When it comes to firearms training, there are two terms that you will hear a lot and need to understand. These terms could be the difference in life and death in a gunfight. The terms, cover and concealment. These words seem pretty straight forward, but are commonly confused. When you think about, that's understandable. People use different names for different things all the time. We can be talking about the exact same thing while using two different words and not even realize it. That's what the Cave is for, we're determined to getting everyone on the same page. For all intensive purposes, cover is your best bet when bullets start flying. Cover can be simply defined as anything that has the capability to stop hostile fire. Pretty much anything that can keep you from getting shot. A few examples are brick or concrete walls, a car's engine block, large rocks or mounds of compressed dirt, or a steel door. If it's solid, thick, and dense, it will work. Remember, you hear people yell "take cover" not concealment. If we think of cover as anything that can hide you from enemy fire, concealment is anything that can hide you from enemy sight. It may not be the best option, well, it definitely isn't the best option, but it's better than being out in the open. Thick vegetation, a bed, a standard house door, and a covered window are all examples of concealment. Remember, you're hiding. When your best option is concealment, you want to be the best hide-and-seek player of all time. Move as little as possible until you are ready to engage your target. Minimize any noise emitting and reflective objects. All you have is the element of surprise, use it! Now that you have a good understanding of what is cover and what is concealment, expand on it. make a habit out of recognizing objects in your daily life & identifying them as either cover or concealment. You want to do as little guess work as possible when bullets start flying. And even if you still have trouble keeping the terms straight, remember this one thing... If you can shoot through it, you can get shot through it.
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I hear it all the time. "Why do you have so many guns? You getting ready for a war or something?" Well, hopefully not, but if one comes, I know that I'm ready. The real reason I have so many guns is simple. I LOVE GUNS! That's it. I don't need any other reason. If my guns were shoes, hats, cars, coins, or even knives no one would have an issue. If all laws are followed, there should be no problem with how many guns or what kind I choose to spend my money on. We are all entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Ring a bell? No one has the right to tell any other citizen that he cannot enjoy firearms as long as it doesn't overstep another's rights. Spending your money and your time to invest in your enjoyment while respecting other's rights is no reason to feel ashamed. Embrace your inner gun enthusiast and let your freedom flag fly proudly! Pro gunners are often depicted as uneducated, wild, ignorant barbarians that only care about shooting things with little regard for much else. This couldn't be further from the truth. The fact is, we come from all walks of life and are more concerned with gun laws than anyone else. You see, responsible gun owners are the only ones that have a vested interest in gun litigation. We're the ones that actually follow the laws. The uneducated, wild, ignorant barbarians are going to do as they please, no matter what the government says. I know for a fact that I would let my driver's license expire before my pistol permit. It's happened before. The next time a person asks you why you have so many guns, ask them why they have a car that drives so fast. The highest speed limit in America is 85 mph. That 140 on the dash is technically not even needed, but it's there. Ask them why they have more than one dinner fork. More than one butter knife. More than one pen. Even more than one plate. It seems so normal when it isn't a gun we're talking about, doesn't it? I refuse to apologize for my passion. To be honest, I should never have to...
I could talk about trigger control all day, but one of the most common mistakes I see is incorrect placement of the finger on the actual trigger. In addition to a slow, steady press to the rear, follow through, and feeling the reset, what part of you finger is in contact with the trigger can make a huge difference in hitting your mark, or missing it completely. Take a look at the picture. On the left, you see proper placement of the index finger on the trigger. You want to have the trigger bisect the pad of the index finger tip. This will allow for an even distribution of pressure when firing. Now look at the center picture. Out of all, this is the one that i see the most. Usually, new shooters are concerned with mitigating the effects of recoil. While this is definitely important, there are better ways to achieve it. Placing the trigger in the first joint of the trigger finger will cause a slight pull of the gun towards the hand and the further away the target is, the more the shots will be off. Now check out the picture on the right. This is a common mistake of shooters trying to avoid the previous issue. Not enough of the trigger finger will result in a pushing effect and can be just as bad as too much trigger finger. The only difference is the shots will be in the opposite direction. Either way, your hits will be off, if you hit at all... For some, this might not be such a big deal. I mean, in the pictures the target was hit in each of the situations. And from the looks of things, they were not off by much. But keep this in mind, the goal of training is to achieve consistency and improve on your skills. The more fundamentals we can correct, the more advanced we can become. You want trigger finger placement to be second nature. In a stressful situation, seconds matter. Don't waste any trying to find where you finger needs to be. Practice it before you need it so that when the time comes, it's almost automatic.
