Tactical Skills for a Life Well Lived
Equipment and gear is secondary to mindset and skillset, but still very relevant to success. The right piece of gear at the right time can make all the difference. As fun as it may be, trying to purchase new equipment to overcome challenges is not the best way to go. Contained here are all posts about equipment, from reviews to employment.
You know how that “teach a man to fish” saying goes? I always thought it was a little pithy, but it wasn’t wrong.
I’ve always had the mindset that teaching people how to do something was more productive in the long run than just doing it for them. This is one of those posts.
I’m going to review common AR-15 specs and explain what they mean. [Read Full Article »]
here really is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding the designated marksman rifle. That’s partly due to the fact that it’s more of a concept than anything else. Since the concept’s inception into the US military, the actual rifle configuration is changed every few years. The role of the rifle has not, however.
When I talk about a designated marksman, I’m specifically referring to an organic member of the rifle squad. Their primary role is engaging targets or supporting friendly movements, by accurate fire from intermediate ranges. This is primarily a fighting role that moves and fights along with their squad.
So how did we arrive at the concept? Well, to get there we need to look at a little history (surprise surprise). [Read Full Article »]
I’ve written a lot lately about load carriage methods. Recently, reader and fellow blogger Sunshine Shooter competed in Desert Brutality 2019, a match that emphasizes physical toughness of you and your equipment. I asked him to do a guest post on what he used and how it worked out.
In this post, you’ll get a sense of what Desert Brutality is all about as an event, and some tips for competing in future iterations. [Read Full Article »]
During our series on load carriage, we’ve gone over all of the most common methods available. We hit the battle belt, the chest rig, and even the classic load bearing equipment (LBE) configuration. In all of the other articles I’ve written, I’ve made it pretty clear that I like to keep things minimal on the belt or chest.
Well, now it’s time to talk about where to put all that extra stuff: the assault pack.
However, I’m not taking this in a direction you might expect. The assault pack needs to be pretty minimal as well because weight is our enemy. Let’s dig into it. [Read Full Article »]
The Vedder Light Tuck holster has been my go-to CCW holster for over a year. I thought it was time to do a write up about this great American-made holster.
But before I get to it, let’s look back at how I ended up choosing it. Not a lot of people have ever heard of the company, which is a shame. [Read Full Article »]
With this post, we turn our attention to the chest rig. The main focus of my article is on the standalone versions of the chest rig, but the information applies just as readily to plate carriers and other ways of moving the load higher on the torso.
So far, we’ve focused on carrying the fighting load around the waist, where it distributes load to the hips. Historically, this is the load placement of choice for militaries around the world going all the way back to the Romans. But it wasn’t the only option. [Read Full Article »]
This post continues our look at load carriage by focusing on more traditional load bearing equipment. Before we get into my personal setups, I want to talk a little bit about how load carrying gear evolved over time.
Let’s set the way-back machine to the early 1950s, when Norman Hitchman published the Project ALCLAD report (remember that one?) flatly stating that the survival of a soldier on the battlefield necessitated reducing the weight of their equipment. [Read Full Article »]
For whatever reason, I don’t think the Trijicon battery-powered LED ACOGs have gained as much traction as they deserve. Perhaps it’s the overall trend towards low-powered variable optics that’s hindering it, or maybe it’s the relative cost. Either way, the classic combat optic paired with an efficient LED emitter is a great combination, and I want to take a deeper look at it. In particular, I’m going to review my TA-110 ACOG with the horseshoe-dot reticle and green LED illumination. [Read Full Article »]
The battle belt is a sort of modern iteration of the classic ALICE gear that served the US military from the 70s through late 90s. But there are some significant differences, particularly in the type and amount of load that the belt handles.
You see, the battle belt should not carry your entire load. In fact, you should think of it more as a minimum essential kit for fighting and surviving. It’s a piece of gear that you can keep with you all of the time, and then build up with extra equipment as needed.
In this post, I’m going to go over my own history with battle belts and walk you through how my own kit evolved over time. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and lessons, and develop your own ideas. [Read Full Article »]
If you are very particular about the way you clean your rifles, then you probably take great care not to damage the crown or chamber of your gun. A cleaning rod guide, or bore guide as they’re often called, is a very effective way to prevent that kind of damage.
In this post, I want to do a little review of the JP bore guide that I’ve use with cleaning my AR-15s for a few years. It’s a great piece of gear, but probably not one I feel compelled to use all of the time. When going afield, I’m going to use lighter and more convenient tools. [Read Full Article »]
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