December 1, 2017 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Ancient CHAKRAM (Xena EDC) / Heavy Duty ARROW Knife (Ultimate Throwing Test)"--Adam Celadin (10 min.). The test of the throwing knife is first; the discussion of the chakram starts about the 4 minute mark, and the throwing is about the 6 minutes mark.

• TGIF: This week's Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. He links to and comments on articles about using a shot timer for training, using tactical lights, how to survive a mass shooting/sniper attack, and gripping a revolver.
• While you are there, check out this article: "Stupid Active Killer Advice." The stupid advice is to pour soup or some other slick liquid on the floors, supposedly to impede the shooter's ability to move around. The problem, as Greg Ellifritz points out, is that it also hampers your ability to move about as well as anyone responding to the shooting.
• Gabe Suarez has recently posted a series of articles on low-light shooting tips and technology:

• "The Role of Lasers on Handguns." A couple points that I particular want to bring to your attention: first, he is adamant that a laser sight must be able to be activated single-handed, preferably by squeezing the grip or a button mounted on the handgun's grip; second, like I've noted in the past, lasers are properly sighted in so the beam is parallel to the bore, rather than intersecting the path of the bullet at pre-determined range (such as with optical sights).

•  "The Truth About Using Lights in a Gunfight." Basically, don't. He asserts that: (1) "The need for completely illuminated target identification has been vastly overblown by lumen-peddling flashlight manufacturers and liability-centric instructors"; (2) if you have children or other persons that you may need to carry or physically shepherd out of harm's way, you will need a one-handed weapon (i.e., a handgun) rather than a rifle or shotgun; (3) you must be able to turn the light on or off while your finger is one the trigger, and it should have a momentary switch; (4) weapon lights should be used sparingly; (5) " Yes, in the real world people get covered with gun muzzles all the time....ALL THE TIME"; and (6)  "The weaponlight is NOT a reactive self defense tool or a necessity," by which he means that if you are attacked, you don't have time to screw around with a light, and almost always will have sufficient light to at least point shoot at an attacker, but rather that the light is used for pro-active searching and pre-planned confrontations.

• "The Truth About Target Identification." Here, Suarez goes into more detail on why you, as a private citizen responding to a "bump in the night" don't generally need to illuminate your target with a light to identify whether it is friend or foe. He discusses how most targets can "at a glance be identified, even in a darkened home by their movements, actions and the process of elimination."

• "The Truth About 'Owning the Darkness'." Suarez discusses a test he conducted during a training class:

        I took a super bright light (that the sales rep donated...sort of) and inserted it into a cardboard target, lens toward the firing line. I took two military police guys in class, and had them face away from the target. They were armed with MP5 SMGs. I had them close their eyes and wait. All the lights on the range had been turned off except for the ostensibly blinding and disorienting flashlight. 

         Their instructions were that when I yelled "fight", they were to turn and engage the source of the light as they moved off the X. As they stood by, I turned on the light in the target bright and even set it to strobing. I then got out of the way and yelled, "fight!"

         In a few seconds, both operators had moved off the X and peppered the target with about twenty rounds each. The flashlight was miraculously not hit, but the target was fairly well destroyed. The bright strobe prevented them from getting a sight picture (like all good guys use), but it did not prevent them from point shooting it a cumulative total of over forty times even if they were "blinded by the light".

        Moral of the story is this - The use of light may identify your threat, but it will also give away your position and safety. 

He goes on to discuss using night vision equipment in conjunction with a handgun.

• "How Technology Owns the Darkness." In this article, Suarez continues his discussion about using night vision equipment with a handgun--specifically, a small hand-held monocular with a handgun.

• "Technology Owns the Darkness." More on why night-vision should be in your basket of tools.

• A reader directed my attention to the following article: "Brian Head Fire led officials to uncover survivalist’s explosive-filled bunkers hidden near makeshift cabins"--Salt Lake Tribune. The firefighters were alerted to the cabin and a nearby cache by the popping of ammunition burning in the fire.

        After the popping stopped, the firefighters hiked to the source of the sound and found a cabin that had burned to the ground. Nearby, the release said, they found a bunker dug into the ground, containing what appeared to be novelty hand grenades that had been altered by drilling out the bottom and plugging the holes with threaded, galvanized pipe plugs. They also saw what appeared to be explosive powder, fuses and ammunition.

           The bunker contained a “large number” of boxes and containers used as food storage, the release said. The firefighters took photos and informed law enforcement.

           The discovery impacted the firefighting. Authorities deemed the items potentially dangerous to firefighters and would allow only airplanes or helicopters to suppress flames in the area.

           On June 30, a bomb squad from Washington County and the FBI removed the explosives from the bunker, while other officers contacted a person of interest at his home in Parowan.

          The person said he owned the cabin and bunker and was responsible for the explosives there. He said he’d purchased, drilled out and threaded the hand grenades and insisted they weren’t an explosive hazard to officials in the area.

          He also told officers there were seven or eight such structures — four of which were cabins with bunkers hidden nearby — throughout the area. Most contain explosives and food storage, and were built over the course of several years, he said.

And to top all of this off, the cabins had all been built on State or Federal owned land. The article mentions that the man had been building and stocking the cabins and caches for a period of about 30 years.