Category: Target Shooting & Marksmanship

Letter Re: Holster, Sling, and Web Gear Recommendations

Howdy Mr. Rawles! Before I begin, I’d like to offer my congratulations on your fine novel being republished. I’ve read it once myself, then again to my family (I hate television, reading is good family entertainment) which should be considered high accolades in itself. Currently my copy is in the Pacific Northwest, bound for the midwest next, as it continues to travel the country within my circle of friends. I read the posted letter by R.P. on 26 August, and associated recommendations on holsters, slings, and web gear, and thought I’d offer some discussion on the matter: The main reason …


Letter Re: Springfield Armory XD Pistol Accessories

James- I wanted to thank you for the great web site! It’s fantastic! I was on the Springfield Armory web site yesterday, and noticed that they are having a 20% off sale on all accessories, including XD magazines, through July 31st. I picked up four more, and thought I’d pass the info along. Keep up the great work, and I pray for a healthy recovery for your wife. – Kristopher in Afghanistan JWR Replies: Thanks for your prayers for The Memsahib. We are now hopeful that she will make a complete recovery. I am enthusiastic about the XD pistols. Now …


Letter Re: .22 Rimfire Conversion Kits for SIG-Sauer Centerfire Pistols

Dear Jim: Recently, I purchased a .22 conversion kit for my SIG P226 .40 S&W pistol. I was not aware that SIG was making such a unit until I saw it in the gun shop. Although pricey, ($369 factory price, $315 store price, [and I] managed to get one for $295) I went ahead and bought it. I can happily report that this conversion worked flawlessly out of the box. While I did not have the opportunity to really test it for accuracy, I was able to bounce a pop can around at fifty yards. The three kinds of ammo …


Letter Re: Report From an Enthusiastic XD Pistol Shooter

Hi Jim, I recently bought a Glock 21 (.45 ACP). Although the pistol works great, it did not fit my hand well and it tended to point to the right as I brought it up to fire. I have large hands so it was not a “large gun, small hand” problem. I love my Glock 19 and Glock 27 so there is no anti-Glock bias here. For comparison, I bit the bullet and bought a [Springfield Armory] XD Tactical in 45 ACP. Renting a gun is not an option where I live, so if you do not know someone with …


Letter Re: Feedback on Training at Front Sight

Dear James, Just wanted to say thank you for letting your readers know about the Front Sight Gun + Gear + Training special offer. My husband and I attended the four-day defensive handgun and the one-day CCW courses last week, and are expecting delivery of the [Springfield Armory] XD40 [pistol]s we used during the courses, in two days. Neither of us had any real experience with guns before the course. To be honest, when I read your book and in reading your blog, I always skimmed through or skipped the “gun sections” altogether. Well, the course was a blast (pun …


Letter Re: Observations on Gun Laws in Europe and Request for Gun Selection Advice

Dear Jim, It is almost a year since I [started to] read SurvivalBlog. It is a great thing. Thank you for it. I am doing my best to be ready for the moment WTSHTF. Here in Europe, as you know, we have a problem with the gun control, so the only way to have guns is for hunting purposes (for self defence is almost impossible), and after few difficult tests, that includes psychiatric and medical tests, some law knowledge about guns regulations, safety and laws, and of course, having a clean background (no prison). Of course, there is regulation even …


The Warrior Way as Survival Strategy: Attune Yourself to a Martial Mindset in Daily Living, by Jeff Trasel

One of the constant knocks by the mainstream media on the preparedness movement is the oft-touted canard that preparedness, indeed the “survivalist” mindset is nothing more than an excuse by far-right loons to engage in Rambo-esque fantasies of firearms, firefights and macho posturing. While there is a scintilla of truth to this in some far dark quarters of doomsday lunacy, it is for the most part fiction. (This matches JWR’s caveat on discussing unregistered suppressors [in the US] or other illegal preparations). So that we bring no discredit on what is nothing more than prudence, perhaps a few short observations …


