FREE short story collection on Kindle!

My short story collection Alabama Red Clay is free on Kindle today and tomorrow, March 16 and 17th!

Four stories featuring Roger Devereux, including:

"Bad Day": Prior to the events of Tragic City, Roger is working as a executive protection contractor in Mexico, a nation with one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world. 

"Barroom Blitz": After the events of Tragic City, Roger is bumming around Mexico slowly drinking himself to death. A chance encounter with a young prostitute in a Mexican bar proves to Roger that old habits die hard.

"Kiddie Pool": Roger is hired by a prominent Birmingham, Alabama attorney to protect his newest client, a young woman accused of murdering her baby daughter.

"The First Time": Well before the events of Tragic City and Red Light Run, Roger Devereux is fifteen years old and living in a public housing project with his mother. When he meets his newest neighbor, a beautiful twenty year old redhead, he is in for a lot of "first times," both tragic and wonderful.

Alabama Red Clay 

Book Updates AND A FREE SHORT STORY!

The sequel to my first novel Tragic City, titled Red Light Run, will be published on Amazon Kindle on July 4, 2017. The paperback will follow shortly thereafter. I currently have the rough outline for book 3 completed and will be releasing a short story collection within the next couple of months. If you are interested in either book, click on the above links to Amazon.

Tragic City is currently priced at $0.99 and FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Red Light Run is available for preorder with a list price of $2.99 and will also be FREE with Kindle Unlimited.



And now, for your reading pleasure, here is my short story Bad Day. Chronologically this takes place a few years before the events of Tragic City while Roger Devereux was working as a security contractor in Mexico. This is an unedited version of the story, so please forgive me the grammar and/or spelling.

