August 26, 2025 • 24 mins
Christian ; Follower of GOD Servant of CHRIST
Decorated Combat VeteranCorporate; U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfare Instrictor;
S.R.T. Commander Active Shooter Response Team
Law Enforcement Los Angeles Police (L.A.P.D.) Police Officer / Fugitive Recovery
F.B.I. Instructor N.R.A Instructor
Competition Shooter; Multi Time State Rifle Pistol Champion
Hunting; Life Long Hunter Proffessional Hunter and Guide
Private Security Contractor; Several Agencies, Current.
GOD Provides / JESUS Saves
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gunfighter-life-survival-guns-tactical-hunting--4187306/support.
Have a Blessed Day
Decorated Combat VeteranCorporate; U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfare Instrictor;
S.R.T. Commander Active Shooter Response Team
Law Enforcement Los Angeles Police (L.A.P.D.) Police Officer / Fugitive Recovery
F.B.I. Instructor N.R.A Instructor
Competition Shooter; Multi Time State Rifle Pistol Champion
Hunting; Life Long Hunter Proffessional Hunter and Guide
Private Security Contractor; Several Agencies, Current.
GOD Provides / JESUS Saves
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gunfighter-life-survival-guns-tactical-hunting--4187306/support.
Have a Blessed Day
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is going on gum fighters. I thought I would
talk with you guys and be honest about some phases
that I have been through over let's say, twenty five
years of being kind of really into shooting and being
really passionate about it, and different phases I've went through.
It might shock some of you. Even went through a
(00:20):
glock phase. I was so young. Anyway, different phases that
I've been through. Maybe it will help you. We'll talk
about that today on Gunfighter Life. Welcome to the podcast
where we talk about guns, gum fighting, tactics, ballistics the
right way, with all Mighty God at the center, Judeo
(00:41):
Christian values and real world firsthand experience. Blessed be the
Lord of my rock, who trains my hands for war
and fingers for a battle. Bio in the show notes,
all right, let's get into it. When I first got
into shooting and hunting, as you might imagine, I had
what I had, or I had what I was given.
(01:01):
One of my uncles gave me, and he I don't
remember him being in the guns or hunting. I think
he just randomly had it and knew that I liked
guns and gave me. Gave my other uncle this old
beat up Mosburg four ten that had to be repaired
to even work, and he gave to my other uncle.
My other uncle fixed it, gave it to me. I
(01:22):
hunted a ton with that old, you know, beat up
ragged even when I first got it, both action four
to ten shotgun, and I really liked it. I had
a great time with it. So much about the gun.
It was about being out in nature and you know,
being able to put food on the table. Even at
a young age. Was I twelve able to run around
(01:45):
the woods before that had things, you know, pre dating
I would be able to shoot other people's twenty two's,
I would be able to you know, I had a
BB gun long before that run around, bow and arrow,
but that was my first like legit firearm that was mine.
And at that young age, I could run around and
put meat on the table and that was really rewarding
to me. Just being out in nature and putting food
(02:06):
on the table. Wasn't so much about the gun I had.
What I had when I started working was maybe fourteenish.
I would save up and some of the first big
purchases I ever made were firearms. I would have my
mom go down because I was too young to actually
buy a firearm, so she would buy it for the
money and things like a ten to twenty two. I
guess back then, thinking about it, it was more about a
basic battery that I could do the most with. I
(02:30):
was also getting into competition shooting at that time, which
I'm still into today. Thankfully, that was not a phase,
but I did get into. I guess this would be
a very early phase. Let's call it magnum itis or
my magnum phase. I wanted a good deer rifle. I
loved deer hunting. I had taken many deer at this
(02:50):
point many. I had taken quite a few deer. At
this point. I was still in high school. When I
had saved up. I had a fairly decent job as
a lifeguard, made decent money. As you know, in high school,
you don't have a lot of bills, so I was
able to save up some money and what I wanted.
I would sit there on, you know, my lifeguard chair,
probably times when I wasn't supposed to, like in school,
(03:11):
and just study ballistics, think about ballistics, and I'm looking
at all these ballistics charge I had in my mind
that what I really needed was a seven millimeter Remington magnum.
That's a fine cartridge. I lived in the backwoods and
swamps of coastal southern Virginia and far south, not connected
(03:34):
to the main part of Maryland, Maryland in Virginia, the
eastern shore. That's where I lived, thick swamp. I was poor,
being the son of a single teenage mom, a bastard son,
and such a location where it's all about who you know.
I wasn't really well connected to have many private land permissions.
(03:56):
As you might imagine, why I hunted places A lot
of people didn't want to hunt, like and marshes and
nasty places. So why I thought I needed a super
flat shooting, super heavy hitting seven millimeter Remington Magnum to
hunt white tailed deer on the east coast, especially the
southern swamps, I don't know, But again we're getting into
(04:19):
phases here. I thought that I needed this magnum. Needed
this magnum. I saved up and I got it it.
It was a good gun. It was one of those
old canoe paddle stock Remington seventy seven's stainless steel beautiful rifle.
Deer were not nearly as abundant back then as they
are now, I think you might have gotten a deer
tag or something. I'll remember why. But my buddy and
(04:41):
I were hunting together, and I maybe I already took
my deer, I honestly don't remember. For some reason, I
let him use my rifle. We were sitting together in
the stand, and he shot a deer with that thing.
It's probably seventy five yards away. Not need a seven
millimeter Remington bag. I practiced with that thing a little bit.
I joined them Marine Corps shortly thereafter, so I never
(05:02):
did get a deer with that gun. Ever, I let
my buddy use it while I was shipping off because
I knew I was going to war, right I joined
pre nine to eleven, But then nine to eleven happened.
