxx Spec-ops stock has a comparable recoil reducing feature but is a pistol grip stock with adjustable length of pull. 

When I got the stock, my first problem was that it doesn't come with a stock bolt.   The instructions mentioned something like "Mossberg owners should use their existing stock bolt".    The bolt that comes with the ATI stock is way too short to work with the CompStock, so I was out of luck.

I've read that if you call Mossberg, they will send you a stock bolt for free.  Another option is to go to a hardware store and buy a 5/16" hex head bolt that's 5.5 inches long.
Note:  5/16" is the width of the bolt(the long threaded part).   The hex head is 1/2" and thus requires a 1/2" socket.  When you look online about Mossberg stock bolts, sometimes you see people say 5/16, sometimes you see 1/2.   This is why.

You'll want one that's exactly 5.5 inches long.  5 inches is too short and 6 inches is too long.   I know because I bought a variety of 5/16" bolts.    Stupidly, I tried installing the 6" one, and it was too long and went into the trigger group and broke something in the back of the trigger group.  I was lucky that I went to Tabor's Shooter supply in San Bruno and Frank had a trigger group for the Mossberg 500 that he sold me for only $25 (he took my broken one in exchange to use for parts).  This was a good deal because a new one costs about $70.  I called Mossberg and they would have fixed/replaced it for free but I would have had to send my broken trigger group to them and the turn around time would have been about 3 weeks.  

To install the stock bolt, you need a socket wrench, an extender(about 6 inches is sufficient), and a 1/2" hex socket.  Obviously if you got some other kind of bolt besides a hex head, you might need some other kind of tool to install it, like a screwdriver or allen wrench.
 
I would recommend field stripping the shotgun and installing the stock bolt with the trigger group NOT installed.  When you install the stock bolt, make sure that it stays in the threaded hole in the back of the receiver.  If it protrudes at all into the inside of the receiver, it may interfere with the trigger or safety, and potentially cause a slam fire.

Aside from the stock bolt hassle, installation was very easy and straight forward.  You will need a long thin Philips head screwdriver to install one screw.  The screwdriver needs to go through a plastic hole and then go a few more inches before screwing in the screw.

The stock has a 13.5 inch length of pull, and you can separately buy a thicker pad that increases the LOP by an inch.  It's comfortable to me as it is.

When I was researching this stock(and the Knoxx Spec-Ops), some reviewers said that they felt a cheek slap from the receiver moving back with recoil, and a lot of other reviewers did not mention it or said they didn't feel it.
The instructions say to make sure your firing hand is at least 2 inches away from your face to avoid hitting your face with your hand, and to put your head a bit further back on the stock to avoid cheek slap.
It also recommends keeping the thumb of your firing hand up along the top of the stock rather than wrapping around the narrow portion of the front of the stock, in order to avoid contacting your face with your thumb.

I got a chance to use it in a class where I shot about 150 buck and 40 slugs.  The recoil reduction worked pretty well, I didn't really feel any recoil in my shoulder the whole time.   I did get cheek slapped a few times but after a while either I got used to it or figured out what cheek weld to use to avoid it, so after a while it wasn't an issue.  Update: I took another class where I shot about 200 buck and 30 slugs.  This time I had no cheek slap at all.   I think when people have a problem is when they incorrectly lower their face on top of the stock.  You need to keep your head upright and lift the gun up to the side of your face.  To tell if your mount is okay for not getting slapped, you can simply pull the stock back hard against your shoulder.  The spring will compress a little bit just from the force of your pull.   If you're doing it right, it shouldn't hurt at all.   I do not need to do anything special with my mount for this gun that I wouldn't have done with a traditional solid stock.

Shame on Knoxx for not including a stock bolt(which cost 80 cents at Home Depot).  It was a huge hassle to figure out what kind of bolt I needed to get and how to install it.

Was it worth over 100 bucks?  I'm still undecided.  While it is effective in reducing recoil, I'm not sure how much anyone actually needs recoil reduction equipment vs proper technique to reduce felt recoil.

Resource conservation tips

1) When you drink bottled water, save the bottles and fill them up with tap water.  Put them in the freezer.  They displace air and hold the cold better, saving energy in the freezer.  Plus they can be used for drinking water in an emergency.  If the freezer gets full, just take them out and set them aside, and put them back in later.

