Wednesday Wisdom: 1 April 2026

Medal of Honor: Michael "Mike" Colalillo

He was pinned down with other members of his company during an attack against strong enemy positions in the vicinity of Untergriesheim, Germany. Heavy artillery, mortar, and machine-gun fire made any move hazardous, when he stood up, shouted to the company to follow, and ran forward in the wake of a supporting tank, firing his submachine gun. Inspired by his example, his comrades advanced in the face of savage enemy fire. When his weapon was struck by shrapnel and rendered useless, he climbed the deck of the friendly tank, manned an exposed machine gun on the turret of the vehicle, and, while bullets rattled about him, fired at an enemy emplacement with such devastating accuracy that he killed or wounded at least 10 hostile soldiers and destroyed their machine gun. Maintaining his extremely dangerous post as the tank forged ahead, he blasted three more positions, destroyed another machine-gun emplacement, and silenced all resistance in his area, killing at least three and wounding an undetermined number of riflemen as they fled.

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The Lee-Speed Rifle

Lee-Speed rifles were civilian sporting arms typically chambered in .303 British. Commercial examples were marked “Lee-Speed Patents,” a reference not to a single patent, but to the combined intellectual property of James Paris Lee’s rear-locking bolt-action and detachable box-magazine system, along with later refinements patented by Joseph Speed, Superintendent at the Royal Small Arms Factory. The marking signified commercially licensed use of both Lee’s action and Speed’s improvements that were also incorporated into the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield British service rifles.

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FK Brno PSD Multi-Caliber Pistol

In 2015, a new manufacturer in the Czech Republic called FK Brno released its Field Pistol. Not only was this handgun superbly crafted, it was also chambered for a new cartridge, the 7.5 FK. Seeking to fulfill the needs of a private military contractor operating in the Middle East, the company designed a cartridge and a handgun to fire it that would enable almost anyone to consistently and successfully engage a hostile target at 100 yards. Not a rifle, mind you, but a handgun that would be roughly the same size as standard-duty sidearms and could be carried on a belt.

Such a task was a lot harder than it sounds. Consistently hitting a target at 100 yards with a handgun is something most mortals can’t do. Moreover, even if you are at the expert level of proficiency required to do so, most handgun calibers cannot be guaranteed to do the damage at that range required for defensive purposes.

FK Brno solved both of those problems with the 7.5 FK, which pushes a 95-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of about 2,000 fps from a 6-inch barrel. This is right around .30 Carbine velocity—out of a carbine-length barrel—yet it is achieved out of a pistol.

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Don't Use FMJ Ammo for Self-Defense 

Occasionally I'll see someone using cheap, ball ammo for self-defense. Sometimes this is borne out of simple frugality. More frequently it is the result of misunderstanding how modern, expanding, hollow point ammunition behaves. In this article I hope to convince you otherwise. Bottom line up front: don't use FMJ ammo for self-defense if (and only if) you have better options available.

Modern, expanding, JHP ammunition is carefully engineered. It is designed to expand within a certain velocity envelope and in a certain medium. It is also designed not to expand if the velocity is too low, or if it hits the wrong medium. The key term in the description above is "fluid filled tissue." Fluid is almost always required for the hydraulic action necessary to expand a hollowpoint. A round fired through the stuffing in your couch cushions is not going to expand. Even if it does expand a little, it will still have sufficient energy on the other side be a major problem for the bad guy.

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Finding a Balance

What is the Best Caliber for Beginning PRS Shooters? To begin, let’s establish a few terms. “PRS” refers to the Precision Rifle Series, but also in general, that type of long-range precision/tactical rifle competition. Several organization and rulesets comprise this world, such as PRS, NRL, NRL Hunter, and multiple matches that fall outside any governing body. Each organization also has many different divisions and classes, each with its own rifle limitations, so every subcategory will have its own optimal rifle and cartridge combination.

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Glock Announces Production of a Glock 1911 Pistol

Glock has just announced that the company, as part of their new technology initiative will begin to produce a version of the 1911. A spokesman for Glock stated that although the market is saturated with multiple companies producing versions of the 1911, Glock is certain that the company’s innovative manufacturing technology will enable Glock to produce a 1911 at a price point that will successfully compete in the marketplace.

