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July 3, 2023 - Louder with Crowder
43:31
GUN WEEK w/ Mrgunsngear | Ep 1. Handguns 101
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It's gun week!
The Founding Fathers understood that only an armed people could truly be a free people.
So this week, I invite you to join me and Mug Club's resident gun aficionado, Mr. Guns and Gear himself, as we tackle the subject of firearms from every angle possible.
In today's episode, let's take on all of the basics that you need to know About a handgun.
This is Handguns101.
Episode number one of Guns Week.
We're going to be going through Handguns 101 today.
We'll have another installment.
You can click the link on Long Guns, Rifles, Shotguns, Debunking Gun Myths, Ballistics.
This brings us our resident expert, Mr. Gears.
You may know him as Guns and Gear.
We call him Mr. Gear.
Glad to be here.
Guns on a first name basis?
Yeah, we can go with Guns or just Mike.
No, guns sounds like a good handle.
It does, actually.
There aren't that many, we've talked about this, entry points for people out there.
There are a lot of gun hobbyists and there are a lot of videos online from incredible speed shooting, unbelievable trick shots, feats, and then people arguing about you being an idiot for purchasing a certain firearm, using a certain caliber.
This is hopefully designed to inform you and help you.
Look, if you haven't purchased a firearm, know what you probably need to take into account.
How to be safe, how to learn how to shoot, maintain it, the basics.
And then if you want to move on down the trail, great.
But it does seem like with the gun community sometimes, they forget that there are rungs to the ladder.
100%.
And that's one of the reasons I started doing what I do.
I didn't grow up around guns at all, so I didn't handle them until I was an adult.
I felt really intimidated.
Um, thought, you know, you need to be military, you need to be police to know anything about guns, and it's just simply not true.
Not true at all.
And sometimes you will get military and police who will still espouse that, say, actually, well, you guys don't need these.
Right.
This is for me, you know, with a BMI sometimes of 35.
Right, as if they're a gatekeeper to the Second Amendment.
Right.
There absolutely are no gates.
Exactly.
I'm not a gun guy, I'm a Second Amendment guy who, you know, I carry a firearm.
So, right now on the table, we do have a revolver.
This is my carry here.
We'll make sure it's unloaded so you can see this.
There's no way when there are cameras around.
I'm aiming it at a hill for the internet experts, but at some point it'll be aimed at something that can be exploded.
That's my Walther.
So this is a semi-automatic and a revolver.
Maybe a good place to start would be having the ladies bring out some firearms and kind of going through the process of Picking a firearm, a handgun that would be appropriate for you.
Yep, for sure.
Alright, let's bring out the lovely ladies.
Thank you.
There was no real specific technical purpose for that, but it was nice.
So, walk us through here, for folks who may not know, the firearms.
First off, if you have a handgun, what would be the primary purposes for someone purchasing one?
So, what I always say about when you're trying to pick your first gun, if you want You know, choosing rifle, pistol, shotgun, whatever the case may be, I recommend for your first gun to get a handgun of some sort, whether it be a revolver or a semi-automatic, which we'll get into here in a second.
The reason for that is, you can always have your handgun with you.
Most situations, you can't just run around with an AR-15, but you can with a handgun, so it gives you options.
You can carry it, you can take it, you know, out in the woods, if you're afraid of cats, whatever the case may be.
Yes, or just don't like them.
I don't like that.
But anyway, so that's why I recommend a handgun.
Of course, there's some drawbacks to that.
They are the hardest of the guns to shoot well, for sure, but again, they definitely give you options.
And those could be, especially a handgun, right?
Most likely, are you going to have it in your, you know, night, it's going to be a bedside gun.
Right.
That allows you something larger, which, a benefit, easier to control.
Yep.
If you're carrying it, the smaller you go, the harder to control, but obviously the easier to conceal, the trade-offs.
Right, there's always a trade-off with guns, no matter what.
You're giving up something to get something.
So, for example, here on the table we have this gun here, which is a Ruger .22 caliber pistol.
That would be a great gun for someone who wants to learn how to shoot, because very low recoil, not a powerful round at all, but the benefit of it is very, very low recoil.
It's not as loud as some of the other options as well.
So, the downside, of course, is that .22 is not good as like a bedside gun, right?
Right.
You don't want to count on .22 to save your life.
And we'll go through that in a future installment here.
Myths associated with guns.
Because you'll have people say, well, a .22 kills someone.
Well, sure, it does.
But if they're dead four hours later in the hospital, it's not going to help you.
There's a term, stopping power.
Also, the idea that the .22 bounces around in your body like a ping pong ball.
It's not true.
That's another video.
Yes, it is.
And explain for people.
So we have a 9mm, .380, and this is a revolver and .357.
What we think, or what you think, is the minimum effective caliber?
Why one might...
Sure.
So, my opinion is, for self-defense, your minimum caliber you should go with, if it's a semi-auto, is .380, which is this one here that we have for the Walther PPK.
And the reason for that is just, there's a lot of studies that have been done on it, and between .380 slash 9mm up to .45, there's not a lot of difference in terms of stopping power, as you just said, in the real world.
If you actually look at the data, it's pretty darn close.
But .380s will be, generally speaking, smaller.
Wait, do you hear that?
That's the sound of people going nuts in the comments section.
