had some fun this weekend

[KenpoTex]

I haven't been on the board for a few days because I was down in Tn. for Tactical Response's Alumni Weekend. This event consists of two days of free training for anyone who has ever taken a class. Some of the topics covered in the various classes and workshops included dealing with the legal issues in the aftermath of a shooting, terrorism interdiction, trauma medicine (taught by an active duty 5th Group medic), emergency fire-starting, gelatin testing of people's carry ammo (conducted by a rep. from Cor-bon), "infight weapons access" (groundfighting on bare concrete sucks...), and a class on point-shooting vs. sighted fire (conducted by Dave Biggers of XS Sights). Excellent training conducted by a lot of the "movers and shakers" of the industry.

There were also competitions for rifle, pistol, and shotgun and "fun shoots" that included some trigger time on full-auto AKs and shooting a Barret .50 (courtesy of the guys from Barret firearms).
Lot's of fun, and I actually placed in the pistol competition and won a set of XS Big-Dots.

There was also a 1,000 round torture test conducted with a Glock 19, I'll post the link as soon as they get the video up on YouTube.

 

[terryl965]

Sounds like a womderful time.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Now that's a way to spend a weekend!

 

[Drac]

Now that's a way to spend a weekend!

Amen brother...Wish I could been there...

 

[sgtmac_46]

If my schedule next year permits I plan to try to attend some TR training. In November i'm scheduled to attend Firearms Instructor training at the St. Louis County Police academy, and then at the first of the year some instructor training with the guys at Strategos International. If time permits i'm going to try to head down to Tennessee in the spring.

FYI, Kenpo, what does Tactical Response have against the Serpa holster?

 

[KenpoTex]

FYI, Kenpo, what does Tactical Response have against the Serpa holster?

this is from the FAQ section of their website:

Why no Serpa holsters?
An answer from our friend Paul Gomez: Begin Quote “Over the last year, I have developed some serious concerns with the Blackhawk Serpa Active Retention holster design. Various persons have brought these concerns to the attention of Blackhawk on several occasions and Blackhawk has chosen to ignore these very real issues.
The ‘Serpa Active Retention’ design consists of a plastic L-shaped component which functions as the release button [from the outside of the holster] and as the lock [which engages inside the trigger guard]. The short leg of the L-shaped lever pivots inward [toward the pistol], while the locking tab pivots outward to release the pistol from the holster.
According to the Blackhawk website, ”The release is made using your normal drawing motion, with the trigger finger beside the holster body. … As your trigger finger naturally comes to rest on the SERPA lock’s release mechanism, simply push the mechanism as you draw the weapon and it releases the gun for a smooth, fast draw.”
While Blackhawk may intend for the end-user to apply inboard pressure with the flat of the index finger, under stress, shooters tend to push the button with the tip of their index finger. After all, this is the manner in which most people have the most repetitions pushing buttons such as keys on a keypad or phone or ringing doorbells. When the finger pushes in on the release button and the user initiates the upward motion of the draw stroke, the finger tends to stay in motion and as the trigger guard clears the holster, the finger enters the trigger guard and contacts the trigger, with possibly tragic results.
I am aware of two instances where trained personnel have shot themselves using this holster in conjunction with Glock pistols. In August of 2004, a situation occurred with a live weapon that resulted in the shooter losing a 10cm piece of her femur. The other occurred with nonlethal training ammunitions in a force-on-force event in April of 2005. The impact of the NLTA was in the same area as the actual gunshot wound previously mentioned.
Following each of these events, Blackhawk was contacted and advised of the problems observed and concerns raised. In the first instance, they claimed that they were unaware of any previous issues with the design and insisted that the design had been ‘thoroughly tested by law enforcement and military personnel’.
After the second event, they were contacted by at least two people. Again, they stated that they were unaware of any concerns and had heard nothing similar from any sources.” End Quote

basically they just feel that it's an unsafe design. If you're interested in more in-depth info. Go to totalprotectioninteractive.com and do a search for Serpa and you can see Gomez's original posts/articles.

I personally will never use one because of an experience I had while looking at one in a store. The sales guy told me I could try one so he took a brand new one out of it's package and handed me a blue-gun. I put the blue gun in the holster but when I pressed the button to get it out, something broke inside and locked the gun into the holster...they had to pry it off. This was not a demo piece that hundreds of people had played with...this was right out of the box.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Hey Ken,

It's this TR, right... http://www.tacticalresponse.com/

Pitty they don't do any traveling.

Deaf

 

[Grenadier]

gelatin testing of people's carry ammo (conducted by a rep. from Cor-bon)

Was it Terry or Peter? They tend to get around a good bit... Nice folks, and Peter's really knowledgeable.

There was also a 1,000 round torture test conducted with a Glock 19, I'll post the link as soon as they get the video up on YouTube.

Looking forward to another consistent result. I just hope that they did this with a factory, stock Glock 19, and not one of those NYPD Phase 3 malfunction-prone ones.

 

[sgtmac_46]

this is from the FAQ section of their website:
basically they just feel that it's an unsafe design. If you're interested in more in-depth info. Go to totalprotectioninteractive.com and do a search for Serpa and you can see Gomez's original posts/articles.

I personally will never use one because of an experience I had while looking at one in a store. The sales guy told me I could try one so he took a brand new one out of it's package and handed me a blue-gun. I put the blue gun in the holster but when I pressed the button to get it out, something broke inside and locked the gun into the holster...they had to pry it off. This was not a demo piece that hundreds of people had played with...this was right out of the box.

Interesting.....i'll have to research the subject further.

I've got a Serpa holster for my G22C, but I must confess that since I use a Safariland SLS holster on-duty, that is what I mostly train with. I liked the Serpa idea, but it did occur to me in passing that based on it's design an ND was a remote possibility.

 

[KenpoTex]

Hey Ken,

It's this TR, right... http://www.tacticalresponse.com/

Pitty they don't do any traveling.

Deaf

that's them...they do classes all over the US and Canada and you can arrange to host most of their classes.

Was it Terry or Peter? They tend to get around a good bit... Nice folks, and Peter's really knowledgeable.



Looking forward to another consistent result. I just hope that they did this with a factory, stock Glock 19, and not one of those NYPD Phase 3 malfunction-prone ones.

It was Mike Shovel, the sales manager

And yes, it was a stock G19 (with the exception of the sights) that James Yeager actually uses as his carry gun.

here are a few pics...

Gelatin Testing

a couple I shot from my .38...Powerball on the left and DPX on the right (obviously, I'll be sticking with the DPX)

 

[KenpoTex]

Some more pics...

The continuum of sighted fire and point shooting with Dave Biggers from XS Sights

Pyromania 101 (emergency fire-starting)

Terrorist interdiction class lecture and shooting "problem"

I've also got some pics from the Torture test but I'm going to be a tease and wait to post them until the guys get the video done

 

[Aaron Little]

I am glad that you enjoyed yourself. I think it is as much fun for us as it is the students. I look at it like a family reunion.

 

[KenpoTex]

I am glad that you enjoyed yourself. I think it is as much fun for us as it is the students. I look at it like a family reunion.

definitely...every time I've been down there I hate to leave.