Cleaning revolvers is easier with a boresnake
I remember the first firearm I ever cleaned was a Marlin bolt action 22LR rifle. To clean the gun, all you had to do was pull the bolt out the back by depressing a button and pulling it back. You could look down the chamber and see all of the fouling and know how dirty it was. Using Hoppes cleaning solvent on a wet patch would produce a dark black gun patch on the other end when pushed through with a cleaning rod. After you did that a few times, I’d run a cleaning brush a few times and then run a dry patch until it ran clean.
Revolvers and some semi-auto guns like the M1 Garand or the M14 and Mini 14 can be tricky and need to be cleaned from the muzzle if you are using a cleaning rod, well a few decades ago a new innovative way of cleaning these firearms was invented. The Hoppes boresnakes are the simplist way to speed up the process and to put dangerous wear on your barrel by using a cleaning rod. The Hoppes Boresnake is caliber specific so you may want to pick up a few for various calibers. There are also rifle and pistol versions.
I have had an above average level of firearm training, but I am very much aware that I’m no expert. I think anyone that claims to be an expert tends to have the wrong attitude and will eventually fall victim to complacency. There is a pretty well known youtube video of an “expert” showing students about firearms as he ends up putting a bullet into his foot in front of a class of school kids. One of the most important things I have learned about close and personal fighting with firearms is rifle and pistol sight differentiation. On a rifle you can shoot a bullseye at 300yds with your ACOG, but at 6ft, you might end up putting a bullet 3 inches over a bad guys forehead due to the barrel and optic offsets.
I still run into friends that laugh at the whole concealed carry market and say that the pants and shirts all look tactical and not very concealed carry. There are arguments all over the internet about not wearing camoflauge while carrying a gun or wearing anything that makes you look like you’re packing. Well, I’ve spotted plenty of off duty cops that were wearing t-shirts and jeans, but the shaved heads and the polite manners basically gave away the fact they were LEOs, so how do you hide that?
Why Laser Sights? Immediate Decisive AdvantageThe answer is short-and-sweet: Lasergrips provide you with instant and overwhelming advantages you wouldn’t otherwise have. Laser sights simply help you shoot better, with greater speed and accuracy, which translates into increased confidence—even in tense and threatening scenarios, when hours and hours of vigilant training can disappear in a haze of panic and confusion.
I’ve often noticed that some of the most experienced shooters I know that you would imagine could probable carry a Argentine FAL concealed actually all carry very small and lightweight firearms. The J-Frame seems to be the number one, but I have been noticing that there are a few very reliable autos being made by Ruger and Kahr. I understand the need for training, but there have been drawbacks to many of the snub nose revolvers I have fired. Number one, they tend to have terrible triggers and the sights are so small they are hard to use. I’ve put plenty of lead downrange, but I have done tests with 5 shot revolvers and the difference between double action trigger pulls and single can be significant. If you’ve only got 5 rounds, you have to make every round count.
Every time I get asked a question about which firearm or accessory someone needs I follow up with the question “For what?” I have seen plenty of well trained concealed carry owners walk around with a 5 shot j-frame and none of them feel under gunned. The reality is that in some nightmare situation, you’ll never be full prepared, and sometimes we just have to be practical when we are CCW every day. For most practical purposes, I’d recommend keeping a spare magazine in your gun safe in your home, or keep one in your car if you don’t think you can comfortable carry a backup. When most of us are out and about, the ammunition you have on you is all you’re going to be able to fight with, but keeping something near your car and easily accessible in your home is a good idea.
I highly suggest that when people are carrying a firearm, even if they are not carying a backup firearm, should at the very least have atleast one other item on them that they could consider using in a defensive application. Some may sound funny, but if you were a bad guy, getting a set of car keys jammed in their face or having a belt buckle being used as a pair of brass knuckles or a whip is not something they would want to be hit with. If you are carrying a pocket gun, and don’t have the ability to comfortable carry mace or another less lethal weapon, try using a belt that has a slightly heavier than normal belt buckle and remember that you can always use it as a whip if need be.