A beautiful short video titled “Human Technology” (h/t Shawn)
The juxtaposition of high-end technology with the hand-crafting is of course the point of the piece. You could have only one or the other, but it just wouldn’t produce the same result. There are things the machines do better, there are things only the human eye can see. But I do believe that without the human touch, it wouldn’t be art.
The KR Training December 2014 Newsletter is up.
Lots of good things on tap for 2015, and it starts right off in January with the 3rd Annual Suburban Dad Survivalist Preparedness Conference. I won’t be able to attend due to other commitments, but Paul always puts on a great program and the roster this year is solid. Hope you can make it.
See you on the range in 2015!
From Chuck Rives, an article about how violence in the UK is getting… worse.
Horrific wounds have been caused by screwdrivers and spoons as attackers look to circumvent knife-carrying laws by switching to “improvised weapons”.
[…]
Doctors say a trend has emerged of teenagers being stabbed in the rectum – a practice known among gangs as “dinking” that can leave the victim requiring a stoma bag for the rest of their life.
[…]
Chris Aylwin, a consultant surgeon at St Mary’s hospital, said: “There seems to be a decreasing value of people’s lives. One of the more worrying features that we have certainly seen are stabbings around the buttocks and thighs. People don’t do that without good reason.
[…]
Duncan Bew, the clinical lead for trauma and emergency surgery at Kings’ College hospital, said: “There is an intention to leave someone with an outward sign that they have been punished by a gang – a stoma bag or some other injury to ‘clip their wings’.”
You should read the entire article as there’s just too much to detail here.
Here’s my take-homes:
UK essentially bans guns, so people turn to knives. Now knives are being severely restricted, and so they’re turning to screwdrivers and spoons and other improvised weapons.
Ban all you want, it doesn’t stop people from engaging in the base behavior (how’s that “War on Drugs” working out?). If evil people wish to do evil things, they will always find a way. Instead of focusing on the tools, how about focusing on the root evil(s)? You only have so much time, money, and energy in your lifetime, so why waste precious resources on ineffective solutions?
According to City Hall, the number of knife assaults causing injury rose 7.7 per cent across London between April and September this year, compared to the same period last year. There were 335 incidents in September – 51 per cent up on the 222 recorded in March.
People love to quote how “gun violence” is low in the UK, and that it is. Maybe it is support that “banning guns” leads to less “gun violence”. But “banning guns” does not lead to a safer society, a society where there is less violence.
People like to quote homicide and murder rates as indication of how things are getting better or worse. Alas, murder rates only tell part of the story, because for it to be murder the victim has to die. Every year medical ability improves, and these days if you make it to the Emergency Room with any sort of vital signs, your chances are extremely high you will live due to the miracle of modern medicine. Thus, at most your attack will only be classified as “aggravated assault” – what used to be called “attempted murder” – and consequently “murder rates going down” are in part due to good ER’s, not reduction in crime.
Consider the contents of the article: the very intent of the attack is not to kill, but to severely maim and inflict not death but a lifetime of agony and suffering. How does this affect your statistics? And do the statistics really matter when you’re the one spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair with a colostomy bag?
A week after Joel was attacked, the trauma team at the Royal London saved a 16-year-old stabbed in the leg. “It was a really deep wound,” Mr Konig said. “That struck me as real intent, and that was just shocking. [In a week] we had one dead, one survived. Left alone, these people would all die.
“Passers-by were excellent at putting pressure on his groin and stopping him bleeding to death right there. If members of the public are having to come to your assistance to stop you bleeding to death, it’s like soldiers relying on their buddies in a war zone. If we have to start educating people how to stop someone bleeding to death, that does change things.”
This doesn’t mean you need to be a medic, an EMT, or anything of the sort. But get some basic First Aid training. Then maybe get some more advanced care in things like Wilderness First Aid, or other training that goes beyond “boo-boos and bee stings” to help you deal with things like severe bleeding and when and how to use a tourniquet.
Carry some form of medical equipment. Heck, my Dad has always carried a single Band-Aid in his wallet: it’s not a tourniquet, but you’d be amazed at how often it’s come in handy.
I’m sure you are a positive person that surrounds yourself with other positive, uplifting, productive, contributing, and generally “good” people. Thus chances are you may not realize or really fathom that the world is filled with horrible people. Thankfully they are a minority, but they are still there and all it takes is one to ruin things.