I half listened to the chatter on the radio and focused my eyes on the street vendors and traffic as we tooled along the Juarez roadways in our up armored Land Rover Defender. I glanced toward Terry, my team leader, and saw he was doing the same out his window on the opposite side of the second row seat from me. We were on a parallel path to the main convoy transporting the principal.
Terry idly scratched his thick red beard and glanced at me as he felt my gaze. He gave a slight nod of acknowledgment before glancing back out at the human debris cluttering the busy street. 
I’d been on Terry’s team for three month, and this was our third rotation as the Quick React Force, and my first time acting as the team’s assistant team leader. The former ATL had returned to the States upon receiving divorce papers. There were rumors that a tragic donkey show accident had something to do with the divorce, but I wasn’t sure if that was true or just another manifestation of Terry’s sick sense of humor. 
Ronnie, riding shotgun directly in front of me, had been pissed. He had more time on the teams and was an Army vet who had served in combat in Iraq. The truth was, he was a decent shooter, but he brought too much baggage from the Army with him. He never missed a chance to criticize the company and tell us how much better the Army would handle our assignments. Most of us wondered why he hadn’t reenlisted, and everyone wished that he had. 
His attitude caused a lot of friction, especially with the guys who had never served in the military, and it would probably cause Roland to not renew his contract when the current term was up. He was just barely tolerated on our team, and none of the others would have him.
Both Terry and I had no prior military experience, and Ronnie made sure to let us know that made us lesser men in his eyes. Ryan, our SAW gunner, who rode in the rear luggage compartment with his big gun, was former USAF Security Forces and given slightly more respect. Still, the big Cajun had to listen to endless jokes about his time in the “Chair Force,” and Ronnie had come close to pushing the coonass past his ability to tolerate the ribbing. Ernesto, our driver, had served in the Mexican Marine’s before taking a job with Roland, but Ronnie treated him with the same casual disdain he handed out to me and Terry. 
We all knew Ronnie thought he should have Terry’s job. We also knew that if that every happened we’d all quit. And so did Roland.
I had been Terry’s second choice to fill the ATL slot. Terry had made the offer to Ryan first, due to his seniority. Ryan had declined, saying he was just a shooter and preferred it that way. He’d suggested Terry try me.
I’d hesitated at first, but Terry made it simple.
“Look,” he’d said, “it’s a bump in pay with no real increase in responsibility. The only way you take over is if I get taken out, and I like breathing. Plus, it’ll chap Ronnie’s ass to see you get it over him.”
I’d agreed, more for the latter than any other reason.
The radio crackled and the Close Protection Detail’s Team Lead addressed Terry.
“Trouble Shooter One, this is Alpha One, over.”
“Copy, Alpha One,” Terry replied.
“We’re coming to a stop,” Jonathan, call sign Alpha One, said. “Looks like some kind of traffic accident, over.”
“Copy, Alpha One,” Terry said. “We’ll pull it to the curb until you’re rolling again.”
“Roger, Trouble Shooter One, out.”
Ernesto pulled to the curb and we waited with the engine running, thankful for the air conditioning that kept most of the heat out. A couple of minutes went by, and we watched for any sign of a threat. Mostly, we listened to the radio. 
Our job was to come in and hit anything and anyone that attacked the convoy so hard they’d be too tied up with us to keep the Close Protection Detail from extracting with the principal. A convenient traffic accident would make the perfect prelude to an ambush, and if this had been our first time out we would have been on high alert. Unfortunately, we’d experienced this one too many times to pay it much concern.
We felt and heard the first explosion at almost the same time. The radio lit up with Jonathan’s adrenaline spiked voice as a second explosion followed.
“Lead vehicle just took an RPG! Fuck, chaser too! Get us the fuck out of—”
Over the radio we heard a single gunshot, followed by three more, and then a loud crash before the radio cut out. In the distance, we heard the distinctive sound of AK rifles firing full automatic. 
Not waiting for Terry’s order, Ernesto had the Defender screeching away from the curb and shooting down the nearest ally toward the main convoy. Adrenaline was surging in my system, and I knew everyone must feel the same way as we sped toward our objective. We’d gotten complacent, and it had made our reaction time slow. We should have been rolling as soon as we heard the first explosion, but disbelief had temporarily paralyzed us.
Ernesto crashed through a fruit vendor’s stand at the opposite end of the alley and brought the Defender to a screeching halt just in front of the convoy.
The lead and chase vehicles, both armored Suburbans, were engulfed in flames. It looked like the attackers had hit them with Molotov cocktails after the RPGs. I felt a chill of terror go up my spine as thought about the men who had been inside. Not friends, but certainly close acquaintances. 
The principle’s transport, an armored Mercedes G Wagon, had been smashed into and pinned against a concrete road divider by a lifted Ford F-250 pickup truck. Four men were pointing AKs at the SUV, and a fifth was just finishing pouring a can of gasoline on the hood. The windshield was spider webbed from multiple rifle round hits, but so far it looked like it was living up to its manufacturer’s advertised capabilities. 
“Take those fuckers out!” Terry ordered as we spilled from the Defender.
The hijackers were just turning toward us as we started spraying hate and hot metal. We let them have it hard and fast, not having to worry about the principle and Close Protection Detail behind the thick armor of the G Wagon. I brought my AR up and put the red dot of the Aimpoint sight on the centerline of one of the AK men and pulled the trigger as fast as I could while still keeping the rifle on target.
He was dead before he hit the ground and I transition to the next armed attacker just as Ryan’s SAW lit off and chewed my new target to pieces. I looked over my Aimpoint for more targets, but finding none lowered the rifle to the ready. All of the hijackers in view were down. 
Ronnie started for the G Wagon and I followed, with Terry bringing up the rear. Ryan stayed on the SAW, aiming over the hood of the Defender while using the engine block as cover. Ernesto was still in the Land Rover, behind the wheel and ready to hightail as soon as we saddled back up.
As we reached the Mercedes, the rear passenger door popped open and Jonathan stepped out, his gray suit speckled with blood spray.
“Carl’s dead,” he said without preamble, his voice cracking. “Ricardo shot him in the head just before we got hit by the truck.  He must have been in on it. He went for me too, but the angle was wrong and I took it in the armor. Trashed my radio. I put two in the fucker’s skull. Fuck, man, Carl’s dead.”
Carl and Jonathan had been friends for over a decade, and had been working together most of that time. Jonathan was clearly fucked up mentally, but he was doing his best to hold it together.
“Jesus,” Terry said. “The principle?”
“Shitless,” Jonathan said, voice harsh as he tried to keep it steady. “But otherwise okay.”
“Let’s get you both into our vehicle and get the fuck out of here before anyone else shows up,” Terry said.
The street had gone eerily quiet and the normal crowds had vanished. Jonathan pulled the principle from the Mercedes and began to lead him toward the Defender just as the sound of a vehicle caught my ear. In the distance, I could here sirens but this vehicle was much closer and I felt something creepy crawly go up my spine.
“Time to scoot,” Terry said, motioning us toward the Defender.
Ronnie booked it after Jonathan and the principle, and then past them. He was in the shotgun seat and ducked down low with the door shut before I’d taken a step. I heard a vehicle break to a stop behind the corner of a building on the opposite side of the convoy vehicles from us and I turned in that direction.
“Get your ass moving, Devereux!” Terry shouted. 
I didn’t hesitate, I turned and sprinted for the the Defender. I heard Terry’s para FAL firing in rapid single shots and glanced over my shoulder in time to see five armed men attempting to get back around the corner of the building where I’d heard the vehicle. Two of them fell to the ground, but the others made it back behind cover. 
I checked my sprint, intending to turn and give Terry some covering fire on his way back to the Defender but he yelled again.
“Don’t stop, go!”
I looked back to the Defender and saw Ryan had repositioned at the back of the Defender to have a clear line of fire at the corner the men had come from. I reached the Defender and took up a position between Jonathan and the principle and any threat, just as Terry worked a reload on his FAL and started to sprint out way.
A hijacker with and AK popped around the corner and held his trigger down, firing wildly on full auto. Ryan shredded him with a burst from the SAW but not before one of his rounds felt Murphy’s touch and ripped through Terry’s leg below the knee. He stumbled and went down with a cry, and I started back toward him.
I felt a hand slap my shoulder and then Jonathan was rushing past me.
“I got him,” he shouted. “Stay with the principle.”
I checked my run and duck walked backwards until I felt the open rear passenger door of the Defender at my back. I positioned myself between the open door and any threat outside, covering Jonathan as he sprinted toward Terry. Ryan was firing short, controlled bursts towards the corner to keep anyone from getting to brave and making another kamikaze attack. 
Jonathan had just reached Terry and was kneeling down to get him up when a Toyota Tacoma came barreling around the corner. There was a man in the bed manning a fucking Ma Deuce fifty caliber heavy machine gun on a pintle mount. Before either I or Ryan could react he swung the heavy gun’s barrel toward Jonathan and Terry and fired. The booming DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM drowned out my shout of rage and horror as I watched Jonathan and Terry’s bodies disintegrate under the heavy storm of metal.
I snapped my rifle up, too late to help, and dumped my magazine into the fifty gunner. He fell over the side of the truck and hit the pavement head first with a crack like a bursting egg. Ryan held down the trigger on the SAW and walked the line of fire back and fourth across the cab of the Tacoma until there was not way anything inside could survive.
I worked a mag change and yelled at Ryan.
“Saddle up, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
I crammed into the rear seat of the Defender and pulled the door shut, just as Ryan opened the rear and tossed the SAW inside before clambering his bulk in and pulling the hatch down. 
“Drive!” I shouted at Ernesto.
As we sped through the dusty Juarez streets I practiced my breathing, trying to slow my heart rate and keep my hands from shaking. I heard low muttering, and glanced at the principle. He was wide eyed and clearly terrified in his rumpled Brooks Brothers suit, but he was quiet. I glanced into the front seat and saw where the sound was coming from.
Ronnie has crammed himself down onto the floor board in front of the passenger seat. He had his chin tucked into his knees and his arms hugged his legs as he rocked back and forth, tears streaming down his face. I could see his entire body trembling, and I finally made out the muttering.
“Home. Home. I want to go home,” he said, over and over.
He didn’t stop until a doctor tranqed him back at Roland’s compound. They put him on a plane back to the states two days later, his contract terminated early and paid in full with a medical disability bonus. 
Roland offered me the Trouble Shooter Team Leader position, and I accepted. I kept it until my contract was up nine months later, and then I went home. Back to Birmingham, Alabama. Where it was safer. 

