S.W.A.T. Magazine

ArmaLite is a well-known name in the firearms industry for its product designs such as the AR-7, AR-10, and most notably the AR-15 (licensed to Colt in January 1959). The company has never been better since Mark Westrom purchased it in 1994. It has moved forward under Westrom’s guidance to bring back the AR-10, AR-180, as well as their M-15 line of .223s. One of ArmaLite’s newest AR-10 versions is now offered to the public, after finishing trials by the U.S. Army as an entrant for its SASS program. SASS stands for Semi-Automatic Sniper System, as specified by the U.S. Army in trials for a replacement of their M24 systems.

Advancement in accuracy developments of the large-caliber AR-10 type weapons has proven they can compete with their bolt-action counterparts in many areas of requirements needed by the marksman in the field. The Army set forth a complete set of specs and requirements, and samples submitted by manufacturers interested in the project were accepted for testing.

ArmaLite’s AR-10 SASS entry, as submitted, finished third in the trials. The AR-10 SASS rifle entry used a mid-weight blackened SST 20-inch barrel with a 1:11.25 twist. It’s fitted to a forged aluminum flattop upper and finished with an ArmaLite four-rail free-float hand guard using TangoDown rail covers. ArmaLite’s SASS rifle features a new adjustable gas system to provide 100 percent function with use of a suppressor, weak ammo or bad weather conditions. Forged lowers are fitted with a Magpul adjustable buttstock and a two-stage national match trigger. The trigger on the test rifle yielded an average five-pound, four-ounce consistent pull as measured by a Lyman Electronic Trigger Pull Gauge.

The special operations community has been using the FNH USA SCAR (SOF Combat Assault Rifle) for several years. The carbine is now available to the general public in semiautomatic configuration (SCAR 16S). Let’s begin by pointing out that the “commercial” SCAR carries over all the features of the military version except the full-auto capability, and for most law enforcement and all civilian users, select-fire capability really isn’t necessary.

There are two military versions of the SCAR: the 5.56mm (.223) Mark 16 SCAR Light (SCAR-L) and the 7.62mm (.308) Mark 17 SCAR Heavy (SCAR-H). Both are essentially multi-caliber modular carbines with 90 percent parts interchangeability. The two SCAR variants replace five existing small arms systems in the U.S. Special Operations Community—the M4A1, the Close Quarters Battle Rifle (CQBR), the Mark 12 Special Purpose Rifle (SPR), the M14 and Mark 11 (SR-25). The SCAR was developed entirely using FN funding except for the government testing, and the SCAR-H was demonstrated six months ahead of schedule, saving tax dollars and enabling the new weapons to get to the troops who need them more expeditiously.

The SCAR carbines significantly improve on the overall performance of their predecessor. The SCAR stock both telescopes and folds. The telescoping feature is necessary for adapting the length of pull for different gear configurations, armor or clothing that may cause changes in the position of the carbine with respect to the distance between the user’s shoulder and trigger. The folding stock is a preferred option because many times Special Forces operators must be able to conceal their carbines under clothing and fire them with the stock folded. The folding stock also enhances operations from vehicles, helicopter insertions, parachute operations and other missions.

In the early 1980s, I was assigned to NYPD’s storied Central Robbery Division. We identified and arrested a mutt who had committed a number of rapes/sodomies/robberies in midtown Manhattan. We did a quick line-up with several of his victims—enough to anchor him, but as he’d just been released from a 10-year pop for doing the same things, we were confident we could tie him in to more. We brought the perp in for a follow-on line-up, getting a lot of victims where the description (unique) and forensic evidence justified it. I was with one victim, a very bright female executive. We briefed her on the procedure while waiting for another victim to clear the viewing room.

After acknowledging the instruction, she wanted to retell the incident: “When the elevator door opened, I saw him, and my stomach clenched. I knew … I KNEW that he was going to hurt me.” I was befuddled by this and asked her what she did. She stated, “I got in the elevator.” I was beside myself now, and asked why she had boarded the elevator with someone she “knew” would hurt her. Her comment was telling of how we as a society are. She said, “I didn’t want to embarrass him.” This woman was brutally sodomized, beaten and robbed. She saw what she considered a threat. But instead of acting on preserving her life and safety, she intellectualized and, as a result, lost.

For years we’ve heard of an allegedly unique trait—women’s intuition. This is, of course, nonsense—it’s sexist and not true. People do, however, have something that may be called anticipatory anxiety. We see someone and from their appearance, actions, and/or our frame of reference, we get that little stomach flip. The stomach has no ego, but the brain housing group most certainly does. Trusting your instinct works, but only if that instinct has been fully developed. For us, that development comes from our tactical weapons training and our past experiences in dealing with similar situations.

