Wojo

My goal on this is to train a small group of people correctly and quickly. Having fun while you are training is waaay different then playing. I play games, but, I train for lethal encounters.

Just a FYI - I took Sully's LE course with the Passaic County Sheriff's Department. It was only Sully for about twenty guys. It was a very good class, but the general public couldn't attend. For Sully, the classroom was free because it was at the training academy. IIRC, the nearest AR Armorer class on a regular basis is up at the Sig Academy in NH and then you have travel expenses.So, in the long run GFH is going to have more instructors and has to compete by having significantly more overhead for the facility, insurance and labor. You save on travel. It is a wash with all things considered. And if you know Anthony, he is all about the relationship, not the one time sale.

Glad to hear that it sold out for you. Snooze you lose to those sitting on the fence.

Thank you for that suggestion. We really don't need the added expense of having to rent a facility to do this. And I'd imagine we would only need a couple of training aids to make it work fast. If we only had two flashlights and one Blue Gun, it would just take longer for everyone to get a try and play around with different techniques. Plus, I kinda have a phobia about many of the Airsoft Commando's. Going into one of the hives might give me the heebie-jeebies.

Blue Guns (colored training replica, sometimes Red/Yellow). Not that Nordic climate manly-man special 'sword' fighting for sure. Depending on where, I guess Air soft or any Paint-spitter-thing-a-mob that is real size could be used. I have no idea on the legality of these things. Indoors would be better as to avoid citizens taking cover and making the host PD, poop a brick when the call comes in of, " armed guys in the park hiding behind things yelling "you're dead" with flashlights". Anyone got a warehouse, industrial area that we can make pitch black by shutting off all the lights? Could be loading docks rail yard, dumpsters work etc. Nothing to large of an area, but something the we can have several guys working one on one training. The ideas is learn by the examples provided and then let people work with each other. Doesn't take long. It also will help to see other lights and how they function. One demo I will shows a comparison from a Coast Brand lite from Lowes, that has a beam better then my SureFire for a fifth of the price. But the SureFire has a better switch. This type of comparison is good for you to know if your money matters. Your needs and wants, should lean towards what can you buy today, while you save up for the Luke Skywalker, SEAL / Spec Ops approved flash-stick. Function over tacti-cool. Simple is good. Don't have one yet? Come along and try a few out and see what your options are. If you got ones with the Strobe feature, please bring them. They are an awesome addition to tools to gain the advantage on a perp. I could show a few of the techniques used by different professionals and see what works for YOU. We would do patterning of you light at a couple of distances, one hand operations. Focus on a particular style or two that fits your weapon, your comfort / dexterity and that you can remember. Bring a digital Crackberry / Phone so you can have someone take your picture while you in proper position for future use. Simple stuff. Plan on being intentionally blinded to learn how long it takes after that to regain enough vision to reacquire target and use of your sights. And how to reduce that time. Common pitfalls that will give up your position and become a bullet magnet Illustrate how power of a tool a good light is. Learn that too much light is as bad as not enough. Switch exercises. Role play to experience perspectives from Good guy and BG. (Role play - to assume the role of another for training purposes, not pitching and catcher games) You find the place and we can have some 'fun'. Fun - meaning I enjoy training. Not fun in that 'funny' way. No loaded firearms. Safety will be paramount. Eye protection. No ears, sense of humor a must. Since there isn't any firearms allowed, amber beverages at a nearby establishment might in order. No flashlight gun fights please.

I am a certified armorer for the AR15 / M16 and have all the tools to do it right. I've seen guys mess things up by putting in the wrong sized punch and getting it stuck, marring the side of the lower trying get pins in, epic failure the trigger guard pins, etc. To do it right, having the correct tools helps, especially doing front sights and gas blocks and if you need to stick it in a vise for a barrel install the right receiver blocks prevent you from torquing your aluminum upper. Nothing new here, the right tools for the job makes a big difference. Some people are lucky to work a screw stick and duct tape, let alone have the confidence in their own mechanical abilities to build something they might have to stake their life on. Having someone there to QC your work, could be a big mental insurance policy. Some guys reload, but won't trust their reloads in a life or death situations, others will. I'm the later. I built my first two lowers myself before taking a course. Now, after an armorers course, I understand everything much better have the knowledge to trouble shoot. During a class like this, it may not be a Colt Armorer course, but if you ask questions and listen to the questions of others, you are going to take away much more the a YouTube video or a tech manual.

