handguns

Gun Training – Dot Torture Does It.

April 30, 2019 By Travis Pike Leave a Comment

We all want to be better shooters and to be a better shooter you have to get out and shoot! Unfortunately, we don’t always have the time to get a good long range session in. Others may not have the money to budget in a ton of ammo. With that in mind, there is no excuse to not train.

If you have a low budget or no time, there is always Dot Torture. Dot torture is a quick series of drills that’re easy to do, and hard to perfect. It was created by Dave Blinder, and the target can be found for free here. Even better, you can print it out at home.

Dot torture only requires fifty rounds of ammunition and can be done very quickly. 10 to 20 minutes would be you taking your time. The drill is actually a series of different drills using small dots.

The Dot Torture drills include a little bit of everything. There is slow fire, drawing, off hand shooting, and one handed shooting.

The drill can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be. Typically, a shooter is going to start at three yards and shoot the drill until they pass. A passing score is 50 out of 50, with all the shots landing inside the circles. It sounds easy, but I was surprised the first few times I tried it.

Dot Torture

The drill is written on the target so following it is very easy. Here is a quick breakdown of the complete drill:

Dot 1 – Fire one string of 5 rounds, try to make the smallest group possible.

Dot 2 – Draw and fire 1 shot, holster and repeat X4, total 5 rounds.

Dots 3 & 4 – Draw and fire 1 shot on 3, transition and place 1 shot on 4, holster. Repeat drill X3, a total of 8 rounds.

Dot 5 – Draw and fire 5 rounds, strong hand only, total 5 rounds.

Dots 6 & 7 – Draw and fire 2 shots on 6, then transition and place 2 on 7. Holster your gun. Repeat the drill X4, total 16 rounds.

Dot 8 – From the Low Ready, fire five shots with nondominant hand only.

Dots 9 & 10 – Draw and fire 1 round on 9, speed reload, fire one 1 shot on 10. Holster your firearm. Repeat drill 3x, for a total of 6 shots.

Why I like it.

Besides being challenging, cheap, and fun — Dot Torture is a useful training tool. You do a variety of different handgun related tasks.

The target doesn’t lie, and you’ll be able to see the functions on which you need work. I really need to work on offhand shooting, which makes sense because I can barely operate a microwave with my left hand.

After doing a round of Dot torture, I can go home and dry fire a bit, and work on what I’m coming up short on. Dot torture is an excellent method of evaluating your handgun skills and does allow you to hold yourself to a standard. DOT Torture can be modified for rifle use as well, and I’ve used my own version with my goofy little 80 percent lower AR at close ranges.

Mastering Dot Torture

There is no way to master Dot Torture. Sure you can Master Dot Torture at 3 yards, but what about 7? What happens if you add a time restriction? You can make this drill a little harder if you really try. An IPSC timer is an excellent companion for practice like this.

Dot Torture is a ridiculously simple drill that’s practical, easy to do, and only takes 50 rounds of ammo. Even if you are short on time or money, the Dot Torture drill is still an excellent training tool.

Top 5 Best SIG P365 Holsters For Everyday Carry

March 7, 2019 By Travis Pike Leave a Comment

The P365 from SIG Sauer has become a phenomenon in the concealed carry industry. It squeezes ten rounds into a grip no bigger than a single stack 9mm. Even to this day, the gun can be hard to find in stores. Its popularity has spawned a growing aftermarket with plenty of holsters. I’ve tried out a ton, but I have found my top 5 best SIG P365 Holsters that I keep coming back to, and will show them to you now.

Bravo Concealment Torsion 3.0

The Bravo Concealment Torsion 3.0 is Bravo Concealment’s newest holster. It’s one of the rare IWB holsters that accommodates an adjustable tension device. It’s all polymer and has a rigid and strong design. It can utilize a single or dual clip set up and can be worn in both an IWB and AIWB configuration.

The Torsion is also able to accommodate your P365 if you decide to modify it. This is the best P365 holster if you want to rock a miniature red dot sight and a threaded barrel as it is designed to accommodate both of these add ons.

Not only that but this is a minimalized holster. It’s very thin and very lightweight. It utterly disappears under my clothes and the inward 10-degree cant makes this thing absolutely invisible under nothing more than a T-Shirt. It’s perfect for small frame people as well. It’s currently my EDC holster for the P365 and I adore it.

