Category: General Opinion

Since starting this blog, I've listed a few different email addresses for contact purposes. Also, there's the YouTube channel, where posters can send me messages and comment on the channel or on individual videos. Finally, there's the Facebook page. I'm sorry to say that I quite often fall behind in terms of responding to all of the various methods by which people can ask questions. I'm especially sorry that I haven't responded as soon as possible to some technical or purchasing questions. This occurs most often with comments on the… Read More

This will be a slight departure from my normal posts. As some of my readers might know, I was in the military (Technically, I still am). I progressed from a na¯ve Seaman Recruit to a tired-of-all-the-BS Hospital Corpsman Second Class in a relatively short period of time. I did not always know the right thing to do, and I often made mistakes – especially in the beginning stages of my enlistment. I do not believe that I was ever hazed as a result of those mistakes, or for any other… Read More

Rob Curtis at GearScout has reviewed the Crimson Trace Lightguard pistol light for Glock 19s. It looks pretty neat, and seems like a decent workaround for keeping the width of the light no larger than the pistol itself. Attaching a light to the rail is the obvious solution that everyone else has gone with, but requires some added width, which makes IWB carry a little uncomfortable. This would also be a good solution for those with non-rail pistols - if Crimson Trace introduces such models.

While at the range doing other stuff, I noticed that I was seeing a lot more muzzle flash because of the overcast conditions. Using the same ammunition (Prvi Partizan M855) in two different 16" barreled AR-15s, I was able to compare the performance of the Spike's Tactical Dynacomp and the Primary Weapons Systems TTO. The image below is representative of the amount of flash seen both with the naked eye and on video, though these are still photographs. Although there is a large difference, the amount of flash seen in… Read More

Aaron over at Weapon Blog - the same Weapon Blog that puts out a list of firearms you could win every month - has graciously allowed me to guest post on his blog. Be sure to check out my article on firearm safety.

Did you know that today is National Take a Woman to the Shooting Range Day? You were probably unaware of this fact, because I just made it up. In fact, I think every day is a great day to take a woman shooting. It's a lot of fun for everyone involved, it builds what could be an important skill, and it demystifies firearms. Women make great shooters. This is because they approach firearms without a hint of attitude. They don't have anything to prove and they are great listeners. One… Read More

Here are some things that caught my eye elsewhere this week - Steve at The Firearm Blog stirred up a hornet's nest with his post about Magpul. Destinee on YouTube made a very impressive video comparing some small 9mm pistols. RomeoTangoBravo asked people at work (gun store) what an MSR was, and everyone scratched their heads. Jim at Guns.com wrote about the shooting culture in New Zealand.

...and how powerful should your handgun ammunition be? Recently, I was doing some benchrest accuracy shooting at a local range. During a pause in the firing, I overheard some other shooters discussing some hand loaded ammunition one of them was testing in a small revolver. Although it sounded pretty ferocious from where I was sitting, one of the first comments I heard was how the shooter was able to "control" the heavy load. When I looked over, I could see that every shooter was in fact having extreme difficulty controlling… Read More

Ever since I first heard it a few years ago, I haven't liked the term "modern sporting rifle." I thought I'd let things play out before commenting (for the record, I don't really care what these rifles are called, as long as I can legally acquire and own them). It seems that I'm not alone, although the NSSF isn't terribly excited about the opinion of us bloggers. The NSSF invented the MSR campaign several years ago as a way to sell (literally and figuratively) the AR-15 and its derivatives to… Read More

I have carried a handgun every day since Virginia Tech (the first one). The point was driven home even further by the fact that I had been within a few hundred yards of a school shooting several years before. To me, the danger was not abstract. Of course, I carried rifles, light machine guns, and pistols in Iraq before that, but this was different. It wasn't legal for me to carry at the time I was under 21, and I was also in school. The university prohibited weapons on campus,… Read More