For some compelling reason I feel the need to add to this beaten to death topic. I will only add MY personal experiences and what has been shared with me from real operators that have real experience in this issues. YMMV We are talking about HD...less then 25' inside your home, not an apartment or Section 8 housing. Shotgun Observations: I don't have one ready at the ready in the Bedroom for storage reasons, the basement is another story. Birdshot - Bad, Buckshot - Good, Slug - too much of a good thing. My neighbor (total dick head) got shot in the face with bird shot at close range arguing over a pheasant and walked out of the woods and drove himself to the ER. Have you ever shot a turkey or smaller bird and discovered how many pellets didn't penetrate the layers of wing feathers and reach the body? I have. 3" shells can add more time to the follow up shot over 2 3/4. This could might make your follow up shot less accurate. I know adrenaline. 20g vs. 12g isn't going to mean **** at 25' if your POI is where it should be. You still have to AIM a shotgun and squeeze the trigger. Trigger control and sight alignment are ALWAYS important. See Training, Training, Training. Pumping a shotgun isn't a bet I am going to place my life on. Have one chambered, avoid the pumping sound to give away your tactical element of surprise which is a HUGE advantage in YOUR home. fugg giving them warning. When the PD shows up it is your word versus the perp who most likely has a long criminal history. You are protecting your family and weren't the who caused this to happen. AR's I love my AR's with the right ammo. Soft points, HP's, OTM / Open Tip Match - Good. FMJ - not so much. You want to dump all that energy in the first 12" of meat and have multiple wound cavities. Air in, Blood out is good. Something to seriously consider in our state that bans Flash Suppressors. If you have ever fired you AR or any firearm at night, I mean complete darkness, you get one helluva blast of light and your vision will be changed. Because we live in NJ, most of our ranges do not afford us the opportunity to shoot in complete darkness. My AR muzzles have a break on them compared to my other team members in free states that have flash hiders. The flash signature was insanely different. When I used standard govt contract / surplus / Wolf ammo the flash was big. TAP rounds had significantly less flash then all the rest. All my chambered HD ammo is TAP HP's. Pistol Use what you can hit with. If it is worth shooting once, Go NYPD and put a few in them. Too many horror stories of guy's thinking I hit them twice, I'm safe. Stat's I learned during my training at Ft Dix with the FBI over the recent couple of years. Even experience Cops who are considered excellent shots go from 90% efficiency down to 20% in stress fires. In the simulator, my hit ration was closer to 45%. So if you don't train often and hard, what is you hit ratio going to be? 5-10% if you are lucky. To all of you that think I am joking, spend some money with Chris Fry who supports this site and see for yourself. Depending on whose stat's you use you can expect more then one assailant between 50 to 70% of the time. Make you are always ready for 1 more bad guy to appear. Share the love, make sure you give them some to. No witness are good witnesses. Flashlights Why the hell hasn't anyone addressed lighting? (Note to self...because it is about ammo you a-hole) You need to have a good light and know how to use the right techniques with a flashlight. The overwhelming majority of shootings happen in reduced visibility settings. Wouldn't it make sense to have a good one and more importantly know how to use it? If you round a corner and blind the squat out of your attacker, he can't see what he is shooting at, but you sure the hell can. Shoot and move. Once you shoot, move your position. When they return fire, they are going to aim at your last known position. Even a few feet makes a big difference. Stop comparing who's is bigger and focus on who uses theirs more and is better trained. Training is where it is at. Not arm chair speculations. Okay, I think I am done. :thsmiley_deadhorse: Before you start slamming me, you better be prepared to back it up with training and facts...because I will post pdf's if I have to. If you ever want to play with some Blue Guns and flashlights, let's meet someplace and have some fun. I'm serious on this one. FWIW - I've killed deer with 223 62g Wolf FMJ, 12 gauge slugs, 308's(125, 150, 165), 30-30's and 50 cal Blackpowder. All dead single shot. What did they all have in common? Shot placement.

