It was Halloween Night...1972 or 73. I chose to go to Karate than to go trick or treating. I was twelve...I think. I had been dabbling in Karate as an after-school activity. This was at the Burbank YMCA mid-week, and Saturdays. It was fast becoming a passion...or an obsession if you listened to my grandmother. I liked it. The instructors were good...but they were what we would consider hobbyists. They had their regular lives and did this to stay in shape and to lose weight. Truth be told, none of those instructors would be considered physically impressive by our standards today. But they had knowledge we wanted, and it was only $30 per month...so we listened and overlooked the warts. Then one night we had a visitor to the class. As soon as the stranger walked in, the black belts recognized him and all came to attention. They called the class to attention. The call was "SENSEI". We all faced the door in a very military manner and bowed. The man was "Sensei Bob". He walked over and waved us... Continue reading

NEVER AGAIN What a great phrase. The Jews use it and rightly so, but I think it applies to these two as well. Nobody would ever say a thing about a Jewish man taking a defiant position and saying, "Never Again". I think we all need to take a page from their book and stop being pussies. I wonder how many deaths communism is responsible for. I can personally think of several. Never Again was coined by the Jews in response to the Nazi atrocities. Never Again is a great phrase in light of the attitudes toward socialism and communism we see today. I don't see too many Nazis around today...but communists? And on this Veteran's Day specially - remembering all the brave, American and otherwise, that have given their lives to stop communism's cancerous crawl. Never Again is a promise. Those who embrace communism today should take heed. Continue reading

1). People are becoming weaker and more stupid...some become teachers, some become police. They do not stop being weak and stupid with their new positions. 2). Bad guys are still bad guys...some may be like the guys in item 1, and they get caught all the time...but not all guys are like what is described in item 1. 3). Your safety depends, and has always depended on you, your skill, your preparedness and your cleverness. Nobody is coming to save you. The best they will do is to take a flattering pic of your dead body for the report. 4). Rules are about controlling everyone in item 1 and 2, but as we see, they fail and will always fail. Your safety depends on you. If a rule interferes with item 3, ignore it. 5). Get good at understanding item 3 and carrying out item 4. Continue reading

This time it was a crazy guy not a jihadist. In California where even the thought of a firearm gets you placed on a list. Where CCWs are as rare as white buffalo. And where all anti-gun laws tend to be born. One of the three most gun restrictive places in the country. California, not Texas, not Arizona and not Florida. The crazy guy didn't use an evil black rifle with a stack of magazines for the CA legislators to march around with in their latest rantings. He used a Glock 21 with California-legal 10 round magazines. And the most astounding thing is that At least six unarmed off-duty police officers, moonlighting as security guards Wednesday night, were at the bar. Reports are that one of them stood in front of the gunman to protect a victim. Lessons learned - 1). California gun laws didn't do a thing. Nor will more laws do a thing. As predicted we have the usual suspects calling for the usual things. No matter how hard they stomp their feet they can't make firearms disappear... Continue reading

It was day one of a Sniper Course and I was teaching the Prone Position, first on the right and subsequently on the left. After explaining the details and cue points, I dropped down behind my custom Recce Rifle and placed my cheek on the stock, looking through my Leupold TMR scope. "They never quit", I thought. Our staff, like any group of tightly knit military and police veterans tend to rib each other constantly. It is all in fun and when it needs to get serious, none are better. But the finger print smudges on my scope...they could only be the work of "The Hyena". I'd get him back later when he wasn't looking. Then I switched to my left side and I realized the problem was not the scope, but my eye. I'd never noticed it before but I was beginning to grow a cataract. That was 2015 and it was very slight. It didn't affect my shooting or my back country work, so I left it alone. But this last year it had become more noticeable. I... Continue reading

Ever since Glock made its debut into the LE world back in the late 1980s, there has been a quest to "perfect" its trigger. In truth, compared to many of the triggers on police pistols at the time, the Glock trigger was a huge advancement. But boy's being boys, the tinkering began. The quest seemed to take the path of making the triggers as light, and with as minimal take-up, as possible. Then with a good amount of judicious polishing, the officer ended up with a completely unsafe pistol, albeit with a wondrous trigger. And of course, since every Glock owner fancies himself a qualified gunsmith the moment they sign that 4473, the quest caught like chicken pox at a public school. TRIGGER MECHANICS - THE FEEL Now look...you can have a great trigger that is quite safe on a Glock, but you must accept that it will never have a trigger like a tuned 1911 or a single action revolver. But lets define the components parts of the trigger so you understand what is possible with a great Glock... Continue reading

