The choice is simple. Shoot what you carry and that’s the advice I would give most people. If you’re like me that means you probably have more than one but there is that go-to setup. For me that is my G17s and Viridian X5L gen5.

If you have having problems recalling what is a G17s that is because I made it up. It’s the gun Glock should have come out with when they made the G19X, the mid length slide on a full size grip. The G17s is a full size G17 with the grip reduced to the G19 size. To me that makes sense in a concealed carry gun as the grip, not the slide, is what usually prints.

So, why not run that at the class? It has decent light output at 500 lumens and has a green laser. It also has a stated battery life of 40 minutes. In a carry light that should be more than enough. In a class that probably means changing batteries. The X5L gen3 uses a proprietary rechargeable battery and are $50 each for spares.

I would like to run the Surefire ILV2 but that has been on backorder for months. The compact white light, IR light, Green laser, and IR laser is like a fat TLR1. I’ve made several holsters for this light and it’s the fattest but the shorter overall length makes for a shorter holster and clears faster.

If this was a straight nods class the Surefire X400VH would be my choice for what I have available. Since this is not a night vision class do I want to run a large 350 lumen light? The Streamlight TLR2 light laser seems to make the most sense but I really not the biggest fan of the mode toggle switch location. CR123’s are plentiful around here and I usually have several rechargeable ones on standby.

What light would you run and why?

Outtrain • Outlast • Outsurvive

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The New Year buzz seems to be dominated by the leak that Glock is going to release a new gun January 22nd, 2018. This new gun, the Glock G19x, essentially is G19 slide assembly on a modified G17/G34 frame.

The cool specs are it will ship with one 17 round magazine and two 19 round magazine via an extended base plate, nPVD colored slide, Glock Marksman Barrel (GMB), ambi slide release, and no finger grooves.

Let’s applaud the good first. Offering more colors with one of the most durable finishes is a definite plus. Sure Cerekote and Durakote are nice, but not they do not hold up compared to nPVD. The barrel is probably the star of this offering with the “match-grade” polygonal rifled barrels. Having been the butt of accuracy jokes for decades this barrel should hold it’s own against any factor and most aftermarket options. In all fairness, the factory barrel if far better than 99% of the people who complain about its accuracy. Check out this comparison of 11 Glock barrels.

Why the G19x? Who does the R&D and market research there? Is anyone asking for a G19 that takes G17 magazines? Wait, you can already to that. Granted, the bottom of the magazine hangs out the bottom of the grip. If you don’t like step down then get a magazine spacer collar, a.k.a grip extenders. Don't get me started on why Glock offers a 140mm 40S&W mag and the 9mm doesn't get the love. Thank you Magpul and ETS.

The G19 fan base loves its compact nature. Big enough to get the job done and still be concealable. The G17/G34 have the longer sight radius and bit extra weight favored for those shooting it in competition.

So where does that leave the G19x? No one shooting organized action shooting sports like USPSA, IDPA, or 3Gun will see this as a competitive advantage of the current offerings. What concealed carry permit holder is going to find the larger grip easier to hide. It’s usually the grip that prints. What about the .mil folks? Again, many of the short bus door gunners we have come across prefer the shorter grip of the G19 as it is less likely to get caught up on gear.

This leaves two groups of people who may prefer the G19x and are large enough to support the line. Law Enforcement and plinkers. Will LEO’s gravitate to this over the G19 or G17? probably not. There’s no advantage to them. That will leave millions of plinkers and other collectors. That’s enough to keep this alive.

Here’s an example of what Glock should have come out with. I call it a G17s, s for short. It is a full frame G17 cut down to the G19 length. This particular example Grip-N-Rip cutouts to better grab the magazine in case the magazine gets stuck. The holster is a Competition Holster in Moonshine Wildfire camo with bright red (EMT-Red) liner.

The post G19x The New Pistol From Glock appeared first on Ares Tactical.

The ready position is a key part of your draw phase as well as a neutral stationary position. Unlike the high ready or low ready, the ready position or neutral ready position has the muzzle parallel to the ground pointed down range towards your target. You should have a proper two-hand grip and the trigger finger extended along the frame.

From the neutral ready position there are two different methods in which the firearm extended toward the target in relation to the front sight. Both have their advantages and proponents. Either can be highly effective.

