Author Archives: Tim Lau

About Tim Lau

Tim Lau has over a decade of experience as an end user, armorer and instructor. He has worked for several well known firearms training organizations, and holds multiple firearms instructor certifications. He owns and operates 10-8 Consulting, LLC, which provides industry consulting services as well as marksmanship and specialized firearms training to qualified civilian, law enforcement and military personnel.

REVIEW: Brass Monkey Performance Competition Belt

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This year at the Pro Am Steel Match, Cliff Walsh from Top Shot Season 3 (and 10-8 Performance sponsored shooter) introduced me to the Brass Monkey Performance (BMP) Competition Belt. For years I have been using various “tactical” belts for training and competition, such as the excellent Instructor Belt from The Wilderness. But when a seasoned competitor like Cliff makes a suggestion, I tend to listen.

BMP’s competition belt uses the same concept as a duty belt system used by cops everywhere. An inner belt goes through the pant loops and then an outer belt with all the gear is secured to the inner belt. Traditional “Sam Brown” belts in law enforcement use small fasteners known as “keepers” to secure the outer belt to the inner one. BMP’s competition belt uses hook and loop velcro to secure the two belts together. BMP uses some sticky grade velcro as the belts will not come apart from each other until you absolutely want them to. Continue reading →

First Look: Blue Force Gear’s Rapid Emergency Detachment (RED) Swivel

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K-9 Officer S. Sharpe with the BFG RED Sling Swivel attached to a Centurion Arms 12.0 FSB rail.

Most everyone is familiar with Blue Force Gear’s Vickers Combat Application Sling, which has become one of the industry standards for two-point adjustable slings. But that is not the only sling product they offer. Blue Force Gear continues to innovate, and offers a full line of sling options to fit each user’s needs. A couple months ago, I ordered the new Rapid Emergency Detachment sling swivel, which is designed to allow the user to rapidly and easily remove the sling should he need to. This swivel is works in conjunction with common push-button sling swivel sockets used by many quality manufacturers today.

The swivel replaces the common push-button release and replaces it with a pull knob at the end of a short stainless steel cable coated in black nylon. This allows the user to rapidly release the sling should he need to get out of the sling in a hurry. The knob shape is designed to be anti-snag so that the chance of accidental release is minimized. Continue reading →

Preparing for Combat through Competition

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Above: My Tie-Breaker Stage at the 2012 Pro Am Match in Frostproof, FL

Recently, we have received comments from various readers expressing that competition is impractical or unrealistic training for combat. If you are expecting a gunfight to be the same as shooting an IDPA or IPSC match, we at MSW wholeheartedly agree. However, there are valuable lessons to be learned through competition. The first is the development of mechanical skill. While there are certainly other facets to prevailing in a gunfight, one cannot argue that quickly and efficiently manipulating the gun and putting rounds on target would not be beneficial in a deadly force encounter.

Continue reading →

Improving Target to Target Transition Speed: The Circle Madness Target

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One of the lessons Hilton and I learned this year after the Pro Am match was the importance of practicing target to target transitions. This year’s match had quite a few stages in which shooters were forced to transition between targets of varying difficulty. The tendency is to engage a target too fast after engaging an easy (large or close range) target, or take too much time on a close range target after making a more technical shot. Continue reading →

Apex Tactical’s Gen 4 Glock Failure Resistant Extractor Now Available

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Apex Tactical’s long awaited Failure Resistant Extractor for the Glock Gen 4 is now available for ordering from their web store. Many shooters who have bought Glocks within the last few years have discovered their Glocks are ejecting cases erratically or even malfunctioning with stovepipe type malfunctions. My personal Glock 17 RTF worked fine for about 1000 rounds and suddenly began to fail to eject every 100 rounds or so. It was quite frustrating.

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I received a prototype extractor from Apex a while back, which improved the consistency of ejection and extraction of all the Glocks in which I dropped it in. This fix from Apex was able to do what countless other “fixes” from the Internet Peanut Gallery could not. In fact, it worked so well, my Glock was able to reliably extract and eject cases without a magazine inserted in the gun. This is something Glocks have never been able to do from the factory.

