Gun Reviews

9mm is one of the most popular calibers on the market, and it’s also my favorite caliber. Every year I shoot anywhere from 40,000-60,000 rounds of 9mm. It comes in many weights and projectile types, but today we’re focusing on the full metal jacket or FMJ from CCI Blazer Ammunition.

A full metal jacket projectile is typically made up of two pieces. It has an inner core and outer shell. The outer shell is the “jacket” because it encases the whole inner core like how we would wear a jacket when it’s raining. The inner core is a softer material, usually, lead. The jacket improves the firearm’s reliability by protecting the barrel from collecting lead deposits. The jacket is also less prone to deformation compared to all lead bullets. This means the round can be pushed to a higher velocity. 

FMJs are typically used as training ammunition since their ballistics capabilities are far less than specialty carry ammo. This makes it perfect for the practice I do to sharpen my skills for the competition field. 

Buying in Bulk Saves Money

When I buy factory ammunition, I ask myself three questions: 

1. Is it reliable? 
2. Is it accurate? 
3. Is it affordable? 

CCI checks all those boxes for me. It has been my choice for pistol and rifle calibers. They are a trusted brand with extreme consistency between their batches. 

Buying in bulk saves money. When I started taking my shooting seriously, I stopped buying single boxes of ammunition because I knew I would be shooting more ammo in the future. As long as you have disposable income, it’s worth putting the money upfront to buy an entire case of 1,000. On GunMag Warehouse, a 1000-round case of CCI Blazer Brass 9mm 124-gr FMJ is $239.99, which is $0.24 per round. A quick Google search shows that is around 10% cheaper than other online ammunition distributors. 

Blazer Brass by the Case — Specs

• Brand: CCI Blazer
• Caliber: 9MM Lugar 
• Bullet Weight: 124 Grain 
• Muzzle Velocity: 1,090
• Application: Target & Training 
• Material: Brass
• Count: 1,000 rounds

Grouping

The first test I perform when getting a new batch of ammo is checking my zero and grouping the shots. I like to shoot anywhere from a 10-20 round group freehand to get a good baseline grouping. Taking a larger round grouping gives you more validity to the group size and helps with identifying the consistency of the ammo. 

My first group was with my Nighthawk Customs Sandhawk 9mm 2011. This is a top-of-the-line gun with Nighthawk’s match barrel. I fired ten rounds free hand at a 1-shot-per-second pace at 15 yards. This is much slower than I would typically be shooting the gun, but I wanted to see how tight we could keep the group. As you can see in the picture below, the grouping was fantastic. It would be even tighter if I shot off of a bench rest. I could feel some of my shots being pulled with my trigger press. 

The second group I shot was with my Smith & Wesson M&P9 M2.0, which I use for USPSA and PCSL. This group consists of 20 rounds from 15 yards at a “sporty” pace, around .25 seconds per shot. The group opened up some compared to the Nighthawk, but it was at 4 times the speed. I am very happy with this group with the reactive speed of confirming my red dot on my intended target and then ripping the trigger. 

These groups are similarly sized to my hand-loaded match ammo, perfectly tuned and calculated for my guns. I couldn’t ask for something at that price point to perform better. The fact that you can get CCI Blazer ammunition in bulk for cheap makes this one of my top choices for off-the-shelf ammunition. 

Drills

I ran some EDC-style drills after grouping the guns to see how they would fair at speed and when I was under the pressure of my shot timer. I shot them with a fellow Rogue Methods Instructor, Dillon Ventzke, and I can say I was impressed with the results. 

Drill 1: Hunter Constantine 10 Draw Drill

Procedure: Fire one round at the Alpha zone headbox of an IPSC target. Gun loaded and holstered—wrist below the waist. Target is at 10 yards, and the par time is 1.5 seconds. Here is where it gets tricky. You have to do it ten times in a row to pass. If you fail on the 7th draw, you must finish the last three from that set, then restart from zero. 

I ran this drill six times total on that range day, and the best I got was 9/10. I got 9/10 four times in a row. The ammo did every bit of its job; the shooter was causing flyers on the target or not meeting the par time. Try this drill and test how well your accuracy is at speed. 

Drill 2: Long Distance Draws

Our next drill was a concealment draw at 30 yards on the center A zone of an ISPC target. This was really pushing our speed and accuracy. I was averaging around 1.3 seconds per draw with solid hits. Stretching the distance back gives you a great understanding of your shot placement under stress. The slightest misalignment or flinch can drastically change your shot placement. 

We ended on more compounding drills with higher round counts, and the CCI Blazer 124 didn’t stop performing. This is why it is my go-to when buying factory ammunition. The 124 grain is a softer recoiling round than the 115s, and 147s manufacturers offer. I am looking for every advantage I can get when I compete, so having a softer recoiling gun means a better overall match performance. 

CCI Ammunition

CCI Ammunition is one of the largest American ammunition brands. They produce a wide array of products, from reloading components to some of the best precision rifle rounds on the market. One of the most popular rounds from CCI is the .22LR Mini Mag. They are one of my most dependable rounds for my Ruger 10/22. I am sure you know if you have a .22LR, dependability is the name of the game to keep your guns running.  

Final Thoughts

Your firearm skills are perishable, so you must stay up on your training to remain proficient. Figure out what makes sense for your budget. If that means 100 rounds a month or 1,000 rounds a month, either way, you should be getting live fire repetitions on your gun. I have taught hundreds of people across the US, and I’v found that most people “think” they are ready when put in a stressful situation. It turns out they aren’t. Even with simple tasks like shooting all A-Zone hits on an IPSC target at 10-15 yards, they fail. There is no replacement for live fire time on your gun consistently. That means you have to keep feeding your gun, and that’s why I like buying my ammunition in bulk. I know it’s going to be shot, so I might as well save some money.

CCI Blazer ammunition checks all my boxes by being reliable, accurate, and affordable.

Speer is a familiar name among shooting enthusiasts. The company has been around for a long time because it puts out quality products, dating all the way back to 1943. Today we’ll be looking at one of their products in particular: the  Speer Gold Dot 124-grain 9mm +P hollow point round.

Who uses this ammo?

The better question is, who doesn’t? Agencies that use it include:

• The Federal Bureau of Investigation,
• Department of Homeland Security,
• United States Customs and Border Protection,
• New York Police Department,
• California Highway Patrol,
• New Jersey State Police,
• Las Vegas Metro Police,
• Pennsylvania State Police,
• Palm Beach County Sheriff,
• and over 3,000 other US departments.

Over 3,000 other US departments use it, as well as police in Norway and Sweden, among others. Without sounding like an infomercial, Gold Dot ammunition is what most other hollow points are judged by.

Recently, Speer was awarded a contract to supply ammunition for the French National Police, the National Gendarmerie, Customs Police, and the Penitentiary Administration. These agencies have adopted the 124-grain Gold Dot Hollow Point as their new duty ammunition. The terms of the contract are for four years and up to a whopping 20 million rounds!

Ballistics

Velocity at the muzzle for this 124-grain +P ammunition is listed at 1220 feet per second. At 25 yards it’s going 1,146 fps, and at 50 yards it’s moving at 1,085 fps.

Speer tests the ammo in several mediums. In their bare gelatin tests, it penetrated an average of 11.78 inches and expanded to .720 caliber.

For the heavy clothing test, it penetrated an average of 14.13 inches and expanded to .60 caliber. Note that in both bare and heavy clothing gelatin tests, the bullets retained all their weight, so nothing was shed during penetration.

They also tested it by firing it through steel, although they don’t specify how thick the steel was (I’m guessing auto-body type steel). The round then penetrated 27.63 inches of gelatin and expanded to .45 caliber.

Wallboard tests showed it penetrating that medium and then penetrating 12.52 inches of ballistic gelatin with expansion to .660 caliber.

During the safety glass test, the Gold Dot penetrated 14.95 inches of ballistic gelatin and expanded to .543 caliber after defeating the glass.

