Category: Target Shooting & Marksmanship

Letter Re: Knob Creek After Action Report, by Louie in Ohio

Dear SurvivalBloggers: This past weekend (12-14 October, 2012) was the Fall Knob Creek machinegun shoot in West Point, Kentucky. The Knob Creek (“KCR”) shoot is normally a bi-annual event, held in April and October each year. It is the World’s largest machine gun (MG) shoot and machine gun show. Although none of our group are really “into” machine guns this event was on the “bucket list” of one of our party. With the spring shoot canceled last April because of heavy rains washing a bridge out, we were determined to make this one. Web sites were checked, reservations made, bags …


Three Letters Re: Adapting Preps as We Age

Hi Jim, You were spot on in your response to he article by “Retread”.   However, for anyone who does choose to use .22 LR for self defense, like the writer of the article, I would go with the Mexican Aguila brand ammo. Due to necessity, they’ve had to invent some man-killer .22 LR (It’s legal for people there to own .22 LR, but not anything else. Not that people down there don’t own AR’s and AK’s, anyway).   My favorite solution for this man is the Aguila 60-grain rd., marketed under the name “Sniper Sub-Sonic” (SSS).I think the only …


Adapting Preps as We Age, by Retread

Soon after the Hurricane Katrina disaster we discovered Survivalblog and have since read thousands of (for us) Heaven sent articles. These last seven years has changed our lives for the better. We are dedicated preppers, now living on our new-to-us farm/retreat. We are busy setting it up properly for SHTF, and making good progress. We cannot thank you enough Mr. Rawles.  Prepping is preparing for the day things change for the worse. In all our planning, it never occurred to me that it might be me that changed. I seem to have hit that spot where I was forced to …


Pat’s Product Review: BTB Sport Optics Sunglasses

I don’t care how many times I tell students who are coming to take a firearms class from me to bring hearing protection and eye protection. And, more often than not, at least half the students don’t bring either eye or hearing protection. I keep a box of soft foam ear plugs and safety glasses on-hand at all times, for those forgetful, or maybe they are neglectful students.   My eye doctor tells me, there is no cure for blindness. And, for hearing loss – well, it’s something a lot of people learn to live with, with either hearing aids, …


Springfield Armory XDs Pistol Update, by Pat Cascio

Since my review article on the new Springfield Armory XDs was posted I’ve heard from no less than a dozen SurvivalBlog readers, who were having “problems” with their XDs .45s – most of the problems were related to light firing pin strikes. I’ve also had two SurvivalBlog readers live nearby come to me for this problem, and I was able to get the problem “fixed.”   Here’s what you’re looking at with the XDs: First of all, we have a sub-compact .45 ACP pistol. It is very small and light-weight – only 21.5 ounces empty. And, it has a polymer …


Practical Pointers to Ponder for Pistol Performance, by Ski

“You’ve got to work on that draw Ski,” barked my friend Tom.  He was already an experienced shooter and competitor in IPSC and KPDL (Kentuckiana Personal Defense League).  There are benefits to competing in IPSC events including emphasis on safety, accuracy, speed, and identification of “good guys” versus the bad guys.  It had to be painful for him to watch a “newbie” in shooting struggle along.  He was patient and persistent.  We became shooting buddies competing against each other in these organizations.  Tom is not only a natural shooter, but he works on each phase of competition and is ever …


TEOTWAWKI Blacksmithing for Beginners, by Jodier

For many of you blacksmithing reminds you of your father or grandfather, it takes you back to the smell of the coal forge and the hum of the blower pumping oxygen into the nest of the forge. I’ve met many of people who are interested in blacksmithing, mainly for fun and to make Christmas gifts for their loved ones. Not many of these people actually obtain a forge and anvil and use it. Many of people have their grandfather’s anvil sitting unused in their shed or barn. My father has been blacksmithing for the majority of his life and has …


Letter Re: Trijicon — What’s the Right Color for a Color-Blind User?

