One of the few positives to come out of the dumpster fire year that has been 2020 is the fact that the last six months have started opening more peoples’ eyes. Whether due to pandemic panic, supply chain interruptions and goods shortages, or civil unrest, more Americans than ever are coming to realize that firearms ownership is a good thing. And beyond that, more people are thinking about bigger-picture preparedness. After all, as most seasoned firearms enthusiasts are aware, your gun collection alone is not enough. Your experience, expertise, and legitimate training with said guns are all critical as well. And looking even beyond that, if you really want to be prepared – that is, if you’ve adopted a true preparedness mindset – defensive firearms are only one component of planning. In addition to being a premier firearms school, KR Training in central Texas thoroughly understands these elements. That’s why they, along with preparedness author and thought leader Paul T. Martin, have announced a new virtual preparedness conference with the following press release.

Last week, I talked about the importance of one-handed shooting and practicing with both your support and dominant hand. There were a few great debates in the comment section and I loved how you guys digested that. I went to the range early Saturday morning with three close friends who are all experienced shooters and did one-handed drills. We added time and a bit of physical exertion into the mix and some strange things started to happen.

Photo Of The Day – The location is Germany, where we have U.S. Special Forces in combination with Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces (KASP) as they simulate an ambush on armored vehicles with anti-armor weapons.

Welcome to TFB’s Photo Of The Day. Today we honor the vz. 58 (model 58) as it’s also called. The caliber is 7.62×39mm and it was designed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia. It’s been around for a while, but is still active. It’s quite a “back to basics” rifle.

Photo Of The Day – Looking for pictures of soldiers and their firearms? Look no further, TFB’s daily articles are where you will find these. Here we look at a joint Russian-Serbian-Belarusian exercise called the “Slavic Brotherhood 2019”. The paratroopers were dropped from a height of 2,000 meters and landed near a fictional terrorist base situated near the Kovin airfield.

When going to the range to practice for carrying concealed, I’ve talked about the importance of practicing skills. Whether it’s drawing from your holster and firing or making your hits in a short amount of time, these skills will be invaluable if you’re ever caught in a situation where you need to defend yourself. What’s not always talked about though is the importance of one hand manipulations and the ability to shoot with your support hand if your dominant hand becomes incapacitated. There have been a number of cases where certain individuals have had to shoot one-handed or use their support hand in self-defense situations. Let’s dive into the importance of being well rounded with your firearm.

For nearly two decades, the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, or USCCA, has sought to provide education, training, and legal protection for responsibly armed citizens. Their main focus is to support Americans who want to be prepared for possible self-defense and home-defense encounters, particularly in the area of legal protection after the fact. They style themselves as “…the nation’s fastest-growing organization dedicated to educating, training and providing legal protection for responsibly armed Americans. Founded in 2003, the USCCA exists solely to serve and support more than 400,000 members who have the commitment and courage to be their families’ first lines of defense.” However, they understand that defensive shooting is only one component (albeit an important one) of an individual’s or family’s larger preparedness mindset and planning initiative. If nothing else, 2020’s tumultuous events have shown this all too well. To this end, USCCA has announced a new preparedness training program with the following August 31st press release.

Three years ago, Pete wrote about the  Practisim VR shooting simulator. Well, it has popped up again in the hands of probably the best dryfire practitioner on the planet, Liku_Tactical. If you recall, exactly one year ago, Liku_Tactical was flown from Japan to shoot firearms for the first time in his life with his mentor Lucas of TREX Arms. Well, he continues to practice and he is doing dry fire training with Practisim VR.

You only live once! If you do it right, once is enough. Photo Of The Day and we take a look at the U.S. NAVY SEALs. In this sequence of photos, we watch them coming out of the sea. The SEALs operate from a variety of small boats and crafts, and submarines of course.

Photo Of The Day – Back to the eFP Battle Group Latvia that continues their training. A Machine Gun spitting flames, like above, always makes for a good photo. The exercise was called TESTUDO BAYONET, the location was in Estonia, with soldiers from Spain, Canada, Estonia and France. As you can see, the training was done together with various small arms such as machine guns, rifles, pistols, and shotguns.

Photo Of The Day – This time from the New Zealand Defence Force and their Exercise Sari Bair, which was their largest training exercise at home in 2018. The terrain and weather at the Waiouru Military Training Facility added to the challenge of completing the tasks, but the views certainly look extraordinary. 

Photo Of The Day – TFB is now on its 7th year of bringing you high-quality photographs from the world of firearms – every day. Today we take a look at some pictures from the Magnus Special Training Center, where some training with K9 Dogs and the Heckler & Koch MP5 SD seems to be going on.

Smith and Wesson have just announced the launch of its latest marketing campaign which is tailored towards new gun owners entering the gun community for the first time. The Smith & Wesson GUNSMARTS campaign will cover a series of how-to videos with industry experts to answer questions new gun owners might have regarding their firearms and training.

In this episode of TFBTV, Hop shares some tips for training on a budget and getting the most bang for your buck at the range. First, we go over some ways to make your rounds count when you have limited ammo. Then we cover some accessible, low round count pistol drills you can do with only a half box of ammo.

No, it isn’t the first of April in the middle of August. This is the story about the current situation in the Dutch Army ( Royal Netherlands Army), an army that employs just short of 23,000 people in a country populated by 17.4 million people. In 2019 the Dutch Army’s expenditure was €10.860 billion ($12.419 billion), but it’s apparent that the money isn’t enough even for basic training.

