While everyone else is at SHOT Show this week, I’m hard at work bringing you great self defense and preparedness information!
When shooting schools don’t produce results
This is a pretty good article that looks at some of the reasons defensive shooting instruction often doesn’t deliver what it promises (or is expected) to deliver. I’m in particular agreement with #3.
Your gun does not make you the police. This is what happens when you forget that little detail.
From the Billings (MT) Gazette comes this story about a gentleman who thought his gun gave him police powers to detain suspected shoplifters — and to shoot at their car as they left the scene. There is so much wrong with his actions, from “suspecting” that a full shopping cart was evidence of shoplifting (he never claimed to see them shoplift anything), to trying to make a citizens arrest using the threat of lethal force, to shooting at a vehicle that was driving away from him. He’s facing up to a year in jail plus fines for his failure to understand what his concealed carry license does and does not allow him to do. He’s just lucky that none of his bullets hit an innocent bystander.
Lessons from a hurricane
Reading accounts of disaster survival from people who have some preparedness knowledge is quite valuable. They’re able to assess fairly accurately what worked and what didn’t, and what changes they can make going forward. This helps us learn from the experience of others, which is a great way to avoid big mistakes. While this article is heavy on affiliated links pushing the products he owns, the rest of the material is good enough that I can overlook them.
How do you deal with a loose ejector rod?
A backed-out ejector rod on a S&W revolver can be a serious problem. When it happens, it can be difficult to even open the cylinder. If it’s jammed shut, how do you fix it? This article gives some good guidance, with two caveats: First, it’s almost always easier to get the cylinder open by simply pushing the cylinder release with one hand while the other uses a small flat-blade screwdriver to push the front locking pin out of the way. The method suggested by the author is the hard way, which I only use if the rod is so far unscrewed that the front locking pin is already bottomed out. Second, you’ll have better luck tightening the ejector rod with a pliers that has curved jaws rather than the straight ones shown. (You should also add a small dab of thread sealant to the threads of the ejector rod before tightening firmly.)
Another vote for realistic preparedness
From Modern Survival Blog, a look at why it’s better to prepare for what’s likely, not what’s fantasy.
How to become a better revolver shooter
Richard Johnson (who also writes the superb Guns, Holsters & Gear website) has a look at what it takes to become a better revolver shooter. He also says nice things about some hippie from Oregon…
Fixing a Marlin problem
It’s not often that I suggest a gun modification, and even rarer that I suggest a modification to a lever action rifle, but this one is an exception. One of the weaknesses (if you can call it that) of the Marlin 1894 rifles (usually chambered in .38 Special/.357 Magnum) is the extractor — the little “finger” that grabs the rim and pulls the cartridge from the chamber. The stock extractor can occasionally fail to pull a case from the chamber, and often contributes to a less-than-smooth action. This new extractor design fixes both problems. I hope to get one soon to find out for myself, but I’ve talked with several people who’ve installed them and all confirmed what this article says. Definitely worth looking into if you have a Marlin 1894, especially if it’s a defensive tool!
Shedding light on defensive shooting distances
There’s a lot of debate on what constitutes common defensive shooting distances. In this PDN article, police Lt. David Williams attempts to quantify just what you and I might expect to encounter if we’re attacked. He avoids the common clichés and looks for actual data, which is harder to find than you might expect.
– Grant Cunningham
P.S.: Speaking of becoming a better revolver shooter, there are still openings in my revolver class in Phoenix this March!
The post Your Hump Day Reading List for January 24, 2018 appeared first on www.GrantCunningham.com.
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