Yes.
I don't use a caliber unless it starts with a 4.
Yes.
Yes.
People will.
That's fine.
I knew that guns and gear was a fairy.
He's talking about the minimum effective dose for someone who's not comfortable necessarily with a firearm.
Correct.
If you are a healthy, 25 year old, 6 foot tall, 200 pound man, probably not what I would recommend.
But then we go over here to the Walther PPS, which is a 9mm.
But it's a smaller 9mm, so 9mm is going to be a little bit more powerful, it's also going to give you more options for defensive carry, better rounds, it's also cheaper.
But a small gun like that is going to have more recoil, it's going to jump around, harder to shoot well, and of course you have less capacity.
Let me show that kind of for people who may not know, this is what would be considered more of a full size.
You can see here the PDP versus the PPS.
It's a lot thinner.
It's much smaller, easier to conceal.
This one has the crimson trace laser grips.
This has a red dot.
And a lot of people sometimes don't take into account that they go, well, small.
I just want a small, cute gun.
This is going to be much harder to control because there's less weight, right?
So it's more like a bomb going off.
Correct.
Have you ever fired a Smith & Wesson Scandium J-Frame?
I have, with N357 Magnum.
It's the most unpleasant thing I've ever shot in my life.
You do one cylinder and you're like, okay, I get it.
Yeah, 100%.
So yeah, like Steven said, of course, this is a larger gun.
It's going to have more capacity, so...
This particular one is a PDP Compact.
Standard capacity on that one is 15 rounds, but it can take magazines that hold more.
More rounds is, generally speaking, what you want if you can get it.
I've never met anyone who's been in a gunfight who was like, I had too many rounds.
Right.
It just, it doesn't happen.
Now, the downside of that is if you're going to carry it all day, it's a little bit bigger, it's a little bit harder to conceal, but it's easier to shoot well.
You're feeling to take into account too many round Kenny.
That's more of his calling card, so it's not relevant.
For sure.
And then this is, you know, the nicest looking firearm I would say there, but this is how I learned on these firearms.
Sure, sure.
So this one here is a 686+, I believe, from Smith & Wesson.
So it's chambered in .357 Magnum, but for revolvers, .357 Magnum will also take .38 Special, and for revolvers, that is the Weakest, I guess we'd say, caliber that I would recommend for defensive use.
It's very similar to .380 in terms of how it performs ballistically.
But this gives you the option, of course, to use .357 Magnum, which is a much more powerful round, but it's going to have much more recoil.
And capacity is limited with revolvers.
That's one thing.
A lot of people like them because they're simple, they're dead reliable for most people.
But this is, and this is, you know, a 6.86, so I think it's seven or eight rounds, but you're usually looking at five or six.
Correct.
And to your point, I wouldn't say that revolvers are more reliable.
That said, what I would say is when revolvers malfunction, they tend to be more difficult to fix.
Whereas with a semi-automatic gun, if it has a malfunction, you can just fix it very easily.
Typically, when a revolver stops shooting, You need to take it to a Swiss watchmaker.
Correct, yes.
But it usually means you've done something really bad.
Yes, I agree with that as well.
But if you're somebody who just doesn't ever want to maintain your guns, which we'll talk about as well, and you just want to leave it in the sock drawer, there's been a ton of little old ladies that had a six-shot revolver that they haven't shot in 20 years that have defended their homes with it.
So it's definitely doable.
So if we're looking, for example, this might be something home defense, though there are holsters that can work.
Something like this for concealed carry for someone who maybe has a little more experience.
Maybe a .380 for someone who is a little recoil sensitive.
And a revolver if you're looking to live out your dirty, hairy fantasies.
Or just really don't want to ever maintain a firearm.
Correct.
I agree with that.
Additionally, this particular revolver is heavy.
So it's all steel.
And if you put 38 specials in there, it's going to have very, very minimal recoil.
So if you're recoil sensitive at all, a heavy revolver is definitely one to look at.
So let's bring Gerald in here, who owns firearms, but knows very little about them.
Has never cleaned them.
Look, that's 100% true.
It's very untrue.
I don't want to clean a revolver.
I just know not to point it at any one of you guys on purpose.
So, basic gun safety because he's a large man and clumsy.
So, of course, the basic gun safety is keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire.
Know your target and what's beyond it.
Meaning that if you have just a target out here, it's going to go through it into other things.
You said keep the finger off the trigger, know your target.
So if I shoot one of these cameras, it will hit the person behind it?
It might.
Okay, so that's fair.
Especially because we have old ghost man camera Tim.
Yeah, that's true.
It means he's non-union.
Additionally, the one you'll hear classically is treat all guns like they're loaded.
I'm not a big fan of that because it inhibits some training things that you can do.
Dry fire.
Also, if you own like a Glock, you have to press the trigger to disassemble it.
So I say know the status of your firearm.
That's my personal rule on that.
So if I pick a gun up and put it down, once I put it down, it's not loaded anymore.
Mentally and I have to re-clear it.
That's kind of my rule of thumb on that one.
Okay, that seems to make sense I know a lot of people will say treat every firearm like it's loaded and so again This is one of those things that I think there's gonna be a little bit of chat about.
I think you treat every firearm as though it's loaded if it's the first time you're dealing with that firearm.
