High Exposure

I have used a few different NODs (Night Observation Device) and currently have a PVS-14 along with access to a thermal FLIR device at work. I have found that both thermal and NV (Night Vision) have limitations, and knowing them makes working with them much easier. I also find myself reaching for the PVS-14 more often that the FLIR when I need the ability to see in the dark. Entering the world of NODs is one of those endeavors where you truly get what you pay for. When shopping for NV devices avoid Russian surplus devices and anything below Gen 3 - even if that is all you can afford. You will be much happier saving a little longer and getting better gear in the long run. Think Best Value vs. Lowest Price here. Go to TNVC.Com for an idea of what is available. They have the best selection and prices of quality NOD gear out there and are a very reputable and honorabe company to work with. Their TNV/PVS14 Gen 3 Pinnacle is an excellent device and a great value. If you are thinking of mounting it to a weapon platform, that is a whole other expensive ball of wax in equipment and training. Thermal you may find to be prohibitively expensive, and for your purposes the juice may not be worth the squeeze. Think $3000 or more for a basic thermal monacle, $10,000 and up for a thermal weapon optic. There are also NODs that combine the thermal and NV image together. These are outstanding but are very expensive and may still be restricted to .mil use at this time.

Go to Zazzle.com and make your own

M855 designs. I am not sure if they are around anymore. ITS Tactical was selling their stuff for a while.

Endo makes some good shite. I have the "Black Rifle" shirt that looks like a Black Flag album cover. I also have this: It is a little more subtle and gets a lot of second glances.

OD, I understand what you are saying. I know the chances of being involved in a DPF encounter are slim. I know carrying around a full size gun can be a headache at times. No one is asking anyone to be a "warrior" or to go looking for a fight. I am just asking those that CCW to think about why you chose to carry a gun as a responsible Citizen in the first place. With the answer to that reflection fresh in your mind ask your self this: "Is the gun I am carrying up to the task of completing my objectives most of the time?" If the answer is “no” then why CCW at all? If your answer is “no” your carry gun becomes nothing more than a child’s woobie, it has no real use but, darn it, it makes you feel better. I mean why carry a gun that will only solve a very small percentage of the DPF encounters you may face, when the chance of becoming involved in any DPF encounters at all are so miniscule to begin with? I get a kick out of guys who regularly shoot a full size gun in training and competition. They shoot IDPA or USPSA as “training”. They take courses by the best instructors out there in the name of “preparedness” shooting the class with drop holsters and custom 1911s or Glocks with tac-lights on them. Then they carry a subcompact .380 for protection thinking that they will burn it down if confronted with a DPF encounter just like if they were shooting the gun they have all the trigger time on. My question is this: Why not just carry the gun you have all that trigger time with? You know - The one you train with all the time and shoot like a striped-ass ape? Or at least carry its analogue. On the flip side, why don’t you compete and train with the subcompact that you are relying to save your life? Because you are not as fast, as accurate, or generally as good with the smaller gun as you are with the full size, and let’s face it, you entered the comp to win. So why is winning a competition more important than winning what may very well be the fight of your life? As far as: That’s a weak argument. Once you are prepared, there is nothing to “worry about”. Once that piece is in your holster you can go about your day without a second thought, but if you need it, you have it. Hell, with the right gear, you can comfortably carry a full size pistol and spare magazine and make it disappear in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt, and here is the crux - If you want to. Wow. This statement blows me away. First, All CCW weapons are carried “just in case”. If you definitely knew you were going to be involved in a gunfight today, stay your butt home or bring a rifle and friends with rifles too. Second, only people that live dangerous lives need firearms to protect themselves? What is your definition of a “dangerous life”? I have seen or heard of people killed by gunfire at the mall, the supermarket, a parking lot, the hospital, their homes, walking down the street, in movie theaters, in schools, in parks, driving their cars, in bad neighborhoods, in good neighborhoods, in commercial districts, in residential districts and in business districts. Violence happens with a quickness you can not imagine and it happens at times you can not predict. Unless you are a predator, the perpetrator of a violent act, you have little to no vote on when bad things will happen. I will tell you this - I have never heard someone involved in a shooting say "Man, that was too much gun and I was carrying way too much ammo." I have also never heard someone involved in a gunfight say "Hey! That went exactly as I planned and happened according to my schedule. Good thing I listened to my horoscope and brought extra ammo and my fighting gun today and not the .25ACP I usually carry in my back pocket" I hope none of us are ever involved in a DPF encounter. If any of us ever are, I hope we are prepared and equipped to win. If my family is ever the victim of a violent attack when I am not around, I hope that there is someone nearby with the proper training and the proper tools to help them survive the encounter. I know I will do all I can to save yours. I see you edited your post while I was taking my time typing Everything we do has to be reasonable, affordable, and legal. There are some things in life that we can not control. There are other things we can. We can not control if someone wishes to purposefully crash their car into us. We can however, prepare ourselves for a possible car accident by maintaining situational awareness, driving defensively, wearing our seatbelt, and never assuming that the driver of that other car sees us or is going to stop in time. These are reasonable and affordable measures. If you really want to be prepared, you could drive a tank, but that crosses over into unreasonable, unaffordable for most, and depending on what state you live in, possibly illegal. On the other hand if you make a choice to drive in a careless manner, not wear your seatbelt or use your turn signals and regularly blow through stop signs, that is not being unprepared, that is a choice to be unsafe. We can not control if someone wants to rob or kill us. We can however be prepared by maintaining situational awareness, and being well equipped and well trained. It is not reasonable (and inmost places not legal) to carry a loaded AR or 870 strapped to our chest all the time, even though that is the probably best response to a violent attack. It is however reasonable to carry a concealed handgun (except in NJ) to protect yourself and your loved ones. Preparing for the worst does not originate in fear. It originates from the detection of a possible threat followed by a logical analysis of the problem and finally an implementation of a plan to mitigate said threat. It comes down to this. If you shoot a .22 Pug better than any other handgun you own then rock on. If you are the reincarnation of Wyatt Earp with a Ruger LCP or S&W Bodyguard, carry that thing and do good deeds. If you know that you shoot a G19 better than a Beretta .25, and carry the Beretta anyway, you are planning to fail. If you limit yourself to only becoming involved if the circumstances match the capabilities of a niche pistol you carry for comfort, IMO, you are wrong. Again it is not about a bigger gun, better holster, different caliber, or more ammo. It is about having the best tool for the job at hand.

