This week on the podcast I interviewed Marty Wood, the new NC USPSA Section Coordinator. We talked about everything from the future of USPSA in North Carolina, to announcing the date and location of the 2018 NC Sectional match. 

I wanted to say a special thanks to Marty for driving to Raleigh to meet with me to talk about all of this, and I'm really excited about seeing what happens with him at the wheel as the section coordinator of NC USPSA.

If you want to get ahold of Marty, his email address is uspsarm@gmail.com, or you can contact him through the NC Section website at www.ncsection.org.

Special Episode Coming Up!

I always like to do something different for the last episode of the year, and this year I'm going to do an AMA (ask me anything). Here's the thing: for the last podcast of 2017, I'll answer any questions you have, that ARE NOT related to shooting.

Go to http://triangletactical.net/AMA

Enter your question in that form. Please don't ask your questions in the comments of this post, or on Facebook or anywhere else, as I will not be able to answer them (I can't track down a bunch of different questions in a bunch of different places...)

That's it. Should be a lot of fun!

Things that Matter

I talk a lot on the podcast about things that don't matter. It doesn't matter if you have the coolest newest thing, or if you have a fancy shooting blouse, or even if you wear brightly colored shoes or have a sponsor, but, of course there are a lot of things in competitive shooting that do matter, let's talk about that.

Accurate gun

I don’t think you need to be able to shoot single hole groups at 50y with your pistol (but it helps), but I do think having a gun that is accurate, maybe even slightly above average accuracy is a good thing.

I think one of the reasons the Tango Stock2 has become such a thing in Production division is that on top of being heavy, and reliable, it’s also got a thick bull barrel that’s very accurate.

Most guns on the market are quite accurate. When I used to do gun reviews as a part time job, I really only found a couple guns that were inherently inaccurate from the factory. The one in particular that comes to mind was the Ruger SR9E, which was the value version of the SR9. Everything else that I reviewed was very accurate.

Traction

You don’t need the bright colored fancy shooting shoes, but you do need shoes with good traction. I used to kind of think that you didn’t really need anything special on the shoe front for practical shooting, but the better shooter I’ve become, the more I find the traction thing necessary.

If you’re someone who is pushing to get better at shooting, and you’re pushing yourself, get some shoes that have some gnarly knobs on them for practical shooting.

Accurate, consistent, reliable ammo

For a lot of us who reload, we tend to obsess over the price per round when loading our ammo. Getting things as cheap as possible is definitely a thing, and there are certainly ways that you can save money and not impact accuracy and reliability, but don’t take it too far.

You want laser accurate ammo. If you’re switching to a bullet that’s cheaper than what you’ve been loading, don’t sacrifice accuracy.

If you’re not reloading yet, and you have not shot your first match, ignore everything I’m saying about ammo right now. You want to shoot whatever ammo you have that is 100% reliable in your gun. If you’re clearing malfunctions all through your first match, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Also, if you’re a more experienced shooter who’s not reloading your ammo… yet, you need to worry less about the cheapest thing, and more about the most accurate, most reliable stuff. If that happens to be the cheapest stuff, awesome, but if not, you should get better ammo.

Sights that don't suck

I see a fair number of guys who are experienced shooters who still show up to matches with the stock sights on their gun.

They might have two or three guns that are all set up for competition, but their gun still has the stock garbage sights on it.

I’ll tell you, I’ve got the Dawson Precision adjustable sights on my G34 for competition, and I think at this point, they’re a requirement for me. If a new gun were to come out that didn’t have Dawson adjustable sights available (cough M&P cough) I wouldn’t buy one.

Q&A:

John:

What similarities and differences have you noticed between tactical and competition training?

If I generalize both communities down do what my observations are both online and in real life, here’s what I see:

The tactical community tends to focus more on doing things right, while the competitive community tends to focus more on doing things fast.

For instance, if you go over to Instagram right now and look at the hashtag #tacticaltraining you’ll see a lot of stuff that’s staged just for Instagram, but if you sort through it and find the guy that probably aren’t competition shooters, who are actually training to get better, you’ll dudes who could be a lot faster in the way they manipulate their guns, draw, move, etc, because they’re trying to do things a certain way, because someone told them to do it that specific way. Now, there may be a good reason for doing things that way, so don’t take this as me saying that in a tactical or defensive scenario everything is about the speed, because it’s probably not.

BUUUUT, this sort of focus on “doing things right” in the tactical community has allowed for some folks who are total goobers to rise to in that community because they don’t ever have to back up what they’re telling people to do, they can just explain it away as #becausetacticool.

In competition shooting, it’s different. Our shooting is dictated by the timer. Was your run on a stage/drill/whatever faster and more accurate?

Yes? Then it’s better.

No? Then it’s dumb.

The trouble with the tactical community, when comparing it with the competition community is that there aren’t any rules in the tactical world. People can define things however they want things to be, because realistically almost nobody is going to end up in a gunfight, and those that do, almost none of them get it on film, and there’s no way to replay it to try different things, etc, etc.

Memes:

If you haven't been following Triangle Tactical on social media, you've been missing out on all the shooting sports memes that I've been making.

Carry Rig:

I picked up a new carry rig. I've been rocking a Glock 19 for the longest time but I found myself wanting something smaller while doing dad stuff. The G19 was just getting too heavy and big while carrying the baby carrier, diaper bag, and everything else that goes along with having a little tyke.

So, I picked up a Glock 43, and a RCS Morrigan holster to go with it. I'm a big fan.

USPSA:

New rulebook looks decent, and there's one thing in it that I really like: this USPSA approved ammo vendor program thing.

This is the last episode for a while. I'm taking the summer off to get used to life with our new baby, planning to come back with Triangle Tactical Podcast "Season 2" around August or Septemberish.

See you then, carry on.

This week I talk about some RO stuff, after reading about a DQ online that the RO may have not helped.

Also, we've got a few First Match voicemails that are FANTASTIC.

This week I talk about cheating in the shooting sports, and what to do ab out it.

This is the 6 year anniversary episode of the Triangle Tactical Podcast! To celebrate we're going live and answering what is probably the best batch of questions I've had for a Q&A show ever.

I've become interested in hearing from people who are the best in the world in other sports recently, so I've been actively seeking out podcasts with people who are the best of the best in what they do.  I kept hearing references to an interview Joe Rogan did with an ultramarathoner named Courtney Dauwalter on his podcast. She won a race called the Moab 240, which is a 238 mile foot race through Moab Utah. She won the overall by something ridiculious like 11 hours or something.

Later in the interview, Joe asks her about nutrition, and much to my surprise, she doesn't have a crazy diet, she said that she eats nachos, candy, and beer.

She's a total outlier. It's amazing, but just because she does it, doesn't mean that I can keep eating nachos, candy, and beer and do what she does.

The same goes for shooting. There might be someone who is REALLY good that doesn't practice like crazy, but they aren't you.

This week Jeff from NC Shooters Supply is on the podcast answering your reloading questions. We had a lot of y'all submit questions, so first and foremost thank you for sending them in!

There's a TON of information in this episode, but please feel free to put any more questions you may have in the comments, and we'll get them answered in the future.

This week I had a local Production Master Travis Beal come on the podcast. Travis and I used to be close to the same level, and then all the sudden he rocketed past me and started really killing it as a shooter. As it stands now, he's going to become a Grand Master any time, and it's all because of the change of mindset he had after getting disqualified at a major match.

Chris asked on the Facebook group about competitive equity at matches:

Ports - all ports being the same high or low height. Should they be mixed height?

I'm taller than most shooters. Not the tallest guy on the range, but above average. Personally I don't have a problem with MD's mixing up the height of ports, as long as they aren't going too crazy with it. Tall shooters can get low, but short shooters can't get higher.

I think there's a size and height of port that can work for every shooter, and then it's totally kosher to add in something like a low port here and there. I like low ports, mostly because I like to hear people grumble about them, and also because I like to see people really get tested on their prone handgun shooting skills, which is something that nobody practices, and a lot of people struggle with.

Walking stages - should stages be open the day before for people that can travel?

I had to ponder this one for a little bit, and while it's not completely fair that someone could walk the match the day before, and someone else couldn't, as long as the the range is open for everyone to have the opportunity to walk the match, I'm pretty much okay with it.

Because if we close the stages off completely to everyone until match day, do the match staff that helped setup the match not have an advantage over everyone else?

My thing is this: If the range is open to everyone to walk stages the day before, and you just can't get an early flight in to the match, that's not the concern of the match, that's your problem.

What about Match Directors who setup stages that will be used at a future major match, at a local match ahead of time?

Setting up exact stages seems shady. I haven't seen that before, at least that I can think of.

However when the Carolina Cup was still the big IDPA match in my area every June, if you were to shoot at that range in the few months leading up to the match, you could definitely tell that the match director was working on different things to get ready for the match. Things like tweaking the speed of moving targets, engagement orders, different props, etc, but I don't think he really ever setup entire stages for everyone to shoot ahead of the match.

Personally, the big competitive equity thing that I see is pepper poppers screwing people over. If I were king of the shooting sports, the first thing I would change would be to treat poppers the same as falling steel. If it's hit and doesn't fall, that should be a stage equipment malfunction, and the the shooter should get a re-shoot.

Plug of the Week:

Watch this episode of This Week Tonight, and tell me what you think about the messaging that they're countering. Is this the sort of messaging the pro-gun people should be putting out there?

I mentioned a theory on the podcast a couple weeks ago about how I expected that higher class shooters would probably pull away from lower class shooters on the shorter stages moreso than the longer stages, but gthat it was just a theory because I didn't want to do the math.

Well, I got an email from Louis, and he pulled the data from the different stages at the 2017 Production Nationals and...

I was totally wrong. 

Louis broke down the stages from Nationals, then charted the median percentage by round count on a chart and it turns out that the median finish from each classification was about the same on all the different round count stages.

Louis has been pulling the numbers on some other things with classifications and whatnot and if you want to see them, look in the shownotes for this episode and I'll have a link to his github page with the deets:

https://lstange.github.io/uspsa/classification_vs_performance.html

(By the way, if you didn't know this, you *should* be able to access all the links and stuff from the podcast shownotes in whatever podcast app you're using. I always tell you to go to triangletactical.net/280 or whatever, that's unnecessary for most of you, all the links should be right in your podcast app in the shownotes for this episode).

Why do people quit shooting?

Trying to think of people who I know who have actually just quit, vs those who have just not been to a match in a while for one reason or another, but have every intention to shoot again.

I've "quit" twice over the years.

- Ammo crunch after the 2012 Obama Election

- Hardcore burnout after ROing way too much

So, I emailed everyone on the Triangle Tactical email list and asked them if they've ever quit shooting, and why. I got a bunch of answers that are pretty wide ranging. (BTW, this is what I like to use the email list for, so if you're not on it, get on it!)

Interestingly, a bunch of people emailed me back and mentioned that cost probably makes some people quit, but nobody specifically emailed me back and said that they've quit because of cost.

Joe mentioned that he's in Michigan and the winters shut down most of the matches up there.

Jason and Khan mentioned time away from family. Some matches take a LONG time to get through, so I can see that. With a baby on the way, balancing matches and practice and family time is going to be something I need to put more emphasis on going forward.

Several folks mentioned jobs. Either job loss, or new jobs, or jobs taking up way too much time on the weekends. Aaron actually said that he quit a job because his days off were only during the week and he had to work every weekend so he changed it up to get his weekends off.

Quitting because the match near you isn't challenging. Aaron mentioned that quit because a local match jsut wasn't pushing him the way it needed to, took some time off and came back as a USPSA shooter where he's being challenged a lot more, and that's making things better for him.

Boring clubs. James mentioned a "looks the same every month" match that was near him years ago that drove him away.

A couple folks talked about physical injuries. Things that come from practice like tennis elbow, as well as other injuries that just keep them from shooting. Surgeries, etc.

So, with all this said, the reasons that people have quit shooting, lets talk for a minute about what's brought people back:

• Friends
• Needing a competitive outlet
• Something to do with kids as they've gotten older and need more man skills.
• Noticing that competition makes them want to be more athletic and get into better shape than they were previously.

Q&A:

"Why is there not a specific division for compact size firearms such as G19, CZ P01 or P07 etc?"

Here's the thing: we don't need carve outs for every size of firearm. If we were to do that we wind up with way too many divisions, and things just get silly after a while. 

In my opinion, the other reason for this is because most shooters don't want to shoot their little tiny guns in USPSA, at least not long term. 32rd stages with little guns that sometimes don't even hold 10 rounds doesn't really sound like a great time to me. I get that the guns mentioned all hold 10+ rounds, but if we're going to go down the tiny-gun rabbit hole, what about guns like the Shield, XDs, and others?

So, with all this said, I think the reasoning here is that USPSA isn't really interested in doing what IDPA does. IDPA has a place for these little guns, and they work really well in that game, because of round count, and because of the concealed carry sort of design of that game. 

All this isn't to day that USPSA doesn't have a place for the compact guns you mentioned though. All three guns you mentioned (Glock 19, CZ P01, and CZ P07) are specifically called out as legal on the USPSA Production list. There's nothing keeping these guns from being shot in Production, I see guys shoot Glock 19's in Production all the time. 

"Should competitors be allowed to shoot two divisions in the same match? I'm starting to see this a lot locally where people are shooting both handgun and PCC during the match (and paying two entry fees)."

No. We have a hard enough time getting shooters to help during the match, so letting someone shoot, then wander off to the safe area to bag a gun and un-bag another one, then come back to the stage, stuff mags full from the gun they just shot, check the gear for the gun that they're about to shoot, then shoot the second gun, then wander back to the safe area to switch back, stuff mags for the other gun, means that this person will NEVER run the timer or work the tablet. They'll NEVER paste target for more than a shooter or two per stage if we're lucky, and then they're taking up more time by shooting the second gun. 

With that said, if there's a multi-day match and shooters can shoot different divisions on different days, no problem.

There's also a local BUG match that allows multiple entries, and for that match it works really well. The stages are 5rds tops. No reloads, and no holster needed, so you can finish your first gun, bag it, and take your second gun out of it's bag when it's time to shoot. Easy peasy, and it works just fine because there isn't much pasting and resetting to do, so there is time for people to switch guns at that match. 

5x5 Classifier

Seems like the 5x5 classifier is causing some issues at IDPA matches.

Something I hadn't thought of, but each shooter is putting 20 scored holes in the target with that drill, and that is a lot, especially with a bunch of shooters.

Not sure how I feel about this.

In USPSA rule 4.2.3 Paper targets must never be required to receive more than 12 hits before being scored and patched.

I think that's a decent rule, because we get so used to only scoring 2 hits on the paper. Setting aside the idea of the shooters getting too used to only shooting 2 rounds only at targets, thinking only about scoring.

We get too used to scoring the two best hits on a target. I've done it before on a stage that required more than 2 hits where I just went into default mode and scored the two best hits and ignored the others, and thankfully we had Practiscore to tell me that we hadn't scored enough hits on the target. 

The other issue is that when you're shooting that many shots at one target, and then trying to score every one of them, it gets crowded. Especially after like 10 other shooters have shot at at and it's got pasters stuck all over it, pasters starting to peel, etc. 

I can see it becoming a tough thing to score if the target isn't replaced every so many shooters. Which, since it's a classifier, maybe that's the right answer. 

Clarification from Last Week:

Wanted to clarify something I started talking about last week. Video podcasting would be an awesome alternative to YouTube, HOWEVER were not at a place where bandwidth is viable for doing good quality, decent videos just yet.

As I was writing the notes for this, I was downloading a couple audio podcasts on works wifi and it was taking several minutes to get there. Had they been multiple gigabyte video files, my phone would have just died.

USPSA RO Exam:

The USPSA RO renewal exam used to be 10 questions, but it sounds like they've changed it to 20 questions to make each question carry less weight so that hopefully more people will pass the exam.

Personally, I didn't have any trouble with the renewal last year. Here's a tip: have the .PDF rulebook pulled up, and use the search function to find what you need.

Then, download the .PDF to your phone so you have it at matches, and you can use the search function right on the range to find the relevant rule quickly. You don't even really need a paper rulebook anymore.

Mistakes experienced shooters make.

1. Not putting enough emphasis on live fire practice. I know a bunch of dudes who have been shooting for years who don't regularly live fire practice, or don't live fire practice in a place where they can actually get good practice for competitive shooting. For some reason, this has become a thing in the action shooting sports, but if we were to look at some of the other games, let's say long range PRS type stuff, I don't think anybody would expect to get good at those sorts of games without having a place to live fire regularly.

2. Sticking it out with junk gear for too long. I've been guilty of this a bunch over the years, and I've heard a couple friends talk about switching from a plastic fantastic to something that's more of a gamer gun talk about how they should have made the switch way sooner, and saw big gains from the move. 

3. Not reading the rules. You'd think this was something that would apply to new shooters, but I see so many people who have been shooting for many years who still try to reference rules that haven't existed for several years, or they have a misunderstanding of basic rules that a simple reading of the rule book would clarify. That's not to say that I don't ever reference the rule book, I do it all the time, but reading the rulebook, and gaining an understanding of it will show you where to look when you have a question. I don't think if you're new you need to spend a bunch of time reading the rulebook cover to cover because if you've never shot a match you won't have a good understanding of what you're reading, but once you get serious about things, get a good understanding of things. 

Q&A:

Aaron:

"So I have question in regards to coaching/ training. If there is range locally to you and were just getting going in shooting sports I've shot 2 indoor uspsa both 4 stages 1 qualifier each time. Do you think that it would be money a head to get a couple he of training in how to do things properly vs dry fire and live fire. I haven't had a lot said to me at either match besides I ran my gun dry on 32rd stage the ro came over and asked it it was first time."

- I think if you feel like you need some additional training, you should probably get it. Especially in the beginning of your shooting career, there is SO much that you can learn and get a big boost from shooting.

A.J.

"I'm shooting a little bit left on my new Glock 34. Is it bad gun
handling or is there something about the gun that I'm not used to? And
do you have any trigger upgrade recommendations for it as a production
gun?

Thanks!"

- Probably gun handling. It's pretty normal for someone who is new to shooting Glocks to say that they're hitting left. I'd play around with your trigger finger either a little more or a little less and see if that doesn't get you straightened out.

With that said though, my current Glock 34 got kind of messed up where it was legit shooting really far to the left. I was able to take the gun apart and could actually see where the locking block had wear on the left hand side which I suspect was causing the gun to shoot left. I replaced the locking block and slide lock (not the slide release) and it was good to go after that.

Jake

"Is shooting 1/2 scale steel targets for practice at 10 yards bad for competition I like the steel b/c I get results hearing it ring faster than walking up and looking at my hits and pasting.

2nd question is what power factor do I need or can have in production is there a minimum? Thanks Jake"Is shooting 1/2 scale steel targets for practice at 10 yards bad for competition I like the steel b/c I get results hearing it ring faster than walking up and looking at my hits and pasting.

2nd question is what power factor do I need or can have in production is there a minimum? Thanks Jake"

- Shooting steel in practice can absolutely be beneficial, but if you're only shooting half scale targets at 10y in practice, I think you're leaving a lot on the table.

Here's the downsides as I see them:

- It's not a target that you'll ever see in a match.

- They're not falling targets like you'll see in a match.

- At 10y, static steel that doesn't fall, if it's all you shoot at, I think you could get into the habit of waiting to see your hit/hear the hit instead of calling your shot and moving on. If this is the only thin you're ever shooting at in practice, I think you could pick up some bad habits from it.

With all that said though, I do bring static steel to practice. I've got a couple 8" plates, a 10" plate, and a MGM auto-popper that falls down and then resets itself that I use for practice instead of falling steel, because resetting falling plates in practice sucks.

There was an episode of the Shoot Fast Podcast where they were talking about practice, and the guys mentioned not pasting between every run on a drill, but rather shooting the drill multiple times and looking for trends on where all the hits are. I haven't tried that yet, but it's a thing I want to try in the future.

Power Factor:

Power factor is pretty simple once you know what it is. It's the speed of your bullet in feet per second multiplied by the weight of the bullet in grains. So, if you're shooting 125gr bullets, and they're going 1000 feet per second, they would be 125,000 power factor (or just 125 power factor)

Generally, I think most people load their Production ammo to around 130-135 power factor to account for environmental changes on match day, and to get a little more oomph on poppers which can screw over shooters at times.

Power factor can be impacted by things like temperature and altitude depending on the powder you're loading with. Some are very sensitive to these things, and others aren't really all that sensitive at all.

So, what happens is, when you go to a major match that has a Chronograph stage, they'll take some of your ammo, pull a bullet and weigh it, and shoot a few rounds over a chronograph. Then they'll do the math and figure out your power factor. If you're shooting Production you only have to make Minor power factor (because there isn't any Major power factor in Production).

Plugs of the week:

Latest episode of the Shannon Smith Shooting Show (Episode 35) - I enjoyed his talk with his RM buddy, and I liked hearing Shannon talk about match directing and rules and whatnot and not just shooting. The guy is a professional match director, so hearing him talk about that sort of stuff is great because he's such a wealth of knowledge on these sorts of topics (not that he's not good at talking about shooting, he is, but hearing him talk about match directing was really good too.)

I've been dying from allergies all week so I didn't get much show-prep done, but I did get a bunch of good questions from the Triangle Tactical Podcast group that I answered on this weeks show.

There was a recent question in the Triangle Tactical Facebook group asking about what sort of things a Range Officer should bring when working a match.  I thought I'd put together a list of things that are nice to have and make them into an episode.

Coincidentally, most of the things on the list are also helpful to have around in your practice sessions as well, so even if you're not a range officer, you might pick up a couple ideas for your personal use.

Pistol grip thing that snaps onto paint cans: If you’re working a stage that has a lot of steel, you’ll thank me. It makes a TON of difference in the ease of painting.

Duct Tape: If you’re really concerned about competitive equity (which you should be at every match, but at least at Level 2 and up matches) you can allow the target sticks on swingers and drop turners to soak up a few more bullets on these targets if you wrap the sticks in duct tape before stapling the targets to them. Swingers and drop turners are more apt to get bullets in the sticks since they're moving around, so it's a good idea to give them a good wrap of duct tape before hanging the targets.

Some sort of brass squib stick. Not because you’ll be hammering out peoples squibs, but because it’s nice to be able to check if the barrel of a gun is clear right on the bay. You don't have to buy an actual squib stick, a 5/16" brass rod from Amazon will do the trick nicely.

Your own stapler. Get one that throws really long staples. I like the ½” ones. Long staples are helpful for situations when you have something like a no-shoot target stapled on top of a regular target. Shorter staples have trouble getting through that much cardboard and reaching the target sticks, and you end up with no-shoots falling off, and poor competitive equity.

A 9V battery or two. Sucks to have to find the MD or the Quartermaster to try and get a new battery if the one in your assigned timer goes dead. Having a spare in your range bag keeps the match moving.

Overlays. I always misplace them in my range bag, so I started keeping two of them in my wallet. Actually bought a new wallet yesterday and found 4 overlays in it when swapping everything over to the new one. If you’re able to whip them out nice and quick when a shooter asks, you’ll be favored over being the RO that has to yell up range asking if anybody knows where an overlay is.

A tarp. Good for several things. I’ve seen ROs at majors who are working a stage that’s mostly stationary put a tarp on the ground to catch brass. When I was working the 2015 Nc USPSA Sectional we used my tarp to put a wall on the side of the shelter we were under to keep our stuff dry. Also worked great.

Tools. Basic stuff like a phillips screwdriver and a flat head, as well as a crescent wrench big enough to adjust poppers at your club, etc. Personally, I wouldn’t bring my nice tools to a match, it’s too easy for someone to borrow them for another bay and forget to bring them back. Just make a trip to Harbor Freight and get a few cheapies just for the RO box.

Sharpie: So you can mark the sticks of any targets that need to be changed.

Zip ties. Not necessarily for stage props or anything, but if you're working a multi day match there's always a chance you'll break something that can easily be remedied with a zip tie.

Name tag. Especially if you're ROing a major and you're not wearing a shirt that has your name on it, having a name tag so shooters know who you are is a good thing.

I had a very frustrating practice session at the range on Monday. I burned about 500 rounds just shooting a plate rack because it's been something that has been really killing me at matches recently.

Here's what happened:

I could kill the plate rack at 10 yards. Anywhere between 3.1 and 3.5 seconds, no misses, no problems.

At 15 yards, I was an absolute mess. I'd hit the first plate, then start missing all over the place with no obvious reason why.

Then, at 20 yards, I was actually shooting better than I was shooting at 15 yards.

I burned a bunch of ammo at the 15y plate rack and it was just a crap show. What I noticed though, was that I didn't really need much of a sight picture to shoot the plate rack at 10y. A flash of the red fiber optic inside the rear notch, and I was sending the shot and getting a hit.

At 15y, I obviously needed more than that, and I wasn't getting it.

At 20y, my brain was making my trigger finger wait for the sights before sending the round.

I did some thinking, and decided I'd take a full magazine and shoot it into the berm, only pulling the trigger when the sight picture was acceptable. Then I immediately reloaded with another magazine and I was able to shoot the plate rack well at 15y for a few runs, and then my problem would come back.

So, I burned a ton of ammo, and I didn't totally solve my problem, but I think I at least have it sort of figured out. I've been dryfiring since leaving the range on Monday without pulling the trigger at all. All my dryfire this week has consisted of just acceptable sight pictures, and no trigger pulls, and things feel pretty good.

I'm certain this is something I'll have to practice for a while, but I'm determined to not suck at shooting steel going forward...

SERPA

There was a post on the r/competitionshooting subreddit this last week from someone talking about how they were an IDPA match last weekend and a new shooter was drawing from his SERPA holster at the match and plugged himself with a round at the hip, which then travelled down to around his knee.

I don’t really want to beat the SERPA horse anymore, but I’ll tell you that in my years of competition, I’ve seen 4 people AD while drawing their pistol, and all 4 were using a SERPA.

Here's what happens:

Buzzer goes off. Shooter attempts to draw the gun, but doesn't get the button pushed in all the way and the gun doesn't come out of the holster as expected.

Shooter then jams the gun down into the holster, mashes the button super hard, and then rips it up out of the holster.

Because the shooter is mashing the button super hard while ripping the gun upwards, the finger slips off the edge of the holster and hits the trigger.

Sometimes the round discharges into the dirt, sometimes it hits the shooter.

Cross draw

Should be self explanatory, but maybe it’s not. You can’t really draw a cross draw holster without breaking the 180. Simple as that.

Pocket holsters

I’ve never heard of a match that would allow them. 

Years ago actually, there was a "pocket carry" shooting league in my part of the country, and even in the pocket carry league, you couldn’t shoot from a pocket holster. I think it comes down to someone being able to put their hand on the gun where the RO can't see it. 

Every BUG match I’ve ever been to, you start either holstered or at low ready, no pocket stuff.

Gimmicky sights

This is a frequent question from people who are interested in competition but don’t know anything about it. I had a guy ask me what type of ghost ring sights he should get for his pistol before his first match...

You really want to have precision sights. I hear people talk about wanting to have a hig honking front sight that’s as bright as the sun so they can acquire it on the draw nice and fast, but… what about the rest of the shots in the stage?

I get that it’s cool to hammer that fast draw, but it really is meaningless if you’re then hurting your performance on the rest of the shots that you have to take on the stage.

The holster that came with your gun (generally)

They’re usually super tight, and basically unusable.

They get new shooters into trouble because when the holster is so tight, they end up reaching across their body, grabbing the holster with their weak hand to keep from giving themselves a wedgie, and then when they draw the gun they sweep their weak hand that’s holding the holster.

Random Magazine pouches from the gun store.

Don’t just go buy random mag pouches from the local gun store. They probably carry some selections from different brands that are probably more suited towards concealed carry or tacticoolness than actual competition use.

Gear that Doesn't Suck:

I tore open my Pocket Pro 2 shot timer this weekend because the screen was acting up, and I wanted to see if I could figure out where to get a new screen for it (turns out you can buy them straight from Competition Electronics), and I used my little screwdriver set to do it.

If you don't have a little set like this for tearing into random things around the house from time to time, it's really handy.

And it's like $8.

The USPSA Board of Directors announced some changes to several divisions in the BoD meeting notes from earlier this month, and in this episode I discuss the highlights and lowlights.

I'd encourage you to go to the USPSA website, log-in, and actually read all of the changes. Far too many people have just been asking for the Cliffs Notes version of the new rules, instead of just reading the rules.

Read. The. Rules.

Bryan
What is a good age to start a junior shooter? A lot of it probably has to do with maturity/responsibility. Start them with a pellet gun, BB gun, .22?

Bryan
My practice range is an indoor range, and can be rather loud at times; what is great practice drill to do that does not require a shot timer?

Mark
Hello Lucas. Thank you for your show. You've helped me get started in competitive shooting. As a middle-aged guy, my biggest challenge is my eye sight. I only use glasses for reading and computer work. I don't wear prescription glasses otherwise which includes shooting. This means the front sight is always fuzzy. I shoot fairly accurately, but I know this is holding me back. I've tried some of my own junk science by shooting with my reading glasses. This brings the front sight into focus, but it makes the target fuzzier than before. I've only done this on a limited basis since my reading glasses aren't safety glasses. My results have been mixed. What do other shooters do to overcome this?

Chris
Are there any benefits to shooting 40 Minor for production or Carry Optics?

Edd
When shooting competition, where/how do the different bullet weights come into play? 9mm/.40

Steve
what movement drills do you practice most in dry fire?

Mike
I've been reviewing my match and practice videos and I've noticed something in common, I can get the gun on target fast, but then it looks like I just leave the gun hanging there forever or at least a good second before actually pulling the trigger all the way through, I assume that I'm letting the sights settle. I am using a revolver so every shot is double action and am currently trying to improve my accuracy so I don't just want to push myself to go faster and blaze my way through. Any drills you would suggest for improving accuracy while maintaining speed beyond 10 yards. Thanks

Trey
What do you use to keep up with your reloads a journal or software?

Marty
On a recent episode I heard you briefly mention your head position when doing turn and drawers. I am assuming you have your head turned to the Direction that your body will be moving when you have made ready. I hadn’t put much thought into it before, I usually just look straight forward and then turn my head and body on the beep. Do you have any evidence that having your head pre-turned makes a difference? Maybe A future junk science episode? Thanks! Marty in Massachusetts.

Sarah
I just wanted to let you know I enjoyed hearing you briefly talk about 'Stage Design' this week on the podcast. Anytime you could give pointers on this topic would be great. For instance, when you have limited room to move within a bay, how to you create options? Is there a place where you can find LOTS of stages already designed (I have found random websites with a few stages listed).

Also, any information you can give on creating a stage plan before shooting would be helpful too. I know in the past you have mentioned this, but for new shooters like myself, I find it very difficult to walk up to the bay and figure out how to attack a large round count stage. What are the basics newbies like myself need to know?

Thanks!

Matthew
How bad is the Glock 19 hurting me in USPSA? I know you are not big on gear but I have to ask if there are measurable advantages to having a larger gun?

James
Hi Lucas! Heard any rumors on what changes to Production are going to be discussed? Anything that has you particularly nervous??- thanks!

Mike
I have been shooting for about 5 years, but my have yet to shoot my first match. I have been doing a lot of the Stoeger dry fire drills and things seem to be going really well. I plan on shooting my first IDPA match in a month or so. My question is this: My offhand has a pretty significant tremor. When shooting offhand supported, everything is great, but when I shoot offhand only, unsupported, I won’t be able to hit the broadside of a barn; My hand shakes way too much. In fact, I’m concerned that under the pressure of being in a match my shots could go all over. Is there any kind of Accommodation that can be made for something like this? Could I just shoot with my strong hand and take a procedural or would that be totally devastating to my score? Take the MICs and move on? Thoughts?

Most folks out there can't afford to take a shooting class more than about once a year or so, and most people don't get instruction that much.

Previous podcast episode on coaching here.

I hear a lot of people talk about how they struggled for years doing things incorrectly. How they then changed something in their practice and saw improvement.

People talk about how boring dryfire is because they're doing the same crap over and over and over, day after day, month after month and they're not really seeing improvement either.

I was listening to a small business podcast today where a lady was being interviewed about the small business that she runs where she brings together these women who run businesses into these Mastermind groups. They pay her to be part of a group, and as part of the group they all counsel and support each other in their businesses with regular conference calls, etc.

This got me thinking about the shooting sports.

Why couldn't there be some sort of group coaching for shooters looking to improve their game?

Check this out:

It's 2018. There's a lot of technology out there today that allows for small groups of people to fire up a web cam, share files, and conference with each other that we simply couldn't do a few years ago.

I'd like to see shooters get together with 3 or 4 other shooters that are like minded and similarly motivated and jump on Skype or Hangouts once a month or every other week and talk to each other about what's going on in there shooting. What's going well? What sucks? What feels like it sucks?

I think that if people are honest with each other, that type of group coaching could prove to be really valuable for a lot of folks who are highly motivated, but aren't able to get instruction more than once a year or so.

Connecting over the internet, watching each other's match video, or maybe even just the highlight and lowlight stages from each other's video and discussing it could prove valuable.

I could be wrong, but I think having similar skill levels, and similar motivations would be really important. You don't want a situation where there's 3 C and B class shooters and a GM, because the GM probably isn't going to get a lot from the group, but will end up probably giving most of the advice.

Plug of the week:

Firearms Nation with USPSA President Mike Foley

Last week when I was on the range doing all the shooting for last weeks Junk Science show I noticed something that I’d never noticed before.

When I was doing the step into the box draws, I could reliably shave a tenth of a second when I put my focus on the draw stroke, and not the step.

If I just let the step happen, and put my focus on the draw, a pretty average draw was about .95, .96, .97, something like that.

However, when I focused on the step, and let the draw stroke just happen, the time went up to about 1.06 or so.

I’ve subscribed to the “get bored while you practice thing” and get in a lot of repetitions thing for a long time, but I kind of wonder how much better I’d be now, or how much more I’d enjoy practice if I were really focusing on things, and not allowing myself to get bored.

Doing the shooting for last weeks show, I couldn’t allow myself to get bored. I had to keep focus. I didn’t get bored, and I actually got to where I could feel it when I’d shot a draw that was sub .9, and sub 1 second, and when I was greater than a second, it felt SLOW.

Being able to perceive that sort of difference between different draws, when I’m human, was really interesting to me, but if I weren’t totally focused, they would have all felt relatively the same.

Q&A:

Drew:

Hi Lucas. I've recently started helping with my IDPA club's Facebook page. That made me wonder, what do shooters want to see from a club's page? Just links to Practiscore? I've seen some clubs that post with a summary of the match calling out the winners of divisions. What would be fun or helpful without being annoying?

Post interesting stuff. Sure, you want to post stuff about the IDPA club, and Practiscore links and things like that, but also drive some conversation with the shooters. Talk about proposed rule changes, both with IDPA, and things within the club.

Get people out shooting at other clubs in your area, post match video, post interesting things from other pages, things like that.

One thing I’ve learned about Facebook, is that if you’re constantly just posting links back to the same site (practiscore) Facebook will start showing those posts to less and less people, which isn’t what you want at all.

Not sure how your club does it, but you could also use it to put out a call to action for match setup, and as a way to recognize those who help out.

Evan:

You've touched on about what makes a great match. But what about what makes a great stage? What tips would you give match directors and stage designers? What should they avoid doing?

Options. Options make a good stage.

For instance, the match I shot on Sunday was the Devil Dog USPSA match up in Oxford, NC. Almost every stage had several different ways that made sense to shoot it, and you really had to think about which was the most efficient way to do it.

One stage in particular, you started in the far right corner of the shooting area. Most shooters started there, and then worked the stage from right to left, but if you were a Production shooter, that left you having to do a reload while working back up range to the last position, which is uncomfortable and slow.

The other option was to step into the shooting area, drop one piece of steel, and the run all the way to the left most position (which I think was about 13 steps) and then shoot the stage from left to right. This saved a reload, and a whole position, BUT, you had to run 13 steps without shooting, and you ended up covering more ground than if you went the other way, but you avoided that awkward running up range reload.

The last stage we shot was a 15ish round short course that was really interesting. You could conceivably work around a barricade either way, and have a good stage plan, so you really had to plan it around your abilities. The Production guys on my squad had a couple different ways to shoot it, each with their own risk/reward.

