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I just got in my ammo order. Bought enough for the coming year as I don’t know what the future will bring with ammo prices. Wanted to have enough to provide students a cost effective ability to shoot in the classes and keep myself stocked up! So grateful to have friends in the industry to hook me up.

Just a reminder that after this weekend, all general classes will be indoor tactics classes. Getting it all set up!

I am in the process of finding a host facility for training. I need something to do the Home Defense and Active Shooter training, so it will need some rooms and hallway and ideally a larger room as well. I have looked at using a church as that seems that would work well. That would facilitate the church security training we want to provide.

Specialty Classes such as AR-15and Home Defense. Since some subjects are so popular, we have given classes just based on those. The AR-15 class is a really good way to get comfortable with using the controls, unique shooting styles, and dealing with the malfunctions of the popular rifle platform. 

Home Defense deals with how to check your home, safely clear rooms, when to call the police and how to react when they arrive. What considerations to deal with your home and firearms such as penetration issues, where the other members of your house might be, etc. There are a lot of things to think about BEFORE the confrontation.

Capacity. There is a lot of discussion about how many rounds the government thinks it should allow us to carry. I do not want to get too far in the weeds on this topic so I will sum up with this. I do not agree with any of the reasons I have heard about limiting capacity. You wouldn’t ask a fireman how many gallons of water they need to put out a fire. They carry as much as they can, and mandate refill points (hydrants) all over every city. I feel the same way about defensive firearms. Since I don’t know how many rounds I will need to deal with any potential lethal force encounter, I want to carry as much as I can.

I have heard people say, “well if you need more then 6 rounds in a revolver, then you need to spend more time on the range.” These are people that have NEVER ran a combat drill. Even with three bad guys, which is totally realistic, is 6 enough? Given the pathetic stopping rate and time that pistols have, 2-3 rounds is considered the minimum standard application to each. Now factor in the accuracy rate when the bad guy is moving and so are you, add in conditions such as winter and the bad guy is wearing several layers of clothes and a leather jacket, and what about natural body armor like the standard 8 inches of fat many of us carry around. You soon start to realize as you spend time looking at real world incidents, that 6 or 8 or 10 rounds may not be enough. Then there is just the factor of having a comfort level.

I am getting set up with things that I need to do student training this summer. I am used to having access to all of the range items and supplies, but now that I am out on my own I have to buy all the equipment I need.

Looking forward to putting some holes in these!

I previously talked about sizing and how to check the length of pull in part one. I wanted to expand on this topic to include other issues. When you are deciding on a pistol, first determine what you are going to use it for. Let’s focus on defensive use.

There is a dizzying variety of sizes and styles of pistols available, but for each change there is always a trade off. If you are going to carry a firearm concealed, then a large pistol is heavy, uncomfortable, and harder to conceal. Micro pistols are easy to conceal, light, and the most comfortable, but have small capacity, a very short sight radius, and often a short length of pull (discussed in part 1).

When you choose a gun, caliber will help drive the rest of the purchase. You want to choose a round that has enough power and penetration to get the job done, while still being able to control the recoil for good follow up shots during rapid fire. Balance that with the number of rounds the firearm carries and how much you can afford in long term costs of practice ammo. You may go with a 5.7 or a .357 sig for performance, and then not be able to afford to shoot it.

9mm has become the most popular choice of carry caliber by far. I have seen this trend change over the years, so don’t get hung up on what is the popular choice of the day. Determine WHY and then decide if that is what should drive your choice.

Capacity will also drive some of the decision as various designs determine how many rounds that particular handgun will hold. You may decide that a revolver with 5 rounds is fine for you, or even a derringer with 2. You may also be on the other side of the scales and demand 17 rounds or more.

After thinking about a variety of potential problems, accuracy rates, multiple attackers, and terminal performance, lets say your minimum comfort level rides around 10 or more rounds of 9mm or better caliber. That means that you need to stay away from micro guns, and look at mid to large frame semi-autos.

Now decide what you want for weight, and that will split the steel frames and the polymers. So will how you carry it and if the firearm will be subject to weather, body sweat and salts, humidity, and temperature.

Sight Radius. The distance between the front and rear sights. The longer the slide, the longer you can make the sight radius and the easier it will be to line up the sights and keep them that way. We call this point-ability. This also adds to weight and is harder to conceal.

Are you going to add a light and other accessories? (red dot sight “RDS”, laser, etc. If so, you will want a rail for the light and/or laser. If you are going to add a RDS, then you can either have the slide milled, or look at RDS ready models with interchangeable plates for different models. This will also drive your holster options. Always make sure the holster is available before you buy a gun or “upgraded accessories”.

