High Exposure

Whoops. ND I was holding a flashlight in my support hand while typing

Balderdash. The purpose of a white light is to acquire, identify and if necessary process a threat. That processing part involves launching projectiles into said threat. During the day on a square range, with minimal pressure, average people have difficulty getting solid hits on paper with their blaster at room distance when using both paws, let alone one. This is made worse when trying to hit a moving target and more so when it is a human being and more so when that human being is going to guns against you. I don't know about you, but I shoot better, faster, and more accurately using both of my hands on the pistol. No matter what hand held technique you prefer, there will be some lessening of ability. I dont know your take on that, but I want to be shooting to the best of my abilities if I ever find myself in a gunfight. The weaponlight gives me the ability to identify that person as a bad guy, an unknown, or good guy and if necessary to engage with both hands on the gun. There is no messing with the hand held light or any poor one handed shooting techniques that no one ever trains on. If it comes to shots fired, I can shoot using the same 2 handed grip, stance, tactics, etc... that I train with on a regular basis. No "I hope I can make this work" under fire. If I light it up and identify the target as not being a threat, then I move on to whatever I need to do next. The dedicated weaponlight also lets me use the light and keep a hand free to open a door, pick up my kid, use the phone. You argue that a light on the pistol creates a Rule 2 Violation. OK, but I am ready to destroy any unknowns that I illuminate until I am sure they are not a threat - so from my way of thinking, there is no violation unless I continue to point a gun at something I have already acquired, identified, and verified is an innocent. Frankly, that is a mindset issue - if you feel the need to clear your home as a reaction to some stimuli in an effort to keep you and yours safe from harm than everything should be treated as a threat until positively verified that it is not. Conversely, following your logic, everything should be treated as a non-threat until I verify that it is. I have two issues with that way of thinking: 1) It slows down my decision making ability placing me behind an opponent when I get to the D of my OODA loop; and 2) If I am already out of bed and searching my house for someone I should be in orange and I am hunting for a threat with a binary solution set - threat or innocent - then processed accordingly. Additionally, with the correct searching techniques (think indirect lighting techniques and bouncing light off of ceilings and floors) I can clear a pitch black dark house full of infants and nuns, identifying each individual as a non-threat with my pistol/rifle WML, without ever having pointed a loaded gun at anyone. The gorilla in the room here is of course the lack of training or often times inadequate or inferior training. Basically, you don't know what you don't know. You need to be taught these TTPs by a reputable instructor who will the train you giving you skills to practice on your own so you become proficient. Having a WML means we can use both hands on the gun which is a very good thing. Being able to acquire identify and process your target is also a very good thing. Using a handheld light means that you now have to do something else before you can acquire identify and start to process the threat. And that eats up time. That eats up accuracy. That eats up ability. That eats up cognitive processing power and put you behind in the OODA loop. How much time do you have in a gunfight? The rest of your life. So stack the deck in your favor so your thought processes, movements, and procedural memory is more efficient, allowing you to move faster while remaining in control. It is really pretty simple. If you don't trust yourself, train more.

Yeah, it's the pin for the auto sear.

MWPX That MK18 upper is nice - it's the perfect length with a can on it. The "happy pin" above the selector is pretty groovy too You consistently impress with your builds. BZ to you!

Huh? Where did this come from? I must be missing what you mean because this makes no sense to me whatsoever... Thanks

A press check may not always be the "A" answer. It does take time, it can take your hand away from a master firing grip. To PC or not to PC is a question that only you can answer in the moment. Like you said, I prefer to sweep the LCI with my trigger finger, if that is inconclusive I do this - Grab the pistol like so: Squeeze your hand, opening the ejection port: (Normally the pinky stays down, I lifted it only to demonstrate how far the the chamber is open) Place your pinky in the ejection port feeling for a case in the chamber: It is quick, it keeps your hands away from the muzzle, and doesn't require vision so it works day or night and allows you to keep your situational awareness up because you can continue to scan/view a possible threat area.

