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Topics - Higher Caliber

Pages: 1 [2]
51
D.O.T. / Knife season 2015
« on: November 02, 2015, 02:11:37 PM »
I'm not sure if it's the squirrels or what, but the longer I sit passively in the woods with this bow, the more ideas I come up with for aggressive harvesting of deer. I have myself convinced I could sooner low crawl in to a bedding area and take one with my knife before I could get one of these guys to come in to my lane today!
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52
(note, I wrote this in an endeavor to be neutral on RTKBA, for educational purposes and to spur some commentary from both sides about the, for lack of a better term wussification of our youth. I think we all *here* know where I stand.)

Crapper Perspective-

This evening on the radio, I heard a staunchly conservative, pro 2A, individual call for a certification process for gun owners in the United States of America. I then heard President Barack Obama; in an almost furious tone again call for stricter gun control measures. A friend of mine mentioned this is the 15th such address the president has made during his tenure in response to a spree killing. Our populace grows weary of violence with every breaking news headline, yet we lie in wait for our turn to be victimized and still don’t really do anything about it.

Here in Joplin, the majority felt it a luxury to equip their abodes with storm shelters until the storm of the century wiped out a third of the city and claimed over 160 souls. Now the city scape is littered with storm shelters and if you don’t own one, your neighbor probably does and you have access to it. When people re-build after fires, the first thing on their mind is a state of the art smoke detection system. If unfortunately we are burglarized, we make the call immediately to arm our home with the best alarm system we can afford. When we come down with an illness due to an unhealthy lifestyle, we relentlessly seek mitigation to return to good health.

Yet when it comes to violence, the weary people rely on hope or pray they will not be victimized. The law-makers on the right fight to preserve the right of the people to keep and bear the tools necessary to defend themselves, while the left leaning law-makers call for measures to keep the same tools out of the hands of people who intend to use them for violence. With good intentions (hopefully) they both seek to bring safety and security to us. For whatever reason, this is where it stops. Occasionally you hear the “never again” stories of the individual who made the decision personal security was their own burden to bear, but the vast majority, hopes or prays and waits for someone else to establish security on their behalf.

Where does this mentality come from? The mentality that self-reliance is imperative up to and until we are confronted with violence? When we are hungry, we eat... When we are un-quenched, we drink... When we are cold, we make a fire… But when we are met with a foe bearing an impeccable will to destroy us, we just hope or pray. You wouldn’t hope or pray not to be ejected from a car in an accident. You wear your seatbelt, drive defensively, and you pay attention to your surroundings! Yet still, when confronted with harm at the hands of another, again you hope or pray they will change their mind and spare you.

It is our culture to teach our children, starting at a very young age, that violence doesn’t solve problems. Truly, you can’t solve all problems with violence. What kind of society would we be if we tried? If a lady stands in the middle of the aisle at Wal-Mart, oblivious to your endeavor to get to the pickles, it would be socially un-acceptable to round-house kick her. Violence does however solve *some* problems. Specifically, problems of the violent category are solved with a proportionate amount of violence instituted swiftly in return.
 
 If we want to continually see the victimization of our people, then we should just maintain the status quo. If we wish to implement a strategy of defense against violence, it starts with the individual and developing them to realize there is more to self-reliance than basic sustenance. We must prepare a canvas within our youth which reflects hope and embraces prayer, but is not solely reliant upon it during a violent encounter. The tools of defense are debatable, but the gumption to defend one’s self is paramount.

53
D.O.T. / Lookin for a kill
« on: September 13, 2015, 08:00:54 AM »
Last day youth season

If the skeeters don't get us first!


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54
D.O.T. / Lies... All lies
« on: September 04, 2015, 11:45:01 PM »
My entire life is a lie! I can't count the number of boots I sent lookin for keys!



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55
Firearms / Higher Caliber Concepts Glock 17
« on: August 24, 2015, 04:15:48 PM »
Teaser



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56
Hand Tools, Power Tools, Welders, etc / Knives as tools
« on: August 15, 2015, 06:54:59 PM »
Check out the videos on this guys page, someone who internet a better than I do might be able to come up with a way to order these bad boys. I love me some handmade k-nifes
Sobrevivencia Brasil means survival Brasil... Figured that part out!

https://m.facebook.com/Sobrevivenciaresgatebrasil




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57
D.O.T. / Geocaching
« on: August 14, 2015, 11:20:07 PM »
I have recently been turned on to geocaching. The concept of the operation is to find hidden caches throughout a certain AO utilizing a GPS. Certain caches only contain a log, while others contain little treasures. You retrieve a treasure and leave one. Check it out! They are EVERYWHERE! And it's a great way to get the kids out and about "unplugged" and situationally aware.



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58
D.O.T. / gear up!
« on: July 30, 2015, 04:06:11 AM »
Check it Gents- Just found this site. They have some pretty decent deals in here.

http://www.dvor.com/

59
D.O.T. / Thoughts?? def something to think about-
« on: July 27, 2015, 07:06:21 AM »
I like Donald Trump for a lot of reasons- my fear is he will end up third party and pull votes thus leading to killary's anointing... but he will open eyes to a third party nonetheless...

http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines-2015/why-obama-and-hillary-must-stop-donald-trump-at-all-costs

60
D.O.T. / And one 14 today!
« on: July 20, 2015, 06:31:05 PM »
Post sushi date

The requisite "duck face"


Finally a half hazard smile-



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61
D.O.T. / 15 today!
« on: July 19, 2015, 09:52:12 PM »
My oldest boy turned 15 today!




