GOOD WEAPONS HANDLING SKILLS IN REGARDS TO BOLT LOCK RELOADS WITH THE AR-15

I live by 2 very easy to follow gun handling rules: #1 keep the pointy end of the death machine in a safe direction. #2 if you’re eyes are not connected to the sights then the trigger finger is connected to the frame of the gun. For the AR-15 I add rule 2a if the eyes are not connected to the sights the rifle is on safe and some positive pressure up on the selector lever. These rules have served me very well in every situation.

When this segment on reloads went on Trigger Time TVs youtube channel It got a lot of push back in regards to putting the rifle on safe during a bolt lock reload, as well as when I posted it to my company Facebook page.

Here is my detailed response to why I believe in doing it:

I’m more than happy to explain everything I do. Everything I do and believe in has a reason behind it. I’m also very open minded to new ideas and thoughts on how to do things better. I was a Green Beret for 8 years before I changed to my current rifle reload procedure. I was taught that it was OK to keep the rifle on fire during a bolt lock reload and when I was the Primary Instructor for the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course I also taught it that way. It never felt right to me when one of my guys would ask me “do we keep the rifle on fire during the reload?” and I would say yes. I justified it in my mind by saying it’s OK because at that point we are still in the engagement. Through my entire Army career since I was 18 years old it has been programed into me to keep the rifle on safe when not shooting.

When I was going through the Special Forces Qualification course I developed another habit with the M-4. I put my thumb under the selector lever and push up against the selector lever as an extra measure of safe gun handling. I think it was some sort of subconscious thing that happened to prevent my gear or all the brush I was walking through from effecting the selector lever and firing the gun. I also press my trigger finger into the frame of the rifle when my eyes are not connected to the gun. These extra safety measures have never cost me even a tenth of a second getting the gun into operation and getting an accurate hit.

So I was watching some YouTube one day in 2012 and saw Pat McNamara talking about how he does rifle reloads. Pat puts the rifle on safe during the bolt lock reloads. Pat retired from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment (D) and was the marksmanship instructor for his unit for awhile. After hearing pretty legit dude like Pat talk about it I decided to try it. It took me about 20 deliberate reps to program getting the gun on safe into my bolt lock reload. Since that day in October 2012 I haven’t lost even a tenth of a second on a bolt lock reload due to putting the rifle on safe during the reload. In my courses I will start the reload session with a competition. I have the guys set up for a bolt lock, 1 round in the gun and an empty mag. I compete against the whole class 1 shooter at a time. I let the other guy start, he shoots first and starts his reload to another shot. After his first shot I shoot, get bolt lock put the gun on safe and work my reload to another shot. I’m around 98% on getting 1 shot reload 1 shot on target before the other who had about a 1 second head start and they aren’t putting their gun on safe. I’m not saying that I’m magic, I’m a fan of proven reliable mechanics and very efficient mechanics at that. I do it this way to make a point that what I’m saying works and that getting the gun on safe won’t cost anything.

Pat’s term is “Always an enabler, never a disabler” in regards to the selector lever, and I completely agree and dig it the most. I’m not a fan of scenarios and “what ifs”. I am a fan of solid fundamentals and programing them to a point where you instantly apply those fundamentals to any situation you find in order to solve problems without overthinking. There are however some what ifs that can make it make sense when I say that the world could change in the amount of time it takes to reload a rifle. Let’s look at one of many scenarios that support putting the rifle on safe when the eyes are not connected to the sights. If I were deployed with my team and during a bolt lock reload I didn’t put the rifle on safe, I get the mag in then the bolt forward then get shot in the head and fall down and a rock or something fires the gun and my rifle shoots our only 18D in the head. That’s a pretty sad face day right there for a whole ODA that could have been avoided by a very easy mechanical function. As I said you can what if stuff to death but at then end of the day, it’s too easy to put the gun on safe during a reload and I’m gonna keep on doing it because I believe in it and based on my experience it works.

-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.

Why 9mm?

Back in April I received my Wilson Combat 1911 chambered in 9mm. I did a YouTube video with the gun and got lots of comments on it. Here’s the video if you’d like to check it out:

One of the comments I got was “Why would you set up a Wilson Combat 1911 in 9mm?” I replied to it and thought to myself here’s my next article for Gunfighter Moment. So here we go, my thoughts on 9mm.

I like to shoot and I like to train and see improvement and chase that dream of being as good as I want to be! 9mm training ammo is considerably less expensive than .40 or .45 allowing me to train way more, I dig that! Now let’s talk about the tactical application of the cartridge. I carry a 9mm pistol everyday for concealed carry and I carried a 9mm as a secondary weapon in Afghanistan and Iraq, I don’t now and never have felt under gunned with a 9mm.