But people who say like treat every firearm like it's loaded They say, well, how do you use our laser system?
And you get to, you do targets.
Exactly.
It's not loaded.
It's a laser, but what are we doing here?
So, uh, no, it's exactly right.
And just like we talked about here, like there's no way at some point we've cleared all these firearms to make sure that it's not aimed at something that we don't want to break.
I mean, there's a nice lawn chair over there.
Yeah.
I don't want to lose that.
I wouldn't say nice.
Well, we spared no expense.
And of course, to that point, never point a firearm at anything you don't want to destroy or kill.
That's the last one.
Yes.
Okay, so for people who don't know, let's go, and I've gone through this before when we've done Change My Minds, let's, you know, revolver is relatively simple.
Let's go with a semi-automatic.
Let's say this was on the table, right, in the slide.
was in here and there's a magazine in there.
So someone handed it to you that way.
There's nothing in the chamber.
How would you ensure that that is safe?
Okay, so with the semi-automatic, first thing you want to do is drop the magazine.
This is actually, I would say, one of the most common ways that people have a negligent discharge, which is when the gun goes off and they don't want it to.
If you don't drop the magazine first and then you rack the slide, you're going to drop, you're going to put it around the chamber rather.
So drop your magazine first.
Lock the slide back, physically inspect, and visually inspect that the firearm is clear, and now it's clear.
Now it's clear.
Revolver, pretty simple, but for people who don't know.
Sure.
So, revolvers are going to open 99% of the time, one of two ways.
So, it will open pushing this button forward, like this, on a Smith & Wesson style gun.
On a Colt gun, it works the opposite way.
But, after that, all you need to do is look into the chamber, or excuse me, the cylinder, and you can see there are no rounds, so it's unloaded.
Okay, so all of these firearms safe, unloaded, and I guess now we're going to load them up and take them to the range with some basic tips for people like Gerald, who couldn't hit the broadside of a barn.
I'll try!
I mean, come on, I've gone to the range a couple of times, I've just never cleaned my gun.
That's the problem.
We'll get to that.
Never?
Never.
Well, we'll do that after.
I don't know how.
We'll get to it after.
We'll learn how to maintain your firearms and also we'll look at some holster options.
But never, really.
Never.
Okay, now is the fun part that you probably all want to get to, but first you should go
back and watch the safety.
Ear protection, we're on the range.
Oh wow, those are deep in there.
Yep, definitely want to get them in.
I couldn't even necessarily see it.
Oh, you have the big over ears, alright.
Eyes and ears.
I have my Walther PDP, by the way.
They're a sponsor to this show.
Look, the plug is just go try one.
Go to your local dealership, go to your local gun range, ask to try the Walther.
They're cool, they fire easily, they practically sell themselves.
They're great guns.
Mine has a red dot on it, which we'll get into, but this is a basic one.
We'll be using iron sights and some basic shooting tips for, you know, the Mongoloid Gerald.
When you pick a firearm up, the most important thing for a new person is to keep your finger off the trigger.
So with a semi-auto, it's easy just to put it up top like that.
And of course, you want to be as high as possible into the gun.
And the reason for that is as the gun recoils, the slide is going to be doing this.
So if you're low down on the grip, then it's just going to flip more.
You're going to have a harder time staying on target.
You just want to be as high as possible.
Get as much purchase on the gun as you can.
And then with your other hand, what you want to do... And really quickly, would that be when people use the term limp-wristing?
Yes.
Is that the term where it's like you're limp-wristing so it doesn't, the recoil operation isn't proper?
Correct.
So if your hand's too low, it can cause a limp-wristing malfunction like he was just talking about, meaning the slide can't go all the way back and all the way forward to get the next round.
Right.
So that is another reason you want to grip it nice and high.
But it's Gun Week, not Pride Week, so we don't have that concern today.
And then with your support hand, you basically want to fill in as much surface as you can on the firearm.
So the way I teach it to new people is if you make an L with your hand, come in at a 45 degree angle to the gun.
And then you're basically going to be right there.
And once again, you want to be as high as possible on the gun to mitigate that slide recoil energy.
And you explained to me too, I think this is important for people to know, you're basically trying to create a vice.
Yes.
Right?
Because the recoil operation, right?
Thermodynamics, the law of thermodynamics, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
It's either going to flip up, right?
Or, of course, there's instability this way.
Right.
So you're looking to stabilize it side to side and kind of Front to back muzzle up, and that's what you're controlling with that grip.
For sure.
And some people will teach a push-pull grip, meaning you push with your dominant hand and pull with your sport hand.
I'm not a huge fan of that.
The way I like to think of it is you want to, as you come out to present, kind of clamp like a vice, just like Stephen was just saying, up on top.
That's kind of how I think of it.
There's different techniques, though.
But that's your basic grip.
And note, again, for the second time, finger off the trigger.
Great.
Because that's what people do.
So this is as close to kind of a basic sort of 9mm that you might, you know, they're similar to their Glocks or HKs, right?
Everyone has a double stack 9mm like this.
Right.
Would be considered a mid-size, full-size pistol.
And then we'll move to some of the different sizes so you can see the different dynamics.
I'm going to step away.
I love you.
Sorry for teasing you.
I only teased him because I knew he couldn't hear me.