Paperback Now Available!

My first novel Tragic City is now available from Amazon.com as a paper back novel (see link below). 

Tragic City is a neo-noirish, hard-boiled crime novel set in Birmingham, Alabama. From the back of the book:

"Roger Devereux isn't a knight in shining armor. He drinks, gambles, is prone to violence, and hasn't met a woman he won't take to bed. But when a teenage girl disappears in the Magic City, he's the first person her mother calls. Before he knows it, Roger is thrust into a world of human traffickers, drug dealers, dirty cops, random thugs, and brutal violence."

BUY HERE

Check out these five start reviews on Amazon:

"An awesome, gritty, non stop action filled story that will keep you engaged. If you are from Birmingham, or have ever been there you will instantly recognize the city, places, and people. The descriptions are on point, and make you feel as if you were along for the ride. I look forward to spending more time with Roger Devereux in the future."

"Best damn book I have read in a while. This guy is a writer to keep an eye out for. More please."

Tragic City is also available in the Amazon Kindle store FREE with Kindle Unlimited.

Get my book Tragic City FREE today only on Amazon!

Merry Christmas!

As a gift to everyone I have made Tragic City FREE on Kindle!  Check it out!

Tragic City

And if you like what you read please review it on Amazon! Here's my first review:

5 Stars
"An awesome, gritty, non stop action filled story that will keep you engaged. If you are from Birmingham, or have ever been there you will instantly recognize the city, places, and people. The descriptions are on point, and make you feel as if you were along for the ride. I look forward to spending more time with Roger Devereux in the future."

So, I wrote a book.

I mentioned before that I'd had an idea for a book and was running with it. Well, a year later I finished the first draft. It shouldn't have taken that long, but it did. I would go a month or longer without touching it at times, and that really kills your speed. But I finished it.

I was determined to get it done and for the last half I made sure I was devoting at least one day a week to writing, and this turned into me spending even more time working on it than I had scheduled.

I settled on the title Tragic City. Here's a look at the cover I think I'll be going with:

It's a crime novel set in present day Birmingham, Alabama. I had a lot of fun writing the first draft, and I'm about a third of the way into my first revision/rewrite. My plan is to have that done by early June, and then get it off to some Beta Readers by mid to late June.

If you'd be interested in being a Beta Reader, let me know. Bear in mind, I wrote this with the intention of writing the kind of book that I enjoy, so both the sex and the violence are graphic. If those two things bother you in a story, then don't waste your time or mine. While I am interested in honest, critical review, know what you're getting into. This is a story about bad things being done by bad people, and good people doing "bad" things for what they believe are the right reasons.

My hope is to have reports from my Beta Readers by mid to late July, and then to do my final revisions and rewrites. As of right now, the plan is to publish via Kindle Direct and I am thinking of offering it for free for 24 hours. Final price will probably be $1.99.

A big part of getting noticed when publishing this way is reviews. To help there, I am going to give any person who writes a verified purchase review on Amazon a free copy of my as yet untitled short story that will bridge the gap between Tragic City and Book 2.

Yes, there will be a Book 2. I had a lot of fun writing this, and I think I'll have just as much if not more writing a sequel.

22,000 words and counting.

I've always dabbled in writing. Recently, I got an idea that I couldn't shake. It's turned into an itch that won't go away.  There will be graphic sex, violence, and just all around fun. Some parts are going to piss people off. That almost caused me to put the breaks on. Then I thought about all the authors I enjoy reading and thought, "Fuck it."

It's first person PI/Men'sAdventure/Thriller/etc. influenced by Mickey Spillane, Mark Greaney, John Ringo, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly...you get the idea.