The first method is to extend your arms straight out and up while maintaining the barrel horizontal to the ground. The advantage here is that at any point the trigger can be pulled and rounds can be put on target. The degree of accuracy will be affected by distance and your ability to set good body alignment toward the target. Ideally in this method your sights would be aligned and interrupt your focus on the target.

The second method starts the same. When it comes time to extend out you will tip the barrel up slightly. Now the front sight will be the first thing you see as your pistol comes up into your sight plane. With your front sight on the target you will rock or cam the rear up dropping the front sight into the notch of your rear sight.

As the saying goes, “Front sight, front sight, front sight.” Many believe you can't stress enough the importance of seeing your front sight. There is even a methodology dedicated to front sight shooting in up close and fast shooting.

I favor the the horizontal. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First is that if I need to pull the trigger anytime along the path to full extension I have a reasonable chance of hitting the target in front of me. At point blank range, generally considered under 10 feet, you should not need perfect sight alignment to hit your target. You need speed. Can you miss at 5 feet or 10? of course. Plenty of “trained” police officers do it under stress, while moving, or at moving threats. Your level of training under stress will dictate your proficiency.

Second, at longer range targets you will more time to line up your sights for precision. Simplified, the horizontal is faster close up and slower at long range. What is the real difference in time we are talking about? For most shooters with a grasp of the fundamental it would be measured in tenths of a second.

Third, rocking the rear sight up adds another mechanical movement at extension. Minimizing movement will minimize time, in theory.

Lastly, many people involved in self defense shooting report they never even saw their sights. This is because of a phenomenon called Tunnel Vision. They become fixated on the threat. Sometimes so fixated that all they see is the knife or gun and not even the face of the attack. Your body is telling you, “Hey! Watch out for that!” Training under stress and competing will help you to expand your vision.

You can see that a few tenths of a second makes either technique easy to argue which is better. A expert shooter in either form will be faster than a novice using the other method. Pointing out specific individuals or special operations groups using one or the other is not a good comparison. It is what technique you will use and practice that makes a difference.

The more you train and practice the better you will be able to perform either of these techniques. Dry fire practice for a while then take it to the range and put yourself on the timer. Sight alignment is about precision. Use a good distance and target size that will force you to use your sights.

Out train, Outperform, Outlast.

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Chopped holsters are square cut near the muzzle. This is typically seen on compact sized holsters (around 4” barrel such as a Glock G19 or Springfield Armory XDs 3.3). This allows you to use the same holster for multiple slide length firearms within that model range. For example, a G19 chopped holster would fit the G26 subcompact with just a little extra holster past the muzzle. The G19 would stick out just a little from the holster. The G17 full size and G34 long slide would stick out a little further. This can be a convenient money and space saver.

The drawback to chopped style holsters is your muzzle and/or front sight are exposed. This can lead potentially to having your front sight snag on loose clothing or gear during your draw. Also, since your fired weapon will be dirty from the burnt powder around the muzzle you would have that rubbed off on your clothing. In extreme circumstances your front sight may be bumped out of position or damaged. This can be of special concern to people running fiber optic front sights which tend to be the most fragile.

[caption id="attachment_21122" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Chopped G19 Hybrid Holster[/caption]

Some people find the that the wrapped muzzle design is a little more comfortable. This is largely affected by your slide design and to a lesser extent maybe your front sight. Slides with aggressive milling and/or sharp edges with rub more than smother designs if exposed directly to the body. Hybrid leather and Kydex holsters with enough leather will negate this as seen above.

If you have an extended or threaded barrel the chopped design will have plenty of clearance in the opening. Most wrapped holsters will not allow aftermarket threaded barrels to fit without adjustment. For guns with factory installed threaded barrels, like the FNH FN45 Tactical, the wrapped muzzle will already have the clearance built in. Of course, if you want the wrapped design with an aftermarket barrel just let us know and we can build in the opening needed when we make your holster.
Post below your thoughts on chopped vs wrapped holsters. Each month our editor will pick one lucky writer to win a free holster. All you need to do to be entered is leave a intelligent comment (25 +/- words or more) on our blog. Each weekly blog post offers another chance to win.
Outtrain • Outperform • Outlast

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IDPA Board issues change to Point Down penalty

