Armed Lifestyle - Issue 2 - June 2022

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56 TRAINING OR PRACTICE? skills and develop them on your own. This approach frees you up to take future courses in other areas that you also need to develop. When looking for a course, remember that “Handgun Shooting” or “Emergency Medical Training” are broad categories, not specific topics like “Defensive Handgun Shooting for CCW” or “Gun Shot Wound Response”. TARGET AUDIENCE? Most experienced instructors and mature curricula end up with a defined audience that will benefit most from their courses. This group does not always line up with those who take those courses, however. Many courses are filled with hobbyists, poorly informed or mis-motivated students who are looking for an “experience”, collecting another certificate or training with someone that they admire. If you are going to be a discerning student that finds real value, you need to research the specific skills and the context of intended use that the course is teaching for. There is a big difference between an isolated shooting skills focused course and a reality-based training scenario session. You could need either or both, but you need to know the difference and what you are getting into. Generally, you want to learn & build your skills in as much context as possible, get some independent practice and then attending more involved simulation or scenario-based events covering the same topic. Isolated Skill Performance classes are great for competitive shooters, but not usually the best for developing applicable defensive shooting skills. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM THE INSTRUCTOR ALREADY? You shouldn’t be paying any significant amount of money or investing a significant amount of time to train with someone whose material you can’t get a really good feel for ahead of time. Articles, books and videos are all incredibly easy to get published in today’s world for nay instructor worth that time & money to train with. There are many magazines, blogs, organizations and training groups publishing quality articles and videos from quality instructors in every of personal defense. I’ve lost track of how many awesome educators we’ve published through Personal Defense Network, for example. And, most National Level Instructors have published books or appeared on TV Shows or popular Youtube channels as well. You need to take some time to read & watch material from any instructor you are considering taking a course from. You should be able to get a really good feel for their delivery style and content value. Both matter! The concept of Respectful Irreverence aside, you should be able to find an instructor you think you will like training under who can teach you a thing or two even before you pay them a dime. Of course, the value of the content is much more important than their personality. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? Don’t fall for the “how much is your life worth?” crazy talk… there is a fair price for training. At this time, what I would consider the top level of quality instructor teaching valuable end-user classes are generally charging $200-$300 per day. Specialty classes with more supplied equipment or special venues might fairly cost a little more. If you’re considering a course in this price range and you can’t positively respond to the first three questions, with certainty, I’d advise you to pass. It might be tempting to go with the “two out of three ain’t bad” approach, especially if you are dealing with a popular instructor or exciting topic, but I sincerely think you will be compromising too much… remember: These are life & death skills and your resources are limited. Better to pass on the class that might have been “fun” or “cool” and invest in a another option. Also, keep in mind that you might have an opportunity to train with a lesser known instructor, a local instructor or a course on a topic that interests you being offered by a non-profit organize or subsidized in some other way for much less than $200/day. Those local opportunities can certainly be worth taking even if you can’t check all three of the above boxes with bold marks.
PUTTING THE “A” IN TR”A”INING! BY BILL THOMAS I’m going to start this month by asking a simple question, one that I feel every “shooter” should be able to answer immediately, but I’m betting will actually give many pause for thought, and that’s “why do YOU shoot?” I am in no way a betting man but I would put good money on the fact that the answers will be as myriad as shooters themselves! Some will say straightforwardly they shoot because they love it, others will be more pointed in their response and say that it’s about selfdiscipline, or even that they love firearms and shooting them as they are fabulous works of engineering. Some will shoot because they value their freedom and devoutly believe that ownership of a firearm will let them ensure the continuation of said freedom, and some will cite protecting their homes and loved ones, or that they shoot purely for the pot whilst enjoying “the hunt” and everything that entails… I’m sure you’re getting the idea of where I’m going with this; the reasons why we love shooting are as individual as every one of us, and that in itself is a celebration of both diversity and sameness. Fundamentally we are all different, but one of the things that we all share is the love of the “armed lifestyle”, whether that be full-time or occasional! Now if you’re lucky enough to be living in a country where you have that wonderful thing that is “The Right To Bear Arms” then I truly envy you, I really do, as where I live that is far from the case. Yes, I can legally own certain types of firearm (but not all), but to be a gun owner where I happen to reside is not something that is talked about openly… well, not entirely true as EXACTLY where I live I have several neighbours that are active clay and sport shooters, so it’s not uncommon to see the gun bags going into the back of the 4x4 on a Sunday morning… However, I am one of those people that LOVES shooting and the “tools” and life that go with it, and if I lived somewhere where I could legally own what I have replicas of then I’d be one of those guys you see in the weekend newspaper supplement with his “collection” laid out before him… yup, I’d be one of “them gun nuts” and I’d be proud of the fact! But with ownership comes responsibility, both in terms of safety and in terms of how non-shooters perceive us as “gun owners”… the fact is that many of many of my replicas are of a historic nature, models from WWII and the Cold War years that are fully functional “BB chuckers”, and for the average person they would not 6MM TRAINING www.thearmedlifestyle.com
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CONTENTS JUNE 2022 Issue 2 WE ARE O
Page 5 and 6: to a lender, and he was going to ge
Page 7 and 8: with the concept of, ‘what is min
Page 10: 10 EDITOR’S NOTE Mission Statemen
Page 13 and 14: ights through the safe and ethical
Page 15 and 16: Proudly Celebrating 25 Years of Mad
Page 17 and 18: shotgun slug to collect more air to
Page 19 and 20: its contents onto the target area.
Page 21 and 22: PRODUCT FIELD TESTING As I wrapped
Page 23 and 24: even a new stroller for my daughter
Page 25 and 26: RIDIN’ SHOTGUN WITH CHARLIE BY CH
Page 27 and 28: One of the things that Anthony driv
Page 29 and 30: The thing with dealing with the TSA
Page 31 and 32: twelve rounds instead of six. The s
Page 34 and 35: GUNSMITHING: AN INSIDE LOOK 34 GUNS
Page 36 and 37: 36 GUNSMITHING: AN INSIDE LOOK KEYS
Page 38 and 39: 38 FIREARMS: HENRY REPEATING RIFLE
Page 40 and 41: 240 FIREARMS: HENRY REPEATING RIFLE
Page 42 and 43: 42 HEAT RELATED EMERGENCIES Hot Blo
Page 45 and 46: WHAT’S NEW… THE TISAS PX9 By Ja
Page 47 and 48: located around the top of the pack.
Page 49 and 50: DULUTH PACK: WANDERER www.thearmedl
Page 51 and 52: of the Year in 1999 at the knife in
Page 53 and 54: EVERYDAY CARRY KNIFE Once the Comma
Page 55: CHOOSING THE RIGHT TRAINING CLASS F
Page 59: I have said this in the past on num
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Armed Lifestyle - Issue 2 - June 2022

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