Inexpensive, Effective, Firearms Training, by R.R.

Editor’s Introductory Note:

Three important points should be kept in mind, while absorbing the following valuable article:

  1. While quite useful, dry fire practice should only be conducted in a room with a suitable safe backstop, such as sandbags or several thickness of thick metropolitan phone books in a large box atop a desk at chest and head level. And, of course, the weapon should be completely unloaded and ALL ammunition should be absent from that room to prevent negligent discharges. Double check all of this before conducting any dry fire practice. If you want to practice clearing stoppages, then do so ONLY with dummy cartridges! Commercially made snap caps and dummy cartridges are fairly expensive and often fragile, but any competent handloader can make you large set of dummy cartridges quite inexpensively. The protruding projectiles on these dummys should be painted a bright color, to avoid any confusion. If you can afford it, buy a SIRT laser trainer.
  2. Perfect practice makes perfect, but imperfect practice merely reinforces bad habits through repetition. So it is important to get some professional training before you then continue to train on your own. Repetitively practicing a bad draw stroke, a bad stance, a bad grip, and/or a bad trigger pull just makes you a thoroughly badly-trained shooter. (I speak from experience on this. I spent 16 years practicing a lousy “teacup” grip before I finally got better training from a pro. That was a lot of muscle memory to retrain.)
  3. We live in the age of widely distributed body armor. Accordingly, all training should stress the need for quick follow-up shots to the Occular Window. Train like you’ll fight, and then you can fight like you’ve trained! – JWR

This is a guide for finding time, saving money, and training properly.

As preppers the immediate survival need will be security. Without security, every other aspect of survival preparedness could be for nothing. It would be wonderful if everyone had thousands of hours of hands on training with live fire drills to instill an instinctual perfectly rehearsed response to a variety of situations.

The key here is, what is the best training you can have for your circumstances. How can you develop high level warrior skills? You have a number of obstacles to this– time, money, and knowledge.

Time. Unlike military folks you don’t get paid to train to kill people. You have a normal job, pay the bills, pick up the kids from football or track, and cook dinner.

Money. Uncle Sam does not fund your training with thousands of rounds of ammo and professional instructors. This comes out of your general fund, which is supposed to pay for mortgage, car, kids, and food, all of which are immediate priorities and understandably so.

Knowledge. So we want to go training. That’s great, if we have the time and the money, but do we know how to train properly? Is what we are training preparing us for reality? Are we training to build specific skills, like speed and accuracy, or do we just waste ammo by endlessly punching holes in paper with no improvement and no goal in mind?

The great danger that exists, which I see all the time, is time and money wasted on training for the wrong thing. Your average person will not touch their gun unless it is to go to the range once every few months. They set up paper targets at the 10 yard line and punch holes in paper from a comfortable position, none of which will help prepare them to fight and kill an adversary who is intent on killing them.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY – DRY FIRE TRAIN

I have found that a cross between dry fire training at home and then live fire test at the range under stress (timed situation) works great. Just like with working out, dedication, focus, and understanding of how and why you train will lead to rapid gains in a short period of time.

AT HOME

Dry fire training is when you practice with an unloaded weapon. You practice all the techniques associated with firing the gun, except you spend no time at the range, money on ammunition, or feel the distraction of loud muzzle report, or the recoil of the weapon. If you think about it, everything that you do that will decide where the bullet will go is all done before there is a “bang” of the gun. You can master your draw, seeing the right sight picture, pressing the trigger, speed reloading, etc etera. All can be mastered dry.

At home, this can be done during any time you have available. Unload your weapon and place the ammunition in another room (so there are no accidents). Create a safe backstop just in case. A bookshelf with tightly packed books is a good solid stop. Place a realistic humanoid target up to aim and “fire” at, for practice. Get used to aiming your gun at a bad guy and pulling the trigger.

TIME/SCHEDULING

You first need to create a schedule of the skills you intend on developing. For example, it could be for carrying and using a pistol.

Monday – The Draw from concealment

Tuesday – Speed Reloading

Wednesday – Malfunction Clearing

Then Monday – Drawing from concealment – This would be further broken down into a process of every single movement that must be practice for maximum efficiency and consistency.

The drawing from concealment process:

  1. Clearing clothing
  2. Grip position
  3. Presenting the firearm
  4. Obtaining Sight Picture
  5. Trigger Press
  6. Clear and Reload.

This might seem overly detailed for “drawing and firing” practice, but purposefully and consciously dissecting each part of the process is going to make you consistently perform better and faster.

To give an example, when you pull the trigger how many times have you been conscious that the front site was perfectly centered between the rear site, because you could see an equal amount of light on either side of the front site? And did you feel your trigger finger pressed perfectly flat against the surface of the trigger, ensuring an even press? Did you feel any edge of the trigger being pressed?

When you have drawn your pistol, are you aware of the point your elbow is bent when you draw? Which part of your hand contacts the holster first as a reliable index point? All of this is how you breakdown every part of the process to master efficiency and consistency.

Eventually you will instinctively know and feel the proper positioning of your body, the weapon, and your mindset.