That’s what makes a good stage.

And for the love of all things holy, please avoid the temptation to build a carnival stage at all costs. If you want to have a match with a bunch of props, spread them out through all the stages. Don’t build one stage with 7 different props. Things will break, things will not get re-set, and you’ll be re-shooting shooters all day long.

Oh, and avoid freestanding no-shoots. They suck, because people forget to check them for hits, and then you end up with a 9mm shooter finishing the stage with a .40 caliber hole through a no-shoot, and nobody really knows who shot the no-shoot target. If you want to put in a no-shoot target, staple it over a regular target to make sure it gets checked for score.

Plugs of the Week:

The Shoot Fast Podcast. Its new, it's good, and you should subscribe to it. They just started, and came out of the gate swinging hammers.

Also, I was interviewed on the Armed Lutheran Podcast this week, so you should go listen to that too. I had a lot of fun doing it.

For a long time I've wondered if the expensive race holsters that hold the gun just by the trigger guard are really worth the money, so that's what I've decided to find out for this episode.

So, here's what I did:

I setup a 10" steel plate at 10y. I tested both holsters with 50 draws in the following ways:

Kydex - Stand and shoot 50 rounds.

DAA Alpha X - Stand and shoot 50 rounds.

Kydex - Step into the shooting area and shoot 50 rounds.

DAA Alpha X - Step into the shooting area and shoot 50 rounds.

The results were surprising, even to me.

Eric

Lucas,

I have a question for your Q&A if you would like. I know this touches on a subject you have talked about in the past.

The closest USPSA club to me is an hour away. They shut down fairly early in the season. Last summer I still wanted to do some more matches and the next closest match is a 3 hour drive one way. Their website said that set up was at 3pm, shooting started at 6pm and should be done by 9pm. It seemed to imply that being present for set up was mandatory.

I called them and explained that it was going to be 6 hours of driving for me and asked if set up was mandatory. This resulted in a fairly insulting lecture on how important volunteering is in this sport but the guy never gave me a definitive answer to my question. Now I get how important volunteering is but I’m not sue I want to make a 12 hour day out of this.

My response was to skip it and spend the time and money practicing. I’ll spend my money going to some lvl 2 matches next year.

I don’t know what kind of stress the guy was dealing with but I wouldn’t feel welcome if I wasn’t there 3 hours early. What’s your take, should I reconsider or drive past to the next one 4 hours away?

Also, I am working on a first match type voice mail that I hope to send soon.

T. C.

TC from Ft. Mill, SC here, with a question for the Q&A Show. How do you see competition shooting benefitting those who carry for self-defense purposes?

We have all long heard the arguments from the “tactical” community about how competition shooting will get you killed on the street. How the competition “spray and pray” model of running about, disregarding cover and flinging bullets all over hell to breakfast is a sure fire formula for death and disaster on the mean streets of Anytown, USA. My own experience of being a 20 year veteran of federal law enforcement and competitive shooting, as well as infantry combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has underscored just how valuable competition shooting is, for me, when things get loud. I have never understood the perspective of those who believe that being able to operate your firearms efficiently, to be able to shoot fast and accurately, as one must to be successful in competition, is not tactically desirable.

I am, however, very curious as to your take on the topic. Do you see competitive shooting as helpful for those who carry for self-defense, as you do? If so, what are those advantages? Do you see any disadvantages, and if so, what are they?

Thanks for what you do. Carry on.

Austin

I know you have talked about this before, but when you bring a new to competition shooter to a match how much should you focus on them verse trying to shoot well, do you just write the match off and make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do? What are your thoughts?

Brett

I just started shooting USPSA in April. My wife and I both shoot and absolutely love the sport! My question is that I am now a high C with 58%. My last few classifiers had been in the mid 60% range. I would really like to end my first year as a B. I am shooting next week at Pitt County. The classifier is 99-22. Should I try to burn it down as fast as I can to try to get that high hit factor? Or play it conservatively to keep my high C? Of coarse when the buzzer goes off all plans go out the window!

Anthony

I was at a local USPSA club match a while back and a fellow shooter noticed I was dropping my head as I would address my sights. I didn't think much of it at the time when I was shooting my limited gun with iron sights. Now that I have decided to run carry optics it has became more obvious that I have been dropping my head to get a good sight picture. Is there any benefit to address sights without bringing your head down during the draw stroke and bringing sights up to your target focus area? Other than possible unproductive movement? Thanks.

Ronald

Should carry optic shooters be required to wear their underwear on their head?

Ray

What caliber and division would you start a new Jr shooter in, and what's the best way to get my daughter started?

Drew

Lucas, I went cheap to begin with on holsters and mag carriers to make sure I liked action pistol shooting. Now it's been about half a year and I'm more excited than ever. I'm shooting IDPA mostly, can you tell me what I should look for in better mag carriers? I'm using a double pouch now and have trouble indexing on the 2nd magazine.

Kevin

At what point on the draw do you put your finger on the trigger? Normally when I draw and shoot I have my trigger finger indexed on the side of the gun outside the trigger guard until I get close to on target and then I move my finger to the trigger. While dry firing I noticed I could speed up my shot time by getting my finger on the trigger sooner, prepping the trigger while still extending and getting a sight picture and then pressing the trigger the rest of the way once I had a good sight picture. I was worried I could DQ doing this for having my finger in the trigger guard on the draw if I put my finger in too soon, but 10.5.5.1 seems to say as long as I'm not sweeping myself with the finger in the trigger guard then it's not a rule infraction.

Been thinking a bit about practice, and where I should be spending my time in practice since I haven’t shot a match in about 4 months. What are the areas that I need to work on? Probably everything, and if that’s a thing, starting can seem overwhelming.

I mentioned on the podcast last week that I suck at lifting weights, but because I suck at it, I’m seeing tons and tons of progress, and that’s really motivating to keep lifting weights. I can deal with the sore muscles and trouble walking up stairs because I’m seeing lots of progress.

So, back to practice:

Things that I suck really bad at, are the things that are motivating to practice. Hammering on table starts, and reloads from my rearmost couple pouches, etc, are things that I’m not good at, and I can spend 10 minutes practicing these things and see a LOT of progress.

However, Is spending a bunch of time working on table starts, when I only see one every few months really the best way to spend my time?

I got to thinking about this while listening to the most recent episode of the American Warrior Show this morning, where Mike Seeklander is interviewing John Correia from Active Self Protection. John watches videos of self defense scenarios. Thousands upon thousands of them.

In the interview he talked about how there are a lot of things that people talk about needing for concealed carry, that he’s NEVER seen in one of the videos he’s watched: things like a CCWer actually doing a reload in a gunfight. Things like a CCWer needing to use some sort of flashlight or weapon mounted light in a gunfight.

But yet, when we consult the tactical corners of the internet, there are tons and tons of people practicing and training on these sorts of things, so they will be more effective in a gunfight. That’s not necessarily bad, but how much more effective would they be if they were to spend their time on the things that are most likely to happen and not the things that are the most fun or the sexiest, or the best for Instagram.

It was a great interview, and I think if you’re at all interested in carrying a gun for self defense it should be high on your list to listen to this week.

What are the things that most stages require you to do:

• Shoot accurately - so if you suck at shooting accurately, you should remedy that immediately. I think if this is an area that you’re really struggling in, you should get instruction from someone locally who can shoot really accurately. In my opinion, it’s not worth it to blast thousands of rounds trying to learn accuracy. It’ll be cheaper to spend a hundred bucks on a session with someone local to you who can give you the adjustment you need to shoot accurately.
  
  Thing is, shooting accurately isn’t particularly sexy of fun to practice, but it’s necessary to scoring well. You can do everything else lighting fast, but if you’re hits aren’t there, you’re gonna lose.
  
  
• Movement - Almost every stage, USPSA, IDPA, 3-Gun, outlaw matches, etc require you to do some movement. So, being able to move efficiently, into and out of positions, keeping the gun up where it needs to be, is a HUGE part in being able to place well in matches. Movement can be fun to practice, but I’ll tell you as someone who walks 20,000+ steps in an average day, a hefty movement practice still makes me legs hurt like crazy the next day. So, that might not be the sexiest thing to practice, but it’s one of the things that you need in order to shoot well.
  
  
• Reloads - I can’t tell you how often I see dudes with legit 2+ second reloads, and it’s clear that they’ve never really put any thought into what they’re doing.If you don’t have any idea where to start with reloads, go on YouTube and look at what the really good guys are doing, then emulate it in front of a mirror or something. You might make some tweaks to make things work better for you, but it should get you in a good starting place.

Obviously there’s a LOT more to practical shooting than these three things, but if we’re talking about the handful of things that you can pretty easily work on and get really good at, and see the most result from, these are three pillars that should give you a good starting point.

Thing is though: They’re not sexy. They’re not necessarily fun to work on like some other things you can do, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, these are three things that will give you a lot of improvement in your game if you push hard on them.

So, the next time you catch yourself dryfiring 4-aces for 30 minutes straight because it’s fun, maybe pause it, and work on some other things.

Q&A:

Thurmon:

I have developed a strong interest in competitive shooting over the last year. I'm still working up to shooting my first match (Hope to have you a first match voicemail early in 2018). I've went and watched the November uspsa match at cggr and just this weekend went and watched the carbine only match there as well. I was wondering if you could maybe cover some of the terminology used so some of use newbies won't be so lost in the lingo. One I've heard a lot is the on deck, in the hole, and in the deep hole. What exactly does that mean? Other newbie things I think people would benefit from is the definitions of comstock and Virginia count. I know some of these can be found in the rule books but thought there may be other listeners who might benefit from a good explanation. Thanks for all that you do with the podcast and hopefully one day soon we might see each other at a local match.

On Deck: That means you’re the next shooter

In the hole: That means you’re the 2nd shooter

In the deep hole: means you’re the 3rd shooter

Official definition from the USPSA Rulebook:

“Comstock” Rule number 9.2.2

"Unlimited time stops on the last shot, unlimited number of shots to be fired, stipulated number of hits per target to count for score."

Basically, shoot as much as you want.

“Virginia Count” Rule number: 9.2.3

"Unlimited time stops on the last shot, limited number of shots to be fired, stipulated number of hits per target to count for score."

Shoot only the exact number of rounds that you're told you can shoot. Shooting more will incur penalties for extra shots and extra hits.

I want to do a Q&A show next week, but to do it, I need your questions, I only have a few. So, if you’ve got a question like Thurmon, head over to triangletactical.net/question to submit your questions for next weeks Q&A show.

[powerpress]

I’d like to see ALL of the major shooting sports stop fudging around with the rules all the time. We’ve been playing around with provisional divisions in USPSA for a couple years now, just make them official divisions.

The USPSA part isn’t really a big deal, so lets talk about IDPA for a second. OMG. I literally can’t keep up. It’s like every couple months there’s either another rulebook, or another update, or something posted on a random blog at idpa.tech (that I’m still not sure is an official IDPA website, or if it’s just someone who’s a big fan that started a website?) but seriously, the rules have changed just too much in the last year. It was right around January 1, 2017 when the “new rulebook” came out, and it’s been a steady flow of new rules, and changes and clarifications since then.

Then there’s 3-Gun. As someone who takes a LOT of questions from people who are interested in getting in all sorts of competitive shooting, not just IDPA and USPSA. The trouble in my opinion with the 3-gun world is the lack of a central governing body. Now, some folks will say that there are some matches that couldn’t happen under the rules of a central body, and that's fine, we have specialty matches in the pistol world too, but the issue here is that it’s hard to give new shooters good advice about what to expect at a local 3-gun match in their part of the world.

In 2018 I’d like to see more ranges make the procedures for new shooters VERY obvious on their websites.

This is one of those things that I run into from time to time that annoys the absolute crap out of me. I talk to a lot of people about getting started in competitive shooting. I get a lot of emails and messages with questions about getting started, and one thing that never really makes sense to me is that a certain range will have a specific procedure for new shooters (like, requiring a class that’s not at the time of the match, or having the buddy system where they pair up new shooters with someone experienced, etc) but THERE'S NOTHING ON THEIR WEBSITE ABOUT IT!

It’s 2018. If it’s not on your website, it doesn’t exist. Put the millennial's in your club to work, make them write it up for the website if you don’t know how.

Was your website made in 1998, and doesn't have the capability to add this sort of stuff easily? Get one of the millennial's to toss together a Wordpress site for next to nothing, and bam, you're in business.

I want to see ALL the shooting sports make it easier to become a range officer. I really think asking people to pay for the class with their own money, stay in a hotel out of town, etc, etc just for the opportunity to volunteer MORE is the wrong model.

I think this is an issue within all of the major shooting sports, not just one in particular. I’ve got more thoughts on it, but I’m not ready to talk about them just yet.

Basically though, the system for getting people to become an RO just seems broken.

Plug of the Week:

#GUNGOSSIP

https://youtu.be/MecoIijsvVE

Fantastic YouTube channel. I'm a fan.

2018 Goals:

Now's the time to lay out your competitive shooting goals for 2018 if you haven't already. I screwed up (or rather, setup a goal for 2017 that was a copout) and I have no idea if I was successful or not.

Here in 2018 I have a very measurable goal: Make USPSA Production Master.

I found this blog post about effective goal setting really good. Check it out.

I always like to do something different for the last episode of the year, so this year I had y'all ask me anything you wanted to ask. 

So, thanks for a great 2017! 2018 is going to be great!

2018 Goals. 

I'm writing it down here, throwing down the gauntlet for 2018: I will make USPSA Production Master before my birthday at the end of June. 

I refused to make this goal last year, but 2018 is the time to make it happen. You read it here first folks. 

What are your goals for 2018? How are you going to make them happen?

What to do with junior shooters who don't help?

This question came in from a long time listener who is noticing a trend of junior shooters who only shoot, and don't bother to help resetting and pasting and scoring.

What should we do with them?

I don't know, unfortunately. I do think that the shooting sports run on responsibility, and when people aren't helping, I don't think they're being responsible. 

What targets do you bring to the range for practice?

Major asks what targets I bring to the range when I'm practicing. 

I have 3 target stands that I built with regular old 2x4's from Home Depot and a couple screws. All told, they cost me about $3 a piece, and they've been great. 

I have a few pieces of steel that are all mismatched that I picked up here and there, and if I could do it over again, I would buy a few pieces of steel that were all the same so I could set them up like a static plate rack, or move them around however I wanted. Right now, with all the different pieces of steel I've got, I can't do that.

Bring real targets. Don't skimp on the paper (like paper paper, not cardboard), get real deal cardboard targets. Also, bring pasters. 

First Match:

Russ in Pensacola sends in a voicemail about his first match... as a Match Director. That's awesome. 

If you’re local to me, listen up. If you’re not local to me, just bear with me or skip ahead 30 seconds or so. At the end of the year I’m killing the Triangle Tactical competitive shooting calendar on the website.  There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. It costs more than a hundred bucks a year for the software to keep it running. Not a huge deal, but it’s a factor.
2. The time to keep it running is substantial.
3. I can’t seem to keep it accurate. Matches start and stop even when they’re super local to me, and I don’t find out about it, and I don’t want people to get sent to a match somewhere and not have there be a match that day.

I received a good bit of feedback on last weeks podcast. A bunch of Match Directors contacting me saying “yes, Lucas, you’re almost exactly right!”

So, I want to dig into this a little more in the near future. It’s basically the “off season”, or at least the slow season for most of the country right now and I think this is a good time of year for most matches to startt putting things in place to make changes if they need to, so I want to dig into this a bit more.

Also, maybe I didn’t make it clear, but I don’t have any issue with for profit matches. I’m a big fan of free markets, and if someone can figure out a way to run good matches, keep shooters happy, and make some money, I’m all about it.

Personally, I think getting paid a good salary to run matches would be a great way to avoid burnout on the behalf of the MD. If it were my full time gig to run matches, I think I could pull that off for a while without getting completely burned out.

However, sometimes with a part time gig, you just get burned out to the point that you just don’t want to do it, even one more time.

I used to literally get paid to shoot guns. Like, the coolest newest guns, as soon as they came out. Most of you are probably thinking that that sounds like a dream gig, and in the beginning it was. I named the rate that I wanted to get paid, and was given the new guns and a bunch of ammo, and sent off to the range to do my thing. However, after a while, shooting just became monotonous and boring.  

I’m still unbelievably appreciative of the company for thinking of me when they wanted someone to do this for them, but it just became a thing that I got tired of, and I think that’s exactly the same thing that Match Directors can go through. Because it’s a part time thing, and because it’s not a major source of income, it can just become monotonous over time, and you just dread it.

I also received exactly 3 messages from concerned listeners, and one Match Director regarding another thing that I think is worth addressing:

“Jersey Wearing Complainers”

It was brought to my attention that there’ a certain type of shooter that MD’s absolutely hate, to the point that some of them will just walk away and never run another match, solely because of a couple shooters: the jersey wearing complainers.

This is really interesting to me, because it’s something that I don’t see. I wear a jersey (with my own business on it, mostly so listeners can find me at matches, and partially to promote what I do) but I’m not representing anyone with it, but myself. I am Triangle Tactical, and it’s just me.

But, I do frequently shoot with a bunch of other shooters who wear jerseys, and I don’t really see this.

It sounds like the jersey wearing complainer has become a rampant thing in the shooting sports, and it’s something that needs to be addressed. I don’t have the answers, so I’ll just say this: If you’re a shooter, and you’re not impressed with a match, absolutely deliver your feedback to the Match Director, but do it in a way that’s actually constructive.

If you’re idea of delivering feedback about a match to someone is to make anonymous forum posts, or just being a dick, don’t bother.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m unhappy enough about something at a match, my goal is to improve that thing so that it can suck less in the future, or at the very least figure out why it was done that way, so I’ll at least have a little more understanding as to why it is the way it is.

I think if you’re unhappy with something, you should absolutely bring it up to the MD. If you’re unhappy with it, chances are other shooters are unhappy with it as well, and if nobody says anything about it, it won’t improve, registration for the match will start to fall off, and the match might go away completely.

On the flip side, if you’re a dick about it, the MD could throw his hands in the air and quit too.

There’s a balance here. Just don’t be a dick.

I'm not sure if it's because it's nearing the end of the traditional "shooting season" or what, but I've been talking to a few different people about how their match director is about to quit, or they themselves are a match director, and they don't know what to do because they're totally burned out, and they're not sure how to keep that burnout away. 

So, on Sunday I released a survey trying to gather some data on what is killing matches. 

First, I asked respondents to rank the health of their local match. 

The average (mean) score was 7.6. This is exceptionally high, but remember this survey went to shooters, not just match directors. A lot of shooters may not be fully aware of all the things going on with their match.

The second question was asking about the biggest issue effecting their local match. 

I got answers from people in paragraph format, because I wanted them to really tell me what was really going on. Because of that, I did have to take some liberties when categorizing the comments, but here's what I came up with:

43% of people who responded to this question said that the biggest issue was that there weren't enough volunteers.

27% mentioned something about the host club either being hostile to matches, or something like that.

8% mentioned that they didn't have room to grow. 

The third question was asking about what the biggest thing is that's helping your match thrive.

32% of answers mentioned having plenty of volunteers.

17.5% mentioned having a great host club.

35% mentioned something about great stage designs, or things like that (which, if I can make a reach, probably come from having a lot of volunteers...)

Plug of the Week:

A little piece on the USPSA Facebook page about using the correct range commands. 

The Complete Privacy and Security Podcast. Definitely worth a listen. 

Join the Super Squad!

If you want to help me do more awesome stuff with Triangle Tactical, consider pledging a couple bucks a month, or becoming a Super Squad member at jointhesupersquad.com.

Before you enter into a handshake deal for some free stuff, there are a few things that you should consider. Go to the show notes for this episode and get my free .PDF with 10 things that you should think about and do before you pick up a sponsor. 

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Streamlight ProTac 2L

It's the time of year when it's getting darker earlier, and staying dark longer. Having a dependable flashlight with you is a big help. I literally use mine every day. 

Tyler asks:

"Hi Luke. I have a question for this weeks Q and A show. My buddy just got a shot timer, and we will be using it this week for the first time. We want to use it as effectively as possible so I'm putting together a spreadsheet to track how we do time wise. What should I track?  Splits?  Total time?  Time to first shot?  I honestly don't know where to start or what all the shot timer can do. I just want to know if I'm getting faster with my shots on that end and how that stacks up against how accurate I am."

Yes.

And No.

I think what’s important is to get the data that you need from the timer, but you don’t need to record all of the data that the timer gives you.

So, if your draws are slow as crap, you should (work on them in dryfire), and then put your dryfire to the test in live fire. But, if you’re working strictly on your draw, don’t go work a drill that has a whole bunch of other crap in it.

If you’re working on a shot calling drill, you probably don’t want to obsess over your split times and try to work yourself into a cadence where you’re just shooting to try and make your splits go down, when you’re trying to work on not shooting until you see what you need to see.

Does that make sense?

Shot timers are great tools, but I do think sometimes folks fall into the paralysis by analysis with them from time to time.

So, I always recommend the Pocket Pro 2 shot timer, because it’s the best timer out there for someone who practices a lot, and wants to use their timer in live fire, dryfire (in par time mode) and maybe as a backup in matches from time to time.

However, inevitably, someone will come along and tell me that so and so makes a shot timer that’s better because it stores 14,000 drills in it, so you have all kinds of data that you can go back and look at.

However, in my opinion, that data isn’t valuable.

If I can go back in my timer after a practice session and see that on this one drill I had a few rockin .10 splits, is that useful? Am I going to remember if that drill was the one where I threw a few mikes, or am I going to just look at that number and inflate my ego a little bit?

So, here’s what I do, generally:

I whittle down what I’m working on to some pretty basic things. If I’m working on a turn and draw, I just do a turn and draw and fire one shot.

If I’m working on an entrance, I just enter a position, and fire one shot, or a couple shots if needed.

I see guys “practicing” where they’ve come up with this drill that works on draws, splits, entrances and exits, reloads, etc all in one drill and I find it hard to believe that they’re actually improving or really doing much more than going through the motions.

I’ve found breaking a lot of things down into simple small drills that you can work on over and over and over again until your hands hurt, and then putting them together with other skills once they’re honed is a lot more valuable than trying to do everything at once.

I like to look at my match video from my last several matches, and write down the things that sucked.

Did I miss a bunch of reloads?

Was I slow to get shooting when I moved into position?

Whiff a bunch on steel?

Post up to shoot when I could have been moving?

Those sorts of things. I take them, and then find or come up with drills that will force me to work on those things.

Matt asked in the Triangle Tactical Facebook group what to do when the matches in his area wind down for winter. Should he keep practicing and shooting all winter, or should he take the winter off?

I think there are a few things to consider here:

A lot of people will take the winter off. They'll have a bit of skill degradation, and they'll probably be a little less in shape come spring. 

If you feel like you're learning and gaining something from your practice sessions, I say keep practicing. You'll be a step ahead of the other guys come spring time, and there's really not a down-side. 

HOWEVER: If you start feeling the burnout creeping up on you, and you feel like you need to take some time off, make sure you set a date for when you're going to start again.

Also, evaluate why you're getting burned out. Are you bored? If so, change something. Figure out what is making you get burned out and fix it. I think sometimes we act like it's normal to get burned out and need a multi-month break from practice, but I feel like that's not right. 

Plug of the Week:

This week's NewsBlast podcast over on Patreon has been getting a lot of good feedback. I talked about a shooter who was suspended for violating anti-doping laws, and some questionable rules at a "world championship"... 

Head over here and become a Super Squad member to get access to that podcast.

When is it time to replace gear, even if it isn’t an upgrade?

I think everyones answer is going to be different to this question, but here’s my thoughts on it:

I’ve got this old Glock 34 that I’ve been shooting forever. It has an unknown number of rounds through it, and I’ve replaced a bunch of parts in it over the years.

At one point the gun started grouping really far to the left, and I could actually see wear on the locking block where it was starting to lock up off-center. No idea how or why that could happen, but it seemed like the lockup wearing the left side of the locking block was in-line with the gun suddenly grouping to the left.

This wasn’t an issue of me not being able to pull ac Glock trigger and pulling the gun low and left, it was literally the gun wearing funny, and causing the barrel to lock up weirdly.

So, I looked around a little on the internet, consulted with a listener who’s a Glock armorer guy at Glock, and then replaced the slide release (not the slide lock/slide stop) the slide release, as well as the locking block, and immediately the gun was shooting straight again.

Then, I bought some Dawson Precision adjustable sights. A huge, fantastic upgrade, and I couldn’t zero the gun with them. Even maxing out the adjustment on them, I was still hitting something like 12” high at 20y. I called upo Dawson and they did the math, and sent me a front sight that’s as big as the sail on a pirate ship, but the gun is zeroed now.

At that point in time, the gun was pretty easily shooting 2-3” groups at 20y, which was acceptable to me, and honestly about all I expect from a stock Glock shooting the cheapest mixed brass reloads I can possibly load.

However, as time has went on, the gun is starting to lose that accuracy. I don’t know how many rounds it has through it now, a lot, but it’s to the point that I’m having a VERY hard time putting 10rds consecutively in the head box of a target at 20 yards. It used to be very easy, and now… it’s not.

The thing is, I can’t see the difference. I like to think that I’m pretty good at noticing these things, and knowing when I’m pulling the trigger poorly, etc. I think it’s just the gun wearing, and losing some of it’s accuracy.

So, I’m at (and have been at for a while) this crossroads of buying another new locking block and stuff and seeing if I can get the accuracy back, and then keeping shooting this gun, or buying a new gun.

If I buy a new gun, do I just buy another Glock 34, toss a connector, grip plug, and set of Dawsons on it and have it be my match gun, and continue beating this one up in practice, or do I maybe see what the DA/SA thing is all about?

David from the Humble Marksman YouTube channel keeps taunting me with his Shadow 2, and I’m kind of intrigued by a gun that is basically good to go right out of the box.

But, at the same time, I REALLY like the idea of having two guns. Not really sure why I like that idea so much, considering I haven’t EVER needed a backup gun at a match, but I like the idea none the less.

So, when do you buy new gear even if it isn’t an upgrade? When it’s time.

I know that sounds like a cop-out answer, but I think everyone has their own tolerance for this, and I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong.

A lot of guys would have left the range when they realized their Glock wasn’t as accurate anymore and went straight to the gun store and ordered a new one. I’m not that guy.

A lot of folks wouldn’t have bothered replacing the locking block and other parts trying to get the accuracy back either.

Some folks would have went to a completely different type of gun at this point and never looked back.

I don’t think any of those things are the wrong answer.

For me, it comes down to confidence. I’ve found that when I’m completely confident in my gear, I shoot a LOT better because it’s completely off my mind.

Years ago, when I was shooting M&P’s I put together a bastardized M&P with the lower from one gun, and the slide from another and headed out the door to a match. Turned out the trigger parts from the two different guns didn’t play super well together, and the trigger was just awful. Horrendous.

I got through a couple stages, realized how awful it was, and it broke me. I felt defeated because I knew in that instance that I couldn’t perform to the level I should because of that terrible trigger.

So, I think when you lose confidence it might be a good time to move on to something new.

Last weekend there was a triathlon here in my little town, and we got to people watch a lot of folks cycling past our neighborhood.

Cycling is my first love. Far and away above shooting, and I really cannot wait until I’m healed up enough to get back in the saddle.

One guy in particular came riding by, and he stuck me as a little odd, and then I thought the things he was doing related well to a lot of the things people do in the shooting sports as well.

Dude rides by. Full on triathlon kit. Not unusual. Tight lycra suit, bright colors, and a fancy Time Trial helmet. Not a regular bike helmet with the vents and stuff that everyone and their brother wears, but a TT helmet. You know, those helmets that are like tear drop shaped to make you more aero, and they stick way out past the back of your head like 12” for more aerodynamics?

Again, not terribly unusual for someone to wear one at a high level of competition.

However, he was riding a hybrid bicycle. If you’re not familiar with a hybrid, at a high level, they’re like a mountain bike, with skinnier road bike tires. They’re handy for transportation, but they don’t really excel at anything. They’re the Honda Civic of bicycles.

He was also wearing tennis shoes and using flat pedals. As a cyclist, I can tell you, that being clipped into your pedals is one of the best things you can do for efficiency.

This guy bought all the fancy “look fast” gear, but didn’t invest in any of the actual “go fast” gear. The money spent on the fancy helmet would have been far better spend on clip-less pedals and cycling shoes.

I’m not gonna dog on the bike itself, because I always tell people to go compete with what they’ve got, and maybe this guy was doing just that, and that’s great.

So, I give you this lesson on cycling to tell you about shooting.

A while back I had a question from a newer shooter asking which type of holster to buy for his gun. He was shooting outlaw type matches, and wasn’t sure which type of race holster to buy.

My advice was to just get a kydex rig from whoever because the holster wasn’t what was holding him back in his shooting, and he’d be better off spending $50 on a solid holster that’ll work for whatever game he decided to play instead of spending $200 on a holster that wouldn’t work if he decided to shoot Production or Carry Optics or IDPA in the future.

I’m not sure what he bought, but per our emails, I suspect he went ahead and bought a $200 race holster... Mostly because that’s what he wanted all along. This isn’t a problem, you should shoot whatever you want, but don’t think that a piece of gear like this is really going to make you better.

I think that he was under the impression that everyone, given the chance would shoot a race holster and not a kydex holster, but people just shoot the kydex rigs because they have to per division requirements.

This is the case for a lot of people, but I also think a lot of people who shoot with race holsters do it because it’s the defacto standard for their division and most of them probably can’t tell you how much of an advantage they actually get from the holster.

I also think most of them would have been better off putting that $150 they would have saved towards some instruction or ammo, or whatever.

Again, I’m not against race holsters, and that’s not what this episode is about.

My point here is that before you go spend a bunch of money on something, make sure that it’s a thing that you're actually going to get your pay value for.

The guy in the triathlon would have been FAR better off with clipless pedals and good cycling shoes. Then lighter tires, and finally, a better bike.

I used to be involved in the 4x4 scene a bit a decade or so ago, and it was the same thing. People wanted to buy the big lift kit, and the big tires, but nobody wanted to re-gear the axles, or add sway-bar disconnects. People wanted to add lift blocks instead of getting new springs, etc.

The same thing happens with shooting. People want the lift kit and the big tires. They want the fancy race helmet, and the brightly colored shirt, because new sights aren’t sexy.

Practice isn’t sexy. It’s hard work. It takes time and it’s expensive. However, if you don’t want to suck, it’s the road you’ve got to take.

Join the Super Squad!

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Q&A:

Mike asked a question in last weeks Q&A show that I didn't get to during the live show. 

"Any tips for shooting with a weapon mounted light?"

Yes. There's not a lot to it, it's basically like shooting in the daylight, however, make sure you know how NOT to activate the strobe mode should your light have that, because turning it on accidentally during a night match will mess with you. Other than that, there's really not a lot to them. I like my Streamlight TLR-1, because as a right handed shooter I can use the switch kind of like a gas pedal for controlling recoil. 

If you've got questions, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net, and make sure to join me on Thursday nights at 9PM EST on Facebook live every week!

Plugs of the Week:

This episode of Firearms Nation Podcast with Shannon Smith was really good. I love Shannon's own podcast, but hearing him interviewed was great. They talk a lot about the IPSC World Shoot 2017. 

This episode of the 3-Gun Show with Matt Martini was really good. I might have like it a *little bit* because it stroked my ego just a little when Matt talked about how if you can hang with the big dogs at matches here in the Carolinas, you can shoot with anybody. He also has some interesting thoughts on practice, and keeping track of his cold times on drills, as well as his fastest times. Good stuff, definitely worth a listen. 

There's a good chance you're reading this wondering to yourself "What is a drop step?" You're most certainly not alone. In the gif below, notice how I step out of the second box, and push off with my foot? That's a drop step.

via GIPHY

Some people say they’re okay in certain circumstances, others say that they’re never any good, and somewhat recently I came across an internet argument where people were making all sorts of claims (good and bad) about the drop step.

So, naturally, I figured this would be a great junk science episode.

I threw it out to the Patrons a week or so ago, and asked how I should test it. Initially, I thought I would only need to test it while making a short step into a box. Something with a starting position like “Standing with toes on marks, outside the shooting area”, then on the buzzer, I’d just take a single step into the box.

However, the Patrons brought a great idea that I hadn’t thought about, and that was that it could also be beneficial on longer movement, as it might help you get up to speed faster, so I did another drill with two boxes, one 10’ in front of the other (about 4 steps), and tested the drop step vs. a regular step there too.

Here's a link to my raw data if you want to nerd out on it. It's also my terrible chicken scratch, so good luck deciphering it.

Step into box:

Drop Step Average (mean): 1.2527 sec

No Drop Step Average (mean): 1.2427 sec

In this instance, not drop stepping is 1 hundredth of a second faster. Being that this is junk science, that's basically nothing. 

4 Steps into box:

Drop Step Average (mean): 2.1390 sec

No Drop Step Average (mean): 2.1409 sec

2.139 vs. 2.14? Yeah, that's a wash too.

Hard Left Lean:

Drop Step Average (mean): 4.578 sec

No Drop Step Average (mean): 4.448 sec

Now this is interesting. 0.13 seconds faster by NOT using a drop step? Very interesting. I wonder if it'll show the same thing going the other direction?

Hard Right Lean:

Drop Step Average (mean): 4.5583 sec

No Drop Step Average (mean): 4.4825 sec

.07 faster again, NOT using a drop step.

Conclusion:

This is pretty interesting stuff. When doing the drop step in most every instance, they *felt* faster, but as we know things that feel fast aren't always fast.

On this given day, with this given shooter (me) drop steps are basically a wash moving forward, and actually a bit slower on lateral movement.

Have an Idea for a Junk Science episode?

If so, shoot me an email to luke@triangletactical.net, and put the words Junk Science in the subject line.

On Friday, I shot the 2017 Carolina Classic USPSA match. It was hands down, the best run match I've ever been to. I was the first shooter on the first stage, and I started shooting at 12:54PM. We shot 9 stages, and I sent my wife a text saying that I was on my way home at 5:52PM. 

9 stages + Chrono in less than 6 hours. Awesome.

Introduction to the Triangle Tactical Podcast

Last week's podcast was episode 250, so I figured this would be a great time to re-introduce myself to the audience, and have a good place for people who are new to the podcast to get started.

Every now and again I get a question from someone who'd just found the podcast asking where they should start since there are so many episodes in the back catalog that it can be difficult to know where to start, and understand my point of view on things.

Triangle Tactical started after I got the idea that I was going to start blogging on my way home from a competition shooting match in early 2012. I got home, setup a Blogger account, and excitedly told my wife that I was going to start a blog. I think she thought that she would hear about it for another day or two, and then it wouldn't ever come up again.

Well, it's been 5 and a half years at this point, and I'm going stronger than ever, so here we are!

The Basics:

I'm a little different than other "tactical" blogs out there in that I'm probably the least tactical "tactical" blogger/podcaster out there.

I don't really care about gear, unless it solves a real problem for me. A lot of folks are quick to run out and buy the coolest-newest gear all the time, but I really, truly, don't care about it. I've been shooting the same competition gun for 3.5 years, and that's the newest gun I own.

I believe that practice is the only way to get better. Nobody has ever bought a new gun, and suddenly become a Grand Master at shooting. It just doesn't matter that much. With that said, I do think a new piece of gear can help you, if your current gun is actually causing you a problem. (Ex. I dumped all my Gen3 Glocks for Gen4 guns when they came out because the beavertail on the Gen4 guns kept me from getting slide bite and bleeding all over myself when I shoot.)

However, I switched from shooting an M&P Pro 5" to a Glock 34 5" gun and... my shooting didn't really change. At all. This is because both of those guns are good enough, and neither really offered an advantage over the other. I just like the Glock 34 more, and making the switch made me happy.

I believe that competitive shooting is good for you. When I shot my first competitive match, I thought I was a hot dog. I'd been shooting all my life, and I really thought that I had a good chance at winning. I remember when a local Grand Master shot the same stage I had just shot and did it in about half the time, I was shocked.

"How can he shoot that fast?"

"There's no way he can see his sights"

"He's just spraying bullets and hoping he hits something."

