The Baofeng UV-5R and its derivatives are perhaps the most prolific handheld radios in use today due to their simplicity, versatility, and low price. In a SHTF or grid-down scenario, a Baofeng may be one of the few widely available communication tools. The Guerilla Guide is written for all levels of experience, using techniques taught to special operations personnel, but with the end user in mind.
The 411
The guide consists of seven chapters and three appendices. Topics include field programming, improvised antennas, operation, and communications security.
Chapter one starts with an introduction to the Baofeng radio and its capabilities and continues with communications basics and the three roles of communication: sustainment, tactical, and clandestine/strategic. The author explains that the Baofeng operates as a dual-band radio, transmitting in VHF and UHF, and that both bands have their own pros and cons.
In chapter two, functions and field programming, the author goes over frequency and memory modes. Remember: All data that you input into your radio is potentially exploitable. The author gives real-life examples of this from his service overseas, stating, “Every Taliban member with a radio in Afghanistan became a target for us.” Any radio captured was given to the Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) officer to search the memory and analyze their communication protocols. In short, “Do not, under any circumstances, program the memory of a radio you intend on using for tactical or clandestine purposes.”
Another pro tip by the author is “Lock that keypad!” While conducting night training, a squad leader had an unlocked keypad that resulted in him losing his frequency when his radio shifted on his gear. Now, in the dark, with lost comms, an exercise that was going smoothly quickly went south.
Chapter five on the construction of improvised field antennae is extremely valuable information, as many people think the radio range is fixed at a certain distance. The author breaks it down so that anyone can learn the basic concepts of antennae in an improvised environment. The most critical and often overlooked element while using the Baofeng — or any other radio — is the antenna. In many cases, it’s more important than the radio itself.
Regarding “how much range does it have,” radio theory should be understood. In layperson’s terms, three factors are involved: the operating environment, the obstacles between you and the intended receiver, and the efficiency of your antenna. The author keeps the technical data to a minimum so anyone can grasp the basics and goes into detail on the pluses and minuses of different antenna types.
The chapter on communications operations stresses specific considerations for the three types of communications. Failure to know this principle is the most devastating failure of communication security (COMSEC). The Baofeng radio can save your life or get you killed if used in an undisciplined way. When using the Baofeng in a tactical role, keep transmissions short, use codewords, and always operate with separate receive and transmit frequencies.
Chapter seven covers the difference between encoding and encryption. As the Baofeng has no built-in encoding or encryption capabilities, the author goes over transposing a message into a code, aka encoding. This can be done digitally via software or manually via pen and paper.
The Verdict
I recommend this guide to anyone looking to get their comms game in order. It is an invaluable guide to the communications world that will help keep you alive. The Guerilla’s Guide to the Baofeng Radio will get you on the path to communications proficiency in no time. It’s available in paperback, and a field edition that’s spiral-bound and pocket-sized for carrying into the field is also available.
The author’s pen name is NC Scout. He’s a former member of one of the U.S. Army’s Special Reconnaissance Units and the owner of Brushbeater Training and Consulting. NC Scout conducts hands-on training, and anyone interested in a course in communications as well as several other topics can visit www.brushbeater.org and view his training schedule.
About the Book
Book & Author: The Guerrilla's Guide to the Baofeng Radio, by NC Scout
It has been said that rendering aid during a mass casualty incident (MCI) is trying to create order out of chaos. When most people hear the term “mass casualty incident,” it conjures up images of major catastrophic events: hurricanes, terrorist attacks, plane crashes, etc. Those are all prime examples to be sure, but an MCI can happen anytime and anywhere. Simply put, an MCI is any scenario in which those needing aid outnumber those able to provide it. In these scenarios, the SALT triage technique is a powerful tool.
The occurrences of MCIs are few and far between. But sadly, not as few and not as far between as one might think. They can be naturally occurring or man-made, accidental or intentional. Natural disasters, hostile events, civil unrest, even multi-passenger vehicle accidents — to name a few — happen all around us at an alarming rate. Imagine you’re near, or even involved in an MCI, but are fortunate enough to be minimally injured or completely unharmed. In many situations, first responders are immediately on their way. In others, emergency response resources are far away or overwhelmed and help could be hours or even days away.
Above: Mass casualty events aren’t just shootings or terrorist attacks. They’re often accidental — for example, vehicle crashes involving multiple pedestrians.
There are a few options at that point: You could determine the catastrophe is the responsibility of those who are trained to provide aid and stand aside, or you could do whatever you can, regardless of training, to provide assistance. Obviously, performing advanced medical procedures outside of your scope of training is a bad idea, but there are many things you can do as a bystander that could immensely help a situation. In those scenarios, Good Samaritan laws provide cover for those acting in good faith and not gross negligence.
DISCLAIMER
This is a general overview and not a comprehensive guide to triage or trauma care. Whenever possible, call paramedics and defer to their expertise once they arrive.
What You Can Do
First things first — always perform within the scope of your training. Despite what you see in the movies, using a knife and a straw to perform an emergency tracheotomy, for the vast majority of us, is a really bad idea. Likewise, employing a makeshift electrical cord defibrillator or stabbing someone in the heart with anything, Pulp Fiction style, should be avoided in every circumstance. That said, even though the majority of the general public has little to no formal medical instruction, there’s still a lot of good that can be done.
Above: Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes are another common source of mass casualty incidents.
For the sake of this article, let us assume you have no medical training or certifications that would allow you to perform any procedures beyond fundamental first aid. Being a first responder for the past 25 years, I can tell you there are basic skills and actions the general public, without medical credentials, are able to perform which can have a great impact on the overall outcome of an MCI. The overarching goal will be to help as many people as possible by spreading and utilizing the available resources as efficiently as possible. Sometimes, the available resource is simply you.
Location
There are many factors when it comes to sorting patients. While you may not know the exact number involved, you can make rough estimates. Did this incident happen at a crowded shopping mall or at a bus stop? The reason it matters is because you’ll need to identify a safe location to evaluate injuries. It’s imperative that you have the safest possible place to corral them. The ideal location is uphill and upwind of the incident that’s safe, secure, and allows easy ingress and egress for transporting units. It isn’t often, though, that an ideal location is available. Choose the closest safe location that you can find.
Treatment and Transport Location Considerations:
Physical location: safely away/close enough to be practical
Protected from ongoing/additional danger
Access and egress
Structural hazards
Weather exposure
Wind direction
Time of day/lighting
Hazardous materials runoff
Access to first aid supplies if available
Above: Professional first responders can’t be everywhere at once. As a prepared individual, you should be ready to render aid and stabilize patients until the cavalry arrives.
Personal Protective Equipment
Stating that one shouldn’t render first aid without full personal protective equipment, although accurate, would be impossible in most mass casualty scenarios. Those who carry first aid kits on their person, in their packs, or in their vehicles will be better prepared than most to protect themselves from blood-borne pathogens, airborne contaminants, and environmental factors like the weather and the harsh incident environment. The unpredictability of an MCI pretty much assures us that we won’t have all the needed PPE supplies with us in the moment. The take-home message: Do the best you can to protect yourself and others when providing aid.
Minimal Recommended PPE:
Work gloves or nitrile medical gloves
Safety glasses
Surgical mask or respirator
Hearing protection (for loud environments)
Weather and environment appropriate clothing
Triage
As previously mentioned, doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people is the objective in a mass casualty scenario. One of the most effective ways to do that is to determine who has immediate medical needs versus those whose injuries aren’t life threatening and therefore treatment can be delayed. Triage is a French word meaning “to sort.” Origins of triage date back centuries but the modern practice is believed to have been traced back to Napoleon’s army. In any scenario where the number of patients outnumbers those who are there to provide aid, they must be “sorted” by order of medical priority.
Sorting patients can be a fluid and somewhat subjective experience, particularly without the aid of medical equipment to make any specific and verifiable diagnosis. The fluidity of triage lies in the fact that it’s ongoing. It’s not a one-time occurrence. The environment can improve, adjust, or deteriorate, sometimes drastically. The same can be said for the condition of a patient, which is why a consistent cycle of triage and re-triage is important. It begins with the initial division of those affected.
Above: Individuals who are breathing but not moving are categorized as “Red” and should be assessed first.
SALT Triage
There are a variety of ways to divide patients by medical priority. One of the most widely adopted methods to quickly determine the potential severity of injuries to patients and triage them into prioritized categories is to use SALT Triage. Sort, Assess, Lifesaving interventions, and Treatment and/or Transport give us the acronym: SALT. This method was developed in 2006 by a Center for Disease Control (CDC) workgroup made up of the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) and has been proposed as the national standard for mass casualty triage. SALT is scalable — it can be used in a catastrophic MCI or when it’s simply you with two patients.