Back to basics: In order to deliver rapid, accurate shots into our opponent, two things must be accomplished. One is that the sights have to be placed on the target. The second is that the trigger must be pressed straight to the rear with the proper amount of finesse for the situation. These are absolutes, and until they come out with heat-seeking projectiles that can be loaded in an M4 magazine, will remain as absolutes. Trigger control is the most difficult of the two skill sets to master. The combination of proper finger placement, controlling the trigger straight to the rear and resetting it baffles many—including those who are experienced. Trigger control is a neverending battle. Sights are another animal, and the complication here is the variety of sights available.

We also need to understand that in training, we have to learn to crawl before we can walk, and walk proficiently before we can run. In initial weapons training, the emphasis is on the basics. In this case, proper manipulation combined with accuracy will dominate this phase of the training. The strong emphasis on basics paves the way for enhanced training down the line, but consistency—the mother of accuracy—must be locked in first.

Many years ago, Bill Jordan—Marine, Border Patrol Agent, and gunfighter—said it best: “Speed is fine, but accuracy is final.” Much later, someone else added the equally succinct “You can’t miss fast enough to catch up.” Unfortunately, many students get stuck here. They can shoot beautiful little polka-dot groups in the center of the target, but they continue to do that, slowly, long after they should have moved on. Remember that constant repetitions under supervision, those mounts where we bring the gun up and present to the target, build within us an ability to operate at the Fourth Level of Achievement—Unconscious Competence. If we revert to our training, and our target is stationary, the odds are good that the front sight tip, red dot or other reticle will be pretty much where we need it to be. Of course, it may not be. Movement (yours or his/theirs), non-standard positions or other influences may make this difficult.

Your first sight picture will likely, but not always, be the best sight picture. If it is within the parameters of your target, press that trigger straight to the rear and continue the fight. If it is grossly out of the ballpark, make your adjustment rapidly. If it is, however, within your desired Mean Point of Impact, don’t try to make that good shot better. You will likely only make it worse … much worse. Once you have made the decision to use deadly physical force and once that sight is where it needs to be, get busy with the job at hand. At close range, you do not have a whole lot of time to rectify the immediate situation. To paraphrase the late Gen. George Patton, “a good shot, delivered now, is better than a perfect shot, never delivered” (alternately, “that misses”).

Most people who have never experienced violence are shocked at the speed at which it occurs. This is aggravated by the fact that most people walk around with their heads someplace other than in the instant. As a result, the act may be over before they even knew it began.

The first best sight picture that you get may be the only one you will get. See him. Shoot him. Quit thinking about it. Remember the lady executive in Manhattan.

The Boone County, Indiana, Sheriff’s Office, under Sheriff Ken Campbell, continues to provide the finest in firearms training to military personnel, peace officers and vetted citizens. Each year the sheriff’s office sponsors firearms training by, among others, Louis Awerbuck and Pat Rogers. Additional training rounds out actual shooting classes, including Dean Caputo’s Carbine Diagnostic class, Dave Grossman’s Bullet-Proof Mind class, and Doc Gunn’s Tactical Treatment of Gunshot Wounds class (TTGWC).

Anthony M. Barrera, M.D. (“Doc Gunn”), who is a practicing physician with more than 20 years of practice in emergency medicine, is also certified as a Fellow of the American Board of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Barrera has been an affiliated instructor with John Farnam’s Defense Training International Inc. (DTI) since 1996 and is an NRA certified instructor for pistol, home firearm safety, personal protection and range safety. He also completed the LAPD Handgun Instructor Training School (HITS) under the tutelage of Chief Instructor Lawrence Mudgett. Doc Gunn took Gunsite’s Tactical Medicine Course under the late Master Sargent Chris Dwiggins. He distilled these training classes into a curriculum that meets the needs of the average police officer or armed citizen who may find himself in a gunfight.

Students in the July 2009 TTGWC were peace officers and earth people, as is typical of Boone County Sheriff’s Office classes. Several had just completed Pat Rogers’ pistol and/or carbine classes the week before.

From the 2009 course flyer: “This is a shooting course combined with what you need to do immediately afterward to increase the survivability of gunshot wound victims, including yourself. Important topics include the Effects of Bullets on Human Tissue, Where to Shoot and How to Place Bullets with Surgical Precision. Following Threat Elimination, we teach How to Identify the Seven Life-Threatening Injuries as well as how to Control Hemorrhage, which is the major cause of preventable death from gunshot wounds. Accessing Emergency Medical Services and Maintaining an Emergency Gunshot Wound Response Kit are also covered.”