LOL. Yeah, then I saw his hits. He hit everything. He was able to do that because he practices.

Range/Trunk Med Kit

On last weeks podcast I ran through all of the stuff that I keep in my range bag, but I neglected to talk about the stuff that I keep in my med kit for the range. I have one kit that stays in my trunk that has stuff for the range, as well as stuff for basic booboos and things that would be useful should I come across a car accident before first responders get there, etc.

• Nitrile gloves
• 2 CAT Tourniquets (I also own a SOF-T Wide tourniquet, but I prefer the CAT for self-aid. I feel like the hooks on the cats are far easier for securing the windlass with one hand than the little triangle thing on the SOF-T Wide.)
  • Also of note here: If you're buying either of these tourniquets, buy them straight from the manufacturers website. DO NOT BUY ONE ON AMAZON! There are tons of fraudulent TQ's on Amazon and you really can't distinguish a fake one from a real one by their listing. The cost is the same, so go straight to the manufacturer.
• Kerlix gauze for wound packing
• SAM Splint - Foam covered aluminum splint for bracing broken bones, etc. Very handy to have around.
• In an easily accessible side pocket, I have a big box of Band-Aid Tough Strips band-aids. These are the best band-aids I've ever used. They stick, and stay stuck, they're fabric, and they're awesome. I don't buy anything else.

I have 2 range bags. One that I call my practice bag, and another that I call my match bag, although they both go with me to both.

Match Bag

This is an old backpack, actually the bag that I took to college with me… 14 years ago. Gun rug fits well in the laptop sleeve, easy to carry between stages, etc.

Gun, mags, outer belt, inner belt, ammo, etc.

Also keep my eyes/ears/extra eyes/squib stick and gun parts box in this bag. I try to keep it fairly lightweight so I’m not trying to drag a huge bag from bay to bay at a match. It’s rare that I need more than the above stuff at a match, so I leave everything else in my practice bag in my trunk. If I have something more catastrophic happen, I can always walk to my car and get what I need from the practice bag.

Gun parts:

• All springs
• Extra striker assembly, not because I think I’ll need it, but because for some reason I have one.
• Extra fiber-optic for my front sight. Don’t buy this stuff from a gun store, or any gun type place online. Measure the diameter of the F/O rod that your front sight takes with a pair of calipers, and then order like 5’ of it from fiberopticproducts.com for like a ridiculously cheap amount of money.
• I think I’ve got a front sight tool, and a spare front sight. Again, not something I’d necessarily go out and buy, but it takes up no space, I’ve got it, so why not?

Practice bag 

This is a big, almost too big, MidwayUSA range bag. This bag has a lot of RO type stuff:

• Copy of Ben Stoeger’s Skills and Drills. Big book of live fire range drills and stuff that’s nice to have when you’re on the range.
• A couple cans of the cheapest white paint I can get my hands on. I use it for painting steel targets, and it can be handy for marking shooting areas on the ground, etc.
• Practice magazines - I replaced all my magazines at the beginning of this shooting season, so all my old ones are in my practice bag. The reason for this is, the range that I’m a member of has the finest, siltiest sand that really does a number on magazines, even Glock mags. Since I’m not someone who likes to spend a bunch of time cleaning guns and magazines, I use all my old ones at my practice range and let them get filthy, and then use my new mags for matches at other ranges that don’t have the same dusty sand.
• Mechanix Gloves, these are great for setup and tear down. They keep your hands from getting torn up by random staples on target sticks, etc.
• Staple gun, and I keep it loaded with the longest, heaviest duty staples that it will take. I think they’re ½” I like the long staples because they go through enough two targets easily, and still have plenty of staple to get into the target stick, so you don’t have to worry about your no-shoots falling off in the middle of practice, etc.
• Cheap duct tape is a recent addition to my range bag. I’ve started wrapping all of my steel target sticks in duct tape to hold them together a little more when they catch a stray bullet in practice.
• Speedo goggle anti-fog stuff. Works great to smear a little on your shooting glasses to make sure they don’t fog up on you at a match. It’s just a little bottle of a couple ounces, but I’ve probably had mine for 6 or 7 years and it’s still mostly full. I only use it every couple months, and just a couple drops at a time.
• Several sheets of dots. Ben Stoeger has a .PDF of dots that you can print out and I have a bunch of the sheets in my range bag. It’s a good drill that will humble the heck out of you if you start getting too cocky.
• Pasters and target tape. If you’re not pasting targets in practice, you’re totally wrong. Sometimes if I’m shooting some bill-drills or something I’ll conserve pasters and only paste holes outside of the A-zone, but otherwise mostly I paste everything, ever run.
• Sunblock
• Big ugly wide brimmed hat
• Shooting shoes, and socks for them. I tend to find myself at the range with flip-flops on, so having these in my range bag is good for me.
• 9v batteries for my timer and chronograph. I hate buying these things because they’re expensive. I change the batteries in all my smoke detectors every 6 months, then I save the old batteries and use them up in my chronograph and shot timer. I NEVER have to buy batteries specifically for them anymore.
• Pocket Pro 2 Shot Timer. Just get one of these, and don't get anything else.

Triangle Tactical Podcast Facebook Group

Here's where to find the new Triangle Tactical Facebook group. I want this to be a place where we can all share things about matches, practice, what's going well, things you need help with, etc. 

I think it will allow you to interact more with other podcast listeners in a way that the regular Facebook page doesn't really allow for. 

Experienced shooters have a duty to help new shooters at their first match. 

1. Before the stage brief is read on your first stage, ask if there are any new shooters on your squad. Once everyone knows who the brand new shooters are, and eliminates the concern about giving advice to someone who's been shooting for 10 years, and just hasn't really made any progress. 
2. Match Directors could start a sort of "ambassador" program, where shooters volunteer right in Practiscore to be an ambassador for new shooters, and then maybe they get $5 off their match fee for taking a new shooter under their wing for the day. 
3. It’s important to “coach” new shooters before their run on the stage about any 180 traps, some pointers about how to move through certain areas, minding their muzzle on reloads when moving right to left, because DQing new shooters sucks. 
4. I don’t think this needs to, or even should rest solely on the RO. The RO has a lot more going on trying to run shooters, score targets, etc, and I think there's a lot of time on a stage for a more experienced shooter to help out while the RO is doing his thing without distraction.

IPSC World Shoot:

So the IPSC World Shoot starts on Sunday in France. There are about 5ish people that I know of who are regular podcast listeners who are competing in the World Shoot, and I wanted to wish all of you the best of luck, and those of you on Team USA just a little more luck than the rest... 

Make us proud! 

Patreon:

I've had a few listeners express concern about Patreon, and how there have been headlines recently about how they're "banning conservatives", etc.

I like to do my due diligence on things, so I've read a bunch on what happened with the people they have banned, and the thing that really made me feel most comfortable about keeping Patreon as a support model for the show was this episode of the Reuben Report, where he interviews the CEO of Patreon, and actually asks the hard questions. I was satisfied with the answers he received, and it's what really swayed me about keeping the Patreon page active.

https://youtu.be/ofpbDgCj9rw

If you haven't checked out the Triangle Tactical Patreon, I've been doing a VLOG over there about everything I'm doing to get ready for the NC State Championship in a couple weeks, in addition to the NewsBlast Podcast check them out on Patreon. 

What's the right balance between practice and matches? I'm not exactly sure what the *right* balance is, but in an ideal world, I think my practice schedule would look like this:

• Dryfire every day
• Livefire weekly
• 2 Matches a month

I like this for two reasons:

• It's fairly realistic with a little planning and dedication.
• It's enough practice to really see decent improvement if you're actually doing it.

Gear that Doesn't Suck:

If you're reloading your own ammo, and you're shooting matches that are above the level of a club match, you should really have a chronograph so you KNOW how fast your bullets are going, and what your power-factor is.

I've got one of these Caldwell Precision Chronographs, and I love it. It's inexpensive, and works great.

This episode is based on an email I got from Mike, who is helping to get a new USPSA match started at Low Country Preserve in Tabor City, NC.

What advice would you give to a new match director to make a local match really fun and interesting?

Honestly I think you should lose the focus on fun.

Now, don't take that the wrong way, here's what I mean: USPSA shooters have the most fun at USPSA match. Stick to the rules, build good stages and stick to the rules.

Did I mention that you should stick to the rules?

Nothing will keep the serious USPSA shooters away from your match, like a match that sacrifices the rules in the name of perceived fun.

What are some of the things you have seen done at local matches to make them run more smoothly?

Balance your stages. We've got some local matches that used to be known for getting all backed up, and people remember that, and don't shoot because of it.

If you've got props that aren't 100%, don't use them. Crappy steel that falls out of adjustment all the time, falling steel that has trouble staying on posts, carnival props that take forever to reset, and cause reshoots, etc.

What are some of the things that make one local match better than another?

Submit classifiers asap. We've got some clubs in the area that submit classifiers the next day, and we've got some that might get around to it before their next match next month. Shooters notice, and they talk about it. A lot.
I'm still waiting on an 80% classifier from June to be submitted. I think it's gone forever, unfortunately.

We’ve got one match in the area that built a reputation for having stages that were all 8 shots through a port, to 8 shots through a port to 8 shots through a port, etc.
Avoid that.

Decent tablets. This is personal, but nooks suck. iPads are the Cadillac of tablets for scoring, and they really do perform better than anything else. They’re expensive though, so don’t sweat it if you cant afford them right away. I would say think about making them a part of your growth plan.

Match bucks. It's not much for the range to give away, gives the shooter something to actually win, and gives them an incentive to come back. Next match free for division winners, ten bucks off for class winners, something like that.

Are there any "little things" you like to see at a match that make it better for the shooter (ex. water on every stage)?

Shade. If you don't have shade, find a way to make it. I think more than water, more than snacks or whatever, having shade for shooters is definitely valued.

Well marked safe areas that are easy to get to. IE, I don’t want to walk halfway across the range to find the safe area.

Have spare timer batteries in the range box, Don’t make us run all over the range looking for the RangeMaster when my timer dies, or have to use someone’s awful CED7K from their range bag.

Leave the tablets on each stage, instead of having each squad take the same tablet to each stage. If the tablet stays on a stage all day, and it breaks or something, and you lose all the scores on that tablet, you lose that stage for everyone, but if each squad is taking their tablets from stage to stage, and one breaks, you lose EVERYTHING for that squad, and that's terrible.

During the live chat for last week's Triangle Tactical Q&A Live show Austin asked a question about what to do when a Range Officer isn't doing his job?

Austin asked (I'm paraphrasing here) but basically, what do you do when the RO on your squad lets a shooter slide for breaking the 180?

Apparently a shooter drew before turning on a turn-and-draw, and the shooters on the squad were jumping out of the way when he did it.

In this instance, the Range Officer didn't stop or disqualify the shooter, but instead let the shooter keep shooting, and had a talk with the shooter after the fact.

This is a HUGE problem. 

Listen, if you're a Range Officer, and you can't hand down a DQ for a blatant safety violation, you shouldn't be running the timer.

There are several reasons why, but here's a few of them:

• What happens when the shooter does the same thing on another stage, and shoots someone? You're going to have a bad time when it comes out that the shooter did the same thing earlier in the day, and you didn't stop it.
• What happens when that shooter gets used to being allowed a little wiggle room on the safety rules, and then he goes to shoot at another club, or at a State Championship, or even an Area match or Nationals, and gets disqualified. You're not doing him any favors.
• Think about the perspective of all of the other shooters on the squad, who were jumping out of the way when this guy broke the 180. Want to lose all of their respect?

Listen, DQing shooters sucks. It sucks even more when they're your friends, and exponentially more when they're brand new. However, the shooting sports are EXTREMELY safe, because we have these safety rules.

If you can't do it, don't pick up the timer.

Patreon:

Become a Patron!

The Triangle Tactical Patreon is the biggest thing that's supporting what I'm doing with Triangle Tactical. Becoming a Patron at the $5/month level gets you access to the Triangle Tactical NewsBlast podcast and bonus content like the occasional Match Video Diagnosis video (just added one to the Patreon page recently), etc. 

So, if you want to help me do more awesome stuff, click the Patreon button and check it out, I'd certainly appreciate it.

Every week I put together the Patreon Only NewsBlast Podcast, and it seems like every week I get a really great article from the Grand Island Independent in  Grand Island, Nebraska about a shooting competition that's taking place in Grand Island.

It's always about different shooting sports that are taking place in that area, and they've all been cool, and I'd never heard of most of them.

This got me excited because the local newspaper is going positive stories on the shooting sports in a regular basis. 

I want to do more to get exposure for the shooting sports in my area, and I think you should too. Post your videos in places that aren't gun-centric. Let people in your area know that there are matches in the area, and help them get started, and keep the politics out of it. 

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Have a cooler so you can have COLD water on the hottest match days. I think it's silly to spend a ton of money on the "cooler de-jour" that everyone and their brother has, but I've got one of thee regular old Coleman coolers and it works great.

It's got wheels so you can roll it from stage to stage if you like, and it keeps your drinks cold all day. Will it keep stuff cold for a week? I have no idea, I've never needed to keep stuff cold that long in a cooler.

So, in all honesty, it's probably cheaper to buy a cooler locally, than to pay shipping from Amazon, but if you're buying anything on Amazon, I'd certainly appreciate you clicking any of the Amazon links on this website, and I'll get a commission from Amazon for sending you. 

Drill of the Week:

Practice moving and keeping both hands on the gun, and moving with dismounting the gun with your weak hand. See what distances it makes sense to dismount the gun, and what distances it makes sense to stay on it. 

I think everyone is going to be a little different depending on skill level, etc, so you've gotta figure it out yourself. 

Holsters for Competition Beginners:

Everything you need here.

In the live chat for the last Triangle Tactical Q&A show, Austin asked "What's the difference between IDPA and USPSA?"

I didn't have time to get to it in the Live Q&A show, so I thought I'd talk about it here on the main podcast. 

Here's the rundown:

Concealment:

IDPA requires you to have your gun concealed. You'll generally see people using a vest to conceal their gun, but a vest is not required.

USPSA does not require your gun to be concealed.

Divisions:

For the most part, the different divisions in each game are somewhat similar-ish. 

In USPSA there are 7 divisions. This is really high level, but here's the breakdown:

• Production - This is the division I shoot. You'll want to shoot 9mm in Production. You're limited to 10rds in a magazine, and in this division you'll see a lot of Glocks, M&P's, CZ's and Tanfoglio pistols. 
• Carry Optics - This division is for pistols that have slide-ride optics. My advice here is to buy an optic with a GREAT warranty. I've seen a LOT of them break, and they're expensive.
• Pistol Caliber Carbine - Pretty self explanatory. You're generally going to see 9mm AR's, that sort of thing.
• Single Stack - This is a division for 1911 pattern pistols.
• Limited - You can basically do whatever you want to your pistol in Limited, except for have a compensator, optic, or weapon-light. You'll generally see .40S&W 2011 pistols in this division.
• Open - This is the division you probably think of when you think of a race-gun. 2011 pattern pistol, red-dot optic, compensator, chambered in .38Super or 9mm major. 

IDPA has a few less divisions:

• Stock Service Pistol - Pretty similar to USPSA's Production division. Guns like the Glock 34, Glock 17, M&P, etc. will shoot in this division without many modifications. 
• Enhanced Service Pistol - ESP allows some more modifications than SSP, as well as single-action pistols.
• Custom Defensive Pistol - This is basically the 1911 division, but you can shoot other .45ACP pistols here too.
• Compact Carry Pistol - A division for the smaller guns that people actually carry concealed. It's basically for your S&W Shield sized guns, up to about the Glock 19 sized guns. 
• Back-up Gun - This is or the teeny tiny guns like the Ruger LCP, etc. 

Stages:

USPSA stages can have up to 32 required rounds. This means you'll need to make sure you've got enough magazines to shoot all that. 

IDPA stages are limited to 18 rounds per stage, which means you need a little less ammo, and other gear to get started. 

In USPSA, you're basically presented with a problem, and it's up to you to come up with a stage plan, and solve the problem yourself. 

In IDPA, you'll be told a bit more about how to shoot each stage. "Start here, shoot these targets from here, those targets from there, etc."

USPSA Classifier Updates

Also in the live chat for the last Triangle Tactical Q&A show I had a few people asking me about my thoughts on the announced USPSA classifier updates. I read the entire thread over on Doodie Project, and honestly, I think the whole thing is a big nothing-burger. I think they should be updated frequently, and I don't really have an issue with how it's being done. 

Plug of the Week:

Jessica Nietzel wrote a FANTASTIC article over on the Shooters Mindset blog about subjectivity in RO calls in USPSA. 

DQing new shooter SUCKS. 

DQing you friends SUCKS. 

But, sometimes it needs to be done. Go read it. 

If you're looking to buy a gun for competitive shooting, one thing you may notice is that a lot of gun reviews really aren't helpful beyond telling you what the features of the gun are. 

A bunch of people doing gun reviews just open a box, and fire up the camera. This can be useful for letting you know about features and whatnot, but if you're buying a gun for competition, you're probably going to want to know a lot more than that, especially if you haven't shot your first match yet. 

I'd really love to see a competitive shooting focused gun review channel on YouTube where they actually shoot the absolute mess out of the guns, interview some folks who've been shooting them long term, talk about parts that break (because parts break, it happens), and things that are relevant for competitive shooting from people who are somewhat knowledgeable on the subject. 

I dunno, I spent a bunch of time over the weekend just watching YouTube gun reviews, and I noticed a bunch of stuff in them that just isn't useful to me at all. People tossing guns against things... because... science? "Torture testing", etc. None of it's useful to me at all. 

Podcast Awards:

So, the 2017 Podcast Awards Nominations are open. If you think I'm doing a good job, and want to head over to podcastawards.com, sign up, and nominate me for a podcast award, I'd certainly be grateful. Make sure you confirm your email address, otherwise your vote won't count.

I give a lot of advice here on the podcast, and talk about things as I see them in the shooting sports, but I've found that my perspective isn't always the same as everyone elses, and that's why I love these call-in episodes where you send in your thoughts on a topic.

There's been a lot of talk in the shooting sports world about on-ramps to competitive shooting, and how there's not a great way for new people to get started, especially if they don't already have a friend who is involved.

So, for this weeks podcast, I asked the question: "What's the ONE piece of advice you wish you had received before you shot your first match?"

There is a BUNCH of great information in this episode, everything from what gear you should buy, how you should prepare for matches, and who you should shoot with.

5 things:

The things that you do when you're not shooting can have a profound affect on your shooting. Here's where to get the details on all 5 things. 

Tip of the Week:

Even if you're wearing a giant, ugly, dork hat like me on a hot sunny day on the range, you should still put some sunblock on your face. Apparently the UV rays can reflect off the ground and burn your face anyways... ask me how I know...

I left Sunday's match with a sunburned face, even after wearing my ugly dork hat. Yeesh.

Plug of the Week:

I was on the Firearms Nation Podcast this week, and it was a lot of fun. Check it out. 

The turn and draw is a pretty standard start position for competitive shooting matches. Generally in a turn and draw, you'll start facing up range, wrists above shoulders, and then on the buzzer you'll turn then draw your pistol once it's inside the 180*, and start engaging targets. 

The conventional wisdom about the turn and draw is that you should always turn towards the gun, because the gun then has less movement to make to get on the target. I seemingly makes sense on the surface, but I'm skeptical that the movement of the gun is the important metric. 

So, here's what I did: I went to the range, and setup my MGM 10" Steel Challenge plate at about 13 yards. I wanted to be able to score the shooting hit/no hit, and I wanted to make sure that I actually had to use my sights a bit so I didn't just get into the habit of draw-fire-ding without seeing my sights, and about 13 yards seemed to be the right distance for that. 

Before I get into the data, here's some of the things I heard about the turn and draw:

• The gun get's inside the 180* faster by turning one way over the other.
• You're less likely to break the 180* by turning towards the gun.
• Less gun movement is better

So, if the gun is facing directly up range in the holster, it's got to rotate more than 90* before it can come out of the holster, either direction. 

After doing this a bunch, I'm not sure that the movement of the gun is the important metric to measure, because I can't shoot until my eyes are on the target, and they've got to rotate 180* regardless. 

So, here's the data:

Conclusions:

So, after 212 turn and draws (because I'm bad at making spreadsheets) I concluded that I'm probably going to continue turning toward the gun, but that the direction that you turn doesn't really make as big of a difference as people act like it does.

Average (mean) time for turning away from the gun: 1.49 seconds

Average (mean) time for turning towards the gun: 1.46 seconds

Keep in mind, I've practiced literally thousands of toward-the-gun turn and draws over the years, and I've done slightly more than 100 away from the gun, so I think it's possible that that contributed to the 3% difference in the times between the two.

Plug of the Week:

I've got two plugs for other podcasts this week that I think you should listen to:

• Ballistic Radio on "Big Boy Rules" and how some trainers go out of their way to make things more dangerous for their students because it somehow makes things better for learning? Yeah, it's dumb, and it's a mentality I see with competitors from time to time as well. 
• This episode of Down Range Radio with Michael Bane is excellent as well. He talks a lot about barriers to entry in the shooting sports, and why 3-gun seems to be stagnating, etc. Lots of good stuff here. (H/T Manuel)

If you're new to the shooting sports, don't settle on whatever shooting sport you decide to shoot first is. Go shoot a bunch of different disciplines. 

The shooting sports are like high school cliques. If you go to IDPA, you'll hear people talk junk about those USPSA gamers. If you shoot USPSA, someone will talk junk about the tacti-fools at IDPA. If you shoot 3-gun, you'll hear someone talk junk about the guys that only shoot one match. 

Here's the thing though, and I mean this:

Each game has it's own merits. In IDPA, I like that I can be competitive with my concealed carry gun should I decide to shoot it. It's also got smaller gear requirements, shorter stages generally, and the rules allow for some interesting things that you can't really do in USPSA. 

In USPSA, I like that it doesn't pretend to be anything but shooting fast and accurate. I'm really motivated by the classification system where after each match, I can see how it's impacted my overall classification score etc. At least in my part of the world, the talent pool tends to be a bit deeper at the USPSA matches too. 

So, go dip your toes into a bunch of different types of matches, and draw your own conclusion. Know how guys who shoot Glocks tell you to shoot a Glock, and guys who shoot 1911's tell you to buy a 1911? It's exactly the same with the different matches out there too. 

Call in Show:

For a little while now I've been doing the occasional call-in show where I get your voicemails answering one question and make that into an episode. Well, I want to do another one:

"What's the one piece of advice you wish you had been given before you shot your first match?"

So, here's how to do it:

1. Open your phone and find the voice recorder app (You might have to download one)
2. Answer my question.
3. Email the file to luke@triangletactical.net.
4. Put the word "advice" in the subject line, so I can organize all of the emails better in my inbox.

That's it. I'll play them all in a future episode, and I'm quite excited to see what y'all have to say.

Q&A

The Q&A question this week is about where your support hand index finger lands on the trigger guard when you're shooting. If you check out the picture above this post (which was taken by Bradley @Trigger_Pull on Instagram, go follow him) my index finger lands a bit further forward on the trigger guard. 

However, I don't think it really matters. So much of the minutia of grip has to do with the size of the gun, the size of your hands, etc, I don't think you should look at the very exact finger placement of someone else and try to duplicate it. I'm no super ninja shooter, but I think the important things are getting your hands high on the gun, and gripping it as hard as you can without disturbing the sight picture. That's my $0.02. 

[powerpress]

Long story short, I believe the biggest barrier that we face to advancing gun rights isn't politicians, but swaying the vast majority of the general public who are indifferent, or on the fence about guns. 

What I've found is, if you're just a normal person who likes to shoot, and talks about it in a normal way, most folks are pretty receptive. 

However, if you're rocking a "Hillary for Prison" shirt and whatnot (i.e. dressed in a way that automatically politicizes a conversation) the general public is going to be much less receptive to your message.

If you want to make something "normal" you've got to be normal. 

Shirts!

Check out this shirt I'm selling over on Teespring. I think it's pretty great, and I'm quite excited about it. 

First Match Voicemail:

Matt in Indiana sent in a great first match voicemail for this episode, and it made me want to remind everyone out there that I'm here to help. 

If you want to get started in competitive shooting, and have questions, hit me up. Shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net, read the How to Get Started in Competitive Shooting series here, and if that's not enough, sign up for my newsletter to get my .PDF with 9 more resources for getting started. You can get subscribed right here.

Plug of the Week:

Check out this episode of The Art of Manliness with Mike Rowe. Mike is a guy that really resonates with me, in that he tells people that they don't have to go to college and get deeply in debt to be successful. I'm the guy that he warns you about. I went to college because I thought I had to, then I dropped out, and don't have a diploma, but I've still got all the debt. 

I'm also someone who used to work a desk job, and hated every minute of it. I quit, got a job where I'm up and moving, working with my hands, and getting dirty, and I couldn't be happier. Turns out, I like being challenged, and I like doing things that require me to think. 

Just The Tip:

Here's my best practices for using a tablet to score people at matches with Practiscore:

• Leave the tablets on the stages that they start on. (Don't take them from stage to stage) This way, if a tablet breaks or hiccups and loses the scores that have been entered into it, you only lose the one stage for everyone. If you take the same tablet from stage to stage, and it breaks, you lose all of the scores for every stage for that entire squad, and that sucks. 
• Alphabetize by first name to get your first stage shooting order. Then, on the next stage, drop down as many shooters as it takes to make it all the way around during the match (If you have 12 people on the squad, and 6 stages, drop by 2 shooters each stage.) This way, everyone gets a chance to shoot at the top of the order, and at the bottom of the order, and nobody has to go first on every stage. 
• The reason you go by first name, is because it's repeatable from tablet to tablet, and generally splits up family members who have the same last name that might want to film each other and but then not have enough time to prepare to go next if you were to sort by last name.

Being the 5th week of the month, and a holiday weekend, I'd usually take a week off from the podcast, but I had some things from this weeks practice session and Sunday's USPSA match that I wanted to talk about. So, on this weeks show, I move away from the usual podcast format, and just give you some top of mind things from this last week. 

Patreon

If you haven't checked out the Triangle Tactical Patreon yet, you're missing out. The 4th episode of the Triangle Tactical News Blast podcast just released over there this week, and in my opinion, it's pretty good. Patreon is allowing me to do a lot more awesome stuff, so if you can contribute, I'd certainly appreciate it!

Patreon.com/triangletactical

Recently a well known tactical trainer dude posted something on Facebook about having an XD pistol malfunction in his classes, and went on to talk about how he's seen a lot of malfunctions from the XD pistols in his classes. (I don't doubt his experience, at all)

Of course, a bunch of folks came out of the woodwork defending the XD pistols, and other folks came into the comment thread bashing XDs, and even others came into the thread defending their pistol de jour while calling themselves a "Glock guy" or "Sig guy" or "1911 guy" or whatever. 

I'm less grumpy about someone taking a class and breaking a gun than I am about the folks who identify themselves as a "whatever guy" because they're pigeonholing themselves into one brand, when chances are at some point in time, you're going to want a feature that your gun de jour doesn't have. Especially if you practice a bunch. 

It's like screwdriver. I carry an expensive one every day at work, because I use a screwdriver A LOT. To most folks, a screwdriver is just a screwdriver, but once you use one all the time, you start to appreciate the little things in a quality piece of equipment that you overlook when you don't know what you don't know. 

Patreon:

The Triangle Tactical Patreon is up and running. Think of it like an online tip jar where you can pledge a few bucks a month my way if you think I'm doing a good job. If you come in at the $5 a month level or more, you'll get access to the all new Triangle Tactical News Blast podcast (Episode 3 just went up) in addition to this show. I've also been throwing some show bloopers over there when I come across something funny.

Check it out at Patreon.com/triangletactical

Cheap Target Tape

MGM Targets sells Shuretape for way cheaper than Amazon. Get some here. I don't have any relationship with them, it's just a good deal.

One of the more common things I hear from people who want to get started in competitive shooting is that they don't have the money. 

Before I get going on this topic, I want to make one thing very clear: If you're trying to scratch together the money to eat, now is not the time to get started in competitive shooting. 

With that said, I don't think being a regular competitive shooter has to cost a whole lot more than most other hobbies. If you're into hiking, you're going to have gas costs to get you to the trailheads, boots wear out, stoves, fuel for stoves, tent, backpack, etc. 

The same thing with cycling. Chains have to be replaced somewhat frequently, chainrings wear out, tires, tubes, suspension work, etc. It all adds up. 

So, here's some things I do to save money so I can shoot more:

Reloading:

When I got started with this stuff, I had more time than money. I bought a cheap, used, Lee Turret press, and all the peripherals I need to get started reloading for about $300
Once that investment was made, I was able to start cranking out $0.10 9mm ammo, which was half the cost of the factory ammo I was buying.

Consolidate guns:

Don’t have a suitable gun for competition? I bet you’ve got a blaster (or 5) in the safe that you could sell, and use the proceeds to buy a suitable shooter.
If that’s not an option, check the used market. There’s usually some decent deals on police trade-in glocks, and other gats like that.

Shoot a less expensive division:

Let’s be honest, Open division probably isn’t for the guys looking to save every penny. Optics break, guns break etc. It happens, and don’t any of you open shooters try to debate me, I see your Facebook posts about sending your guns back to manufacturers to get fixed.
Even Carry Optics is becoming a more expensive division, because slide ride optics break. A lot.
Saw a guy a few months ago break the Vortex optics on both his regular, and his backup gun in the same match.

Work for a free match:

I used to volunteer to setup, RO, and tear down at a local match in addition to being able to shoot for free. It was great when I had more time than money.
Not every match offers this sort of thing, but it’s definitely a thing that exists.

Carpool to matches:

Especially if you don’t have a little gas sipper car like I do.
I’m pretty lucky here in the Raleigh area to have TONS of matches, however, sometimes that still involves an hour and a half drive to matches if I want to head out to Carolina Guns and Gear’s USPSA match, etc.
Back in the day, I used to drive over to Cohost Ben’s house, which was like 35mins from my place, and then jump in with him for the rest of the ride.  Added bonus is that you can talk shop the whole way there and back, which is great, and makes the drive seem shorter.

Patreon:

If you're considering the Triangle Tactical Patreon but you're not sure what you'll get on the new News Blast podcast, here's a little taste for you:

If you want more, there's two News Blast episodes up on Patreon RIGHT NOW, with more coming. Patreon.com/triangletactical

Plugs of the Week:

There's been a bunch of really good competitive shooting podcasts over the last week, so I'm plugging them all:

• Shannon Smith Shooting - Episode 17 - Really interesting to hear a high level shooter talk about DQing at a big match. Most folks don't talk about this stuff, so I'd recommend you check it out.
• 3GunShow Book Club - Practical Shooting: Beyond Fundamentals 
• PARAcast Podcast - Episode 99 - Good discussion about what an IDPA shooter should expect at a USPSA match. 

Have you ever been given unsolicited advice at the range?

Or, have you ever given it?

Podcast listener Michael sent me a message on Facebook with the following message:

Hey Lucas, I’ve got an idea for a topic on the podcast that I would like to hear your take on. The topic is unsolicited advice at matches. . For instance the guy that tries to pick apart random shooters match performance and tell them what they screwed up on and what they need to do or BUY to improve their performance. It seems like it’s usually the crappy shooters or old guys doing it to so it’s usually not even good advice. It is my personal opinion that unless someone asks you for advice at a match you don’t give them any. What are your thoughts, see any of this at matches you go to?

I do think that most people who give out advice at matches have good intentions, but, I don't think that most people should probably be giving others advice, especially when it's about actual shooting, and not just things like "don't handle your blaster outside the safe area, etc."

Announcements!

The Q&A Podcast is back! It's going to be once a week, and it's going to be live on Facebook. It'll also be released as an audio only podcast just like it used to be. However to make it work, I need you to send me your questions. Whatever you've got, email it to luke@triangletactical.net

Patreon!

If you're interested in the new Triangle Tactical News Blast podcast, or if you just want to help me do more awesome Junk Science episodes and stuff like that, head over to my Patreon page at Patreon.com/triangletactical

The News

The Sig P320x5 is USPSA Production legal. This is blowing peoples minds, and actually making some folks angry, which is dumb. It's awesome, and even if you're probably not going to buy one (like me) you should at least appreciate that manufacturers are seeing a market share among competition guns. 

[powerpress]

There are some things in the shooting sports that just suck. Today, I talk about those things. What sucks for you? Let me know in the comments below this post!

Anyways, here's my list:

• Sub-machine gun matches
  • It sounds so awesome, but at the one I observed, people were just spraying and praying, and as someone who embraces the DVC (Speed/Power/Accuracy) thing, it just didn't do anything for me.
• Carnival stages
  • I like hard shots. If you're a stage designer, make some shots challenging, but don't take every target out of the target shed and use them all on one stage. Just don't.
• People who say "But it's just a club match?!"
  • Play the game, or don't play the game. If you're going to be there though, play by the rules.
• Range Officers who are afraid to DQ people who are unsafe.
  • You're not doing the shooter a favor by letting them keep shooting. If safety is really #1, that means it takes precedent above the shooters feelings. If someone does something that's DQable, DQ them. 

Gear that Doesn't Suck

As I've mentioned many times, this podcast keeps running because of my affiliate links with Amazon.com. All you've got to do is hit an Amazon link here on Triangle Tactical, then make your purchase on Amazon, and I'll get a kick back from Amazon for referring you. 

I spent a big part of last weekend re-doing the Gear that Doesn't Suck page that's got all of the Gear that Doesn't Suck items on it from the last year or so of podcast episodes. Check it out at triangletactical.net/doesntsuck.

Listener Q&A

Brandon on Facebook just bought an XD 2 weeks ago, and wants to start dryfire.

Rick in Michigan is browsing new guns, and wants to know what he should look at for a competition gun.

Sean on Facebook asks about where to buy USPSA targets for practice. 

If you've got a question, shoot me an email (and you can get to the front of the line if you attach a voicemail) at luke@triangletactical.net

If you look at any sport, other than practical shooting you'll notice that people work with a single coach for a long period of time. In practical shooting though, folks tend to work their way up the rankings alone, with just dryfire and live fire practice, and the occasional training class from someone who's a national champion or something.

The trouble here is that when you're going to learn from someone who doesn't know you, and might not ever see you again, you're only getting the day or two of instruction, and then it's all back on you.

When I was a kid I played a little bit of little league, and I remember our coaches being immensely helpful in making us better players.

Our dryfire was playing catch, or practicing pitches, or even the pickup baseball game in the grassy lot behind the local church.

Then we got actual coaching from our coaches where they'd help us learn how to practice better, make corrections, etc.

Then, the best kids on the team (not me...) would go off to clinics in the summer time where they learned more in depth how to pitch, swing a bat, etc, and these classes WERE taught by people who were like D1 college coaches, or former MLB players, etc. To me, this is the equivalent of taking a shooting class from a big name instructor.

But notice, there's no equivalent to the coaching model in the practical shooting sports, and in my opinion, is one of the most important parts. Why?

Plug of the Week:

Go check out the Finding Mastery podcast. I just came across it the other day, listened to a handful of episodes, then subscribed and downloaded a bunch of his back catalog. If you're interested in mastering the shooting sports, I think learning about the mindset of other people who are masters in their fields is important. 

Here's his episode with Anders Ericsson, that I'd highly recommend you listen to.

Just the Tip

Don't ever, under any circumstance, ever, EVER, finish shooting a stage, pick up your magazines, and put them back on your belt before you stuff them back full. You will forget, and you will not remember until you're halfway through a stage and you realize you don't have any more ammo. Resist the urge!

If you've been shooting USPSA for any length of time, you've probably heard someone say "Don't draw to steel!" while walking through a stage before it's shot. It's something that's become conventional wisdom in practical shooting, and I think it's complete hogwash.

If you approach an array of targets like the ones below, and draw to the steel target first, your time to first shot might be slightly longer, but at the same time, your time to shoot the plate if it's the last target will probably take just as long, so I think it's a wash.