Clinger No Print Wonder V3

The Clinger No Print Wonder V3 is a very simple and versatile holster that can easily switch between IWB, OWB, and Appendix carry. Swapping it to each configuration takes only a few minutes.

It does easily conceal and is a very affordable holster, especially when you consider the fact it is actually three holsters in one. The No Print Wonder V3 can even swap between left and right-handed shooters for ease of use. In its IWB configuration it’s extremely comfortable and one of those holsters you can just forget about while you wear it.

The Clinger No Print Wonder V3 can also be adjusted for cant and ride height. It’s an odd design admittedly, but it does work and was one of my first P365 holsters. It stays in the rotation in its OWB configuration which I really adore.

Crossbreed Pocket Rocket

The P365 sits at the exact right size for pocket carry. It’s a bit for it, but the gun still fits in most men’s pockets. I can’t speak about the ladies. The Crossbreed Pocket Rocket is a hybrid design that facilitates simple and effective pocket carry. The leather backing is larger than your average pocket and it will stay in the pocket when the gun is drawn.

The leather backing is also soft against the skin and very comfortable for daily carry. It stays put inside the pocket and keeps it from moving around and causing chafing. The portion that carries the gun is a polymer shell like you’d find on a standard hybrid holster.

It protects the gun and makes it easy to unholster and to holster the weapon. It’s one of my favorite pocket P365 holsters and one of the highest quality on the market.

JM4 Relic Appendix

The JM4 Relic Appendix holster is one of the most unique hybrid holsters that I’ve ever seen. Your normal hybrid holster is a leather backing with a polymer shell. This is a polymer shell with leather stitch inside it. What it does is create a super comfortable appendix carry holster.

The holster uses Grade A Hermann Oak Leather and its incredibly comfortable. I doubt it matters to most but the holster does also look really nice. I appreciate the leather with the modern reliability and strength of Boltaron.

The JM4 Relic is one of the more comfortable appendix holsters on the market. It’s certainly one of the most interesting means to build and design a holster. These P365 Holsters come in a single clip and tuckable models.

AlienGear Shapeshift Shell

The 365 in P365 is, of course, a reference to the idea that this gun is the end all be all for concealed carry guns. It’s the perfect size to be carried every day, all year round. I tend to agree and the AlienGear Shapeshift Holster allows you to not only carry it every day but in any configuration you desire.

The Shapeshift kit allows you to carry IWB, Appendix, OWB, Ankle carry, shoulder carry, hell even there is even a MOLLE connector. The Shapeshift is really one of the most versatile kits you can have in terms of carrying a gun. As a far as P365 Holsters go it’s hard to beat for every day, and every situation kinda carry.

I can run my normal IWB setup for most days and swap to shoulder carry on road trips, or maybe toss it on my backpack for a hike. There are options for all of those. It’s a very cool system that keeps expanding.

P365 Holsters

The P365 is designed to be the ultimate EDC handgun and it really fills that role very well. The overall design is fantastic and people of any size can carry the P365 with ease. Overall it has become an overnight sensation and for good reason. It’s a small, well made, and easy to handle gun. The above are the best P365 holsters I’ve found, but you should always try them all out for your own.

It should be said that the vast majority of these holsters will fit guns outside the P365 realm. If one interests you but you don’t own a P365 I certainly suggest looking to see if it fits your individual gun. Although keep in mind certain holsters won’t be friendly for oddball versions of a gun like metal frame Walther Q5s, Polymer 80 Glocks, and other oddballs.

What about you folks, do you have any suggestions for P365 Holsters?

The Top 5 Underrated Guns of All Time

August 28, 2018 By Travis Pike Leave a Comment

I love odd and unique guns, especially those that seem to be heavily underrated. Most underrated firearms offer something other weapons don’t. The five guns I picked all offer a thing, or two most of their contemporaries did not, yet remain underrated guns.

Benelli M3

One of my favorite shotguns of all time is the Benelli M3. It’s often overshadowed by both the Benelli M4 for military and police use as well as the M2 for competition use. The Benelli M3 is a fascinating and well-made shotgun that combines the best of both worlds when it comes to pump action and semi-auto shotguns.

The M3 can convert to pump or semi with just the twist of a ring at the end of the magazine tube. The Benelli M3’s convertible nature makes it perfect for using any round out there. Shotguns are versatile weapons due to their diverse ammo selection. The Benelli M3 can handle it all, from less-lethal to full powered slugs.