Some people are just twisted and sick. Consider the attackers in this story: they are out to cause their victim a lifetime of suffering. I mean, intentionally stabbing someone in the rectum to cause the victim a lifetime of difficultly? How fucked up is that? Sorry for the language, but there’s no other way to describe such a vile, despicable act. It’s truly the mindset of a sick individual.
It’s important to accept the world contains such scum. You don’t have to like it nor tolerate it, but admitting and accepting they exist improves your ability to address the realities of the problem.
Mr Bew is a trustee of Growing Against Gangs and Violence, a partnership between the Association of Surgeons, Metropolitan Police and Home Office that aims to end gang and serious youth violence through proactive work and “pupil power”. This Autumn it has reached 17,080 students in 70 schools in 11 boroughs – four times as many students as two years ago.
He added: “Trauma centres have made a massive difference to mortality and morbidity in the last couple of years, particularly in that younger group. The challenge for us is how we stop the kids coming to us in the first place.”
And so with the changing of the seasons comes the changing of the clothing we wear. Yeah, there’s that one guy we all know from high school that wore shorts all year, but most of us start to wear more clothing – including coats and gloves – when the weather gets colder.
So can you still do all you can do with all this extra clothing?
How accessible are your pockets?
How accessible are the things on your belt?
If you’re wearing gloves, can your fingers still get to where they need to get to, without having to remove those gloves? And if you’re wearing mittens, what major changes will you need to make (including getting rid of the mittens).
What might you need to change to accomodate? New clothing? Modifications to the clothing? Different techniques?
What might you need to practice?
Take a few minutes and give things a try. Make sure things you need to get to you can get to, quickly. If you cannot, figure out the adjustments you need to make.
Better to find this out and work out a solution now, before the flag flies.
After reading my post about “Pick your ammo, and move on“, long time reader and KR Training student, shared some data collection he performed a few years ago.
This reader went out and did some ammo testing and did a nice write-up with charts and pictures and such about how it all went. It was originally posted on another website, but no more. He sent me the original HTML and pictures and said I could repost it here if I wanted to. So here it is, only touched up for formatting and other HTML-isms to make it work here on my blog.
The purpose was to get a better understanding of how these rounds would function in various guns and check out the +P versions. All the reviews found to date have tested the 147 grain rounds, however the 124 grain as well as both +P versions seem to have been left out. I assumed the +P were just too new for the 2001 to 2005 testing data I had found on-line so we set up a test to see what would happen!
Weight was measured on an American Weigh Scale AMW-100 (0.01g graduation). A 100g weight was used to calibrate the scale before measurements were taken. Expanded diameter was measured with manual vernier calipers. Gel calibration was done with a .177 cal steel BB. Muzzle velocity (fps) was recorded by a Gamma Master Shooting Chrony chronograph with ballistic printer.
The Ballistic Grade Gelatin was provided by Vyse in their “Complete Trial Pack” for $90.00 including shipping. All three 6 inch by 6 inch blocks were made in a single batch using 10% gel and 90% RO water (water was under 140F). The gel is sticky nasty stuff – and smells like wet dog.
Shots were taken 10 feet from the gel and all velocity measurements were at the muzzle of the firearm.