For concealed carry I use a Glock 19 or S&W M&P 9. In both cases I have a concealable, very shootable (capable of delivering multiple hits quickly on a practical sized target from the muzzle out to 50 yards) and controllable pistol with 15-17 rounds of potent ammunition. I feel good about those capabilities. When talking terminal performance a couple critical things come to mind: shot placement and ammunition selection.

A .45 hole in a lung will produce the same effect as a 9mm hole in a lung, that effect is not instant incapacitation. However, if you research there has been a whole lot of stuff instantly incapacitated by a well placed .22 long rifle cartridge including some pretty large game animals. Without going into that subject anymore let’s talk about ammunition selection.

Not all ammo is created equal, ball ammo can be very lethal with good shot placement, but I think it would be much wiser to select carry or duty ammo that will offer better terminal performance. I have some first hand knowledge on Hornady Critical Defense 135g 9mm ammo. I watched it run through the FBI protocol and was amazed at the performance. It outperformed .40 and .45 duty ammo from other manufacturers. The FBI protocol test and evaluates the ammunitions, expansion, weight retention and penetration, preferably without over penetration.

I went on YouTube and found this video for you guys to check out. This is not the test I was at – when we did it we also ran .40 and .45 duty ammo from other manufacturers through the protocol and the results were not as impressive. Some of the ammo over penetrated and never expanded, some didn’t retain much weight through the auto glass. As seen in this video the Hornady 9mm expanded and penetrated almost exactly the same through everything.

Other thoughts on 9mm, it is a much more comfortable cartridge for a broader range of shooters to handle. That is one of the reasons many LE agencies and the FBI are switching to 9mm. I think another plus of 9mm is that if the gun is not uncomfortable to shoot and not cost prohibitive to train with more shooters will go out and train and increase or maintain their proficiency. Another thing I’m a fan of is magazine capacity. Having 15 rounds of some pretty potent and easy to shoot ammo in a concealable gun gives me a nice warm fuzzy for most anything I might encounter.

Well those are some of my thoughts on 9mm, thanks for reading and I hope to see you at a range sometime!

-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.

Paul from Alias Training emailed me the other day and asked if I could have something put together for the Gunfighter Moment on Soldier Systems by Friday. Well, when I get those emails I usually write about what is fresh on my brain in regards to shooting at the moment. Here’s what’s on my mind right now: I want to say a lot of thanks. Thanks to all of you guys reading this that want to hear what I have to say about shooting. Thanks to all the people I have trained with that care about becoming better shooters. It is particularly refreshing for me to see the LE and Military dudes that come to open enrollment courses, most of the time they are coming on their own time and own dime because they care about being better at a very important part of their profession. I know very well that MIL and LE professionals have a ton of other duties other than being shooters, but I think all will agree that if it’s time to shoot in the line of duty, nothing is more important in that instance than being the best shooter you can be. Unfortunately there is a flip side, there are way too many people out there that carry a gun as part of their job that wouldn’t carry it if they didn’t “have” to. Those people very often don’t care about their ability to shoot well or handle their guns safely, it’s a shame. So thanks again for all those that care.

I want to thank everyone that has in anyway helped me along my path to becoming a better shooter (still walking down that path). I have learned a lot from so many people and have had a great time doing it. I’m constantly learning new stuff when I running my courses. I dig it the most when a new idea pops up on the range and a better way to train comes to life! We had several of those in my last 2 classes that were epic! All in all I feel very fortunate to be able to help people reach their goals as shooters, it has been a great ride! 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.

MINIMALIST CARBINE SET UP

Hey y’all here’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart, setting up the carbine with everything you need and nothing you don’t! One very cool thing about the AR-15 platform is that it’s very modular, far too many times shooters add too many “light weight” accessories and end up with a less than optimal package. Here’s what I think the all purpose carbine needs no more no less.

Good Barrel
Having the ability to shoot 1.5-ish MOA or better with decent ammo and do so for a reasonable duration of fire and last a long time. I have found the BCM and Daniel Defense Hammer forged and chrome lined barrels to hold up better than anything else I’ve used and they provide around 1 MOA accuracy with MK 262. The new ELW bbl from BCM is quickly becoming a favorite, I’m looking forward to the hammer forged version. Also worth noting that I’m a fan of a 1-7 twist for everything and if the bbl is 14.5” or 16” then mid length gas system is the way to go. The difference in smoothness of the recoil impulse is very noticeable!