Letter Re: Salt Intake

JWR: A friend and I went to a Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) match last weekend. It was a good clinic to learn how to hit a long distance static target. (Cough.) Say what you will about how useful that it, I think that learning many different techniques for doing a thing gives you a better understanding of the thing. In this case marksmanship. On to the point. We both ended up drinking three liters of water over the course of the day. The next day I could barely balance, couldn’t eat, was mostly incoherent (felt stupid). I drank water for …


Letter Re: More About Recent Flooding in the US Midwest

Jim, I’m sending a follow-up to your link on the historic flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Typical issues: Roads closed or collapsed, bridges flooded or swept away, traffic jams for miles, power and gas outages, water shortages, businesses closed, forced evacuation of 20,000 people included the local jails and a hospital. Cleanup will take months, and there will be shortages of construction material. Heck, we had shortages of lumber and sheetrock in Iowa during the Florida and Louisiana hurricanes. And what has become typical – jurisdictional disputes. Local law enforcement has its own issues, but FEMA doesn’t play well with …


After 10 Years–Some Observations and Lessons Learned by a Y2K-Era Prepper

It was June, 1998. Y2K was a salient topic of conversation. It got my attention. When the electricity went off and there would be no water to drink, and no fuel to move food to the JIT grocery stores, I could see things getting very ugly. I had been willing to fight for this nation as a member of the US Army. Now it was time to fight for my household. I bought a Springfield Armory M1A. I bought a safe to store it in. I bought another M1A (for the spousal unit of course!) I bought ammo. Lots of …


Letter Re: What is a “Gray” Front Sight Course Certificate?

JWR – Is the Front Sight certificate [offered in the current auction, and available as writing contest prizes] good for the course that includes the “free” pistol? Also, you keep mentioning “gray” certificates but not all of us know what that means! Thanks, – MDR JWR Replies: The “gray” course certificate is for one person to attend one Front Sight four day course (or for two people to attend a two day course.) The certificates printed on gray paper are transferable, but are “introductory”, meaning that they can’t be used by someone that has already attended a Front Sight course. …


Letter Re: Observations on Real World Pistol Malfunctions and Failures

Dear James, I’ve mentioned to you before that I’m a affiliate instructor with another major firearms training school. The comments made [by correspondent PPPP] about pistol malfunctions are 100% in line with what we see on our firing lines, as well. We advise our students to run away screaming from any weapon that has ‘target’, ‘match’, ‘custom’, or ‘accurized’ stamped on the side of them. It was [Mikhail] Kalashnikov [the designer of the incredibly robust AK-47] who pointed out to us all that when you have something with moving parts, the parts need room to move! Most custom shop and …


Letter Re: Ammunition Reloading for Survival

Jim, I saw the article that mentioned Reloading for autoloading rifles, and some comments that seemed to not completely answer questions people may have. It is important to note that reloading any caliber is a delicate undertaking for any gun you are about to trust your life with. The use of case gauges is an important one, but for the part-time reloader they are an expensive investment (~$30-50 each!). A much easier method is to test the cartridge in the firearm, to accomplish this, if you are working on either a progressive or single stage press, reload a few rounds …


Letter Re: Spare Parts Now Available for XD-45 Pistols

Jim: You mentioned that spare parts for Springfield Armory XD pistols have been hard to find. That was the case, up until recently. But now spare XD parts are starting to show up at PistolGear.com. Hover you cursor arrow over “Springfield XD” at the bottom of the window that pops up . There should be a line that reads “XD Factory Parts“. I just got a whole stack of [factory spare XD parts] in the mail last week. There are still some critical parts that are missing, such as the extractor. I have done a lot of business with them …


Letter Re: Ammunition Reloading for Survival

James, You might want to mention that reloading for semi-auto rifles requires an extra measure of care. After sizing, cases should be checked with a Wilson or Dillon case gauge to make sure they are are sized correctly. Maximum overall case and cartridge lengths have to be adhered to [Clint McKee,] the owner of Fulton Armory is very "down" on reloading for semi-auto battle rifles, and I believe most of the [bolt out of fully-locked position] Kabooms with AR-15 type rifles have occurred with reloaded ammo. While one should be very careful when reloading ammunition of any type, one must …