But I want Mr. Guns and Gear to help you handle the fire, alright?
So which one of the terrible... Don't ask me, ask him.
What targets should we be shooting at?
I say we go with the actual target, so establish that good grip like we talked about.
Now you have large hands as do I, so this can be kind of a problem in terms of getting as much purchase on the gun as you can.
So am I resting it right here?
It's not a rental, we do have it.
Explain that for people who don't, some people may say, what do you mean by purchase?
So what I mean by purchase is getting your surface area of your hand on the surface area of the gun.
You want as much as possible.
And his point about his thumb, where should he keep it, in order to get as much purchase on it as you can, your thumb needs to be high.
So there's a grip called the two thumbs high grip, that's what you'll see it referred to all the time.
That's what most people should use, in my opinion, with a semi-automatic gun.
Now, should I keep it off the slide, obviously?
No.
No?
It doesn't matter.
Okay.
So it's not going to mess with me.
It will not.
Okay.
Alright.
Because I saw your other hand coming in and it was high.
Yep.
So, okay.
And you're sure because you're talking to the man with the worst luck in the world.
If something can go wrong, explode in his face... What are we talking about?
That's why we don't let him around high points.
That's a fair point and a wise move.
So, again, you're going to have your thumb up and you make an L with your offhand and you kind of come in at a 45 degree angle, just like that.
And what you want, again, is no gaps here on the frame.
There's no gap, I'm sticking my finger in there, he's grabbing my finger.
That's what you want.
You don't want any of the gun that's not being supported.
So that's pretty much ideal.
When we go out to present, if you turn around, so there's two schools of thought on this as well in terms of presenting a firearm.
So some people will teach that your arm should be bent slightly to absorb the recoil.
Some people will teach straight out.
I don't think it matters.
I think it's a personal preference thing, honestly.
I really do.
Yeah, there are different ways.
I will tell you this.
So the way I always learned, again, I learned on revolvers.
I grew up in Canada, so it's the magical gun of mystery you're never supposed to know about.
For sure.
So I first fired revolvers.
I was a former cop, actually, when I was filming in Oceanside, California.
And the first time I ever went to any kind of a course on guns, they said, OK, you know, slightly staggered stance.
Then when I went to get concealed carry in Texas, he said, no, no, you have to stand completely Straight.
And everything you've done is wrong, and I had to relearn it, even though I learned how to shoot.
And I think a lot of people will run into this.
Sure.
First off, what do you prefer, and can both work?
Sure.
So, for stance, what I tell people is most people have played some sort of sport, whether it be volleyball, basketball, football, whatever.
What you want for a stance is a defensive stance.
So, something like this.
If you wouldn't, what I'll say is, if you wouldn't throw a punch from it, from that stance, don't shoot from that stance.
Does that make sense?
So for me, that would have to be staggered.
Right.
A little staggered, right?
Yeah, a little staggered.
Well, this doesn't make... I don't like that.
That's what I was like, you know, straight like this.
I mean, it just felt like I could be tipped over.
Yep.
Well, yeah, we're not going to be blowing our knee out.
But yeah, so a good athletic defensive stance.
Okay.
And that can be within the, you know, sort of your tolerances as to what is comfortable for you.
100%.
And people have health issues and everything else.
Have you run into this too, being a gun guy, like you go to these functions, you go to these expos, and I say it because I want as many firearm owners out there as possible.
Am I yelling?
No, you're fine.
So often I'll see people go up and they'll get scared off.
It's not that hard to be safe and to be proficient.
You don't need to be a world-beater.
You need to find what works for you within the parameters of safety.
Do you find that a lot of the time sometimes People are too close to the forest to see the trees and scare folks off.
A thousand percent.
The enthusiasts in the gun world, they have their egos invested in it.
So, definitely recommend not doing that.
Come to it with an open mind and you might learn some things.
Clear minds and open hearts.
Finger off the trigger.
Fingers off the trigger.
Absolutely.
Okay, let's see Gerald do this first.
Let me actually get into that.
Okay.
So, for loading a gun, talking about semi-automatics, there's two essential ways to do it.
So, either you can lock the slide back first by hitting our slide lock lever here, insert the magazine, then either drop it with the lever or pull it back, either one, whatever.
Okay, now I've heard people say that you're a retard if you do one or the other.
I'm sure you've heard this too.
I have.
Absolutely do this and someone will go, absolutely hit the slide.
Right.
Either one works?
What's the safest way to do it?
For the average person, like me.
If you're only going to practice one technique, running the slide works on every semi-auto.
Okay, gotcha.
Dropping the slide stop does not work on every semi-auto.
Okay.
So if you just want to be consistent...
Run the slide.
Well, like the Walther PPK we have.
Correct.
Exactly.
And so, that's the perfect example.
So, and what you want to do when you do that is overhand grip, good purchase, pull back, let go.
Don't run with it.
Do not run with it.
That spring is sprung to put the round in the chamber from that force.
Just let it go.
Okay.
Get sprung, son.
There you go.
Alright.
Basic sight alignment for Sites like this is going to be, you want everything to be centered.
So you said, I can either be here or I can be a little further out.
Is there too far to go?
People will argue that.
So I would say you want to be out no matter what.
Right.
But some people will say you want to have flex in your elbows and some people will say locked in rigid.