Plywood testing saw the rounds penetrating 14 inches of gelatin while expanding to .594 caliber.

What does all of this tell us? It proves that the Gold Dot round will penetrate various mediums that law enforcement comes in contact with, and still manages to penetrate fairly consistently in ballistics gelatin. And they don’t shed bullet weight, which means the bullet holds together.

Why is it good that a bullet holds together? Because it continues to penetrate. And penetration is what gets the bullet to vital organs, which shuts an attacker down faster. At least when we’re talking about pistol bullets. Rifle bullets are another story because of their higher velocities, which cause more damage.

No, ballistic gelatin is not a perfect simulation of human or animal flesh. However, it’s close enough for government work. And since they get upset when ammunition is tested against live people, gelatin is the next best medium to use. It gives us an idea as to how consistently ammunition will perform on the street.

And Gold Dot ammo has definitely been street tested and approved across the nation and beyond.

FBI Protocol

Many of us are familiar with the FBI 1986 Shootout in Miami, which changed the trends of how handgun ammunition performance is rated. The FBI blamed the death of two of its agents on one 9mm round that they say did not penetrate deeply enough into the chest of one of the bad guys (there were two bad guys in this incident who were heavily armed).

Never mind the fact that the felon who was hit suffered a non-survivable wound. That’s the thing about bad guys—despite being fatally wounded, they don’t always cease their criminal activities in an orderly and prompt fashion. Sometimes they don’t get the memo that they’re dying, and so they continue trying to kill the good guys.

Gelatin tests really took off after the 1986 FBI shootout in Florida. From that, they determined that to be effective, bullets need to penetrate between 12 and 18 inches. They reason that, with those penetration parameters in place, the bullets will reach those vital areas regardless of which angle the bad actors are shot from.

Another claim that the FBI made was that the vehicles that the felons were using as cover stopped bullets from reaching them. So the FBI mandated that bullets have to successfully penetrate heavy clothing, 20 gauge steel (simulating auto steel), wallboard (two pieces of 1/2″ standard gypsum board set 3.5″ apart), plywood (3/4″ fir, one piece), and automobile glass. The projectiles have to expand to at least 1.5 times their original diameter and penetrate those magical 12-18 inches.

All in all, it seems that the FBI Protocol has driven ammunition manufacturers to push the envelope on handgun ammo performance. We’re seeing bullets performing at levels that we’d never imagined back in the ’80s and ’90s. Regardless of whether or not we feel the FBI’s protocol is realistic, it has pushed the manufacturers to excel.

How does Speer get the bullet to hold together through various mediums?

The secret is their structural-plated, pressure-formed core as well as their uni-cor bonding. I’m not sure of exactly what type of process they use to accomplish the bonding, but I suspect that sorcery and elves are involved. But it works really well because the Gold Dot rounds typically do not shed any weight during their performance.

The nickel-plated cases are also a plus because they tend to corrode less and help with feeding and ejection.

Ingredients

Speer initially began their business back in 1943 by producing loading components such as primers. These days, of course, they use their own components for all of their ammunition. All the components, from cases, primers, powders, and projectiles are of top-notch quality.

I’ve personally used Speer ammunition over the course of a few decades, and have never experienced a failure of the ammo to fire or perform.

Although it’s rated as +P ammunition, the Gold Dot 124 grain didn’t have noticeably more recoil than most other rounds that I regularly shoot through my Glocks. This is a good thing, because the last thing we need is more muzzle flip.

The higher pressure of the +P ammo does raise the velocity of the bullets, which makes the round more effective.

At the Range

It would be impossible for me to recall all the various pistols and revolvers that I’ve run Speer Gold Dot ammo through. Suffice it to say, it’s a couple dozen of them over the years.

During my most recent range trip, it was in the Glock 43 and 43X. Other trips included the S&W CSX, Sig P228 and P226, Springfield Armory Hellcat, and a host of others.

The Glock 43, being small for a semi-auto handgun, does experience some muzzle flip with any ammunition that’s being used. And the Gold Dot 124 grain +P is no exception. However, as I mentioned, it didn’t seem like much more muzzle flip with the +P ammo than if I were using FMJ range ammo.

In a dire situation, we want the least amount of muzzle flip possible because more muzzle flip means slower follow-up shots on hostile targets.

To date, the Speer Gold Dot ammo that I’ve used in my handguns has batted 1,000. No failures of any kind have been noted.

Conclusion

These days, this is the ammo that I most often seek out to carry in my handguns for self-defense. I’m most comfortable trusting my life to this ammunition, which is the highest endorsement that I can give.

It’s made from top-notch components and the projectiles have been tested to the highest performance standards. They pass with flying colors. And some very prestigious agencies agree with those statements.

My wife and I have two traditions that intersected on our 10th wedding anniversary trip in 2021. The first tradition is to take turns planning out secret vacations—one of us is completely in the dark, trusting the other person to come up with a great vacation. During our 2021 trip, it was my wife’s turn to do the planning. The second tradition is attending one or two multi-day firearms-related training events per year. As a part of our 2021 anniversary trip, my wife scheduled us for the Black Ops Experience with Arizona Tactical Adventures. Based on that exposure, which we both truly enjoyed, we ended up scheduling a three-day Teams and Night Vision training with the same organization in 2022.

The Black Ops Experience

My wife and I showed up at a nondescript building outside of Phoenix, Arizona for our scheduled appointment. The Black Ops Experience is designed to give anyone, at any level of skill, a taste of working in tight interior spaces (shoot house) with AR-15s using non-lethal paint-based simunitions, and monocular night vision. Our instructor, Mike Simpson, adapted the ‘standard’ package to incorporate some additional team tactical discussions not normally a part of the packaged experience upon hearing our level of training.

The two-hour experience included about an hour focusing on safety, simple tactics, and equipment orientation. The experience included tactical pants and shirts, plate carriers, eye protection, tactical helmets, AR-15s adapted for simunitions, and a PVS-14 night vision monocular. We covered basic low-light and close-quarter tactics as well as working as a duo. Ideally, a fire team consists of four or more, but we are more likely to work together as a team of two. The next hour was a series of no-light scenarios using the indoor configurable shoot house and engaging static targets in near-total darkness.

We talked more about the importance of working as a team, and I asked way too many questions about night vision. I would highly recommend the Black Ops Experience to anyone in the Phoenix, AZ area. It is an amazing experience, regardless of your skill level, if you are wanting to get a feel for using night vision. Mike is an amazing instructor able to tailor his message to the skill level of his students.

Out of curiosity after the class, we discussed what other training options Mike Simpson offered.

Transitioning and Customizing

Over the next few months, with Mike’s help, my wife and I both invested in night vision optics and IR lasers for our primary home defense ARs. We also decided to make further use of Mike’s facilities (indoor and outdoor) for a more focused multi-day training. We knew we wanted to further our own team skills and invited two close friends.

Through consultation with Mike, we came up with a range of training options. These included his standard pistol and rifle training courses, a multi-day course customized to include team tactics, outdoor building clearing, and more night vision and shoot-house work using force on force. Our group consisted of my wife (dedicated to training, an instructor, but newer to firearms compared to the rest of the group), a good friend (Marine and instructor), and me (Instructor with three decades of experience). We decided on the latter and ended up scheduling a 3-day training course with my wife and one of our two close friends. We flew out the day before the training and enjoyed Phoenix before checking into our resort suites arranged by Arizona Tactical Adventures.

3-Day Customized Training

Day one started early at the same indoor facility as The Black Ops Experience. Sight Alpha consists of equipment rooms, a training/lecture room, a restroom, and the adjustable shoot house with an approachable exterior. We discussed safety, gear, and the warrior mindset (focusing on fitness, emotional strength, and fighting spirit). We then geared up for the weekend, including adjusting our AR-15s, straps, helmets, and plate carriers for the next three days.