It’s the details like that that separate the average shooter from someone who aims to be a warrior. A warrior becomes a student of every aspect of their equipment, their training, and themselves. Whether you are practicing with a pistol, a rifle, or hand-to-hand, break down the process into the smallest possible parts, and start evaluating for consistency and efficiency.

HOW MUCH TIME?

This is subjective. Ideally you must have enough free time for practicing to make progress. I find it takes a good 30 minutes to really get into a good groove of dry fire practice and get enough repetitions done perfectly to have felt my technique has been sharpened. Start training slow and focus on form. Speed will come with time.

AT THE RANGE

Have a plan to test specific skills and chart your progress. You’ve spent countless hours dry firing and mastering the fundamentals, so use your precious range time to test yourself with live fire and setting up realistic type shooting scenarios.

For example, use realistic targets that look like bad guys. Some should be obvious and some not so obvious. Set up an environment. You can use boxes as fake barricades/walls to use for practicing using cover and shooting around corners/cornering. Have a buddy place dummy rounds in your magazines to induce malfunctions. You have already mastered your fundamentals with dry fire. Use range time to integrate everything. For example, your primary goes down to a malfunction your buddy induced, so did you have the presence of mind to immediately go to pistol, or did you try to clear a double feed while 10 yards from a hostile?

Live range practice is your dress rehearsal for the real deal. Wear all of your gear. I mean all of it. You need to learn what works for you, what doesn’t work for you, what will fall apart, or what needs tweaking, by testing it out. The time for your gun to jam up on a certain brand of ammo is at the range, so you can correct the problem. The time for you to realize that your range of motion is impaired by that fancy doo dad is at the range. I have had seemingly awesome gear set ups really cause issues when used. Your life depends on everything working together properly.

Two simple and effective range drills that I use to save money and improve skills are:

  1. Accuracy drill. Dry fire nine shots at the bullseye. Then fire one live round. If you score a bullseye, then you dry fire eight times and fire two live rounds. Continue doing this until you do not hit the bullseye. If you miss bullseye you have to start back over at nine dry fires and one live round. This drill will force you to do tons of repetitions and hardly shoot any ammunition.
  2. Speed drill – You and a friend must draw and fire on a target. One variation is, whoever gets a shot on the target first wins, or whoever gets X amount of shots on the target wins. Say you have to get off five shots, and all must get into the 8, 9 or 10 ring. Any misses take a second off your time.

KNOWLEDGE

Who are you learning from? There are too many myths about gun fighting from training to ammo selection. There are three people who greatly added to my understanding of what fighting was all about. The all-important and hardly emphasized part of fighting is the mindset, and these three all help me understand that.

Jeff Cooper – Color Codes of Mental Awareness

Dave Grossman – Author of On Combat, and On Killing, and The Bulletproof Mind.

Jerry Peterson – Creator of SCARS fighting system and The Offensive Mindset.

I can sum these up very well, boiling it down to everything you need to know. You must accept the fact that at some point in life, someone may give you a really good reason to kill them, maybe with a firearm or your hands. That is irrelevant. You must know is that if you must fight and kill, you will do exactly that. You have to decide that you are absolutely going to do whatever it takes to survive and win.

Here is a scenario to show the difference between your average person’s mindset and a warriors mindset.

SCENARIO – HOME INVASION AT 3AM

  1. Average Joe wakes up and grabs his pistol off his night stand. He thinks to himself, “Oh no, I might die; some people just broke in.”
  2. The Offensive Mindset – “Those jerks woke me up; they are all going to die.”

See the difference? The offensive warrior mindset has already decided that it will defeat the enemy. There is more of a focus on doing whatever it takes to win than of being afraid. Fear will cause hesitation, and hesitation causes inaction. Inaction causes death.

Aggressive intent to kill your opponent is what makes you move quickly, fight heroically, and survive. That is not to say you will act foolishly and put yourself in undo danger, but it is to emphasize immediate violence on the enemy, as severely and brutally as possible to end the threat.

STRESS INNOCULATION

This is a term I first heard while reading a must-read book, On Combat, by Colonel Dave Grossman. Stress is like a virus that can kill you. We protect ourselves from deadly viruses with vaccines that strengthen our immune system against it, creating specific antibodies ready to kill the virus so we can continue functioning.

Creating stressful training scenarios where we must think, decide, and act with weapons inoculates us to the stresses we will face in real combat. It helps us perform better. It won’t remove the excitement, but it will keep you from becoming unable to think, decide, and act.

Here’s a short word on how you will function under high stress. Think of your brain like a computer. In order to handle any problem, you have to pull the appropriate program into memory and use it to address the problem.

Under high stress levels, you will do one of four things (in order of best to worst):

  1. You have trained for this situation. You load an appropriate program and function as you were supposed to. Maybe it’s with a pistol, or a rifle, or a blade that you’ve prepared yourself, and you act.
  2. You run away as fast as your legs will carry you. Maybe you get shot in the back.
  3. You are overwhelmed and freeze (blue screen of death). Your brain computer has crashed, and you end up killed.
  4. You load the wrong program and do something in a panic, unrelated, unhelpful, and end up getting killed.