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62
D.O.T. / New Flashlight
« on: July 18, 2015, 06:39:18 AM »
Fenix UC 35



Fenix vs streamlight DS


Vs. surefire x300u


Vs. surefire scout


Not enough time in hand for full blown review but for an imported light I would put it in the Toyota category as opposed to Kia...  It sure lights up a scene! Ask my kids, wife, dogs, cats and deer how disorienting it is to take a blast to the face! On strobe it is almost nauseating!

It will run on 123 batteries as well as the rechargeable battery it comes with. Charges via any USB outlet! My Eton radio will charge it as well as my laptop, my home computer, cell phone charger, battery jumper box, and my solar mat...


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63
Firearms / New backup
« on: July 16, 2015, 07:03:24 PM »
Here she is. My new backup
Glock 43! Have 300 rds of nato hard ball and 50 rds of SD to test. Had to order some sights for it. So still running the plastiques for now



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64
D.O.T. / Happy Independence Day!
« on: July 03, 2015, 08:07:27 PM »
Several uppity neighbors drove by during this photo op!




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65
Firearms / New sling!!
« on: June 27, 2015, 09:13:40 PM »
I know I've talked about my dad being a leather master. He built this slip sling for me for Father's Day like four years ago. Finally finished it for me this trip!


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66
D.O.T. / Visiting the folks
« on: June 27, 2015, 08:01:40 AM »
Always fun coming back home. Broke this horse to ride when I was a kid. Now he's an old timer!

My love and goofy me

My dad and daughter

She's fearless

Throwback to a mini HC, during my breaking in years

My nana (my grandma that raised me) Miss Texas 1961




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67
D.O.T. / Eton radio
« on: June 22, 2015, 12:27:51 AM »
The wife picked this dude up for me today. It's pretty darn cool. Has a solar charger panel and a dynamo crank! Place to plug in and charge a cell phone, emergency beacon, am/fm/wx receiver, flashlight. Charges to a sealed nicad or runs off of aa's!



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68
D.O.T. / Honor
« on: June 19, 2015, 04:07:23 AM »
http://youtu.be/IxvrapNC15o


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69
Self Defense and Tactics / On self defense-
« on: June 18, 2015, 05:47:47 AM »


And now, a PSA from your friendly neighborhood Policeman-

It is warming up outside and the calls on your friendly neighborhood Policeman’s beats are becoming more frequent. Now is a good time to re-fresh on a couple of key facets of defending yourself from tweakers, sexual predators, and ISIS, or all inclusively, “degenerate mopes.”

So much of self-defense is simply not putting yourself into a position where you will have to be defensive. Taking pro-active measures to insure you remain in a safe environment is paramount to the tools you use to defend yourself. Simply making sure you have enough gas in the tank to fill up at a venue of your discretion beats being forced to fuel up at that place that was on the news last week or worse, running out on the highway in front of the friendliest of trailer parks. Degenerate mopes, know no boundaries, however spending time in an area with a higher concentration of criminal activity apparently lends to the increased risk of falling victim to crime.

Just like degenerate mopes know no bounds, they are not solely nocturnal creatures. That being said, the concealment night time offers tends to increase their activity. When you go shopping do you take the time to forecast how lit your parking area will be if the sun goes down before your credit card is declined? Or, are you the jerk in the Kia that cuts me off and steals mine? Try to plan your activities where you are afforded the most availability of light. Safety is not always convenient but it increases life expectancy ten-fold. If you must venture to Wal-Mart at 0300, park in the lighted areas and away from white carpenter vans.

Degenerate mopes seek easy prey. The stoner wearing overpriced head phones and playing angry birds on the bench at the bus stop is more likely to get a good city mugging than the guy standing with his back to the wall people watching. The gal, talking on her cell phone to her “bff”, oblivious to everything not pertaining to the latest gossip, is more likely to find herself rolled up in a tarp in the back of the aforementioned, “white carpenter van.” It is sad, but I often see people walking across dimly lit parking lots with their faces in their cell phones tripping over parking curbs. Chances are they are most likely texting their significant others about how creepy the parking lot is. Being conscious of your surroundings at all times is not paranoia, it is preventative of being the plot of a Lifetime movie. It’s never good to wake up in a hole with duct tape ligature marks being encouraged to lotion up by a degenerate mope.

There is a push back to being defensive of yourself via your attire, which is metabolizing in our PC culture. It has become a narrative that people shouldn’t have to dress any certain way to avoid attack and that the attackers… “Just shouldn’t”. The problem with this ideology is pretty simple, the attackers, “just do”, and no amount of harshly worded rhetoric from Diane Sawyer is going to stop that. This doesn’t just go for the girls in the mini-skirts and tube tops utilizing the alley behind bar row as a place to relieve themselves. It also goes for the guys with the NRA shirts that scream, “I’m packing”, or the cool morale tees that say, “Hey, I’m an Obama supporter.” Don’t get me wrong, I have a cool t-shirt or two, and you can dress however you want. Just realize, if you look like food, there is a higher probability of you being eaten.

So let’s break this down, Sesame Street style-

A- Always control your environment to the best of your ability.

B- Be conscious of the availability of light and the impact it has
on your safety.

C- Careful, not carefree! Be situationally aware!

