Choosing an EDC flashlight

Things go "bump" in the dark. Having a flashlight with you will make the dark less of a mystery while also making it easier to find everyday objects behind a couch or illuminate a dark
parking lots after a night out. Given today's wide choice of tactical flashlights, which one is for you?
I have been introduced to the world of high performance or tactical flashlights in 2004 when I bought my first Surefire L2. I still have it, although it has been relegated to nightstand duty.
My current choice for an EDC flashlight is Novatac 120 T. I want to take you through the steps that led me to pick it.
There are two primarily types of switches to turn the flashlight on or off. You have a choice between a clickie and a momentary. Lately, some companies introduced the ability to have both switches in one flashlight. Clickie is nice because once it's clicked on, there is no need to maintain pressure on the button allowing more freedom of movement. The downside that if you have to turn the light off, you have to click it again. With a momentary switch, the light stays on only as long as you are applying pressure to the button. I found that when performing weapon manipulation with a light, momentary is much better because you don't have to remember to click the light off when racking the slide on a pistol, for instance. Since at night the flashlight works both ways - illumination the thread but also giving up your location,
the light should be off unless it is actively being used to search the surroundings or engage the target. Therefore not having to remember to click it off is a major bonus. That is why I decided that my flashlight of choice must have a momentary switch.
There are two main light technologies - LED and incandescent. However, given today's advances in LED's, incandescent lights should no longer be the choice. LED's have essentially unlimited life span, can last longer on a battery charge, less susceptible to recoil and shock. Another benefit for LED - there is no need to replace it. While an incandescent bulb for a flashlight such as Surefire costs between $15-20 and has a lifespan of about 60 minutes of continuous output.
The tactical flashlight should be large enough to allow a comfortable handle. Keep in mind that since you may be using it with a pistol or rifle, there should be enough area to allow for positive control without the flashlight falling out. In my opinion most single CR123 flashlights are about the minimum size for this purpose. With the advances in technology a single CR123 flashlight today is the equivalent of a double CR123 flashlight from a few years ago. I also like the the body of the flashlight to have some knurling or other "grip enhancing finish". While smooth body flashlights may have less wear and tear on clothing, trying to grip one with cold/wet/numb fingers would most likely result in the light falling out.
The chosen flashlight should have a sufficient output/run time. 60 lumen is the recommended minimum output for a flashlight that may be used for "social" situations. Most flashlights today provide at least this level of output. The run time is another issue. 30 minutes of continuous output at the maximum setting should be the minimum for a light. It would also be a good practice to carry at least one spare set of batteries in case the flashlight must be used for a longer period of time.
In recent years there has been a trend toward attaching strike/crenelated bezels to flashlights. E2D comes to mind. While the idea has some merit, the bezel will likely to poke you, and tear clothing/car seats, etc...A flashlight with a plain bezel can be used just as effectively while appearing less "threatening".
Surefire makes a claim about using the bright light to allow blinding of an opponent. However, just like saying if you shoot somebody with caliber X, they will immediately go down, the same care must be applied to assuming that a bright/strobing flashlight will always blind/incapacitate an opponent. Chances are it will work, but be prepared if nothing happens and you have to go to plan B.
When it comes to carrying flashlight, I prefer to use a pocket clip with a bezel down carry. This allows the bulk of the flashlight to remain inside a pocket, and makes deployment faster. Some people may prefer to carry a flashlight on the belt, however, the EDC flashlight should be pocket carryable since it is not always possible to fill your belt with pouches.
Given the above criteria, I had the following lights in mind when making my choice:

Surefire E1B
Pros:

* Compact
* Bezel down carry
* Two output levels
* Good battery life

Cons:

* Two slick - can fall out of wet/cold hands
* Clickie tail cap used to toggle between light outputs. Can cause confusion in stressfull situations.


Surefire L1 - new production
Pros:

* Great form factor for a single cell light - fills hand nicely
* One of the best switches - press lightly for low, press all the way for maximum output, with lockout feature
* Good battery life

Cons:

* Bezel up carry by default. Can be modded for bezel down carry.


Surefire E2D LED
Pros:

* Good form factor

Cons:

* Crenelated bezel can shred fabric of pants/car seats
* Clicky tail cap
* Bezel up carry


Novatac 120
Pros:

* Compact form factor
* Bezel down carry
* Versatile switch - momentary press and hold turns on Max output. Can be used as a clicky if desired. However, the clicky is only required to go to lower output.

Cons:

* Fairly short battery life due to high output at maximum level.
* A little on the short side.

Given the above list and my personal preferences, it came down to a choice between L1 and Novatac. At the end I chose Novatac because I was able to find it cheaper than L1, and there
was no need to do any mods or scrounge for E1B clip to turn L1 into bezel down carry. So far I am very pleased with Novatac. It is small enough that I grab it every-time I go out the door,
and the adjustable output allows me to get more run time by using less light for most instances. It is also rugged enough to withstand daily use.

