With Christmas 2014 and all the associated shopping still clear in the rear view mirror I think it’s fitting to talk about getting a good deal when purchasing a firearm. I hear a lot about price comparatively speaking and want to make a few suggestions. There are many quality handguns available today but none in my opinion are without some needed upgrades Let’s look at pistols generically. Aside from price what do we really want? First a pistol that feels “right” in your hand. Without that you will never have a comfortable grip and will fidget incessantly, degrading your consistency and thereby your accuracy and speed. Second is reliability, without that you’ll never trust the pistol and only be able to employ it in certain capacities (even my competition pistols are combat reliable). Third is durability. If you shoot your pistols a lot then you don’t want to be frequently replacing parts or have a pistol that can’t handle +P or +P+ loads for instance. Fourth is trigger press weight which will dictate the amount of input required on the gun to make it discharge. The less and the smoother the more consistent and controlled the trigger manipulation. Fifth and final is accuracy and when you shoot guns at 25m and beyond that is an enormous strength or weakness. Trigger and inherent accuracy are both near and dear to me from my formal training in JSOC where pistol marksmanship standards were extremely challenging . Without a good trigger and an inherently accurate pistol (think barrel fit) that is virtually impossible. I assume you have noticed price has still not been mentioned. That is because price is the least important factor within reason. I say that because the extra $200 or $600 is 1-3 cases of ammunition depending on caliber and in the life of a well used gun that is not much. If you don’t have a list of criteria and evaluate your next purchase based on them then you are buying on impulse and emotion and may very well end up with something less than optimal. You won’t be satisfied with it and will end up purchasing what you really wanted or adding work to it that you hadn’t but should’ve expected. That said I know of no stock gun that will meet all the needs I have completely. I’m finicky about triggers and I shoot even sub-compacts to 50m so accuracy and trigger are critical. I have very few bone stock guns and honestly look at a new gun with the upgrades already in mind. Make sure your pistol is an investment in your training as much as the gun itself. Your guns should do what you want, how you want reliably and consistently or get worked on.

I highly recommend you pick a pistol that meets your own critical criteria and identify the mods and accessories you’ll want and then add it to the price. If you shop wisely you get what you pay for and quality is not cheap but is sometimes elusive . Going cheap always leaves you with pistol envy.

“The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot-It can’t be done! If you buy from the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better. ”
Attributed to John Ruskin 1819-1900

-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.

The culmination of proper training is predictable performance. On the 22nd of October Canadian Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers shot and killed a cowardly gunman who shot an unarmed ceremonial Corporal Nathan Cirillo as he stood his post and then moved to the Parliament building with the obvious desire to kill even more unarmed victims. Instead he was encountered and engaged by Sergeant-at-Arms Vickers and died on the scene. Officer Vickers had never been in a shooting incident. He had been a Mountie and served in various capacities of Canadian law enforcement for 29 years. What does this all mean? It means a man that spent a career training and preparing himself for “that fateful day” had over those years conditioned himself to act immediately and without hesitation to uphold his oath and truth be told the honor of his profession and himself. People often make comments about combat experience or shootouts for LE and though it is the final test it does not mean those who have not experienced it cannot perform just as well. The men of the 101st that parachuted into Normandy were almost entirely without combat experience, the men that were selected for the Son Tay prison raid in 1970 were not required as a right of selection to the force to have combat experience. Some did not although there were literally 500 initially screened in a time when most in SF had multiple combat tours in RVN. American military performed extremely well in Afghanistan and later Iraq with little or no combat experience at the outset of each operation.

Training predicts performance and it has for centuries. It is no different today. Your training is what will bring success in the gravest of circumstances so train hard, train smart, and train with those that can give you the best advantage of their experience. Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers trained for 29 years for “that fateful day”…and he never knew if or when it would come. Come it did and he passed the test. The will to prepare is what bears the tools to win. Train hard, train smart and be ready. One never knows the time and place they’ll be tested.

-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.

The following two definitions are crucial to an honest appreciation of this topic.

