Packing 101: Retention or No Retention?

From time to time people ask about holsters for concealed carry, open carry, or field carry such as out in the woods or on property. Many of these folks ask about the use of holsters with retention devices and those without. Some people prefer a retention device and some people do not. Everyone has their opinions. For those of you that may be in the process of forming or revising your opinion, I will present mine.

Concealed Carry: People carry firearms concealed beneath one or more layers of clothing for protection against criminal attacks. These firearms are typically out of view and accessible only after moving aside a layer of clothing. Many people do not feel the need to have any type of retention device incorporated into their holster. I tend to agree with that position.

I have carried in several different types of holsters over the years. I have used an MTAC, Galco Combat Master, Nick Mathews #1 IWB, Safariland ALS holsters, and several others. For concealed carry I mainly used the MTAC and Nick Mathews #1. Lately I have been carrying a Smith & Wesson M&P 40 in a Gould and Goodrich pancake holster equipped with a thumb snap.

I carried with the MTAC and Nick Mathews #1 for five years. During those years I only had a handful of instances where my pistol became slightly dislodged from the holster due to rigorous activity. I don't mind having a thumb snap. For me it does not slow my draw, or create much of a problem in regards to concealing the firearm. My opinion- take it or leave it, doesn't matter to me.

Open Carry: I have only open carried away from work a few times. Each time I open carried I used a Safariland ALS holster, or the previously mentioned Gould and Goodrich thumb snap holster. At work I use a level III Safariland 6360 ALS holster. In my opinion this holster is really a level II holster as it only has two retention devices to defeat. 

When carrying a firearm in public view I feel that the use of some form of retention is an absolute necessity. The chances of having someone attempt to disarm you are low, the threat is still there. In my opinion, open carry is a method of carry that requires knowledge and training in hand to hand combat and weapon retention. My opinion- the use of a retention holster for open carry is a requirement. 

Field Carry: Some people may be asking exactly what the difference between field carry and open carry is. In reality they are similar. The only major difference being open carry is typically out and about in public and field carry is out of public and in the woods or the field. When I go about in the field I prefer a holster with a thumb snap. I do not think of the thumb snap or retention device and a requirement.

The only reason I chose to have a thumb snap on my holster is simply to help keep my gun in place. I don't want to risk falling, or tripping and rolling down a hill and then find myself searching for my gun because it fell out of my holster. Granted there are no guarantees with the use of a thumb snap, it just makes me feel all warm and safe. (Kind of like gun control laws...sarcasm)

There is nothing wrong with using a holster with no retention out in the field. If you find yourself in a situation where you may be in public, throwing a light coat on over your gun is normally not out of the question. My opinion: a retention device is preferable, but not required.

Most of the decisions about the use of retention will be specific to the activities and types of holsters used. A quality, well fit holster will not typically need a retention device. The thumb snap tends to make me feel more secure when in the field. I only open carry at work, and for concealed carry I go either way.

If you are trying to decide between the two, go with a retention device or thumb snap. Working the device into your draw stroke is rather simple. If you find that you really don't need the device or thumb snap you now have a holster well suited for rigorous activity like hiking or hunting if you are interested in those kinds of activities.

Fundamentals to Accurate Pistol Shooting

These may not be considered traditional shooting fundamentals; however I can assure you that after years of shooting and training, these fundamentals work very well. Give them a try and see what happens to your shooting.

1- Grip. If a shooter does not have a proper, solid, stable grip on the pistol, they will never shoot the pistol accurately. Think of the grip as the foundation of a building. If the foundation is not solid, the building will shift and never be stable. The same is true for shooting a pistol. The perfect stance may not always be possible. A solid, stable grip will help to overcome irregular shooting positions. My preferred two handed grip is a thumbs forward grip with the support hand rotated slightly forward. 

2- Stance. If possible, assume a solid stance that anchors you to the ground. The weaver stance was once thought to be the best stance for pistol shooting. The isosceles and modified isosceles stances are much more stable shooting platforms than the weaver stance. Those stances take advantage of the shooter's natural point of aim, much like precision rifle shooting. In addition to providing a natural point of aim, those stances use more of the upper body to absorb recoil.

