And yet, people will still keep debating this topic…

KR Training held it’s “Beyond the Basics: Pistol” class this past Saturday. We had a full class of good students. Here’s some quick hits from my observations.

Gear Matters

Shooting is a context where gear can help or hinder you. You can increase skill with the right gear, and you can hamper performance with the wrong gear.

As discussed in class, better sights and better trigger will certainly improve your performance. Beyond that discussion tho, things like the right holster and magazine pouches go a long way as well. While this class wasn’t a high-speed-low-drag class, it wasn’t a “draw from the holster” class, certainly performance was helped or hindered by such equipment.

For example, magazine pouches need to provide quick and unhampered access to the magazines. Covering flaps slow down access. Having the “pocket” be too deep, the sides of the pouch coming WAY up the side of the magazine, doesn’t allow you to get a proper grip on the magazine. Having double-pouches that don’t put enough space between the magazines can prevent you from getting a proper grip on the magazine. The magazine pouch needs to allow the magazine to pull free without any binding or need to withdraw the magazine in a special way (Karl was testing some new magazine pouches that were difficult to withdraw from). These things may not matter when you’re slowly plinking at the range, but when you need to move quickly, these little things matter.

Speaking of magazines….

Have More Magazines

Having a lot of magazines is useful in a class situation, because the more magazines you have, the more that are loaded, the more you can keep running drills uninterrupted. I like keeping 10 fully-loaded magazines in my range bag. Usually I only run 3-4 of them in the course of a class, but I like having 10. Why? With 16 rounds in each magazine, chances are high the class will have a greater than 160 round count, so I’m going to have to reload a magazine sooner or later. Thus whenever the rest of the class breaks to reload mags, I do too. But by having some spares I have a buffer, because sometimes there isn’t time to reload (e.g. have to run to the bathroom, have to move to the next station) so I can minimize downtime and delay by just grabbing another full mag from my bag. And with something like an UpLULA I can reload quickly. Seriously, I used to scoff at that thing, but now I love it. Saves your fingers, and once you learn the rhythm you can reload mags really fast.

But really what stood out to me regarding “more magazines” was I saw a few people prep for class by taking their carry gun, taking the magazine out, stripping out their carry ammo, then reloading with practice ammo. While this isn’t a horrible sin, it’s not an ideal thing.

Consider my posting from a few days ago about magazine springs. (Yes click through and read, or at least look at the picture in the article).

Magazines wear out. They are a likely point of failure (that’s why it’s a solid idea to carry a reload). I don’t like putting a lot of wear and tear on my carry mags because I’d prefer to keep them as far away from failure as possible. Yes, modern magazines can perform quite well, and even the “worn out” ones I was using were still chugging along just fine (and I’m sure will continue to do so on the practice range), but unless you have some particular need to do this, well… take the time to invest in a few more magazines. Let your carry mags be your carry mags, keep them well-cared for, and let your practice mags be used for practice. If you pick up one new magazine here and there, each time you go shopping, before you know it you’ll have a good supply.

Speed

Everyone wants to go faster, but you can’t go faster than you can go while still getting acceptable hits. Remember your performance at the end of class on the steel plates? It’s all about speed change-ups, right? Speed is relative, and being able to make “bang bang” noises really close together means nothing if you don’t make the hits.

But remember, you don’t just go faster by purely going faster. Efficiency of motion matters a great deal.

I’ve written on this before, so I’ll link to a few articles:

Explaining “Going Faster” without necessarily “Going Faster”

and

Equipment Matters, and more on Going Faster

and

Slow Down to Go Fast

These articles are specially useful because they contain videos that manifest everything that came out of the class (changing speeds, economy of motion, etc.). Yes, click through and watch.

Solidify Your Foundation

Ask yourself something.

What is your goal? What is your purpose? Why are you taking classes?

Is it to stroke your ego?

Or is it to improve your skills and abilities?

If it’s the former, I can’t help you.

If it’s the latter, realize that the former may have to take a hit. Yeah, I’m not always thrilled about being humbled and embarrassed, I’ve got an ego too, but we don’t improve if we don’t humble ourselves now and again.

Beyond the Basics addressed a particular skill area. Because of the limits of class we can’t work on perfecting things like grip-and-stance, drawstroke, etc.. But I did see numerous students that could benefit from some attention to those areas. Seek some instruction in those areas, of shooting fundamentals. A class like our Basic Pistol 2 is fantastic for the fundamentals of sights and trigger control. A class like Defensive Pistol Skills 1 builds upon that and introduces the drawing from concealment holsters.

You don’t have to receive your training from us, tho we would love to see you again. But do seek instruction. I think a couple students in class made a good case.

One student said he had watched lots of videos, read lots, and thought he had a lot of the concepts and techniques down (and he did). But that it took having an instructor there to be able to actually watch and give him live and direct feedback that made a big difference.

Another student? If I remember correctly, this was his third time taking Beyond the Basics. These are skills we all need to work on, and it’s great to see such acknowledgement and dedication to self-improvement.

