​Everybody that's been Hiking, Camping and Shooting for a while has a list of gear that they always take with them on their adventures. For some people their method of keeping track of their gear is to keep it all in one place. Others make a checklist to ensure that they have everything that they need. We do both.
 
Based on our experience the gear that you need for Hiking comes in 10 categories, Camping has 10 categories, Disaster Preparedness has 9 categories and Shooting gear comes in 17 categories:

​To make it easier for you we have updated and added downloadable PDFs of the Hiking, Camping, Disaster Preparedness and Shooting gear checklists that we use. The checklists include the types of gear that we think you need in each of these 46 categories.

Our website has all the details on the specific gear that we use (536 items from these 46 categories at last count), the reasons that we selected it and links to Amazon, or other locations, where you can buy the gear. Our gear checklists have 54 Hiking items, 122 Camping items, 123 Disaster Preparedness items and 237 Shooting items.
 
You can find these downloadable PDF checklists on our Hiking, Camping, Disaster Preparedness and Shooting pages.

​Right before the Christmas/New Year holiday season we received an email from Ada, one of the homeschooling students of Ms. Anna Lee, about a project they had been working on related to gun safety. While performing research for their project they ran across our HCS website and found the information contained on it useful. They also found an article about gun safety that had some great information – so they passed it along to us and asked that we add it as a reference to our website. So, here's an overview of the 23 October 2024 "Kids and Gun Safety" article.

As everyone that owns firearms knows – a responsibility for safety comes with the territory; when shooting at a range, when carrying for everyday safety and when storing your firearms at home. Being safe is complicated when there are children in your house. So, what’s the best approach to making sure that we protect the people that we love. Well, in our opinion, and in the opinion of the article that Ada sent us, the best approach is to be proactive and to “Empower your child with knowledge” since gun safety starts at home. It’s important to teach gun safety to your children as soon as they are old enough. That way they know the risks and what to do if they see a firearm.
 
The article details three initial main steps to take:

1. Store firearms safely
2. Use childproof locks, a lockbox, trigger lock or safe
3. Store ammunition away from firearms in a locked container

 
In addition to these three steps, it’s important to talk to your children. As the article says, “Having an open discussion with your kids about gun safety can make a difference.” Personally, we find this to be a critical step to take since our children see “make believe” firearms every day in video games, movies and TV shows. So, they need to know the reality of the risks associated with firearms and how to act around them so that they don’t think they are toys.
 
The article advocates teaching children the following three things about what to do if they find or see a gun:

1. Don’t touch it
2. Leave the area quickly
3. Tell a grown-up

 
The last two areas that the article touches on are related to “Lockdown Drills and Emergency Preparedness” and “Reporting School Safety Concerns”; great areas to teach your children about given the tragic occurrences of the past 25 years. In addition to discussing why reporting concerns about dangerous actions is so important, the article also advocates taking the following 5 steps with respect to lockdowns:

1. Provide information about what a lockdown drill is and stress the importance of taking them seriously just like they would a fire drill
2. Teach your child to stay calm since the purpose of these drills help to keep them safe
3. Talk about any fears that they have so that they can ask any questions
4. Tell them to focus on listening to and following instructions in any emergency situation
5. Practice drills like this at home, just like they will at school, so that they have the knowledge they need

 
Finally, the article lists some other good sources for information to help answer the question “Does your child know what to do if he or she finds a gun?”:

• NRA's Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program
• National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) Project ChildSafe
• Safe Kids Worldwide
• Project Childsafe  

We’re glad that Ms. Anna Lee’s students are learning about firearms safety, and that Ada sent us the article on the topic. If you want to read the entire article that Ada and Ms. Anna Lee passed along, here’s a direct link to it: "Kids and Gun Safety”

​During the past month we took two shooting classes with Bill Dalpe from Patriot Firearms School & Defense: “Carry and Defend 1.0” and “AR-15 Defensive Shooting”. Both of the classes were worthwhile since they helped us practice and hone our existing skills and taught us some new techniques.

