avatarJim Barrett

Gear Review – Dark Angel Medical’s D.A.R.K. Trauma Kit

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The Direct Action Response Kit (D.A.R.K.) from Dark Angel Medical was designed by Air Force medic, Kerry “Pocket Doc” Davis. Davis spent 10 years on active duty and five years in the USAF reserves as a Combat Medic/Flight Medic-Airborne/Instructor and was deployed to several locations in the Middle East as well as numerous other locations worldwide with both US and foreign military organizations. Upon separation from the military, he worked as a civilian paramedic while obtaining his license as a registered nurse. Since leaving the military in 2007, he has focused his career on critical care and emergency medicine. Davis called upon his varied experience dealing with trauma cases in the field when he created his D.A.R.K. . . .

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Should A Concealed Carrier Intervene in an Unknown Situation?

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When you make the decision to carry a gun, you’ve taken responsibility for the safety of yourself and your loved ones back from the agents of the State. The decision to use your gun in the defense of your loved ones is a no-brainer. The tricky question is whether or not to intervene in a situation where strangers are involved. As recently as this past week, RF posted a video from the First Person Defender YouTube Series in which an armed citizen had to deal with a convenience store robbery. The decisions she made in both the first and second run throughs were thoroughly discussed in the comments section.  One of the issues raised was the perennial theme of what duty either morally or legally an armed citizen has with respect to using their firearm to defend other people whose lives may be threatened . . .

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CO Ordinance Offers Bounty for Shooting Down Drones

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It was bound to happen at some point. The recent loosening of FAA restrictions regarding the overflight of drones in U.S. airspace to spy on U.S. citizens combined with Edward Snowden’s disclosure of the NSA domestic spy program has started to galvanize citizens to action. Ironically enough, now comes this story out of Colorado, of all places. Phillip Steele, a resident of Deer Trail Colorado has submitted a proposed ordinance that would reward successful drone hunters with a bounty if they managed to shoot down a drone . . .

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SBR Caliber Showdown: 5.56/.223 vs. 300 BLK

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5.56 vs 300 BLK in a Short Barrel Rifle

Ever since I first read one of Foghorn’s 300 BLK fanboy articles back in early 2012, I’ve been hooked on the caliber.  300 BLK gives you essentially the same ballistics as 7.62 x 39 out of the ubiquitous AR-15 platform with only a barrel change. Everything else in your stock 5.56 AR can stay the … Read more

Gear Review: Echo-Sigma Get Home Bag

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photoRegular readers may remember last year’s epic $200 Bail Out Bag Challenge in which RF gave Nick and Tyler $200 each to assemble a bug-out bag that they could use to survive for 24 hours in the south Texas heat. If nothing else, the video they made is fairly amusing, but from a practical standpoint, we all learned some things from the endeavor that should guide our decision-making process should we decide to make our own bags . . .

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300 Blackout – Rolling Your Own is Easy With Carolina Brass

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pix882467434The 300 Blackout round is certainly well-liked by certain members of the editorial staff here at TTAG. It’s a great round for a number of reasons – namely it will work in a standard 5.56/.223 AR-15 with only a change in barrel needed. Every other component in your standard AR-15 build remains the same. If you make the switch, you get a very capable dual purpose round. Full power 300 BLK 123 grain ammunition matches the ballistics of the 7.62x39mm AK round and in a 9 inch barrel has 37% more energy than 5.56mm M855, and 9% more than 6.8 SPC TAP 110. In fact . . .

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Gun Review: The SIG Sauer P556 Pistol

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The AR-15 pistol is the Rodney Dangerfield of the semi-automatic 5.56 mm world. It just doesn’t get any respect. It’s considered tough to shoot accurately, being too small and light to manage a rifle cartridge with no shoulder stock. Some claim that it has too much recoil, and other than being a range toy that eventually gets tossed into the back of the safe or sold, it has no real use (unless of course you’re planning to make it into a short barrel rifle). Being the unabashed SIG whore that I am, though, I decided to procure a SIG Sauer P556 pistol. My main reason for doing this was that I wanted an SBR and I wanted something to play with during the interminable wait for the ATF to get around to approving my application (eight months now and counting). At the time . . .

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Question of the Day: What’s Your Favorite Gun Control Myth?

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mythbustedIn a prior posting on Federal Firearms Laws, I mentioned that I am in the process of writing a book about firearms for newbies and anyone who wants to learn more about guns. As I said in one of my comments on that article, I really like the book that Nick wrote last year.  It was clear, concise, and loaded with a lot of good info. I’m not trying to improve on his work  – like that’s even possible – rather, I’m covering a lot more ground to really give newcomers and experienced hands a one-stop reference to the whole firearms culture . . .

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The Federal Firearms Law Hit Parade

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gunlaws As part of a project that I’m working on, I’ve been putting together a relatively brief summary of major federal legislation that controls firearms in the United States. So I have to admit that as a result, I have learned a lot. I present this summary for your reading pleasure. First of all, it may be enlightening to some and certainly may help explain why certain things are the way that they are. My ulterior motive is also to have this explanation vetted by folks who probably know more about this than I do. Did I get the details right? Anything I missed? Need to change? As always, your comments are appreciated . . .

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Training Review – Critical Defense Institute

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Critical Defend Group (courtesy cdi-group.org)

Since last November, I’ve been training at the Critical Defense Institute (CDI) in Manchester, NH. CDI provides firearm and self defense training to civilian, law enforcement, and military audiences. It was the second organization in the State of New Hampshire (after the SIG Sauer Academy) to be certified for the Simunitions Range Program which means that average Joes and Janes can get Simutions training . . .

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