Webster’s-Merriam Dictionary

Look
Verb: to direct your eyes in a particular direction
See
Verb: to notice or become aware of (someone or something) by using your eyes
Aware
Adjective: knowing that something (such as a situation, condition, or problem) exists

I see far too often folks that conduct all kinds of movement and posturing after a non-scenario course of fire that is called “tactical awareness” but is probably more precisely called “gun-fu” or a “tactical kata”. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all about tactical awareness and keeping your “head on a swivel” but what I am not about is looking like you are doing something but you’re really not. My big three are
1.) scan and assess
2.) checking 6
3.) looking at an AR ejection port after every string of fire

Scan and assess and checking 6 are both billed as giving you critical information and done correctly they actually do. The problem is that in the conduct of both, people overwhelmingly “look” in a direction but don’t “see” anything. They look at this as a way to condition themselves under stress to be aware but what they are actually doing is the exact opposite. By “looking” and not “seeing” they are conditioning themselves to move their head left and right and not properly process anything they did look at. By not processing your surrounding with specificity you are conditioning yourself to make the requisite amount of motion and movement and falsely convince yourself that you are “aware” of your surroundings when actually you are overwhelmingly not.

In the case of looking at an ejection port every time a string of fire is complete even though there is no specific stimulus, in doing so you are convincing yourself you saw more than you actually did. I see it as wasted motion that gives very minimal and incomplete information unless a physical stimulus was perceived. My issue is two-fold: it can’t be done at night with any legitimate effect in any reasonable amount of time and if you look and actually have enough light to see the bolt in battery the only thing you genuinely know is the bolt is in battery…nothing more! If the bolt locked to the rear then you would have felt the energy transfer to the rear but not back forward and that stimulus would have told your body through repetition and subsequent learned patterns of response (muscle memory) to reload your rifle. The input on the rifle gives you feedback so if I am getting the right feedback (the gun is running) why spend time and awareness getting minimal or incomplete information? If you are going to look then do a quick press-check (which can be done day or night) but if you don’t, the only thing you genuinely know is the bolt is in battery. If the magazine was bad and didn’t lock back or feed another round then a press-check is the only way to positively identify the status of your rifle.

Scanning and assessing, checking your 6 and knowing the status of your rifle or any weapons system for that matter is not done through the physical repetition alone but through mental repetition in conjunction with physical cues. Different levels of experience allow some to be vigilant when vigilance is required but not on a drill where it is unnecessary. Less experienced people cannot differentiate between when it is a necessity and when it is not so that makes them feel compelled to do the dance every time they complete a drill. One’s ability to differentiate between the requirements of a situation speaks to how they train. Rote memorization of a “tactical dance” does not make you genuinely tactically aware. In reality it will make you less aware because you are conditioning yourself to physically act out the right answer but not get the benefit cognitively of the information it provides.

If you want to scan and assess or check your 6 after every course of fire and ACTUALLY SEE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT then you are good to go in my book. If you press-check after every course of fire (and I do if there is any gap in time available along with pulling the magazine out and assessing by experience and weight if I think I am prepared for the next task) then I’m your advocate as well. Where I part ways with many is when the “gun-foo” starts and people are moving all around and looking all around and seeing almost nothing.

Looking is directing your vision…seeing is processing what you looked at. Don’t just look, see what’s there! Done properly you will genuinely be tactically aware…not just dancing around the firing line.

-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.

Steel is an incredible tool for marksmanship training due to the instant feedback and (other than an occasional repainting) because it removes the requirement to go downrange and score or service (read “paste targets”). One problem I frequently see that leads to bad or sloppy habits is poorly chosen sizes of steel. I constantly see people at ranges or in videos shooting speed drills using steel that is very large, giving the shooter and viewer a deceiving appearance of skill and or speed. For example, if you do a one-shot draw at 10 yards on a B/C zone plate as opposed to an A-zone plate, there is a completely different level of precision and skill required.

I demonstrated this concept with a Glock that had no sights at all and performed 1-shot draws on a B/C-zone steel in 1 second or less from 10 yards with ease. This drill demonstrates the benefit of good body mechanics, proper presentation, and is actually very easy to perform. This drill emphasizes the point that at combative ranges, that body position is where the speed comes from: proper use of large steel. Now change the steel to an A-zone (60% smaller surface area), and it becomes far more problematic and really a function of luck for the same 1 second shot. The point being, if you want to get faster and more accurate, doesn’t shoot targets of a size that allow hits with little to no sight picture. Work your draws on an A-zone steel or smaller. I frequently do my reload drills on a 6” round steel to force me to follow that front sight 100% of the time or miss. The benefit is continuous reinforcement of the requirement to follow the sights to get the hits…come off the sight—come off the target. The gun will follow the eyes every time so keep the eyes where they should be! I recently did a drill called “Sight Tracker” that reinforces this very concept. You can’t make the hits if you don’t watch the sights.

Take a look at it here:

The takeaway is that everybody looks like a superhero shooting big steel. Often times the result is a reinforcement of sloppy habits and bad technique along with a false sense of the speed at which you can reliable shoot and hit. Use steel that GENUINELY makes you aim and forces you to see those sights every time you break a shot and then follow them to the next shot or next target.