The Description for the Carry and Defend class was: Elevate your live fire skills beyond the static draw and shoot format. To achieve this we will expose you to neurological conditioning linking your basic skills (physical) to in context (your brain) realistic training. This better prepares you to use these skills under dynamic stress. Become an efficient defender for yourself and your family. The following topics are covered:
 

• Gear and firearm review
• Sighted vs unsighted fire review
• Improve your defensive shooting accuracy (evaluation)
• Firearms malfunctions and how to clear them (Failure drills)
• Multiple target engagement
• To shoot or not to shoot (situational drills)
• Scan and access (360-degree awareness drills)
• Think… think… think (mental drills)
• Move it (shooting on the move drills)

The Description for the AR-15 Defensive Shooting class was: This Patriot AR-15 Defensive Shooting class is designed to expose students to an efficient method of defending themselves with an AR-15 during a dynamic critical incident. All of the principles and fundamentals of the USCCA AR-15 Shooting Fundamentals program are applied. The following topics are covered:
 

• Four Points of Contact with an AR-15 and Intuitive Shooting Fundamentals
• The Balance of Speed & Precision with an AR-15
• Primary and Secondary Aiming Methods
• Zeroing concepts
• Volume of Fire
• Critical Incident Reloads & Efficient AR-15 Handling
• Fundamental AR-15 Malfunction Clearing

If you are interested in seeing what classes Bill has to offer you should check it out at Patriot Firearms School & Defense LLC.

​These days there is an ongoing high-profile fight to redefine and change the rights of the people of the United States to have, hold and use firearms. The discussion is constant and many times the truth gets lost in the hyperbole as the media skews the truth to fit their agendas. But one thing is clear, if you own a firearm, and especially if you carry it or use it for self-protection, you need to know and understand your legal rights and your local laws.

​But the Constitution might never have been ratified if the framers hadn't promised to add a Bill of Rights. The first ten amendments to the Constitution gave citizens more confidence in the new government and contain many of today's Americans' most valued freedoms.

“On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791. The ratified Articles (Articles 3–12) constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, or the U.S. Bill of Rights. In 1992, 203 years after it was proposed, Article 2 was ratified as the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. Article 1 was never ratified.”
 
The Bill of Rights enumerates the birthrights of every American. These are not rights granted to the people by the US Government, these are rights that the US Government was formed to protect. Furthermore, these rights are the rights that each individual has. They are not rights bestowed on the people by membership in a group; they are specifically individual rights. One of these rights is the right to own and bear arms as delineated in the 2nd Amendment.  The right to bear arms was to specifically added to ensure that a citizen had the ability to secure their other enumerated rights. 

Here’s a really good short article on what we believe the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution means.
 
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
https://www.historyonthenet.com/second-amendment-to-the-united-states-constitution
​

Given today’s environment, whatever you do, know your rights, know your State’s laws, know the rules of gun safety - and if you get into a situation that requires legal support do not talk to the police – get a lawyer that knows how to support your 2nd Amendment rights - and then move forward with the legal system. If you don’t follow this one piece of simple advice you may regret your actions for the rest of your life. You are responsible for your actions, so plan and act accordingly.
 
If you do need legal assistance related to your Gun Rights what should you do?  Recently Timothy from the O’Mara Law Group in Orlando/Lakeland Florida sent us an email discussing their “2nd Amendment Rights Guide” that contains a lot of great information about what to do. We liked their overall position on the issue:

Here’s a brief summary of some of the key points from the O’Mara Law Group’s 2A guide:
 

• “The Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear and use arms in lawful situations. However, you can still face criminal charges if you discharge a weapon, even in self-defense. Our Second Amendment lawyers can help you assert your rights and protect your future from the devastating consequences of a conviction.”