When it comes to the hands-on aspect of running guns and shootin’ and scootin’, I have to say Travis Haley has been my favorite instructor to date. Travis Haley has made a number of excellent training videos produced by Panteo Production, from AK47 to AR15 to pistols. He also partnered with Chris Costa to make the Magpul series of training videos, which are also fantastic. Travis Haley also worked in conjunction with sports medicine experts to get at the science behind every aspect of running guns, from proper body alignment of your spine and hips to the way you should position your trigger finger for consistent rapid firing.

The man is a humble professional who loves to teach. Anything I write here is a poor substitute for the fountain of knowledge that comes from him in his many training videos. Of course, seek others and get as much information as you can, but I would dare say that Travis Haley would be the best way to establish a firm foundation and get shooting like a professional on day one.

SUMMARY

Gather information. Read the works of Cooper and Grossman, and then watch the instruction from Haley. Develop your training plan. Dry fire often at home, and then monthly or quarterly (whatever you can afford) live fire tests at the range, testing gear and skills. And always maintain your warrior mindset.



Letter Re: IP Addresses in an Internet Blackout

If the powerful few decide to shut down independent news sites, more than likely they will shut down the DNS servers and leave the rest of the Internet up. The DNS servers (Domain Name System) is liken to a telephone book. You look up the name (Domain name) and it gives you the telephone number, in our case, the IP Number (Internet Protocol Number). They can accomplish this by shutting down the entire DNS systems or just selectively remove certain domain addresses from the book, leaving the rest of the book operational. Note that either way, the news sites are still there and operating.

The cure for this, if it should happen, is to know the phone number (IP address) beforehand. Then you don’t need the telephone book. It’s that simple. Below is a list of some of my favorite sites, including this site. Copy and save those numbers. If you are really bored, just go ahead and copy them in as PROPERTIES of your favorite Internet bookmarks, i.e. replace Survivalblog.com with http://185.8.177.142/ .

Note: The big sites have a dedicated computer server just for their sites. Little guys like myself rent a shared server, thus requiring a longer name than just the IP number. Also be aware that the number needs the “http://” in front of it, so if your browser does not automatically add it, you will have to. To be safe, just add the “http://” anyway. In fact, if you don’t want to append your favorites on your browser now, save the list below and just click on them and they should automatically link you to the sites.

Note that the top link is to a free service that will allow you to find the IP addresses to some of your own favorite sites. Happy hunting, but do it now! – J.C.

IP Lookup: http://ip-lookup.net/domain-lookup.php

AmericanFreePress.net http://65.23.153.127

BeforeItsNews.com http://64.62.227.18

BlackListedNews.com http://198.245.55.242

Don’t-Tread-On.Me htp://104.236.58.181

DrudgeReport.com http://69.89.68.240

FromTheTrenchesWorldReport.com http://216.117.129.6

InfoWars.com http://104.238.156.201

NationalLibertyAlliance.org http://162.242.198.79

RumorMillNews.com http://45.79.195.246

ResetUS.us http://181.224.139.64/~srcfla37/index.php/news2e629

SGTReport.com http://54.152.163.13/

SurvivalBlog.com http://185.8.177.142/

WhatReallyHappened.com http://173.236.29.251

ZeroHedge.com http://34.192.18.153



News From The American Redoubt:

Pulling Back the Curtain on Scotchman Peaks Wilderness

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Video: All-American EFX Sports: Billings’ Best Kept Secret. Here is a link to their website. While their sales headquarters is in California, their factory (and most of their employees) are in Billings, Montana.

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The Columbia River Treaty could be the death of Idaho – J.H.

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Texas billionaire brothers Wilks reach out to Idaho state officials about land – DSV

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Wyoming: City to hold informational meeting on tree-killing beetle



Economics and Investing:

Why Cheap Natural Gas Is History. A rapidly tightening natural gas market could see natural gas prices rise to $4 mmBtu as supply slumps and demand remains firm.

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Will Trump Usher In An Era Of Sound Money?

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The US dollar is now overvalued against almost every currency in the world

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Feds Should Reimburse Texas for Border Security Expenses, Say Congressmen – I agree; protecting the nation’s borders is a Federal duty. – H.L.

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.



Odds ‘n Sods:

The Assembly Of Muslim Jurists Of America’a Ominous Post-election Statement – H.L.

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From Reader Prepared Grammy: This is from the local news channel. Students from my area were in DC to sing at the inaugural events. This is what the wonderful, peaceful demonstrators did to this bus full of students from the junior and senior high schools from Southern Illinois. I guess they were only concerned about the rights of the protesters, not those of the innocent children in this bus. I bet you didn’t see this on the national news. If it weren’t for the fact that Kyle Childers is a prominent citizen (an orthodontist with several offices in the area), I wonder if it would have even made the local news. And WE’RE the ones who are intolerant and unreasonable, even deplorable.

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23 Prepper Items To Look For at the Goodwill Store – DSV

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Mexican Cartel Stockpiling Grenade Launchers at Texas Border – W.C.

