Live Streaming with The Dark Lord of Optics

I recently appeared with Ilya on his live stream over at the Dark Lord of Optics. It started with a question about recent and future developments in the optics trade, but being a long stream with lots of Q&A, we covered quite a bit of ground in other places, too.

Preparedness Skillset: The Area Study

I've been thinking a lot about the idea of "red teaming." If you aren't familiar, this is where you think deeply about how you would plan to defeat yourself if you were the bad guy. While thinking about my own gaps, I realized one of the biggest was a lack of information about my surrounding area. I mean, I know a lot about where I live, but I'd never approached it like a military intelligence analyst. What does that look like?

Keep Your Gear Dry: Waterproofing Your Pack

I'd like to throw a shout out to a fellow blogger, and community member, who did a great writeup on waterproofing a pack. I've got a bit of experience here, but given his background I think it's best to just hear it from his mouth.

Now Hear This: Are 22LR Trainers Overhyped?

By this point, it's no secret that I'm way down the path to building a 22LR rifle for training and competition. I've previously written about using 22LR as a short-range substitute for centerfire rifles at long range because of its inferior ballistics.  With that in mind, I want to share a podcast episode from Wolf Precision on this very topic, and why my thinking might be wrong.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation for Everyday Living

It's March 2020, a time when people are well and truly panicked about a virulent flu strain.  Government institutions across the globe are flailing about for consequence mitigation strategies with greater or lesser success and some risk of unintended consequences.  People panic because they don’t trust established institutions to handle an emergency.  Institutions lose trust because they’re corrupt, incompetent, unresponsive or some combination.  So we must ask the question: What’s a working man to do?
body by science book

Book Review: Body by Science

I want to tell you about one of the best books on fitness and exercise I’ve ever read. In a way, it completely revolutionized how I think about exercise. I first purchased Body by Science in 2012 after a long stint of exploring better ways to live a healthy life.

Book Review: The Foundations of Sniper Marksmanship

This is a review of John C. Simpsons newest book, Foundations of Sniper Marksmanship. This is an update to an older book of his titled Snipercraft, targeted squarely at rifle shooters early in their journey. If you have never had formal marksmanship training, then this is a great read to develop a baseline before you go.

Book Review: With Winning in Mind

Every once and a while, you come across a book that totally changes how you approach things. Lanny Bassham's With Winning in Mind is one of those books for me. It totally changed how I thought about training, goal setting, and the mental game.

1963: Year of the AR-15

We're closing in on the end of our SCHV series. It's now 1963, and the battle between the AR-15 and M-14 comes to a head.

The US Air Force: Savior of the M-16

When we last left off in 1958, the Army had canceled all future funding for AR-15 development. They got the M-14, and the SALVO project was the future. But that decision wasn't good enough for one hard-nosed Air Force general who had no problem "cracking skulls" to get what he wanted.

Book Review: Total Resistance – A Layman’s Guide to Guerilla Warfare

I collect manuals and books dealing with the Cold War era. Today, I want to take a closer look at one of those books. I find this particular one relevant to the topics of community defense and working with a team to provide security.

An Effectiveness Study of the Infantry Rifle

In 1950, Donald Hall sought to explore alternatives to the full-sized battle rifle cartridge. He built upon R.H. Kent's work decades earlier, and found similar conclusions that challenged Army thought.

Adventure Awaits

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