AR Cleanliness - the chamber

With the explosion of the "black rifle" market after the election, there are a lot of new shooters that wonder what is the proper way to clean their AR?
The key part that needs to be cleaned is the chamber. Since some manufactures ship AR's with tight chambers, a dirty chamber and some ammunition can cause failures to extract and even stuck cases. Therefore, invest $10 or so into a USGI cleaning kit that comes with a chamber brush, and use it!
If nothing else, just clean your chamber.

Dating and guns

Last night while on a date, the subject of blogging came up. My date mentioned her food blog and even showed me a few photos of some tasty treats she puts up. However, as soon as I mentioned this blog, the girl did a double take, her eyes rolling nervously around, followed by a forced "OK"...
Why do people have such a weird reaction?

If it's on the internet it must be good

As a new shooter, there is a great temptation to type your question into the search engine of the day and then after carefully reading the various websites, take the advice to heart and practice it, after all if some super secret squirrel organization is doing, it must be the bees knees.
Wrong! There is a reason why the internet has been referred to as the "errornet". Unless you absolutely trust the source, take everything with a pound of salt. There is nothing better than taking a class, especially when it comes to firearms, instead of trusting the first hit of the search engine's results.

So I'm not an operator "rolleyes"

On a local forum somebody posted a thread about his recently acquired Olympic Arms AR15. Considering how far away from the military TDP Olympic strays, I suggested to the author that I wish he would have bought something that meets the spec better.
His reply was: So I'm not an operator...
It has nothing to do with being an operator or a mall ninja. When I buy a firearm I don't want to waste money, but I also want to know that I can depend on it to perform under any conditions. I just hope his Olympic AR will work him when he needs it most.

Concealed carry training

Just as getting a new car, the desire to carry your new firearm concealed immediately after getting it great.
However, doing so without at least some proper training can result in disastrous consequences. Use and carry of firearms spans many different areas of the law and society and it is beneficial to at least be aware of them.
If you decide to take a training class, I would recommend a comprehensive three day class, although it is possible to get the basic overview from a one or two day class.
What would you look for in a class? In my next post I will go over what to look for in a training class so you get the most benefit for your time and money.

Sig Sauer Defensive Rifle class

I decided to take a rifle course this year. Based on my good experience at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, I decided to take their two day Defensive Rifle class on July 18-19 2009.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a mixed experience.
I arrived on Saturday morning to find 12 other people in the classroom in addition to our two instructors. Our main instructor Scott R. has experience as a SRT team member and assistant
team leader and is a full time firearms and tactics instructor for his PD.
The course consisted of a variety of people. There was a couple from TX that drove cross country, the Three Amigos - very sharp guys from Costa Rica that came over to attend training and do some sightseeing, a PMC from Australia and a number of engineers, as well as a gentleman from the Customs and Border protection.
After a brief intro in the classroom, we headed down to the range for a cold demonstration of basic fighting positions, rifle loading/unloading and basic malfunction clearance.

Engaging target with Glock 19 after transition

About half of the class ran an AR15 variant while the other half used either theirs or borrowed Sig 556 with one exception - the gentleman from Customs using his M1 Carbine.
One of the loaner 556 rifles that was issued to a Olde had a loose castle nut. It struck me as strange that the Academy would not stake their castle nuts - especially on loaner rifles
that are handed out to guests and potential future customers. The assistant instructor tightened the castle nut and we started dry drills.
I was a little surprised at that, since the class is labeled as "intermediate" on their site. I specifically did not want to attend a basic/introductory class since I already have these skills as well
as book knowledge. I needed a class where I would get a chance to practice my "theoretical" skills with live ammo.
Scott quickly went over basic fighting stance, malfunction clearance including failure to fire and double feeds, as well as different methods to load a rifle. After an hour of dry practice we headed down to the range.
There was a variety of field gear. I ran Wilderness instructor belt with 2 Ready Tactical AR pouches and 1 Ready Tactical Glock mag pouch. I also had a chest rig with me, just in case. However, I did not feel the need to wear it for this class. For the purpose of this class, one magazine in the rifle and two magazines on belt were more than sufficient. I experimented with running my magazines with bullets facing to the rear, but found that my wrist was too hyperextended and hurt after repeat reload. So I switched to bullets forward carry mode for the AR magazines and the reload became much more comfortable while still fast. The Three Amigos all ran a chest harness which had a spring loaded container for three AR mags. A few people carried spare magazines in the rear pockets while others wore tactical vests.

