Guns

Fighting in your house

/ hsoi

Gabe Suarez has an article about fighting in your house.

Fighting in houses…or fighting in your house can take on many forms depending on your mission. Having clarity of mission is essential so you know how to comport yourself in each event.

While the article doesn’t discuss tactics or strategy, it does bring up contexts and situations. The article gives you a lot of things to think about, and it’s worth thinking about these things and role-playing through the situations now. If you do it now, you have a gameplan should it happen. If you wait until the shit hits the fan, you’ll be scrambling for a solution.

But while it’s good to drill into specific situations, I think what’s good to do in trying to solve those situations is to eventually seek the guiding principle. That is, the situations are specific and what happens when you find yourself in a situation you didn’t specifically prepare for? What to do? This is where you need to have a higher-layer of guiding principles. If you don’t know what your guiding principle is, going through the specific situations can help you find it — just see what and why you make the choices you do, look for patterns in your choices, then step back and get a higher-level view. Then test that principle out to see if it still holds in other specific situations. Continue to refine from there.

For myself, one guiding principle is protection of myself and my family. I was just thinking about this the other night. We were out at dinner. As I sat down I took a moment to orient myself to the room, including looking for exits. My family was with me… if something went down, my #1 task is to keep them safe (generally, get them out of the area). I have thought that if I could do something to stop the event yes I’d want to — I would find it hard to live with myself thinking “I could have done something” but didn’t. However, keeping my family safe is more important, and so that guides me and my decisions. I cannot go engage the problem if it means my family could be endangered. If I am alone, then things are different. But by the same token, is it more important for me to stop someone being stupid, or to ensure that I get myself home alive and safe so I can continue to work and provide for my family?

These are the things you have to figure out for yourself so you can know how you can and should react, should something happen.

Rangemaster August Newsletter

/ hsoi

The Rangemaster August 2010 Newsletter is now posted.

While there’s many useful things in the newsletter, what I found most interesting was the article “The Evolution of the Defensive Handgun Cartridge”. Very cool.

Concealed Carry in Omaha

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This trip to Omaha was my first road trip with my concealed handgun license.

Short summary: uneventful, but strange.

Resources

First, let me list the resources I used in planning:

opencarry.org – while I had no plans on open carrying, opencarry.org has a lot of useful resources, such as their maps and a Nebraska-specific forum.

handgunlaw.us – which contained a great number of legal resources, such as summary and reference of Nebraska’s laws.

concealedcarry.net – which has more legal resources, such as a reciprocity map and a trip planner.

Travel

We were driving, so I used the resources to see what laws would be like as I traveled to Omaha. In the past my drive took me through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, then into Omaha. However, I could see Iowa could be sticky so I took a different route that went from Texas to Oklahoma to Kansas, then directly into Nebraska. Google Maps even showed that as the best route from here to there, so all worked well.

You must remember that while there are Federal laws regarding firearms, much of what you’d actually deal with would be state laws, so you needed to know your stuff. Thankfully, most of the laws for the states I was travelling through was similar enough, at least in ways that it mattered. For instance, I was only traveling through Oklahoma and Kansas so I didn’t sweat details like churches or government buildings… but could rest stops be an issue? Apparently in Oklahoma, yes, but only if you went into rest stop buildings. I spent more of my time being concerned with the details of Nebraska and Omaha specifically.

Omaha Details

Unfortunately due to gang violence in Omaha, Omaha has enacted a lot of “feel good” laws that have served to only abridge law-abiding citizens and do nothing to curb criminals. For instance, you apparently can open carry in Omaha, but you must get a permit to do so. Omaha required registration of guns. But yes, past tense.

While you can conceal carry in Omaha, a simple sign is all it takes to deny lawful carry. I’m used to Texas’s “30.06” signs, which means the signs are well-defined and without question. Nebraska has no formal sign (tho they have a suggestion), so it makes things a little less clear. Here’s a sign from the entrance to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo:

It’s one of the better and more clearly defined signs that I saw around town. And believe me… I saw a LOT of denial signs. It’s a shame tho because it demonstrates a great misunderstanding. The only people who will be denied and that will obey are people with CHL’s — these people have been vetted by the system, background checked, fingerprinted, educated, tested, and generally deemed by society to be good, law-abiding folks. Meantime, the criminals and gang-bangers are just going to waltz into the zoo without a care in the world. The signage stops the people who shouldn’t be stopped, and doesn’t stop the people who should.

*sigh*

But here’s one odd point.

Back in 2007 there was a shooting rampage at the Westroads Shopping Mall. If I remember correctly, Westroads was VERY anti-gun, signs all over the place denying guns, banning guns on the property, and so on. Obviously those signs did them no good, and one could argue it made for a victim-rich zone and helped to create the tragedy. I went shopping at Westroads with Wife — we even parked outside the Von Maur department store and went into the mall through the Von Maur doors. I saw no signs denying lawful concealed carry anywhere. I still don’t know what Westroad’s policy is, but it seems they aren’t willing to allow the same tragedy twice.

I also find the signs interesting from a legal vs. “normal humans” standpoint. The way the signs read, it denies concealed carry. So… could I switch to open carry and enter that establishment? Of course, in Omaha it may require their open carry permit, but say I had one. How does this all play out legally? It’s evident that if an establishment posts those signs they don’t want guns at all, but the wording is such that it implies open carry would be alright.

It’s all rather odd and I’ll just say I’m happy to live in Texas.

To Nebraska’s credit, the CHL law is still young, but I’ve watched them over the years and they are working to clarify and improve the laws. So, just have to give them time… because the wheels of the law should generally turn slowly.

So….