D- Dress in a manner that says “Hey don’t $%#^ with me”

In conclusion, let’s all have a great summer! Oh, and to the guy in the Kia, “It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again!


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70
Firearms / Camo rattle can job
« on: June 13, 2015, 07:45:05 PM »
Tried my hand at rattle camo today. Ruger 10-22 stock

Have one turning ten tomorrow- it's time


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71
D.O.T. / Real Courage
« on: June 02, 2015, 05:00:23 PM »


With all this Bruce Jenner sensationalism and people referring to him as heroic and so courageous maybe we should take a second and re-set in our brains what real heroism and courage look like! Roger that!


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72
D.O.T. / Weston Update
« on: May 30, 2015, 11:38:46 AM »
Guess we will kick this off right! WD is doing fantastic! Fired up and ready to re-claim his boyhood! Last summer SUCKED! This summer it is fishing and exploring and doing all those things little boys do!

73
Firearms / Heirloom guns
« on: May 30, 2015, 02:09:43 AM »
My Belgium A5 in 12 ga owned by my "Bapaw"- (great grandpa) and the Remington model 11 owned by his wife. My "mimo". Story on the A5 is it was a seizure by the sheriff of Tarrant Co TX after being used in a homicide in the early 1900's. My Bapaw's brother was the DA and was able to give him the story after he bought it from the sheriffs auction in the sixties--- at least that's my recollection of the story anyways!

74
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / This morning-
« on: May 25, 2015, 06:10:54 PM »
Every Memorial Day morning I set my flags at sun up and take them down at sun down.

American exceptionalism is a term coined by individuals who feel we should be ashamed of ourselves. I refuse to be ashamed. America *is* exceptional even in our current challenging times. America is exceptional because brave men and women fight and die to make sure she stays that way. The current generation has experienced more years of war than any other generation. While the objective of war is not to die for your country but rather allow the opposition a means of dying for theirs, we shall not under any circumstance believe or cause to believe the loss of any American Soldier is in vain. The individuals who have fought and died for our country in recent wars did so voluntarily. It takes an unmitigated amount of courage and fortitude to take an oath to defend ones country in a time of war knowing the dangers you will face. In the school houses we hold our hearts and pledge our allegiance beginning at a young age. On the ball fields we stand and sing our national anthem. For some, this show of support is enough and from the bottom of our hearts we are appreciative. For others, this is merely the catalyst to donning camouflage and combat boots. We insert ourselves into hostile areas in order to free the oppressed, aide the sick and hungry, and arrest terrorism and evil. We do so, not for ourselves but instead for our sons and daughters. We all leave pieces of ourselves in places when we return home. Some however left their last breath in those places and had to be carried home.  This is their day, do something in remembrance of them.

75
Firearms / Wyatt Earp on shooting vs. gunfighting
« on: May 23, 2015, 12:39:48 AM »
FINALLY found this! My favorite article! It is absolutely timeless! This is good stuff, you're welcome!

Wyatt Earp-

“I was a fair hand with pistol, rifle, or shotgun, but I learned more about gunfighting from Tom Speer’s cronies during the summer of ’71 than I had dreamed was in the book. Those old-timers took their gunplay seriously, which was natural under the conditions in which they lived. Shooting, to them, was considerably more than aiming at a mark and pulling a trigger. Models of weapons, methods of wearing them, means of getting them into action and operating them, all to the one end of combining high speed with absolute accuracy, contributed to the frontiersman’s shooting skill. The sought-after degree of proficiency was that which could turn to most effective account the split-second between life and death. Hours upon hours of practice, and wide experience in actualities supported their arguments over style.

The most important lesson I learned from those proficient gunfighters was the winner of a gunplay usually was the man who took his time. The second was that, if I hoped to live long on the frontier, I would shun flashy trick-shooting—grandstand play—as I would poison.

When I say that I learned to take my time in a gunfight, I do not wish to be misunderstood, for the time to be taken was only that split fraction of a second that means the difference between deadly accuracy with a sixgun and a miss. It is hard to make this clear to a man who has never been in a gunfight. Perhaps I can best describe such time taking as going into action with the greatest speed of which a man’s muscles are capable, but mentally unflustered by an urge to hurry or the need for complicated nervous and muscular actions which trick-shooting involves. Mentally deliberate, but muscularly faster than thought, is what I mean.

In all my life as a frontier police officer, I did not know a really proficient gunfighter who had anything but contempt for the gun-fanner, or the man who literally shot from the hip. In later years I read a great deal about this type of gunplay, supposedly employed by men noted for skill with a forty-five.

From personal experience and numerous six-gun battles which I witnessed, I can only support the opinion advanced by the men who gave me my most valuable instruction in fast and accurate shooting, which was that the gun-fanner and hip-shooter stood small chance to live against a man who, as old Jack Gallagher always put it, took his time and pulled the trigger once.

Cocking and firing mechanisms on new revolvers were almost invariably altered by their purchasers in the interests of smoother, effortless handling, usually by filing the dog which controlled the hammer, some going so far as to remove triggers entirely or lash them against the guard, in which cases the guns were fired by thumbing the hammer. This is not to be confused with fanning, in which the triggerless gun is held in one hand while the other was brushed rapidly across the hammer to cock the gun, and firing it by the weight of the hammer itself. A skillful gun-fanner could fire five shots from a forty-five so rapidly that the individual reports were indistinguishable, but what could happen to him in a gunfight was pretty close to murder.