I figured I'm going to war. Told my best friend
at the time, hold on to this rifle. Oh, he
had it in his truck, and somebody broke into his
truck and stole it. So I never actually got to
(05:22):
shoot a deer with that rifle. But I learned a
few things buying that rifle. I didn't need a magnum.
That magnimize I liked to shoot one. Magnums are expensive
to shoot two for most things, you don't need a magnum.
I would have been wiser going at the time with
a three away or even a thirty thirty, something that
(05:45):
would have been more pleasant, more fun to shoot, Something
that would have been more affordable to shoot, would have
killed deer just as dead. Back then, I dropped a
few inches less than three hundred yards was really inconsequential
to me because I was living on the East Coast
and I don't think i'd ever shot it to your
past one hundred yards. So that was my magnum phase
(06:07):
and that kind of cured me of that. Again. I
like to shoot, and I can shoot a magnum, sure,
but I don't enjoy shooting a magnum let's say, fifty
rounds in a day. Know many people that do. And
now this is not dogging on you. If you love
your magnum, if you just love your three hundred win
mag or you're seven milimeter red mag for white tailed
deer on the East Coast, no go for it. But
if you're being honest, you don't need it. And I
(06:29):
think most people are better sure if they just practice
more with a common caliber. If and this is a
lot a lot of hunters right. I was a guide.
I know this is a lot of hunters. They get
their rifle and they want their like I want the
more power, want the more power. I get it. I
did when I was a teenager, want the more power.
And a lot of those guys they'll get their gun
and they'll sight it in and they'll shoot one or
(06:49):
two shots a year and then whatever shot it is,
one or two on their deer. And if that's you,
that's fine, but that's not me. I like to shoot
a lot. I like to train a lot, even like
the dry fire a lot. Magnums don't lend themselves well
to good marksmanship. They just don't, not in a weight
of rifle that you're gonna want to carry a field again,
(07:12):
not belg on. If you want a three hundred wind
mag and you live on the East coast, go for it.
But that was one of my early phases. Call it magnumitis,
all about those ballistics. This this bullet drops another two inches,
you know, so it's inferior to this round. It all
wrapped around the axle. About that stuff. Now, let's move
into one that might shock many of you, the glock phase.
(07:35):
I was a marine. I served in the Marine Corps.
In the infantry, the vast majority of inventure guys don't
get issued a handgun. I did. I was a specialized infantry.
I was an assaultman an MS it no longer exists
as a specialized infantry who dealt with demolitions, taking out
enemy bunkers, enemy vehicles, enemy infrastructure, destroying threat weapons, things
(07:59):
like that attached to you know, regular industry riflemen, but
using explosives, demolitions, rocket launchers, that's what an assaultment did.
So I got to shoot a handgun. Marines are great riflemen.
Marines are not great at training handgun shooters. They're just not.
It's kind of alarming the lack of handgun training that
(08:20):
I had and carrying a handgun in combat. So back
then we're issued Brettas, and I was really really bad
with a handgun. I know this because I'll get into
it later in a story, but I just thought the
Brettas are bad because a lot of people talked trash
on the brettas well. There was nothing wrong with the Bretta.
It was a good gun. Well, when I got out
and went to work for LAPD, I kind of got
(08:42):
dropped back into the magnum itis thing again with the forty,
like go with the forty. The forty is good, the
forty five must be better. And I thought the glocks
were where it's at. There were way Oh it's what
LAPD carried. Everybody knew the glocks were awesome. I had
gotten a lot more training by that time, you know,
going through the police academy, which at the time was
(09:04):
the longest in the country eight months and quite a
bit of hang on training compared to most departments, which
isn't still as very poor, but more than most police officers.
So I thought I knew what I was doing right.
They used glocks, and they trained this with glocks, and
I thought the blocks were great, and if forties were good,
forty five is mostly better. Not long after I got
a forty five because lap issues a gun, but they'll
(09:26):
let you use a bunch of other guns provided you
qualify with them forty five glock and I had a
couple of those, Glock twenty one, Glock twenty one see
about the glock. And then I went to my first
competition and I got spanked, got disqualified. My first, my
first practical handgun competition. I had been doing rifle competitions
(09:47):
for long time. In fact, I had gold medaled before
I joined the Marine Corps. But here's a thing I've
seen to be true, not just to myself, but in
many others. You can be a fantastic rifle shooter and
be horrible with a pistol. You're a good pistol shooter,
you'll generally be a pretty good rifle shooter. But you
could be a fantastic rifle shooter and just be abysmal
with a with a handgun, which was me. I thought
(10:08):
I was good. I was, let's say, decent for LAPD
which what does that mean? Cops are mostly clerks, not
gun fighters. I went to my first practical shooting competition
and I got spanked. I got disqualified. Thankfully, I didn't
give up. I thought, you know, let me eat some
humble pie and actually figure out what I'm doing. Because
I watched some of those boys and they ran hard
and fast, and I thought I want to do that.
(10:30):
So I was humbled, and I kept going back and
trying other guns. Now that I had a basic understanding.
Once I started doing a little bit better in competition,
I realized glocks really weren't that good, so that pretty
much ended the glock face. Do glocks work yeah. Do
they have the ergonomics of a two by four yes?
Do they have the trigger of a stable gun, yes.
If you're just looking for a gun to check the box.
