the things worth believing in

Not too long ago I received an offer from Mr. Jacobs of Ammo.net to evaluate a couple boxes of Hornady 75 gr. BTHP Match .223.

Ammo.net is an online ammunition supplier that offers a wide range of calibers and brands. What sets Ammo.net apart is that they let you decide what “pro-freedom” organization you would like a percentage of your order to be donated to. These organizations range from Blue Star Families to the NRA to Soldiers Angels. If you are in the market for some ammo give them a look.

The Round:

Hornady 75gr Match uses Hornady’s 75 grain BTHP “T1” bullet without a cannelure, a short cut extruded powder, traditional brass case with a head stamp of “Hornady 223.Rem” and a small rifle primer. The cases are boxer primed with no apparent crimp or sealing (nice for reloaders).

The case neck is crimped, which puts a faint crease in the bullet. In my opinion a crimp is a necessity in a magazine fed, auto-loading rifle like the M4, where striking the feed lips could possibly force the bullet deeper into the case or knock it out of center.

The Range:

For my range evaluation I used the only .223 I own, a M4 carbine with a 16″ BCM mid-length barrel. The optic I used was an un-magnified EO Tech 512.

50 yards:

As I use a 50 yard zero, the first test I did was at that distance, the results were:

The smallest group was 1/2″ and the largest came in at 1-1/16″.

I’m confident that if I had more skill and/or a magnified optic I could easily have made them one hole groups. Even from the sandbag, that 1 MOA dot was a bit tough to be sure I was getting back to my exact POA. Perhaps my 40-something year old eyes are not what they used to be either.

100 Yards:

After confirming my zero at 50 yards I moved the target back to 100 and fired two 10 round groups.

PS- The target is that tiny white dot just over the center top of the chronograph.

Both groups were 3″ at the widest. At 100 yards I expected to shoot 1.5″ to 2″ high and the center of my groups were right in that neighborhood.

Again…remember that results here are how this ammo shot for me, at my skill level and through an un-magnified red-dot sight. That being said, 3-4″ at 100 yards is a head shot, so I was more than pleased with the ammunition’s performance.

Velocity:

Using a Shooting Chrony Inc. Beta Master Chronograph I measured the velocity of over 30 rounds and came to an average.

From my 16″, 1-7 twist barrel with the chronograph approximately 3′ from the muzzle I measured a top end velocity of 2576 fps, a low end measurement of 2465 fps and an average velocity of 2509 fps.

Conclusion:

In my experience, the Hornady 75 gr BTHP Match ammo appears to be a reliable, accurate round that I felt comfortable would hit whatever I was aiming at provided that I did my job from the trigger side. If you are looking for a heavier 223 round for hunting/defense it would be worth your while to take a look.

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Not like that!

Something you discover working plainclothes is that not wearing a full uniform and duty-belt presents you with a new way of looking at things. You go from wearing a rig designed to hang stuff for easy access to trying to find ways to get enough stuff on your pants belt that you can conceal without dropping trou. Most undercover options are paddle holsters or belt slides.

I wear a Safariland paddle:

For everyday work carry it serves me fine. It’s fast, secure, quick to don and doff and it rides close enough to my body to be concealable.

However, a problem arises when I have to put on a vest/plate carrier for warrant service or raids:

With a vest on, the pistol rides too high. At the best this means that you have to get your thumb between the vest and the grip to complete your draw. At the worst your vest can drop over the top of your grip:

That’s bad juju right there.

The typical solution is to get a thigh holster to wear when you execute raids. Those are fine and many guys take that route. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the thigh holster. They are notorious for sliding around your leg and winding up over your hamstring instead of where it’s supposed to be. Running with one is a @#$%* and I find that the weight just feels “unnatural” in that location.

I prefer a higher ride on my thigh holster. I like more of a “low ride belt holster”.

For my solution I purchased a Safariland Tactical Leg Shroud (Model # 6004). This is a “slick” shroud with no holster on it and only one leg strap.

The pictures below show it with my former patrol holster, a Safariland SLS, bolted to it:

The shroud was designed to carry a Taser holster, but it’s ideal for use as a “high thigh ride” or a “low belt ride” option.

Because it was designed to ride lower on the leg, you will have to work on the original a bit to get it to ride where you need it.