Remember, when stressed, you revert to the highest level of training you have mastered, not your highest level of training. You hear it all the time, "Why didn't he just shoot him in the leg?" Every single time I just shake my head & try my best to ignore the ignorance. Believe it or not, it's not that simple... The fastest human clocked was Usain Bolt at just under 28mph. Let's say that a person running, with adrenaline factored in, can run half that fast. That's 14 miles per hour. Now if a body is moving 14 mph, how fast do you think the legs are moving individually? How about the arms? Exactly. REALLY FAST! It would be damn near impossible to focus on your surroundings, a fast moving target, and what's beyond that target and make a shot like that. In fact, it only happens by accident or in movies. Now take a look at the targets in the picture. Notice anything? Targets do not have legs. Only one has an arm that is not in front of its body. The top left is an actual police used target. Anyone that has ever trained has been taught to shoot 2 things, center mass or head. That's it. It's called "deadly force" for a reason. If I am in a life or death situation, I'm going to choose life for myself, that only leaves death. Guess who I'm dealing that to... But police officers should be a much better shot, right? Not even. Police officers, believe it or not, do not practice shooting all day. I spoke with several and flat out asked them how often do officers hit the range. The answer actually surprised me. For the average patrol officer, it is required that he qualifies with his weapon (time between qualifications varied from 1 to 6 times per year). That's it! There is no set schedule for logging range time. For a tactical response team, the consensus was about once per week. I don't care who you are, one time shooting every 7 days will not give you the skill set needed to hit a target like that. On top of that, the only time deadly force is supposed to be used is when a person is deemed a threat to the lives of others (*"supposed" being the key word). In my opinion, that doesn't call for a leg wound. Now think about this, law enforcement agencies are government funded. That means that you and I pay for what they use. When budgets get low, practice bullets are pretty high on the list of things to cut. That's almost a set up for failure. All police officers aren't snipers. In fact, only the ones called snipers are snipers & they miss too. This is just another reason for individual citizens to take it upon themselves to train. Every American needs to be able to defend himself. Period. And I bet you won't shoot someone trying to kill you in their damn leg... Gun violence in the United States is a huge problem. There is no denying that. Recent events have brought this problem to the forefront, but for many of us, this is nothing new. We understand that some people in this world are just plain evil and they refuse to respect others or follow laws. There is nothing I can do for them besides pray for their eternal soul. My issue is when problems are compounded. What sense does it make to makes laws that are supposed to stop people that do not care about the laws? NONE! The only people who care about gun laws are people that follow gun laws. Those lowlife pieces of shit that go around preying on unsuspecting citizens are not at all worried about a law. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they supported all gun control legislation. All it does is make it easier for them to do as they please. They want to kill people. It just makes sense that they would want to eliminate the likelihood of being stopped. That's exactly what these stupid little signs do! They instantly turn an able bodied American into a helpless victim. I cannot tell you the number of times I've had to find an excuse to go back to the car because some liberal store owner decided to take it upon himself to ignore the 2nd Amendment in his business. People will only believe you left your wallet under your seat for so long. I finally got tired of it and decided to boycott anything with those signs. I refuse to die in some gas station, holding a Gatorade, asking for $25 on 2, with my guns 15 yards away. Not a chance in hell! And the fact that firearms aren't allowed on military bases and recruitment offices... WOW! I had no idea that the people who volunteer to serve our country and protect our liberties were walking around unarmed. I mean... really?! A soldier... A SOLDIER!!! What kind of idiot thought it was a good idea to disarm a soldier? While law makers are worried about civilians having military style rifles, actual military personnel have nothing! That is beyond ridiculous. More like disgusting. That shit need to change now! The sooner we as a people realize that some are just out to cause harm, and those pieces of paper telling law abiding citizens to disarm themselves provide no safety at all, the sooner we can rid the country of their unnecessary existence. I know it's going to be hard for people to just up and get rid of their signs. We're Americans, anything worth saying is on a sign, right? Well how about we offer something a little more logical?