So, Here's what I did:

Draw to steel on far left then shoot to the right. Mean HitFactor = 8.9833

Draw to paper on far left then shoot to steel on the right. Mean HitFactor = 8.9952

Draw to steel on far right then shoot to paper on the right. Mean HitFactor = 8.5273

Draw to paper on the far right then shoot to steel on the far right. Mean HitFactor = 7.9567

Basically, it doesn't matter. Personally, I think the slight fall off on the last one I shot down to a 7.5 hitfactor was more to do with the fact that I was tired, had shot a bunch, and was trying to beat the rain, more than it was the target placement messing with my shooting.

So, by the powers of junk science, I declare this myth busted. Draw to whatever target most benefits your stage plan, and stop listening to the other folks on your squad who are spewing out things they don't know about.

Call to Action

So, The episode "What Should You Practice" has already become the #5 most downloaded episode of the Triangle Tactical Podcast, ever. This tells me that a great number of listeners are interested in knowing more about what to practice.

Well, I think today's podcast is a good exercise in what you should practice. So, take the diagram above, and shoot it in live fire, or dryfire with a timer, and see what gets you the best results. Should you "not draw to steel"? or will you find that it doesn't really matter?

Let me know, hit up the comments, or shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net.  

I hear a lot of excuses from people about why competitive shooting is bad, or why they won't/don't shoot it, etc. (Actually, I think I hear them less and less because people don't want me to talk about them on the podcast) but anyways...

A lot of the excuses I hear are just silly, and a while back I received a bunch of them from the same person:

• "You have to keep your guns unloaded until you're the shooter."
• "You have to show clear and hammer down when you're done."
• 180* rule
• "If the muzzle is up or down, there's no reason you can't turn around."
• "Some competitions you can't reload or shoot while moving."

When criticizing practical shooting, I think you need to ask yourself what is lost when these things are implemented? What's lost by having people walk around with unloaded guns? What's lost by verifying the guns are unloaded? What's lost by implementing the 180* rule?

Nothing.

I remember showing up to my first USPSA match and being kind of intimidated by all of the folks that were there with their fancy shooting shirts, covered in sponsor logos.

Patrick in Detroit sent in a question for the Q&A podcast way back in about July of 2016. At the time I promised him that I'd do an episode about his question, and I set out looking for someone to interview who knows more about it than I do. What I found was a little surprising: most people don't really want to talk about the details.

So, I've spent the last 9 months or so looking into the different sponsorships by talking to folks at matches, reading things on the internet, and observing.

What I've ascertained is that there are 3 basic types of sponsorships in the shooting sports:

• Free Stuff
• Contingency Program
• Team Shooters

There's a 4th type of sponsorship that people think exists, but it doesn't really, and that's the "paid professional shooter". Companies have paid spokesman who shoot, but I'm not aware of anyone who just get's paid to shoot matches and practice all the time. I don't think it exists. 

Treating a Match Like an Athletic Event

I used to do a ton of obstacle racing and we would train specifically for the event, running distances, climbing walls, etc

And then I would eat well the night before, drink plenty of water and go to bed early. In the morning I’d eat a healthy breakfast with slow carbs to last throughout the day and pack with me plenty of water in a camelbak and some shotblocks for quick carbs out on the course.

And I don’t do any of that for 3-Gun matches.

This became apparent recently when I was shooting the Dissident Arms Multigun monthly club match near College Station, Texas.

So the night before I got to talking with the roommates and stayed up a little too late. And I’ve been running a bit too hard lately so I actually slept through my alarm. I woke up at 7, about an hour late and quickly took care of the pup and hit the road to drive two hours to the match.

I sent a text to a pal on my squad to let him know that I’d be late and luckily when I got to the stage it was a 1-gun stage, pistol, and we were only a couple shooters in so they put me down in the order. I quickly got ready and came over in time to help reset for one shooter and then I was up.

Of course it was a trash stage but that theme kept on most of the match. I was bumpling shotgun loads and couldn’t shoot the pistol to save my life.

So what did I learn from that?

Well a couple things:

I think I might be shooting too many matches and just not taking them seriously enough.

Self care. I’ve largely gotten away from this as far as matches go.

Get that sleep. This is totally subjective so if you need that 8 hours, get it. If you need less, good for you.

Eat a decent breakfast in the morning. Something that will give you energy for a few hours.

Pack some snacks. I like an apple but I found myself getting hungry toward the end of the day so I need to add something to the mix. Small snacks that can be eaten throughout the day and not necessarily one big meal.

Hydration. My standard is one of those standard 16oz bottles of water per stage. I came away from this match having consumed 1 24 oz bottle of water over 4 stages. That’s not nearly enough for the hot Texas day that I was shooting in.

The News

Federal Cartridge lays off a whole bunch of workers.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Traveling all around the country for 3Gun matches, I've had the opportunity to shoot in some really... awful... weather.

I picked up a big golf umbrella for matches, and it's been phenomenal for keeping me, and all my stuff dry in crappy weather. 

Every hear people complain about range lawyers?

Ever heard people spout off about the rules at a match about the rules and be blatantly wrong?

What about the folks who are intentionally trying to bend the rules to their benefit?

What about folks who are just trying to make sure we play the game by the rules?

Last week I had to take my USPSA Range Officer exam, and in doing so, I noticed I was pretty rusty on the rulebook, so I sat down and read it cover to cover one more time, and… I learned a LOT.

So, I’m the guy that brings his rulebook. I intend to use it should their be a question about the rules at a match. I even keep a .pdf of the applicable rulebooks on my phone so I can text search them quicker than looking through the paper copies at a match.

Does that make me a “range lawyer?” I don’t think so. I want to win, but I don’t want to win by bending the rules. I want to win on a fair playing field against everyone else, and my conscience wouldn’t allow me to win by bending the rules.

So, the next time someone whips out the rulebook, don’t worry about it. Don’t take it personally, because rules change from time to time, and it can be confusing to keep up. Embrace the rulebook. 

Gear that Doesn’t Suck

At the match on Saturday, I took a frag off a piece of steel to the calf while running a shooter, and it hurt like crazy. After I called the range clear, I found a chunk of lead a little smaller than a pencil eraser under the skin of my leg.

After the match I was thinking… “what would have happened had that hit me in the eye?”

See, even after writing this post, I still found myself on the range with regular sunglasses. Derp.

So, go get some decent safety glasses for shooting. If you’re not the type to go buy expensive whiz-bang shooting glasses, you can get tinted rated safety glasses for just a couple dollars. Head over to triangletactical.net/227 to see the ones I use most.

Q&A

I've got a couple awesome Q&A's this week from Rick and Danny. 

Rick asked about other podcast episodes to listen to for getting started:

• All you need, nothing you don't
• Do's and Dont's
• Disqualifications
• Loose Ends

Danny in Dayton sends in a voicemail asking about dryfire and slide-lock reloads. He's pausing after seating the magazine, and dropping the slide. I had a similar, and opposite problem where I was dropping the slide too soon, and not stripping a round into the chamber.

• Dryfire - I don't see why you couldn't start a drill with the pistol up, empty mag inserted in it, and the slide locked back. On the buzzer drop the empty mag, seat a mag with a snap cap in it, and drop the slide, and properly insert the new mag chambers the snap cap. 
• Live fire - Same deal, but with 1 round in the chamber. On the buzzer, draw, fire one alpha, gun goes to slidelock, then insert the next mag, and properly chamber the next round. That'll get you 100reps for 100rds. 

Listen to the Podcast

[powerpress]

Have you ever noticed that at some matches, it's totally cool to pull out a rulebook when there's a question about a rule, but at other matches it's almost offensive to the parties involved?

Have you ever noticed how some folks just seemingly want to buy junk? It's like some people just want to buy the underdog gun, and shoot it well so bad that they'll ask for advice, then completely ignore it. 

Have you ever noticed that some folks just can't put their machismo away for any reason? A couple weeks ago I encouraged you to go buy a tourniquet, and I was surprised by the reaction of some folks, saying they don't need one, because they'll just use their belt, etc. I'll be honest, I don't think you probably can use most belts to stop serious bleeding, and if you can, I have my doubts that you'll be able to put it on and find a makeshift windlass to cinch it down before you lose too much blood. Listen, I like to do tinker and do things myself, but TQ's aren't expensive and they can save your life. Don't take my word for it though, I'm just a dude. Here's what the experts have to say about it.  

Q&A

Billy asked me about changing a stage plan after seeing someone else shoot a stage differently than your plan. Generally, I think it's a bad idea. I've done it a few times, and it usually doesn't work out if I've already come up with a good plan, and visualized it, etc. However, there's been a time or two when I've come up with a plan, and then seen someone change it in a way that makes a DRASTIC difference, and I've went for it too. 

Jay in Nebraska asks about having bullets backwards in his magazine pouches. I generally think it's poor form, and I think either bullets out, or bullets forward are superior ways of doing it. 

The News

Trump could repeal the gun ban on Army Corps of Engineers land. This is really relevant to my interests, as there's a LOT of ACoE land around me (Falls Lake area) that I spend a good bit of time on. I've love to see this happen. 

I've been asking for your voicemails for this episode of the podcast asking "what makes you go "ugghhh" at a match". Now, the goal of this episode isn't to bash the shooting sports, or bash other competitors or anything like that. My goal with this was to have some lighthearted entertainment, and hopefully get some things that other might be able to use to improve themselves, or improve their match. 

...and that's exactly what I got.

So, sit back and enjoy. I think you'll like it if you're a long time competitor or even someone who's looking to shoot your first match soon.

This week I wanted to wrap up a couple loose ends that I didn't cover in the last few episodes about folks that are new to competitive shooting.

Leniency for new shooters. I'm the first person to tell you to come shoot with the gear you've got just to get your feet wet in the shooting sports. I don't care if your gun isn't quite legal (as long as it's safe) or if your magazine pouches don't quite fit the rules for the division you're shooting or whatever, because I think it's important to just shoot what you've got before dumping boatloads of money on something you're not even sure you'll like.

However, I am not willing to afford this sort of leniency when it comes to safety rules. If you can't be safe with a gun, you shouldn't come shoot. If the phrase “but it isn't loaded” is part of your vocabulary, you're not ready. We're playing with real guns, and safety is always first. I won't compromise, and I won't be a part of any group that does.

Try all the flavors of ice cream. If you go shoot your first match and the folks there tell you not to shoot a different match because “those guys are just gamers who spray bullets and don't care about accuracy" or "those guys are are just too tacticool for their own good, don't be like them." you owe it to yourself to go shoot that other match.

Things that make you go "ugghhh"

I need your voicemails for an upcoming episode! What made you go "ugh" at a recent match? I'll tell you, one that that makes me go "ugghhh" is when people paste targets with no regard to the scoring lines. At some point you'll have to cover a scoring line with a paster, I get it, but try to cover as little as possible, and if you don't have to cover the scoring line, don't!

So, send me a voicemail and tell me what makes you go "ugghhh" at a match. Here's how to do it.

Q&A

Pat in Connecticut sends in a question about whether to run "bullets out" or "bullets forward" magazine pouches. 

• Personally, I like "bullets out" better but I currently run "bullets forward" pouches. I'm considering making the switch after this season. I think if you're just getting started, "bullets out" is better. 

Plug of the Week:

Literally, for several years now a crazy libertarian friend of mine has been hounding me to listen to and finally this last week I ran out of podcasts to listen to, so I gave it a try, and, well, I like it. 

It's the Tom Woods Show, and he's a crazy libertarian like I am, so if you lean that way too, you'll probably like it. If you don't lean that way, we can still be friends, it's cool.

Disqualifications

Continuing on with my new-shooter kick over the past month or so, this week I'm talking about the most common disqualifications are that I see at matches. 99% of disqualifications are for unsafe gun handling. The most common things I see are as follows:

• Sweeping the weak hand on the draw. This generally happens when someone is using the holster that shipped with their gun, as in my experience these holsters tend to be on the tight side. The shooter gets the make ready command, tries to pull the gun out of the holster and it doesn't come right out. They then reach across their body and grab the holster with their weak hand, pull the gun out, and then sweep their hand with the muzzle in the process:

• Breaking the 180. I asked on the Triangle Tactical Instagram and Facebook pages about the most common disqualifications at matches, and breaking the 180 was OVERWHELMINGLY the most common thing suggested.
• Table starts. The biggest thing here is this: Don't take your gun out of the holster until you're specifically told to do so by the range officer. There's something about table starts that makes people think that they can pull out their gun and set it on the table without being told to do so. That's a DQ, and it sucks. Don't do that. 

Gear That Doesn't Suck

Listen, you need to have a tourniquet in your range bag, and probably another one in your car, and you need to know how to use it.

I own a SOF-T wide, and a CAT, and I feel most confident that I can work CAT one handed, which is why it's in my personal range bag.

Here's the thing though: I don't feel comfortable pointing you to an Amazon page on where to buy a TQ because there are a lot of counterfeit ones on there and from what I've gathered the counterfeit ones are no good for actual use, so I think you should buy directly from the manufacturer. 

Tac Med Solutions makes the SOF-T, and you can get it here.

North American Rescue makes the CAT, and you can get it here.

I make nothing on this, but I value you as a listener, so go spend the $30 or whatever, get one, learn to use it. 

Q&A

Austin sends in his first match voicemail, and follows up with a question about what division to shoot his Glock 19 in, in IDPA and USPSA.

• In IDPA, he'll be fine with SSP or CCP division, generally I shoot SSP with my Glock 19 just so I can load my magazines to 10 rounds.
• In USPSA I think he should get started in Limited division, shooting Minor power factor 9mm. This way he can load his mags up full, and not worry about buying a ton of gear to get started. If he decides he likes USPSA, he can buy all the mag pouches and stuff required to shoot Production division, which is where the Glock 19 woul fit best. 

Plug of the Week:

Victory Gun Blog - Barrel Race 2017

Things that Make You Go "Ugghhh"

I need your voicemails for this! Send them in here.

A few weeks back I talked about how it's important to always get video at a match, because it gives you something to review later and reflect on your performance, see the things you need to work on, etc.

After this last weekend's match at Carolina Guns and Gear in Ramseur, NC, I found another reason to take match video, and that's to keep you honest. I had an absolute blast at this match. I was on a great squad with fun folks, and we cut it up all day. I left the match thinking about what I great time I had, and in my head I thought I had performed fairly well.

Then I looked at my video...

My video showed that I moved slow, missed positions, got my lunch money stolen by a Texas star, and missed way too much on steel targets. However, if I'm being honest with myself, this is probably some of the most valuable match video I have.

Plug of the Week:

The Feed Ramp. I don't know who's behind this site, but it's a satire website (Think The Onion, Babylon Bee, DuffelBlog, etc) based around practical shooting. It's only been around for like a day, and it's amazing.

Things that Make you go "Ugghhh" at a match.

I still need more voicemails! Go here to send me a voicemail telling me about the things that make you go "ugghhh" at a match. 

• Do - Do some YouTube research on different matches. If all you’ve done is read forum posts about different matches, and you’re SURE you know what you want to shoot, because the”other game” has too many rules, go watch some videos of the other games too. Just like with self defense law, most forum posts about matches, and rules and stuff are just plain wrong.
• Don’t - Don’t go spend a ton of cash on competition gear before you’ve shot a match or two. I've seen people buy a bunch of stuff wanting to shoot in a certain division, only to find out the stuff they bought isn't legal for that division.
• Do - When it’s time to buy gear, buy good stuff. I messed around for literally years making sub-par gear, constantly fiddling with things, when I should have just bought stuff that gets out of my way and lets me be awesome.
• Don’t - Don’t take advice about competition from random gun people, or people behind the gun counter about competition gear, matches, etc. Find a higher level competitor to get your advice from. This goes for things like practice, types of matches, gear, whatever else. General “gun people” don’t know jack about competition. Pistol shooters don’t know jack about rifle shooting, what have you. 
• Don’t - Don’t assume a piece of gear is legal for competition just because it’s got “competition” in the marketing. There’s a LOT of this going around and I really wish companies would get their crap together and stop misleading people, or at the very least list what competitions/divisions their gun is legal for.
• Don’t - Don’t try to shoot like the fast guys when that’s not your skill level. I’ve seen several new folks show up to a match, and literally shoot stages completely missing half the targets, but with grand master level times. If you try to shoot faster than you've ever shot to try and roll with the big dogs, you're gonna have a bad time.

The News

A Constitutional carry bill has been introduced in North Carolina.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

Anker PowerCore powerbank. This sucker will re-charge my cell phone almost 10 times. It's a beast, and it's well made, charges fast, and I just generally like it. I bought it in case I lost power for a few days in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, and I've found myself using quite a bit at the range to keep my phone charged, and when using my phone as a wifi hotspot since that's quite the battery drain.

Things that Make You go "ugghhh" at a match

Don't forget to send me a voicemail about things that make you go "ugghhh" at a match. Here's the deets.

A common question I get from people who are somewhat new to shooting (or at least new to practice) is asking what they should be practicing. Sometimes folks even buy a book of drills, and don't really know where they should get started with those drills. I don't think there's a "right" answer to this question, but I'm going to tell you what I do:

• Take some notes right after shooting a match. What felt good? What felt sucky? What did people compliment you on? (the last one is a good ego boost too)
• Review your match video. You are filming all of your matches, right? If your not, you should be. Your phone probably takes good enough video, so just turn the camera on, and hand it to whoever is standing closest to you. It's not weird.
  • You don't have to publish the video anywhere, and you don't have to let anyone else see it, but you can go through the video and see the things you're doing well and doing poorly.
  • Here's a few things you can look at: Match video diagnosis series
• Look at your Practiscore results. After Saturday's match, I left thinking that I only had one Mike (miss) for the day. Looking at Practiscore later, I had 6. 6 is not okay, at all. So that's definitely something I need to work on.

The News

Walther is putting up cold, hard cash for winning major matches with your Walther pistol. THIS IS AWESOME! It gets people talking about their products, and it may get Walther fanboys interested in shooting competition. I love it.

There were a bunch of "mainstream" news articles last week about how the House Republicans had voted to strike down some sort of background check bill, when that wasn't the case at all. Turns out, they reversed an Obama policy regarding SSI recipients who have their finances managed by social security not being allowed to own guns. It was a BS policy that, in my opinion, was completely unconstitutional... but the media didn't report that.

Things That Make You Go "Uhgggghhh" At a Match

Next month I want to do another listener only show. In the past we've done "What has competitive shooting done for you?" and "Your 2017 Goals", and next I want you to tell me what makes you go "Uhhhhhhggghh" at a match. Could be a match administration thing, could be something other shooters do, or it could be something you do yourself. Lets have some fun with it. I'd like to air this episode the first week of March, so hurry up and send in the voicemails!

• Leave a voicemail from your computer
• 781-7BULLET  (781-728-5538) to call the Triangle Tactical voicemail line
• Record it however you want on your phone, and just email the file to luke@triangletactical.net

This week I go through the very basics that you need to shoot your first match. Obviously there's a LOT more to know about competitive shooting (I've been doing this podcast for nearly 5 years) but I hope I give you enough in this to make you feel more comfortable getting started in competitive shooting. If you want more, check out my primer on getting started in competitive shooting here.

The News

A good article about kids in the shooting sports, and how it makes them more responsible. It definitely echo's what I've seen on the shooting range with junior shooters; they're some of the safest, most responsible shooters on the range.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

You should have a squib stick in your range bag. Even if you've never loaded a squib, it's handy to have on the range when someone else loads one, and you need to check if the barrel is clear. The thing is, the places that sell them specifically for shooting are prohibitively expensive, but I've got a solution: a brass rod.

www.triangletactical.net/doesntsuck

Plug of the Week

I'm kind of an irregular listener to the Joe Rogan podcast. I listen when he's got someone I'm interested in hearing about on, and last week he had one of those people: Gary Taubes. Gary's written a lot about sugar/carbs/fat/etc. So, it's the end of January, I'm guessing a lot of folks are maybe falling off their New Years resolutions to lose some weight, so if you are, I think this is a decent episode to learn more about maybe a new way to look at health. I've lost about 60-65lbs on a ketogenic diet, and I feel way better than I ever have.

Contact

luke@triangletactical.net

Last week over on the Triangle Tactical Facebook page I posted "Ask Me Anything", and Ryan asked "Shooting while moving, ever worth it?"

My initial reaction given what I've seen and heard in the past was that shooting Minor power factor, it's hard to score enough points to make shooting on the move worth it. A couple other dudes called me out, and it really made me want to put it to the test. So I did.

This is the 7 round stage I setup:

Start position was about where I took the picture from, then there's a second position past the 3rd target which was the only place the steel could be shot from. I shot it two ways: Shooting all the paper from the start position, then running to the steel position and hitting the steel, and moving from the start position, shooting the paper as I got closer to it, then shooting the steel from the steel position.

This had me moving the same amount of distance, shooting the same amount of targets. The results were interesting.

Shooting static my hit factors were as follows:

1. 4.257
2. 4.294
3. 4.176
4. 4.504
5. 3.850

• Average Hit Factor: 4.216

Shooting on the move hit factors:

1. 5.263
2. 5.080
3. 4.957
4. 4.650
5. 4.740

• Average Hit Factor: 4.938

There was a definite improvement while shooting on the move, which totally rocked my world. Obviously this is junk science, but it's awesome to know that I can be faster shooting on the move, when I've always thought I should post up and shoot, then move.

Anyways, this was a hoot to do. If you've got any ideas for future Junk Science episodes, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net

On Saturday I shot a Day/Night IDPA match at H2O Fowl Farms. We shot all 6 stages once during the daylight, and then when the sun went down we shot the match again with flashlights. If you've never shot with a flashlight before, it can be a challenge that you're not expecting. Holding the flashlight while shooting is a challenge, but then reloading your gun with a flashlight in your weak hand can be even more of a challenge than just shooting.In addition to the Day/Night match, we also shot with the new IDPA rules. The biggest changes I noticed during the match were the fault lines, followed closely with the new reload rules. I think the fault lines have profoundly changed the game for the better.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

During the match I shot my Streamlight ProTac 2L flashlight, which is the same light I carry in my pocket every day. The only change I've made to it is to file off the little nubs around the switch (use a file, not a Dremel, trust me)  to make it easier to activate the light when holding it one handed while shootin

I've found it to be a great flashlight, so if you're looking for something to carry every day, I'd recommend the ProTac 2L.

Contact

If you've got a question or anything for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net or post in the comments below.

Winterpocalypse 2017 rolled through Raleigh, NC this weekend and we got a ridiculous .5" of snow that brought the city to it's knees once again. Once again, I'm just shocked at how folks knew the storm was coming, and were just completely unprepared. 

After the snow and ice came, most of the roads were slippery and folks down here aren't skilled in driving with anything more than a little water on the roads, so for the most part people were staying put at home, which was probably a good decision. However, Friday night I decided to go find some steaks and the grocery store was PACKED. Shelves were literally empty, people were in lines as long as the store was, and they had carts filled to the max. Thankfully, I got some steaks, and was able to slip out through the self-checkout without waiting in line. 

So, here's my challenge to you: whether you live in a place like I do, where we lose power if someone sneezes too hard, or if you're in a place that's pretty stable, have enough food and water on hand to last you a few days or more. It's cheap and easy. Whenever you go to the grocery store, just get a can of soup or something and add it to your preps, and before long, you'll be pretty well stocked. Every month or so, grab a case of bottled water too. We're talking like $10/month, so you can definitely afford it. It's not hard to be prepared, it just takes a little forethought.

This is the last podcast episode of 2017, and if you've been listening for the past couple weeks I've been begging for voicemails telling me your 2017 shooting goals.

Well, y'all sent in a bunch of them, so here they are.

Anyways, my 2016 goal was to have more fun, and in all honesty, I didn't meet that goal. I got severely burned out in July, and have only shot 2 matches since then. So, my 2017 goals are to have a little more fun, but also put in a bit more work than I have the last few months.

The biggest thing though, is that I want to be able to look back in a year, and say that I've introduced X number of people into the shooting sports. I want to come up with a way to make the on-ramp to the shooting sports easier, and less stressful.

So a bunch of text about the newest IDPA rules appeared in my inbox, and on a few different forums and discussion boards a couple days ago. The sources I got the text from are credible, in my opinion. The text talks about what the new IDPA rulebook will be for 2017 now that the comment period has passed. 

Personally, I think the vast majority of it is really good. 

## Goals

There's still time to send in your voicemail with your 2017 shooting goals.

Head over to triangletactical.net/goals to see how to leave a voicemail. I want to know what your goal is, and what you're going to do to achieve it. 

In the modern times we're in, when we want to learn about something new we go to web forums, subreddits, and Facebook groups that are based around the topic we're interested in. I'm a member of web forums based around a TON of different topics, because I like to learn about things.

It's awesome to have the entire wealth of knowledge in the world at your fingertips, however I think in the competitive shooting world especially, it can be detrimental to actually getting new people into the games. 

At it's heart, competitive shooting is... competitive. When you get a bunch of competitive people in a group where rules of the competition are discussed, there will be some debate. Debate is great. 

You'll also get a bunch of people who've never read the rule book, who think they know the rules, arguing against things that are supposedly in the rule book, but actually aren't, but they're ignorant of what the rules actually say. 

Then, you'll get someone who hasn't ever shot a match reading all this, thinking that everyone at competitions is a jerk, and at each others throats trying to do whatever possible to win, when that couldn't be further from the truth.

So, if you're reading in these groups, and you haven't ever shot a match, either go shoot, or stop reading. 

2017 Goals

You've got just a little more time to send in your voicemail telling me what your goals are for 2017. Head over to triangletactical.net/goals to send me a voicemail. 

Here's what I want to know:

- What's your goal?

- What are you going to do to achieve it?

The News

This actually exists. A coffee-mug holster. Really.

Listen to the Podcast

[powerpress]

This week on the podcast I interviewed Arik Levy of the Shooters Summit, which is a cool project he's got going on where he interviwed 23 of the heavy hitters in the shooting world, and will be releasing the videos FOR FREE December 12 - 18th, (of you can pay $19.95 to get them now, which is a good value, and you get the audio versions). 

So far I've listened to Ben Stoeger, Benny Cooley, and Craig Douglas, and they've been fantastic interviews so far. I downloaded all the audio versions onto my phone, and I've been listening to them like they were podcasts.

2017 Shooting Goals

I want to hear your 2017 shooting goals. Go to triangletactical.net/goals to send in a voicemail telling me what your goals are, and how you'll achieve them. 

The News

I'm curious how you feel about this:

Texas will have a bill introduced the next time the legislature gets together in 2017 that will remove all the fees for concealed carry permits. Obviously issuing permits isn't free, and the government is fully funded by tax payers, so this would really just subsidize the cost to all the tax payers in the state. 

• On one hand, cool, no fees.
• On the other, it's like making your neighbors pay for it, which I dislike. 
• Back to the first hand, we shouldn't have to pay to exercise a right.
• But on the second hand, then why not just get rid of the permit?

Listen to the Podcast

[powerpress]

Just a few things I've learned from competitive shooting over the years:

1. If you want to get better, stop chasing the newest, latest, greatest. Find some gear that's good enough, and stick with it. If you can afford the best gear, awesome, if you can't, that's fine too. 
2. Stop trying to do everything yourself. I'm super cheap, so in the beginning I tried to make all my own gear. I spent countless hours making magazine pouches that were never quite right. Then I just bought some, and they're great, and I don't have to think about magazine pouches anymore.
3. Practice works, and matches are really crappy practice. 

2017 Shooting Goals

I want to hear about your shooting goals for 2017. You've got about 3 weeks to send in a voicemail telling me what your 2017 shooting goals are, so get on it! 

Here's what I want to know: 

• What is your goal?
• What are you going to do to meet that goal?

Go to triangletactical.net/goals to send in a voicemail.

Way back when I used to ride mountain bikes in junior high school I just pushed my mountain bike down the trail, and never really learned how to do things better. I rode a lot, put a lot of miles on my bike, but I didn't practice.

I did the same thing when I first got really into shooting and competitive shooting. I'd just go to the range and shoot. When I started competing I started with a certain level of mediocrity that I was kind of okay with. I'd go to matches and say things like "this is just a practice match" so sucking at the match and not progressing wouldn't be such a big blow to my ego.

After getting a book about how to practice, I came to the conclusion that shooting matches for practice sucks. You need to break things down to their smallest level, and practice them, then put those skills together into bigger things.

I'm currently doing the same things with mountain biking. I feel like a complete newb, so I'm looking at the skills that I need  practice, and making myself spend a few minutes each night working on these individual skills that I need to work on.

I think taking big things, breaking them down into little things, and putting them together later is a great way to conquer just about anything.

The News

A woman was shot in the head outside the Raleigh gunshow the other day. My conclusion: gun handling rules ALWAYS matter.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I've got a couple of these Buff's that I use when riding my bike, and I think I'll be using them this winter when I shoot some winter matches as well. They have the polar version, and the regular version. I really like them both. For something that's so simple, it's really a good product.

IDPA has a new provisional rulebook for 2017, and it includes a lot of changes that you should probably know about. 

The big things are:

• Pistol Caliber Carbine division
• 1 second per down
• Change in the box size and pistol weight for BUG and CCP Divisions
• New classifier

What makes competitive shooting matches fun? To me, it's shooting challenges.

Tight targets? Yes please

No shoots? Sure

Make me do something with my weak hand while shooting? Absolutely

Awkward footing, strange positions, tight spaces? Sign me up

Make me run 100y dragging a dummy before shooting? Meh.

Basically, I like shooting challenges, because I'm there as a competitive shooter. I'm not a sprinter, so making me run 50y before shooting when it doesn't add anything to the stage is dumb.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I hate trying to deal with foggy safety glasses while shooting. When they fog up, you might find yourself trying to look over them (unsafe) or looking through the fog (possibly unsafe, definitely not good for good shooting). So, what I've found is this product from Speedo that you smear on your glasses, rub it in, wash it off, and boom, no foggy glasses for a couple months. It's a tiny little bottle, but it will last you a very long time. I like the stuff, definitely doesn't suck.

Ever met someone who wasn't really into shooting, but more into just always having the coolest newest gun, and then all the sudden they're not around anymore?

Recently I was listening to a couple different podcasts, The Joe Rogen Experience with Dan Bilzarian, and the recent Freakonomics podcast on Maintenence, and a common theme came up in both shows: The idea that once you have the best thing, you don't get the same enjoyment out of something that isn't quite as good. 

In the Dan Bilzarian interview, he talked about how a lot of rich people aren't happy because they're able to buy whatever they want, and if they are only getting their enjoyment out of stuff, and not experiences, they run out of things to enjoy pretty quickly. I've seen this thing happen in the shooting sports a time or two, where someone isn't really into shooting, but into showing up to matches with the coolest newest thing. Eventually, they've got everything, and you stop seeing them as much when they move onto something else. 

I think the lesson here is this: If you want to stick around for a good long while, find your enjoyment in practice, progression, and actually shooting. By all means, shoot with the nicest gun you can afford, but just know, if you're getting your enjoyment out of the gun, that's a short buzz that doesn't last long.

The News

There's been a rash of gun store burglaries in North Carolina recently where the bad guys are taking stolen vehicles and driving them through the doors and walls of gun stores to gain entry in the middle of the night, and then stealing all the guns they can get their hands on. Here's the thing about this: the anti-gun crowd tells us that it's so easy for a bad guy to walk into a gun show and buy whatever gun they want with no repercussions, but if that were true, why would these criminals be going to these great lengths to break into gun stores to steal guns?

There's been campus carry in Texas for a couple months now, and... nothing. A news outlet 'round those parts went on campus to interview students about it, and nothing's happened. (H/T SaysUncle)

Contact

If you've got a question for the podcast, send me a voicemail. Here's how to do it.

If you've got something for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net

It seems like any time someone who's made a name for themselves on the internet opens their mouth and says that something is good, bad, or whatever, there's an army of fanboys who jump on board and claim whatever this person has said as gospel without even taking the time to verify what they were told.

[powerpress]

It happens with both technique, and gear related issues, and I don't think competitive shooters are any less susceptible to it and the tactical crowd. Here's the thing, we progress by standing on the shoulders of giants, building off of the things that those who came before us did. However, blinding following will make you fall in a hole. Stand on the shoulders of giants, but be skeptical. Test things, see what works for you. If something works, awesome. If it doesn't, and you can prove it doesn't then move on.

The News

A Sheriff was in the Cascades Mall when the mass shooting happened, but he was unarmed. Weird story.

Some Michigan legislators think their constituents are idiots. They've introduced an "assault weapon" ban into the state just weeks before the election. VOTE THEM OUT! This bill is terrible, one of the worst pieces of legislation I've seen in a while, and y'all kinfolk back in Michigan need to defeat it.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I really like my Streamlight ProTac 2L. I've had it about 2 years, and it's really been a good flashlight. I don't carry it all the time (work, because I destroy flashlights at work all the time) but if I'm not at work, it's a safe bet that it's within an arms length of me.

Q&A

John in Southern California: I'm a bullseye shooter, want to try IDPA. How should I setup my sights?

This is something that I think a lot of people don't understand when it comes to pistols. It's easy to see on a rifle like an AR-15 because you can see that the sights are something like 2.5" above the bore line, so the concept that the bullet will intersect the line of sight at some point makes sense. However, it seels like a lot of people think that bullets exit the barrel of a pistol, and continue in a perfectly straight line until they hit something, which leads people to say things like "these sights hit point of aim/point of impact" which is a statement that doesn't really make sense unless you specify the distance that that happens.

Here's what I do: I have a Glock 34, and Dawson Precision adjustable sights. I have them setup so that when I'm aiming at the upper A-zone of a USPSA target at 20 yards, the bullet hits right in the upper A-zone where I'm aiming. Shots closer than 20y will have the bullet hitting just a little lower than I'm aiming, and shots further than 20y will hit a little higher for a bit, then somewhere down range (I don't know where, because I don't shoot super long distance with my pistol much) the bullet will intersect the line of sight again, and then continue to fall until it hits the ground.

I think the biggest thing is to know where your pistol hits at a certain distance so you can compensate for it at different distances. John is a bullseye shooter, which has shooters shooting at a fixed distance, so they setup their sights differently than "action" type shooters who may be shooting at a target anywhere from 1 to 50 yards.

Contact

If you'd like to send in a voicemail for the show, just call 781-7BULLET and leave a voicemail.

If you've got anything for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net

If you carry concealed, you've probably been concerned about printing (having the outline of your gun showing through your clothes) at at least one time or another. Now that we're in 2016 and everyone and their brother has a giant cell phone on their hip, I don't think printing matters anymore.

I spent about 12 hours this past weekend watching the general public (I was doing something else while the general public filtered past me) and I noticed some trends.

Here's some "tells" I've been thinking about lately:

1. It seems like there's a new "shoot me first vest" that's taken the form of a plaid shirt, khaki "outdoorsy" pants, and hiking boots. It's usually accompanied by dark, expensive sunglasses, and sometimes a hat with a patch on the front of it.
2. One thing that I find myself doing all the time is hiking up my pants when I stand up while getting out of the car, or standing up from sitting. Something about the IWB holster I use that makes it tend to slide down a bit when sitting.
3. Another habit that I tend to have is that I'm constantly checking to make sure my shirt is pulled down over my blaster. It's weird, I check it all the time, and I don't think I've ever found my gun exposed, but I still check it constantly.

News

An attempted robbery took place in Texas recently. The clerk pulled his gun, shot back, and did it all while not even dropping his cigarette.

The relationship between USPSA and IPSC *seems* to be on the mend. For now. As of this morning, it looks like USPSA Pres. Mike Foley has agreed not to sanction the upcoming match in the Philippines due to the Phillipine IPSC RD not wanting it sanctioned, and the threat of sanctions against USPSA by the IPSC General Assembly.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

If you've been holding out on getting a shot timer, now's the time. Amazon just dropped the price (at least at the time of this episode airing in 10/2016) to about $95 and some change, which is about $35 off regular price. I think a shot timer is an important investment for knowing how good you are, and building confidence and consistency.

Click here to go to the Gear that Doesn't Suck page.

Plug of the Week

You need to go listen to this episode of the American Warrior Podcast. Mike Seeklander interviewed his cousin Todd Orr about his experience getting mauled by a grizzly bear...twice. It's absolutely must listen audio, take my word for it. 

Oh boy, there's been some drama on the world practical shooting stage this past week. The IPSC European Handgun Championship was last week, and at the match, the IPSC council met and passed some resolutions that have USPSA Mike Foley releasing a press release you can find here.