I don't know when the rough will be finished, but I am having a lot of fun writing it. Here is a sample (tentatively rough Chapter 2) of Tragic City:

I took the ramp that skirts the Expessway and then exited onto I-20E/I-59N.  On either side of the interstate is the urban sprawl of industrial sites mixed with rundown residential neighborhoods and the ever present green of Birmingham’s trees. Birmingham calls itself Tree City USA as well as the Magic City. A satellite view of the city will show you why the former came about, as Birmingham seems to always be on the verge of being swallowed up by looming foliage outside of downtown.
I continued up the combined interstates until they split just past the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, continuing north on I-59 towards Trussville and Clay as I-20 curved away towards the east and Atlanta.  Another few miles and I exited the interstate and turned right onto North Chalkville Road headed toward downtown Trussville. I took the very next right and pulled into the parking lot Waffle House on the corner.
I eat at this particular Waffle House so often that the waitresses and short order cooks know me by name. I locked up the Mustang and walked inside. I pushed my sunglasses up on my head as I walked through the door and headed for my usual seat at the far end of the counter where I could keep an eye on the entrance and most of the diner.
“Hi, Darlin’,” greets Allie, a wrinkle faced grandmotherly woman with Coke bottle bottom glasses. “The usual?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” I said. I looked around the diner as Allie called my order out to the cook. There was another man at the opposite end of the counter nursing a cup of coffee while perusing a newspaper and chewing on the end of a straw like he missed the days when one could smoke inside. A family of four, Mom, Dad and two little girls, where devouring waffles in a booth off to my left. It was a Tuesday and the place was kind of dead just before ten in the morning.
“Here you are, Hon,” Allie said as she sat a glass of Coke down in front of me. “Food will up in a minute.”
“Thanks, Allie,” I said and took a sip. My phone vibrated in my pocket and pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. It was a guy I knew, not exactly a friend, but more than an acquaintance.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Hey, Man, it’s Steve,” the caller said. Steve had lived in the South forever, but he’s still got a trace of New York in the accent.
“What’s up, Steve?”
“Not much,” he said, making small talk. Steve was never quick to get the point. “What’s up with you?”
“About to eat some breakfast,” I said as Allie sat two plates in front of me, one holding a larger order of hashbrowns and two eggs over medium with toast. A smaller plate held two sausage patties. I moved the toast over to the sausage plate and liberally coat the hashbrowns and eggs with salt, pepper, and ketchup.
“Well, I won’t keep you from your breakfast,” Steve drawled. “I just wanted to see if you’d be in the shop today?”
The “shop” as everyone calls it is the Blueline Cigar Company. The owner was a medically retired Birmingham cop and the place had become a sort of clubhouse for local cigar smokers. At least the ones with any taste. The shop was in an old house converted to retail space with one room converted into a walk in humidor, two large rooms with wall mounted tvs and an assortment of leather chairs, a full kitchen, and a dining room converted into a card room. On any given day there was a group of salty old men at the card table playing ten cent a chip Limit Hold’em. Bigger games could be had, and these were the men to help you find them, but this was a fun and profitable little game for the skilled player looking for a low stress game.
“Yeah, I’ll be in a little later,” I told Steve.
“Cool,” Steve said. “I got a little work you might be interested in. We’ll talk about it when you get here.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
“Later, Man.”
I ended the call and returned the phone to my pocket, then I dug into my food as I wondered what Steve might need. My stock in trade was usually damsels in distress and elderly folks wanting the meth labs and crack dealers out of their decaying neighborhoods.
Before that dip shit in Atlanta T-boned me I had been making a good living as a cable guy. Yeah, sounds like a weak sauce job which is why it is so high paying if you’re willing to travel a bit and put in some real effort. In truth it was hard work and I fucking hated it but the money was so damn good that you couldn’t just walk away.
After the accident and the city’s settlement I could support my lifestyle without that fucking job so I told the boss I was hanging it up. I was all set to settle down to a life of good cigars and good bourbon while pissing away the hours at the poker table when my Doc reminded me that I should probably stay active if I wanted to stay out of a wheel chair. I decided to fulfill a life long dream and spent two years on the road going to all the big gun and self defense schools around the country and training with all the big name trainers. Gunsite, Thunder Rance, Massad Ayoob Group, SouthNarc, Larry Vickers, Ken Hackathorn, Michael Janich.  If they had a name in the gun or self defense world, I was there. Between training courses I started shooting a lot of pistol competition, mostly IDPA, and a little two and three gun.
When I came home I found that there wasn’t much to do but go to the range or sit at the shop. I shot a couple of matches every month but mostly sat on my but for the first couple of months. After a while word got around among friends and acquaintances that I knew some stuff and I started getting asked for favors. I rode shotgun for a few friends repossessing cars and did some escort work for some business owners who carried a lot of cash but didn’t feel up to defending themselves.
This morphed into a kind of Have Gun, Will Travel kind of career. I registered an LLC and got some insurance and put myself out there as a consultant and trouble shooter for average people. Unlike Paladin, my prices are a lot more reasonable, but I am just as selective about my clientele. I don’t work for criminals or non-criminal scumbags. A lot of what I do is just riding along when someone is going to buy or sell something for a lot of cash. People get set up all the time for robberies through online classifieds, so a concerned person can spend a few bucks and have someone with them to look out for a potential set up.
My favorite jobs are those where I make abusive ex’s realize the error of their ways. I’m only for hire in that situation when a court issued restraining order is in place, but when it is I love to come in and show a lady how to look out for herself and give her a little defensive training. I’ll also sleep on the couch for a while if there is a strong chance of the ex showing up early on. The look of absolute fear on the faces of some of these cowards when I open the girlfriend or ex-wife’s door and remind them that they are in violation of a restraining order while holding a shotgun under their noses almost makes me want to do the work gratis. Almost.
That said, I don’t consider myself a gunfighter or anything like that. After all, I’ve never been in a gunfight. I pepper sprayed a young lady’s ex once outside her work when he thought he’d show her that I was no protection from some MMA wanna-be. She did more damage when she kicked him in the balls while he rolled on the ground trying to rub the burning from his eyes, and he was crying like a little bitch when the cops picked him up.
I finished my breakfast and paid with a twenty, telling Allie to keep the change. She beamed and told me to come back soon. I smiled and waved as I made my way out the door, and a couple of minutes later I was rumbling down North Chalkville Road toward Highway 11.

