Category: General Opinion

I shoot a lot - probably too much at times. This shooting includes various disciplines, from smallbore rifle shooting to service pistol and carbine training to hunting - mostly unicorns and kittens. My first exposure to high volume training was under the guidance of a USMC SNCO who had just come from SOTG. For those who were lost at USMC, this means that my platoon leader was an experienced sergeant - not a commissioned officer - who had recently been an instructor at the Marine Corps' Special Operations Training Group,… Read More

It's easy to fall into a rut in any sort of activity - a comfortable place where you only practice the things you're good at, and therefore think you're good at the activity as a whole. This could apply to shooting, driving, flying, running, waterskiing, etc. As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. I was shooting with Mike Pannone a week or so back and shot a new drill he is working on which forces the shooter to do things he or she normally wouldn't do (for practice purposes) at… Read More

This is a topic I have been thinking about for a long time, yet upon which I have not really spoken to anyone except for a few close friends. I have heard (and read) back and forth discussions about whether it is better to pay for training from a former military or law enforcement shooter - say, someone who spent a long time in a special operations unit of some kind - or from a shooter who has won multiple national titles in something like NRA Action Pistol/Steel Challenge/USPSA/IDPA/IPSC etc.… Read More

The "tactical" industry has been overrun by the use of the word "operator." It's been used too much in advertising for too long, but this has perhaps had a trickle-down effect, to the point where random people on the internet kick the word operator around like it's a ball on some dirty third world street. I've even seen people refer to me as an operator, which, quite frankly, horrifies me (and also caused me to write this article). In the purest sense of the word (and leaving out the kind… Read More

The only Dillon Blue Press article I've ever read was a passioned defense of the revolver, which criticized automatics for being finicky and unreliable. Revolvers were described as essentially perfect, although the author conceded that automatics could carry more rounds between reloads. I have since thrown away all the Blue Presses I get, with the exception of the one that had Julie Goloski-Golob on the cover (she's no fake "gun girl"), and the one with my friend Meredith on the cover with one of her 50 BMGs (she's also no fake "gun… Read More

This is not a review of the SCAR-H or SCAR-17S. It is a brief explanation of why I like the weapon system. It could almost be condensed into a Facebook post - but not quite. I will avoid a technical discussion in the interests of brevity. Put simply, the 7.62X51 SCAR does what it was intended to do at a competitive price. Although the AR-10 platform preceded the AR-15 platform, the latter has had considerably more refinement, development, and market competition. Thus, you are able to purchase a 5.56 AR-15… Read More

So Father's Day is here, and I figured I would write an article about my dad. He has been the inspiration for many of the things I have done in my life. Born in Canada, he came to the United States at 15. He graduated from high school in Reno and joined the Army, where he was an armorer for a mechanized infantry unit. He left the Army before the start of the Vietnam War and used the GI Bill to advance his flying career. He met my mother while… Read More

Okay, so a few weeks back, FourGuysGuns wrote an article about barrel twist rates. I had some serious issues with it from a technical standpoint - it was flat out wrong on some things - and emailed them directly with my concerns. I was concerned about coming across as rude, but they were very cordial. I wasn't sure what would come of that in the long term - if they would write more articles in the same vein, or if they would focus on other things, including, as their description… Read More

I recently posted on the blog's Facebook page that I once witnessed two gun range employees recommend a Glock 27 to a new, slightly built, female shooter. They then proceeded to laugh about it after she rented the firearm and fired only one shot. She was about ready to leave when I approached her and offered her a .22LR 1911 and some shooting tips. This was one of the first times that I ever did so, and since that time, I have helped new or inexperienced shooters as often as… Read More

Some of my friends think that because I work in the gun industry and shoot guns and have a gun blog, I am a "gun nut" or "crazy about guns" or "obsessed with guns" or whatever. Maybe I am, and I'm just in denial. I really don't think so. There is nothing in particular about guns that truly excites me. I like the history and tradition of some firearms - those passed down from generation to generation in my family, for example, though I treat my grandfather's fishing gear with… Read More