I saw Jack Gallagher’s theory borne out so many times in deadly operation that I was never tempted to forsake the principles of gunfighting as I had them from him and his associates.

There was no man in the Kansas City group who was Wild Bill’s equal with a six-gun. Bill’s correct name, by the way, was James B. Hickok. Legend and the imaginations of certain people have exaggerated the number of men he killed in gunfights and have misrepresented the manner in which he did his killing. At that, they could not very well overdo his skill with pistols.

Hickok knew all the fancy tricks and was as good as the best at that sort of gunplay, but when he had serious business at hand, a man to get, the acid test of marksmanship, I doubt if he employed them. At least, he told me that he did not. I have seen him in action and I never saw him fan a gun, shoot from the hip, or try to fire two pistols simultaneously. Neither have I ever heard a reliable old-timer tell of any trick-shooting employed by Hickok when fast straight-shooting meant life or death.

That two-gun business is another matter that can stand some truth before the last of the old-time gunfighters has gone on. They wore two guns, most of six-gun toters did, and when the time came for action went after them with both hands. But they didn’t shoot them that way.

Primarily, two guns made the threat of something in reserve; they were useful as a display of force when a lone man stacked up against a crowd. Some men could shoot equally well with either hand, and in a gunplay might alternate their fire; others exhausted the loads from the gun on the right, or the left, as the case might be, then shifted the reserve weapon to the natural shooting hand if that was necessary and possible. Such a move—the border shift—could be made faster than the eye could follow a top-notch gun-thrower, but if the man was as good as that, the shift would seldom be required.

Whenever you see a picture of some two-gun man in action with both weapons held closely against his hips and both spitting smoke together, you can put it down that you are looking at the picture of a fool, or a fake. I remember quite a few of these so-called two-gun men who tried to operate everything at once, but like the fanners, they didn’t last long in proficient company.

In the days of which I am talking, among men whom I have in mind, when a man went after his guns, he did so with a single, serious purpose. There was no such thing as a bluff; when a gunfighter reached for his fortyfive, every faculty he owned was keyed to shooting as speedily and as accurately as possible, to making his first shot the last of the fight. He just had to think of his gun solely as something with which to kill another before he himself could be killed. The possibility of intimidating an antagonist was remote, although the ‘drop’ was thoroughly respected, and few men in the West would draw against it. I have seen men so fast and so sure of themselves that they did go after their guns while men who intended to kill them had them covered, and what is more win out in the play. They were rare. It is safe to say, for all general purposes, that anything in gunfighting that smacked of show-off or bluff was left to braggarts who were ignorant or careless of their lives.

I might add that I never knew a man who amounted to anything to notch his gun with ‘credits,’ as they were called, for men he had killed. Outlaws, gunmen of the wild crew who killed for the sake of brag, followed this custom. I have worked with most of the noted peace officers — Hickok, Billy Tilghman, Pat Sughre, Bat Masterson, Charlie Basset, and others of like caliber — have handled their weapons many times, but never knew one of them to carry a notched gun.

There are two other points about the old-time method of using six-guns most effectively that do not seem to be generally known. One is that the gun was not cocked with the ball of the thumb. As his gun was jerked into action, the old-timer closed the whole joint of his thumb over the hammer and the gun was cocked in that fashion.  The soft flesh of the thumb ball might slip if a man’s hands were moist, and a slip was not to be chanced if humanly avoidable. This thumb-joint method was employed whether or not a man used the trigger for firing.

On the second point, I have often been asked why five shots without reloading were all a top-notch gunfighter fired, when his guns were chambered for six cartridges. The answer is, merely, safety. To ensure against accidental discharge of the gun while in the holster, due to hair-trigger adjustment, the hammer rested upon an empty chamber. As widely as this was known and practiced, the number of cartridges a man carried in his six-gun may be taken as an indication of a man’s rank with the gunfighters of the old school.  Practiced gun-wielders had too much respect for their weapons to take unnecessary chances with them; it was only with tyros and would-bes that you heard of accidental discharges or didn’t-know-it-was-loaded injuries in the country where carrying a Colt was a man’s prerogative.”

76
Self Defense and Tactics / A few notes on light discipline
« on: May 17, 2015, 01:16:59 PM »
Add solid knowledge or experience as you see fit

Light discipline

-Bright stationary lights will conceal your movement behind them or at least obscure the enemies view of you.
-a bright burst of light will immediately remove the enemies acquired night vision by constricting their pupils.
-When moving about at night I use a small key chain light if anything for movement and a bright WML or torch for illuminating an adversary.
-during tactical night movement if you must illuminate your scene. Stop, cast your light at an azimuth contradictory to your intended path for a short burst and immediately move. You will use the ambient light created to guide you, but won't give away your intended route.
-never find yourself backlit or backlight a friendly. If you find yourself backlit, use your own torch or WML to replace the light your shadow has cast.
-don't shine your torch in your buddies eyes jacking around immediately before moving in to darkness.
-avoid the temptation to focus on distant lights, headlights, or others lights.
-avoid using light for convenience
-if time is not critical, allow four-six minutes for your eyes to adjust to darkness before movements.