SALT outlines a common-sense approach to managing a mass casualty incident by presenting simple yes or no questions, allowing you to rapidly determine who potentially has the greatest medical needs and should receive priority treatment. The term “potentially” is used because, although SALT is widely adopted, it’s less an advanced medical process and more of a down-and-dirty, in-the-field, best-educated guess.
It should be noted that SALT Triage is a diagnostic tool for use with adult patients only. In an MCI, you may have to apply some judgment when determining if a patient is considered an adult or child. As a basic rule, if the patient is big enough to be or looks like an adult, treat them as an adult.
Sort
The first step in SALT Triage is to sort patients into manageable groups by dividing them into four categories: Those who can walk, those who cannot walk but can make purposeful movement and follow simple commands, those who are breathing but not moving, and those who aren’t breathing. Patients are divided into four colored categories:
Green: walking wounded. Assess third.
Yellow: injured but with purposeful movement. Assess second.
Red: breathing but not moving/still. Assess first.
Black: not breathing and/or with injuries consistent with obvious death. Deceased. Leave in place.
To begin, shout something like, “If you can walk, come over here!” Direct those people to a safe location to await treatment and transport. Those people will still require evaluation but are third on your priority list. In fact, in many cases, your greens, or the “walking wounded,” can be used to help you sort and treat your reds and yellows. Put them to work.
Next, ask anyone who is hurt, but cannot walk to follow a simple command. “Raise your hand if you are hurt but cannot move.” Those who respond will be your “yellows” and, if safe to do so, should be left in place for the moment. You and those who are available to help you, should immediately address those who aren’t responsive. They’re likely critically injured or deceased. There will be exceptions to these rules, but this is a time-critical process of numbers. It’s going to consist of making assumptions and educated guesses.
Above: If a patient isn’t breathing after you’ve adjusted their airway, you’ll have to move on to the next patient. There’s no time for CPR in a mass casualty event.
Assess – Red: The patients you deem should be assessed first.
Are they breathing? If not, you should adjust the airway. If there are still no respirations, they’re deceased. There’s no time for CPR in a mass casualty incident. Do they obey commands? Do they have a peripheral pulse? Are they breathing normally? Can their bleeding be simply managed? If the answer is no to any of these questions, they’re a “red” priority patient and quick lifesaving interventions should be performed. The assessment of a red patient is somewhat basic: adjust the airway if they aren’t breathing or struggling to breathe, control major bleeding, and have them transported as quickly as possible. The sorting, assessment, and interventions should take no more than 1 minute per patient.
Lifesaving Interventions:
Adjust airway (head tilt/chin lift)
Control major bleeding (tourniquet/pressure points)
Treatment and/or Transport:
Move immediately to a treatment area for treatment and expedited transport.
Assess – Yellow: The patients you deem to be assessed second.
What are the extent of their injuries? A yellow patient can simply be anyone in between the walking wounded and critical. If your confidence and comfort level allow, there are some basic assessments you can execute in order to better evaluate the status of the patient. In this series of rapid assessments, patients can be re-triaged as red or green. There are three areas to evaluate:
Mental Status: A quick way to determine the mental status of a patient is the AVPU scale. The AVPU acronym stands for alert, verbal, painful, unresponsive. This evaluation indicates if a patient is awake and can follow commands (alert), they respond to verbal stimulus but aren’t able to answer simple questions or follow commands (verbal), they respond to painful stimulus such as a sternal rub (painful), or are altogether unresponsive. Any patient who falls under V, P, or U should be re-triaged as red.
Respirations: If patient respirations are over 30 per minute, they should be re-triaged as red.
Perfusion: Press the fingernail bed of the patient (if there’s no nail polish present). The pressure will cause the nail bed to turn white and should return to pink in less than 2 seconds after your release. This is a measure of capillary refill. If color does not return in under 2 seconds, there could be an internal perfusion issue and they should be re-triaged red.
Above: Pressing and releasing a patient’s fingernail can help you gauge capillary refill. If color remains white for more than 2 seconds, there may be a circulatory problem.
Lifesaving Interventions:
Not needed for yellow patients. Care of the “yellow” patients will occur once the critical patients have been addressed. Yellow treatment will occur in place, or preferably, in a designated treatment area.
Treatment and/or Transport:
Move, when possible, to the treatment area for transport after priority patients (reds) are off the scene and en route to advanced care.
Tagging Patients
This is an example of a triage accountability tag used by first responders after quickly performing a SALT Triage and determining the triage “color” of the patient.
Documentation
Without question, documentation will be the lowest priority and last step of any type of MCI. It is, however, an important one. If resources allow, it’d be greatly beneficial to first responders, family members of those involved, and post-incident investigators to designate a scribe. Patient names, descriptions, extent of injuries, location they were found, and where they were transported to are all meaningful pieces of information. The likelihood of getting all necessary information is minimal, but anything you can document would be far more reliable than your memory after a major stressful event.
It could be something as simple as: Hispanic male, 40s, blue jeans, and long-sleeve white shirt. Found unresponsive near the south door. Relocated to treatment center. Unknown transport destination. Before the incident winds down, you can be sure family members are going to be desperate for information regarding their loved ones.
Summary
There isn’t much that can prepare you for the impact of experiencing firsthand injury and death on a mass scale. You can expect an MCI to be both chaotic and emotional. There will be thoughts, feelings, and reactions that you may not expect or be prepared for. First responders are trained and equipped to manage a crisis — you may or may not be. What you can do, though, is be diligent in your readiness and, when the tragic situation presents itself and you can do some good, do good for as many as you can. Lives may depend on it.
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Many worship at the altar of Stoner, exalting the AR-15 platform’s ergonomics, versatility, and modularity. But with a receiver extension and buttstock that can’t be folded, since the bolt carrier group reciprocates into it, compactness for transport wasn’t Stoner’s first priority. The aftermarket has come up with solutions for this — but what if you’re looking for an even smaller footprint than a folding stock will provide? That's where the AR-15 Takedown comes in.
If you don’t mind disassembling your weapon, Stoner’s original design gets you halfway there, as you can easily detach the upper and lower into two pieces. However, it’s fiddly and not the quickest to deploy, and you’re still constrained by the length of the entire upper assembly, essentially the barrel plus the upper receiver — which itself accounts for about 8 inches of length.
Since the barrel is typically the longest component on an AR, several companies have come up with take-down systems to quickly detach and reattach the barrel and handguard assembly from the upper receiver. Combine this with a folding or PDW-style stock or brace, and you’ll have the shortest overall footprint short of sawing your barrel in half (we don’t recommend this unless you’re a hapless virtue- signaling congressional candidate). Something to keep in mind is that systems like this may have some zero shift, though none tested were terribly noteworthy due to the short-range requirements typical of a hideaway rifle.
In this article, we look at take-down offerings from Cry Havoc Tactical, FoldAR, LEO TakeDown, and Pantheon Arms.
Cry Havoc Tactical
If you’re seeking a take-down system that’s currently fielded by the U.S. military, look no further than Cry Havoc Tactical’s offering. Their QRB system is used in the U.S. Air Force’s GAU-5A Aircrew Self Defense Weapon, custom built by the Air Force Gunsmith Shop to equip aircrews with a 5.56mm carbine that can be broken down and stowed in the tight confines of an ACES II ejection seat. Packaged with four 30-round magazines, the reconstituted rifle provides a downed pilot with far more firepower than the 9mm M-9 pistol that it replaced.
Cry Havoc’s system utilizes two tensioning levers that secure the barrel assembly to the upper receiver. The receiver plate attaches to the upper with a star nut, retained by a set screw that sits in one of the nut’s grooves to prevent it from rotating. The barrel plate keeps the barrel firmly captured with three set screws and has standard threading on the muzzle side to attach the barrel nut for your handguard of choice. A clever two-piece gas tube arrangement solves the problem of the otherwise-vulnerable standard AR gas tube, with a shortened gas tube attached to the gas block slotting into an extension in the QRB’s receiver plate that feeds gas back to the bolt carrier group.
Slide the barrel extension into its home on the upper receiver and hooks on the levers on the barrel plate grab on to slots in the receiver plate, snapping down to lock into place. Two stout locator pins ensure you line everything up properly and also further protect the gas tube. To tear down your gun, lock back the bolt, flip open the levers, push them backward if you need help unseating the barrel from the upper, make sure the hooks are free, and yank out the barrel/handguard assembly.
You can use a wide variety of handguards; they just need to be slim enough to leave room behind the locking levers to get enough purchase to open them. There are recesses on the barrel plate to accept small anti-rotation tabs. Note that due to the beefy barrel plate, you’ll need to use a handguard that’s 1.5 inches shorter than you would otherwise. If you want a complete upper with the Cry Havoc system, their sister company, Weaponstech Engineering, offers a variety of configurations, including one-stamp suppressed uppers.