 

• “The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution preserves the right for individuals to “ keep and bear Arms” without infringement. While some statutory limitations exist, it is critical to preserve the right to lawful gun ownership and to protect individuals who are charged with a crime in violation of their civil rights.”

 

• If you have discharged your weapon in self-defense or been prosecuted for lawfully owning a firearm, the Second Amendment lawyers can help you fight back.

 

• “The Supreme Court of the United States has weighed in, providing that the Second Amendment plainly “protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with services in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes.” The Supreme Court has also held that cities and states cannot pass laws to infringe on an individual’s right to bear arms.”

 

• “The Second Amendment right to bear arms does not mean that anyone can have any weapon and discharge it anytime they want. Gun ownership and use have limits — including age requirements, background checks, permit requirements, and restrictions on the types of firearms that can be sold.”

 

• “The Second Amendment protects your right to keep and bear arms for lawful uses, including self-defense. The Supreme Court mentioned self-defense explicitly in its 2008 decision in District of Columbia vs. Heller.”

 

• “If you claim self-defense ………, you will have the burden of proving that you acted to protect yourself or others from imminent harm. If you don’t prove your case, you could be convicted of a crime for asserting your Second Amendment rights.”

 

• In many States “……self-defense is permitted when it is reasonably necessary to prevent imminent bodily harm.”

 

• “The consequences of an arrest, criminal charge, or conviction can be devastating. That is particularly true when the crime involves the lawful exercise of your Second Amendment rights.”

 

• You “absolutely…..need a criminal defense lawyer if” you “acted in self-defense”.

 
If you have questions, or need their legal assistance you can contact the O’Mara Law Group at:    https://www.omaralawgroup.com/contact/

If you want to know more, we’ve previously covered several aspects of this issue in some of our previous blogs related to new gun ownership:
 
Back to Basics - What Beginners Need to Know About Handguns (2 Jan 2021)
 
4 Rules for Handling a Firearm - How to Keep Yourself, and Those Around You, Safe (27 March 2020)
 
The Unprecedented Surge in US Gun Sales During The Covid-19 Pandemic (3 June 2020)

​In addition, our main Shooting page lists several resources to assist you in navigating these treacherous waters to include:

• Legal Information
  • Handgunlaw.us
  • NRA-ILA Guide To The Interstate Transportation Of Firearms
  • National Association For Gun Rights (NAGR)
  • USA Carry - Concealed Carry Resources
  • USA Carry - Concealed Maps

 

• 2nd Amendment Rights Organizations
  • National Rifle Association (NRA)
  • Gun Owners of America (GOA)
  • US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA)
  • Gun Owners' Action League (GOAL)
  • Commonwealth Second Amendment (Comm2A) 

​Finally, here’s a good app that you might want to have on your phone to help keep track of all the various laws and regulations from each of the 50 US States:
 
CCW – Concealed Carry 50 State
iOS - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ccw-concealed-carry-50-state/id443321291
Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ryan.ccw&hl=en

​If you want to read the details of the actual United States Constitution and Bill of Rights here are the links to the National Archives website:
 
America's Founding Documents
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs
 
The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
 
The Bill of Rights: A Transcription
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript

For the sake of clarity, just so there is no doubt, as stated in our Legal Disclaimer:

We’ve all been there, out in the wind, the dust, the sun, the cold, the bugs and the glare off the water. And we all know that you really need to protect your face and your respiratory system from the elements. So we’ve always been big advocates of bandanas, shemaghs and reusable N95 masks to make sure that you can breathe in whatever conditions Nature throws at you. Over the past couple of years we’ve also become an advocate for neck gaiters – especially in windy conditions – and with the COVID-19 craziness the number of neck gaiters on the market has exploded.
 
