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Gunfighter Moment – Pat McNamara

Saturday, June 6th, 2015

Too often we will rely on a mechanical solution for a physical flaw. Though sometimes necessary, like corrective lenses for aging eyes, often it is not. Most common, making a pistol site adjustment to bring the shots back into the center of the target. Most of the time the shots are not in the center due to bad grip, improper site alignment or a flawed trigger press.

Before making that site adjustment, have someone else fire it. Someone who can shoot! Accurately! I do this in every class, several times with several student’s pistols. Sometimes I do it because I do not believe that the shooter is influencing the poor group, and that he does indeed need to make a site adjustment. Most of the time however, I do it to show the student that it’s not the gun. “This is probably the most accurate gun I’ve ever shot in my life.”

Too many have heard me say this in my courses.

Patrick McNamara
SGM, US Army (Ret)

Patrick McNamara spent twenty-two years in the United States Army in a myriad of special operations units. When he worked in the premier Special Missions Unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger.

His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards.

While serving as his Unit’s Marksmanship NCO, he developed his own marksmanship club with NRA, CMP, and USPSA affiliations. Mac ran monthly IPSC matches and ran semi annual military marksmanship championships to encourage marksmanship fundamentals and competitiveness throughout the Army.He retired from the Army’s premier hostage rescue unit as a Sergeant Major and is the author of T.A.P.S. (Tactical Application of Practical Shooting). He also served as the Principle of TMACS Inc.

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 some words of wisdom.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Pat McNamara, TMACS Inc
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 4 Comments »

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Saturday, May 30th, 2015

I get asked on a regular basis what acceptable accuracy is in a handgun or carbine. My experience has taught me the answer to this is simple; whatever accuracy is required to engage a threat target with a headshot at your effective range. However before we go any farther always remember the Vickers Rule of Gunfight Accuracy; under conditions of stress the best a shooter can hope to achieve is 50% of the inherent accuracy of the weapon/ammo he is shooting at that time.

What this means is your weapon-ammo needs to shoot a group (5 shots min – 10 is better) of 2.5 inches or less at your effective range. This equates to a 5 inch group under stress (at best) which is a head shot. What is effective range? For the average shooter its 15 yds with a pistol and 50 yds with a carbine (AR style). A skilled shooter is typically 25yds with a pistol and 100 yds with a carbine. I’ve been shooting and teaching for awhile now and this approach has stood the test of time. Hope this helps.

-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV

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.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Larry Vickers, LAV, Vickers Tactical
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 1 Comment »

Gunfighter Moment – Ken Hackathorn

Saturday, May 16th, 2015

Finger position is ‘King’

Everyone in the small arms training world pays homage to the concept of ‘gun safety’. Some of these gun safety rules are simple to follow, some are not. Visit any indoor shooting range or local gun club and within minutes of your arrival you will likely see someone violating a basic firearms safety rule. Everyone seems to place varying degrees of importance on gun safety. Some folks will tell you that there are tens rules of gun safety, other will quote five rules to follow. In the ‘Real World’ (defined as where the targets are shooting back and there are no firing lines) there are only two rules that matter: understand that the most critical gun safety rule is the mindset that ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED. Once you understand this, the only other safety rules you must get clear are muzzle awareness and finger position.

Now, I’m going to say something that will make some folks heads explode; sometimes in the ‘Real World’ we point guns at other people. Often on purpose, and occasionally by accident. We try like hell to never point a firearm at a target we do not wish to engage, but guess what: shit happens. So, no matter how hard we try to avoid unintentional flags of people that we do not want to hurt, it is critical that one has a back up firearms safety system that prevents injury to friendly forces. Finger position or finger register is the key. It has to be programed into your firearms handling skills and never violated.