The Benelli M3 is a capable, versatile, and well-made shotgun. It’s a shame it’s so overshadowed by other options. The M3 just wasn’t as approachable as different designs. However, it does serve with many police and military forces around the world. It’s also featured in one of my favorite movies ever, Heat. It’s a real shame this is on our list of underrated guns.

Walther P99

Striker fired, polymer frame handguns are all the same right? Not exactly, the Walther P99 defied expectations of what a striker fired pistol is. The Walther P99’s claim to fame is the fact it’s a double action / single action striker fired handgun. This configuration is usually associated with hammer fired guns, but Walther shook things up.

The first trigger pull is long, but very smooth and even. After the first shot is fired, the Walther P99 has a much shorter trigger pull that’s an absolute delight. The weapon has a slide mounted decocker to toss the gun back to double action. Additionally, the P99 has an anti-stress trigger design that combines the length of the double action pull with the lightweight single action pull.

The P99 never achieved the same fame as the Glock, M&P, 1911 frame guns, or even the XD. This underrated handgun is a brilliant design that’s a joy to shoot and has amazing ergonomics.

M1941 Johnson Rifle

When you are competing with the what’s known as, “The greatest battle implement ever devised,” it’s easy to be overshadowed. The M1941 Johnson Rifle was a semi-automatic rifle chambered in 30-06 Springfield designed after the Army contract. The M1941 Johnson Rifle went against the M1 Garand and eventually lost out to the rifle.

The Johnson Rifle had a few advantages over the M1 Garand. It had a 10 round magazine and could be topped off with stripper clips, or by single rounds. The M1 Garand couldn’t do that. The Johnson rifle reportedly has lower recoil as well.

However, the Johnson rifle had some faults. It was a crummy hand to hand weapon, had lots of small parts, and reportedly suffered from reliability issues when it got filthy. The rifle had a lot of good ideas and did see action in WW2 with the Marines. After WW2 the gun largely faded in obscurity. However, Johnson would later go on to work at Armalite and Colt with the AR-15.

FN FNC

While the FAL is often considered the right arm of the free world it’s little brother doesn’t get the same level of respect or fame. The FN FNC is much smaller than the classic FN FAL. It also uses a much different operating system. The FNC uses a gas operated long-stroke piston with a rotating bolt. The FNC was designed for NATO standardization trials between the years 1975 and 1977.

The FN FNC is a 5.56 caliber rifle that is compliant with STANAG M16 magazines. The gun was designed with a folding stock and an adapter to mount a Hensoldt 4X optic. It was well ahead of its time in this regard. Optics were still a pipe dream in the modern infantry world, but FN was prepped for them. The only thing the FNC was lacking was a last round bolt hold open.

The FNC did see adoption by Belgium forces, as well as Sweden and many Asian and South American countries. The FNC may be underrated when it comes to service rifles, but it seems successful.

The Stoner 63

The Stoner 63, designed by Eugene Stoner, was one of the most versatile weapons, period. The gun was created in 1963 and served with both the Navy SEALs and Marine Corps in limited numbers. The Stoner 63 was a technically a rifle but could be converted to several different platforms.

The Stoner 63 is a box fed assault rifle that could serve as a full-sized rifle or be quickly converted to a shorter carbine with a folding stock, or an Automatic rifle. In this configuration, it would fire from the open bolt from a top mounted 30 round magazine in a Bren like fashion. The open bolt allowed it to fire at a high volume while keeping cooler than the average rifle. The Stoner 63 is several underrated guns in one.

Navy SEAL with Stoner 63 LMG configuration

On top of that, the Stoner 63 could be converted to multiple machine gun configurations. This made the Stoner 63 a belt fed weapon with a 100 or 150 round drum configuration. The 63 could be mounted to a tripod or even a fighting vehicle. The Stoner 63 was one of the first truly modular platforms that was by all accounts reliable. However, this underrated weapon saw limited use and was determined to be too complex, and the high maintenance requirements killed it.

Underrated Guns Rock

Call me a bit of a contrarian, but I like the weird and the odd in the gun industry. This often leads me to hunting underrated guns down and adding them to the collection. These are just some of my favorite models of underrated weapons. Do you have any oddball favorites you’d like to share with us? If so let us know below and tell us why.

