Free Republic

Ever wonder why your special lady doesn’t want to go to the range with you? Could it be your humiliating “mansplaining” training style? Maybe she doesn’t think it’s funny when you fart in her port while she’s trying to aim.

When ‘Tanto’s’ Battleline Tactical recently teamed up with Ammo Manufacturer Fort Scott Munitions, some serious Home Defense and Close-Quarter Battle training ensued. Why would any civilian pay their hard-earned money to go to a close-quarter battle class designed for the home? A class where you are simulating a family hostage rescue – who needs that? And what civilian really needs to be taught by a well-known former Army Ranger/CIA contractor? I can just hear the naysayers now. Since this awesome class that I am referring to was taught in Fort Scott, Kansas, home to Fort Scott Munitions, let’s start...

Learning this method can be advantageous for big game hunters – especially if there is no time to calculate all of the variables needed to adjust the scope. As I lay prone on the ground, squinting at the target only 100 meters away, the training instructor began shouting orders. I was a young airman basic in the United States Air Force and, unlike other branches of the US military, we only got to spend one day at the firing range. Using an M-16 shooting 5.56 NATO ball ammo, we were told to aim for “center mass.” The target was...

First developed to combine the attributes of the 9mm Luger and the .45 ACP, this round is now one of the best handgun hunting cartridges made for semiautomatics. Handgun shooters know that two of the most popular calibers are the 9mm Luger (Parabellum) and the .45 ACP. The latter is slow but makes a big hole, while the faster 9mm tends to lose energy quickly once it hits the target but shoots fast and flat. In a perfect world, a gunmaker would bridge these two rounds to make a fast and hard-hitting bullet. It is this very idea that led...

With positives and negatives, deciding if a red dot sight is right for you boils down to your handgun’s mission. So, in the form of a disclaimer, I am old. Fifty-one years old, to be exact. As a soldier and a cop, I’ve been making a living with a gun for nearly my entire adult life. I can say, with some degree of distinction, that I have carried just about every variety of AR/M-16 that has ever been used by the US military: M-16A1, M-16A2, M203, M4 and the AR-15 patrol rifle. With age comes a certain amount of suspicion...

Spike was apparently a bit of a mascot at SOG forward operating base-4 of CCN. Taught to serve drinks and do all manner of errands for the Green Berets of SOG.. One of the SOG recon men saying he even helped a SFC man and fire a 81mm mortar in a mortar pit during the infamous attack on August 23 in 1968 when NVA sappers infiltrated a SOG compound from the sea in the middle of the night and caused multiple casualties of the recon men."he was in that mortar pit firing illumination rounds over the camp. But I remember...

Hornady's low drag, expanding bullet 'delivers accuracy both at the bench and in the hunting fields.'The rain had just subsided, though the streams were too swollen to cross. In spite of the fact that temperatures had risen significantly – the previous morning was in the low single digits – the runoff created a natural barrier between us and the mule deer buck we had just glassed on the hillside at over 1,000 yards. So, with Plan A foiled, we regrouped and planted the seeds of what would become Plan B: glass the innumerable coulees, gullies and canyons in a frantic...

Between improved Accuracy, Reduced Recoil, Scaring less game, widespread OK and Protecting your Hearing, there are a lot of reasons to consider Hunting with a Suppressor. Don't let this turn you off, but at present, suppressors are considered Class II weapons and are regulated by the National Firearms Act and subject to the same controls as machineguns. To legally possess one, at the very least, you’ll need to fill out some forms (online or old-fashioned paper ones), get finger-printed at your local police station, pay a $200 tax, and wait for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to...

Lessons from Yesteryear that still Apply Today - Due to the political climate and potential gun bans, revolvers have become fashionable for concealed carry once again. So I thought I would add my two cents on the subject. The first thing that needs to be addressed is why we are 1) practicing with revolvers (or any gun for that matter), and 2) carrying them. Yes, shooting guns safely both in practice and competition is fun, but really the intent is for self-defense purposes. Many a well-known lawman of yesteryear made the revolver famous, including James Butler Hickok aka Wild Bill,...

Top loads for Popping Winter/Spring Predators and Varmints. With our big game seasons winding down, it's time to turn our attention to the predators in the later winter and the varmints in the spring. Where the strong, stiff premium bullets – with their bonded cores, monometal construction and partitioned cores – are the darlings of the big game world, the small-bore cartridges that best handle the furbearers and varmints are the opposite: maximum frangibility is a benefit. I enjoy hunting both coyotes and foxes in January and February here in New York, when the fur is prime, and both species...