On The Range #100: Shooting the FN SCAR 5.56 and the Smith&Wessson M&P15 300AAC Blackout

I was given the opportunity to take a trip to one of the local shooting ranges and put some rounds down range through a couple of rifles I had no prior experience with, but which I had wanted to shoot for a while.

First up was the FN SCAR chambered in 5.56x45.  This is a rifle that was created as an alternative to the popular AR type rifles.  The goal was to create a more reliable, more ergonomic rifle to the replace the venerable M16/M4 rifles commonly found in US and NATO armories.

I'm cross eye dominate, meaning that I am right handed but left eye dominate.  I shoot pistols right handed but long guns I shoot left handed.  The SCAR is perfect for someone like me because of the ambidextrous controls.  The charging handle can be be set up on either the right or the left, and you've got ambidextrous safety and magazine release.

If you can shoot an AR type rifle, you can shoot a SCAR.  The biggest thing to be mindful of is to keep your hand out of the way of the charging handle while shooting as it's a moving part you don't have on the AR.

The SCAR I shot had an aftermarket Eotech red dot sight installed.  This was my first time with the Eotech sight (I am an Aimpoint fan boy) but I had not issues or complaints.

My ammo options were limited because I had to use range ammo as this was a rental gun, so I ended up using cheap steel cased Tula ammunition.  I put 60 rounds through the rifle without any hiccups, so this gun will eat even the dirty stuff (a benefit of the SCAR's piston system vs. the standard AR's direct impingement).

 

Bear in mind I was shooting cheap ammo so grouping was looser than I would like (and I'm not the best shot anyway).  The indoor range I was shooting at had a 50 yard rifle range with a minimum of 25 yards.  My first 3 shots are on the lower left pelvic area taken at 25 yards.  I was holding on the white dot and the sight was zeroed at 50 yards.  Not a great group, but not bad for first time shooting that rifle, offhand, with cheap ammo.

Most of my shooting was done at 25 yards but I did some at 50 as well.  I was able to keep all of my shots on the scoring area and most in the vital hit zones.  The trigger had a noticeable reset and I found double and triple taps were no problem.  Trigger was about the same as you'd get on any milspec AR type rifle or carbine.

The SCAR was a fun gun to shoot, and if I had the disposable income I would pick one up in heartbeat.  In the market for a SCAR?  Check out GRAB A GUN.  They've got a HUGE online inventory and can ship to your local FFL.  Oh, and one of the best parts?  They finance.  So maybe that SCAR isn't so far out of my reach....

But it will have to get behind the Smith&Wesson M&P15 in 300 AAC Blackout!  Wow, did I love shooting 300 Blackout!  I've already bookmarked the M&P15 upper on GRAB A GUN.

 The 300 AAC Blackout was created by Advanced Armament Corporation to be a dedicated suppressor round.  Now, that doesn't mean you can't shoot it unsuppressed because that is all I did today.  But if you're interested in adding a suppressor to your long gun at some point in the future, this is a round designed to excel from the ground up in that role.

Wicked looking round!

Shooting an AR in 300 Blackout is a pure treat.  The recoil is similar to a pistol caliber carbine and accuracy is excellent.  My only regret about shooting the 300 Blackout is that I couldn't afford to take it home with me.  

 Looking at the target above that one large hole is the first group I shot at 25 yards from the bench.  Sure, someone out there can easily do that at 100, but for me that is great.  The rest of the shots are from off hand shooting.

Two groups shot at 50 yards.

So, this gun is going on my "BUY SOON" list.  It was fun to shoot, and I shoot it better than I would have thought.  I think 300 Blackout has the potential to be a great all purpose round.  I have friends that swear buy it for hog hunting and I have no doubt it would put a white tail in the bed of your truck.  And lets face it, if it'll do that it'll work great as a self defense tool.  Not too mention it's great a round to be shooting if you're running a suppressor which is something I am seriously going to be looking into in the future especially since Alabama, like a lot of states, allows suppressor hunting.

If 300 AAC Blackout is a something you've been considering I say go for it.  Check out GRAB A GUN.  Not only do they have the gun I shot today in stock, but they've a ton of other rifles and uppers chambered in 300 AAC Blackout.

As you may have guessed by now this post was sponsored by GRAB A GUN.  They gave me the opportunity to shoot some guns I have not touched before and all they asked from me was to blog about it and mention them as a source to fill your firearms needs.  Go check out their website.  They've a huge selection of firearms, both handguns and long guns, and they even offer financing for your next purchase.

 

On The Range #96: Shootrite Firearms Academy Defensive Handgun, Day 1

Shootrite Firearms Academy's Defensive Handgun course started at 8:30AM in the classroom.  Tiger McKee, the director and founder of Shootrite, started out by introducing himself and his co-instructors to the seven course attendees.  Attending were myself, three other men and three women. I was the youngest attendee, something that kind of surprised me.  I thought the fact that almost half of the course attendees were women was interesting.  Most of the attendees (at a guess) were 50+.  