If you choose steel that lets you get away with little or no sight picture, that is what you are practicing…if you use small steel that makes you follow the sights every shot and work for every hit, that is what you are practicing.

In conclusion, you should choose your steel wisely!

For reference here are some numbers all in square inches to help evaluate relative difficulty:

• 6” round- 28.27 sq. in.
• 8” round- 50.26 sq. in.
• 8” square- 64 sq. in.
• A-Zone- 66 sq. in.
• ¼ size IPSC- 110 sq. in.
• A/B/C-zones – 220 sq. in. (approximate)
• Full size IPSC 430 sq. in. (approximate)

– 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.

I tell every group I work with that shooting is science and math and the key to progressing and facilitating peak performance is a logical and cohesive training strategy emphasizing efficiency. By this I mean efficiency both physically and mentally so that no efforts are wasted. The strategy I use is based on how Olympic athletes are coached and train to reach their goals. I call it the component based approach and to illustrate it I’ll use the components of shooting while moving.

First we must identify the components of walking:

• Posture (the way we configure our body for a specific task)
• Gait (the length of our steps)
• Pace (the speed at which we take step)

These three components are essential to maintaining a high degree of balance which is defined as the equal distribution of weight over a center axis. By doing this we can describe with the appropriate level of specificity each component and then evaluate the interrelation of each as it is applied. With this approach, correction can be made to a specific component while allowing the other appropriate actions to be left alone.
The next evaluative action will be engagement speed i.e. “how fast do I shoot.” I’ll often here “shoot the sights” meaning shoot if the sights are on target or “only as fast as you can effectively engage.” These are far too obvious and far too vague to assist a shooter or to self-correct.

Second we must identify the criteria for appropriate speed:

• Proximity to the target (how far am I?)
• Level of skill (how good am I?)
• Target exposed (what effective target are can I see and engage?)

Shooting while moving is one specific example but the methodology is a common theme in my personal training as well as the training I provide. It is an efficient method of evaluation which leads to an efficient technique when coupled with two other critical component concepts:

Functioning within the physical triad:

• Strength (power)
• Dexterity (control)
• Visual acuity (vision)

Know the following critical evaluation criteria with a high level of specificity:

• What you do (establish the task)
• Why you do it (desired end state)
• How it works (i.e. the mechanism of success. What specifically makes this technique succeed?)
• Identify the most likely failure points or mistakes
• Precede those with proper training

Efficiency from Webster’s Dictionary- “the measure of the effectiveness with which a system performs.” Is your system performing as efficiently as it can? Refine the process and the answer will more often than not be a resounding YES!

– 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.

The educated shooter is invariably the best shooter he or she can be, or at a minimum is on the right track for success. I often hear people in classes or read on the internet comments about how this drill or that one is “not realistic” or “would be meaningless in a real threat situation”. The problem is they don’t understand the difference between a drill and a scenario.

The definition of a drill as per Merriam-Webster is “a physical or mental exercise aimed at perfecting facility and skill especially by regular practice”. I articulate it in my classes as “the exercise of a component skill or technique for refinement and evaluation.” A scenario as per Merriam-Webster is “a sequence of events especially when imagined”. In classes, I define it as “a situation created to evaluate judgment and the selection and application of component skills or techniques.” A drill tests a technique and a scenario evaluates both judgment and the application of techniques. How you assemble a certain sequence of techniques is called tactics. Don’t confuse drills with tactics.

In summary, selected techniques are used to create and employ tactics within the guidelines of established principles of a given system or doctrine.

Training is science and without a logical approach it is sabotaged from the start. Be smart and train smart. That’s how the best at any skill have gotten there!

– 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.

Establishing requirements before capabilities.

Many times I see people trumpeting a capability of a piece of equipment without prior identifying the requirements for application of the tool itself. For instance, I often see people with flashlights that are more concerned with the number of lumen output but have not established the requirements of application and don’t really identify the benefits or drawbacks of that particular light. An extremely high output light is a great tool for certain applications but might not be necessary or ideal for all uses. It is almost uniform with people that carry a CCW to carry a flashlight as well. I believe that’s absolutely the best course of action when carrying even during daylight hours (it’s still dark inside of buildings). That said, do I really need a larger light that is 300-600 lumens with multiple light options and settings on a day to day basis? You might but I don’t see the need for the bulk, the multiple options or an amount of lumens that I could fry an egg with. I need a light I can navigate with, without having excessive night blindness following use and one that is easy to carry.