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Armed in the Colonies: Firearms, Militia, and Early American Law

American society has always been connected to firearms culture in some capacity. And in the modern day there are endless discussions on the framework of firearms law and on best practices for citizens who do carry or utilize their rights. However, the conversations that we have in the modern day are different from the ones that existed in colonial times and would be completely alien to those who lived in colonial America.

The central martial and legal obligation a free man in the colonies had to his polity was service in the local militia. Service was compulsory with only a few legal exceptions due to health or if a reliable second could be found or hired. But for the common colonial citizen, between 16 and 50 years old, service in the militia was a fact of life. As a result, the furnishing of weapons and the provision of training to these men was a critical issue for the various states and governments that organized them.

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New York Miranda Warning Update 

The New York News reports that the New York courts have authorized the following modifications to the standard Miranda Warning:

"You have the right to remain a victim. Should you choose to waive this right, anything you do will likely be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an assailant. If you cannot find one for yourself, the court will release one for you."

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The Right to Be Left Alone

One of the things that irritates me about earnest young people screaming “First Amendment!” is their belief that their right to speak their minds also obliges me to listen to them do so.

They are convinced that their freedom of speech comes with a concomitant compulsion to listen to them; that it’s perfectly in their rights to trap me in my car and force me to listen to them run their cake-holes about whatever Outrage du Jour they’re directed to be passionate about this week. Whenever you see videos of “protestors” blocking traffic to vent their spleens about … whatever … the people trapped in their vehicles are being coerced into listening; when you see videos of “protestors” getting their stupid on in restaurants with loud-speakers and airhorns, those patrons are being constrained to listen.

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DOJ Legal Filing Renews Concerns About ATF’s Posture on Braced Pistols 

The saga of ATF’s enforcement of the National Firearm Act’s “short barreled rifle” provisions against braced pistols has been a roller coaster ride of shifting interpretations. NRA-ILA has been keeping up with, reporting on, and advocating for reform the entire time. It seemed we had reached a low point with the publication of the rule Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached “Stabilizing Braces” during the Biden-Harris administration.

Eventually, the rule was vacated in its entirety. Unfortunately, that did not provide the lasting relief many had hoped.Last year, we reported on ATF audaciously claiming, in the waning days of the Biden-Harris administration, that ALL braced pistols were subject to the NFA. It then quickly walked backed that position as “overbroad.”

But then NRA exposed the ongoing prosecution of Taylor Taranto for possession of an unregistered SBR, based on allegations concerning a CZ Scorpion EVO 3 S1 pistol with an attached SB Tactical stabilizing brace. Taranto moved to have the charge dismissed. In its opposition to the motion, filed during the Biden-Harris administration, the government claimed: Although the rule is stayed (and, now, vacated), ATF is not barred from continuing to enforce the underlying statute.

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Dirty Dozen tax scams for 2026: IRS reminds taxpayers to watch out for dangerous threats

The Internal Revenue Service today announced its annual Dirty Dozen list of tax scams for 2026 that threaten the tax and financial information of taxpayers, businesses, and tax professionals. The Dirty Dozen is part of a broader campaign conducted through the Security Summit, a partnership among the IRS, state tax agencies, and the nation’s tax industry, and reinforced by outreach efforts tied to National Slam the Scam Day on March 5. These initiatives educate taxpayers about identity theft schemes and other forms of fraud, particularly during filing season.

A notable change to this year’s list is the addition of abusive undistributed long-term capital gains claims as item #6, replacing prior fuel tax credit concerns, as the IRS sees an increase in overstated or fabricated claims tied to Form 2439, Notice to Shareholder of Undistributed Long-Term Capital Gains. The IRS advises all taxpayers to remain cautious year-round, as criminals will always be on the lookout for new ways to obtain money, personal identifiable information, and data.

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The .500 Auto Max Cartridge

 

Something you didn’t know you needed. “The .500 S&W Magnum, while a fine revolver cartridge, really comes into its own realm when chambered in a rifle,” said Greg Buchel, president and CEO of Big Horn Armory. “Chambering it in the AR platform created some challenges that required us to rethink how the .500 S&W could best be solved by slight changes in the case design. Removing the rim allowed it to work properly in existing detachable box magazines. The result of this is the .500 Auto Max cartridge.”