We don't have anything specifically saying so, but it seems like these new rules are pointed at USPSA, because the organization began sanctioning USPSA matches in the Philippines earlier this year.

The News

I didn't know about this until just this week, but apparently the state of Florida passed a law allowing people to carry concealed without a permit while part of a mandatory evacuation. Interesting, especially for a state that still bans open carry.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Before Hurricane Matthew arrived, I bought this portable cell phone charger to make sure we were able to keep in contact with family should we lose power. This sucker should have enough juice to keep both of our phones charged for about a week, so it might be something to consider having around should you live in an area where you lose power for extended periods.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net

I’ve always really liked Cabela's as a company, and I’ve noticed more and more lately that I like them even more. Saturday night my wife and I were driving home from somewhere, and we were listening to the big local Top 40 radio station (she had control of the radio, married guys know). They were playing the big syndicated national all-request house party type show that they play every Saturday night. A Cabelas ad came on, advertising some big sale they’re having, the great deal they’re having on .223 and 5.56 ammo, as well as a deal that they were having for free shipping to the nearest Cabelas store when you buy a gun on their website.

Let that sink in for a second. They were advertising .223/5.56 ammo, the most demonized ammo by the media, AND they were advertising online gun purchases (the most demonized type of gun purchase) on the radio. On the Top 40 station. During the Top 40 show on Saturday night, in one of the biggest radio markets in the country. I think that’s awesome. GunCulture 2.0 and all that, ya know?

[powerpress]

## Rants

Sometimes people do things that annoy me, and sometimes I like to talk about it on the podcast. Here’s some of my current gripes:

People who polish their pistol barrels, and then try and sell them as though it’s some sort of upgrade. Seriously, you’ve removed material all around the barrel, it HAS to affect the accuracy to some extent. Right?

People who buy a crappy gun, and then defend it forever. Nobody will think less of you for buying something crappy, realizing it’s crappy, and then moving on. I shot a match with a Hi-Point C9 once, more than half of the bullets went through the targets sideways. It was awful, but fun. I accepted the fact that it wasn’t a fine, precision firearm and moved on.

On the flip side, people that buy a nice gun but can’t shoot it well, and blame the gun because their ego won’t allow them to accept the fact that they need to work on their skills. “Bought a new M&P, it’s consistently hitting low and left!” Sorry bro, that’s on you.

People looking for a gear solution to a problem that doesn’t even exist. I came across a post a while back where someone was looking for some sort of coating to spray on his magazines to make them eject out of the gun faster. I don’t know about you, but unless I royally screw up, I’m not waiting for the magazine to leave the gun, it’s long gone before I get the fresh magazine up to the gun.

The phenomenon of the Dillon Fanboi. Y’all know who you are. Any time there’s a conversation about reloading on a reloading press that isn’t a Dillon anywhere on the Gunternet, a Dillon fanboi will jump in and tell them that the solution to all of their problems is a Dillon 650. Here’s the thing: I’ve got a Dillon press, and it’s fantastic, however, I can accept the fact that it’s not the solution to everyone’s reloading problems. Some folks reload because they have more time than money, and they’re trying to squeeze every last penny out of reloading, with no concern about how much time it takes. I was that guy one, and I think the Lee Turret Press was still a fantastic option for me in the beginning. Yes, I know Dillon has an awesome warranty. Yes, I know they make fantastic products, and yes, I even would love to have one of those Super 1050’s with an autodrive in my garage, but please, accept the fact that it’s not for everyone. Y’all are almost as bad as the Glock and 1911 fanboys.

People who suggest that polishing the feed ramp of a malfunctioning pistol is the solution to every problem. It’s not really a thing that causes problems with modern semi-autos. If by chance you get an auto and rounds are legitimately hanging up on the feed ramp, let the manufacturer deal with it. Don’t you dare attack it with a Dremel.

## The News

Only 0.04% of people caught lying on a 4473 form are prosecuted. What in the world. Here I am, as law abiding citizen who’s only ticket ever was a parking ticket at a Michigan State Park who get’s stressed about checking a box incorrectly on a 4473, only to find out that FedGovCo doesn’t even do anything to the people who are legitimately lying on the forms. And they say we need more gun control laws, yet we don’t enforce the ones we have. Sad, sad, sad.
## CALM DOWN INTERNET!!!!111eleven!!11

If you’ve been anywhere on the Gunternet over the past few days you’ve inevitably heard people flipping their lids about Team Sig being disbanded.

SIMMA DOWN NAH!

Of course, what happened is that the internet worked itself into a frenzy before the whole story came out. Here’s what I’ve put together from scouring the internet on the topic:

The team was put together to legitimize the Sig P320 as a competition gun. They did that.

The team will probably live on under the Gray Guns banner (based on some Facebook posts I’ve read, anyways).

So, it doesn’t sound like anyone got screwed over, and it looks like the folks on the team will still have some sponsorship, just with a different logo on their backs.

The 'Gunternet' would have you believe that shooting is a pastime that has strict rules about all sorts of things. You must carry this gun, in this caliber, in this position, with this many spare magazines, and when you're shooting that gun, you must hold it this way, stand this way, and wear these clothes. Fortunately, like a lot of things on the internet, a lot of this just isn't factual.

Here's a few things that aren't a big deal, even though the internet will tell you they are:

### Your choice of carry gun.
I think this is a trap most all of us fall into, but at the end of the day, what matters most is that you're carrying, not what you're carrying. If you like .45, great. If you like .380, great. If you've got a .22lr that works for you because you don't have a ton of hand strength, great. Any of the above guns are better than harsh words and a sharp stick. Just carry something reliable that you'll actually carry, and you'll be WAY ahead of most folks who have a permit, but don't carry much. (or only carry "when I might need it"

### Shooting with Both Eyes Open
-Yes, it's an advantage (a small one, but it's perceivable), but I've met a bunch of people who are good shooters who just can't master it for one reason or another. If you can shoot both eyes open, do it, it's great. If you can't quite get it, don't let it become a boulder in the road of your shooting progression.

### Malfunction practice
I know guys that drill and drill and drill malfunction practice, almost as much as they drill their shooting. Yes, I think you should get good at clearing malfunctions, but I feel like in some circles clearing malfunctions has almost become as much of a sport as shooting. Get good at it, know how to do it, know your gun, then become a better shooter. Personally I don't practice malfunctions. When they happen in practice, or in a match, I clear them, and that's enough for me to stay on top of my game for them.

### Type of Ammo you Use to Get Started competing with (at least in pistol games)
I get this question quite frequently from people wanting to get started in competition. "Lucas, should I get this or that?" My answer is always, if they both cycle in your gun, get whichever is cheapest.
"Shouldn't I get the 147gr?" isn't that what everyone uses? No, dont worry about it.
"Doesn't 115gr have trouble knocking down steel?" It doesn't matter if you're brand new. Don't worry about it.
I see forum posts where folks recommend some BS premium ammo or whatever for people wanting to get started, and it's just bull honkey. Whatever you're taking to the range to shoot, just use that. Don't worry about power factor, or whatever else, you'll be just fine.

### Hold your breath while shooting!
Podcast listener James sent this one in the the Triangle Tactical Facebook page just before I was getting ready to record. A guy on a forum said that he read an Army pistol shooting manual and it said that you're supposed to hold your breath while shooting. He tried it during an IDPA match, and shot well.

This is terrible advice for competitive pistol shooter (Bullseye shooters are probably excluded from this) because you NEED to BREATH! I suspect the shooter had a good match because he was so focused on not breathing, that he just shot his sights. Interesting, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

How do you know you're getting better, if you don't know how good you are now?

You really need a shot timer if you're a competitive shooter, or defensive shooter who takes things even relatively seriously. It will allow you to really assess things and know if you're improving, and by how much.

I like the Pocket Pro II, it's the size and form factor I like, has a lot of options, and works well. I like it, and it definitely doesn't suck.

Support the Show

Any purchase you make through the 'Gear that Doesn't Suck' links helps to support the show. Click the link, buy whatever you need from Amazon, and I'll get a little kickback from Amazon for sending you there. It doesn't cost you anything extra. 

News

Defense Distributed lost their recent case with the 5th Circuit Court about distributing CAD files for 3D printed guns online. The court ruled that it's some sort of national security issue. There was a Judge that wrote a scathing dissent, and it's pretty great:

In sum, it is not at all clear that the State Department has any concern for the First Amendment rights of the American public and press. Indeed, the State Department turns freedom of speech on its head by asserting, "The possibility that an Internet site could also be used to distribute the technical data domestically does not alter the analysis…." The Government bears the burden to show that its regulation is narrowly tailored to suit a compelling interest. It is not the public’s burden to prove their right to discuss lawful, non-classified, non-restricted technical data.

BOOM!

CALM DOWN GUNTERNET!!!!!

Man, the Gunternet has been ablaze this week with people absolutely freaking out about this YouTube Heroes program that we really don't know much about yet. It looks like it's basically a way to create a community of moderators for YouTube that basically work for free. The part that is freaking people out is that when someone reaches Hero level 3 they're able to "mass flag" videos. The worry here is that "mass flag" could mean "mass remove" videos, and some anti-gun d-bag could go on a rampage against the YouTube gun community. 

I don't think it's time to worry just yet. We don't know enough at this point, so don't get your hackles raised. Yeah, it could be ugly, but I tend to think it'll be alright. 

Reddit user Jshootstuff has a fantastic post on the r/Firearms subreddit that's worth a read. Check it out here.

Contact

If you've got something for me, here's how to get in touch

• luke@triangletactical.net
• Voicemail line: 781-7BULLET

Over the weekend a USPSA/3-Gun shooter dispatched a scumbag terrorist in a Minnesota mall. For years now I've heard tons and tons of arguments from people who don't shoot competitively about why one shouldn't shoot competitively, and these arguments continue to amuse me.

[powerpress]

So, for this weeks episode, I thought I'd dispel a few of these terrible arguments against competitive shooting:

• Cold range - Apparently some folks think that having people stay unloaded between stages is a bad thing. It's not. It's a complete non issue, and one of the silliest arguments I've heard. 
• Competition isn't realistic because it's not a 360* environment - Where are you practicing that you're able to shoot 360*? Oh, that's right, that's just your excuse for not shooting.
• Targets don't shoot back - Yeah, duh. Neither do the targets when you're at a training class or anywhere else that isn't a force on force type class. 

The News

Some Taurus executives are in hot water for allegedly selling guns to an African arms trafficker. Not good. 

Unilad freaks out about r/EDC on Reddit. Can you believe Americans carry terrifying things like LOCK BACK KNIVES AND $100 BILLS? Unbelievble. What a bunch of Nancys.

EPISODE 200!

Wow, you know, on some level I never thought this episode would happen, so the fact that it's here is really awesome. 

Anyways, I don't really have a whole lot to say here in the shownotes for this episode, so, just go listen!

We're blessed in most of the US in regards to our rights, and with that blessing comes a large responsibility to secure it for future generations.

I think one of the most important battles we fight in keeping our rights is the battle of public perception.

I've talked extensively on the podcast and blog about how I've found just being a normal guy, who is open about guns tends to win the favor of most people when the topic comes up. People are quick to ask questions when you're just a normal guy who's not all "mah rights!" in their face all the time.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love muh rights, but in the battle of public perception, it's seen as a bit of an extreme thing to lead with. If the conversation goes there, no worries, that's totally fine, but if someone asks you why you carry, and you respond "Because the 2A is my gun permit! They can take it from my cold dead hands!" you're not going to win them over to our side. Someone on the fence will put up a wall at that point.

Here's some things you can do to be a good steward of the 2A:

1. Be normal. Just be yourself around people, and don't change when the topic of guns comes up. As i mentioned a minute ago, I've seen a lot of people clam up, and get huffy when they're met with a differing opinion. Personally, I tend to just blow off someone whos in my face about not liking guns when they're clearly not educated on the issue. IF someone is well educated on guns, and they still don't like them, then I can at least respect their opinion, even if I think they're wrong.

2. Don't be a jerk. Open carrying a rifle into WalMart to buy diapers and toothpaste is being a jerk. OCing with a tan drop-leg holster, multicam hat, and a FDE Infidel T-shirt is being kind of jerk-ish too. I don't have any problem with open carry, I really don't, but my problem comes when people carry with the intent of showing off in public, and not the intent of carrying for actual self protection. I think Tam at the View from the Porch blog called it Second Amendment Cosplay at one point, and she's totally right. I think you should carry with the intent being self protection, not to show off, not to "educate" the public, etc.

   As an aside here, I want to mention something I hear all the time: "nobody ever even notices when I open carry"

   I call shenanigans. I used to run the security department at a large retailer, and I can tell you, when someone would walk in open carrying, (didn't matter what they looked like, white, black, asian, man, woman, whoever) my phone would ring off the hook. "Lucas, there's a guy in here with a gun, what do we do?!"
3. Don't do stupid irresponsible crap, and for the love of Pete, don't post videos of it on the internet. I don't really care if you want to blow up your washing machine with binary explosives, but I don't feel like doing this sort of thing really helps our cause. A lot of people are put off by the "dumb ignorant toothless white redneck from the south" and this sort of thing just kind of perpetuates that, even if you don't fit that stereotype.
4. Be helpful! If someone has legitimate questions, and they're asking them genuinely, go out of your way to be helpful. Offer to take them to the range, offer to pay their range fees and provide some ammo. Lets face it, shooting is fun as heck, so helping people to be educated about it does nothing but help our cause.

The News:

Last week the BATFE released a memo that wetted nitrocellulose would be classified as an explosive and be subject to the transportation and storage rules that go along with that. The trouble with this is that it came down without any warning, and the firearms industry isn't setup to handle this sort of change overnight. 

Here's the way I understand it (I'd like to point out that I basically knew nothing about this stuff until I spent a couple hours googling it this morning, so take this with a grain of salt):

• Nitrocellulose is a component of smokeless powder. It's needed in the process of making ammo.
• Up until last week or thereabouts, if it was wetted with a specific amount of water or alcohol it could be transported and stored without being classified as an explosive.
• Not being classified as an explosive allows it to be transported without the licenses and regulations that go along with that, and it's basically not explosive while it's wetted (at least that's how I understand it).

So, if this were implemented, it would really shake up the industry, because the logistics of this would basically change everything. You could expect to see ammo and powder costs rise, and I really suspect it would have a nasty effect on the entire industry as a whole. 

Thankfully, it seems like the BATFE is reeling this back in a bit, but I don't think we've seen the last of this sort of thing.

Charity Match:

There's a charity match coming up that you local folks might want to be aware of. It's Woody's Warrior/Patriot Match, and you can find the details here. 

Don't forget to send in a voicemail answering the question "What has competitive shooting done for you?"

Here's all the ways you can send a voicemail. 

Back in July I shot several matches, and it seemed like at every match I was having to DQ people for safety violations. After the last match where a shooter reacted unpredictably after the disqualification, I decided to take a break for a little while. 

A couple weeks went by, and I decided to just make this break my yearly off season from shooting. I started doing some Google searches from about taking an off season, and things to do during the off season. I came across this post that I thought had some interesting steps to take that relate to shooters as well as other athletes. 

I've been doing the video watching, as well as kind of doing the "strength" thing. I'm not working out, but I am getting back on the Paleo thing, which I've totally fallen off the wagon on the past couple months.

After a few months of considering my options, I've decided that this week will be the last week of Q&A podcast. We originally started the Q&A podcast because we had run out of room in the main podcast to answer listener questions. I've just simply run out of time to produce 5 podcasts a week, so I'm going to start answering your questions in the main podcast, just like we used to do. 

Most common thing I heard from people who are somewhat interested in the idea of competitive shooting is that they aren't good enough.

- If you can draw the gun, and walk around without pointing it at yourself or anyone else, and can do basic malfunction clearance, you have the skills needed to get started.

That's not to say that you're "good enough" though.

When you start, you're going to suck at it. It's that way with ANYTHING you do in life, so accept it.

- When I started cycling way back when, I was awful. When I picked it up again last fall, I was awful again. I'm still not great, but the more time I spend on the bike the more I'm learning and honing my skills.

- It was the same when I really took up shooting as a hobby. When I started I didn't have a clue what my sights looked like when the shot broke, and if I shot 10 rounds, and 5 of them were in the center of the target, and 5 were low and left, I couldn't tell you what was different on those shots. Now? I'll still pull a shot low/left now and then, but I know the very instant that the gun goes off that something went wrong. Because I've put in the time and practice to learn these things.

- There's a Swedish Psychologist named K Anders Ericcson who's literally wrote the book on this stuff. I haven't read the book yet (literally ordered it while working on these shownotes) but I've listened to him interviewed on the Freakonomics podcast a while back, as well as heard him referenced in many different audiobooks about mastery and things like that, and basically, the way I understand what I've heard about his research is that some people are born with somewhat of an advantage in their given field, but for the most part, if you want to master something, you've got to put in the work.

Not just "work" but deliberate practice.

So, if you know you're going to suck at competitive shooting when you start, why should you start?

I've found it to be incredibly rewarding for several reasons:

1. Not to sound cocky, but I've become one of the better shooters out there. If you put me and 10 random gun owners on the range, and have us shoot for accuracy with a handgun, I'll finish near the top, because I've practiced a LOT more than the average person.

2. I've built a level of confidence in myself, my gear, and my abilities that I didn't have before I became a competitor. Certainly before I was a competitor I would pretend I had confidence when talking to my buddies about shooting, but now that I shoot a lot, practice a lot, and know what I'm capable of (with the numbers to prove it) I'm very confident should I ever need to use my gun for self defense.

3. I've got to meet some of the best in the world at my craft. If I were a runner, I probably wouldn't meet Usain Bolt at a random 5K in North Carolina. If I were a competitive cyclist, the chances of rolling up to the line with Chris Froome just wouldn't happen. BUT, there's something about competitive shooting that's different. When we invited Chris Tilley to come over to Ben's house, and record a podcast around his kitchen table, he was happy to do it. When you roll up to the starting position and Todd Jarrett has the timer, chances are he's going to drop some knowledge on you at some point if he thinks you need it. When we had Ben Stoeger on the podcast, he invited us into his hotel room to record it. These are world class shooters, all of them, and they're available and approachable.

When we interviewed Tilley one of the things he said was that he loves teaching brand new shooters how to shoot. Not the A class guys who should practice more, and make excuses for not doing it, but the people who have never shot before. I think that's freaking cool.

All this to day: if you've EVER wanted to try competitive shooting, do it. If you've ever wanted to gain more confidence in your shooting, try competition. If you've ever heard that competitive shooting will get you killed on the streets, come try it, and if you're just looking for something to waste your Saturday's on, we'll see you on the range.

Gear that Doesn't Suck:

If you're looking to become a better shooter, you need a shot timer. If you're shooting drills on the range and you're not timing them, I think you're wasting ammo. Just get a Pocket Pro 2 timer, and be done with it.

The News

Mike Vanderboegh passed away this week. He was a fervent 2A supporter, and he did a lot of good work. I'll miss him.

There were reports of an Active Shooter at Crabtree Valley Mall here in Raleigh in Saturday. At this point on Sunday there are a lot of conflicting reports from witnesses, some saying they heard a shot, some saying they heard 4 shots, others saying they heard 12-14 shots. The police still say they don't have any evidence of any shooting taking place. While it was all going down, apparently some dude approached the mall dressed in camo, carrying a rifle, and said that he was there to help the police.

Contact

There's a new way to contact the podcast. If you want to send in a voicemail through your phone, just dial 7817-BULLET and you'll be connected to the Triangle Tactical voicemail line. Boom.

Full shownotes at triangletactical.net/196

There's a LOT of information in the shownotes for this episode, so go look at it all here.

There are certain things that a shooter can do at a match that might not be against the rules, but are certain to make the range officer nervous. As it happens, there are a few things that bother me, that don’t seem to bother other RO’s and there are a couple things that other ROs get bent out of shape about that don’t bother me at all.

Things that are certain to make me nervous:

Unpredictable shooters. Most of the time I can tell from a shooters walkthrough how they’re going to shoot a stage, and position myself accordingly, no big deal. Every now and then though, something either goes wrong with their stage plan, or they don’t give me any indication of what they’re going to do, or they just have a crazy stage plan where they’re running all over the place, so I might not be positioned optimally for that.

Putting your hand on your gun before the Make Ready command. This makes me especially nervous on stages with table starts. I’ve seen a lot of DQ’s where the shooter plopped their gat down on the table for a table start before being told to do so. When I RO on a stage with a table start, if possible, I like to stay close to the table to try and keep this from happening.

Trying to find your ejected round at unload and show clear before you holster your gun. Just slap it in the holster first so I can call the range clear, and then find your round later. It’ll still be there in 5 seconds after your gun is in the holster, and I might even help you look for it.

Folks that just don’t quite understand what to do. Listen, if you’re not clear on what to do, just stop and ask. Ask the Range Officer, or anyone that that looks like they know what they’re doing. It’s way better to just ask than it is to make a mistake.

Things that don’t bother me, that other RO’s get bent out of shape about:

The flip-and-catch. This is where the shooter racks the slide back in a way that makes the ejected round fly into the air a little, and they the round is caught by his weak hand. A lot of RO types get real bent out of shape about this claiming that it’s more likely to have an accidental discharge, or more likely to sweep yourself, etc. None of this has been my experience AND I’ve noticed that the shooters that tend to flip-and-catch are the shooters who actually practice. I’m really not concerned about a well practiced shooter doing something that he’s practiced over and over and over again that doesn’t break any safety rules.

Shooters who take a sight picture at load and make ready. Generally this becomes a thing when someone who is used to ROing at IDPA matches comes to a USPSA or outlaw match. This isn’t allowed in IDPA, but in most outlaw matches I’ve shot it’s legal, as well as in USPSA. The argument is “what if they have an AD?” well… what if they have an AD at any other point in the course of fire? They get DQ’d and that’s the end of it. Oh, and when they’re in the start position taking their sight picture, they’re pointing the gun at the berm, so even if they do AD, it’s not leaving the bay.

Gear that Doesn’t Suck

I mentioned on the show a while back that I was going to pick up a CAT tourniquet for my range bag. Well, a bunch of folks who have experience using TQ's told me to look at the SOFT-T Wide tourniquet. Amazon just notified me that it had a small price drop, so if you've been thinking about getting one as well, now is a good time.

The News

** Editors Note: In this episode I said "Massachusetts" exactly one time, and then started saying "Maryland" over and over. I meant Massachusetts. My bad.

Last week the Attorney General in Mass "clarified" their assault weapons bad to basically ban ANY AR-15 in the state, among other semi-automatic rifles. I went through and read the actual text of the law, and I think she's able to do this because it's incredibly vague. The law uses terms like "similar to" "copies" and "duplicates". The words copy and duplicate are pretty specific in my opinion, and they don't define "similar to" in the law, which is now being interpreted by the AG. It's a bad law, now being made worse because it's vague and un-defined, in my non-lawyer, college dropout opinion.

Plug of the Week:

This recent episode of That Shooting Show has stuck with me all week. Steve said something like "How can you expect to have a consistent match performance when you don't have consistent practice."

Yep.

I recently asked my friends about where to send someone for training with a pistol and an AR-15. I received multiple messages saying that I should just bring whoever needs the training out to a match, and they'll figure out what works and what doesn't.

I don't think this is the right answer. We should encourage folks to get training if they feel like they need it. Certainly there are people who train WAY too much, but I think they're in the minority.

The News

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg put her foot in her mouth last week during an interview with the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog picked up on it, and there's some interesting discussion about how she may now have to recuse herself from any 2A cases going forward since she wasn't impartial during the interview.

Pokemon Go released this week. It's a video game that requires people to get up off their butt and actually do things, and go places to advance in the game. Mostly it has you go to public places, but the data set they have for the game does sometimes have landmarks setup near peoples homes. In a case in Florida, some jackass fired shots at some Pokemon players driving away from his residence. 

Listen, if you're playing the game, respect private property. If you see people playing the game, don't be an asshole unless it's warranted.

There are a few things that I've found that tend to confuse the crud out of new shooters when they're getting started in the shooting sports.

• You can shoot matches at clubs that you aren't a member at. This really seems to confuse people, because around here there really aren't any outdoor ranges that are open to the public for practice. Just about every place requires a membership, and most clubs have waiting lists that are literally years long. A lot of folks get confused thinking that they need to be a member at these ranges to shoot the match there. That's not the case if it's a sanctioned USPSA or IDPA match. Some clubs might have outlaw matches that are members only, so it it doesn't say IDPA or USPSA, check with the club.
• "I have all these "race" parts, why isn't my gun legal?" Yep, I've seen it several times where someone who hasn't ever shot a match builds a "race gun" that either isn't legal for ANY division in a game, or isn't competitive in the division. That Open Division gun you built out of your Ruger P95? Yeah, that's going to get you stomped 100% of the time. If you're just there to have fun, great, but if you're there to be competitive, you're gonna have a bad time.

• Believe it or not, vests are not required in IDPA. You're required to have your gun and gear concealed, but there's nothing in the rulebook about vests. I've heard people express concern about not wanting to shell out $75 for a vest before their first match, and they almost didn't believe me when I told them they don't need one.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

If you carry a gun, have a gun for self protection, or are just curious about what the heck terms like "stand your ground" and "castle doctrine" actually mean, you NEED to read this book.

I don't remember when I heard Andrew say it, but he once said something to the effect of "After reading this book, you'll never be able to participate in an online discussion of self defense law ever again."

He was right. Seriously, read the book.

Also, if you're local to Raleigh, he's coming to town to give a Law of Self Defense seminar on August 7th at Triangle Shooting Academy. Here's the details. (Use the code Triangle at checkout to save a little money.)

Shirts

Triangle Tactical shirts are still available until mid-week this week. If you haven't ordered one yet, use this link to get free shipping on your order. 

Contact

If you've got anything for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net.

"Range Officers need to remember everybody is there to have fun."

Is that a true statement? Maybe, but I think "fun" is defined very differently for different levels of shooters. Some folks get their fun by just showing up and shooting, and others have fun by playing the game within the rules (sometimes pushing them as far as they can) and others have fun by shooting to the best of their ability, and winning. 

For me, it's changed over the years, and it's something that makes me appreciate a range officer who just enforces the rules, per the rulebook. I think some people are under the impression that some rules shouldn't be enforced/don't need to be enforced at a club match, and I don't agree with that at all. 

Shirts!

There's a new run of Triangle Tactical shirts going on right now at Teespring.com. I think this is the 4th time I've used Teespring, and I'm really excited about this newest run of shirts. They're available from today (7/4/2016) until 7/14/2016. If you want one, head over to Teespring.com to place your order.

The News

I've been reading a bunch of headlines saying something to the effect of "California bans most handguns!". Yes, a package of really bad bills were passed and signed into law by the Governor in California, but this rhetoric that "most handguns" were banned isn't exactly factual. 

The bills in question are SB880 and AB1663. Here's what they both say:

(4) A semiautomatic pistol that does not have a fixed magazine but has any one of the following:

(A) A threaded barrel, capable of accepting a flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer.

(B) A second handgrip.

(C) A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel that allows the bearer to fire the weapon without burning the bearer’s hand, except a slide that encloses the barrel.

(D) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip.

Total honesty and transparency here: I was a little unprepared for this weeks podcast. I'm on vacation from work this week, and in my excitement for taking some time off, I neglected to prepare the podcast shownotes.

Y'all came through for me though with some questions on Facebook which I answered in this episode.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

If you need some ideas of what to work on in practice, or ideas of how to work on a certain skill, Ben Stoeger's Skills and Drills book is really good for this. My copy lives in the side pocket of my range bag and I reference it regularly. I'd highly recommend it.

Contact

If you've got anything for me, hit the comment sections below, or shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net.

Tom in Ferguson sent in a question last week asking about some of my favorite shooting stories with my dad and Grandpa. Since today is Father's Day, and last week marked one year since Gramps passed, I thought I'd take this episode to tell a few of my favorite stories from growing up.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

I've become a lot more aware of chemicals that I'm exposed to as I've grown older and a (a little) more mature. When I'm at work, I'm super anal about wearing proper PPE, and I'm trying to be just as careful at home as well.

I've started using these nitrile gloves while reloading and sorting brass to keep lead off my hands and (hopefully) out of my blood stream. I bought the black ones, because I think they're cooler looking than purple or green.

Plug of the Week:

There's two things I think you should read this week.

Caleb is back at Gunnuts, and I think you should read his post "Not Like This."

Also, this post by Greg Ellifritz.

Contact

If you've got anything for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net.

One of the most common misconceptions that I hear from folks who haven't shot competitively, is that competitive shooters shoot ammo that isn't powerful. That isn't really true. Factory 9mm that you'll get from the store is going to be pretty close to the 9mm minor power factor ammo that gets loaded for competition (and some of the folks making re-man ammo don't make it powerful enough to make power factor).

I will say that a lot of the factory .40 and .45 ammo is actually quite hot, so it's going to be well and above what's needed for major power factor in competition, but the competition loads aren't light by any means.

The News

The push for permitless concealed carry has started right here in North Carolina. It's going to require a constitutional amendment, and it's going to be a fight, but we can do it.

GRNC has the details here.

Sponsor

I recently got my hands on some of the "other guys" bullets in a trade with a friend. The difference in consistency between them and my Blue Bullets was surprisingly large. With the Blue Bullets I don't have issues with the coating chipping off, or getting half-cast bulelts, and things like that, which was surprisingly common with these other coated bullets I received from my friend. 

I've been shooting Blue Bullets since long before they were a sponsor of the show, and they make a product that I really believe it. Check them out at thebluebullets.com and use the code triangle at checkout to save 5%. 

Plug of the Week

Just a heads up for the local listeners: Andrew Branca is coming back to Raleigh on August 7th for an NC Law of Self Defense seminar. I've taken this class, and read his book, and highly recommend it. Use the code triangle at checkout and you'll save 10% on the price of the class.

A little while back I received an email from a listener who wished to remain nameless. He decided to get started in competitive shooting, and found a local club that hosted matches, checked out their website, and showed up to shoot his first match. When he arrived, he we met by an apologetic match director who informed him that the match was full, and since he hadn't pre-registered for the match, he unfortunately wouldn't be able to shoot.

I don't think this is something that happens all the time (this is the first time I've ever heard of it happening, actually) but it is something that match officials should be aware of. At the very least, update your websites when match registration opens for the next match, or point people to the Facebook page or wherever that you're posting the registration links. (Also, note that Facebook won't show your post to everyone who likes your page unless you pay them, so only posting it to Facebook might not be the best plan.)

I'm curious what everyone else things about this. Was this just a one-off thing and not a big deal, or are there some better protocols we could put in place to keep this from happening?

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I've had an old pair of Mechanix gloves that I use every couple months to get a grip on the oil filter on my car when doing my oil change. They really do a good job of adding some grip to an otherwise slimy/slick filter. However, at a recent match, I used them for re-setting the steel plates that were falling off their stands when shot into the thick muddy clay. They're not waterproof, but they did keep the mud off my hands, and rinsed off nicely in a mud puddle. I'll continue to keep them in my trunk in case I have a muddy match with falling steel again in the future.

The News

The internet was all up in arms about some zoo somewhere shooting a gorilla to save a baby human from it. I don't really care about that, but I'll say that I do trust the people who are gorilla experts and the decision that they made. However, there was some absolute derp on the internet when this story hit where people were talking about how they would have been the hero here, and shot the gorilla with their CCW gun to save the kid. Listen, your pistol isn't a magical death ray, and it's no match for this sort of animal. Wait for the guy with the big rifle to arrive.

That's why you carry a 10mm because you know you might have a to kill a gorilla at the zoo someday or a grizzly bear.

You've also certainly heard about the new "documentary" that Katie Couric just put out. It's called "Under the Gun" and the tag line is "In the gun debate, truth is the ultimate weapon", which is HILARIOUS, because as we're finding out, they were anything but truthful when making this film.

They supposedly interviewed John Lott, and then didn't include any of that interview in the film.
They had a roundtable discussion with some folks from the Virginia Citizens Defense League and edited it to look like they didn't have an answer to a hardball question, when in fact they did. One of the VCDL folks brought along his own voice recorder, just in case this sort of thing were to happen.
Lastly, it's coming out that the producers of the film may have actually broken federal law several times. Yeah. For real.
Plug of the Week:

Tacsoup on Facebook. Check out this page, these folks are hilarious.

Contact

If you've got anything for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net

Just a quick heads up, I tokk the weekend off from podcasting and didn't record a Triangle Tactical Podcast episode this week. The Triangle Tactical Q&A podcasts will release as normal this week.

Just a few things I've noticed that I thought I would point out. The first two things seem to be done mostly by newer shooters, and the second two seem to be mostly more-seasoned shooters.

1. Know the rules. At least have a rudimentary understanding of the rules of the game you're shooting. I don't think you need to read the whole rulebook before your first match (actually, I don't think it would be very helpful, because without context much of it wouldn't make sense), but at least make an effort to know the safety rules, and then try to pick up something more each time you shoot. Not only will you help others, but most importantly knowing the rules you'll be able help yourself.
2. Know your equipment. Know how to clear malfunctions and manipulate your gun. Also, know your support gear. If you can't holster and unholster your gun with one hand, you might need some more practice or different gear.
3. Don't self deprecate yourself on the firing line. Telling people that you're planning for makeup shots and things like that will just ensure that you'll have a bunch of makeup shots. Nobody want's that garbage.
4. Don't change your stage plan. Unless it's pointed out to you that you've planned to do something completely stupid, don't make changes after you've started to visualize a stage. It's never a good, and it very rarely works out.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I picked up this Caldwell Chronograph a couple weeks ago, and finally got it out to the range this week. I bought it because it was the cheapest thing going. After I opened the box I realized that it has a smartphone app that connects to the chronograph through a cable and syncs all of the shots. It seemed gimmicky to me, but I decided to try it at the range anyways.

It's so easy to chronograph multiple loads now. Way easier than I thought. It's a definite winner, and it's still one of the least expensive chronographs out there.

I'm a fan.

Plug of the Week:

Tam had an interesting post about Second Amendment Cosplay at the NRA show this week. If you're not subscribed to her blog, you're wrong.

Contact

luke@triangletactical.net

The Triangle Tactical Q&A podcast turned a whole year old the other day, so I thought it might be fun to re-broadcast a few of my favorite Q&A podcast episodes during this week's show. I actually went through all of the back catalog of Q&A shows and picked out all of my favorites, and there was over 3 hours of audio, so I really had to pick and choose which ones to put in this show. I hope you enjoy.

[powerpress]

• Q&A 121 - "Gear that Sucks" from Kenny in Idaho
• Q&A 57 - "What to look for when reviewing my match video" from Sadie in Raleigh
• Q&A 81 - "Should I watch my magazine, or my target during a reload?" from Jon in Florida

If you're not subscribed to the Q&A podcast, you can find it here in iTunes, or here if you're on an Android device.

Plug of the Week:

I mentioned a few weeks back that I'd like to have some more competitive shooting podcasts to listen to, and that I was happy to help you get your show off the ground if you are looking to get a podcast started.

Ryan Goold, a USPSA Master, is one of those folks, and his new podcast is up and running. It's called the Shooters Guide podcast, and it's focused solely on USPSA. At the time if this episode airing, he's got 4 episodes out, and has been doing them weekly.

His website is shootersguideblog.wordpress.com and you can find his podcast in iTunes or Google Play just by searching "Shooters guide podcast".

Check him out, and subscribe to his show. Here's his RSS feed.

Contact

If you'd like to send in a question, feedback, or whatever else, hit me up at luke@triangletactical.net.

I kind of ripped this topic off of something I heard my wife talk about in a speech she was preparing a couple weeks ago. She's a teacher and was talking about the difference between learning time and performance time with kids in school, and as soon as I heard it, I started wondering if this was something I should think more about in my practice as well.

I've been trying the whole "get bored and let your body find the fastest way to do things" thing for a while, and I feel like I've kind of hit a block with that, so I'm going to try having deliberate learning time, and performance time in my practice. What do you think?

