Rescue Tool

About a month ago, I got a new vehicle. See my post on my personal blog for details here... As I moved all the "stuff" from my old car into the new one, I took the time to re-evaluate what I kept in my car. Some of it was just the normal junk and trash that tends to accumulate over the years and just needed to be thrown away. However, I also took the time to think about what should be in the car that wasn't. The one big thing I found missing was a rescue tool.

For those that don't know, a rescue tool is a device that is designed to either help a trapped driver or passenger get out of a wrecked vehicle or to be used to pull an injured driver or passenger out of another vehicle if they can't help themselves. It usually includes at least a glass breaker and a seat belt cutter. I took the time to evaluate a few available rescue tools on the market and ended up buying a Blackhawk Hawkhook. To be honest, the biggest deciding factor for me was price. After buying a new car, I just didn't want to go making another big purchase right now and the Hawkhook seemed like it would do what I needed without breaking the bank.

The tool is pretty neat. It is designed with a frame lock folding knife. However, the blade that comes out is an "S" shape and has quite a few tools on it. Included is a serrated blade, wire stripper, bottle opener, seat belt cutter, glass breaker and a flat head screw driver.

There are some nicer but more expensive options as well. The ones I liked the most were the Spyderco Assist and the Benchmade Triage. Down the road, I may upgrade to one of those and move the Hawkhook into our 3rd vehicle or into the bug out bag as a handy multi-tool. In the meantime, I'm happy with what I got.

The big point is that you should have something in your car in the case of an accident to make sure that you and your loved ones can get out safely. It is a tool, much like a gun, that you pray you never need but you will be damn happy you had it if you ever do need it. If you really want something small and inexpensive, you can check out the Benchmade Houdini Escape Tool which is what I bought my wife years ago for her car.

The other issue to keep in mind is that you need to store it somewhere in the car you can reach from the driver's seat, that you will be able to find and that is secured enough that it won't get thrown out of your reach in a wreck. Think now so you can just act when it counts. Stay safe out there and watch your six.

4 Laws of Firearms Safety

I was looking over my previous posts and realized that I have never actually written an articale about the rules of firearms safety. I guess I just assumed that it was too elementary of a topic to need to cover. However, an incident happened the other day with a neighbor that made me realize I shouldn't just assume everyone knows how to handle a firearm safely. What has become known as the 4 Laws of Firearms Safety was made popular by Col. Jeff Cooper. They are...

1. All guns are always loaded.

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.

4. Identify your target, and what is behind it.

To me, these rules seem pretty self explanatory, but I'm going to try to expand upon each of them to make sure they are clear. If you follow these 4 simple rules, you could eliminate 99% of firearms accidents.

Rule #1: All guns are always loaded...

This rule does not literally mean that any gun you pick up will contain ammo. What it means is that you should always treat every gun as if it were loaded no matter how many times you've checked it. I will tell you a story to hammer this home.

My family ran a pawn shop in SC from 1940 - 2001. I worked there off and on through high school and college and helped out some even after I graduated and had started my own career. One day, a customer brought in several guns he wanted to put on consignment. One of them was a .22 pistol and he had forgotten to bring the magazine with the gun. He promised to bring the magazine the next day so we went ahead and logged the guns in and put them out for sale. That next day, I had already shown the gun to at least 3 customers. Each time, I had pulled back the slide, seen an empty chamber and no magazine and then handed the gun to the customer. Later that day, the customer brought in the magazine and handed it to my uncle. He put it in the gun and walked away. The next customer I helped wanted to see the same .22 pistol. I had already checked this gun 3 different times that day, but I pulled it out of the case and pulled back the slide and watched with shock as a round fed from the magazine and slid into the chamber! The magazine the seller had brought us was loaded and my uncle had paid no attention to it! I excused myself to the back and unloaded the gun before handing it to the customer, but if I had not checked it I would have handed a customer a loaded gun.

This is why it is so critical to check every gun you handle every time and even after you verify it it is unloaded, you treat it as if it were loaded. How many times have you read tragic articles in the paper about gun accidents where the person that did the shooting says "I thought it was unloaded"? Well, if he had treated it as if it were loaded, it wouldn't have mattered!

There is no such thing as an unloaded gun. Period.

Rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

If everyone followed this rule 100% of the time, just think how many accidents could be avoided. I cannot tell you how many times while working at a gun shop or shopping in a gun shop or walking a gun show, I've had "unloaded" guns pointed at me. See Rule #1! If you treat every gun as if it were loaded, you won't be pointing them at people, or animals or property. Watch your muzzle and don't point it at ANYTHING you aren't willing to destroy. That way, even if the magic bullet finds its way into the chamber and you violate Rule #3 (getting ahead of myself) and put your finger on the trigger, it won't matter because it is pointed in a safe direction.

Rule #3: Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.

This seems so obvious but gets broken so often it is scary! If you aren't on target and ready to shoot, KEEP YOUR BOOGER HOOK OFF THE BANG SWITCH! Is that plain enough? There is no reason whatsoever to have your finger inside the trigger guard of a gun unless you are preparing to shoot. The obvious exception to this is if disassembly requires you to dry fire the gun (e.g. a Glock), but in that case as long as you have followed Rule #2 you will still be safe. When I worked at a gun shop in the late 90's, I'd bet 70% of the customers I handed guns to put immediately put their finger on the trigger and 90% of those had not checked it first to see it was unloaded and probably 50% of them proceeded to point the gun right at me! Good grief!

Rule #4: Identify your target, and what is behind it.

This one is so critical and gets ignored so often. You are legally and morally responsible for every bullet that leaves the barrel of your gun from the moment you squeeze the trigger until the moment it reaches its final resting place. Paper, cardboard and soda cans aren't going to stop a bullet. You need to make sure there is a good, reliable backstop beyond your target and you need to be 100% sure that you are firing into that backstop. This is the rule that the neighbor broke that inspired this rant. I won't go into the details to avoid embarrassing anyone, but you must understand that bullets can travel a very long distance if they aren't stopped by a backstop and they can cause serious injury or death at those distances. If you have any doubts about this, ask the family of the little girl tragically killed in the wave pool at Carowinds back in the late 80's because of some idiot who lobbed a rifle round in from over a mile away because he violated this rule.

Ok... enough ranting. If you stuck with me through all that, thank you. I apologize if this came off a bit preachy, but the story I heard from a neighbor who was being reckless with a gun really got we wound up about this topic. Follow these rules and you can enjoy the wonderful sport of shooting safely and you can come home with the same number of holes you left with.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

Extra Links

Just a quick note to point out that I added a couple of new gun TV shows I've discovered, a new podcast I found and a couple of new gun blogs I've come across. I hope if my writing isn't interesting enough or frequent enough than the links are at least of some use.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

Range time is too valuable to waste

With the wisdom of hindsight, I realized really goofed tonight. I want to write about it so that others won't make the same mistake.

First, a little back story. Over the last 3 months I've added 3 new guns to my collection... a Ruger 10/22, a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum and a Sig P6. However, due to work and holidays I haven't made it to the range to fire any of them. I really hate having a gun sitting in my safe that I haven't shot, so having 3 like that was really bugging me. I knew my wife had to work tonight and I was off so I made up my mind to head to the range and get some trigger time with my newest guns.

I spent last night stuffing magazines and packing my range bag. When my wife left for work, I was all set and packed the car to head to the local range. I arrived a few minutes after 6pm. I noticed the hours on the door said they closed at 6pm on Saturdays, but since the parking lot was pretty full, I decided to try anyway and see if I could get them to sneak me in for at least a 30 minute session.

I got to the counter to learn that the crowded parking lot was due to a class they were teaching that night and they were indeed closed. I was pretty bummed. I explained to the range owner that I had several new guns that I really wanted to try out and could he just stick me down at the end of the line and let me shoot while the class was going on? He said if I was really quick, he'd give me a lane for 5 minutes while they finished briefing the class.

At that point, I should have just said "no thank you" and left. I should have just decided to come back another day. However, I had a range bag full of loaded magazines and I was itching to shoot. I took the offer and blazed through all the loaded mags I had for the Sig P6 (5 mags of 8 rounds each). Then, I pulled out the Redhawk and fired off the last 13 rounds of .44 Magnum I had. Then, I quickly pulled out my 10/22 and cranked through 1 10 round mag and 4 25 round mags. All the guns fired with zero malfunctions and I packed up, thanked him for squeezing me in and left.

