The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – March 2024
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an iconic movie in American cinema and arguably the best of the ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’ Rather than my usual boring rants about Serious Mistakes, Negative Outcomes, http://seriousgunownermistakes.net and excruciatingly detailed analyses of Armed Citizen incidents, I’m creating a short collection of a Good, Bad, and Ugly incident each month. Here’s the March 2024 issue.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/good-bad-and-101430615
My Patrons get first look at it on the last day of each month. The following month I unlock the Patreon post on the last Monday and link it here for my blog Followers. Today’s the day to unlock the March 2024 edition.
My hope is that it will be both educational and entertaining. The movie soundtrack is outstanding so a snippet from the soundtrack is part of each month’s post also.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – March 2024
The Good
Woman shoots 2 alleged intruders, killing 1, inside West Philadelphia apartment, police say
The Bad
The Bad section this month was difficult to decide which incident to use but the most tragic won out.
Mother accidentally shoots, kills daughter when searching for keys in purse, police say
The Ugly
Kentucky man accused of shooting roommate for eating last Hot Pocket, police say
Enjoy!
The GBU isn’t drawn from The Armed Citizen column of the official NRA Journals but the March edition of The Armed Citizen is attached. Rather than an obsessive interest in ‘the worst case scenario,’ it shows what the vast majority of Defensive Gun Uses really look like. Naturally, my hometown of Chicargo is prominently featured.
Tactical Conference 2024 Pistol Match
#wheelgunwednesday
I shot the match with my Taurus 856 snub.
Here’s a video short of the Pistol Match https://youtube.com/shorts/uFh9EogmeAY?feature=share
Course of fire
All strings were shot at turning targets in 4 seconds.
3 yards
- 6 shots from concealed holster (6/6)
5 yards
- 5 shots from concealed holster (5/11)
- 5 shots from concealed holster (5/16)
- 4 shots Primary Hand Only from Low Ready (4/20)
- 3 shots Support Hand Only from Low Ready (3/23)
7 yards
- 4 shots from concealed holster (4/27)
- 4 shots from concealed holster(4/31)
10 yards
- 2 shots from concealed holster (2/33)
- 2 shots from concealed holster (2/35)
5 yards
- 5 timed {3.53} face shots from Low Ready (5/40) These shot were scored with Comstock scoring.
This was my final target score. I pulled a few out of the circle but none below the belt or off the silhouette.
Rangemaster Tactical Conference 2024
TacCon 2024, as we call it, is now in the books. [link] It is an annual teaching and learning conference for those who are, or want to be, serious students of the Art of Self-Defense and Personal Protection. This is the fourth year it has been held at the Dallas Pistol Club, a marvelous facility.
The Conference is three days long. This year there were 42 trainers, who taught 69 different classes in 10 different ranges/classrooms. Topics ranged widely from shooting technique to unarmed combatives to medical procedures to using social media effectively and safely. Some classes are live fire, some are hands-on non-live fire, and some are lectures.
There is also a pistol match for those who choose to shoot it. The match is not mandatory and some attendees don’t shoot it. Not everyone who attends TacCon is a gun person, although most are. The Pistol Match consists of 40 rounds shot on turning silhouette targets at distances of 3 to 10 yards.
The presentation I gave was Off-Duty Shootouts of the LAPD. The basis for my presentation was the entirety of shootouts by LAPD officers, while they were off-duty, during the period 2005 to 2022, the last year full reporting has been published.
Since there are generally 10 classes going on at time, it’s impossible to attend them all. Some of the classes are repeated once or twice but the majority are not. Classes I was able to attend were:
Friday
Beware of… Well, Just Beware by Tom Givens
As my colleague Craig Douglas likes to ask “How do you do ‘Situational Awareness?’” Tom provided some answers to that question.
Civilian Defender Philosophy by Dr. Sherman House
The Art of Self-Defense and Personal Protection has many different facets, as represented by the wide variety of topics presented at TacCon. ‘The Real Dr. House’ presented his thoughts on how to prioritize and integrate them.
SATURDAY
Off-Duty Shootouts of the LAPD by Claude Werner, the Tactical Professor. To start the day off right, my presentation was one of the 8AM offerings.
Why study Off-Duty POlice Shootings? LAPD officers are encouraged to NOT take “enforcement action” while off-duty. Off-duty lethal force incidents involving LAPD officers are almost always Self-Defense/Personal Protection incidents much like those that could be encountered by Armed Private Citizens. They provide a thoroughly researched and documented database of shootings and the circumstances that led up to them.
Pistol Match
I finished about middle of the field. But since I shot a Taurus 856 snub revolver and speedloaders against a bunch of red dot equipped service sized autoloaders, I’m okay with that. POV video of the match will be up in a few days on my YouTube channel.
10 Tips for Teaching Gateway Students by Karl Rehn
It’s heartening to me to see how many high level instructors are thinking about best practices for teaching entry level gunowners and shooters. Karl’s wasn’t the only such presentation at the Conference but the only one I could attend.