For our build shown here, we wanted to create our own, even smaller version of the GAU-5A — and in .300BLK as befits such a small gun. To match the GAU-5A, we used a Midwest Industries 4.5-inch M-LOK Combat Rail (effectively becoming a 6-inch rail with the QRB barrel plate) along with one of their upper receivers. The latest MI handguards have large anti-rotation tabs, unlike those used by the Air Force, so we cut them down to fit with an end mill and files, then hit it with Alumablack.
Instead of a 12.5-inch 5.56mm barrel, we fitted a 7.5-inch Faxon gunner profile barrel in .300BLK along with one of their gas blocks, topped off with a Midwest Industries muzzle device. The assembled upper went on one of our pistol lowers, equipped with a LAW Tactical folding stock adapter and the same FAB Defense folding pistol grip seen on the GAU-5A. The resulting package is insanely compact when broken down.
We were very impressed with the Cry Havoc take-down system, in particular the consistent locking levers, the two-piece gas tube and locator pins, the ability to use a variety of handguards, and its overall robustness.
Make: Cry Havoc Tactical
Model: AR15 QRB Kit 2-Pin Military Model
MSRP: $425 with pistol, carbine, or mid-length gas tube; $435 with rifle-length gas tube
Available as a complete double-folding rifle or pistol as well as a proprietary upper receiver unit, the FoldAR is a seriously small unit. The Double FoldAR pistol seen here breaks down into a tiny package of a mere 10.75 by 5.75 inches, perfect to fit into a lunch box-sized bag — exactly like the one that comes with it.
The FoldAR is a complete system, not a conversion, as it uses a proprietary upper receiver, handguard assembly, and adjustable gas block. True to its name, the FoldAR is a hinged system with a lever latching system integrated into the right side of the M-LOK handguard for takedown. Folding the barrel assembly first requires you to lock the bolt to the rear and then pull the SHUT lever outward to unlock the barrel. The barrel now can be folded along the hinge, closely hugging the left side of the upper receiver. FoldAR includes a convenient pull tab on the lever for an assist, though it can be removed if that idea makes you squirrelly. However, they added it for a reason, as it’s not easy to open without it.
To deploy the FoldAR’s barrel, swing the barrel assembly forward until it clicks in place. Note that because the barrel swings into place rather than sliding straight into the upper receiver, the custom barrel extension is beveled. Then, pull and release the SHUT lever to ensure the lock is properly engaged. At that point, the bolt can be released, and you’re ready to go. While you lose the flexibility of arranging the broken-down pieces however you’d like, it’s handy to have a single unit that folds open.
For the folding stock on the complete double-folding rifles and pistols, FoldAR uses a Dead Foot Arms MCS adapter, whose standout feature is the ability to fire and cycle the weapon with the stock/brace folded. If purchased outright, this system would require modification of your bolt carrier group, but since FoldAR produces complete weapons they do the work for you. Instead of a typical BCG, FoldAR ships with a four-position gas-adjusting carrier from Bootleg Inc. All of these custom, proprietary parts results in a hefty price tag, but it avoids the requirement of having the requisite skills and tools of an armorer.
On our example, we added a SIG Romeo optic, Magpul AFG, folding offset sights, and a muzzle brake/silencer mount made by Elite Iron for their War Dog can. When not going suppressed, a sleeve fits over the brake to convert it to a linear compensator.
Rifles, pistols, and upper assemblies from FoldAR are available in 5.56mm or .300BLK in barrel lengths of 9, 10.5, and 12 inches.
LEO TakeDown doesn’t offer a folding system but instead the ability to quickly detach and remove your barrel and handguard assembly from the upper receiver. Available as conversion parts or in a limited selection of complete uppers, the LEO TakeDown system reminds us of quick connect couplers that attach the hose from your air compressor to a pneumatic tool.
To remove the barrel assembly, first retract or lock the bolt to the rear. Then, rotate the circular locking nut to the marked “unlock” position and pull it back. The spring-loaded assembly retracts locking bearings, and the entire barrel and handguard can be pulled out from the front. There are storage covers for both the barrel assembly and upper receiver to keep crud out if they’re stored in two pieces, and importantly they protect the now-exposed, relatively fragile gas tube from damage.
Once the LEO TakeDown system is installed on a barrel and upper receiver, it should be considered a permanent installation. The official installation documentation includes a considerable amount of permanent red thread locker in virtually every step, and the barrel coupling is pressure fit. We tried our hand at a barrel swap and quickly ran into issues. On the plus side, additional barrel couplings (to change barrel lengths and/or calibers) are currently available for $59 each.
If you’re performing a conversion, any caliber and barrel that’ll fit into a standard AR-15 upper will work. There’s no comprehensive list of handguards that are compatible with the system, but we’re told most compression-type free-float models will work. If a handguard has anti-rotation tabs, they’ll need to be modified. Also, bear in mind that the handguard itself will be an inch further along the barrel, as the rear of it now starts at the front of the takedown system rather than the receiver.
Our recommendation for the LEO TakeDown system would be to go with a pre-converted upper receiver and barrel from the company, as installation is a lengthy process and significantly different than normal AR-15 assembly.
Make: LEO TakeDown
Model:LEO TakeDown conversion (user-provided upper, barrel, and handguard)
Pantheon Arms offers its DOLOS take-down system in a few flavors — as a complete upper (the Exodus shown here) or a DIY kit with or without a handguard. Pantheon’s design features a lock collar on the barrel side that essentially acts as a coarse-threaded barrel nut with a short arc of rotation to secure the barrel to a tri-lug attached to the upper receiver. A pawl on the bottom engages grooved teeth on the lock collar to securely ratchet into place.
The tri-lug assembly is attached to the upper receiver with a castle nut and set screws. The lock collar slides over the barrel, with a semi-circular slot so it can clear the gas tube while rotating; the handguard is secured to the lock collar. Align the gas tube and barrel extension, lock collar, and tri-lug and slide it home into the upper receiver. Then, crank down the lock collar, which pulls the barrel into the tri-lug, while the pawl locks the lock collar in place. To take down the DOLOS, lock back the bolt, pull down on the lock release below the tri-lug, twist the lock collar, and pull it out of the upper.
The barrel (and the gas block and standard gas tube attached to it) rotates and is loose within the lock collar and handguard assembly until it’s cranked into the tri-lug; Pantheon provides a retaining ring for the kit that slides over and bites into the barrel to capture it so it doesn’t slide around too much. This is a bit of an annoyance while your gun is torn down, though Pantheon’s molded gas tube cover mitigates this while also protecting your gas tube, which extends out quite a bit.
Since the gas tube rotates within the lock collar, the handguard needs to be circular-ish on top to clear it. Many slimmer handguards have a square channel for the gas tube that won’t work. For the DIY kit, you can choose from handguards with and without a top rail from Pantheon or other roomy options from companies such as Rock River Arms, YHM, and Unique ARs.
The Exodus complete upper has some unique features compared to the kit since Pantheon controls the whole build. The lock collar and barrel are modified to reduce the rotation required and capture the barrel. Also, the handguard is slim with an arc on top to clear the gas tube. It’s currently offered in one configuration with a 7.5-inch barrel in .223.
Our test build has the Exodus upper mounted on a pistol lower with a Dead Foot Arms SCW shortened system and Gear Head Works Tailhook brace, resulting in a very cool little blaster. Once you get the hang of using the DOLOS, you can muscle it into place. It’s a simple motion, just insert and twist. However, be sure to go to the same spot every time for your zero; we often missed it and had to either sit on the lower to get enough leverage for that last click or redo it harder (that’s what she said).
One of the fundamentals of fighting well is to know your enemy. When we’re talking about fighting violent crime and criminals, there are a lot of varied opinions. Some people see violent criminals as victims of a flawed economic system or argue they’re just mentally ill, while others see them as cunning rational actors engaged in rational acts. Hopefully, the essay that follows will give you a quick summary of who criminals are, how criminals think, how they pick their victims, and how to truly win confrontations with them.
Any time we’re generalizing, we must be careful to remember there are always exceptions. The discussion that follows reflects the reality of a Western country with a somewhat intact legal system and a place where scarcity is a forgotten concern. As we move away from these realities, the general advice that follows will likely change.
Criminal Motivations
The first question we must ask ourselves is what drives someone to commit a violent crime? When violent crimes are committed, most experts agree there are two main motivations and a third special category that’s a combination of both. Generally, violent crimes are either instrumental or expressive.
Instrumental Crimes
In these crimes, the criminal is looking to achieve a rational goal. For instance, the criminal will use force or the threat of force to take something of value. Whatever is taken is then sold or traded to obtain something the criminal really wants, from drugs to groceries. Crimes such as these are easy to understand — we may not agree with the methods, but the desired end state is something we all pursue by going to work.
