The K-Var Armory

Situational Awareness – Keep Your Head Up

There are certain places and times when it’s good to have an acute sense of what’s going on around you, in order to avoid potential risks to yourself and others. Situational awareness is a skill (and a habit) that helps to focus your attention on your surroundings and hopefully allows you to be better prepared for, or avoid, nasty encounters with those who may wish to do you harm. [Read more…] about Situational Awareness – Keep Your Head Up

Center Mass Targeting

I had a police officer buddy lament recently that there had been some public push back on a shooting where a man had been wounded in a gunfire exchange during a robbery. He’d been hit in the chest (and will survive), but the talk was centered around the old ‘why couldn’t you just shoot him in the leg’ question. Not the first time that this one has come up and it probably won’t be the last.

Patriot Games

So now what?

I wish I knew. But, one thing is becoming increasingly clear; dissent is on the menu, and I don’t foresee it being out of order for quite some time.

Something is rotten in Denmark when it comes to how things went down starting on Tuesday, November 3rd. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, then what is it? [Read more…] about Patriot Games

Arm Yourselves. Things Are About To Get Wild.

And here we are. In less than twenty-four hours, the polls will open, and millions of Americans will have their say as to who the next President of the United States will be.

The past week or so, I have been delving into media coverage of this showdown, flipping between CNN’s coverage and Fox News. It is daunting at times, as the spin doctors and powers that be continue to weave agendas through the countless talking heads they hire to orate desired scripts. Narratives are pushed from both camps, and finding anything of substance is often a crapshoot. [Read more…] about Arm Yourselves. Things Are About To Get Wild.

Keep It Clean

Like any tool or equipment that you may own, keeping your firearms clean and in good working order goes a long way in maintaining optimal performance. Even a rank novice knows instinctively that ‘clean is good’ when it comes to your guns, but there are some elements of the process that may be misunderstood, not considered or that get forgotten about due to laziness or neglect.

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Don’t Be A Goat. Vote.

My family emigrated to the West in hopes of starting a new life. A life where freedom was not only present but written into the Constitution by the country’s forefathers. This isn’t an isolated or unique experience. Millions of immigrants flee their homelands in search of the American Dream. But, it’s in these trying times when we must remember how truly fortunate we are to be sovereign citizens of the United States of America. [Read more…] about Don’t Be A Goat. Vote.

Visual Cross Dominance & Shooting

The vast majority of people worldwide have a dominant hand that dictates what side they use to write, throw a ball, bat etc. and this would certainly include how they shoot. Very few are truly ambidextrous – and just like your hands, most have one eye that is more dominant than the other. [Read more…] about Visual Cross Dominance & Shooting

For the Sport of It

For almost as long as people have been shooting, there has been a desire for opportunities to showcase individual talents and to engage in competitive events. From archers in ancient civilizations to the earliest matchlock and flintlock shooting competitions in Europe and early America, expert marksmanship has been a much-lauded skill over time. [Read more…] about For the Sport of It

September 11th, 2001. Who Benefits?

Today marks nineteen years to the day when everything changed; 9/11. I won’t get into my beliefs as to what occurred on our soil that day. I will not bore you with details as to where I was that morning. It doesn’t change a thing, and more often than not, leads to contentious arguments with my inner circle. [Read more…] about September 11th, 2001. Who Benefits?

Close Quarter Shooting Part 2

In one of our blogs a few months ago we talked about shooting handguns at close quarters and introduced a bit of a reality-check on some of the elements involved. Here’s what we know:

Personal attacks requiring a defensive response typically happen VERY quickly
It’s easy to underestimate the fear and stress that a real-life defensive situation can cause
Actions will almost always be faster than reactions
Your decision-making and reaction time are likely slower than you think
Most consider ‘close quarters’ to be within 6 feet from an aggressor – consider though that studies have shown that an average person (not an Olympic sprinter) can cover up to 22 feet of distance in about 3 seconds

No need to re-hash the details, but we know these facts to be true. [Read more…] about Close Quarter Shooting Part 2

Don’t Be A Victim

Here’s the thing; I haven’t always been a gun advocate. After the school shooting at Columbine in 1999, I adopted the view most liberals still cling to; gun reform is necessary for our country, and long overdue. Then, during my senior year in college, something happened that altered my paradigm entirely.