Setting up transition drill
The first drill was a demonstration of the difference between between POA and POI at close range. Scott drew a circle about 2" above the headzone of a target and had us aim there while observing that the shots were getting into the head zone.
At this point several Sig mini red dots were experiencing issues. One was not holding zero. Another one had a wandering dot. They were taken off line and students were using the iron sights.
One 556 had to have its gas regulator adjusted to function with the ammo being used.
After a few revolutions of this, we finally zeroed our weapons. We used the 50 yard IBZ methodology. The zero was established by firing from the prone position. My rifle was already set for this zero and I needed no adjustments. However, some people had to move their sights, and all loaner guns had to be rezeroed as well.

Engaging targets after transition

After lunch we Scott demonstrated a few different kneeling positions followed by transitions to pistol. For transitions we started out with pistol only doing some basic draw and fire drills with no mention of tactical reloads. After doing a few tried, we got the rifles ready. We did a few different transitions. The first one being done with a rifle un slung. When it goes click, you simply hold the rifle across the chest while drawing the pistol with the strong side hand and engaging the target. This followed by transitioning with a slung rifle. Scott emphasized controlling the rifle all the way down instead of simply dropping it.
With these drills done, TD1 was over.
Since we were not able to use the range until after noon, TD2 started in a classroom with a presentation about AR maintenance, accessories, ammo selection and ballistic information. While the information presented was good, there was nothing new for me since I got it from other sources. However, some other students found it interesting.
After the lecture we headed down to the cleaning room for the "clean your rifle" part of the course. It amazed me that in a class labeled as "intermediate" about 50% did not know how to properly field strip and clean their OWN weapon. For some reason there were NO chamber brushes in the cleaning room! Considering that a clean chamber is one of the keys to a reliably functioning AR, I was surprised to say the least. Luckily, I brought my field cleaning kit and we passed around my chamber brush.
After grabbing a quick bite to eat we met up at the range. Once again, a loaner 556 had a loose castle nut. It had to be taken off line while the assistant instructor tightened it down. We started off with a quick zero confirmation at 50 yards from the prone position. Followed by a drill where we got into the prone position, engaged the target with 3-5 shots and stood up. This is where a quick adjust sling - be it VTAC or VCAS is golden. I was able to quickly lenghten my sling before going prone. I used magazine supported prone which gave me great accuracy with NO malfunctions.
During this day whenever we ran dry we were free to transition to the pistol. I hate to admit but I did a rifle speedload at the 10 yard line. After mentally congratulating myself on the smoothness of its execution, I realized that instead I should have just transitioned...
We then set up steel targets and poppers for 200 yards engagements. We fired prone from 200 yards and almost everyone was getting consistent hits on the steel as well as knocking down the poppers.
After returning from the 200 yard line, Scott wanted to show us what it was like to engage targets with elevated heart rates. To do that, we assembled at the 75 yard line and had to run as a group to the 50 yard line. Because there were so many people of varied physical ability and the short distance, my heart rate was barely elevated. I was not the only in that opinion. Overall, this attempt to elevate our heart rates failed miserably for me and at least a few others.
We did a few multiple target engagement drills and the zipper drill. In the zipper drill you start shooting at the low part of the target, letting the recoil move the rifle up.
Another interesting drill we did was the stop/threat. Based on the instructor's command we had to either yell "Stop" or engage the target.

Barricade, center

Finally time came for our last drill. We were supposed to engage to targets behind the barricade at 100 yards. We did standing and kneeling positions. Due to range limitations we could not do prone/urban prone behind the barricade. Scott briefly explained how to transition from one shoulder to another and to use the barricade for support. However, not much time was spend on finer details of transition, and no mention was made how to grip the rifle with the non-dominant hand. Here again, a quick adjust sling becomes very useful. One student with a standard two point sling decided that it was faster to unsling the rifle before transitioning.

Barricade, support side kneeling

Very few people had any issues hitting the steel from either side of the barricade.
This marked the last drill for the class. We policed the brass and met back in the classroom for wrap up/ issue of certificates.
We went through about 500 rounds of rifle and 100 rounds of pistol.
Equipment:

My Rifle

The class was a mix of ARs, Sig 556s with one gentleman using M1A carbine.
I ran a Colt 6920 upper with KAC free float rail, Aimpoint M2 in OEM mount. I had VLTOR E-Mod stock with VCAS padded sling. I used Wolf 55gr ammo.
I had zero malfunctions, since the carbine was cleaned and well lubricated before each day and the round count was mild.
I did not notice anybody having malfunctions except for the Texas' couple Aimpoint moving in Larue mounts due to improper torque.
The Sig Sauer mini red dots should be avoided at all costs.
One student had his 556 setup with a single point sling on day 1. However, he switched to a two point because the rifle was hanging too low on single point, and he had little control when it was slung.
My ready tactical pouches performed great as well.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this course. I took it specifically because I wanted an intermediate level class where the students could spend more time practicing skills instead of being taught them. Unfortunately, the class ended up being an introductory level instead of intermediate level course which was a major disappointment for me.