Expressive Crimes
The other common motivation for violent crimes is known as expressive. In an expressive crime, the crime itself is the goal, mostly to send a message. These crimes are scarier because the act used to send the message doesn’t seem rational to the normal person. The non-criminal just can’t understand what the desired end state was and why such methods would be used to achieve it. Expressive crimes tend to be more horrific — such as a Jihadi motivated bombing, a drug cartel decapitation, or a mass shooting. What normal people see as “overkill” is actually part of the message — it reinforces the communication that the criminal wants to send.
What many people don’t understand is that the criminal may be seeking something other than easy financial reward. Unless one is robbing drug dealers, it’s very hard to “make a living” committing street robberies. Most people don’t carry that much cash these days and the return on selling stolen goods just isn’t that great. It’s important to remember that what the criminal seeks to gain is the thrill of power, of watching another person cower and bend to their will. While the criminal will take your iPhone or wallet and gladly spend the money, they’re also gaining a hedonistic thrill by doing so.
Above: Avoid focusing on your cellphone in public. It communicates a lack of awareness, and also displays a valuable item that can be snatched from your hand.
Instrumental-Expressive Crimes
Such circumstances create the peril of the third type of criminal motivation — the instrumental-expressive crime. In an instrumental-expressive crime, the criminal starts out with a very rational motivation — typically, they want to get paid. At some point during the crime, the victim does something that offends the criminal. It could be ineffectively offering physical resistance or saying something that’s seen as disrespectful. Very quickly, the crime turns to an expressive one — the victim has done something that makes the criminal take the affront personally. What was a forced business transaction suddenly becomes the need to send a message that the bad guy isn’t someone to be trifled with.
For this reason, initial compliance is almost always the best response to a violent crime when it cannot be avoided and when you don’t have the initiative to retake control of the situation. In that case, you need to give the criminal what they’re looking for — both your valuables and the meek demeanor of compliance they have come to expect (possibly the main reason they’re engaged in the attack).
Half efforts of resistance and verbal barbs aren’t appropriate here — they’ll cause the robber to take your attack personally, and the violence will often escalate from that of a threat to an actual act. It’s essential that you “wait your turn.” Don’t resist until you’re reasonably sure of success or you’re convinced you have nothing to lose.
Types Of Criminals
If those are the motivations, the next question we need to answer is what kind of person would have such motivations. While there may be a lot of agreement on the motivations that drive criminality, how to classify criminals and if such classification is even possible is a hotly contested subject. What follows won’t be found in any contemporary psychology textbook but will be a very useful way to think about this topic.
We can think of criminals as the result of the culture in which they were raised, the wiring of their brain, and an early exposure to violence. For some, their criminality will be driven almost exclusively by the culture in which they’re raised. In others, the actual structure of their brain may better explain their criminality. In either case, an early exposure to violence will be the final determinant.
Coleman Hughes once said, “culture is another name for all of the values, desires, aspirations, and habits you grow up with.” Even a person with a typical brain will tend toward criminality if they are immersed in an environment where guile, deceit, and violence are part of their everyday existence. Criminals from this background honestly believe that such behavior is normal. It is their standard way of interacting with the world. While people with a more conventional upbringing (from communities where violence is rare) may see this behavior as maladaptive, it is not maladaptive for the world of the criminal.
Criminals are adapting to their environment, and the ability to use violence is a highly effective tool in their ecosystem. As part of this cultural indoctrination, in-person exposure to violence is arguably the most important factor. Someone whose environment is filled with the use force to coerce others and who experiences violence themselves will develop the ability to offer violence as a natural survival mechanism. And their willingness to use violence will skew toward the proactive side.
Above: Gang members have often been immersed in a culture of violence since childhood and are more likely to use it expressively to send a message than an average street criminal.
Thanks to complex brain imaging devices, scientists can examine the structure of one brain and see how it compares to other brains. They can see if certain parts are over or underdeveloped. We have learned that upon careful examination, the brain of a psychopath is objectively different. The overall differences can best be thought of as controlling how much empathy a person can generate.
The more the brain structures deviate from what’s typical, the greater the potential for antisocial behavior, including violence, will be. It’s important to note that having an atypical brain structure doesn’t guarantee criminality. Plenty of people with atypical brains lead law-abiding lives. It typically takes an event or series of events, such as exposure to violence or sexual assault, to reach the tipping point toward criminality.
When we try to understand criminality, what we see is a complex interplay between someone’s culture and their actual brain structure. We can think of criminals as falling into three broad categories:
Antisocial
Sociopathic
Psychopathic
Antisocial criminals are the overwhelming result of their culture and may have totally typical brains. Psychopaths are the opposite. They tend to be the overwhelming result of brain structure with minor cultural influences. Sociopaths are a middle ground between the two. Sociopaths are a more even mix between culture and wiring. People with the wiring to be sociopaths aren’t always criminals. The determining factor seems to be an immersion in a world of violence when they’re younger. There are many professions where sociopaths can flourish, essentially the lack of empathy for others can be an advantage in occupations such as CEO of a large company.
When discussing those whose criminality is more the result of brain structure, there’s an important difference to note. Both sociopaths and psychopaths show an ongoing lack of empathy for others. Both sociopaths and psychopaths will hurt others to get what they want. What separates the two is that a psychopath will enjoy the hurting of others. The sociopath will see the infliction of pain as something that was necessary to get what they want. The sociopath simply won’t care about the suffering of others, but they won’t necessarily enjoy the act itself. They certainly won’t seek to inflict pain to amuse themselves in the sadistic fashion associated with psychopaths.
What About Gangs?
There’s one more special case you should be aware of and that’s the gang member. Gang members are a particularly dangerous subset of criminals. Their danger comes from their life experiences, their motivations, and their tendencies toward expressive violence. The FBI has done extensive research on gang members who attacked police officers. They found that when gang members assault police officers, their primary goal is to kill the officer instead of the more typical goal of escape.
The gang lifestyle means that gang members have been committing crimes since they were young, typically starting at age 9 and carrying weapons since age 13. Many have already engaged in violence, earning the title of “street combat veteran,” and almost 40 percent have committed a prior murder.
Above: Instrumental crimes are easy to understand and have a rational goal — typically money or valuables. The goal of expressive crimes is less tangible, such as a feeling of power or superiority.
For gang members, their personal reputation and the reputation of the gang is everything, and much of that reputation is built on expressive violence. One of the easiest ways to encounter a sociopathic person with vast experience in applied violence is to offend a gang member over something you see as minor or insignificant. Your values will not be used to judge the desired outcome of such an event.
I offer this explanation of the different types of criminals to make an important point. You never know what kind of criminal you’re going to encounter, and often, the type of criminal is only apparent by how much mayhem they leave in their wake. What you must absolutely understand is that there are people out there who are more than willing to engage in violence to get what they want. Some will look forward to the use of violence and use it to fuel their warped fantasies. Some of these people won’t stop when they get whatever material good was the target of the initial crime.
There are genuinely evil people who will take profound glee in your suffering and the suffering of your loved ones and will actively prolong that suffering for no reason other than it makes them happy. Just because this doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t make it any less true.
Victim Selection
While we often use the term “random violent crime,” a check of the research on victim selection finds very few truly “random” acts. Going back to 1981, researchers have been developing an understanding of how criminals pick their victims. We can go back even further to 1971 to see a different take on influencing victim selection.
Before we talk about the specifics of victim selection, let’s look at what it takes for a crime to occur. You need three elements:
A criminal
A victim
An environment that facilitates the crime
Since our criminal justice system steadfastly refuses to remove criminals from decent society, we’re only left with addressing the other two options. The best way to avoid a crime is to not be there. Noted trainer John Farnam has offered many great insights, but his most applicable is “don’t go to stupid places with stupid people and do stupid things.” A great way to think of this is if you think you need a gun to go there, don’t go there.
Control the Environment
Certain places just make criminal assault easier. Poorly lit businesses are a great example. While 2 a.m. trips to the ATM are always a bad idea, driving a little further to the well-lit ATM with no nearby hiding places is the best way to improve a bad situation. A little scouting and foreknowledge goes a long way — like enough foreknowledge to not need cash at 2 a.m.
It shouldn’t be necessary to say in 2024 but “stupid things” includes consuming enough alcohol or drugs to impair our judgment and to make it noticeable to others. Also, think about where you live and the property you control. Simply making sure an area is well-lit and has a few cameras (which are extremely cheap and easy to install these days) goes a long way to minimizing its appeal to the criminal class.
Above: Sociopathic criminals perceive their crimes as a means to an end, and don’t care about the suffering of anyone they victimize.
Control Your Appearance
In most areas, there will be a lot of potential victims, so we need to understand what makes one person more likely to be picked than others. Researchers can offer explicit details on the factors in one’s walk that makes them mostly likely to get picked. We know that people assess someone for victimization very quickly – like in 1.5 seconds. If I could summarize all the research, it’s simply how “fitly” one walks.
Criminals want to know your overall level of physical fitness — to answer the question of how well you could physically resist an assault and how effectively could you flee. If opportunistic criminals were lions at the watering hole, they simply pick the gazelle with a limp, not the one in the running shoes.