Their uses are pretty obvious and include:

• Keeping your face protected when you’re in the outback by keeping sun, wind, dust, sweat and bugs off your face - and out of your nose and mouth
• Protecting your face from getting a painful windburn – especially if you’re hiking on a mountain
• Protecting your face from getting a painful sunburn – especially if you are on the water
• Wicking sweat and moisture away from your skin

Given the amount of new products on the market, in all sizes, colors, patterns and materials (e.g. polyester, spandex, microfiber, merino wool, fleece, synthetic, etc.,) we decided to replace all of our old neck gaiters with new ones before Winter arrived. You might think about doing the same since the new products have come a long way.
 
If you want more details about neck gaiters – here are a couple of great articles discussing their uses,  versatility and evaluation considerations for different environments:
 
The ultimate neck gaiter guide
https://www.broamer.com/gaiters/neck-gaiter-guide/
 
All the ways a neck gaiter is a multifunctional wonder
https://www.popsci.com/story/diy/how-to-use-buff/
 
Neck Gaiters: A Noteworthy Face Covering
https://www.mcrsafety.com/blog/neck-gaiter

Participating in outdoor activities can take a toll on your hands and feet and the rest of your body – so you need to protect it as appropriate with the right gear like gloves, shoes and clothing. In some situations you need even more protection which might include eye protection or hearing protection. Over the years we’ve found that you also need to protect your knees since they do a lot of work for you while hiking and participating in many shooting activities. Luckily there are lots of knee pads on the market to help you solve this problem.
 
When looking for the right knee pads to meet your needs you should consider the following three main areas:
 

• Protection – You want a knee pad that has comfortable padding against your knee - but will also provide good shock absorption. Materials such as foam, gels, rubber and neoprene are the materials most commonly used to provide for padding.

 

• Retention – A good knee pad is worthless if it won’t stay in place on your knee as you move. Many knee pads on the market have straps to hold them in place; some work better than others. So if you choose a knee pad with straps - make sure that they are adjustable (most commonly using Velcro) and fit both your knee and leg snugly. Another approach to keeping the knee pad in place is a “sleeve” that encircles your entire leg. These have the advantage of better staying power in many cases – but there is a balance between “tight enough” and “too tight”.

 

• Durability – Lastly you need to consider how durable the knee pad needs to be based on how much contact you expect it will have with the ground and other surfaces. If you will be kneeling on hard rock or gravel surfaces, you will need something more durable - leading you towards a “hard cap” knee pad. If you don’t expect too much continuous contact with the ground, or are wearing the knee pads beneath your pants, you can probably get by with a less durable pad. Balancing this durability with flexibility and retention is often a key tradeoff. In our experience many durable knee pads protect well but don’t want to stay in place because they are made of high-density polyethylene which sometimes doesn’t flex when you need it to.

 
Because we want to protect our knees with padding, but don’t spent a considerable amount of time running and then “hitting the dirt” or crawling around on the ground, we like the lower profile, lighter weight knee pads than the heavy duty “tactical” knee pads that are used by many outdoor enthusiasts; especially tactical shooters.
 
Consequently we use McDavid® Hex™ knee pads which have individual hexagon shaped cells that conform to and move with your body to balance comfort and protection. Although these knee pads were primarily designed for playing basketball, football, volleyball and other court, field and impact sports, they work well for our shooting and hiking activities. Their compression sleeve holds the knee pad firmly in place – but they are still lightweight and breathable. Since we wear them under our pants when shooting, the fact that they don’t have a more durable “hard cap” isn’t an issue for us.

If you’re looking to increase the performance and functionality of your Henry, Marlin, Winchester or Rossi lever action firearms - then the place to go is Ranger Point Precision (RPP). 

Located near Houston, Ranger Point Precision is a leading innovator and producer of performance lever-action rifle parts; a one stop shop for all things related to lever-action rifles. All of their parts are manufactured in-house and they are constantly designing new high performance parts for Henry Repeating Arms, Marlin Firearms, Winchester Repeating Arms, Rossi 92, Citadel Levtac and other lever-action rifles. All of their parts work with the newest rifles - as well as being backwards compatible with rifles built as early as 1950.
 
