Thursday : October 8 : 2009
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Streamlight® Inc., a leading provider of high-performance flashlights for automotive repair, industrial, fire and rescue, law enforcement professionals and sporting enthusiasts, reported it has begun implementing a new basic performance standard for flashlights. The company was instrumental in forming a coalition of 14 leading flashlight manufacturers to create the standardized tests and uniform rating system for flashlight equipment. Developed with the guidance of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the series of guidelines is called the ANSI (American National Standards Institute)/NEMA FL1 -2009 Flashlight Basic Performance Standard.
Brownells has added hundreds of new products which are available exclusively on their newly upgraded website, brownells.com. Full lines now offered include Bushnell Trophy Series Scopes, HiViz Sights, Otis Technology cleaning products, Hawkeye Borescopes, plus Pro Ears and Radians hearing protection.
Editor's Notebook: Ensuring Safe Dry Practice
by Rich Grassi
First, get rid of distractions. Send your spouse away, to his/her mother, Club Med, or anywhere but where you are. Same with children, send them away or have them suitably guarded. If you're expecting a telephone call, don't dry practice. If you don't expect a phone call, shut off the ringer or disconnect the phone.
If you get distracted during dry practice, you've set the pattern for the accident. This is when it will get you. No distractions allowed, of any kind or from any one. Period.
A door with a lock into a room with no telephone or television is nice. That same room with a wall that provides a safe direction is better yet.
Dry fire rules are simple, but must be followed. The "no distractions" rule comes first. Then, unload. To unload a semi-auto pistol, take the magazine out and stow it - put it in a pocket or on a table, just get it out of your hands. Then rack the slide and lock it open. Let the round, if there was one chambered, go to the deck. Look into the chamber. Understanding that lighting conditions may not favor a visual inspection sometime, check the chamber physically by inserting the tip of the small finger of the non-gun hand. Feel for the polished chamber interior. If you feel a case head, it's time to try to get it extracted and ejected.
Empty all the magazines. Put the ammo into a single container - every round from every magazine and the chamber. Take the container out of the dry fire room.
If your carry gun is a double action revolver, open the cylinder and dump the rounds out. Likewise take all live revolver ammo from the room. Check the chambers in the cylinder by looking and by taking the index finger of the dominant hand and sliding the finger tip over each chamber. Feel for the chamber's sharp edge. If you don't feel it, there's a round in there.
Now, with no distractions and no ammo in the room we can practice.
One of our rules is to have safe backstop and ensure a safe direction. The safe direction is so important that now there is a company named Safe Direction, LLC. Run by businessman and DTI Instructor Steve Camp, Safe Direction makes Safe Direction products.
He started out with pistol rugs and fanny packs with a critical difference: They had a Safe Direction panel inside. Not to be used for personal ballistic protection, they would nevertheless stop a bullet accidently fired while clearing a loaded gun.
His ballistic containment units are now available in a nicely manufactured and classy looking range bag - a terrific place for a Safe Direction panel! He also has the Academy Pad and the Composite Armor Board.
The Safe Direction Pro Shooting Range Bag has a 7" by 10" fold-out ballistic panel. When properly used, the Pro Shooting Range Bag is ideal to prevent property damage and personal injury at the range parking lot, the office, your home or when traveling.
The ballistic containment is similar to NIJ-IIIA armor - meaning not that the bag is worn to keep you unshot, but that any round that NIJ Level IIIA body armor is warranted to stop, the Safe Direction Pro Shooting Range Bag panel will stop.
The bag holds a pair of guns in padded interior sleeves along with eight magazines. The main compartment holds your ammunition, ammo and stapler. Available in black or red, the Range Bag is provided with complete instructions, as are other Safe Direction products. Follow the instructions and it'll work.
The Academy Pad has the same ballistic protection, but fits into a standard three-ring binder - hence the name "academy." It can also be fitted into a patrol car seat organizer or a cop's briefcase. If you ever wondered how a cop in the field was supposed to clear a recovered firearm, Steve Camp has provided the answer.