So to me, I’m glad I was able to continue carrying on my trip. It’d be nicer if things were simpler and more straightforward. For instance, while many driving/road laws are state-based, there is great uniformity across the states. This greatly facilitates interstate travel. Such uniformity would be welcome in laws pertaining to concealed carry and self-defense. In many respects the laws are similar, but the devil lies in the details and that’s where it’d be nice to see improvement.

I’d also like to see Omaha improve. Yes I know gang violence is a problem, but denying and abridging the law-abiding is not going to help anything. The laws are well-intended, but good intentions pave the road to Hell. Just remember that.

All in all, an uneventful trip (in this regard), and that’s a good thing.

Comp-Tac XDm 3.8 stuff

/ hsoi

I’ve been seeing more and more Springfield XD(m)‘s showing up at KR Training classes, especially that 3.8 model.

One thing people have lamented is the lack of available gear for it. Well, Comp-Tac has just released holsters and mag pouches for that gun. So, there you go folks. No more excuses to not have good gear. 🙂

Reality check – just because you legally can doesn’t necessarily mean you should

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The following comes from Karl Rehn of KR Training.

I’ve talked with dozens of people who have firsthand experience in lethal force incidents: armed citizens, cops and military personnel, including several who were in multiple incidents.

One of the best comments on the subject came from one of them, who said that it was “like being in a car wreck.  Fast, loud, scary. When it’s over you are glad to survive it, but it’s not something you are in a hurry to experience again.”

Several of the people I’ve spoken with were involved in publicly debated incidents, and they suffered the additional stress and loss associated with getting fired and/or becoming publicly known/vilified as a result of the incident.

No one that is armed wants to imagine any outcome other than victory and exoneration, and sometimes that lack of concern over the consequences of a bad outcome leads to bad decisions….

The decision should be made based on what the worst case outcome is, not the best case.  For example, “if I do nothing, I will die.  If I do something, I still might die but my odds of dying are less than if I do nothing.”

Not “if I do nothing, I lose a TV, but if I act, I’ll have to use up all my vacation time from work going to meetings with lawyers and the grand jury, and spend my vacation money paying a lawyer, and have people on local talk radio Monday-morning quarterback my actions, and have everyone I know (neighbors, co-workers, family) forever treat me differently, and spend the rest of my life getting awkward questions about it.”  Every single person I’ve talked to that’s been in a shooting has had one or more of those post-shooting issues, even if they had no (or will admit to having no) PTSD after the incident.  You can’t wave your hand and say those things don’t matter and all that matters is what the Penal Code says.

Wilson Combat Ammo

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So big news… Wilson Combat is making ammo.

That is awesome.

I know Bill Wilson knows his stuff when it comes to guns and ammo. I want to get my hands on some of that .308 168 grain TTSX. If it shoots good out of my .308 bolt action and/or my M1A, it’ll be my hunting ammo for sure.

But the one thing that puzzles me is why no 6.8 SPC load? I know Bill Wilson likes the 6.8 and uses it a lot for his own hog hunting. So why no 95 grain TTSX here? Probably a matter of it being a niche caliber and not worth offering in the first go-round for a new venture (i.e. nothing personal, just business decisions). Still, I’d love to see that. 🙂

Improve your snub sights

/ hsoi

A great article from Claude Werner about ways to improve the sights on your snub revolver.

The sights on snubs are pretty bad, and Claude’s article offers a wealth of suggestions on how you can improve them.

Rifle Reloading… just thinking aloud

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I’ve been keeping up my daily ritual of reloading every morning. I did bump it up to 200 rounds a day, and that’s made a big difference. Doesn’t take much more time out of my day, but is making everything go well… twice as fast as before. I’m out there almost every morning, and at this rate I reckon I’ll be done reloading all my 9mm components by end of August or so. Then a brief stint to get all the .38 Special I have loaded up. And then… rifle loading.

Let’s go back to February 2010 and look at my long term reloading plans. I am sticking with the goal to get a lot of 9 loaded up.

The thing that’s different? Back then 6.8 SPC wasn’t in the picture, but it is now. Now that I have it, I’m not sure I’ll bother with .223 because I was wanting .223 for hunting and well… 6.8 is filling that role. However, loading for 6.8 is a LOT more expensive. And I must admit, after all the failure and problems I had before with rifle reloading, I’m a little gunshy and unsure where to go. I think the biggest thing that got me not just the frustration factor but the cost involved — those Barnes Bullets aren’t cheap.

Was it the single-stage press and inconsistency there? Was it the recipe? Was it the way the bullets were being seated or crimped? Was it just me? I don’t know. Too many factors to consider. And now, I’m going to load on the progressive press. foo.c’s zombie loads were done on his Lock-n-Load progressive press and they came out excellent, so I’m hoping for greater consistency due to that factor.

Still…. I’m not sure what I should do. Should I start loading some .223 plinking loads? I’ve got a bunch of brass and bullets (.223 55grain FMJ’s) and usable powder (e.g. Ramshot TAC). Loading them could help me shake out any process issues (resize, deprime… might even set up the single-stage to do that; brass prep (trim, clean/ream primer pockets, etc.); prime, powder, bullet; skip the crimp for now). Plus help me gain confidence in loading, after the prior fiasco. I’d have to shoot these with irons, but if I could get a group doing 0.5″ at 50 yards, that’d be bueno.

I may do that. Then after that, do some 6.8 plinking loads, because it’ll be a little cheaper and I want plinking loads anyways. Then finally move to those Barnes 95 grain TTSX bullets and make a hunting load.

Probably what I’ll do. I’m really excited about it and kinda want to get done with the handgun loads so I can get to experimenting. 🙂