Coda

Apart from the fact summer’s officially here and it’s getting pretty hot out, it was a good day. A good group of students, cooperative weather, lots of brass on the ground…. can’t ask for much more. 🙂

Thank you all for choosing KR Training and coming out to spend the day with us. Hope to see you back on the range soon!

Regular maintenance isn’t the most fun thing, but it’s an important thing.

By no means do I have a perfect track record here, and when I do maintain things it’s not always regular. But I do try to address things from time to time.

One thing I’m semi-regular about is rotating my carry ammo. Yes I know it’s expensive, but when the flag files the last thing you want is for things to not function. While self-defense ammo is of high quality, takes many factors into account to fend off the elements, all that sweat, humidity, and other factors of being on your hip for months on end… yeah, there’s no harm in putting in fresh ammo maybe every 6 months or so. How often? Everyone debates it endlessly, so just pick a reasonable schedule and try to stick to it.

But did you think about rotating your magazines?

A lot of people treat magazines like gold, and to some extent that’s understandable. But on the whole, magazines are disposable. They should be considered wear parts that need to be replaced every so often.

Case in point:

These are 2 magazine springs. They are both from a S&W M&P9 17-round magazine.

The shorter one came out of one of the magazines I’ve been carrying for a while (honestly, don’t recall how long but probably a few years). The longer one came out of a brand new, just-removed-from-box magazine. I wish I had a brand new spring that hadn’t even been inside a magazine yet for additional comparison, but alas that was at home in the closet.

Essentially the same thing, but you can see the great difference in the older magazine.

I don’t use my carry mags for anything other than carry. They only get used maybe every 6 months when I shoot the ammo I’ve been carrying and then refill them. They still worked, they still fed properly. But no question the older springs had lost a bit of tension. What actually spurred me to get fresh mags wasn’t anything with springs or feeding, but the magazine bodies – from being up against my skin all the time, they had started to take on a little rust. Nothing big, but it was enough to make me notice and figure new ones couldn’t hurt. If not for that, I probably would have just swapped in new springs and kept the bodies.

The old ones will go into my range bag to use in practice. Ran a few magazines through the new ones to ensure they functioned correctly, then loaded them up with Gold Dots and into service they go.

I started to make a practice of every time I’d go to the store or order something online, just throw another magazine into the cart. If you buy one here, one there, next thing you know you’ve got a good stockpile. Then when you need a new one, you’ve got one — there’s not always in stock when you need them.

 

The 2015 Texas Legislative Session ended, and so some new gun laws are going into effect. Biggest press goes to the Open Carry and Campus Carry laws, but there are others.

Here’s a link to the summary of the new laws from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

There are a bunch of laws going into effect that didn’t get much press. Pay attention to those as well.

Note that a lot of other laws went into effect. For example, a knife rights preemption will go into effect September 1, which should clean things up and not make simple pocket knives illegal in places like San Antonio.

One big thing for folks to realize. While traditionally new laws go into effect on September 1, that’s NOT the case with the 2 big gun laws.

Open Carry takes effect January 1, 2016.

Campus Carry takes effect August 1, 2016, and for public junior colleges August 1, 2017.

BE AWARE.

DON’T BE STUPID.

Oh, and it seems we have a new TLA. While we figured CHL (Concealed Handgun License) would become a HL (handgun license),  it seems it will now be an LTC – License To Carry.

We LTC Instructors are still waiting to get the full skinny from DPS, so you just gotta be patient like the rest of us. Once we know, we’ll let you know.

So with (licensed) Open Carry coming to Texas, that means some (licensed) people are going to carry their handguns openly.

If you chose to do so, please do so with thought, wisdom, education, skill, and respect.

One part of this equation? Holster selection.

As the law has been passed, open carry of handguns in Texas can only be done if the handgun is carried in a shoulder or belt holster. As well, the law mentions “restraint holster” (whatever that is, but I’m sure they mean a holster with some level of mechanical retention), but only within the context of classroom instruction and the instructor – that is, it doesn’t APPEAR that you actually HAVE to carry in a “restraint holster”. However this is where wisdom comes into play, because you would be foolish to open carry in anything other than a retention holster.

Note: the above is somewhat speculation as we are still waiting on the Texas Department of Public Safety to interpret the law and implement the necessary portions within the licensing program (which I guess is now just a “HL” instead of “CHL” program?). We (C)HL instructors are still waiting to hear on things, so you’ll just have to be patient like the rest of us. And meantime, err on the side of caution and well… don’t be stupid.

Going with that, as an instructor, while I have my reserves about open carry, I acknowledge people are going to do it, and so it’s best as an instructor to have as much knowledge and experience in the matter as I can so I can most effectively guide people to good and reasonable choices.

So after talking at length with a Deputy friend of mine and doing a bunch of my own research, I picked up a Safariland 7377.

Why?

Why get one? Again, while I don’t see myself open carrying as a general rule, I want to be educated and have first-hand knowledge, so having my own holster(s) and actually using them is part of the knowledge equation. Ignorance never serves any positive end.