Live feed from CBS LA Helicopter

I carry a Glock 22 and a Glock 27 BUG on and off duty on working days. I carry a Glock 35 or Glock 23 IWB with at least 1 spare magazine everyday and a Ruger LCP or Kahr PM9 as a BUG. All this talk about "uncomfortable" and "heavy" I think some of you are missing the point of carrying a CCW for the protection of your life or the lives of loved ones. A pistol on your hip needs to be "Comforting" not "comfortable"... Not that it can't be both, but it may take some work, some time and some money to find the right holster/belt/gun combo that works for you. I have grabbed quite a few full size guns and have seen dozens of other large frame guns pulled from the waistbands and pockets of shittums on the street. If they can carry and conceal a full size 1911, a cut down SxS 12g, a full size H&K, Walther, Sig, or the ubiquitus Glowk Fowty (I don't know why, but it is always a .40 regardless of its actual caliber) why are we carrying sub-compacts and mouse calibers as primary carry guns day to day (short of medical issues or dress code requirements that limit some choices)? I have said this before, and I will say it again now - If you are going to CCW a handgun you should carry the pistol/revolver that you shoot the best. Weight, size, capacity, caliber, etc. are all factors (some more important than others) but those factors should be second place to your ability to make good hits with it at typical fighting distances while achieving good results on target. Yes a .22 will kill you just as dead as a ..45ACP if they both hit you someplace important. I understand that. But don't tell me you are faster and more accurate with a Ruger LCP than a G23 at 15 yards. Don't tell me that you believe a .22 or .25 will be as effective as a duty caliber (.38, 9mm, .357sig, .40, .357 mag, .44, .45) in putting down an aggressor fast. Carrying a pistol/revolver and relying on it's frightful appearance instead of your skill at arms with it and its ability to quickly stop a determined attacker is planning to fail. If that is your plan based on "stats" that you read than maybe a .22 Pug or something similar sized is a good choice. It will be easier for the Dr. to remove it from your A$$ when a registered bad dude snatches it from you and plants it there. I know "The first rule of being involved in a gunfight is Have A Gun" great, got it. The lesser known caveat to that is make sure both you and the gun are up to the task at hand when you have to skin it and go to work. To each their own but I don't aspire to lose a gunfight and since my crystal ball is at the shop for repairs I would rather plan for worst case then best case. Think about this: If you are CCW carrier in a Mall wth an active shooter and you have a shot at the shooter who is about 20 yards away. Which of your guns would you want in your hand to make that shot? ETA: None of this is directed at any poster in this thread. It is just a current trend I have been noticing to move towards smaller and harder to shoot guns for CCW because they are "easier" to carry or more "comfortable". 110% YES. It makes all the difference in the world. I have 2 Ares Gear Ranger belts for everyday wear and a Comptac Dress belt for when I have to dress up. It is like night and day from my old leather belt.