Neighborhood Watch - In Newark, East Orange, Camden they watch your house, when you leave they rob it!!! IMHO - Just another feel good program. I really have no knowledge on them other than to offer my best guests at similar government programs that are all veneer and lack any substance. First - other then a couple of street signs, are they really organized? Are the leaders and members subjected to a background search? What training beyond a power-point or a few hand outs have they gone thru? Other than having a 'title', they have not been granted any special powers beyond a normal citizen. They aren't armed, they have no legal right to detain you. Just citizens that promise to contact law enforcement. Just a bunch of window watchers (lickers) and fair weather porch sitters. It is all about personal ethics and culture. You see something, you say something. You have 50 people hang'in on four street corners on Friday night. A drive by shooting happens and no'body seen nuttin. A cop has to use some extra force on a career criminal , aspiring rap-artist / future pastor / reverend and you have 48 people taking video and pictures from their cell phones. The other 2 are stealing the cop car.

I did a presentation on Disaster Preparedness and Workplace Violence at Robert Wood Johnson yesterday and got to talking to one of the attendees as the day was winding down. He saw in my speaker's bio the line about being a Tactical Firearms instructor and wanted to ask me some personal questions not pertaining to the presentation. He recently had an alarm company experience that changed his mind. His neighbor had left that morning for vacation but forgot to close his garage door. Being a good neighbor he went over and closed the electric overhead door and planned to exit the side door instead of doing the second base slide to get out. As he opened the side door to leave, the alarm system triggered at full scream. He figured that he would do the right thing and wait out front to address the neighbors that would be curious and the police when they got there being that he had nothing to hide. He asks me, "do you know what happened"? I told him "no one really came out to check and it took the police about 20 minutes to respond". Amazed at my accuracy, he asked me if I was a cop in his town. I told him "no, that is just the way it tends to go more often than not". After the incident he went out and bought a Mossy 500, 20 gauge, 18" barrel with ghost rings and asked my opinion on his choice. I told him it was a good one, but what type of firearms training was he planning on taking. "What do you mean, its a shotgun?". I think I convinced him that the right training is just as important than the size or type of gun you choose. So, if you are not home, the bad guys already know that they have a 10 to 25 minutes of opportunity to rob your house. How long does it take to run to a bedroom and hit the jewelry boxes or places that most people think "they will never look in here"? Unless your house is frigging huge and a maze, all they need is 5 minutes to grab the low lying fruit and snag those i-pods and other micro-expensive gadgets on the way out. Throwing your TV over the shoulder is long gone. YOU are your own first responder and best line of defense.

I've purchased three by mail from CMP and have been impressed with each one. I would need to wear a Depends undergarment if I physically went there. I don't gamble, but I am sure I would blow all of our family assets if I ever went there. ...Just one more, I can stop any time I want, oh, look at this one-I gotta have it, repeat often until closing or escorted out of the premise. Hi, my name is Wojo and I am a Garand-aholic.

I just read an update on the story that makes me feel a little better about Bank of America...the PD dropped the ball on this in a huge way. At 9:21 a.m., police reportedly received a phone call from an employee at a Bank of America branch in Cheshire, alerting them that Hawke-Petit had just withdrawn $15,000 in cash and had told a bank teller her family was being held hostage.

This is tough and at the same time easy to play Monday morning quarterback. I spent six years working in a regional NJ/NY Bank where we had over 200 locations as a Property Manager who over saw all of our branches plus corporate buildings. I can't see how someone can come in and withdraw that amount of money in cash without advance notification. We just didn't do it. In addition, having a customer tell you that you are in the midst of a crime and being held at their mercy and not hitting the silent alarm is crazy. As soon as this woman said that, the alarm should have been hit and the PD would have been there in less then two minutes while they were "counting out the money". Poor operating procedures on the bank's part. Alarm systems versus a dog. Most townships will not respond to a home alarm unless it is verified or a specific 'panic button' is triggered. Plus, most families do not have them activated during the daytime hours when household activity is high. A dog is on 24/7. Even if that dog only provides you with a 20 second advantage, it still is a head start and another obstacle for the perps to deal with. Anytime my front bell rings, I grab my little 380 and answer it and in the rare circumstance I don't have that in my pocket, I have one hand on my folder ready for a quick deployment. When I am outside in my yard, I have a carbine and revolver stashed in my shed. My nightstand of course has a Surefire and a XD45, in my back office I have an AR and a 1911. Forget about it if I am in the basement, which is where my quick accessing vault is. All floors are covered so I can come a'running. Now the most important part. Harden your home. Put camera's on the outside (they don't have to work), put 'beware of dog' signs up, have security lighting, put an NRA sticker or something on your doors. Perp's know that they have time when they see an ADT sign. They don't like the fact of a dog alarming an armed home owner. You can't rehabilitate scum. It will always be scum and it needs to be gotten rid of to benefit the rest of the eco-system.