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First GMO apple slices to go on sale in Midwest – DSV







SIG Sauer P320 Series–The U.S. Army’s New Modular Handgun, by Pat Cascio

The Federal government is on the wrong track most of the time. If there is a hard, wrong, or difficult way to do something, they do it, nearly every time. I know this from first-hand experience when I worked for a large detective agency and we often bid on uniform guard services for the Federal government. It’s not quite as simple as being the lowest bidder, as many believe. There are a good number of loopholes involved in bidding on FedGov services, including whether your company has the capability to meet the requirements. They want to know if your business has enough cash flow, enough employees, and the list goes on and on.

When the US Military requested a new handgun back in the 1980s, the list of things that they wanted the gun to do were endless. After the first round of testing, none of the handguns had passed the testing procedures, and it had to be done all over again. Some gun companies opted out, and some new gun companies decided to give it a try. The end result was that Beretta won and supplied the Model 92, called the M9 in the military. They are basically the same gun, for all intents and purposes, with just a few slight differences. Of course, this led to protests over the bidding process and the final selection when one gun company accused the other of penciling in their bid price after hearing the others’ bids. Soon after, the military also adopted the SIG Sauer P228 9mm handgun for plain clothes CID officers, and it is called the M11.

Let’s fast forward to several years ago when the military decided that it needed another new handgun for the services. However, this time around, there weren’t too many bidders. I believe it was because the gun companies didn’t want to get involved in a selection process that could take years, maybe a decade since nothing moves fast when dealing with the FedGov. There were only a few gun makers willing to jump through the red tape and provide gun samples, based on the 300+ pages of requirements for the new handgun.

It was recently announced that SIG Sauer won the bid for the new “Modular Handgun System”. The military didn’t want just a single gun to do everything they think they wanted it to do; it had to be “modular”. You had to be able to change it to fit different missions, different sized people, and meet other requirements. For the most part, there is no one-size-fits-all, when it comes to just about anything.

Following the successful SIG P250 came the SIG Sauer P320 series of handguns. The military, in their finite “wisdom”, didn’t even spec what caliber of handgun they were looking for. Everyone assumed they wanted another 9mm. Well, even though the testing is over, we still don’t know what caliber the military wants. The nation’s leading law enforcement agency, the FBI, recently went back to the 9mm after using the .40S&W for many years. The advances in bullet construction made the switch easy. The .40 S&W does tend to have some serious recoil, and smaller-statured officers were having a difficult time qualifying. If they couldn’t qualify on the range, their real-life shootings weren’t going to be much better. So, now there is a mad rush by law enforcement all over the country to dump their .40 S&W caliber handguns and switch back to the 9mm.

Let’s take a look at the Modular Handgun System that SIG came up with. Please check out their website for all the different models. We don’t want to bore our readers to death with the seemingly endless choices the P320 comes in. However, we will mention that the P320 can be had in 9mm, .357 SIG, .40 S&W, and .45ACP. Plus, there are full-sized, carry, compact, and subcompact versions. However, it’s not that easy to make a choice. SIG came up with something very unique a few years ago in their P250 model, which we reviewed on SurvivalBlog.com, in that the serialized part of the gun isn’t the polymer frame; rather, it is a stainless steel chassis that is easily removed from the polymer grip and inserted into different sized grips.

So, if you purchase one SIG Sauer P320 model, you can change it over to different sizes, from the sub-compact to the full-sized gun and everything in between with shorter frames, longer barrels, and slides, and everything you can think of, seriously! If ever there was one handgun that you can consider as truly modular, this is it!

I happened to have two different samples of the SIG Sauer P320, both in 9mm. First is the sub-compact, and then we have the TAC OPS that is a full-sized version with a little something more to it compared to the standard full-sized version. Now, remember, I can take the sub-compact model and remove the stainless steel chassis from the frame, install it in another frame, then add the right size slide and barrel and magazine, and I have a new gun, but it is still the same gun, because it has but one serial number. It’s easier to do than explain.

Let’s take a look at the sub-compact model first. The P320 is a striker-fired handgun, unlike the P250, which was hammer-fired. The trigger pull on the P320 model is very short and crisp, considering it is a striker-fire handgun. It might well be the best striker-fired trigger pull out there, bar none. It is “that” good. The sub-compact has a barrel that is only 3.6 inches long, and the gun only weighs 24.9 oz and is 1.3 inches wide. We can now confuse ourselves more; the standard magazine capacity is 12 rds; however, you can also use the 15-rd mag from the compact model, by slipping a sleeve over the magazine, and you can use the 17 or even 21 round mags in the sub-compact model. What?

I don’t especially like the stubby 12-rd mag; my pinky finger just hangs below the magazine. So, I found some after-market mag floor plates, which were priced at $20 each. They work great. My pinky finger fits nicely on the gun now, as does it work great with the 15-rd mag with the sleeve over it. My sub-compact model came standard with night sights, too, which is very nice. There is no manual safety, and none is needed. However, I understand that the US Army may require a manual safety on some of the guns they order.