2) Unplug unused appliances.  Many of them use electricity even when powered off.  There are other fancy devices you can buy to optimize further without leaving them unplugged all the time.  See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power

3) If it takes a long time for the water in your shower to get hot, save the cold water in a bucket.   Use it to flush the toilet(flush the toilet then pour the bucket in the tank).

Good SIG customer service experience

I posted this previously on Sigforum at
http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/430601935/m/330102671?r=330102671#330102671

Posted October 17, 2009 08:58 PM I'm just letting you all know about my experience with SIG CS, which was very good. Since I bought my new P220 Equinox, it had been having malfunctions(mostly failure to feed, a few double feeds), at a rate of about 1 or 2 every 100 rounds. After about 600 rounds of this, I decided to contact SIG customer service. When I described the issue on the phone, the customer service rep immediately offered to have me send it back to be fixed. They emailed me a prepaid UPS shipping label. I was told that I would get it back about 10-12 business days from when they received it. I sent it in on a Friday. I received it back the following Thursday, so there was very quick turnaround that beat the estimate by quite a bit. Since it was going in for service anyways I decided to get the SRT and trigger job (Action Enhancement Package), which I paid for. To fix the malfunction issue, the gunsmith polished the feed ramp and replaced the extractor, and test fired 50 rounds with no failures. I just put 150 rounds through it with 0 malfunctions, so it seems to have worked. I'm really happy with the Action Enhancement Package. The pull on double action feels significantly lighter and smoother. I wasn't unhappy with the factory double action trigger, it was comparable to DA on other guns that I've tried. But after the AEP, it's much better. Single action feels a little better but it was always quite good on single action. The short reset trigger does make the trigger reset noticeably shorter. It doesn't seem to make much difference for me since I don't usually do a lot of rapid fire, but it does what it's supposed to do, and I'll probably appreciate it more if I take some classes with more rapid fire. The only thing I didn't like about the whole process was that they shipped it back without letting me know or sending a tracking number, so I wasn't able to be home to receive it and had to go pick it up at the shipping hub. My customer service rep was Jason and the gunsmith was James. It's pretty lame that my $1k gun even needed to be sent in, and I only got one mag with it when I bought it. So I still have some healthy SIG resentment. But in terms of customer service I'm happy. And as of now I'm very happy with the gun assuming it stays reliable through a few hundred more rounds. Update - see http://jumpthestack.blogspot.com/2010/11/poor-sig-sauer-customer-service.html for an update on my SIG CS woes.

About me

Just a note about me:
In the articles I write, I take an authoritative tone for simplicity, but I don't want to give the impression that  I think I'm an authority.
I do not claim to be an expert in anything or to have any qualifications whatsoever.  Everything on this blog is a matter of my opinion which may or may not be worth anything.

The name jumpthestack comes from a technique(now long obsolete) in computer security for exploiting a stack buffer overflow vulnerability.

AAR: LMS Defense one day carbine clinic

See
http://www.lmsdefense.com/lms/home/coursesbycategory/8
for more.

This review is for LMS Defense's one day carbine clinic which was taught by Todd Nielsen and took place at the Metcalf range in San Jose.

This course is intended as a basic introduction to carbine shooting.
We spent a lot of time zeroing the carbines, with both iron sights and optics.  He also covered:
- field stripping and cleaning an AR-15 (good tip: turn your charging handle upside down and use it as a tray to hold all the other little pieces that come out of the bolt carrier group)
- speed and tactical reloads,
- shooting and basic marksmanship while prone, kneeling, and standing,
- shooting up close and compensating for sight over bore offset.
- shooting while moving forward
- failure to stop drill; transitioning from shooting at the body to the head or pelvis

It was a good introductory class and I intend to try the Carbine 1 2-day course if I get a chance.

AAR: 2 day defensive pistol by Brian Normandy at Jackson Arms

See
http://jacksonarms.com/Classes.htm
for more.

This is a review of the 2 day pistol class at Jackson Arms in South San Francisco, CA.
The details aren't on the website but you can call the range for details, they have a variety of defensive shooting classes from time to time.