During lunch, Andy Stanford from Surefire did a video interview with me about Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make and Guns That Get No Respect. When he publishes the edit, I’ll link it.
More about the Conference tomorrow
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – February 2024
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an iconic movie in American cinema and arguably the best of the ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’ Rather than my usual boring rants about Serious Mistakes, Negative Outcomes, http://seriousgunownermistakes.net and excruciatingly detailed analyses of Armed Citizen incidents, I’m creating a short collection of a Good, Bad, and Ugly incident each month. Here’s the February 2024 issue.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/good-bad-and-99377217
My Patrons get first look at it on the last day of each month. The following month I unlock the Patreon post on the last Monday and link it here for my blog Followers. Today’s the day to unlock the February 2024 edition.
My hope is that it will be both educational and entertaining. The movie soundtrack is outstanding so a snippet from the soundtrack is part of each month’s post also.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – February 2024
The Good
RCSD: Fatal Columbia shooting determined to be self-defense
The Bad
Man arrested by police after TSA stops him with loaded gun at Pittsburgh International Airport
The Ugly
Two Men Charged with Murder in Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade Shooting
Enjoy!
The GBU isn’t drawn from The Armed Citizen column of the official NRA Journals but the February edition of The Armed Citizen is attached. Rather than an obsessive interest in ‘the worst case scenario,’ it shows what the vast majority of Defensive Gun Uses really look like.
NYC Subway Monkey Dancing
#fridayfundamentals
Today’s post is not about shooting technique, it’s about avoiding being an idiot. I’m writing a series of Patreon posts about the incident but Idiot Avoidance is the bottom line.
By now, probably everyone in America has heard about the shooting that occurred last week on a New York subway train. The full video is available on ABC 7’s video – Brooklyn subway shooting: the full video https://abc7ny.com/videoClip/nyc-subway-shooting-brooklyn-man-shot-on-train/14527921/
The most important lesson of the entire incident is not about weapons’ usage or unarmed combat or weapon disarms. The important lesson is to avoid ‘Monkey Dancing.’ Rory Miller coined this term years ago and it’s important.
“The term Monkey Dance was coined in the book “Meditations on Violence” to describe the human dominance ritual. It’s a deliberately ridiculous name for a ridiculous pattern of behavior.“
Rory Miller
Before the would-be shooter, who ended up being the shootee, began to access his weapon there were three and a half minutes of Monkey Dancing. It’s also worth noting that accessing his pistol took him 14 seconds because he had it in a zippered pocket of his jacket. He had taken off the jacket in preparation for the Monkey Dance, so it was off-body carry at that point.
It’s also worth noting that with two exceptions, the crowd watched and enjoyed the spectacle for four minutes. They only became unnerved by the introduction of a gun. Then, they began to panic and scream. “Let me out!”
The two exceptions were the woman in the face diaper behind the Black man and another man who took a big chance and stepped in to create a break. The woman, although not involved up to that point, immediately stabbed the Black man in the back several time when he began his Ground and Pound. It only took her a couple of seconds to get started so she must have had her knife in hand ready to go.
Monkey dancing is stupid and irrational. Don’t do it.
SixFerShur
I will be conducting the 2024 Revolver Operator Course this May in North Georgia.
May 4, Dahlonega, Georgia – Home Range of The Complete Combatant
One Day – $199 plus $20 Range fee
Important: Although a few exercises will be shot with small (J Frame ish) revolvers, this is NOT a J Frame course. You will need a full size (K frame or equivalent) revolver to attend. Shooting 300 rounds in a day through an Airweight J Frame only teaches one thing; how to flinch.
https://www.shootingclasses.com/thecompletecombatant/course/?courseId=4493
The Pence Drill is one of the two keystone drills of the Revolver Operator Course.
Fair attribution: I liberated the SixFerShur title from Tamara Keel’s blog post because it’s hilarious.
https://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2024/03/narrow-focus-cartridge.html
That’s probably what I’ll call the class from now on because “Revolver Operator Course” sounds so mundane by comparison.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – January 2024
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is an iconic movie in American cinema and arguably the best of the ‘Spaghetti Westerns.’ Rather than my usual boring rants about Serious Mistakes, Negative Outcomes, http://seriousgunownermistakes.net and excruciatingly detailed analyses of Armed Citizen incidents, I’m creating a short collection of a Good, Bad, and Ugly incident each month. Here’s the January 2024 issue.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/good-bad-and-97498558
My Patrons get first look at it on the last day of each month. The following month I unlock the Patreon post on the last Monday and link it here for my blog Followers. Today’s the day to unlock the January 2024 edition.
My hope is that it will be both educational and entertaining. The movie soundtrack is outstanding so a snippet from the soundtrack is part of each month’s post also.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – January 2024
The Good
Shooting Death of Rodney Yancey in Manchester, New Hampshire ruled legally justified.
