Search This Blog

Sunday, November 9, 2025

Gun & Prepping News #54

 Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:  

  •  "The Intermediate Range AR-15"--Shooting Illustrated. Advice for setting up an AR for distances between 100 and 500 yards. Mostly, this is having a LPVO with sufficient magnification for the distances you are shooting. The author's impetus was having been at a competition with a 1x optic and 3x magnifier and not being able to verify his target (a clay pigeon) at 300 yards. 
  • "What Are HBAR Barrels? The Ultimate Guide to Precision & Performance"--KAK Industries Blog. The key benefits of heavy barrels are listed as: (i) increased accuracy and consistency due to its rigid construction; (ii) better heat dissipation; (iii) reduced barrel whip; and (iv) improved recoil management due to the greater mass helping absorb recoil. 
  • ".270 vs. .30-06"--Sports Afield.  A comparison between the two. The author indicates that both are great for North American game, but leans toward the .270 if you are primarily deer hunting due to its lighter recoil and flatter trajectory. For hunting in Africa (something unlikely for most hunters) he recommends the .30-06 for its greater versatility. 
  • "If All You Have Is A Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Nail" by Steve Moses, Snub Noir. An excerpt:

Multiple individuals have been incarcerated as a result of using or threatening to use a handgun when accosted by a  person with actual or potential bad intentions when other options might have been available. Armed defenders should know their state’s laws regarding the use of deadly force. There are at least three basic elements in play:

  •  Ability: Does the person (or persons) have the physical means to seriously injure or kill me right now?
  •  Opportunity: Is the person close enough or otherwise in a position to utilize those abilities right now?
  •  Intent [aka, Jeopardy]: Does that same person intend to seriously injure or kill me right now?

A deadly force response is never warranted if any one of those three elements is lacking. A major problem for armed defenders is that in some instances the intent to seriously injure or kill is either absent or hidden, or the other person simply lacks the physical ability at that time to seriously injure or kill another person. That is often the case with intoxicated or otherwise mentally impaired persons.  If words alone are not enough force and a handgun is too much, then carrying tools that can bridge that gap make good sense. Two tools that might meet that criteria are Pepper Spray and small impact weapons like saps and blackjacks.   

     Flashlights aren’t just for seeing inside cars and houses. Lights are important for navigation and even communication between teams. They can be used to surprise, intimidate, control, distract, and deceive the enemy. 

    It can temporarily shut down a person’s will to fight. If you’ve ever had 2,000 lumens in your eyeballs in a previously-darkened room, you’ll know what I mean. 

 As to the question in the title, the author notes that the size and bulk of a WML on a handgun makes it less likely that he will carry that weapon; handheld lights usually don't cause legal problems (e.g., needlessly and, potentially, unlawfully displaying your weapon); and handheld lights give you more tactical flexibility (e.g., not turning every situation where you need a light into a situation where you draw your weapon). The advantages he mentions as to WML is that it is a "one package" deal lending to quicker deployment when you do need to use the weapon. 

When it comes to carrying a concealed handgun, less truly is more and if you carry more than the bare minimum, it's wasted energy in most cases. I’ve certainly been there where I was carrying two flashlights along with a small utility knife as well as a larger knife for self-defense on top of my main carry gun and extra magazines. I felt like my pants were a boat anchor and it just became a lot to the point where I wanted to leave the house without anything. The simple truth is, you need a small handgun to start out with basically nothing else besides a good holster.   

Also:

 Modern pistols have more capacity than they did in the past, so the idea that you need multiple magazines is just not true. You can certainly carry multiple items in your vehicle with a tier-based system, but not everything should end up on your body. Everything non-essential or a backup item should either go into a backpack or into your vehicle rather than being shoved in your pockets or somewhere on your body.  

I can hear people already tapping on the keyboard about needing extra magazine because what if you have damaged feed lips. I don't know about the author to this piece, but my retort would be to ask how your magazine lips would be damaged if they are sitting in the weapon? If you are using your carry magazines for reloading practice or competition where they are going to be dropped on the ground or a concrete floor, you are being foolish. Use a dedicated set of magazines for that type of practice.