Prior firearms training to the level of DTI’s Basic/Intermediate Defensive Handgun or its equivalent from a recognized school such as Gunsite, Yavapai Firearms Academy, Thunder Ranch, E.A.G. Tactical etc., is a prerequisite for this class.

Safety is paramount. The Four Safety Rules were thoroughly discussed. Dr. Barrera detailed his recommended range medical emergency plan. Prior to commencing training, specific individuals were designated to perform certain tasks in dealing with a casualty, for example, treat the casualty, call 911, or designate drivers to transport a casualty and people to direct arriving emergency service personnel to the casualty. His student outline contains this plan in full for use by students whose home range may lack such a plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Firearms enthusiasts understand that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and even objects of warfare can reflect the beauty of both form and substance in their engineering and functioning. Such an object is SIG Sauer’s 556 Classic semiautomatic police/civilian version of the popular assault rifle.

This operating rod rifle is a proven design that has matured since the 1960s, after the Swiss transitioned from 7.62x51mm to 5.56x45mm calibers. Its excellent ergonomics remain in evidence in the current iterations of this relatively exotic service firearm.

The Classic is much in demand these days, and my anxious wait of several weeks was finally rewarded with the arrival of a Classic in its sturdy plastic lockable padded case and including its highly prized Picatinny rail-mounted mini red dot sight. In addition, the factory included the optional Diopter rear sight that, once zeroed, is capable of making rapid changes in elevation by simply rotating the aperture drum to the desired range.

Magazine flexibility: The near seven-pound rifle is shipped with two proprietary 30-round polymer magazines with connector, so I could evaluate them and their piggyback system, which can carry magazines in tandem or ad infinitum for faster magazine changes. M16 aluminum magazines have received their fair share of criticism, but this rifle and its brethrens’ selling points is their ability to accept 20- to 30-round 4179 STANAG aluminum mags. This flexibility is truly appreciated by myself, as well as thousands of others who’ve accumulated numerous AR magazines over years of shooting.

Conversely, SIG Sauer sticks will not slip into and seat in AR-15 magazine wells. Also, on the subject of feed systems, Lancer Systems and Magpul Industries sent me trios of their rugged, translucent, see-through and virtually bulletproof polymer 30-round magazines for inclusion in this evaluation. All performed flawlessly.

When I was a kid in the early 1980s, I wanted a digital watch in the worst way. Fortunately my parents saw things a different way and required that I learn and demonstrate the fundamentals of telling time before I moved on to the crutch of a digital watch. Similarly we all learn to do math before we're given a calculator, to ride a bicycle before a motorcycle, and the age-old cliché of learning to walk before we run. The key in all cases is learning the fundamentals, the right way, before we move on to more complex (and sometimes more dangerous) pursuits. We learn the fundamentals, and we stack other lessons upon those, but the fundamentals are always the foundation.

Like a lot of folks, I’ve shifted focus to the carbine in the last couple of years, and my pistol shooting ability has suffered as a result. The longer barrel, the easy addition of optics, the more stable firing grip, as well as other aspects, all combine to make getting a hit on a given target at a given distance far easier with a long gun than with a pistol. And because of this, the skills are less perishable and require less work to maintain than pistol skills. The problem with this shift in focus is that, for the vast majority of us operating outside of the military, the handgun is truly the “primary,” and as such is the skillset we should really be focusing on.

Combined with this was a shift in handgun platform from the Glock to the 1911 to cover up my deficiencies in skill and work ethic. I used the same old arguments about the 1911 fitting my hand better, the trigger being better, the availability of more options to custom fit the gun to me … but the reality is that the 1911 doesn't make you (well, me) a better shooter. Just like the carbine, it simply masks the deficiencies in one's abilities and glosses over the fact that the fundamentals are lacking or have been forgotten. And forgetting, or never truly grasping, those fundamentals means that eventually you will reach a plateau in your abilities that you can't get past.

In “Special Operations for The People” (May 2009 S.W.A.T.), author Victor Wong quotes Tigerswan principal Brian Searcy as saying, “It all begins with the ability to deliver a single well-aimed shot on a single target.” I have amended the quote for myself to add the concept of movement: “It all begins with the ability to get a single hit on a single stationary target while standing still,” due to the recent trend in training classes and other events adding in the element of movement, both of the shooter and the target. The problem is that if the shooter can't do what Searcy says while standing still, then adding in movement will simply amplify, and can even reinforce, bad habits and a lack of focus on the fundamentals.