At first glance, you would think you are looking at a dolled-up AR-10—not so surprising, since the AR500 is based upon the AR-10/SR25 receiver. However, closer inspection reveals that this forged piece of 7075 black-anodized aluminum isn’t the same old mil-spec receiver often seen today. It’s actually stylized with a few swoops and curves that make it look a lot nicer. Opening it up, the bolt carrier group (BCG) is noticeably massive. The bolt face had to be opened up a bit and the extractor redesigned to accommodate the .500 Auto Max cartridge.

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Some Considerations for Home Defense Shotgun Ammunition

When you keep a shotgun for home defense, always check every shell of your home defense shotgun ammunition before you load it into your shotgun. Examine the primers, ensure that the shells are not damaged or corroded, that they are properly crimped, and that the shell mouth is round and within specifications.

Periodically and safely unload the tube and ensure that your shotgun shells have not expanded or distorted under the pressure from the magazine spring. Shotgun shells that have been in a tubular magazine for an extended length of time can expand or distort which may result in an inability to chamber the shell. This is particularly true of cheaper buckshot brands.

Although my Beretta 1301 has an extended tube and will hold six rounds, I only load five rounds in home defense shotgun’s magazine to reduce this possibility. I then place one round on the shell lifter so there are only four rounds actually in the tube.

Even so, I encountered this very phenomenon recently with Federal FliteControl® ammunition that had been in my home defense shotgun for approximately three months. One shell’s mouth had expanded/distorted. This expansion caused one of the buckshot pellets to bulge from the side of the case to the point that the shell would not chamber.

If you look at the picture below, you can see that the shell’s mouth is distorted. The arrows indicate where one of the buckshot pellets is protruding through the shell’s side.

How do we prevent this? I can think of several ways. One would be to load four rounds instead of five in the tube and then top off from an on-gun ammunition source prior to deploying the shotgun. Although I have heard various “shotgun pundits” extolling this practice because it lengthens the life of cheap magazine springs, I personally have never had a magazine spring weaken. I use heavy duty springs that Nordic Components manufactures, and I would rather have the positive feed that the heavy-duty spring provides. If your heavy-duty spring is distorting shells, you could also rotate the ammunition more often although your budget might object.

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Wednesday Wisdom: 25 March 2026

Medal of Honor: Oscar Godfrey Johnson Jr 

Practically by himself, he protected the left flank of his company's position in the offensive to break the Germans's Gothic line. Company B was the extreme left assault unit of the corps. The advance was stopped by heavy fire from Monticelli Ridge, and the company took cover behind an embankment. Sgt. Johnson, a mortar gunner, having expended his ammunition, assumed the duties of a rifleman. 

As leader of a squad of seven men he was ordered to establish a combat post 50 yards to the left of the company to cover its exposed flank. Repeated enemy counterattacks, supported by artillery, mortar, and machine-gun fire from the high ground to his front, had by the afternoon of 16 September killed or wounded all his men. Collecting weapons and ammunition from his fallen comrades, in the face of hostile fire, he held his exposed position and inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy, who several times came close enough to throw hand grenades.

On the night of 16-17 September, the enemy launched his heaviest attack on Company B, putting his greatest pressure against the lone defender of the left flank. In spite of mortar fire which crashed about him and machine-gun bullets which whipped the crest of his shallow trench, Sgt. Johnson stood erect and repulsed the attack with grenades and small-arms fire.

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The Influential StG 44: The Grandfather of All Assault Rifles

  Armémuseum (The Swedish Army Museum)

The German gun went by several designations before being declared the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle. The intermediate rifle bridged the gap between the submachine gun used for close-in fighting and the battle rifle used against distant foes.

It has a fascinating story and served as the inspiration for guns on both sides of the Iron Curtain -- the AK 47 of the Soviet Union and the M16 of the United States – and the StG 44 laid the foundation for intermediate infantry weapons carried by militaries around the world.

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Self-Defense and the Law: Weapon-Mounted Lights for Concealed Carry

Since the dawn of humanity, we have personalized our weapons. A lot of that was done simply to make yours distinct from someone else’s. But there is also a perceived need to customize your weapon to make it better fit your needs. With a concealed carry weapon, one popular attachment is the weapon-mounted light (WML). Is it the right thing for you? To make that assessment, the first thing we need to do is analyze the pros and cons of this accessory.