Likewise for our concealed carry training issue. The Handgun-Rated Composite Armor Board is made for the gun clearing area at the range, in the armory or your gun room and in your dry-fire room. Placing this thing solidly on the wall - itself a safe direction due to construction and direction, please - prevents perforations when you had to try that last "dry" draw before leaving the room. It's twelve by twelve and covered with a 1000-denier Cordura shell. Heavy duty grommets at the top are the attachment points for the wall.
During dry practice, using the Composite Armor Board makes us about as safe as gear can make us.
For more information, check out the Safe Direction website at http://www.safedirection.com.
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If you get distracted during dry practice, you've set the pattern for the accident. This is when it will get you. No distractions allowed, of any kind or from any one. Period.
A door with a lock into a room with no telephone or television is nice. That same room with a wall that provides a safe direction is better yet.
Dry fire rules are simple, but must be followed. The "no distractions" rule comes first. Then, unload. To unload a semi-auto pistol, take the magazine out and stow it - put it in a pocket or on a table, just get it out of your hands. Then rack the slide and lock it open. Let the round, if there was one chambered, go to the deck. Look into the chamber. Understanding that lighting conditions may not favor a visual inspection sometime, check the chamber physically by inserting the tip of the small finger of the non-gun hand. Feel for the polished chamber interior. If you feel a case head, it's time to try to get it extracted and ejected.
Empty all the magazines. Put the ammo into a single container - every round from every magazine and the chamber. Take the container out of the dry fire room.
If your carry gun is a double action revolver, open the cylinder and dump the rounds out. Likewise take all live revolver ammo from the room. Check the chambers in the cylinder by looking and by taking the index finger of the dominant hand and sliding the finger tip over each chamber. Feel for the chamber's sharp edge. If you don't feel it, there's a round in there.
Now, with no distractions and no ammo in the room we can practice.
One of our rules is to have safe backstop and ensure a safe direction. The safe direction is so important that now there is a company named Safe Direction, LLC. Run by businessman and DTI Instructor Steve Camp, Safe Direction makes Safe Direction products.
He started out with pistol rugs and fanny packs with a critical difference: They had a Safe Direction panel inside. Not to be used for personal ballistic protection, they would nevertheless stop a bullet accidently fired while clearing a loaded gun.
His ballistic containment units are now available in a nicely manufactured and classy looking range bag - a terrific place for a Safe Direction panel! He also has the Academy Pad and the Composite Armor Board.
The Safe Direction Pro Shooting Range Bag has a 7" by 10" fold-out ballistic panel. When properly used, the Pro Shooting Range Bag is ideal to prevent property damage and personal injury at the range parking lot, the office, your home or when traveling.
The ballistic containment is similar to NIJ-IIIA armor - meaning not that the bag is worn to keep you unshot, but that any round that NIJ Level IIIA body armor is warranted to stop, the Safe Direction Pro Shooting Range Bag panel will stop.
The bag holds a pair of guns in padded interior sleeves along with eight magazines. The main compartment holds your ammunition, ammo and stapler. Available in black or red, the Range Bag is provided with complete instructions, as are other Safe Direction products. Follow the instructions and it'll work.
The Academy Pad has the same ballistic protection, but fits into a standard three-ring binder - hence the name "academy." It can also be fitted into a patrol car seat organizer or a cop's briefcase. If you ever wondered how a cop in the field was supposed to clear a recovered firearm, Steve Camp has provided the answer.
Likewise for our concealed carry training issue. The Handgun-Rated Composite Armor Board is made for the gun clearing area at the range, in the armory or your gun room and in your dry-fire room. Placing this thing solidly on the wall - itself a safe direction due to construction and direction, please - prevents perforations when you had to try that last "dry" draw before leaving the room. It's twelve by twelve and covered with a 1000-denier Cordura shell. Heavy duty grommets at the top are the attachment points for the wall.
During dry practice, using the Composite Armor Board makes us about as safe as gear can make us.
