S.W.A.T. December 2007 - McKeesport Police Department
S.W.A.T. December 2007 - McKeesport Police Department
S.W.A.T. December 2007 - McKeesport Police Department
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THREE CIRCLE<br />
RESPONSE THEORY<br />
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variouS raNgES<br />
CUSTOM GUNSMITHS<br />
jOIN fORCES<br />
Nighthawk’S 10-8 Duty piStoL<br />
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LINEUP<br />
28 INSIGHT<br />
TECHNOLOGY’S SSL-1<br />
80-Lumen Tactical Light for<br />
Pros and Private Citizens<br />
BY SCOTT OLdHAM<br />
50<br />
CSM GEAR OTN<br />
HELMET LIGHT BRACKET<br />
Own The Night<br />
BY PATRICK A. ROGERS<br />
5 BAd HABITS?<br />
One Trainer’s Opinion<br />
BY ROB PINCUS<br />
58<br />
66<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Pinal County, Arizona, Deputy Sheriff<br />
Chris Lapre takes aim with the Kimber<br />
Model 8400 Advanced Tactical Rifle.<br />
Photo: Denny Hansen<br />
KIMBER MOdEL 8 00<br />
AdVANCEd TACTICAL RIFLE<br />
Setting A New Standard?<br />
BY dENNY HANSEN<br />
BE A GOOd STUdENT<br />
Maximize Your Training Time<br />
BY TIGER McKEE<br />
28<br />
S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
72<br />
78<br />
82<br />
86<br />
92<br />
98<br />
SIG’S P-220 COMBAT<br />
Joint Combat Pistol Entry<br />
BY LEROY THOMPSON<br />
SECONd LOOK AT A<br />
FIRST CLASS RIFLE<br />
ArmaLite AR-10A4CS<br />
BY TOdd BURGREEN<br />
GLOCK ARMORER’S<br />
COURSE<br />
Third Time’s a Charm<br />
BY ERICK GELHAUS<br />
NIGHTHAWK CUSTOM’S<br />
10-8 dUTY PISTOL<br />
Dependable, Accurate<br />
BY MICK WILLIAMS<br />
STORM MOUNTAIN CARBINE II<br />
Mindset, Instruction and Gear<br />
BY TOdd BURGREEN<br />
THREE-CIRCLE RESPONSE THEORY<br />
Options For Meeting An Attack At Various Ranges<br />
BY MICHAEL TAN<br />
S.W.A.T. ® (ISSN# 1062-2365) Volume 26, Number 12, <strong>December</strong> <strong>2007</strong>. Published monthly by Group One<br />
Enterprises, Inc. 5011 North Ocean Blvd., Suite 5, Ocean Ridge, FL 33435. Copyright <strong>2007</strong> by Group One<br />
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Nothing herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without written<br />
permission of the publisher. Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, photographs, etc., if<br />
they are to be returned, and Group One Enterprises, Inc. assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material.<br />
All letters sent to S.W.A.T. will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes<br />
and are subject to S.W.A.T.’s right to edit and comment editorially. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: For<br />
subscription customer service, call (800) 673-4595.A one-year subscription is $34.95 (12 issues). Canadian<br />
subscribers, add $15 U.S. funds. All other countries, add $25. Back issues are $8 each, postage and taxes<br />
included. (California and Ohio add applicable sales tax.) These prices represent S.W.A.T.’s standard subscription<br />
rate and should not be confused with special subscription offers sometimes advertised. Change of address:<br />
Allow six weeks advance notice and send in both your old and new addresses. ATTN POSTMASTER:<br />
Send change of address to: S.W.A.T. Magazine, P.O. Box 17113, Anaheim, CA 92817. Periodicals postage<br />
is paid at Boynton Beach, FL and additional mailing offices. S.W.A.T. is registered in the U.S. Patent and<br />
Trademark Office by Group One Enterprises, Inc. Printed in the USA.<br />
COLUMNS<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
6<br />
BRIEFING ROOM<br />
A Time For Giving<br />
BY DENNY HANSEN<br />
12<br />
AGAINST ALL OddS<br />
Build Your Own Survival Kit<br />
BY JEFF RANDALL<br />
20<br />
FRONTLINE dEBRIEFS<br />
Risk Management<br />
BY SCOTT REITZ<br />
3<br />
ENEMY AT THE GATE<br />
Canary In The Coal Mine<br />
Of American Liberty<br />
BY STEWART RHODES<br />
0<br />
STREET SMARTS<br />
Confined Spaces<br />
BY BRENT T. WHEAT<br />
11<br />
TRAINING ANd TACTICS<br />
The Photograph<br />
BY LOUIS AWERBUCK<br />
8<br />
MAIL ROOM<br />
Letters From Our Readers<br />
2<br />
LAWFUL CARRY<br />
Safariland 6304 ALS Tactical Holster<br />
BY FLINT HANSEN<br />
LONG GUNS<br />
Insight Technology Integrated<br />
Sighting Module-Visible<br />
BY LEROY THOMPSON<br />
106<br />
OFFBEAT<br />
Absolutely, Positively Safe<br />
Dry-Fire Training<br />
BY JEFF RANDALL<br />
108<br />
THE CUTTING EdGE<br />
Spyderco Endura and On/Scene<br />
Tactical’s Speed Dialer<br />
BY JOHN SHIRLEY<br />
110<br />
GEAR LOCKER<br />
New Products And Accessories<br />
113<br />
AdVERTISERS’ INFO<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 5
THE<br />
TEAM<br />
EdITORIAL<br />
INFORMATION<br />
For editorial submissions,<br />
press releases or questions,<br />
contact the editor at:<br />
3025 N. Valley View Dr.,<br />
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314<br />
or by email at:<br />
editor@swatmag.com<br />
PUBLISHER<br />
Richard J. Lucibella<br />
EdITOR<br />
Denny Hansen<br />
PROdUCTION dIRECTOR<br />
Kathleen Allard<br />
ART dIRECTOR<br />
Betty Shonts<br />
TACTICAL CONSULTANT<br />
Louis Awerbuck<br />
LAW ENFORCEMENT CONSULTANT<br />
Brent Wheat<br />
TRAINING CONSULTANT<br />
Rob Pincus<br />
FIREARMS dESIGN ANd<br />
TESTING CONSULTANT<br />
Ashley Emerson, MN<br />
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
Jeff Randall<br />
CONTRIBUTING STAFF<br />
Erick Gelhaus, Flint Hansen,<br />
Steve Malloy, Tiger McKee, Eitan Meyr,<br />
Eugene Nielsen, Scott Reitz,<br />
Stewart Rhodes, Patrick A. Rogers,<br />
Clint Smith, Leroy Thompson,<br />
Claire Wolfe, James Yeager<br />
CIRCULATION dIRECTOR<br />
Richard Convertito<br />
FINANCE dIRECTOR<br />
Joel Marcus, CPA<br />
WEBSITE TECHNOLOGY<br />
Justin Guyett<br />
AdVERTISING dIRECTOR<br />
Bob Cole<br />
360-665-0542 / 800-665-7928<br />
bob@swatmag.com<br />
SWATMAG.COM<br />
BRIEFING ROOM<br />
A TIME FOR GIVING<br />
As this issue reaches you, Christmas is just<br />
around the corner.<br />
Shoppers will be scurrying around trying<br />
to find just the right gift for loved ones<br />
and friends, bright lights will adorn homes,<br />
children’s eyes will be wide with wonder and<br />
anticipation—and telemarketers from charities<br />
you have never heard of will be calling as you<br />
sit down to your evening meal.<br />
There are some charities, however, that deserve<br />
a hard second look.<br />
TOYS FOR TOTS<br />
Toys For Tots, the U.S. Marine Corps’ premier<br />
community action program and one of the<br />
nation’s flagship Christmas charitable causes,<br />
is dedicated to “delivering a message of hope<br />
and bringing the joy of Christmas” to America’s<br />
needy children. The Toys For Tots program<br />
reached a record 7.6 million needy children in<br />
2006.<br />
Quantico Tactical Supply has joined the<br />
Toys For Tots campaign as a National Corporate<br />
sponsor. During the month of <strong>December</strong>,<br />
Quantico Tactical Supply (QTS) and participating<br />
manufacturers will donate 5% of sales to<br />
the Toys For Tots campaign. Customers spending<br />
$75 or more during the month of <strong>December</strong><br />
will receive a free commemorative T-shirt to<br />
recognize their support. Additionally, each of<br />
QTS’ six retail locations will be drop-off locations<br />
for toy donations, and customers will be<br />
able to make direct cash donations to Toys For<br />
Tots. For more information, call (800) 589-2715<br />
or visit www.quanticotactical.com.<br />
LOUdER THAN WORdS<br />
In the September issue, we reported on the<br />
charitable organization Louder Than Words<br />
holding a raffle to benefit AmericanSnipers.<br />
org (another very worthwhile charity). By the<br />
time you read this, the custom pistol built for<br />
the raffle will be completed. The drawing will<br />
take place in February at the SHOT Show in<br />
Las Vegas (winner need not be present to win).<br />
Folks can read all about it at www.louderthan-<br />
words.us. Go to “LTW Projects” and look for a<br />
reference to LTW #4. Tickets are only $10 and<br />
can be purchased at www.pistolraffle.com.<br />
Americansnipers.org is helping our deployed<br />
snipers daily in a big way—here’s a great way<br />
for everybody to help and maybe win a one-ofa-kind<br />
custom 1911 and a boatload of high-end<br />
accessories! At the time the article was written,<br />
the custom package was still not fully formed.<br />
Here is an updated list of contributors to the<br />
package:<br />
Bar-Sto Precision Machine<br />
Black Hills Ammunition<br />
Brownells<br />
Center Mass, Inc.<br />
Chris Reeve Knives<br />
Dakota Ammo<br />
Dawson Precision<br />
Evolution Gun Works<br />
FNH-USA<br />
IDPA<br />
Ionbond Coatings<br />
Leupold<br />
Matt Burkett<br />
Metaloy Industries, Inc.<br />
NRA<br />
Nossar Gun Leather<br />
S.W.A.T. Magazine<br />
Safariland<br />
Safe Direction<br />
Springfield Armory<br />
Starlight Cases<br />
Strike Tactical<br />
Trijicon<br />
Tripp Research<br />
USPSA<br />
VZ Grips<br />
Wilson Combat<br />
From all of us at S.W.A.T., we wish you a<br />
truly happy and safe holiday season.<br />
Until next time, stay low and watch your<br />
back.<br />
dISCLAIMER Certain products represented in this magazine may be subject to prohibitions, restrictions or special<br />
licensing for sale, possession or interstate transport. If this annoys you, Get Involved...support the Bill of Rights...all of<br />
them! In the meantime, check with local and federal authorities regarding legality of purchase, possession and transport. The<br />
information described and portrayed in this magazine is based upon personal experience of the author, under specific conditions<br />
and circumstances. Due to time and space constraints, the entire author’s experience may not be reported or otherwise verified.<br />
Nothing in these pages should be construed to substitute for a manufacturer’s manual or for professional firearms training. This<br />
magazine, its officers, agents and employees accept no responsibility for any liability, injuries or damages arising from any person’s<br />
attempt to rely upon the information contained herein. Responsible shooters always seek formal training. S.W.A.T. Magazine, its<br />
Publisher, staff and employees assume no responsibility for the opinions expressed in any Letters to the Editor and do not vouch for<br />
the accuracy of any facts contained in such Letters. This Section of the magazine is made available for the purpose of stimulating<br />
an exchange of ideas and information among its Readers.<br />
6 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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• Smallest footprint available, Mil-Spec & under 11oz.<br />
• Co-witness with iron sights<br />
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MAIL ROOM<br />
SUBCOMPACT SHOOTOUT<br />
I have some comments on Duane<br />
Thomas’ article “Subcompact Shootout”<br />
(S.W.A.T., September <strong>2007</strong>):<br />
1. Glad to see it. It is too hot down here<br />
in Florida for a coat ten months out of<br />
the year, and not too many can pull off<br />
packing a .45 under a T-shirt. If I see a<br />
kid with a sweatshirt with the hood up<br />
in August I fi gure he’s about to rob the<br />
store I’m in, and anyone with a vest on<br />
just got back from his fi rst IDPA match.<br />
Fanny pack? Nice for a long car trip, but<br />
you never see any around town.<br />
2. Found the same thing with the<br />
“FBI load” years ago—too much recoil<br />
to maintain a consistent grip on an<br />
Airweight J-frame. Lighter weight hollow<br />
points allow you to maintain a good<br />
grip and also speed-load better.<br />
3. I don’t carry a Kahr because I tried<br />
one several years ago and it was so small<br />
that my thumbs kept interfering with<br />
the slidelock. Also, I’ve found that autos<br />
don’t carry as well in deep concealment<br />
as a small revolver. With cargo shorts and<br />
a T-shirt I can have two S&W 642s, one<br />
in a pocket holster and one with a hipgrip<br />
and Tyler T-grip in the waistband,<br />
along with a speedloader, knife, etc.<br />
Thanks,<br />
M. Howard, Florida<br />
Thank you for providing feedback and<br />
sharing your thoughts and techniques.<br />
ENEMY AT THE GATE<br />
The column “Enemy At The Gate” is<br />
one of the primary reasons I have continued<br />
to read S.W.A.T. for over four<br />
years. I always considered it proof that<br />
you guys are “plugged in.” Like you, I<br />
will miss Claire Wolfe—that girl has a<br />
salty enthusiasm that is second to none.<br />
While Stewart Rhodes may not be well<br />
known or widely published, he comes<br />
with solid credentials and a good attitude.<br />
I just read his fi rst article—I think<br />
he’ll do fi ne.<br />
J. Krapu, Minnesota<br />
A sincere “thank you” for taking the time<br />
to write and share your thoughts with us.<br />
Giving credit where it is due, the column<br />
was the idea of Publisher Rich Lucibella and<br />
was one of the fi rst things he instituted when<br />
he bought S.W.A.T. six years ago. As editor,<br />
I’ve seen the “director’s cut” of Stewart’s<br />
fi rst four columns, and I think you will be<br />
very pleased with what he has in store for<br />
readers.<br />
Denny Hansen<br />
S.W.A.T. IS FOR<br />
EVERYONE<br />
Your magazine is one of a kind. I<br />
subscribe to many gun magazines, but<br />
S.W.A.T. fi ts my needs the best. Tiger<br />
McKee, one of your Contributing Staff,<br />
introduced me to the magazine. The articles<br />
are for anyone who is a serious gun<br />
enthusiast. I am not in law enforcement<br />
or the military, but the material in your<br />
articles, no matter if they are written<br />
about rifl es, pistols or just testing clothing,<br />
is of great interest to me. I have sub-<br />
8 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
MAIL ROOM<br />
scribed, so keep up the high quality of<br />
this magazine.<br />
T. Kelly, Alabama<br />
Thanks for the kind words. We do, in fact,<br />
try to make each issue as applicable to as<br />
many people as possible. One of our missions<br />
at S.W.A.T. is to rebuild the bridge between<br />
law enforcement and private citizens that the<br />
anti-gun community has tried to burn down<br />
with catchphrases like assault weapons, copkiller<br />
bullets, etc. In short, to establish a dialogue<br />
between the “cop on the beat” and the<br />
“man on the street.”<br />
PROPER RIFLE BREAK-IN<br />
I have heard and read that for the<br />
utmost in accuracy, a new rifle should<br />
be thoroughly cleaned after every ten<br />
rounds for the first 100 or so rounds. Is<br />
this necessary for every rifle or just precision<br />
rifles? I have a new Bushmaster<br />
AR-15 that I plan on using as a defensive<br />
rifle and want to do things the right way<br />
from the start. Should anything else be<br />
broken in?<br />
B. Sparrow, Texas<br />
With the introduction of the K9 pistol in<br />
1995, Kahr Arms created the ultra compact<br />
major caliber pistol market. Since then many have<br />
tried but none has succeeded in delivering a pistol as<br />
compact and reliable as the Kahr pistols. With the<br />
introduction of the P45, Kahr continues this tradition of<br />
delivering unrivaled Concealed Carry Weapons.<br />
The Kahr P45 has the combination of features which<br />
make it the best Concealed Carry .45 ACP caliber pistol<br />
in the market. It has the ideal combination of stopping<br />
power and shooting comfort, and is smaller, slimmer<br />
and lighter than competitive brands. Its smooth<br />
double action trigger reduces flinch, improving shot<br />
Whether or not to “break-in” a barrel is<br />
likely to get as many responses as which is<br />
the “best” firearm. Some believe it is absolutely<br />
necessary, while others believe it is a<br />
total waste of time. For what it’s worth, the<br />
following is what I personally do:<br />
When I test a precision rifle such as the<br />
Kimber Advanced Tactical reviewed in this<br />
issue, I clean the barrel after every shot for<br />
the first ten rounds. The procedure I use is<br />
to run a patch with Pro-Shot copper solvent<br />
down the bore, let it sit for a couple of minutes,<br />
and then follow with fresh patches until<br />
the patch comes out white. On precision rifles<br />
only, I try to clean the bore at least every<br />
50 shots after that. For an AR-type rifle used<br />
for defense, I do not bother with a break-in<br />
period, as I don’t feel much is gained from the<br />
somewhat laborious procedure.<br />
Although I have not seen it endorsed<br />
elsewhere, when I fire a new semiautomatic<br />
firearm (including an AR-type rifle or a new<br />
carrier/bolt assembly), I run it bone dry for<br />
the first 10 rounds to obtain the most metal-<br />
to-metal contact as possible to knock off any<br />
high points left in the manufacturing process.<br />
After that I run it properly lubricated.<br />
Denny Hansen<br />
® KAHR ARMS: P. O. Box 220, Blauvelt, NY 10913<br />
Sales Support & Service: 508-795-3919<br />
Websites: www.kahr.com / www.kahrshop.com<br />
Made with Pride<br />
in the U.S.A.<br />
KP4543<br />
p l a c e m e n t ,<br />
and is safer.<br />
In stressful situations,<br />
fine motor control<br />
is impaired contributing<br />
to the possibility<br />
of accidental discharges<br />
with traditional single action triggers found on many<br />
autos and revolvers. The P45's natural point of aim and<br />
low felt recoil make it an ideal gun to shoot and carry.<br />
Go to your nearest retailer and ask for the P45.<br />
RIFLE FINISH<br />
Recently S.W.A.T. had an article about<br />
the TAPCO stock for the Ruger Mini-<br />
14 (“Offbeat: Tapco Mini-14 Stock,”<br />
S.W.A.T., September <strong>2007</strong>). The rifle<br />
shown had a dark earth coating on it.<br />
Is that a Duracoat finish? Who did the<br />
work? It was very nice.<br />
T. Sims, Florida<br />
The coating is Brownells Baking Lacquer<br />
in OD color and was applied over a blue finish<br />
rifle. It’s easy to apply, and I did the work<br />
myself.<br />
Denny Hansen<br />
Mini-14 has a Brownells<br />
Baking Lacquer in OD.<br />
Why buy a BLOCK<br />
when you can<br />
own a Kahr?<br />
Preferred Choice of<br />
Undercover Armed<br />
Professionals<br />
10 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
AGAINST ALL ODDS<br />
Self-made survival kits should include a fixedblade<br />
knife to allow the user greater potential for<br />
success when building shelters and fires.<br />
BUILd YOUR OWN<br />
SURVIVAL KIT<br />
» BY JEFF RANDALL<br />
When you receive this issue of<br />
S.W.A.T. and begin to thumb<br />
through the pages, my partner,<br />
Mike Perrin, and I will be in the<br />
middle of the Amazon jungle teaching<br />
a jungle survival skills class. Once the<br />
ferry boat drops our team off and leaves<br />
us 100 miles from any civilization, we’re<br />
on our own with no way of getting out<br />
except to live off the jungle, then build<br />
rafts and fl oat ourselves to the Amazon<br />
to hitch a ride back to civilization.<br />
The only thing the participants will<br />
have with them (except the clothes on<br />
their backs) is a small backpack that will<br />
contain their passport, machete, compass,<br />
water bottle, pocket knife, mosquito<br />
net, rain poncho, personal fi rst<br />
aid kit and fl ashlight. There will be no<br />
commercial food, no sat phones and no<br />
As the author and the Peruvian military have demonstrated many times, a<br />
small backpack with essential tools is more than enough for a person to<br />
survive indefinitely in the wilderness.<br />
12 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
FN M240 7.62x51MM NATO MEDIUM MACHINE GUN<br />
Your FNP autoloading pistol is built in the same American factory, to<br />
the same high IS09001 standard of quality the <strong>Department</strong> of Defense<br />
demands for their machine guns. FN provides 70% of the small arms<br />
used by the U.S. Military Forces around the globe. FN is the name you<br />
can trust. JUST LIKE THEY DO.<br />
THE FN FNP IS AVAILABLE IN 40 S&W AND 9MM<br />
- FN FNP-40 DA/SA AUTOLOADING PISTOL SHOWN -<br />
Every FN FNP comes with:<br />
• Hammer-forged barrel<br />
• Stainless steel slide<br />
• Ambidextrous decocking levers<br />
• Interchangeable rear grip<br />
• Three high-capacity magazines and a hard case<br />
(Limited-capacity magazines supplied where required by law.)<br />
FNH USA • P.O. BOX 697 • McLEAN, VA 22101 USA • (703) 288-1292 © FNH USA, LLC., a subsidiary of FN Herstal, S.A. <strong>2007</strong>.<br />
Top photo courtesy U.S. <strong>Department</strong> of Defense
AGAINST ALL ODDS<br />
helicopter evacuation should someone<br />
get bitten by a poisonous snake, break a<br />
leg, or decide they want to go home. So,<br />
having the right skills, the right mindset,<br />
and the right kit will be the keys to<br />
the survival and learning experiences.<br />
Since this class has the participants going<br />
into a remote area of Peru and living<br />
for a week with bare-bones essentials, I<br />
thought this would be an appropriate<br />
time to discuss survival kits.<br />
Over the past year or so, Against All<br />
Odds has covered several commercially<br />
available survival kits, with most of these<br />
being geared toward specific scenarios<br />
or individuals such as hunters, vehicle<br />
survival and small pocket kits that can<br />
be carried every day by a businessman.<br />
For the newcomer to “survival” who’s<br />
Jungle man gathers<br />
cordage from bark of<br />
sapling to make rope.<br />
looking to gear up for that just-in-case<br />
scenario, this can become overwhelming,<br />
since there are so many variations<br />
available on the market. What’s worse is<br />
that many times an uninformed person<br />
will buy a kit that’s not really suited to<br />
their environment or lifestyle, and think<br />
they’re now protected simply because<br />
they bought something labeled “survival.”<br />
Before you get yourself all wound<br />
up trying to buy the perfect kit, why not<br />
experiment and make your own?<br />
A kit can range in size from an Altoid<br />
tin stuffed with basic essentials to large<br />
backpacks with tents and a food supply.<br />
And while any kit should be built for the<br />
area you operate in, I suggest that every<br />
kit cover the following survival requirements:<br />
fire, shelter, water, navigation,<br />
signaling and first aid. Most of the necessary<br />
tools can be found at your local<br />
Wal-Mart. As a basic reference, I’ll break<br />
down what I typically carry in my travel<br />
kit:<br />
FIRE<br />
A small Ferrocerium rod, a Bic lighter,<br />
a couple of alcohol prep pads and a few<br />
military Trixoane heat tabs will get a fire<br />
going in any location—no matter the<br />
weather condition.<br />
SHELTER<br />
Fifty feet of 550 cord (para-cord), a<br />
military grade, full-length poncho and<br />
a space blanket. I’ve spent many nights<br />
sleeping comfortably under a poncho<br />
wrapped in a space blanket. Ponchos<br />
also work well for taking away immediate<br />
chill or hypothermic conditions.<br />
Simply spread a few embers or hot rocks<br />
from your campfire onto a clean spot<br />
on the ground, then huddle over them<br />
with your poncho and the rising heat<br />
will warm you quickly. With just a poncho<br />
and a space blanket, you can properly<br />
shelter yourself in any climate from<br />
temperate to tropical. Couple these tools<br />
with other techniques such as simple debris<br />
shelters, elevated sleeping platforms<br />
built from the wilds, or fire beds, and<br />
you can handle much colder climates.<br />
Simply put, military grade ponchos are<br />
worth their weight in gold in the wilds.<br />
Not only do they make good shelters,<br />
but they also make good stretchers for<br />
hauling out injured victims.<br />
WATER<br />
For water procurement, I carry a<br />
one-quart collapsible water bladder. I<br />
like these better than hard canteens or<br />
Nalgene bottles for kits because they<br />
take up little room for storage and they<br />
can also be blown up and used as an<br />
emergency floatation device if needed.<br />
Cheaper containers that I sometimes<br />
carry include Ziploc bags and condoms.<br />
A condom packs up small and will expand<br />
to many times its size. When first<br />
unwrapped, they’re somewhat difficult<br />
to get water into, but once they stretch a<br />
little and get some water weight in them,<br />
they will just keep expanding. One note<br />
on condom use: If you ever have to use<br />
one as an emergency canteen, use a sock<br />
1 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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Every FN FNP comes with:<br />
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• Interchangeable rear grip<br />
• Three high-capacity magazines and a hard case<br />
(Limited-capacity magazines supplied where required by law.)<br />
FNH USA • P.O. BOX 697 • McLEAN, VA 22101 USA • (703) 288-1292 © FNH USA, LLC., a subsidiary of FN Herstal, S.A. <strong>2007</strong>.<br />
Top photo courtesy U.S. <strong>Department</strong> of Defense
AGAINST ALL ODDS<br />
as a protective wrapper to keep it from<br />
rupturing easily.<br />
For survival water purification, I carry<br />
a chemical purifying agent. Several<br />
variations of this are available, such as<br />
Polar Pure and Potable Aqua, and while<br />
it’s not the best for killing all waterborne<br />
bugs, it stores easily and works well in<br />
an emergency.<br />
NAVIGATION / SIGNALING<br />
For navigation and signaling, buy a<br />
good baseplate compass with mirror<br />
sighting capabilities. Not only are these<br />
more accurate for navigation, but the<br />
mirror also makes an excellent signaling<br />
device using the finger “peace sign”<br />
method described in most survival manuals.<br />
I also include a good Write In The<br />
Rain notepad and pen because any time<br />
you attempt to self-rescue by navigating<br />
in unfamiliar territory, you should<br />
always record your bearings, distance<br />
and travel times in case you have to return<br />
to where you started. Ranger beads<br />
are a great way to record distance. Buy<br />
a set, practice with them and keep them<br />
in your kit. They’re cheap, lightweight<br />
and can be attached to your clothing<br />
and provide you with a relatively<br />
easy way to measure distance traveled.<br />
A good flashlight with spare bulb<br />
and batteries is a must in any survival<br />
kit—just be sure to keep the batteries<br />
rotated. Another thing I include in my<br />
kit is several large pieces of reflective<br />
tape such as those found in the automotive<br />
section at Wal-Mart. I don’t know<br />
of any commercial kits that include<br />
this as a tool, but for marking camps<br />
or key points that you may need to return<br />
to, it’s an excellent tool. By taping<br />
two small pieces back to back and then<br />
hanging them by a string/cord/vine in<br />
the open, you have a bright 360-degree<br />
16 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
FN M240 7.62x51MM NATO MEDIUM MACHINE GUN<br />
Your FNP autoloading pistol is built in the same American factory, to<br />
the same high IS09001 standard of quality the <strong>Department</strong> of Defense<br />
demands for their machine guns. FN provides 70% of the small arms<br />
used by the U.S. Military Forces around the globe. FN is the name you<br />
can trust. JUST LIKE THEY DO.<br />
THE FN FNP IS AVAILABLE IN 40 S&W AND 9MM<br />
- FN FNP-40 DA/SA AUTOLOADING PISTOL SHOWN -<br />
Every FN FNP comes with:<br />
• Hammer-forged barrel<br />
• Stainless steel slide<br />
• Ambidextrous decocking levers<br />
• Interchangeable rear grip<br />
• Three high-capacity magazines and a hard case<br />
(Limited-capacity magazines supplied where required by law.)<br />
FNH USA • P.O. BOX 697 • McLEAN, VA 22101 USA • (703) 288-1292 © FNH USA, LLC., a subsidiary of FN Herstal, S.A. <strong>2007</strong>.<br />
Top photo courtesy U.S. <strong>Department</strong> of Defense
AGAINST ALL ODDS<br />
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marker when lit up with a flashlight.<br />
Lastly, don’t forget a good water-resistant<br />
watch that can stand up to the<br />
elements. My preference is a watch<br />
with analog movement (hands) instead<br />
of digital, since it can be used for gross<br />
navigation should you lose your compass.<br />
FIRST AID<br />
For first aid, I usually go with a commercial<br />
kit, such as those made by Adventure<br />
Medical Kits, and expand on<br />
it depending on the requirements. My<br />
add-ons typically include an emergency<br />
dental kit (also from Adventure Medical),<br />
3M Disposable skin stapler and<br />
small roll of Duct tape for wound closure,<br />
Providone Iodine solution concentrate<br />
10% for wound disinfectant, Vet-Wrap<br />
(human version is called Co-Flex), an<br />
Epi-Pen (carried for trip members who<br />
may have allergic reactions), SAM Splint,<br />
Oral rehydration salts, Oral glucose tabs<br />
and gel, and a Sawyers Extractor. I top<br />
all of this off with any prescription meds<br />
that I might need and, depending on the<br />
trip and location, I usually carry a small<br />
bottle of injectable 1% Lidocaine local<br />
anesthetic along with several diabetes<br />
needles and syringes. Although I’m not<br />
“licensed” to use injectables, they have<br />
come in handy many times for removing<br />
deeply embedded thorns and making<br />
wound cleaning easier on the patient.<br />
KNIFE<br />
The last and most important item of<br />
any wilderness survival kit is a knife. I<br />
typically carry two: one a multi-tool or<br />
Swiss Army-style knife and the other a<br />
fixed blade that can be used for heavier<br />
work like long-term shelter building,<br />
splitting kindling or spear work. In all<br />
honesty, the multi-tool sees ten times<br />
more work than the fixed blade, but the<br />
larger knife gives the survivalist a lot of<br />
insurance. If I had to choose between the<br />
two for survival, the fixed blade would<br />
win.<br />
FOOD<br />
The one thing I didn’t mention in<br />
the survival basics is food. This was on<br />
purpose, because food is the least priority<br />
for any survival kit. With that said,<br />
I usually pack a small fishing kit, extra<br />
18 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
Building a raft with nothing but a knife shows that a good<br />
survival kit will give the user all the tools to improvise<br />
just about anything needed to support life in the wilds. In<br />
the wilderness, if you don’t have it, you make it.<br />
hooks, bait corn and a compact gill net<br />
(packs to about the size of your fist).<br />
With these combinations I can catch or<br />
trap just about anything that’s edible. If<br />
you want to add on to the food section<br />
even more, then find a cooking pot that<br />
will double as a storage device for your<br />
whole survival kit. A simple cooking<br />
pot in the wilds greatly expands your<br />
