New Weekend Knowledge Dump

Greg Ellifritz has a new Weekend Knowledge Dump up with plenty of links to interesting articles and videos. A handful that I especially liked:

• An article from Police1 on why the snub nosed revolver is a great backup gun for police officers. For many of the same reasons, I believe it makes a good concealed carry gun for someone needing to carry a smaller and/or lighter weapon than the standard semi-autos. I recognize that this equation has changed a bit in recent years because of a greater availability of small autos on the market, but an alloy or polymer frame snubby can still be lighter and, as the article explains, have other advantages. He lists 15 advantages to the snubby, but just a few: it is less likely to snag on clothing; it is more resistant to neglect (i.e., not cleaning or lubricating as well or often as you should); and the ability to make contact shots. On the latter issue, Hard to Hurt did a recent video where he attempted to illustrate how a handgun may not give you an advantage in a hands-on situation--basically, it can lead to a fight for the gun, with the better ground fighter or stronger person likely winning--but I also remember a reading an account from a PI who stopped an imminent beat down after the (much larger) opponent grabbed him by the simple expediency of shoving the barrel of his snubby into his attacker's mouth. 
• Greg included some other revolver articles including one from Mass Ayoob on why the revolver is not obsolete (although acknowledging that they are not the best when facing a group of criminals).
• Another article to which there is a link is one from Clint Smith on shooting handguns at longer distances including tests he ran from 25 to 150 yards in 25 yard increments with various handguns. I was a little puzzled by why he did better with revolvers in double-action versus single action, but he mentioned that he mostly shoots them in double-action. Unsurprisingly, the revolvers tended to be better at longer ranges than most of the autos he shot. Two exceptions: the Glock 17 (which did as well as the revolvers) and a Baer 1911 (which beat out all the other handguns). Of course, a lot of this has to do with practice and bullet drop. I haven't shot handgun past 100 yards, but I can tell you that a light weight, fast 9 mm (I was using 90 grain handloads) can do very well out to 100 yards. Penetration might be a different matter, though.
• Greg has also included a link to an article on using a flashlight with a firearm called "Stop Blinding Yourself". This is another article written by a police officer for other law enforcement officers and mostly focuses on using a light for clearing a room or house. But although we are always told to not clear our house if we think there is an intruder in the home, but call the police, the reality is that we may not know there is an intruder until after we have made some investigation of what woke us up in the first place. One bit of advice that I think important is that the officer recommends having a single output light rather than something with multiple modes, the idea being that you don't want to accidently activate the wrong mode. I'm being a bit of hypocrite here: while I have a single mode light which I keep on my nightstand, the other light I might grab has multiple modes. But those modes are bright and brighter--not a strobe (on one hand) or a "moonlight" dim mode (on the other).
• Another article included discusses appendix carry and why you might want to try it. Even if you already use AIWB carry, the author has some tips on reholstering that is worth the read.
• Turning from firearms to topics for the prepper, Greg has included an article on combining a couple over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications which the author believes can be just as effective at controlling pain as hydrocodone. The combination is 3/2 of Advil/Tylenol (i.e., 200 mg Advil, 500 mg. Tylenol). The author also notes that Advil, apparently capitalizing on this, is offering their own combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen called "Advil Dual Action" although you would need to take 4 of these to get the same effect as the 3/2 combination. Greg confirms the efficacy of this combination in his comments to the article.
• Finally, from The Survival Mom, is an article on helping your college student prepare for emergencies, whether it be a bought of the flu to having to evacuate his or her dorm in the face of an approaching hurricane. Many of the tips are applicable to any loved ones living away from your home that you anticipate would "bug out" to your location; or even just good kit for when you are traveling. The illustration of a "student" accompanying the article was disturbing: I think if I had a daughter going to collage wearing a nose ring (which were invented to lead animals around with a cord or rope), my bigger concern would be with her lifestyle choices than the risk of a natural disaster.