(10:51):
The lowest combin anominator. General purpose cops carry them, and
you just want a gun that shoots bullets in a
general direction of which you want to shoot them. Glocks work,
They're fine, and I still use a glock sometimes sometimes
you guys probably know, I'm still a private contractor sometimes
I have to use a glock. They work. That's about
all I can say for them. They were a decent
choice in the nineties. I don't know that they are
(11:13):
even in the top ten today other than just a
glock cult is strong. Once people drink that glock kool aid,
it's hard to be cured of it. Thankfully, I was
like to be honest about glocks. They're fine, they work,
They're okay. They're the most okayst of handguns. But I
even went through a glock face that lasted a few years,
if you can believe that or not. And again, I
still use them, and I'll still train with them because
(11:34):
if I'm teaching students or going to a class. That's
what most people carry. So I want people to see
the shooting and not think, oh, he's shooting good because
he's got an STI or shooting good because he's you know,
shooting a SIG two twenty six. I'll still sometimes just
run a bone stock glock seventeen, but I am not
under any illusion that they're actually a good gun. And
(11:57):
when I dog on glocks, it's not because I don't
know about them. I know them very well. I've shot
a ton, I've won competitions with them. I've won other
blocks with glocks from winning competitions. Still don't really like them.
They're they were a good innovative, polymer striker fired, reliable, lightweight,
durable handgun for when they were introduced again, you know,
(12:20):
in the nineties to early nineties, they probably made more sense.
But I actually had a glock phase. So when I
do dog on glocks, I hope that you know that
I'm coming at it from a point of education. It's
not like I've never run a glock before. I've carried
them as a private contractor, carried them in law enforcement,
competed with them. I know them inside and out. They're
ugly inside and out. I kind of glossed over. But
(12:41):
I'll go back at one time I was a crazy
caliber warrior, like, oh, you know, back when I was
in law enforcement, when I got into it, like that
was when forty was in full swing and you were
just nobody shot nine, Like I don't know anybody that
shot nine except maybe the park police, Like nobody shot nine.
And I started doing competition and I was a big
(13:02):
forty five guy. Then I had moved on from forty
two to forty five, and forty five is where it's at.
It's got to be forty five or not, and forty
five is so good. Everybody knows forty five is the best. Well,
I actually started shooting on the clock, and I like
studying ballistics and what ballistics do, and I actually started
shooting quite a bit and getting better, and I realized, no,
in fact, it actually doesn't make sense. And you know
(13:22):
what makes you good at shooting actually shooting, And you
know what, you can shoot more of nine millimeter. Even
back then when I was hardcore into reloading, had you know,
several automatic presses at one time, doing a ton of
competition shooting, even reloading, I can reload about twice as
much nine as I can forty five for the same price.
And you know what makes you good at shooting? Shooting,
and you can shoot more with a nine millimeter period.
(13:44):
So even when when I wasn't aware of anybody else
in my immediate circle shooting nine, I went back to nine.
I was still in law law enforcement. I was like
the only one around that was running nine, which is
way before the FBI went back to nine, way back
in the full swing forty days, and I thought, there's
no way forty makes sense. Even back to forty just
doesn't make sense. How many other people are saying that
(14:07):
it's awesome, it's where they're wrong. I went back to nine.
Nothing wrong with the forty five, But you can just
shoot more with a nine millimeter, and you shooting more
is gonna make you better, and that's way more important
than the caliber warrior phase. Again, there was a time
when I wasn't a very good handgun shooter, and I
was a huge caliber warrior. The better I got a
handgun shooting, the less I cared about what the caliber
(14:29):
was more about getting fast, accurate hits on target, quickly
and consecutively. That's what's important. But I at one time
was a big caliber warrior guy. So again when I
talk about, like, just get a nine millimeter for most things,
for most people, it's not because I've never shot a
forty five or never shot a forty or don't know
(14:50):
the merits or don't know that round par round one's
a little bit more effective. It's not any of that.
I just think nine millimeter makes the most sense for
most people most of the time. There. And this is
not in this kind of worked out way because I
mentioned one when I was talking about the other, but
not exactly in the order of these phases went in.
(15:11):
But I was a precision rifle guy, started precision rifle
competition again even before the Marine Corps. When I got
out of the Marines and decided I wanted to stay
out west, I wanted nothing to do with anything east
of the Mississippi. I was like, everything I hear so open,
I want to get back into hunting. Everything so long range.
And this was way before this new era of long range.
(15:32):
It's like the very first when people were first starting
to experiment with not long range shooting, but like turning
dials and bigger scopes. This is when the range finder
was nowhere near as affordable as it is today. But
the rangefinder was first coming out. I thought, Oh, I'm
gonna be this long range western hunter. You know all
(15:52):
about it. And I did a bunch of practicing, a
bunch of training at long range, and had all the
setup and all the cool kit, and I went out
and got my first pronghorn antelope if a western wide
open species. If Ever, there was one at about one
hundred and fifty yards. The next one of us all
was about sixty five yards, And I thought, huh, didn't
(16:16):
really need all that stuff. I know how to spot
and stock and still hunt. I grew up doing it.
Why don't I just walk a little bit closer? Right?
If I shoot the animal, I have to walk up
and get it anyway, Why don't I just walk closer
to begin with? Doesn't that make more sense? Unless there's
some weird thing with whether or something else scaring it,
or I just made a huge mistake. Generally I can
get within three hundred yards of an animal right three
(16:37):
football fields. You can't sneak within three football fields of
an animal. I don't know that I'd be proud of that,
So I backed away from that, got out of all that,
and that's not just I not also realize that's not
what I enjoy doing. I like hunting for the test
of skill and marksmanship, meaning my marksmanship. I don't consider
setting a big, heavy, obese rifle on a bipod, turning
(17:01):
a bunch of dials and doing math with a gun
so heavy in a trigger so like that I could
smash the trigger with a baseball bat and still hit
the target. I don't consider that a test of my skill.