The TAC OPS model was designed for SWAT teams and elite military units. It is a full-sized gun with a 4.7-inch barrel, and it weighs 29.5 oz. It has a rear night sight, and the front sight is also a night sight; however, it is also a fiber optic night sight. That green fiber optic really shines (no pun intended) when you are outdoors. It is also 1.3 inches wide. The TAC OPS comes with four, count ‘em– four, twenty-one round magazines. These alone sell for about $60 each, and you can use these mags in the sub-compact model; they just stick out of the bottom of the grip quite a bit. I don’t believe SIG makes this model any longer; it’s not on their website, which is too bad. But they still come with regular SIG Lite night sights just the same.

Both the sub-compact and the TAC OPS come with a Picatinny rail; however, you can purchase a frame for about $40 directly from SIG without the Picatinny rail for the sub-compact. Now, if all this isn’t enough, you can swap out frames. Again, just removed the serialized stainless steel chassis from the gun, and slip it into a frame that is bigger or slimmer (to fit your hand better). My sample, on the TAC OPS, came with the medium grip, as it did on the sub-compact version.

While the possibilities aren’t exactly endless on the different configurations you can make the P320 into, there are a lot of different ways you can have many different guns just by purchasing one gun and then swapping out the chassis and installing it. Plus, it only takes a minute with no tools to do this, and you can design a gun to your liking. The frames can be purchased directly from SIG, because they do not have the serial number.

I carried the P320 sub-compact for almost six months on a daily basis, in between testing other handguns. I liked it a lot! SIG also provides a plastic paddle holster with this one but not with the TAC OPS for some reason. I don’t like paddle holsters, so I carried the sub-compact in a leather holster I modified to fit a different gun. The only complaint I had with the sub-compact model is that it just feels a little bit too chunky in my hand. The full-sized TAC OPS is the same width, but it didn’t feel chunky. Go figure!

I didn’t carry the TAC OPS on a daily basis. I only carried it a few times, and it was in a Blackhawk Products ballistic Nylon holster, a genertic sort, but the gun rode just fine in it. Quite honestly, the full-sized gun isn’t meant for concealed carry, but you can conceal it with the right holster and covering garment. You can, as mentioned, swap out the serialized chassis from the TAC OPS and put it in a sub-compact, compact, or carry-sized gun. Did we happen to mention that the P320 truly is a modular handgun system? It is, in many respects.

Up first for testing was the sub-compact model. I had several boxes of 9mm FMJ reloads I got from the local gun shop. They are manufactured locally here in Oregon. I had one failure after another, either to feed or fully extract the empty brass when it was ejecting. It was just barely dribbling out of the slide, as it was very under-powered ammo. It wasn’t the gun. I tried this ammo in several other 9mm handguns and had the same problem. Whew!

From Black Hills Ammunition, I had their 115-gr JHP +P, 124-gr JHP +P, 115-gr FMJ, 115-gr EXP HP, 124-gr JHP, and 115-gr Barnes TAC XP, all-copper hollow points. From Buffalo Bore Ammunition, I had their 147-gr standard pressure sub-sonic Heavy 147-gr JHP, 147-gr Hard Cast FN +P, 115-gr Barnes TAC XP, all-copper hollow point, +P+, 1240gr FMJ FN Penetrator +P+ round, and their 124-gr JHP +P+ loads. There were zero malfunctions of any sort with good ammo. It was just that reloaded stuff that was way under-powered. Even the +P+ ammo was easy to shoot in the sub-compact and a breeze in the full-sized TAC OPS model. In all, I fired close to 1,000 rounds through both guns, over the course of several months.

Accuracy testing was from 25 yards, even with the sub-compact model, resting it over a sleeping bag over the hood of my pickup truck. Best accuracy was from the TAC OPS, and it was the 147-gr sub-sonic heavy JHP Load from Buffalo Bore. If I was on my game, I could get 2.5-inch groups, and with the sub-compact, the best group was with the Black Hills 124-gr JHP load right at three inches. That is outstanding from both guns. The little sub-compact didn’t give up much to the big brother in the accuracy department.

For concealed carry, the sub-compact was nice, but it just felt too chunky in my hand for some reason. The TAC OPS, with the 21-round magazines sticking out of the butt of the gun, was too big for concealed carry, but it was great for duty work; however, I placed a 17-rd mag in the TAC OPS and it fit flush with the butt of the gun. Still, it was a tad too big for my own every day concealed carry. We have a carry version and a compact version from SIG, and you can buy all the parts you need directly from SIG to put that chassis into them and have several guns per se to fit your needs. Blackhawk Products sent me one of their tactical thigh holsters, and after a little adjusting the TAC OPS fit nicely. It’s just the ticket for tactical work!

I think, for once, that the US Army made a very wise decision going with the SIG Sauer P320. It truly is a modular handgun system, and there is nothing on the market that comes close to this handgun for versatility. If you can’t make this handgun into whatever handgun you want, I don’t know what you are looking for. And, don’t forget, it is available in several other calibers, too.I just wanted to mention the trigger pull one more time. It is probably the best of the best on striker-fired handguns; the only thing that comes close, or maybe could tie it is the H&K VP9 , and it probably isn’t as nice as the P320 trigger pull is.