The best news is it is a very easy skill to master. Whenever you handle a firearm, never put your finger in the trigger guard unless you want to hear a loud noise. When on the range or practicing, program your brain that when your sights come off the target, your finger comes off the trigger and out of the trigger guard. It is really pretty simple. Once you start programing yourself to do this, it is pretty easy to adapt to. I suggest and teach that you place your trigger finger somewhere on the firearm where you can exert pressure against the frame or side of the weapon, so that in a startle response you will not end up on the trigger. On a pistol, I teach trying to place your index finger on or as near to the ejection port as possible. On a rifle/carbine put your finger on the stock above the trigger guard or receiver so that with pressure nothing will go ‘bang’ when you exert positive pressure. On the AR-15 platform take care to NOT put your finger on the magazine catch. I often recommend a small patch of skate board tape placed on the part of the firearm that you want to index with your trigger finger. When your finger becomes raw form the skate board tape, you can remove it as you will now understand where your trigger finger belongs.

Some folks tell me that it is better to engage the safety instead of worrying about finger position. WRONG. What if your sidearm does not have a manual safety? Recently, one of the other Alias instructors detailed his method of always engaging the safety (of an AR or AR control style) firearm for all things when not shooting even include reloading when empty and clearing a malfunction. Mike and Pat are professionals that I have the highest level of respect for. However, I do not teach, nor recommend engaging the safety for every task. Not all small arms have the controls located as ideally as the AR-15 platform, as many of the current popular sidearms don’t even have manual safeties and many that do can’t be engaged and still allow the small arm to cycle or load.

Remember, instructors don’t always agree on everything, but that doesn’t mean that Pat or Mike are wrong. We just don’t agree on this particular safety manipulation. I teach to utilize the safety when moving or when performing shoulder transitions, but when reloading an empty weapon or while clearing a malfunction, I’m not a fan of ‘safety on’. What I am really touchy about is finger out of the trigger guard and ‘in register position’; the way I instantly measure a new face with a firearm in their possession is whether they follow this rule. If you have to work with or be around folks with firearms, remember: the finger position rule is ‘King’ in gun safety.

-Ken Hackathorn

Ken Hackathorn has served as a US Army Special Forces Small Arms Instructor, Gunsite Instructor, and NRA Police Firearms Instructor. He is currently an FBI Certified Firearms Instructor, Certified Deputy Sheriff with Washington County SO, Ohio, and a SRT member and Special Response Team trainer. Ken has trained US Military Special Operations forces, Marine FAST and SOTG units and is a contract small arms trainer to FBI SWAT and HRT.

Ken has provided training to Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and been active in small arms training for the past 25 years. He has written firearms related material for Guns & Ammo, Combat Handguns, Soldier Of Fortune, and currently American Handgunner and contributed to at least six other gun/shooting journals. Ken was also a founding member of IPSC and IDPA.

To see Ken’s Training Class Schedule visit aliastraining.com.

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 SSD readers hard earned words of wisdom.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Ken Hackathorn
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 13 Comments »

Gunfighter Moment – Frank Proctor

Saturday, May 9th, 2015

How dirty can you Shoot and Gas impingement AR-15 and it still function?

First of all I’d like to say thanks for reading this and caring about shooting. In a recent discussion with some dudes after classes they asked how I like doing open enrollment classes. I absolutely love them because every dude or dudette there is a SHOOTER (regardless of profession or background) and wants to be better. I truly enjoy it and get great fulfillment from seeing that quest to get better regardless of current skill set. Thanks Y’all! Now onto this article.

I have long been a fan of the Gas Impingement AR-15/M-4 vs the piston guns. The gas guns get a bad rep because they dump a lot of carbon in the action causing alleged reliability issues, ect. I don’t dig the piston guns, because they are heavier, have a much less smooth recoil impulse, and I honestly feel they are a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. In my experience, which is what I prefer to base opinion on, DI guns will run veeeery dirty.

In a basic carbine class I used to say that the gas guns will run dirty but they won’t run dry for very long; we should pull the bolt and put some oil on all the friction points and a couple other places every couple thousand rounds – still believe that’s a good practice. Last year, I tested out Lucas Extreme Duty Gun Oil. I was very happy with the way is stayed where I put it and how it provided good lubrication to the gun. After some testing I switched over to it for everything.