nourishment capabilities by making<br />
soups and broths.<br />
In summary, if you decide to build<br />
(rather than buy) a survival kit, then<br />
construct it to suit your needs and your<br />
environment. Just because I carry a particular<br />
item or brand doesn’t mean it<br />
will work for your environment or situation.<br />
If you build around the basics—<br />
fire, shelter, water, navigation, signaling<br />
and first aid—you will greatly increase<br />
your chances of surviving just about<br />
any scenario that might occur. §<br />
[Jeff Randall has worked and traveled in<br />
China, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore,<br />
Switzerland, and nearly every Latin<br />
American country. He is the co-author of<br />
the book Adventure Travel in the Third<br />
World and is also an accomplished photographer.<br />
He considers the Amazon jungle his<br />
second home. He can be contacted through<br />
www.jungletraining.com]<br />
SOURCES:<br />
Adventure Medical Kits<br />
Survival Suppliers<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 1860<br />
Los Gatos, CA 95031<br />
(888) 748-1608<br />
www.survivalsuppliers.com<br />
AGAINST ALL ODDS<br />
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Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 100001<br />
1025 Cobb International Dr. NW, Ste.<br />
100<br />
Kennesaw, GA 30156-9217<br />
(800) 338-4327<br />
www.actiongear.com<br />
Sawyers Extractor<br />
Moontrail Back Country Equipment<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
5407 Bandera Rd. #117<br />
San Antonio, TX 78238<br />
(800) 569-8411<br />
www.moontrail.com<br />
Write In The Rain Notepad & Pen<br />
J. L. Darling Corp.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
2614 Pacific Hwy. E<br />
Tacoma, WA 98424<br />
(253) 922-5000<br />
www.writeintherain.com<br />
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FRONTLINE DEBRIEFS<br />
The term “Risk Management” is<br />
synonymous with what the United<br />
States Navy calls “Preventative<br />
Maintenance.” It specifi cally refers to the<br />
concept that it is far better to prevent a<br />
mishap or catastrophic failure than it is<br />
to address one in the immediacy of the<br />
moment when it could have been prevented<br />
in the fi rst place. Enter the domain<br />
of police work.<br />
The most serious event ever facing an<br />
offi cer is not the reports, not the public<br />
contacts, and not the run-of-the-mill<br />
calls for service. The most serious event<br />
is the application of deadly force. This<br />
singular event can, in and of itself, ruin<br />
a department’s reputation, bankrupt a<br />
city, destroy careers and prove to be devastating<br />
in unimaginable ways.<br />
I testify as an expert witness in defense<br />
of offi cers in both Federal and<br />
Superior court throughout the U.S.<br />
When I accept these cases, it entails<br />
far more than a cursory review of the<br />
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events that transpired. I have to conduct<br />
the “walk-throughs,” examine the<br />
forensic evidence, read all the redacted<br />
and un-redacted statements of all the<br />
participants, the witnesses and the opposing<br />
so-called “experts” (of which<br />
there are very few real ones). There are<br />
forensic and toxicology reports, depositions,<br />
autopsy reports, evidence reports,<br />
background histories of participants,<br />
crime scene analysis, measurements and<br />
photographs, transcripts of taped interviews<br />
and on and on to review in detail.<br />
I myself must undergo depositions by<br />
the opposition, not to mention the direct<br />
and then the cross and then the redirect<br />
and then the re-cross-examinations<br />
on the witness stand. In Federal cases I<br />
must submit highly detailed written reports<br />
and any briefs necessary in order<br />
to make sense of what occurred during<br />
the shooting. Ultimately, I must relate<br />
the facts of the case to a jury in such a<br />
manner that they get a comprehensive<br />
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overview of what transpired in the fi eld,<br />
and this is always done in a more than<br />
stressful atmosphere.<br />
I am proud to say that, of all the hundreds<br />
of offi cers I have taught through the<br />
years who have been involved in shootings,<br />
not a single one has, to my personal<br />
knowledge, ever been involved in a bad<br />
shooting. (This also means that the offi -<br />
cer has survived the incident, which is<br />
the key element in any shooting). These<br />
are not, by the way, fi ctional shootings or<br />
shootings that “can’t be talked about.”<br />
These are documented shootings that do<br />
in fact exist and they have the requisite<br />
volumes of paperwork and investigative<br />
man-hours and backgrounds to confi rm<br />
their existence.<br />
Deadly force application goes well<br />
beyond the physical application of such<br />
force. It goes to the facts and the circumstances<br />
known to the offi cer at the<br />
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20 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
FRONTLINE DEBRIEFS<br />
articulable facts of the case as the officer<br />
views the event. I do not teach just<br />
shooting techniques—or just tactics or<br />
just weaponry—but rather the entire<br />
professional package that will ultimately<br />
be put to the test in the field.<br />
There is a marked and distinct difference<br />
between a shooting class and a<br />
deadly force class. Standard qualification<br />
does not prepare one adequately<br />
for the events that unfold in the field.<br />
It can’t. There is a reason that I teach in<br />
the manner and format that I do. I know<br />
what can happen when shootings take a<br />
turn for the worse. It isn’t just about the<br />
officer surviving, but rather prevailing<br />
and doing so in sterling fashion, with<br />
the ability to articulate what it was that<br />
caused him to apply deadly force in the<br />
first place. The manner in which one<br />
explains one’s actions is equally, if not<br />
more important than, the actions themselves<br />
in some cases. It takes real world<br />
experience in the courts and the judicial<br />
system, as well as on the streets, to teach<br />
this properly.<br />
If an officer-involved shooting is clean<br />
and above board, then there is no need<br />
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for my services in this area. In this instance<br />
we can easily delete those two<br />
lines and it won’t make any difference.<br />
When, however, the shooting is mired in<br />
confusion, negative publicity and controversy,<br />
then and only then do I come<br />
into play. As I go through the shooting,<br />
I am struck by the salient fact that, had<br />
the officer received realistic training,<br />
had he learned from someone who knew<br />
precisely what would occur during and<br />
after the shooting, had he known what<br />
would be expected of him from within<br />
the judicial system prior to the event,<br />
then the shooting would be far, far easier<br />
to resolve among all parties concerned.<br />
A department that views deadly force<br />
training as too expensive, too consumptive<br />
of man-hours, and too remote a<br />
possibility of occurring is seriously<br />
myopic. None of us have crystal balls<br />
or soothsayers on retention who can<br />
predict when a shooting will occur on a<br />
department. If such were the case, then<br />
we would simply train the parties to be<br />
involved, get them up to speed and let<br />
things take their course. Due to the unpredictable<br />
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hooves a department to prevent bad or<br />
marginal shootings by receiving proper<br />
training in the first place.<br />
Just the paperwork alone for these<br />
cases runs into the tens of thousands of<br />
dollars. Add to all of this the expense of<br />
the requisite experts, attorneys and the<br />
sheer man-hours necessary to prepare<br />
and present a case, and the bill becomes<br />
staggering. I would venture to say that<br />
an average case can run from $500,000<br />
to $2,000,000 to defend. A fraction of<br />
this funding spent on deadly force risk<br />
management training may have easily<br />
averted such expenditures. Many of the<br />
departments that I have taught have experienced<br />
shootings that turned out for<br />
the better due to such training, and they<br />
have told me so in no uncertain terms.<br />
An ounce of prevention is worth a<br />
pound of cure, and the concept of risk<br />
management as it regards deadly force<br />
training is no exception to this rule. §<br />
[Scott Reitz is a 30-year veteran of the Los Angeles<br />
<strong>Police</strong> <strong>Department</strong> and the director of the<br />
highly acclaimed International Tactical Training<br />
Seminars. Course information and schedules are<br />
available at their website at www.internationaltactical.com<br />
or by email at itts@gte.net.]<br />
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22 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM<br />
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Often it seems that peace offi<br />
cers want what the military<br />
uses, and private citizens<br />
want what law enforcement<br />
uses. It was not that many years<br />
ago when it seemed like everyone<br />
wanted a .38 revolver because<br />
“that’s what the cops use.” This is<br />
not only the case with fi rearms, but<br />
other gear as well. A prime example<br />
is drop-leg (thigh) holsters.<br />
Don’t get me wrong, there is<br />
a need for thigh holsters, but it is<br />
primarily to position what is normally<br />
the secondary gun (the pistol)<br />
where body armor/load bearing<br />
gear is not in the way. Still, I see<br />
some students—who are about as<br />
likely to need a thigh holster as I<br />
will be going to work for NASA—<br />
show up to classes with thigh holsters.<br />
Recently I received a holster<br />
from Safariland—the Model 6304<br />
ALS Tactical Holster—for test and<br />
evaluation. The 6304 is a Level II<br />
Plus security holster and is available<br />
for most popular service<br />
pistols. Mine was ordered to fi t<br />
a 1911 Government Model. The<br />
body of the holster is constructed<br />
with thermal-molded Safari-Laminate,<br />
safeguarding the gun and<br />
the molded sight track, and features<br />
soft Safari-Suede, which<br />
provides additional protection for<br />
the sight and fi nish of the gun. The<br />
body of the holster is attached to<br />
the leg panel—also made from<br />
Safari-Laminate—with three large<br />
Allen-head screws.<br />
As the name implies, the 6304<br />
features Safariland’s ALS (Automatic<br />
Locking System). The 6304<br />
24 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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Source Code: BJJ<br />
26 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM<br />
231.22845 SWAT Dec07.indd 1 8/15/07 2:44:15 PM<br />
has two retention devices. The fi rst, the<br />
locking hood, is released by pushing the<br />
thumb tab straight down and then pushing<br />
it forward, rotating the hood away<br />
from the pistol. This motion takes some<br />
practice to get used to, but after a short<br />
time becomes very instinctive. Since I<br />
don’t know who may read this article, I<br />
will not describe how to disable the second<br />
retention device. Suffi ce to say that<br />
with practice it is quick to use and very<br />
secure. To the front and side of the rotating<br />
hood is a shield to help protect the<br />
gun.<br />
There is a tension screw on the outside<br />
of the holster so the user can adjust<br />
for how much force he wants to apply<br />
to draw the pistol. The belt hanger is capable<br />
of fi tting any size belt. The hanger<br />
strap uses the same three screws that<br />
attach the body of the holster to the leg<br />
panel. Enough adjustment is built into<br />
the belt hanger that it can be worn down<br />
around the knee or almost as high as a<br />
standard duty holster. The two elastic<br />
leg straps are approximately 1 ½ inches<br />
wide and attach with quick-release<br />
buckles. Both leg straps can be used or<br />
removed as needed.<br />
If there is a downside to this holster,<br />
it’s that if an operator is used to a holster<br />
with less security and switches to using<br />
this holster without taking the time to<br />
practice with it—and is faced with a high<br />
stress situation—they might not be able<br />
to draw as quickly as they need. In the<br />
instructions that come with the holster,<br />
Safariland cautions not to use the 6304<br />
on duty until a draw can be completed<br />
in less than two seconds. This, however,<br />
is a training issue and no fault of the holster,<br />
and becomes a non-issue if the end<br />
user trains and practices with it.<br />
If you are one of the people who needs<br />
a quality thigh holster, it would be hard<br />
to go wrong with Safariland’s Model<br />
6304 ALS Tactical Holster. Suggested retail<br />
for the 6304 is $192.00. §<br />
SOURCE:<br />
Safariland<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
3120 E. Mission Blvd.<br />
Ontario, CA 91761<br />
(800) 347-1200<br />
www.safariland.com
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Insight<br />
Technology’s<br />
SSL-1<br />
80-Lumen Tactical Light<br />
For Pros And Citizens<br />
» BY SCOTT OLDHAM<br />
The most crucial (and often the most difficult) part of the lethal force engagement sequence is<br />
identifying the target.<br />
The hostile may be obscured by<br />
their purposeful use of cover or<br />
may be only partially visible due<br />
to some type of concealment.<br />
In this regard, the most likely concealment<br />
is darkness. Whether you are a<br />
police officer searching for a suspect, a<br />
soldier or Marine storming a bunker or a<br />
homeowner checking on something that<br />
has gone bump in the night, darkness is<br />
not your friend when it comes to target<br />
identification. As such, the use of an illumination<br />
tool to assist in first locating<br />
and then identifying a target is not only<br />
prudent, but mandatory.<br />
There are many tried and true methods<br />
for using a handheld light source in<br />
combination with a firearm; however,<br />
all of these techniques, to one degree<br />
or another, have problems associated<br />
with their use. The major problem they<br />
share is that both hands will be filled<br />
Insight Technology’s SSL-1 is a small<br />
but intense light source capable of<br />
being mounted on a duty weapon for<br />
full-time use.<br />
with either a firearm or a flashlight, and<br />
so tasks such as opening doors or using<br />
your non-dominant hand for other purposes<br />
become quite difficult. Enter the<br />
firearm-mounted light.<br />
This concept is not new. In fact, some<br />
drawings exist that prove this concept<br />
was thought of near the turn of the 20th<br />
century—over 100 years ago. What is<br />
relatively new, however, is that the use<br />
of a light affixed to a firearm has now be-<br />
28 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
come commonplace among a myriad of<br />
different end users. Once the mounted<br />
light was seen only in high-end tactical<br />
units or with elite military organizations,<br />
but now the firearm-mounted white<br />
light source is commonplace among<br />
street level patrol officers, detectives and<br />
armed citizens.<br />
While not the first to offer the modern<br />
incarnation of a pistol- or rifle-mounted<br />
white light, Insight Technologies was the<br />
first to offer a very convenient mounting<br />
platform that allowed for quick-on/off<br />
usage. Developed as a follow-on design<br />
to the original UTL (Universal Tactical<br />
Light) that they designed and built for<br />
the Heckler & Koch USP pistol, Insight<br />
introduced the M3. It was this light—<br />
originally made to fit the then-new<br />
third generation Glock pistols, which<br />
introduced the universal rail on the<br />
dust cover—that has taken the firearms<br />
world by storm. The M3 offered officers<br />
and armed citizens a light that was capable<br />
of being rapidly mounted with a<br />
simple slide of the hand, turning a standard<br />
carry pistol into both a day and<br />
night fighter. The M3 light, which is still<br />
made by Insight, made each issue pistol<br />
into something that was a long soughtafter<br />
dream. Compact, light and most<br />
importantly inexpensive, the unit was<br />
an instant hit.<br />
What was not a hit, however, was<br />
that the M3 was never intended to see<br />
major combat and was not designed for<br />
constant use, so problems quickly arose.<br />
Insight took note and, in order to rectify<br />
those problems, introduced the X-series<br />
lights in the form of the M3X and M6X<br />
(light/laser combo). Both of these are<br />
incandescent bulb lights that offer 125<br />
peak lumens. Each features the same<br />
slide-lock interface and other advantages<br />
of the M3, but both are significantly<br />
more robust.<br />
However, realizing that the incandescent<br />
bulbs—which are used in both series<br />
of lights—were the major weak spot<br />
of the system, Insight set about to incorporate<br />
LED technology into their newest<br />
unit while at the same time preserving<br />
the best aspects of the company’s earlier<br />
designs.<br />
What began originally as a co-operative<br />
venture with another leading tactical<br />
company has lead Insight to introduce<br />
the solid state light, or SSL-1. The<br />
SSL-1 is an 80-lumen tactical light that<br />
has been designed to use Insight’s Slide-<br />
Lock technology so that it can be mounted,<br />
or dismounted, on any pistol using<br />
either the Glock style universal rail or<br />
the milspec standard M1913 Picatinny<br />
rail.<br />
The unit is 1.4 inches high with a<br />
width of 1.6 inches and a length of 3.4<br />
inches, making it extremely close to the<br />
dimensions of the original M3 light. It<br />
will, in fact, fit in holsters designed to fit<br />
the M3.<br />
The SSL-1 is a six-volt light that is<br />
Type III anodized and weighs less than<br />
four ounces complete with batteries. The<br />
Insight Technology’s SSL-1<br />
offers 80 lumens of light in a<br />
compact package that can be<br />
carried unobtrusively on the<br />
forward mounting rail of most<br />
modern duty pistols.<br />
unit uses two independent switches that<br />
offer either momentary or constant-on<br />
functions. Both of the switches, which<br />
are located at the rear of the unit, are independent<br />
of each other. As such, they<br />
offer redundant functioning should either<br />
one malfunction.<br />
The SSL-1 was tested in a variety of<br />
different scenarios using several different<br />
firearms, including a Glock 17,<br />
Kimber Warrior and Smith & Wesson<br />
M&P 9mm. With each of the firearms,<br />
the unit affixed itself in a normal manner<br />
with no surprises, and functioned well<br />
despite hundreds of rounds expended<br />
downrange. Use of the SSL-1 was intuitive,<br />
as most who participated in the<br />
testing of the unit had used this style<br />
of light before. The 80 lumens, which is<br />
projected in a tight central beam with a<br />
very large corona, was found to be very<br />
useful in searching buildings and other<br />
dark areas that routinely confront police<br />
officers during their normal tours<br />
of duty. Officers and armed citizens<br />
who tried this weapon light especially<br />
praised the switches. All involved in the<br />
test felt the switches were easy to access<br />
and sure in operation—something that<br />
cannot be said for some other like-styled<br />
products on the market. While only two<br />
of the SSL-1 units were tested, functioning<br />
for both was flawless, with sure and<br />
positive activation of the light.<br />
While having a weapon-mounted<br />
light always at hand is an invaluable<br />
feature, the need for a second, handheld<br />
light source is not alleviated. While<br />
the weapon will always have a light attached,<br />
it is imperative that the second<br />
light source always be close at hand for<br />
duties where it would be inappropriate<br />
to point a loaded weapon.<br />
Much has been made about the “quick<br />
on, quick off” feature of this and other<br />
similar lights. While this is a valuable<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 29
INSIGHT SSL-1<br />
feature for some (such as homeowners<br />
who wish to affix the white light to a daily<br />
carry pistol before they lie down for<br />
the night), for others it has a tendency to<br />
be misused. The time for either quick on<br />
or quick off is not during a high-stress<br />
situation. This feature, nice as it is, can<br />
quickly lead to problems for the end<br />
user, especially police officers who often<br />
take suspects at gunpoint and then need<br />
to go “hands on” with them to finish the<br />
arrest. Should an officer carry the light<br />
separate from the pistol—only affixing<br />
the light when needed—there exist two<br />
major safety concerns.<br />
First, while the unit is mounted to the<br />
weapon it is not possible, in most cases,<br />
to re-holster the gun. This presents a<br />
huge dilemma when it does become necessary<br />
to lay hands on the suspect. What<br />
will you now do with a pistol that you<br />
cannot re-holster? The solution to this<br />
problem is either to immediately remove<br />
the light and re-holster the weapon or<br />
keep the weapon out while at the same<br />
time engaging the suspect with only the<br />
one free hand. Neither is particularly advantageous—or<br />
smart.<br />
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that have recently been much improved.<br />
At the beginning of <strong>2007</strong>, Safariland<br />
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I or at most Level II (using the optional<br />
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enforcement agencies require that offi-<br />
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30 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM<br />
561-912.indd 1 10/22/07 1:00:49 PM<br />
561-912
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cers use a security holster while on duty.<br />
The ALS series of holsters is a significant<br />
step forward for those who must carry a<br />
holstered weapon on a daily basis.<br />
Offered first for the Glock series pistols—which<br />
will quickly be joined by<br />
others—the ALS is offered in several finishes<br />
and performed exceedingly well<br />
during tests. The ALS locks the weapon<br />
into the holster immediately upon being<br />
placed there without the officer having<br />
to manually operate any lever, hood or<br />
snap. Once locked, the weapon with the<br />
light attached is secure and will remain<br />
holstered under extreme situations until<br />
the integral locking bar is disengaged.<br />
While it will not be discussed in detail<br />
in an open publication, suffice it to say<br />
that the ALS lock is very quick to release<br />
while at the same time offering unparalleled<br />
weapons retention. The ALS, in<br />
most versions, also features a hood that<br />
may be rotated to the rear, covering the<br />
weapon and offering even more retention<br />
against loss or snatch. The light-capable<br />
ALS will accept most of the common pistol-mounted<br />
lights, including the SSL-1.<br />
As with many other products, the tactical<br />
light continues to improve and see<br />
more uses. The companies involved in<br />
their manufacture will continue to refine<br />
their products from lessons learned on<br />
the mean streets and in combat around<br />
the world. Insight Technology has crafted<br />
a logical follow-on to their original M3<br />
light, which set the stage for many other<br />
offerings that have since come down the<br />
pike. The SSL-1 offers the durability of<br />
an LED light source in a proven package<br />
that makes it extremely useable for officers,<br />
soldiers and private citizens who<br />
may find themselves in harm’s way. §<br />
SOURCES:<br />
Insight Technology<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
9 Akira Way<br />
Londonderry, NH 03053<br />
(877) 744-4802<br />
www.insightlights.com<br />
Safariland<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
3120 East Mission Blvd.<br />
Ontario, CA 91761<br />
(800) 347-1200<br />
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32 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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ENEMY AT THE GATE<br />
CANARY IN THE COAL MINE<br />
OF AMERICAN LIBERTY<br />
BY STEWART RHODES<br />
Prior to the American Revolution,<br />
the British legal system morphed<br />
into a perverse tool of injustice<br />
and oppression in support of usurping<br />
power rather than a safeguard to liberty.<br />
Our current legal system is well along<br />
the same path.<br />
A case in point is that of Arkansas<br />
Militia commander Wayne Fincher, convicted<br />
in federal court for the “offenses”<br />
of possession of a homemade machine<br />
gun and an unregistered short-barreled<br />
shotgun. [See http://www.arkansasmilitia.com/.]<br />
USURPING POWER<br />
NEVER GRANTED<br />
Nowhere in Article I, Section 8 of<br />
the Constitution is there enumerated a<br />
power to regulate or prohibit the keep-<br />
ing and bearing of arms. Where does<br />
Congress “fi nd” this power? While the<br />
1934 National Firearms Act was originally<br />
justifi ed under the power to tax,<br />
the real growth of federal power came<br />
in Wickard v. Filburn (1942), where the<br />
The Court thus created<br />
a federal police power<br />
out of thin air, turning<br />
the Tenth Amendment<br />
on its head.<br />
New Deal Court “found” that Congress’<br />
power to regulate commerce between<br />
the states reached even a farmer growing<br />
wheat for his own consumption, because<br />
such had an indirect “impact” on com-<br />
merce. The Court thus created a federal<br />
police power out of thin air, turning the<br />
Tenth Amendment on its head.<br />
FLEETING STEPS<br />
TOWARD SANITY<br />
Surprisingly, the Court shifted back<br />
toward the Founders’ intent with United<br />
States v. Lopez (1995) and United States<br />
v. Morrison (2000), reading back into the<br />
Constitution some limits on the power<br />
to regulate commerce. Following Morrison,<br />
the Ninth Circuit ruled, in United<br />
States v. Stewart (2003), that it was unconstitutional<br />
for Congress to regulate<br />
the mere possession of homemade machine<br />
guns, which are not for sale and<br />
have not moved in commerce.<br />
This was very good news to Fincher,<br />
who planned to argue that his own en-<br />
34 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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ENEMY AT THE GATE<br />
tirely intrastate manufacture and possession<br />
of machine guns, for non-commercial<br />
militia purposes only, was also<br />
not reachable by federal law.<br />
DRUG WARRIORS: UNWITTING<br />
ALLIES OF FEDERAL GUN LAWS<br />
But then came Gonzales v. Raich<br />
(2005), involving a cancer patient growing<br />
marijuana in her own backyard, for<br />
her own consumption as medical marijuana,<br />
not for sale. Suddenly, the drug<br />
warriors on the right, including Justice<br />
Scalia, were positively in love with<br />
Wickard’s expansive, socialistic reading<br />
of the commerce clause. The leftists on<br />
the Court were happy to agree, and, over<br />
the dissents of Thomas, O’Connor, and<br />
Rehnquist, the steps toward sanity of<br />
Lopez and Morrison were erased. Once<br />
again Congress can effectively legislate<br />
on any activity, including home manufacture<br />
of firearms.<br />
After Raich, Bush Administration<br />
lawyers wasted no time in appealing the<br />
Stewart decision to the Supreme Court,<br />
which vacated Stewart and remanded<br />
back to the Ninth Circuit “for further<br />
consideration” in light of Raich, to the<br />
glee of the anti-gunners.<br />
Thus, the Raich decision has had a<br />
direct impact on our gun rights, reversing<br />
the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which<br />
had been in favor of Stewart (the manufacturer<br />
of the Maadi-Griffin .50-caliber<br />
rifle kits) and stripping Fincher of a potentially<br />
iron-clad constitutional law defense.<br />
ALL THAT REMAINS IS A<br />
SECOND AMENDMENT<br />
DEFENSE<br />
Now that so-called conservatives had<br />
joined hands with the big government<br />
leftists, Fincher had to fall back on the<br />
Second Amendment. In U.S. v. Miller<br />
(1939), the Supreme Court held that, because<br />
no evidence was presented in the<br />
trial that a short-barreled shotgun was<br />
a weapon useful to a militia, the Court<br />
would decline to rule that its possession<br />
was protected by the Second Amendment.<br />
Fincher very reasonably inferred<br />
that if a weapon was useful to a militia,<br />
it was protected, and that the Miller<br />
Court had constructed a constitutional<br />
test, turning on a fact question, which<br />
would be presented to the fact finder in<br />
any future trial. Setting aside the broader<br />
power of the jury to judge the law as<br />
well as the facts, Fincher should at least<br />
have been able to present evidence to<br />
the jury, as fact finder, regarding the fact<br />
In U.S. v. Miller (1939), the<br />
Supreme Court held that,<br />
because no evidence was<br />
presented in the trial that a<br />
short-barreled shotgun was<br />
a weapon useful to a militia,<br />
the Court would decline to<br />
rule that its possession was<br />
protected by the Second<br />
Amendment.<br />
question of the militia utility of a Browning<br />
Model 1919 machine gun and a short<br />
barreled pump shotgun.<br />
Additionally, the federal statute itself<br />
contains an exception, at 18 U.S.C.§ 922<br />
(o)(2)(A), for those who possess machine<br />
36 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
ENEMY AT THE GATE<br />
tirely intrastate manufacture and possession<br />
of machine guns, for non-commercial<br />
militia purposes only, was also<br />
not reachable by federal law.<br />
DRUG WARRIORS: UNWITTING<br />
ALLIES OF FEDERAL GUN LAWS<br />
But then came Gonzales v. Raich<br />
(2005), involving a cancer patient growing<br />
marijuana in her own backyard, for<br />
her own consumption as medical marijuana,<br />
not for sale. Suddenly, the drug<br />
warriors on the right, including Justice<br />
Scalia, were positively in love with<br />
Wickard’s expansive, socialistic reading<br />
of the commerce clause. The leftists on<br />
the Court were happy to agree, and, over<br />
the dissents of Thomas, O’Connor, and<br />
Rehnquist, the steps toward sanity of<br />
Lopez and Morrison were erased. Once<br />
again Congress can effectively legislate<br />