Welcome Snerdley.

Hi Jen. I cannot attend the event as I had hoped, but I am donating some professional services for the event. I hope to have the marketing material back from the printer today and in Anthony's hands over the weekend. I have a business conference in South Carolina beginning Friday morning otherwise I'd be there. Scott Watkowski

One of the driving courses I did for my EP training in evasive / security driving was at Bill Scott Raceway on this track. We ran the track in Crown Vics and Impalas which was fun as hell. At the end of the day, we got to ram, push and essentially do some demolition derby type of stuff as part of the training. I'm not sure what was more fun, doing J-turns, boot-legs, high speed or crashing stuff. Driving and shooting are some fun things to do. I love training. http://www.bsr-inc.com/about-bsr/driving-facilities http://www.summitpoi...&id=6&Itemid=23

Electric saws are good if you are going to do the Jeffery Dommer thing. Keeping a low profile and not alerting the neighbors is a good thing.

j0n, I'm about 45 minutes away where 287 & 23 intersect. Have you ever hunted Black Rock? Seems like they stock that quite a bit. Because I am self employed, I want to go mid week to avoid some of the other tools while I try to get my dog some experience. If I am with someone / a group, at least I have extra eyes watching out for her safety on public lands.

OD, brown or tan works for my wardrobe. I have more then enough black t's and they really don't get worn that much anymore. Natural earth colors, runs some mud on them and instant camo.

Civictuner...would you guys be open to me and my bird dog tagging along one day? She has a great nose and is very good off lease, but has never encountered a live pheasant. I bring her out for small game in NYS for grouse and just for a nice day in the field. She frequents Cherry Ridge and is not gun shy in the least.

I haven't had a bow since around 82 but recently bought a very lightly used PSE. I just got it back from Frank's Tackle and have to adjust the sights. Shot it about a dozen times yesterday and really need to zero things in. Since they reduced the distance to 150', I can hunt my yard and have my two neighbors approval to shoot across their yard and have permission to use this parcel of wooded area that is remote to an adjacent lake community. Bow...check, lounge chair...check. BlackBerry...check, must be NJ bow season. On a more serious note, over the last 25 years, I have only purchased a NJ hunting license once and that was about 8 years ago. I cannot believe how friggin' complicated they make hunting season. Between the a-hole NJ hunters and our insane regulations, I remember why I stopped hunting here and went to VA and NY.

I called my buddy who lives in Bloomfield to see what his experience was. The BPD sent me his referral paperwork within a couple of days of his filing...then he waited for 3 months to get his PP.

Stihl saws are the best and I would say a Husky Rancher 455 is pretty damn good as well. After my father passed away, I ran the shit out of his little trimmer Stihl like it had a 20" bar. Finally the gas tank cracked and parts were getting hard to find for the 20+ year old saw so I gave it to a happy tree guy doing some work at my house. The 20" Husky Rancher I bought a couple of years is a damn fine saw as well. Two other people where I use to hunt with have them and we figured we can always cannibalize parts if we needed to. When some extra coin comes in, I plan on buying another Rancher for insurance. I have a spare bar, a few chains and a good sharpener. I should buy a piston, cylinder and other parts for added insurance. I like the scope idea...perhaps a Red Dot or NVG for it.

Good for your company. We encourage companies to be more proactive about disasters. I did an analysis today on the Discovery Channel shooting incident and compared their plans and preparations to those of the Coors plant in CT and last night's shooting in Philly at Kraft Food. Scroll down to the second article. FWIW, I keep small BOB's in each vehicle and modify them for the season...throw in a few blankets and old jackets for winter. I have four kids and the worst case would be a disaster happening and we get separated. At least I know that they will be warm and have some Energy Bars / Snacks / Juice Boxes / Water to last a day or two until Dad arrives with the chain saw and zombie repellent. http://www.firestorm.com/en/art/506/ Workplace violence HEADLINE: Discovery Communications hostage crisis a reminder to review emergency plans ANALYSIS: The employees and management at Discovery Communications deserve a big round of applause. Their planning and training paid off great dividends. They were faced with a very real crisis and came out of it with no employees getting hurt and with a minimal disruption to their business. Last night

A keeper. Takes a major load in the face and just shakes it off. Atta girl! :clap:

Of course it was on a POS Taurus. You will need the bayonet feature because the odds of that firearm working when you really need it are pretty slim.