3- Presentation. The presentation of the pistol is very important. It is during this time that the first two fundamentals are acquired. As the pistol is being drawn the shooter's stance is established, and just prior to presentation the shooter's grip is established. When the pistol is being presented, the fourth fundamental becomes natural. As the pistol meets the same level as the target the pistol's sights should be aligned in a manner that requires only slight adjustment.

The pistol should be drawn from the holster straight up and down. As soon as the muzzle clears the top of the holster the muzzle is rotated forward. As the pistol is moved from the position just above the holster the support hand meets the strong hand forming a proper grip on the pistol. The pistol is then "punched out" so that the arms are perfectly in line with the shoulders. This allows the shooter's entire body weight to absorb the recoil of the pistol.

4- Sight Alignment. Properly aligning the sights is always important. Alignment of the sights should be a natural action when presenting the pistol to a target. When shooting at close targets, if the sights are aligned relatively close to each other, a hit on target should be achieved. Will the hit be a 10x bulls-eye? Maybe not, but speed and accuracy go hand in hand. A slow 10x shooter will always lose to a fast 9x shooter. 

Alignment of the sights depends upon the type of sights the shooter's pistol is equipped with. Standard notch and post type sights should be aligned so that the top of the front sight is level with the top of the rear sight. Sights that use a standard three dot type sighting picture should have all three dots aligned next to each other when using the dots to acquire the sights quickly. The shooter needs to keep in mind that the impact of the bullet will be slightly above the dot as the dot does not extend to the top of the sight in most designs.

5- Trigger Press. This is the last fundamental of shooting. A solid trigger press in conjunction with the four previous fundamentals will result in very accurate and fast shooting. The trigger should be pressed straight back in a single fluid motion so as to not cause major misalignment of the pistol or the shooter's sight picture. If the shooter has a solid grip and stance it will be easy to forgive a horrendous trigger press.

Trigger press is the least important of the fundamentals listed, but it is still a fundamental to accurate pistol shooting. If the shooter is participating in action type pistol shooting competitions, the trigger press comes in last place. The reason I list trigger press in last place has to do with the range of most action pistol competitions. Most of the targets in these types of competitions are within 10 yards of the shooter. A trigger press that slightly moves the muzzle will normally not result in a miss at the short ranges those gun games are shot at. Twenty-five and fifty yard shots are obviously different.

Taking the time to complete a perfect trigger press will normally mean being too slow and losing. Shooters should practice their trigger press often, every day. This will help the fluid trigger press become natural. I have found that with lots of dry-fire practice, the perfect trigger press becomes natural and shooters make less trigger related errors.

Packing 101: Self-Defense Ammunition and Training

.40 S&W 165 grain Ranger T

I see lots of people post on gun forums related to concealed carry about having just received their concealed carry permit and are now asking people what type of ammunition they should carry. Inevitably I see responses from people advising the person to pick a specific ammunition and order 500-1000 rounds of that specific ammunition for training purposes. At sixty cents a round and higher that gets expensive quickly. This is bad advice and can lead to people purchasing low-end, budget self-defense ammunition because they have been told they need to train with their self-defense ammunition. This is patently false.

There is absolutely zero need to train with the exact ammunition that you carry for self-defense. Many companies produce range and target ammunition that will match the ballistics and felt recoil of your self-defense ammunition. You might not find that ammunition at Wal-Mart or the local gun store, but it can be found. I will give you an example. If you prefer to carry .40 S&W 165 grain ammunition rated at 1150 feet per second, PMC, Speer Lawman, and Federal American Eagle all produce 165 grain full metal jacket range ammunition rated within twenty feet per second of the self-defense ammunition. I cannot tell a difference in felt recoil when I shoot Winchester 165 grain Ranger T ammunition or PMC 165 grain full metal jacket range ammunition. Unless you decide to carry some boutique ammunition, you should be able to find range ammunition that duplicates the recoil characteristics of your self-defense ammunition. The only caliber that can be difficult to locate range ammunition that duplicates the recoil characteristics of self-defense ammunition is 9mm +P ammunition. Finding range ammunition that exactly duplicates the +P recoil may be difficult. You should be able to find ammunition that comes within fifty feet per second of your +P self-defense ammunition.

The police department that I work for never trains with issued self-defense ammunition. We are issued Winchester 180 grain Ranger T ammunition, and train with an assortment of 180 grain full metal jacket range ammunition. The difference in felt recoil between the rounds is not noticeable. 