Tiger started out by explaining that the overarching theme of this course was consistency.  Fast is his least favorite word.  This was a basic handgun self defense course and he wanted everyone focused on doing everything correctly every time in order to get as many good repetitions in as possible. 

Next he went into a discussion of safety.  Tiger gave an in depth discussion of the Four Rules of Firearm Safety, not just simply stating the rules but explaining why each one is important in detail. He made the point of saying, "Good guys are responsible for everything they do, and must be responsible for where every bullet goes."

One thing that I think was very important that was brought up was that you have to not only be conscious of being safe yourself, but also of the habits of others around you.  You can be doing everything right and someone can walk right in front of you. This could be your spouse in a self defense situation or someone shooting on the range next to you. Being aware of the other people around you and what they are doing is very important.

We were told that if we saw something unsafe happening that we should point it out and try to correct it.  

After the safety discussion, we moved on to a discussion of The Fight.  "Call it what you want," Tiger told us, "but self defense is a fight." Fights, he went on to say, are 90% mental.  A fight is problem solving at high speed.  

Tiger asked us when a fight starts.  For Tiger, a fight starts when he wakes up that day and acknowledges that, "Today may be the day I have to defend myself or my family from a violent attack."  The idea is to be ahead of the game so that if something happens you're not in complete denial about what is happening.  

The next topic was, when does the fight end?  We were taught that the fight ends when legal authorities arrive and secure the scene and there is no chance of anything else happening. Something that I had not considered was that it could be minutes, hours, or days before things are secured.  A natural disaster or civil unrest can mean that it can take a long time before authorities can get to you.

Tiger is a big believer in avoidance and escape.  If you can avoid a fight or escape from a situation that should always be the choice you take.  Fights are like car accidents.  They can come out of nowhere.  But if you pay attention to what is going on around you most times you can avoid a bad situation before it turns into an accident or a fight.

Next we discussed what happens to us in a fight.  We were told to be aware of stress effects such as tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, and loss of dexterity.  Tiger recommended with research this thoroughly on our own time.

Tiger explained that most confrontations happen at conversation distance.  About 50% of violent encounters involve two or more attackers.  Around 70% of violent encounters happen in low light. Another key point was that self defense confrontations happen fast, usually 3-5 seconds.  In a violent encounter people are usually familiar with each other in 80% of conflicts (the numbers are slightly higher for  women, and slightly lower for men).  

In a fight, the only thing you can control is yourself and it is better to act than to react.  You should be attempting to make your attacker react to your actions rather than react to theirs.  This is why doing something immediately is usually better than waiting.  An imperfect immediate response is better than a late perfect response.

Next we discussed the elements of marksmanship.  We shoot to stop the threat.  Shooting them in the best manner to stop them may mean that they die as a result, but killing them is not the goal.  Stopping our attacker is the goal.

Accuracy in a defensive encounter is defined by distance to and size of the target.  You need to be sure you are doing what you need to do in order for your bullets to go where you want them too.  This is why consistency is so important.  You need to know exactly where your bullet is going every time you press the trigger and doing things consistently is how that happens.

We discussed the steps of taking the shot:  Aim, hold, press, follow though.  Follow through is probably one of the most important steps because you may need to take multiple shots and follow through sets you up to be able to do so correctly.  

Tiger explained that we shouldn't get too caught up in "shooting the bullet."  That's the guns job.  Our job is to point the gun in the right direction and smoothly press the trigger  He also pointed out that speed is going to be dictated by the accuracy necessary to make good hits.  The closer you are to the target the faster you will be able to shoot.

We were taught three zones on the the body we should be aiming for in a defensive encounter.  Our primary target is center mass of the chest.  This is the largest part of the body available where we can put rounds that will stop an attack.  However, people can and do sustain damage here and keep coming.  Body armor can also be a concern.  Therefore, the secondary zone on the body Tiger advocates shooting is the pelvic area.  A lot of blood flows through this part of the body and it is a key structure needed to keep a person on their feet.  A good hit to the pelvis can put a person on the ground so that they can not stand back up.

The third zone is the central nervous system, or head shot.  Because the human skull has evolved to protect the brain this is a very difficult part of the body to attack.  Shots typically need to go into the head via the ocular canal between the eyebrows and the base of the nose.  This is why it is typically the last of the three zones to shoot at.

When shooting to stop a threat it is important to put good, accurate hits on the threat until we get the results we want.  Consistently operating the handgun is going to be extremely helpful with this.  

It's also important to remember that you are shooting at a 3D target and may need to adjust your angle of fire to get those shots where you need them.

After marksmanship we discussed firearm manipulations.  There are two types of manipulations, administrative actions and functional actions. Administrative actions are those that can be done at your discretion such as loading, unloading, and chamber or press checks.  Functional actions are those that must be performed immediately such as empty reloads and malfunction clearances.  

Any gun can and will malfunction under the right circumstances so it is important to know how to handle them and to train to handle them in action.  This was covered extensively in Day 2 of the course.

The final topic covered in the classroom was tactics. Situational and environmental awareness are the key aspects to defending oneself. Being aware of where you are and what is going on around you gives you the chance to see something that you don't like and act instead of being on the opposite end and just reacting to something that is happening to you.  

You're first goal should be to avoid and/or escape the situation.  This is the best response if it is available to you.  If not you should be trying to move (distance is your friend in a self defense scenario), communicate (force the adversary to rethink what they are doing with verbal commands), use cover, and if necessary shoot.  Any of the steps up to shooting may resolve the situation.  If they don't, you'll need to put accurate hits on the threat until they stop.  