I left fairly happy because I had gotten to try out all my new guns and they all had functioned 100%. However, after thinking about it, all I really accomplished was using up over 150 rounds of ammo and got ZERO real practice. For most of us, getting time at the range is rare and when we get the time we should really use that time for some real practice. We should be working on trigger control or sight alignment or double taps or any of a million other skills that we need to work on. Instead, I simply fired off rounds. I wasted a range trip and since I wasted the ammo I had set aside, I can't go back tomorrow when I wouldn't be so rushed. Learn from my mistake. If you can't devote the time to do it right, best to find a better time to head to the range and just save your ammo.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

Restarted my Personal Blog

Just a quick note here. Before I ran "Watch Your Six" I had a personal blog that I ran to help my friends and family keep up with me. I lost track of it and yesterday stumbled across it by accident. I've decided to restart it. I will continue to post all gun related topics here, but anything else will be posted on "Sean's Blog". I will maintain a link on the right slide under "My Other Blog".

Another new toy

Well, the holidays are over... thank goodness. Am I the only one that is dismayed that we spend a month or more preparing for Christmas and then in one day it is over? It always seems so anti-climactic. Well, this year did result in two rather special things. The first is that for the first time in my 38 years, I got to experience a white Christmas. It started snowing about 11am on Christmas Day and by the time it was done, we had about 8 inches. The other thing that happened (and the one that more fits the topic of this blog) is that my wife gave me $300 to spend on a new gun.

The plan was to attend the local gun show that was scheduled to be held on Jan 1st and 2nd here. However, the Monday after Christmas I decided to hit the local pawn shops just to see what they had to offer. The first one I went to was the one furthest from my house that I had on my list. It is Foothills Jewelry and Loan in Hickory, NC. My plan was to start there and then work my way back home stopping in about a half dozen shops along the way. I walked into Foothills and scanned the gun counters. They only had one gun that really caught my eye... a Sig P6.

For those that are unfamiliar, the P6 is the German Police version of the Sig P225. It is a single column 9mm that has since been replaced by the P239 in Sig's lineup. In fact, my wife has a P239 and I had one myself that I sold this summer. If you want a good picture of a P225 go to SigForum. The picture on the welcome page and in the logo is a Sig P225 and looks nearly identical to the one I found at Foothills. A couple of years ago, the German Police started trading in their older P6's and a large number of them were imported into the U.S. for civilian sales at some VERY good prices. At the time, it was not that rare to see them in the $250 - $300 range. That supply quickly dried up and a new batch came in at a higher price of $400 - $450. These guns varied greatly in condition. Some were LNIB while others looked liked they were used as a dog toy in the K9 division. A friend that works at Hyatt Gun Shop actually got a NIB one that was never issued to an officer.

That supply too has dried up and they are getting hard to find again. One issue is that older models apparently had a different feed ramp than the civilian P225 and did not feed hollow point ammo very well. The P6 I found was in excellent condition and had a newer date code on it from after the hollow point issue had been corrected. After a little haggling, I got the gun for $350 + tax with 2 mags, a shoulder holster and a single mag carrier. This gun is immaculate and I feel very lucky to have found it.

My only problem is that I didn't get to browse the other shops and going to the gun show became pointless. Oh well. I got a great gun at a great price and got to replace one of the guns I sold that I regretted. Check those pawn shops occasionally. You never know when you will find something special waiting for you there. Stay safe out there... and watch your six.

The joy of a big boomer

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted since mid-August. Sorry guys (and gals). I started on a new job on Aug. 30th as a consultant and then converted to a full time employee on Nov. 1st so work has kept me busy. Things are starting to settle down a bit now so here I am with more gun ramblings.

This past weekend, a friend that works with my wife approached her about a gun he had for sale. He had a S&W 29-3 with a 6" barrel (the same configuration Dirty Harry used) and he wanted to sell it to fund another gun purchase. The next day, I went to visit him and check it out. I fully planned to take a look at it and tell him I wasn't interested. I was really only going to see him to offer him some advice on how to go about selling it on CarolinaShootersForum in the classifieds section. However, when I saw it I realized I needed to have it. I do have another .44 Magnum... a Ruger Super Blackhawk, but there is something about a nice double action .44 Mag. I didn't have enough cash with Christmas so close, but I offered him a trade that he took.

After thinking about it harder, I decided I really liked the gun but just don't care for blued revolvers. Bluing takes more maintenance to keep it looking nice and it seems that all the rounded surfaces on a revolver just make it harder to deal with. I posted it myself on CSF and traded it for a 5.5" Ruger Redhawk in the same caliber, but in stainless steel. This gun is built like a TANK! I love the feel of a well built, big revolver.

Is it the most practical gun out there? No. However, they are just so much fun to shoot that I really think at least one belongs in any complete gun collection. Now you can see why writing an article like my last one is so difficult. One post later, I'm adding to it.

Stay safe out there... and watch your six.