Brand loyalty can be seen in nearly every aspect of our lives. From the vehicle you drive to the coffee you drink.
If I can spend my money and attention on a brand that supports my values and delivers on their promises, that is what I’m going to do. While part of that decision is made from data gathered with personal experience, I also pay attention to the bigger picture. What is the brand doing in public? What are others experiences with them?
Read MoreIf you haven’t realized by now, Jared is always on his instructors to write articles. The point is to have us sharing lessons learned and thoughts with students, especially on subjects that may not necessarily come up as part of a particular class’s POI.
So, here are some non-standard items which I carry daily at work.
Read MoreMost of us have a preferred load for our AR15 that is optimized for self-defense, and zero with that round. However, it is often prohibitively expensive to train with this kind of ammunition.
Read MoreCommunication is perhaps the most important of skills, especially once we begin working with others. However, too often we attempt to be understood, when the most important goal is to ensure that we cannot be misunderstood.
Read MoreSurvival, regardless of the environment, demands a realistic understanding of your situation, personal limitations, adaptability, and resourcefulness.
Read More"Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician." ~ Jeff Cooper
Responsibility and accountability are words we hear regularly these days in a variety of applications. But what do they mean for gun owners in general and the Lodestone community specifically?
Read MoreIf you are like me, you probably have more than a single rifle, and possibly more than one ammunition type in your stockpile. Adding to that, you may have different optics that you zero at a different distance due to use case…
Read MoreThose of you who’ve taken a class with me know that I’m an IT nerd, rather than someone who jumps out of aircraft or eats things that would make a billy goat choke – so today, July 19th, was a big day in the news for me.
Read MoreRecently, a firearms instructor from another agency contacted me. His students were asking the “why” behind the modern method of employing the M4 selector and he wanted some easily digestible bullet points to give them. I decided to turn the points from that conversation into an article.
Read MoreIn the Training Mindset article, I talked about the ubiquitous “Tactical Tool Box” and I wanted to expand on that a little bit. Another way of thinking about the “Tactical Tool Box” was given to me by a friend who put it this way: Every single time you draw from the holster or bring your rifle on target, your mind does the mental equivalent of placing a card into your mind’s file cabinet.
Read MoreIt was mid-day in the deep south of Missouri and the sky had just turned a sick greenish color as the sun disappeared and darkness took over. It sounded like a train as it flew by in the sky. As the tornado passed over “The Garden,” the 11-year-old boy prayed, “Please God… let this tornado take me now.”
Read MoreWe all know the guy who has a gun for every day of the year, but has very little clue as to how to employ them. We also know the guy that goes to the range with a mountain of ammo and zero structure, then leaves with a ragged target (and most likely, target stand) and not a thing learned. He looked great and had fun doing it, though!
Read MoreIt’s been a busy few months. I have been running classes for a wide variety of students. Firearms classes for us “normal” people, as well as some for local Law Enforcement and Government Agencies. One of the consistent things I’ve seen in all the classes is the desire to go fast. That’s normal.
Read MoreWe all have different ways of learning and ways of being taught. I saw an awesome t-shirt the other day that said “The Winner Spoils and the Loser Learns”, so naturally I picked it up for myself. In a society of First World problems and participation trophies, it can be easy to stagnate.
Read MoreNever doubt that you can make a difference. One of the greatest lies of the adversary is that you don’t matter, that you can’t possibly have an effect for good. Believing that lie then leads to it becoming true by your inaction. I learned the lesson the hard way as a young man.
Read MoreThe AR-15 pattern rifle is not an overly complex weapon, once you “open up the hood” and learn how it actually works.
Read MoreAfter wrapping up the Urban Evasion Workshop, a common phrase I heard was, “I’m really glad I was concealed-carrying a firearm.” But what if you find yourself in an environment where you can’t? Whether it’s the location or situation, it may not be always be feasible to concealed-carry a firearm. I had a discussion with a family member who lives in New York City.
Read MoreSo, it’s the end of the world – you’ve got you bullets and beans, and you’ve stocked up on gold and silver to trade with your fellow survivors of the apocalypse. You’re set, right?
Well, let’s take a look at that.
Read MoreThe shotgun is a versatile tool, and perhaps the most common firearm in the homes of America and abroad today. It’s a jack-of-all-trades, able to hunt anything from birds to buffalo – and yet, using it in a defensive application is a bit of a specialist’s trade.
Read MoreThere are two metrics by which we judge someone’s performance with a firearm – accuracy and speed. It naturally follows that focusing too much on one will naturally lead to shortcomings with the other.
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