This is a great example of how we subtly, and often unconsciously, broadcast information into our environment. Researchers have found that the clothing women wear can affect their selection as victims. For instance, wearing clothing such as skirts and high heels that limit one’s ability to run or fight, can increase the odds of being picked if the wrong person is paying attention.
There are other ways we communicate our suitability as potential victims. Criminals prefer to attack from a position of surprise and don’t want victims who could potentially identify them. If you simply pay attention to who’s around you and what they’re doing, you send the subtle message that you’re not easy prey.
As part of this, you have to accept that public cell phone usage sends the message that you’re easier pickings than most. Not only does the cell phone distract you, but you’re waving around an expensive electronic device that can be sold for quick cash. Similarly, another message you may be sending reveals whether you’re a high-value target or not. Ostentatious displays of wealth are great for a social gala where violent predation is less of a concern. However, when transiting unknown areas, such displays are less desirable as they may shift the risk/reward analysis in favor of an attack.
Above: Do your best to avoid environments that facilitate crime. This includes places like isolated alleyways, but it can also refer to times of day or the presence of security/surveillance systems.
Strategies For Winning
Before delving too deep, we need to recognize what exactly “winning” means. The stakes are different if you have an obligation to render violent criminals to the criminal justice system — in other words, if you’re a law enforcement officer. For anyone who isn’t a cop, your goal is to make it home to whatever you hold dear in the most intact way possible.
You really don’t want to be involved in a shooting or gunfight even if you “win.” Besides the obvious danger of the event itself, there are very real risks posed by the criminal side of the courts as well as the civil side of the courts. You need to stay out of both criminal court and bankruptcy court. It’s entirely possible for you to “win” your gunfight but end up destitute.
Depending on where you are geographically, the old saying “the process is the punishment” applies when it comes to dealing with the aftermath of a shooting. Even if you’re eventually found not guilty of criminal charges and any civil suits are thrown out, the process of defending yourself in court is tremendously expensive, time-consuming, and disruptive to your life. Until our nation’s attitudes about pro-social violence change, this is the world in which we live. We have to accept it and adapt to it.
Deselection
As a rule, our goal is deselection. When the criminal encounters us, we want them to form a “restraining judgement.” We want the criminal to look at us and say to themselves “not that one.” The criminal may very well attack the next person who comes along, but that’s sadly not our problem — see the paragraph above for the reasons why. To be deselected, we really need to be facing an instrumental criminal. An instrumental criminal will be a rational actor making rational decisions and is likely weighing their options from a risk versus reward perspective.
If you’re dealing with an expressive criminal, the calculus is entirely different. The expressive criminal is far less likely to form a restraining judgement. In fact, victim selection may be part of the message that’s being sent. Expressive crimes are resolved by overwhelming violence, not by sending subtle messages. When you’re faced with being the victim of an expressive crime, the final outcome has already been determined — it’ll be violence. The only question at hand is whether you’ll be giving or receiving. The more quickly and definitively you can offer violence, the better off you’ll be.
As long as you’re dealing with an instrumental criminal, you have different types of deselection that may help form the restraining judgement you want.
Above: Deselection is the best way to “win” an encounter with a criminal. It can be general, specific, or — if all else fails — violent.
General Deselection
The first form of deselection is mostly what you broadcast into the environment that conveys you are not “worth it.” Examples of general deselection include appearing alert and capable. The FBI was nice enough to codify these traits for us. They recommend conveying that you are:
Alert and attentive
Formidable and physically fit
Prepared
The other aspect of general deselection is to not appear as “high value.” As noted above, if the criminal is weighing the risk versus reward aspects of an encounter, you don’t want to announce you’re a more lucrative target than most.
Specific Deselection
This is the next level of deselection. While there are exceptions, not all violent crimes are marked by unannounced, sudden violence. In wild oceans, sharks will often “bump” potential prey to determine what it is and how much threat it poses. The shark is essentially interviewing the object of its interest to make a risk versus reward determination. In much the same way, criminals will interview or “bump” potential victims. They’ll do this by attempting to engage potential victims in conversation such as asking a favor or making a benign demand.
In the process, the criminal will close the distance to one that favors them. If the victim engages in conversation and/or allows the criminal to get too close, the criminal’s assessment of vulnerability is being confirmed. For a variety of reasons, crime tends to take place at close distance — an arm’s length or two away. Your goal as the defender is to thwart these attempts through verbal agility and maneuver to avoid proximity.
As you move, make sure a second criminal isn’t closing in on your blind spots. The master of specific deselection is Craig Douglas of ShivWorks and his MUC (Managing Unknown Contacts) material. Douglas has a four-hour-long curriculum to address this problem, and it cannot be recommended highly enough.
Above: If you appear alert to your surroundings, physically fit, and prepared to defend yourself, you’ll greatly reduce your likelihood of being victimized.
Violent Deselection
Our final form of deselection can be thought of as “violent deselection” or “forced deselection.” At this point, our general and specific attempts at deselection have failed and an attack is under way or imminent. At this stage, you’ll have to offer force or the threat of force that shows an equal or greater commitment to violence than that of your opponent. Your attempts must be sincere and credible. Threatening someone with a gun may not be enough. Shooting someone may not be enough.
The same FBI research tells us that 36 percent of serious criminals have already been shot at least once, either by the police, other criminals, or both. You have to convince your aspiring attacker that they have miscalculated the risk versus reward analysis, and they need to leave you alone and retreat or face certain destruction.
Our goal is to break contact as quickly as we can do so safely. We don’t want to hold criminals at gunpoint. Most already have plans on how to handle such situations and most will have more experience than you. Also, if you’re in public, you don’t want to be the one holding a gun when the police eventually show up. You have no obligation to render anyone to the criminal justice system. Your best bet is to convince the criminal to leave the area posthaste and then do the same yourself. If you displayed a weapon, make sure you report it, as you do not want a retaliatory 9-1-1 call to report that you committed an aggravated assault.
Above: Much like sharks “bump” foreign objects in the water before taking a bite, criminals may approach potential victims to gauge their response immediately before an attack.
Closing Thoughts
Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of what the typical motivations for violent crime are, what types of people commit violent crime, how victims are selected, and some of the more effective responses to violent crime. As the briefest scan of the headlines will show you, violent crime is an ongoing, legitimate concern that appears to be worsening. Your best bet is to accept the reality of the threat and carefully consider what messages you’re sending. You’ll send information whether you want to or not.
You must decide whether you wish to communicate that “you aren’t worth it.” There are those out there who will seek to capitalize on your decency and naivete for their own benefit. Let them know that you’re aware of them and that you’re not an easy target — let them pick someone else. Remember, you aren’t an action hero, and this isn’t a movie — get back to what you hold dear in the most intact way possible.
Note: This essay owes a huge debt to the prior work of William Aprill (1966-2020). Any brilliance is likely the result of his work and his previous contributions to the field of pro-social violence.
Above: FBI research shows that more than a third of career criminals have already been shot at least once. For these individuals, showing that you’re armed may not be enough of a deterrent to stop an attack.
About the Author
John Hearne was a federal law enforcement officer for more than 30 years, serving primarily in uniform patrol. During that time, he was an instructor for firearms, tactics, active shooter response, and use of force as well as an armorer and a field training officer for his agency. Hearne has helped teach armed citizens, law enforcement officers, and military personnel across the country for more than two decades. He’s also a noted researcher and speaker and has been speaking at a variety of national and international venues since 2005. For upcoming seminars and webinars, visit twopillarstraining.com.
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The year is 1964 — the same year the Colt M16 officially entered U.S. military service. In West Germany, engineers at Heckler & Koch have begun developing a new submachine gun based on the architecture of the H&K G3 battle rifle, which had become the Bundeswehr’s standard-issue weapon in 1959. The new SMG uses the same roller-delayed blowback architecture as the G3 (and the G3’s predecessor, the CETME). However, instead of coping with the stout recoil of a 7.62x51mm NATO rifle round, this operating system would be set up for the 9mm Luger pistol caliber. The resulting SMG was designated the MP64 after its first year of development, but later renamed the MP5.
Over subsequent decades, the MP5 would rise to prominence as the world’s most widely used submachine gun. It was adopted by military organizations in more than 40 countries, as well as a nearly endless list of law enforcement and private security entities. By the time the ’90s arrived, it seemed like everyone was using it — from British SAS to American Navy SEALs — and this is reflected in its countless pop culture depictions in movies, TV shows, and video games. The popularity also spawned more than 100 variants of the MP5 platform, including dozens of third-party clones. Some — such as those made in Greece, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Sudan, Mexico, and the UK — were manufactured with H&K’s blessing under license, while others were unofficially reverse-engineered (for example, China’s Norinco NR08).