Rail
At least 9” in length, I think this is important to get leverage on the rifle. For an 11” bbl I would go with a 9 or 10” rail. For a 14.5” bbl I like a 13” rail. For a 16” bbl either a 13” or 15” rail. I’m a huge fan of the new KMR rails from BCM, super light without sacrificing any durability or function. I have also found that the KMR rail stays comfortable to the touch after extended shooting (I ran 3 mags through the gun pretty quickly to test this theory). The grip panels for the KMR help as well and they are super low profile.

Good Trigger
I like a trigger in the 3-3.5 pounds range and am a fan of a single stage trigger. I have used the following triggers with great results in performance and reliability. CMC, Wilson Combat and Geissele.

Pistol Grip
With a more straight up and down rake than a standard A2 pistol grip. I’m currently using the BCM Gunfighter Mod 2 grip and really like it the fact that it is modular also lending it to use by shooters of different hand size.

Charging Handle
I feel that and extended charging handle is beneficial in clearing malfunctions (if they occur) and working around a scope. I have used the Badger latch in the past but when BCM introduced the Gunfighter charging handle I switched and haven’t looked back! I’m running the Mod 4 on all my guns and dig it the most!

Muzzle Device
I’m a huge fan of having something on the end of the bbl that helps minimize the amount of time the gun is away from the target. There are some downsides to a very effective brake, usually they are pretty load and produce over pressure plus they can generate some serious flash. There are several MDs out there that offer some control and flash hiding capability and are fairly mild on the shooter. I have used the PWS and BCM Gunfighter devices a good bit and they both work pretty well. I’m also working on my own design that will provide a bit more control and not obnoxious over pressure, we’ll see how it goes!

Buttstock
I prefer light weight stock that fits tight to the buffer tube and locks up nice. I find that there is too much slop in the standard carbine stock. There are some choices out there that can get pretty heavy and bulky without really bringing anything else to the table. In the past I’ve used the Magpul CTR stock, the B5 SOPMOD stock and now the BCM Gunfighter stock as well as the Troy stock. The BCM is becoming my favorite due to tight fight, low profile and light weight.

Optic
There are many options in this category and based on what your needs are. Here are my opinions. If you are shooting from the muzzle to 200 yards irons are an excellent choice, very light and very close to red dot fast at those ranges. I shoot irons to 300 without any problems however at 300 the sights cover a lot of target and limit what you can see around the target. The red dot sights work very well from the muzzle to 300 yards. I dig the size, weight and battery life of the Aimpoint T1. I think the Eotech is the fastest red dot available a it has a bigger field of view and the large ring really pulls the eyes in. The 1 MOA dot in the Eotech is king at distance also. If you need to shoot small or past 300 yards a 1-4 or 1-6 or 8 power scope will really pay dividends. A couple things I look for there is true 1X, first focal plane on any thing past 1-4X, and a reticle set up in mils.

Light
Any rifle intended for duty or defensive use needs a light. I prefer something small and compact. I have used a Stream Light Protac 1L for a few years and it has worked very well. I’ve also used the Inforce WML and dig it as well. I’ve been very happy with lights in the 100 lumen range, to get much more than that you have to go to a bigger and bulkier light.

Sling
In my opinion and experience a 2 point adjustable sling is the way to go. In my opinion the single point sling keeps the stock of the rifle close to the shoulder and is slightly easier to transition to the opposite shoulder. I think that the 2 point adjustable is a much more usable design for really working with the carbine. Climbing, breaching, dragging or carrying things that require 2 hands are all easier if the rifle is cinched tight to the body or on your back. There are plenty of good options out there in the 2 point sling department but I’m kinda fond of my design!

I’m a huge fan of a light carbine and I think most dudes that have or do carry one for a living will agree. My current BCM carbine is set up with everything I think it needs to go to work (minus and IR laser for night vision work) and weights in at 6 pounds 3 ounces. I also have a carbine set up on a Tennessee Arms Polymer lower receiver that weighs in at 5 pounds 8 ounces, that’s with irons, light and sling. You can check out my guns on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/pages/Way-of-the-Gun. You can also go to my website www.wayofthegun.us.

Thanks for reading and I’ll catch y’all next time!

-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.

The Curse of the “Double Tap”I train Performance Shooting and I define it as: Applying the correct ratio of speed and accuracy to dynamic shooting situations with a goal of scoring maximum points in minimum time, with 100% accountability.

The way I define it this style of shooting applies to any discipline of shooting from tactical/defensive shooting to competitive shooting.

My first exposure to action type shooting was as a tactical shooter, after completing the Special Forces Qualification Course I attended SFAUC (Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat Course); basically shooting and CQB.