77
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / The Art of Manliness
« on: May 17, 2015, 12:38:48 PM »
I normally wouldn't push another site, but I stumbled across this today while browsing the interwebz

A piece from his about section-
Many men today feel adrift and have lost the confidence, focus, skills, and virtues that men of the past embodied. In an increasingly androgynous society, modern men are confused about their role and what it means to be an honorable, well-rounded man.


http://www.artofmanliness.com/category/a-mans-life/

78
Firearms / How to... Scribble- Monty Python quotes and stuff
« on: May 14, 2015, 12:40:01 AM »
I'm a high gripper, as a matter of fact I bevel out my trigger guard to get the highest grip possible... So this is basically the constant state of my right thumb knuckle...  :-\ :)

79
Faith Discussion / Small prayer request
« on: May 11, 2015, 05:34:27 PM »
Our beloved mut "buddy", resting in peace now. Full of cancer and just wouldn't be in his best interest to do anything other than put him down... Sad day :.(

80
Hide Site / The HC spread!
« on: May 01, 2015, 10:21:53 PM »
Finally breaking ground on our home!

81
Other Weapons / Cobra buckle
« on: April 24, 2015, 05:09:57 PM »
Been wearing this version of the cobra buckle for about six months-

Pros- positive solid retention buckle, plastic (handy for airport security), no tail to weave through, can buckle your pants back together during public restroom ops to keep your gear from falling all over the floor

Cons- wife looks at it funny and can't figure out how to undo it!  ;) :-[ ???

82
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / No rant! Sons first award
« on: April 21, 2015, 08:57:58 PM »
My oldest boy receiving JROTC awards.

83
Firearms / Surefire Scout Light review
« on: March 26, 2015, 05:23:44 AM »
So a "no BS/Grunt level" review on this gem.

The surefire M600 ultra scout light from here on out referred to as m600.

I was able to pick one up at my local bullet slinger shop for $279. You can prolly expect to pay up to $300 or more depending on where you are. IMO its well worth the money for the quality. sure you can prolly find some chinacom piece that puts out double the lumens and has a cute laser pointer on it but dont bet your ass on its reliability. I'd bet my ass on this dudes reliability. Round count is pushing 3k with about 500 under illumination. hasn't missed a beat.  I would definitely spend a little extra and get the switch system with the constant on and the pressure switch $75-$100. I ran a momentary only light for a period of time and found that it is very taxing on your dexterity if you need to keep it on for a period of time.

Surefire says you are looking at about 1.5 hours run time at a "tactical level" of light. I let it run the other day to see if I could melt it or cause it to break glass and I would say at 1.5 hours you are running close to half lumens. at 3 hours your done. Put a fresh set of batts in it and it's good to go. At about an hour, figuring the light was as hot as it was gonna get, I dumped two mags rapidly under lume and then submerged it in water for about ten seconds or so... no blinks.

I dont care about finish but if you are prima donna like that you will be pleased. several call outs, and training exercises and its just as purdy as it was when i unboxed. granted i dont fall down a whole lot and generally dont bounce my weapon off of rocky faces anymore, but the manner in which it is positioned one would assume it would be a contact point and muzzle blast in itself would effect finish but it's good to go. enough on that.

I dont know much about terminology as far as "flood" or "throw" and dont care to google it. but i'll say i have yet to be in a dimly lit situation where I wished I had a better light. Maybe everything else, I have used up to this point has been junk... idk. but i dont have any complaints. It produces a sharp flinch worthy blinding light. I say that because every mope I have lit up with it has thrown their arm over their eyes when it gets pointed at them. This is important because not only is it disorienting, it can be used for cover to conceal the movement of the home team.

i haven't found anything disappointing with it yet. The mount came loose on me but i hadn't loctited it yet so that was my bad. hasn't come loose since. outside temp ranges have been from the single digits to the 60's so far and it fires off every time.

Im not gonna rate it but i'll recommend it. If you have any other questions dont hesitate to ask! most importantly they are designed and mfg'd in murica.

84
Firearms / Some upgrades
« on: February 14, 2015, 11:10:03 AM »
Ambi safety, BRO trigger group, no walk pins and the new scout light!

85
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / Behold the sheepdog
« on: February 14, 2015, 11:06:18 AM »
We are all familiar with grossmans speech on sheep I'm sure. Here is a little something I wrote the other night in therapy-

Been having some demons surface lately- not sure what kicked it off. Most of the time, I'm driving and I get this sudden sense of dread and scenarios start flooding my mind- explosions- people jumping in front of my vehicle- body falling on my windshield- for the most part it's a tight blink and a head shake to get it out of my face- but it's that sudden onset from condition yellow to red then trying to bring myself back down again that's the most taxing- anyways, I'm not afraid of sharing, so don't be afraid to discuss! Here Ya go!

Cave Canem (Beware the Dog)

Behold the sheepdog,
for he is sublime yet mortal.

Behold the sheepdog,
for his capacity to act violently is proportionate only to his clemency.

Behold the sheepdog,
for his proficiency in his craft will be most evident to those who harbor evil within them.

Behold the sheepdog,
for the mensuration of his resiliency to antagonists is incalculable.

Behold the sheepdog,
for he will carry the battle.

Behold the sheepdog,
but beware…

86
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / We're DONE
« on: January 05, 2015, 01:14:06 PM »
Completed chemo today!

