Three 1911’s in class. All three are having problems on the third day.
Rob Pincus was right.
Category Archives: Training
I may or may not have been wrong.
When I posted about the one thing to practice… I could have been wrong.
Most of the problems people have with reloading isn’t getting the mag into the gun… It’s just getting the mag.
It’s more of an equipment management issue than a Shooting Skill issue.
At today’s MAG-40 class, the main issue was aiming. Keeping your Target Loc
Can’t Afford Training.
I get this a lot… Guy wants to train, but can’t afford it.
I understand this. Ammo is expensive. Training courses are expensive. Training Videos are expensive. (That’s like 2 boxes of ammo!) And YouTube sucks for serious stuff.
So what’s a guy to do?
There is not secret magic tricks or spells to learning how to run your gun. Basically it comes down to One Thing. Keeping your gun running. That means you need to master two skills. Reloading and Stoppage Drills. And most of this is Reloading. Speed Reloads and Tactical Reloads. I’ll do a video on this maybe this weekend.
A Speed Reload is when your gun runs empty and you have to reload fast. Hence the name. This is your #1 thing to practice. If you practice nothing else, your Speed Reload is the one to work on. The next is your Tactical Reload. This is when your gun is not yet completely empty (something you don’t really want anyway) and you switch mags to a fresh full mag. You still have a few rounds left in the mag in the gun so you want to hold on to it. So you pull the partial mag out, and insert the full one, while holding on to the partial so you can use those rounds later. The Malfunction Drills are important too… but it’s harder to practice those without firing some rounds.
The idea is to keep your gun “Up”. If you can do that, you are solid.
You can practice your speed reloads while at home… in your apartment… in your office maybe. While watching a movie or TV. Clear your gun, empty a couple mags, and practice swapping mags. It’s important to practice while standing, using your gear you would normally use. So if you carry your spare mags in a pocket, that’s how you practice. But I don’t recommend your pockets for spare mags – even though all of us do it at times.
If you get your reloads down, your well on your way.
Next time, we’ll talk about Dry Firing. This is all about Trigger Control. That’s another critical skill that can be mastered without using ammo.
Guest Post: Activist Carry
Irresponsible Open Carry Activism Jeopardizes The RKBA
Guns should be carried for personal defense, not Activism.
The best way to do that 99% of the time is Concealed Carry. Even if people do choose to Open Carry, they shouldn’t do it to provoke confrontation nor be uncooperative with the police while doing it. It makes gun owners look bad, turns cops against us, wastes their valuable time and certainly isn’t going to make it more likely that people will think “oh, gun owners are normal people, not trouble makers.
Spread the Word. Most people have realized that the time for “solidarity” through tolerance of the guys carrying guns with video cameras has come and gone. Their bravado is jeopardizing our RKBA and should be seen as an embarrassment to responsible gun owners. When the OC Movement started, people carrying while going about their daily business to show responsibly armed people are part of everyday life, it made some sense… but, the extremists have spun out of control. Let’s make sure that the firearms community is condemning this behavior.
I am not calling for a change in laws or for us to ostracize people who carry openly in a responsible, civil manner. Perhaps responsible OCers should be most concerned and the most openly critical of those who are using their guns to get (inevitably negative) attention?
Obviously, I am a proponent of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and do not want to to see OC made illegal, but I fear that will happen more and more often, in more and more places (as it already has it one state), if the confrontational actions of a very few reckless people continue.
-Rob Pincus
-I.C.E. Training Company
“Only Cops are trained enough to have guns.”
We hear this comment a lot in the gun industry.
Yeah, pretty much Law Enforcement Training isn’t as great as the ANTI-GUNNERS think, yet continue to say that only Cops should have guns because they have the training. When it is suggested that Civilians get better training, they say that Civilians don’t need it. That’s their argument? That doesn’t work as it’s a complete failure of logic.
You know what I think?
We all need more training.