Above: Paired with an MFI ultra-low-profile claw mount from HKParts, the B&T skeletonized riser on our Aimpoint ACRO red dot allows unobstructed use of the factory iron sights.
K is for Kurz
In 1976, the security detail for an unnamed South American head of state reportedly reached out to H&K to request a special variant of the MP5. They wanted a weapon that was small enough to conceal under a coat, but which was still ergonomic enough to be fired in controlled full-auto bursts. The resulting weapon was designated the MP5K, which stood for kurz — the German word for “short.”
The MP5K is characterized by its replacement of the MP5’s fixed stock with a flat buttplate and sling swivel, as well as a shortened 4.5-inch barrel up front. The K also had a shorter receiver and bolt carrier to reduce the weapon’s length as much as possible. In order to keep recoil manageable, a unique vertical foregrip was added. This grip includes a protrusion at the front to reduce the risk of the shooter’s fingers slipping forward past the muzzle. (Fun fact: The very first MP5K had a prototype grip made out of wood with a full-length knuckle guard that resembled a staple gun.) With its tiny size, lack of buttstock, and rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute, it’s a weapon that demands respect from the shooter.
Above: B&T’s telescopic stock has a one-way ratcheting mechanism with six possible positions. Simply pull to extend the stock; to collapse it, press the release button on the receiver buttplate.
Later versions of the MP5K added a longer tri-lug barrel that allowed users to mount a quick-detach suppressor, as well as an optional side-folding stock. There was even a special MP5K Operational Briefcase released in 1978, which completely concealed the weapon inside an ordinary-looking briefcase and allowed the user to fire it by pressing a trigger built into the carry handle. (See it in action here.)
Clone Wars
Remember the note about MP5 clones? Well, the weapon seen here is one such clone manufactured in Turkey by MKE and imported to the United States by Century Arms. It’s called the AP5-P, which is apparently short for “Apparatus Pistol” — a pretty silly name, but also a clear attempt to harken back to its origin without infringing on any trademarks. Century Arms’ product description makes the connection clear by stating that the AP5-P is “based and built off of the original and historic design from the 1970s.”
MKE, short for Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, is a company that produces weapons for the Turkish military. Since the 1950s, they’ve made everything from aircraft and artillery systems to sniper rifles and belt-fed machine guns. But MKE’s MP5 clones aren’t just imitations; they’re made with original German tooling that was given to MKE under a license from H&K themselves. That license, under which MKE was fully trained and equipped by H&K to produce MP5s for use by the Turkish government, is long expired. However, when that license ended, MKE retained the manufacturing equipment and training that’s still in use today.
Our sister publication RECOIL toured the MKE facility in 2015 and saw some of this tooling firsthand, complete with a 1974 H&K data plate riveted onto it. Granted, the manufacturing of these guns may differ from H&K’s current tooling specs and procedures, but the original DNA is undoubtedly present. Additionally, as you’ll read about momentarily, the AP5-P is compatible with standard parts and accessories made for H&K MP5s and semi-auto SP5s.
Century Arms currently imports two other versions of this weapon, the AP5-M and regular AP5. The former mimics the original MP5K with a 4.5-inch flush-cut barrel; the latter matches the proportions of a standard MP5, only with a buttplate at the back of the receiver. If you decide to convert one of these guns from a pistol to a short-barreled rifle, adding a stock is as simple as popping out one or two pins at the back of the receiver and replacing the buttplate. For K-style variants, adding a vertical foregrip is equally simple.
First Impressions
When I picked up this AP5-P, I immediately took it out to the range for a quick break-in. After inserting one of the two included 30-round metal mags and slapping the charging handle — an action that still puts a smile on my face every time — I went to work on some steel plates at 25 yards. Anyone who has shot a roller-delayed blowback gun side-by-side with a direct blowback 9mm AR can attest how much smoother the recoil impulse feels, and the AP5-P was no exception. It shoots well, although the standard trigger is what you’d expect from a submachine gun designed in the ’70s (i.e., vague and heavy). The adjustable iron sights work great, and Century Arms includes a claw-style Picatinny optic mount to allow installation of your favorite red-dot sight.
Above: The front sight post light mount from Gibbous Outfitters serves as a low-profile, sturdy attachment platform for a Scout-style light body and tape switch.
Shooting an MP5K without the vertical grip feels odd, but thanks to the ATF’s unconstitutional regulations, I couldn’t legally add one until I paid for a $200 tax stamp and waited for an approved NFA Form 1. The same is true for adding a stock, but at least stockless is the MP5K’s natural condition. For the best shooting experience, I attached both hooks on the included MKE sling to the swivel on the buttplate and pressed the gun out, using sling tension against my body to stabilize it. This technique had me ringing steel with each trigger press in no time.
Foregrip & Stock
The first order of business was to return this AP5-P to its classic form by adding a vertical grip, and that meant registering it as a short-barreled rifle. Once the gun was an SBR, I reached out to a company that would become extremely helpful with the rest of this build: HKParts. As the name implies, they offer just about every part you could possibly need or want for any MP5 variant, including original German H&K components and clone parts that are made in the USA. I selected an HKParts-branded K vertical foregrip (HKP-20957) for my AP5-P, which was easily installed in place of the original MKE handguard. This version even has built-in M-LOK slots on each side for adding accessories.
Above: The AP5-P’s cold hammer forged barrel is threaded for direct attachment of a suppressor, but the quick-detach tri-lug mount is a better option. Our tri-lug-equipped Omega 9K snaps into place with ease.
Since my AP5-P was now an SBR, I could also add a stock. I considered a few options, including the original-style side-folder, but decided on an even more compact telescoping stock from Swiss manufacturer Brügger & Thomet. B&T has a long history of producing high-end aftermarket parts and suppressors for H&K guns, and even made their own clone of the MP5 called the B&T 96 (like I said, at one point everybody was using the MP5). This B&T telescopic stock collapses almost completely flush with the rear of the receiver and snaps out to any of the five positions in the blink of an eye. It’s surprisingly sturdy and comfortable but comes at a steep price of $518 MSRP.
Above: standard MKE pistol handguard and Gibbous Outfitters vertical grip with integrated SureFire tape switch cutout.
I also wanted to try a modern side-folding option, so I picked up a Picatinny MP5K stock adapter and SS-8R skeletonized aluminum stock from JMac Customs. The JMac stock fits the MP5K perfectly and even has the option of adjustable cheek riser attachments.
More Upgrades
The AP5-P comes with a pistol grip/trigger housing that mimics the style of early MP5s, complete with finger grooves and a contoured thumb rest (sometimes called the SEF lower due to its original selector markings). Later in the MP5’s production, H&K switched to a smoother trigger housing without finger grooves on the pistol grip. This is usually referred to as the Navy lower, in reference to its use on the MP5-N designed for a U.S. Navy contract. Having tried both styles, I decided to replace the lower on my AP5P with a Navy-style lower from HKParts (HKP-02463).
Above: From top to bottom: B&T telescopic stock, standard MKE buttplate with sling swivel, JMac Customs Picatinny stock adapter and SS-8R stock.
Since I was already replacing the trigger housing, I figured I might as well upgrade a few other components. The stock trigger was replaced with a much lighter and more precise drop-in two-stage trigger assembly from Timney Triggers — it’s a night-and-day improvement, and an upgrade I believe every semi-auto MP5 deserves. While installing the trigger, I also installed a new HKParts U.S.-made ejector lever (HKP-19660), ejector lever spring (HKP-00059), and enhanced safety selector (HKP-18065).
Fine-Tuning Bolt Gap
Bolt gap — the tiny sliver of space between the rear of the bolt head and the front of the bolt carrier — is a topic that H&K enthusiasts will debate in agonizing detail online. In simple terms, it should be within H&K’s recommended spec of 0.010 inch and 0.018 inch, as measured by sliding a feeler gauge into the bolt while it’s in battery with the hammer forward. Ideally, you’ll want to split the difference at 0.014 inch, since the gap will shrink over time as components wear.
Above: From the factory, the AP5-P’s bolt gap was right on the edge of the ideal tolerance range. These HKParts +2 rollers, along with a new pin and retainer spring, adjusted it for better long-term performance.
Out-of-spec bolt gap can lead to malfunctions and, in rarer cases, can even cause damage to the inside of the gun’s receiver over time. After learning this, I decided to check it on the AP5-P. It measured at 0.010 inch — right on the edge of the recommended spec and seeming likely to go out of spec after a few years of frequent use — so I decided to calibrate the gap by adding a set of U.S.-made +2 rollers from HKParts (HKP-19423). I installed the rollers into the AP5’s bolt along with a new HKParts roller pin (HKP-00066) and roller retainer spring (HKP-00068). Measuring again showed exactly 0.014 inch on the feeler gauge.