Well done! Perfect setup for the application. Quality parts, simple to use, well though out positioning and instinctive "switchology".

As with most things, anything designed to to everything rarely does it all well. BFG makes quality kit and this sling works as advertised, but their VCAS is a class above in ease of use, comfort, and simplicity. I have no experience with the MS4. I had an MS3 and I did not like it. As I stated, I butchered it to make a VCAS work more efficiently with Magpul sling attachment points.

Just FYI: The Coach involved in this is a Reserve Police Officer.

Wait, you can afford a "Cleaning Lady" but don't want to purchase what amounts to necessary equipment for responsible gun ownership? Spend the few hundred dollars and buy the appropritae gear. Tell "Alice" to take a week off and clean the place yourself to make up the difference in the cost of the safe/vault. I would bet that the victims of any crime that your firearms were used in would disagree with your sentiment. I can not think of one item in my home that I feel is more important to secure properly than my firearms.

2 Lever guns set up similar to this: One 1895 GBL and one in .38/.357 NJ Legal AUG Clone such as an MSAR that uses AR mags Converted Saiga in .223 AR in .40 S&W that takes Glock Mags Ruger 10/22 tactical Nice Scout style rifle in .308 S&W M&P 340 Ruger SP101

I'd say the frequency points directly to an ammo issue. If it was a cleaning issue, the problem should get worse as you shoot and get the gun dirtier. If it was a gun issue, the rate of malfunction should be much higher. If it was a cold issue, it should be resolved when the gun warms up by shooting it. I just got back from a 3 day carbine course where I was one of 18 shooters participating. I personally fired 1132 rounds of 5.56x45. The other shooters fired about the same. That is a lot of rounds downrange. 1 shooter on the line was shooting PMC ammo. He had at least 1 malfunction related to this particular issue in every magazine he fired through his BCM EAG 14.5" midlength. At least 3 other shooters had identical problems with some steel cases ammo (I can not remember the brand) and some Federal XM ammo.

It's hard to tell, but it looks like the primers on the "bad" rounds are set too deeply into the case. Run a finger over them, are the primers flush with the brass or do you feel a "step" where the case head is higher than the primer?

"Comforting not comfortable"

I agree. This "test" is garbage. It is like taking a new driver, fresh from his first driver's education class and giving him the pole position in an F1 race. Rediculous. Additionally that is as stacked a deck as I have seen. In addition to clearly knowing where the armed CCW holder would sitting, "Firearms Instructor" Glen Dorney is actually "Captain Glen Dorney" who happens to be a SWAT Team Commander for a fairly large East Coast Municipal SWAT Team. I would bet that the slant placed on that video was 100% the studio's doing. Capt. Dorney is an honest guy and a good instructor. He is also someone that I wouldn't want, even in training, to go to guns against. It comes down to the fact that conditioning your mind, training your body and mainting your skill as a gunfighter to respond to a situation like that does not happen after 1 class or even 12. It is a never ending struggle to balance daily life and these skills. 1 FoF with GFH does not a gunfighter make. The Marine Recon community conducted a study a few years ago to see how skill sets related to gunfighting diminished over time. They concluded that 8 days without some type of firearms training was the max before your skills degraded to the point of being measurable. It is dedication to a lifestyle and it takes a few years to get there, not a half day with an instructor. To paraphrase Paul Howe - "It only takes 10 minutes to gear up like a gunfighter, but it takes 10 years to become one."

I just scored mine from Pat himself! Taking an EAG 3 day COC2 course in PA. Pics later...

Surefire Fury Defender is THE answer for a light to mount on a long gun. With a little searching you can find it for under $110. 500 lumens Clicky tail cap 1" body

A.R.M.S. Mounts: helping terrorists walk away unscathed since 1980! Seriously, If you find A.R.M.S. is the answer, ask a different question. Their mounts are weak/soft and do not hold zero well. Not to mention the fact that Dick Swan's business practices leave a lot to be desired. While I have no experience with optics on M1A rifles specifically, I know that there are lots of other better options by better companies out there: LaRue (EER mounted backwards) Badger Smith Sedlak

Surefire X-300u with DG switch. 500 lumes of properly focused light makes it easy to acquire AND identify targets at 50yards and then some, I work midnights (6p-6a) and in training I shoot regularly in low light/no light conditions. My pistol lights get a lot of use. I currently have 2 X300U, 2 X300, 2 TLR1, and I recently got rid of an M3, M5, X200, and a SF P111. The X300u with DG switch is hands down the best pistol light I have used and have one attached to my duty gun and one on my HD pistol. ETA: The 2 TLR1s are both replacements from Streamlight as the originals both broke in under a year of use. One during a high round count training cycle, the other during a building clear resulting from an alarm call with an open door. Neither light was abused. They are now relegated to training use only and I no longer trust them on social guns.

