Triangle Tactical

Welcome back to episode 55 of the Triangle Tactical Q&A Show! Today's question comes in from Tim in Honolulu. He sent his question to podcast@triangletactical.net. Aloha from Honolulu, guys… This weekend, for the first time in my relatively short competitive shooting career, I’m going to shoot a match that will include “turn and draw” starting positions on a couple of stages.  Any tips or techniques for executing a “turn and draw”?  Specifically, which direction do you prefer to turn (toward or away from strong side), and why?  As I practiced it in dry-fire tonight, I quickly realized that for some reason, I’m WAY more comfortable turning toward my weak side than my strong side, but I don’t really know why… Love the show, found it shortly after I shot my first match, and promptly listened to the whole back catalog, and now you’ve got me binge-watching Hot Shots on YouTube…  Great content, and your personalities work perfectly together to keep it fresh and interesting.  If your vacation plans ever include Hawaii, let me know…  We’ll hook you up with a match, and hopefully keep you and your guns on the right side of our ridiculous gun laws! Mahalo, Tim This episode was sponsored by The Blue Bullets. They just announced some new bulk discounts, and shipping deals that you should check out if you’re looking to buy some new bullets for competitive shooting. Don’t forget, you can save even more with the code “triangle” at checkout. They’re Glock friendly, Open gun friendly, and they’re made right here in NC (but offer free shipping on most orders) to anywhere in the US.

Welcome back to episode 54 of the Triangle Tactical Q&A Show! Today's question comes in from Steve in Alabama. He sent his question to podcast@triangletactical.net: Lucas & Ben, I enjoyed listening to the August 5th Q&A Podcast episode on Production USPSA guns.  Ben mentioned the Taran Tactical Innovations (TTI) Glocks. I started looking at their website, and noticed this trigger-lightening kit for Gen 4 Glocks for $45: http://tarantacticalinnovations.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44_45&products_id=280 It's supposed to reduce a 7.5-lb trigger to around 3 to 4 lb. Question: would this be beneficial to a D class (soon-to-be C-class) USPSA shooter?  If not, at what level would I benefit? I do notice that it's easier to pull my trigger in dry fire (with the Glock blocked slightly out of battery with a piece of foam) than it is in live fire.  If the trigger pull is easier, isn't that better? Or is this a case of "don't spend money on gear, spend it on ammo to train" ? Thanks Steve in Alabama This episode is brought to you by Gear that Doesn’t Suck! Check out the sidebar on the website at triangletactical.net to see our handpicked list of gear that doesn’t suck. Including EDC knives and flashlights, pistol sights, books, and more, everything there is stuff that we use and know doesn’t suck. Carry on

Governor Pat McCrory signed NC H562 into law a couple days ago, so Ben and I decided to go through the bill section by section to give you a rundown of what is still in it after all of the runaround through the hullabaloo that happened with it in the NC House. It's still a good bill, but I want to make one thing clear here in the shownotes, as well as in the episode: The NC Pistol Purchase Permit is not going away, there were a couple changes to it, but it's still required. Also, we're not lawyers. I'm a college dropout, and Ben plays with computers or something for a living, so there's a good chance we messed something up. The idea here is to give you a general idea of what's in the bill so you can then go find the relevant sections of it, and have a read of it yourself. The ratified version of the bill that was signed by the Governor can be found here. The News Chucky Schumer and Amy Schumer held a press conference this week proposing that something be done to stop mass shootings. The internet exploded with hate and vitriol after they proposed that a bill be written to do this: “The proposed legislation, which the two presented at a news conference Monday, would reward states that submit information to the background-check system and penalize states that don't comply.” But then, a few days later, John Cornyn in the US Senate introduced a NRA backed bill that would do this, and... crickets: “The new legislation from Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn tries to patch some holes in the current national background checks system by encouraging states, through the promise of federal funding, to send more information on mental-health records to the national database.” On the surface at least, it sounds like the bills do roughly the same thing. The Blue Bullets So I ordered 3600 of these last week, and received a 65lb box of lead from The Blue Bullets in the mail (Actually the post office called and asked if I could pick it up, because my mail carrier couldn't lift the box. No problem). I've been loading them like a madman, to try and get a good stockpile of ammo built up again. I like The Blue Bullets, I've been shooting them since before they were a sponsor, and I think they're great. Check out a sample pack if you haven't tried them, and save a little more with the code "triangle" at checkout. Call to Action Why haven't you checked out the Q&A podcast yet? We've got like 57 episodes recorded now, and I dare say, they're pretty good. All of the back catalog, subscription links, etc, can be found on the Q&A Podcast page here Contact luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net Voicemail Line (919) 295-6128

Ed emailed in his voicemail for this episode of the Q&A show. We really like the voicemails, so if you've got something to ask us, and want to get bumped up to the front of the line, send a voicemail. Go to http://www.triangletactical.net/voicemail to find out how it's done. This episode is brought to you by Gear that Doesn’t Suck! Check out the sidebar on the website to see our handpicked list of gear that doesn’t suck. Including EDC knives and flashlights, pistol sights, books, and more, everything there is stuff that we use and know doesn’t suck.