The only alteration I did was cut down the leg/drop strap a bit. This is accomplished by removing 3 bolts, trimming the strap to size, punching 3 new holes (use the old piece as a template) and re-bolting the strap to the shroud and the holster you choose. Any Safariland holster with the “T” shaped bolt attachments on it should attach to the shroud without a problem.

The one thigh strap on this shroud works ideally in this application where the normal thigh holster with its two straps (to secure the weight on a longer drop strap) would prevent you from hanging the rig high enough. I have seen some people take a hack saw to their commercial thigh rigs to reshape the shroud and remove the top leg strap. I find this solution much less labor intensive and

I found this one on ebay for under $50.

I’m reviving this post because there was some interesting discussion in the comments regarding the necessity of practicing wounded rifle manipulation drills, the “transition as solution to ALL rifle malfunction” discussion and the reality of what sort of weapon you will most likely deploy in a defensive shoot.

While it’s all well and good to practice for TEOTWAWKI in your plate carriers and helmets, carrying a pistol as a back-up to your M4, I believe that in most “real world” applications you are going to have only one weapon on you. For many people that will be a pistol, but for others it may very well be just the rife or shotgun from under the bed. Practicing for transition as the solution to all long gun malfunctions may not be the best idea in all circumstances.

I’m trying something new. Video. My friend Paul is a photo/video/audio-phile so I thought that I would tap into his expertise (and gear) to help me make some content here. Fancy huh?

Todays topic is single hand carbine malfunction drill. I have been exposed to a few versions of this over the years but I am currently sticking with this one.

Let me preface this by saying that what you do when one hand goes down really depends on your situation. If you are at short range you would probably be better served with a transition to a sidearm vs trying to deal with a long arm one handed. But if the enemy is outside pistol range (or you know you just can’t hit him with a pistol at that range) or you have no other weapon available, you will have to deal with what you have. While this video shows the shooter standing in the open, that is for display purposes only. If possible seek cover before you take your eyes off of the fight to do something like this.

The technique shown demonstrates how to clear a basic Type 1 malfunction when you are down to one hand with a carbine. Just like a Type 1 with a sidearm, it’s a TAP RACK BANG process. Seat the magazine with your knee, secure the weapon between your legs and rack the action (don’t block the ejection port) then attempt to re-engage the target.

If the strong side arm goes down the process remains the same but you have to work in a hand switch. I really appreciate the single point sling for this sort of drill; but as you may see here, when I do the support side drill I had to reposition my hand around the sling because it is attached to one side of the stock resulting in a millisecond “bobble” as I re-shoulder the weapon. This is where an ambi sling attachment could help make the process smoother. Try to base your gear selection on what your training reveals to you I say.

Disclaimers:

Don’t try to learn from me. Some guy on the internet. Get qualified instruction.

SAFETY: NO LIVE AMMO IN THE TRAINING AREA! To make this drill work you will need either a polymer training magazine or use dummy rounds like I did. The magazine requires less down time while you police up ejected dummy rounds and reload.

Self-evaluation. I note that  I didn’t do a press check at the beginning of the video. I also didn’t show an obvious visual chamber inspection after the failure to fire. I will try to remember it the next time. If you really want to see some professionals at this sort of stuff watch the guys at Magpul Dynamics. Specifically The Art of the Tactical Carbine Vol.2.

My buddy Paul over at Tactical Arnis has put together a little video showing how you can mix in body-weight exercises and resistance bands into your martial arts training to add in a little touch of that “gassed factor” quicker than having to do actual 5 minute rounds.

I did a post on mixing in burpees a while back for some additional information on the idea.

Carry Conditions

Auto-pistols can be carried in various conditions of readiness. First defined by the legendary  Lt Col John Dean “Jeff” Cooper these conditions are commonly accepted to be:

• Condition 0 – A round is in the chamber, hammer cocked, and the safety is off.
• Condition 1 – known as “cocked and locked”, means a round is in the chamber, the hammer cocked, and the manual thumb safety on the side of the frame is applied.
• Condition 2 – A round is in the chamber and the hammer is down.
• Condition 3 – The chamber is empty and hammer down with a charged magazine in the gun.
• Condition 4 – The chamber is empty, hammer down and no magazine is in the gun.

