Author Archives: Gary Roberts

About Gary Roberts

Dr. Roberts is currently on staff at a large teaching hospital and Level I Trauma center where he performs hospital dentistry and surgery. After completing his residency in 1989 while on active military duty, he studied at the Army Wound Ballistic Research Laboratory and became one of the first members of the International Wound Ballistic Association. Since then, he has been tasked with performing military, law enforcement, and privately funded independent wound ballistic testing and analysis. As a U.S. Navy Reserve officer from 1986 to 2008, he served on the Joint Service Wound Ballistic IPT, as well as being a consultant to the Joint FBI-USMC munitions testing program and the TSWG MURG program. He is frequently asked to provide wound ballistic technical assistance to numerous U.S. and allied SOF units and organizations. In addition, he has been a technical advisor to the Association of Firearms and Toolmark Examiners, as well as to a variety of Federal, State, and municipal law enforcement agencies. He has been a sworn Reserve Police Officer in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he now he serves in an LE training role.

The 1911 For LE and Special Team Use

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From 1986 to 2010 I was issued, qualified with, or authorized to carry a 1911—even got the POST certified SWAT Academy training for the 1911. While I had no problems maintaining my personal 1911′s, go ahead and try to keep nearly 100 1911′s from a large full time metropolitan SWAT team up and running. The 1911 is not a logical choice for general LE issue, including SWAT team use, in this era given the increased fiscal outlay they require. In addition, for years I thought I shot a 1911 better than any other pistol. However, when run across a wide variety of tests based on objective times and scores, rather than subjective feelings, that did not turn out to be true. It turns out I run an M&P or Glock just as well.

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D&L/Cominolli Glock safety

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As previously noted, I have long preferred having a manual safety on my pistol, as I have twice seen officers’ lives potentially saved when another person gained control of an officer’s pistol, but the engaged manual safety prevented the weapon from firing –I don’t like to think about the outcome if the pistols involved had been a Glock, Sig, XD, revolver, etc…. In the incidents I have witnessed the officers had NO way to mitigate the threat prior to losing the pistol, despite adequate training and good quality Safariland retention holsters. All the DT/retention techniques in the world do not help when an officer is on the ground unconscious/semi-conscious. A manual safety can give officers a brief respite to neutralize the suspect using disarming techniques, access back-up weapons, and allow cover officers the opportunity to react and engage. Continue reading →

AAR: Robert Vogel 2-Day Pistol Class, 01 Nov 2012

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Robert Vogel does not need much introduction—his bio http://www.vogeldynamics.com/bio/) and accomplishments (http://www.vogeldynamics.com/accomplishments/) speak for themselves. As with many other world class shooters, Bob is down to earth, humble, practical, and easily approachable. This class at Chabot Gun Range, in the hills above Oakland, CA, started with a 2 hour discussion on his approach to shooting based on his competition, LE, and hunting experiences.

He went over equipment first. At this time, Vogel shoots primarily Glocks for competition, LE duty, and CCW. At the class, he was shooting a G34 with Warren Sevigny competition sights using a wide notch rear aperture and a red fiberoptic front (he replaces the fiberoptic rod about every 3 mo). Interestingly, he uses fiberoptic front sights on all his pistols–competition, LE duty, and CCW. He feels they work just as well for him as tritium sights and reports never having any problems with breakage or fiber loss, but he does install them correctly.

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