The Blue Bullets

If you're a competitive shooter, or someone who trains a lot, you probably complain about the price of bullets. I've been loading The Blue Bullets since before they were a sponsor of the show, and they're just fantastic. They're coated lead bullets, and they're as accurate as anything else I've tried, they're some of the lowest priced bullets I've ever seen, and they're made by competitive shooters who are doing a lot to give back to the shooting sports. What's not to love?

Check them out at thebluebullets.com and save 5% with the code "triangle" at checkout. 

Plug of the Week:

Freakonomics Radio is KILLING IT this month with their recent episodes about practice and grit. Seriously, go listen to them at Freakonomics.com.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net

Shownotes for this episode are pending. I didn't get the show recorded until late, so shownotes will be up mid-day on Monday 5/2.

The News

Oklahoma CCW instructors have their panties in a wad about Constitutional Carry.

Harris Publications is shutting down. These folks are the publishers of a bunch of gun magazines (and a bunch of other magazines as well).

An 11 year old kid in Talladega, Alabama shot a home invader with a 9mm pistol. Interestingly, the kid was able to get the news media to run a positive story about a defensive shooting, which is something that never happens. Good on him, I'm glad he was able to defend himself.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

I had some spring clamps in my trunk that saved my range trip on Sunday. I've had them in my trunk since the NC Sectional match last October, and when I lost my stapler, and the range stapler was empty, these suckers saved the day for holding my target to the target sticks. I wouldn't recommend using them exclusively for holding up your targets, but in a pinch, they did a pretty decent job.

Plug of the Week

The latest episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast was amazing. This particular episode was about deliberate practice, and it's titled "How to be great at just about anything" and it's a must listen if you're interested in getting better at shooting.

Contact

If you've got something for me, shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net

Ever see the guys at a match who have the well rehearsed "tactical kata" but can't really shoot that well? What about the guy that tells you X product is better than Y because it has *more* features, even if those features aren't useful. What about the guys who buy a crappy gun, and then spend the next years trying to make it better, instead of just saving up for something that doesn't suck.

All these people are wasting time on stuff that doesn't matter. If you want to get better, stop wasting your time, streamline, and get better.

The News

A Johnston county, NC school opened an indoor shooting range (for JROTC students to shoot pellet guns). Even though it's pellet guns, I think this is awesome.

A DC police officer was instructed to walk into roll call with an unloaded pistol , and dryfire it pointed at another officer as part of a training exercise. This is frighteningly stupid. I can't believe it happened, and I can't believe he wasn't shot by all of the other officers in the room.

CALM DOWN INTERNET!

Have you heard? Californis is banning all gun dealers! They're shutting them all down!

Yeah, that's not the case. They are trying to pass a bill that's pretty nasty for FFLs, but it's not a complete shutdown of all the FFLs in the state as most of the headlines from the last week would have you believe.

According to the NRA-ILA, the bill would do a few things:

AB 2459 would make four serious changes to California’s dealer licensing requirements.

1. A prohibition on licensee business premises being on a residential property.
2. A clear statement that localities may impose more restrictive requirements on licensees than those imposed by state law.
3. A requirement that licensees maintain full color video surveillance that is of sufficient quality to provide for facial recognition and records all firearm transactions on the premises, all locations where firearms and ammunition are stored, the immediate exterior of the licensed premises, and all parking facilities owned by the licensee.  The video equipment would be required to run during all business hours and be set to begin recording when motion is detected at all other times.  The licensee would have to certify to having compliant video equipment at least yearly and make any needed repairs to the equipment within 15 days of any damage.  The footage would need to be stored on the premises for at least five years, but that could be extended if the footage may be part of a law enforcement investigation.  Licensees would also be required to post a prominent sign indicating that customers are being recorded.
4. All licensees would be required to have a liability policy of a minimum of $1M per incident to cover liability arising from "theft, sale, lease or transfer or offering for sale, lease or transfer of a firearm or ammunition, or any other operations of the business and business premises."

Yeah, it's bad, and it would definitely shut down a lot of businesses, but it's not the blanket ban you've been lead to believe is happening.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

You should have a squib stick, but you shouldn't waste a bunch of money buying one that's actually made as a squib stick. For less than $6 (at the time of this episode being published) you can get a 12" bras rod that's perfect to use as a squib stick for 9mm and larger handguns. Find it at triangletactical.net/doesntsuck.

Dryfire Tip of the Week:

Tighten up your dryfire with some partials. I've been slaying my dryfire lately with wide open targets, but at the IDPA match this weekend I totally borked when trying to shoot some targets that only had the heads available. On another stage I wound up getting some rounds in the head box of the target, which is great, except if we're being honest, I wasn't aiming for the head box...

Anyways, I'm breaking out the no-shoot and hardcover in my dryfire again. Give it a try.

Contact

If you've got something for me, hit the comments below, or shoot me an email at luke@triangletactical.net

Tinkering with making your own gear is interesting and it can be fun, but after spending a few years messing around with trying to squeeze every single penny out of my gear by making my own stuff all the time. I'd spend 3 or 4 hours making something to save $25, which comes out to like $8/hr. I don't know about you, but my practice time is worth a lot more to me than $8 an hour. 

I don't think there's anything wrong with tinkering, but I think if you're a normal person with a family, job, part time job on top of your full time job, your practice time is limited. You need to make a decision whether or not to be a tinkerer or someone who wants to get better. If you're trying to get better, you'll be better served by just buying some gear that's good enough, and practicing. 

The News

USPSA has approved Pistol Caliber Carbine as a provisional division for all levels of competition. I'm still really skeptical about having people shooting rifles at a pistol match, but we'll see I guess. Ben and I also talked about our concerns with this back in Episode 169 of the podcast.

A student at the University of Southern Alabama was cited by a university police officer for wearing an empty holster in protest of being disarmed on campus. The police officer was later suspended without pay, and the student had his citation rescinded and he received an apology from the chief of police and all of the officers involved.  

Mississippi becomes the 10th permitless concealed carry state. Good. 

Gear That Doesn't Suck

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's been using the Amazon links on the Gear That Doesn't Suck page. I was able to jump and upgrade mixing boards when my old one bit the dust last week, because of the money that comes in from there. So, thanks!

Plug of the Week

I'm plugging my own stuff this week, because I think the Q&A podcasts that are scheduled to come out this week are really good. Make sure you're subscribed to the Q&A show so you won't miss out. 

Triangle Tactical Q&A show: iTunes, Android, RSS Feed

New Podcasts

Over the last week I've talked to a couple of guys that are thinking about starting their own competitive shooting type podcasts, I think both of them might need a little motivation to get things started, so if you're interested in having more good competitive shooting content post in the comments below and let them know that you'd be interested in listening to some more awesome competitive shooting podcasts. 

A month or so ago I was at the indoor shooting range, and there was a legit bullseye shooter in the lane next to me. I ran my target out next to his (25y), and tried to best his groups. The best I could muster were groups about double the size of his, and I was shooting with both hands, and he was only using one. 

Ever since then I've been thinking that I could probably learn a thing or two from shooting a few Bullseye matches. The idea of being absolutely, crazily, laser accurate with a pistol is very interesting to me. 

While looking into the more accuracy based competitions, I came across this old episode of the Power Factor Show with Caleb Giddings talking about Bianchi Cup. I've always kind of rolled my eyes at it as an "action" type shooter, but more and more I think it could be good for me to try something that's more accuracy based. 

If you're an action type shooter that's shot a few Bullseye matches, I'd be interested to hear if you had any takeaways from it. 

The News

The North Marianias Islands had their handgun ban repealed just a week or so ago by a Federal judge, and now in response their House and Senate have passed a bill that will add a $1000 tax onto the price of any handgun sold there. What a joke, this is an obvious infringement.

• Guns.com has more on it here.
• Here's the text of the bill (.pdf). 

The NC Department of Agriculture has released their report on the feasability of having a place to store guns at the gate of the NC State Fair. As expected, they said it was a bad idea. 

• Here's episode 103 of the podcast where Ben and I break down the whole situation as it was unfolding 2 years ago.
• Here's the report that the NCDA released. It's in plain text, and only about 8 pages, I'd recommend reading it.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I love my Spyderco Delica 4 with the Wave opener. It's just a fantastic knife that I've been carrying for about 5 years now. There was a time when I got frustrated with getting the VG-10 steel good and sharp, but once I learned a good technique, it's just been fantastic. 

The Wave feature is what really sets the knife apart. It makes it one hand opening without having using any springs or anything like an assisted opening knife which can have dubious legality in some places.

Dryfire Drill of the Week:

A new shooter on the IDPA Facebook group asked about ow to practice shooting from cover after getting a lot of cover calls at his first IDPA match. 

It's pretty simple really, set up some type of barricade in your dryfire dojo, and then film yourself with your phone engaging the targets from behind the cover of the barricade. You can then review the video you make sure you're keeping the appropriate amount of your body behind cover.

Contact

If you've got a question or comment about the show, hit the comments below, or send me an email at luke@triangletactical.net. 

If I were king of the shooting sports, I'd make some changes, across the board. I'd like to see the the shooting sports grow, and I think the best way to do that is to reach out to people who already own guns by hitting them up a gun shows and things like that.

Almost all of the shooting sports could do a better job of making it easier for someone to find out exactly what they need to get started. I checked the IDPA, USPSA, 3 Gun Nation, and National Skeet Shooting Association websites looking for some sort of tutorial (like what I have written here) and none of them really had an actual primer article, however 3 Gun Nation did have a good section of videos on their site that give a good overview of the game.

Plug of the Week

I saw IDPA posting about this either on Facebook or Instagram the other day, and I thought it was pretty cool. It's a charity called "Aiming for Zero" that's designed to get competitive shooters to donate to causes around veteran suicide. Folks are setting up teams and making donations to the charity based on their number of points down at the match. Below is an example I pulled off of their site:

Example:

IDPA Tier 1 - Tier 3 Matches:

PD (Points Down) x $.10
PE (Procedural Errors) x $.30
HNT (Hits on Non Threats) x $.50
FTN (Failure To Neutralize) x $.50
USPSA Level I - Level 3 Matches:

Points
Bravos   x $.20
Charlies x $.20
Deltas   x $.40
PE (Procedural Errors) x $1.00
NS (No Shoot) x $1.00

I think this is pretty awesome. If you're interested, check them out at AimingForZero.org.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I've been finding myself using my JetBoil stove more and more lately when I'm at different places. At the USPSA Range Officer class I took last month I used to to make hot soup and coffee while everyone else was getting fast food or sandwiches. During the big ice storm that we had back in January and we were without power for a couple days and this thing really saved the day. I was able to boil water, make hot cocoa, soup, coffee, and whatever else we wanted. Serious butt saver.

Just a couple weeks ago, I picked up a french press for it, and now my mobile coffee making setup is complete. I can make a killer cup of coffee anywhere, in about 5 minutes.

If you're in a place where you might lose power or if you've ever wanted to make a good cup of coffee at a match, consider picking one up, it definitely doesn't suck.

Dryfire Drill of the Week

This past week I've been messing around with shooting some close targets really fast, and then transitioning and shooting a small target accurately. I've been setting up like 3 or 4 targets at about 7 yards, and then transitioning 90* to a pepper popper and really making sure I'm getting my hits on the popper. You could also do it with just a head box on a target or something like that.

Contact

luke@triangletactical.net

Today on the podcast I interview James Turnure, a NC shooter who just made USPSA Open Master. That's awesome, but what I didn't tell you is that he shot his first match just 12 months ago. In this interview he and I talk about how he did it, and what sets him apart from other shooters who start and frustratingly stuck in B class for an extended period of time.

The News

Idaho becomes the 9th permitless concealed carry state. Seems like this is picking up a lot of momentum.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

One thing that annoys the mess out of me is trying to staple up a no-shoot target on top of a shoot target, and having it not stay put very well. The solution to this is to have 1/2" staples and a stapler that will throw them. They're not expensive, and it's such a time/hassle saver for me that I'll never go back to using anything else.

Check them out at triangletactical.net/doesntsuck

Plug of the Week

I found out this week that Mike Rowe has gotten into the podcasting thing, and I really like his new show. If you remember Paul Harvey's "The rest of the story" pieces that they used to play on the radio back in the day, you'll be right at home listening to Mike Rowe's "The way I heard it" podcast. I'm a fan.

Contact

luke@triangletactical.net

Back during the USPSA Presidential election there was a lot of talk about the need to make USPSA TV friendly. As it sits right now, the use of targets with heads on them, walls that cameras can't see through, and championships that don't exactly make exciting TV the sport isn't really ready for it's own TV show.

My question is this: Do we even want it to be TV friendly? What would the average shooter gain? A little more stuff on a prize table somewhere?

Lets say the changes necessary were made, and USPSA became something that was featured regularly on TV shows, and thousands of people decided they wanted to get started. Could local club matches handle the big influx of new shooters? I don't think so. Around here matches open registration as far as 2 weeks out from the match, and they fill up withing days, or even hours.

I'm not against putting the sport on TV. I've mentioned in the past that I remember my first exposure to USPSA being an episode of Shooting USA sometime in the early-mid 90's and I thought it looked awesome. I just think before too much worry is placed on marketing to new folks, there should be infrastructure in place to handle those new shooters.

News

A cop is being charged with murder after shooting someone with a personally owned weapon (that was previously approved for department use) and had an engraved dust cover with the words "You're F*****" on it. This is being brought up in the courtroom. Something to think about if you're a CCW holder and you've got all sorts of inscriptions and stuff on your carry gun. Personally, I think it's juvenile and silly to put this sort of stuff on your guns, but that's just like my opinion, man.

Instructors from Project Appleseed came to a school and taught a 3 day program about gun safety to middle schoolers. I think this is awesome. Kids who are curious about guns, and don't have anyone to teach them are dangerous.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

I used to take a lot of notes and stuff on my phone during dryfire and live fire practice, but my phone started being dumb and deleting things, or being slow to load the notes app, and just generally sucked for quick note taking. I picked up a few of these Field Notes books on Amazon, and just keep one in my back pocket all the time. I've found putting pen to paper is much faster and efficient than trying to take notes on my phone.  If you're looking for a simple little book for note taking at the range, I think these are just the right size and pretty handy. I'm a fan.

Plug of the Week

Episode 9 of the Armed Lutheran podcast had a training tip towards the bottom of the show that's stuck with me all week. In the segment they talk about training for the probable, not the possible. In the show he was talking about defensive shooting practice, but I think this is very relevant for competition shooters too. Ever spend a bunch of time working on table starts when you only see them in matches once every 3 months?

Contact

luke@triangletactical.net

I sent Ben a message on Monday to ask if there was anything that he wanted to talk about on his last podcast episode, and he just told me he'd think about it. Fast forward to Saturday evening when we recorded this episode and he had the shownotes written for this episode to talk about all of the things that he's changed his mind on since he joined the podcast way back (over 3 years ago). The things that's coolest to me about this topic is that it's probably the most brutally honest hour of podcast you'll ever listen to.

Some of the things he's changed his mind on:

• Classifiers
• Gamer gear
• Outlaw matches
• Just because "nobody uses it" doesn't mean it sucks
• You don't need to be accomplished to help people

The News

There's going to be a free seminar in Chapel Hill, NC about ATF 41F and how it effects gun trusts on April 4th. I don't know really much about who is putting it on or anything, I just got the tweet below about it and figured I'd pass it along.

In Michigan there's a bill proposed to create an active shooter alert system not dissimilar from the Amber Alert system. I don't think I'm opposed to it, but it doesn't really seem necessary to me.

Plug of the Week

The Firearm Blog is KILLING IT with their YouTube channel recently. They seem be be getting a little more edgy than normal and adding in some humor that I don't normally see in their blog posts. It's just really good, so check it out.

Last Word

I just need to take a second to thank Ben for all the Sunday afternoons over the last 3 years recording the podcasts. The thing that listeners probably don't notice is that making the podcast is a HUGE time commitment. For every hour of audio that we publish, we spend 4 hours prepping, and editing. When there's an hour and a half or more of podcast that comes out every week, that makes a large time commitment. I can't do anything but say Thank You to Ben for getting on board and spending all these Sunday afternoons and evenings on Skype with me making the internet audio magic that's been the last 3 years of the podcast.

As Ben mentioned in the show, if you'd like to follow what he's up to, he created an athlete page on Facebook where he'll be posting his YouTube videos, etc. Go follow him there.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

It must be the smell of spring in the air or the upcoming competitive shooting season being in the air that brings out all sorts of lame excuses from people about their poor/lack of performance.

• "There's not a division that exactly fits my one-off gun that I modified myself!"
• "I can't shoot exactly how I carry concealed, and I can only draw from my concealed holster ever because muscle memory."
• "This gun doesn't "fit my hand". (Unless you can't reach controls, you're just making a lame excuse.)

The News

West Virginia overrode the veto of the Governor and will have permit-less concealed carry in a couple months. That makes 9 states now with permit-less concealed carry. 

Yes, we've seen the Keanu Reeves video. It's cool, but we wanted to clarify a few things about it. It's not at a 3-gun match, and he's probably not going to take up shooting competitively. It's still really cool though.

Tip of the Week:

Don't consciously control speed at a match. When you push yourself out of control, bad things ALWAYS happen. I shot the SWGC USPSA match this weekend and had 6 great stages (1 stage win) and then on the last stage I decided that I needed to dial it up to 11 and I got my first penalties of the day (2 hardcover Mikes) and that sucked. 

Plug of the Week:

Bob Owens on BearingArms.com did some good work last week diving into the shenanigans that's going on in Mecklenburg County, NC with regards to pistol purchase permits.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

Sometimes shooting on the square range is a necessity. Whether you don't have access to a range with bays where you can set up stages and drills, or the weather just isn't cooperative, there are times when the square range is the only place you can go to get some trigger time. 

A lot of people just shoot when they go to the square range. One target, and 200 rounds and then they pack up and go home. This isn't effective practice. 

Hopefully your square range will allow you to draw from holster. I don't think we have any ranges in the Triangle area that don't allow it, but I've heard of ranges in other places that have that rule, it makes things a little harder. 

Use some time pressure

• The best thing is to use a shot timer. If you don't have one, that's okay, there are still options.
  • If your indoor range is really loud, you may have to use the par time function on your timer instead of actually having it hear your shots. I found my Pocket Pro 2 works really well inside Triangle Shooting Academy.
  • Some ranges have a mechanism to turn targets after a specified amount of time. This can be a decent way to add some time pressure to your drills.
  • Lastly, you could download a timer app to your smart phone and use the par time function. Don't expect to get very good results using your smartphone as an actual shot timer though.
• Bring your own targets and pasters. Get some USPSA or IDPA targets and take them to the range with you. You might also want to bring your own stapler with long staples, because the ones at the range might not have the reach to get through the cardboard targets.
• Practice. 
  • Some good drills for the square range are things like this:
    • 4 Aces (draw, fire 2, reload, fire 2, all shots need to be alphas)
    • Bill Drills (7 yards, draw and fire 6 rounds, all alphas) You can push the distance to make things interesting.
    • 25 yard group shooting
    • Other variations of drills that involve draws, reloads, and variations of targets (draw, shoot the lower A-zone, reload, and shoot the upper A-zone)
    • Dots.

News

The NRA is getting rid of the women's division in smallbore rifle. Because women are just as good as men, and that's cool.

Virginia finally got some sense around concealed carry. The Governor just signed a bill allowing reciprocity with basically all other permits from other states.

Tip of the Week

Plug of the Week

Breach Bang Clear dropped a truth bomb this week that you should probably go read. Agree or disagree, it's worth a read.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

Shownotes at triangletactical.net/174

This last week on Instagram a trend got started where people were filming themselves dryfiring a reload, and then catching the magazine before it hits the ground. There were some really well made videos put out there, but at the end of the day practicing catching your magazine, and altering the way you do your reload practice probably isn't the best way to spend your practice time. 

It's cool that this got some people out practicing, but at the end of the day, doing this probably wasn't real useful for actually getting better at shooting. 

The News

This video of Travis Haley swept the gun-ternet over the past couple weeks and we're just kind of over it. He was demonstrating why a technique was bad and prone to ND's and had an ND. Meh.

A lot of local folks have their panties in a wad about this too, and it's really not a big deal. Most gun ranges have the same or similar rules so stop worrying about it. 

Plug of the Week

KevinC over at the Misfires and Lightstrikes blog is doing really good work these days. If you don't have him in your feed reader, go subscribe. 

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

The difference between a really good match, and an average match isn't a lot of super crazy, hard to do things. It's simple really, and in this episode we talk about a few of the things that set some matches apart from others.

• Matches should have clearly labelled safe areas. It doesn't matter if the game happening at the range requires it or not, take the time and setup a clearly labelled safe area. All you need is a table facing a berm somewhere, and something labeling it as the designated safe area. A lot of ranges in our area just have people holster up at their car, and that's just not preferable.
• Clearly written stage descriptions. Often, Range Officers will walk through all of the stages before the match with the Match Director and be told how the stages are to be shot. Then, maybe 3 or 4 hours later, they finally arrive at a stage and are expected to remember exactly how the stage was supposed to be shot. Was it a loaded table start or unloaded? I know I've cried foul a couple times when I've noticed the squad behind me shooting the stage differently than I did. Take a minute, and write out the stage descriptions for your match, it's not hard to do.
• The 180* boundary should be clear. This is more of a USPSA specific thing, as IDPA allows for the use of muzzle safe points (which I really like, good job IDPA). Some bays at different ranges don't have a backstop that's parallel to the 180*. In this case, doing something simple like setting up the rearmost fault line parallel to the 180* gives a reference point for shooters and Range Officers.
• Buddy System for New Shooters: Back when we had Ben Stoeger on the podcast he mentioned that ranges near him have a buddy system for new shooters, where newbies are assigned to an experienced shooter to help them and answer their questions during the match. I think it's a great idea, and I'm surprised the ranges around here don't do this.
• Have a clear procedure for what to do with brass. It's a little things, but I've given a lot of unimpressed glares to people when they start picking up "my" brass. I don't really care how you do it, but I think the best way is to tell everyone to leave the brass on the ground all day, and after the match, let them pick up brass from the bay they finish on. It's simple, and leave the brass for the people who stick around and help tear down, etc.
• Use Practiscore. For those who don't know, Practiscore is a match administration software that allows shooters to sign up for, and squad for an upcoming match ahead of time. It's fantastic for many reasons, I like it because it keeps the match from having too many people show up. Once the specified amount of shooters have showed up, the match is full and more people aren't able to sign up. It's also great because it eliminates having someone sit in a stats shack all day entering data, and it spits out scores really quickly and distributes them via email to the shooters.

The News

The Holly Springs, NC police department is setting up a couple parking spaces at their new police department for online commerce (craigslist sales, basically) but they're specifically not allowing people to sell firearms there. I think they're being a little weird about banning the sales but whatever.

Strict scrutiny was applied to the Maryland assault weapons ban by judges in the 4th circuit this week. They overturned the AWB and the hi-capacity magazine ban. Awesome. Here's more from Andrew Branca over at Legal Insurrection.

A VA man who was open carrying was robbed of his gun last week. He's lucky that the bad guys only took his gun and not his life. If you're going to open carry, get a retention holster. I like the Safariland ALS, it's the best thing going.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

This weeks episode is sort of a companion from this blog post that Ben wrote last week. You should go read it, it's really good. We've both seen good shooters, and shooters who have the potential to be good fall out of the sport due to burnout over the years. It's probably helpful to know what burnout is, and how to avoid it. 

The News:

Virginia was set to revoke concealed carry reciprocity with a bunch of other states on 2/1/2016 but it looks like the Governor has made an 11th hour deal with Republicans in the state to reverse course and keep all of the previous reciprocity agreements. 

USPSA had a Board of Directors meeting right after SHOT show, and they made some changes to the Carry Optics division rules. Here are the approved changes from the USPSA Down Range email that went out last week:

The changes for Carry Optics Division will make it truly unique from other divisions, and will include:

• Authorization for all levels of USPSA and Steel Challenge
• Expanded stippling, contouring and texturing of the grip frame to include undercut trigger guard and grip reduction
• Expanded slide profiles to include serrations and cosmetic cuts not completely through the slide
• Increased weight limit of 45 ounces, including optic and empty magazine, allowing more pistols to compete
• Required use of a slide-mounted optic, prohibiting guns without an optic.

Facebook bans gun classifieds. Meh, it's their house, so we play by their rules. Some people are all up in arms about this, but I'm not. It's a crappy medium for a classifieds site anyways. Have you seen the new Armslist website? It's beautiful.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

Not a super tactical, or gun related product, but something I use in my range bag to keep things organized and dry. Back when I used to mess around with Geocaching quite a bit, I found that these Lock-n-lock boxes are awesome because they are completely waterproof. I have some that have been hidden outdoors for over 5 years now that are still completely dry. Mine holds my timer, gun parts, holster parts, spare fiber optic rod, and Triangle Tactical stickers so they don't get damaged or wet in my range bag. No worried about the lid coming off or my stuff getting wet. 

(Yes mine is painted green, it was once a Geocache hidden in the woods.)

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

SHOT show was last week, and some interesting products were announced there. It seems like most of the stuff this year was modifications to old products, and pistols with milling to allow red dot sights. Now, we weren't there, but this week on the podcast we talk about what looks interesting to us.

• Kimber K6 Revolver
• Glock 7 and Glock 19 MOS
• Sig Sauer P320 Target
• Caracal F
• .40 S&W XDs
• Apex trigger for Walther PPQ
• Avidity PD10
• Raven Concealment Baylor Mount
• Agency Arms NOC
• Remington R51
• A light switch that is on an AR trigger. Frightening.
• Colt Competition Pistol
• Kalashnikov AK Alpha
• Tyrant Designs AR Grip
• Cobalt Kinetics Rifles
• Federal Premium poly coated bullets

News

Proposed legislation in Tennessee that would give cause for a CHP holder injured in a business that disallows concealed carry to sue if injured while on that property.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

Eton crank radio. Just get one. I've had one for many years, and I forget I have it 364 days a year, but there's always one day when the power is out that I pull it out and crank it up for some weather updates and music to listen to. It really comes in handy. I like being able to pull it out of storage, crank it up for 20 seconds and have music and weather updates. 

Is it going to charge your phone all the way up? No, your arms will fall off first. Will it charge up your phone enough to get a couple texts out? Yep. 

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

The big scuttlebutt this week is that new USPSA President Mike Foley announced that he will be introducing a new division at the USPSA board meeting this week in Vegas. Here's what he posted on the USPSA Forum:

FYI, I will be making a presentation to the BOD to add PCC as a provisional division in USPSA.  I have conducted two beta tests at level one matches, and gathered experience at the SE Pro Am as well.  My presentation will include video, lessons learned, and a ready to approve appendix.  If this makes your MD nervous, let him know we are doing this one based on experience, and not on just an idea.  I've worked with two clubs, 40 plus shooters, USPSA tech, Practiscore, and NROI RMs prior to finishing my presentation.  I have also read every thread I can find, and had private conversations with many of you.  My goal is to make it fun, safe, and easy on MD and RO staff.  If you want this, or have concerns, let your AD know prior to next weekend.  Thanks.

Ben and I both have some concerns about this. If it's just setting up rules so clubs can host pistol caliber carbine matches, no problem at all, but if it's rules to allow PCC's at regular pistol matches, I'm concerned about match directors making concessions on stage design for people shooting rifles in a pistol match.

How do you shoot a turn-and-draw with a rifle?

The News

Demand for concealed carry permits in NC is growing, and has grown a LOT in the last few years. Unfortunately, we don't think competitions and training classes have grown at the same rate in the state, so there are a lot of people walking around carrying who haven't done more than take the required class, which is very basic. If you are, or if you have a friend in this situation, get them out to a match this year.

Some dudes tried to rob a T-mobile store in Chicago last week, and were promptly ventilated by an employee. The weird thing about the story is this: the business allows employees to carry if they have a permit, but they ban other people from carrying in their business.

The manager says in the video "Thank got for concealed carry" but it seems odd that the store is then posted. What's the deal with that?

Gear That Doesn't Suck

If you reload, you probably need some cases to put your ammo in. In my opinion, MTM makes the best cases out there as long as you get the right ones. They have two types, one that has a little flimsy piece of plastic that acts as a hinge between the top and bottom pieces, you don't want this type. They suck. The plastic cracks and splits over time until you wind up spilling ammo all over your range bag when they completely separate.

What you want are the cases where there's an actual hinge connecting the lid and the bottom of the case. The Black and Green ones listed here are the right kind, and they're great. I think I have 12 or 13 of them, and they definitely don't suck. (You'll notice when you click the link, some of the other ammo boxes listed are the bad kind. Get the green and black ones.)

Plug of the Week:

Grant Cunningham wrote a really good blog post this week on his website that you should good read. It's about how the shooting sports being dominated by enthusiasts isn't necessarily a good thing. It's definitely worth a read.

Contact:

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

The main topic for this weeks podcast was inspired by this Instagram post by Veil Solutions:

Turns out, it's relevant for competitive shooting too. When someone shows up to their first match, a lot of the time they don't even know what's possible, so getting stomped by the really good shooters is good for them. It lets them know what's possible, and what they need to strive for. On the other hand, if they show up, and the best shooters were to just take it easy and beat the new guy by the thinnist of margins, the new guy would think he "almost" beat the best shooters.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Ben and I have both been looking for a decent squib stick to keep in our range bags that wouldn't break the bank. After poking around on Amazon we found this $7 brass rod that works great. It's sized just right for a 9mm bore, and did I mention it's $7?

In the past Ben's been using a wooden dowel to pound out squibs, but recently shattered it on an exceptionally stubborn one. The brass rod has pounded a few squibs since we've had it, and it's good to go.

Check the sidebar of the website at triangletactical.net if you want to get one.

The News

The BATFE announced the dreaded 41P ruling last week right after Pres. Obama dropped his Executive Actions. Turns out it's not as bad as a lot of people were expecting. Basically it's now requiring everyone on a NFA trust to submit fingerprints, paperwork and a picture to the ATF, and they've eliminated the CLEO sign-off requirement from... everything. The Prince Law blog has the details.

As mentioned above, President Obama also announced his executive actions on guns. Most of it wasn't anything to get your panties in a wad about, but there is one area of concern, and that's the Social Security Adminstration communicating with NICS or whoever to tell them what people have been deemed by them not to be able to own guns. Basically they way we understand is that this will impact people who aren't able to take care of their own finances, so their SSA checks go to someone else who then handles their estate for them. I'd prefer there be some sort of due process to go along with people losing their rights, but that's just me.

Hickok45 got banninated from YouTube this week. Twice. Turns out it's not the conspiracy everyone thought it was. They've got the final word up on their YouTube page here. Ben also wrote a little post about it that's worth a read. 

First Match Story

This week's first match story comes in as a big surprise to us from Mike Seeklander of the American Warrior Show. Turns out he shot his first match at Ant Hill Range right here in NC. It's about 45 minutes into the show, and it's good. Real good. Don't miss it. 

Plug of the Week:

ParaCast. A while back we recommended Tom Nelson's ParaCast back when he was doing just a Q&A format type show. Since then The Gun Dudes stopped recording new episodes, and Tom brought on Steve Koski and Andy Peterson as regulars, and they've been putting out some pretty good stuff. Check them out here. 

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

This week I'm recording solo on the podcast, so I thought it might be fun to talk about some of the different new handguns I got to play with in 2015. 

The News

Obama is still talking about some kind of Executive Order on guns. Seems like he might be dragging his feet a little though.

Ruger announced the American Pistol this week, and it looks decent. I'm not going to rush out and buy one, but on paper it looks like it may be the best autoloader they've made in a long time. 

First Match Stories:

I didn't play a first match voicemail this week, but I think you should resolve to go shoot your first match in the next couple of months if you've never shot a match before. Go do it. 

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

This week's podcast is our annual podcast clip show where we play our favorite clips from the past year. We had a lot of fun putting this one together, I hope you enjoy it.

Ben came up with some reasons why the shooting sports are awesome, so we talked about that this week:

1. There's almost no natural skill or genetic component
2. You really can't buy very much success.
3. Cheating is fairly difficult (because there's so little hidden complexity and so many people watching) and when successful pays off only in very small ways.
4. Practice can be accomplished in virtually any home, for free, any time of the day or night.
5. Gear doesn't really break down and when it does, it's usually a simple, straightforward fix.
6. The time/money tradeoff is very robust. If you have a lot of time to invest, you can get really good and shoot a lot for very little money.
7. The injury rate is effectively zero.
8. Competitive opportunities are abundant, varied, and nearby.
9. Because of the serious nature of the sport's implements, it tends to weed out completely irresponsible losers and anti-social behavior.
10.  Anybody can compete with anybody else. Newbies and veterans in the same match.

The News:

House Democrats introduced a single feature assault weapons ban this week. It's terrible and nefarious, but it also doesn't stand a chance.

S&W is being attacked for not disclosing stuff in their SEC filings that they've never been required to disclose. Meh.

The Firearm Blog is reporting on a leaked Walther PPS M2. It looks pretty decent.

Plug of the Week:

Weaponsman did a good blog post this week about people paying for more accuracy than they need. It's worth a read.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

It's Star Wars week, so we nerd out a little on this episode and talk about the infamous scene in Star Wars: A New Hope where Han Solo shoots Greedo in the Mos Eisley Cantina. We're fans of the original movie, not that ruined remastered garbage that came out in the 90's.

We evaluate the scene using Andrew Branca's 5 pillars of self defense: Innocence, imminence, avoidance, proportionality, and reasonableness. If you're a Star Wars fan (like we are) you'll like it.

The News

Kentucky runs more background checks than any other state in the union. Apparently they do monthly NICS checks on all concealed carry permit holders in the state. Interesting.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

The Belkin Conserve socket is a timer that works great for your brass tumbler so you don't forget about it and let it run longer than needed. If you want one, hit the sidebar at triangletactical.net under Gear That Doesn't Suck.

The Blue Bullets

Registration opened for the 2016 South Carolina USPSA Championship, and our sponsor The Blue Bullets is the title sponsor of the match. Not only do they make good bullets, but they also do a lot to give back to the sport. 

First Match Stories

We're pretty light on first match stories, so why don't you send us in a voicemail about your first match? It doesn't matter if it was recent or 20 years ago, we'd like to hear about it.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

You've probably seen the videos online for the Urban Carry holster. It's the little pouch holster that you put your gun in, and then it all drops inside your pants. When it's time to draw the pistol, you undo a little magnetic flap with your weak hand, and pull up, which pulls the pistol up where you can grab it with your strong hand.

Ben was really interested in one of these, so we ordered up one for his Springfield XDs that he's been reviewing for about a month now.

### Pros:
It's the most comfortable holster he's ever used, hands down.

It's also well made. The leather seems to be of good quality, the stitching is nice, and and it's stamped with the Urban Carry logo on the back.

Cons:

Three cons with the Urban Carry that Ben found:

• Something about the holster and XDs combination in the Appendix position worn on a guy makes Ben (and me when I tried the holster) look like you're... happy to see everyone.

 

Ben is that an Urban Carry or are you glad to see me? It's just an Urban Carry. #bonerholster #underreview

A photo posted by TriangleTactical.net (@triangletactical) on Dec 5, 2015 at 12:44pm PST

• The next issue that the Urban Carry holster has a little pouch sewn onto the back of the holster that's supposed to be for carrying your concealed carry permit in. This is a terrible idea. Invision this scenario: "Yes officer, I have a permit for my gun, it's right here" and then reaches for the gun without even thinking about it. At best, you'll make the police officer really nervous, and worst, who knows.
• The last issue Ben had with the holster was that sometimes on the draw stroke, the butt of the pistol would get stuck under his belt, and then when he would try to draw the pistol by pulling up on the flap it wouldn't come up. This would require him to then stick a thumb down under his belt to release the tension, and then he could draw the pistol. Is it a deal breaker for a deep cover holster? That's up to you, but it can definitely slow down the draw unexpectedly.

Final word on the Urban Carry holster:

Ben think's it sits on the spectrum of carry somewhere between his INCOG, and off body carry. It's not super fast and reliable, but it's better than having your gun in a bag that may or may not be near you.

The News:

No big articles this week, but we talk over the narrative that's being pushed by the media (and the President) that we need to keep people who are on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. There's a big problem with this: There is no due process for someone to get put on the terrorist watch list, so if getting put on the list then denies them a constitutionally protected right, that's a problem.