I'm going to try a little flex first and see what happens.
Sure.
I'm just going to fire once and see how this goes.
Okay, ready?
Let's do it.
Pfft!
Good.
They're not selling any meat hiding bathing suits anymore!
Okay!
Stop real quick.
If you find yourself shooting four, five, six shots, whatever the case may be, and your grip starts slipping, it's because you're not gripping it tight enough.
Okay.
Period.
years go to waltherarms.com to check them out.
Stop real quick.
If you find yourself shooting four, five, six shots, whatever the case may be, and your
grip starts slipping, it's because you're not gripping it tight enough.
Okay.
Period.
Or your gun just doesn't have enough texture.
But that's not the case with the PDP either.
That gun has plenty of texture.
Yeah, no, it definitely has good grip.
So let's make those adjustments and let's see, I guess, if that... Okay.
All the way up.
Any thoughts?
I like it.
This is the first time I've fired my PDP and that's not so bad.
That's very good.
I'm going pretty slow, like I'm not actually running through this thing.
No, that's very good for someone who's not a proficient shooter.
I mean, there's a lot of people who shoot pretty often.
It also just shows how those little tips can make a huge difference.
It doesn't need to be as complicated as some folks.
Of course, if you want to be a world competition shooter, but just look at that with those couple of tips.
Every single one was on target.
Alright, so I'm going to see if I can remember how to do this here.
So we put this guy right there.
There we go.
Alright, so one thing I would recommend, just for consistency's sake, come over the top of the slide like this.
Because you have the most power.
Why did I do that?
So I'm going back at this target here.
Alright, so 45 again.
Right here, just so I can show you guys.
Right there and snug up to the top.
Is that about right?
And again, just for a check, you want to make sure there's no, nothing, my hand can't get in there and get on the grip.
That means it's doing it right.
It's Gay Pride Month.
I'm not sure if we should be doing the pokey thing.
That's true.
We may not run on Gay Pride Month, so now we have to, now, but for you it's always, it's always Gay Pride Month.
I'm trying to talk!
One thing too, with your offhand grip, sometimes if you cam it forward a little bit more, i.e.
rotate your wrist, it'll create a stronger point.
Yeah, it kind of feels better.
Because you're using your bones instead of your muscles at that point to stabilize it.
So sometimes, cam it forward and see how that works.
If it works for you, do it.
Let's see how he does with the smaller...
The target moved!
Alright.
So, most likely, we'll just pull the slide back.
Most likely what he just did there, it's called riding the slide lock.
It's when you have your hands up high like that.
Oh, I hit that.
Yep.
It hit it and prevented it from locking back.
Okay, right.
But that's fine.
There's nothing wrong with that.
Okay, perfect.
I noticed it was, it was actually pretty, pretty similar than a couple shots that did go high.
Is that, for people who don't know, is that typical with a smaller firearm?
It's typical that you're just not controlling your recoil as well.
Okay.
That's really what it is.
Okay.
So it was my fault.
Yeah.
It's your fault combined with physics.
Okay.
You were honestly really good with both of them once you made those little corrections, which has proven the point that it doesn't have to be overly complicated to get proficient, right?
If we're talking about a defensive scenario, and of course adrenaline is dumping, and we understand all those things, that would be more than serviceable for what you need.
Yeah, 100%.
Especially considering that you have giant crab claws on a tiny little gun.
Right, which makes a difference.
He's a large man.
This brings us to, you know, some people now will say, don't ever use a firearm anymore in the year 2023 without a red dot.
And this one, and I didn't learn on any Red Dot, so I have the same PDP here.
That's a Red Dot, we'll check it.
I don't want to put my... You need to take the... Yeah, take the magazine, otherwise I'll put it in the... So, it is clear?
Yep.
And what are your thoughts on this?
Are you pro-Red Dot?
Are you anti-Red Dot?
For people who don't know iron sights, or I think traditional metal sights, this, it's not a laser, but when you look through this looking glass, you will see a dot, and that's basically supposed to make target acquisition faster, and I think for most people it does.
Kind of.
So if you were to ask me this question five years ago, I'd give you a totally different answer.
Today...
Red dots on pistol sides are pretty reliable.
Before they were very fragile, would break.
The good ones now are fine in terms of durability.
This is one of them, it's a Holosun 509T.
That said, with people who are new to guns, I think it's easier, well it's easier for them to get hits with red dots, but I think it's easier for them to get proficient with iron sights.
So the reason I say that is, People who are new to firearms, when they go out to present, very often will miss the dot, i.e.
it's not there, they don't see it, and they end up doing this.
A lot of this, trying to find the dot.
Now there is a solution for that, it's called the ACSS reticle, but that's a video for another day.
My main thing is usually tipping the gun down helps.
I've almost always noticed that if I'm looking through the way I would look at iron sights, take it and tip it down, you find the red dot.
If you miss the dot, it's probably 90% that it's high.
Additionally, newer guns like this PDP is actually a perfect example.
The reason this Yep, so when you grip it, you do that.
That's literally why it's there, that's why they designed the frame like that.
That makes sense.
So, it's to do that to get the dot.
That said, if you do a bunch of dry presentations, meaning no rounds and you just kind of come up like that, practice over and over again, you absolutely can get it, but there is a steeper learning curve to learning red dots on a pistol than there is on a rifle.