With Lead-Free Projectiles here to stay, these are Eight Great All-Copper Bullets for Hunting, Shooting. I might be dating myself, but I am old enough to remember when unleaded gas was an option over regular (leaded) gasoline. Lead often gets a bad rap, due to its toxicity to people when exposed to high levels. However, the malleability of lead makes it an excellent choice for projectiles, especially during the centuries when firearms underwent radical developments. The simple muzzleloader, firing a patched round ball, could be well fed with a bullet mold and a healthy supply of lead. Our earliest projectiles...

With high interest in 'cans' and plenty of manufacturers to pick from these days, here's a look at seven of the best units for AR-type rifles. Suppressors, or "cans," are becoming a common accessory on the firearms of professionals and sport shooters. Once viewed as an assassin’s tool used by mobsters and spies, they are now used routinely by military, law enforcement and others. They are not “silencers,” as they used to be referred to. They decrease the decibel level, but they cannot silence a firearm. There are many advantages to running a suppressor on your long gun. In the...

As we all know by now, a respirator or mask is most useful for protection when you must be in close quarters with one or more people. That's why they are a must for healthcare workers and it looks like we'll be seeing more mask mandates for the general population. If you have to wear a mask in public, my feeling is it might as well be a good one. At the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, demand for masks worldwide outstripped production capacity and prices jumped to outrageous levels, prompting many of the handier types, like myself, to some...

A SWAT Officer puts Vortex's 1×8 Low Variable Power Optic through its Paces at Two-Day Carbine Class. Holographic optics have come a long way in a very short time. They went mainstream in the late 1990s, and by the early 2000s were extremely popular with the military, law enforcement and civilian shooters. In the beginning there were a few major brands: Aimpoint, EO Tech, Trijicon. But the Global War on Terrorism turned holographic optics from “nice to have” into “must have,” as American troops were routinely outshooting their opponents armed primarily with iron sight weapons. In the field of magnified...

Yes, options are almost limitless and hardcore gun enthusiasts will have their own takes, but what are some of the simplest, most foolproof weapons for newbies looking to protect themselves and/or their family? In these troubled times, many people are buying guns for the first time in their life, but the needs of the casual gun owner are different from the experienced shooter. They need the simplest and most foolproof weapon, not the most advanced expert's weapon. Most first-time gun buyers are probably doing so to defend themselves and their family, and if they end up using it, they will...

Large-frame handgun? Small? What caliber? Glock? S&W? It's all about balancing 'Comfort vs Lethality,' says longtime Policeman. One of the best parts about being a cop is HR 218. This law allows officers to carry a firearm in practically every locale in the United States. "Carrying on your badge," as it’s referred to, is one of the few perks law enforcement still enjoys. In 2020, the job lost a lot of its appeal, but I still appreciate the fact that I can carry concealed to protect others and myself. In a perfect world, these rights would be afforded to every...

There’s more than one way to neutralize a threat and these novel, thin, finned steel projectiles can put on a hurt at greater distance than buckshot - Flechettes were first used as small bomblets dropped from airplanes in World War I and World War II. Their use in small arms began in February 1951, when Irwin R. Barr of Aircraft Armaments Inc. came out with the concept of firearms flechettes. Initially, the emphasis was on firing one flechette instead of a standard rifle bullet. This led to the Army’s Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) program, as the concept was tested....

When it comes to this powerful cartridge, 'bullet choice is imperative for the best results.' - I had just obtained my first .300 Winchester Magnum – a cartridge I'd come to absolutely love, and one that I'd end up taking all over the world – and simply could not wait for the first day of deer season. I had the rifle zeroed perfectly, so any shot in the open woods of our hunting property was a dead hold, and it was grouping very well. When opening day finally arrived, the morning had been rather quiet – just a couple does...

How Tim Bero went from making floppy disks to manufacturing semiauto .50-caliber machineguns, helping save Humvee crews' lives in the Second Gulf War and now, Multi-Caliber Survival Rifles, Pistols, and more. TNW Firearms first made a name for itself among American shooters 20 years ago in a really big way with a really big gun. That gun was a semi-automatic, full-size replica of the military M2 HB .50-caliber heavy machinegun, a weapon that's seen continuous use in all theaters of war from the 1930s to the present. That sexy belt-fed beast, known affectionately as the Ma Deuce in military circles,...

The only recoil-cancelling pistol made, this first successful British automatic may be largely forgotten today given the rise of the M1911, but it sported notable features for its time. Recoil and muzzle bounce are a fact of life for pistol shooters firing powerful calibers. The time taken to recover from that muzzle bounce is the biggest limiting factor on accurate rapidfire. Only one pistol has successfully engaged this problem and eliminated it: the Webley & Scott .455 automatic pistol. It accomplishes this miracle with its unique locking system. More on that later, but rapidfire is furthered by perhaps the best...