on any activity, including home manufacture<br />
of firearms.<br />
After Raich, Bush Administration<br />
lawyers wasted no time in appealing the<br />
Stewart decision to the Supreme Court,<br />
which vacated Stewart and remanded<br />
back to the Ninth Circuit “for further<br />
consideration” in light of Raich, to the<br />
glee of the anti-gunners.<br />
Thus, the Raich decision has had a<br />
direct impact on our gun rights, reversing<br />
the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which<br />
had been in favor of Stewart (the manufacturer<br />
of the Maadi-Griffin .50-caliber<br />
rifle kits) and stripping Fincher of a potentially<br />
iron-clad constitutional law defense.<br />
ALL THAT REMAINS IS A<br />
SECOND AMENDMENT<br />
DEFENSE<br />
Now that so-called conservatives had<br />
joined hands with the big government<br />
leftists, Fincher had to fall back on the<br />
Second Amendment. In U.S. v. Miller<br />
(1939), the Supreme Court held that, because<br />
no evidence was presented in the<br />
trial that a short-barreled shotgun was<br />
a weapon useful to a militia, the Court<br />
would decline to rule that its possession<br />
was protected by the Second Amendment.<br />
Fincher very reasonably inferred<br />
that if a weapon was useful to a militia,<br />
it was protected, and that the Miller<br />
Court had constructed a constitutional<br />
test, turning on a fact question, which<br />
would be presented to the fact finder in<br />
any future trial. Setting aside the broader<br />
power of the jury to judge the law as<br />
well as the facts, Fincher should at least<br />
have been able to present evidence to<br />
the jury, as fact finder, regarding the fact<br />
In U.S. v. Miller (1939), the<br />
Supreme Court held that,<br />
because no evidence was<br />
presented in the trial that a<br />
short-barreled shotgun was<br />
a weapon useful to a militia,<br />
the Court would decline to<br />
rule that its possession was<br />
protected by the Second<br />
Amendment.<br />
question of the militia utility of a Browning<br />
Model 1919 machine gun and a short<br />
barreled pump shotgun.<br />
Additionally, the federal statute itself<br />
contains an exception, at 18 U.S.C.§ 922<br />
(o)(2)(A), for those who possess machine<br />
36 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
ENEMY AT THE GATE<br />
guns under the authority of a state, or<br />
political subdivision thereof, and there<br />
was a very real fact question of whether<br />
the militia Fincher had started was sanctioned<br />
by the State of Arkansas, because<br />
Fincher had received a nod of approval<br />
from his County Sheriff, and also because<br />
Fincher had notified the governor<br />
and the state attorney general of his activities.<br />
Whether Fincher had the blessings<br />
of the state of Arkansas, and therefore<br />
fell within the statutory exception,<br />
was an additional fact question for the<br />
jury to determine.<br />
GAGGING THE DEFENSE<br />
AND USURPING THE<br />
POWER OF THE JURY<br />
Fincher was not allowed, however, to<br />
present his evidence to the jury on that<br />
key fact question of state approval. Nor<br />
was Fincher allowed to even mention<br />
the Second Amendment, the word “militia”<br />
or the Miller decision to the jury, and<br />
was not allowed to present the relevant<br />
fact evidence on the military utility of<br />
these arms.<br />
The federal judge ordered the jury<br />
out of the courtroom, previewed all<br />
of Fincher’s testimony, and then forbade<br />
Fincher from presenting any of it<br />
to the jury, barring Fincher’s entire defense,<br />
including the evidence regarding<br />
the two key fact questions. Instead, the<br />
This was a sham of<br />
a trial, with the jury<br />
intentionally transformed<br />
into an ignorant rubber<br />
stamp for a willful judge,<br />
who took on the roles of<br />
prosecutor, fact finder<br />
and judge to ensure<br />
conviction.<br />
judge ruled on those questions himself,<br />
in chambers, and kept the jury entirely<br />
ignorant of them. His jury instructions<br />
did not even mention the statutory exception<br />
for possession of machine guns<br />
under state authority, and he falsely instructed<br />
the jury that it must convict if<br />
it found that Fincher knowingly had the<br />
arms—which Fincher never denied.<br />
This was a sham of a trial, with the<br />
jury intentionally transformed into an<br />
ignorant rubber stamp for a willful<br />
judge, who took on the roles of prosecutor,<br />
fact finder and judge to ensure conviction.<br />
And all with the eager participation<br />
of government lawyers who argued<br />
that we have no individual right to<br />
bear arms! And we are supposed to feel<br />
more secure in our rights because there<br />
is a Republican in the White House? It<br />
may as well have been Sarah Brady and<br />
Morris Dees prosecuting Fincher during<br />
the Administration of President Hillary<br />
Clinton. The outcome was no different.<br />
Lest you think that what happened<br />
to Fincher cannot happen to you, just<br />
reflect on how arbitrary, confusing, and<br />
complex the federal gun laws are, especially<br />
as applied by the BATF. See JPFO’s<br />
recent film, The Gang, for details (www.<br />
jpfo.org) ... and pray you don’t find<br />
yourself in Fincher’s shoes. §<br />
38 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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STREET SMARTS<br />
Iwas recently reminded of an incident<br />
several years ago that was perhaps<br />
one of the most shocking of my entire<br />
undistinguished career at the cop shop.<br />
We were searching for a wanted felon<br />
at his residence. After an extensive interior<br />
search, the only thing left was the attic.<br />
Showing a serious lack of good sense<br />
as a supervisor, I volunteered to ascend<br />
the rickety ladder.<br />
Slowly poking my head into the attic<br />
opening, waving pistol and fl ashlight<br />
around in dramatic fashion, I also reminded<br />
my co-workers not to point their<br />
weapons at the hole where Yours Truly<br />
was standing. Within seconds I realized<br />
that perhaps I should have sent one of<br />
the rookies into the breach.<br />
The attic was impossibly crowded<br />
with clothing and boxes. I took a deep<br />
breath and slowly climbed onto the loose<br />
plank that served as a catwalk, staying<br />
on my hands and knees since the nailstudded<br />
roof was less than four feet from<br />
Part of the L-3 EO/IR GROUP<br />
CONFINED SPACES<br />
BY BRENT T. WHEAT<br />
the garage ceiling at the highest point.<br />
There were dozens of shirts hanging<br />
from a pipe at my left shoulder. Poking<br />
through the wall of cloth, I was ready for<br />
trouble.<br />
I wasn’t ready for the suspect’s face to<br />
appear about four inches from mine.<br />
Fortunately, he was hiding instead<br />
of wanting a fi ght. Otherwise, he could<br />
have done unspeakable things to my<br />
matchless profi le before I even had the<br />
opportunity to soil myself. Even though<br />
I was primed and prepared for battle, the<br />
surprise so unnerved me that I could only<br />
get out a strangled, “Whoooaaa! Stop.....<br />
freeze...no, um, don’t....freeze...”<br />
I vowed that day to pay more attention<br />
to confi ned-space tactics.<br />
Working in confi ned spaces is an unpleasant<br />
necessity when dealing with<br />
social mayhem. Miscreants intentionally<br />
seek out places like attics, crawl spaces<br />
and plumbing chases to hide from the<br />
good guys. Sometimes when the trouble-<br />
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maker is caught, he then wants to fi ght it<br />
out. That’s not a happy place for our team.<br />
What are we talking about in the fi rst<br />
place? The Occupational Safety & Health<br />
Administration says a confi ned space<br />
is large enough that an employee can<br />
bodily enter, but has a restricted means<br />
of exit. Therein lies the problem: if there<br />
is trouble, it is exceedingly diffi cult for<br />
backup to assist. Once you are through<br />
that opening, you are pretty much on<br />
your own, at least for awhile.<br />
Before someone even climbs into the<br />
black hole, stop and consider if the risk is<br />
really worth the benefi t. If not, are there<br />
reasonable alternatives such as negotiation?<br />
Unfortunately, negotiation often isn’t<br />
going to work and someone must go into<br />
the darkness.<br />
We had an incident where burglary<br />
suspects stupidly fl ed into a residential<br />
attic on a hot August day. The responding<br />
offi cers knew where the suspects<br />
40 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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Thirty-six months in combat. Twenty-four years as a sniping instructor.<br />
Twenty years of exhaustive research, including decades spent seeking out<br />
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KILL OR GET KILLED<br />
1943 Edition<br />
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Kill or Get Killed is considered one of the<br />
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U.S. ARMY<br />
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IN AFGHANISTAN<br />
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Why There’s No Such Thing as<br />
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STREET SMARTS<br />
were located after one of them accidentally<br />
put his foot through the ceiling. Call<br />
it a “clue.”<br />
Our SWAT team assembled while negotiators<br />
tried to talk to the suspects.<br />
They weren’t speaking, so we closed off<br />
the vents and pumped several thousand<br />
cubic feet of OC gas into the attic. Surprisingly,<br />
the men still didn’t surrender,<br />
and we were unsure if perhaps they<br />
hadn’t already succumbed to the heat.<br />
It turns out the men had buried themselves<br />
under loose insulation and were<br />
taken into custody without a fight. The<br />
team, however, didn’t fare as well, as<br />
several of the officers went down due to<br />
heat exhaustion and dehydration.<br />
There were many good lessons to learn<br />
from that exercise.<br />
First and foremost, there need to be a<br />
plan and personnel in place if someone<br />
gets into trouble. In the dynamic environment<br />
of an incident, it’s impossible<br />
to understand all the safety issues before<br />
sending people into a potentially dangerous<br />
space.<br />
Therefore, you need at least an ad-hoc<br />
emergency response plan. There could<br />
be dangerous gases, high or low temperatures,<br />
exposed electrical lines, sharp<br />
metal edges, biological hazards such as<br />
bird droppings or the possibility of becoming<br />
stuck in a tight space. Now, add a<br />
potentially dangerous person to the mix<br />
and you can see why entering a confined<br />
space is such a dicey proposition.<br />
At minimum, there should be one person<br />
standing by to assist for every person<br />
who enters the confined space. If two officers<br />
must enter a hot attic, there should<br />
be at least two officers downstairs, ready<br />
to rescue their friends if things go badly.<br />
The person entering the space should<br />
strip down to essentials. Lose all that<br />
neat—but potentially entangling—gear<br />
hanging all over your body. Like cavers,<br />
take at least two light sources, since your<br />
primary light may fail at the worst possible<br />
time.<br />
Take it slowly, because there are too<br />
many places to search simultaneously. For<br />
once, I’d suggest an unhurried entrance,<br />
even though this flies in the face of the<br />
“fatal funnel” concept. I believe that,<br />
while there is a chance of being shot, there<br />
is a greater likelihood of falling, knocking<br />
yourself unconscious or otherwise<br />
doing serious damage to yourself. Then<br />
you’re in no position to protect yourself.<br />
If you find the object of your search,<br />
what do you do? Since they will probably<br />
be restricted themselves and likely<br />
lying down, order them to show their<br />
hands. You then need to figure out an<br />
exit plan. Backup is handy if available at<br />
this point.<br />
Obviously we can’t handcuff the bad<br />
guy in a confined space unless we plan<br />
on lifting him out. The best plan is to<br />
crawl out backward first, so that you can<br />
keep an eye on the suspect without being<br />
within arms’ reach. You must also<br />
communicate with the support team that<br />
people will be coming out shortly. Don’t<br />
surprise them!<br />
When selecting personnel to enter a<br />
confined space, make sure they are ready<br />
for the challenge. If there is a battle, they<br />
will have to solve the crisis by themselves.<br />
Moreover, if there is a lethal confrontation<br />
in such a space, only one person<br />
will come out. You definitely want a<br />
meat-eater handling that problem.<br />
Or an expendable rookie. §<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
42 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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LONG GUNS<br />
One problem faced by law enforcement<br />
and military users of<br />
combat optics and illuminators<br />
is that a carbine can become cluttered<br />
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and illumination devices are very<br />
desirable; ones that effectively combine<br />
functions are even more desirable.<br />
Insight Technology has a well-established<br />
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light illuminators, visible laser illuminators,<br />
infrared illuminators and thermal<br />
sights. Insight has also been in the<br />
forefront of development of illuminators<br />
with combined functions for the military.<br />
The best known of these has probably<br />
been the LAM-1000 developed for<br />
use with the Mark 23 SOCOM offensive<br />
pistol. This compact device combines<br />
IR illuminator, IR aiming laser, visible<br />
white light illuminator and visible aiming<br />
laser in a 4.5”x1.6”x2” package and<br />
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installed.<br />
It is logical, therefore, that Insight<br />
Technology would develop an integrated<br />
system for the M4 and other<br />
carbines. Designated the ISM-IR (Integrated<br />
Sighting Module-IR), this device<br />
combines a red dot 1X optical sight with<br />
a visible aiming laser and an IR aiming<br />
laser, both co-aligned with the red dot.<br />
The ISM-IR also incorporates an IR illuminator.<br />
I had a chance recently to shoot<br />
with the ISM-IR in a darkened shooting<br />
house and was extremely impressed.<br />
The ISM-IR was easy to use and was<br />
light enough that the carbine remained<br />
very lively with it mounted. A couple of<br />
runs through scenarios in the darkened<br />
ISM-V is compact and light<br />
enough to permit/afford quick<br />
engagement offhand.<br />
INSIGHT TECHNOLOGY<br />
INTEGRATED SIGHTING MODULE-VISIBLE<br />
» BY LEROY THOMPSON<br />
shooting house convinced me that this<br />
is a very useful piece of equipment. It is<br />
also a very expensive one.<br />
Unlike some manufacturers who do<br />
government contracts, however, Insight<br />
Technology does not lose track of the<br />
value of the civilian market. As a result,<br />
they also introduced the ISM-V (Integrated<br />
Sighting Module-Visible) for the<br />
civilian market and for law enforcement<br />
users who do not really need the IR capability.<br />
As soon as possible, I acquired<br />
an ISM-V for testing and mounted it on<br />
a Stag Arms-15M2T.<br />
The ISM-V combines the red dot sight<br />
with a visible aiming laser that is coaligned<br />
with the red dot. The red dot has<br />
18 variable brightness settings, some of<br />
which are compatible with night vision<br />
equipment. As a result, law enforcement<br />
44 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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LONG GUNS<br />
Bushmaster’s .450 Rifle & Hornady’s<br />
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agencies that may occasionally use night<br />
vision equipment can purchase the ISM-<br />
V at a fraction of the cost of the ISM-IR.<br />
In fact, larger agencies could acquire the<br />
ISM-IR for special tactical units and the<br />
ISM-V for patrol units. The availability<br />
of an array of brightness settings is important<br />
in a red dot sight, since different<br />
brightness levels will work better in varying<br />
light conditions. One 3-volt 123A lithium<br />
battery powers both the red dot and<br />
the visible laser. The unit is waterproof<br />
to three feet for up to an hour. This isn’t<br />
combat swimmer water resistance, but it<br />
should suffice for use in rain or snow.<br />
Another very positive feature of the<br />
ISM-V is that it is well designed to allow<br />
use of iron sights through it, should one<br />
so desire. If one carries a spare battery<br />
and replaces the installed battery if the<br />
ISM-V’s status indicator LED starts to<br />
flash, it is unlikely that backup sights will<br />
be required with the ISM-V. I still like the<br />
capability, though, and I discovered that<br />
the flip-up ARMS #40 sight on the Stag<br />
Arms carbine works perfectly with the<br />
ISM-V.<br />
On any optical sight with more than<br />
one control, I always try to see where it<br />
rates on the KISS scale. The ISM-V rates<br />
pretty well. A “+” and a “-” intensity pads<br />
atop the ISM-V are used to turn the red<br />
dot on (by pressing both pads simultaneously),<br />
off (also by pressing both pads<br />
simultaneously), or to adjust for brightness.<br />
That’s nice and straightforward. A<br />
mode selector switch on the back of the<br />
ISM-V allows selection of four modes-<br />
”O” for off, “P” for program, which is not<br />
currently used, “RD” for the red dot, and<br />
“VA” for the visible aiming laser. The red<br />
dot may be activated in either the RD or<br />
VA position. The visible aiming laser may<br />
be activated in the VA mode by depressing<br />
the laser activation button on the side<br />
of the ISM-V. The ISM-V is well designed<br />
so the laser is not inadvertently activated.<br />
This is important to protect eyesight, but<br />
also to not telegraph one’s position with<br />
a laser that can be followed back to the<br />
carbine. I worked with the controls for<br />
a few minutes before taking the carbine<br />
with the ISM-V mounted to the range<br />
and became fairly confident with it.<br />
I don’t consider red dot sights optimum<br />
for longer ranges. I usually view<br />
a red dot sight as most effective at CQC<br />
46 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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ranges out to 300 yards max. I also find<br />
that I cannot shoot as precisely at 100-300<br />
yards with a red dot as I can with a chevron<br />
or a crosshair. On the other hand,<br />
at point blank to 50 yards, I find that I<br />
can engage extremely quickly with a red<br />
dot. I also find it takes me awhile to determine<br />
which brightness setting works<br />
best for my vision in different levels of<br />
brightness. I zeroed the red dot at 100<br />
yards and was shooting five-shot groups<br />
of around three inches. Since I was<br />
shooting military surplus SS109, which<br />
is not held to the most rigorous accuracy<br />
standards, and since I was having a bit of<br />
trouble properly acquiring the red dot in<br />
bright sunlight, I was satisfied.<br />
I wanted to see if the laser was indeed<br />
co-aligned with my now-zeroed red<br />
dot, so the other night I took the Stag<br />
carbine without magazine and checked<br />
above: ISM-V’s controls-red dot<br />
intensity buttons on the top and<br />
laser pressure button on the left.<br />
left: ISM-V allows easy use of<br />
BUIS in conjunction with the front<br />
post through the lens.<br />
the chamber twice to be sure it was unloaded.<br />
Then I went into my darkened<br />
downstairs and tried sighting down a<br />
dimly lit hall. The red dot was virtually<br />
superimposed on the laser’s red dot. I<br />
also tried operating the controls in low<br />
light and had little difficulty.<br />
I really, really like the ISM-V. It is only<br />
5”x2.6”x3.3” and weighs only nine ounces.<br />
Without hanging a laser on my handguard,<br />
I get a laser combined with my<br />
red dot and I don’t have to zero the laser<br />
independently-it’s all good! §<br />
SOURCE:<br />
Insight Technology<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
9 Akira Way<br />
Londonderry, NH 03053<br />
(877) 744-4802<br />
www.insighttechnology.com<br />
48 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
OTN may not be for<br />
everyone. However,<br />
if your mission<br />
requirements are such<br />
that a high volume of<br />
white light/IR needs to<br />
be used, the OTN may<br />
be the solution to your<br />
problem.<br />
CSM Gear<br />
OTN Helmet Light Bracket<br />
» BY PATRICK A. ROGERS<br />
SureFire G2 light in this OTN has the<br />
Z29 click switch—a must, and not<br />
optional for those using this light. The<br />
bracket has slots to allow a certain<br />
amount of latitude in mounting.<br />
Additional slots will fi t other helmets.<br />
Right now it will fi t the legacy PASGT,<br />
the Marine Corps “Lightweight” helmet<br />
and the gold standard, the MICH.<br />
Own<br />
The<br />
Night<br />
The need for white light in tactical situations remains high, and as<br />
this long war will be with us until one side or the other gives up or is<br />
exterminated, that need will likely increase.<br />
Weapon-mounted white lights<br />
have been with us in common<br />
use for at least 25 years, and<br />
are used to acquire, identify and fi nally<br />
service hostile targets. They do an excellent<br />
job at what they are designed to do,<br />
but are less useful in doing post-hit site<br />
exploitation, casualty care and a myriad<br />
of other chores.<br />
Handheld lights have been with us for<br />
as long as the battery has been transportable,<br />
and they are useful for most of the<br />
common tasks that one may need white<br />
light for, ranging from dropped keys to<br />
fi eld level trauma management. And<br />
while handheld lights have their use in<br />
the tactical arena, it requires a second<br />
hand to manipulate the light. That second<br />
hand may be much more useful on<br />
the gun as you go about your business<br />
of killing bad guys before they kill you<br />
or yours.<br />
Hands-free lights have been around<br />
since men dug holes in the earth searching<br />
for gold, coal or those who were<br />
trapped while searching for the above.<br />
While the original hands-free (helmetmounted)<br />
lights were candles in front of<br />
50 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
a reflector, current offerings such as the<br />
Petzl offer LED lights on a head strap,<br />
putting that form of light on the heads of<br />
hobbyists and professionals alike.<br />
From the mil side of the house, the Petzl-type<br />
light was always a mixed blessing.<br />
It had an elastic band that could be<br />
placed directly on your head, a soft cover<br />
or even a helmet. It could be dismounted<br />
from its band and affixed to the helmet<br />
via screws. The center-mounted light<br />
was fine for admin uses, but interfered<br />
with NV mounts and devices—something<br />
common on the mil side right now,<br />
and for evermore.<br />
SureFire brought out its hands-free,<br />
helmet-mounted light over a year ago.<br />
However, some found fault with the<br />
lack of a disable switch (now fortunately<br />
rectified) and possible durability issues<br />
with the helmet mount. The light coming<br />
on accidentally can be merely frustrating<br />
in certain circumstances. In other<br />
circumstances, it can be a career ender<br />
and a mission failure indicator. I’m glad<br />
that SureFire saw the light (pun intended)<br />
and added a disable switch.<br />
The SureFire helmet light was designed<br />
as a close-in, low-power LED<br />
light for specific purposes. Some found<br />
that the low light output was too limiting<br />
under some conditions, but understand<br />
that no one piece of gear will fit<br />
everyone’s requirements. The result was<br />
a great number of people going back to<br />
what they did before—field expedient<br />
engineering, making mounts from zip<br />
ties, 550 cord, Velcro, hose clamps and<br />
the like.<br />
As with all ad hockrey, some was useful<br />
and a lot was less so. Having something<br />
sitting on the shelf may prove that<br />
it can be done. Running it for real will<br />
prove that it can work. There is a difference.<br />
Mike McMillan, a retired Special Amphibious<br />
Reconnaissance Corpsman<br />
(SARC) and owner of CSM Gear, stated<br />
that he took note of the feedback from<br />
real guys concerning this issue, and decided<br />
to do something about it.<br />
Doc Mac sought out the advice of<br />
many in the community, and with their<br />
assistance knocked out a prototype. That<br />
prototype morphed into what Mike calls<br />
OTN (Own the Night), a bracket that ac-<br />
cepts a mount holding the light of your<br />
choice.<br />
The OTN is a precisely bent and drilled<br />
piece of 6061-T6A aluminum that will fit<br />
on any ballistic helmet currently used<br />
by our military—the legacy PASGT, the<br />
“Lightweight” Marine Corps helmet, or<br />
the gold standard, the MICH using existing<br />
bolt holes.<br />
Attached to this bracket is a three-inch<br />
Mil Std 1913 Rail, upon which an aluminum<br />
mount is clamped. This mount is<br />
made to hold a specific size light. A se-<br />
ries of mounts are available to accommodate<br />
the more common handheld lights<br />
that are in use right now, and the one<br />
now on my helmet will accommodate a<br />
one-inch diameter body. Therefore, I am<br />
using the ubiquitous SureFire G2 light<br />
with this system.<br />
The 1913 (commonly called Picatinny)<br />
rail has a positive and negative adjustment<br />
range to allow the light to be<br />
moved in that plane. Additionally, the<br />
light clamp can be moved fore and aft<br />
in order to adjust the light in the lateral<br />
plane. Understand that these are fine<br />
adjustments and meant to resolve minor<br />
movement of the beam to achieve a<br />
rough boresight with your eyes. Gross<br />
adjustment is made by moving your<br />
head. Think shaking your head “yes”<br />
and “no” and you’ll get the drift. Engineers<br />
wanted a more sophisticated<br />
mount with a wide range of adjustment,<br />
complete with knobs, screws and the<br />
like, but Mike wisely ignored their counsel.<br />
There is a time and place for complicated<br />
adjustments—and it isn’t on your<br />
combat helmet.<br />
The bracket/mount weighs 3.375<br />
ounces, and a G2 light with batteries<br />
weighs approximately 4.125 ounces,<br />
bringing the total weight in at under half<br />
a pound.<br />
The OTN mount is available for both<br />
the left (more common) side of the helmet<br />
as well as the right side. The right<br />
side bracket is essentially a mirror image<br />
OTN from the side. While the standard mounts are on the left side, mirror-image<br />
mounts will soon be available for those needing the light on the right side.<br />
of the left, and was done to permit the<br />
user to interface with the several commonly<br />
used helmet cams that are currently<br />
on the market. Most video camera<br />
systems utilize the left side of the helmet<br />
for the lens (such as the ATS Helmet Cam<br />
system that I am currently using).<br />
An initial look at the bracket with<br />
light mounted on a MICH was that this<br />
was an item waiting to be snagged on<br />
something—and that may be right, but<br />
as with all gear, we need to see where<br />
it will fit within the operational context.<br />
Twin helmet-mounted lights were<br />
very cool when the Imperial Marines<br />
were searching for the bad guys in<br />
Aliens, but that is not what these are for.<br />
A more likely scenario is after a hit<br />
while searching the dead, searching the<br />
living, treating friendly casualties and<br />
recovering sensitive site exploitation<br />
material. That is, the immediate fight is<br />
over, and your priorities have shifted to<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 51
include some or all of the above. Another<br />
use would of course be trauma management.<br />
Back to the snagging of the light. A<br />
fact of life is that anything you wear or<br />
carry is likely to be snagged or caught on<br />
something. The light would not necessarily<br />
be mounted on a two-klick movement<br />
to the crisis site (there would be no<br />
reason to). The light could be kept in a<br />
pouch or pocket until you were on site<br />
and prepared to make entry.<br />
The question that has to be asked is<br />
this: “Do you need a more powerful/reliable<br />
light source than is currently available?”<br />
If the answer is yes, consider this<br />
to be an answer.<br />
How does it work? I’ve had it for a<br />
few months now, and it works well. She<br />
Who Must Be Obeyed is probably tired<br />
of seeing me move around the house<br />
with a MICH, OTN and camera on every<br />
evening, but it is another way to get familiar<br />
with the gear. The best way to find<br />
out how to work something is to actually<br />
use it. Doing it in the casa can identify<br />
potential problems before they become<br />
real ones downrange.<br />
The helmet is not noticeably out of<br />
balance—it does not make me feel as<br />
though my head is twisted to one side.<br />
This is, of course, subjective. My opinion<br />
may be colored by the fact that by 1978<br />
I had already made over 2,000 free-fall<br />
parachute jumps, many of which involved<br />
carrying a Nikon F on my helmet.<br />
My head and neck may be more<br />
than a little out of whack, but they are<br />
also more sensitive to some things.<br />
I replaced the standard momentary<br />
switch on the SureFire G2 light with a<br />
Z59 click switch to make functioning<br />
more positive, but twisting the tail cap<br />
until you achieve brightness is also a viable,<br />
albeit slower method of turning the<br />
light on or off.<br />
Directing light is a snap, because all<br />
you need to do is look at what you want<br />
illuminated. It doesn’t get much easier<br />
than that.<br />
While this unit is not meant to be used<br />
as a shooting aid, it will do a fine job of<br />
illuminating areas very quickly, and permitting<br />
you to acquire, identify and if<br />
necessary process a threat. It may not be<br />
useful if you are working alone or conducting<br />
a “soft” entry, where you switch<br />
lights on and off constantly, but it is extremely<br />
useful for what it is designed to<br />
do on the helmets of those who will be<br />
shooting bearded men in the face.<br />
Mike McMillan is a real-deal guy who<br />
makes great stuff. If a brighter helmetmounted<br />