These conditions are/were designed with a 1911 style pistol in mind. The Glock with no external safety (but with its “safe action” safety measures) technically cant have the thumb safety applied so it’s condition when loaded and chambered is a matter of debate amongst handgun afficinados but it’s commonly accepted that a Glock is in “Condition 1″ when loaded and a round in the chamber.

With these definitions in mind, a common debate amongst pistoleros is the debate over which is safer for defensive carry, condition 1 or condition 3?

The “Israeli Method”

C3 carry is commonly referred to as the Israeli Method. Some people believe that it is safer and no less effective to carry the pistol with a magazine inserted, safety off, and no round in the chamber. When needed, the shooter draws, racks the slide on the draw stroke and fires.

Carrying in Condition 3 is not restricted to the Israelis, nor did they really invent it. I remember having to carry in Condition 3 quite often as a USArmy Military Police Officer (both when I was issued a 1911 and the M9). It’s gotten that label because the Israelis popularized it as a method of carry and developed an entire method of presentation around empty-chamber carry. The philosophy is that C3 provides a method of carry that allows safe carry for a largely untrained population with a diverse variety of firearms.

Drawbacks

Detractors of C3 carry state that carrying with an empty chamber is a symptom of insufficient training and confidence. Adding an extra step to make the weapon functionable is slower and needlessly adding complexity to a high stress situation. Secondly it requires two hands, or a riskier one-handed “rack” that again adds needless complexity that C1 carry does not.

Speed

An argument against C3 carry based on pure speed is relative. The above video is pretty damn fast and I’d say plenty fast enough for combat application.

I tried comparing my own speed with the two:

Not really being practiced at the “Israeli Method”, even my draw is not excessively slower, but I did short stroke the slide a few times or fumble it in some other manner. I’m just not practiced…but should I be? I can’t see the wisdom of investing practice time into C3 deployment when I’m trained to carry C1.

In regards to the two hand necessity though I have to side with the doubters.

One hand deployment

Look at what this Police Officer faced (cant embed video click link) ?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3848295523081681233

Officer Cress shot and killed alleged DUI suspect Errol Baker on Sunday. For over one minute, Cress battled with Baker after pulling a gun on the officer. The trooper punched Baker several times, once causing him to drop the 45-caliber handgun. Baker retrieved the gun and fired, narrowly missing Cress. The trooper then grabbed his own gun, firing a fatal shot into Baker’s head.

Right around 1:40 after wrestling with the BG for what probably seemed like eternity, the suspect pulls a gun and fires over his shoulder at the cop. The officer draws one handed and shoots the BG in the head. Sure if he was carrying C3 he could have raked the slide against his belt or something, but that’s a murphy laden disaster waiting to happen.

There are simply too many instances I can think of where having to rack a slide in a CQB scenario will simply be too slow or physically impossible. Watch what Gabe Suarez has his students doing in this video:

Start around the 3:00 mark. Do you really want to face a situation like those in C3?

I see the “what will you do if he’s attacking you with a bat” question as being very legitimate. Since most gun fights start out at bad breath range you may very well be faced with those types of examples far more often than you would like. Adding having to chamber a round to make your weapon usable is just adding more problems to the situation vs solving any.

Some say “If he’s attacking you with a bat or knife you should deal with that using empty hand skills then gain distance and deploy your gun”. Sure, you MAY be forced to resolve the H2H issue without your firearm, but when carrying condition 3 you have just put yourself into a situation where thats going to be the fact. Like it or not. You have effectively taken the gun out of the equation for all intents and purposes.

And comparing one handed stoppage clearing in a SHTF situation to forcing yourself into a situation where you will have no choice but to chamber one handed is apples and oranges. You train one handed manipulations as a “God forbid I ever have to do this in real life” type of thing, not as normal operating procedure.

In the end, I just don’t see the risk of misfires in a modern auto-pistol being significant enough to warrant carrying unchambered. It’s more a matter of the carrier not feeling comfortable or well enough trained than it is anything else IMO. I also think that there is a dose of “It’s Israeli so it must be high-speed” going on.

When looked at as a means to train specific skills that can supplement live fire, Airsoft weapons can be a viable tool.

Just because I like Johnny Cash: