Guns

Search term blog fodder

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

And so… back to the search terms, for more cheap blog material.

hwarangdo vs kuksool

What do you want to know? Both rather controlling, ego driven, Hapkido-related, traditional Korean martial arts. They both have really fancy schmancy uniforms. They both claim to be the ultimate in martial arts covering everything for every one. They both claim to have gazillion year old lineages, full of secret information.

I remember long long ago when I first heard of HRD that I was impressed… I thought it was such a cool, bad-ass martial art. Then I read a lot of the rules, rules that broached into your personal life for a total code of behavior. While I can sorta see the traditional aspect behind that, it also reeks of cult-ism, which both of these arts have been accused of. Not that they are a cult, they aren’t, but they do exhibit cult-like behavior. Still, if you watch the senior ranking masters perform, they’re quite awesome. Taejoon Lee of HRD and Sung Jin Suh of KSW (both the sons of the respective art founders) are fantastic martial artists.

Given a choice tho, I’d study neither. HRD offers me nothing that I haven’t already dealt with in Kuk Sool, and after 6 years of Kuk Sool I opted to leave it and study other things.

difference in damage from 9mm to 45

On paper, in ballistics gel, in the laboratory, .45 ACP probably does more. In the real world, doesn’t really matter… both suck.

Shoot the gun that you can shoot best: fast, accurate. You want to get fast, accurate hits in the proper target zone. Shot placement is key. The biggest baddest round in the wrong spot means nothing. And lots of little “weak” .22 LR’s placed in the right spot have taken down all sorts of things over the years. Shot placement matters more.

And so to improve your chances at shot placement, you want to shoot the gun you can shoot better. Me, I can shoot .45 ACP just fine and dandy, but I can shoot 9mm better because there’s less recoil to manage (I can get back on the sights and on target faster). I can shoot it faster and maintain a high level of accuracy with it.

YMMV

best email client for macintosh snow leopard

What’s left these days? Microsoft Entourage and Apple’s Mail.app. Is there anything else even available?

Mail.app has the advantage of a lot of integration with the OS, with your iPhone, and so on. I still don’t think it’s as good a client as Entourage is tho. But I must admit, Mail’s complete integration, especially now that I have an iPhone, really makes it tempting for me to want to switch to Mail.app. Why don’t I? Inertia. There’s WAY too much to overcome to make the switch.

how to manage geeks

See: how to herd cats.

Or more easily: enable them to do their work and leave them alone to do it. Don’t bullshit them. Meritocracy tends to be strongly in play.

“kuk sool won” mcdojo

Yup.

I shouldn’t be so harsh. Any martial art can be a McDojo. Unfortunately, more and more the way World Kuk Sool Association is running Kuk Sool Won, it’s reeking more and more of McDojo-ism. The art itself can be a very solid art, unfortunately the way the business side of things is run, you get what you got.

hfs+ detect changes spotlight

FSEvents.framework is your friend.

why did marlin sims leave kuk sool

Why don’t you ask him?

But if you don’t want to, my understanding is disagreements with the WKSA. He wanted to do one thing, they wouldn’t let him. Exerting too much control over a person, restricting and restraining, that’s not a productive thing. He left. I don’t blame him.

But whatever. He’s doing his own thing now. I think it’s better for the martial arts world in general, because now he can control his own destiny… he can share his vast knowledge, experience, and ability with the world and no one can stop him. It’s a loss for WKSA but a big gain for the rest of the world.

BTW, I got to speak with him at length on the phone one time. Great guy. Funny. So knowledgeable. An artist, but more so a scientist. I never got the chance to directly train with him, but would love to do so if the opportunity arose.

best good nine 9 mm handgun

As opposed to the best bad nine 9mm handgun? Or maybe the worst good nine 9 mm handgun?

how far does a 9mm hand gun shoot?

If you angled everything just right, centerfire handgun rounds can travel about 1 to 1.5 miles.

This is why you must follow the rules, especially NRA rule 1 or Cooper rule 4.

how many shots does a 9mm gun carry?