Block 1 – BB depth 3 11/16 inches – 604.58 fps – Used for 9mm Glock 19 Test (4.06 inch barrel)
Block 2 – BB depth 4 3/16 inches – 608.47 fps – Used for 9mm Kel-Tec Sub-2000 Test (16 inch barrel)
Block 1 shot from the left
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Block 2 shot from the right
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| 115gn Remington (R9MM3) | 124gn HST Federal Premium (P9HST1) | 124gn +P HST Federal Premium (P9HST3) | 147gn HST Federal Premium (P9HST2) | 147gn +P HST Federal Premium (P9HST4) | |
| Sub2000 | 1212.07 | 1279.19 | 1352.66 | 987.75 | 1047.86 |
| Sub2000 | 1015.85 | 1257.13 | 1325.55 | 946.07 | 1041.02 |
| Sub2000 | 1072.37 | 1287.35 | 1358.12 | 1003.81 | 955.25 |
| Sub2000 | 1059.88 | 1261.98 | 1347.24 | 1020.57 | 1005.06 |
| Sub2000 | n/a | 1264.35 | 1356.9 | 994.08 | 1040.93 |
| Sub2000 in Gel | n/a | 1229.05 | 1337.56 | 1042.99 | 1053.15 |
| Average | 1090.04 | 1263.18 | 1346.34 | 999.21 | 1023.88 |
| Standard Deviation | 84.89 | 20.22 | 12.65 | 32.79 | 37.63 |
| G19 | 1092.6 | 1146.08 | 1213.89 | 978.25 | 1021.94 |
| G19 | 1066.42 | 1111.56 | 1210.37 | 999.25 | 1000.57 |
| G19 | 1097.06 | 1139.39 | 1200.77 | 975.26 | 990.99 |
| G19 | 1085.74 | 1155.49 | 1203.15 | 986.14 | 981.59 |
| G19 | 1082.15 | 1159.03 | 1191.9 | 972.83 | 1006.9 |
| G19 in Gel | n/a | 1139.18 | n/a | n/a | 1003.31 |
| Average | 1084.79 | 1141.79 | 1204.02 | 982.35 | 1000.88 |
| Standard Deviation | 11.80 | 16.91 | 8.60 | 10.70 | 13.83 |
Pictured Above – 124 grain HST fired from a Glock 19
A single round was fired from a Glock 19 and a Kel-Tec Sub-2000 into Gel. Both rounds were found to have lost mass due to fragmentation (lost petals). All bullets had retained gel under the copper jackets along with a piece of a broken petal. The round from the Glock 19 retained 2 of the six lead petals while the round from the Sub-2000 fired bullet retained zero petals.
A single round was fired from a Glock 19 and a Kel-Tec Sub-2000 into Gel. Both rounds were found to have lost mass due to fragmentation (lost petals). All bullets had retained gel under the copper jackets. The Glock 19 bullet captured 1 of the broken petal against the copper jacket and retained 2 of the six lead petals. The round from the Sub-2000 fired bullet retained zero petals.
Pictured above – 124gn (upper) & 124gn +P (lower) fired from a Kel-Tec Sub2000
A single round was fired from a Glock 19 and a Kel-Tec Sub-2000 into Gel. They were all fully intact with a bit of gel under the copper jackets. The only noticeable difference between the Glock 19 round and the Sub-2000 was the additional gel penetration depth of just under 1 inch for the sub-2000. The size difference of the expanded 147 grain HST was noticeable when compared to the expanded 124 grain HST.
A single round was fired from a Glock 19 and a Kel-Tec Sub-2000 into Gel. They were all fully intact with a bit of gel under the copper jackets. The only noticeable difference between the Glock 19 round and the Sub-2000 was the additional gel penetration depth of just under 1 inch for the sub-2000. Again, the size difference of the expanded 147 grain +P HST was noticeable when compared to the expanded 124 grain HST (+P or otherwise!).
Pictured above – 147gn & 147gn +P (left to right) fired from the Kel-Tec Sub-2000
Pictured above – 147gn +P fired from the Glock 19
Recoil between the 124gn & 124gn +P was noticeable. You would be lucky to notice the difference between the 147gn and 147gn +P recoil. I really couldn’t tell in the G19 and another shooter using a Walther could just barely tell with the 147s.
The permanent wound cavities were very similar with the 147gn creating just slightly longer/larger destruction in the gel.
Comparing a 124 grain HST (left) to a 147 gain HST (right). The 147 grain bullet protrudes slightly more from the casing and there are longer & deeper cuts along the side of the bullet. The +P is marked on the casing as such while the non +P has luger on the head stamp.
147 grain HST
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124 grain HST
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Notice how almost all the petals are missing from the 124 grain bullets below
I also shot a 9mm Ranger-T into the gel just for fun. It had good penetration (about 13.5 inches into block 2) and retained the sharp copper points. However it was small compared to the 147 grain HSTs and fragments from the Ranger-T were visible in the gel. I didn’t end up saving it but should have upon reflection. It was very similar in size to the 124gn +P shot from the Kel-Tec Sub-2000.
I had thought about shooting into 4 ply denim however it had already taken a long time to set up and test the 9mm. There were some more fun things to play with so we ended up shooting a HP .22LR. Surprisingly good penetration (11 inches) and it actually expanded. A hollow-point .223 was shot from about 15 feet and did an amazing amount of damage to the gel with significant fragmentation.
Then we fired a .308 HP into the gel. Velocity was measured at 2880 fps. The gel block jumped above the table about 2 feet and it blew a hole about the size of a loaf of bread in the bottom of the table. The gel block split along its side. We did find a sizable divot in the dirt below the table. We can only assume that a fragment of enough velocity and mass broke away, traveled down and out of the block creating the hole in the table. Wow!