.40 S&W 165 grain PDX1

The next thing I see people talk about is rotating their carry ammunition every six months. The half-life of modern premium ammunition is as long as or longer than our lifetimes. Surplus Korean War era ammunition still fires when the primer is hit. As long as your ammunition hasn't been submerged in water, severely dented, or the bullet has been set back, it will function just fine. There is no need to rotate the ammunition every six months. I have been carrying the same Federal 180 grain HST ammunition for almost three years. To increase the durability of your ammunition, choose ammunition that has been sealed at the primer pocket and case mouth. This will help keep water out of the casing. 

 

You should check to make sure your self-defense ammunition functions properly in your pistol. Any modern service pistol will normally eat anything you give it. Shoot fifty rounds through it and make sure it functions. If you feel more comfortable shooting two-hundred rounds, go ahead. If the pistol is going to choke on the ammunition that will normally happen in the first few rounds and be a consistent problem. No matter how many rounds you fire for function testing, the pistol may/will malfunction at some point. I have had Glock pistols stove pipe, double feed, fail to extract, and fail to go into battery from time to time. Throw some snap caps into your range bag and practice an immediate action drill.

The last thing I see people getting wrapped up in is "gel testing". Any person who has seen real life gunshot wounds will tell you that anything is possible. Bullets that penetrate ten inches in "gel" have a tendency to penetrate much more than that in real life. I see people getting all caught up in penetration and expansion figures and the "what if" scenarios. Most of the commercially available self-defense ammunition that is produced with intentions to pass the FBI's pistol testing protocol will penetrate through and through many of the people that are shot with it.

.40 S&W 165 grain PDX1

Compare these pistol rounds to 5.56/.223 ammunition. Nearly every pistol round that passes the FBI testing penetrates deeper than a 5.56/.223 in "gel". Rifle 5.56/.223 ammunition typically fragments into many pieces and barely penetrates twelve inches, which is considered a failure for pistol bullets in the FBI’s testing protocol. I don’t think anyone will argue that a pistol round causes more damage than a 5.56/.223 simply because it doesn't break apart and penetrates deeper. The explosive fragmentation of the 5.56/.223 is what makes the rounds so lethal.

“Street proven” self- defense ammunition such as Federal 9mm 115 grain +P+ jacketed hollow point (9BPLE), Remington .40 S&W 155 grain jacketed hollow point, and the Federal and Winchester equivalents (155 grain JHP @ 1205 feet per second), and 125 grain .357 Magnum jacketed hollow points were and still are very effective. Those legendary ammunition choices typically fail the FBI pistol testing protocol.

Ballistics gelatin testing is a science experiment. The way you know that “gel” testing is somewhat bogus is how easily the knife blades slice through the gel to retrieve the bullet. A knife would never penetrate human skin as easily as it penetrates ballistic gelatin. The human body is denser than ballistics gelatin, and not a homogeneous mass. Thick skin, bone, muscle, and fat, all have a different density. Bullets that pass through dense objects do not expand as much and thus penetrate deeper. In my humble opinion, any bullet that is constructed to penetrate at least eight inches in a ballistics gelatin science experiment will do just fine in real life. If you don’t believe me talk to some 10mm handgun hunters that use 135 grain Nosler jacketed hollow points on whitetail deer. Ballistics gelatin tests have their place. They give us an idea of how a bullet might perform in different scenarios. Just keep in mind that the testing is done in a controlled scientific environment.

Kallie the Pitweiler

Pick premium defense ammunition using a bullet of solid construction, verify proper function in your firearm, find a range load that duplicates it and call it a day. A few boxes of your ammunition-of-choice are more than enough to sustain you for a few years. Load a primary magazine, a spare magazine, and leave approximately ten rounds to account for the possible set back of rounds cycled through the chamber. Try not to get wrapped up in stock piling hundreds of rounds of hollow point ammunition. Put away one or two hundred rounds of it and spend your money on range ammunition that you will be able to get more trigger time with.

The Pitweiler Puppy

When we got Kallie a year ago I had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. Here are a few snapshots of Kallie's early life.

Kallie at 7 weeks old

Sleep is important.

Did I mention sleep?

She was serious about going outside.

Many things to explore.

Did I say they were cute?

They are ridiculous.

Sleeping champion.

Those are just a few snapshots of Kallie's early life. More ridiculous photos to come.