Depends upon the gun and the magazine. For instance a Glock 17 magazine holds 17 rounds. A Springfield EMP magazine holds 9 rounds. I can buy a 33 round magazine for the Glock…. it sticks out a lot, but still can be used.

best 9mm handgun 2009

Springfield Armory’s XD(m) won the 2009 NRA Golden Bullseye Award for Handgun of the Year. Take that for what it’s worth.

shotgun vs pistol home defense

Neither. Rifle.

Worthwhile quotes

/ hsoi

Joe Huffman has taken classes from InSights Training Center. I have too (and would love to take more if they weren’t so darn far away, or if they get back down to Texas).

Greg Hamilton and crew there have a lot of experience and wisdom to share, and Joe has rounded up a great selection. Go read.

SR-22 side-effect

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

As I noted a couple days ago, Ruger just introduced a new rifle, the SR-22.

The SR-22 is simple. It’s essentially a Ruger 10/22 with the wood stock removed and black plastic stuff attached to it.

Pictures would help.

Continue reading →

Let Recoil Happen

/ hsoi

Courtesy of Rob Longenecker, an article titled “Let Recoil Happen.”

The article discusses handgun shooting and flinching. Author Ron Avery’s response? Let recoil happen.

Granted this is simplifying things, but his point is sound. Recoil is going to happen. We cannot stop recoil. As humans we don’t like these loud explosions going off just a few feet in front of our faces, and naturally we flinch, naturally we tense up trying to fight and stop the recoil. You can’t stop the recoil; the best we can do is manage the recoil. This can happen through good technique: e.g. modern isosceles stance, “nose over toes” (putting your weight on the balls of your feet, weight forward, butt sticking out), using equal and firm grip pressure but letting the rest of your body be more or less relaxed, etc.. It’s a good article on helping to manage recoil and stop flinching.

Mr. Avery briefly touches on an interesting topic:

With the trend towards smaller and lighter handguns and more powerful cartridges, I have noted an increase in flinching among students shooting these firearms. Weight is not a bad thing if it is kept in a range that allows for controllability along with ease of carry.

I’ve observed newbies shooting a Kahr (i.e. very small and lightweight handgun) chambered for .40 S&W (i.e. powerful, snappy cartridge) for the first time. Invariably the newbie shooters do not like it. Small guns are harder to control: you can’t get enough grip on them, they have less weight thus less mass to help absorb and manage that recoil. But, people want small guns because they believe that’s the only way to carry concealed, so the first gun they get and try to learn to shoot with is a small gun and inevitably it leads to a lot of frustration because they can’t shoot it well. Frustration then equates to not practicing, and not practicing well… you know what that means.

I made this mistake. I started out with a small gun. It wasn’t too bad, but upon the recommendation of a good teacher I put the gun on the shelf and bought a big full-sized gun. I’m glad I did. It was much easier to shoot a full-sized gun and consequently I learned faster, practiced more. Once I had competence with the larger gun, it wasn’t as difficult to go back to the smaller gun and be successful in shooting it because I had the technique fundamentals down. Hence my opinion that small guns are better for “advanced shooters” and beginners should stick with full-sized guns. Get through the learning curve, get a solid foundation, then move to the small gun. Besides, yes you can conceal full-sized guns.

Ruger SR-22

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

Ruger just released their SR-22.

In short, a 10/22 with black plastic furniture.

I can’t blame them for doing this. To have an AR-styled rifle that shoots .22 LR is all the range these days. It’s not like it was hard to find 3rd party furniture to turn a 10/22 into an EBR in the first place, so Ruger is just capitalizing on things and getting a quick product on the market and money in their pockets.

Me, I wouldn’t buy it. If I wanted an AR-style .22, I’d want one as close to the actual manual at arms so that training muscle memory is in effect (e.g. operation of the safety). If I wanted a 10/22, I’d want it with different furniture and outfitting.

Nevertheless, there’s a market for this and I’m sure people will buy it. Good for Ruger.

Updated: Another good thing about this: it takes AR accessories, but it also takes 10/22 accessories. Arguably two of the largest aftermarkets out there.