Note that this version is specifically for Gen 4 Glocks only, and a Gen 3 version will be coming along soon.

Source: Apex Tactical

 

 

NLT’s Zombie SIRT

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Next Level Training’s Latest SIRT Model with Green Slide

Most of our readers know that we are big proponents of Next Level Training’s SIRT Pistol. Using this innovative training tool for dry practice and integrating it into live fire training has yielded tremendous results in terms of speed and accuracy.

The latest addition to Next Level Training’s product line is the “Homo Coprophagus Somnambulus” or Zombie model. Despite the bright green slide and timely marketing, this model is extremely practical: it combines the economical polymer slide of the Performer model with the versatile green laser indicator found in the top of the line 110 PRO Model, which can be used outdoors in bright daylight conditions. With an introductory price of $289, Next Level Training has effectively lowered the barrier to entry for anyone serious about pistol training.

Remember that our readers are eligible for a 10% discount by entering “10-8” in the coupon code box at checkout. Active/retired Law Enforcement or Military should contact me directly for an even more generous discount.

Link: http://www.nextleveltraining.com

MagPul Announces Next Generation PMAG

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For the better part of the last decade, MagPul Industries has redefined how we think of polymer magazines for the AR15 platform. Their PMAG has set a new standard for reliability and durability, and in many ways surpasses the aluminum GI magazine.

Recently, MagPul announced they will be releasing their latest GEN M3 PMAG. According to MagPul, the GEN M3 PMAG features the following improvements: Continue reading →

Thorntail Light Mount by Haley Strategic Partners

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In the past decade, tactical techniques, procedures and equipment have evolved quite a bit, thanks to lessons learned from overseas and the influence from the competitive shooting community. For example, many trainers and shooters prefer controlling the gun closer toward the muzzle to more efficiently control recoil and aggressively drive the gun to the target. Another trend is the use of two point adjustable slings on the carbine.
With these preferences in mind, when setting up a carbine it quickly becomes clear that the sling mount, light mount, and the shooter’s support hand are all competing for the same piece of real estate. This is true even when running an extended forend, and is exacerbated when a shorter, 7-inch rail is used.

Apex Tactical Glock Extractor

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For thirty years, Glock 9mm handguns have been nearly synonymous with reliability, but recently, many Glock owners have been suffering from erratic and sometimes failed ejection with their Glock 9mm pistols. Numerous theories populate the various Internet gun forums, but so far there has been no definitive answer from Glock as to the cause, or a solution. Glock Customer Service responses range from total denial, instructions to send the gun in for repair, or sending out replacement parts to local armorers.

It seems the erratic ejection issues appeared somewhere around the “M” serial number prefix in the Gen 3 9mm pistols, and possibly affect all Gen 4 9mm guns.

One popular “fix” is to obtain the latest Gen 4 9mm ejector (Part Number 30274), which for most people, seems to make ejection a little more consistent but doesn’t always solve the problem. Others recommend the HRED extractor plunger assembly by White Sound Defense, but this product did nothing for me.

Continue reading →

SIRT Drills: Maintenance Drill #2

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Earlier this week, my good friend Hilton Yam posted on the 10-8 Performance Blog a simple maintenance set of drills that can be done with the SIRT pistol from Next Level Training. It’s an excellent way to get 40 quality trigger presses in from every (normal) way one might hold the pistol. Hilton’s post reminded me of a warmup I used to do to start off every range session.
The set is very simple:

Aimpoint CCO Training at Telluric Group

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I just returned home from an Aimpoint media event and training course hosted at the Telluric Group training facility in Brunswick, GA. Now this was a bit of preaching to the choir on Aimpoint’s part, as I have been an end user and believer in the Aimpoint red dot sight for over a decade. I will be covering the specifics regarding the training in an upcoming article and sidebar for Soldier of Fortune Magazine, but some notable news: