Range Talk: Practical Guns, Gear & Training

Obesity in the United States kills hundreds of thousands every year. Since this podcast is about practical firearms use, and being adequately prepared for their use, then we can't ignore the importance of fitness and physical health as a part of that. I promise I'll be back to talking about more direct gun stuff next week!

More Americans are carrying pistols now than ever before. While it's great that Americans are recognizing the need for a disproportionate means of self defense, I fear that the efforts to make those pistols fight ready aren't quite up to par.

Generally speaking, a modern carbine that you pick up off the shelf and go shoot with will work just fine. Whether it’s a direct impingement AR-15 or one of the many piston-driven systems out there, anything built to spec by a reputable manufacturer should be able to fire, eject, and feed any factory ammo of the correct caliber without issue. But there are still reasons you might consider options to tune a rifle’s gas system: perhaps you have a custom build or a specific ammo type that isn’t running as reliably as you’d like, or you’d like to reduce felt recoil for faster follow-up shots. Let's go through the options and how to tune your setup for your specific needs.

Caliber choice is something that people tend to overthink and put too much emphasis on, and those people don’t like being told not to do those things. Now I’m fine with shooters that have developed caliber preferences over time, but if you’re just starting out or looking for scientific reasons to go with a particular caliber, hear me out on this: choosing a caliber for your next gun is silly and I’m going to explain why.

Acquiring and shooting firearms is definitely one of the most expensive hobbies one could involve themselves in. There are ways to minimize the wallet hit, such as buying cheaper ammo in bulk to train with, but does the money you save come at another price?

I often hear that a pump-action 12-gauge should be considered the go-to for home defense. It’s easy to use, intimidating to the bad guy, and packs a major punch. There’s also a common belief that you don’t need to waste time aiming when the buckshot will fill the hallway. But the truth is that none of that is true and a shotgun is actually the worst option you could go with, and we're going to dig into why this week.

Slings may not seem like very exciting podcast material, but if you have and use a rifle, one of the first things we'd like you to have on that rifle is a quality sling. As long as you have a sling, you might as well make sure you know what it’s for and how best to use it

Welp, it’s that time again. Some stuff is on the news and some political shenanigans are in the forecast. That means perfectly normal guns, ammo, and gear are going to be flying off the shelves and hoarded into closets, basements, and bunkers. Yep, it’s panic buying time.

This episode is PACKED with puns, and mostly not the dirty kinds. Everyone "knows" that a longer barrel will be more effective at distance and that short barrels are only useful in close quarters or concealment when the size of the weapon is more of a factor than actually shooting the thing. Let's dissect a bit of what is "known" and figure out what we should know going forward when it comes to barrel length.

When discussing any hobby or profession where you’re spending money on gear and equipment, debates will always come up about how much is the right amount to spend on something. As with everything, there’s a sweet spot to setting up your everyday pistols and rifles, and in this episode we’re hopefully going to find those sweet spots.