For more information, check out the Safe Direction website at http://www.safedirection.com.
Skill Set: Confidence
by Tiger McKee
Confidence is essential to success in combat, unless you just happen to get lucky. If you don't have confidence in your abilities you won't perform well under stress, no matter how much you train and practice. When faced with a confrontation you say, with confidence, "I knew this could happen, and I am prepared to deal with the situation." Without this belief in yourself, you'll probably go into the "Ohmygosh I can't believe this is happening" mode. All you'll be doing is reacting to what's being done to you. This makes it difficult to win the fight.
You must have confidence in your weapons and the skills to operate them properly. This includes marksmanship - if you can't hit 'em you ain't stopping 'em - manipulations - when your weapon runs empty or malfunctions you have to know how to reload or clear the weapon at a subconscious level - and the tactics to employ your weapons to their full potential.
Having confidence allows your conscious mind to focus on winning the fight. You remain calm while all hell is breaking loose around you and someone is trying to kill you, a partner, or member of your family. With confidence you take control of the situation, and use your skills determine the outcome.
This belief should be present regardless of your skill level. No matter where you are in your ability level you focus on what you can do, not what you don't know or can't do. But, at the same time it's important to know your limitations. By recognizing your limits you don't make mistakes, which create opportunities for the threat to counter attack.
Having confidence also projects an image to would be predators that you will not be an easy victim. The majority of our communication is non-verbal; it's our physical presence and actions that tell people the most about us. People are attacked because they look like a victim. Bad guys are looking for easy prey they can take with the least amount of resistance. You volunteer to be a victim by staring at the ground while walking, talking on the cell phone, or daydreaming. A person who is assured walks with their head up, shoulders back, and eyes constantly scanning.
Verbal communication is also important. When verbally engaging a potential problem I use the loud voice of authority. There is no doubt that I am in control, I'm issuing commands, and they should comply immediately. You cannot afford to show any signs of weakness.
In a confrontation you can never be sure what will happen. But you can never be in doubt about what you are doing, how and why you're doing it, and what you will do next. Apply your skills with confidence. This is true in every aspect of life.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, located in northern Alabama, author of The Book of Two Guns, a staff member of several firearms/tactical publications, and an adjunct instructor for the F.B.I. (256) 582-4777 www.shootrite.org
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You must have confidence in your weapons and the skills to operate them properly. This includes marksmanship - if you can't hit 'em you ain't stopping 'em - manipulations - when your weapon runs empty or malfunctions you have to know how to reload or clear the weapon at a subconscious level - and the tactics to employ your weapons to their full potential.
Having confidence allows your conscious mind to focus on winning the fight. You remain calm while all hell is breaking loose around you and someone is trying to kill you, a partner, or member of your family. With confidence you take control of the situation, and use your skills determine the outcome.
This belief should be present regardless of your skill level. No matter where you are in your ability level you focus on what you can do, not what you don't know or can't do. But, at the same time it's important to know your limitations. By recognizing your limits you don't make mistakes, which create opportunities for the threat to counter attack.
Having confidence also projects an image to would be predators that you will not be an easy victim. The majority of our communication is non-verbal; it's our physical presence and actions that tell people the most about us. People are attacked because they look like a victim. Bad guys are looking for easy prey they can take with the least amount of resistance. You volunteer to be a victim by staring at the ground while walking, talking on the cell phone, or daydreaming. A person who is assured walks with their head up, shoulders back, and eyes constantly scanning.
Verbal communication is also important. When verbally engaging a potential problem I use the loud voice of authority. There is no doubt that I am in control, I'm issuing commands, and they should comply immediately. You cannot afford to show any signs of weakness.
In a confrontation you can never be sure what will happen. But you can never be in doubt about what you are doing, how and why you're doing it, and what you will do next. Apply your skills with confidence. This is true in every aspect of life.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, located in northern Alabama, author of The Book of Two Guns, a staff member of several firearms/tactical publications, and an adjunct instructor for the F.B.I. (256) 582-4777 www.shootrite.org
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