light is in your game plan, you<br />
need to give the OTN a try.<br />
The search for perfect gear is<br />
neverending. §<br />
[Pat Rogers is a retired Chief Warrant Officer<br />
of Marines and a retired NYPD Sergeant.<br />
Pat is the owner of E.A.G. Inc., which provides<br />
services to various governmental organizations.<br />
He can be reached at eag@10-8consulting.com]<br />
SOURCES:<br />
CSM Tactical<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 892241<br />
Temecula, CA 92589<br />
www.csmgear.com<br />
SureFire, LLC<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
18300 Mount Baldy Circle<br />
Fountain Valley, CA 92708<br />
(800) 828-8809<br />
www.surefire.com<br />
Muskrat-SWAT.qxp:Layout 1 6/6/07 2:01 PM Page 1<br />
CSM HELMET LIGHT BRACKET<br />
“Suspect with a gun!” could be the most dangerous call you’ll ever<br />
receive. It’s one of the reasons the speaker and omni-directional<br />
microphone on the EarPro EP210 are encased in aluminum and<br />
acoustically tuned for the human voice. The cables are shielded to<br />
reduce radio and magnetic interference, then wrapped in Kevlar ® to<br />
resist flex fatigue. Transmission and reception is crystal clear. Ambient<br />
noise is discernable. You’ll know what the hell’s coming at you.<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 53
Three shooters are<br />
reholstering, but still have<br />
their attention focused<br />
downrange. Second<br />
shooter from left is<br />
reholstering and preparing<br />
to walk off the fi ring line.<br />
The practice of relaxing<br />
after a string of fi re is<br />
purely administrative and<br />
should not be tolerated on<br />
a training range.<br />
One Trainer’s Opinion<br />
» BY ROB PINCUS<br />
BAD<br />
HABITS?<br />
Back in the mid-1970s, the United States had a mandatory top speed limit of 55 miles-per-hour (mph).<br />
Since that time, we’ve learned<br />
a few things about improving<br />
highway safety and the safety of<br />
our vehicles and, of course, we’ve dramatically<br />
improved the effi ciency and<br />
cleanliness of the internal combustion<br />
engine. A lot of things have changed<br />
since that time in the world of fi rearms<br />
and tactical training as well.<br />
Progressive training principles and the<br />
study of what really happens during lethal<br />
critical incidents have dramatically<br />
improved the effi ciency and capabilities<br />
of shooters as well as our gear. Unfortunately,<br />
we still see a lot of gun handling<br />
that is based on what might have made<br />
sense or been a dramatic improvement<br />
three decades ago, but are not the most<br />
effi cient choices today. There is also still<br />
a lot of administrative gun handling seen<br />
on today’s training ranges. It’s time to<br />
take a hard look at some range practices<br />
that some people might still consider appropriate,<br />
some just accept, some don’t<br />
notice, but that many instructors and<br />
students are starting to move away from<br />
or restrict entirely.<br />
I know that this article will raise the<br />
hackles of many shooters, but I also<br />
know that more and more often I have<br />
other instructors and students who are<br />
glad to hear that at the Valhalla Training<br />
Center and many other ranges around<br />
the world, there are people who are<br />
willing to critically examine dogma to<br />
develop the best doctrines possible. If<br />
you insist on driving 55 mph on an interstate<br />
with a 75 mph speed limit, you<br />
could be a danger to yourself and others.<br />
In today’s tactical training environment,<br />
there is no passing lane, so let’s get everyone<br />
up to speed.<br />
“TACTICAL” RELOADS<br />
Years ago, I started forbidding “topping-off”<br />
on any range that I was running.<br />
The so-called “tactical” reload is<br />
just another version of topping off if<br />
you’re not in a real or simulated critical<br />
incident. The fact is that this and several<br />
other bad range habits, many glamorized<br />
by competition shooters or preached by<br />
instructors who have largely missed or<br />
ignored the last 20 years of reality-based<br />
training initiatives, should be understood<br />
in the context that they are meant<br />
for and not repeated constantly on ranges<br />
purporting to be conducting tactical<br />
training.<br />
Back when dinosaurs roamed the<br />
earth, I’ve been told that some instructors<br />
on certain ranges made students<br />
feel bad if they let their gun run dry. In<br />
a world of techniques based on competition<br />
or mechanical shooting skills that<br />
overemphasize precision marksmanship<br />
over speed and effi ciency, that might<br />
make sense. Teaching shooting as an<br />
isolated mechanical skill and not as a<br />
defensive skill that may need to be used<br />
in a dynamic chaotic environment keeps<br />
some techniques from being recognized<br />
as ineffi cient or extremely limited in application.<br />
In the real world that armed professionals<br />
and those serious about self-defense<br />
are training for, the vast majority<br />
of critical incidents that require more<br />
rounds than your gun holds will result<br />
in a slide lock situation. This is bad.<br />
It’s even worse if you’ve been denying<br />
yourself the opportunity to recognize<br />
slide lock during dynamic training and<br />
practice a reload under those conditions<br />
54 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
as often as possible. If someone else has<br />
been denying that opportunity with<br />
instruction to the contrary, it’s almost<br />
criminal. Because the term “tactical” has<br />
already been applied to what is arguably<br />
a strategic endeavor (topping off before<br />
rejoining the fi ght), we call this a Critical<br />
Incident Reload.<br />
And, of course, progress has brought<br />
us to a point where many shooters interested<br />
in defensive issues are using fi rearms<br />
with a capacity noticeably greater<br />
than seven or eight rounds. These high<br />
capacity guns are less likely to need reloading<br />
during a typical incident and<br />
the magazines that they use are much<br />
harder to hold in the ways typically suggested<br />
for a textbook “tactical” reload.<br />
I am not saying that students shouldn’t<br />
be introduced to the concept of the topping-off<br />
reload, but it should not be the<br />
student’s primary method of reloading.<br />
In fact, I think it should only be used in<br />
context during force-on-force or live-fi re<br />
scenario training. The concept is simple:<br />
If you’ve been shooting and there is<br />
a lull in the action, you don’t need to<br />
move, you don’t need to communicate<br />
with someone and you don’t need to<br />
do something else. You do need to have<br />
a fully loaded gun. Eject the partially<br />
empty magazine and insert the new one.<br />
If you happen to retain the partial mag<br />
or pick it up off the ground, don’t put<br />
it where you keep your full mags. Proceed.<br />
PRESS CHECKS<br />
Next on the “what not to do” list: Press<br />
Checks. This includes any technique by<br />
any name that suggests you take the fi rearm<br />
partially out of battery to confi rm<br />
the presence of a round in the chamber.<br />
Many modern defensive/duty pistols<br />
actually have reliable loaded chamber<br />
indicators. (XD and the M&P are two<br />
examples that jump to mind.) Those<br />
should suffi ce for those of you who do<br />
it “just to be sure” before you holster<br />
at the next stage of the local Defensive<br />
Pistol Shooting Club Match. For the rest<br />
of us, think about the most likely reason<br />
that the gun will not have a round in the<br />
chamber if you have racked the slide<br />
fully back and it has gone fully into battery?<br />
Most readers of S.W.A.T. Magazine<br />
will have come to the quick conclusion<br />
that there must not be a properly loaded<br />
and working magazine seated properly<br />
in the gun. This used to be much more<br />
common with typical gun designs of the<br />
leaded-fuel era that had fl at base plates<br />
that recessed into the grip. It is much less<br />
likely today.<br />
If you still want to do some type of<br />
check, try this: pull on the magazine and<br />
see if it is seated after you rack the slide<br />
in an administrative environment (more<br />
on that later). If it is seated and you later<br />
fi nd that no round was in the gun, something<br />
is drastically wrong. If this happens<br />
more than once, especially if you<br />
don’t fi nd the magazine to be the culprit,<br />
take the gun to a gunsmith—quickly.<br />
Pincus has seen many students cover<br />
themselves and/or induce malfunctions<br />
while trying to verify that the chamber<br />
of their pistol was loaded on a tactical<br />
training range. This is an administrative<br />
maneuver that would never be appropriate<br />
during a dynamic critical incident<br />
and shouldn’t be encouraged in a tactical<br />
training environment.<br />
Furthermore, using the same logic explained<br />
above for topping off, why cheat<br />
yourself out of the learning opportunity<br />
on a square range of fi nding out that you<br />
aren’t seating the magazine properly<br />
during your reloads (with the added bonus<br />
of a non-staged malfunction drill)?<br />
I used the word “administrative” a few<br />
lines ago—this “technique” is only practiced<br />
in an administrative setting—that<br />
is your fi rst clue that it has no place on<br />
a tactical training range. No one would<br />
suggest doing a press check after a slide<br />
lock reload in the midst of a string of fi re,<br />
let alone in a real or simulated critical incident.<br />
Before the emails start: No, this is not<br />
just a “Rob wants to complain about<br />
something” issue. I have seen many,<br />
many more students on ranges induce<br />
malfunctions and/or cover themselves<br />
with the muzzle while performing press<br />
checks than I have ever seen fi nding<br />
an empty chamber. This practice is the<br />
equivalent of running to your basement<br />
and looking for puddles after you fl ush<br />
your toilet. It is at best a waste of time,<br />
and at worst it leads to a negligent discharge<br />
with injuries. If your gun is working,<br />
trust it to work until it fails—that is<br />
part of what your training time should<br />
be about.<br />
Lastly, (again to stave off emails),<br />
make sure that your pistol really is<br />
loaded before going on duty, on patrol,<br />
or out in public with the intent of using<br />
it for self-defense or the defense of others.<br />
Competition Shooters: you deserve<br />
to lose the stage if you didn’t load your<br />
gun properly.<br />
“I’M OUT”<br />
The third thing that I am going to address<br />
is the use of the phrase “I’m out”<br />
with a slide-locked gun that still has an<br />
empty magazine in it in your hand. This<br />
is often accompanied by a somewhat vacant<br />
look over the right or left shoulder<br />
at the instructor running the line. The advanced<br />
version of this maneuver is done<br />
by ejecting the empty magazine into the<br />
weak hand prior to using the phrase.<br />
Now, I will assume that no one has ever<br />
actually taught anyone else to do this, but<br />
it does seem to happen a lot—and it is a<br />
close cousin of the automatic “unload &<br />
show clear” business from competition<br />
fi elds. Some competitors actually look<br />
like they think the clock is still running<br />
until they pop that mag and lock the gun<br />
open to show the safety offi cer how fast<br />
they can make their gun less dangerous.<br />
Stop. Please.<br />
Any time you are on a tactical training<br />
range and the pistol locks open, follow<br />
your procedure for a critical incident reload.<br />
This should be something like pulling<br />
the weak hand off the gun, ejecting<br />
the empty mag as the gun comes back to<br />
the ready position, reaching for a fresh<br />
mag with the weak hand, etc. If you fi nd<br />
that there is no magazine, simply come<br />
back up to the pistol, pretend to insert a<br />
magazine and rack the slide.<br />
For those of you who carry an extra<br />
magazine, how much more likely is it<br />
that you’re going to have slide lock and<br />
an extra magazine than that you would<br />
have no extra mags left and an instructor<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 55
BAD HABITS<br />
standing over your shoulder? A huge part<br />
of tactical weapons handling effi ciency is<br />
consistency in practicing your mechanical<br />
skills—get as much practice as you can.<br />
For those of you who don’t carry extra<br />
mags, picture how intimidating a person<br />
with a locked open gun saying “I’m out”<br />
is. At least standing in the ready position<br />
or moving to cover with a gun that is in<br />
battery is a plausible threat that might<br />
prevent your enemy from taking pot shots<br />
from behind cover or get him to give up<br />
altogether.<br />
SPEED HOLSTERING<br />
The last topic I’ll address in this article<br />
is holstering while walking off the line.<br />
Again: Please Stop. If the gun is loaded,<br />
this is dangerous. If the gun isn’t loaded,<br />
it is inconsistent bad practice. The procedure<br />
when you are working from the<br />
holster is this: Recognize a threat, draw<br />
and fi re, come back to the ready, assess<br />
the environment, re-holster, then relax.<br />
Your body posture shouldn’t change from<br />
string of fi re until after you have re-holstered<br />
the weapon. Until that time, you<br />
should still consider yourself in a critical<br />
incident and be as ready for dealing with<br />
a threat as possible. The practice of relaxing<br />
after a string of fi re is purely administrative<br />
and should not be tolerated on a<br />
training range.<br />
Armies used to stand in tightly knit<br />
groups and meet on open fi elds of battle<br />
exchanging volleys of fi re. <strong>Police</strong> offi cers<br />
used to catch the ejected brass from their<br />
revolvers on the range during training<br />
and put it in their pockets to make cleanup<br />
easier at the end of the day.<br />
Everything we do on a tactical training<br />
range should be critically examined<br />
and subject to improvement, revision or<br />
eradication. If you do any of the things I<br />
discussed in this article, especially if you<br />
teach or allow some of them, I think you<br />
owe it to yourself and your students to<br />
re-examine the practicality of those techniques<br />
and re-dedicate yourself to maximizing<br />
effi ciency and reality in your tactical<br />
weapons handling. They may just be<br />
bad habits, but some bad habits can get<br />
you killed. §<br />
[Rob Pincus is the Director of Operations at<br />
the world-renowned Valhalla Training Center,<br />
www.valhallatraining.com.]<br />
56 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
Actual images shown. A full comparison video of Gen III and<br />
SuperVision can be viewed at www.xenonics.com
The name Kimber needs no introduction.<br />
Probably best known to S.W.A.T.<br />
readers for their superb 1911type<br />
pistols and LifeAct<br />
less-lethal protection devices, they<br />
also manufacture high-quality hunting<br />
rifl es and shotguns. Kimber is<br />
now also manufacturing precision<br />
tactical rifl es.<br />
Last January at the SHOT Show,<br />
Kimber introduced three new rifl es intended<br />
primarily for (but not restricted<br />
to) law enforcement, all chambered<br />
for the ubiquitous .308 Winchester<br />
cartridge: the Model 84M LPT (Light<br />
<strong>Police</strong> Tactical), the Tactical and the<br />
Model 8400 Advanced Tactical Rifl e<br />
(ATR). I was recently able to test the<br />
ATR, and I came away from the evaluation<br />
impressed.<br />
The Model 8400 ATR is based on<br />
Kimber’s heavy-duty 8400 action and<br />
comes with an oversized, smooth bolt<br />
handle and knob, full-length Mausertype<br />
claw extractor, and Model 70type<br />
three-position safety. Capacity is<br />
fi ve rounds.<br />
The 24-inch bull barrel has a match<br />
chamber. The barreled action is glass<br />
Hansen shooting Kimber 8400<br />
Advanced Tactical Rifl e.<br />
bedded in a McMillan A-5 black/<br />
gray/green marble pattern stock. The<br />
McMillan stock is adjustable for length<br />
of pull, drop at comb and drop at heel.<br />
The stock has four fl ush-fi tting sling<br />
swivels—two on the bottom and two<br />
on the left side—and one sling stud at<br />
the front of the stock for mounting a<br />
bipod.<br />
Metal parts on the ATR are fi nished<br />
in KimPro II—which is very resistant<br />
to the elements and is self-lubricating—in<br />
the popular Dark Earth color.<br />
The rifl e comes shipped in a premium<br />
Hardigg Storm hard case.<br />
Available as an option, Kimber has<br />
put together a kit for the ATR that includes<br />
a Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10X40mm<br />
LR/T scope in Dark Earth color with<br />
matching rings, torque wrench, Versa-<br />
Pod bipod, sling with QD swivels,<br />
Otis cleaning kit and sniper logbook.<br />
The Leupold scope features the illuminated<br />
Tactical Milling Reticle<br />
(TMR), which allows for precision<br />
shots in low-light conditions. It is a<br />
very good reticle for range estimation,<br />
making it a great scope from<br />
Kimber Model 840<br />
Advanced Tactical Rifl e<br />
58 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
0<br />
Setting A New Standard?<br />
» BY DENNY HANSEN<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 59
KIMBER 8400<br />
McMillan stock is adjustable for height and length of pull. Bolt handle is large and smooth to facilitate easy operation.<br />
the tactical arena to the hunting field.<br />
The Otis Professional Rifle Cleaning<br />
System packs a lot into a small pouch that<br />
is MOLLE compatible. Along with the<br />
previously mentioned torque wrench,<br />
the Otis kit includes everything that one<br />
would need—from cotton swabs to a<br />
brass scraper tool—to maintain the ATR<br />
in the field.<br />
Every good shot begins with a stable<br />
position, and the Keng’s Versa-Pod supplied<br />
with the optional kit allows just<br />
that—stability. A very rugged bipod, it<br />
incorporates a quick detach feature.<br />
The sniper logbook that comes in<br />
the kit is one of the best I have seen. It<br />
contains pages for recording zeros in<br />
100-yard increments up to 1,000 yards,<br />
right: Versa-Pod bipod<br />
is both rugged and<br />
quick detach.<br />
below: Kimber 8400<br />
Advanced Tactical Rifle.<br />
60 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong><br />
i.e. 0-100, 100-200, etc. Wind charts,<br />
ranging charts, angle shooting (slope<br />
dope), shooting through different types<br />
of glass—if it’s useful to the precision<br />
marksman, it’s in the logbook.<br />
FIELD EVALUATION<br />
I took five different .308 match offer-<br />
ings I had on hand with me to shoot in<br />
the rifle: loads from Black Hills, Federal<br />
(.308 M and Gold Medal) Samson/IMI<br />
and Winchester. All were loaded with<br />
168-grain match bullets.<br />
Most of my “rifle” practice is actually<br />
with a carbine and takes place at CQB<br />
distances. I don’t consider myself an ex-<br />
SWATMAG.COM
KIMBER 8400<br />
pert rifleman, as I have been in the presence<br />
of those who can perform superbly<br />
at distances I have a hard time seeing.<br />
On the day I fired the 8400 ATR, however,<br />
the planets must have been in perfect<br />
alignment, the gods were smiling down<br />
and I must have had the proper dosages<br />
of caffeine and nicotine.<br />
I have never bothered with breaking<br />
in a barrel on a carbine intended for defensive<br />
purposes. As long as it’s shooting<br />
minute-of-bad guy, I’m happy. A<br />
precision rifle is another story.<br />
The ATR was cleaned after every shot<br />
for the first ten rounds. The procedure<br />
I use is to run a patch soaked with Pro<br />
Shot copper remover down the bore—<br />
from the breach end, of course—and<br />
then run a fresh patch down the bore<br />
until no fouling can be observed.<br />
Once break-in was complete, and<br />
to give each brand of ammo the best<br />
possible chance of performing to its<br />
potential, the rifle was allowed to cool<br />
between each string of fire and then<br />
cleaned before progressing to the next<br />
load. Furthermore, ten-round groups<br />
were fired for “score” instead of the<br />
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62 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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KIMBER 8400<br />
Rifle with complete kit.<br />
SPECIFICATIONS,<br />
KIMBER MODEL 8400 ADVANCED TACTICAL<br />
Manufacturer Kimber Mfg., Inc.<br />
Model Model 8400 Advanced Tactical<br />
Type Bolt-action<br />
Caliber .308 Winchester<br />
Overall Length Adjustable<br />
Weight 9 lbs., 13 oz.<br />
Capacity 5<br />
Barrel Length 24” bull barrel<br />
Twist Rate 1:12<br />
Stock Adjustable McMillan A-5<br />
Finish (action and barrel) Desert tan KimPro II<br />
Finish (stock) Desert camo<br />
Swivel studs 5: 1 standard type, 4 flush fit<br />
MSRP Rifle $2,497.00; Kit (no rifle) $2,575.00<br />
standard three- or five-round groups<br />
at 100 yards. All loads were fired from<br />
prone with the Versa-Pod bipod.<br />
The first load fired was the Samson/IMI<br />
offering, turning in a 1.25-inch<br />
group. “OK,” I thought, “almost minuteof-angle.”<br />
Next up was the Winchester<br />
load, which put ten rounds into 1.12inches—things<br />
were looking up. The<br />
Federal 308M load has long been the<br />
standard of the industry, and it showed<br />
why by shooting it through the Kimber<br />
with a group that measured a mere .06inch.<br />
The Black Hills offering was very<br />
close, measuring .07-inch. The last—and<br />
worst—of the five loads, somewhat surprisingly,<br />
was shot with Federal Gold<br />
Medal, measuring 1.5-inches.<br />
While performing the ritual of cleaning<br />
the rifle after the last 100-yard session, I<br />
wondered what the ATR was capable of<br />
when the barrel heated up during a long<br />
string of fire at a greater distance.<br />
Picking up a box of Federal 308M, I<br />
walked back and lasered the target at<br />
200 yards. I fired the entire 20 rounds as<br />
fast as I could acquire the target, press<br />
the trigger and perform three reloads.<br />
The result was a 20-round group that<br />
measured 1.60 inches. While I was hopeful<br />
of simply doubling the group shot at<br />
100 yards (0.12), this is still under minute-of-angle!<br />
Possibly one of the aforementioned<br />
aligned planets had shifted<br />
slightly....<br />
To avoid this article coming off as<br />
a “gun rag puff piece,” I tried to find<br />
something, anything, I didn’t like about<br />
the Kimber Model 8400 Advanced Tactical<br />
Rifle. Sorry, I couldn’t. OK, maybe<br />
it’s a bit on the heavy side, but most true<br />
precision rifles are. Additionally, most<br />
law enforcement marksmen aren’t likely<br />
to be doing a lot of humping through the<br />
woods with it.<br />
If you have a use for a precision rifle,<br />
Kimber’s Model 8400 Advanced Tactical<br />
Rifle is worth a long, hard look. §<br />
SOURCES:<br />
Kimber Mfg., Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
One Lawton Street<br />
Yonkers, NY 10705<br />
(800) 880-2418<br />
www.kimberamerica.com<br />
Black Hills Ammunition<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 3090<br />
Rapid City, SD 57709-3090<br />
(605) 348-5150<br />
www.black-hills.com<br />
Hardigg Storm Cases<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
147 North Main Street South<br />
Deerfield, MA 01373<br />
(800) 542-7344<br />
www.stormcase.com<br />
Keng’s Firearms Specialty, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
875 Wharton Drive, SW<br />
Atlanta, GA 30336<br />
(404) 691-7611<br />
www.versapod.com<br />
Leupold & Stevens, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 688<br />
Beaverton, OR 97075-0688<br />
(503) 526-1400<br />
www.leupold.com<br />
Otis Products, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
Laura Street<br />
PO Box 582<br />
Lyons Falls, NY 13368<br />
(800) 684-7486<br />
www.otisgun.com<br />
64 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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Be A Good Stude<br />
Bob is late for class, missing the opening lecture.<br />
As everyone gears up, you can<br />
tell by watching that Bob isn’t<br />
familiar with his firearm. “I just<br />
got this baby,” he says nervously, “and<br />
haven’t had a chance to shoot it, so I’m<br />
glad we’re starting out with marksmanship<br />
drills.” Bob borrowed reloaded<br />
ammo from a hometown buddy. The<br />
Although more expensive,<br />
private tutorials are your<br />
best value for time and<br />
money spent. Class<br />
progresses at your rate,<br />
with plenty of time to fine-<br />
problem is the rounds won’t feed into<br />
Bob’s weapon. “Frank said these worked<br />
great in his gun,” Bob explains in his<br />
defense. Feeling sorry for Bob, another<br />
student loans him ammo so he can continue.<br />
His first shot from 25 yards hits<br />
the ground ten feet in front of the target.<br />
“I might have jerked the trigger on that<br />
Initially any instructor will do for your<br />
training needs, but eventually as<br />
you develop your skills, you need to<br />
seek out a true teacher. Clint Smith,<br />
director of Thunder Ranch, is one of<br />
the best teachers out there.<br />
» BY TIGER McKEE<br />
one,” he says, chuckling. Bob is “that<br />
guy”—the one that instructor and students<br />
alike hate to see in a class.<br />
Like any martial art, learning to fight<br />
with firearms requires studying under<br />
knowledgeable instructors. This takes<br />
time and money, and to get the greatest<br />
return on your investment, you need to<br />
focus on three areas—preparation for<br />
the class, participation during the class<br />
and post-class follow through. Attention<br />
to these issues will ensure you get the<br />
maximum return on your investment,<br />
and you don’t end up being “Bob.”<br />
SELECTING YOUR CLASS<br />
Preparation includes selecting your<br />
class, making travel plans, and acquiring<br />
the necessary equipment. Choosing<br />
a class, the type and level of instruction,<br />
is where people may make their first<br />
mistake. Your anticipated use of your<br />
firearm and current abilities should dictate<br />
the class you attend. If you want to<br />
tune 66 your S.W.A.T. skills and » DECEMBER tactics. <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
nt<br />
study fighting, don’t attend a competitive<br />
shooting class. Competitions have<br />
rules and regulations and you are racing<br />
a timer. Fights are nasty, ugly and there<br />
are no rules.<br />
Be careful not to overestimate your<br />
current abilities. Just because you’ve<br />
been “shootin’ all your life” doesn’t mean<br />
you’ve been doing it correctly. If you’ve<br />
never had any formal training, I highly<br />
recommend a basic course covering<br />
safety, the fundamentals of marksmanship<br />
and manipulation techniques such<br />
as loading and unloading your weapon.<br />
You’ll be surprised at what you learn.<br />
Most defensive instruction is based on<br />
you knowing these fundamentals, and<br />
without them you’ll start out behind,<br />
quickly become frustrated and won’t<br />
benefit from the instruction. If you’ve<br />
attended a level one class, that doesn’t<br />
necessarily mean you are ready for the<br />
next instructional level. If you had a hard<br />
time with level one, or haven’t practiced<br />
the material, you might consider attending<br />
the same class again.<br />
Choosing an instructor or school is<br />
important for both beginners and experienced<br />
students. For the first-timer,<br />
the training should be a gratifying experience<br />
and get you started in the right<br />
direction. For the “gun-school-junkie,”<br />
the instruction should fit the fighting<br />
doctrine you are developing. The armed<br />
professional may be seeking specialized<br />
training. There are a lot of people offering<br />
instruction with vast differences<br />
between ability and the doctrines they<br />
promote. A great source of info on instructors<br />
and schools is this magazine,<br />
and most firearm forums on the Internet<br />
have areas specifically devoted to training.<br />
After choosing a school, contact them<br />
to discuss your current skill level and<br />
what you are looking for in instruction.<br />
You may want to ask about private instruction.<br />
Since you are the only student,<br />
private tutorials normally contain a wider<br />
variety of drills and more dynamic<br />
exercises as compared to a group class.<br />
You have the undivided attention of the<br />
Your training gear should reflect what<br />
you expect to have with you should<br />
trouble develop. This will differ<br />
according to whether you are a private<br />
citizen training for self-defense or<br />
security or law enforcement/military<br />
training for combative situations.<br />
instructor—the perfect student-teacher<br />
ratio—and class progresses at your<br />
learning rate, focusing on fine-tuning<br />
your skills. Although private instruction<br />
is more expensive, this is your best<br />
value.<br />
Get detailed information on the registration<br />
process. Most schools require applications,<br />
copies of CCW permits and<br />
such, and payment or deposits. Send in<br />
all the required paperwork. Don’t just<br />
shove a check into an envelope and mail<br />
it in, even if you have been to the same<br />
school 12 times before. After a week or<br />
so, confirm your registration.<br />
TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS<br />
Now it’s time to make travel arrangements.<br />
Wait until the last minute to book<br />
flights, hotels or rental cars and you<br />
may discover a jazz festival the same<br />
weekend as your class, with everything<br />
booked solid. If your plans include fly-<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 67
BE A GOOD STUDENT<br />
All your gear forms a chain, and you<br />
can’t afford any weak links. Invest in<br />
quality gear from the beginning. Floppy<br />
holsters and thin dress belts won’t cut<br />
it. Many companies make magazines:<br />
buy quality mags and test them for<br />
function before attending class.<br />
Electronic earmuffs are affordable and<br />
a valuable training aid.<br />
ing, check the airline’s policies for flying<br />
with firearms when booking a flight. Buy<br />
and ship your ammunition in advance,<br />
with time to confirm its arrival prior to<br />
the class. If you are driving, check each<br />
state you’ll pass through for their laws<br />
on transporting firearms. Remember,<br />
ignorance of the law is no excuse. Once<br />
you arrive, make a test run to see how<br />
long it takes to get to the actual range itself<br />
with time to spare.<br />