I had a passion for it and it was part of my job so I spent a good deal of time becoming as good a tactical shooter as I could be. I eventually took over as the Primary Instructor for Combat Marksmanship for an entire Special Forces Group. At this point I considered myself a pretty good shooter, humble but competent.

I decided to go shoot a USPSA match and promptly discovered what I didn’t know about shooting. I recall one event in particular that will drive me into the meat of this article. The classifier for that match was the El Presidente: three targets 10 yards away, turn and shoot 2 rounds per target reload then 2 more rounds per target.

When I shot it was something like bang bang *pause* bang bang *pause* bang bang reload then the same. An experienced competitive shooter shot it next and it went like this: ‘bang bang bang bang bang bang’ reload and then the same. I couldn’t understand what just happened and even accused the guy of just shooting AT the targets and not seeing anything. He assured me that he saw everything and his points reflected as much. I had to figure out what this was all about!

So I shot 2 shots per target on that multiple target array the same way nearly every tactical shooter I have encountered will shoot it. Target plus gun equals double tap, big pause moving to the next target then double tap etc.

Let’s dig into the curse of the double tap and how it causes failure for most shooters.

Regardless of other things I’ve read and even once believed when a shooter shoots a “double tap” they are seeing something for an aiming reference and running the trigger 2 times as fast as they can make it go. In that case the shooter is absolutely HOPING that their trigger speed and control over the gun will keep both rounds on the target. Most times it doesn’t. There’s a problem with trigger speed and trigger pressure for pistols.

When we run triggers fast some movement is going to come into the gun. Most pistol shooters put way too much pressure into running the trigger. Many times that first shot gets pushed low and to the support hand side, then since the shooter is firing the gun at a cyclic rate the gun fires again, and if the shooters doesn’t have good control over recoil the gun is not on the target when it fires again. The shooter that was hoping to win by running triggers fast ends up loosing hard core. Fast trigger speed doesn’t always equate to fast scoring speed.

Scoring speed is where it’s at and that’s what I train, how to score more points in less time. Some things I have found to be crucial are seeing and efficiency. Opening up to what is possible for you as the shooter – how fast we can easily process lots of information – allows us to be much more efficient and therefore faster and more accurate. There’s another problem that pops up for tactical shooters: “if you are shooting 2 rounds you see 3 sight pictures”.

The additional sight picture is taught as being all about follow though and for the tactical shooter ensuring the threat is eliminated. I believe once we get wrapped around how incredibly fast we can process information we can accomplish all of those task quicker and get on to the next piece of work.

A multiple target set up like what I use in the Time Machine exercise is a great tool to get us plugged into scoring speed and not focus on trigger speed. I believe that we need to plug into the gun and let it tell us how fast to shoot. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

I think you’ll discover that scoring speed is what matters and break the curse of the double tap!

-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.

Repetition

I get very excited when I learn something new or gain a new understanding of something I already know or even a new perspective. That happened to me again last week and here’s how it went down;
I’ve been working on my range a lot recently building some new bays and a new rifle range. One day last week I was using my tractor to move some dirt around and doing some pretty repetitive stuff, move forward get a scoop of dirt, back up with it and dump it into the dump truck then move forward again get a scoop of dirt, back up again repeat, repeat etc. I know you are thinking…what does this have to do with shooting? Bear with me! To shift my tractor from forward to reverse I have to use a lever on the left side of the steering column, push forward to go forward, pull back for reverse. After running the tractor for a few hours I got in my truck to leave, guess what I grabbed to try to make the truck into forward and reverse….the turn signal lever on the left side of the steering column, right where the tractor gear selector was! So we’ve all heard it said that it takes 10,000 repetitions to build a muscle memory. I’ve said in my classes that it may not take 10,000 reps but it takes more than 10 for sure. In this case after running the tractor for a while I had reprogrammed to use my left hand and a lever on the left side of the steering column to make the machine go forward and reverse. When I got into my truck I instinctively grabbed the lever on the left side of the steering column, because for the last few hours I had TRAINED myself to do it. We humans are amazingly adaptive machines and with the right kinds of repetition we can learn to do anything. When I was running the tractor I didn’t sit down on it and see how fast I could shift from forward or reverse or how fast I could run the loader on a pro timer. What I did was very deliberately operate the machine and by doing so and not over thinking it, I TRAINED my mind and body how to instinctively make the machine do what I wanted it to do subconsciously. This new perspective on something I already knew will be going with me to the range and I think it will help me create some better training tools to give the shooters who train with me. I dig it the most when a new thought or idea comes up that will help me be a better shooter and instructor!

And of course you can check out my website for more info on what I’m all about. Thanks y’all!
www.wayofthegun.us

-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.