87
Radio/Comms / Cobra CXT545
« on: December 28, 2014, 04:07:27 PM »
The other day I ran down a mope who had just tried to steal a car. He had a walkie in his pocket, more than likely to keep comms with his drop off/pick up guy. I decided not to make a big deal about it in an effort to play Columbo. Maybe they would keep it up and I could get some good Intel on them. I had a fifty dollar academy card to burn so I went to see what I could find. Some great features on this unit are the ability to recharge it's nicad batteries or swap them out for alkalines. Secondary to that the charger cord is USB. So it will plug in to my solar panel charged. The reviews were pretty decent on them as well, citing a mile to a mile and a half in urban terrain and holds its charge for days even while on for excess periods of time. I had a set of Cobras, not sure on model, "over there" we used to keep tabs on haj early in the game. (Once they started getting frequent 556's to their cranium they wised up, only took a year) Anyways, they proved themselves rugged then. I'll bust them out of the packing and run them thru some tests when I go back to work. If nothing else they will be a good scanning tool and a weather radio.

88
Less Than Lethal / Newly designed knucks
« on: December 27, 2014, 09:19:05 PM »

89
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / What's in your pocket?
« on: December 22, 2014, 01:46:14 PM »
What are your EDC must haves?
Glock 19 and extra mag- EGA "leatherneck" IWB holster
Benchmade Presidio auto folder tanto
Streamlight ProTac 1L 110 lumen
Monkeys Fist extendable key chain (steel ball bearing woven in)

What's in your pocket?

90
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / Don, tell us the story- Op just cause
« on: December 22, 2014, 01:37:42 PM »
Tell us the story Don

91
Firearms / Weapon sights
« on: December 14, 2014, 01:53:22 AM »
I'm really a fan of Trijicon sights. They really take a beating! I've broken Glock plastic sights clean off my guns racking them against barricades and such during 1 hand re-loads-

Notice the difference in my carry gun with the standard sights and my backup carry gun with the set back sights. That 1/4 of an inch set back makes a world of difference in sight radius. On my Glock 34 it's like using the irons on a SBR! ;)

The orange hi vis sight is on the Glock 34

92
Vests & Protection / My loadouts
« on: December 14, 2014, 01:44:55 AM »
The first one is my quick don plate carrier. It always stays in my truck or patrol car. Front has- mags, spare cuffs, multi tool, and med kit. In the event some AH starts shooting up a school or factory in my AO, I can throw this over my head, pull straps tight and engage.

The second is my soft armor- SWAT vest. I can put my plates in to it before a call out pretty easy. Three and three mags- radio holster- cuffs- small fixed blade, cuffs, and some specialized equipment.

93
Firearms / Some tactical long guns
« on: December 14, 2014, 01:35:05 AM »
Molot Super Vepr .308- this dude is a brain surgeon! Even with me behind the wheel out to 600 meters! Haven't got to reach out any further than that yet but looking forward to seeing what she can do! There's just something about these commie rifles!

Troy Defense 556 carbine- took her out for a spin last week and dialed her in! Surprisingly accurate with low bid ammo. Love the glass in the Nikon! I think all those years of building cameras has taught nikon a thing or two about making crystal clear lenses! We will see how she holds up!

The beloved Frankengun 14.5'sh AR15- this gun has followed me around the world and never failed to deliver an appropriate ass whoopin when called upon- enough said! However the trigger group began feeling a little crappy on it last range day (prolly close to 100k rounds on the lower, so I popped on a BRO drop in trigger group for it and some no walk pins. She may even finally get an ambi selector.

Mossberg 500 Flex- just a danged old shotgun gents!

94
Firearms / Some pistolas
« on: December 14, 2014, 12:33:59 AM »
Glock 34 gen 4 9mm (duty gun)
Glock 17 gen 3 9mm (back up duty)
Glock 22 gen 3 .40 (in case there's no 9mm laying around anymore)
Glock 19 gen 3 9mm (my EDC, notice the double undercut trigger guard)
Glock 19 gen 3 9mm (back up EDC)
Sig Sauer tac 1911 (to show my buddies)
Springfield XDS 9mm (wife EDC)
Ruger LCP .380 (ankle carry duty)

95
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / My letter to Officer Wilson
« on: December 12, 2014, 12:32:06 PM »
People keep asking how I fealt about the ferguson mess. I put it in a letter form.

Dear P.O. Wilson,
Everybody thinks they know what it takes to be a lion until it comes time to do lion crap. I don’t care what will be said about you in the years to come or what kind of precedents your “lion crap” sets for me in the future, I’m glad you’re alive today. Truth is you staunched up and took the fight to the ass hole and that my friend opens up my shotgun seat to you any day brother!

You see people don’t get it, and they never will. People expect us to do great things out there and don’t even consider how it happens until crap goes awry. The vast majority of people have never stood toe to toe with a physically imposing ass hole, hopped up on dope, staring through you as if your very existence on this earth is of no consequence to them and survived to tell about it. I hope they never have to.
 
You prevented the death of a police officer that day and unfortunately, it seems, the entire damn world lost their “baby boy”. Had you died that day, instead of Mike Brown, only a small community of your family and comrades would have mourned your loss for any period of time, and 25 years from now Mike Brown would be out on parole. It is a sad state of affairs, isn’t it buddy? We are overwhelmingly de-valued every day and for some that is a hard pill to swallow. However, we drive on!