Comment: I do not use a WML on my every day carry pistol but rather use a laser. I always carry a hand-held light. The hand-held light solves the identification problem without pointing a pistol at a potential innocent and the laser is a very effective aiming tool in low light. A correctly executed Harries technique provides almost the same support for the pistol as a two hand hold.

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Lumens, Candela, and Lux

How much do these popular terms matter when selecting a weapon light?

In the last quarter century, lighting technology has progressed by leaps and bounds. Today’s flashlights are generally half the size and offer twice the performance (at least) as the one I perpetually carried as a rookie cop in the late 1990s. Today, there are dozens of flashlight manufacturers with hundreds of models to choose from. The problem that we’re faced with now is that there are too many options.

When selecting a tactical light, there’s a lot to consider: Size, construction, battery power and, of course, functionality. If you’ve purchased a light in the last few years, though, you might have noticed references to lumens, candela, or lux ratings on the packaging. The question is, “Do these ratings really matter, or are they merely a marketing ploy intended to impress the uninformed?”

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Mossberg 990 SPX Magpul: First Look

Mossberg is manufacturing the 990 SPX Magpul, a 12-gauge, 3-inch semi-auto tactical shotgun. Mossberg’s is offering 990 SPX Magpul with 14.75-inch (NFA) or 18.5-inch barrel options. The 990 SPX Magpul uses a gas-operated system housed entirely within the forend and Mossberg states is consistently cycles a variety of ammunition types. Mossberg treats critical internal components—including the gas piston, magazine tube, hammer, and sear—with nickel-boron coatings and specialized finishes to enhance corrosion resistance and durability.

Functional enhancements include an enlarged, beveled loading port, elongated pinch-free elevator, and a high-visibility anodized orange follower. A top-mounted safety, oversized and ergonomically shaped, is easily accessible for both right- and left-handed shooters and features a clearly visible red indicator. (Comment: I have not personally handled the 990 SPX Magpul; however, I hope Mossberg is installing a metal versus a plastic safety. On other Mossberg platforms, when the plastic safety breaks (as it occasionally does) the gun is completely down.)

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Principles of Personal Defense

It seems a yachtsman was asleep in his power cruiser docked in the Bahamas. After midnight he opened one eye to be aware of two intruders in his cabin, one of whom was pointing a Mini-14 at his chest from a range of about eighteen inches. This is a startling situation. This is an intimidating situa­tion. It might properly be termed a terrifying situation. But the man remembered his principles and instantly attacked, with his hands, and won. He personified the principles of decisiveness, aggressiveness, speed, and surprise in a most satisfactory manner.

Stories such as this come to my attention with such fre­quency that it would take a whole directory to list them. They establish beyond any question that the principles we have taught over the decades, and still continue to teach at Gunsite, are valid beyond any contradiction. Our work here is conducted in order to keep the victims of aggression alive, and the knowledge that it succeeds is our reward. 

When a coward is offered deadly vio­lence, his reaction may be to surrender, or cower, or flee, or call for help; not one of these choices is likely to obviate his peril.

Comment: Cooper's timeless book is available for a free digital download at the link above. Claude Werner posted this notice on his blog.

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Political Malpractice

I was deeply disturbed by the headlines concerning a Chicago mother who had lost four children to murder. My heart ached for that mother’s loss. But I was more disturbed when I realized that the media exploited this tragedy (yet again!) in its relentless campaign to demonize firearms. The headlines read GUN violence. Not gang violence, not drug trade violence, not out-of-control-crime-rate violence; no, the media calls it GUN violence.

Why are the newspapers and electronic news outlets almost all blaming firearms in general, and “assault weapons” in particular–for the massacres at Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech, and others? The media’s demonization of guns as the source of the violence and death in America is, quite simply, irrational. I can demonstrate that it’s irresponsible, even outright insane. It flies in the face of reason and experience, yet it is virtually unchallenged. 

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How to Outsmart AI Voice Scammers Pretending to Be Your Family

This happened to a friend of mine’s mother. A scammer called her and pretended to be a lawyer who supposedly represented her grandson who needed bail money to get out of jail. She sent $40,000.00 in cash to the scammers who then asked for more money for “lawyer’s fees.” She asked my friend how his son was doing and mentioned she was helping with money and that is how he discovered his mother was being scammed. She lived in Michigan and the scammers were in New York city.