PHYSICAL CONDITIONING<br />
Use the time between registration and<br />
the class to physically prepare yourself.<br />
Hammering away at “bad guys” for<br />
a few days is physically and mentally<br />
demanding, especially if you sit behind<br />
a desk 40 hours a week. Replace your<br />
weapon with a dumbbell and, with arms<br />
extended, come up from a ready position,<br />
keeping it pointed on target. In the<br />
evenings, go for brisk walks. Find a few<br />
simple stretching positions and develop<br />
some flexibility. If you have physical<br />
limitations, inform the instructor in advance.<br />
I’ve spent entire classes correcting<br />
students only to have them tell me<br />
at the end of a course that they couldn’t<br />
do what I was asking because they were<br />
recovering from recent surgery or have<br />
problems from previous injuries. Training<br />
is about learning new skills and<br />
discovering your limitations as an individual.<br />
Once you recognize a weakness,<br />
there are ways to compensate for it.<br />
EQUIPMENT PREP<br />
Every class I’ve ever attended had an<br />
equipment list, which is sent to all students<br />
well before the course begins. A<br />
major source of frustration as an instructor<br />
is students showing up without the<br />
proper gear. Items are on the list for a<br />
reason, so do the instructor and yourself<br />
a favor and bring them. Start gathering<br />
your gear at least a week before the class.<br />
A small kit with athletic tape, band-aids,<br />
sunscreen and that type of stuff is always<br />
good. I highly recommend taking<br />
clothing appropriate for any weather<br />
conditions that may occur. With the low<br />
cost of surplus Gore-Tex suits, everyone<br />
should have a set. Before packing, set<br />
your gear out on the floor and double<br />
check the list to make sure you haven’t<br />
missed something.<br />
Part of training is about evaluating<br />
your equipment and discovering its advantages<br />
and disadvantages, but don’t<br />
go to class with new or untested firearms.<br />
Check your weapon, ammunition<br />
and magazines for function prior to the<br />
class. Anything that can break should<br />
have a spare. Having to clear malfunctions<br />
with every shot will affect your<br />
learning. Waiting in the dark while the<br />
rest of the class is clearing a building, because<br />
your only flashlight died, will be<br />
boring.<br />
If possible, bring an exact duplicate<br />
of the firearm you are training with to<br />
class, so if one breaks you can continue<br />
to train. A loaner gun from an instructor<br />
or another student, if not the same<br />
type you have been using, will put you<br />
behind the power curve—not where you<br />
want to be.<br />
If you’re a regular guy or gal training<br />
to defend your family, don’t show up for<br />
class decked out in yards of Velcro and<br />
black tactical gear. When you’re attacked<br />
in a dark parking lot, you won’t have<br />
that tactical vest and thigh-rig holster. If<br />
you are a member of a SWAT team, the<br />
military or run security, then train with<br />
the gear you normally operate with.<br />
You won’t likely be clearing corners in<br />
Baghdad slicked out in shorts and tennis<br />
shoes with mags stuffed in your back<br />
pockets. During class, don’t hesitate to<br />
ask other students about their gear. This<br />
is an opportunity to get opinions from<br />
people who are employing the equipment<br />
under actual field conditions. Just<br />
remember that they may not be able to<br />
tell you exactly where that field experience<br />
was acquired, so don’t pry.<br />
DURING CLASS<br />
After all the proper preparation,<br />
don’t blow it during the actual course!<br />
On the range, stay focused and don’t<br />
let your mind wander. If you’re thinking<br />
about car payments, you’ll miss the<br />
range command, and while everyone<br />
else is backing up and shooting, you’ll<br />
be standing still. Shut your mouth, open<br />
your ears and pay attention. Electronic<br />
earmuffs allow you to clearly hear range<br />
68 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
BE A GOOD STUDENT<br />
commands. They protect your ears better<br />
than plugs, are affordable and recommended.<br />
If your muffs have directional<br />
microphones, turn them to the rear. The<br />
target won’t talk to you, but your instructor<br />
will.<br />
You came to class to learn, not to just<br />
do things the way you’ve always done<br />
them. Some of the techniques will be<br />
new or different. I ask students to work<br />
with new techniques or tactics during<br />
the class, then after giving them a chance,<br />
they can make an educated choice.<br />
Please don’t cop-out with “This is how<br />
I’ve always done it and I can’t change<br />
it now.” You can do anything if you<br />
put your mind to it, which means slow<br />
down and focus on what the instructor is<br />
asking. After all, it may be a better technique<br />
or tactic, and if lives depend on<br />
your performance, wouldn’t you want<br />
to be as good as possible? And don’t get<br />
caught up comparing your performance<br />
to other students. What they can do on<br />
the range won’t matter in your fight.<br />
When the instructor offers corrections<br />
during a drill, it’s not the time to<br />
get into a lengthy debate. Hold your<br />
questions until a break and then get<br />
clarification. After all, it’s your class,<br />
and you shouldn’t leave with any<br />
questions unanswered. Other students<br />
will also have questions, however,<br />
so don’t hog all the instructor’s time.<br />
Please don’t take unnecessary risks or<br />
participate in anything unsafe. Everyone<br />
on the range, including you, is a safety<br />
officer. If you see someone pointing a<br />
muzzle in an unsafe direction, or anything<br />
else dangerous, you need to correct<br />
it immediately. Firearms are weapons,<br />
weapons are dangerous and there is no<br />
room for neglect or error. There are plenty<br />
of ways to induce stress into training<br />
without increasing risk, and personally I<br />
don’t want to become comfortable with<br />
something like bullets coming at me.<br />
POST CLASS FOLLOW<br />
THROUGH<br />
After class is when the real work begins.<br />
Training and practicing are two different<br />
things. Training is the introduction<br />
of new techniques and the reason you<br />
attend class. Practice is when you actually<br />
learn and refine your skills through<br />
repetition. If you don’t practice, your<br />
skills will deteriorate. A little work will<br />
maintain your abilities, but improvement<br />
takes regular practice. Practice is<br />
also the time to experiment with new or<br />
modified gear.<br />
For your initial training, an instructor<br />
will serve the purpose, but to continue<br />
developing your skills, eventually you<br />
will want to seek out a true teacher. An<br />
Before class is the time to sort out<br />
and make sure you have the proper<br />
gear, plus any spare equipment you<br />
may need. A simple first aid kit,<br />
extra lights and batteries, elbow/<br />
knee pads, and a basic cleaning kit<br />
are helpful. Color coded small bags<br />
separate everything and allow quick<br />
access. Best to do this when the<br />
wife is out.<br />
instructor demonstrates and shows you<br />
how to do specific tasks. A teacher goes<br />
into detail on techniques and tactical<br />
theories, explaining how and why you<br />
do something a certain way, when and<br />
where to do it, and options if that technique<br />
or tactic won’t work. Scott Reitz,<br />
Louis Awerbuck, and Clint Smith are<br />
a few of the great teachers I’ve studied<br />
under.<br />
When you decide to invest in training,<br />
you are entering into a contract. For<br />
the school to do its part, you have hold<br />
up your end of the deal. You can book a<br />
class with the best teacher in the world,<br />
but if you’re not prepared physically,<br />
mentally and with the right equipment,<br />
you’re wasting both parties’ time. You<br />
can always make more money and buy<br />
more ammo and gear, but time is a precious<br />
commodity. Spend it wisely. §<br />
[Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms<br />
Academy and author of The Book of<br />
Two Guns. www.shootrite.org, (256) 582-<br />
4777.]<br />
70 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
P-220 Combat comes with<br />
eight-round and ten-round<br />
magazines.<br />
72 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
» BY LEROY THOMPSON<br />
SIGARMS already has some real advantages in<br />
offering a handgun that meets the specifi cations<br />
for the Joint Combat Pistol (JCP).<br />
First, Naval Special Warfare personnel are already<br />
familiar with the P-226, since it has been used<br />
quite a bit by the SEALs. Other military personnel<br />
are familiar with the SIG P-228—military designation<br />
M11—since it has been issued on a limited basis as<br />
well. Secondly, the P-220 already meets many of the JCP<br />
specifi cations. It has taken only relatively minor modifi -<br />
cations to create what appears to be a real player should<br />
the Trials resume and result in the adoption of a new .45<br />
ACP pistol, even if only on a limited basis for special operations<br />
personnel.<br />
SIG’s JCP entry, the P-220 Combat, is actually offered<br />
in four formats. A standard double-action/single-action<br />
(DA/SA) model with hammer drop safety is offered with<br />
standard barrel and with threaded barrel that extends .6<br />
inches from the slide. Designated the “TB” model (for<br />
Threaded Barrel), this version would fi t the specifi ca-<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 73
SIGARMS P220 COMBAT<br />
SPECIFICATIONS,<br />
SIGARMS P220 COMBAT<br />
Manufacturer SIGARMS<br />
Model P-220 Combat<br />
Caliber .45 ACP<br />
Trigger Pull (DA/SA) 10.0 and 4.5 pounds<br />
Overall Length 7.70 inches<br />
Overall Height 5.50 inches<br />
Overall Width 1.50 inches<br />
Weight 31.2 ounces<br />
Barrel Length 4.40 inches<br />
Sight Radius 6.60 inches<br />
Sights SIGLITE® Night Sights<br />
Capacity 8- and 10-round magazines<br />
Grips Polymer, Flat Dark Earth<br />
Finish Nitron/Flat Dark Earth<br />
MSRP $1,067.00<br />
CA Compliant Yes<br />
MA Compliant No<br />
tion that requires an optional suppressor<br />
kit. These same two barrel options are<br />
offered with SIG’s DAK trigger P-220<br />
Combat models. The one I have for testing<br />
has the standard barrel and the DA/<br />
SA trigger.<br />
As with other pistols designed for the<br />
JCP Trails, the P-220 Combat comes in<br />
“Flat Dark Earth” color. This includes<br />
Flat Dark Earth Polymer grips and<br />
Nitron®/Flat Dark Earth on metal. The<br />
combo is actually quite handsome and<br />
blends well with typical ground and<br />
ground cover. To give an idea, when<br />
Nitron parts and Flat Dark Earth<br />
parts have contrasting colors.<br />
I was trying to photograph the P-220<br />
Combat after test fi ring it, I found it diffi<br />
cult to use a fallen tree, the ground, or<br />
leaves as background because it blended<br />
too well for a good photo. Internal parts<br />
are phosphorus coated. The barrel is<br />
hard chromed, then fi nished in Nitron.<br />
Overall, SIGARMS has incorporated a<br />
good durability package.<br />
While the P-220 Combat is a full-sized<br />
battle pistol, it is compact enough that<br />
an operator can carry it concealed when<br />
working in indigenous clothing—an<br />
important consideration in the War on<br />
Terror. Overall length with the standard<br />
barrel is 7.7 inches; 8.3 inches in TB version.<br />
Weight is 31.2 ounces. Barrel length<br />
is still 4.4 inches or 5 inches on the TB<br />
model. I think the P-220 Combat will get<br />
high marks with operators since it will<br />
conceal well or carry comfortably as a<br />
backup weapon.<br />
Among the special features to meet<br />
JCP specifi cations is an M1913 Picatinny<br />
rail with three cross slots. A lanyard pin,<br />
which offers enough room for easy attachment<br />
of a lanyard, is incorporated<br />
into the grip. This is a more important<br />
distinction than it might seem upon initial<br />
reading, since I have encountered<br />
nominal lanyard attachment points that<br />
were virtually impossible to use effectively.<br />
To meet the JCP requirement for<br />
self-illuminated night sights, the P-220<br />
Combat incorporates SIGLITE sights.<br />
Those for the TB version are higher, to<br />
allow target acquisition with a suppressor<br />
mounted. JCP specs call for an<br />
eight-round magazine capacity with a<br />
ten-round magazine available; hence,<br />
the P-220 Combat is furnished with an<br />
eight-round magazine plus a ten-round<br />
magazine with an extension. Specs call<br />
for the JCP to have a double-action trigger<br />
pull between eight and ten pounds<br />
and a single-action pull between four<br />
and six pounds. The P-220 Combat is<br />
rated at ten pounds DA and 4.5 pounds<br />
SA, so it falls within the guidelines. I<br />
should note that, as with most SIG SA/<br />
DA pistols I’ve used, trigger pull is fairly<br />
crisp, though it does stack a bit on DA.<br />
SIG P-220 pistols are well known for<br />
reliability. In fact, I had a friend in the<br />
St. Louis FBI offi ce who carried a P-220<br />
for years. When it seemed as if every automatic<br />
pistol in the offi ce was being returned<br />
to Quantico because of problems,<br />
he retained his P-220. I have also had a P-<br />
220 for ten years or more and have fi red<br />
at least 2,500-3,000 rounds through it. I<br />
cannot remember a single malfunction.<br />
My point is that the P-220 is known for<br />
reliability, and no internal changes were<br />
made to the P-220 Combat. As a result,<br />
there should be few problems meeting<br />
JCP standards for reliability.<br />
When testing the Para-Ordnance Nite-<br />
Tac intended for the JCP Trials (THE<br />
CONTENDER: Para-Ordnance Military<br />
Nite-Tac, June <strong>2007</strong> S.W.A.T.), I found<br />
74 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
THE ARTICLE NAME<br />
P-220 Combat handles quite well<br />
and allows quick engagement of<br />
multiple targets.<br />
that Insight Technology and SureFire illuminators<br />
would not readily slide onto<br />
the rails. I decided to try these same illuminators<br />
on the P-220 Combat rail. Once<br />
again, I found the fit very tight, to the extent<br />
that I was afraid of breaking the illuminators.<br />
As with the Para-Ordnance,<br />
I found that the Streamlight TLR-1 and<br />
TLR-2 could be attached readily. The<br />
difference is that the Streamlight illuminators<br />
allow their rails to be pushed<br />
apart for attachment then tightened via<br />
a screw. It is my understanding that the<br />
Insight Technology M6X—which also<br />
uses a screw—works on these JCP rails,<br />
but I have not had a chance to try one.<br />
Once I had the Streamlight TLR-2 attached<br />
to the P-220 Combat, I tried manipulating<br />
the controls with either hand<br />
and found that I could switch the illuminator<br />
on and off easily.<br />
To range test the P-220 Combat, I took<br />
along various loads, including Sellier &<br />
Bellot 230-grain FMC, Black Hills 230grain<br />
JHP, CorBon 230-grain JHP, and<br />
CorBon 185-grain DPX. I started off at<br />
25 yards to check accuracy. I found the<br />
same problem with the P-220 Combat<br />
that I find with virtually every .45 ACP<br />
handgun I receive from any factory—especially<br />
with night sights. With 230grain<br />
FMC ammo, the P-220 Combat<br />
was shooting almost 8-10 inches low.<br />
By the way, this problem is not just with<br />
me, because I have tested guns with two<br />
or three other shooters along and they<br />
shot as low or lower. Since lighter, faster<br />
ammo will usually shoot even lower, I<br />
can’t imagine for what load manufacturers<br />
regulate their .45 ACP pistols.<br />
Groups were also a bit left, but that can<br />
be corrected with a rear sight pusher.<br />
Accuracy was good with all loads. My<br />
friend Tim Mullin shot the best group at<br />
25 yards with CorBon’s DPX (three shots<br />
into about two inches), though it was, of<br />
course, very low.<br />
I didn’t take along my older P-220 for<br />
comparison, but the grips on the P-220<br />
Combat feel a bit thicker. Still, the gun<br />
feels good in the hands. I wanted to try it<br />
for various drills, so put up a Blackheart<br />
terrorist target at 15 yards and using<br />
Black Hills 230-grain JHP ammo fired<br />
a triple tap with the first round double<br />
action and the subsequent rounds single<br />
action. I had to aim at the top of the<br />
“Tango’s” head to get three hits in the<br />
chin area, but all three were grouped into<br />
about an inch and a half. Transition from<br />
DA to SA was smooth. I must admit that<br />
I’ve done a lot of shooting with SIG DA/<br />
SA pistols, so I am used to switching<br />
trigger pulls after the first shot. On the<br />
other hand, for the last couple of years<br />
most of my SIG shooting has been with a<br />
DAK trigger P-226R.<br />
I set up another Blackheart terrorist<br />
target at 15 yards and fired two double<br />
taps center of mass, first DA, second<br />
SA, each time. Once again, I purposely<br />
aimed high, but the shots were wellplaced.<br />
I followed up with a “zipper”<br />
of three shots moving from the chest to<br />
the upper chest to the head. The first was<br />
fired DA and the subsequent two SA. All<br />
shots were good hits, but I had more<br />
trouble than usual with this drill due to<br />
the need to mentally calculate how high<br />
to hold as I fired.<br />
We put over 200 rounds through the<br />
P-220 Combat, and it was utterly reliable.<br />
I found it very fast handling for engaging<br />
multiple plates and pepper poppers<br />
at ranges between 10 and 35 yards. I<br />
also did some shooting on flipper plates<br />
at seven yards, but did not do as well as<br />
I usually do because I had to estimate<br />
how high to hold. As part of the reliability<br />
testing, I fired rounds with the pistol<br />
held sideways “Gangsta” style and upside<br />
down. I also fired two or three mags<br />
with my support hand only. The P-220<br />
Combat performed without hesitation.<br />
Overall, the shooting tests went well. To<br />
be honest, I would have been surprised<br />
if a SIG P-220 was not reliable and accurate.<br />
The problem with shooting high<br />
was annoying, but I will order a couple<br />
of lower front sights from SIGARMS and<br />
solve it with a sight pusher in a few minutes.<br />
I fired some strings using the eightround<br />
magazine and some using the<br />
ten-round magazine. The spring on the<br />
latter was quite stiff and, to get the tenth<br />
round in, I had to use a Glock loader<br />
76 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
P-220 Combat ready for use in tactical<br />
role with ten-round magazine in place<br />
and Streamlight TLR-1 mounted.<br />
to push it down. I’ve left the magazine<br />
fully loaded to compress the spring a<br />
bit. The extended part of the ten-round<br />
magazine has a polymer girdle and a<br />
slam pad. Since I normally shoot with<br />
the butt resting on the palm of my support<br />
hand, I did have to adjust my grip<br />
somewhat when shooting with the extended<br />
magazine.<br />
I came into testing this pistol liking<br />
SIG P-220s, liking accessory rails, liking<br />
night sights, liking lanyard rings and<br />
liking extension magazines. Basically,<br />
therefore, I was in a what’s-not-to-like<br />
situation. I have to admit I think the<br />
“Flat Dark Earth” coloration has a lot of<br />
CDI Factor and I like that, too. If a new<br />
military pistol is selected from the Joint<br />
Combat Pistol Trials, I think the P-220<br />
Combat will definitely be in the running.<br />
§<br />
SOURCES:<br />
SIGARMS, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
18 Industrial Drive<br />
Exeter, NH 03833<br />
(603) 772-2302<br />
www.sigarms.com<br />
Blackheart International, L.L.C.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 9<br />
112 North Wood Street<br />
Philippi, WV 26416<br />
(877) 244-8166<br />
www.bhigear.com<br />
Black Hills Ammunition<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 3090<br />
Rapid City, SD 57709-3090<br />
(605) 348-5150<br />
www.black-hills.com<br />
CorBon<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
1311 Industry Rd.<br />
Sturgis, SD 57785<br />
(800) 626-7266<br />
www.corbon.com<br />
THE ARTICLE NAME<br />
Sellier & Bellot USA Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 7307<br />
Shawnee Mission, KS 66207-0307<br />
(800) 960-2422<br />
www.sb-usa.com<br />
Streamlight, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
30 Eagleville Rd.<br />
Eagleville, PA 19403<br />
(610) 631-0600<br />
www.streamlight-flashlights.com<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 77
Second<br />
Look At A<br />
First Class<br />
Rifl e<br />
ArmaLite AR-10<br />
We all enjoy articles on the newest rifl e, handgun or accessory.<br />
This article will discuss a rifl e purchased<br />
in the previous century, so<br />
please bear with me.<br />
A truly versatile rifl e is one that continues<br />
to transform itself, satisfying multiple<br />
roles with equal aplomb. Put another<br />
way, if one owned three identical<br />
rifl es, each would be confi gured differently<br />
to satisfy various roles. I have such<br />
a rifl e in the form of an ArmaLite AR-10<br />
chambered in .308 Winchester (7.62mm<br />
NATO). I did not appreciate this until I<br />
noticed the accessories acquired for the<br />
AR-10 over the years. I share my story<br />
hoping to stimulate readers to re-evaluate<br />
their needs and how to best satisfy<br />
these needs.<br />
The offi cial nomenclature for the<br />
ArmaLite discussed in this article is AR-<br />
10A4CS. I purchased the rifl e ten years<br />
ago. It has a 16-inch stainless match barrel<br />
with a muzzle brake. The rifl e is a<br />
“fl at top” and came with green furniture.<br />
One key factor in its continuing use is its<br />
phenomenal accuracy. I truly stumbled<br />
into a screamer. Various ammunition of<br />
different makes regularly produce fi veshot<br />
5/8-inch to 3/4-inch groups at 100<br />
yards. In my experience, sub-MOA rifl es<br />
are rare creatures. ArmaLite rifl es have a<br />
solid reputation for accuracy, but this rifl<br />
e’s performance is on the extreme side.<br />
I fi rst used the AR-10A4CS as a hunting<br />
rifl e. It seemed a waste not to employ<br />
it for something more than an entertaining,<br />
albeit bet-winning, target rifl e. The<br />
AR-10 clearly shows its assault rifl e lineage<br />
as designed by Eugene Stoner in the<br />
late 1950s. The combination of a proven<br />
design with the .308 cartridge produces<br />
a near perfect hunting rifl e. While not<br />
light at over ten pounds empty, the rifl e<br />
carries with ease and great balance in the<br />
roughest terrain. This should not come<br />
as a surprise, considering its origin as an<br />
infantry weapon.<br />
I mounted a Leupold Vari-X-III 1.75-<br />
6X to complement the AR-10’s hunting<br />
potential. A low power setting for quick<br />
target acquisition in thick terrain, a turn<br />
of the knob to 6X for an unexpected long<br />
shot or having to pick out a shooting lane<br />
through timber. A shot past 250 yards is<br />
a rarity. The fl at-top receiver maximizes<br />
78 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
A4CS<br />
» BY TODD BURGREEN » PHOTOS BY KEITH KILMER<br />
the natural pointing characteristics of<br />
the scoped AR-10, and the Picatinny rail<br />
allows for one of the sturdiest scope-torifl<br />
e connections on the market. Proper<br />
scope positioning for optimum eye relief<br />
is made easier as well.<br />
A muzzle brake on a .308 is not a necessity.<br />
At fi rst I considered having it<br />
removed. I then realized recoil is not<br />
the only function of a brake. The brake<br />
minimizes muzzle rise, allowing for<br />
fast follow-up shots—important no<br />
matter what role the AR-10 is fulfi lling.<br />
An interesting sidenote for the muzzle<br />
brake—ArmaLite calls it a recoil check<br />
device—is that it diffuses the blast signature,<br />
making it diffi cult to pinpoint one’s<br />
fi ring position. Anecdotally, when I fi red<br />
upon a group of deer 40 yards away,<br />
some of the animals ran toward me, and<br />
an unseen band of does broke cover<br />
from a different position and almost ran<br />
me over. ArmaLite engineers have done<br />
a good job designing the brake relative<br />
to the shooter, as muzzle blast is directed<br />
forward and to the sides of the shooter,<br />
but this is not good for anyone standing<br />
beside the rifl e.<br />
I decided I needed a CQB rifl e after<br />
a few years using the AR-10A4CS as<br />
a hunting rifl e. I changed out the front<br />
handguards with ArmaLite’s Alostyr<br />
handguards, which feature four-sided<br />
Picatinny rails for mounting different accessories.<br />
The Alostyr system comes in<br />
two pieces and is easily installed with-<br />
Leupold CQ/T mounted<br />
with A.R.M.S. throw<br />
lever along with other<br />
optics used during<br />
transformations of the<br />
AR-10A4CS.<br />
out gunsmithing. I mounted an Alostyr<br />
forward pistol grip and GG&G offset<br />
light mount with an X3 PentagonLight<br />
and attached to it to the forearm rails. I<br />
installed Alostyr fl ip up front and rear<br />
sights.<br />
For the main optic I chose a Leupold<br />
Mk4 CQ/T scope. The Leupold CQ/<br />
T sight is unique in what it offers. Its<br />
etched circle and dot reticle is always<br />
available in case Mr. Murphy decides to<br />
deep six your batteries. The reticle can<br />
be illuminated with different brightness<br />
settings for low light conditions. The<br />
Leupold Mark4 CQ/Ts circle and dot<br />
reticle aids in both range estimation and<br />
quick target engagement. At 100 yards,<br />
set at 3X, the CQ/T’s circle reticle mea-<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 79
ARMALITE AR-10A4CS<br />
Magpul stock with cheek piece<br />
and length of pull adjusted for<br />
my individual preference. Bottom<br />
of hook-style buttstock can be<br />
removed, exposing Picatinny rails<br />
for mounting of a monopod.<br />
Leupold Mk4 3.5-10X40mm LR/T<br />
scope with target-style windage and<br />
elevation turrets. Warne Tactical<br />
rings were used to mount the scope<br />
to the AR-10A4CS’s Picatinny rail.<br />
Alostyr Quadrail<br />
with GG&G offset<br />
light mount, forward<br />
pistol grip, bipod, and<br />
PentagonLight X3.<br />
Note muzzle brake’s<br />
double baffle design.<br />
sures six inches in diameter. Another key<br />
feature is the CQ/T’s 1-3X magnification<br />
range. Most close quarter sights offer no<br />
magnification capability. It is nice to be<br />
able to take advantage of the .308’s ballistic<br />
advantage with 3X magnification.<br />
Finishing off the Leupold Mk4 CQ/T<br />
package is an optional A.R.M.S. throw<br />
lever mount that allows for quick on/off<br />
of the sight with repeatable zero.<br />
One word of caution is due with the<br />
ArmaLite AR-10. The user must diligently<br />
field check all 20-round magazines<br />
before committing them to use. There<br />
are several generations of AR-10 magazine<br />
designs on the market. Even “new”<br />
mags need to be checked for reliability.<br />
On a positive note, once I have verified a<br />
magazine as working, I have not encountered<br />
any problems. Another quirk is<br />
that magazines need to be downloaded a<br />
minimum of one round to allow for reliable<br />
loading and feeding. A fully loaded<br />
20-round magazine is difficult to seat in<br />
the rifle with the bolt closed, and even<br />
with the bolt open the magazine’s spring<br />
tension is such that the bolt does not<br />
close properly 100% of the time. I have<br />
had no such issues with the ten-round<br />
magazines.<br />
In the role of a precision rifle, not<br />
fully taking advantage of the ArmaLite<br />
AR-10’s gilt-edged accuracy has always<br />
caused me consternation. Sub-MOA<br />
rifles are not common—despite such reports<br />
on the Internet—and here was one<br />
in a semiautomatic platform. The AR-<br />
10A4CS transformed easily into a precision<br />
rifle. I mounted a Leupold Mk4<br />
3.5-10X40mm LR/T scope with TMR<br />
reticle to take full advantage of the AR-<br />
10’s accuracy. The premium high-powered<br />
Leupold scope draws many comments<br />
from the uninitiated upon seeing<br />
it placed on the short barrel AR-10A4CS.<br />
I used Warne Tactical rings to mount the<br />
LR/T.<br />
Next, I installed an ArmaLite National<br />
Match Two-Stage trigger. Trigger control<br />
is a vital component to accurate shooting,<br />
especially at extended ranges, where<br />
any variable is magnified and affects<br />
shot placement. A good trigger is often<br />
overlooked in the accuracy equation.<br />
The ArmaLite trigger is a two-stage type,<br />
needing four pounds of pressure to fire.<br />
Another modification used in the AR-<br />
80 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
10’s transformation is the Magpul Precision<br />
Rifle Stock. The stock is adjustable for<br />
length of pull and comb height, plus offers<br />
a rail on the bottom of the stock for a<br />
monopod attachment. The Magpul stock<br />
is designed for prone shooting with a<br />
hook-style buttstock. This allows a shooter<br />
to “crawl” into the scope and hook his<br />
offhand around it for a more steady hold.<br />
I added a stud attachment on the quad<br />
rail for the Harris bipod.<br />
I left the forward pistol grip in place<br />
to aid in toting the hefty AR-10 around,<br />
along with the GG&G mount and PentagonLight<br />
tactical illumination device.<br />
A tactical light will always be of use, and<br />
the intense 135-lumen X3 PentagonLight,<br />
combined with the Leupold optics, allows<br />
for target acquisition out to 135 yards in<br />
the darkest of conditions.<br />
The basic M16 design is hard to improve<br />
upon when it comes to reliably<br />
launching accurate bullets downrange.<br />
ArmaLite guarantees the AR-10A4CS to<br />
shoot 1.5-2.0 MOA with the standard barrel<br />
and quality ammunition—better can<br />
be expected. ArmaLite makes a strong<br />
statement with its accuracy guarantee.<br />
As alluded to in the beginning of this article,<br />
Hornady 168-gr. TAP, Federal 168-gr.<br />
Match, Black Hills 168 and 175-gr. Match,<br />
and 180-gr. Accubond Black Hills Gold<br />
hunting loads all produce outstanding accuracy.<br />
In fact, no ammunition, including<br />
full metal jacket surplus ammunition, has<br />
generated greater than 2.5 MOA accuracy<br />
levels.<br />
The short 16-inch barrel sacrifices approximately<br />
150-200 feet-per-second (fps)<br />
compared to 24-inch tubes. The handiness<br />