Prices are all over the place on the P320, depending on which version you pick and what caliber. I got the sub-compact used but 100% as-new, and the price was so low I couldn’t pass it up. I had to have it. Then when the gun shop got in a couple TAC OPS, I couldn’t pass on it, either, so I worked a trade. I will say though, for what you are getting in any version of the P320, it is one steal-of-a-deal, considering what you are getting and with night sights, the gun is lower priced than you’d expect from SIG Sauer. Plus, it is made in the USA!!!

– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio



Recipe of the Week: Zippy Beans and Hominy, by A.L.

An easy recipe for a side dish:

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices of bacon, cooked and drained
  • 1 (7oz) can of green chili salsa
  • 2 tsp prepared mustard
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 (1-lb) can of kidney beans, drained
  • 1 (1-lb) can of yellow hominy, drained

Directions:

  1. Combine ingredients in a crock pot.
  2. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.
  3. Serve.

This is especially good with barbecued hamburgers!

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Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!



Letter Re: We, The Women

Mrs Latimer,

There are many women in pink hats who are likely to end up spinsters with cats.

There’s “farmersonly.com”, but I don’t know that a Redoubt “self-sufficient spouses” dating site would do much worse. You may wish to consider it.

There are so many holy, God loving women. I don’t think any were marching in the Women’s March, though many might have been in the pro-life marches. There was a tiny screech-fest in a local town; I’ll wait to see if they want to blow up the white house or unleash a stream of profanities.

I think there will be (non-great) tribulation in the U.S., but here in the Redoubt the strong, faith-filled families will be nothing but blessed by God for their faith. Now, if we can only get more of them together. – T.Z.



Economics and Investing:

The Bank of England and the ECB Have a Credibility Problem

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French First Round Socialist Primary Winner Proposes Tax on Robots, Universal Income, Right of Foreigners to Vote

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Silver Price Showing Signs Of Even More Confidence?

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China Battles The U.S. For World Dominance. With continued propaganda about the demise of China, the Chinese are battling the U.S. to lead the world. This is also important for the gold market.

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.



Odds ‘n Sods:

I missed this article at Realtor.com, when it was posted last May: Prepping for Doomsday: Bunkers, Panic Rooms, and Going Off the Grid – JWR

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I have a consulting client from Florida who has moved offshore. He is seeking a Federally-licensed gun dealer in central Florida who can handle selling two shotguns, four handguns, and some ammunition from his collection for him on consignment with a commission paid on the sales. If you have an FFL and are on the gun show circuit or have a gun shop with a large base of customers, please let me know if you are interested. Thanks, – JWR

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Obama’s last fingerpuppet: Obama Official Issues Ammunition Ban for Federal Lands on Last Day in Office – D.S.

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Video: An interesting take on Trump, NATO and Russia: Why Trump Will Easily Bring NATO to Heel – T.J.

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Here Are 17 Pictures From Inside The ‘Peaceful’ Protest On Inauguration Day – DSV





Notes for Sunday – January 22, 2017

Between 1861 and 1865, more than 50,000 civilians died as a direct result of the American Civil War. In the years between 1914 and 1918, more than 7,000,000 innocent civilians died as a direct result of World War I. From 1939 to 1945, more than 23,000,000 innocents died as a direct result of World War II. (This number includes the 11 million deliberately killed in concentration camps.) Between 1905 and 1941, Stalin purged Russia of anyone whom he considered a threat or disloyal, murdering somewhere over 25,000,000 innocent people. Mao Tse-tung murdered more than 45,000,000 people from his own country in his rise to power. But on January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that has resulted in the legalized murder of over 59,000,000 of the most innocent persons that could exist in the place that should be the safest place on earth. Roe vs. Wade is a horrible black mark on our country that we will be called to account for before God. The video “180” produced in 2011 is one that I highly encourage everyone to watch (both pro-life and pro-choice). It will change your life. -HJL

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If the 2nd Amendment is important to you, then please visit Whitehouse.gov and sign this petition: Petition Title: Repeal the NFA

We the People wish to see the National Firearms Act of 1934 repealed in order to remove regulations on our 2nd amendment rights, increase national economic strength, and provide protection against threats to our national security. – JWR



We, The Women, by Sarah Latimer

My article was all written on a very practical household survival subject and ready to be posted, but between the letters I’ve recently received from encouraging SurvivalBlog readers (including some with very personal details) about family and the crisis in American homes without strong submissive women and Godly male leadership, the inauguration, the Women’s March in Washington, and an editorial I read today relating to the Women’s March, combined with what continuously burns in my heart, I am bursting to write on another subject. It is written with a sense of urgency because it comes from my heart as I see this as one of the critical components required for restoring our nation to greatness. The family unit is broken, and it is the basis upon which any civilization is formed.

I’m likely to not even begin to scratch the surface of the issue here, but women’s rights and particularly how they relate to the lives of the unborn, while controversial, is at its very core centered upon survival. Because of this, I want to address it and the role of women in the family with you today, in a somewhat general way. For reasons with which I mostly disagree, it seems that the general subject of abortion as well as the charities, legislation, legal proceedings, politics, and financing about saving or terminating the lives of unborn children (male and female) seems to be one centered almost solely on women, even though there are almost as many men (fathers and/or baby boys) affected as women (mothers and/or baby girls). Yet, in our country, it is primarily considered to be a woman’s right issue, and it has been a subject brought home at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C.