Bullfuckingshit. I have been in many classes as a student and taught classes or have run ranges with shooters from all over allowing me to witness a multitude of holsters from both big and small companies. The only ones I have seen routinely fail (or shooters who have had NDs with) are the SERPA and crappy Isreali rigs (like FOBUS etc...) that share a similar design. Yes, an occasional bail spring on a Safariland SLS will give up the ghost (the one example I have seen broke after 12 years of daily use as a LEO rig) or a screw will back out on a Bladetech belt attachment or Raven rig but I have seen nothing as catastrophic or as common as the SERPA failures I have seen. These SERPA failures happened to some very switched on guys by the way. Guys that exercise common sense on a regular basis, guys that maintain their gear and know a thing or two. They had to use this garbage by SOP, as it was purchased by an admin puke that was trying to come in under budget by buying known inferior gear in an effort to make himself look good to the brass. Absolutely, unequivocally, yes they would. They are relatively inexpensive and the offer a retention level "on paper" that checks the right box. By the way, the USMC has now forbidden the use of the SERPA. In my line of work, that is called a clue...

Fixed it for you.... You want to feel for a case in the chamber. Looking alone won't cut it in all lighting conditions or scenarios. Remember, keep it simple: whenever possible find one way to accomplish a task that will work all the time and train it. Yeager is the king douche retard of gun owners and the grand poobah of the affliction wearing Ed Hardy worshipping "bros" of the firearms community. The people with just enough knowledge to be dangerous but not enough ability to fight their way out of a paper bag. Yeager is all that is wrong with the tactical training industry and thinks of himself as the "bad boy" of tactical training . Nothing he preaches makes sense, nothing he teaches is accepted by any real instructors, nothing he teaches is safe or useful. I award him no points and may God have mercy on his soul. His only claim to fame is quitting a cop job after a few years to be a contractor in Iraq and then freezing during an ambush and getting co-workers killed - look up "Route Irish Ambush, Iraq" for his cowardice and combat ineffectiveness. After all the damage he has caused to the 2A movement with his idiotic rants, posturing, and threats, I wouldn't walk across the street to piss on him if he was on fire. If your hand is in front of the muzzle or in danger of being in front of the muzzle you are doing it wrong. Obtain proper education from a reputable firearms instructor that can teach you not just how to do it, but when and why a press check may be necessary. Do not rely on internet videos alone. I prefer to feel the LCI. If that is inconclusive, I will press check and feel, not look, for a case in the chamber.

On a speed reload it doesn't matter, you're not gonna rack it twice on the off chance you blew the reload. The slide going home will put one in often enough that training for anything else is a waste of time. Just learn the correct way to reload, practice your immediate action drills to keep Murphy away and go forth and do good things. On a tactical reload or reload with retention either press check or use the LCI. Again, learn one way that works in all lighting conditions and train it. I train my folks to always top off the blaster after a transition. Rationale being that it just saved your life once, you may need to rely on it agin so you may as well keep it as full as possible. During training that is a lot of tac loading. You get used to it quickly and it becomes second nature to press check or swipe the LCI with a finger prior to holstering or readying up. Easy day.

"Press Check" for a longer life Also both of those guns have tactile loaded chamber indicators. Use them. If you are safe enough and have time enough to do a tac-load or a reload with retention you have time to run a finger over them or press check. Train to use one set of manipulations that work in all lighting conditions. Mistakes in training are good, it let's us shake down our gear and TTPs so we can correct them before it happens in the real world. Also, keep in mind the "last round hold open" feature is an American design. Many euro guns forgo it - or did until the American market demands it. They train to rack the slide after every mag change thinking losing 1 round on a tac-load is worth it for a full mag in the gun.

Wow! You are right! I stand corrected. Personally, that actually makes it worse. I figured he had a ND in training. While not ideal, training is where these accidents are supposed to happen. That is why we train, so we can test ourselves and make the mistakes there and not in the real world. For that to be an accepted TTP is unreal to me. I can see a million ways that can go wrong.

A pin isn't permanent. But, if the stock is removable it isn't fixed and therefore it is "collapsible" or "adjustable". Simply plugging the stock so it can't collapse any further doesn't make it fixed IMO.