gained from the short barrel outweighs<br />
the velocity lost, in my opinion. Barrel<br />
length has nothing to do with intrinsic accuracy.<br />
How many times have you read,<br />
“…the short barrel will limit effectiveness<br />
to 300 yards”? A short barrel only gives<br />
up velocity when compared to longer barrels.<br />
Less velocity translates into longer<br />
time of flight, which exposes the bullet to<br />
more gravitational and wind forces, especially<br />
with targets past 350 yards. All of<br />
this puts more emphasis on range finding<br />
and wind doping. No doubt that a .308<br />
with 2,500 fps muzzle velocity puts more<br />
of a premium on shooter skill than a .300<br />
Win. Mag. or .338 Lapua in terms of rang-<br />
continued on page 104<br />
ARMALITE AR-10A4CS<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 81
When you clean the breech face, hold<br />
the slide so the muzzle end is down.<br />
This way any debris and fl uid can fall<br />
away from the breech face.<br />
Part of the reasoning behind this<br />
was that, if the instructors had a<br />
better understanding of how the<br />
weapon worked, it would be easier for<br />
them to instruct it. The time spent in this<br />
class, when compared to previous versions,<br />
was far more worthwhile.<br />
Dennis Tueller, formerly of the Salt<br />
Lake City <strong>Police</strong> <strong>Department</strong>, was the instructor.<br />
Dennis’ name should be on the<br />
familiar side, as he taught at the Ameri-<br />
Repeat after me: “This is a drain hole,<br />
not a lube point!” Drain hole allows<br />
crud and debris to escape from the<br />
fi ring pin channel.<br />
Tueller addressing the differences between the standard<br />
and maritime spring cups. The Power Point presentation<br />
was well done and appropriately used throughout the class.<br />
My department recently hosted a Glock armorer’s course so<br />
that we could send several of our instructors through it.<br />
can Pistol Institute (API—Gunsite) and<br />
Thunder Ranch. He also developed the<br />
drill, later named after him, which is<br />
used to demonstrate the speed at which<br />
one’s opponent can close distance.<br />
Throughout the course Dennis compared<br />
armorers—from any entity—to<br />
parachute riggers. It is an appropriate<br />
analogy, because when we need these<br />
tools, we need them now and at 100%.<br />
The parachute rigger’s motto, “I will be<br />
GLOCK<br />
ARMOR<br />
THIRD TIME’S<br />
sure, always!” would be a good way to<br />
express this.<br />
Dennis began to address safety by<br />
covering the standard rules. He presented<br />
a set of four safety rules re-written by<br />
Glock before reinforcing them with the<br />
original set as put forth by Jeff Cooper.<br />
Tueller used the term Risk Management<br />
instead of Safety during this time. It took<br />
a bit of time for my brain to wrap itself<br />
around the terminology, but eventually<br />
it sunk in. Now I am fi nding that I prefer<br />
the wording he used. To help make his<br />
point, Dennis told a joke ending with the<br />
punch line, “Ezz gun, of course ezz not<br />
safe!”<br />
No doubt due to Tueller’s tenure at<br />
API, there was a tremendous number of<br />
positive references throughout the class<br />
to the Modern Technique of the Pistol<br />
and the late Colonel Jeff Cooper, USMC<br />
(Retired).<br />
Dennis introduced a few new or relatively<br />
unknown Glock products. He<br />
went through three of their non-fi ring<br />
training weapons. The Model 17T is a<br />
82 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
ER’S COURSE<br />
A CHARM<br />
Simunition FX marking cartridge platform<br />
and has a blue “Inert” frame. There<br />
is a modifi ed re-assembly procedure for<br />
it. The other two both have red frames.<br />
The Model 22P has a solid barrel and allows<br />
all functions except for chambering<br />
a round. The Model 17R has a springloaded,<br />
self-resetting trigger for addressing<br />
trigger manipulations. It does<br />
not have a fi ring pin cut on the breech<br />
face—even if a round is chambered, the<br />
pistol cannot be fi red.<br />
Then he introduced the Model 21SF—<br />
a slimmed-down version of the Model<br />
21 double-stacked .45 ACP pistol. My<br />
view of this pistol is “...uh, ok ...” though<br />
that is based on minimal handling and<br />
no live fi re. It is a large framed pistol and<br />
the “SF” modifi cation did not change<br />
the frame’s feel to me. A Model 21 with<br />
an after-market grip reduction, such<br />
as those done by Robar or Arizona Response<br />
Systems, feels signifi cantly more<br />
user-friendly to my hands than does the<br />
new Model 21SF.<br />
The end result—functioning weapons<br />
» BY ERICK GELHAUS<br />
that enable the good guys to stop the<br />
bad guys—was emphasized throughout<br />
this class.<br />
Tueller specifi cally recommended that<br />
we look at two areas when working on<br />
Glocks. The fi rst is the fi ring pin channel<br />
in the slide. He has frequently found<br />
lubrication—which is a NO-GO—there.<br />
He noted that some seem to think the<br />
drain hole is to be used to lubricate the<br />
interior of the slide; it is not. Located on<br />
the bottom on the slide, rearward of the<br />
breech face, the hole is there to allow<br />
crud and debris to migrate out of the fi ring<br />
pin channel without binding the fi ring<br />
pin.<br />
A peer from southern California and I<br />
discussed this issue. He told me that on<br />
more than one occasion he disassembled<br />
Glock slides and found the fi ring pin<br />
channel fi lled with grease, lubricant and<br />
crud. We will come back to this subject.<br />
Another area needing attention is the<br />
connector hook. This hook is located<br />
near the right rear corner of the frame<br />
and above the right rear frame rail. The<br />
Deputy Henry Boustany<br />
shooting his Glock 22<br />
after the Vickers release<br />
was installed.<br />
hook rides against a machined surface<br />
on the inside of the slide. Insure that<br />
there is a light coat of lube on the connector<br />
hook.<br />
The presence of peening inside the<br />
slide on both the Model 22 and Model<br />
23 .40SW caliber pistols was mentioned.<br />
The cause has been identifi ed as being an<br />
issue with the design, or confi guration,<br />
of the locking block. Current production<br />
versions of the Model 22 and Model 23<br />
have re-designed locking blocks to address<br />
this. Interestingly, I am pretty sure<br />
I can recall a discussion of the peening<br />
issue in these pages in the mid-1990s.<br />
Dennis reviewed the differences<br />
between the standard and maritime<br />
(underwater) spring cups. Regardless<br />
of one’s actual need for the maritime<br />
spring cups, their availability is limited<br />
in no small part due to our excessively<br />
litigious society.<br />
Someone in the room may have pointed<br />
out that if an armorer course was<br />
needed for Glock pistols, then maybe,<br />
just maybe, the term “Glock Perfection”<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 83
GLOCK ARMORER’S COURSE<br />
wasn’t entirely true. The factory armorer’s<br />
manual has not been updated or<br />
re-written since 2002. We were told that<br />
a new edition of the manual is due out<br />
later this year. I am concerned this indicates<br />
that—somewhere along the line—<br />
feedback and issues from the end users<br />
are not making it into the system.<br />
Glock now has factory recommendations<br />
as to when parts should be changed<br />
out for preventive maintenance. All of<br />
these recommendations will be in the<br />
VICKERS TACTICAL<br />
GLOCK MAGAZINE RELEASE<br />
Larry Vickers is probably best known for his work on 1911s, followed by<br />
his consulting with Heckler & Koch. He has also been identified as being<br />
responsible for elements of the U.S. military beginning to utilize Glock pistols.<br />
He recently entered into the realm of Glock work with a new magazine release<br />
for the 9mm and .40 S&W size frame pistols.<br />
The production of the Vickers mag release was announced about a week before<br />
the armorer’s class we hosted. Thanks to Jeff Cahill of TangoDown, we were able<br />
to get our hands on two of them for the class.<br />
The Vickers release is 0.060” longer than the stock release but is shorter than an<br />
extended release, making it a functional compromise between the two. The edges<br />
around the face of the release are beveled.<br />
No fitting of any kind was required. This<br />
piece needed no more work or effort to install<br />
or remove than it did to replace the<br />
stock magazine release. It is made from the<br />
same material as the factory stock magazine<br />
release.<br />
We installed one of these in a co-worker’s,<br />
Deputy Henry Boustany’s, duty pistol, a<br />
Model 22. Over several weeks, we fired several<br />
hundred rounds through the weapon,<br />
doing numerous magazine changes. After<br />
six weeks and several range sessions, he is recommending it. Henry noted the<br />
reloading process now feels much smoother with the Vickers release installed. He<br />
did not notice the “size” of the release until he went to change a magazine. At that<br />
point, he said the reload “just happened.” Not having to change his master grip<br />
at all in order to perform a reload was also a big plus to him.<br />
As a left-hander, I have had a difficult time shooting pistols, including Glocks,<br />
with extended magazine releases. This is<br />
because of a tendency on my part to unintentionally<br />
depress those extended releases,<br />
while shooting, with the bottom portion of<br />
my middle finger. For me, the result is the<br />
magazine being dumped when I don’t intend<br />
it to. This did not happen when shooting<br />
the Glock that we installed the Vickers<br />
release in. I found that this release allowed<br />
me to easily manipulate the magazine release<br />
with my trigger finger.<br />
If I owned and carried a Glock with a<br />
9mm size frame, I would install this magazine<br />
release in it.<br />
Vickers release is longer than the<br />
original factory release. Note that<br />
the edges are beveled.<br />
Length of the release does not<br />
interfere with either a left-hand<br />
holster or the grip of a left-hand<br />
shooter.<br />
Vickers and TangoDown indicated that if there is enough interest, a version to<br />
fit the larger framed Model 20/Model 21 pistols may be produced.<br />
Tango Down LLC is selling the Vickers magazine release directly for $15.95. §<br />
new manual. Two of them are: replacement<br />
of the captured recoil spring at<br />
3,000 rounds and replacement of the coil<br />
spring connecting the trigger bar to the<br />
trigger mechanism housing at 10,000<br />
rounds.<br />
For many years the entire “tool kit”<br />
handed out at the Glock armorer course<br />
was a punch. Glock has realized that<br />
this is less than sufficient. In response,<br />
they are selling a complete tool kit for<br />
approximately $200. The components<br />
include re-designed tools for replacing<br />
both the front and rear sights, along with<br />
pliers and a reamer for various holes.<br />
Going back several years, there have<br />
been debates on the design of the Glock<br />
magazines. Tueller paid sufficient attention<br />
to the mag/mag spring issue. He<br />
explained that the original design—metal<br />
lining on three of the four sides—was<br />
due to the original Austrian Army request<br />
and their need to retain the magazine<br />
in part due to terrain and climate.<br />
The current magazines, with the metal<br />
lining on all four sides, came about due<br />
to requests from the U.S. market.<br />
He addressed that the swelling of<br />
Glock magazines comes from their being<br />
loaded with ammunition. Again, due to<br />
the original Austrian Army request, the<br />
magazines were designed to do this.<br />
Recently one firearms publication erroneously<br />
had an article saying that Glock<br />
magazines became swollen when they<br />
got wet.<br />
Reloads, specifically multiple speed<br />
loads, were discussed. Dennis opined<br />
that if one needed to conduct multiple<br />
speed reloads in a single fight, they were<br />
either in a very target-rich environment<br />
or just plain were not hitting much of<br />
anything.<br />
A final note on magazines, regardless<br />
of what weapon system is involved. If<br />
any magazine is having problems, it is<br />
prudent to replace it rather than repair it.<br />
I am not a fan of Glock pistols; never<br />
have been. I work in an agency that issues<br />
a Glock Model 22, but allows the<br />
carry of other pistols—I carry something<br />
else. Frame size versus hand size was<br />
the first consideration; initial caliber offering<br />
was the second; and finally, I am<br />
not a fan of how Glock has inappropriately—in<br />
my personal view—addressed<br />
their “issues” previously. The first con-<br />
84 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
cern now has a few after-market gunsmith<br />
fixes; the second has been covered<br />
by improved 9mm loadings and a wider<br />
variety of calibers offered; the third?<br />
Well, I was surprised, even encouraged.<br />
For several years now, the phenomena<br />
of Glock “kabooms” have been known<br />
about and discussed. It seems the blame<br />
was placed solely on reloaded or remanufactured<br />
ammunition being used for a<br />
considerable period of time.<br />
Tueller addressed this as being, in his<br />
view, at least partially due to tolerance<br />
stacking. It isn’t just the specific round<br />
or a fouled chamber or a dirty barrel or<br />
being slightly out of battery; but rather,<br />
generally, an unfortunate combination<br />
of several factors coming together at the<br />
same time.<br />
It was the most honest answer I’ve<br />
heard from Glock to date, even if it is a<br />
few years too late.<br />
There continues to be concern about<br />
reliability and weapon-mounted lights<br />
on the Model 22. Back six or seven years<br />
ago, DEA and others noticed failures<br />
to feed in Model 22s when there was a<br />
weapon-mounted light attached. Apparently,<br />
this also occurred with the Model<br />
23s, though to a lesser degree. These failures<br />
were traced to a combination of the<br />
polymer frame flexing and the strength<br />
of the magazine spring in terms of being<br />
able to feed the next round.<br />
The identified fix was to replace the<br />
magazine spring in the affected weapons.<br />
For a Model 22, you replaced a tencoil<br />
spring with an eleven-coil version,<br />
while a Model 23 would go from a ninecoil<br />
spring to a ten-coil spring.<br />
The last time I went through this<br />
course, well after the issue was widely<br />
known about, there was still a significant<br />
degree of evasion by the instructor. That<br />
was not the case during this class.<br />
Tueller also mentioned that the user’s<br />
choice of ammunition could be related<br />
to the problem. He had not seen any issues<br />
with agencies that used the original<br />
.40 S&W load (180-grain bullet traveling<br />
around 950 feet per second), but he noted<br />
it appeared when lighter and faster<br />
loads were used.<br />
About two years ago, one large southern<br />
California metropolitan law enforcement<br />
agency began having issues with<br />
some Model 21s (the large frame .45 ACP<br />
pistol). For them, the Model 21 was an<br />
authorized rather than an issued pistol.<br />
These issues included light firing pin<br />
hits and/or failures to fire.<br />
Dennis addressed this with the class.<br />
He told us some of the officers there initially<br />
believed they needed to lubricate<br />
all of the parts and areas on the Model<br />
21 like they had to on their previously<br />
issued double stack 9mm pistols. By lubricating<br />
the firing pin channel and regularly<br />
spraying it down with an aerosol<br />
solvent, they created a paste that greatly<br />
slowed down the travel of the firing pin.<br />
Additionally, there were issues with<br />
trigger bars and machining of the slides<br />
in a very limited number of pistols—all<br />
identified by serial number. Replacing<br />
the trigger bars and swapping out the affected<br />
slides have fixed all of the issues.<br />
That agency again has the Model 21 in<br />
use and is considering the purchase of<br />
Model 22s for a duty weapon.<br />
All too often, a Power Point program<br />
becomes a crutch rather than a true teaching<br />
aid for an instructor. Throughout the<br />
day, Glock’s Power Point was displayed<br />
on the classroom screen. It was appropriate<br />
for the class and was well used.<br />
According to Tueller, the Power Point<br />
used in the class is just one portion of an<br />
armorer CD now being sold by Glock<br />
to graduates of the armorer class. After<br />
a back and forth between their training<br />
and legal divisions, the CD will be available<br />
for $20.<br />
All in all, my third time through the<br />
Glock armorer’s class was a bit closer<br />
to being a charm. The emphasis on the<br />
realities of the street was encouraging.<br />
I can definitely recommend the current<br />
version of the class. §<br />
SOURCE:<br />
Glock Training Division<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 1254<br />
Smyrna, GA 30081<br />
(707) 432-1202<br />
www.glocktraining.com<br />
TangoDown<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
1588 Arrow Highway, Unit F<br />
La Verne, CA 91750-5334<br />
(909) 392-4757<br />
www.tangodown.com<br />
GLOCK ARMORER’S COURSE<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 85
NIGHTHAWK CUSTO<br />
10-8DU NIGHTHAWK CUSTO<br />
10-8DU » BY MICK WILLIAMS<br />
10-8 Consulting’s three<br />
principals—Tim Lau,<br />
Ben Lenett, and Hilton<br />
Yam—are law enforcement<br />
professionals who have<br />
extensive experience carrying<br />
1911-based guns on duty.<br />
The guys at 10-8 knew that, while<br />
the 1911 is a great gun for duty use,<br />
many out of the box 1911s need to<br />
be tuned by a gunsmith for maximum<br />
reliability. When they speak of reliability,<br />
they want the gun to function with<br />
all duty loads, be as accurate from the<br />
first round to the 30,000th round, and be<br />
able to withstand open duty and tactical<br />
carry.<br />
There were certain features that for<br />
many people would fall in the category<br />
of “wants,” but 10-8 felt were needed<br />
on a professional-use gun. As the guys<br />
looked at the 1911s on the market, they<br />
didn’t see the right combination of features,<br />
function and price point for a duty<br />
pistol.<br />
As a result, 10-8 Consulting went to<br />
Nighthawk Custom to build a pistol<br />
86 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
M’S<br />
TY PISTOL<br />
to their specifications. As Hilton Yam<br />
(a custom gunsmith himself) said, “We<br />
kept seeing their guns pop up in the right<br />
places.” As they examined the various<br />
Nighthawk guns, they were sufficiently<br />
impressed with the workmanship<br />
and ideas expressed in the guns. While<br />
Nighthawk is a relatively new custom<br />
shop, its gunsmiths have over 50 years<br />
of combined experience, so 10-8 felt very<br />
Surefire X200 weaponlight<br />
equipped with DG switch on<br />
the NightHawk pistol.<br />
(Photo: 10-8 Performance)<br />
DEPENDAbLE, ACCURATE<br />
comfortable having Nighthawk Custom<br />
build their gun.<br />
Nighthawk uses forged frames and<br />
tunes each part to the gun.<br />
Mechanically speaking, the 10-8 pistol<br />
for the most part stays true to John<br />
Browning’s original design of a steel<br />
frame, five-inch barrel gun, with all the<br />
parts being properly fitted. They use a<br />
standard length guide rod and hand fit<br />
above: While properly fitted, this bushing<br />
can still be removed by hand for fieldstripping.<br />
(Photo: 10-8 Performance)<br />
below: 10-8 Performance rear sight:<br />
deep U-notch and 40 lpi serrations<br />
offer good sight picture, while high<br />
profile eases one-handed malfunction<br />
clearance. (Photo: 10-8 Performance)<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 87
NIGHTHAWK 10-8<br />
above: 10-8’s mainspring housing is from<br />
Guncrafter Industries, with recessed<br />
lanyard loop.<br />
below: Officer Chris Scott runs 10-8<br />
pistol. Note the grime on the gun—we<br />
ran the gun without cleaning until we<br />
were filthy from handling it.<br />
the extractor. Nighthawk uses no MIM<br />
parts in the gun. Unique to the frame<br />
is the front strap, which is dished out<br />
and flattened right underneath the trigger<br />
guard and before the checking begins.<br />
This feels very comfortable for the<br />
shooter’s middle finger and gives a reference<br />
for the grip. Also, and probably<br />
more important, the flat spot mates perfectly<br />
with the Surefire DG switch option<br />
for their weapon-mounted lights. This is<br />
the preferred switching option by many,<br />
if not most, serious users, and this design<br />
complements the comfort of the DG<br />
switch.<br />
The frame comes with the Dawson<br />
Precision Light Rail, an effective way to<br />
attach a weapon light to the pistol. The<br />
Dawson Precision Light Rail is a lightweight<br />
alternative to a full 1913 spec rail<br />
that has been proven in the field by a<br />
variety of users. The Dawson rail gave<br />
the 10-8 guys a couple of functions they<br />
wanted in the pistol. First, it can be used<br />
with many holsters that are designed for<br />
standard dustcover-equipped 1911s with<br />
little or no modifications, which makes<br />
it easier to use holsters already in service.<br />
Second, the 10-8 guys feel that pistol<br />
lights are an important part of your<br />
lowlight toolbox and believed the gun<br />
needed to come ready for a pistol light.<br />
The test pistol came with a Dawson<br />
rail adapter for the Surefire X200. While<br />
88 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
the Dawson rail-equipped gun can fi t in<br />
many holsters without a light, the combo<br />
of pistol and light requires specifi c<br />
holsters, i.e., you need to order a 1911<br />
equipped with a Dawson rail with an<br />
X200 light, etc. The X200 on the 10-8 pistol<br />
worked very well, as expected, and<br />
the combination of a Dawson Light Rail<br />
and an X200 is probably the lightest and<br />
most streamlined option for mounting a<br />
light to the 1911 platform.<br />
The 10-8 pistol is built with the concept<br />
in mind that duty pistols are not<br />
built just to shoot on sunny days on the<br />
range, but built to shoot in rain, mud<br />
and with gloves on. The grips on the<br />
pistol are VZ Diamondback linen Micarta.<br />
The VZ grips are textured and work<br />
well with gloves on or when wet. The<br />
grips are not as abrasive as to be uncomfortable<br />
without gloves or to damage<br />
clothing.<br />
The front strap has 25 lines-per-inch<br />
(lpi) checkering and the fl at mainspring<br />
housing has 20 lpi checkering, giving<br />
the shooter 360-degree purchase<br />
on the gun. The mainspring housing is<br />
Guncrafter Industries’ fl at mainspring<br />
housing with recessed lanyard loop.<br />
This is for those jobs with lanyard requirements<br />
(maritime, mounted units,<br />
bikes, etc), and the GI product in combo<br />
with a Gemtech TRL lanyard is the<br />
only way to go for these assignments.<br />
One shooter, upon picking up the pistol,<br />
exclaimed, “Wow, grippy....” While<br />
I’m not sure if that is proper syntax,<br />
I think this was the reaction 10-8 and<br />
Nighthawk wanted. The grip was easy<br />
to use with gloves on, but did not cut<br />
or bite the hand without gloves. While<br />
the gun has a lot of textured surfaces,<br />
the gun was completely dehorned and<br />
was comfortable to carry and handle.<br />
The gun comes with front and rear<br />
cocking serrations on the fi tted slide.<br />
While some don’t like the front cocking<br />
serrations, they are very useful when<br />
press checking a gun, especially with<br />
a weapon light, while wearing gloves.<br />
The forged slide stop is fi tted to the slide<br />
with a fl at edge for positive contact. The<br />
magazine release is extended and textured<br />
for easy use, but not oversized to<br />
the extent that it is obtrusive.<br />
The trigger on the 10-8 is a design developed<br />
by Hilton Yam and Larry Vick-<br />
IS IT TIGHT? MOACKS IT.<br />
MOTHER M<br />
OF ALL<br />
CARRIER C<br />
KEY<br />
STAKERS S<br />
FOR<br />
AR-15<br />
RIFLES<br />
NIGHTHAWK 10-8<br />
• Stakes screws 2x each positively.<br />
• Scraper for cleaning boat tail.<br />
• Gas tube clamp pulls stuck tube without damage.<br />
• Carrier bore scraper removes carbon buildup.<br />
• Easy, goof-proof operation.<br />
ALSO AVAILABLE:<br />
Pocket MOACKS, $80.<br />
.223 to 5.56 Chamber Reamer -<br />
cuts neck, freebore & leade only, $245<br />
www.M-GunS.COM<br />
PAYPAL funds to metalmaster@m-guns.com or<br />
Make checks payable to Michiguns and mail to:<br />
M.G., PO Box 42, Three Rivers, MI 49093<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 89
NIGHTHAWK 10-8<br />
10-8 mated up with the excellent<br />
Surefire X200 weaponlight.<br />
(Photo: 10-8 Performance)<br />
ers. They wanted a “bombproof” duty<br />
use trigger that was lightweight and<br />
adjustable for the gunsmith. The solid<br />
bow and shoe are designed for maximum<br />
strength, but light enough for the<br />
trigger to be in the four- to five-pound<br />
pull range. The overtravel screw is permanently<br />
set so that it does not walk<br />
out after a high round count. We only<br />
put a little under 1,000 rounds through<br />
the sample gun, so we can’t say for sure<br />
about the long-term durability of the<br />
trigger; we can say that it didn’t change<br />
from the first shot to the last. The trigger<br />
was crisp with little slack and a nice reset.<br />
The solid construction of the trigger<br />
is evident immediately in the feel of the<br />
trigger.<br />
Between the trigger and the hand fitting<br />
of parts, the gun was far more accurate<br />
than I was. Everyone who shot<br />
the gun was more than happy with the<br />
accuracy of the 10-8 pistol. Some would<br />
argue about how much mechanical accuracy<br />
is needed in a duty pistol. We<br />
know that we want as accurate a gun as<br />
possible. We also know that as a gun is<br />
built tighter for more accuracy, it affects<br />
reliability and longevity. While this may<br />
not be a big deal for a competitive shooter,<br />
for a street officer, a highly accurate<br />
pistol that craps out at the wrong time is<br />
worse than a moderately accurate pistol<br />
that works all the time. Nighthawk had<br />
to strike a balance between reliability<br />
and accuracy for the 10-8 gun, and it appears<br />
that they did.<br />
On a related note, 10-8 wanted the gun<br />
to be readily field serviceable. The gun<br />
was easily disassembled for basic maintenance<br />
without the use of a bushing<br />
wrench, and the grips use slotted screws<br />
for easy removal with any multi-tool.<br />
The sights on the 10-8 pistol were designed<br />
by Hilton Yam and are available<br />
from 10-8 Performance. The rear sight<br />
is 4140 bar stock steel and the front is a<br />
tritium with serrations. The rear sight<br />
is a U-notch for quick acquisition of the<br />
front sight. Hilton purposely left the rear<br />
sight without any tritium to reduce clutter<br />
during sighting, based on his experi-<br />
ence as a shooter and instructor that tritium<br />
on the rear sight would slow down<br />
shooters in daylight shooting. The sight<br />
has 40 lpi texturing on the face to reduce<br />
glare.<br />
The rear sight is not a “no snag” or<br />
low profile; as a matter of design, it is<br />
high profile and snag. Hilton designed<br />
the rear sight to be used as a catch point<br />
for use during one-handed malfunction<br />
clearance. Hilton wanted the leading<br />
edge of the sight to have a profile that<br />
would catch on holsters, the lips of ballistic<br />
shields, heels of boots, etc during<br />
malfunctions. This was also the reason<br />
the rear is hardened bar stock, to survive<br />
this type of use. I used the sight on Kydex<br />
holsters and the heel of boots during<br />
malfunction drills, and it held up well<br />
during them. The sides and edges on the<br />
rear sight are beveled and smooth. The<br />
sights take a little getting used to, but after<br />
a few rounds downrange, users liked<br />
them. They were quick at close range, yet<br />
still good for distance precision shots.<br />
What would I change on the 10-8 gun?<br />
90 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
The gun comes with two ACT magazines;<br />
at the price point of the gun, we<br />
would prefer three magazines. Three<br />
magazines are the bare minimum for<br />
duty use, and this is a duty gun. ACT<br />
magazines are not my preferred magazines,<br />
though Nighthawk does stand behind<br />
them with a lifetime warranty.<br />
Second, a duty gun would be well<br />
served to have an ambidextrous safety.<br />
Just like the logic of the 10-8 sight, onehanded<br />
manipulation, especially after<br />
weak-side transitions, is a reality for users.<br />
Even from a qualification standpoint,<br />
many agencies have weak-side stages<br />
of fire and the ambi safety is necessary.<br />
While the ambi safety is an optional<br />
upgrade, I feel it should be a standard<br />
item.<br />
Suggested retail on the 10-8 pistol is<br />
$2,495.00. While certainly not cheap, the<br />
gun has many features and the craftsmanship<br />
is outstanding. The 10-8 pistol<br />
functions very well and is an accurate<br />
duty gun straight out of the box. §<br />
10-8 pistol is based on the notion<br />
that a full-size 1911 makes a great<br />
duty gun. (Photo: 10-8 Performance)<br />
SOURCES:<br />
Nighthawk Custom<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
1306 W. Trimble<br />
Berryville, AR 72616<br />
(877) 268-4867<br />
www.nighthawkcustom.com<br />
10-8 Performance<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
318 Indian Trace, #104<br />
Weston, FL 33326<br />
e-mail: sales@10-8Performance.com<br />
www.10-8performance.com<br />
Guncrafter Industries<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
171 Madison 1510<br />
Huntsville, AR 72740<br />
(479) 665-2466<br />
www.guncrafterindustries.com<br />
SureFire, LLC<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
18300 Mount Baldy Circle<br />
Fountain Valley, CA 92708<br />
(800) 828-8809<br />
www.surefire.com<br />
NIGHTHAWK 10-8<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 91
Proper techniques<br />
for door entry and<br />
room clearing were<br />
introduced.<br />
Storm M<br />
Mindset,<br />
Instruction<br />
and Gear<br />
» BY TODD BURGREEN<br />
92 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
ountain Carbine II<br />
“What,” you say, “another training article?” (But isn’t that why you read S.W.A.T. in the first place?)<br />