I don't trust EOTurds on any social guns. I have one, but it is relegated to training duty on my S&W M&P AR .22 trainer. I am using the MRDS because I already had it. It came mounted on top of a TA01NSN ACOG, but I am not a fan of that setup. So I took it off, left the ACOG on the AR, and put the MRDS on the shotgun. My preference is for another T1, but the MRDS gets it done with no issues.

OD, What quality optics have you used? How does a RDS/Optic interfere with your HD guns? Why are the weapons you are depending on for HD/SD sitting in your bedroom for years instead of going to the range to maintain proficiency and/or the work bench for routine maintenance and function checks? What is your experience in fighting with firearms at "HD" distances? Remember, you are not giving advice to the OP on how to mix the best Margarita. You are giving advice to someone on equipment he may use one day to save his life or the life of a loved one. Also, can you explain the following to me, As I am not tracking here: Much what at HD distances? Speed? Precision? Both? Because they are the two main advantages of a RDS over Iron Sights and coincidentally the two biggest factors of who will walk away after it goes loud at typical room distances when you start from behind in the OODA loop. A quality RDS on any firearm used for HD/SD is a significant improvement over iron sights in speed and precision at CQB distances. This advantage is even greater in dynamic engagements and low light situations. In other words, ideal for a HD weapon intended to be used in the defense of your life or the lives of a loved one during a violent encounter in your home. For this intended use, the often used trifecta of "quality does matter", "You do get what you pay for", and "How much is your life worth?" all apply. As an example, the Aimpoint T1 on the AR I use for HD, as well as the T1 I use on the rifle I carry at work, has a 50,000 hour battery life (To save you the math that is over 5 and a half years) I never turn it off. The Insight MRDS on the 870 I carry at work has a reported 1 year battery life and is just as rugged as the T1. Neither optic requires lens covers, both are extremely durable, both are always on whenever the weapon is in service. The MRDS optic is checked for function and turned on and off daily, with battery swaps in January and July. The T1s all get new batteries every January as well. ETA: I agree with VladT regarding his feelings as to using a shotgun or HD. I have an AR dedicated to that duty. However, my shotgun is set up and used for "social occasions" so I felt it was relevant to the OP.

Insight MRDS on a Mesa Tactical Rail sidesaddle combo.

"Be thankful you're healthy." "Be bitter you're not going to stay that way" "Be glad you're even alive." "Be furious you're going to die." What a great book! Reading: Going after Cacciato Training at the Speed of Life Guns, Germs, and Steel

Timely topic I am currently in the process of stuffing 1200 rounds into mags (a mix of PMags, TD ARC Mags and GI mags) for an upcoming 3 day carbine class (EAG COC2) at the end of this month. I have a StripLula, a MagLula and 4 of the Pro Mag Loaders (you get one for free when you attend an EAG class). I have had no problem with any of these devices on any of my mags (all versions of PMags including EMag, GI and TD ARC mags). I use the MagLula for emptying mags only. I find it slow to load with, and hard to find a rhythm when stuffing mags with it. I have not found an effecient way to hold the rounds, mag, and loader while manipulating the lever to make it my go-to device. For stripping rounds out of a magazine, the MagLula can not be beat. If you have rounds loaded on stripper clips, the StripLula is the way to go. However, with loose rounds, it leaves a bit to be desired. You are essentially loading the mag twice (once by loading the loose rounds into the StripLula, and twice when you load the rounds in the StripLula into the Mag). The rounds are not retained well by the loader without the assist of a stripper clip and they can fall out or become mis-alligned when loading. I find it faster and easier to load mags by hand than with the StripLula if the rounds are not on stripper clips. The ProMag loader is my first pick for loading loose rounds into mags. It is much faster than the MagLula or StripLula and slightly faster than loading by hand. It is easy to manipulate, very effecient, and makes it easy to count your rounds as you stuff them. Highly recommended.