13 Self-Defense Myths Busted… well, sorta

2012-04-032012-04-02 / hsoi

Adam at Low Tech Combat wrote an article busting 13 self-defense myths. As with everything LTC produces, it’s good stuff.

But I do disagree with a few of his points.

1. Never walk around with your hands in your pockets

I do agree this is one to bust, because there can be times when having your hands in your pocket is a good thing. For example, if I’m carrying a snub revolver in my front pants pocket, putting my hands in my pocket allows me to get a proper grip on the snub to facilitate drawing… else pocket draw is really slow. So, there’s one to bust “never” walking with your hands in your pockets. 🙂

But how likely is it really that you will be attacked suddenly when out shopping at the local mall in the middle of the day?

I don’t know how likely it will be. If you have the ability to make such predictions, and do so accurately, then perhaps armed with that knowledge you should do your best to be elsewhere!

Saying that you should never have your hands in your pockets at any time is being extremely paranoid. That is being hyper alert. You simply cannot maintain such a level of alertness for too long without visiting the local psychologist.

So being prepared is paranoid? This could be a fun “where do you draw the line” debate. 🙂 He’s right tho… it’s hard to be in “code yellow” all the time; it’s impractical. But we have to accept, hands in the pocket could put you at a disadvantage.

Can we do something about it?

Well, just learn to live life without your hands in your pocket. Eventually it will be normal to be out of pocket. As well, you could have pockets that aren’t restrictive or permit a greater freedom of movement.

So… I’ll bust this, but I’ll also say it’s “plausible” yet something you can work around, if you’re willing to work.

2. Never walk around with your earphones in

I’ll disagree with this, because life isn’t always about being attacked.

What about cars zooming by?

What about just being able to hear people around you, like someone maybe just saying “Excuse me” because they wish to move around you.

There’s no question that having earphones on and music blaring will shut out the sounds of everything else around you. Yes it has self-defense implications, but it also just has greater implications about life and that tuning out what’s going on around you could have all sorts of other negative repercussions.

Same goes for things like texting…. and you’ve seen the YouTube videos of people walking while texting and falling into fountains or knocking themselves out as they walk into a lamp post. You get too engrossed in something, and it tunes out the world around you. And then, you open yourself up to bad things happening to you.

And the Rest

Everything else I’m in pretty strong agreement with. And even on the above two points, I don’t fully disagree with Adam, but I just don’t see it quite the same way he does. Still, good article, well worth your time to read.

No 300 BLK from Savage Arms

2012-04-02 / hsoi / 2 Comments

I just saw this posted to Savage Arms’ Facebook page

300 AAC Blackout Chambering Cancelled:

Some time ago, Savage announced it would be chambering the Model 10 Precision Carbine in 300 AAC Blackout. Since that time, we have tested many variants of this cartridge in various barrel lengths and rates of twist. This exhaustive testing left us quite unsatisfied with the accuracy we were able to get from the subsonic loads in this chambering. Accuracy with the lighter, faster loads in this caliber was actually quite good. But we believe the real value in this cartridge lies in the use of subsonic loads for suppressed rifles. Therefore we have decided to scrap the project.

It is our understanding that pushing these heavy, slow bullets presents challenges not found in typical loadings and that our experience is not unique. Subsequently, many in the industry have simply adopted a lower standard for accuracy for these subsonic loads. While this does seem reasonable and we don’t criticize any in our industry that have taken this approach, it just won’t work for Savage.

Our brand was built on accuracy and we are too protective of our reputation for building the most accurate factory rifles available. We would rather walk away from this opportunity than sell a product that requires an explanation.

Very interesting.

Now that it’s no longer prohibited in Texas to hunt game animals with suppressed firearms, that gave me more reason to consider buying a suppressor and a rifle to go with it. So naturally I was looking at 300 BLK. It’d be great if I could use subsonic ammo and a can and have a very quiet hunting experience. This is not only nice for deer hunting, but how about hunting hogs at night so you don’t bother sleeping neighbors?

But before any of this matters… what about terminal ballistics? Will it be effective enough?

Bill Wilson wrote this:

300BLK subsonic is useless on hogs, the only subsonic cartridge/load I have found to work is the Ruger 77/44 .44 Mag with a 300gr XTP

And I know that’s what Gerald and Randy at Night Hogs use (the Ruger). But then, more Google searching turns up people hunting with the 300 BLK and having success. So I don’t know. And of course, hogs and whitetail are different… a deer is tough, but not as tough as a hog, so maybe if it doesn’t work for hogs that’s fine if it can still work for deer or other thin-skinned game.

But gee… I’d really love to hear more specifics about what they were seeing for accuracy issues in the subsonic loads, because all that quiet doesn’t mean much if you can’t hit what you need to hit.

All I can say at this point is, this gives me pause.

2012-04-02 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 7, press/deadlift 4

2012-04-02 / hsoi

Deload week.