  • "AK Loyalists Won’t Admit It, but the Platform Might Be Finished in America"--Ammo Land. This article is commentary on a YouTube video by the Trench Grenade channel entitled "The American AK Experiment Has Failed." The gist of the article is that historically, the reason for picking an AK over an AR was the low price of AKs and the ammo to shoot it. But that is no longer the case. For instance, the 7.62x39 is now averaging 58 cents per round versus 39 - 40 cents per round for 5.56 and 70 cents for .308; and 5.45x39, it notes, is essentially "dead" in the U.S. 
  • "Ayoob Files: Murder or Self-Defense?"--American Handgunner. An analysis of the killing of John Stompanato by Cheryl Crane, age 14, the daughter of Lana Turner. Not only is this article of interest from a historical or "true crime" perspective, but also a good review of the elements of a self-defense case and some lessons on what not to do after a self-defense killing. 
  • "Let Us Spray"--Sports Afield. Advice on bear spray. An excerpt:

    With a bear charging all out, you might need to hit the trigger button when the animal is at the fifty- to sixty-foot mark, so it collides with the aerosolized spray at about thirty feet. This socks the bear with a full dose of irritant but also gives it time to react, veer off, and hopefully run away. With a bear that charges from closer in, thirty feet or less, shoot immediately and continuously, being sure to tip the canister nozzle slightly downward, avoiding mistake number two, which is pointing the nozzle (or letting spray “recoil” tip it) upward, sending the cloud too high, over the bear’s head. You want to spray in front of the bear’s face, not on its back. 

    An important side note here: If you are carrying a rifle in the traditional slung position, and a bear bursts toward you at close range, you’re probably better off using your spray–hitting the button in the holster–than trying to unsling the gun, lift it to shooting position, aim, and fire. But if you are carrying a loaded rifle in a ready or near-ready two-handed position, and a bear suddenly rushes you and keeps coming, point/aim the rifle while clicking off the safety and shoot! Anyone who expects a hunter to put aside or drop a firearm to reach for bear spray has no sense of the reality of these situations.  

  • From Survival Blog: "A Top-10 Prepping List, Multi-Tool Not Included by St. Funogas" (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5). The author explains:

     This list is based on the following premises:

1. This is a TEOTWAWKI list
2. TEOTWAWKI is a long-term grid-down event, not a short-term natural or man-made disaster
3. It doesn’t include items we should already have on hand for everyday life
4. The federal government (military) won’t be coming to the rescue. Per the DOD’s own reports, without electricity they’ll be just as far up the creek as the rest of us
5. TEOTWAWKI survival is not wilderness survival

    This article takes into account the need for long-term sustainable ways to live the best lifestyle possible once we get to the New Normal stage, not just the short-term emergency phase or the maximum 6-month-long roving-hordes stages.

    Much of this list won’t apply to urban and suburban preppers since they’ll have virtually no chance of surviving in place. The #1 item on their list should be either acquiring real estate in a rural area (yes, it’s not cheap but as mentioned, this is a TEOTWAWKI prepping list), or for those unable to do so, having a bug-out location on a family or friend’s acreage in a rural area.

 Part 1 covers water and food; Part 2 covers woodstoves (and a cordless chainsaw for cutting the wood), and guns and ammo; Part 3 covers the toilet, and a cook stove; Part 4 goes over options for producing electricity and a thumb drive to store books and other references; and Part 5 goes over clothing (including supplies on cleaning them) and a gasoline powered generator. Part 5 also goes over a few things that the author assumes that you already have on hand, like some small tools and medical supplies. 

By at
Labels: , , , ,

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

American Citizens But Not Americans

Ricardo Antonio Roman-Flores and Emilio Roman-Flores, have been arrested for " threatening to torture, hang and kill Homeland Security ...