I can consider that a fidget spinner for men, and
if you're into that, that's fine, if you're into the
techie stuff. But I realized that's not what I enjoy.
I don't want to sit there and be playing with
(17:22):
electronics when I'm hunting. One reason I don't I tried
hunting with on X forbit and I got rid of it.
I don't want to be on computers. I don't want
to be on screens. I don't want to be fidgeting
with dials and buttons and crap. When I'm hunting. I
want to be out there in the bush in the wilderness,
spotting and stalking and pinning skills against the animal and
marksmanship like meaning actual marksmanship like shooting from the standing,
(17:46):
shooting from a sitting position, shooting from an awkward laying
on my side position to get around underneath some brush,
to get into the vitals of a deer. I enjoy that.
I don't enjoy sitting on a ridge with a bunch
of glass and turning dials. It might as well be
watching TV at that point. At least you're outside, But
(18:06):
it's not what I enjoy. I went through that whole
long range phase now, and that was fifteen years ago.
Now everybody seems to think like this is a new thing.
It's not a new thing, and if you want to
do it and you're ethical have that it, it's just
not what I enjoy. And don't think that you need
to do any of that to kill dear l wolf Bear.
(18:27):
You don't. So that was the long range phase. Another
phase that I'll briefly mention reloading been hot and heavy
into reloading. I'm not currently in it now because we
lived as a nomad for a long time just makes
it hard to reload, mostly because you need a clean
area where there's not a bunch of lead where you live.
(18:49):
If you live in one hundred, one hundred and fifty
square feet. That's pretty hard to do. But there was
a time when I was real, real big into reloading,
did a ton of reloading, and there was a time
when I was really big into hot loads. O, I'm
gonna take this three fifty seven and kick it up
on the notch. See what I can do with it.
I don't know what I was thinking. I was young.
At least I still have both my eyeballs and all
(19:10):
my fingers. Plus you know, I had already at that time,
had quite a bit of experience with demolitions. I figured
out I knew what I'm doing. I think, if memory
search correct, it almost doubled the amount of powder that
goes into a three fifty seven magnum before I blew
up the gun or before I destroyed the gun. So
I went through that phase. M not really into that
(19:32):
phase anymore, even if I get back into reloading. Pretty
much the factory loads you get are loaded because most
people buy based on they want a high velocity, and
they look at a bunch of brands and see which
one has the higher velocity on the box. So most
of your handloads are I'm sorry, most of your as
I was, most of your factory loads are going to
be pretty hot anyway. If you want more power, just
(19:54):
get a bigger caliber, right, don't try and hot load
your three fifty seven. Just get a forty four magnum.
You don't need to hot load your thirty at six.
Your thirty six will already kill anything on the planet
just loaded through the normal published data. Ano there are
some things that are specifically just find a hot load
(20:15):
for like forty five seventy. As much as people think
that's a powerhouse, like the original loads or many of
the factory loads, they're pretty anemic there at like fourteen
thousand or eighteen thousand psi. Right, Yeah, if you know,
when you stay within the published data and it gives
you data for higher loads and let's say a Marlin,
yeah load within that data, would not consider that crazy
(20:36):
hot rod loading, but just a cautionary tale. There's already
probably a caliber that does that. So if you think
you're gonna get this one caliber and load it up
super hot and it's gonna do everything, it's not that.
That's why other calibers exist. So my advice is more
balanced approach. There are some pretty cool things you can
(20:58):
do with reloading, right, you can make some specialty loads
that just they don't really exist unless you create them,
and that's great, but I would caution you on going
off the rails. Can guns can Many modern guns handle
a lot higher pressure than the Sammy speck on that cartridge. Yeah,
and I'm not gonna lie to you, Many of them can.
(21:19):
But you're still probably gonna wear out the gun sooner,
break parts sooner, strip out your rifling sooner earlier. You know.
Many just just have a more well balanced approach, get
an appropriate caliber for the game, and you probably don't
need the extra power. So that's just kind of my advice.
You do what you want. I went through that phase,
so I certainly wouldn't criticize anybody for shoving an extra
(21:41):
one hundred percent more powder and a cartridge it wasn't
designed for. I've done it again, thankfully, I let both
my eyes and my fingers. But that's also a phase
that I went through. If I'm being honest with you,
I don't condone it. Just some phases. But I think
looking back on it now that I am in forty
(22:01):
and being through those phases, then I'll probably go through
some more. But I have a more I would say balanced,
healthy approach to shooting and training and competition. First times
when I would work a grave shift as a cop,
work all night and then drive several hours our carpool
several hours for another state without sleep, and shoot a
(22:22):
shooting competition, a very fast paced like uspsa competition, and
to be fair, sometimes I would win most of the time.
Once I got good, I would win. But I had
no business doing that, right, I should have done something different.
I should have taken more time off for something that
I was really hardcore into it. I think I've got
a more well balanced approach now when it comes to hunting,
(22:45):
I think I have a more well balanced approach. Not
saying there's never a time for a magnum. I actually
would really like to get a two fifty seven weather
Be magnum because I like the spot and stalk and
still hunt and I like the characteristics of that brings.
But it's a small magnum, but it's still a magnum
hunting things like ELK. Right, I don't think I need
a seven millimeter remmag to hunt deer. Again, I think
(23:05):
it's a more well balanced, more well rounded approach, and
that just goes with many things in life right. I
think it's just part of being mature. But a big
reason I do the podcast is a lot of people
have gun podcasts and gun content, not everybody has real world,
firsthand experience. I've been blessed to have quite a bit
in a wide variety of different aspects of the gun arena,
(23:30):
from guiding, big game hunting, small game hunting, military law enforcement,
competitive shooting, reloading. I got a bunch of experience. And
that's not because I'm specialist, because God chose to save
me and have mercy on me. I could have died
in the sands of Iraq when I was nineteen years old,
but since I've been blessed with that experience to try
(23:51):
and pass it on. So take what applies to you
and leave the rest. But hopefully this episode was helpful
for some people out there a struggling with a phase
they're going through. You're not alone, brother, down the glock.