I got a new upper from BCM last year, and I wanted to see how well/long the Lucas Extreme Duty Gun Oil would work with just a single application. Since around November of last year I have put the rifle through some pretty hard use and put somewhere around 30K rounds through it: 7 classes in deserts, 4 classes in the rain, and a bunch of time in my pelican case that has dust, sand, debris, etc. in it. Well, last week it finally malfunctioned for the first time. I got the gun pretty hot several times and it got to where the carbon in the bolt seized a bit and wouldn’t let the firing pin go forward fast enough.I pulled the BCG out and put some more Lucas oil on everything and went back to shooting. I AM NOT going to clean this gun, I’m gonna keep on shooting it and see what happens should be interesting!

I posted these pics and info on Facebook and some of the comments were pretty funny: E-5s ordering me to do push-ups and such for having such a dirty gun, one fella said it made him want to puke looking at the gun, etc. I can assure those concerned that I have spent many an hour as a private cleaning an M-16 to cleaner than new standards and also plenty of hours after various phases of the Q course cleaning guns to time rather than to standard. After that, I have also put a bunch of rounds – never counted but safe to say over 200k – through an M-4 or AR-15 during some pretty hard use. Simply put, I have a very good personal understanding of what the gun will take and how to take care of it to the point that it will always work when I need it! That’s how I roll with my rifle: reliable but not definitely not basic training private clean.

Thanks Y’all!

-Frank Proctor

Frank Proctor has served over 18 years in the military, the last 11 of those in US Army Special Forces. During his multiple combat tours in Afghanistan & Iraq he had the privilege to serve with and learn from many seasoned veteran Special Forces Operators so their combined years of knowledge and experience has helped him to become a better operator & instructor. While serving as an instructor at the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course he was drawn to competitive shooting. He has since earned the USPSA Grand Master ranking in the Limited Division and Master ranking in the IDPA Stock Service Pistol division. He learned a great deal from shooting in competition and this has helped him to become to become a better tactical shooter. Frank is one of the few individuals able to bring the experiences of U.S. Army Special Forces, Competitive Shooting, and veteran Instructor to every class.

All this experience combines to make Frank Proctor a well-rounded shooter and instructor capable of helping you to achieve your goal of becoming a better shooter.

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 some words of wisdom.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Frank Proctor, Way of the Gun
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 20 Comments »

Gunfighter Moment – Mike Pannone

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

Use of the safety on an M4

The debate is endless on whether or not the safety should be actuated on reloads, transitions or malfunctions. I use the selector every time I dismount the rifle from my shoulder without any time penalty and here is my take and the methodology behind it.

The selector is a crucial part of the rifle and I object when it is not being activated due to convenience. That said there is a simple method to learn it based on a simple methodology which is:

YOU INITIATE THE LARGEST MOTION OF DISMOUNTING THE RIFLE WITH THE SMALLEST AND MOST CRUCIAL MOTION OF INITIATING MOVEMENT OF THE THUMB TO ACTIVATE THE SELECTOR. (See the two pictures below. You can see my wrist break to operate the safety before the rifle has been dismounted and before the empty brass is still in the air.)

**Once I break my wrist and hook the selector with my thumb, the work is done. I begin the entire sequence by beginning to put the rifle on safe and they happen almost simultaneously and extremely seamlessly.**

I initiate dismounting the rifle by first initiating movement of my thumb toward the selector. By doing this I am certain not to forget to safe the rifle if there is any break in the continuity of the reload like retrieving a magazine from a closed pouch or if something draws my attention like another person talking to me or another minor event seizing my attention even for a moment. I have patterned my weapons manipulation to do this and so when I place the rifle on safe during the dismount I don’t consciously do or feel it. It is the right answer and so it is transparent during the reload. That said I have patterned that so well that if I miss the selector on the dismount it will feel wrong and immediately cue me in that I missed it. Whether or not I decide at that point to activate it is based on the situation but at least I am conscious of the status of my rifle.

The reason most say you shouldn’t is that they either don’t know how to teach it or are unwilling to do the work to truly be proficient. There isn’t anyone who can’t learn to do it the way not only myself but my well regarded friend and former JSOC teammate Pat McNamara does it. You must understand the “why” and “how” and then BE WILLING TO TRAIN ON IT. I can do it, Mac can do it and every shooter I have ever known that has wanted to learn has been able to achieve that skill and thereby enhance their overall safety when conducting any dynamic shooting event that includes reloads without sacrificing speed.