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Protect Yourself from Doxxing

Comment: Although written from a police perspective, the information in this article is useful for almost everyone. Cops are prime targets for cyberattacks that glean personal data and release it to the public. Since the earliest days of the second term of President Donald Trump, federal immigration law enforcement has been a priority. Trump and his Department of Homeland Security officials have been using Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest people who are illegally in the United States.

Such actions have met with resistance, civil disobedience, and even violence toward the agents. One of the most common complaints about the ICE operations is that the agents do not wear name tags and also often wear face masks. Activists and Trump opponents say that ICE agents are not identifying themselves as law enforcement (even though they wear vests that identify their agency) and are disguised, making them “secret police.” ICE agents say the masks and nameless uniforms are necessary to prevent “doxxing” that can reveal their home addresses and lead to harassment or even threats to themselves and more importantly their loved ones.

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Ninety Miles in a Stolen MiG

The still morning was broken by the sonic boom of a jet engine passing low over the airfield. That was nothing out of the ordinary at Naval Air Station Key West. Being over a year since the Berlin Wall had fallen, the Cold War was all but over, and the once strategic base for defense against our communist neighbors in Cuba was now a dream destination to be stationed.

The noise returned as the jet circled again. “There’s a Russian MiG!” an airman shouted.

Had every pilot on base created a bingo card for that day’s events, I am certain that none of them would have had a Soviet MiG-23 painted with a Cuban flag landing on their base, but there it was. As the plane came to a halt, the pilot sat on the tarmac, awaiting whatever fate befell him.

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Sharpening Knives the Right Way

In the field or at the workbench, a sharp knife is your lifeline. It slices clean wood for fire, processes game without tearing meat, and stands ready in emergencies. Sharpening isn’t a chore—it’s a ritual of respect for your tool and a skill you owe to yourself and whoever follows in your boots. This is a no BS method that turns any blade dull to razor keen, along with the mindset to pass these traditions on.

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What does digital hygiene look like for security-conscious professionals?

You wouldn’t leave sensitive documents on a café table while you step away. Yet most professionals walk through every day with devices broadcasting constantly location, identifiers, connections without a second thought.

That gap between how we protect physical assets and how we treat digital ones is where modern risk lives. Digital hygiene isn’t about being afraid of technology. It’s about understanding how it behaves when you’re not paying attention.

Modern devices always communicate. Even when screens are dark, phones and laptops scan for networks, ping towers, exchange Bluetooth signals, and broadcast identifiers. That creates real, everyday exposure.

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Wednesday Wisdom: 18 March 2026

Medal of Honor: Clifford Chester Sims

SSG Sims distinguished himself while serving as a squad leader with Company D. Company D was assaulting a heavily fortified enemy position concealed within a dense wooded area when it encountered strong enemy defensive fire. Once within the woodline, SSG Sims led his squad in a furious attack against an enemy force which had pinned down the 1st Platoon and threatened to overrun it. His skillful leadership provided the platoon with freedom of movement and enabled it to regain the initiative.

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Threatening Deadly Force: Musings On “Brandishing” and “Warning” Shots

The author “learned” the following while browsing the Internet:

To scare off a home intruder and alert neighbors to summon the police, one should go out to a balcony and fire a double-barreled shotgun into the air. WRONG! 

Florida enacted a law to encourage and make “warning” shots (those intended to instill fear and obtain immediate compliance but taken in a way so as to be harmless to any person) legal. WRONG! 

You should only draw/display (often referred to as “brandish”) your handgun after you have already decided to shoot, as doing so without shooting is unwise escalation, will likely result in the gun being taken away and used on you, or is unlawful. WRONG

A “warning” shot before actually shooting someone is preferable and legally permissible. WRONG!

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Charles Jackson French 

The Navy has named a new Arleigh Burke-class destroyer for one of World War II’s most remarkable — and most ignored — Naval heroes, Charles Jackson French.

A cook aboard a ship sunk at Guadalcanal, French pulled a makeshift raft full of wounded shipmates for eight hours through shark-infested waters by swimming with a tow rope tied around his waist. His swimming pulled the men to safety, overcoming a current that would have pushed the boat toward a Japanese-occupied shore.

Though submitted for high valor awards, French never received a medal or decoration, except for a single letter of thanks from a senior admiral, a note which misstated how long he had swam in the rescue.