This course assumes you already know how to operate your weapon and that you know the basics of marksmanship.  Marksmanship wasn't really covered at all.   The course covered a wide variety of topics, including:
- drawing from the holster(you'd better yell Stop!) and reholstering(always reload very slowly in case you need to use the gun again for some reason, and also to prevent possible unintentional discharges).
- after action drill in which you sidestep, scan the area and check your six, and reholster slowly.
- legal issues related to shooting someone in self defense, taught by Brian's brother Alan, who is a LEO.
- shooting from very close contact range
- shooting around a barricade,  slicing the pie and rolling out
- night shooting with a flash light
- clearing malfunctions (and also notably what all the possible causes for each malfunction are, in order to better understand the weapon and how each cause is fixed).
- shooting while moving in a V-pattern
- shooting multiple targets quickly
- moving through hallways/doorways
- communication while shooting (for example asking for cover while reloading, acknowledging the request, and then signaling that you're ready)
- shooting while kneeling and prone
- Zombie Apocalypse drill (you'll have to take the class to find out about that one)

I found it to be a very interesting and worthwhile course.

AAR: Louis Awerbuck Yavapai Firearms Academy stage 1 and 2

See

http://www.reedsindoorrange.com/training.html
for more.

Louis Awerbuck is a nationally known firearms instructor who has been teaching for many years, including at Gunsite.
I took both the stage 1 and 2 classes at Reed's indoor range in Santa Clara CA.  Note: the curriculum for YFA handgun stage 1 and 2 are slightly different at Reed's than at other facilities.

Both classes require that you already own a firearm and a holster and mag pouch, and that you're familiar with its basic operation.  Note: for both classes you should either bring a lunch or have a plan to go somewhere in Santa Clara for lunch.  There is a one hour lunch break in the middle of the day.

The stage 1 one-day class focused mostly on marksmanship, with Awerbuck going into deep detail in the classroom, then diagnosing everybody's problems on the range.  His ability to see and correct people's mistakes is uncanny.   Near the end of the class, he had everybody shoot at a small ammo box from about 15 yards away, and everybody hit it or almost hit it within 2 shots.  One fundamental of shooting that he focuses on a lot that many people had a problem with is follow through and trigger reset.  When you shoot, you should pull the trigger fully to the rear and hold it there for a moment, and then slowly let it out until it retreats and no further, while keeping the sights aligned on target.    When people shoot and then take their finger off the trigger quickly, it can misalign the sights even though the bullet has no fully left the barrel.   This doesn't get emphasized enough by most instructors.   He went over safety, drawing from a holster and tactical reloads, but otherwise it was not really a 'tactical' or defensive course.  The description on Reed's site mentions coverage of handgun and use of force laws, but there wasn't really any of that.

The stage 2 class started with a review of safety and asking if anyone was having any shooting problems.  On the range, we warmed up with a review of the things that were covered in the first class until everyone was shooting satisfactorily.   Once that was done, they set up 3 dimensional curved paper targets, which changes the game somewhat.  For example, if the target is standing somewhat sideways to you, you don't want to shoot in the middle of the chest (between his nipples) because that will not damage as much tissue as hitting somewhere on the side of his body that's closest to you.  So in other words as the target turns, you need to hit at the center of the target relative to you, and not keep aiming at the same spot on the target.  The targets were also tilted from 45 to 90 degrees sideways, which again presented challenges in terms of deciding where to shoot on the target.

Later, shooting on the move was added, including moving sideways and forward and back.   Movement is important both to help make yourself harder to hit, and also to gain the best angle to hit the target with a stopping hit.
Finally, no-shoot targets were added.  Now movement was even more important in order to find the right angle to hit the target without hitting the no-shoot target, which could be in front of or behind the target.  
At the end there was a very cool drill while Awerbuck set up a set of mannequins that were moving on pulleys and you were supposed to head shot one of them without hitting the others.  Everybody was able to do it within 2 or 3 shots, and many within 1 shot.

During the class he also covered tactical reloads, speed reloads, shooting from kneeling and clearing malfunctions. 

Note: for both classes, students were allowed to pick up the brass off the range at the end of the class, which may be useful to know if you reload.   It would definitely also be useful to bring brass sorting trays since a lot of different calibers were being shot.

After completing the stage 2 course, you get a card which entitles you to shoot on the right hand side range at Reed's, which includes the privilege to shoot from the holster and to rapid fire.  I think you have to stay 'current' which means shooting there at least once a month.