When it comes to shooting accurately, a few things are much more important than others. A couple of those are sight alignment & sight picture. If you hope for any kind of consistent shooting success, you must be able to align your sights on the target, consistently. Although it's really important and can take a long time to master, with a little practice, it won't be as hard as you may think. Let's start by talking about standard pistol sights. Most of the popular firearms use the 3-dot, notch and post style of setup. For Glock pistols, the rear sight is a kind of squared off U-shape instead of dots. Personally, I loathe those sights! Can't stand them! For the purpose of this article, I'm ignoring them. Here is an example of the type of sights I'm going to be talking about. As you can see, the rear sight has a notch with 2 dots, 1 on each side. The front sight is a post with a single dot in the middle of it. Thus we get the notch and post, 3 dot sights. One quick thing to remember, shoot with both eyes open. None of that wink type stuff you see in the movies. It may work for one shot, but if you want to get multiple hits on target with speed and accuracy, keep them both open. Now, the first thing any good shooting instructor will tell you to do is find your front sight. It's a must! The front sight needs to be placed on your target to achieve any type of accuracy. In fact, when done correctly, the front sight will be the only thing that can be seen clearly. The target will be blurry and the rear sights will be blurry. Not to worry, that front post is what needs your attention. You may notice that a little double vision happens with the rear sights when you focus on the front post. Actually, you will definitely notice this. Again, no worries. This is just a part of shooting. With practice, you will know exactly where to place the front sight post. Of course, I have a couple tips to make this easier. First, be sure to position the gun in front of your dominant eye. If you don't know which eye this is, wink. More than likely, the eye that you leave open is your dominant one. For me, my left eye is dominant so I hold my pistol more towards the left. As for the rear sights, squint your non-dominant eye, but do not totally close it. This will get rid of some of the double vision that occurs & you will know where the front sight needs to be. This can be done with an unloaded weapon, without an actual target. Emphasis on UNLOADED! Now, let's align the sights. You want to have all 3 dots make a horizontal line, the top of the front and rear sights to also be in a straight line, and an even amount of space on each side of the front sight post. All this is done while still focusing on the front sight post. Depending on where you learn to shoot, you will be told to place the front sight at the base of your target, 6 o'clock, or at the center of the target. You will have to try both to see what works for you. No matter which way you choose, your desired result will be:
Now you have proper sight alignment and sight picture.
A couple weeks ago I was watching game 6 of the NBA Finals (notice i said "watching" and not "enjoying") with some friends when all of a sudden, boom! The lights go out. While everyone began to try to open the flashlight app on their smartphones, I calmly reached into my pocket and pulled out my mini flashlight. I handed it to the owner of the house, he reset the circuit breaker, and we continued to watch the game. While I was putting my flashlight back into my pocket, someone asked me a question. "You carry a flashlight on you all the time?" My reply, of course I do! It just seems natural to me, which made me think. What should a man carry on his person everyday? What is the basis for a good Everyday Carry (EDC)? I think it's pocket dump time... This is a picture of what I carry on my person, every single day. It has evolved over the years, but I have used every piece multiple times and was definitely glad that I had it.
An EDC is very personal and should be tailored to the carrier's daily needs. It should contain the essentials you need to carry out your daily life, but not be so bulky as to the point that you don't want to actually carry it all. Post a pic of your EDC pocket dump on Instagram. Use the hashtag #MCHQPocketDump and tag the @ManCaveHQ page. You may just get it reposted!
