I totally forgot to read the June and July 2012 Rangemaster newsletters.

June 2012

Tom talks about The Drawstroke. What I really appreciate isn’t just the talk about the 4-count drawstroke, but also talking about putting the gun back in the holster. I emphasize this all the time, that you should put the gun back in the holster with the same motion (tho in reverse) and discipline as the drawstroke. The gun goes slowly back into the holster in a 4-3-2-1 direction. When we slack off is the time when Bad Things™ can happen (e.g. finger gets left on the trigger or in the trigger guard), so having discipline on both the draw and reholster are important.

Tom also writes a short piece about Barnes Bullets. I’ve been a fan of Barnes Bullets for many years, but I haven’t considered it for handgun carry ammo because of the lack of availability. But Tom and Lynn use CORBON DPX, and they give some performance data of their carry loads. What was most interesting to me was Tom shooting some of the DPX 110 grain .38 Special. It compared well to the Gold Dot 135 grain:

Another .38 Special load we tried was the Speer Gold Dot 135 grain .38 Special load, designed expressly for snubby revolvers. This load pretty much duplicated the performance of the .38 DPX load, but at the price of sharply increased recoil and blast. To me, the .38 DPX load is much more controllable in an aluminum framed snub-nose and it shoots very accurately in all three Cobra’s I have tried it in.

Interesting. I’ve shot some DPX before but I can’t recall how the recoil compares to the GoldDot. I may have to try again and see. The Gold Dot 135 is my current carry load in my S&W 442.

July 2012

This issue contains a few articles that you just have to read. This is a newsletter worth showing to people either new to guns, or maybe thinking about getting their concealed carry permit but just aren’t sure if they need it. It talks not only about various mindset issues, but has a pretty good primer on carry issues like choosing a gun and carry equipment.

Tom also presents some crime data. One that stood out to me was from the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2006. It dispels the myth that violent crime takes place in the wee hours after midnight.

6 am-6 pm 52.4%
6 pm-midnight 32.8%
midnight-6 am 10.9%

I knew this, but it’s nice to see hard numbers backing it up… for the doubters.

And for people that think we live in a safe world:

Total Violent Crime Incidents for 2006 = 5,685,620 (1 for every 54 people)

Yes on the whole we live in a safer world, but we are not immune.