– Mike Pannone

Mike Pannone retired from the Army’s premier assault force (1st SFOD-D) after an explosive breaching injury. A year after his retirement America was attacked on 9/11 and he returned to help serve his country as the head marksmanship instructor at the Federal Air Marshals training course and then moved to help stand up the FAMS Seattle field office. In 2003 he left the FAMS to serve as a PSD detail member and then a detail leader for the State Department during 2003 and 2004 in Baghdad and Tikrit.

In 2005 he served as a ground combat advisor of the Joint Counter IED Task Force and participated on combat operations with various units in Al Anbar province. Upon returning he gave IED awareness briefings to departing units and helped stand up a pre-Iraq surge rifle course with the Asymmetric Warfare Group as a lead instructor. With that experience as well as a career of special operations service in Marine Reconnaissance, Army Special Forces and JSOC to draw from he moved to the private sector teaching planning, leadership, marksmanship and tactics as well as authoring and co-authoring several books such as The M4 Handbook, AK Handbook and Tactical Pistol shooting. Mike also consults for several major rifle and accessory manufacturers to help them field the best possible equipment to the warfighter, law enforcement officer and upstanding civilian end user. He is considered a subject matter expert on the AR based Stoner platform in all its derivatives.

www.ctt-solutions.com

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 some words of wisdom.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, CTT Solutions, Mike Pannone
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 11 Comments »

Gunfighter Moment – Pat McNamara

Saturday, April 25th, 2015

Lots of hot topic debate issues out there in the gun world. Many revisited and many will be for years to come.

Ones of my faves is whether a rifle zeroed to me is zeroed to you. Some of the gray area in this debate lies in lack of understanding. Understanding on what zeroed is and how it’s done.

If I am shooting BRM next to a shooter who is consistently knocking out the X ring at say 100 yards – consistently doing so – it would stand to reason that not only is his rifle zeroed to that distance but he probably knows what he is doing and he is doing it consistently. His trigger control is excellent, his cheek to stock weld is true to ensure he is looking directly through the center of his aperture to mitigate any parallax. He finalizes trigger squeeze on his respiratory pause.

Now, if I am replicating what he is doing with my own rifle, the same should stand true for me. We are both zeroed, we can both shoot.

I’ve been through this dozens and dozens of times; I can switch up with him and yield the same results. There are caveats to this however. For instance, if this shooter next to me is shooting irons only, I would need to know what his hold is.

So, my answer is “Yes. A zeroed rifle is a zeroed rifle.”

I’ve got lots of empirical data to back up my finding. If you do not, don’t chime in with mindless thoughts. The rest of us however, dive in.

Patrick McNamara
SGM, US Army (Ret)

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 some words of wisdom.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Pat McNamara, TMACS Inc
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 15 Comments »

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Saturday, April 18th, 2015

Most handgun fights occur within 10 meters so common sense tells you that you need to be an accurate and fast shooter at these distances. Keep this in mind when training and setting up your drills – shooting past 10 meters is absolutely recommended but a bit misguided for newer shooters that struggle at closer ranges.

Bottom line always remember what you are trying to accomplish and what the end game is; survival. Keep your training relevant and real.

-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV

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.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Larry Vickers, LAV, Vickers Tactical
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 1 Comment »

Gunfighter Moment – Larry Vickers

Saturday, April 4th, 2015

I’ve been very fortunate to get where I am at in the firearms industry; I get fans all the time who say I have the best job ever and I totally agree. Being a gun guy down to my bone marrow I can honestly say I have a dream job.

But for those of you out there who are aiming for your dream occupation I have a piece of advice; work you ass off. My position in the industry is due primarily to one factor; I have worked and busted my ass getting the job done for decades, not just years.

It may look easy from the outside but to master any profession you need to be willing to put the work in to succeed. To quote my favorite rock band AC/DC ‘It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll ‘

-Larry Vickers
Vickers Tactical Inc.
Host of TacTV

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.

Tags: Alias Training and Security Services, Larry Vickers, LAV, Vickers Tactical
Posted in Gunfighter Moment | 1 Comment »