It has been an eventful week in Washington already, and I expect there will be a great deal of activity next week as well as our new president begins implementing his own version of change in our nation’s capitol. As of January 20, 2017, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th U.S. president. In his inaugural speech, which stirred my heart strings, President Trump repeatedly spoke of giving America back to the people and shook things up with his promises to generate a new national pride, protect American jobs, and put America first. He stated, “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America first.” There have been many criticisms of this statement, but I don’t have a problem with our nation taking care of the needs of our nation before we take care of the needs of other nations. Some say that isn’t Christian, but I don’t see how it is Godly to allow one’s own home and household to fall into shambles while caring for someone else’s. This isn’t about the individual, which is selfishness, yet even an individual holds the responsibility for working to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves rather than putting that responsibility on others, unless they are unable. Out nation has great need that has been neglected; the hundreds of millions of Americans outside the work force, the problems with our educational system, the violence and crime, the healthcare crisis, and our nation’s enormous indebtedness and economic frailty are undeniable. The Bible clearly speaks about responsibilities to our own family’s needs and then to give to those in need around us. I believe this applies to nations as well. Furthermore, charity isn’t really the government’s responsibility, though it has been delegated to our inefficient government primarily because individuals, churches, and communities have failed to do it. According to the Bible, it is the duty of believers to work diligently as they are able to care for one another, to be frugal in their spending, and to care for those in need around them and those whom the LORD puts on their hearts to care for, whether they must travel to put hands and feet on the ground in caring for those in need, make donations to enable others to meet needs, or to do both. We are also to care for those who are not believers, as how are we to share the Gospel with those who are hungry unless we first feed them? It’s our responsibility and not the responsibility of our government. There were covenants made by our nation’s forefathers, but those had to do with the people submitting to God’s authority. Once again, it is about the people’s hearts and actions rather than the responsibility (through legislation and/or redistribution of monies obtained through increased debt) of the politicians in Washington, D.C.

The government is not responsible for our morality either. It does, however, reflect that of the people. So, I am encouraged that we, as a nation, have elected someone who is not a friend of abortion advocates or those who have built an industry (even becoming millionaires) from their participation in this murderous treachery against life. I am further encouraged that Trump reminded us all in his address that “we” are all America, and he boldly spoke out in the midst of a city with shameful, violent protests occurring. He is empowering the “forgotten men and women”. While the minority of wildly radical and destructive among us make loud and brazen statements through threats and harm to persons and property, we need to be bold and productive in our private actions and properly speak in public with respect for the life of persons and the property of others whenever we have the opportunity to do so in order that the voice of destruction, hate, and self-centeredness expressed across major cities this week is not the only voice heard. However, actions speak louder than words, and it takes a strong person to maintain calm and composure to seek a peaceful resolution to disagreement and conflict than to exhibit untamed assault.

As SurvivalBlog women, I encourage you to do more than pack away some Mountain House canned food for an emergency and even more than participate in some pistol practice shooting in the event you are depended upon to protect your loved ones from marauders. Think about how far you will go to defend the lives of your family. Are you a “momma bear”? Now, do you protect your husband’s respect and character in the community, your home, and your modest honor as a committed wife with this fervor? Are you in the home and guarding and guiding your children’s eyes, ears, and hearts from the lies or misunderstandings our culture perpetrates upon them through Hollywood, the editorial “news”, and even the cartoons and children’s shows? Are you caring for and nurturing your womb?

In a time when there are truly hateful cultures propagating huge families with the intent to take over the world through either jihad or propagation and population infiltration, we need to be about raising and instructing more Godly children through participating families. We need sizable families with commitments to train the next generation in the Word of God, history, the Constitution, and with sound homesteading and superior academic training. This requires a woman of both heart, valor, and tenacity. It is not for the weak, self-indulgent, party girl and certainly does not align with the hateful, destructive ideology of mainstream feminism.

The role of wife and mother is one that is critical for survival of a healthy civilization. I fear that our civilization is deteriorating because those roles are defamed and have become disdain on the tongues of many women. This has never been more evident than in this week’s Women’s March, held just today– the day after the inauguration.

This week in Washington, at the Women’s March, some women have been parading and speaking out about their rights in a bullish tone. For the most part, the media is liberal and promotes family disharmony and individualism. Only united does anything of substance stand, and this is never more true than of the complementary family unit of a father, mother, and children. Sometimes, I even get upset, especially related to women’s rights and feminism, as I think of all the young minds being twisted by the false indoctrination presented in our media. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at reading an opinion column by Christine M. Flowers of the Philadelphia Daily News, which I will share in significant portion below, because it delighted me that there was a nationally published editor with some bit of sense (and humor) on the issue of pro-life, even though she considers Trump “an enemy”:

Call it the “People With Uteruses Who Hate Donald Trump March.” Or the “Birth Control, Not Self Control March.” Or the “LGBTQt-Want-To-Buy-A-Vowel-Vanna March.” Or, as my good friend Tania Gail suggested, the “#MeanGirlMarch2017.”