A defensive light is just a facilitator for target ID and my pistol sights, with a positive friend or foe identification of a minimum of 25 yards. If I have enough light for both given the nature of defensive carry then it has met my needs. Any more is not necessary for that task and purpose I have established, although it might be a benefit for another application. An EDC light is a tool I carry for a specified purpose and I have identified the needs for it and thereby the capabilities required.

I have a small single CR 123 battery 180 lumen light I carry and it is perfect for EDC. I recently shot a covert carry class night portion with 100% satisfaction using a 65 lumen Streamlight Stylus Pro. It gave me all the light I needed even at 25 yards and is extremely easy to manipulate in conjunction with a pistol and magazines. I am not saying 65 lumens is all you need, what I am saying is specifically identify the needs and requirements before you invest in a tool that may not be optimal for the job for which it is intended. I also prefer a light that goes on and off at the same intensity and that is all. I don’t want the chance that I will somehow mistakenly or inadvertently change my settings and not get on demand the amount of light I expect.
More unnecessary lumens, and lots of unneeded options means a larger light and more cost with less ease of portability. Efficiency in application, size, options and price are the goal.

Sometimes the bigger hammer isn’t always the best one for the job.

– 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.

First and second focal plane and misdeeds in the punchbowl!

I hope you already got a cup because I might be pissing in your punchbowl.

Front focal plane/first focal plane (from now on referred to as FFP) refers to the reticle being in front of the magnification on a variable power optic. This means as the power of magnification is increased, the reticle size increases proportionately. This is extremely advantageous on higher variable power optics with maximum magnification 10X or greater. The benefit is that the reticle retains its true calibration regardless of magnification. This allows the shooter to use the optimal magnification setting for range estimation and holds given the circumstance and have a true MOA/mRad scale.

Rear focal plane/second focal plane (from now on referred to as RFP) refers to the reticle being behind the magnification on a variable power optic and that means as the power of magnification is increased the reticle size remains constant. The reticle is only truly calibrated at the maximum magnification. This is advantageous specifically on low power optics (those starting between 1-1.5X variable to 4-8X) because the reticle is much more clearly visible at the minimum magnification and ranging is overwhelmingly (in my case always) done at the max magnification.

At 1X with an FFP optic, the reticle is very small and in low light very difficult to see so you NEED an illuminated reticle or dot. If the illumination fails for some reason you are bound to mount the rifle and really need to see some aiming reference (think short range engagement) and barely be able to see anything in the tube. Even in broad daylight an FFP reticle at 1x is hard to use rapidly due to the size of the reticle at the lowest magnification setting and the calibration is really meaningless in the midrange powers (1-4) as the hash marks are hard to see at those powers. Let’s use for instance a 1-8X variable power FFP scope. It is designed for the reticle size to be optimized at 8X. That means at 1X it is 1/8th the optimal size.

For the reasons stated above, I am not a fan right now of FFP on low power optics (last few sentences will explain so read on please!). Low power optics, again those starting between 1-1.5X and variable to 4-8X are better suited in RFP so the reticle is consistent and optimally sized at the lowest to highest magnification setting in case the dot/battery fails. I take that position from experience with both military and sport application in day and low-light/night use. Also, you are not going to range someone/something at anything under 200m with any setting but full power when you only have 4-8X considering the guns (5.56 and.308) shoot as flat as they do. With a 50, 100 or 200m zero your max point blank range, the distance where the bullet does not go above or below your height over bore for most AR based military carbine and sport carbine applications, you can hold center on an 8” target (plate or cranium) and get an effective hit out to 250 in 5.56 with standard sight height and 50 or 200m zero and out to 200m with a 100m zero (with non-SBR barrel lengths and based on a 16” gun with 55 grain M193). You can estimate close enough at fewer than 200m for a minor hold as not to need an FFP in my professional and operational experience. It is also more expensive and less functional for a combat or sport optic and is outperformed by the larger and optimized SFP reticle size with or without illumination. It is a capability without a requirement for low power optics. I see the benefit as negligible and the down-side distinct based on the profile of application of a low power variable magnification optic for combative and sport use.

Caveat- If you want an FFP low power optic then it needs illumination with extreme battery life/durability like an Aimpoint … and if Aimpoint can do it than the others can as well. I’d sign on to that but until then I’ll remain an advocate of rear focal plane variable power combat/sport optics in the 1-1.5X to 4-8X range of magnification. They dramatically increase the reach of any rifle yet still afford the close range speed and reliability of a reticle that is scale optimized and usable even without magnification.

– 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.