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Training Minute: Shotgun Combat Reload
Following
up on last month's video covering the basics of shotgun stance,
watch lead Tiger Valley instructor T.J. Pilling demonstrate combat shotgun reloading techniques. Click
here. |
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Be Water Wise
As the
weather begins to warm in the next few months, be prepared, and "Be
Water Wise" by watching this video from our friends at United
States Navy Special Warfare / Special Operations. Click
here. |
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Handguns in the Real World
by T.J. Pilling
I was instructing a CHL class recently and had the opportunity of
observing the myriad of weapons and calibers present. What struck
my eye first was that several female shooters were shooting .40 and .45
caliber pistols. The .40 was a compact and the .45 was a full
size, large frame of popular brand. The shooter with the .40
lacked the hand strength to cycle the action, much less lock the slide
to the rear. The women with the full size .45’s hands were
so small that she was gripping the bottom half of the weapons grips
causing the weapon to recoil violently, almost jumping from her
hands. I purposely didn’t mention the makes of the weapons
because I don’t want to confuse the issue or start fan clubs
reeling at the thought that I am bashing a particular weapon
system. A large percentage of the male shooters in this class, as
others, were using .45 pistols in one configuration or another.
After 50 rounds of bucking, jerking and bodies being pushed violently
around we retired to the classroom. Once there the topic of
caliber and weapon type quickly got bantered around. Almost all
bought into the concept that the .45 was the man stopper. That
rounds from this weapon system stopped bad guys dead in their tracks.
I’m not a brain surgeon, and most people around me for any length
of time will attest to that fact. What I try to do is pull from
things that I have personally seen. I related to the class that
my first six weeks on the job I was to three police shootings, two were
good shootings and one was bad.
The first shooting I was at was a Viet Nam vet who was having
flashbacks. He was standing in his front yard with a K-bar
threatening anything and everything around him. We had four
officers in a semicircle, yes, great for cross fire with the nut in the
middle. The Sergeant, in his infinite wisdom decided that we
needed to deploy an old cargo net that he had in his truck, kind of
like dragging for salmon in the Pacific Northwest. I asked my
Field Training Officer (FTO) if this was “training on the
fly” since I had never trained in netting a suspect. Long
story short, the nut charged on officer standing next to me, he turned
and shot over his shoulder with a 9mm Smith model 59, striking the
suspect in the pelvis, breaking it as well as his charge. The
suspect lived.
The next shooting involved burglars in a flea market. My FTO and
myself were the second team in the building after the burglars.
As we worked our way into the isles the suspect jumped out of a display
at the first team. The suspect had watches up and down his arms
and the officers saw the glint and thought it was a gun. Officer
#1 fired two rounds from a .357 magnum, striking the suspect in
abdomen. The suspect, still standing, was then shot by the second
officer, in the same spot with #4 buckshot, ripping into his
arm. He lived; six months later Dallas caught him doing another
roof job with a colostomy bag and a gimp arm.
In my sixth week we got a call to back up another city serving a
warrant in our city. We pulled up to see another officer from my
department putting the suspect on the back of a station wagon.
The suspect was big, six foot four and 300 pounds. He was
standing with a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other.
Back in those days our weapon systems closely followed Hollywood.
Needless to say Clint Eastwood was the man, so probably 40 percent of
the department carried a .44 magnums. Training not what it is
today, the officer who spun the drunk onto the station wagon screwed
the .44 magnum into his short ribs. He had to let him know who
was boss. To stress the point further he cocked the weapon and
reinforced the issue with some vague threats. Well, the
drunk was well educated in street law. He pushed off the station
wagon saying “you can’t shoot me for a misdemeanor
warrant”, and in doing so also stepped on both of the officer's
toes. The officer started falling backwards and clenched his off
hand, doing so he also clenched his weapon hand discharging his weapon
into the suspect's lower back. The round exited his clavicle
blowing lung and ribs all over the roof of the station wagon. The
suspect turned and looked at the officer who had just shot him and
said, “you just shot me”. He lived with a contact
wound from a .44 magnum 240 JHP.
Lessons learned in my first six weeks: Shoot a weapon that you
can shoot accurately and fast, and there is no “magic
BB”. If you are lucky, and I do mean lucky, the shot will
break a major bone or sever the central nervous system and the suspect
will be stopped. If you shoot well with a .45 and better with a
9mm, go with the 9mm. Odds on the suspect won’t he able to
tell you what caliber he was just shot with or probably even know that
he was shot. |
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Tiger Valley at the 2008 SHOT Show
Along with over 1,800 other vendors, Tiger Valley
will have our own presence at the 2008 Shot Show, held at the Las Vegas
Convention Center from Feburary 2nd to the 5th. Our booth is
number 24101 and we are right next to Calvary Arms. Make sure you stop by and say hello! Information on the SHOT Show, including a vendor map can be found here. |
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Equipment Spotlight
P60L Lamp Assembly from SureFire
Unless you have
been stranded at sea for the last few years, you are no doubt aware of
the revolution in tactical lights brought about by SureFire. The
revolution continues today, and no other range of tactical products can match
the pace of innoviation taking place with tactical lights.
The SureFire P60L is a replacement lamp assembly that can drop in a
myriad of existing SureFire lights, including the P6, G2, and C2.
The P60L utilizes a Seoul Semiconductor LED, allowing the light to run
brighter and longer. The assembly is a simple “drop-in”
replacement to the existing incandescent lamp.
The result is a light with a brighter “hot-spot”, a much
brighter spill of light surrounding the hot-spot, and a runtime of up
to 12 hours. In addition, the LED has a far longer time in
service before needing replacement and is less likely to be damaged
from being droped or other hard impacts. This lamp decreases your
cost of ownership, increases the odds that your light will be
ready when you really need
it, and makes for a brigher overall light.
For details, examine the picture on the right. The left light is
from a conventional P60 bulb, the one on the right utilizes the new P60L.
The P60L is a major upgrade for many of your existing SureFire lights. Recommended. Find them on the web here. Those attending gun shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area can find them sold by the folks at Bladerunner (817-579-0512). |
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Previous Newsletters Now Available Online!
Check out our previous newletters for fantastic training videos, equipment
reviews, and special articles. Find them here.
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Tiger Valley LLC.
Range Address: Hwy 84 at Joe Russell Rd. | Prairie Hill, TX 76678
Mailing Address: 6309 Scottsboro Ln. | Garland, TX 75044
Cell: (972)977-9512 | Office/Fax: (972)530-6510 |