What makes Ranger Point Precision really interesting is that instead of making stock replacement parts - they are very focused on making parts to upgrade your lever action guns – to include M-LOK tactical rails, skeletonized stocks, shotgun shell quivers, muzzle brakes, fiber optic sights, peep sights and lever loops.

​Here are some great examples of firearms that have been upgraded with Ranger Point Precision’s parts:

So, if you want some great parts or accessories to upgrade your lever action firearms, you should check out the Ranger Point Precision online store at:
 
https://rangerpointstore.com/
 
But be warned – theses aren’t your Grandpa’s lever action guns…………..

Last Saturday and Sunday we attended Kalashtober 2022 “the oldest, original and longest continuously run annual AK training, competition and community event in the country”, led by Ken Allen, the head of Ken Allen Training (https://kenallentraining.us/), along with 30 other shooters, 10 vendors and lots of support staff. The fall New Hampshire weather was almost perfect – with just a little rain on Sunday.

The event was a hands-on, live fire course for shooters that know a considerable amount about shooting and want to improve their tactical skills. Although Kalashtober is primarily an AK event, it was open to AK, AR, Galil, SCAR, KP9, and RPK participants. In fact I would estimate that 60% of the shooters had AKs and the other 40% had AR’s. The focus was really on the shooting techniques and not the specific firearms; which was a good thing since no two weapons on the range were the same due to their types and customizations (e.g. grips, optics, slings, Cerakote patterns, flashlights, magazines, etc.,) that everyone had made.
 
The two-day event ran from 8:30 AM until after 9:00 PM each day – with time built in to talk to the vendors and visit with other participants in the community during the lunch breaks and even at dinner on Saturday night.
 
Although I’m not solely an “AK-guy”, since I like to learn new shooting techniques, improve my skills and challenge myself - I try to take various classes throughout the year. This was a good one since it really focused on higher-level skills utilized in activities that require significant range setup and attention to range safety procedures. I primarily used my Kalashnikov KR-9S during the training – with my Norinco MAK-90 as a secondary weapon.
 
The range training focused on moving, thinking and shooting from a wide variety of distances (from 5 yards to 50 yards), utilizing various shooting positions (prone, kneeling, sitting, standing), shooting different target types (paper silhouettes, steel plates,  3-D torsos, deer silhouettes) in a variety of real world situations to include:

• Accurately sighting-in your firearm and understanding the zeroed offsets from various distances
• Shooting from distance after running
• Shooting from behind barrels for cover (utilizing techniques that minimize your visible profile)
• Quickly differentiating “good guys” from “bad guys” - and only shooting the right targets
• Shooting after crawling through tunnels
• Reloading while moving and covering yourself / team
• Shooting in smoke
• Shooting from a car
• Shooting while carrying other equipment
• Moving and shooting in 2-person and 4-person teams

 
Although the majority of the time was spent on shooting, on Sunday morning the participants were broken into three 10-person groups and each group spent an hour on the following:

1. Learning some practical knife attack self-defense techniques from Defend Me
2. Learning how to treat massive hemorrhage bleeding by applying a tourniquet and wound packing
3. Shooting the “Gauntlet” with Ken Allen’s team

​The vendors that attended the event included:

• Ammo Supply Warehouse - https://www.ammosupplywarehouse.com/
• Century Arms - https://www.centuryarms.com/
• CMC Triggers - https://cmctriggers.com/
• Defend Me - https://www.facebook.com/defendmellc/
• Granite State Indoor Range - https://www.granitestaterange.com/
• Nocturn Industries - https://nocturnindustries.com/
• Sureshot Armament Group, USA - https://www.sureshot-usa.com/
• Samson Manufacturing - https://www.samson-mfg.com/
• USCCA / Delta Defense - https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/
• US Law Shield - https://www.uslawshield.com/

​Here are a few photos of what Kalashtober 2022 looked like on the range ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

​Here’s a short video showing what running the Kalashtober 2022 “Gauntlet” looked like:

If you have a chance to take any of Ken’s courses at his home base in New Hampshire I would highly recommend that you sign up since his classes will definitely help you improve your shooting techniques and tactics.
 