After our discussion of tactics we took a short morning break and then headed to the range.  

The number of participants in each course at Shootrite is limited to 8.  This means each individual can get plenty of one on one coaching from the instructors.  It also means that a huge range isn't necessary. The range could have probably accommodated twice as many shooters, but with just 7 of us there was plenty of room for everyone to be on the firing line at the same time without crowding each other.

Tiger breaks up the range time with frequent short breaks.  This allows the instructors to give short lectures on what we will be doing and allows participants to load mags, re-hydrate, or grab a quick snack between time on the firing line.

We started our time on the range with a lot of dry practice.  Since the overall theme of the course is consistency we were told to focus on proper technique.  We were encouraged to go as slow as necessary to do everything correctly every time.  At no time during the two days were we rushed to finish performing a drill. 

First we discussed shooting stances.  Tiger is a believer in using what works best for you so he does not advocate once particular shooting stance over another, but rather acknowledges that you may have to shift from one to another as a fight progresses.  What he did ask we do is to maintain a good fighting stance with our foot placement and weight forward over our feet.   

Next we worked on the draw stroke and holstering.  Shootrite teaches the draw in a familiar four step process of:  1. Strong hand grips holstered pistol in preparation to draw while support hand slaps the center chest.  2. Bring pistol up into the retention position, tucked into the body but canted out so that the slide can operate without getting caught in clothing or hitting the body if extremely close quarters shooting is necessary.  Support hand remains against the chest. 3. Attain a two handed grip and begin to press out. 4. Press out to low ready if a threat is present or if you have decided you must shoot press out towards the threat until your sights come to your eyes at which point your finger should be on the trigger and taking up slack until the shot breaks.

One thing that I should mention is that Tiger also took the time to demonstrate drawing from concealment.  He offers a version of Defensive Handgun where everything is done from concealment, but in this particular course we had the option of using a cover garment or not.  For Day 1 I did not use a cover garment but used my Glock 17 in a Galco Royal Guard IWB holster.  For Day 2 I concealed my Glock 17 under a polo shirt and used a kydex DSG Alpha OWB that I typically use in IDPA matches.  

Along with the draw we also practiced working our pistols back into the holster in a slow, and safe manner.  There is no rush to get the gun back in the holster.  Tiger teaches that when a threat is gone one should return to low ready (or remain in low ready if taking aim at the threat and firing was not necessary) and scan the area for any other threats.  From low ready we were coached to slowly work the draw stroke in reverse while constantly doing a slow scan of our surrounds until we had our gun back in the holster.  It was emphasized over and over that there is never any reason to rush this process as a new threat can pop up at any time or the original threat may return.

We next worked on loading and unloading.  Loading began from low ready.  Keeping the gun in low ready and our eyes up we retrieved a magazine with our support hand and with it properly indexed (base in the palm, index finger touching the first round in the mag) we fit the flat back of the magazine to the flat back of the magazine well on the pistol.  The magazine was then firmly seated and the support hand came up to aggressively run the slide to load a round.  This is all done with the eyes up.  The only time the eyes go to the gun is to perform a visual check that a round is loaded.  

Unloading was a more involved process than I have used before.  The magazine is removed and retained in the pinky of the strong hand.  The support hand aggressively runs the slide at least three times in order to clear any loaded round, and then a visual check is performed.  The only time the eyes should come down to the pistol is when doing the visual chamber check.

Confirming clear was done by using the fingers to confirm no magazine is inserted, running the slide three times to remove any round in the chamber, and then doing a final visual check to confirm the chamber is empty.  At this point to pistol was worked back to the holster while scanning our surroundings.

As you can probably see the idea is to be able to do all of these manipulations blind so that you can keep your head up and eyes on the move looking for any potential threats.  Doing it the same way every time maintains consistency.  If you do it that way every time, you'll keep your eyes up and on the threat/s if you are performing an empty/speed reload while in a fight.

At this point we broke for lunch at a very nice local diner called the South Sauty Creek Cafe.  They make a great bacon cheeseburger.  I highly recommend it if you are taking a course or just in the Langston, AL area.

After lunch we went back to the range for some live fire practice.  Before we got into the actual live fire we did an exercise to familiarize everyone with the reset of their trigger. This was done buy breaking up into pairs, dry firing the pistol and holding the trigger all the way to the rear, and having the other person run the slide for you.  At that point you would let out the trigger until it resets in preparation for another shot.  We did this a few times until everyone got a good feel for their pistol's reset.

We moved on to shooting from the low ready.  On the command we would come up from low ready, issue verbal commands to the threat, and then assuming that failed fire the required number of rounds, being sure to take our time and work on reset.  We started with a singe shot, and then resetting the trigger.  We moved up to multiple shots.  

Live fire continued with us working under the assumption our threats were not going down and transitioning to the pelvic region or a head shot as we were instructed.  We also did some drills shooting all three zones in various order.  

As the day came to a close we were working from the holster, completing a draw, engaging our target, and then scanning our surroundings while working our pistols back to the holster.  Everything was done deliberately and slowly with the goal of performing every action consistently every time.

Something new to me was the exercise in which we performed our draw stroke as if we needed to shoot the threat, but with our eyes closed to see what our body felt like when the pistol was pointed correctly.  We did this a few times, opening our eyes after the press out to check our sights and make adjustments if necessary.  We eventually moved to live fire blind.  It was impressive to me how easy it was to get good, accurate hits at close distances.  The goal here was to show us that you don't need much in the way of sight alignment, just a flash of the front sight, to confirm you are going to make a good hit when you press the trigger.  This was the only time we actually did anything at speed because at such close distance speed really becomes important, but you have to know you can make good hits.