We then shot the last intact block with a .30-06 HP. This broke the table in half and ripped part of the supporting saw-horse in half. The back side of the block was in fragments.
Taking aim with the .30-06.
Checking out the damage!
This was a group effort! My thanks to everyone that helped with the testing!
Updated November 28, 2008
Thank you again to my reader for sharing that and allowing me to reprint the testing here!
The KR Training November 2014 newsletter is out.
Biggest news from there is the 2015 class schedule is also available.
There’s already some great guest instructors coming, like Caleb Causey, Ben Stoeger, Tom Givens, SouthNarc, and Massad Ayoob.
The 2015 schedule does have some room for more classes, so if you don’t see a class you’ve been wanting to take, drop a line and request it!
I would say it’d be wise to plan for classes now and reserve if you can. Classes do tend to fill up, and you may need to plan ahead due to circumstances (e.g. ammo purchases).
BTW, for those of you that like to carry small guns in the summer? We’re going to offer our Defensive Pistol Skills Back-up Gun class twice this year. We believe this to be an important class. We KNOW you like carrying small guns in the summer, and shooting such small/pocket guns is more difficult than full-sized pistols that we tend to prefer to shoot. If you’re going to carry it, you ought to ensure you’re proficient with it. So now you’ve got 2 chances to take the class — take advantage of that opportunity. 🙂
See you on the range in 2015!
A few days ago, KR Training‘s Director of Hospitality, Security, and Chief Student Food Inspector, Riboflavin T. Dog, passed away at the age of 16 years old.
When I first met Ribo, she didn’t care for me – probably because at the time I wasn’t much of a dog person. Over time and repeated visits, she warmed up to me. Probably didn’t hurt that I always had some food for her and always shared my lunch with her. In fact the past couple years she would always meet me as I drove into the range, as I got out of my truck, with a look of “And you have breakfast for me, right?”. 🙂 And of course, I did.
I’m not a dog person. Sure I own a dog and adore her, but I’m still not someone that likes dogs in general. I’ve found that it tends to stem not so much from the dog, but from the owner. Sure a dog is product of nature, but also of nurture. In Ribo’s case, it was evident she was loved and well-cared for, and lived about as good a life as a dog could ask for. It reflected in her demeanor. If I’m to like a dog, it’s because I like THAT dog. And Ribo was the #2 dog for me (only behind my Sasha).
Sweet memories of Ribo…
When she wandered into the classroom with something she found in the woods – I think it was the long-sun-dried back-end of a deer leg? And just plopped down and proceeded to gnaw on it and haul it around with her all day long.
How she was able to silently clear a room… if you were there, you know exactly what I mean. 🙂
Watching Karl hauling out the kiddie pool on the hot summer class days, so Ribo could splash around and stay cool. Yes, class had to wait for a dog.
Coming back into the range house and finding a mess in the kitchen, because someone threw something tasty in the trashcan. And you could always find the rest of things just outside the back doggie door.
I did finally learn to NOT keep my food – especially my beef jerky – on a surface less than 5’ high. Else, all I would find would be an empty package, just outside the back doggie door.
Having her on the range while classes were going on, just sitting back and relaxing. I never minded being asked to run into the range house to get or do something, because it gave me a quick minute to stop and pet her.
And yes. The above picture? I’ll never forget that sweet face.
Thank you, Ribo. It was a pleasure to know you.
I am a public health professional.
And I like guns.
This make me a heretic in American public health, where embracing firearms and the rights of gun owners is a gross violation of orthodoxy.
Vik Khanna is “public health professional, educated at the vaunted Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health”. And, as stated above, he likes guns. He writes about it in “Why Public Health Needs a New Gun Doctrine”.
It’s rarely a good thing when everyone is lock-step and unquestioning of doctrine. He takes his field to task on their regard for firearms.
In 2013, the Institute of Medicine, at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control, produced a report on firearms violence that has been ignored by the mainstream media. The upshot: defensive use of firearms occurs much more frequently than is recognized, “can be an important crime deterrent,” and unauthorized possession (read: by someone other than the lawful owner) of a firearm is a crucial driver of firearms violence.
That report went away for political reasons. Translation. Nobody wanted to talk about it because it raised more questions than it answered.