After gearing up, dry practice focused on different shoulder mounting techniques and fast transitions of the rifles from right to left. Next, we worked on communicating as a team, establishing control of an area prior to entry and methods of making entry to a potentially hostile building. The communication techniques and commands had been adapted by Mike to be easy and intuitive for civilians to learn and master, but also similar enough to commands used by LE and military to allow understanding regardless of where you received your training.

Then, we worked on threat identification and engagement prior to entry, team entry techniques, and fully securing each room. We continued with further scenarios to test our communication skills and techniques to safely and efficiently exit a building. Each scenario used static targets but had varying objectives, hazards, and layout changes of the shoot house. Finally, we ended our indoor session with a debriefing. We discussed adapting the skills we learned to civilian self-defense and after-action procedures of a defensive encounter.

After a delicious local lunch, we headed to an outdoor range to work on live fire with rifles and handguns. We began with basic fundamentals of rifle usage, longer distance shooting, the impact of a suppressor, and transitioning from left to right rifle mounting. We also worked on transitions to pistols from rifles and back again. The remainder of the afternoon was working as a team to engage targets (stacking), and the communication necessities to inform teammates of intention. We also applied the skills we learned in the shoot house to glass house scenarios, which consisted of a multi-room building with doorways laid out using poles and hi-vis materials to establish the walls.

Day two saw us returning to the outdoor range and picking up with the glass house scenario drills. The drills continued to focus on the proper use of cover, working as a unit, and covering all areas of potential threats. We worked on single room, multiple room, and hallway entry and movement. We then transitioned from working in pairs to working as a three-person fire team in various roles. This included keeping overwatch, building approach, building entry, and controlling cleared rooms, and moving through multiple rooms. Continuing to build on these skills, we discussed entering and exiting a vehicle as a team and then conducted similar exercises starting from a vehicle—first dry and then live fire.

In all the scenarios we first discussed the tactics and potential issues of the scenario, and practiced the roles and situation dry. Once we had run through the training dry, we would then debrief and discuss safety. Once we felt confident and Mike did not see any safety issues, we would then proceed to practice the scenarios using live fire. As the afternoon proceeded into the evening, we broke for dinner and then returned to the range after sunset. Thus began the nighttime practice of our team skills and
shooting with the night vision monoculars. If you have never shot ARs on steel at night under nothing but Arizona stars using night vision, this experience alone is worth the price of admission!

On day three we returned to the indoor facility. We started the day with a deeper discussion of the importance of communication in working as a team successfully. We also reviewed the lexicon of commands we had built up over the last two days. We then discussed other tools including VR systems for further training in needed team-based skills. This discussion included demonstrations of various technologies. This review ended with a discussion of setting reasonable team training goals.

The remainder of day three was force-on-force drills using the ARs adapted for simunitions. Mike would set up a scenario for a team of two (lead and support) to work through. He played the role of the potential threat in each scenario. As two of us worked through the scenario and attempted to solve the problem, the third would be watching everyone’s moves and responses in the adjacent training room through closed circuit TV. After each scenario, we would debrief in the training room on what went right, what went wrong, and what could be done better.

After each debriefing, Mike would set up a new scenario and we would rotate roles. In this way, we conducted multiple scenarios, with outcomes such as non-firing use of de-escalation, ambiguous situations that finally turned violent, and a scenario that started with Mike firing on the current team with little to no warning. Each scenario required different responses and exposed weaknesses in our newly acquired skills. It was both humbling and thrilling to be able to practice. Each scenario was incredibly engaging, required different skills, and the debriefing sessions were very helpful. Once time was up (we were still hungry for more!) we conducted a debriefing of the three days as well as a discussion of future training opportunities.

Summary

All three of us were very impressed with Mike’s ability to break down complex information and appeal to three people of very different backgrounds. To be honest it is a rare instructor that can truly provide intense training, but also make sure it is accessible to all of those they are teaching. My wife and I have taken some great classes but have often had to adapt to the instructor to maximize what we learned.

Mike taught a great three-day course but adapted to what we were learning while making sure to engage all three of us. We thought he did a great job highlighting each person’s unique strengths while challenging us to work seamlessly as a team. It became truly evident why so much practice and repetition is necessary!

Additionally, though we were conducting advanced drills, the use of dry fire practice sessions and Mike’s continuous vigilance ensure a very safe environment when conducting the live fire drills. One critical takeaway was how much value is placed on truly thinking strategically before movement, while then still making the team’s movement smooth and deliberate. This mindset also assists in not rushing and creating unsafe conditions unnecessarily.

We also continued discussions of defensive and offensive tactics even during our breaks and meals and overall left the training with a lot of skills and techniques to integrate and practice. Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend the two-hour Black Ops Experience to anyone who is interested in getting in some shoot house experience using night vision.

If you are looking for additional training reach out to Mike and let him work with you to design a great training experience crafted to your goals. Our goal during these three days was to learn how to better work as a team and we all expanded our skills and further learned how to work better together because of Mike’s instruction.

https://www.aztacticaladventures.com/

What makes the 6.5 Creedmoor so special? Is it really that effective for long-range engagements? I must admit that I was not a huge proponent of the 6.5 Creedmoor at first. I figured it was one of those fad cartridges that would come and go before we could blink.

Beyond that, I’m one of those “If It Ain’t Broken, Don’t Fix It” types of guys. After all, don’t we have enough calibers out there? Goodness gracious, there are a couple of dozen calibers that I’d love to have and haven’t even gotten to yet in my shooting career. And here they came out with yet another line (the various Creedmoor). Did we really need more calibers? Mind you, I didn’t hate the 6.5 Creed, I just yawned and ignored it.

It wasn’t until I was in my favorite gun shop and the owner showed me a target that he shot with a rifle in 6.5 Creed that my eyes were opened. I was astonished at the tight group and the standard rifle that he’d used to do it. Maybe there was something to this caliber, after all. I do adore accuracy!

Long story short, I ended up with that exact rifle that he was talking about. More on that a bit later.

What It’s Not

Before we get into all the details, let’s talk about what the 6.5 Creedmoor is not. It isn’t a magic death ray that will turn targets into a pink mist. The terminal performance on targets is effective in most cases, though it’s not exactly the cartridge of choice for putting down elephants and rhinos. Used within its limitations, it is a good round. There are other cartridges that can beat it in velocity and retained velocity at long ranges, but those cartridges have their own drawbacks—most often recoil.

Details

The round is derived from necking down the .30 Thompson Center cartridge. Initially, the 6.5 Creedmoor was intended as a long-range competition shooting round. The .264 caliber exhibits a high ballistic coefficient, which contributes to aerodynamic flight. A high Ballistic Coefficient (BC) permits the bullet to slip through the air with minimal disturbance.

Because of its overall length, the 6.5 CM will fit into short actions, which is a plus because the overall rifle can be kept shorter. It also has a shorter bolt throw, making the action faster to operate.

6.5 Creedmoor Ballistics

The 6.5 Creed is a medium-powered round. These days, many of the rounds that get recognition are of very high, screaming velocity. Not so with this one; it’s what I’d refer to as “tame.”

Despite modest velocities, the 6.5 CM can maintain supersonic speed past 1,200 yards.

The reasonable velocities also contribute to longer barrel life, unlike the extremely high velocities of some other rounds. This is especially advantageous for competitive shooters, who normally put a lot of rounds downrange through their rifles.

Most loads for the 6.5 CM are between 120 and 145 grains. It tends to hold velocities better at long range than many other cartridges.

Here are some numbers for Hornady’s 129-grain SST rounds:

• Muzzle: 2,950 fps.
• 100 yds: 2,756 fps.
• 200 yds: 2,571 fps.
• 300 yds: 2,394 fps.
• 400 yds: 2,223 fps.
• 500 yds: 2,059 fps.
• 1,000 yds: 1,367 fps.

Here are some figures for Hornady’s 143-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter:

• Muzzle: 2,700 fps.
• 100 yds: 2,557 fps.
• 200 yds: 2,419 fps.
• 300 yds: 2,285 fps.
• 400 yds: 2,156 fps.
• 500 yds: 2,030 fps.
• 1,000 yds: 1,478 fps.