Finishing Touches
Although the HK-style iron sights work well, I still prefer a red-dot sight for better spatial awareness and faster target acquisition. I picked up an MFI Ultra-Low-Profile red-dot mount from HKParts (HKP-17962) and paired it with an Aimpoint ACRO P-2 sight on a B&T Skeleton QD mount. This setup allows me to look straight through the optic mount to use the original irons or lift my head slightly to use the red dot.
Mounting a flashlight on an MP5K is tricky due to the limited space and lack of accessory rails, so I spent quite a while researching options. Eventually, I came across the MP5 Front Sight Mount from Gibbous Outfitters, a small specialty manufacturer based in Oregon. This clever attachment system clamps a SureFire Scout-style weapon light body onto the MP5’s front sight post, using two screws and a titanium plate to keep it securely in place. Gibbous Outfitters offers another variant of the mount that holds a SureFire pressure switch on top of the cocking tube for easy access; it even has a retaining clip to keep the switch cable neatly stowed.
I used an Arisaka Defense 300 series light body, Malkoff Devices E1HT light head, and SureFire UE07 tailcap/switch assembly with the Gibbous mount. Gibbous Outfitters also makes an MP5K vertical grip with an integrated pressure switch mount for users who’d rather activate their light with a squeeze of the support hand, as opposed to placing a thumb over the cocking tube.
Above: A Haley Strategic FlatPack Plus backpack fits the AP5-P like a glove, even with a 30-round magazine installed. It’s no Operational Briefcase, but it serves as a great range bag.
With the light mount and optic installed, the standard rounded cocking handle was a little difficult to access, so I added an extended, knurled charging handle from HKParts (HKP-16999). I also picked up a single-point sling (HKP-02644) to replace the two-point sling included with the AP5.
Every SMG or PDW is more enjoyable to shoot with a suppressor, so I topped off my AP5 with a SilencerCo Omega 9K. With SilencerCo’s low-profile tri-lug mount, attaching it to the gun is as simple as a quick press and twist. The compact Omega 9K feels like a match made in heaven for an MP5K.
Finally, I needed some more magazines to keep my AP5-P fed with a steady supply of 9mm ammo. Overwatch Precision makes some excellent 32-round MP5 mags. They’re molded from sturdy polymer with slip-resistant texture, and unlike standard MP5 mags, they can be loaded with 30 rounds and inserted on a closed bolt. Better yet, at $20 each, they’re vastly more affordable than MKE mags ($70 MSRP) or H&K mags ($80 MSRP).
Pistol, SMG, or PDW?
You’ve probably seen the MP5K referred to as a PDW, short for Personal Defense Weapon. H&K themselves currently offer a variant called the MP5K-PDW. So, what does this term mean?
By the most modern definition, a PDW is a compact submachine gun-style weapon that fires a high-velocity, bottlenecked, rifle-style cartridge. The FN P90 (5.7x28mm) and H&K MP7 (4.6x30mm) are good examples of the category, offering excellent concealability and high-velocity, armor-penetrating capabilities. By this specific definition, the MP5K is not a PDW solely due to the 9mm round it fires. It’s just a compact submachine gun. However, since civilian MP5K variants (e.g., H&K’s SP5K or the AP5-P) are semi-auto only and lack select-fire capabilities, they’re not exactly SMGs either.
Legally, my MP5K clone started life as a pistol with no buttstock and no vertical foregrip — two modifications that aren’t legal in the U.S. unless the weapon has been registered as a Short-Barreled Rifle (SBR). So, that’s exactly what this AP5-P is now: a registered SBR that happens to be chambered in a pistol caliber.
Would I call this a PDW? Sure. Aside from its caliber, it fits the modern definition to a T, and it was designed to fill the same role as most PDWs. Many other 9mm weapons fall into this category, such as the B&T MP9 and Russian PP-2000. Only the most pedantic keyboard commandos will take issue with this designation, and I don’t really care what they think anyway.
Closing Thoughts
As a kid growing up in the ’90s, the MP5K was immortalized in my mind by movies such as Terminator 2, Air Force One, and The Matrix, as well as video games including GoldenEye 007 and Rainbow Six. There were lots of weapons that received similar pop culture coverage that didn’t live up to the hype in reality (looking at you, Franchi SPAS-12). Just as you might be disappointed by meeting your heroes, you might not always enjoy shooting their signature guns. Thankfully, the MP5K is just as much fun to shoot as I had hoped, and the AP5-P captures that same look, feel, and performance. The modifications shown here add a new level of modern refinement to this nearly 50-year-old classic weapon.
Above: The HKParts Navy-style trigger housing eliminates the finger grooves and contours of the original SEF pistol grip. I find it more comfortable, and I prefer the modernized look as well.
So, to address the elephant in the room, should you buy a new German-made H&K SP5K or a clone like the Century Arms AP5-P? That’s a question only you can answer. On one hand, an original H&K will be manufactured using the latest tooling and quality control procedures; most clones are using old tooling that may be worn after decades of use, or tooling that has been replicated. On the other hand, the MSRP for a new H&K SP5K-PDW is a staggering $3,389. H&K also has it listed as a “limited production” model, and many sell for above MSRP due to scarcity.
MSRP for the AP5-P — including two 30-round mags, sling, optic mount, quick-detach flash hider, cleaning kit, and hard case — is $1,360. H&K’s product page confidently asks, “Who wants a copy when you can own the real thing?” When the real thing (or at least the “civilian sporting version” of it) is roughly 2.5 times the price of a functionally identical clone made with original tooling, the answer to that question is “a lot of people, including me.”
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The term “technical” is often used to describe a civilian vehicle — usually a 4×4 pickup like the venerable Toyota Hilux — that has been modified to carry an onboard weapon system such as a heavy machine gun, anti-aircraft cannon, or anti-tank rocket launcher. The underlying light, mobile weapon concept dates back far beyond the automobile to horse-drawn tachanka carts of the First World War and carroballistas (essentially huge crossbows mounted on carriages) of the Roman Empire.
However, according to the book Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Great War to Modern Special Forces by Leigh Neville, this descriptor originated during the Somali Civil War in the early 1990s, where NGOs hired local gunmen in “Mad Max-style armed pickup trucks” for protection under the guise of being “technical advisers.”
2021 Ford Ranger XLT Supercrew 4X4
Drive Train:2.3L EcoBoost 4-cylinder with 10-speed automatic transmission
Suspension:Fox Performance Elite Series 2.5 remote reservoir coilover shocks
Armament:Dillon Aero MMC turret system equipped with Dillon Aero M134D Minigun and Trijicon MGRS sight
Body Modifications: Dillon Aero custom bed cage, Coastal Offroad front/rear bumpers and skid plate, ShrockWorks rock sliders, Prinsu roof rack, Roam Adventure Co. awning, Rotopax fuel containers
Electronics: Baja Designs Squadron Pro bumper lights and S2 Pro A-pillar lights on SDHQ brackets, sPOD HD light/accessory controller, PRC-113 radio with VRC-83 amplifier and bumper-mounted antenna, Warn winch
Lighting & Electronics:Dual AGM house batteries, two 100W SunWare solar panels, Victron Energy 2,000W power inverter, Alpine Halo 11-inch head unit/navigation, Simarine PICO touchscreen information panel, two Dometic refrigerators, LED camper lighting with charge ports, Warn Zeon 10-S Platinum winch with Factor 55 fairlead and FlatLink E, Baja Designs S1 bumper lights and LP9 Pro driving lights, KC Hilites Cyclone rock lights
Owner & Builder:Dillon Aero Inc. Scottsdale, Arizona
As with other weapon concepts that have persisted through history, technicals still appear in nearly every modern conflict because they’re extremely effective. Unlike purpose-built military vehicles that require specialized, expensive parts and complex maintenance routines, technicals are based on vehicles that can be purchased locally and serviced at any Jiffy Lube (or its third-world equivalent). Their weapon components are bolted or welded in place, so they can just as easily be removed and exchanged. And if the vehicle is damaged in combat, repairing or replacing it is a matter of tens of thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands.
Above: The bed cage was designed to accommodate overland accessories such as these Rotopax fuel canisters.
Arizona-based weapon manufacturer Dillon Aero recognized the merits of the technical formula, but wanted to put its own spin on it — literally. The Dillon team purchased this 2021 Ford Ranger and equipped it with the company’s Multi-Mission Capable (MMC) system, which is a modular, power-operated turret that can accept a wide variety of weapons. The compatibility list includes M240 and M60 medium machine guns, an M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun, MK19/MK47/H&K GMG automatic grenade launchers, the Russian PKM, and many others.
Above: Fox coilovers with remote-reservoir shocks allow this Ranger to handle washboard desert roads smoothly at speed.
But this truck features the cream of the crop — Dillon Aero’s M134D minigun, which doles out a staggering 3,000 rounds of 7.62 NATO per minute. That’s 50 rounds per second, or about four times the rate of fire of an M240. While taking photos for this article, we had the opportunity to send some rounds downrange with the M134D in the MMC turret, and we can only describe it is as a firehose of hot lead. If you can use one without grinning ear-to-ear, we can’t be friends.