You don't need to drink the kool aid. There are
other handguns. I'm here for you anyway. Just thought I
(24:16):
would throw this episode out there, maybe it'll do well.
Hopefully it helps somebody. I appreciate you guys, and have
a blessed day.
What is going on gum fighters. I thought I would
talk with you guys and be honest about some phases
that I have been through over let's say, twenty five
years of being kind of really into shooting and being
really passionate about it, and different phases I've went through.
It might shock some of you. Even went through a
(00:20):
glock phase. I was so young. Anyway, different phases that
I've been through. Maybe it will help you. We'll talk
about that today on Gunfighter Life. Welcome to the podcast
where we talk about guns, gum fighting, tactics, ballistics the
right way, with all Mighty God at the center, Judeo
(00:41):
Christian values and real world firsthand experience. Blessed be the
Lord of my rock, who trains my hands for war
and fingers for a battle. Bio in the show notes,
all right, let's get into it. When I first got
into shooting and hunting, as you might imagine, I had
what I had, or I had what I was given.
(01:01):
One of my uncles gave me, and he I don't
remember him being in the guns or hunting. I think
he just randomly had it and knew that I liked
guns and gave me. Gave my other uncle this old
beat up Mosburg four ten that had to be repaired
to even work, and he gave to my other uncle.
My other uncle fixed it, gave it to me. I
(01:22):
hunted a ton with that old, you know, beat up
ragged even when I first got it, both action four
to ten shotgun, and I really liked it. I had
a great time with it. So much about the gun.
It was about being out in nature and you know,
being able to put food on the table. Even at
a young age. Was I twelve able to run around
(01:45):
the woods before that had things, you know, pre dating
I would be able to shoot other people's twenty two's,
I would be able to you know, I had a
BB gun long before that run around, bow and arrow,
but that was my first like legit firearm that was mine.
And at that young age, I could run around and
put meat on the table and that was really rewarding
to me. Just being out in nature and putting food
(02:06):
on the table. Wasn't so much about the gun I had.
What I had when I started working was maybe fourteenish.
I would save up and some of the first big
purchases I ever made were firearms. I would have my
mom go down because I was too young to actually
buy a firearm, so she would buy it for the
money and things like a ten to twenty two. I
guess back then, thinking about it, it was more about a
basic battery that I could do the most with. I
(02:30):
was also getting into competition shooting at that time, which
I'm still into today. Thankfully, that was not a phase,
but I did get into. I guess this would be
a very early phase. Let's call it magnum itis or
my magnum phase. I wanted a good deer rifle. I
loved deer hunting. I had taken many deer at this
(02:50):
point many. I had taken quite a few deer. At
this point. I was still in high school. When I
had saved up. I had a fairly decent job as
a lifeguard, made decent money. As you know, in high school,
you don't have a lot of bills, so I was
able to save up some money and what I wanted.
I would sit there on, you know, my lifeguard chair,
probably times when I wasn't supposed to, like in school,
(03:11):
and just study ballistics, think about ballistics, and I'm looking
at all these ballistics charge I had in my mind
that what I really needed was a seven millimeter Remington magnum.
That's a fine cartridge. I lived in the backwoods and
swamps of coastal southern Virginia and far south, not connected
(03:34):
to the main part of Maryland, Maryland in Virginia, the
eastern shore. That's where I lived, thick swamp. I was poor,
being the son of a single teenage mom, a bastard son,
and such a location where it's all about who you know.
I wasn't really well connected to have many private land permissions.
(03:56):
As you might imagine, why I hunted places A lot
of people didn't want to hunt, like and marshes and
nasty places. So why I thought I needed a super
flat shooting, super heavy hitting seven millimeter Remington Magnum to
hunt white tailed deer on the east coast, especially the
southern swamps, I don't know, But again we're getting into
(04:19):
phases here. I thought that I needed this magnum. Needed
this magnum. I saved up and I got it it.
It was a good gun. It was one of those
old canoe paddle stock Remington seventy seven's stainless steel beautiful rifle.
Deer were not nearly as abundant back then as they
are now, I think you might have gotten a deer
tag or something. I'll remember why. But my buddy and
(04:41):
I were hunting together, and I maybe I already took
my deer, I honestly don't remember. For some reason, I
let him use my rifle. We were sitting together in
the stand, and he shot a deer with that thing.
It's probably seventy five yards away. Not need a seven
millimeter Remington bag. I practiced with that thing a little bit.
I joined them Marine Corps shortly thereafter, so I never
(05:02):
did get a deer with that gun. Ever, I let
my buddy use it while I was shipping off because
I knew I was going to war, right I joined
pre nine to eleven, But then nine to eleven happened.
I figured I'm going to war. Told my best friend
at the time, hold on to this rifle. Oh, he
had it in his truck, and somebody broke into his
truck and stole it. So I never actually got to
(05:22):
shoot a deer with that rifle. But I learned a
few things buying that rifle. I didn't need a magnum.
That magnimize I liked to shoot one. Magnums are expensive
to shoot two for most things, you don't need a magnum.