I was out with fraternity brothers at a local bar celebrating the end of finals. There were eight of us drinking our problems away like countless Coeds before us. This night occurred in the early 2000s to give you a frame of reference. Nothing was out of the ordinary for the first few hours, but right around eleven, things went south and changed my lens forever.

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Chess, Not Checkers

2020 has been interesting. First, a global pandemic that was initially said to wipe out 1-2 million Americans. And then, racial turmoil with demands to disband police departments reverberating throughout the union. Let’s first cast the lens on the novel Coronavirus, so that we may better connect the dots as to what might be transpiring before our eyes. [Read more…] about Chess, Not Checkers

Has My Ammo Gone Bad?

For most hunters and sport shooters who use their firearms regularly, you don’t have to give too much thought to your ammo aside from keeping it dry and safely secured when you’re not using it. Beyond that, you’re cycling through your inventory pretty consistently with few issues. Modern, factory-made ammo is very reliable and will last for a long time under the right conditions, however there are instances where you could be pushing your luck.

If You Buy One Handgun This Year, Make it a Rex

One of the most surprising handguns I’ve ever encountered was the Rex Zero 1 by AREX Defense. AREX is a Slovenian company that has been in the firearms business since 1994, and they are world renowned, although you’ll rarely hear about the company in the United States. Since 2004, AREX has been making parts for several companies that you may have heard of, including FN, Browning and Fiocchi, among others. They hold several military patents in Europe and their handguns are carried by some of the most elite military units in the world.

The Purge

Face facts – life, as we know it, has changed and will never be the same. Within four months, day-to-day reality has shifted for the entire globe. Numbers flash on tv screens; deaths, infections, stock market indicators, and suddenly, things aren’t so different than the initial years following the September 11th attacks. Remember? The colored terrorism threat indicators plastered at the bottom of countless media outlets; red, orange, yellow, and so on. The current perceived threat may be different, in this case, a virus and not anti-West extremists, however, the same product is being sold by those in power – Fear, and a lot of it.

[Read more…] about The Purge

Kids & Guns – Communication and Common Sense

When is the right time to introduce your kids to the world of firearms?

For the most part, it really depends on the child (we’ll get back to that in a moment) and your willingness to fully communicate the do’s-&-don’ts of gun handling and the potential risks if they are misused. Whether you simply own a handgun for personal protection or are a ‘shooting’ family that hunts or participates in sport shooting, a child’s understanding of guns will be of benefit.

Defensive Gun Use is Not a Myth

Anti-gun groups and organizations across America have been trying to tell us for years now that the use of guns for self-defense by private citizens is extremely rare. Groups such as the Violence Policy Center say that “…research has found a gun is far more likely to be used in a homicide or suicide than in a justifiable homicide. More guns are stolen each year than are used in self-defense.”

But is this true? Let’s take a look at the facts.

ALWAYS PACK IN CASE

Imagine this scenario for a moment – you’re the son of a billionaire known for his philanthropy. One night, your parents take you to the Opera located in a seedy part of town. After the show, your old man elects to take a short-cut through a desolate alley. His decision proves fatal. Not a minute through, the three of you are confronted by a gunman in his twenties who demands valuables. Your father does his best to comply, but as the gunman reaches for pearls hanging around your mother’s neck, dad’s protective gene kicks in and he lunges at the man. What happens next is tragic; the gunman reacts, pulls the trigger twice, and like that, you’re the wealthiest orphan north of the Mississippi.

[Read more…] about ALWAYS PACK IN CASE

Close Quarter Shooting – Part 1

With home and personal defense being the number one reason that people purchase firearms, you’d think that more time would be spent training for potential close proximity threats.

Turns out, not so much.

This is a wide-ranging subject that covers a lot of ground, so we’re going to split this one up into two segments. Here, we’ll dive into some of the realities of self defense shooting and then get into specific techniques in another post. To help define it further, we’ll stick to handguns and what we would consider to be the ‘average’ novice gun owner.

The FM-AR: A Molot VEPR for 2020

In the gun world, Russia is best known for the classic AK-47 rifle, but one of the best rifles ever built comes from the Molot factory in Vyatskiye Polyany, and those rifles are called the VEPR.