Nate recorded a voicemail on his phone, and then emailed the file to podcast@triangletactical.net. If you would like to have your voicemail featured on the Q&A podcast go to http://www.triangletactical.net/voicemail to send us one. This episode and every episode of the Triangle Tactical Q&A show is brought to you by … YOU. The listener. So if you’ve got a question, let us hear it. Write an email to podcast@triangletactical.net or go to triangletactical.net/voicemail to find out how to send a voicemail.

Sven in Sweden sent in a question for today's Q&A podcast. He emailed his question to podcast@triangletactical.net. Hello Luke and Ben, I listen to your podcast while driving to and from work here in cold and rainy Sweden and really enjoy the topics dicussed in your no-nonsense manner. I compete in IPSC Production division and have been thinking about something for a little while. Is Production division becoming the new race division? When introduced, Production was supposed to cater to non-race, duty type guns like Glocks, SIGs and so forth but lately the division has been dominated by for-production-built guns like Shadows and Stock 2s that almost are Limited/Standard type guns. What do you think of this development? Would you like to change anything in Production or do you think that this trend doesn't really matter since at the end of the day match outcome is skill, not gear, based? Keep it up and have a good one! /Sven This episode was sponsored by The Blue Bullets. They just announced some new bulk discounts, and shipping deals that you should check out if you’re looking to buy some new bullets for competitive shooting. Don’t forget, you can save even more with the code “triangle” at checkout. They’re Glock friendly, Open gun friendly, and they’re made right here in NC (but offer free shipping on most orders) to anywhere in the US.

Today's Q&A podcast question comes in from Tom in Raleigh. Tom sent his question to podcast@triangletactical.net. In dry-fire, you're manipulating the trigger through multiple shots on the same target and/or between targets, as if the pistol is going through its normal cycle after each trigger break.  my question is this: does this actually do anything for learning to shoot more quickly (i.e., to improve split times between shots on individual targets), or are the real gains in dry-fire mostly to be found in things like reloads, transitions between targets, movement, draws, etc.? This episode is sponsored by the Law of Self Defense by Andrew Branca. Andrew has a phenomenal book titled the Law of Self Defense that aims to teach the concealed carrier the laws governing self defense. On top of the book, Andrew also does live seminars, and online webinars on the topic. We’ve reviewed the book, as well as taken the class the last time Andrew was in town, and can’t recommend them highly enough. If you carry, you need to read the book. Save 10% with the code “triangle” at checkout, get it at Law of Self Defense.

This week I sat down with Jon Patton, of The Gun Collective (You might know him as Chaos311Clarity) to talk about new media, the explosion of gun culture 2.0, and a bunch of other stuff. We had a good time, and if you've been watching the bigger gun related video guys for a while you should find the interview interesting. I know I enjoyed it just going back and editing the show. Gear that Doesn't Suck The Bladetech OWB is a pretty great holster for competitive shooting, but be careful, a lot of them come with a Tek-Lok attachment, and I think tek-loks are pretty terrible for holsters. Anyways, I've been running a Bladetech OWB for my Glock 34 for 6-8 months now, and it just gets out of my way. No complaints. Plug of the Week If you haven't checked out the GunBlog VarietyCast in a while, you should check it out. They have a new segment called "This one time..." that had me in stitches back in Episode 47.  They're about 50 episodes in now, and everyone is finding their radio voice. It's not all hardcore gun content, but if you like guns, you'll probable like the show. Contact podcast@triangletactical.net Voicemail line: (919) 295-6128