I would have been wiser going at the time with
a three away or even a thirty thirty, something that
(05:45):
would have been more pleasant, more fun to shoot, Something
that would have been more affordable to shoot, would have
killed deer just as dead. Back then, I dropped a
few inches less than three hundred yards was really inconsequential
to me because I was living on the East Coast
and I don't think i'd ever shot it to your
past one hundred yards. So that was my magnum phase
(06:07):
and that kind of cured me of that. Again. I
like to shoot, and I can shoot a magnum, sure,
but I don't enjoy shooting a magnum let's say, fifty
rounds in a day. Know many people that do. And
now this is not dogging on you. If you love
your magnum, if you just love your three hundred win
mag or you're seven milimeter red mag for white tailed
deer on the East Coast, no go for it. But
if you're being honest, you don't need it. And I
(06:29):
think most people are better sure if they just practice
more with a common caliber. If and this is a
lot a lot of hunters right. I was a guide.
I know this is a lot of hunters. They get
their rifle and they want their like I want the
more power, want the more power. I get it. I
did when I was a teenager, want the more power.
And a lot of those guys they'll get their gun
and they'll sight it in and they'll shoot one or
(06:49):
two shots a year and then whatever shot it is,
one or two on their deer. And if that's you,
that's fine, but that's not me. I like to shoot
a lot. I like to train a lot, even like
the dry fire a lot. Magnums don't lend themselves well
to good marksmanship. They just don't, not in a weight
of rifle that you're gonna want to carry a field again,
(07:12):
not belg on. If you want a three hundred wind
mag and you live on the East coast, go for it.
But that was one of my early phases. Call it magnumitis,
all about those ballistics. This this bullet drops another two inches,
you know, so it's inferior to this round. It all
wrapped around the axle. About that stuff. Now, let's move
into one that might shock many of you, the glock phase.
(07:35):
I was a marine. I served in the Marine Corps.
In the infantry, the vast majority of inventure guys don't
get issued a handgun. I did. I was a specialized infantry.
I was an assaultman an MS it no longer exists
as a specialized infantry who dealt with demolitions, taking out
enemy bunkers, enemy vehicles, enemy infrastructure, destroying threat weapons, things
(07:59):
like that attached to you know, regular industry riflemen, but
using explosives, demolitions, rocket launchers, that's what an assaultment did.
So I got to shoot a handgun. Marines are great riflemen.
Marines are not great at training handgun shooters. They're just not.
It's kind of alarming the lack of handgun training that
(08:20):
I had and carrying a handgun in combat. So back
then we're issued Brettas, and I was really really bad
with a handgun. I know this because I'll get into
it later in a story, but I just thought the
Brettas are bad because a lot of people talked trash
on the brettas well. There was nothing wrong with the Bretta.
It was a good gun. Well, when I got out
and went to work for LAPD, I kind of got
(08:42):
dropped back into the magnum itis thing again with the forty,
like go with the forty. The forty is good, the
forty five must be better. And I thought the glocks
were where it's at. There were way Oh it's what
LAPD carried. Everybody knew the glocks were awesome. I had
gotten a lot more training by that time, you know,
going through the police academy, which at the time was
(09:04):
the longest in the country eight months and quite a
bit of hang on training compared to most departments, which
isn't still as very poor, but more than most police officers.
So I thought I knew what I was doing right.
They used glocks, and they trained this with glocks, and
I thought the blocks were great, and if forties were good,
forty five is mostly better. Not long after I got
a forty five because lap issues a gun, but they'll
(09:26):
let you use a bunch of other guns provided you
qualify with them forty five glock and I had a
couple of those, Glock twenty one, Glock twenty one see
about the glock. And then I went to my first
competition and I got spanked, got disqualified. My first, my
first practical handgun competition. I had been doing rifle competitions
(09:47):
for long time. In fact, I had gold medaled before
I joined the Marine Corps. But here's a thing I've
seen to be true, not just to myself, but in
many others. You can be a fantastic rifle shooter and
be horrible with a pistol. You're a good pistol shooter,
you'll generally be a pretty good rifle shooter. But you
could be a fantastic rifle shooter and just be abysmal
with a with a handgun, which was me. I thought
(10:08):
I was good. I was, let's say, decent for LAPD
which what does that mean? Cops are mostly clerks, not
gun fighters. I went to my first practical shooting competition
and I got spanked. I got disqualified. Thankfully, I didn't
give up. I thought, you know, let me eat some
humble pie and actually figure out what I'm doing. Because
I watched some of those boys and they ran hard
and fast, and I thought I want to do that.
(10:30):
So I was humbled, and I kept going back and
trying other guns. Now that I had a basic understanding.
Once I started doing a little bit better in competition,
I realized glocks really weren't that good, so that pretty
much ended the glock face. Do glocks work yeah. Do
they have the ergonomics of a two by four yes?
Do they have the trigger of a stable gun, yes.
If you're just looking for a gun to check the box.
(10:51):
The lowest combin anominator. General purpose cops carry them, and
you just want a gun that shoots bullets in a
general direction of which you want to shoot them. Glocks work,
They're fine, and I still use a glock sometimes sometimes
you guys probably know, I'm still a private contractor sometimes
I have to use a glock. They work. That's about
all I can say for them. They were a decent
choice in the nineties. I don't know that they are
(11:13):
even in the top ten today other than just a
glock cult is strong. Once people drink that glock kool aid,
it's hard to be cured of it. Thankfully, I was
like to be honest about glocks. They're fine, they work,
They're okay. They're the most okayst of handguns. But I
even went through a glock face that lasted a few years,
if you can believe that or not. And again, I
still use them, and I'll still train with them because
(11:34):
if I'm teaching students or going to a class. That's
what most people carry. So I want people to see
the shooting and not think, oh, he's shooting good because
he's got an STI or shooting good because he's you know,
shooting a SIG two twenty six. I'll still sometimes just
run a bone stock glock seventeen, but I am not
under any illusion that they're actually a good gun. And
(11:57):
when I dog on glocks, it's not because I don't
know about them. I know them very well. I've shot
a ton, I've won competitions with them. I've won other
blocks with glocks from winning competitions. Still don't really like them.
