Sunday, April 28, 2024

Sunday With Blackthorn - Today We Discuss Emergency/Disaster Preparedness With Pat MacNamara

 This Podcast is about an hour long, so either settle i, or consider watching it in segments as the discussion is broken down into several distinct groups. Also, for those of you who don't know who he is, Pat MacNamara is a retired member of Delta Force. 

 

The link below will take you to a webpage with  some history on Pat Mac.

 https://alphahuman.org/u-s-army-special-forces-veteran-pat-mcnamara-the-sentinel/



 

Friday, April 26, 2024

The Blog Has Hit A New Record!

Some time in the Early Morning hours of 4-26-24 The Blog achieved 200,000 Pageviews.

 


To all you people who come here for information, and entertainment, I say thank you!

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Traveling With Firearms By Air - Know The Rules

 The following article is from the Lucky Gunner website, written by the owner of the RevolverGuy Blog. 

 https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/take-skies-flying-firearms/

Monday, April 22, 2024

Today David James Asks "Have You Ever Seen a Flashy Technique That Looks Too Good To Be True"?

 And explains how that's because it is. Don't get pulled in by flashy so-called "self defense" techniques that don't work as advertised unless you're using them on a compliant training partner in the dojo.

 So, as always.....Pay Attention!!


 

 

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Sunday With Blackthorn - Some Classic Carl Cestari Footage

You'll Need To Click On The 'Watch On Youtube' Icon to view the Video
 

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Not Quite Wheelgun Wednesday - Lets Take a look At......

 ....Some Lever Actions.

Just like Revolvers, they're Old School, but still viable for many people. Especially if you live somewhere that takes a dim view of the locals owning a Semi-Auto carbine. It should be noted that I am not a fan of some of the "Franken-Lever" designs that are currently out on the market, nor do I appreciate many of the accessories that various companies feel are "must haves" on the venerable Lever Gun. Putting a couple of pounds of high-tech extras on a Lever kind of defeats the low profile look and and the light weight/good handling aspects of a time tested design.

But they still have a place in the self defense arena. Read on and make up your own mind. 


https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/pushing-the-boundaries-of-the-tactical-lever-gun/

 

 

Monday, April 15, 2024

Blackthorn's Advice On Preparing For Real World Emergencies

This is my advice for people who want to prepare for realistic violence, financial upheaval, and various and sundry natural disasters. Consider it my response to having recently checked out some various Forums and Websites and seen the wallet draining bullshit that passes for "must have" knowledge to survive the in the 21st century.

1) Don’t do stupid things, hang out with stupid people, or go to stupid places.

2) Pay attention to what's going on around you, and learn to talk, walk, or run your way out of a bad situation before it escalates into a really bad situation.

3) Get some good OC spray and see how your particular unit works. Get a training unit at the same time and practice some drills with a friend or friends.

4) Get yourself to a practical self defense class and learn hand striking, kicking and even some standup and ground grappling. Lose weight, gain muscle, gain confidence, work some limited Force on Force drills on resistant opponents.

5) Get a 5 shot revolver, a used Makarov, a brand new Glock or whatever you can realistically afford. Practice with it semi regularly, carry it whenever possible. Get a pump shotgun for the house for heavy artillery. If you live in some rathole that doesn't allow this, then move as soon as you have accomplished Item 6 below.

6) Un-fuck your finances. Come up with do-able debt reduction and savings plans that you can manage to stick to.

7) Get 3-plus months worth of food, emergency cash and supplies stored up. The world might not come to an end, but your job sure might.

8) See your doctor and dentist regularly

9) Carry a flashlight and a knife or multitool. You'll be amazed at how you ever got along without them if you never did before.

10) Get your house/apartment as secure as is feasible. If there are blind spots, fix them, if the locks suck, replace them. As long as you’re not allergic to animal dander, a dog is one of the cheapest alarms you can install.

11) Take some Red Cross CPR and First Aid classes. Go for EMT if you have the time/money, or find a class teaching wound trauma management that covers tourniquets, occlusive wound bandaging, and wound packing. Carry a small, realistic first aid/trauma kit in your car or on you if you carry shoulder bag, backpack or attache case for work.

12) Take a defensive driving or accident avoidance course.

13) Learn something useful. Welding, computers, a new language, etc.

I'd rate all of those higher than running around with a $2,000 rifle, however much fun that can be. Also much more practical than taking a ‘Civilian Counter-Terrorist Course from your local self proclaimed “High Speed, Low Drag” instructor, and far better than worrying about zombie hordes. It will make you that much more of a self sufficient individual should such circumstances arise.
 

Thursday, April 11, 2024

Fitness Matters!!

 You'll always find those instructors and other assorted Self Defense types that'll tell you that you don't need to be in good shape to defend yourself. Whether they tell you that all you need are the techniques that they are selling/teaching, or that they'll just use their gun, knife, taser, whatever, to beat off their assailant.

And they're all full of shit! 

You don't have to turn yourself into a Tier 1 Operator, or spend 5 nights a week in the gym. But you do need to have a regular fitness program if you're going to expect to fight off an attacker

Not to mention that it will help to stave off sarcopenia (look it up), arthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease, pulmonary disease and all the other issues that come with age.  

So Pay Attention!!



Sunday, April 7, 2024

Sunday With Blackthorn - When Someone Is In Your Face

 Today's Video is a sort of follow-up to yesterdays offering from David James. The two essentially go hand-in-hand. How to shut things down when someone is trying to intimidate you just before an assault.

And as always........Pay Attention!! 

 


 Note:  Apparently David James Youtube channel has been taking flak from Youtube and getting flagged for some of his content.  It explains why over the last couple of weeks 2 or 3 of his videos which I had linked to here at the Blog just "disappeared". 

I wish I could say I was surprised by this turn of events, but unfortunately, I can't.

Saturday, April 6, 2024

Friday, April 5, 2024

Mother Nature Messes With NYC As A 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake Hits

So I'm sitting here minding my business, sipping my morning coffee, and all of a sudden, a rumbling goes through the floor under my feet, and I'm like WTF????

I go over to the stairs to the basement, because the door was open and I knew my wife went downstairs do some laundry, to ask her what that was. She's sees me and says "did you feel that too?" She comes upstairs, and we already have the news on and they interrupt what they're reporting on, and they start talking about a 4.8 magnitude earthquake!!! A few minutes later the phone rings, and it's my wife's niece all amped up and asking if she felt that.

And now the news is reporting that there may be aftershocks.

Welcome to Friday morning everybody!

 

 www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/earthquake-hits-us-east-coast-shaking-buildings-from-philadelphia-to-boston/ar-BB1l8ncN

 

 www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/earthquake-reported-outside-new-york-city-tremors-felt-in-multiple-states/ar-BB1l8gYP

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Wheel gun Wednesday - The Pros and Cons Of Speed-Strip Loaders For Your Revolver

From TFBTV, an article about the advantages and disadvantages of Speed-Strips as compared to loose rounds, or Speed-Loaders.

 


 https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2022/07/06/pros-cons-speed-strips-revolvers/