Good to also see this iteration of the 10/22 includes recent improvements to the 10/22, like the magazine release and being able to drop the bolt with one hand.

Updated 2: Steve at TFB has more details.

Updated 3: Possible side-effect of the SR-22?

Gun in the car – bad idea

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Roberta X points out why keeping a gun in the car isn’t the hottest idea.

Stealing guns from cars is a big way that guns go from being “legal guns” to “illegal guns.”

Here in Texas, I know a lot of people keep a gun in their car. Honestly I don’t know what good it does them. The gun is rarely (never?) on their person, crimes in a car aren’t that frequent, and if one does happen most people who keep guns in their car keep them in some useless state (e.g. bagged up, boxed up, etc.). So basically it’s just a 4-wheeled storage crate, where you bring the gun to the thief.

The unfortunate thing is a lot of laws force law-abiding citizens to behave in this manner. You might have a concealed handgun license but now you need to go into a building where you cannot legally carry it, so you are now forced to leave it in your car. It’s just bad feeding worse.

My flashlight

/ hsoi / 21 Comments

I carry a flashlight with me wherever I go. Why? Because it’s useful.

I never carried a dedicated flashlight, even something like a cheap little keychain fob LED. A couple years ago I started to carry one, and now I can’t live without it. You just don’t realize the utility and cannot appreciate it until you have one on you. There are more than enough times you’ll find yourself out and about, in a low light situation, and you will find it useful to have a light. Our eyes tend to work better that way. 🙂

The flashlight I carry is a SureFire E2L Outdoorsman.

I know. It’s boring. It’s not some tacti-cool flashlight like their Z2 or G2Z or the E2D Defender or 6P Defender. That’s OK and how I wanted it. I didn’t want a flashlight that draws attention. I wanted a flashlight I could take onto an airplane and have no one think twice about. I wanted a flashlight that I could pull out at a Scout campout and no parent or BSA policy would freak out over. I wanted a flashlight I could use on a daily basis, but that I could also use in a self-defense situation if necessary. I think the E2L fits that bill.

Many of the “tactical” flashlights are designed around a very powerful beam of light. That’s great for blinding people, for flooding an area with light. But what if you’re working on something close up? What if you’re out camping, it’s nighttime, you need to read a map. Having 100+ lumens reflecting off the map back into your eyes is not enjoyable. The E2L has two settings: a low power with 3 lumens, and a high power with 60. The low power is actually still fairly bright: shine it in someone’s eyes and they will be blinded; I’ve had it reflect off some close-up materials and still mess up my vision. The high power may not be as bright as some other flashlights, but it’s still amazingly bright. I recall on one campout using my E2L as a floodlight, holding it at arms length above my head, to light the way for a bunch of Cub Scouts and it lit up the pathway some nearly 100′ out like daylight. Another parent was using one of their cheap-o $2 special flashlights and it didn’t illuminate much past the end of their feet. So the variable light output is a big part of why I like this flashlight, because it enables more practical daily use.

The clip on the flashlight is also helpful as a daily flashlight. Just attach it to something like a hat brim and you’ve got hands-free light.

To use the flashlight in a self-defense context, I’ve found the flashlight works fine. It provides ample light, even if all you get is the low beam. In fact, to quickly switch from low to high beam is a mini strobe effect which at least when I’ve surprised some friends doing a quick “from darkness, to low beam to high beam” flicker has proven to be a bit more disorienting than just flashing to a single beam. I have not struck anyone or anything with the flashlight, but I feel that it could work fine for such a thing. The bezel doesn’t have the extreme crenellation the “Defender” flashlights have nor the added strengths of say the Pyrex window, but there’s a mild crenellation and certainly if the flashlight doesn’t survive the encounter I’m not going to sweat it too much… I can always buy another one afterwards.

I’ve been quite happy with the flashlight. I’ve tried using a more dedicated “tactical light” as a carry flashlight, but how often do you need such a thing? If you’re a police officer, perhaps so. But for private citizen me, most of my portable light needs are just daily needs to help me see where I’m going or what lurks in some dark area. I feel the SureFire E2L Outdoorsman provides me with a flashlight that addresses daily needs quite well, and doesn’t leave me feeling at any sort of disadvantage in other possible use areas.