Plug of the Week:

Are you a Redditor? If so, you should be checking out Ben's Monday Morning Match Recap threads on the r/CompetitionShooting subreddit. The subreddit is pretty great in and of itself, but Ben's Monday morning thread is something I check out every Monday. Check it out.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

This week we talk about how some folks make assumptions about how "their" self defense scenario will go down, and they then prepare for that specific scenario instead of being ready for the most likely scenario.

Housekeeping

Thanks for all the voicemails for the Q&A podcast. We were completely out of them last Friday when that episode aired, and over the weekend we've received enough voicemail questions for another month! Anyways, if you've got a question for us, send it in.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

The days are pretty short now, so it's probably getting time to put some fresh ones in your EDC flashlight. If you use CR123a batteries, these ones on Amazon are a pretty killer deal at less than $2 a battery.

The News

The National Defense Authorization Act was passed this week. It's 584 pages long, but everyone is really excited about a page and a half that allows the government to sell surplus 1911's through the CMP. It also requires the Air Force to keep a fleet of A-10 Warthogs, so that's cool too.

Polymer80 is coming out with a polymer Glock 80% Glock frame. It's kind of cool. I wan't one, but I can't figure out why I want one so bad. 

A woman and her husband were robbed at gunpoint while purchasing a car in South Carolina. The woman was able to draw her gun on an already drawn gun and put effective rounds on target. Good for her, I'm glad she was carrying and that the good guys are okay. 

Plug of the Week

Firearms United on YouTube is putting out some hilarious videos. I suspect if this guy keeps it up, he'll be the new FPSrussia. 

https://youtu.be/WP4k4tOsZD8

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

Shownotes pending...

This week Ben and I talk about why stages and drills are two different things, and why it always makes a crappy stage when someone tries to use a drill as a stage in a match.

Shirts

You’ve got until about midnight on Thursday of this week to get your shirts.

http://www.triangletactical.net/shirts

Gear That Doesn’t Suck

8″ Shoot-n-See targets are a good thing to keep in the range bag. If you find yourself at the range and forgot your targets at home, you’ll at least have something to shoot at, and they’re also great for kids and new shooters because they provide instant feedback.

Plug of the Week:

Tac Insider Network. These folks are hilarious, go follow them on Facebook (and tell them we sent you).

It’s been a while since we’ve really explained any of the sounds that we play regularly on the show, so we decided to take a couple minutes this week and go through them and let y’all know what they actually are.

Q&A Podcast

We’re still mailing out Triangle Tactical stickers if you send in a voicemail question for the Q&A podcast. Go to traingletactical.net/voicemail to find out how to do it.

Shirts

We’ve got another run of T-shirts and hoodies going on right now. If you want one, go buy one before November 19th, 2015.

triangletactical.net/shirts

The News

An Amish man is suing the government because it’s against his religion to have his picture taken, and he needs a picture ID to buy as gun from an FFL. 

A single feature “assault weapon” ban was introduced in Wisconsin. This thing is just sad.

A stabbing at a California college was interrupted by a good guy without a gun. It was then stopped by good guys with guns.

Tip of the Week

Ben’s been experimenting with making visually distinct dummy rounds again. He’s now usingBrass Black and Montana Gold bullets to make all black dummy rounds for dryfire that are visually distinct from real ammo.

Here’s the post he wrote about it a while back.

This week on the podcast, we sat down with Chris Tilley, just a couple days after he got home from winning the 2015 USPSA Open National Championship. It's funny, Chris lives right here in the Raleigh area, and we've never had him on the podcast before. 

Lots of good stuff in this interview, check it out, and tell your friends.

Things are pretty good these days, so house economist (Ben) digs a little into why were seeing certain things from gun and accessory manufacturers right now.

The News

California Lt. Gov Newsome is pushing a ballot initiative in California. It's bad juju. Stay on top of this.

A 5yo girl finds an SBI agents gun in a restroom of a restaurant. Her parents prepared her for this, and she ran and told her mom.

The Salt Lake Practical Shooters Association was broken into and had all of their timers, range equipment, tools, etc stolen. They currently have a GoFundMe running to try and get new stuff. Check it out if you can help.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Paint a lot of steel targets at major matches? Hate trying to paste targets or shoot after you get paint goo on your trigger finger? One of the guys at the NC Sectional match this year showed up to our stage with one of these Can Guns and they were surprisingly amazing. Get a couple, chuck them in your range bag. They're amazing for stages where you have a lot of steel to paint between shooters.

Plug of the Week

USPSA has a bunch of videos from Limited/Open Nationals on their YouTube channel. Unfortunately they're not labeled or organized or anything.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

Shownotes at http://www.triangletactical.net/155

Shownotes at http://www.triangletactical.net/154

Shownotes for this episode at http://www.triangletactical.net/153

Shownotes at triangletactical.net/152

Shownotes at triangletactical.net/151

Shownotes at triangletactical.net/150

Shownotes at triangletactical.net/149

Shownotes at http://www.triangletactical.net/148

Shownotes at http://www.triangletactical.net/147

Governor Pat McCrory signed NC H562 into law a couple days ago, so Ben and I decided to go through the bill section by section to give you a rundown of what is still in it after all of the runaround through the hullabaloo that happened with it in the NC House. It's still a good bill, but I want to make one thing clear here in the shownotes, as well as in the episode: The NC Pistol Purchase Permit is not going away, there were a couple changes to it, but it's still required. Also, we're not lawyers. I'm a college dropout, and Ben plays with computers or something for a living, so there's a good chance we messed something up. The idea here is to give you a general idea of what's in the bill so you can then go find the relevant sections of it, and have a read of it yourself.

The ratified version of the bill that was signed by the Governor can be found here.

The News

Chucky Schumer and Amy Schumer held a press conference this week proposing that something be done to stop mass shootings. The internet exploded with hate and vitriol after they proposed that a bill be written to do this:

“The proposed legislation, which the two presented at a news conference Monday, would reward states that submit information to the background-check system and penalize states that don't comply.”

But then, a few days later, John Cornyn in the US Senate introduced a NRA backed bill that would do this, and... crickets:

“The new legislation from Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn tries to patch some holes in the current national background checks system by encouraging states, through the promise of federal funding, to send more information on mental-health records to the national database.”

On the surface at least, it sounds like the bills do roughly the same thing.

The Blue Bullets

So I ordered 3600 of these last week, and received a 65lb box of lead from The Blue Bullets in the mail (Actually the post office called and asked if I could pick it up, because my mail carrier couldn't lift the box. No problem). I've been loading them like a madman, to try and get a good stockpile of ammo built up again. I like The Blue Bullets, I've been shooting them since before they were a sponsor, and I think they're great. Check out a sample pack if you haven't tried them, and save a little more with the code "triangle" at checkout.

Call to Action

Why haven't you checked out the Q&A podcast yet? We've got like 57 episodes recorded now, and I dare say, they're pretty good. All of the back catalog, subscription links, etc, can be found on the Q&A Podcast page here

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- Voicemail Line (919) 295-6128

This week I sat down with Jon Patton of The Gun Collective and we talked about all sorts of stuff, from YouTube, stupid guns, the firearm industry, and a bunch more. 

This week we discuss how the shooting sports could rebrand the classification systems to better bring in new shooters. This topic was totally ripped off  inspired by a poster "GuanoLoco" in this thread on the Doodie Project forum. He's spot on.

The News

This week a bunch of folks went to go stand guard at military recruiting stations in the wake of the Chattanooga shooting. Unfortunately though, the folks that were actually there doing noble work were overshadowed by derp. One guy had an ND while playing show-and-tell with his rifle.

The USPSA Board of Directors announced that Production Carry Optics will be a new provisional division through the end of the year. That's basically all we know, and it sounds like a bad idea.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

Prince Grip. It's basically the same stuff as ProGrip (as far as we can tell), and it's a good product if you feel like you need a little extra grip during sweaty, hot matches. It's good stuff, check it out.

Plug of the Week

If you aren't subscribed to the Q&A podcast yet, WTF mate? Go to http://www.triangletactical.net/qna and hit the relevant links to get subscribed. We're having a lot of fun with it, so keep the questions coming. 

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

This weeks episode was inspired by a question sent in by a friend who just recently had his 3rd anniversary in competitive shooting. He asked what we would change, or what we wish we had known early on in our competitive shooting careers. It spurred an interesting discussion.

Local Shooting Sports News:

Two matches coming up that you might want to be aware of:

NC USPSA Sectional - October 2-4 at Sir Walter Gun Club in Creedmoor, NC. Details at NCsection.org

Hawkeye Gun Club in Lake Lure, NC will be hosting their annual Autism charity match September 18-19th. It's for a great cause, and you can register here.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

This week Ben plugs Ben Stoeger's Practical Pistol book. Ben read it as a fairly experienced shooter, and didn't gain a ton from it, but he's been handing it off to a couple of newer folks recently, and they've been having their minds blown by it. If you're new, or if you want to read up on some more technique type stuff for practical pistol shooting, grab a copy of this one.

Plug of the Week

LuckyGunner has an article up on their blog that's worth a read. We don't necessarily agree with the points made by everyone but it's thought provoking.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

This week Ben and I talk about how getting involved and working at a match will make you a better shooter. You'll be more prepared, know the rules better, and have a few other advantages too.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

The Belkin Conserve Socket is a great little timer to use on your brass tumbler if you're a reloader. It's better than a light timer, and it's cheap. I actually use it with both my brass tumbler and my slow cooker when I'm making a pork shoulder or something.

Ben and I both use it for our tumblers, and it works great. Check it out.

The News

So, last week on the podcast we talked about some guys "open carrying" and racking shotguns in Georgia. We talked all about the laws in Georgia and stuff, and as it turns out... it happened in Mississippi. Sorry, we'll do better next time.

On a similar note, we had a local guy walk into a mall carrying an AR and a bunch of tactical nylon. People freaked out. He got arrested.

Listener Feedback

Last week on the Q&A show we answered a question from a listener about how to carry concealed in business casual. Neither of us are business casual types, so we did the best we could, but a bunch of listeners chimed in and gave us some better answers.

Dryfire Drill of the Week

We want to hear about the dryfire drills that you are doing. If you have something in your shooting that you're working on, and you've come up with a drill to address it, we want to hear about it. Shoot a voicemail to podcast@triangletactical.net or send us a voicemail and tell us about it.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

Gear that Doesn't Suck

This week we talk about the Safariland ALS retention holster. If you need retention, this is the holster to get. The release mechanism uses your thumb in a very natural motion to release the pistol from the holster. It's high quality, and something you should definitely consider if you're an open carrier, or just feel like you need more retention.

You can get the Safariland ALS here.

The News

Some fools were "open carrying" in Georgia last week. Carrying a shotgun, racking rounds into it, loading it, etc. In Walmart. They're lucky they didn't get shot. I'm not a fan of carrying to make a statement, so I think what these guys did was utterly stupid.

Last week we mentioned that LuckyGunner won their court costs back after being sued by the Brady Bunch. They've decided to take that money (approx. $111,000) and donate it to pro-gun groups. How great is that?

Plug of the Week

Ben plugs the Active Response Training blog this week. You can find the blog at http://www.activeresponsetraining.net.

Dryfire Drill of the Week

Practice some unloaded table starts. Pistol and mags on the table, on the buzzer pick them up, load the pistol, and engage a target with 2 rounds. It's a skill that came up in this weeks classifier that I haven't practiced in a long while.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

This week Ben and I have a discussion about the upcoming race for USPSA President. Up to this point, I haven't really cared about it much, as I generally feel that things are going just fine with the sport, and as a somewhat casual shooter, I can't think of what needs to be fixed. Ben however has a much deeper understanding of these things than I do, and explains to me (and you) why it's important, and who is running on which platform, etc. I'm actually interested now, and I think even if you don't shoot USPSA, you'll find the discussion interesting.

Housekeeping

We apparently forgot to mention this on the podcast, but Ben and I were interviewed on the Action Shooting Radio podcast a few weeks ago. We talked about how to stay motivated to practice, and I thought it was a pretty good episode. You should check it out, it's episode 45 of their podcast. You can find them in iTunes here, Stitcher here, and the regular podcast feed address is here.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

We get asked a lot about getting into reloading, so this week for Gear that Doesn't Suck, Ben and I talked about the reloading press that we've both started with (and as of the release of this episode still use, although Ben is upgrading to a Dillon 650 in the near future).

We both use the Lee 4-hole Turret Press, and we both have loaded a lot of ammo on our respective presses. I'l closing in on 7000 rounds on mine, and Ben figures he's somewhere up around the 20,000 round mark on his. It's not the best press, or the fastest, but it'a a great starting point that's faster than a single stage, and has less of a learning curve than a progressive press.

As mentioned in the podcast, I put together a list of all the beginner reloading stuff we recommend, and you can find it here.

The News

NC House Bill 562 left the NC House this past week after having so many amendments added to it that I can't even tell you what's still in the bill, and what isn't. You can check out the amendments here.

The Brady Bunch has been ordered to pay the legal fees of some businesses that they sued after the Colorado theatre shooting.

There was a terrible shooting in a church in South Carolina this week. Folks that are both pro- and anti-gun have been politicizing the issue. It's not okay to politicize it, no matter which side you are on. Also, if you haven't already, check out this episode of the American Warrior Society podcast where Mike Seeklander interviews a man who intervened when some scumbags were planning to kill everyone in his church.

Just months after an Uber driver intervened in a mass shooting in Chicago, and everyone praised Uber for their policy of following state and local laws regarding guns, they seem to have quietly changed their policy on the issue, banning guns for both drivers and passengers using Uber.

Tip of the Week:

When you're shooting a major match, don't just sign off on your score sheet and forget about it. Take a minute to verify everything is correct before you put it away, because once you sign it, it's final.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

Last week I was in Northern Michigan and I had a conversation with my Uncle about competitive shooting. He said that shooting a stage himself, and then having a friend shoot the stage after him wouldn't really interest him, but if there were some type of "man on man" type comeptition where more than one person was on the firing line at a time and they were shooting to both complete a goal against each other at the same time, that he would be interested in getting involved in a competition like that.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

At the H2O Fowl Farms IDPA match this weekend it was standard North Carolina summer weather: HOT.

A friend showed up to the range with a instant canopy for our squad which was completely awesome to give us some shade between shooting and pasting. Here's a Coleman one on Amazon that you might want to consider for your range trips during the summer months.

Coleman 10 x 10 Instant Canopy

The News

Apparently MTV has an NC based reality show (I had no idea) and the star of the show posted a picture online of her baby in it's bed, her man feeding the baby, and a pistol on her nightstand. People online apparently lost their freaking minds over the picture, not realizing that the child is an infant, clearly not capable of gaining access to the firearm. The picture, and her interview with TMZ are available here. Watch the video, it's worth it.

Sig Sauer is sponsoring a top fuel dragster. On the surface this isn't really much of a news story, but it's just another way to show that Sig is really in touch with shooters. From the development of all the cool silencers they're making, to the newly announced Sig shooting team, to the P320 that's the new hotness, it really seems like they're killing it lately.

Sponsor

This episode was sponsored by The Blue Bullets. They just announced some new bulk discounts, and shipping deals that you should check out if you're looking to buy some new bullets for competitive shooting. Don't forget, you can save even more with the code "triangle" at checkout. They're Glock friendly, Open gun friendly, and they're made right here in NC (but offer free shipping on most orders) to anywhere in the US.

Plug of the Week

Andrew Tuhoy of Vuurwapen Blog has launched a new podcast. The first episode is about the proposed ITAR regulations on the restriction of firearm "technical data" on the internet. It's a frightening topic, and one that needs to be shared. You can check out Andrew's blog post about it here, and his show is in iTunes here.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- Voicemail Line: (919) 295-6128

This week, we catch up with Bob (formerly known as "the new shooter"). We first talked to Bob back on Episode 30 after he'd just shot his first match, caught up with him six months later on Episode 54 to talk about progressing as a competitor. Most recently, we brought him in to help us with Episode 100, our PPQ vs VP9 shootout.

Today, he's back to talk about shooting competition even if you don't practice all the time like Ben and Luke. He has some thoughts about fitting competition in to life with family and other time commitments. He also talks level of participation, current level of skill, and how to enjoy shoot matches even if you're not planning to try and make Master class.

The News
The main news story this week is Oklahoma passing a bill to allow authorized staff in K-12 schools to carry concealed at school. It still requires extra training and may not be adopted by all schools or school districts, but it's an excellent move forward for good guys with guns to stop bad guys with guns, especially protecting our children.

Tip of the Week
Don't forget to take yourself in to account in your evaluation of gear. Sometimes, especially for older shooters, it's important to make sure your gun, holster, sights, trigger, grip, and everything else still work for you over time. Whether you're getting smarter by learning better techniques or older with achy joints, it's always worth it to pull the carry gun out and dry fire every once in a while.

This week we talk a bunch about mental game for competitive shooting after getting a great email about it from a listener.

Gear that Doesn't Suck

George Leonard's Mastery - Ben talks about the book and why you should have it, and be continually reading it.

Sponsor

This week's show was sponsored by Andrew Branca's Law of Self Defense. Head over to his website and save 10% on books, seminars, and webinars when you use the code triangle at checkout. http://www.lawofselfdefense.com

The News

171 concealed carry permits were revoked in Ohio after it was found out that the instructor wasn't teaching the classes, but instead just signing off on the certificates. No bueno.

Charlotte, NC police are noticing a trend of vehicles with gun related stickers getting broken into. Something to think about.

Tip of the Week

Don't let strange stage props get in your head. Last week we watched some people melt down while shooting a clamshell target at the Shoot2Live IDPA match, and it's something we've both seen in the past with things like cars, odd start positions, and of course, the dreaded Texas Star.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- Voicemail Line (919) 295-6128

This week we wrap up a bunch of news stories that have been occupying our time over the last week. 

The Supreme Court rules that felons don't immediately lose ownership of their guns upon conviction. They can find someone else to take custody of them and sell them, etc.

The concealed carry law in Washington DC had a key provision struck down by Federal Judge Scullin. The part of the law that said applicants for a concealed carry permit must have a just cause for requesting the permit is what he went after, saying that is unconstitutional.

USPSA Grand Master turned Louisiana State Representative Blake Miguez is working on an actual gun safety bill in the state. It's passed the LA state house so far. 

PoliceOne posts a really derpy article about competitive shooting. "The reason being they aren't realistic and cause the shooter to form extremely bad habits that can get them killed on the street." Yawn.

The Boy Scouts of America ban squirt guns (Auto-play ads in the link). Listen, if your Boy Scout troop is organizing squirt gun fights, you should find a better troop that's actually teaching your son to be a good citizen. I was a Tiger Cub, earned my Arrow of Light, and eventually Eagle Scout and I can't say we ever played with squirt guns. It's a non-issue.

A Mississippi man was approached by two criminals with guns, and forced to drive them to an ATM to get cash. Afterwards, the victim was able to get access to his own pistol and fatally wound one of the criminals, and the other is on the loose. Word on the street is that the victim in this case is a USPSA competitor who was on his way to the Mississippi Classic USPSA match that morning. Bad guys had a failure in their victim selection process.

Dry Fire Drill of the Week:

In honor of Blake Miguez in the news section above, this week's drill is the Blake Drill. Here's Angry Matt explaining it.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- Voicemail Line (919) 295-6128

We've recieved so much awesome listener feedback this week that we couldn't help but make an episode out of it. 

Gear that Doesn't Suck:

Kershaw Skyline - Ben's summer knife. Thin, lightweight, and pretty good. It's not a top of the line knife, but it get's the job done. He took the clip off his and it just rides in the bottom of his pocket. 

The News:

Last week we talked about the Garland, TX shooting, where at the time the news said that the bad guys with rifles were taken down by a single officer with his duty pistol. Now it's coming out that the officer engaged the jihadis, but was quickly backed up by the local swat team that was on site for the event. 

Everytown has begun running a bunch of ads on TV here in NC against HB562 where they make it sound like it will eliminate all background checks for handgun sales in the state. More here.

Plug of the Week:

A recent episode of Ballistic Radio with Claude Werner as the guest. They talk about a lot of stuff regarding mindset, practice, and standards. We both liked it.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

Gear That Doesn't Suck

Streamlight Stylus Pro - Great little flashlight for everyday usage. It's small, well put together, and the batteries last a long time. It's not a flashlight that'll turn night into day, but it's bright enough. Nice form factor.

Main Topic

3 big announcements this week. 

1. We're doing another run of t-shirts. This time they're lightweight athletic type shirts which are great for wearing while shooting in the summer. You can find them at triangletactical.net/shirts. They're $20 plus shipping, with a blank front, and the Triangle Tactical logo on the rear. 

2. We're going to start opening up some slots for advertisers on the podcast. If you have a product or business that is 1. relevant to our audience, and 2. doesn't suck, hit me up at luke@triangletactical.net and we can talk.

3. The biggest news is that we're going daily with the podcast. Actually, we're launching a completely separate podcast which I'm calling Triangle Tactical Q&A. We're running out of time in the regular show to give everyones feedback and questions the attention that it deserves, so we'll be answering them in the new Q&A show. It'll be in iTunes soon, but for now you can subscribe to the feed at http://www.triangletactical.net/feed/qna

The News:

Garland Texas jihadi attack. Two scumbags attempted an attack on some sort of Mohammed cartoon drawing contest. They had rifles, but were stopped by a Garland police officer with a .45ACP Glock.

Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed is collaborating with the Second Amendment Foundation to sue the State Department for making Wilson take down his plans for the 3D printed "Liberator" pistol.

Plug of the Week:

"The Way of the Gun" Episode of the American Warrior Society Podcast. Mike Seeklander hosts this new podcast interviews Tom Givens about handguns.

Contact

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

This week Ben and I talk about the importance of practicing little things, in small steps, one at a time. Seems like there's a divide among the shooting community where some trainers tend to have students practice large, complex drills, and other folks (generally the more competition minded) tend to break things down a bit more. We've both found that breaking things down for a bit, and then putting them back together tends to work well.

Gear That Doesn't Suck

New segment this week! We get asked a lot about different pieces of gear, and what our thoughts are on different things, so we're going to be promoting a piece of gear on every show that we've used and can recommend. This week we talk a bit about the Howard Leight Impact Sport Electric Earmuffs that we've both been using for a few years. They're inexpensive, rather durable (I finally broke mine after about 4 years of use) and they work well.

The News:

Some guy shot himself in the restroom at a Chick-fil-a. Apparently his Glock "went off" while he was pulling up his pants. Don't fiddle with your blaster in the restroom, leave it holstered.

A heroic High School teacher tackled a school shooter. Interesting that he was able to get into position to do it, and took the initiative to do it. Bravo.

H562 (The big omnibus firearm bill working it's way through the NCGA) is still alive. There's a good read about it here, which I reference in the episode.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

When people get into competitive shooting, they inevitably fall into the trap of buying more gear to try and get better, instead of putting in the time to practice and become a better shooter. We've both been down this road, and now that we're on the other side of it we've realized that for the most part, the modifications just aren't worth the money invested. However, there are a couple modifications that you'll probably need on most guns that you choose to shoot in competition.

- Sights. With the exception of just a couple pistols, most guns will need a set of sights to really be competitive. Ben says that you really can't spend too much money on a good set of sights. They're the only thing you're looking at on the gun when shooting it, so they're pretty important.

- Trigger. Basically, you need a trigger that doesn't suck. It doesn't have to be this super tricked out such and such that the elite tactical III% operators use, it just needs to be good enough. Short-ish, crisp-ish, somewhere under 5-6lbs is a good baseline.

That's really about it.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128 

This week we have a bit of a rant, where we talk a bit about people who shoot competition, who are anti-competition. We're not slamming the people that are just there to have a good time, but rather the folks who brag about not practicing, or rag on the people who do practice and want to get better.

Contact:

luke@triangletactical.net

ben@triangletactical.net

(919) 295-6128

This week we talk about a bunch of stuff. Some listener questions from Facebook, some new stuff from the NRA show (we're not there), and a bunch of other stuff too.

We'd like to get some more listener feedback from y'all for future episodes, so shoot an email or a voicemail (919) 295-6128 and let us know.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

In the past couple of weeks here in NC, we’ve seen several bills flow into the state legislature that would make some positive changes to our concealed carry (and other gun laws). The biggest of which is HB562. Among other things, HB562 would allow a little more leeway for people bringing guns onto school grounds in their vehicles, add an exception to an exception to allow concealed carry at the state fair (which in our opinion, adds to the “Quagmire of Stupidity” that we talked about back in Episode 103), adds a vehicle storage law that basically says that employers cannot disallow people from having a gun in their locked car, and would standardize signage requirements no guns signage. The bill does a lot more than what I mentioned here, but these are the parts we cover in this episode.

We also have a look at SB708, a bill that makes for an extra special concealed carry permit in the state. I’m all for expanding carry privileges, but I don’t think this bill is really the way to do it. I outline some of my problems with it here and here.

The News:

• Kansas becomes the 6th state allowing Constitutional Carry. As mentioned in the episode, there are some fantastic quotes from the Governor in this article.

   

• Taurus recalls the Curve pistol. Unfortunately for Taurus, word of the recall hit social media before their press release about it, and people were jumping all over the pistol before they found out it’s only being recalled because a batch of them left the factory without having the caliber engraved into the barrel. I had the chance to shoot a Curve a few weeks ago, and it wasn’t as awful as some people make it sound, so there’s that.

Dry Fire Drill of the Week:

Distance Change Up: Here’s a video of Ben Stoeger explaining it.

Contact:

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net

• (919) 295-6128

This week we had a chance to meet up with USPSA Grand Master and current Production National Champion Ben Stoeger. We talk a lot about how he got into shooting, robocop, Mel Gibson, mullets, and goons.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

Nothing but listener feedback in this episode! Marty tells us about his first match, Mike is going to shoot his soon and asks about a Bravo Concealment holster for IDPA, Brian emails in from Canada (America's Hat), Ron sets us straight about local 2-Gun matches, Terry asks about Major vs. Minor power factor scoring, and Steve has a couple retarded questions for us. 

Contact:

luke@triangletactical.net

ben@triangletactical.net

(919) 295-6128

At the top of the show we talk a bit about USPSA and our practice regimen. I mentioned a couple of Instagram videos on the Triangle Tactical Instagram page where I FUBAR a reload in a drill, and some video of the “Drill of the Week” from last week. Find them all here.

Main Topic:

I was inspired to talk about this topic after listening to the latest episode of the PARAcast podcastwith Tom from the GunDudes. I’d recommend you go have a listen to it in addition to this episode. He’s got iTunes and RSS feed links here on his website.

Anyways, we talk about the difference between Training and Practice, and why you should practice more than you train. It seems that there are a lot of people in the firearms community who love to go get training classes from experts, but they don’t really practice all that much. If we think about athletes, lets say someone like a basketball player, you would think they were odd if they were going to training camps all the time, and never practicing with a ball and the hoop in their driveway. For some reason though, when it comes to firearms it’s generally accepted as the opposite, lots of people train more than they practice, and they really shouldn’t.

Photoshopped Glocks

Here are the links to all of my “Photo Forensics” posts about the new Glock:

Andrew Branca’s NC Specific ‘Law of Self Defense’ Seminar

As mentioned in the show, Andrew Branca who we interviewed in Episode 86, is going to be teaching a NC specific Law of Self Defense seminar in Raleigh on May 3rd, 2015. It’s $99 right now (I think the price goes up in a few weeks) and you can save $10 at checkout with the code triangle.

Sign up here. 

Dry Fire Drill of the Week:

6 Reload 6

For this drill you need 3, 1/3 scale dryfire targets and a couple magazines loaded with dummy rounds.

Stand 7 feet from the targets, and on the buzzer draw and fire 2 “shots” at each target, perform a reload, and fire 2 shots at each target.

We both like this drill because you can really mix things up to keep it interesting. You can start hands relaxed at your sides, or with your wrists above shoulders, and you can add in a turn and draw every now and then as well. As you get better with turn and draws, you may find that you can turn and draw just about as fast as you can just draw. It’s a good drill.

As we mention in the episode, take a video of yourself running the drill of the week and tag us (@triangletactical) on Instagram in the description.

Contact:

• 

   

• 

• (919) 295-6128

This is an exciting episode for us, because for the first time ever, Ben and I recorded this episode with both of us in the same room. Anyways, here’s the shownotes:

We’ve both had a few things that have been bothering us for a little while, and we decided to vent about it this week. In the main topic segment, we vent about the following:

• Spartans. Why does everything in the shooting community have a spartan helmet on it?

   

• 10mm. We don’t really have a problem with the 10mm itself (it’s a fine round), but rather the rabid fan-boys that seem to think every firearm should be chambered in 10mm.

• .45 GAP. On the other hand, people really bag on the .45GAP too much. It’s a fine round, get over it.

• “Patriots” who love freedom, until they realize someone else is making money. Specifically people who cry “PRICE GOUGING!” whenever someone decides to sell their own property when demand goes up.

• “Because mil-spec”

• People who advocate others to “polish the feedramp”. If someone tells you this, run away

The News:

• Glock’s “This Spring” Ad.
• Nothing has changed with the M855 ban. The comment period is still open, and the ban is still looming. You may have heard that M855 was “already banned” which was a complete falsehood pushed out by some sensational bloggers. The BATFE clarified the issue. It’s more complicated than this, but Ben explains it real well in the episode.

Contact:

luke@triangletactical.net

ben@triangletactical.net

(919) 295-6128

Oh boy, this episode has been... interesting to get published. Anyways, after using 3 computers, a phone, and 2 different cloud data storage sites, it's finished. 

We talk about confidence as a shooter, just listen to it, ya hoser!

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919)295-6128

When learning a skilled trade in the old world, people fell into one of three categories: apprentice, journeyman, and master. The apprentice was the first step to learning the trade, and the apprentice would be paired with a master with whom he would learn all there was to learn from that master. The apprentice would then graduate into a journeyman, where he would go and learn from many different masters. After the journeyman had completed his learning, he would then become a master himself and have his own apprentice.

In the shooting world, these categories aren't as hard and fast as they were way back when, but most shooters can probably fit into one or two of them. Ben talks about his beginning as an apprentice to one instructor, and when he learned more, and became more skilled he began to learn from other instructors and shooters basically graduating to a journeyman, but for a new shooter who he showed the ropes to, he was a master.

The News:

A person was stabbed in the eye at 2:30AM near Moore Square in downtown Raleigh. Just a reminder that when you're out at the swanky bars downtown you need to be vigilant. If you have a designated driver, consider having a designated carrier as well.

A NJ man is facing 10 years in prison for having a 300 year old flintlock pistol in the glovebox of his car. Here's the NRA News interview with him.

A WV Pharmacist was able to draw and fire on a robber attempting to rob his pharmacy. Interestingly, the Pharmacist shot the robbers gun right in the muzzle, locking the slide and causing it to be inoperable. It's a fluke that it happened, but interesting none the less.

Dryfire Drill of the Week:

This is Ben's drill this week: Start with your unloaded pistol on the target (No magazine in the magwell, empty chamber, slide forward). At the beep initiate a reload, and get the sights back on target before the second beep from your par timer. Don't pull the trigger, because on a single "shot" drill, you'll start rushing the trigger. Ben said he'll practice this drill without a par timer as well and pull the trigger that way he doesn't get in the habit of pulling the trigger before he's ready just to make the par time.

Plugs of the Week:

We couldn't decide on a single plug this week, so we plugged two things:

- Latest Episode of Dan Carlin's Common Sense podcast. He focuses on the current situation with Russia/Ukraine/NATO/etc. This episode shed some light on the whole story that the network news doesn't explain.

- Brian Aitken (The guy who got railroaded by the NJ "justice" system for doing something that I do every day (having a couple guns in his car)) is trying to get his kid back. He's trying to crowdsource some cash to pay for a lawyer. Here's what I recommend: Go buy his book, and read it. It's available here on Amazon, and I'm not using an affiliate link, because I want him to make as much money as possible off of the sale.  After you read the book, go to his new website at http://www.loganshero.com and toss him a few bucks.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

This week we try to define, and explain our perspective on things as shooters. In the world of gun owners, there are a bunch of different types of folks, but most commonly, we find ourselves interacting with shooters, and gun guys.

Shooters tend to be more focused on the aspect of shooting, and less focused on gear. We try to find gear that is good enough, and leave it at that. Gun Guys however are the dudes you see on the range constantly looking for the latest/coolest/newest piece of gear to help up their game.

Simply put, the Gun Guy tends to have more money invested in his gear, where the Shooter invests more time in his gear.

There's nothing wrong with fitting into either category, but we wanted to define where we're coming when we answer questions for listeners.

The News:

A Federal Judge ruled on the Mance vs. Holder case, which has to do with interstate sales of handguns (you know, how if you buy a handgun from a vendor that isn't in your state, you have to have it shipped to an FFL in your state). Immediately this doesn't mean a whole lot for us, but it kicks the Second Amendment ball further down the road, and that's a good thing. Rather than trying to get into all of the specifics of this, I'll defer to friend of the show Andrew Branca who did a great, thorough YouTube video on the subject.

The BATFE is looking to redefine M855 (Green tip) 5.56 ammo as "armor piercing". Unfortunately, it doesn't look good for M855. Here's the current definition of Armor Piercing under the 1968 GCA:

“(i)      a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or

(ii)        a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.”

DryFire Drill of the Week:

A couple weeks back I mentioned that I was having some issues getting my eyes to snap focus from the target to my front sight in dryfire. Listener Robert emailed in and suggested I work some draw strokes with no targets in front of me, just a blank wall. I was skeptical at first, but it is a good drill for getting my eyes used to grabbing the front sight on the draw.

- No target, just a blank wall

- Full speed draws, lining up the sights with a par timer

- Don't pull the trigger, otherwise you'll start mashing it just to make the timer

Plug of the Week:

This week we plugged this blog post from the Modern Service Weapons blog. Time and again people ask us which gun is better than whichever gun, but the fact is, there are a LOT of really good guns out there. Check it out, and make sure to add MSW to your feed reader. Great blog, and if you aren't following them, you're wrong.

Contact:

- luke@triangletactical.net

- ben@triangletactical.net

- (919) 295-6128

We received a question from a listener about where to start in competitive shooting, and what the differences between IDPA and USPSA were. For beginners, looking to shoot their very first match, Ben and I agree IDPA is generally the best place to get your feet wet. Ben breaks it down into three areas:

1. IDPA requires less stuff to get started. All you need is a pistol, holster, and a mag pouch, and you’re good to go for a bit.

2. IDPA stages are shorter, and they give you a plan to follow (start here, shoot these targets in this order, etc).

3. IDPA is more forgiving of less perfect gear. Plenty of folks own something like a S&W Shield that they carry, and that pistol is just fine in IDPA, but I wouldn’t recommend it for USPSA.

The News:

• Para is “going out of business”. They aren’t really, Remington is just killing the brand when they move everything over to the big super-plant in Alabama. Sounds like you’ll still be able to get your favorite pistols, they’ll just say Remington on the side instead of Para.

• IDPA sent an email to their membership last week that clarified a lot of the decisions that they made in the new rulebook. Most notably, they had DM and M level shooters shoot the classifier on the same day with SSP and CCP firearms, and found that classifier times with CCP sized guns were 7-24% slower than with SSP sized guns.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net

• ben@triangletactical.net

• (919) 295-6128

I was standing in line at the coffee shop this morning when I got a text from a friend asking if I had seen the new IDPA rulebook yet. I haven’t been an IDPA member for several years, so I didn’t get the memo that the new rulebook had been posted.

• Here’s the new rulebook .PDF if you would like to peruse it

I started getting text messages with all of the new changes, and I have to say, I’m shocked to see that they listened to the membership and have made a lot of positive changes in the new rulebook.

• 4.1/4.2 No more “Vickers”/”Limited Vickers” scoring. Stages are still scored the same, but it’s called limited/unlimited now. This sounds like a little thing, but I can tell you the “Vickers” name was confusing to me as a new shooter years ago.

• No more stuffing magazines on the clock. I’ve never come across this in a match, but there was a video from a Major match a few years back where the stage required shooters to stuff rounds in their magazine at the buzzer, and then shoot the stage. IDPA is a shooting game, not a magazine stuffing game.