The 6.5 Creedmoor shines at longer distances because it retains speed and energy better than many other rounds on the market.

To be clear, there are rounds that will beat it at closer ranges, including the .25-06 and the .270 Winchester. However, the 6.5 CM performs with less recoil and powder and is more efficient. At 1,000 yards, the 6.5 beats the .25-06 in retained velocity. The .270 can equal or beat the 6.5CM at 1,000 yards but at the price of more recoil.

Personally, I don’t have a place to shoot my rifles out to 1,000 yards. So for me, I can’t realize the maximum benefits of the 6.5 Creedmoor. However, I like it for what I use it for.

6.5 Creedmoor Recoil

One thing that a shooter immediately notices when touching off a 6.5 CM round is the recoil. Or rather the lack of it. It reminds me of another of my favorite cartridges: the 7mm Mauser. The 7mm Mauser round is also lacking in recoil. I was introduced to it in 1990 at the beginning of my career in the prison system. Our Pre-.64 Winchester Model 70 rifles that were used in the gun towers were chambered in 7mm Mauser and we had to qualify on them. It was always a pleasure because of their lack of recoil.

The 6.5 CM exhibits a similar lack of recoil. Aside from being pleasant on the shoulder (it’s a gentle shove, maybe twice that of touching off a .223 round from a bolt action), it helps in accuracy. The less recoil to deal with, the easier it is to follow through. And follow through is an important aspect of marksmanship. Shooters also flinch less because of this lack of recoil. And after all, marksmanship is what this round was initially developed for.

I notice the lack of recoil most when firing from the prone position. Firing heavier calibers such as the .308 prone can become unpleasant after several dozen rounds. Doing that for a week or more on the sniper range, the old shoulder will be protesting.

Not so with the 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s just a pleasant little shove, time after time. This fact greatly reduces shooter fatigue, so shooters can fire more rounds easily. Additionally, follow-up shots are faster due to the lower recoil.

Accuracy

What sold me initially on the 6.5 Creedmoor was the accuracy. The guy I bought the rifle from showed me a 200-yard target that he’d shot with the rifle (a Ruger American Predator), and I was astounded. I asked him if he wasn’t mistaken, i.e., did he shoot the target he was showing me at 100 yards? He assured me that it was 200.

After I had the rifle in my possession, I took it to the range and checked for myself. Sure enough, at 200 yards, the rifle is a tack driver. My first group with it was 1 1/8 inches. What made it really amazing is that the ammunition I used was just regular hunting-grade ammunition: Hornady American Whitetail 129 grain Interlock.

There are even more accurate rounds out there. Specifically, competitors are using rounds that are more consistent than regular hunting rounds and getting some spectacular results with them. I’ve watched videos of people using the Ruger American Predator to hit targets one mile away!

Expecting groups that are less than 1/2 MOA is not out of the question.

Hunting With 6.5 Creedmoor

By all accounts, hunters using the 6.5CM for medium-sized game are having good results. Large game can also be taken with it, but shot placement has to be very precise. The good news with the 6.5 is that it delivers in the accuracy department, so shooters have the ability to be surgical with shot placement.

It’s a great round for whitetail deer and hunters have been taking game up to elk size with it as well. Hornady and other ammo makers have some excellent hunting rounds available these days for the 6.5 Creedmoor.

Ammunition

Many long-range competitors will be using hand-loaded ammunition for their endeavors. There is also match-grade ammo available on the shelves for competition. Most manufacturers are making good hunting rounds as well, including Hornady, Winchester, and Federal.

Currently, prices on rifle caliber ammunition, especially hunting ammunition, is very high. It’s not unusual to see it on shelves for between $2 and $4 per round. In that respect, the 6.5CM is right up there with the rest of them (which is to say, it’s about average in price).

As for availability, I see it in every place that I go that sells ammunition. Like it or not, it’s now a popular round and it is widely available. To me, that’s a good thing.

Ultimately

Personally, two of my favorite aspects of the 6.5 Creedmoor are the very low recoil and the accuracy. Both are astounding! And both are why I love this round. The other advantages are merely gravy.

It’s rare that I embrace a new-fangled, modern round. Normally, I pass them by because there’s almost always something that’s already been invented (usually a long time ago) that’s already doing the same thing just as well. Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s better.

However, for the 6.5 Creedmoor, I made an exception. It fits into short actions, and uses a moderate charge of powder to propel its not-very-heavy cartridge at unimpressive velocities, but manages to retain a very impressive velocity at long range.

Personally, I like this cartridge a lot!

How about our readers? Who out there has experience with this round? Do you love it or hate it?

The Second World War is a conflict utterly foreign to us today. It was a global conflict with millions of combatants and millions of deaths—most of them civilian. Those who fought the conflict began their service as half-starved survivors of the Great Depression. Those who made it out emerged to build their respective nations back to a level of prosperity. Small wonder that the small arms they carried have taken on the aura of nostalgia, especially when some aspect of that equipment remains relevant in some way today.

Take the Colt Model 1911 as an example. Americans love the 1911 because our servicemen carried them for over seventy-five years including through both World Wars. It fires the hard-hitting 45 ACP cartridge. But there is still a practical element to it. The platform lends itself well to competition shooting and if you want a 45 that is easy to carry, the single-stack 1911 continues to make a compelling case. The same is not necessarily so for the .30 Carbine. Over the years, the round and the carbines that fire it have gained a reputation for being woefully underpowered and unreliable at a high price point.

The .30 Carbine: A Brief History

Not all rounds used in the Second World War are sacrosanct. Some rounds like the 30-06 were popular before the war and exploded in popularity afterward. Other rounds were new to battle. Some, like the British .38/200 revolver cartridge, were the answer to a question nobody really asked. The .30 Carbine was the answer to a persistent question that dogged Army leadership while the United States sat at the sidelines between the outbreak of the war in Europe in September 1939 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

That question was: How do we better equip non-combat troops? While this question may seem puzzling, given the context of the time it made sense. In any modern army, there are comparatively few soldiers in direct combat roles compared to those in support of them—cooks, transportation drivers, medical personnel, and the number of ever-changing laborers that can keep combat troops sustained in the field.

When the Wehrmacht stormed into Western Europe in May 1940, their tank formations broke through the operational depths of the Belgian and French defenses, bypassing large numbers of front-line combat troops. In the breech, rear-line and support troops normally armed with pistols and obsolete rifles had to toe-to-toe with German ground forces, all the while being harried from the air by the Luftwaffe.

The .30 Carbine paired with the M1 Carbine was adopted by the US Army in 1942 as a means of arming support personnel with a firearm that had greater firepower and range than the usual .45 caliber Colt 1911 service pistol. The .30 Carbine uses a full-metal-jacket round-nosed bullet that is .308-inch in diameter. Out of the eighteen-inch barreled M1 Carbine, the 110-grain round of the .30 Carbine travels from the muzzle at about 1900 feet per second and nominal muzzle energy of 882-foot pounds of energy. The 230-grain 45 ACP load then used in Colt Government pistols ran out of the muzzle at about 850 feet per second. The .30 Carbine is much faster and has more energy than the 45 up close. That added velocity also translates into a flatter trajectory downrange. Later-war M1 Carbines came with an aperture rear-sight adjustable out to 300 yards.

All of this translates to a platform intended as a needed upgrade from the pistol. But when compared to rifle rounds of the day, the .30 Carbine was light. The M1 Carbine’s older brother, the M1 Garand, used the 30-06 rifle round. Although the Garand shoots a projectile of the same diameter, the ’06 was available anywhere from 150-174 grain for the GI and came out of the muzzle at about 2900 feet per second. The .30 Carbine is no full-bore rifle round, but we have to bear in mind that it was never intended to be. That bit of context was lost almost immediately when the M1 Carbine went into combat.