Our lives are of no real value to the majority of people. The communities we protect all too often see us as expendable. Sure they will pretend to mourn briefly, but the fact remains, our line cars will have a fresh ass in the seat before they fold our flag. I heard the other day from a certain societal derelict that I, “can’t boast about putting my life on the line on one hand and then expect to be able to defend myself with the other”… What kind of bull crap is that?

Being brutally honest here, I don’t think of Mike Brown’s death as a tragedy. I truly believe after seeing the evidence at hand and reading your testimony the worst possible tragedy was averted. What is truly tragic here is we are challenged with protecting a society who can’t see the forest for the damn trees! It’s a true tragedy we had this ass hole raised up to believe things people work hard for are his for the taking by force. It’s a true tragedy we have people exploiting this incident and community for their own personal gain. It’s the truest of tragedy you have to live the rest of your life with the burden of having to have taken a life to protect your own.

The ignorant will continuously second guess you, spew their “expert” bull crap, and ask each other, “How, if he was so scared for his life, could he pursue this man?” Let them; however do not concern yourself with them or their opinions. Remember, "Lions mustn't concern themselves with the opinions of lambs". Make no mistake; You, my friend, are a lion.
Cpl. B. Cornelius

96
Firearms / Broke my Glock
« on: October 09, 2014, 07:52:20 PM »
Broke a Glock. This is my EDC gen 3 G19... Not sure how this occurred. Glock says I had to have dropped it, but two weeks ago during cleaning it wasn't like this. Put 500 through it the other day doing some drills from concealment. Stripped it to clean and this is what I got. Had to happen during carry somehow bc I wasn't doing any muzzle drives this day... Oh well, here is my $180.00 paperweight-

97
Coffee Induced Early Morning Rant / The Tactical Pause
« on: September 24, 2014, 07:43:13 AM »
I'm just going to put this right here- Not sure where else to put it. I author a brief which is mostly distributed amongst LE but the theories in some of the briefs are really applicable to the most of us. Just ignore the cop references and focus on the content... (Moderator's note-maybe we could make a section for these?)

Officer involved suicides

I am going to preface this entire brief by saying I am no psychologist or philosopher or any particular caliber of emotional ninja. I am often even described as “black and white” or “emotionally unattached” or, “lacking emotion”. Sound like anyone else you know? Much like the readership here, I have sat through countless hours of death by power point on emotional survival and suicide prevention. I have even said to myself, “If I have to sit through one more of these classes, I might just kill myself to make a freaking point”. All of that aside, this is not a brief about not killing yourself. You can get that somewhere else. This is a brief about why officers kill themselves and how we should respond to it. I’ll try not to get all touchy feely here. If I do slap me around in reply! I realize suicide is not a laughing matter, but forgive my political incorrectness if I crack a joke here and there. We would do it in the squad so cut me some slack on this platform.

We deal with the scum of the earth and the by-product of the scum of the earth on a daily basis. Rarely in the course of events do people call us to tell us about how good of a day they had and to offer us an intelligent conversation on… anything. If this happens to you, let me know where you work because I’m going to put in my application. We deal with this day in and day out sandwiched with long periods of pure boredom and trying not to wreck our cars. People expect us to bring instantaneous order to situations that took twenty years to culminate.

Elderly death scenes, infant death scenes, fatality car accidents involving entire families and other situations that spike your adrenaline output higher than the majority of the world will ever understand is the manner in which we roll. Now I hate to make a generalized statement here, but the majority of cops I know don’t have fleeting thoughts of suicide when you sit down in a car after a hot call. Maybe later, you might want to kill yourself to save yourself from the paperwork but it’s generally not these events that shake us… initially.
But they do pay a toll. Your brain, your emotions, your feelings are like any other part of your body that’s subject to trauma. I’m not talking about stress. We shake off stress. Trauma leaves a mark. If you don’t believe this, you are ignorant. Go drink some beers and come back and tell me if you don’t feel a little different, then we will go get your head examined because you are a rare case my friend. Let me paint you a picture.

Tackleberry is high speed low drag copper/swat operator, with ten years on the job. He’s seen a thing or two. He has the occasional nightmares of the room full of dead bodies or the greyhound bus involved in a fender bender in which he has to collect information from ALL of the passenger’s on, but other than that he’s pretty boring. Tackleberry is generally well liked amongst other officer’s. He’s been described as slightly “high strung” or “wound up tight” but he puts in his hours and goes home to his pretty little misses and babies after every shift and watches his DVR’d play-off games like the rest of us.

One day he finds out he’s been wrote up for violating policy on an arrest he’s made. He doesn’t really think it was a big deal but the administration believes he should be forced to resign or be terminated. Two days later after hearings with city hall he comes home and finds out the little misses is going to leave him and take the babies to Cinci-freaking-nnati to stay with her sister because all of the sudden, she’s “afraid of him”. We can all agree that Tackleberry is sucking right now.
 
In any lesser individual, this would be a breaking point all in itself. But Tackleberry is a big strong tough guy remember, swat operator? High speed low drag type of guy? Tackleberry get’s on the family computer and is searching for some help to deal with his impending disciplinary action and stumbles across a chat log between the little misses and some A-Hole! Tackleberry decides to do what any red blooded American man would do in this situation and he looks for solace in the bottom of a bottle of really expensive bourbon his… soon to be… *ex* father in law got him for Christmas one year. The solace at the bottom of the bottle is overshadowed by a billowing rage within him. He sends the estranged little misses some text messages along the lines of “the world would be better off without me” and shuts his phone off. The little misses all of the sudden cares deeply for Tackleberry so she sends his beat brothers to the house to “check his welfare”.

