7 June 03

From users:

"It is common for the M3 light to come flying off the pistol. It's happened so often here, we're gone back to Surefires."

"Compared with the Surefire, the M3 is flimsy. We got rid of ours and now use Surefires exclusively."

Comment: I've received many more comments expressing the same sentiments. The verdict seems unanimous!

/John

7 June 03

On the Taurus PT92 safety/decocking lever, from a friend in Africa:

"We had a Taurus PT92 course, a shiny stainless number! This gun is basicall y a Beretta 92, with a frame-mounted "manual (three-position) safety/decocker" .

If carried cocked and locked, pushing the safety into the 'off' position too enthusiastically also decocks the pistol, negating the benefit of having it cocked in the first place. In addition, if the shooter then holds the lever down, the pistol won't shoot at all!

The student using this gun was an 'expert' in double-action/confusio n shooting by yesterday evening.

No thanks! Give me a Glock any day!"

Lesson: At the moment of truth, the last thing you need is a bewildering choice of several ways to proceed. This is why pistols like the PT92 have n ever gained any real market share and why pistols like Glock seem to have cornere d it all. The Glock has only one component to its fire control system, the trigger. No manual decocking levers; no manual safeties. Nothing needs to be done to it in order to enable it to shoot, and nothing needs to be done to it after it is shot in order to get it into a condition where it is appropriate to holster. The gun does everything for you, except shoot itself. No choices. No confusion.

/John

7 June 03

Fighting from within cars:

A federal agent and great friend of mine and of the NTI presented a thoroughgoing lecture on fighting from within cars during this year's event. Important points:

A moving car, going as slow as fifteen miles per hour, is seldom penetrated by pistol bullets, even rifle bullets. Resistance to penetration is even greater at higher speeds. A stopped car is penetrated much more often. The lesson is clear: if you're in a car and the fight starts, stay in the car, speed up, get everyone down, and get out of there.

Unless the attackers have RPGs, staying in the car and leaving at high speed nearly always makes more sense than exiting the car and fighting/fleeing on foot. A hit from an RPG will cause casualties on the inside of a car and probably disable it, but even a skilled RPG crew will have great difficulty hitting a rapidly accelerating car. As noted above, small arms fire at a moving cars mostly fails to hit in the first place, and even the rounds that do hit seldom penetrate to the interior.

Molotov cocktails are largely ineffective against moving cars. If one strikes your car, just drive away. It will burn out in seconds and so little damage.

Keep the interior of your car clean. Trash inside a vehicle can become harmful missiles during an explosion or high-speed crash.

Seat belts are a two-edged sword. Wearing them restricts movement and makes getting into an effective firing position difficult. However, wearing them also makes it likely that one will survive a crash and remain conscious long enough to exit the vehicle and flee to safety. Wearing them is usually a good idea. They should only be taken off when things get desperate.

Crack the windows several inches when things start going in the toilet. A cracked window is easily broken. Rolled all the way up, car windows are nearly impossible to break from the inside.

If you're being followed by another vehicle, crack the driver's window and spray OC out the opening. The slipstream will deliver it directly to the pursuing vehicle. Even if their windows are rolled up, the OC will be sucked in to their vehicle and "encourage" them to find something else to do!

When firing at pursuing vehicles, shoot into the radiator. It's a big target, and once a radiator leak is created, the pursuing vehicle will quickly overheat and have to stop.

The best weapons for fighting from a car are pistols and short-barreled rifles. Long-barreled rifles and shotguns are unwieldy and difficult to maneuver inside a car. A good "urban rifle" is just the ticket. The best caliber is 308. Rifles chambered for 223 lack sufficient penetration to be effective against most cars.

/John