The Bookshelf

 
The purpose of e.IA.f.t. is – in the words of the NRA – is to provide you with the “knowledge, skills and attitude” to safely handle your firearm, to protect yourself, your family and those around you and to survive.

Knowledge is the understanding of your environment and the tools at hand. A skill set can only be learned by doing – whether it be shooting, canoeing, wilderness survival, fire building – you have to be able to successfully perform these skills in a consistent manner. And a learner must always have an open attitude – to learn from everything - their friends, instructors, experiences and various authors.

What I have listed on “The Bookshelf” are the books I have acquired and read over the years that pertain to five primary areas: Canoeing, Hiking, National Parks, Shooting and Survival.

Personal defense covers quite a bit or ground – in covers more than your skill with a firearm. You need to survive the encounter; you may need to survive in a much more primitive environment for an undetermined length of time. This may be due to natural events (hurricanes, tornados, windstorms, etc) or it may be due to a break down in our society. Either way, personal defense can easily include a survival element much broader than putting down an immediate physical threat.

Obviously, many defensive situations can be emulated on a shooting range. However, past that, other skills that can come in handy are better suited for wilderness practice. Some examples would be navigation, fire building, building and using different types of shelter, knot tying, determining what should be in your backpack, water purification, wilderness hygiene, the proper way to poop in the woods – to name just a few. Over the past 40 years I have traveled the country learning and using these skills, sharing them with folks and simply having a lot of fun. My two most enjoyable pastimes are canoeing and hiking. And, my two favorite areas are Glacier National Park and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) between Minnesota and Canada. There are many, many other places I have enjoyed, yet these two are at the top of my list. My reading material reflect things I have focused on learning. My treks, canoe trips and weekend overnights have been spent practicing what I have learned.

I hope you find as much value in these books and their authors as I have. If you have some offerings to add, please, pass them on and I will include them.

Enjoy!

The Bookshelf

Review of the Truglo Red-Dot sight

Santa seemed to be otherwise engaged with family presents this year, he “forgot” my request for a Truglo Red-Dot sight. Not to worry, Amazon had a few in stock so I saved him a stop and sent off an order just before Christmas. I am sorry to report Amazon beat Santa, but then it’s his busy time of year!

So, we have been having amazing weather here in Iowa – forecasts of 50F in the next few days, no snow, clear weather – it’s amazing! So, with a few free hours today, off I went to the range to sight in the Truglo Red-Dot.

I mounted it to a weaver/picatinny rail on my Ruger .22/.45 and loaded up. Everyone has their own process for sighting in. I typically use my range bag as a gun rest and use 5-round groups. The distance today was 30 feet. I always adjust for windage first then elevation. The adjustments were simple, a left-right adjustment on the left side of the sight for windage and an elevation adjustment on the top. A single click was a quarter inch adjustment.
The Truglo mounted easily and securely. The model .22/.45 had a 4 inch barrel and the sight sat   just forward of the ejection port. The Truglo provides both a red and green designator in the sight picture. Four levels of intensity are available along with four different designators from a simple dot to a concentric ring image.


Out of the box, my first group was low and left. Two magazines of 5 each provided more than enough hits to center on the target. The same process allowed the elevation to come right in as well. From then on it was simply fun. While I have a couple of red dots for my black guns (an Eotech and another Truglo), I’ve not tried them on a handgun before. So, I spent the next hour doing various drills – single target, multiple targets, circle drills – the Truglo worked perfectly. My smallest group at 30 feet was right at .75 inches when shot off my range bag. Otherwise, 1-2 inch groups were easily attained off hand from the 30 foot line.
So, based on a single trip to the range and around 200 rounds expended, I give it a tentative “thumbs up”. I’ll put some more miles on it and do a follow-up sometime this spring.

An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power | Buckeye Firearms Association

Very interesting look at handgun stopping power.  I’m actually working on something similar but this fellow presents the results of 10 years of data gathering, pretty impressive!
H/T to JD

An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power

Submitted by cbaus on Fri, 07/08/2011 - 14:00.
By Greg Ellifritz

I've been interested in firearm stopping power for a very long time. I remember reading Handguns magazine back in the late 1980s when Evan Marshall was writing articles about his stopping power studies. When Marshall's first book came out in 1992, I ordered it immediately, despite the fact that I was a college student and really couldn't afford its $39 price tag. Over the years I bought all of the rest of Marshall's books as well as anything else I could find on the subject. I even have a first edition of Gunshot Injuries by Louis Lagarde published in 1915.

Three Guns Every New Shooter Should Have In Their Range Bag

 
One of the questions that people in my shooting classes frequently ask is “What gun should I buy?” The reality is that when they finish the class they don't know enough to know what kind of gun to purchase. However, I strongly believe that there are three guns everybody should have in their range bag and I like to talk about that a little bit.

Each of these guns performs a specific function and their purpose is to build the shooters shooting skills. The first is a gas powered air soft, the second is a Ruger 22/45 and the final one is a Glock 17. Let me talk about each of these and I'll share with you why I think they need to be part of everybody's range bag.