Highlights From NRAAM 2018, With Several Photos

May 12, 2018 By Josh Leave a Comment

With the NRA Annual Meetings solidly behind us, I feel as though I should start to talk about what I saw a bit. What follows are some of the better pictures I took while there, and some info about the guns and gear I saw.

Henry never disappoints at the NRA Annual Meetings. This time around they brought what I guess I’m calling a tactical lever action rifle, complete with MLok rail and non-wood-looking furniture (though I think it is actually a wooden stock). This is definitely a step in a different direction for the classic lever-action rifle maker. But, I guess if anyone can make this sort of thing work, it’d be Henry Repeating.

tactical henry — Henry’s newest lineup: Tactical Lever Action Rifles

UP close, that stock looks like it has some wood grains in it.

Henry Rifles — Here they are from the back angle.

My favorite shotgun maker has been in the news a bit lately, as they cut off Dick’s. I couldn’t help myself, there. The Mossberg 590 Sockwave also now comes in .410, which is another great option for a truck gun.

Believe it or not, this was my first time holding a Rhino in my hand. Interesting concept and I’d love to actually get my hands on one at the range. This one just happens to look sexy as hell in my favorite color: Olive Drab.

I think we were all expecting Beretta to release a compact and carry version of their APX, and they brought it with them to the NRA Annual Meetings 2018. Here is one of the iterations.

This thing is pretty innovative. I got some shots of it broken down but they didn’t come out all that well, so this is all you get. Sorry.

At the Kahr Arms booth, and couldn’t resist getting some updated Tommy Gun photos. Here’s one of them. Though, looking at it now it looks like one of my kids took it.

Canik was there. I’m a huge fan of this gun, and any gun, where my strangely shaped thumbs can actually manipulate the magazine release without having to re-position my hand. This one fits that bill. I may need to buy one. Here’s a list of what I consider the best 9mm handguns on the market.

Here is a Sphinx.

This is actually a little single shot .22 lr handgun that folds up to the size of a credit card and fits in an Altoids tin can. Talk about concealed carry.

I always appreciate clear magazines because there is no guessing how much ammo is loaded up. Hex Mag just recently released a new clear AR-15 magazine to their lineup. Here is one of them.

Believe it or not, this thing is chambered in .45-70 Government, that has been de-rimmed and is meant to take an elephant or anything else you can think of. Imagine, if you will, a 325 grain .45 caliber projectile moving at 2,500 fps. That’s what this thing does.

45-70 ar rifle — This thing is chambered in a modified .45-70 GOVT

I’m always a fan of sexy rifles. I believe I was at the Aero booth here. By the way, Aero Precision is listed in my best AR-15 Rifle manufacturer article I wrote up. Have you read it yet?

I got to spend a lot of time with my friends from JM4 Tactical. Here’s one of their new hats. Also stay tuned for a holster review I’ve got coming your way.

Here is a new pistol from Taurus. Only time will tell if it takes them two years to release it or not. I won’t get my hopes up.

Here’s another angle of it.

This shot was taken on day one. There weren’t that many people there that day. But, most of us have jobs. Saturday though, was sheer insanity.

Here is the newest Blackhawk leather holster, the MBoss. It’s made of Italian Leather, which, is strange. But, they know holsters better than I do.

Here’s a 1911 from Magnum Research. I’m going on record as stating that this is the year of the sexy 1911 pistols. I’m doing a separate post on the history of the 1911 pistols, as well as the best 1911 pistols, and many of those pictures are going in that article. Stay tuned for it.

I’m calling this the year of the sexy ass 1911s.

I needed another picture of a Desert Eagle, and that’s the only reason why this is even here. Is it kind of sexy? Sure. Is it a lot of fun? Absolutely. Is it practical? lol …

This thing is pretty nifty from Iver Johnson. It’s essentially a 4-barrel .22 with a rotating hammer. Here is what I’m going to call the action of this little gun.

And here is the gun itself. It’s small, fits in your pocket, boot, or wherever else you may want to stick a gun, and, according to the guy I spoke to, they may be having talks of offering it in .22 WMR. If that’s the case, I’d buy one for sure if it works.

That about does it for this year’s 2018 NRA Annual Meetings. It was a good time, I got to meet some great, like minded people, and spend time with my folks from the day job at Concealed Carry. Share any of these pictures you’d like, just make sure you link back to this page so I get the credit.

And, make sure you stay tuned for that 1911 piece I mentioned. I’ve been writing it for about a year and it’s finally almost done.