Last week at the World Championship awards banquet, I announced that the IDPA Board of Directors has elected to increase the Point Down penalty from a half second to 1 second. The BoD is comprised of two MA shooters (both Founders of the sport) and one EX with a combined total of more than 57 years of IDPA experience. This decision was made to keep the sport aligned with the founder's intent of valuing accuracy over speed. As concealed carry holders, which many of our members are, we are responsible for every round that leaves our gun, and IDPA needs to reflect that in our practices. I met with some of the Area Coordinators recently to share this information and the feedback received from them was very positive. There is no hard timetable for this change. Classification scores and other areas will need to reflect the change, and we are already working with some of our scoring vendors on this change. More information will be available as the work progresses and we will make updates on this via the Tactical Journal and Tactical Brief.

There’s numerous forums discussing this such as Brian Enos Forum

So, the reason given is that, at its core, IDPA is a civilian concealed carry shooting sport. A shooter is responsible for every round fired in a self defense encounter. As such, the competitive shooter should also be held to task.

For those not familiar with IDPA scoring here is a brief overview. Your score is the stage time, plus points down, plus penalties. Lowest time wins. Currently, every point down adds one half second. There is also Failure To Neutralize penalty if the shooter does not get at least one hit in the down zero or down one target areas regardless of the number of hits on target. That’s roughly the A-C zone of an IPSC target or the central two thirds of the 18 inch wide target. There are several other penalties possible but it doesn’t change the fundamentals and intent.

Most cardboard silhouette targets typically require two rounds each and most stages are vickers count (you can shoot as many rounds at the target as you wish). Let’s design a very simple stage. One threat target requiring two rounds, Vickers count. Beep, bang bang bang. Competitor A shot it in 2.31 seconds. One hit in the 0 down center mass and one round in the down one area and one complete miss. Stage time is 2.31 plus 0.5 (points down converted to seconds) for a total of 2.81 seconds. Competitor B only fires two shots (no points down) in 2.95 seconds. Competitor A wins. After the rule change B would be the the winner. A = 3.31 versus B’s 2.95.

Notice Competitor A received no penalty for the complete miss. They “made it up” by firing a third round that hit the target. If you want to make the shooter responsible for every shot you should penalize every miss. Some stages are Limited Vickers which means you can only fire the number of rounds specified. e.g. Engage targets 1-4 with two rounds each would allow eight shots on that stage. If you take any extra you best shot(s) are disregarded.

I think what we are really seeing is shift in the fundamental philosophy of combat shooting. Hits on target are worthless unless they are good hits. When we look at what stops a determined attacker it boils down to three things. 1. Exsanguination. The loss of too much blood. 2. Shock  3. Hits to the CNS (central nervous system) or mechanical structure. A hit to the CNS shuts the bad guy down by separating the path of electrons needed to control the body. It’s instantaneous. Shock is unpredictable. Exsanguination is not immediate but can be fast if a major artery is hit.

Many self defense instructors have broadly taught student to get rounds on bad guys quickly. More holes, more quickly. Why? The CNS zone is a relatively small area to hit. Even a perfectly lined up shot is not guaranteed to hit it. You have body movement, obstacle movement, bones  and other things that can cause the bullet to deflect to otherwise miss the mark. Shock is too unpredictable to be a valid shooting concept. That realistically only leaves making the bad guy bleed out. Put enough holes in places where there shouldn’t be holes and they will stop… eventually. You can’t fault the simple math that two holes on target are better than one.

Gunfights aren’t simple, are they? Can anyone say that a shot to the Aortic Artery is the same as the shot to the bicep? Of course not. Currently in IDPA it is a 1.5 second difference and will change to a 3 second difference. Is that a fair enough penalty for inaccuracy?

There's probably a lot more that can be said on this but let me leave you with this quote. Wyatt Earp said, “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.”

Post below your thoughts on IDPA shift to a higher penalty for points down. Each month our editor will pick one lucky writer to win a free holster. All you need to do to be entered is leave a intelligent comment on our blog. Each blog post offers another chance to win.

Outtrain. Outperform. Outlast.

The post IDPA to Change Points Down Penalty to 1 Second appeared first on Ares Tactical.

Blogs will go up on Tactical Tuesdays and bonus ones here and there. If you have an idea for a subject or product to be covered just leave us a comment. We welcome your input.

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