I literally LOLed You could always get a fixed stock.... The method you are describing sounds like a no-go to me.

That was totally a sympathetic/unintentional shot. No one is going to train to do that as it won't work all the time. He got away with it on a dirt range, but on a street, in a house/building - especially on a floor above innocents or friendly troops, on a ship or GOPLAT, the chances of that ending badly are way too high. As for the rest.... regardless of what bad Discovery channel shows may say our (US) SF units will outperform any com-bloc/Warsaw-Pact force and we don't do any of that silly stuff. We do put bodies downrange as in high level CQB training, but they are always designated no shoots.

Everyone harps on one aspect of this piece of crap holster. No one thinks of any of the proems inherent with this particular holster. Shooting yourself, while a real concern, is not the only issue this holster has. It is made from weak materials and breaks often. I have seen the holster ripped free from its attachment point in a gun grab, I have seen the release mechanism fail after getting the pistol caught on a seatbelt while getting out of a car, locking the holster in place until the holster could be cut away. I have seen snow, mud, gravel, and dirt lock the holster up tight. I have seen someone get taken to the ground on the gunside where the impact canted the pistol enough in the holster body that a draw was impossible. The SERPA is the only holster I have seen this happen to and I have see it happen more than once. I know guys that are saddled with this albatross by their COC that keep tin snips so they can cut their gun out of the holster in the event it fails. That is unsatisfactory. It is a poorly designed piece of junk made to inferior standards that is a big seller based on price alone and not quality of the product. I get it, no one likes to be told that their baby is ugly, but I don't see why there is this fanatical defense of a $30 piece of plastic that is known to have so many issues. I was always taught "if there is a doubt, then there is no doubt". I have significant doubts regarding this holster that are based on first hand observations during hard use.

All the bitching and moaning is for cause. I have seen the Serpas fail time and time again, and in my opinion they should be verboten. I don't allow them at any range in run or any class I teach. Face it, you spent good money on crappy gear - acknowledge it, learn from it, correct it, and drive on. We have all done it before and we will all do it again. You didn't get hurt by the gear and it didn't fail when you needed it most - You got away cheap at twice the price. Get yourself Safariland holsters and use the QLS plates to enable swapping holsters to different belt setups. They also add a bit if standoff making draws easier, especially in armor or kit. http://www.safariland.com/Dutygear/duty/qls.aspx

And I am out..... Too much to do, can't get it all done today like I hoped. Have fun and shoot straight everyone.

You don't have to call me names.....

I am a definite maybe....

You have friends that answer phones? Decent article. #5 is a huge pet peeve of mine - Keep your goddamn head up and cover your area of responsibility. I think #3 is his best point. Especially this:

Because the point of the FO is to draw the eye to the proper portion of the sight for aiming - the tip top of the front sight. Putting the eye catching FO dot in the middle of the post would defeat the purpose. ETA: Tritium is typically a bigger "dot" than the FO so it has a wider post and has to be mounted lower.

Yup. A lot of that going around..... Happy hunting

I hate polls! You're not the boss of me!!! Regardless, just 'cause they aren't on your list doesn't make them any less of the right choice.....

There is a 5.45x39 Saiga already converted in the marketplace for $850... I would get a lever gun and make a redneck AR or a mag fed bolt gun like the Mossberg MVP, or Ruger Gunsite Scout. Or buy some ammo and take a 3 day course.....

^^^ this. The dots should not be used for a precise sight picture. Excluding XS type sights, the actual edges of the sight and the spaces between - what we know as traditional sight alignment: flat across the top, equal light on each side of the front sight blade, front sight crisp, rear sight notch blurry - is what is necessary to hit what you are aiming at with certainty. You may have a perfect storm of ammo, "dot" height, and distance to make a centered dot work, but that is not its design. Tritium, FO, GitD, gold beads, etc... dots are the for fast sight acquisition, not precise target engagement. The tritium and FO especially are for assisting in locating the sight and obtaining a rough alignment in low light/no light situations prior to using white light to ID a threat. The white light giving you the means to discern the shape outline of the iron sights.