When I first saw this, I must admit I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I admit to having had a love affair with the Saiga 12 some years ago. The detachable box magazine was very attractive, and well, sexy. Images of speedy reloads by a stripped shirted Spetsnaz operator with a Ziganov cigarette perched on his lower lip flashed in the mind. But as we worked through various shotgun drills, real world drills based on the experiences we and our students had in real gunfights killing real bad guys that were trying to return the favor, we realized that the detachable box mag on a shotgun was not all that great. First we ask what the shotgun is intended for. The use of the shotgun does not require shooting it empty and then racing to load it. It is not a sustained fire weapon, like the rifle. Itis fired once or twice, and the reloaded as needed. To see the real use of a shotgun in combat, we need to look to US Law Enforcement, not US Gun... Continue reading

In my last article on Adding A Laser To Your Pistol, I wrote the following - "What about a light? My position, based on over a half dozen urban gunfights in darkened environments is that it depends on application. For police duty use, or SWAT applications, yes...without a doubt. Those are proactive events typified by - "I am going to the fight on purpose" applications. But for UC/OD/CCW work (under-cover, off-duty, concealed-carry), I prefer to not have a weapon mounted light. A separate hand held light will be far more useful in the second application than a weapon mounted light. I am certain the Lumen-Mongers will attack me shortly but that is my position on the matter.' The points of discussion are these - First - Who has the initiative in the fight. This is an aspect that the gun world at large seems not to grasp, but it is a determining factor in tactics used as well as weapons selected. Are you specifically going to that fight, on purpose, with several team mates to execute a pre-planned event? If... Continue reading

There are a couple of points we must make at the beginning of this discussion. First: Our goal, whether in training or in building equipment, is to optimize the fighter and his equipment. To make both as adaptable to changing situations in context of the real fight as possible. We base our positions and perspectives on the lifetimes spent by our staff studying and applying force in the real world against enemies bent of hurting innocents. There is nothing theoretical or sport-based about it. Second: Nothing is perfect, and nothing is free. All weapons and sighting systems are designed and fabricated by men and anything man-made can, under certain circumstances, fail or malfunction. Certainly, more robust systems could be made, but everything is driven by the desire for profits. Something absolutely damage and failure proof could be made, but the cost would undoubtedly limit the market. Third: One is none, two is one. And by extension, three is better than two. Redundancy may be undesirable in conversations and essay’s, but not in weaponry or safety systems. The topic of this... Continue reading

At the Force on Force class we had one resistive student. I rarely get these guys much any more because you have to commit to come up here, beyond the wall, to train with me...its not as easy as having a convenient class down the street on what happens to be your day off. But once in a while... Anyway...his main complaint was that he did not believe a kata was a good thing and sent a tome of an email explaining why. I have found through the years that the more words you need to use to argue a case, the more emotional that case is and the less intellectual it is. The western student...specially gun people have a disdain for rote training. You will hear terms like "adapt to the situation", "build bad habits", "you can't predict the attack", "adversaries are unpredictable". At that point I simply shrug, and wave "bye" as I no longer need to bend over backwards to convince anyone of the validity of our work. If you agree, come and train...if you don't, don't... Continue reading

Katsujin-ken / Satsujin-ken In the last few years I have been revisiting my origins, but from a perspective of experience. So much of what I do...and did, is based on those early brutal lessons a lifetime ago, I remember the heady days of my first black belt. Not the strip mall after school stuff most people think of today. Shodan, or level one test took two days and even at 16 years old my legs were bruised so bad I couldn't walk without a limp for a week, and the following day my arms were so beaten I could not hold a cup of coffee. But when my name was called followed by Shodan - black belt - the blood on my uniform and knuckles bore testament that this was earned, not bestowed. The tradition was that afterwards, the Sensei and Sempai (Instructor and seniors in the dojo) would take the new black belts to Little Tokyo in LA and we would watch a Toshiro Mifune film, or two, then retire to a fine meal in typical Samurai style to... Continue reading

FALL FLASH SALE - 317 SLIDE KIT $399.99 INCLUDES BLACK COWITNESS SIGHTS SUAREZ THREADED BARREL AND THREAD PROTECTOR SUPERMATCH 317 SLIDE IN BLACK MELONITE - STRIPPED (NO INTERNALS) SUAREZ SLIDE SADDLE AND MOUNTING SCREWS SUAREZ FACE SHOOTER TRIGGER IN BLACK BRASS "DISCIPLE" BOTTLE OPENER TRIJICON RMR AND SLIDE INTERNALS NOT INCLUDED GET YOUR 317 KIT HERE DELTAPOINT SLIDES AT $159.99 THESE ARE THE LAST THREE DELTAPOINT SLIDES. WE HAVE TWO GEN 3 19 AND ONE GEN 3 17. WE WILL NOT BE MAKING THEM EVER AGAIN. BUY YOURS HERE Continue reading