This is in no way a Cop Bash Post. Don’t take it that way. Many friends in Law Enforcement and a Blood Brother… Much Respect there. But if the question is Training, then the answer is more. Not only that, but Departments need to set aside a good portion of budget for Training, and this isn’t something I’m seeing. I know one Department that doesn’t even have any training budget… or budget for ammo so the Officers can even do a little practice on their own. They got the suggestion to use their individual Uniform budget. WTF? That’s not right. Especially when you are talking about a department that is always buying new vehicles. Citizens have better training in that area because they like to shoot and the Officers just are not paid enough to practice. They get 60 Rounds for Qual a year, and that’s it. And since Departments don’t like to hire Shooters anymore, they’ve created a department wide culture that Firearms are less important than a shiny snappy uniform and shiny car. Sad.
The Fighting Lever Action
The subject of Lever Action Rifles has been stirring a lot more emotions lately. And it’s not my fault. I blame Tracy for this. Tracy is a local cowboy out here that comes out to Crusader Training using his Lever Action rifles.
To run a Lever defensively, you need not all the modern accessories… the gun is serviceable as is. You needn’t run it with your support hand far out in front as is the modern style. These are not modern guns so you keep your support hand in a location where you find balance and support to work the action. You run it under the same theories as you run your tactical shotguns… fire one, reload one. Fire two, reload two. Keep the gun topped off as much as possible. Standard rifle tactics apply other wise. I find it best to keep ammo not in individual loops like is popular, but in a pouch so you can carry more ammo in bulk rather than a small fixed amount. I like to keep this pouch on the Strong Side, not the Support side like is popular with Shotguns. Reason being is that it’s easier to reload with your Strong Hand than it is the Support Hand. Easier and more efficient. This might be counter to other’s doctrine, but this is what has been working for me for some time now.
Winchester pattern guns or Marlin pattern guns both have their Pro’s and Con’s and one is not clearly better than the other in Rifle Calibers. But I must say that I am quiet fond of the Winchester 92 Pattern guns for Pistol Calibers. But that’s just a Flavor Preference and not a Technical one. I do like the ability to drop a cartridge into the open top if you’ve run the gun dry.
As far as caliber selections… you can argue the benefits of all the options. .44, .45, .357 and such… all fine and well. I’m fond of the .45-70 for my Big Medicine. But don’t discount the Classic .30-30 Win. Ammo is cheap enough an it’s enough gun to drop an Elk let alone Deer or Assorted Baddies. And as far as trajectory goes, the .30-30 offers about the best there is. Especially with LEVERevolution ammo from Hornady.
Crusader Weaponry will be teaching a Lever Action Focus Course in the near future. If you are interested and serious about training with us… Post such below and Emails will be kept for organizing the class. We’re looking at this Fall.
Tactical Carbine Training Day
The class was fantastic. An Instructor couldn’t ask for a better group of Students. Former Marine and his Daughter, A Tactical Cowboy, an experienced shooter wanting to sharpen his skills… and then we had The Gun Dudes.
This was a Basic Level Course, so it was mostly Old Hat to some of the guys here… but we all still had a good time. The more advanced level shooters were still challenged in one particularly simple, yet difficult drill… and we saw the guys work hard to do it right. I was going to say more about the course… but those that have been to a Crusader course know what went down and those that haven’t yet, well, you gotta come out.
The Gun Dudes Episode 202
We had a lot of fun with the Gun Dudes. Listen up!
Oddest AR Jam I’ve ever seen
At our last Tactical Carbine class, one of the student’s AR’s went down. Hard. Here’s what it looked like.
SPORTS, TAP RACK BANG… Did nothing. Try to guess what happened before you click for more.
The Tactical Carbine Class
I’ll write a full recount of the Tactical Carbine class as soon as I get some of the photos that were promised. The class was great. We had The Gun Dudes in attendance and we had a great time. Those guys are very good shooters, each of them. They are true Gun Dudes.