• 8.2.4 Compact Carry Pistol Division is a go! 4.1″ or less, 8+1 capacity, and ESP division rules.

• 8.2.6 Back Up Gun (BUG) Division is REQUIRED for all Tier 1 matches per the new rulebook! As we mentioned last week, this is really exciting for us. It gives the new shooter who only has his small carry pistol a place to shoot. Sure, under the current rules they could shoot their LCP in SSP division, but putting new shooters with LCP’s in the same division as guys running Glock 34’s isn’t very confidence inspiring for them.

• 9.2.1 “Shooting and completing a Sanctioned IDPA match in the last twelve months (without a DQ or DNF) also counts as shooting a Classifier in the division in which the shooter competed.” So, if you shoot at least one Major IDPA match every 12 months, you don’t have to worry about shooting a classifier for the next 12 months. This is a great move, because whenever a club runs a classifier match it’s always a nightmare (tons of people show up, it gets bogged down, etc).

• 4.14 Hits on Non-Threat Targets: These are now scored PER-HIT on the non-threat target, instead of per target. Example: If I shoot a non-threat target 10 times, I’ll get 10, 5 second penalties, where under the old rules it would only be the one 5 second penalty per non-threat target.

• 8.8.1 Knee-pads don’t have to be concealed under your pants anymore. Soft-shell knee pads are now legal for the game, but if you’re going to use them, you have to wear them for the entire match. Simple rule, allows the folks that need them to wear them, and keeps the gamers from using them as an advantage only on stages where they are needed.

• 8.8.4.3 No more tactical flashlight finger rings: “Rings or straps that go around any part of the shooter’s body (finger, palm, wrist, etc.) are not allowed.”

• 8.8.2 Cleated shoes are now legal, as long as the cleats are soft enough to dig into with a fingernail.

• 8.6.2.7 “Bullets Out” magazine pouches are not allowed.

• 7 Very specific rules for disabled shooters. It’s nice that they laid this out so people have a resource for what’s legal and what isn’t.

So there you have it, a bunch of changes, and the only one that still irritates me is the outright ban on bullets out magazine pouches. I’ll deal with it, and I might just become an IDPA member again in the future. Let’s hope they continue to make good decisions like this.

Contact

• 

• 

• (919) 295-6128

A concealed carry permit holder walking into a Walmart was tackled and stripped of his pistol by someone who saw him putting it on in the parking lot. This video brings up a lot of things that both concealed and open carriers need to be aware of:

• No matter how you carry, you should have a means to retain your weapon in a fight. In the video the victim is attacked, and instead of trying to retain his pistol, he attempts to ward off the attack. Thankfully the person that attacked him wasn’t trying to kill him, because once the attacker took his weapon, he could have easily done so.

• If you open carry, you should really do so in a holster that has active retention. I really like the Safariland ALS series of holsters, and I abhor the Blackhawk SERPA.

• For more on why the SERPA isn’t recommended and weapon retention, check out Episode 85 of the podcast with Chris Clifton from Defense Concepts NC.

Sometimes folks categorize open carry as the “easier” way to carry, since they don’t have to put on an extra layer to cover the pistol, or shop for a comfortable holster, etc. You can open carry just about any pistol in just about any holster, although as I mentioned above, getting some type of quality retention holster is a good idea. Open carry shouldn’t be the easier way to carry, because when your pistol is hanging on your hip, you need to be extra aware of who is around you, who is getting close to your pistol, and be ready to retain it should an attack happen.

Local Shooting Sports News:

Sir Walter USPSA is starting to use Practiscore for their match registration and squadding for the February match. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so here.

Housekeeping

I’m soliciting some feedback from those of you who purchased shirts from the last run of green/blue/white shirts.

• How are they holding up?

• How was your experience with the vendor that printed and shipped the shirts?

• Would you buy them again?

• Anything else I need to know?

Basically, I’ve been a little disappointed with the latest run of shirts, and I’ve caught wind that some others were as well, so I want to get as much feedback on them from those of you who purchased them as I can so I can decide whether or not to use this vendor again in the future. Shoot an email to , or leave a comment below this post.

The News

IDPA has announced that the Compact Carry Pistol division is official. It’s going to be for pistols with a 4.1″ or shorter barrel length, and pistols will be limited to 8+1 capacity. Ben wrote a more in-depth post about it here, and the discussion in the comments is worth a read as well.

“Just the Plug of the Week”

This week we combined the “Just the Tip” and “Plug of the Week” segments into one. The tip part is in regards to this video of a girl being put into the trunk of her car and driven away by a gun wielding assailant. The plug portion goes to friend of the show Andrew Branca (Law of Self Defense) for his comment on the above post. He makes a really good point that I wanted to share:

And don’t ever, ever, ever let the bad guy take you to another location. That new location will NOT be more favorable to your long term survival than wherever you are currently at. I will absolutely let myself be shot before I will let myself be abducted. If they want to drag my 200lb+ carcass around with them, fine. But I will be 100% non-compliant. And perhaps have an opportunity to change the course of events while being non-compliant. This all applies more particularly to women, of course. You’re almost certainly better off taking a bullet on the sidewalk than stepping into that van.

–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense

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This week we talk about gun belts. There’s a lot of BS spewed on the internet about belts, and we sort through it based on our experience. Some folks like leather belts because they have a more traditional look, and they tend to flex and form to your body real nice. Other folks like the “tactical” nylon type belts because they are more adjustable, and can be extremely stiff.

I started out carrying concealed with a Wilderness Tactical CSM belt (the one with the kydex stiffener) and later moved to the Two Fools Leather Goods Fat Boy Belt after Curt from TFLG sent me one for review. Some years later, I’m still wearing the leather Fat Boy Belt. I miss the infinite adjustability of the nylon belt, but the leather, while being really stiff and sturdy, has a little stretch and give to it that makes is perfect for carrying a pistol for me.

The News:

As you’ve certainly heard, the BATFE changed their mind about the Sig SB-15 Stabilizing Brace. No, the braces weren’t made illegal, even though some headlines would have you believe otherwise. Basically, they decided that shouldering an AR pistol with an SB-15 brace attached constitutes redesigning the firearm into an unregistered short barreled rifle. How it can go from perfectly legal to illegal when you hold it up to your shoulder is beyond me, but that’s the new ruling. What’s next, will they say that pulling the trigger really fast makes a gun a machine gun?

Magpul announced that they will be making Glock 17 magazines. Yep, aftermarket, US made, 100% polymer Glock magazines. MSRP is $16. I’m stoked.

Plug of the Week:

This week we plug the Pricelaw Blog. They post some really good, in depth analysis of gun laws. They can do this because they’re lawyers, not college drop-out bloggers like me. Check them out, and subscribe to their blog in your feed reader, it’s good stuff.

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I’m back! I’ve been away from the podcast for almost a month because we did the 2014 “best of” show, and then I got really sick. Started out with a cold, then the flu, then an ear infection, and finally a ruptured ear drum, but I’m back! Due to my absence I haven’t been able to get out all of the things that have been bothering me over the past several weeks, so this week I told Ben to clear the main topic for me so I could vent, and I did.

Here’s a preview:

• I’m tired of people on the pro-gun side of things being so quick to “blood dance” whenever there’s a shooting somewhere. It’s not okay when the anti-gun people do it, and it’s not okay when the pro-gun people do it either.
• People being stupid with guns. I know it’s easy to get complacent when you handle a gun every day, but please be diligent about safety.
• People who are “anti-cop”. Listen, we are supposed to judge people based on the content of their individual character. If a cop, or anyone else treats you wrong, it’s okay to be mad at that person, but it’s not okay to project that anger onto other people who have the same skin color, or wear the same uniform, etc. Stop being stupid.
• Match Directors who don’t host their matches on the same weekend every month.
• People who comment before reading a blog post. (I promise this isn’t directed at anyone in particular, but it needed to be said)

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Ben recorded this episode solo because I'm still under the weather, but I plan to be back next week. Anyways, he talks about his plans for 2015, and makes some predictions for what the future may hold for guns and the shooting sports.

Contact:

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net
• (919) 295-6128

We didn't have much to say for our last show of 2014, so Ben did something completely different, and it's completely awesome.

It's the end of the year again, and that means it's time for another "best of" podcast with our favorite clips from the year. If you want to hear the full episode from any of the clips, hit the links below:

• Original R51 clip - 63
• Getting worried about R51 - 65
• Andrew Branca on self defense insurance - 86
• Stupid YouTube comment - 84
• Chris Clifton on SERPA holsters - 85
• Durham Gun Registry Repealed - 87
• Chad Thompson - 89
• Shooting Range Shenanigans - 91
• Candy Sugarman on 'What men do wrong' - 94
• Future of gun laws - 98
• Steve Anderson - 107
• Don't Worry About Your Division - 104

We'd also like to know what your favorite podcast clips of 2014 were, hit the comments below and let us know!

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net
• (919) 295-6128

Shownotes forthcoming...

Contact:

• luke@triangletactical.net
• ben@triangletactical.net
• (919) 295-6128 (voicemail)

If your goal is to become a better shooter, competitive shooting has 3 “pillars” that are advantages over just shooting at the square range:

1. Schedule: The match starts when it starts, so you can’t just decide to go to the range later, or tomorrow, or whenever. It forces you to commit to shooting the match when it’s happening.
2. Scoring: Competitive shooting gives you a quantifiable means to judge things like gear, technique, etc. Shot timers don’t work very well on the shooting line at a public range with lots of other people shooting, and you don’t get the opportunity to shoot from different positions, or scenarios drawn up by other people.
3. Exposure: When shooting a match, you’ll be exposed to the best shooters in your area, maybe even some of the best shooters in the world (especially if you’re in the Triangle area) so you can see techniques, and really get a feel for just how those folks do things. You might learn a thing or two…

The News

Legislation introduced in Ohio would allow for Active Duty military personnel to carry concealed handguns without a permit in the state.

USPSA issued a statement (.pdf) on the security breach of their website. Turns out they didn’t encrypt the passwords for a specific reason.

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Rob calls in a match report from his first competition shooting match at the Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center this past Wednesday. He shot his Glock 41 with reloads from his pocket, and emailed in his thoughts on shooting a competition for the first time.

Kenny called in on the Triangle Tactical Voicemail line (919-295-6128) and left us a voicemail asking about why we tend to bash the 1911 pistols on the podcast. He left two voicemails, the first one got cut off, but I liked it the best, so I spliced the two together as best I could.

If you have a voicemail for us, you can call the voicemail line at (919) 295-6128, or you can leave a voicemail from your computer by clicking here. Alternatively, you can just record something on your phone or computer and email it in. I’m not too worried about format, I’ll make it work.

The News:

Two students that were caught in the FSU library shooting were members of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus organization, but were not able to carry (and potentially stop the threat) because of the law.

USPSA’s website was hacked, and many usernames and passwords were leaked.

Remington issues a recall for the 887 shotgun. It appears that something is causing the firing pin to stick out of the breech face which can create a condition where the 887 can slam fire when a round is chambered.

Tip of the Week:

When installing a new set of dovetail sights, I always put a glob of loctite in the dovetail before pushing in the new sight. It seems to act like a little bit of a lubricant when pushing in the new sight, and when it sets up it helps to hold the sight in place.

Contact:

The main topic for this episode comes from a voicemail from a listener (who didn’t leave his name) about whether or not it’s okay to shoot competition with a pistol that isn’t your carry gun. Ben and I both carry different guns than we generally shoot in competition, but there is a bit of philosophy there which we go into in this episode.

Local Shooting Sports News

H2O Fowl Farms is hosting their BUG match on Saturday, Nov. 29th 2014. This is a great match for a new shooter to get started in, you don’t need a holster or mag pouches, just a pistol, magazine, and 60rds of ammo. This particular match is benefiting Toys for Tots, so it’s also for a great cause! More details over at Carolina Shooters Club…

The News

Alan Gura is spanking Washington DC again over their concealed carry situation.

A 12 year old in Ohio was shot and killed by police while reaching for an airsoft pistol in his waistband. An unfortunate situation for everyone involved and a reminder to be extremely cautious when carrying, and informing police that you are carrying. Just because you know that you don’t mean anyone any harm doesn’t mean that they know that.

Plug of the Week:

I wrote a blog post about protecting yourself from holiday scams. Black Friday is this week, and the holiday shopping season will soon be in full swing. Know what’s up!

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• Voicemail: (919) 295-6128

Full shownotes are forthcoming. Basic rundown of this episode is this: We recap the Gun Powder Gals IDPA clinic that we helped with on Saturday, we look at a couple of bills that have been introduced in Texas that would allow for open carry, and constitutional carry, Ben reviews the Steve Anderson class, and we go through some listener feedback.

You can order your Triangle Tactical shirts until about 10PM on Monday 11/17/2014, so you officially have less than 24 hours. Go get one or three!

Check back to this post as the day goes on, I'll be updating it throughout the day.

Ben is taking a 2 day handgun class with Steve Anderson from That Shooting Show and he had a chance to sit down with him and record an episode. They talk quite a bit about USPSA, and the mental game. If you aren't familiar with Steve, he's known in the competitive shooting world as the dry fire guy. He's written a few books on the subject, and now he hosts a podcast (along with his dogs and David Lee Roth) where he talks more about the practical shooting mental game, dry fire, and match management.

"Where's the improvement gonna come from if you don't strap on the gear and get to work?"

You can find Steve at AndersonShooting.com with links to purchase his books, sign up for classes, and subscribe to his podcast.

Early this evening IDPA sent an email to it’s membership that has caused a bit of a stir on social media. The biggest piece of news is that they are getting rid of the “flat footed reload” rule that has caused so much stir around the game since it was introduced last year that you can hardly mention IDPA without having someone mention the rule.

Also of note in the email blast:

• IDPA is getting rid of the Enhanced Service Revolver division

• They are considering adding a new division, either a “Compact Carry Pistol” division for Glock 19/M&P Compact sized pistols, or a “Laser and Optic Pistol” division for guns with laser sights and slide ride optics.

• In the rules clarification they also ruled that ALL “bullets out” magazine pouches are not suitable for all day carry, and thus illegal for IDPA. This really sticks in my craw…

Housekeeping

Get your shirts! Y’all asked for another run of shirts, and this time we decided to add some more colors, and a little nicer typography on the front of them. The shirts are available for 14 days from the time of this posting (11/3/2014 – 11/17/2014) and then they will not be available until we do another run.

The News

A couple months back we discussed a ruling by the BATFE that ruled that trusts (like the ones many people use to own NFA firearms and suppressors) are not people. This opened the door for adding machine guns to the machine gun registry, given that the law states that people may not register machine guns after the registry was closed in 1986, but the law doesn’t say anything about trusts. There is now officially have a lawsuit on this issue. Fingers crossed.

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I’ve mentioned a bit on the blog and Facebook page over the past couple of days that I picked up a Glock 19 Gen4 to act as my primary CCW pistol for a while. I’ve been wanting to go back to a doublestack gun with decent capacity, and finally made the plunge for a whole host of reasons that I go through in this episode. What I haven’t mentioned is that Ben inherited my XDs 9mm to act as his new summer carry gun. He fell in love with it after we did the “Pocket 9mm Shootout” back in Episode 68, and has been kicking around the idea of buying it since then. We spend a bit of time in the episode going through our reasons for making the switch.

The News

We’ve talked extensively in the past about the shenanigans going on at the NC State Fair regarding concealed carry. Linoge reported that when he went to the fair last week, the security was incredibly lax, and other listeners have reported just the opposite on the Triangle Tactical Facebook page. It seems that security has been inconsistent to say the least. Furthermore, Saturday night, some folks were robbed at gunpoint while walking back to their vehicle after leaving the fair. With all of the media attention about the ban on carry at the fair, the criminals almost certainly knew that they wouldn’t encounter an armed victim.

An NC family was the victim of a home invasion last week, that ended in a shootout between the grandfather, and three home invaders. The grandfather was shot 8 times, and one of the bad guys died. The other two home invaders were also shot.

A Minnesota woman somehow found out that a man local to her has a CCW permit, and walks his daughters to school. She decided that this just can’t be, and has posted a sign in her yard with a picture of the man that says “This man carried a loaded gun around your children every day”.

Contact

One of the most common questions that Ben and I get from people interested in competitive shooting is about what division they will shoot in with their particular pistol. It seems that there’s an abundance of concern placed on getting into the correct division for their first match, and when it comes down to it, it doesn’t really matter what division you shoot in for your first match, because the chances that you will be competitive in the match are very slim.

Housekeeping

Andrew Branca is offering a coupon code for Triangle Tactical listeners for his new Law of Self Defense webinars. Use the code “TT” when signing up for the webinars and get $10 off. More here.

The News

A feminist video game critic cancelled her appearance at a Utah university after receiving massacre threats. That’s the headline we’ve seen all over the internet, and it’s not wrong, but it’s not telling the whole story either. She did apparently receive some baseless threats, but she really cancelled her appearance at the university after the campus police refused to ban concealed carry during the event. Utah law doesn’t allow the police to do so, and they decided to follow the law.

People in Chicago are opposing the opening of an indoor shooting range because it’s within a mile of a school – like bullets radiate out of indoor ranges in all directions creating unsafe conditions from people in all directions…

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I'll have shownotes up in a bit, hang tight!

Last week Ben was out in Utah for the 2014 USPSA Handgun Nationals, so this week on the podcast he gives us a nice rundown of the match, and what it was like working as a range officer at the biggest match out there.

The News

Cody Wilson from Defense Distributed has debuted a CNC machine in a box that finished 80% AR-15 lower receivers. It’s called the “Ghost Gunner”, and it’s awesome.

NC Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler is stating that he will post the NC State Fair against concealed carry because he believes there is “gray area” in the law.

350 CCW Permit holders in SC are having their permits revoked after it was found that their instructor wasn’t teaching the state mandated course. I’m unsure if he was just taking cash and issuing completion certificates, or if his course just varied from what the state mandates.

Recently Australian police broke up a ring of Al Qaeda ISIS terrorists who were planning to head out into public and behead people at random. Late last week a man went into his former workplace where he had been recently fired, and beheaded one woman, and was attacking a second before he was shot by the COO of the company. News is still breaking with details on the case, but both of these incidents have me really evaluating my CCW rig. The weather is cooling off a bit, and having a little bigger gun, with more ammo would be a more comforting for the type of situation mentioned above. I’m thinking I may grab a Gen4 Glock 19 to throw back into the CCW rotation for the winter months with a spare mag, and a leather pancake holster.

The News

Ruger has been killing it with new products. The LC9s and Gunsite Scout rifle in .223 didn’t really do it for me, but since those announcements they have announced that they will be making their Ruger American line of bolt action rifles in left handed models, the Ruger American Ranch in .223 and .300 Blackout (possibly the best out of the box deer rifle there is), and the Ruger LCR in 9mm. I don’t know why I wan a 9mm LCR so bad, but I do.

A Wilmington, NC man was selling a gun on Craigslist (or was it Armslist?) and when he met the buyer, the buyer took the rifle, and pointed it back at the seller. The seller, knowing the rifle was unloaded drew his concealed pistol, and ordered the men down onto the ground while he ran to safety and called the police.

Shaneen Allen will be receiving pre-trial intervention and avoiding a prison sentence. I wasn’t too interested in this case until I saw that an NC resident was arrested for the same thing as her, and was looking at a much lighter punishment than what they were trying to do to her.

Plugs of the Week

Episode 28 of 2AToday – They talk about gun rights for the blind, something that I hadn’t really thought about before.

Stuff You Should Know – How Police Interrogation Works

RoadGunner Podcast – Thanks for promoting Episode 100!

For Episode 100 we decided to do something a little special: We got our paws on an HK VP9 and a Walther PPQ and took them to the range to shoot side by side with Bob who's been on the podcast in Episodes 30 and 54. We shot about 300 rounds between the two pistols, rotating shooters, and doing our best to find out where the weak points are on both of them. The two pistols are surprisingly similar, both being polymer 9mm service pistols close in size to the Glock 19. Both the VP9 and PPQ hold 15 rounds on 9mm in the magazine, and aesthetically they look very close.

The full review on the HK VP9 vs. Walther PPQ can be found on the blog.

We spend a lot of time on the blog and podcast talking about how it’s much superior to learn skills to actually get better at something (shooting mostly) than buying new tools that don’t actually make you better. After talking with Ben a bit this week though, we realized that sometimes buying something new can help to make you better, because having the cool new thing gives you more motivation to practice.

The News:

IDPA ruled the CZ Accu-Shadow illegal for SSP division just hours before the IDPA Nationals started. This decision left definitely put a hurting on some shooters who were traveling across the country to shoot the Nationals because of the poor timing of it.

The California school vice-principal that we talked about in Episode 97 is now suing for wrongful arrest because he was not breaking the law when arrested for having a handgun on school grounds. Turns out, a California CCW permit allows the permit holder to carry in a school. (Yet an NC permit does not…)

We play the audio of a 911 call from a Phoenix, AZ woman who was confronted by a home invader that she ended up shooting. It’s interesting to hear the difference in the woman’s voice before the shooting, after the shooting, and once the police arrive. She goes from whispering so she won’t be found by him, to yelling and telling him to shut up after shooting him, to sounding like shes about ready to hyperventilate once the police officers take control of the scene. I edited the clip pretty heavily in the podcast to save time, but you can hear the entire thing in the above link.

Plug of the Week

This week we plugged Instagram in general. If you like easily consumed shooting match videos, get over on instagram and follow the #IDPA and #USPSA hashtags. We’re over there too, so make sure to follow us as well.

Everyday Preparedness

September is National Preparedness Month, so take some time to prepare for things that will actually happen.

• Power will go out

• Water will become undrinkable or stop flowing to the tap

• Tires go flat

• Fires happen

The month is about half gone already, so go change the batteries in your smoke detector, buy a couple cases of water, and check the air pressure in your spare tire. Don’t put it off.

Call to Action

We really like all of the voicemails we’ve been getting lately, but we need more of them.

• You can click here to leave one from your computer

• You can call (919) 295-6128 and leave one right from your phone

• Or you can just record something however you like and email it to

This week we talk about the future of NC gun laws. In the past 5 or so years we’ve seen huge gains in the concealed carry laws in the state, but we would like to see more.

Some things we’ve gained:

• Restaurant Carry

• Handguns in cars on school campuses

• Sealed records for CCW permit holders (no more databases listing home addresses for us)

Things that we’d still like to see:

• Weight of law removed from no-guns signs

• Standardized no-gun signs (if we can’t get the above changed)

• Campus carry

• Ability to carry a concealed fixed blade knife

• Repeal of Pistol Purchase Permit

New Shooter Testamonial

For a few weeks now, we’ve been asking y’all to write in to firstmatch@triangletactical.net and tell us about your first shooting match. This week Gerrit wrote in an awesome email about his first match. He talks about getting to the match way too early, bringing way too much stuff, and then getting disqualified. He didn’t quit, and he’s still shooting! Thanks for the email Gerrit!

Listener Feedback

Rico left us a voicemail about shooting with our concealed carry gear vs. long slide competition guns. He doesn’t think that people should use long slide pistols for competition at all.

Steve also called in to tell us about taking the class to get his range card at the Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center, and he had a question about how the WCFETC matches will differ from an IDPA match.

Contact

• luke@triangletactical.net

• ben@triangletactical.net

I'm being told that this episode had some technical issues, they are fixed now!

We asked the Facebook Page for their competition shooting gripes, and we received a ton of responses. This week we went through a bunch of them and tried to explain the intent behind the rule, or the reason that others share the same gripe.

 Competition in General:

- Competition shooting will get you iced on the streets

 USPSA

- "I don't want to compete against those people with open guns!"

- "Using "gamer" gear doesn't make you better with concealed carry gear!"

- "The "Speed Unload" will get you killed in a gunfight!"

 IDPA

- Cover

- Appendix Carry

- No moving reloads (Did you really move and reload before the rule change? really?)

- Can't drop an empty magazine with a round in the chamber

The News

California's 10 day waiting period to buy a firearm has been mostly repealed. A judge ruled that it didn't make any sense to make someone who already owns a bunch of guns wait 10 days to buy another one. The ruling was stayed for 180 days to give the state time to react.

Harnett County, NC has re-issued operation permits to Drake Landing. Drake Landing is a wonderful sporting clays facility just south of Fuquay Varina that has been under fire from neighbors for several years. They have new restrictions as to the types of guns that can be shot there (No pistols bigger than a .45, and no rifles larger than a .22) but at the very least it appears that they will remain open.

A California public school vice principal was arrested after it was found that he had a gun in his office. He was later released when they figured out that since he has a California concealed carry permit he wasn't breaking the law.

An Ohio woman was accosted by two men while walking her dog on a greenway path. One of the men was armed with a baseball bat, and told the woman that she was going to come with them. The woman asked them a question while she slipped her hand into her pocket, and retrieved and readied her pistol. The thugs not wanting to shot fled the scene, and Police are still looking for them.

New Shooter Testamonials

Sean from NCGunBlog.com sent in a voicemail to tell us about his first IDPA match. He's hooked.

If you want to send in a testimonial about your first shooting match, email firstmatch@triangletactical.net (bonus points if you send a voicemail).

Plug of the Week

This week we plug ourselves... sorta. Ben and I were on the 2AToday podcast a few weeks back and we had a great time wrapping up their "Battleground States" series. We talk about the states that have seen a reduction in gun rights recently, and compare and contrast some of the different things that have been happening in those states.

Shooting competitively with your concealed carry gear is a great way to shake out bugs in your carry rig. On Saturday night Ben and I both shot the PDHSC/Shoot2Live IDPA match in south Raleigh. Before the match Ben mentioned that he was going to shoot his carry gun in the match, and I followed suit. Ben shot his M&P9c from an IWB holster on his hip, and I shot my XDs 9mm from a Crossbreed MiniTuck.

I had a handful of issues with my carry gun, like riding the slide-lock with my thumb forcing myself to have to do reloads on a closed chamber, and cycle the slide. I had to deal with shooting a sweaty pistol since half of the range isn’t air conditioned, and dealing with a t-shirt for concealment instead of an IDPA tactical fishing vest proved to be somewhat troublesome as well.

The News

Texas Governor Rick Perry is under indictment for 2 felony counts of abuse of power. With this comes the realization that Perry can no longer carry concealed, or purchase firearms. You’ll remember that Perry used his concealed carry pistol in self defense a while back.

CNN’s Don Lemon claimed that “during the theatre shooting in Colorado” he was able to purchase an automatic weapon in 20 minutes. He goes on to show us that he doesn’t understand the difference between semi-automatic and fully-automatic.

A bill has been introduced in the US House to ban “enhanced body armor” for citizens. Yes, let’s ban a product that can keep innocent people from getting shot…

The anti-gun Moms put some pressure on Kroger to “ban” guns in their stores recently. They didn’t get the answer they wanted, and now some of them are proposing that they should start causing a loss to the company in order to get their way. Linoge put it perfectly, in that they are basically running a protection racket like organized crime…

Plug of the Week

This week we plugged Sean Sorrentino’s new podcast called the Gun Blog Variety Cast. It’s a variety show format with a bunch of your favorite gun bloggers talking about all sorts of interesting stuff. I was able to get a sneak peak at Episode 1, and it was very entertaining. Check it out.

Contact

• Leave a voicemail from your phone at (919) 295-6128
  Leave a voicemail from your computer
• Email us:
  • luke@triangletactical.net
  • ben@triangletactical.net

In the first version of this episode that was released, we mentioned that the Triangle Tactical T-Shirts were "$15 shipped" and that isn't accurate. They are $15 plus shipping. I bought a bunch of the shirts and shipping was very reasonable. Just want to make sure there's no confusion...

This week Ben and I dive into the Skills>Tools topic again. Ben brings up some interesting points about going from a pistol with a lot of modifications to a mostly stock pistol and seeing improvements in his shooting.

The News:

The Wake County FETC Action Pistol Matches are returning in September! Stand by for more details.

Triangle Tactical T-Shirts are available for purchase until August 28th, 2014. Click here to get yours!

A Federal Judge ruled that AR-15's and other guns are unusual, and not protected by the second amendment.

We talk a little about Ferguson, MO and police militarization. Just like with gun control, the issue isn't the guns and gear, it's how they use it.

Durham, NC is still hanging on to their gun registry under the guise that it has some historical significance.

Plug of the Week:

Episode 380 of Down Range Radio: Michael Bane talks a bit about dealing with someone knocking on your door in the middle of the night. It's good stuff.

Listener Feedback:

Chris from Minnesota:

• Pistol modifications for IDPA
• 3-Gun Rifles

Ryan in NC

• Snub nosed revolvers for IDPA

Zack:

• Is the S&W Shield THAT MUCH better than an XDs 9mm? Should he trade a Glock 27 for one?

Contact:

• Leave a voicemail from your phone at (919) 295-6128
  Leave a voicemail from your computer
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  • luke@triangletactical.net
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This week on the podcast I had the chance to sit down with Candy Sugarman of the Gun Powder Gals. Candy is doing some great things for women in the shooting community right here in Eastern NC. Candy got her start shooting by going to the NRA Women's Wilderness Escape, and after getting home she got home she started looking for a group of women to shoot with, and after not being able to find anything, she started the Gun Powder Gals.

Her goals with the Gun Powder Gals is to make sure that women are prepared, and able to protect themselves should they be put in a situation where they need to use a gun. Candy and I talk about some of the reasons why women tend to shy away from the shooting sports, and what she is doing in order to get more women involved.

The Gun Powder Gals have been holding women's only IDPA matches, 2-Gun clinics, range days, and a lot more for women interested in shooting in the area. In 2015 she is looking to hold a women's concealed carry fashion show to show off some of the concealed carry options for women.

Tip of the Week:

Before you shoot, make sure that you have the correct ammo for your gun. I found a handful of these on the range today, and had to shake my head...

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Weapon mounted lights are pretty awesome. They offer a lot of advantages over a handheld light, in that you don't have to fumble with two things in your hand, you can fire the gun with full grip strength using both hands, and they really make shooting in the dark as close to shooting in daylight as you can get. There are two arguments against weapon mounted lights, and both of them are unfounded these days:

1. "You have to point the gun at someone to identify them." Back in the day with really dim incandescent lights this was true. The fact is though that the current generation of LED weapon mounted lights are more than bright enough to light up an entire room with the gun at low ready.
2. "If I have the light on the gun, the bad guy will just shoot at the light and kill me!" Let's face it, even with a handheld light, you'll most likely be holding it with a syringe grip in basically the same place as a weapon mounted light, or you'll be holding it up near your head which could be even worse. Target fixation is a real thing, and getting shot in the hands during a gunfight is a theme I've noticed when reading about shootings, but I don't think the light being handheld or weapon mounted really makes a difference in these situations. If anything, having it attached to the gun may keep you from dropping the light if you were to get shot in the hand.

IDPA and USPSA don't allow weapon mounted lights, because of the huge advantage that they offer. That's fine for games, but if they offer such a big advantage, it sounds like something that I'd want in a gunfight.

If you have a defensive long gun, using a handheld light really isn't an option at all. A good option is a pistol mounted light that can pull dual duty on a pistol and a long gun. In the episode, Ben mentioned the Mossie Tactics light mount for adding his Streamlight TLR-1 to an AR-15 with a standard front sight block. You need to play around with mounting the light in different locations, and decide what works best for you. Some people like them mounted closer/further from the muzzle, and in different orientations around the handguard (12 o'clock, 9 o'clock, etc.).

The News:

Ruger announced the LC9s this week, which is a striker fired version of the Ruger LC9. It's supposed to have half the trigger length of the standard LC9, and a 5lb trigger that has been described as "glock like". Unfortunately it has the full gamut of lawyer features (thumb safety, trigger safety, and magazine disconnect). It's awesome that Ruger is listening though, and decided to make the striker fired version of this pistol. Ben suggested that they should make a "Free State" version without the thumb safety and magazine disconnect. Ruger, if you're listening, I'd buy one. Or two.

The Kansas City, MO city council voted unanimously this last week to ban open carry in the city. Fortunately though for lovers of liberty in the city, it looks like the state legislature is set to override the veto of a bill that will make it illegal for the city of Kansas City to do this.

Listener Feedback:

Jeremy wrote into the Facebook page to ask about power factor, and Gerrit wrote in an email asking about gun modifications for Production division in USPSA.

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The Palmer vs. DC case has been the giant news piece from the past week, and the decision only came out on Saturday. Ben and I dive deep into the decision and talk about what lead up to it, what it all means (We're not lawyers though...) and where we think the decision will take us in the future. As mentioned in the episode, you should follow @EmilyMiller on twitter, and Alan Gura's blog where he's posting updates as well.

The News:

A Pennsylvania doctor used his concealed handgun to save his life this week. A crazed madman entered the office where the doctor was working and murdered a woman before being engaged in gunfire from the doctor who had a concealed handgun. Both the doctor and the scumbag were shot, with the scumbag eventually being wrestled to the ground and detained until police could arrive. It appears as though the doctor may keep his job, even though he violated hospital policy by carrying on the property.

A group of misguided moms counter-protested an Open Carry Texas event last week, and they did it topless. We're not sure why.

Remington announced that they will be taking back every R51 pistol made, re-tooling and re-working the design, and replacing all of them with new pistols.

An Iowa resident with a CCW permit took over a police chase after an officer was injured, and held 5 suspects at gunpoint until other police could get there to take over. His name? Eastwood. Someone please tell me he carries a .44mag!

A man found his brother wrestling with an armed home invader in the middle of the night. He retrieved his gun, and confronted the 15 year old home invader, who dropped his gun, and started crying. It's a good lesson that not all threats are crazed madmen, sometimes they are stupid kids being stupid.

Listener Feedback:

Mark from Ohio wrote into the show to tell us about shooting his first competitive shooting match. Sounds like he had a great time!

“So I had an awesome time at the match! I thought I did ok considering it was my first one, at least I stayed competitive. I think it's safe to assume I'm hooked. Thanks to you guys for planting the seed!”

Tip of the Week:

When planning a stage at a match, keep track of the number of rounds, not the number of targets, especially of it's a game where different targets get a different number of rounds.

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This week on the podcast, Ben and I discuss some of the funny things that have happened on the shooting range while shooting matches over the years. Full shownotes will be at http://www.triangletactical.net/91

There are a lot of things that people will tell you are a big deal when it comes to shooting, and many of these things aren't a big deal at all. In this episode we go through the following:

• Bullet weight
• Trigger weight
• Rifle Back-up sights
• High bore axis
• Grip angle
• Grip stippling

We aren't saying that you shouldn't worry about these things at all, but that you should really weigh what is good enough, and what you really need before you spend a bunch of money, or attack your pistol with a soldering iron.

As promised in the episode, here's the links to Ben's posts about shooting on the move in IDPA and USPSA:

• Part 1
• Part 2

The News:

Kay Hagan's "Bipartisan Sportsman's Act of 2014" was introduced, and it wasn't a bad bill. It was reported that some other Democrats were looking to amend the bill with some anti-gun junk, and then the Republican co-sponsors voted to kill it. It's dead.

Chris Christie vetoed the 10rd magazine capacity bill that was put on his desk back in May. He had some strong words to say about the bill, especially after saying that he wasn't sure what he was going to do back in early June.

John Lott's new study is reporting that 5% of adults in the US have a concealed carry permit. Interesting stuff.

An Atlanta area woman shot the man that was carjacking her with his own gun. As it turns out the carjacker got into her car, and being that it had a manual transmission, he set his pistol in his lap in order to shift. The woman took the pistol, he bit her, she shot him.

A Wake Forest, NC WWII veteran was cleared in the self defense shooting of a man who kicked in the door of his home.

Plug of the Week:

Gary Byerly, who will be representing the US in the IPSC world shoot in Florida this fall is a partner in a new gun store in Thomasville, NC. The new place is called "The Gun Shop". Check them out.

Tip of the Week:

Be careful when bracing against a surface while shooting. This weekend at the H2O Fowl Farms IDPA match I watched several shooters place their elbows on a table while shooting, which lead to their arms working as levers against their body causing the pistol to bounce in their hands several times before it would settle down after every shot. This added time to the shooters score, and hurt their accuracy. Generally you don't need to brace against things in a match, it can really slow you down if you don't do it right.

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