I was standing in line at the coffee shop this morning when I got a text from a friend asking if I had seen the new IDPA rulebook yet. I haven't been an IDPA member for several years, so I didn't get the memo that the new rulebook had been posted. Here's the new rulebook .PDF if you would like to peruse it I started getting text messages with all of the new changes, and I have to say, I'm shocked to see that they listened to the membership and have made a lot of positive changes in the new rulebook. 4.1/4.2 No more "Vickers"/"Limited Vickers" scoring. Stages are still scored the same, but it's called limited/unlimited now. This sounds like a little thing, but I can tell you the "Vickers" name was confusing to me as a new shooter years ago. No more stuffing magazines on the clock. I've never come across this in a match, but there was a video from a Major match a few years back where the stage required shooters to stuff rounds in their magazine at the buzzer, and then shoot the stage. IDPA is a shooting game, not a magazine stuffing game. 8.2.4 Compact Carry Pistol Division is a go! 4.1" or less, 8+1 capacity, and ESP division rules. 8.2.6 Back Up Gun (BUG) Division is REQUIRED for all Tier 1 matches per the new rulebook! As we mentioned last week, this is really exciting for us. It gives the new shooter who only has his small carry pistol a place to shoot. Sure, under the current rules they could shoot their LCP in SSP division, but putting new shooters with LCP's in the same division as guys running Glock 34's isn't very confidence inspiring for them. 9.2.1 "Shooting and completing a Sanctioned IDPA match in the last twelve months (without a DQ or DNF) also counts as shooting a Classifier in the division in which the shooter competed." So, if you shoot at least one Major IDPA match every 12 months, you don't have to worry about shooting a classifier for the next 12 months. This is a great move, because whenever a club runs a classifier match it's always a nightmare (tons of people show up, it gets bogged down, etc). 4.14 Hits on Non-Threat Targets: These are now scored PER-HIT on the non-threat target, instead of per target. Example: If I shoot a non-threat target 10 times, I'll get 10, 5 second penalties, where under the old rules it would only be the one 5 second penalty per non-threat target. 8.8.1 Knee-pads don't have to be concealed under your pants anymore. Soft-shell knee pads are now legal for the game, but if you're going to use them, you have to wear them for the entire match. Simple rule, allows the folks that need them to wear them, and keeps the gamers from using them as an advantage only on stages where they are needed. 8.8.4.3 No more tactical flashlight finger rings: "Rings or straps that go around any part of the shooter’s body (finger, palm, wrist, etc.) are not allowed." 8.8.2 Cleated shoes are now legal, as long as the cleats are soft enough to dig into with a fingernail. 8.6.2.7 "Bullets Out" magazine pouches are not allowed. 7 Very specific rules for disabled shooters. It's nice that they laid this out so people have a resource for what's legal and what isn't. So there you have it, a bunch of changes, and the only one that still irritates me is the outright ban on bullets out magazine pouches. I'll deal with it, and I might just become an IDPA member again in the future. Let's hope they continue to make good decisions like this. Contact luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128    

A concealed carry permit holder walking into a Walmart was tackled and stripped of his pistol by someone who saw him putting it on in the parking lot. This video brings up a lot of things that both concealed and open carriers need to be aware of: No matter how you carry, you should have a means to retain your weapon in a fight. In the video the victim is attacked, and instead of trying to retain his pistol, he attempts to ward off the attack. Thankfully the person that attacked him wasn't trying to kill him, because once the attacker took his weapon, he could have easily done so. If you open carry, you should really do so in a holster that has active retention. I really like the Safariland ALS series of holsters, and I abhor the Blackhawk SERPA. For more on why the SERPA isn't recommended and weapon retention, check out Episode 85 of the podcast with Chris Clifton from Defense Concepts NC. Sometimes folks categorize open carry as the "easier" way to carry, since they don't have to put on an extra layer to cover the pistol, or shop for a comfortable holster, etc. You can open carry just about any pistol in just about any holster, although as I mentioned above, getting some type of quality retention holster is a good idea. Open carry shouldn't be the easier way to carry, because when your pistol is hanging on your hip, you need to be extra aware of who is around you, who is getting close to your pistol, and be ready to retain it should an attack happen. Local Shooting Sports News: Sir Walter USPSA is starting to use Practiscore for their match registration and squadding for the February match. If you haven't registered yet, you can do so here. Housekeeping I'm soliciting some feedback from those of you who purchased shirts from the last run of green/blue/white shirts. How are they holding up? How was your experience with the vendor that printed and shipped the shirts? Would you buy them again? Anything else I need to know? Basically, I've been a little disappointed with the latest run of shirts, and I've caught wind that some others were as well, so I want to get as much feedback on them from those of you who purchased them as I can so I can decide whether or not to use this vendor again in the future. Shoot an email to luke@triangletactical.net, or leave a comment below this post. The News IDPA has announced that the Compact Carry Pistol division is official. It's going to be for pistols with a 4.1" or shorter barrel length, and pistols will be limited to 8+1 capacity. Ben wrote a more in-depth post about it here, and the discussion in the comments is worth a read as well. "Just the Plug of the Week" This week we combined the "Just the Tip" and "Plug of the Week" segments into one. The tip part is in regards to this video of a girl being put into the trunk of her car and driven away by a gun wielding assailant. The plug portion goes to friend of the show Andrew Branca (Law of Self Defense) for his comment on the above post. He makes a really good point that I wanted to share: And don’t ever, ever, ever let the bad guy take you to another location. That new location will NOT be more favorable to your long term survival than wherever you are currently at. I will absolutely let myself be shot before I will let myself be abducted. If they want to drag my 200lb+ carcass around with them, fine. But I will be 100% non-compliant. And perhaps have an opportunity to change the course of events while being non-compliant. This all applies more particularly to women, of course. You’re almost certainly better off taking a bullet on the sidewalk than stepping into that van. –Andrew, @LawSelfDefense Contact luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128