Packing 101: Outside the Waistband

Gould & Goodrich B802

Many people believe that the only way to carry a pistol is to use a holster designed to be worn inside the waistband of their pants. This method of carry conceals the longest part of the pistol or revolver inside the pants of the carrier, allowing that person to wear a shorter shirt. I used to be of that mindset. I only carried inside the waistband and hardly ever carried outside the waistband.  Many people feel more confident carrying a pistol inside the waistband. I used to be one of them.

I carry a Glock 23 inside the waistband in a Nick Mathews #1 holster. Before that I used a Comp-Tac MTAC. Both are great holsters, and both hide that pistol very well. Recently I started carrying a Smith and Wesson M&P 40 in a Gould & Goodrich B802 thumb-snap pancake holster designed for the Glock 23. The B802 is an outside the waistband holster that carries the pistol in a mid to high ride position with a slight forward cant. I have never considered that holster to be a very concealable design, in fact it sat in my holster bin, only coming out when I was venturing into the woods with my pistol. I still don’t consider that holster to be very “concealable”. The truth is that holster has been getting the job done for a month now. It is not as concealable as my inside the waistband holsters, but I can still hide a full size pistol with it by only using a size large T-Shirt as cover. (I am six foot, two hundred and five pounds)

People will make claims that carrying a pistol inside the waistband is just as comfortable as carrying outside the waistband. I have to disagree. Carrying a pistol inside the waistband is not uncomfortable with a good holster, but there is still a large piece of metal inside your pants. Carrying a pistol outside the waistband is hands down more comfortable.

Carrying outside the waistband will not make you stick out or increase your chances of being “spotted” by a concerned citizen. You are just as likely to be “spotted” carrying inside the waistband as you are outside the waistband. The difference is how you carry yourself. Everyone has seen or been at one point a newbie to carrying a pistol. The newbie is nervous, paranoid, and always fiddling with something on his side. That person will be “spotted”. Being confident in yourself is more important than the design of your holster.

So many people walk and drive on the streets of America face planted into a smartphone that they don’t notice anything going on around them. In the age of smartphones and all sorts of electronic gizmos that people carry with them, slight bulges at the waist area are normal. Your gun bulge is just your work cell phone. Your spare magazine bulge is your personal iPhone. Buy some good leather or kydex, practice with it, be confident and don’t worry about the small things.

Packing 101: Two Pound Paperweight

The other day I was in gun shop looking around and I overheard a woman talking to a gun shop guru about carrying concealed in South Carolina. After I listened to him fill her with a bunch of garbage I had to introduce myself. We started talking and I could tell that she was new to this whole carrying concealed thing. During the course of our conversation I asked her if she carried her pistol with a round in the chamber. Her answer scared me.

She told me that she couldn't bring herself to carry with a round in the chamber. She didn't feel comfortable with it. I explained to her that modern firearms have so many safeties in them that a pistol can't "just go off". I explained how firing pin safeties and drop safeties all work to prevent discharges from the pistol being dropped. As the conversation developed she divulged that she didn't even carry the pistol with the magazine inserted into the gun. She travels to South Carolina on a frequent basis for business. South Carolina doesn't have a reciprocity agreement with Georgia. The only way for her to legally carry in South Carolina is to place the pistol in the glove-box, loaded. I explained this to her and she told me that she carried the magazine separately because she wouldn't remember to put the gun into the glove-box when she got into South Carolina. I was horrified. I immediately offered her my contact information for some training and legal education.

What this woman told me is not uncommon. In my time as a police officer I have encountered many people carrying weapons. Depending upon the situation I may ask them to allow me to remove their weapon from them. I don't do this all the time, but sometimes the voice in my head says- separate that guy from his gun, something isn't right here. Most of the time the person I am dealing with is a law abiding citizen who I apologize to for the inconvenience of removing their weapon, I explain that I support their right to be armed and that bad guys get permits too. One time I found a stolen gun doing this and another time the guy was a total "perp" who would have been ineligible to own a firearm if the court system had done its job. I digress. 

The one thing all of those people have in common is they never were carrying a loaded pistol. I can't count the amount of people who had unloaded pistols on their person. I can count, on one hand, the amount of people that actually had a properly loaded pistol on them- three. The majority of people carrying pistols carry them unloaded! I don't care about condition one, two, three, or five; if a round is not in the chamber that pistol isn't loaded. If you will hear a click instead of a bang when the trigger is pressed, the pistol is not loaded.