Whatever you call it, though, don’t call it the “Women’s March on Washington.” Technically, that is correct. Women are involved, and they are marching, or walking, or striding, or jumping or doing whatever it is they need to do to make themselves seen and heard the day after the inauguration of the Dark Prince of Death. In D.C.”

But calling it the ‘Women’s March’ gives it a bit too much credit for inclusivity because not all of us who self-identify as women are welcome at the march.

I know of at least one group that was specifically disinvited from the affair, a group whose name would indicate a strong sisterhood with the galloping gals.

The group is called the New Wave Feminists. That’s pretty …., fist in the air, we-love-Gloria cool. But alas, there is a fly in the ointment. The “New Wave” women happen to be pro-life or, if you prefer, anti-the-choice-to-abort-your-child. When the organizers of the march found out that they had invited poisonous vipers into their collective bosom, they told the New Wavers that there was no place for them in D.C.

Normally, things like this don’t bother me. I am quite used to women who call themselves feminists acting in a most unsisterly way when they find out that I oppose abortion. In this, I am not alone. Many pro-life female friends have had the same experience when their dirty little secret is discovered: banishment from the Oprah Book Club, blocking on Facebook, ridicule at the water cooler and sympathetic hazing from the men who support abortion rights because, let’s be honest, it saves them 18 years’ worth of child support.

I didn’t really expect that women who vocally oppose abortion would be welcome at a march that embrace groups like #VoteProChoice, Free the Nipple, the Human Right to Family Planning Initiative, Students for Choice, Lady Parts Justice, The Center for Reproductive Rights, Catholics for Choice, NARAL Pro Choice America Foundation, the Coalition of Nasty Women, the Federation for Abortion Rights, the National Organization for Women, and, of course, Planned Parenthood.

The groups that have partnered together to present their grievances in D.C. all claim to support the integrity and dignity of the sisterhood. The reason that so many pro-choice/abortion-friendly groups are included in the list of attendees is because it is now mandatory that evolved women spout the usual ‘my body, my choice’ rhetoric that hasn’t changed in 50 years, even though medical technology has advanced to the stage that we now know it’s ‘my body, and her tiny body and his tiny body, but still my choice, ….”

I have a problem with that, but I’m used to the indoctrination feminists demand of the truest of true believers. For want of a better term, women who want to be fully accepted into the feminist fold are like ‘Wontanchurian candidates,” brainwashed into believing that the only way to find dignity and independence is the unassailable right to abort. Well, that and pay parity.”

Referring to this editor as Ms. Flowers because I do not know her marital status, she hit the figurative nail on the head with her description of this march and feminism in general. It is mean and selfish.

Women’s rights is often seen as a necessary response to abusive, harsh men who trample upon soft, weak women, but that is not the predominant case. There was a minority of people in Washington, D.C. during the inauguration burning limousines, throwing rocks at businesses, and basically being degenerates because they didn’t get their way and feel that somehow successful businesses and business people are to blame for their hardships and felt this was the best way to be “heard” and make a difference In the same way, there have been some abusive men and there have also been loud women burning bras, parading their children through the streets or aborting them, refusing marriage, speaking hate toward men, and generally confusing their roles in an attempt to find value, security, and a sense of power and purpose. In these past decades, the few were tolerated in their loud, initially shocking actions while the majority sat silent and absorbed it and absorbed it some more, until this thinking of women being the same as men and autonomous to every other living being on the planet, even when they are pregnant and married, has become accepted as “normal”.

It has been grossly misguided and the minority has now brainwashed the majority as it has crept into our culture gradually and been accepted without our even realizing it. Even this group that Ms. Flowers defends, the New Wave Feminists, identify themselves as feminists, though they are considerably different than most other organizations at this Women’s Conference. They are different than the National Organization of Women, to which I have multiple times written that they do not represent me and must recognize that they do not speak for all women everywhere. It is my opinion that the New Wave Feminists are still not quite hitting the mark, but it is a relief that there are those who have moved the mark radically and are waking up that the mainstream feminists are off-the-chart wrong. This is the kind of change that gives me hope in America again. It is a message of unity, peace, strength, kindness, gentleness, and a strong family, which will build strong communities that can come together to build a much stronger nation.

So, SurvivalBlog women, I implore you to consider your great value as a wife and mother. We can participate in the change to build a stronger America by building stronger homes and families. While feminists would mistakenly tell you that I’m saying you should merely be a housekeeper, a cook, and a breeder, they would be grossly mistaken! You can be the one to whom your husband longs to return at the end of his work. You can be the comforting arms for your children when they are hurt and the example of poise and strength they see most throughout the day. You can be the one who exhibits grace and opens their eyes to beauty, imagination, and mysteries as you educate and teach them day by day. You can be the gentle touch who heals wounded hearts and builds them up strong and full of hope to carry on when those around are shouting words of destruction, selfishness, and hate. You can model the biblical submission and humility that all believers must have toward God through your submission to your husband and God. There is a heart that should be in the home, behind every warrior and developed within every child. That heart is a powerful, valuable, and precious one. That heart is you, dear sister!