The Fall from Grace

The M1 Garand was a war winner, but at nearly 10 lbs., it was a bear to lug around. That was especially so when your particular job involves equipment. That is where the 5.2 lb. M1 Carbine came into play. John McManus, in his work, “The Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II,” describes near-universal praise for the carbine as both easy to carry and easy to shoot according to those who used them. On the other hand, McManus’s work also follows the scholarship of SLA Marshall. In “Men Against Fire,” Marshall claimed that only 15-25% of American GIs actually fired their guns in combat, and many of those that did intentionally missed.

But among those who did fire and hit targets, the .30 Carbine round had mixed success. McManus’s work is just one of several with anecdotes of the round’s effectiveness. Some praised the portability and firepower of the M1 Carbine, with its fifteen and thirty-round magazines, but others—especially those in daily combat—found the round wanting ballistically. Some Marines in the Pacific told of having to shoot enemies several times to bring them down. World War II paratrooper Donald Burgett in “Seven Roads to Hell,” recalled a number of failures when used against German troops during the Battle of the Bulge.

The mixed reputation of the M1 Carbine and the round it fired followed it through the Korean War. When surplus and new-manufactured M1 Carbines made it to the civilian market, the shortcomings of the .30 Carbine continued to come up. It was, for all intents and purposes, a souped-up pistol round. Some makers who kept that in mind started producing handguns chambered for the .30 Carbine. The Ruger Blackhawk is, by far, the most successful of these and remains in production. But compared to other models in conventional revolver cartridges like 357 Magnum and 45 Colt, the .30 Carbine Blackhawk can best be considered a mild success.

In terms of civilian usage, think of the M1 Carbine as the AR-15 of today. It was a semi-auto rifle that held plenty of ammo and was chambered for a moderate round. Over six million were made during World War II and millions more were produced over the years by firms like Auto Ordinance and Fulton Armory. Although it was the tactical carbine of its time, some hunters have made use of it on the smaller end of medium game like jackrabbits and coyotes. Some have cautioned against using the .30 Carbine cartridge on larger whitetail deer. In my own past experience, I found this to be sound. My godfather hunted with the .30 Carbine for a time and for every dropped deer, there was another that ran for far too long when a 30-30 or 30-06 through the same wound would have been immediately fatal.

When I started researching for a suitable replacement for my 30-30 Winchester rifle, part of my buying equation went toward the price of ammunition. Compared to such rounds as the 270 Winchester and 30-06, the 30-30 is cheap. 30 Carbine was fairly competitive in price, but all the ammunition I ever saw was military-grade full-metal jacket rounds. The round was not really worth it for serious hunting use, but I kept my eye on it. In the 1990s, there were more M1 Carbines out there and a larger quantity of surplus ammunition. Now, we have more ammunition selection but fewer guns and ammunition overall and what could be had is more expensive than most rounds you are apt to find on a gun store shelf.

The Truth

Although we live in the age of the affordable AR-15 and effective intermediate rounds in the 5.56mm NATO, 300 Blackout, ect., there is still love for the .30 Carbine. You are more likely to see an M1 Carbine at a vintage rifle match or in the back of a safe, but there are plenty of folks who still own them. There is also an undercurrent of people who are interested in World War II history or need something different. The .30 Carbine will have a market share, though it is fractional over what it once was. For those who want or have one, is the .30 Carbine best shot at paper targets alone, given how underpowered and expensive it is?

I don’t think so, because both historical and modern contexts matter. The .30 Carbine is light by today’s standards. It was even light by 1940s standards. Infantryman used to a battle-rifle cartridge and civilians used to conventional bottle-necked hunting cartridges are going to look poorly on the .30 Carbine. But the round was never intended to fill the same role. The round and the platform it came in were far more flexible and easy to learn on—and much more powerful—than the 38 Special and 45 ACP pistol cartridges then in widespread service.  As I read through the accounts of the various failings of the .30 Carbine over the years, I came to the conclusion that part of the round’s reputation comes from that lack of context, a lack of recruit training, and limited ammunition variety.

Troops that needed the M1 Carbine were certainly better off with it than with a pistol. The trouble began when trying to use the carbine to do a rifle’s job. Although rated for 300 yards, the .30 Carbine drops significantly after 200 yards. In the jungles of east Asia, this is inconsequential. The longer shots of the Normandy hedgerows, and worse, on the Korean hillsides five years later, gave the troops an ample range to fire from. At longer distances with the enemy in sight it can be tempting to fire even when they are out of range.

Even at close ranges, the M1 Carbine might be a liability, if we consider the makeup of the troops it was issued to. While a fair share of paratroopers and other fighters got their hands on them, the Carbine was issued to men who spent most of their time operating equipment. The Carbine was an afterthought that they had to qualify on every so often.  Would these same men be able to use their firearm effectively if surprised? They probably could, but it would not be optimal. Missing and making bad shots is possible, even in the best of circumstances. But given that anecdotes are anecdotes, and they are often accounted for years after the fact, we will never really know the exact circumstances of every event.

What can be more easily disputed is the general lack of ammunition variety. Remington and Winchester, among several others, still produce .30 Carbine ammunition. Almost all of it is 110-grain full-metal-jacket. That was the original military configuration and it is lousy for immediate terminal performance. In my own ballistic gel testing, 110-grain ball rounds will go through three feet of denim-backed gelatin, leaving behind ice-pick rounds. Some GIs complained about the M1 Carbine’s round being unable to penetrate quilted cotton coats on Chinese fighters in the Korean War. The more correct statement would be that the rounds hit them and went completely through. But safe for a shot through the central nervous system, this round operates like a pistol round would—through blood loss. For the everyday hunter or self-defender, this round is suboptimal.

There are a few 110-grain soft-point loadings available today that have the potential to be a solid hunting round, similar to comparable .357 Magnum carbine loads. I also tested Hornady’s Critical Defense .30 Carbine. This load uses a 110-grain FTX projectile and is marketed as a personal defense load. In 10% Clear Ballistics gelatin backed by four layers of denim, this load will reliably penetrate eighteen inches and expand to over one-half inch in diameter.  This round is a cut above and among the latest developments that show that the 30 Carbine, despite being underpowered and expensive for a rifle round, can be very effective.

VR promises to be the future of gaming, and admittedly, it’s an entirely new experience. I’ve always loved first-person shooters, and while VR doesn’t have a ton of options, the few I’ve played have been a blast. The latest one I stumbled across is called Onward. It is a slower-paced game that focuses more on realistic gameplay than run and gun. I fired it up on an Occulus Quest 2 for the last few weeks, and I’ve been testing my own mettle.

It’s a MILSIM game, meaning it tries hard to be realistic and simulate a military shooting environment. Luckily that doesn’t involve hours of boredom and standing pot. It is an action game that has you playing as one of two factions. We have MARSOC and the Volk. The Volk appears to be a Russian PMC or something like that. Each team has access to different weapons and that’s really the main difference.

The Modes

It’s limited to three basic multiplayer modes. We have Uplink, where the player has to reach a computer and complete an Uplink while the other team attempts to prevent it. We have Escort, where MARSOC attempts to escort a VIP while Volk tries to prevent it. Special Ops is a mode where Volk only has knives, molotovs, night vision, and flash bangs, and MARSOC has pistols and flashlights. Volk knows where MARSOC is, but MARSOC is basically blind.

We also have player versus enemy modes. Here the players team up. They have Hunt, where you hunt down the enemy bots, and EVAC, where you survive against waves of enemies until a helo gets you out. You can play these two modes in a single-player as well. We also have a shooting range for you to practice and a free-roam mode to explore and have fun. The shooting range might be a must-have for some who are unfamiliar with how certain weapons operate.

Graphics and Story

Oh boy. There really is no story here. It’s just a MILSIM game. I guess the Volk are the bad guys, and MARSOC are the good guys. There isn’t much known about the world outside of the briefings. It paints a picture of a full-on war, but we have nothing else to follow. There is no character customization or anything like that.

Graphics are a mixed bag. VR isn’t up to PS5 standards by any means. The guns in the game are replicated well. The environments are quite plain, and the bot bad guys look terrible. They move awkwardly with some clipping to them and appear to be PS2-era graphics. It might not impress you, but it doesn’t detract too much from the experience.