Note: I’m not affiliated with SureFire. No compensation or anything for this. This is just private me talking about the gear I use.

Magazine pouch pondering

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

The Desantis Mag Packer is a fine way to carry a reload, but it takes up a pocket. Plus pant pockets can vary: mouth too wide so the packer doesn’t get caught on the way out, mouth too narrow so it’s tough to get your hand in there quickly, pocket might not be deep enough or might be too deep. These sorts of variances don’t help in having a consistent draw behavior. If you’ve got a folder clipped to your pocket, now the two items are competing for space. It’s fairly comfortable tho, and concealment is pretty high.

An OWB single mag pouch is useful, but a bit harder to conceal (relative to the Mag Packer). Placement and withdrawal can be fairly consistent however, which helps with your reloads.

A double pouch is a bit better, in terms of how much you can carry. Now, I wouldn’t get one like this because it puts one magazine facing the wrong way (it should be positioned “bullets towards the bad guy”). Of course, with 2 pouches it’s harder to conceal, but it’s do-able. It’s also going to be a bit more uncomfortable. This sort of pouch is useful for training because now you can have at least 3 magazines rotating while you’re on the line. In most of the classes I take (Combined Skills was a perfect example), this is a minimum. It’s also nice to have the 3 magazines because it ensures you can always reholster with a full gun J(provided you didn’t burn through all the magazines, of course).

Then there’s something like this quad pouch. Not suitable for carry, but good for competition. Good for class? Depends upon the class. If it’s a class about competition, sure. If it’s a class about defensive handgun work for self-defense, I wouldn’t use it because it’s not your carry rig and you should take the class with your carry rig.

A magazine-flashlight combo pouch is also appealing because it allows you a spot on your Batman utility belt for both items. If you don’t normally carry a flashlight around with you (even a cheap little keychain fob LED) you may not appreciate how useful it is to have a flashlight always on your person; once you start to regularly carry one, you won’t want to be without one. Of course, this then has similar bulk as the double pouch, but only provides one magazine. But of course the tradeoff is a well-defined spot for your flashlight.

BTW, I refer to Comp-Tac because I’m a satisfied customer, and they provide a wide swath of options, including I think the only people that will make a flashlight holster for the flashlight I carry.

Anyway… just thinking out loud.

Buckshot for self-defense

/ hsoi / 15 Comments

Yesterday I posted how birdshot is for birds. The general maxim is, if you’re using a shotgun for self/home-defense, buckshot (generally 00) is the way to go.

I have heard some people recommend #1 buckshot as being better. For instance, arfcom, Chuck Hawks, the firearmstactical.com brief. There’s also some talk that #4 is better, like here and even Massad Ayoob.

Well, as luck would have it, just today on the InSights mailing list someone posed such a question about shotgun self-defense ammo and one of the instructors, Keven Kerkam, responded with the following:

The “standard” loadout for a self-defense shotgun is 00-buck in the tube and slugs on the side-saddle.

Use 00 or 000 buck. We have observed a direct correlation between shot size (or number of pellets) and pattern size. Unlike what many people (uneducated people) say, you want *tight* pattern. You own each pellet that goes down range, so you want everything to hit the bad guy. We have found that the new(ish) Federal LE 132 00 load produces exceptionally tight patterns in nearly all guns. There is an older LE 132 load — this ok but not great — so look for LE 132 00 with the “flight-control wad” mentioned. Ammoman.com has it, btw.

I notice that there is now a LE 133 00 load that is an 8-pellet load as opposed to the 9-pellet 132 load. That *might* (no idea till we play with it) be even tighter than the already amazingly good LE 132 00 load. For now I am only recommending the LE 132 00 though.