With all of this in mind, I decided to get back to my roots. Several years ago I took a three-day Tactical Handgun 101 (TH101) class with Randy Cain of Cumberland Tactics at the Southern Exposure Training Facility outside of Lakeland, Florida. In reading back over my yellowed notes from that first class, I realized that Randy's method of teaching was right in line with that old digital watch example as well as my newfound mantra. From the Cumberland Tactics website, TH101 is described as “a complete introduction to the defensive use of the handgun” and “appropriate for beginners and is also recommended as a refresher for those with experience.”

After years of making various and sundry AR-15 parts, JT Distributing/ DoubleStar Corporation (DSC) began making its Star-15 rifle series. DSC’s black rifles were made on their lowers. A number of parts came from other makers. They tended toward the better class of AR parts. They also made 1911 frames and slides. I became aware of the frames because a friend talked his way into two of them. He began the process of making a pair of 1911s the way he wanted.

Lately, I became aware that DoubleStar is making a finished 1911 pistol. As soon as I heard the news, I decided I had to check into this. I’ve tried their rifles and have a DoubleStar lower waiting to get the Frankengun treatment. Their 1911 was something I’d have to shoot.

Dream gun: Jack Starnes, president of JT Distributing—the parts arm of DoubleStar—has toiled for four years to make the DSC 1911 a reality. He was no doubt spurred by word of potential pistol trials to take place in 2010 by and for USMC Special Operations.

The Marines wanted a receiver capable of handling accessories—aimers and/or white lights—and the new 1911 Combat Pistol has a railed receiver. It’s forged, not cast, of 4140 steel in DoubleStar’s Winchester, Kentucky factory. The Marines also wanted Strider G10 Gunner Grips, and the sample was provided with these aggressive stocks. A stainless-steel match barrel is fitted. As far as parts go, if you can buy quality parts cheaper than you can make them, buy them.

The DoubleStar 1911’s hammer, grip safety, sear and disconnector are by Ed Brown. The trigger is by Greider, the sights by Novak. These aren’t Novak look-alikes; they’re marked with the maker’s name. They’re available in three-dot or night sights. There’s checkering on the front strap, at 25 lines-per-inch. The ejection port is lowered and flared.

The Strider Gunner Grips are made from G10 filament glass cloth/epoxy resin composite. The material is impact resistant, is not prone to absorbing moisture, and remains solid across a wide range of temperatures. The clean-edged dimples give a texture similar to the surface of a golf ball, yet are more aggressive. The stocks actually grip your hand. Between the G10 stocks and the checkering, this gun won’t be slipping in your hand.

As you hastily turn the corner, a nasty three-round burst misses your ankles and thighs by only inches, and you’re reminded that this is no ordinary range session. Back to cover, you properly “pie” the corner and deliver half a dozen rounds center mass back into your aggressor. The exercise controller signals, “Terminate exercise.” Although that three-round burst was only composed of .68-caliber paintballs, it probably didn't feel like it. Nothing completely imitates the stress of real bullets coming at you, but I guarantee that the Tactical Robotic All-Purpose Chassis System (TRACS) threat from Northern Lights Tactical will amp you up and get your adrenaline flowing.

Ever since trench warfare ended in 1918, cover and movement have been the essence of staying alive in combat. TRACS will reinforce that. Simply put, when was the last time you had a range day where your target moved in every direction and inevitably tried to outflank your position of cover? That is but one of several missions that TRACS can complete.

During any form of close combat, people move, usually very quickly and unpredictably. This is exactly what TRACS replicates as a target. Try a Tueller knife drill: TRACS will move nearly as fast as a human, normally 0-7 mph in about two seconds with even a novice operator.

About a year ago I ordered a TRACS, sight unseen and without a T&E (test and evaluation), for my agency. It was a leap of faith, as they’re not inexpensive and I know about as much about robotics as I do about brain surgery.

At its heart, TRACS is a 26" x 26" robotic four-wheel-drive platform with zero turning radius (it can spin in circles, exposing the target briefly) encased in MIL-DTL-46177 steel armor. Just about everything but centerfire rifle bullets bounce off of it (you have to use frangible ammunition to be able to use a rifle unless you’re willing to risk zinging one into the chassis and voiding the warranty). With skilled shooters, however, you can get away with it.

The mounted target sits several feet above the TRACS platform, so unless you are having a real problem, the rounds don't even come close to the expensive part. Even the tires are foam filled. Under optimum conditions, TRACS can be controlled to over one mile. It will carry a load of up to 250 pounds over most any terrain. Various target-mounting systems are available for traditional and humanoid 3D targets. For those wanting the paintball system, TRACS comes with a Tippman A5 paintball gun fitted with an electronic trigger.