The levels vary over a few different environments. They are not particularly impressive but are still fun levels with a good bit of variety in size and style. Some offer buildings that can be entered and used as cover, and others have a verticality to them that keeps things fresh.

Gameplay

The gameplay is a bit slow, and it’s meant to be. If you just sprint into an environment, you’re gonna catch rounds left and right. Moving through the levels really encourages you to peak across cover before moving, to avoid danger zones, and even crouch and go prone. I’m sure I look silly laying on my living room floor, but a prone position makes it easy to shoot accurately and easy to hide.

You also can’t blaze away on full auto and hope to hit anything. If you are using an assault rifle, you really want either short bursts or semi-automatic fire. Submachine guns are a little more controllable. You have no ammo indicator, so you need to watch how much you fire, or you’ll run into an empty magazine at the wrong time.

Onward encourages careful aiming and makes a variety of optics available. Once you pull that trigger, you become a target, so it’s best to be sure of what you are shooting at. There is an awesome suppression feature. If you land rounds close to a bad guy, their vision starts to blacken, and their aim gets much worse. Suppression is important in the game.

Jumping Online

I typically hate playing online with real people, but I had a great time in Onward. One of my favorite games was playing Uplink as MARSOC. A sniper was held up in a parking garage and covering the Uplink. We got somewhat pinned down, so I pulled out my radio and started talking to a rifleman or specialist next to me. I was carrying an M249.

We had a general idea of where the sniper was, and we devised a plan. He tossed a smoke grenade and crossed to the parking garage to kill the sniper. I would lay down suppressing fire at where we thought the sniper was. If he took me out, the guy could still get to the parking garage and take him out. If he took out the riflemen, I’d lay fire on wherever he was shooting from.

I got in the prone, deployed my bipods, and he tossed the smoke. I began throwing 5.56 at various windows. The sniper never got a shot off. Our rifleman closed the distance and climbed through the garage, and took the sniper out. We won the game.

My second story is more humorous. It was a team of five, and the mics were on. In the background, we heard a woman call her son. He was on our team and said, “Hold on,” To which everyone on our team snapped at him.

They told him to respect his mom and do what she needs right now! One player even said, “She birthed you, dude. She doesn’t wait for you.” He acquiesced, and we waited for him before launching the next game.

The Guns

Oh boy, Onward has tons of guns! We get the Benelli M1014, the SPAS-12, the AK series, the MK18, the M16A4, the G3, the PKM, and the M249. Plus, real pistols, including the Beretta M9, the Glock 17, the M1911, the Makarov, the TT-33, and many more. There are so many guns, and they are all replicated realistically.

They all include realistic sights, reloading processes, and accessories. If you’ve never reloaded an M249 or PKM, you might not be able to figure it out without some time at the range. As a former machine gunner, I will say they do LMGs perfectly! Guns like the AK have a disadvantage with the lack of an LRBHO device. The M16A4 is faster to reload and easier to reload with the press button magazine release.

The guns and gear are mixed well. You get to choose from a number of optics, including red dots, ACOG-style optics, Eotechs, and more. They are must-haves to make your gun easier to shoot. Additionally, the pistols can be equipped with dots, and this makes them much faster to use.

Getting fast with a pistol transition can save your life. Several times when using the M1014, I ran dry and got really good at grabbing that handgun and retreating under fire. It’s quite satisfying to escape a bad situation because you transition to your pistol quickly.

Onward Always

Onward is a ton of fun if you’re a gun nerd. Utilizing realistic reloads, aimed fire, climbing in the prone, and employing bipods adds this crazy level of realism that’s tough to beat. I enjoyed it immensely, and while I still suck at it, I’m enjoying getting better. This game has a real learning curve and having a little knowledge about firearms certainly helps. My biggest want is the ability to place your magazines and reloads where you want them, within reason.

If Onward did that, it might be a viable way to get some training in. Custom force-on-force servers with handguns might also be a blast….A man can dream.

The teachings and philosophies of John Farnam have had a wide but, until recently, indirect impact on my own defensive training. The first indirect impact came when I read his book “The Farnam Method of Defensive Handgunning” in 2005. His book, along with other experiences, started my development from someone with a solid set of fundamental and mechanical firearms skills to someone who was training (and training others) for a defensive mindset and use.

The second major indirect impact was when I met my eventual firearms instruction partner, Tony Gregory. What started as just taking a few classes with Tony morphed into a long-term instructing relationship and eventually business partnership. This partnership has grown to the point where I am a co-owner of Tony’s training company, Tactical Training Associates (TTA). Tony was strongly influenced by John Farnam, having taken all his classes (sometimes multiple times). This in and of itself is not surprising as Tony has taken all the classes of almost every major name that was offering classes in the 1990s and 2000s. What was noteworthy was how prevalent John Farnam’s philosophies and techniques were now a part of Tony’s firearms instructional style.

Although I have been training and taking multi-day classes for decades, the addition of my wife’s interest means that most of my training experiences have been in the 2010s and often were with different instructors than Tony. Thus, when another TTA instructor asked if my wife (also a TTA instructor) and I would be interested in attending John Farnam’s Defensive Training International (DTI) two-day Defensive Urban Rifle class in the next state over, we emphatically said “Yes.” The class was at the ISRA outdoor range in Kankakee, Illinois over a Saturday and Sunday focusing on military autoloaders (all the students brought AR-15s) and was listed as needing 400 rounds of ammunition. We arrived the night before and received an invitation to join John for breakfast before the class.

The Range and Overall Structure

The range hosting the training was impressive with indoor classroom space and multiple well-maintained ranges. There was a little strife between the rules for carrying on the facility when not directly under instruction on a range (this was Illinois after all) and the expectations of the class. This would likely not be an issue in a more civilian-carry-supportive state.

The instructors included John Farnam, his wife Vicki, and two additional instructors. John has a very charismatic style and teaches through well-thought-out stories and examples. Within a few minutes of meeting him, I could even further see how his style had influenced my good friend Tony.

The additional instructors provided more eyes for the purposes of range safety and control. Additionally, they allowed more individualized coaching during the drills. This was generally a benefit, though occasionally their tailored instruction countered the overall instructions of a drill. Not a major issue but all three of us encountered the trap of listening to the instructions from John, starting the drill only to be told to do something different by another instructor, to then be asked by John what we were doing. This can be a common occurrence in courses with multiple instructors if not explicitly addressed in advance.

Day One

The course began with a history lesson on the AR-15 platform followed by a rundown of the basic functions and proper mounting techniques with our rifles as well as utilizing slings. We then proceeded to zero our rifle through a series of slower drills, safety checks, and reloads. This was followed by a series of drills starting with our hands off the rifle (slung) to mounting and engaging targets. We then did a magazine dump exercise to gain confidence in our ability to put many rounds on target as well as the rifle’s ability to run. This was followed by single and multiple shot drills at differing distances from guns ready to unready conditions.

Each drill was also incorporating additional components such as simple movements, shouted commands, and pre and post-shooting scanning of the environment. The last drill before lunch focused on starting turned away from a target, pivoting to engage, and then moving and scanning afterward.

Lunch was back at the indoor multi-purpose room, and we continued to discuss defensive mindset as we ate. After lunch, we returned to combining all the previous drills into engagements at multiple ranges. At this point, all the drills were incorporating multiple magazines, and speed reloads as needed. We finished the day’s drills with a rifle exchange exercise where we passed our rifles down to the next person after shooting a few rounds. In this way we each shot every gun on the line to see the differences in the various guns and sights/optics. I felt a little bad for everyone else as I had brought a stock Smith & Wesson M&P-15 with iron sights while almost everyone else had brought much higher-end rifles with very cool optics. We finished with a few relevant stories from John and a summary of what we had covered.