“Week 4” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

Deload – Deadlift (working max: 325#)
- 2x5x135
- 2x5x165

Deload – Press (working max: 155#)
- 2x5x45 (warmup)
- 1x5x65
- 1x5x80
- 1x5x95
Asst. #1A – Bench Press
- 3 x 10 x 115
Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
- 3 x 3 x BW
Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
- 3 x 12 x 60
Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
- 2 x 10 x 30
Foam Rolling

Deload week. Nothing much to write about. It is the first time doing deload on the “BBB 3 Month Challenge”, so I was trying to figure what to do and what not to do. In the end, I figured to make it a “press day”, add in deadlift, and drop the sets and/or weights down… tho oddly I did the opposite on face pulls, and I’m not sure why.

Anyways, just trying to keep things moving, but light.

My lower back really appreciated the foam rolling.

AAR – DPS2 @ KR Training 31 March 2012

2012-04-022012-03-31 / hsoi / 4 Comments

Saturday March 31, 2012 @ KR Training. Defensive Pistol Skills 2. Just the one class (which left time for a little fun… more later).

Class was small. This class was added due to a large wait list from the prior DPS2, so instead of having those people wait a long time for another DPS2 to be scheduled, Karl scheduled one and we got all those people in.

Weather was great, tho a little warm for this time of year. And I was stupid and forgot to put on sunscreen. Yes, I am paying for it. 🙂

In general, the students did well. Folks were attentive and willing to listen and learn. It’s always hard for folks with years or decades of habit to overcome those habits and learn better ways to do things, because gun handling and pistolcraft have evolved a lot over the years. But it’s great to see old dogs willing to learn new tricks, especially because it always adds a second level of stuff to focus on in class — more info overload.

My comments:

Everything is a repetition, so always do everything right. For example, if you have to pick your gun up off the table, always pick it up like we taught you (the “scoop”), even if it’s just a casual action. It’s a chance to practice, it’s a chance to further ingrain the muscle memory. Whatever you do, that’s what you’ll ingrain. Do it wrong? you ingrain wrong. Do it multiple ways at multiple times, and who knows what gets ingrained and if Hick’s Law might come into play. You’re trying to build new habit, so build that new habit by always doing things right.
Your equipment matters. There’s no reason to have a crappy gun. There’s no reason to have a broken gun. If you know you shoot this gun better than that gun, why are you carrying the gun that’s harder to shoot? it won’t magically become easier to shoot when the pressure just went through the roof. And if situation dictates you have to carry that difficult to shoot gun, then you best practice with it a lot and master it.
Fundamentals matter. All this cool tactical stuff is good, but the bottom line is being able to hit what you need to hit. Do not get unacceptable hits. Work to get acceptable hits. If you must slow down, slow down. Dry practice a lot, and then dry practice some more. Work to master the trigger press, making it slow and smooth — no slapping and yanking.
Shoot groups. Yes, slow fire stuff. Shoot them at 15 yards. Shoot them at 25 yards. Shoot them one-handed, both strong and weak hand. This will help your marksmanship. It may not be fun, but keep shooting groups until it becomes fun. When will this happen? It may take a while, but yes eventually it will become fun… and you’ll become better.
- Aside: I used to hate shooting weak-hand-only. Why? Because I sucked at it. But I kept working on it. Now I can nail that hostage plate target at 25 yards weak-hand-only without any problem. I still miss a couple when going through a 16-round magazine, I am still working to run through a full mag without dropping any. I will get there. And I enjoy shooting weak-hand-only now because I’m better at it.
Always pay attention to your gun handling — especially muzzle direction. The way you handle a gun in the non-shooting ways speaks far more about you than how well you can shoot.

After the class, Tom, Karl, and I spent a little time shooting drills ourselves, just for fun. We didn’t have a lot of time, but we shot Paul Howe’s pistol instructor standards and Karl’s 3 Seconds or Less drill. On Paul’s drill, we weren’t 100% sure how to interpret his standards, like on #5 “Ready 4 shots 2x target 7 yards”… is that 4 shots on 2 targets… each? 8 shots total? or 2 on one target, 2 on another? or… what? Well, we only had 1 target each so we just dumped 8 rounds in 3 seconds, and all 3 of us finished in like two and a half seconds or something. 🙂 (and yes, all good A-zone hits). Heh. That’s just fun.

The one thing I saw from it, and continues to be a weak point for me is weak-hand-only under stress. When I shoot the weak-hand-only at 25 yards, it’s under no time pressure. But I drop too many shots when I do WHO under time pressure, like in the “3 seconds or less” drill. That’s something I need more work on.

Anyways, a great day. I really needed it after the funk I’ve been in the past couple weeks. It was great to get my mind on other things and just have a lot of fun. Teaching is very rewarding to me, and I’m thankful for the opportunity. Thankful to Karl for letting me work with him. Thankful to Tom for the encouragement to get my certifications and start teaching here. Thankful to the students that come, willing to learn. Thankful to Wife and Kiddos for letting me run off every other Saturday to go do this. Thankful in so many ways.