Okay.
Do you want to try with a red dot, Gerald, since you're kind of the experiment here?
So, this is an unloaded gun, but Gerald, try and find the red dot on the target.
With pistol red dot, well, any red dots actually, you want to ignore your iron sights.
So, a lot of people will try to like lollipop them, meaning put the dot on the front sight.
Do not do that.
Ignore them.
Pretend it's not there.
Alright.
I don't.
Oh, there it is.
Okay.
There we go.
I just needed to tip it down a little bit.
Yeah, but that's the problem with pistol red dots.
So, under stress, imagine trying to do that, right?
I know.
Yeah.
There we go.
With red dots, just like lasers actually that you just had out here, one of the things, again, with newer folks is they want to get everything right.
This is More so for women than men, just in my experience in teaching people.
So it can slow them down initially.
Now once you get proficient, the red dot's 100% faster.
There's a reason all world champion shooters are using red dots.
But at the beginner level, it can slow you down because what you want to do is you want to get it perfectly centered.
And like you just said, you stop moving.
Well, your iron sights are moving too.
You just can't see them.
We'll do another tip.
So when you're loading a magazine and a pistol, I recommend always grabbing it like this.
And the reason for that, is that if I don't know any number of scenarios that you're not in a typical stance like I am right now you're on the ground you whatever somebody just knocked you over if you have your finger like this you have kinesthetic awareness we all do so you can you don't have to look at it per se okay and it's just there we all know where this is
Right.
I'm not saying you can't look at your gun.
That's another argument on the internet.
If you're just trying to learn, I would learn it this way.
Just because it's simpler, right?
Let's just do that.
He makes it look so easy.
Red dot away.
Yeah, I know.
That's the thing.
The red dot changes everything for me a little bit.
It's not going to.
I know, that's a problem.
💀 💀
💀 Almost shot a bee!
Not kidding.
Don't mess it up.
It was like a pigeon that flew in front of Randy Johnson.
Just bad timing.
Almost.
Alright, here we go.
You're on around.
Here we go.
See, I didn't even realize that because I was looking at the dot.
As much as I love to give Gerald guff.
It's not bad.
No, it's very good.
So this is actually a gift from Walter, the Walter Patriot.
I guess a semi-custom, the way they do this.
Very heavy.
You were talking about how this is kind of a specialty firearm, but it does shoot really nicely.
It does, and there's a couple reasons for that.
Number one, it has a match trigger, which helps.
Additionally, it's just heavy.
So it's an all-steel frame.
The gun's about, I think this one's like 43 ounces, versus that PDP, which is like 25 ounces.
It's a significant difference.
Additionally, it has match sights on it, which are just More precise than other ones and the grip texture is also a little bit tackier if you will.
The magwell will also help you keep a good grip on it as well.
I'll take a few shots and then we'll obviously have Gerald do it and you can blow us away.
I do that right?
Yep.
Alright, we are live.
Let's go with the generic and offensive swimsuit.
I don't know why we have a swimsuit on the target.
No one does.
So, thumb.
Yep.
And what I would do is, see how I can get my finger right there?
Can you get your hand a little bit?
There you go.
You have more purchase on it.
Thumbs up a little bit.
There you go.
Alright.
Swimsuit.
Well, it's not really the same as a target.
No, it's not.
It's harder to see.
There's so many colors on it.
I don't know.
We'll find out.
We have no idea where we are.
I have to transition to Bud Light.
Yeah, you know what?
Here.
I'll shoot the Bud Light over here.
I think we can probably see that more clearly.
Which, by the way, we did not purchase any Bud Light.
That's right.
It was donated from a sales rep who couldn't move any more prop.
That's right.
Shockingly.
Yes.
I don't really know what I'm aiming for.
I'm kind of aiming for the bottom of the U. Top of the G. Alright, am I?
Okay.
Yeah, you came up.
Gerald, do we want to use this one?
Yeah, that'd be great.
Let's let Gerald give it a whirl.
Finger off the trigger and see if you can feel that difference.
And the real place that you're going to feel the difference on this is on follow-up shots.
Yeah, so the next shot.
Correct.
How fast your sights will be on target.
So if you want to pick the speed up once you get a hang of it do that and you'll see the difference, okay
Try speed up Hmm.
Feel the difference?
Yeah, definitely felt the difference.
That wasn't bad at all.
It was much easier to come right back to it.
So you said it was much faster, so that's what you're talking about.
The speed that I can get to the next round.
Absolutely.
Hold on, for context, drop that magazine, Gerald.
I got a fresh one.
Some of these are defensive rounds, but it doesn't matter.
We'll do an episode on that, by the way.
Defensive rounds, hollow points, it doesn't explode inside you like people have said, but they are better for defensive uses.
But that one, it's okay, we can use those.
Let's watch Mr. Gear do it like a pro.
I like it, but yeah.
It's a sweet shooter.
I aspire to be that someday.
And now people can see why I shot with a technique that I was teased for years, but we can explain why with a revolver.
Okay, this is loaded.
Now, everything that you just taught, correct, but of course I would lose my thumb potentially with a revolver because you see this cylinder gap.
If your thumb is over there, there's gas that escapes.
And so, the way people shot for a long time, and now they, do people say tea and saucer or teacup?