According to a Swimming World Magazine account of French’s story, when the French and his 15 shipmates, all white, were rescued, the staff of a hospital tried to separate French from the group into quarters for blacks. The injured Gregory men refused, threatening to fight. French was submitted for the Navy Cross but received only a letter of commendation from the commander of the Southern Pacific Fleet, Adm. William F. “Bull” Halsey.

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Las Armas de la Revolución

After the capture of the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolas Maduro, two of the charges brought against him by the U.S. were arms possession violations. These charges have caused many images to surface of him and various arms in his own collection, even though these guns have little to do with the charges. Notable guns featured in the photographs include an old Soviet PPSH-41 submachine gun gifted to him by Vladamir Putin and the most recent addition to his arsenal, a .50-caliber Chinese CS/LR 13 given to him in December of 2025 by the Venezuelan Military Academy. It has even been rumored that Maduro had a gold-plated MP5 stashed away somewhere, similar to the one recovered from Sadam Hussein’s palace in 2003.

But Maduro was far from the first gun-loving dictator of Venezuela, and the reason is simple: dictators use guns to represent power over those who don’t have them. In fact, long before Maduro, Simón Bolívar held the title of the title of Latin America’s best-armed leader.

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All Right -- Let's Light This Candle

The Epstein Files have been released to a tremendous amount of outrage, and I find myself conflicted. There are definitely victims of that virulent parasite, but I worry they’re about to be overlooked.

This whole mess is starting to look like the Satanic Panic of the 1980s - 1990s. For those who may be a little too young to remember that little blot on the Copybook of History, it started with a “psychiatrist” who had a fondness for the woo-woo — and incredibly debunked — practice of “Recovered Memory Therapy,” and was spark-plugged by well-meaning, yet clueless, people who used suggestive questions and leading questions when interviewing children … and wound up with about 12,000 reports of ritual abuse of children — including, but not limited to: child sexual abuse, ritual sacrifice of children, cannibalism of children, child pornography, child prostitution, murder of children, torture of children, and incestuous orgies.

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Honor – I: The Architecture of Manhood and the Warrior Profession

Honor is a word that lingers in the American vocabulary like the fading echo of a language we once spoke fluently. Young men today hear it in movie speeches or military recruiting videos, but seldom anywhere else. Their lives contain almost nothing that would teach them what honor is, much less how to live it. They sense instinctively that the world has become thinner, cheaper, and more chaotic, and that the older generations possessed something, some kind of backbone or clarity or standard, that men today were never handed.

That missing thing is not courage, or discipline, or patriotism. It is the structure that made those traits possible.

It is honor.

And American men live in a world that has forgotten what honor was, what it meant, and why it mattered.

Honor is not nostalgia. It is not costume. It is not the romanticized virtue of aristocrats or soldiers or dead civilizations. Honor was once the most important behavioral control system in human society. For thousands of years, it was the architecture through which men learned who they were, what was expected of them, and how to regulate their emotions, their impulses, their strength, and their responsibilities.

Modern society offers almost nothing that replaces it. And many men feel that loss in their bones.

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A Soviet Experiment - The Kalashnikov Assault Carbine

Shortly after the adoption of the Kalashnikov design in 1949, Soviet small-arms development found itself at a doctrinal crossroads. The AK emerged as the final survivor of a rigorous postwar rifle competition, and, in an odd twist, it was accepted despite not fully meeting the full-auto accuracy or, better described as dispersion requirements, the trials had set, as, at the time, this was prized over semi-auto accuracy. The choice reflected a broader attitude in the immediate post-World War II period, an emphasis on reliability and the capacity for effective automatic fire rather than the single-shot precision prized by some Western armies. The bloody lessons of the Eastern Front had impressed on Soviet planners that volume of fire and simplicity under battlefield stress were often more valuable than semi-automatic accuracy.

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Solving For ‘X’ 

There are a lot of problems that any good holster needs to resolve for the wearer. Any holster, regardless of carry position, must perform a crucial function. It needs to protect the trigger and prevent the firearm from discharging inadvertently.