This week we talk about gun belts. There's a lot of BS spewed on the internet about belts, and we sort through it based on our experience. Some folks like leather belts because they have a more traditional look, and they tend to flex and form to your body real nice. Other folks like the "tactical" nylon type belts because they are more adjustable, and can be extremely stiff. I started out carrying concealed with a Wilderness Tactical CSM belt (the one with the kydex stiffener) and later moved to the Two Fools Leather Goods Fat Boy Belt after Curt from TFLG sent me one for review. Some years later, I'm still wearing the leather Fat Boy Belt. I miss the infinite adjustability of the nylon belt, but the leather, while being really stiff and sturdy, has a little stretch and give to it that makes is perfect for carrying a pistol for me. The News: As you've certainly heard, the BATFE changed their mind about the Sig SB-15 Stabilizing Brace. No, the braces weren't made illegal, even though some headlines would have you believe otherwise. Basically, they decided that shouldering an AR pistol with an SB-15 brace attached constitutes redesigning the firearm into an unregistered short barreled rifle. How it can go from perfectly legal to illegal when you hold it up to your shoulder is beyond me, but that's the new ruling. What's next, will they say that pulling the trigger really fast makes a gun a machine gun? Magpul announced that they will be making Glock 17 magazines. Yep, aftermarket, US made, 100% polymer Glock magazines. MSRP is $16. I'm stoked. Plug of the Week: This week we plug the Pricelaw Blog. They post some really good, in depth analysis of gun laws. They can do this because they're lawyers, not college drop-out bloggers like me. Check them out, and subscribe to their blog in your feed reader, it's good stuff. Contact: luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128

I'm back! I've been away from the podcast for almost a month because we did the 2014 "best of" show, and then I got really sick. Started out with a cold, then the flu, then an ear infection, and finally a ruptured ear drum, but I'm back! Due to my absence I haven't been able to get out all of the things that have been bothering me over the past several weeks, so this week I told Ben to clear the main topic for me so I could vent, and I did. Here's a preview: I'm tired of people on the pro-gun side of things being so quick to "blood dance" whenever there's a shooting somewhere. It's not okay when the anti-gun people do it, and it's not okay when the pro-gun people do it either. People being stupid with guns. I know it's easy to get complacent when you handle a gun every day, but please be diligent about safety. People who are "anti-cop". Listen, we are supposed to judge people based on the content of their individual character. If a cop, or anyone else treats you wrong, it's okay to be mad at that person, but it's not okay to project that anger onto other people who have the same skin color, or wear the same uniform, etc. Stop being stupid. Match Directors who don't host their matches on the same weekend every month. People who comment before reading a blog post. (I promise this isn't directed at anyone in particular, but it needed to be said) Contact luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128

Ben recorded this episode solo because I'm still under the weather, but I plan to be back next week. Anyways, he talks about his plans for 2015, and makes some predictions for what the future may hold for guns and the shooting sports. Contact: luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128

We didn't have much to say for our last show of 2014, so Ben did something completely different, and it's completely awesome.

It's the end of the year again, and that means it's time for another "best of" podcast with our favorite clips from the year. If you want to hear the full episode from any of the clips, hit the links below: Original R51 clip - 63 Getting worried about R51 - 65 Andrew Branca on self defense insurance - 86 Stupid YouTube comment - 84 Chris Clifton on SERPA holsters - 85 Durham Gun Registry Repealed - 87 Chad Thompson - 89 Shooting Range Shenanigans - 91 Candy Sugarman on 'What men do wrong' - 94 Future of gun laws - 98 Steve Anderson - 107 Don't Worry About Your Division - 104 We'd also like to know what your favorite podcast clips of 2014 were, hit the comments below and let us know! Contact luke@triangletactical.net ben@triangletactical.net (919) 295-6128