Thank you for coming by The Everyday Marksman. This site and its community are a labor of love. I hope you stick around for a while, and maybe even join us.
-Matt
Are You a Tactical Minimalist?
The longer you’re in this community, the more you realize that there’s almost an overwhelming number of skills to learn. One of the biggest traps people fall into is trying to become a master of everything. Often that looks like learning infinite variations of each skill. I think this ultimately becomes a distraction, and prevents us from thinking about the bigger picture.
Do You Need an All-in-One Fighting Kit?
I ventured off into a thought experiment that ended up becoming something…more. I’ve long suggested that the average prepared citizen should consider a battle belt and chest rig (or plate carrier) combo as their go-to fighting gear. There’s a lot of advantages there. On the other side, though, I’ve been thinking a lot about a single “grab and go” fighting kit all contained in a single piece of equipment.
Here’s where I’m at with the idea.
Hammer-Fired vs Striker-Fired: A War on Two Fronts
There are several timeless debates in the firearms world: 9mm vs 45, Stoner vs Kalashnikov, 10.5″ vs 12.5″ AR-15’s, Kydex vs leather, or Glock vs…everything. Some of these have settled, but others….well I don’t think we’ll ever get to a final answer.
One of these debates is hammer-fired pistols against striker-fired. I’d like to put my own two cents out there.
Evaluating Your Gear for Real World Use
A series of recent events reminded me of the importance of actually checking your gear for fit, function, and purpose. It doesn’t have to take long, and it pays dividends when you actually have to use your stuff for competition, personal defense, or worse. Unfortunately, many people just don’t know where to start, so they begin and end with mounting pouches on their kit, snapping a few photos, and saying “Good enough!”
The Magazine Pouch Primer: Access, Security, and Ergonomics
In this article, we’re diving in on the topic of magazine pouches. We’ll go over my classification system, the tradeoffs between them, what you should prioritize based on your uses, and some basic rules for configuring your ammunition load.
The AR-15 Barrel Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know
This post summarizes just about everything I’ve learned about rifle barrels in general, and specifically AR-15 Barrels.
It’s fair to say that the barrel is the heart of the gun, and the most important choice to make when configuring a rifle. There are a lot of considerations and tradeoffs to make when deciding on the “right” one for you, so let’s dig in.
Do You Really Need That? A Better Gear Philosophy
Gear articles are among the most popular on the site, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I get a lot of questions about what chest rig to buy, how to set up belts, or whether or not someone really needs a set of plates and night vision. When just starting out, an aspiring prepared citizen is easily overwhelmed by the myriad of choices out there, not to mention the cost of actually acquiring it all.
To many, the simple answer is defaulting to how the military does it. That means dividing up your equipment into first line, second line, third line, and so on. While that makes sense for a military unit who has a primary mission of seeking, fixing, and destroying enemy combatants- it might not actually work for the average citizen just trying to protect their neighborhood during difficult times.
Marksman Live: How to Build Your Team
In this session of Marksman Live, I talked to Brent0331, Doc Larsen, and Les from Pegasus Tests about the structure and capability of your survival team in Scenario-X. We dug into posture, weapon selection, mindset, and more.
Deal With the Compromise: AR-15 Weight, Capability, and Balance
There’s a question that I see pop up a lot in forums and social media: “How much should my AR-15 weigh?” The most popular answer is, “as light as you can make it.” While pithy, such a response is still valid up to a point. While I can provide some firmer numbers, and I will, it’s also important to consider the weight factor within a context of balancing other elements as well.
Exploring the Road to Handgun Mastery
In this session of Marksman Live, I talked with Josh Shaw of Green Ops Inc about handgun skills. Josh is a USPSA Grand Master and teaches courses for Green ops in the Northern Virginia Area. We cover the importance of handgun skills, misconceptions, gear selection, and a training plan to propel your success.
Feeling the Crunch? Stockpile Intelligently with Ammo Squared
Every time an ammo crunch comes around, I find myself asking why I didn’t take my own advice about buying ammo slowly over time. The reality is that it comes down to a mixture of time, budget, and attention. I recently came across a company that looks like it could solve that problem for me, and I want to bring them to your attention.
Modularity or Mediocrity? Sometimes You Just Need to do What You Like
This isn’t really a review of the Sig P320, per se. Instead, it’s a brief discussion about how it’s unique modularity works, and the fact that I just really don’t like this gun. But that’s ok, because we live in the golden age of choices.