This is where you come in, and this is where you need to be on your “A” game my friend. First we need to understand a little bit about why big tough cops commit suicide. We say it’s a completely selfish act! Tackleberry feels he has no one to account to at this point, how could it be selfish?! We say coppers who kill themselves are cowards! Tackleberry once drug your ass out of a bar when you got knocked the hell out with no regard for his own safety! We say he’s just seeking attention, he won’t do it. Tackleberry knows this is how you are thinking and he just may feel enough peer pressure to carry it out in order not to prove you right. Seasoned cops are hard people; we find this truth to be self evident.

A half a career of events have carved his, mine, our brains into the guy that jokes about how bad the rotting corpse of an unattended death smells in August! A half a career finding ourselves pushing through situations that scare the hell out of us carve our brains into the guy who respects death but doesn’t fear it. Takleberry has the tools and the ability and now the entire shift is screaming silent to rescue their hurting brother and there is nothing more important in their mind! STOP!

We have found the problem! There WERE so many things more important in their minds up until this very moment, nobody bothered to check on him before it got to this point! We all think we are emotionally invincible and all of our coworkers are too. We don’t like to think about the guy who “drug our ass out of the bar when we got knocked out” could be the same guy, crying in his bath tub, about to suck start his Glock!

If you thought this was going to be a brief on tactics, I hope my creative imagery has kept you reading up to this point at least because that was where the butter meets the bread. No tac brief here guys. No critical thinking questions and no learning objective this week. It is something to think about though. Don’t be so situational*ly* aware of things that can hurt you from the outside that it clouds the things that can constantly hurt you on the inside. I heard the term “Cumulative PTSD” mentioned in a power point somewhere, one time, half awake. Basically it’s the culmination of all the bad stuff we deal with taking an emotional toll on us that leaves us weak or susceptible to things happening in our own lives. It’s generally *not* the sequence of work related events that causes us to kill ourselves. These events make us stronger externally, but it weakens the armor, internally and we are confused by this. In a normal course of daily events we may never notice we are a hurting unit. We can shake off the toxic daily happenings. However, when you sustain a catastrophic incident where it happens to you… the things you deal with from the public which aren’t supposed to happen to you… it might just be the trigger which sets the internally catastrophic wrecking ball in motion.

If you are aware of this potential, not only in yourself, but in your fellow brothers and sisters, you may just save a life. You never know when a simple phone call might just become the most meaningful and momentous occasion for a hurting friend. You wouldn’t turn your back on him out in the street, why would you do it now?

Stay Staunch,
Blaine Cornelius

98
Soldier Up / The BIG SIX
« on: September 22, 2014, 10:08:04 AM »
Just want to share my basic workout where I have seen some big gains. It is awfully basic and it's a KISS routine fo sho!

The Big Six
Bench Press- Why we bench press? School of thought is bench press is irrelevant because the last time you ever pushed something off of your chest was when you bench pressed right? WRONG! The bench press is a compound movement working large muscle masses in your upper body. The pecs are a fast multiplying muscle.  Higher muscle mass equates to a higher metabolism equates to being able to hold more busch light! Also, pushing away ass holes requires muscles built on the bench! and tertiary to that a big chest is intimidating. The best way to win a fight is to walk away from it! Lying on your back, shoulders back, back slightly arched and core engaged, push barbell up and bring down till your elbows make a 90 and repeat.

Standing overhead press- another compound movement requiring balance muscles in your legs and core,  works your back and shoulders. Strong back and shoulders are always a must for a war fighter. Standing straight up, feet shoulder width, core engaged, bring barbell up to your chest and lift directly over your head keeping your neck as neutral as possible, bring down until your elbows make a 90 and repeat.

Standing upward row- compound movement, works shoulders and back and biceps. Basically stand with feet shoulder width apart, slightly bent at the waist, core engaged, shoulders back and lift barbell in an upward motion to between your nipples and your chin!

Pull ups/Chin ups- more back, shoulders and arms. grasp the bar in an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width and lift yourself off of the ground until your chin is level with the bar lower yourself till your arms are straight and repeat. On your second set use an underhand grip/shoulder width apart and lift yourself up and lower in the same manner.

Dead lifts- This works everything, never skip dead lifts, Barbell on the ground, grasp the bar one hand over/one underhand at shoulder width, butt slightly squatted, knees slightly bet, lower back arched and locked and pick it up and put it down!

Squats- all of your butt and legs. another elemental exercise not to skip. With the bar resting on your shoulders, feet slightly wider than shoulders, squat down as far as you can and stand back up!

I tend to incorporate this in two days. I do three one day and the other three the next. I do upper and lower, but you can do it however. I also add in either standing bicep curls, tricep dips, or some sort of calf work out in a superset somewhere! I alternate between 3-4 sets of 8 or 5 sets of 5 depending on how I am feeling and what I did the time before. When I can complete 3 sets of 8 of a particular weight and exercise for 2 consecutive workouts, I increase the weight.

Go Get Some!

99
Firearms / 14.5 kaiser defense in CQC config.
« on: September 21, 2014, 10:11:21 AM »
This has been my trusted EDC Rifle for years. This sucker just runs. It's been in a couple different configurations but I keep going back to this flashlight grip adapter from CAA. Light is a streamlight something or other...

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