This article strives to cover not only<br />
the training received, but also the<br />
weapons and gear that I put to the<br />
test, and my theories on training and<br />
equipment.<br />
• The setting: Storm Mountain Training<br />
Center, Elk Garden, West Virginia<br />
• The course: Carbine II, three days<br />
• The man: Rod Ryan, Storm Mountain<br />
VP Operations and lead instructor<br />
• The carbine: Sabre Defence Massad<br />
Ayoob Professional Model AR<br />
The entire gun industry feeds off and<br />
in turn caters to the appeal of the “newest”<br />
introduction. This is not solely<br />
negative, as it drives weapon system development.<br />
For example, a good friend,<br />
C.R. Newlin, who attended Carbine II<br />
with me, brought along a Patriot Ordnance<br />
Factory piston-operated AR with<br />
a nine-inch barrel that ran flawlessly. I<br />
took a Sabre Defence Massad Ayoob Professional<br />
Model AR.<br />
The Sabre Defence Massad Ayoob Pro-<br />
fessional Model AR has a 16-inch barrel<br />
with Sabre Tactical Gill muzzle brake,<br />
removable carry handle, ambidextrous<br />
safety, match trigger, six position collapsible<br />
stock, Ergo grip, and Trijicon<br />
insert in the forged front sight. Included<br />
with the Professional Model AR are a<br />
Wilderness Tactical Giles sling, two 20round<br />
and two 30-round magazines,<br />
Signature Tactical case with removable<br />
rifle and pistol pouches, ground mat,<br />
and Otis cleaning kit. The idea is to have<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 93
THE ARTICLE NAME<br />
above: Range activities such as<br />
shooting while advancing were<br />
practiced repeatedly.<br />
right: Night fire proved interesting and<br />
reinforced the importance of repetition<br />
and equipment familiarity. The qualification<br />
drills were the basis for the training<br />
evolution.<br />
everything needed right off the shelf.<br />
Storm Mountain is a great place to<br />
refresh or remedy any training deficiencies.<br />
Storm Mountain opened in 1996<br />
and has continuously expanded its facilities,<br />
courses and instructor staff. Storm<br />
Mountain features 11 ranges, two shoot<br />
houses, rappel tower, field training area,<br />
busses, helicopter hull and automobiles<br />
for use during training. Rod Ryan has<br />
credentials that lend legitimacy to his<br />
training methods. Part of Rod’s biography<br />
reads, “Rod has spent more than 20<br />
years combined, active and reserve, in<br />
the U.S. military, where he served as an<br />
operator and then NCOIC of all sniper<br />
elements at the brigade level in a light<br />
infantry division. While employed as<br />
a police officer with the Metropolitan<br />
<strong>Police</strong> <strong>Department</strong>, Washington, D.C.,<br />
he served in patrol, training and SWAT<br />
assignments. As an instructor with the<br />
U.S. State <strong>Department</strong> ATAP (Anti-Terrorism<br />
Assistance Program) and as a<br />
civilian consultant, he has trained thousands<br />
of law enforcement, military, and<br />
private special operations personnel,<br />
both in the United States and overseas.”<br />
Storm Mountain also utilizes other<br />
instructors with similarly impressive resumes.<br />
One must guard against attending<br />
a facility that is operated by someone<br />
who has only attended another school’s<br />
courses—it happens.<br />
Just as important as his credentials and<br />
background, Ryan is a dynamic instructor.<br />
This is apparent both in the classroom<br />
and on the range, in the way he encourages<br />
or points out flaws in a student’s<br />
method, readily mixing anecdotes into<br />
his instruction. I personally like to hear<br />
examples of why certain things are done<br />
the way they are. Ryan is all business<br />
and puts up with no nonsense or unsafe<br />
gun handling. Storm Mountain philosophy<br />
stresses the importance of mindset.<br />
Ryan constantly emphasizes that an aggressive<br />
mindset, supported by solid<br />
training, is the key to surviving hostile<br />
encounters. Maxims such as “shoot until<br />
the target is down” and “move forward<br />
to engage” illustrate this.<br />
Carbine II began with a morning<br />
briefing concisely laying out what was<br />
to happen over the next three days. The<br />
13-person class was an even mixture of<br />
military, law enforcement and private<br />
94 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
citizens. Carbine II is the preparatory<br />
course for CQB at Storm Mountain. The<br />
Carbine II curriculum covered instruction<br />
on shooting while moving, magazine<br />
changes, transition to pistol, night<br />
fire, moving targets, proper door entry<br />
techniques, and exposure to the shoot<br />
house. The proper way to press check a<br />
carbine, malfunction clearing techniques,<br />
and weapon manipulation methods<br />
in confined spaces are examples of the<br />
many valuable nuggets of information<br />
offered during Carbine II. The course did<br />
not return to the classroom after the first<br />
morning’s brief. Instead the class was instructed<br />
on the range, with no shortage<br />
of rounds sent downrange.<br />
The AR-15 platform dominated, with<br />
most manufacturers represented. Sidearms<br />
were required for the transition<br />
drills, with Glocks in the majority, and<br />
Berettas, Sigs, H&Ks and 1911s filling in<br />
the rest. BlackHawk tactical gear in the<br />
form of vests, chest rigs, belt and thigh<br />
holsters, drop pouches, and magazine<br />
pouches predominated. I mounted an<br />
ATN Ultra Digital reflex sight on my Sabre<br />
Defence Professional Model AR. All<br />
rifles had some variant of red dot sight.<br />
I came to appreciate the ATN’s ruggedness<br />
and ease of use. The different reticle<br />
patterns and brightness settings allowed<br />
me to choose the optimum set up.<br />
When attending training courses,<br />
make it a habit to observe the different<br />
equipment brought and how it performs.<br />
Instructor feedback is always important<br />
regarding this as well. Instructors see a<br />
vast amount of different gear due to the<br />
volume of individuals passing through a<br />
facility.<br />
Weapons were sighted in at 25 yards<br />
and then the work started. Ryan’s highspeed<br />
tempo induces an element of stress.<br />
Stress as a training aid is wholeheartedly<br />
embraced at Storm Mountain. Any stress<br />
imposed during training pales in comparison<br />
to that experienced in the real<br />
world. Three different relays were utilized,<br />
with one shooting, one reloading<br />
magazines and one reviewing mistakes<br />
or suggesting tweaks in methods.<br />
The class was quickly introduced to<br />
the qualification drill that would serve<br />
as the proficiency measuring stick.<br />
Qualification consisted of timed fire first,<br />
with two rounds from the carbine at low<br />
STORM MOUNTAIN CARBINE II<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 95
STORM MOUNTAIN CARBINE II<br />
ready into a silhouette target placed seven<br />
yards downrange, then six rounds in<br />
target from low ready, followed by two<br />
rounds from the carbine, reload, two<br />
more rounds and finally two rounds<br />
from the carbine and transition to the<br />
sidearm with two rounds fired at a steel<br />
popper target. The timer helped induce<br />
stress, along with providing a means to<br />
Sabre Defence Massad Ayoob Professional Model<br />
AR shown with items included with its purchase.<br />
ATN Ultra Digital reflex sight stood up to the<br />
challenge.<br />
quantify progress. The qualification drill<br />
was practiced repeatedly and served as<br />
the base of all instruction. The target’s<br />
close proximity emphasized speed and<br />
smoothness. The Sabre Gill-brake on my<br />
AR came into its own during the quick<br />
shooting, especially the six-round qualification<br />
portion.<br />
Ryan’s instruction technique is flex-<br />
GEAR UNDER FIRE<br />
I came<br />
away from Storm Mountain with a better appreciation of my equipment<br />
and my own training needs. The BlackHawk items performed as promised<br />
and stood up to the constant use and abuse. I put more rounds downrange,<br />
changed magazines, and drew from my BlackHawk Serpa thigh rig more in three<br />
days than I would normally do in three months. The Brownells’ 30-round magazines<br />
operated without any issues. Not all of my magazines—admittedly acquired<br />
ad hoc over the years—were as worry free. The Black Hills Ammunition I used<br />
performed reliably as usual.<br />
The Sabre Defence Massad Ayoob Professional AR-15 worked flawlessly. I put<br />
over 1,100 rounds through it over the three-day course without a malfunction and<br />
while neglecting to clean it. There are a plethora of AR-15 manufacturers. I challenge<br />
any of them to submit their rifle to over 1,100 rounds over three days without<br />
cleaning. Based on this hands-on experience, the Sabre Defence AR-15 deserves to<br />
be rated in the top tier of AR manufactures. Sabre Defence manufactures its own<br />
barrels, uppers, and lowers in house to ensure its tight tolerance controls are met.<br />
Another example of the Sabre Defence commitment to quality is the metal used in<br />
its AR barrels. The same chrome-moly vanadium alloy used in its .50-caliber barrels<br />
supplied to the U.S. government is employed in the AR. This may be overkill<br />
for a carbine, but it lasts longer than the barrel material found in other AR barrels.<br />
Additionally, all Sabre Defence barrels are heat-treated to relieve stress. This<br />
ensures that a barrel stays consistent when it heats up during long strings of fire,<br />
translating into a stable point of impact no matter if it is the first round fired or the<br />
100th.<br />
Subjecting your gear to this type of hard use is one of the ways to judge if you<br />
can rely on that gear when you need it most. The gear I had at Storm Mountain can<br />
go in harm’s way with me anytime. §<br />
ible, allowing for analysis of a class’<br />
strengths and weaknesses. For example,<br />
my Carbine II class needed extra work<br />
on magazine changes. Did we rigidly<br />
stay on the range, ignoring this need?<br />
No. Ryan moved the class off the range,<br />
verified no ammunition was present and<br />
proceeded with an intense hour of drills<br />
specifically concentrating on carbine<br />
magazine changes.<br />
A word must be given to the shoot<br />
house we visited. It is 1,300 square feet<br />
with multiple rooms, including furniture.<br />
The structure is equipped with<br />
closed-circuit TV monitoring equipment,<br />
including audio. Students could<br />
review themselves via recording. Students<br />
awaiting their turn could monitor<br />
other students’ progress and methods<br />
via a bank of monitor screens. This<br />
allowed maximum instruction, with<br />
everyone benefiting from each other’s<br />
experience. It was quickly evident that<br />
footwork and weapon manipulation are<br />
premium skills.<br />
Carbine II is not an adventure vacation<br />
destination. Ryan constantly emphasizes<br />
aggressiveness and how important<br />
mindset is to survive hostile<br />
encounters. Ryan is ingenious in how<br />
he applies stress as a training aid. For<br />
example, during the mover target, he<br />
would purposely cause malfunctions<br />
with your carbine or jostle you around to<br />
increase adrenaline and stress. The degradation<br />
of fine motor skills while under<br />
stress is quickly evident. The importance<br />
of solid, simple techniques of reloading,<br />
clearing drills and firing is driven home.<br />
There is no way I can fully impart my<br />
experience at Storm Mountain’s Carbine<br />
II course. I came away with a much<br />
clearer understanding of my strengths<br />
and, more importantly, my weaknesses.<br />
My ideas on firearms, equipment and<br />
gear were validated. This is priceless<br />
knowledge, and I plan on returning to<br />
Storm Mountain for future courses. §<br />
SOURCES:<br />
Storm Mountain, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
Rt. 1 Box 60<br />
Elk Garden, WV 26717<br />
(304) 446-5526<br />
www.stormmountain.com<br />
96 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
American Technologies<br />
Network Corporation<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
20 S. Linden Ave., Suite 1B<br />
S. San Francisco, CA 94080<br />
(800) 910-2862<br />
www.atncorp.com<br />
BlackHawk Products Group<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
6160 Commander Parkway<br />
Norfolk, VA 23502<br />
(757) 436-3101<br />
www.blackhawk.com<br />
Black Hills Ammunition<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 3090<br />
Rapid City, SD 57709-3090<br />
(605) 348-5150<br />
www.black-hills.com<br />
Brownells Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
200 South Front Street<br />
Montezuma, IA 50171<br />
(800) 741-0015<br />
www.brownells.com<br />
Patriot Ordnance Factory<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
23623 N. 67th Ave.<br />
Glendale, AZ 85310<br />
(623) 561-9572<br />
www.pof-usa.com<br />
Sabre Defence Industries, LLC<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
450 Allied Drive<br />
Nashville, TN 37211<br />
(615) 333-0077<br />
www.sabredefence.com<br />
Stonewall Arms<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
2438 Valley Ave.<br />
Winchester, VA 22601<br />
(540) 535-2190<br />
www.stonewallarms.com<br />
Wilderness Tactical Products, L.L.C.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
Wilderness Plaza, 1608 W. Hatcher Rd.<br />
Phoenix, AZ 85021<br />
(800) 775-5650<br />
www.thewilderness.com<br />
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SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 97
THREE-CIRC<br />
It’s dusk. You’re in the grocery store parking lot with your children and spouse, loading your<br />
trunk as the children are clambering into the car. » BY MICHAEL TAN<br />
Abeat-up car with three suspicious-looking<br />
men drives down<br />
your row and stops behind you<br />
and your car. They’re not looking for a<br />
parking space.<br />
Two of them hop out, each with a hand<br />
in his pocket, while the other remains<br />
behind the wheel, engine still running.<br />
The fi rst of the two is walking closer.<br />
“Hey, man ...”<br />
Now what?<br />
In this article, we’re going to examine<br />
your options for meeting an attack at<br />
various ranges.<br />
YOUR OPTIONS<br />
People who take an interest in armed<br />
and unarmed self-defense come to the<br />
problem with a number of options.<br />
1. You may carry a handgun.<br />
2. You may have at least one folding<br />
knife on your person.<br />
3. You may be trained and skilled in<br />
some unarmed martial arts system.<br />
4. Perhaps you have theater experience<br />
and have some canned ruses at the<br />
ready.<br />
5. You may be in good physical shape,<br />
able to run miles at a good clip.<br />
6. And what about pepper spray?<br />
7. And your telescoping baton?<br />
8. And your electro-zapper, which<br />
you’ve never gotten up the nerve to try<br />
on yourself (though you came thiiiiis<br />
close to convincing your brother-in-law<br />
to let you try it on him)?<br />
9. And what about a quick prayer for<br />
Divine deliverance?<br />
I’ve just listed nine possible options<br />
for dealing with an armed confrontation.<br />
That’s too many to process. When<br />
you’re staring at a gun muzzle rammed<br />
into your gut, you don’t need a multiplechoice<br />
test.<br />
WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?<br />
The matter is further complicated by<br />
having too many variations. Depending<br />
on the specifi cs of the problem facing<br />
you, the “right” answer may be different.<br />
For instance, in the parking lot ex-<br />
98 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
LE<br />
Now what?<br />
ample above, if the fi rst bad guy is three<br />
feet away and pulls out a gun, there’s<br />
one response that’s probably “best.” On<br />
the other hand, if we were to tweak two<br />
variables—let’s say you are alone, without<br />
family, and the bad guy is menacing<br />
but empty-handed—there’s another response<br />
that’s probably “best.”<br />
Who knows what will happen, should<br />
these hypothetical scenarios ever become<br />
reality for you? Louis Awerbuck<br />
is fond of reminding students that the<br />
outcome of a fi ght is 95% dependent<br />
on things outside of your control, no<br />
matter how cool your tools are and<br />
no matter how honed your skills are.<br />
This is not to say that it’s pointless to<br />
prepare and train. It’s just a reminder<br />
that you had better be right with God<br />
if you get into a fi ght, even if you can<br />
RESPONSE<br />
THEORY<br />
OPTIONS FOR<br />
MEETING AN<br />
ATTACK AT<br />
VARIOUS RANGES<br />
shoot and move with the best of them.<br />
We’re going to limit ourselves to examining<br />
the following variations of the<br />
problem: Your mobility, your range to<br />
the bad guy and the immediate nature<br />
of the threat. Mobility refers to your<br />
ability to put physical distance between<br />
yourself and the confrontation. It may be<br />
hindered by environmental factors: Are<br />
you with children? Are you in a narrow<br />
hallway, blocked in? Are the bad guys<br />
aggressively charging? These and other<br />
factors may prevent you from being mobile<br />
and increasing the distance between<br />
you and the confrontation. Range to the<br />
bad guy refers to the distance between<br />
you and the bad guy. It could be six<br />
inches or it could be 26 yards, but it’s<br />
not likely to remain static throughout<br />
the confrontation! Finally, the immediate<br />
nature of the threat refers to how the<br />
bad guy is intending harm—is he empty-handed,<br />
or is he wielding a knife or a<br />
gun? Whatever you see or don’t see in<br />
the bad guy’s hands, assume that he has<br />
something.<br />
Dividing the problem into distances is<br />
the easiest way to get a handle on it. I<br />
propose that the following three circles<br />
or zones be used to defi ne the problem.<br />
THE INNER CIRCLE:<br />
GRAPPLING DISTANCE<br />
Let’s start with the closest distance—<br />
grappling distance. We’ll call this the<br />
Inner Circle. At this range, the bad guy<br />
has his hands on you or can take a step<br />
and be on you. This is arm’s length plus<br />
one step.<br />
In some ways this is the worst case,<br />
but it is also a simple case. Look at the<br />
nine options listed above. At this range,<br />
there are only two things that make<br />
sense as default responses. Remembering<br />
that you don’t know how the bad<br />
guy is armed, stop reading for a minute<br />
and decide what you would default to at<br />
this range. Your gun? Your knife?<br />
Here’s my answer: The default response<br />
at this range should be to run—<br />
get away! If the bad guy is attacking<br />
with empty hands or a knife, this may be<br />
the preferred response.<br />
However, this may not be possible if<br />
the mobility factor is limiting you (e.g.,<br />
you’re with your two toddlers, or you’re<br />
physically blocked in). Alternately, the<br />
default response at this range should be<br />
to close the distance and go to hand-tohand<br />
combatives. By combatives, I’m<br />
talking about fending off blows and<br />
knives, disarming the bad guy, kicking,<br />
striking, stomping, etc. If the bad guy<br />
has a ranged weapon (i.e., a gun), this<br />
response may be preferable to running.<br />
Surprised? Let’s run through the problems<br />
with the other options:<br />
• Problem with employing your gun<br />
at this range: you cannot get it out fast<br />
enough. If you don’t believe me, get a<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 99
THE ARTICLE NAME<br />
above: Three circles: Inner Circle is red,<br />
Middle Circle is blue, Outer Circle is<br />
green.<br />
left: Scrambling to survive in the Middle<br />
Circle.<br />
left below: Shooting from the retention<br />
position will be necessary at bad breath<br />
distance.<br />
plastic gun, put the gun in its concealed<br />
position, and have an unarmed buddy<br />
initiate an attack on you with a rubber<br />
knife at this distance. I’ll bet he can get in<br />
five “cuts” across your vital areas before<br />
you get the gun on target.<br />
• Problem with employing your knife<br />
at this range: Ah, yes, the knife option.<br />
You’ve probably read that at this distance,<br />
a knife can do more damage than<br />
a gun. That may or may not be true, but<br />
it assumes many things. First, it assumes<br />
you’ve managed to get your folding<br />
knife deployed. That’s a big if. Secondly,<br />
it assumes that it is better to have only<br />
one hand free to defend against a bad<br />
guy. However, every instructor I’ve seen<br />
teaches two-handed methods for disarming/defending<br />
against an attacking gun<br />
or attacking knife. Planning on attempting<br />
a disarm against your armed attacker?<br />
You need two empty hands. You can’t<br />
do it with just one hand while the other is<br />
holding your knife. To top it off, nobody<br />
I’m aware of says that knife-on-knife is a<br />
100 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
good thing. You often end up with two<br />
losers in a knife-on-knife fight.<br />
• What about pepper spray? At this<br />
distance you may as well spray yourself<br />
in the face!<br />
• How about the ASP baton? You<br />
still have to deploy it, and the bad<br />
guy is only one or two quick steps<br />
from getting inside the radius of your<br />
swing.<br />
• And the TASER? What if the bad<br />
guy has a knife or screwdriver? Unless<br />
you can shoot a TASER out of your<br />
forehead (now there’s a piece of tactical<br />
gear that would sell!), we’re back<br />
to the one-handed problem discussed<br />
above with knives.<br />
Now, of the nine options we listed<br />
at the beginning of the article, they all<br />
have their place, and can even succeed<br />
in some confrontations. I’m not saying<br />
they can’t or won’t work. But personally,<br />
I’m most interested in the solution<br />
that I can more reliably default to<br />
without having to do a full cost-benefits<br />
analysis when I’m thrown into a<br />
real-life confrontation.<br />
Of the two responses I listed for a<br />
confrontation at this range, neither<br />
is pleasant to imagine if you’re faced<br />
with a gun or a knife. Ultimately,<br />
you’ll have to decide which route you<br />
personally want to take as your default<br />
response.<br />
The goal at this range is to survive,<br />
overcome and, if possible, break away<br />
to a more distant zone. This may involve<br />
a shove-off or neck strike followed<br />
by immediate movement. It<br />
may involve retention shooting. Avoid<br />
the mistake of primarily defaulting to<br />
a gun or knife at this range.<br />
I’m indebted to a class with Louis<br />
Awerbuck for convincing me of the<br />
right way to think about the grappling<br />
distance problem. Awerbuck sums it<br />
up this way: “At this range, it’s a fistfight.”<br />
Now let’s increase the distance to<br />
the bad guy.<br />
THE OUTER CIRCLE:<br />
SHOOTING DISTANCE<br />
I’m going to skip the Middle Circle<br />
for now and discuss the Outer Circle.<br />
This is “shooting distance.” We’re talking<br />
about the range at which you have<br />
THREE-CIRCLE RESPONSE THEORY<br />
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SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 101
THREE-CIRCLE RESPONSE THEORY<br />
enough time to deploy your gun and<br />
use it without being overrun, stabbed or<br />
grabbed by the bad guy.<br />
How far out is the Outer Circle? 21<br />
feet? Well, this is where it gets a little<br />
murky. If you gradually increase the distance<br />
between you and the bad guy, at<br />
a certain point, you finally have the bad<br />
guy far enough away that you could (a)<br />
mentally respond (recognize the bad guy<br />
as a lethal threat), (b) complete a drawstroke<br />
from concealment, and (c) fire a<br />
round onto target without being overrun.<br />
You might think that the distance<br />
we’re talking about is simple—just add<br />
up the time it takes to perform (a) + (b) +<br />
(c), right? Wrong.<br />
You should be moving as this happens.<br />
Depending on the variables limiting<br />
your mobility, you may or may<br />
not be moving laterally or backward.<br />
Furthermore, the bad guy may also be<br />
moving. We can’t come up with a hard<br />
number for the start of the Outer Circle.<br />
It’s determined by the specific environmental<br />
factors of a given confrontation,<br />
your personal drawstroke speed from<br />
your method of concealment, and the<br />
dynamics of the confrontation. Having<br />
explained that, it is still useful to time<br />
yourself responding to a visual cue and<br />
drawing, which will give you an idea of<br />
where your Outer Circle may start. The<br />
bottom line is, this zone starts at a distance<br />
that is pretty far from the bad guy.<br />
If the confrontation starts with you in<br />
the Outer Circle, then you have time to<br />
deploy and use your gun. In the parking<br />
lot example that we started with, if the<br />
bad guys are on the other side of their<br />
car when they pull out a knife, you might<br />
be starting in the Outer Circle, given that<br />
they must circumnavigate their car before<br />
they can get to you.<br />
What are your options in the Outer<br />
Circle? I would suggest that your default<br />
response should be to deploy your gun<br />
at this range, but let’s examine the other<br />
options.<br />
Running is a good option here, if your<br />
mobility is not compromised. A knife, an<br />
ASP, martial arts, and pepper spray are<br />
not the best options. You need a ranged<br />
weapon at this distance. A TASER could<br />
work, but what if you miss? What if<br />
there are three bad guys?<br />
If you “go to guns” at this range, you<br />
Louis Awerbuck demonstrating one of many simple disarms.<br />
still need to be moving off the line of attack<br />
and moving to cover. If the bad guy<br />
has a gun, you don’t want to stand still<br />
for him. If the bad guy has a knife, he can<br />
charge you. Though you may start the<br />
confrontation at this distance, the bad<br />
guy can flip you from the Outer Circle to<br />
the Inner Circle in 1.5 seconds. Footwork<br />
is still essential in the Outer Circle. Practice<br />
accordingly!<br />
THE MIDDLE CIRCLE:<br />
A TRANSITION ZONE<br />
Between Grappling Distance and<br />
Shooting Distance is a no man’s land—a<br />
transitional zone. In this zone, you can<br />
be stabbed or grabbed or shot as you go<br />
for your gun (or blade, or spray, or baton,<br />
etc.), but you’re also too far from the bad<br />
guy to get your hands on him. We can’t<br />
define the distance in an exact number of<br />
feet, but if the bad guy is pointing a gun<br />
at you, and you are three steps away,<br />
you’re probably in the Middle Circle.<br />
In this middle zone, you have to make<br />
a choice. You have to decide to either a)<br />
commit yourself to get into the Inner<br />
Circle, or b) commit yourself to attempt<br />
to get to the Outer Circle. Let’s be clear<br />
about this. In the split second in which<br />
you make the decision, there is no way to<br />
know the right answer. You may decide<br />
to close the distance, trip, and accidentally<br />
impale yourself on the bad guy’s<br />
knife. You may decide to run left, mak-<br />
ing distance, and end up walking right<br />
into his bullet. There are no guarantees.<br />
However, if you stand and dither, you’re<br />
giving the bad guy the opportunity to<br />
take the initiative, and that is something<br />
you don’t want to do. If he has a gun,<br />
he will have a harder time shooting you<br />
if you are moving. Commit yourself and<br />
execute. Get out of the Middle Circle.<br />
In the Middle Circle, closing the distance<br />
and charging the bad guy are arguably<br />
easier to do. Once you get into the<br />
Inner Circle, you’re not necessarily going<br />
to have an easy time of it, but getting<br />
into the Inner Circle is probably easier<br />
than getting to the Outer Circle.<br />
To get to the Outer Circle, the goal is<br />
to make more distance. Footwork is very<br />
important here. If you can move laterally<br />
off of the line of attack, try that. Due to<br />
mobility restrictions (a wall, your wife,<br />
etc.), you may not be able to go that way.<br />
In all likelihood, if the bad guy is charging,<br />
you are probably going to get hit or<br />
cut while you are in the Middle Circle.<br />
If you decide to attempt to get to the<br />
Outer Circle, go for your gun while you<br />
move, even though you can be grabbed<br />
or stabbed in the process. If you make<br />
distance and get to the Outer Circle,<br />
great! You’ll also have your gun in hand.<br />
If you fail to get to the Outer Circle and<br />
you are overrun in the Inner Circle, this<br />
is where shooting from retention comes<br />
in.<br />
102 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
Shooting from retention is not something<br />
that you should default to at the<br />
start of a conflict when in the grappling<br />
range. Rather, it is something that you<br />
resort to when a situation deteriorates:<br />
namely, you’ve managed to get to your<br />
gun, but in spite of your footwork you<br />
get overrun by the bad guy(s). Shooting<br />
from retention may also be your first<br />
move to disengage and move out of the<br />
Inner Circle.<br />
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER<br />
Let’s summarize the theory and the<br />
recommended default responses. If the<br />
fight starts in the Inner Circle, get away<br />
or go hand-to-hand. If the fight starts in<br />
the Middle Circle, move! Either close the<br />
distance and get to the Inner Circle, or<br />
make distance and get to the Outer Circle<br />
while going for your gun. If the fight<br />
starts in the Outer Circle, move and go<br />
for your gun.<br />
In setting forth this three-circle theory,<br />
I’m not claiming originality. I’ve been<br />
blessed to have trained under some of<br />
the current luminaries of the training<br />
world, and I’ve also spent lots of time<br />
trying to read and digest the wisdom<br />
of those trainers. I heartily point you to<br />
men such as Clint Smith, Louis Awerbuck<br />
and Jeff Gonzales.<br />
Stay one step ahead in the chess game<br />
of deadly confrontations by planning<br />
your first move in advance. §<br />
SOURCES:<br />
Thunder Ranch<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
96747 Hwy 140 East<br />
Lakeview, OR 97630<br />
(541) 947-2060<br />
www.thunderranchinc.com<br />
Yavapai Firearms Academy, Ltd.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 27290<br />
Prescott, AZ 86312<br />
(928) 772-8262<br />
www.yfainc.com<br />
Trident Concepts<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 11955<br />
