Tactical Tailor

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

A classic American trait is we like to customize and modify our prized possessions. Everything from cars, bikes, guitars and of course guns. I would argue it is one of our strong points and goes hand in hand with our quest to make things ‘better’.

My only advice is to know why you are customizing your firearms specifically. If it’s to make it a better range ‘toy’, then that’s okay. Just understand that I see a lot of shooters who think they are customizing their self defense firearms to make them more useful for the assigned task, when in fact they are making them less usable. I see this in every class I teach.

Be careful and do your research before you modify a weapon that you stake your life on. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.

-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV

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Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical is a retired US Army 1st SFOD-Delta combat veteran with years of experience in the firearms industry as a combat marksmanship instructor and industry consultant. In recent years he has hosted tactical firearms related TV shows on the Sportsman Channel with the latest being TacTV of which Bravo Company is a presenting sponsor. Larry Vickers special operations background is one of the most unique in the industry today; he has been directly or indirectly involved in the some of the most significant special operations missions of the last quarter century. During Operation Just Cause he participated in Operation Acid Gambit – the rescue of Kurt Muse from Modelo Prison in Panama City, Panama. As a tactics and marksmanship instructor on active duty he helped train special operations personnel that later captured Saddam Hussein and eliminated his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. In addition he was directly involved in the design and development of the HK416 for Tier One SOF use which was used by Naval Special Warfare personnel to kill Osama Bin Laden. Larry Vickers has developed various small arms accessories with the most notable being his signature sling manufactured by Blue Force Gear and Glock accessories made by Tangodown. In addition he has maintained strong relationships with premium companies within the tactical firearms industry such as BCM, Aimpoint, Black Hills Ammunition, Wilson Combat and Schmidt & Bender.

Larry Vickers travels the country conducting combat marksmanship classes for law abiding civilians, law enforcement and military and has partnered with Alias Training to coordinate classes to best meet the needs of the students attending the class.

Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer us some words of wisdom.

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10 Responses to “Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

  1. Uniform223 says:

    Hooah

  2. This is an extremely important remark, and one that many “range warriors” such as myself need to take to heart.

    It is for this very reason that I make a careful distinction between those weapons I use for self and home defense and those that I enjoy more as “range toys.”

    For example, I have a highly tricked out Glock 34 with a custom trigger group in it, finely honed and tuned, along with extended magazines, etc. etc. But I do not use it as my primary defense handgun.

    For that I have my trusty nearly-stock Glock 19 that has only better sights on it, but standard trigger, and everything else.

    • CAP says:

      Seriously dude do you just lurk the internet all day waiting for any opportunity to associate yourself with Larry Vickers? He doesn’t want to be your friend, get over it.

      Is this the only website that you’re not banned from now? Please, for your own good, find a new hobby.

    • Daniel says:

      So you train with a completely different firearm than your primary self defense weapon……. Okielie Dokielie then 🙂

    • Thanks for all the comments guys, you made my day.

      Must be that time of the month for the lot of you.

      LOL.

  3. Mike Nomad says:

    “Just understand that I see a lot of shooters who think they are customizing their self defense firearms to make them more useful for the assigned task, when in fact they are making them less usable. I see this in every class I teach.”

    I can believe that. So, drop the other shoe: What are the five (or less) most common mistakes you see?

    • Elsewhere, LAV indicated that overly modified trigger groups are the most common cause of problems, in some cases, he had seen Glocks go “full auto” shooting two or three shot bursts as a result of somebody tinkering with the trigger group.

  4. Justin says:

    Ahhhh…. More words of wisdom from The Larry Vickers Fan Club President, Paul T. McCain. We can always count on you making comments anywhere Larry pops up on the internet. Though you are a much more prolific poster on his Facebook page. So what’s going on here? Is this some type of homoerotic obsession? Or are you just a huge dork obsessed with having your name appear on the same page as Larry’s? It’s kinda creepy really.

    Oh, and as others have pointed out, congrats on training and carrying with two entirely different guns. That makes so much sense! Please tell us more.

  5. Ed Hickey says:

    I don’t see the problem training with the same platform. I like to practice with a steel Kahr PM9 & carry a PM9. The triggers are the same. I had a problem with the polymer swelling by the rails from extended shooting.

  6. Ed Hickey says:

    MK9 was the steel version.