Teacup, okay.
So this is how I shot everything because I learned how to shoot on revolvers first.
I'm going to use a single action because double action probably won't be very good.
And that's single action where you would cock the hammer like you would see in the films,
but you'd most likely use a double action which is where you would pull this all the
way through the range of the trigger.
So, double action.
you There's no real way to make sure.
I mean, you open it up, so make sure that people know it's not live.
Hey, you know what?
That's not bad for a three-inch barrel revolver.
I mean, it's kind of hitting the top of the tuck.
I was aiming for the top of the tuck.
No, that's fair.
That's what I'm saying.
That's the most offensive part of the tuck.
I mean, well, some men's tucks are a bit different than others.
Well, yeah.
I would assume there's an up tuck.
Some revolvers will rotate different ways.
Smith and Wesson revolvers all rotate like this, the cylinder.
So if you're trying to line up which one you're going to shoot, that's how you do it.
So what I mean by that is the not shot round is right here.
So as I pull the trigger, it will rotate into the chamber.
And we're out.
Basically, getting rid of the ammo is pretty simple on most revolvers.
It has this rod right here.
You just push down on it, let gravity do the work.
Yeah.
And then if you're in a live shooting scenario, right, you reload it like this.
And you kiss your ass goodbye.
Or you just use it as a hammer.
Yes, exactly.
That's one thing.
It is great for pistol whipping and for killing people in Italian restaurants, which we don't advise.
But it does happen.
It happens.
We're not supporters of it.
No, we don't advocate.
But it does happen.
Okay, end of day, everyone's least favorite part.
Gerald's never done this.
I've never done this, at all.
Cleaning your firearm.
Now, to be clear, there are a million different ways to do it.
If you have a very high-level competition gun, you're going to treat it differently.
Most people at home want to know, okay, how do I clean my firearm after using it to make sure that I can keep it battle-ready, as it were?
And there's a pretty simple way to do that.
Agreed.
Yeah, so if you have a semi-automatic, obviously every gun is going to disassemble a little bit differently.
On these, we've already verified that we are clear, which is important.
Always verify you're clear before you do this.
So we're going to let our slide go home, point in a safe direction, pull the trigger, pull back slightly, and these two tabs pull down, slide will come right off.
This is the basic components that you're going to disassemble your gun to.
Obviously the gun can be disassembled much more than this, but for average maintenance, you do not need to do any more than that.
These are what they would call CLP, so you have some that are cleaning, like more so solvents, and then some that are very specific lubricants, which we'll probably use more with the rifles.
That'll be another installment.
With these basic handguns, you were saying that CLP, for most people, works fine.
That stands for what?
Well, depending on the brand, it's either cleaner, lubricant, protectant, or cleaner, lubricant, and preservative, depending on the brand.
Generally speaking, if you don't know what lube you're looking at, what I recommend for a cleaner or lubricant is something that's petroleum-based.
is true, Germany, they wanted something that they could use that would be fine for all
metals, woods, as well as leather holsters.
So I've used this specifically for revolvers because they often sit like in a leather holster
and it's very friendly to wood.
It's called Ballistol.
People will argue about it.
It's worked pretty well for revolvers.
Generally speaking, if you don't know what lube you're looking at, what I recommend for
a cleaner lubricant is something that's petroleum based.
There are vegetable based cleaner lubricants.
What if you're vegan?
I mean, if you want to eat it, sure.
I don't like petroleum, I don't think they have a problem with it.
Oh, but it's because of fossils?
Maybe.
Why are you still wearing your eye protection?
I like the look.
I never went out without it before I was wearing the glasses these days.
So what I personally do, typically, is start out with the barrel and run either a patch or in this case a boar snake through it.
You're going to start with the heavy end here, that's weighted for a reason, and that's going to go through.
And you don't put the CLP in first?
Depends.
If I was using a patch, I would, yes.
With a bore snake, I generally don't.
You absolutely can.
That's a valid way to do it.
And what you want to look for when you're looking through to see how clean your gun is, is look through the rifling and you want to be able to see the rifling without a bunch of crap in it.
So before you start cleaning it, just look and you'll see there are things in there.
You want to get those things out.
Well, how's mine doing since I've never cleaned it?
It's doing alright, but there are things in there and we want to get those out.
Good.
I'm the guy that doesn't change the oil in his car and just crosses his fingers.
Right.
He's late to work all the time.
And also, on semi-automatics, you want to make sure that your feed ramp, this area right here, which is where the bullet hits and then goes up and in, is clean because that is key to reliability.
So, additionally, basically all of the metal parts that are wear parts, we're going to hit with some CLP.
I personally like to take a brush and brush it around, make that CLP work, because what the CLP is doing is actually constantly breaking down the carbon that's in there.
So even if you don't get all of it out of there when we clean it up here in a second, it's still going to continue to break down that carbon.
It's also going to help with lubrication.
So CLP is just your friend.
And what I've always done, that's worked pretty well for me, is I'll do exactly what you're doing, grab that, basically a nylon toothbrush, right, anything, they have firearm brushes, but some of this nylon's not going to scratch.
It'll be pretty safe.
Correct.
Then I'll wipe it down with a t-shirt, some kind of cotton cloth, to get rid of the excess.
That's where I was going to go next, yep.
And then spritz it one last time, and make sure there's no excess, and usually only takes me about five minutes.
We just did something right there I wanted to point out.
Go ahead.
So we hold this.
So where did you spray in here?
Because as somebody who's a newbie, I'd just be like spraying all over the place, and you didn't do that.
No, so what you want to think about is where your contact points are.
So on a semi-auto, generally speaking, they're going to be right here, right here, right here, and right here.
And then additionally, in your trigger component area here, what you don't want to do, the thing that will get you in trouble, is if you start fishing around in there and digging around in there.
There's very small springs in there, you don't want to do that.
Basically, just get everything that you can see, that is there to see, clean that up.
Anything beyond that is armor level maintenance.
So this is, you've brushed it, so then you wipe off the excess with a t-shirt.
Yep.
And you're not scrubbing really hard.
No, not fooling around in there.
If you fool around with that too much, you'll go blind.
Okay.
Pistols have a breech face, which basically what that means is it's right here where the actual bullet sits when it's being fired.
And so you want to make sure you clean under there as well.
Specifically on our extractor, which is this piece right here, which is what actually pulls the rim of the case out.
And you want to make sure that's clean so it can get a good purchase on the actual rim of the case.
Okay, so you can see, this is still, that's oil with a lot of, you know, what would have been deposits.
Uh, carbon, yep.
Carbon deposits.
Or, if people, you know, some people go, what are you, black powder?
Okay, that could be black powder.
Fine.
Alright.
Minerals, right?
Copper, all of that.
With your black powder semi-automatic.
Yes, exactly.
It's a niche market.
It is.
It's very niche.
It's Blackbeard with a DeLorean.
It's very niche.
You've all read the science fiction, so.
Yeah.
Uh, wipe all that out, is what I'll do, and then, what, and you can correct me where I'm wrong, what I would typically do after I'm using a CLP, It's tough sometimes with an aerosol like this.
It's tough to spray.
A light, that's a little too much.
Obviously, get rid of the excess.
And what you want to see, what you want to lubricate, is all of the wear points.
So, like we just talked about, the touch points up front, touch points on the rear, where that slide is actually riding on those rails.
And then, as you shoot your gun, you'll see wear, but I'm not sure if the cameras can pick it up out here in the bright sun, but you can already see some wear there on the barrel.
Yeah, I saw that.
So wherever the wear is, that's where you just want to put a little bit of oil.
A little bit of oil, right there.
Sorry, it's blowing right in Gerald's face right now.
It's okay, it tastes pretty good.
Now, with a revolver, same kind of thing.
Because there's a lot of steelware, you can see with revolvers, right, this is where you'll often get, remember we talked about that gas?
Cylinder gap.
Yeah, that cylinder gap.
That's where a lot of that gas escapes.
So that'll get dirty.
With something like Ballistol, because it's actually pretty friendly to metal and wood, what I do, and you can tell me if it's right or wrong.
Again, I've had five different people coach me.
I don't know that it's wrong.
I soak it.
Yep, I'm good with that.
And I'll do it.
And each of the cylinders kind of soak it.
Sometimes I'll soak the whole thing if there's a lot of... And with a revolver, one thing that kind of sucks, it's not the easiest thing to do, is you have to run this boar snake... Through each one?
Through each cylinder.
Can you just throw it in like a bucket of this stuff?
You actually probably could, really.
Yeah, they have those.
Just throw it in, shake it around a little bit, pull it out, and you know.
So they actually, it vibrates by itself.
So it's a real thing for the lazy.
You'll see this here.
What we'll do is I'm showing you, but there'll be a time lapse.
It still wouldn't take you more than about eight minutes, right?
It runs a couple of times through each cylinder.
Once the soak is done, that's where you take the, you take the brush to it.
loosens everything, brush it up, wipe it down with a t-shirt, and then once you
close it up, again, spray it with something like a balisaw.
It's actually really nice preservative, fun for the wood. And just wipe
off the excess.
The microfiber cloth is really more so. Sometimes people make this mistake. You
don't really want to use this for actually cleaning the gun from the oil.
Use it kind of at the end to finish it, right? If you're looking at really excess
and have something nice and shiny, like, that's kind of a piece of jewelry,
something that's, you know, in my opinion.
A useful piece of jewelry.
Yeah, the Walther BBK is beautiful.
I keep that one, I keep that showroom ready.
But, we literally just cleaned that in real time.
This would be done, you know...
Another minute or two.
Another couple of minutes, and you're good to go.
Hopefully this helped you guys.
Thank you again to Walther for providing some of these.
Go check out Mr. Guns in here.
If you want to dive in deeper, you can go as deep and as intricate as you want.
This is, again, designed for people who are afraid of firearms.
Hopefully you know basic safety, how to shoot, how to maintain your firearm, how to make a choice, some other videos coming on rifles and common myths, and we get to shoot the gel, which is fun.
We also couldn't afford hogs.
In Texas, you couldn't afford hogs?
Well, okay, correct me if I'm too lazy to go on.
Ted Nugent had a conflicting schedule.
Got it.
And our thanks to the folks at the TDSA range in Ferris, Texas.
It was hot, but it was wonderful.
If you liked this video, click like, consider subscribing, or comment below.
And of course, consider tuning in to the live show, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.
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