They're they were a good innovative, polymer striker fired, reliable, lightweight,
durable handgun for when they were introduced again, you know,
(12:20):
in the nineties to early nineties, they probably made more sense.
But I actually had a glock phase. So when I
do dog on glocks, I hope that you know that
I'm coming at it from a point of education. It's
not like I've never run a glock before. I've carried
them as a private contractor, carried them in law enforcement,
competed with them. I know them inside and out. They're
ugly inside and out. I kind of glossed over. But
(12:41):
I'll go back at one time I was a crazy
caliber warrior, like, oh, you know, back when I was
in law enforcement, when I got into it, like that
was when forty was in full swing and you were
just nobody shot nine, Like I don't know anybody that
shot nine except maybe the park police, Like nobody shot nine.
And I started doing competition and I was a big
(13:02):
forty five guy. Then I had moved on from forty
two to forty five, and forty five is where it's at.
It's got to be forty five or not, and forty
five is so good. Everybody knows forty five is the best. Well,
I actually started shooting on the clock, and I like
studying ballistics and what ballistics do, and I actually started
shooting quite a bit and getting better, and I realized, no,
in fact, it actually doesn't make sense. And you know
(13:22):
what makes you good at shooting actually shooting, And you
know what, you can shoot more of nine millimeter. Even
back then when I was hardcore into reloading, had you know,
several automatic presses at one time, doing a ton of
competition shooting, even reloading, I can reload about twice as
much nine as I can forty five for the same price.
And you know what makes you good at shooting? Shooting,
and you can shoot more with a nine millimeter period.
(13:44):
So even when when I wasn't aware of anybody else
in my immediate circle shooting nine, I went back to nine.
I was still in law law enforcement. I was like
the only one around that was running nine, which is
way before the FBI went back to nine, way back
in the full swing forty days, and I thought, there's
no way forty makes sense. Even back to forty just
doesn't make sense. How many other people are saying that
(14:07):
it's awesome, it's where they're wrong. I went back to nine.
Nothing wrong with the forty five, But you can just
shoot more with a nine millimeter, and you shooting more
is gonna make you better, and that's way more important
than the caliber warrior phase. Again, there was a time
when I wasn't a very good handgun shooter, and I
was a huge caliber warrior. The better I got a
handgun shooting, the less I cared about what the caliber
(14:29):
was more about getting fast, accurate hits on target, quickly
and consecutively. That's what's important. But I at one time
was a big caliber warrior guy. So again when I
talk about, like, just get a nine millimeter for most things,
for most people, it's not because I've never shot a
forty five or never shot a forty or don't know
(14:50):
the merits or don't know that round par round one's
a little bit more effective. It's not any of that.
I just think nine millimeter makes the most sense for
most people most of the time. There. And this is
not in this kind of worked out way because I
mentioned one when I was talking about the other, but
not exactly in the order of these phases went in.
(15:11):
But I was a precision rifle guy, started precision rifle
competition again even before the Marine Corps. When I got
out of the Marines and decided I wanted to stay
out west, I wanted nothing to do with anything east
of the Mississippi. I was like, everything I hear so open,
I want to get back into hunting. Everything so long range.
And this was way before this new era of long range.
(15:32):
It's like the very first when people were first starting
to experiment with not long range shooting, but like turning
dials and bigger scopes. This is when the range finder
was nowhere near as affordable as it is today. But
the rangefinder was first coming out. I thought, Oh, I'm
gonna be this long range western hunter. You know all
(15:52):
about it. And I did a bunch of practicing, a
bunch of training at long range, and had all the
setup and all the cool kit, and I went out
and got my first pronghorn antelope if a western wide
open species. If Ever, there was one at about one
hundred and fifty yards. The next one of us all
was about sixty five yards, And I thought, huh, didn't
(16:16):
really need all that stuff. I know how to spot
and stock and still hunt. I grew up doing it.
Why don't I just walk a little bit closer? Right?
If I shoot the animal, I have to walk up
and get it anyway, Why don't I just walk closer
to begin with? Doesn't that make more sense? Unless there's
some weird thing with whether or something else scaring it,
or I just made a huge mistake. Generally I can
get within three hundred yards of an animal right three
(16:37):
football fields. You can't sneak within three football fields of
an animal. I don't know that I'd be proud of that,
So I backed away from that, got out of all that,
and that's not just I not also realize that's not
what I enjoy doing. I like hunting for the test
of skill and marksmanship, meaning my marksmanship. I don't consider
setting a big, heavy, obese rifle on a bipod, turning
(17:01):
a bunch of dials and doing math with a gun
so heavy in a trigger so like that I could
smash the trigger with a baseball bat and still hit
the target. I don't consider that a test of my skill.
I can consider that a fidget spinner for men, and
if you're into that, that's fine, if you're into the
techie stuff. But I realized that's not what I enjoy.
I don't want to sit there and be playing with
(17:22):
electronics when I'm hunting. One reason I don't I tried
hunting with on X forbit and I got rid of it.
I don't want to be on computers. I don't want
to be on screens. I don't want to be fidgeting
with dials and buttons and crap. When I'm hunting. I
want to be out there in the bush in the wilderness,
spotting and stalking and pinning skills against the animal and
marksmanship like meaning actual marksmanship like shooting from the standing,
(17:46):
shooting from a sitting position, shooting from an awkward laying
on my side position to get around underneath some brush,
to get into the vitals of a deer. I enjoy that.