Having a hammer on your pistol allows you to cock the hammer for a lighter single action trigger, or maybe even carry it cocked and locked. (side note, I just realized I need to just have a glossary of terms rather than defining as I go. Look for that in the future. It also means that you will have a different trigger weight between your first and subsequent shots if not cocked into single action first. Hammers can catch on clothing and other items as well as (again) making it harder to conceal. Without it though, you won’t be able to make that cool cocking sound letting the bad guys know that you really mean it this time.

So lets say you have great eyes and have decided on a mid frame, 9mm, polymer, striker fired pistol with a mounted light and standard iron night sights. You are almost there. Now you have to decide on grip length, if you want an external manual safety, do you care where it is manufactured, quality and finally, the price.

Feel the trigger (discussed in another blog), can you change the magazine without pinching your hand. Can you rack the slide?

In this hypothetical purchase, you find that the length of pull is correct, it fits your hand, you can reach and manipulate the controls, change magazines, the sights are clear and easy to see, the light is bright and the holster fits the gun and your draw style. The pistol is a quality brand with good customer service and aftermarket support. Now you can make the purchase confident that you have only one hurdle left. Explaining it to your other half…

Lets talk about triggers. There is a LOT to triggers. After all, they are what we use to make it go bang, and ultimately what is responsible for most of our inaccuracies when shooting.

I will not be able to cover everything, and may even do multiple posts on the subject. So if I say, there are two kinds of triggers, single stage and two stage triggers, someone will ultimately say “but what about binary triggers?” or something like that. There will always be more than what I am able to cover.

The two main style of trigger designs are rail or linear and cantilever. The cantilever is the most common and is pinned at the top of the trigger shoe and swings from that pivot point.

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You will note in the picture and using the graphic below, that this style of trigger rotates down as it swings back. One of two things happen when you pull this type of trigger. Either your finger has to move downward with the trigger as it goes through it’s arc pushing the trigger and therefore the muzzle down, or your finger has to move across the face of the trigger if you pull it straight back. You can mitigate this several different ways. One of the methods is to use as short a trigger swing as possible. Hence most people shoot better with a short trigger even if they don’t know why that is. It is also why a lot of people like the flat face triggers that allow the trigger finger to roll across it as it swings.

The second is the linear style. These are found primarily on the 1911 style handgun. These are considered by most (including me) to be the best and most accurate following the finger straight back to the rear.

Lets break it down some more. Single vs two stage triggers. A single stage trigger has the same trigger weight from engagement through the break. A two stage trigger has a lower initial pull weight and then the weight increases or ramps up prior to the break. Each has their own advantages.

I will go through the terms of the trigger pull. When the finger contacts the trigger and begins the travel, all of the linkages etc move and the Slack is taken up. The weight of pull increases as the trigger continues into and through the first stage. Then it comes to the second stage where the weight increases again. The remaining travel before the sear breaks (when the trigger releases the hammer or striker to fire the gun) is shorter than the first stage. Stacking can occur where the weight increases through the stage rather than being smooth and even through each stage. Once the sear breaks, the trigger will move to the end of it’s travel. Once at the rear, on a semi-auto, the trigger can move forward until the reset. This is where you can pull it to the rear and it will fire again. If you continued forward from the reset, the trigger comes to it’s forward resting point.

While too short and light (hair trigger) is a thing, generally the shorter the trigger pull the less finger movement and therefore more accurate shooting is possible.

So there is obviously a lot to the trigger and and how it affects accuracy. How the hand, trigger finger and joints move etc that also comes into play if you want to study accuracy and make improvements.

When most people go to buy a gun, they just hold it, and if it feels good in the hand, that’s the best.

Really though, there are several issues to contemplate. I will slice it up into parts starting with size. When you are picking out a pistol, the most important size issue is the length of pull, meaning the distance between the back strap and the trigger. To aid in accuracy and trigger control, you want to have your finger contact and break the trigger between 45 degrees and 90 degrees.

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This will give you the best chance of controlling the trigger without disrupting the sights while firing. The next important size is grip. Feel the gun in your hand and make sure you can hold it well. This will help with recoil control and confidence. Grip length is will help with a good grip of course and some manufacturers will add to the grip length by utilizing an extended molded magazine. Be aware though, that this design makes it easy to pinch your hand during reloads. Some pistols have a different grip angle. Point it and see if it feels natural.

Now lets talk about trigger. Personal preference rules here. Some like a short crisp trigger with no take up, little stacking and a short reset. Well what does all that mean and what is your preference? Just dry fire it and compare it to some others and see what feels good to you. I will go into trigger issues in another blog since it is such an in depth subject. Besides, they say always leave them wanting more right?

Bottom line, the best gun is the gun you are carrying.