*I know you're looking at my keys. If you want to know how to make your own, stay tuned...* *Warning, this is going to be a long one. Just bear with me, you're about to get some extremely good information! Once you've purchased a firearm, the next logical step is to want to shoot it. It just makes sense. What's the point in having a gun that you don't fire, right? Now we need to locate a facility that is equipped to handle all the freedom we plan on disbursing. There are many options from outdoor, to indoor, to private property. Any will do, just be sure that all local laws are followed. When you find a location, you need to make sure that you have certain tools to ensure that your range day goes off without a hitch. That's where I come in. I'm going to go through what I take to the range to give you some idea of what types of things to consider. You may not need it all, but it's better to have and not need, than to need and not have. The first thing you want to do is get all the gear you plan to take to the range together, in one spot. Let's start with the guns... When I go to the range, I like to have all my pistols in cases, in my range bag. I usually take about 4 or 5 with me. I use cases like these to keep what I use for each pistol separate. They also provide a little extra protection without taking up too much space. I keep my rifles and shotguns in a separate case, outside of my range bag. The next thing that I make sure that I have is my ear protection. I have a pair of ear muffs and a set of ear plugs. Depending on what I'm shooting, it can get pretty loud. For larger calibers, I use both sets together, but no matter what I'm shooting, until I get my silencers, some form of hearing protection is definitely a requirement. The electronic ear muffs are a personal favorite of mine. They allow me to reduce the sound of the gunfire and with the push of a button, hear someone talking if need be. With ear protection, comes eye protection. They are both extremely important. You won't appreciate them until you're glad that you had them. Most designated ranges actually require shooters to wear them. You don't have to get too fancy, just be sure that your glasses are rated to meet ballistics standards, are comfortable, and will not fog easily. As far as the tint of the lenses, that's totally up to you. Let's face it, if you are required to wear safety gear, there's a chance that things can go wrong. That's why I always include a good first aid kit in my range bag. Whether it's a runny nose, cut, allergic reaction, or something much worse, I want to give myself the best chance of fighting it. You don't need a full on doctor's bag, but some equipment to stabilize a situation until a medical professional can take over is a good idea. AMMO! Lots of ammo! If you've ever been shooting, you know how fast a box of rounds can disappear. If you haven't, just take my word for it. A box of 50 may sound like a lot, but it will be gone in about 15 minutes. Be sure to include ammunition for all the calibers you intend to shoot. However much you think you need, bring more! No one has ever regretted taking home leftover rounds. A dirty gun can bring a range day to a screeching halt. That's why I include a cleaning kit in my range bag. Something small and compact is all you need. Shooting at high volume will cause carbon build-up and may result in a firearm malfunctioning. Have a kit that will allow you to clean out any fouling and get back to shooting. Depending on where you shoot, you may be required to take your own targets. If not, it's still a good idea to have a few inside your bag. It can be as simple as a piece of paper with a dot or as fancy as reactive splatter targets. Personally, I prefer shooting at zombies. I don't think anyone is surprised by that... If you have to bring your own targets, you may want to bring a way to secure them. For this, I use a heavy duty staple gun. Also, be sure to bring extra staples. One is kind of pointless without the other. Tacks can also be used if you prefer. Most people shoot outside in the great outdoors. If you do too, you will definitely need protection from Mother Nature. Bug spray, sunscreen, and a hat. Trust me. You won't regret it. You may want to consider putting the bottles in a zip top bag. Because, you know... s*** happens. Dude, it's duct tape. Do I really need to explain? Guns are machines. Machines break. Machines that hold small explosions are more likely to break than others. That's why any range bag needs to have some tools included. It can be a tool set specifically designed for firearms or a multi-tool that has parts that can be used for the purpose. Either way, you need tools. A pen and pad are essential if you want to get the most out of your day at the range. Whether you use it to take down the size of your groups or record D.O.P.E. (data on previous engagements), chances are there will be something that you need to write down. And believe it or not, it's a lot easier than pulling out your phone. No matter what time of year you go to the range, you will get thirsty. Just grab a few bottles and thank me later. The last thing you're going to want is a range bag, a bag dedicated to only you firearms and other shooting accessories. There are many options to choose from and there is no one right choice. You should make your decision based on the firearms you plan to shoot and buy something that can handle all the gear you want to carry. Keep in mind, the more you pack, the more you have to carry, the heavier the bag will be. I prefer the backpack style. It distributes the weight so it's easier to carry and has a lot of pockets to organize all my gear. Plus you can find them for a pretty reasonable price at many Army surplus stores. You may think this is a lot, and to some it is, but there is much more that can go into a range bag. You want to make sure that you have everything you need or may need. There is nothing wrong with overpacking. In fact, I do it every single time. I see a part two coming in the near future...