Day Two

Our second day opened with a return to discussing being prepared in a turbulent world as well as re-zeroing our rifles. We conducted another combined drill focused on simple movements, target engagements, and post-shooting scans. The class then shifted to field stripping and breaking down our rifles for cleaning. We discussed the function of each component as well as what to look for to detect issues and wear.

We then started doing drills involving more movement including one running down a line and then turning to engage a target. The morning concluded with a variety of hostage drills as well as failure-to-stop drills (transitioning from body hits to headshots). 

After lunch, we conducted a few more movement drills and then discussed the various other shooting stances for a rifle other than standing. The remainder of the time was spent practicing our final qualification drill (involving multiple movements, multiple target engagements at a medium distance, and post-engagement movement and scanning).

The qualification drill had to be performed under a certain time and with no rounds outside of the center chest area of the target. Thus, you needed to balance speed and accuracy, and not forget the required course of fire for the drill. A few students, including my wife, successfully completed this task their very first time. Many of us took a few tries to balance the time limit and accuracy requirements, and make sure to not forget one of the many steps. Those that took more than one try received coaching between the tests and everyone in the class had passed by the end of the afternoon. We ended the class with some final thoughts from John and the other instructors including the need to always be ready.

Summary

If you are looking for a two-day class that is almost all drills and shooting this is not the class for you. If you want a class that is an even mix of history, mindset, mechanical function, and defensive shooting techniques this class covers it all. John Farnam has a style of instruction that focuses on the why as well as the how and he found many opportunities to share his thoughts on a wide range of topics. These ranged from simple quips to engaging and purposeful stories.

This would be a great class if you are new to the AR-15 but it was also engaging enough for those that are more experienced with their rifles. All three of us thoroughly enjoyed the class and are looking forward to taking another class from John Farnam later this year.

Check out John’s classes offered throughout the United States at: https://defense-training.com/

I took the Ben Stoeger Fundamental Pistol Course at the beginning of February. This article will dive into my experience in the class and the skill takeaways I plan to implement moving forward. Some background about myself: I am a self-taught Grand Master in USPSA. I have hundreds of matches under my belt and picked up some titles along the way. This was the very first firearm skill-centered class I’ve taken. I came in with an open mind, ready to learn from some of the best. 

Ben Stoeger is an IPSC World Champion and Multi-time USPSA National Champion. He is known for his shooting accolades and his series of live-fire & dry-fires books that have helped a lot of new shooters get started. If you are on Instagram, you probably have seen Ben expressing his opinion very bluntly. Sometimes this will grind people’s gears and take away from who he is as a shooter. Nonetheless, Ben can shoot, and he is one of the most active instructors in the country. I was very excited to be under his supervision, running the specific drills he selected for the class. 

Joel Park, a GM in USPSA Production division, also instructed this class. He does an excellent job of articulating thoughts in a manner that is easy to understand. His fundamentals are locked in, and he seems like he is allergic to hitting anything other than the Alpha Zone on the target. 

Having two instructors for the class made for a lot of individualized coaching, which is the most significant benefit when attending a course. They can look at your shooting skill under a microscope and give personalized instructions rather than blanket statements addressing the class as a whole. Both Ben and Joel are part of the Practical Shooting Training Group. This online coaching service fosters an environment for people to have knowledgeable conversations with some of the top-level shooters in the sport.  

The Fundamental Pistol course looks into basic skills that make up firing a handgun accurately at speed. Being a Grand Master, I was skeptical about what I would learn but got takeaways within the first three hours of the 2-day course. I remember we first did the cold-start drill on day one, and Ben said, “Why are you in this class?” after looking at my target compared to some other attendees. I said, “I am here to have fun and willing to learn.” One great thing about the class is that you can be any level of shooter. Whether you just got your USPSA membership or have been shooting the sport for multiple years, there is always room to improve. 

The class structure allowed for a lot of trigger time. They suggest bringing 600 rounds per day. I ended up getting a little trigger-happy and ended up shooting somewhere around 800 per day. Joel and Ben took us through warm-up drills to assess our skills level, including Doubles, Grouping at 20 yards, Target Transitions, and more. They set up exercises over two bays, so there would be around 3-5 shooters on each bay shooting. This means that there are two drills up at any given time. You would run through four or so reps when you’re up to shoot. Once you were through all the rounds in your magazines, you stuff them back up, then head to the other bay. Rinse and repeat. 

I really enjoyed this format because we got multiple tries at executing the drills, which helped fine-tune some of the improvements I wanted to make on each run. Finding the mind-muscle connection is a huge aspect of shooting well, and the multiple reps allowed for that to happen. Each time Ben or Joel would have comments about each run. They knew where my baseline skill level was and kept encouraging me to go faster and faster. That speed is what helped me identify where I needed work. Each day we had around 3-4 blocks of drills, leading us to tackle 12-16 different drills over the two days. 

What would a GM get out of a fundamentals class?

A lot. There are four takeaways that I will carry with me into this season and perhaps longer. Some of the things I diagnosed myself with, but having affirmation from some of the nation’s best instructors made me feel more confident in my self-diagnosis. 

How To Identify Bad Habits When They Happen

This was huge. It’s also very hard. This skill has increased difficulty if you do not understand how your gun works and are not connected with the recoil impulse. Bringing awareness to what my red dot is doing under recoil is very important for this skill. This was a tell-tale sign of something being off if my dot was not tracking uniformly, also being aware of body mechanics during movement stages or planting to engage targets. Identifying what you did wrong will be the number one skill to improve your overall shooting ability and understanding. 

Shooting Without Tension

When the buzzer goes off, it is easy for us to tense up and stress-shoot our way through a stage. This leads to huge inconsistencies. Once your muscles start to fatigue, your shot placement will vary. I am notorious for shooting tense. I am fairly athletic and let my muscles do the work for me. That caused me not to be able to relax when we were shooting the grouping drills or controlling my recoil during doubles. Joel pointed this out almost immediately and asked how I could shoot so well without having this under control. The fact is that I obtained most of my skills from shooting matches, so I am more relaxed in a match setting than on a flat range. This is typically the opposite of most people because the flat range does not have the added pressure of competition. 

Visual Patience

This is making sure your eyes aren’t leaving the target before you are done engaging or, on the contrary, waiting until your sights are aligned on the target to break the shot. When we started pushing the speed on target transitions, I started to drag or push my shots horizontally out of the Alpha Zone. This was due to shooting too late or shooting too soon. Once I gave myself the extra few hundredths of a second to let my sights settle, I noticed my shot placement increased dramatically. 

Shooting Target Focused

If you have any idea about practical shooting, you’ve probably heard this term before. That is keeping your focus on the target rather than your sights. I thought I was doing through and through, but Ben and Joel pointed out that I was starting at my dot, being sight focused instead. This leads to difficulty grouping your gun at speed and significantly affects your target engagement speed. Joel had me shoot occluded, which blocks your optic and forces you to superimpose your dot on the target, forcing you to be target focused. It was an excellent training tool but not the end-all for shooting target focused. It comes down to training that skill and being disciplined enough to stick through it. 

The Value of Training Courses

I highly recommend taking training courses no matter your skill level. Get some fresh perspective on your shooting under the supervision of talented shooters, whether that be Ben & Joel or someone else.  There are many reputable instructors, and I recommend starting with a competition instructor, even if you are in Law Enforcement or the Military. Competition shooters are the most efficient and well-versed gunslingers on the planet. If you know how to run your gun, the tactical side of LEO and MIL applications becomes a lot easier.

The courses should be about setting up an environment that fosters learning. I attended the Ben Stoeger Fundamental Pistol Course with friends and other local shooters I’m familiar with, which helped create a fun and light environment. I highly recommend bringing your buddies! At the end of the day, getting a fresh perspective on your shooting skills and ability will help you better yourself. I am thrilled I took the course. I recommend it to anyone looking to get better. 