Good Morning Mr. Rawles, I too suffer from color deficiency and have had first hand experience with Trijicon, ACOG and other illuminated optics.  For me the red and green reticles “disappear” on any background other than white.  With the assistance of many a friend and family member we have done extensive testing to be able to determine what works for me. The answer to my color woes is amber reticles. No mater the background the amber stands out brilliantly.  I’ve had the opportunity to view the amber reticles against woodland, desert, tiger stripe, Multicam, ACU and a dozen other types of camouflage and have yet to …


Two Letters Re: Improving Your Shooting Skills Without Spending a Fortune on Ammo

Mr. Rawles, Recently a reader responded to a recent post titled ‘Improving Your Shooting Skills Without Spending a Fortune on Ammo’ and inquired whether or not it would be a good idea to shoot without eye and hearing protection in order to get a feel for ‘real world’ shooting conditions if subjected to such. You wisely responded that doing so is ill-advised. I would like to make note that in a real world shooting experience a phenomenon known as ‘Auditory Exclusion’ often occurs. Auditory Exclusion is the lack of awareness of the loud report of firearms one would normally hear …


Letter Re: Improving Your Shooting Skills Without Spending a Fortune on Ammo

I read this post in SurvivalBlog with interest. Shooting can get expensive. Thanks W. for those tips and tricks. I have a question for Mr. Rawles and others: Do you recommend practicing shooting without eye and ear protection, even for a little while? In a real world situation I doubt if a person would be wearing these during an incident involving live fire in a SHTF scenario. Maybe glasses or sunglasses but probably not shooting glasses. Wearing hearing protection while on a small unit patrol or just around the retreat does not seem practical, either. Should we get used to …


Improving Your Shooting Skills Without Spending a Fortune on Ammo, by W. in Wisconsin

I am a retired IPSC, IDPA, Three Gun, Bowling pins, Trap, and Skeet competitive shooter. I have spent countless hours practicing in both dry fire and live fire sessions. I’ve competed at local, regional, and national levels. One of the most effective and the least costly methods I used for practice was dry firing [, also known as dry practice.]  Dry firing is an excellent way to improve your marksmanship without expending expensive ammo. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing like live fire practice however dry fire drills can make live fire practice much more effective. The other benefit …


Pat’s Product Review: Grip Pod and Light Rail

I’ll start this review by mentioning that I’ve never really cared for the vertical fore-grips on my ARs or AKs, and for good reason: Many of them are just plain junk! I’ve tried several fore-grips on rifles over the years, and they all had one thing in common – they would either break or get so loose that they were of no use to me. I had several of the fore-grips completely break off the rail on ARs over the years, and I attempted to repair them with epoxy, all to no avail. While I believe a fore-grip is a …


Letter Re: Weapons Maintenance — A Missing Element

SurvivalBloggers: A note on finding Lanolin, for making Ed’s Red bore cleaner: Lanolin is readily available in the breast feeding supply section at most big box department stores, or baby specialty stores. A full tube the (last I checked) is $8-9 but it lasts a very very long time. (And I once scored an unopened, factory sealed tube at a garage sale for 25 cents.) – Alyssa


Letter Re: A Definitive Corrosive Ammo Test

Dear Mr. Rawles, Here is the definitive test to determine whether ammunition is corrosive or not.  The procedure is credited to Small Arms Review publisher Dan Shea. This test is simple, quick, cheap and conclusive. THE BRITE NAIL TEST 1. Take a suspect round, pull the bullet and dump out the powder. I like to also take a known corrosive round as well for a benchmark. 2. Take a few brand new “brite” (i.e. non-galvanized) steel nails with a head size just large enough to fit into the case mouth. Degrease the nails in acetone or other and roughen them …


Pat’s Product Review: New Ammo Offerings From Buffalo Bore

For the past several months, Tim Sundles, who runs Buffalo Bore Ammunition has buried me in some of his newest ammunition offerings. Somehow, I think he doesn’t like me. He just keeps coming up with more and more new loads for hunters and for self-defense use, for me to test. Seriously, I don’t know of any ammunition company, that is as innovative as Buffalo Bore is. Some of the big name ammo companies might come up with a couple new loads each year – if that. Most are content to sit back on their past accomplishments – not Tim Sundles!   …