Find out if your concealed carry permit is recognized where you're planning to vacation. So my boy Kenneth got married yesterday in Memphis, Tennessee (Congratulations my dude!). While I was deciding which firearm to take with me, I stopped and asked myself, "Is my permit good in Tennessee?" After literally 2 seconds I remembered that it was and continued to pack for the trip. Then my blogger brain kicked in... If I have to ask myself this, I KNOW others do as well! With the weather getting hotter and hotter and more people using vacation hours to escape the daily 9-5 grind, I felt it was definitely time to talk about this topic that all responsible gun owners must consider, reciprocity. In a nut shell, reciprocity is the practice of a state recognizing a carry permit issued by another state that recognizes its own. With the amount of legislation being introduced about gun control, it's vital that we as gun owners and armed citizens stay on top of it. This means knowing exactly where it is legal or illegal for you to carry your firearm. Now I live in the great state of Alabama (#WDE), gun laws here are looser than a $2 hoe's bra strap. If you want to carry, you can. No permit needed. Of course there are certain conditions that follow, but we can discuss that later. The problem arises when I go to other states. Everyone isn't as pro-gun as my place of residence. For example, if I take a quick trip to Atlanta, I'm good. My permit will be honored the same as it is in Alabama. But if I cross one more state line to the east, I'm putting myself in possible trouble. South Carolina, for some odd reason, does not recognize the Alabama carry permit. (Alabama recognizes a valid South Carolina carry permit though, weird...) To limit your chances of stumbling into a bad situation, I'm going to pass on one piece of valuable information, the NRA reciprocity map! This will answer all your questions about in which states you can or cannot carry. Simply select the "U.S. Concealed Carry Reciprocity" map from the drop down menu and hover the mouse over the state in which your carry permit was issued. The other states that are highlighted are states in which you are also allowed to carry. If you still have questions, don't hesitate to call the state's Attorney General's office for clarity. Once again, I reside in Alabama. Here is the Attorney General's website in case anyone needs it.
No matter what walk of life you're in, there will come a time where something needs to be cut. Whether it be a package that came in the mail, a piece of rope, or a would be attacker, a knife is one of the most essential tools a man can have. With there being so many knives on the market, it can be difficult to choose which one is right for you. So how does one make that decision? Out of the millions of knife options, how do you choose the one that fits you the best? The Cave is here to make that decision a little easier. A lot of people will say you need a knife that you are willing to stake you life on. I'm calling BULLSHIT! Personally, I'm not willing to stake my life on ANY knife. If it comes to the point where my life depends on what kind of knife I have in my pocket, it's already over. I shouldn't have never been in that situation in the first place. Let me just tell you how i choose my knives: 9 times out of 10, I'm going to be looking for a folding knife. They're easier to carry and provide the most usefulness to me.
Notice that I didn't mention price as a point of concern. Remember, you get what you pay for. You want a good deal on a knife, not a cheap one. It's better to buy a quality knife once, than to keep buying cheap ones over and over again.
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AuthorKeep in mind that I am by no means a gun expert. I have had some safety, handling, and shooting training, but nowhere near the amount I feel is needed to claim the "expert" title. With that being said, I am a man that owns a LOT of firearms, knives, and gear! I have been shooting since I could hold a rifle and have even competed in and won a few competitions. The advice and tips that I give are based on personal experience, but are by no means to be taken as law. Please consult a trained, certified professional for all your firearms needs. Enjoy! Archives
May 2016
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