I don't enjoy sitting on a ridge with a bunch
of glass and turning dials. It might as well be
watching TV at that point. At least you're outside, But
(18:06):
it's not what I enjoy. I went through that whole
long range phase now, and that was fifteen years ago.
Now everybody seems to think like this is a new thing.
It's not a new thing, and if you want to
do it and you're ethical have that it, it's just
not what I enjoy. And don't think that you need
to do any of that to kill dear l wolf Bear.
(18:27):
You don't. So that was the long range phase. Another
phase that I'll briefly mention reloading been hot and heavy
into reloading. I'm not currently in it now because we
lived as a nomad for a long time just makes
it hard to reload, mostly because you need a clean
area where there's not a bunch of lead where you live.
(18:49):
If you live in one hundred, one hundred and fifty
square feet. That's pretty hard to do. But there was
a time when I was real, real big into reloading,
did a ton of reloading, and there was a time
when I was really big into hot loads. O, I'm
gonna take this three fifty seven and kick it up
on the notch. See what I can do with it.
I don't know what I was thinking. I was young.
At least I still have both my eyeballs and all
(19:10):
my fingers. Plus you know, I had already at that time,
had quite a bit of experience with demolitions. I figured
out I knew what I'm doing. I think, if memory
search correct, it almost doubled the amount of powder that
goes into a three fifty seven magnum before I blew
up the gun or before I destroyed the gun. So
I went through that phase. M not really into that
(19:32):
phase anymore, even if I get back into reloading. Pretty
much the factory loads you get are loaded because most
people buy based on they want a high velocity, and
they look at a bunch of brands and see which
one has the higher velocity on the box. So most
of your handloads are I'm sorry, most of your as
I was, most of your factory loads are going to
be pretty hot anyway. If you want more power, just
(19:54):
get a bigger caliber, right, don't try and hot load
your three fifty seven. Just get a forty four magnum.
You don't need to hot load your thirty at six.
Your thirty six will already kill anything on the planet
just loaded through the normal published data. Ano there are
some things that are specifically just find a hot load
(20:15):
for like forty five seventy. As much as people think
that's a powerhouse, like the original loads or many of
the factory loads, they're pretty anemic there at like fourteen
thousand or eighteen thousand psi. Right, Yeah, if you know,
when you stay within the published data and it gives
you data for higher loads and let's say a Marlin,
yeah load within that data, would not consider that crazy
(20:36):
hot rod loading, but just a cautionary tale. There's already
probably a caliber that does that. So if you think
you're gonna get this one caliber and load it up
super hot and it's gonna do everything, it's not that.
That's why other calibers exist. So my advice is more
balanced approach. There are some pretty cool things you can
(20:58):
do with reloading, right, you can make some specialty loads
that just they don't really exist unless you create them,
and that's great, but I would caution you on going
off the rails. Can guns can Many modern guns handle
a lot higher pressure than the Sammy speck on that cartridge. Yeah,
and I'm not gonna lie to you, Many of them can.
(21:19):
But you're still probably gonna wear out the gun sooner,
break parts sooner, strip out your rifling sooner earlier. You know.
Many just just have a more well balanced approach, get
an appropriate caliber for the game, and you probably don't
need the extra power. So that's just kind of my advice.
You do what you want. I went through that phase,
so I certainly wouldn't criticize anybody for shoving an extra
(21:41):
one hundred percent more powder and a cartridge it wasn't
designed for. I've done it again, thankfully, I let both
my eyes and my fingers. But that's also a phase
that I went through. If I'm being honest with you,
I don't condone it. Just some phases. But I think
looking back on it now that I am in forty
(22:01):
and being through those phases, then I'll probably go through
some more. But I have a more I would say balanced,
healthy approach to shooting and training and competition. First times
when I would work a grave shift as a cop,
work all night and then drive several hours our carpool
several hours for another state without sleep, and shoot a
(22:22):
shooting competition, a very fast paced like uspsa competition, and
to be fair, sometimes I would win most of the time.
Once I got good, I would win. But I had
no business doing that, right, I should have done something different.
I should have taken more time off for something that
I was really hardcore into it. I think I've got
a more well balanced approach now when it comes to hunting,
(22:45):
I think I have a more well balanced approach. Not
saying there's never a time for a magnum. I actually
would really like to get a two fifty seven weather
Be magnum because I like the spot and stalk and
still hunt and I like the characteristics of that brings.
But it's a small magnum, but it's still a magnum
hunting things like ELK. Right, I don't think I need
a seven millimeter remmag to hunt deer. Again, I think
(23:05):
it's a more well balanced, more well rounded approach, and
that just goes with many things in life right. I
think it's just part of being mature. But a big
reason I do the podcast is a lot of people
have gun podcasts and gun content, not everybody has real world,
firsthand experience. I've been blessed to have quite a bit
in a wide variety of different aspects of the gun arena,
(23:30):
from guiding, big game hunting, small game hunting, military law enforcement,
competitive shooting, reloading. I got a bunch of experience. And
that's not because I'm specialist, because God chose to save
me and have mercy on me. I could have died
in the sands of Iraq when I was nineteen years old,
but since I've been blessed with that experience to try
(23:51):
and pass it on. So take what applies to you
and leave the rest. But hopefully this episode was helpful
for some people out there a struggling with a phase
they're going through. You're not alone, brother, down the glock.
You don't need to drink the kool aid. There are
other handguns. I'm here for you anyway. Just thought I
(24:16):
would throw this episode out there, maybe it'll do well.
Hopefully it helps somebody. I appreciate you guys, and have
a blessed day.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com