We closed out the day getting the basics of moving left and right (dry) before wrapping things up with a final discussion of what we had covered and why it was important.  Every repitition needs to be done correctly every time so that it becomes second nature.  In this way you are training your subconscious to do what you want it to do under stress.  You communicate with the threat.  Many times just making them aware that you are not a passive victim will cause them to back off.  If verbal commands don't work you gain compliance by getting good, accurate hits with your handgun.  Finally, using movement you get the threat to respond to your actions rather than the other way around.

And that was Day 1.  It was largely stuff that I was already familiar with from literature and other training course I've attended but there was definitely some new material and even repeating things I had done before made for a great refresher.  

Stay tuned for Day 2.

A few notes from gun school.

Today was the second and final day of my Defensive Handgun course at Shootrite Firearms Academy.  This was a two day basic handgun self defense course.  Day 1 largely consisted of things I was already familiar with but was a very good refresher.  Day 2 was a lot of stuff I was intellectually familiar with but that I had never put into practice on the range.

I'm going to be doing a detailed post for both days of the course soon but I wanted to make a couple of quick observations.

First was that I was the youngest of the seven people attending the course.  I am 29 and the next youngest person there was 36.  Most of the attendees were 50+.  This actually kind of surprised and disappointed me.  I definitely need to recommend that some of my friends get up there.

There were three men besides me, and three women.  That was a pleasant surprise.  One of the women had just jumped into shooting after Sandyhook.  She went from being ambivalent about guns to being extremely pro gun as a direct result of the attempts to limit the Second Amendment.

There were a variety of guns.  There were three Glocks (mine, another man's, and one woman's). The other two women were shooting a S&W Shield 9mm and a Sig P250, respectively.  One man was shooting an XD and the other an Ed Brown Cobra Carry 1911 (probably the nicest gun out there).

Everyone was shooting 9mm pistols except for the 1911 guy and one of the Glock guys who was shooting .40.  No big surprise here.

Everyone shot about 400-500 rounds and there were, to my knowledge, no malfunctions that were not a result of operator error or deliberately induced for training purposes.

Oh, and everyone could shoot.  And I mean everyone.  This was good because it gave us a chance to advance into some stuff that doesn't normally get covered in this particular course.

All in all I had a good time.  I feel like I really took away some good stuff.  Tiger McKee, the owner and lead instructor, is a very open minded type.  He acknowledges that people may have a different way of doing things and he is ok with that.  He said over and over, "This is the way we do it, and the way we teach it.  We want you to try it, and if you find it does not work for that's ultimately your decision.  As long as what you are doing is safe, I have no issue with that.  Just give our way a chance."  He also made a point of explaining the "why" of his methods, rather than just saying "this is how it is done."

A couple of the things I probably won't do his way.  But he convinced me on at least one thing, and that alone was enough to make the two days worth it.

More to come.

Going to gun school.

September 5th and 6th I'll be in Langston, AL (just outside of Scottsboro) taking the Defensive Handgun course at Shootrite Firearms Academy, LLC.  I've wanted to get up there for years and it has finally worked out.  

I am really looking forward to this, and I hope to do a fairly extensive write up afterwards.  

On The Range #86: The Masters 2013 IDPA Match

Yesterday I shot in my first sanctioned IDPA match, The Masters 2013, at Brock's Gap Training Center in Birmingham, AL.  It was ten stages of both fun and frustration.

All of the SOs, saving one man on one stage, were great.  This one guy stood out as an asshole, but fuck him.  The other SOs were wonderful even if they all had a variety of styles and mannerisms.

The stages were all challenging and fun, my favorite being one that was set up to mirror the scene from The Outlaw Josey Wales in which Clint Eastwood comes out of a general store, hands full, to find himself confronted by a group of Union soldiers.  As they stare each other down, he says, "Are you gonna pull those pistols, or whistle Dixie?"  You, of course, are Wales.  That was also probably  my best stage overall.

I ended up 16 out of 20 in Stock Service Pistol/Sharpshooter, and 104 of 140 total shooters.  I wasn't dead last, so I'm happy about that.  I shot about middle of the pack with the SSP/Marksman, which is what I'm used to.

I was almost disqualified on a stage for possibly unsafe muzzle work.  One SO saw it, one didn't.  The one who didn't decided I could rerun the stage after the stop call.  Personally, I'm not sure.  The stage required me to back up and then run down the 90 degree line.  My muzzle typically goes where my eyes go and I didn't look past the 90.  A few of my squad mates spoke with me after and said I was close but didn't break it.  Anyway, I was very conscious about it the rest of the day.

Overall, it was a good match.  I had fun, but by the end I was exhausted.  My allergies were driving me insane.  I had a runny nose for most of the match and was eating Claritin at lunch (which helped not at all for once).  Match results didn't come out until late and I was in bed by 8:30 last night so I didn't see them until this morning.

The Glock ran perfectly though out the entire match.  I the match using Winchester Ranger 127gr. 9mm +P+ JHP, my carry ammo.  I bought it for the same price I see PMC 115gr FMJ going for so I figured I might as well use it and have the extra oomph for steel activators.

I'm looking forward to the next club level match later this month, and I may look into shooting a few more sanctioned matches around the southeast.