Both classes were well worth while, and I would say especially the stage 1 is very worthwhile if you have any problems with your shooting.  The stage 2 was very good, but just make sure you understand what you're getting, which is an intermediate level shooting class.  Again I felt like there wasn't so much of defensive, gunfighting material.   I would say actually from the perspective of all-around defensive firearms training, the 2-day pistol class taught by Brian Normandy at Jackson Arms was a lot more well rounded.

AAR: Coyote Valley Clays "Experience Package"

See 
http://www.coyoteclays.com/Instruction.htm for more details.

Coyote Valley sporting clays in Morgan Hill CA has a very nice sporting clays facility, and I believe it's the only sporting clays facility in the Bay Area. (Sporting Clays refers to a specific sport, as opposed to trap or skeet).

The experience package is a relatively inexpensive package where if you get a group of 3 or more people, you can get one instructor per 5 people, 50 targets, 50 rounds of ammo, rental of a shotgun, and eye and ear protection.   It's a good way to get introduced to sporting clays.   You have to book it at least a week in advance, and I found that Saturdays are often unavailable, with Sundays and weekdays being available pretty reliably.

I did the experience package twice, with two different instructors.  Both times, the instructor got there late.  The instructors went briefly over safety and the operation of the shotgun.   They explained basically how to shoot the clays and what to look for, but I felt that they were not really 'instructors' so much as shooters who did not necessarily have a lot of experience teaching how to do it in a detailed way or diagnosing problems.  The first time I went, we used a 20 gauge over/under, and the second time we used a 12 gauge over/under.   They were selected by the instructor, so I guess it's up to the instructor's preference.  

At each station, they explained the trajectory of the clays and the basic strategy for hitting them, and we shot 10 rounds at each station, for 5 stations total.   Since the facility has 16 stations, you only get to hit 5 out of the 16, which is just enough to get a taste of it.

I feel like the instructors were not that good, but they were certainly adequate for just giving a basic idea of how it works and having a fun afternoon shooting.  I intend to try their full day seminar some time in the future.

AAR: Bill Tidwell NRA pistol and shotgun first steps classes

The first 2 firearms classes I ever took were NRA first steps pistol and NRA first steps shotgun taught by Bill Tidwell at Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara, CA.
See
http://train2besafe.com/courseschedule.html
and
http://www.reedsindoorrange.com/training.html
for more.

Both were pretty good.  Both assume no prior knowledge, and all gear such as eye/ear protection, guns and ammo are provided.  In both classes, they went over safety, basics of marksmanship (stance, grip, sight alignment and sight picture, trigger control, etc.)
In the pistol class they covered the operation of semi-auto pistols and revolvers.  On the second night of class there was live fire with Ruger MKIIIs and Smith and Wesson .22LR revolvers.  On the second night there was also the opportunity to take the California Handgun Safety Certificate test for an additional $25.

I highly recommend taking the optional third night class for the pistol class.  In that class you get a chance to shoot a wide variety of handguns in different calibers.  I vaguely recall at least:
Revolver in .38 special
.40 S&W Beretta 92
9mm Glock (I think model 19)
Walther PPK in .380 ACP
.45 ACP 1911
revolver in .44 Magnum

All the fundamentals of shooting were taught correctly, however I was having some problems with my trigger control which they were unable to fix(and which were later fixed in a Louis Awerbuck stage 1 handgun class which I'll review later).  So I would say that Bill and his helpers may not necessarily have the best ability to diagnose and correct shooting errors.

In the shotgun class we used pump action, semi-auto, over-under, side-by-side, and single shot break open shotguns, with buckshot, slugs, and mostly birdshot.   There were 12 and 20 gauge shotguns.  Due to the fact that I took the class at Reed's indoor range, it was all shooting at stationary paper targets, which doesn't help you much if you want to shoot flying clays, but is certainly useful for a basic understanding of operating a shotgun for home defense.   They do teach the same course in Livermore at a range with clays.  By the way, also check out Coyote Valley Sporting Clays if you want to try clay shooting.


Overall both classes were well worth the time and money, and a great way to try out shooting without needing to own any guns or shooting gear.  They satisfactorily answered any questions about choosing and buying guns, and legal issues, and covered safely storing and maintaining guns.