I hear all the reasons in the world why people don't have a loaded chamber, because I ask them. It's dangerous, I'll just rack the slide, I don't want to risk a discharge. I could go on with the excuses. Bottom line is you won't be able to get that pistol into the fight quickly if the chamber is empty.

Most gunfights we could find ourselves in will be a defensive gunfight. The bad guy will start hostilities and we will react. The chances of taking rounds and getting shot before you engage are decent. Racking the slide of an unloaded pistol while taking rounds is not something I want to do. In the half second it took you to chamber a round you could have sent two to three rounds back at the bad guy had the pistol already been loaded. 

Perhaps the fight will start hand to hand. This is a very probable scenario for a person with a firearms license. A strong-arm robbery that turns into a fight is a more likely scenario than a bad guy opening fire on you. In my opinion this scenario makes having the gun already loaded even more important. 

Let me set the stage. You get jumped by two thugs who will do whatever they have to do to accomplish their goal. You now find yourself in a vicious street fight. After a couple seconds the fight goes to the ground and they start beating you in the face, chest, and head. You now realize that if you don't do something you are probably going to die. The whole thing happened so rapidly you didn't have time to draw when they jumped you. Lying on the ground, you draw your pistol and try to rack the slide, but your weak arm is broken. You try to rack it against your belt, but you are pinned down on the ground. You are a bloody beaten mess, half conscious and weak from fighting. They take your pistol, rack a round into the chamber and shoot you in the head- you are dead.

Now let's flip the scenario around. You are on the ground a bloody beaten, half conscious mess. You draw your loaded pistol and shoot both attackers until they stop beating you. They fall to the ground, you get up. The fight has been stopped, you are seriously beat up, but likely to survive. 

The chances of being in a situation like I have described is less than one percent. You will most likely go your entire life and never be in a fight for your life. If you are unlucky enough to find yourself in that situation, be ready. An unloaded pistol is nothing more than a two pound paperweight. Carry your pistol loaded and stop making excuses.

Packing 101: When is Small Too Small?

Micro pistols designed specifically for concealed carry are the current rage among many in the concealed carry community. The user has a plethora of options to choose from. Many people comment that these pistols are very light, carry easily, and are comfortable to carry. Some people even say they forget they are carrying a pistol.

Nearly all of these micro pistols are now chambered for service cartridges. All of these guns are very light and produce fierce recoil. I think a lot of people forget they may be required to shoot the micro pistol they are carrying in a frantic, terrifying defense situation. Can you shoot that pistol effectively? Under extreme stress, fear, and panic? Understand that when involved in combat your shooting skill level decreases by about 50%. I have a hunch that most people who carry a defensive pistol have never actually trained with it. Standing in a lane at the shooting range really doesn't count. It's better than nothing, but it isn't training.

I have no issues with the compact guns on the market. Most of the double stack compact versions of full size guns are still substantial enough to shoot effectively under stress. Even some of the smaller single stack pistols like the Kahr P and CW series are substantial enough for combat shooting. The pistols I am referring to are the ones that only allow a marginal two finger grip. The short grip normally makes handling those pistols during recoil difficult.

Many micro pistols suffer from a lack of capacity. A good number of these offerings only carry six to seven rounds. Sure, one can reload the pistol, but that takes precious half seconds and seconds to complete. Those seconds could be the difference between winning and losing; life and death. Anyone who has been in live combat, or trained in a simulated combat environment using simunitions or a similar training device knows that six rounds is nothing. I have fired six rounds in my first volley just getting to cover during one of these exercises. Not many trainers will teach it, but accurate fire superiority is apart of any gun battle. If I can put more copper and lead on the bad guy faster than he can put it on me I have a better chance of winning. Most of these micro pistols decrease that ability.

If you are determined to carry a micro pistol, or it is your only practical option, choose wisely. Don't be fooled by the gun shop guru who tells you anything but a .45 ACP is a less lethal round. In those micro pistols, 9mm standard pressure rounds are just fine. The snappy +P loads, or bigger calibers may look sexy on the box, but they won't do you a lick of good if they all hit the dirt when it counts. I have a strong preference for the .40 S&W, but I prefer the 9mm for micro pistols. Choose a pistol that will work for you, not the gun shop commando.