Today’s Photo of the Day brings us to an almost exclusive Made In Germany experience, with the G28 DMR rifle ( Designated Marksman Rifle) in use by the German Army. The rifle is a Heckler & Koch 417 with a Schmidt & Bender 3-20×50 DMR scope with a single turn turret and DMR reticle, as used by the snipers of the German Special Forces Command (KSK). They also use the G22 sniper rifle. The location is the Pabradė military training area, which is located about 50 kilometers northeast of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

Photo Of The Day – Above you see a U.S. Marine inspecting his target after shooting the Beretta M9 pistol during his pistol qualification range at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. This happened in November of last year. He looks rather happy and pleased with the result, giving a thumbs up.

Developed from the Knight’s Armament Company SR-25 and manufactured by Knight’s Armament Company, today’s main topic is the M110 Semi Automatic Sniper System (M110 SASS). It was adopted by the U.S. Army in 2005 but is now about to be replaced by the M110A1 CSASS, which is made by Heckler & Koch.

Above, in a country far far away, we can see U.S. Army soldiers equipped with M4 carbines, Mossberg 500 shotguns, and M320 grenade launcher modules to practice their weapons skills at a firing range in Djibouti. This is the topic for our Photo Of The Day.

Photo Of The Day – We are looking at Greek soldiers assigned to the 71st Air Mobile Brigade fast-rope towards a building alongside U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. This happened during the Exercise Iron Sword 19 in Kilkis, Greece, in November, 2019.

SIG Sauer has been integrating their M18, the carry-size military version of their P320 pistol, into DoD elements since winning the XM17 Modular Handgun Competition in 2017. The M18 is one of the two handguns (along with its big brother, the full-size M17) replacing the venerable Beretta M9, as it phases out of service after more than thirty years in the US military’s arsenal. Part and parcel of the adoption of a new weapon system is the need for proper training and education about it.

Subject: Photo Of The Day

Most gun owners, particularly concealed carriers and those who employ firearms as part of their profession, have had to consider the possibility of defensive firearms use. We’ve thought about what might theoretically happen in various scenarios – a home invasion, a parking lot mugging, maybe a carjacking – and how we would react. There is an entire cottage industry on the subject, with a plethora of related books, websites, videos, and training classes. But for all the time, money, and energy we spend preparing to defend ourselves from violence, what about the post-event fallout?

Probably my favorite thing about the gun community as a whole is the way we can all come together and create some really fun events. A few months ago I heard about a local race in mid-Michigan that incorporates running, tactical shooting and long distance shooting to create a gun competition that’s very unique. Unfortunately, I found out too late and the race was already sold out but went up to Lake City, Michigan to check things out. I wanted to support a few buddies who were on a few of the competing teams. Let’s take a look at what the Wolverine 5K is all about and why it was started.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves brings you more Thunder Ranch and Clint Smith gun genius in this entry of the “How to Win the Fight” series (check the end card for the full playlist). If you want to know what it takes to win, you’ve gotta work on your fundamentals. Clint Smith discusses what basics you need to get down pat to be a better shooter, and we go over a Thunder Ranch exercise from the comfort of our own homes. Stay tuned for more.

Aside from the SNES and the custom made cartridge, the heart of the system is the laser M16 M.A.C.S. rifles. In my previous post, I pointed out that these were used by the US Military and very few have survived to end up in private citizen’s hands. This makes them very rare and super desirable to collectors. There is not a lot of good information about the training rifles. What little I found often references the Jäger AP74, a .22LR rifle that sort of looks like an M16.

The shooting sports are a wonderful way to bring people together. The camaraderie, the learning experiences, and the competitive aspects can forge great friendships over common interests and experiences. Moreover, defensive firearms use can be important for all kinds of people. The folks over at the second annual Adaptive Defensive Shooting Summit, led by US Army veteran and wounded warrior Trevor Baucom, know this firsthand. Since a helicopter crash in Afghanistan in 2010 left him paralyzed from the waist down, Baucom has become an accomplished ambassador for adaptive shooting as well as building a solid competitive shooting career for himself. In a June 16th press release, he shared that other adaptive shooters can now register for the Adaptive Defensive Shooting Summit 2020, to be held this October at SIG Sauer’s Academy in New Hampshire. The press release reads as follows.

Everybody remembers their first car, first house, first gun, and many other “first” things. I also happen to remember my first set of electronic hearing protection – Sordin Supreme Basic that I bought nine years ago, in May of 2011, and there are two reasons for that.

Ready positions are important. These are the positions we can immediately fight from. The gun is readily accessible AND we are able to cover an angle of exposure. An angle of exposure is an angle from which a threat could present itself. This could be from behind a couch, an open doorway, etc. Ready positions provide a clear and safe path to a target and provide an unobstructed angle of attack. This is the position we want to use if we are worried about an imminent threat. There are three ready positions including Low Ready, Retention and High Ready. Each position has an inherent use. Which ready position is used is based on what is best for the scenario at hand.

Over the last few months, we have seen a massive increase in ammo sales. With the rush on common calibers in full swing the last few weeks, it’s more important now to use range time more efficiently to not waste ammo. The idea of high reps with a low round count isn’t a new concept, but there are a few free targets online that anyone can print out and take to the range for high reps while keeping your overall round count relatively low. Let’s jump into a few of my favorite fundamental shooting drills that work great for concealed carry practice.