For slugs, I recommend a reduced-recoil variety. The Foster-style works as good as any (most common type of slug on the market). The other common type is the Brenneke, but that one is usually marked “Brenneke” and mostly comes in “max” (i.e. high-power) loads. If it just says “slug” you’re getting the Foster type. Brand doesn’t matter, just make sure it is marked reduced/low-recoil or, sometimes, they’re called “tactical” which makes it even cooler because you’re not shooting a wimpy load that way. 🙂

Between my yesterday blog posting and the #1 buck being on my mind, I thought I’d ask for their input on the matter. John Holschen wrote:

For defensive shotgun use we need:

a.      No stray pellets (each one is a liability, without any positive effect.)

b.      Sufficient depth of penetration of each pellet to reach vital organs.

Detailed Criteria

a.      I would ideally like all pellets in the “A” zone at 25 yds. More realistic is all pellets on target at 25 yds. More pellets does not enhance performance in this criteria.

b.      OO buck is the lightest pellet that will reliably reach vital human organs through clothing at a distance.

Keven’s previous recommendations take into account both of these criteria.

Besides, it’s tough finding “smaller buckshot” at retail stores and even online retailers. Most of the time you’ll only find 00 buckshot, maybe 000 if you’re lucky.

Some important things that come from this as well:

  • Use tight(er) chokes.
  • Test your patterns
    • Before you go test, figure out the ranges at which you’ll be shooting. For instance, if it’s a home-defense shotgun, figure out the maximum distance you can shoot within your house.
  • Practice, and know the capabilities of your tool and yourself.

Updated: The original instructor, Keven Kerkam, added some additional information:

Yeah. A good number of years ago I did some pattern testing with all the different buckshot loads & sizes I could find (4, 1, 0, 00, 000) from Remington, Federal, and Winchester and found that the smaller the shot, the larger the pattern. Now with some of the more expensive rounds, you would get tighter patterns with 00 than 000, but if you kept things to the same type of construction/quality, 000 would shoot tighter than 00.

Granted, this was only with one gun, but I’d be willing to bet that 90% of the guns out there would show the same overall behavior, just different scale.

Other than a tight pattern for liability reasons, you want a tight pattern for wounding. When a pattern goes beyond a certain critical size, its effectiveness will drop off dramatically. Since #1 will spread faster than 00 which spreads faster than a good “tactical” 00 like the Federal LE 132 00, your effective range with #1 is significantly less than with a load like LE 132 00.

The typical argument for the #1 loads revolves around its reduced penetration through interior structures. This has some merit and is something that each individual has to work out for themselves and their unique circumstances: whether they want something with more wounding potential or less penetration through interior structures.

Some will argue that you have 16 pellets vs. 9, but if you hit a guy in the chest with a pattern that is, say 8″ (i.e. about 7-8 yards away — shot tends to spread around 1″ per yard give or take – more for lighter/more pellets less for larger/fewer), the majority of the pellets are going into the lungs and periphery (read: not immediately fight-stopping) and you get a few into the heart. But with pellets that are only .30/40.3gr, you may not do significant (read: fight-stopping) damage to the heart. And depending on the angle, positioning of other body parts, etc. you might not even get enough penetration to reach the heart at all. I mean, you’re still going to upset him but, you might be a bit disappointed in the immediate results.

But, if say, you hit him with a tight-shooting load like the LE 132 00, where we’ve seen patterns at 4″ or even <2″ (!!!) inches at 7-ish yards, virtually all of the load will hit the heart (assuming a well-placed shot of course) and the BG will have to be a lot more motivated to continue and physics will dictate that he’s only going for a max of 10-15 seconds more because his pump is no longer running.

Also, lighter shot will not penetrate heavy clothing as effectively. A good number of years ago, a Bellevue police officer used a 12ga shotgun to defend himself against bad guy who was seated in a car and drawing a handgun. The BG was wearing a leather jacket. I don’t remember if he was using #4, #1 or #0, but it was not 00. Where the leather jacket covered the BGs hand/arm that was hit, there was little damage. Only the uncovered portions were severely damaged. The loose leather jacket sucked most of the energy out of the shot.

IMHO, pretty compelling argument to stick with 00 buckshot. And if you can, to get some of the LEO-specific 00 buckshot.