Prescott, AZ 86304-1955<br />
(928) 925-7038<br />
www.tridentconcepts.com<br />
THREE-CIRCLE RESPONSE THEORY<br />
swatmag.com<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 103
ARMALITE AR-10A4CS, continued from page 81<br />
This is what a sub-MOA rifle looks like,<br />
along with some equipment needed<br />
for it to perform to its full capability—<br />
BlackHawk drag bag, premium<br />
ammunition, and first-class optics.<br />
ing and wind doping. It is a time of<br />
flight issue.<br />
The AR-10A4CS is highly accurate<br />
on targets out to 600 yards when combined<br />
with the Leupold Mk4 scope using<br />
the Tactical Milling Reticle (TMR).<br />
My shooting ability holds it back past<br />
these ranges. The rifle and ammunition,<br />
whether it is Hornady, Federal, or Black<br />
Hills, repeatedly demonstrated sub-<br />
MOA accuracy at 600 yards. If a miss occurs,<br />
the blame rests on me and not the<br />
equipment.<br />
It is rare to find a rifle that can perform<br />
multiple roles so well that the<br />
user does not feel something has been<br />
compromised for utility’s sake. The ArmaLite<br />
AR-10A4CS is no compromise<br />
candidate. It serves as a benchmark in all<br />
three roles I have used it for. I am glad I<br />
finally woke to realize the gem residing<br />
in my gunsafe. §<br />
SOURCES:<br />
ArmaLite, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 299<br />
Geneseo, IL 61254<br />
(800) 336-0184<br />
www.armalite.com<br />
A.R.M.S., Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
230 W. Center St.<br />
West Bridgewater, MA 02379<br />
(508) 584-7816<br />
www.armsmounts.com<br />
Black Hills Ammunition<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 3090<br />
Rapid City, SD 57709-3090<br />
(605) 348-5150<br />
www.black-hills.com<br />
Federal Cartridge Company<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
900 Ehlen Drive<br />
Anoka, MN 55303-7503<br />
(800) 322-2342<br />
www.federalcartridge.com<br />
GG&G<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
3602 E. 42nd Stravenue<br />
Tucson, AZ 85713<br />
(800) 380-2540<br />
www.gggaz.com<br />
Hornady Mfg. Co.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
Box 1848<br />
Grand Island, NE 68802-1848<br />
(800) 338-3220<br />
www.hornady.com<br />
Leupold & Stevens, Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
P.O. Box 688<br />
Beaverton, OR 97075-0688<br />
(503) 526-1400<br />
www.leupold.com<br />
Magpul Industries Corp.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
400 Young Court<br />
Erie, CO 80516-8440<br />
(877) 462-4785<br />
www.magpul.com<br />
PentagonLight<br />
151 Mitchell Avenue<br />
South San Francisco, CA 94080<br />
(650) 877-1555<br />
www.pentagonlight.com<br />
Warne Scope Mounts<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
9500 SW Tualatin Rd.<br />
Tualatin, OR 97062<br />
(800) 683-5590<br />
www.warnescopemounts.com<br />
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104 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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Blade-Tech builds the<br />
training barrel for many<br />
popular pistols.<br />
Every once in awhile, a product comes along so simple and effective that it leaves you scratching<br />
your head and saying, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?”<br />
that go inside the factory barrel. These<br />
are less than desirable because they often<br />
alter the shape of the weapon to the<br />
point where it cannot successfully be<br />
used in its respective holster. Some even<br />
prevent vital weapon functions. Blade-<br />
Tech’s barrel seems to solve these problems<br />
in a reliable and effective product<br />
that’s very cost effective.<br />
Having spent a considerable time<br />
overseas training with foreign military<br />
and police, I was not surprised when<br />
Blade-Tech informed me that the training<br />
barrel was born out of the experience<br />
of some law enforcement trainers operating<br />
overseas. Due to the lack of weapon<br />
handling experience of the students,<br />
there were many safety violations, as<br />
106 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
well as poor tactical skills. After using<br />
various safety products, such as onepiece<br />
molded guns, the trainers became<br />
frustrated with the limitations of the existing<br />
devices and eventually patented<br />
this training barrel now in production<br />
with Blade-Tech. I guess the old adage<br />
about necessity being the mother of invention<br />
still rings true these days.<br />
The firearms trainers I’ve spoken with<br />
who currently use the barrel are thrilled<br />
with it. The barrel is brightly colored<br />
and extends out past the end of the slide.<br />
With one glance down the firing line, or<br />
one quick inspection of every officer’s<br />
weapon in the shoothouse, instructors<br />
can instantly be assured that no one<br />
could possibly have a live round in their<br />
weapon. Students appreciate the fact<br />
that they can safely train with their own<br />
weapon and current carry gear.<br />
Incidentally, other uses of the barrel<br />
have been discovered. Sporting-goods<br />
stores are now able to safely display<br />
their semiautomatic handguns in the<br />
cases, allowing customers to handle and<br />
fully operate the handgun with no fear<br />
of the weapon discharging. Take the<br />
tragic event that occurred in a Midwest<br />
sporting-goods store inside a mall a few<br />
years ago: A man walked into the store<br />
and requested to see a weapon. As he accepted<br />
the weapon from the salesman,<br />
he took out of his pocket a single round<br />
above: Training officer using early<br />
prototype of Glock training barrel<br />
during training class.<br />
left above: With many shooters in<br />
class, training barrel is totally safe<br />
way to teach major portion of pistol<br />
techniques.<br />
left below: Training Barrel was invented<br />
by law enforcement agents who<br />
needed an absolutely safe method of<br />
training foreign police units overseas.<br />
that he had brought with him, inserted it<br />
into the barrel and promptly took his life<br />
right there at the counter. While one can<br />
only protect a person from himself for<br />
so long, this new product from Blade-<br />
Tech would certainly prove its worth in<br />
sporting-goods stores and gun shows<br />
around the country. Users have also told<br />
us that TSA loves the training barrel because<br />
they can readily see that the gun is<br />
non-functional when a passenger checks<br />
their weapon at the airport.<br />
The training barrel is currently in use<br />
by government and private training<br />
schools and, as of this writing, is available<br />
for most Glocks, Smith & Wesson’s<br />
new M&P pistol, several SIG-Sauer models<br />
and many 1911 models, including<br />
Kimber and Para-Ordnance. Blade-Tech<br />
says they are currently designing new<br />
models that will be in production soon.<br />
All in all, Blade-Tech has come up with<br />
an exciting new product that will hopefully<br />
encourage safe handgun training<br />
habits while maintaining a sense of realism.<br />
§<br />
SOURCE:<br />
Blade-Tech Industries<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T<br />
2506 104th Street Court South<br />
Building H<br />
Lakewood, WA 98499<br />
(877) 331-5793<br />
www.blade-tech.com<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 107
THE CUTTING EDGE<br />
As hand grasps<br />
Spyderco Endura …<br />
SPYDERCO ENDURA AND<br />
ON/SCENE TACTICAL’S SPEED DIALER<br />
… Wave engages<br />
and blade opens.<br />
» BY JOHN SHIRLEY<br />
Soldiers need knives for the<br />
same reasons anyone needs<br />
them—to cut things.<br />
During my recent deployment to<br />
Afghanistan, there were boxes<br />
and MREs to open, and 550 cord,<br />
zip ties, mortar round “tootsie rolls,”<br />
sand bags fi lled with dirt (and rocks) and<br />
endless things to cut. Sometimes things<br />
need to be cut quickly to prevent injury<br />
or death.<br />
Civilians rarely face such demands,<br />
but a soldier does not have this luxury.<br />
A knife carried in an instantly accessible<br />
manner, even when wearing protective<br />
gear, is essential.<br />
My fi rst conception of the ideal fi eld<br />
knife for the soldier was a small fi xed<br />
108 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
Dialer sheath<br />
mounted on IBA.<br />
blade, with a blade length between two<br />
and a half and four inches. Anything<br />
shorter might not be enough knife. Anything<br />
longer would be unnecessarily<br />
heavy and long, and would violate the<br />
four-inch blade rule some barracks mandate.<br />
Storage is also more complicated.<br />
My hypothetical knife would have quick<br />
access and be inexpensive. (“Joe” will<br />
most likely break or lose the knife eventually.)<br />
After I deployed for combat I refined<br />
my ideas. Knife carry on body armor<br />
is common, but soldiers carry so many<br />
pouches of equipment that it is difficult<br />
to find a convenient place to attach even<br />
a four-inch blade. Some commanders order<br />
their troops not to carry large knives<br />
because of “public relations” problems.<br />
I tried several folding knives after I<br />
arrived, eventually returning to a desert<br />
version of my favorite Spyderco Native,<br />
which offers a terrific balance of size,<br />
weight, ergonomics, cutting ability, and<br />
price. I was still looking for an efficient<br />
system for a vest-mounted knife, and<br />
with my discovery of On/Scene Tactical’s<br />
Speed Dialer, I believed I might<br />
have found the optimal combination.<br />
Spyderco makes some of my favorite<br />
folding knives, the two most popular being<br />
the Endura and smaller Delica. These<br />
knives have constantly evolved over the<br />
years, and offer some of the best values<br />
in the market. Spyderco began offering<br />
these knives with the Emerson “Wave”<br />
feature in 2006.<br />
The Wave is designed to make a folding<br />
knife self-opening. This is accomplished<br />
by building in a hook meant<br />
to snag the pocket seam as the knife is<br />
drawn. I’m still not sure of the need for<br />
this feature on a pocketknife, but combined<br />
with the Speed Dialer—a sheath<br />
designed to accomplish opening—I believed<br />
I might have found the ideal vest<br />
carry combination for military or LE personnel.<br />
The Endura has a four-inch flatground<br />
blade. It features twin liners for<br />
strength inside the textured, lightweight<br />
blue-gray fiberglass-reinforced nylon<br />
handles, which blend in nicely with current<br />
ACU colors. The pocket clip can<br />
be mounted on either side and can be<br />
configured for blade tip-up or tip-down<br />
carry. The front lock positively engages<br />
when the knife is opened.<br />
With a little practice, the Wave is easy<br />
to use, and the draw becomes instinctive.<br />
From the pocket, my Wave opens incredibly<br />
quickly. Unfortunately, the grip required<br />
to draw and open the knife from<br />
the pocket also requires a shift to gain a<br />
firm grasp on the handle. For the hook to<br />
catch the pocket seam during the draw,<br />
the Endura must be drawn forcefully<br />
out and down. Because of the need to<br />
shift hand position before hard use, and<br />
especially the need to draw away from<br />
the body, I do not feel the Wave offers<br />
any defensive advantage over folders<br />
without the Wave. The situation when<br />
mounted on my Interceptor Body Armor<br />
(IBA) is entirely different.<br />
The Speed Dialer is a small Kydex<br />
sheath with two rivets through which<br />
a chain or cord is typically threaded for<br />
neck carry. At the bottom of the sheath<br />
is a knot of 550 cord around which the<br />
Endura’s hook is inserted. The sheath is<br />
lightweight, but strong, and I zip-tied<br />
it high on the left side of my vest. I am<br />
right handed, so I could reach up with<br />
my dominant hand and easily access<br />
the Endura. Figuring out how to snap<br />
the knife in took a few tries, but quickly<br />
became instinctive, and the Endura was<br />
held securely in place.<br />
From this mount, the Endura deploys<br />
as quickly as any fixed blade, with the<br />
drawing motion leaving the hand positioned<br />
in front of the body, ready for<br />
action. The Endura is not a small knife,<br />
but folded, it still occupies less room and<br />
looks more innocuous than virtually any<br />
fixed blade.<br />
I highly recommend the Endura/<br />
Speed Dialer for those preparing to deploy<br />
to a combat zone. If you know a<br />
serviceman leaving for one of these areas,<br />
this knife and sheath make a great<br />
gift. The versatility of this folding knife<br />
allows it to be carried in the pocket when<br />
not “geared up,” and on the armor when<br />
in “battle rattle.” Troops will not find<br />
any piece of equipment they will use<br />
more. §<br />
SOURCES:<br />
On/Scene Tactical<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
3940 Suffolk Dr, RR#2<br />
Harrow, Ontario, Canada<br />
N0R 1G0<br />
(519) 738-6693<br />
www.onscenetactical.com<br />
Spyderco Inc.<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T.<br />
820 Spyderco Way<br />
Golden, CO 80403-8053<br />
(800) 525-7770<br />
www.spyderco.com<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 109
SUREFIRE TACTICAL KNIFE<br />
Designed with the needs of law enforcement and military<br />
personnel in mind, the new SureFire L.E.O. . (Law Enforcement<br />
Offi cer) folder is a rugged, titanium-framed edged weapon<br />
that truly qualifi es as a “tactical” knife. It features a lockable,<br />
drop-point blade made from strong CPM S30V stainless steel<br />
and a low-profi le fl excuff cutter that snaps neatly into the<br />
knife’s frame when not in use. There’s also a fl athead screwdriver<br />
ground into the back of the blade. This blade, coated<br />
with glass and silicone carbide abrasive to keep corrosive sub-<br />
GEARLOCKER<br />
»NEW PRODUCTS AND ACCESSORIES<br />
TACTICAL FLASHLIGHT<br />
HOLDER<br />
Elzetta Design, LLC introduces its<br />
new ZFH1500 Flashlight Holder for AR-<br />
15 rifl es, developed for law enforcement<br />
and incorporating unique features for<br />
tactical situations. Simply sliding one’s<br />
hand forward to the front sling swivel,<br />
which depresses the switch, for example,<br />
activates fl ashlights with push-button<br />
tailcap switches. Alternately, the fl ashlight<br />
may be adjusted forward so that<br />
the push-button switch is protected from<br />
the sling swivel, while the skeletonized<br />
profi le of the product allows easy access<br />
to the switch and rotating tailcap. Made<br />
in the USA from glass-fi lled nylon, it is<br />
available in black, dark earth, and olive<br />
drab green. Optional Picatinny rails are<br />
available to mount to the device for even<br />
more fl exibility in mounting options.<br />
Suggested retail is $29.95. The Picatinny<br />
rails have an MSRP of $12.95. For more<br />
information, contact Elzetta Design,<br />
LLC, Dept. S.W.A.T., P.O. Box 54364,<br />
Lexington, KY 40555, (859) 707-7471,<br />
www.Elzetta.com.<br />
PRO EARS<br />
DIMENSION PLUS SERIES<br />
RidgeLine, Inc. is proud to introduce<br />
their new Dimension Plus and Predator<br />
Plus Sports Series. The Dimension Plus<br />
Series is the most sophisticated electronic<br />
hearing protection and amplifi<br />
cation system ever offered. The new<br />
PLUS series builds on the tremendous<br />
advancements of the Dimension Series,<br />
the only products that offer the world’s<br />
only DLSC technology, which protects<br />
the user from hearing damaging noise<br />
levels yet simultaneously<br />
allows the<br />
user to hear<br />
other softer,<br />
less audible<br />
sounds withoutinterruption.<br />
The new<br />
PLUS models<br />
also offer<br />
stances from adhering to it, can be opened quickly two different<br />
ways by pushing out on the protruding thumb stud, or by<br />
pressing down on the integral fi nger guard with the index fi nger.<br />
The L.E.O. also features a reversible titanium pocket clip.<br />
The L.E.O. is just over 8.5 inches long open and slightly over<br />
5 inches long when closed and weighs less than six ounces.<br />
MSRP is $425. For more information, contact SureFire, LLC,<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T., 18300 Mount Baldy Circle, Fountain Valley, CA<br />
92708, (800) 828-8809, www.surefi re.com.<br />
the new ProForm Leather ear seals<br />
and ProTen padded headband. The<br />
ProForm Seals are not only the most comfortable<br />
ever made for muff-style headsets,<br />
but also conform more completely<br />
around the ears, even while wearing<br />
glasses, for the tightest noise elimination<br />
seal possible. For more information,<br />
contact RidgeLine, Inc., Dept. S.W.A.T.,<br />
101 RidgeLine Dr., Westcliffe, CO 81252,<br />
(719) 783-4161, www.pro-ears.com.<br />
LASER DEVICES, INC.<br />
ELECTRONIC DOUBLE TAP<br />
SWITCH<br />
Laser Devices, Inc. (LDI), manufacturer<br />
of state-of-the-art visible and infrared<br />
aiming lasers, handheld and weaponmounted<br />
tactical lights and small arms<br />
training systems, is pleased to announce<br />
the release of its new Electronic Double<br />
Tap Switch (EDTS) end cap. The EDTS<br />
has a remote cable port to allow quick<br />
and easy replacement of a broken or<br />
worn out remote cable assembly as well<br />
as a local activation switch located on the<br />
side of the end cap housing. The EDTS<br />
provides the following functionality:<br />
Momentary, Continuous ON, Dimmer<br />
Mode, Positive OFF. EDTS works with<br />
110 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong><br />
SWATMAG.COM
OPERATOR OP-6 lights equipped with<br />
an incandescent high-pressure Xenon<br />
lamp or with the blindingly bright 125-lumen<br />
high fl ux LED head. The EDTS end<br />
cap is interchangeable with any existing<br />
OP-6 end cap and is sold separately or<br />
prepackaged with the OP-6 tactical light.<br />
For more information, contact Laser<br />
Devices, Inc., Dept. S.W.A.T., 2 Harris<br />
Court, Suite A-4, Monterey, CA 93940,<br />
(800) 235-2162, www.laserdevices.com.<br />
3-IN-1 PATROL BAG<br />
5.11 Tactical works closely with law<br />
enforcement specialists to create mission-specifi<br />
c bags that increase effi -<br />
ciency. The new 3-in-1 Patrol bag offers<br />
a completely updated design for patrol,<br />
range and travel. Constructed of 600denier<br />
textured polyester, the bag measures<br />
19” x 13.5” x 6.25”. There’s space<br />
for daily essentials in the roomy exterior<br />
pockets with YKK® zippers, and a large,<br />
diagonal slash to secure the bag to your<br />
front passenger seat. Inside is a MOLLE/<br />
ALICE-compatible webbing panel with a<br />
light grey interior to help you fi nd things<br />
fast. Also, check out 5.11’s brand new<br />
Side Trip bag (16.5” x 12.5” x 5.5”). Made<br />
of 1,000-denier textured nylon, its compact,<br />
slightly cushioned design includes<br />
a hidden pocket to attach a holster and<br />
end pockets for water bottles and other<br />
gear. The 3-in-1 Patrol retails for $69.99;<br />
the Side Trip is $89.99. For more information,<br />
see your local dealer or contact<br />
5.11 Inc., Dept. S.W.A.T., 4300 Spyres<br />
Way, Modesto, CA 95356, (866) 451-1726,<br />
www.511tactical.com.<br />
CARBON FIBER<br />
CLEANING RODS<br />
Gunslick has released a collection of<br />
carbon fi ber cleaning rods designed specifi<br />
cally to eliminate particle<br />
pickup and potential damage<br />
to your gun. By adding these<br />
rods to a full line of gun care<br />
products, Gunslick continues<br />
to provide the best cleaning<br />
supplies for serious shooters.<br />
The 36-inch, one-piece carbon<br />
fi ber cleaning rods are extremely<br />
strong and straight. The<br />
soft grip handle is ergonomically<br />
designed for comfort and<br />
prolonged cleaning, utilizing<br />
double ball bearings to ensure<br />
years of smooth rotation and<br />
use. Suggested retail is $32.95.<br />
For more information, contact<br />
Onalaska Operations, Dept.<br />
S.W.A.T., N5549 County Trunk<br />
Z, Onalaska, WI 54650, (800)<br />
635-7656, www.gunslick.com.<br />
BEWARE OF THE DOG<br />
MadDog Rams use a patented design<br />
of Dynamic Energizing Technology that<br />
allows their rams to be lighter, smaller,<br />
faster and more effi cient and effective<br />
than any other rams out there. Its weight<br />
is only 29 pounds and it’s only 25 1/2inches<br />
long, making it the ideal tool in<br />
any type of situation. Don’t be put off<br />
by its light weight and size—it packs a<br />
heavy punch. Our Ram is designed to be<br />
balanced, easy to store, has dual striking<br />
faces, is ambidextrous, has a compact<br />
design, can be used to set other tools<br />
and puts far less fatigue on any size of<br />
breacher. For more information, contact<br />
MadDog Mfg., Dept. S.W.A.T., 2125 Los<br />
Lentes Road NE, Los Lunas, NM 87031,<br />
(505) 907-3267.<br />
TACTICAL GRILLING APRON<br />
Using only the best materials, Tactical<br />
Grilling products are built to perform<br />
and built to last. Combine the Tactical<br />
Grilling Apron (TGA) Tactical Beer<br />
(Beverage) Shingle (TBS) and the Tactical<br />
Spatula Sheath (TSS) for the ultimate<br />
grilling experience. With all the necessities<br />
mounted, Tactical Grillers can accomplish<br />
the task at hand in comfort and<br />
style. Plus, the modular webbing on the<br />
TGA is MOLLE/PALS compatible. Add<br />
a MOLLE compatible holster for upcoming<br />
range days. 40MM grenade pouches<br />
work perfectly for spices. Or, grab some<br />
utility pouches to hold your tools when<br />
you work on the truck. The modularity of<br />
Tactical Grilling products allows you to<br />
tailor your capabilities<br />
to the mission<br />
at hand. With products<br />
in Afghanistan,<br />
Iraq and here in<br />
the U.S., the apron<br />
is in use by active-duty<br />
military,<br />
special operations,<br />
law enforcement,<br />
and PMCs, Tactical Grilling is ready for<br />
your barbeque battlefi eld, whether it be<br />
in-theatre or in the backyard. For more<br />
information contact Tactical Grilling,<br />
Dept. S.W.A.T., Waconia, MN 55387,<br />
www.TacticalGrilling.com.<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 111
MARKETPLACE<br />
shottist.com<br />
Scout Rifle Slings<br />
Designated<br />
Marksman Slings<br />
2 Point Rifle Slings<br />
1911 Holsters<br />
Custom Rifle Slings<br />
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MEMBER<br />
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Add $4.00 S/H<br />
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Guaranteed<br />
The H.R. 218 law<br />
allows current and<br />
retired law<br />
enforcement<br />
personnel to carry a<br />
concealed weapon<br />
nationwide.<br />
1-877-332-2343<br />
Maxsell Corporation<br />
6601 Lyons Road Suite D1<br />
Coconut Creek, FL 33073<br />
www.maxsell.com<br />
DOMESTIC<br />
ENEMIES<br />
A Z T L A N<br />
THE<br />
RECONQUISTA<br />
MATTHEW BRACKEN<br />
Author of the acclaimed Second Amendment novel:<br />
ENEMIES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC<br />
“ Bracken nails the probability<br />
of near-future disintegration of<br />
the Republic with terrifying<br />
prescience.” David Codrea,<br />
GUNS Magazine<br />
Either book available for $20 each at<br />
PO Box 65673, Orange Park FL, 32065<br />
The fi rst 100 pages of DOMESTIC ENEMIES may be read at:<br />
www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com<br />
ADVERTISE!<br />
1-800-665-SWAT<br />
112 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
ADVERTISER’SINDEX<br />
ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE<br />
A.R.M.S. www.armsmounts.com<br />
Advanced Technology www.atigunstocks.com<br />
American Cop Magazine www.americancopmagazine.com<br />
American Technologies www.atncorp.com<br />
American Watch Company www.specialopswatch.com<br />
AR15.com www.AR15.com<br />
Benelli USA www.benelliusa.com<br />
Black Hills Ammunition www.black-hills.com<br />
BlackHawk Industries www.blackhawk.com<br />
Blade-Tech www.blade-tech.com<br />
Bravo Company USA, Inc www.bravocompanyusa.com<br />
Bravo Company USA, Inc www.bravocompanyusa.com<br />
Brownells, Inc www.brownells.com<br />
Bushmaster Firearms, Inc www.bushmaster.com<br />
C Products LLC www.cproductsllc.com<br />
Cactus Tactical Supply www.cactustactical.com<br />
Cavalry Arms www.cavalryarms.com<br />
Cheaper Than Dirt www.CheaperThanDirt.com<br />
Command Arms Accessories www.commandarms.com<br />
Crimson Trace Lasers www.crimsontrace.com<br />
Delray Shooting Center www.shootingcenters.com<br />
DPMS www.dpmsinc.com<br />
DropZone Tactical www.dropzonetactical.com<br />
Eagle Industries www.eagleindustries.com<br />
EnemiesForeignAndDomestic www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com<br />
Eotech www.eotech-inc.com<br />
ESI, Inc www.esi-lifeforce.com<br />
European American Armory www.eaacorp.com<br />
FN Herstal www.fnhusa.com<br />
FN Herstal www.fnhusa.com<br />
G&R Tactical www.grtactical.com<br />
GG&G www.gggaz.com<br />
GhillieSuits.com www.GhillieSuits.com<br />
Global Tactical www.globaltactical.com<br />
Going Loud Tactical Outfitters www.goingloud.com<br />
Hornady www.hornadyle.com<br />
Insight Technology, Inc. www.insighttechgear.com<br />
Jungle Toy www.jungletoy.com<br />
Kahr Arms www.kahr.com<br />
39<br />
48<br />
105<br />
34<br />
23<br />
81<br />
31<br />
20<br />
36<br />
101<br />
Cvr.3<br />
18<br />
26<br />
46<br />
56<br />
112<br />
89<br />
30<br />
47<br />
16<br />
112<br />
43<br />
112<br />
Cvr.2<br />
112<br />
40<br />
71<br />
75<br />
13,15<br />
17,19<br />
52<br />
38<br />
97<br />
112<br />
103<br />
25<br />
7<br />
101<br />
10<br />
LA <strong>Police</strong> Gear www.lapolicegear.com<br />
Langlois Custom Rifleleather www.shottist.com<br />
LaRue Tactical www.laruetactical.com<br />
M4Carbine, LLC www.M4Carbine.net<br />
Master of Concealment.com www.masterofconcealment.com<br />
Maxsell www.maxsell.com<br />
Mesa Tactical www.mesatactical.com/swat<br />
Michiguns LTD www.m-guns.com<br />
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Surefire [Ear Pro] www.surefire.com/earpro<br />
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Taurus International www.taurustactical.com<br />
Tops Knives www.topsknives.com<br />
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Vision Net International www.visionnetweb.com<br />
Wilderness Tactical Products www.thewilderness.com<br />
Wilson Combat www.wilsoncombat.com<br />
XS Sight Systems www.XSsights.com<br />
SWATMAG.COM S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> 113<br />
9,11<br />
112<br />
Cvr.4<br />
52<br />
61<br />
112<br />
95<br />
89<br />
62<br />
89<br />
91<br />
95<br />
32<br />
41<br />
27<br />
22,42<br />
63<br />
26<br />
46<br />
56<br />
32<br />
65<br />
49<br />
97<br />
33<br />
112<br />
57<br />
21<br />
45<br />
53<br />
103<br />
8<br />
3<br />
85<br />
37<br />
18<br />
81<br />
69<br />
101
TRAINING AND TACTICS<br />
Pay attention young man<br />
And I’ll tell you the ode<br />
Of the battle-weary soldier<br />
And the Pale Horse that he rode<br />
And when it’s all over<br />
When the telling is done<br />
Maybe you’ll understand<br />
That killing isn’t fun<br />
Yes, you do the job<br />
And you have to win<br />
But there are none who do battle<br />
And return home without sin<br />
He engaged the enemy<br />
And fi red with pride<br />
But when he’s alone at night<br />
There’s nowhere to hide<br />
Tossing and turning<br />
Between the bedposts<br />
His only companions<br />
The bullet-riddled ghosts<br />
When he was young<br />
Hale and hearty<br />
Life was a game<br />
Just an endless party<br />
Then the years rolled by<br />
On golden wings<br />
Whatever happened<br />
To the innocent things?<br />
Heed these words, young man<br />
While your guns are still cool<br />
Or you’ll die in despair<br />
A lonely old fool<br />
Listen to the advice<br />
Of parents too soon long dead<br />
They had all the right answers<br />
To puzzles in your young head<br />
Then the bell tolled<br />
To ship out to war<br />
And even though he was well trained<br />
He hadn’t a clue what was in store<br />
THE PHOTOGRAPH<br />
BY LOUIS AWERBUCK<br />
In boot camp they told him<br />
To go by the book<br />
Then the bullets started fl ying<br />
And he got his fi rst true look<br />
Gone was the young man<br />
So full of dash and dare<br />
When incoming rounds<br />
Started puncturing the air<br />
He put on the face<br />
Of a soldier so brave<br />
A terrifi ed young man<br />
Barely old enough to shave<br />
But somehow he made it<br />
Through the fi ght and the day<br />
He killed his fi rst man<br />
Now the Piper he must pay<br />
While those who surrounded him<br />
Looked like they showed grief<br />
Every one to a man<br />
Was fi lled with relief<br />
For it wasn’t the battle<br />
That stilled their young laughter<br />
It was his anguish they witnessed<br />
In the scene that came after<br />
It was him or the enemy<br />
So he shot fi rst<br />
Riddling the man’s torso<br />
With a machinegun burst<br />
He fell to the ground<br />
With a look of surprise<br />
The light quickly fading<br />
From the dead soldier’s eyes<br />
[Louis Awerbuck is Director of the internationally acclaimed Yavapai Firearms Academy.<br />
Course information and schedules are available at their website at www.yfainc.com]<br />
Approaching him slowly<br />
As if in a dream<br />
He knelt down beside him<br />
Stifl ing a silent scream<br />
He removed the helmet<br />
To see the enemy’s face<br />
Seeing only a youth like himself<br />
Gone to a better place<br />
In all the noise of battle<br />
He couldn’t hear a sound<br />
When the photo fell out<br />
And drifted to the ground<br />
Beautiful she was<br />
And laden with child<br />
Enough to break his silence<br />
With a primal scream so wild<br />
He never laughed again<br />
After that tormented day<br />
Gone was his adolescence<br />
Of wine, women, and play<br />
Now he’d become a man<br />
Setting out on life’s bloody path<br />
That nothing could wash clean<br />
No shower, no bath<br />
So pay attention, young man<br />
Don’t get to enjoy killing too much<br />
Don’t romanticize old men’s stories<br />
Of forgotten wars and blood and such<br />
Don’t look forward<br />
To the fi rst notch on your gun<br />
Take it from one who’s been there<br />
And whose last ride is nearly done<br />
You’re still young and happy<br />
With a chance for many years<br />
All he has left are the ghosts<br />
And empty nights fi lled with dry tears<br />
I told you it was an ode<br />
So open your ears while you can<br />
It’s about an old Pale Rider<br />
And I was that young man §<br />
114 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER <strong>2007</strong> SWATMAG.COM
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w/Flip-To-Side Mount<br />
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