Holsters also need to securely hold the gun in its intended position while freely releasing it on the draw. A fixed opening that allows the user to reholster the firearm after it is drawn safely is also essential. Along with trigger protection, retention, and reholstering basic expectations, a good holster allows for ride height adjustment and cant adjustment so we can fine-tune, with the other features, how the holster interfaces with the body, how it feels, and how well it conceals. A holster is an administrative place for a handgun, akin to a rifle sling, and the holster should keep the firearm in position safely for the user.

AIWB holster challenges: An appendix in the waistband (AIWB) holster is no different in these general safety requirements. However, the specific carry location presents issues above and beyond that of a regular IWB holster. The appendix carry position is not a novel concept; however, it has gained popularity in recent years. There was a period when out-of-waistband (OWB) holsters were the norm and inside the waistband (IWB) on the strong side became the preferred option. Today’s modern AIWB, which we are striving to perfect, has been in production for only about 15 years. It represents an evolving approach to concealed carry that emphasizes accessibility and comfort.

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Ten Commandments of Concealed Carry

Carrying a lethal weapon in public confers a grave power that carries with it great responsibilities. Those who lawfully engage in the practice realize that. Those who are considering concealed carry need to know what those experienced people know.

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CZ 75 Legend: One of the Most Influential 9mm Pistols Ever Made

Few handguns have shaped the modern 9mm pistol landscape like the CZ 75. First introduced in the mid-1970s, the Czech-built pistol became a benchmark for ergonomics, capacity, and shootability. So influential that it’s been copied countless times across the globe. Now, CZ is revisiting that legacy with the CZ 75 Legend, a pistol built to celebrate the original design in its purest form. The CZ 75 Legend isn’t a modernized duty pistol. Instead, it’s a deliberate throwback meant to capture the feel and mechanical character of the original. The all-steel, hammer-fired pistol retains the platform’s classic double-action/single-action (DA/SA) trigger, manual thumb safety, and inverted slide-rail design. These are all features that helped define the original CZ 75’s smooth recoil impulse and excellent accuracy.

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Handguns for Women

(Note: Clicking on the link above will download a .pdf document)

First, since I’m not a woman, you might ask what would I know about handguns for women? Fair enough.

Here’s some background. I have been teaching firearms use since the early 1970’s, and my students have always included women. In 1981 I wrote the first book that I am aware of that deals specifically with the subject of women and handguns, Survival Shooting for Women. 

Rangemaster trains almost 2500 students a year, and over 40% of them are female. That’s about 1,000 women a year, year after year. No other private firearms school in the US trains more women. In addition, my wife, Lynn, is an accomplished shooter, and an NRA and state certified handgun instructor, and she provides me with educated feedback. So do several other female state certified instructors on our staff. The commentary offered here is based on close observation on the range of literally thousands of women learning to shoot handguns for self-defense.

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Adapting Your Optics Mount When Adding a Suppressor

Threading a suppressor onto your rifle is one of the easiest ways to make shooting more enjoyable. Less blast, less recoil, and a whole lot less abuse on your ears. But once that can goes on the muzzle, there’s something many shooters don’t think about right away - your optics mount might need a little adjustment too.

A suppressor changes how your rifle behaves. It adds weight to the front end, alters barrel harmonics, and in some cases can even introduce heat mirage that shows up right in your scope. None of this is bad—in fact, suppressors often help rifles shoot better. But it does mean it’s worth taking a look at how your optics mount as well as how you are holding your rifle.

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Austin DA Who Refers All Police-Involved Shootings to Grand Jury Says He Won't Seek Charges Against Austin Officers Who Took Down 'Property of Allah' Gunman

Three Austin police officers saved countless lives when they shot and killed Ndiaga Diagne, the suspected gunman who had a Quran in his car as he opened fire in a packed bar while wearing clothing that read "Property of Allah" and displayed the Iranian flag. Then they spent the next two days contending with the possibility that their heroic actions could lead to a criminal indictment.

That's because Austin-area district attorney José Garza, who was elected in 2020 with the help of outside support from a PAC funded by billionaire George Soros, has a policy of bringing "all officer involved excessive force cases to the grand jury," regardless of whether he believes officers' actions constitute criminal conduct. For this reason, the Austin Police Association announced it proactively retained legal counsel for the three police officers who put a stop to Diagne's killing spree, with the expectation that Garza could bring the officers before a grand jury. That policy prompted widespread criticism on Tuesday, including from Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.), who pledged to intervene in favor of the officers if necessary.

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