The students at the recent Force On Force class will recall a vociferous student making an issue about the importance of controlling distance, and our response that distance was not something you could control in our study. Anecdote Number 1: The call was of suspicious circumstances…screaming and glass breaking at a house. On arrival, everything was dark and no answer when we knocked on the door. I moved toward the back of the house and moved quietly as possible as I scanned and tasted the air. There was something here…I didn’t know what, but I could sense it. As I moved toward the garage, my back up continued to knock on the front door. I could hear them announcing “Police Department…open the door”. I soft checked the garage door, and it opened. Suspect at three feet. As much as it would have been great to be thirty feet away, there was no way I could increase my distance…but I could change my angle. Problem solved…one single shot to the face. Anecdote Number 2: Someone was using the laundry at an... Continue reading

Western students are often impatient and excessively skeptical. It is as if everyone since birth has been trying to fool them about something and if they do not get some sort of instant gratification, they dismiss anything that was said. The attitude seems to be a constant search for short cuts and anyone not validating that point of perspective is seem as a liar or charlatan. But few things in life can be attained via shortcuts and few things offer long term gratification without any effort. At the training social during the recent force on force class I was approached by several students commenting on how smoothly Brent and I moved through the drills. I humbly thanked them on both our behalf for the compliment, and pointed out that both of us have been training martial disciplines since childhood. None of this happened overnight by sheer will and hope. It is that "time spent" - the "work done" where the magic begins. There are all manner of new coined words and ideas that are merely the restating of age old... Continue reading

What has changed is that the mechanisms for imparting information and developing accessible skillsets has dramatically changed by integrating time proven training methods from a different martial discipline. This may not be for everyone, nor do we want it to be that. But for those with dedication, discipline, and the ability to learn and accept new skills, this makes the old force on force training seem very primitive...and what many other "shooting" based schools are doing as obsolete. 1). Learning basic movements 2). Working basic movements with partner unpressured 3). Learning the kata made up of those movements 4). Physical memorization 5). Drilling the applications with increased pressure The resulting skill and tactical/conceptual understanding exhibited by the students as a result of this method of training was astounding, and a testament that this is a far better way of training and teaching with a far greater level of student improvement than what was done previously. Continue reading

The iron sights do in fact have to be zeroed if you want something more than point shooting at an auto shop restroom. In class I have seen new pistols with the sights off for anything more than 10 yard COM shooting. Zeroing involves adjusting them for windage and elevation with YOUR MEAT AMMO at a given distance. Most important is windage. That can be done by drifting the rear sight. Elevation is not as crucial, but that can be done by shaving small amounts off the front sight or replacing the front sight. The zero will not be the same with Tula or WWB. I tell guys - zero for killing ammo, but note where your training ammo hits. Zeroing for training ammo and expecting all ammo to hit same is not going to happen. Mine are set so the dot sits atop the front post when the sights are aligned properly. I find that with a ten yard zero, I am good for face shots to 25 yards, and body shots out to 100 yards. Once the iron... Continue reading

HAPPY DEAD CHE DAY!!! To All the commie idiots that wear his image on their chests, we hope you are deeply offended and triggered. Happy Dead Che Day!! #oneless Continue reading

1). Defense does not exist – there is attack and there is counter attack 2). Everything begins and ends with marksmanship 3). Justify Shooting first 4). You must understand the role of initiative in the fight 5). Remember that it is not about the score, it is about killing 6). Your body must be capable of doing whatever you need it to do 7). Tactics exist to get you an angle for your shot 8). It is not about speed, it is about timing 9). Gunfighting is simply hand to hand combat at 1500 feet per second 10). Live as if there was an enemy around every corner and behind every door 11). The pen is not mightier than the sword, it must be its equal 12). The tiger is good at killing, but the antelope tells the tale Continue reading

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY I am currently reading a book about the Viking Wars. The Viking Wars: War and Peace in King Alfred's Britain: 789–955 by Adams. It’s a great, although long. The interesting thing is that the Vikings were far bloodier than the Spanish Conquistadors, yet everyone seems to celebrate the former while scorning the latter. I have yet to see social justice types protesting Lindisfarne. But oh do people seem to despise Columbus. The main thrust of the argument is usually that the Indians were peaceful and kind, sort of like a Disney movie, and the evil Europeans were thieves and murderers. The truth is that Indian tribes raided and fought each other routinely as did all primitive communities since the dawn of man. There is no written history of the Caribbean and North American tribes, nor did they build monuments and cities to be excavated. But they did do so in Mexico, Latin, and South America. And any study of the preeminent cultures when the Europeans arrived, the Inca and the Aztecs, reveals that they did not arrive... Continue reading