A new shooter is trying to learn a number of new skills and they're trying to learn these skills safely. That to me is where the air soft pistol comes into play. I recommend a gas powered one so that they can shoot more than one round without having to charge the pistol. The normal gas powered air soft as a magazine that holds 15 of the 6 mm BBs. And many of them have the same type of form factor as many of the popular handguns so that they'll fit many of the Blackhawk Serpa holsters (my favorite holster). This provides the perfect platform to practice stance, draw from a holster, weapon rotation and joining of the hands, acquiring a sight picture, and finally doing everything from 1 to 3 round engagement with the threat. The nice thing about an air soft is a shooter can practice all day long with little expense, without worrying about weather – especially if they do not have access to an indoor range and they can grab much more practice time by setting up an air soft range in their home.

The second pistol that I believe everyone should own is one of the Ruger 22/45s. This handgun can perform many different functions. It can be used for everything from a trail gun, to a range  gun, to a beginner’s competition gun for rimfire events.  It has a number of features that make it very valuable as an initial training gun for a new shooter. Its touch and feel is the similar as many semiautomatic pistols, in particular a 1911. Its weight is similar to a larger caliber pistols, the grip is the same as many of the larger caliber pistols, and its front and rear sides are similar to those used on larger caliber pistols as well. And of course, another big benefit is that the cost of ammunition is much less than that of a 9 mm or a 45 caliber pistol. I find they shoot very well and they're very accurate.

And finally I believe that every shooter needs what I call a range gun. And in my opinion the Glock 17 is probably the best range gun on the market today. They're powerful enough to easily be used  for self-defense, there easily available at prices around $500 so they're not really expensive, 9 mm ammunition is cheap, relatively speaking, their maintenance is very simple and straight forward, and they just shoot every time you pull the trigger. When you marry the Glock 17 with a Blackhawk Serpa holster, a good pistol belt, and a couple magazine holders, along with a half a dozen magazines -you have what I believe is nearly the perfect system to use for virtually any kind of training course you want to take.

So there you have it. These are the three guns than I believe every new shooter should have in their range bag:  a good quality air soft gas powered pistol, a Ruger 22/45, and finally a Glock 17 with a total of six magazines, a Serpa holster, two magazine carriers and a good pistol belt. With these tools in their range bag, a new shooter is ready to take the next step to really begin learning their shooting craft.

Petzal: The Rules of Gunfighting | Field & Stream

I’m working on a number of posts, one of which is about gunfighting.  Along the way, I came across this post about Drill Seargent Frick and some his “rules” that he shares.  Pretty sound advice.

Petzal: The Rules of Gunfighting
By David E. Petzal
Normally, this blog is dedicated to peaceful pursuits. However, SFC Frick speaks much wisdom. I am giving him a meritorious promotion to Command Sergeant Major (E-9).
(For more on this subject, visit our list of the five best gunfights of all time).
Drill Sergeant Joe B. Fricks Rules For A Gunfight
1. Forget about knives, bats and fists. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Bring four times the ammunition you think you could ever need.

EDC – My Offering

A person’s EDC – Every Day Carry, is a fairly personal choice.  It revolves around their environment, their type of threat, their training, their style of dress – to list just a few of the considerations that go into choosing the various elements of their EDC.
In addition to these considerations, I also divide my EDC into three different elements:

Personal Protection:  This is the element I depend on to defend myself.  This consists of items I ALWAYS have with me, my weapon (changes between a Ruger LC9 and a Glock 36) with three fully loaded magazines, a tactical knife - currently a Kershaw Skyline (model 1760) and a flashlight, currently a Surefire 6P Defender.

Survival Element:  This element gives me a very basic survival ability to stabilize my situation so I can work up from there.  It consists of a Leatherman Juice CS4, a small Bic lighter with two birthday candles taped around it, a spark-striker kit and a miniature frenzel lens – the last three items meet my requirement to always have three ways to start a fire in your pocket.  Additionally, I wear a Casio Pathfinder PQW200-T watch which adds a compass, altimeter, barometer and a watch to my survival kit.

Personal Element:  This element I just need to get through the day.  It consists of my wallet that carries credit cards, cash, identification and carry permits.  I also include my Casio Pathfinder primarily in this element and my Google Nexus One cell phone.

I have done a fairly extensive video review of my system.  I start out with an overview and then tackle the individual elements.  You can find a link to in on our company website -
e.IA.f.t. – EDC – Every Day Carry videos.

I’d be interested in your thoughts and feedback!

Sheriff: Ohio man cleaning gun killed Amish girl

1:  Always keep your muzzle pointed  in a safe direction.
2:  Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
3:  Do not load your weapon until you are ready to use it.
4:  Make sure you know what’s behind your target.

Oh, and for good measure, don’t clean a loaded weapon.

What happens if you don’t follow the basic rules – how about a dead 15 year old girl.   Honest to God, if it turns out he simply discharged his weapon in the air to “empty” it so he could clean it, he should go to jail.

Sheriff: Ohio man cleaning gun killed Amish girl
FREDERICKSBURG, Ohio (AP) -- A man cleaning his muzzle-loading rifle shot the gun into the air, accidentally killing a 15-year-old Amish girl driving a horse-drawn buggy more than a mile away, a sheriff said Tuesday.

News from The Associated Press