You can find out more about Ken Allen Training, and the classes that they offer, on their website:
https://kenallentraining.us/

​As you can see on our Shooting/Carbines page one of the firearms that we have is the Kalashnikov KR-9S; a 9mm Carbine which is very accurate and fun to shoot. However, we’ve found that if we use it for the entire day at the range the skeletonized Vityaz-style triangle folding stock can get a little sharp - since it is a metal triangle poking your shoulder all day. Luckily we are evidently not the only ones that have noticed this - so ​Kalashnikov-USA has made a rubber butt pad that fits the KR-9S stock. 

​Designed to reduce recoil from the firearm, the butt pad is a slip-on sleeve design that is easy to install, and its reinforced lip improves the pad’s hold on the buttstock of the KR-9. Made from durable black rubber, the pad has been designed to maintain the rifle’s position while you fire. This butt pad will also fit KP-9, KR-103, KR-104, and Kali-9 firearms with similar stocks.

If you want more details about the KA KR-9 stock butt pad you can find it here:
 
https://kalashnikov-usa.com/product/rubber-butt-pad

​These days we seem to be doing more activities with a wider variety of shooters at the range – and that means more varied experience - from novice to expert. That, coupled with the increased focus on firearms safety by many ranges, led us to reexamine our “Safety Items” gear; which was why our last blog was about dummy rounds. During our relook we also decided to add a few more, and better quality, chamber flags to our gear. We’ve always had a few flags sitting around, and used them when appropriate – but they were always a hodge-podge since we acquired them when we purchased a firearm or had a gunsmith work on our rifles/carbines. Some were good and some were not great. 

So, first of all, why do you even need chamber flags and when should you use them? Chamber flags are small, inexpensive items (normally made of plastic so that they are strong but won’t damage your firearm) used as an additional safety measure while storing and/or transporting firearms. All that you have to do is place a flag in the firearm’s empty chamber to provide a visual confirmation that the chamber is clear. Normally this is done after the magazine has been removed so that the firearm is totally safe – meaning there is no live ammo in the chamber and no magazine inserted into the mag well – so there is no live ammo anywhere close to the firearm that could be accidently fired.
 
In certain cases chamber flags can even be used when storing a loaded firearm. The procedure to safely do this is as follows:

• Remove the magazine from the firearm.
• Completely clear the firearm and lock the slide/bolt to the rear.
• Examine the magazine and chamber to ensure that no live ammunition is present.
• Place the chamber flag into the empty chamber and gently release the slide/bolt.
• Insert a loaded magazine in the firearm.
• Then, if the firearm is needed in an emergency, it merely requires charging the weapon by pulling the slide/bolt charging handle back, removing the chamber flag and releasing the slide/bolt to rack a round from the magazine into the chamber.

So, since they’re inexpensive, and are becoming more prevalent on ranges, we searched the internet to find some chamber flags that met our standards. They had to: 1) fit into a variety of firearms from handguns to rifles, 2) be strong enough that they didn’t easily break, 3) visibly protrude from the chamber and 4) be a color that was highly visible. Our internet search confirmed what we suspected from what we’ve seen people bring to the range – there are lots of chamber flags out there – and many of them are crap. Eventually our search led us to Team Accessories Corporation (TAC); a group of seasoned veterans, highly skilled machinists, and manufacturing personnel with the mission of providing exceptional American-made gear – so we purchased orange chamber flags from them.
 
The TAC chamber flag is constructed out of an injection-molded semi-rigid polymer to ensure durability and light weight. It’s designed to provide immediate visual recognition of an “empty” chamber on most firearms - including semi-auto handguns. With the high visibility colors of orange or yellow (we prefer orange because we find it to be the most visible), you should be confident in knowing your firearm is safe to handle.