The Bad
Security footage shows gun discharge and injure man at Duran’s Central Pharmacy
The Ugly
Argument over ex-girlfriend leads to fight, shooting at Black Jack [Missouri] apartment
Enjoy!
The GBU isn’t drawn from The Armed Citizen column of the official NRA Journals but the January edition of The Armed Citizen is attached. Rather than an obsessive interest in ‘the worst case scenario,’ it shows what the vast majority of Defensive Gun Uses really look like.
Shooting Practice for a Criminal Encounter
The second installment of my Shooting Illustrated series about organizing your shooting practice is now online.
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/shooting-practice-for-a-criminal-encounter
I always include more photos with my article submissions than can be used. After this paragraph in the article, I included what is possibly my favorite shooting photo of all time.
Shooters often blast an entire box of ammunition at the target without checking and then marking it consistently. This is one of the worst mistakes that can be made when practicing for marksmanship development and self-defense.
Sadly, along with several others, it was cut for space reasons. The photo is of a target that was left up at my gun club years ago. Every time I look at it, I literally Laugh Out Loud. I call it the ‘goober target.’
That is not the way to learn how to shoot to hit anything. Another photo that was cut shows how to mark your target with masking tape every few shots.
As mentioned in the article, checking and marking your target regularly will help you improve your marksmanship. Blasting away and creating a goober target will not.
Here is the Pump target. No one can say you’re practicing to shoot unarmed people if you have a representation of a gun on your target.
It’s getting to be a wild world out there; be ready.
Fundamentals and Training Aids (Part 1)
#fridayfundamentals
Revisiting the series about the Fundamentals of Pistol Shooting https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/11/05/fundamentals-of-pistol-shooting-part-1/ brings to mind the subject of training aids. Training aids are other pieces of equipment you will find useful for marksmanship and gunhandling practice. Your pistol shouldn’t be your only practice tool. There are a wide variety of readily available and inexpensive training aids.
An Inert pistol replica is the most valuable training aid you can own. Having a replica of your real gun is the best but it’s not absolutely necessary. This picture shows a small portion of my collection of inert pistols. No trainer worth his or her salt lacks at least one inert pistol for demonstration purposes.
The rubber 1911 is the first training aid I ever acquired. I carried it on field exercises when I was a 90mm M67 Recoilless Rifle Gunner in the Army and didn’t want to clean two weapons every time I came back from the field. I’ve had it for 50 years now.
The orange and blue camo inert pistol was purchased from WalMart for less than $10. If no replica of your personal pistol is readily available, at least there’s something that can be used. It also makes a satisfying pew-pew noise when the trigger is pressed.
A SIRT Pistol is a useful option but expensive. Only three models are available; Glock 17, S&W M&P, and a generic subcompact model that reportedly only fits a holster for a Springfield XD-S.
An inert pistol can be used in a variety of ways. Among other things:
- Draw practice, especially for those who are reluctant to practice with their real pistol at home.
- Checking the solidity of your grip by having a partner hold the front of the slide and try to move it around.
- Practice getting your pistol out of its safe storage location quickly.
- Introducing others to holding a pistol without intimidating them.
- Doing demonstrations without endangering others.
There are also a number of other training aids that can improve your shooting.
How to use these other training aids will be covered in future installments of this series.
Tactical Professor books (all PDF)
https://store.payloadz.com/results/337896-tactical-professor
A Way of the Wheelgun
#wheelgunwednesday
In 2022, I created a four month Patreon series for developing shooting and gunhandling skills with snub nosed revolvers. There are a total of 65 articles in the series and it is the online equivalent of a book. All the articles are now available as a Collection on my Patreon page. Unlike a book, you can read it at your leisure on your Smartphone.
The basis for the Series is the principles and techniques of the Snub Nose classes I taught for decades and the two DVDs I made about snubs. Also included are examples of what went right and wrong in several real life incidents involving snubs.
There is a great deal of emphasis in the Series on ‘dry practice,’ i.e., practice without ammunition. There is also periodic live fire (originally monthly) of no more than 50 rounds. The live fire is compatible with either indoor or outdoor ranges because the vast majority (999/1000 by my calculation) of gunowners only have access to indoor ranges.
The first three posts in the Collection are unlocked and available for anyone to read. These initial posts describe Safety Protocols during dry practice to avoid putting bullet holes in people, places, and things where they are undesirable. Tragedies can and do take place during dry practice and we want to avoid those at all costs.
For anyone who owns and/or carries a snub, this is a good program. Anyone who does any dry practice, whether with a revolver or autoloader, will benefit from at least reading the first three posts about Safety Protocols.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/snub-revolver-97045992
Subscribers to my Concealed Carry Skills Tier ($3/month) https://www.patreon.com/TacticalProfessor have access to all the articles in the Collection plus all the articles I write on Patreon about marksmanship and gunhandling. In the financial industry, we’d say the Return On Investment (ROI) is very high.
tacticalprofessor 
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