They didn’t get the answer they wanted, so they suppressed it. Is that science? Is that really doing a service to the world?
But even more key is the fundamental assumption:
My public health approach to the problem of gun violence starts with the assumption that every gun owner is not a raving, irresponsible nut, but in fact a person of some seriousness who has a legal right to choose to own a firearm.
What assumptions do you start with? Have you stepped back and honestly examined your own assumptions? Have you questioned and determined where your assumptions came from? What is their founding? Is it based upon biased news reporting (which we should all come to expect is the unfortunate norm of today’s “news” reporting)? Is it based upon Hollywood? Is it based upon a couple interactions you’ve had, and you’ve extrapolated a couple exceptions to apply to everyone?
Or even worse:
As for the claim that gun rights proponents oppose the conduct of legitimate research, consider this. Many years ago, I asked a very powerful anti-gun academic the following questions: What proportion of gun crimes are committed by the lawful owner of a legally purchased firearm, and what percentage of lawful gun owners use their firearm in commission of a crime? He said that he did not know, and that he would oppose conduct of the research to answer both questions.
If we’re going to have honest discussion towards finding real solutions to our problems, we must step back and examine our assumptions. We must be intellectually honest and not cherry picking what suits us or furthers our own blind agenda.
In the latest US Elections, the Republican party made some sweeping gains in terms of seats held, from the Federal level down to local levels. Naturally, in the days after there’s much posing and posturing about winning and losing, but before the election and after the election – and something that seems to exist regardless of election season – is how “gun rights” are positioned.
It seems people want to cut “gun rights” as a “red vs. blue” thing. That if you’re a Republican/conservative you are “pro-gun” and if you are a Democrat/liberal you are “anti-gun” (let’s leave us 3rd party folks out of this discussion for now). Granted, you do tend to find that the “reds” are pro and the “blues” are anti, but we really need to get away from such division and classification because “gun rights” are not directly correlated to “political party affiliation”.
Dr. Ben Carson, labeled a “Conservative Hero” seems to want to put restrictions on gun ownership. GOP candidate Mark Greenberg got an F-rating from the NRA-PVF.
Congressman Nick Rahall (disclosure: I’ve been friends with one of his daughters since high school), is a Democrat, but is a Life Member of the NRA and A-Rated by the NRA-PVF.
I’ve seen it in classes over the years. Many, if not most, of the KR Training study body, comes out of Austin – you know, that little “dot of blue in the sea of Texas red”. While you certainly get students of the “right-leaning” persuasion, we certainly see more than enough people who aren’t.
And let’s not forget the stereotype-busting I saw at one of the local indoor ranges back in 2010.
I know it’s cliché, but there’s truth in “united we stand, divided we fall”. If you care about “gun rights” then care about that and don’t let other labels that claim affiliation cloud the issue and your judgment, or divide you along colored lines. If anything, see it as a way to bridge the gap, to help us find something in common, to bring us together with a little better understanding.
So Texas’ new Governor-Elect, Greg Abbott says:
“If an Open Carry bill is passed by the House and Senate, I will sign it into law,”
The past week I’ve seen many people on both sides of the issue responding to this pledge. One thing that I keep seeing is pro-gun people commenting on the stupidity of such legislation because open-carry is stupid, dangerous, or insert your reason here. The argument tends to be to keep open carry illegal because it’s dangerous tactics.
I think it’s important to separate the legality of open carry from the tactics of open carry.
People tend to prefer options. I’m sure when you’re presented with a problem, you don’t like being forced to solve it by A – you’d be happier if you could choose between A, B, and C especially if B and C are better options, yes? We seem to prefer choice (our consumer patterns demonstrate this), because it provides better opportunity for optimal solutions.
And so, if Open Carry (of handguns) becomes legal in Texas , that provides law-abiding Texans with more options.
But just because it’s legal doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right and best option for solving a problem. There remain many reasons why concealed carry is a superior tactical option. Yes, some people may choose their options unwisely, but unwise decisions are nothing new in this world and the only solution there is for people to seek further education.
I know some will ask what I will do. Will I Open Carry? Generally speaking, no – I will continue to carry concealed. But having the option is something I will appreciate because there may come a time when it will be the better option and I appreciate having the choice.
When making arguments for or against Open Carry, do separate out the legal aspects from the tactics aspects. They are both valid areas of discussion, but we shouldn’t use “bad tactics” as justification for “bad laws”.
Stuff From Hsoi 