I was discussing the red dot pistol with a media personality today. He had fired a Glock 19 with a Trijicon RMR, and shot the best group of his life. Very enthusiastic at first, he was crestfallen to learn the $600 price tag. It is true, not everyone can afford a Trijicon RMR. But like it or not, the RMR is the standard for quality, ruggedness, and accuracy for pistol-mounted sights. There have been contenders to take the Trijicon crown but as of yet, none have succeeded. It seems most want to compete on price and fail in the ruggedness and quality areas instantly. Guys will bring out Burris Fastfires and tell me that they are just as good as the RMR because it always works for them on the range. Well sorry kids...the Fastfire is not the same. It may be totally reliable as a range toy, but it would be a foolish first line combat sight. Same can be said of the Sig Romeo, the various Vortex units, and any of the myriad of up-and-coming low cost mini... Continue reading

Some of us are comfortable inwards - at times...and it is the only place, alone, that we can organize the horror and the beauty of the life we have thusfar lived. That periodic "house cleaning" can't be done with others - even with brothers...it is done alone...and then, once the things are in their proper places, we ask the Lord Commander to come and inspect...and walk with us...and encourage us...and tell us why it was all important. But when that is done, we do not continue walking like ghosts among the living. We enjoy a drink with our brothers, we love our wives, we encourage our children, we sharpen our iron, and we celebrate the life that is gone so easily and so suddenly. Continue reading

Ever since Glock made its debut into the LE world back in the late 1980s, there has been a quest to "perfect" its trigger. In truth, compared to many of the triggers on police pistols at the time, the Glock trigger was a huge advancement. But boy's being boys, the tinkering began. The quest seemed to take the path of making the triggers as light, and with as minimal take-up, as possible. Then with a good amount of judicious polishing, the officer ended up with a completely unsafe pistol, albeit with a wondrous trigger. And of course, since every Glock owner fancies himself a qualified gunsmith the moment they sign that 4473, the quest caught like chicken pox at a public school. TRIGGER MECHANICS - THE FEEL Now look...you can have a great trigger that is quite safe on a Glock, but you must accept that it will never have a trigger like a tuned 1911 or a single action revolver. But lets define the components parts of the trigger so you understand what is possible with a great Glock... Continue reading

This discussion arose from our article on bypassing body armor. Today what seems like armor may easily be a bomb vest. There have been several instances of bomb vests here in the USA. And in the majority of active shooter events, there are explosives involved, whether they are successfully employed or not. And Law Enforcement is taking this into consideration. Here is a communication from the Training Sergeant of a major urban police agency in Arizona: Thought you'd like to know that (at a recent active shooter training event - (1) Head shots were encouraged (2) Insurance shots were explicitly called for and (3) in a multiple opponent drill, taking no prisoners was held as a valid approach to the problem. To expand.... (1) they want the hits anywhere on meat, but if a head shot appears, do it. The training venue had the initial distances approx 50 yards, so practicalities were addressed as well (2) Role player doing the jihadist imitation with a cell phone and a pipe bomb. Your article on Turkey was exactly on point with the... Continue reading

SUAREZ TRIGGER TRADE-IN There are parts on your pistol that will wear out from use, either live fire or dry fire. The two parts are the factory trigger bar and the factory striker. All trigger bars on all after-market triggers are made by Glock and are stamped not milled. We looked at milling them but that would place the price beyond the reach of the market. The tolerances on trigger bars are all over the place and we even reject some as unfit for our use. We have seen that this part will wear specifically in the area that contacts the striker. The other wear point is the leg on the factory MIM firing pin. The more contact, the safer it is...but also the longer break through the wall. The factory pin is a metal injection molded part which is a cost saving measure by Glock. If the leg of the pin wears so that contact with the trigger bar is minimal, you will have a gun that will fire when its dropped no matter what trigger is installed. The... Continue reading

Today, armor is prolific and common. Armor that withstands rifle fire is also common. You don't know the quality and level of the bad guy's armor. So which is a better tactic? Break through or bypass it? In my 3 vs 1 gunfight (way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) all three bad guys were wearing armor. My default tactic of directing fire toward upper chest and face made such equipment irrelevant. And the most important point is that I was not aware they were wearing armor until later. I don't think you will be aware either. The other point is, that even if you know there is armor, do you know what sort of armor do they have and do you feel lucky enough to test it? Then there is the matter of what if what seems like armor is not really armor but explosives? So the suggested default is to assume armor is present, even if you do not see it initially. And the reality is that you will be dealing with the problem with a CCW-EDC Pistol... Continue reading