One of the best makers of self-defense and hunting ammo on the planet, Hornady is a name everyone recognizes. It’s made in the USA and has a reputation for their superior quality and performance. To a lot of people, Hornady is known more for their self-defense handgun ammunition. Their Critical Defense line of ammo is one of their more popular choices for self-defense enthusiasts. I remember the first time I saw their hollow point ammo with gel-filled bullets. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Their self-defense ammo is not limited to handguns, however. They make a full range of rifle ammo for self-defense and hunting.

In this article, we will be focusing on Hornady’s 208 gr 300 blackout AMAX ammo. It took me a while to warm up to 300 Blackout, but over the years I have become a fan. When anything comes along to challenge the tried-and-true classics like .308, 5.56, and others, I’m hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. Other calibers have come and gone, but the 300 Blackout has held its own and is worthy to be listed among the greats. One of the things that makes it a great caliber is the ability to shoot from short-barrel rifles and with suppressors.

Let’s look at this subsonic round from Hornady and see what makes it different.

Hornady’s 300 Blackout 208gr AMAX Subsonic Ammo

The AMAX subsonic ammo boasts specially jacketed, tipped, and cored bullets to deliver the highest ballistic coefficient per bullet weight. This guarantees super flat trajectory and tighter groups than any other round on the market. 

The AMAX line has proven its worth time after time, producing consistently accurate concentric bullet jackets through their AMP (Advanced Manufacturing Process). This results in near-zero wall thickness variation and allows for the most precise trajectories possible. AMAX bullets are ideal for long-range hunting due to their capacity to penetrate thick tissues and bounce back, creating fragmentary wounding that is both lethal and effective. However, they should not be used in dense brush as this increases the risk of missing or damaging tissue below their impact zone.

What is 300 Blackout good for?

300 blackout ammunition is an ideal choice for many hunting situations. It can be loaded with various bullet types and boasts superior accuracy and dependability when hunting deer, hogs, or coyotes. Varmint and predator hunters will find this cartridge to be an ideal choice. When used with suppressors or short-barreled rifles with suppressors, it cycles reliably, making it even more desirable.

This is not a long-range bullet, but at closer distances, it is extremely accurate and deadly for most hunting applications. Sometimes a fast smaller bullet is not as effective at closer distances because the speed carries a lot of the velocity through the target and beyond. Ideally, you want a bullet that will deliver all its force into the target. A bigger bullet at just a little slower speed can be a good combination for this.

Self-defense is another thing 300 Blackout can be useful for. Its heavier weight and lower velocity give it good knock-down power. People use all kinds of guns for self-defense and what gun you choose depends on several factors. What you are used to shooting, the area you live in, and the type of threat you perceive the highest can dictate what type of weapon and ammo you will use. 300 blackout was designed to be a close combat round for the military, and the 208gr Subsonic round by Hornady makes it even better for self-defense.

Why Hornady Subsonic Ammo?

Hornady is good at customizing bullets for specific purposes. Sure, everyone likes to have a dump-truck load of all-purpose ammo for the apocalypse days that may or may not lay ahead. In that case, we would more than likely be ok with any bullet that fires, if we have a lot of it. But until then, having bullets made for the task at hand is even better. Many people who use 300 Blackout choose it because of its performance when shooting from a short barrel. This is ideal if you want to use a silencer as well.

When it comes to silencers, the faster bullet is not always better. It’s the opposite in fact. If you want the option of using a silencer, subsonic ammunition is the way to go. The Hornady 208 grain bullet is the best of all worlds if you are using a short-barrel rifle with a silencer for hunting or self-defense. At 100 yards it has a flat line with a 0.0-inch drop or rise. At 150 yards, it has a drop of -12.5 inches and at 200 yards, it drops to -33.5 inches. This makes it perfect for those up-close ranges (to 100 yards). With a muzzle velocity of 1020 fps, it runs slow enough to maximize the use of a silencer. This may not make it the best round for 200-yard shots but again, ammo is made for different purposes.

Summary

The Hornady Black 208 gr bullet is not a multi-purpose round, but it is one of the most accurate rounds in this caliber I have seen. It has a lower velocity which makes it good for silencers, and lowers the risk of over-penetration. The design of the bullet, including the AMP jacket, helps keep it accurate and consistent. The ammo you choose for self-defense needs to be consistent and reliable and you get both with Hornady’s Black AMAX ammo. Practice with the cheap stuff and train with the cheap stuff, but when the shot matters, don’t rely on the cheap stuff. Get something you know will hold up to the standards we should all expect for hunting and self-defense. Get Hornady Black 208.

Have you tried taking the bottom off a Glock mag before? Some are harder than others, but I don’t think I would say any of them are easy. Glock mags are some of the most durable magazines I have ever seen, and they stay together very well. I have used screw drivers, punches, plyers, and other tools laying around to take them apart. I wouldn’t say I looked like a professional doing it though. Especially when the spring goes flying across the room and I have to say in a matter-of-fact tone “yeah, that spring is still in good shape.”

The Real Avid Smart Mag Tool for Glocks is probably one of the most underrated tools on the market. I went years without owning one of these and didn’t think I needed one. It wasn’t until I had one that I realized how handy they are and how easy they make it to work on Glock magazines.

This simple little device helps you take the bottom of the mag off and put it back on. If you flip it over, it even has a tool that helps you unload your mag. If you own a Glock and don’t own one of these, keep reading to see how it works.

Step 1: Break Open the Base Plate

One of the things I like most about this tool is how compact it is. It can be stored in a toolbox, desk drawer, or in a range bag. There are no moving parts on it, so when I say it’s simple, it really is simple. I was able to use the Smart Block with most Glock mags including the Glock 43. The Real Avid Smart Tool for Glocks also works with after-market mags like ETS and KCI.

The first step to taking the mag apart is what some refer to as “breaking” open the floor plate before removing the spring. Breaking it open is done by using the forward-facing post on the mag tool (see photo above). Place the magazine so that the back is facing up. The floor plate on the mag will have a small hole with an insert that resembles pin. This pin will line up with the post on the mag tool. You then use the post to push in the pin on the mag. Push the front of the mag down and the back of the mag will go up, forcing the floor plate to come loose. You should hear a breaking sound as the floor plate comes open a little.

Step 2: Remove the Floor Plate

At this point, the floor plate should only be open about a 1/4-inch. It will not come off yet so it’s okay to take it off the front post. The magazine can now be placed over the second post and pushed down. Once the magazine has been pushed over the second post, pull the magazine toward the back of the magazine tool. As it slides backward, the floor plate will remain on the post, and the magazine will move without it. You can now lift the magazine and the spring will come out.

A small plastic piece called the insert be on the bottom of the spring. The magazine spring will be on top of the insert and then the follower. I have used a lot of Glock 19, 21, and 43 mags with this tool and it has always opened them with ease. One of my Glock 43 mags has a grip extension on it, so I was able to perform step one but not step two. Once the base plate has been broken open, however, it was not hard to pull it off by hand. This tool does not work with the 33-round mags.

Reassembling the magazine

The mag tool can be used to reassemble magazines too. This is done by placing the follower back on the spring and inserting it into the mag. Place the insert on the mag tool and line up the spring over that. Next, push down on the mag until the magazine is all the way down on the mag tool. Then slide the magazine forward, back onto the floor plate. You should hear a “click” sound as it locks back in place. This method is easier than trying to push the magazine in by hand while holding the floor plate on at the same time. If the floor plate slips off, the spring will go flying.

The mag tool is made to disassemble and reassemble magazines, but it can also help unload the mag too. When the tool is upside down, there is a groove for the mag to slide in. Line up the mag so that the back goes in first. As you pull the mag all the way in the tool, it will push a round out of the mag. Just repeat this process until the mag is empty.

Summary

Most people clean and oil their guns to make sure they stay in good working order. But we have all been guilty of neglecting our magazines. Even though they don’t get dirty like our guns do, they can build up dirt and lint over time. This can cause them to become less reliable. They don’t need to be cleaned as often as a gun, but taking mags apart once every few years to clean and check the springs is a good idea. If you are going to take your mags apart, the Real Avid Smart Tool for Glocks is the best way to do it.