Why get this particular one?

Safariland is pretty much the gold-standard. This is life-safety equipment – more so given this particular context – and I don’t care to entrust my life and the lives of my wife and children to anything less than the best. Will I explore other brands? Sure, but might as well start with the gold standard.

Why the 7377 model?

First, I didn’t want any true duty holster. Why? I’m not a cop. But more simply, the duty holsters tend to be fashioned for duty belts, which can be 2″ or 2.25″ wide. I don’t have such belts, nor pants made with such wide loops. I have a 1.5″ belt, so duty holsters are not appropriate. Thus I went with Safariland’s “concealment” (i.e. same basic holsters but with mounts for 1.5″ and 1.75″ belts), but with a wonder just how well it would actually conceal.

Second, why the ALS system? I appreciate the fact that all you have to do is reholster and it’s locked – you don’t have to flip or engage anything to activate the retention feature. Granted, ALS-alone is only a level-1 retention, but still it’s something. As well, my understanding is the older SLS feature can deactivate if you’re rolling on the ground, etc.. Finally, there are people in this industry whose knowledge, skills, and experience I trust, and they recommend ALS.

Third, of the different models of Safariland, concealment line, ALS, the 7377 seemed more likely to conceal (vs. the 6377). I haven’t been able to compare the two in person, but at least from pictures, videos, and descriptions, it does seem the 7377 is able to be made thinner thus more concealable.

Why am I worried about concealment? This is an open carry issue! Because at least in my context, I see any chance of me being openly carrying as a state change. For example, wearing a suit, gun on my hip under the jacket, take off the jacket and now I’m open. Thus I need the ability for one holster to handle both states.

So after looking and much consideration, the 7377 was settled upon.

While I was at it, I also picked up a 6006 ALS Guard, because why not order it at the same time. Try it both ways, and if I do like it it makes it Level 2 retention.

BTW, if you’re curious what all this “retention level” stuff means, here’s Safariland’s explanation. Also note that Safariland only rates their duty gear with retention levels; their “concealment” line doesn’t get such ratings/verbage.

I placed my order, and it came in yesterday.

First Impressions

While the holster itself seemed fine, I’m not sure about the belt mount. It’s the 567BL Injection Molded Belt Loop. It feels solid enough, but some of the flex makes me wonder. Plus the little bars that go through the belt loop that you are to cut out to make fit a 1.75″ belt? I’m curious how well those hold up to abuse. So… the holster seems fine, no better nor necessarily worse than any good kydex holster. Just a wonder about the belt mount.

BTW, I have seen this and other retention holsters sold with a paddle mount. FFS… no, just no. I could maybe see it if you had it on a training version of the holster, but for actual carry? No.

The ALS worked like a breeze. Heck, I could barely tell it was even there! It’s quite a natural drawstroke, tho depending what you do with your thumb you may have to adjust. Me, I do tend to get a full grip when I draw, so I do have to (re)train to adjust for this, and certainly had more than enough times when I didn’t successfully disengage the lock because training artifacts and n00b (tho that mostly happened with the Guard installed).

I installed the ALS Guard. Holy crap! That beats your thumb up pretty quickly because it’s mighty stiff. Yes, it’s a good level of protection, yes it adds some complexity to the draw, but it’s still generally a natural motion. But disengaging is so stiff well… after a couple dozen draws I stopped because my thumb was getting tender; it’s a lot of impact on your thumb’s distal joint, which doesn’t have much padding. I could not see going through an all-day training class with hundreds of draws with this setup. But if this was something I had to carry, I would just suck it up, practice daily, and just build up a callous/tolerance.

The holster itself compared favorably in size to my Dale Fricke Nehemiah. The holster itself is just a hair larger, but not by anything I’d consider relevant.

Of course, the holster does sit further away from the body. I think something could be done to bring it a little closer, or at least get it so the gun butt is angled in a bit more with the contour of the body. I’ll have to play with it.

Did it conceal? Yeah, but it was very clothing dependent. Some t-shirts I conceal IWB with no problem manifested this huge wart on my hip. But some of my 5.11 concealment shirts concealed it reasonably well. Yes, I could bend and move and you might see the shirt move or bunch in an odd way, but most people are unlikely to notice. Jackets and coats shouldn’t be a problem. I would say this holster CAN conceal, but I wouldn’t call it a concealment holster.

What Next?

So that’s just my first impressions. Overall I dig it. I look forward to trying it out more and even trying other brands/models to further my knowledge of the topic.

BTW, here’s a good article on such holster selection. It is oriented towards cops, but much of the reasoning here is same and sound, e.g. buy good gear. I don’t agree with his saying the Serpa is a good system, but otherwise his approach is reasonable and worth a read.

 

The KR Training June 2015 newsletter is now available.

In addition to good articles and useful information, there’s a special discount running for this Saturday’s classes. Click to see, and then join us on the range. See you there!