Above: This high-clearance Coastal Offroad rear bumper includes a swing-out with a full-size spare tire, trash bag, and antenna mount.
As cool as the minigun is, there’s more to this truck than its armament. A representative told us, “The Dillon Aero Ford Ranger goes a step further with the engineering effort to mount field-deployable communication systems that allow for ground control of military and civilian aircraft. We also implemented overland features that allow for extended capability in various mission settings.” The most noticeable upgrade is a one-of-a-kind custom bed cage that supports the MMC system; Dillon engineers designed and prototyped it using CAD files provided by Ford.
The truck also features Coastal Off-road front and rear bumper sheetmetal kits, which were welded and finished in-house. The front bumper contains four Baja Designs LED lights and a Warn winch; the rear bumper has a swing-out spare tire carrier and antenna mount. That antenna is connected to a Mil-spec PRC-113 VHF/UHF radio that sits atop the truck’s dash.
Above: A Mil-spec PRC-113 radio adds communication capabilities to this truck. To save space on the dash, its bulky amplifier was relocated to the floor behind the center console.
For improved off-road capability, the Ranger was equipped with ShrockWorks rock sliders, a Coastal Off-road skid plate, Fox remote-reservoir shocks, 17-inch Fifteen52 wheels, and 33-inch BFGoodrich all-terrain tires. Additionally, a Roam Adventure Co. awning was bolted onto the Prinsu roof rack, and Rotopax fuel canisters were installed on the bed cage.
Above: The Dillon Aero MMC turret system built into this custom bed cage helps the operator maintain control of the M134D as it spews a near-continuous beam of rounds downrange. This weapon produces a considerable pile of spent brass and belt links after a few short bursts.
Although technicals are typically the work of “austere” mechanics and fabricators in war-torn countries, it’s not hard to see why mainstream manufacturers like Dillon Aero (and Global Military Products, distributors of the Scorpion mortar truck featured in Issue 61 of our sister publication RECOIL) are getting on board with the idea. It’s much easier and more cost-effective to install a weapon system on a locally sourced civilian truck than it is to send a custom-built military vehicle halfway across the globe and keep it running.
Above: The turret accepts a variety of weapons, including heavy machine guns and grenade launchers, but this Ranger is equipped with Dillon’s own M134D Minigun. We’re told they also have plans to try it with the .50-caliber 503D Gatling gun in the near future.
Kyle Goodale of Dillon’s Special Projects skunkworks explained, “We’ve had many vehicle platforms come into the shop, usually built for one purpose or another … The Ranger represents the first project of its type for Dillon Aero, where the Special Projects division was given a blank slate to build upon. We look forward to implementing it in our testing processes for various weapon systems such as the 503D (.50-caliber Gatling gun) platform and having a good time with it as well.”
For all of life’s biggest and heaviest decisions — changing careers, moving out of state, choosing a college to attend, proposing to a spouse, and so on — it’s wise to take a moment to consider your options. Some of us make lists of pros and cons, ask friends or mentors for insight, or “sleep on it” before committing to a choice. But no matter what, we avoid making split-second decisions about any situation that’s likely to change our lives for years or decades. There is, however, one instance where this level of deliberation will not be possible: deciding to pull the trigger in a self-defense situation.
When you’re thrust into one of these life-threatening situations, there’s usually no time to pause and ponder what to do. You’ll need to react immediately and decisively, knowing exactly how much is on the line. If you hesitate to use deadly force when you need to, you or your loved ones may be permanently disfigured or killed. But if you pull the trigger without adequate legal justification, you may be convicted of murder and spend the rest of your life behind bars.
In recent years, there have been many instances of riots, protests, or civil unrest which led to defensive shootings. Most of us know of the August 2020 events in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men who pursued and assaulted him. Rittenhouse was charged with multiple counts of homicide and attempted homicide, and while he was eventually found not guilty on all counts, the aftermath and media circus undoubtedly changed his life forever.
On the other hand, take a look at the July 2020 case of 30-year-old U.S. Army Sergeant Daniel Perry, who was working as an Uber driver while BLM protests spread through the streets of Austin, Texas. When he attempted to drive through an intersection blocked by protesters, a 28-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran named Garrett Foster approached the driver’s side of his vehicle while open-carrying an AK-pattern rifle. Perry drew his firearm and shot Foster, killing him; he argued that this was an act of self-defense, but prosecutors claimed he “intentionally drove into the protestors.”
If you and your family found yourselves in the middle of a group of hostile rioters, how would you decide the best course of action? It’s easy to say you’d go directly to using deadly force, but would you be fully prepared to deal with an enraged crowd, speak to law enforcement officers and lawyers, and justify your actions in front of a jury? If an opportunity for non-violent escape or de-escalation appeared, how would you capitalize on it? How might you avoid getting cornered and confronted in the first place?
The Scenario
Situation Type: Confronted by rioters.
Your Crew: Yourself, your wife, and your newborn son.
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Season: Spring
Weather: Cloudy evening, high 65 degrees F, Low 47 degrees F
The Setup
It’s a happy occasion, but also a stressful one — your wife just gave birth to your firstborn son at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore. In the third trimester of the pregnancy, some concerns arose, and after his birth, your son was placed into the neonatal intensive care unit for a few days. Thankfully, the situation improved, and you were cleared to take him home today. Around 6:30 p.m., you helped your wife and son into your Honda Civic in the hospital parking lot, feeling exhausted and thinking that you can’t wait to be back home. After leaving the hospital, you began the 15-minute drive back to your house in the suburb of Towson.
The Complication
A few minutes down the street from the hospital, you notice several groups of protesters massing on the sidewalk, heading the same direction you’re driving. Many of them are carrying signs and shouting. A few are holding objects that could be used as impact weapons — signposts, skateboards, metal water bottles, and so on. Before you can decide to change your route home, you pull up to the next intersection, where the protesters have rushed out into the street to form a human wall and block traffic.
Agitators with megaphones are screaming at drivers in nearby cars, clearly intent on preventing them from passing through. In the background, you can see two rioters lighting a fire inside a trash can and tipping it over into the street. Another teen lights a smoke bomb and flings it past your vehicle into the traffic jam that has formed behind you. Others are shining high-powered green and blue lasers at motorists to blind or disorient them.
Your heart rate rises, and you realize you need to find some way out of here immediately, but the only way out seems to be past the crowd ahead. As you contemplate this problem, a masked man leaps onto the hood of your car and begins stomping and kicking the windshield. Your wife sobs in fear as the glass cracks. Your immediate response is to hit the gas pedal, accelerating partway into the intersection and causing the rioter to roll off your hood. But now you’re faced with more than two dozen angry individuals closing in on your car from all sides.
Although the crowd is clearly furious, they haven’t used deadly force against you yet, and even if you decide it’s necessary to plow through them, you’re not sure your little Civic will be able to make it all the way through to safety. You can’t see the other side of the intersection, but there may be more obstacles and roadblocks preventing your escape, and you can’t back up due to the traffic behind you. You’re armed with your concealed-carry pistol — a Glock 19 with one spare magazine — but you understand that shooting out into the dense crowd from your vehicle is risky to say the least.
How will you and your loved ones get out of this situation safely? What options do you have for de-escalation or non-violent escape? If you conclude that lethal force is necessary, at what point would you use your vehicle to ram through the crowd? Under what circumstances, if any, would you use your pistol? What should your immediate actions be once you get to a safer location?
Retired NYPD Detective Joey Nickischer’s Approach
Saying this is a bad situation to be in would be a gross understatement. These kinds of situations can turn deadly very, very quickly. You’re already in legal trouble for having thrown somebody violently off your car and every decision you make from this point forward will impact how much you’re going to be prosecuted in our ever-increasing bad-guy-is-the-victim society.
There’s also a very real probability you and your family will be violently attacked if you do nothing. You’ll be fortunate to get out of this situation physically unscathed and will have to deal with the legalities later. But this is no time for bravado, this encounter will best be solved by making smart decisions to protect your precious cargo.
Preparation
The mission of bringing your baby and spouse home during times of civil unrest is about as high-risk and personal as it gets, and it should be treated as such. This is a VIP executive protection detail. Having done executive protection for foreign heads of state as a New York City Police Detective, I’m a little ahead of the curve on these types of events. Without spoiling all the tactics of executive movement, I’ll share some tips with you.
Start off with intelligence gathering before the VIP mission. What’s the weather supposed to be? Bring an extra umbrella or jacket if it’s going to be rainy. Bring a hat and sunglasses if it’s going to be sunny. And bring appropriate extra clothing for your teammates. Does this weather impact our travel? Some areas are prone to flooding during wet weather, and there could be areas negatively affected if there’s high wind. Snow and ice can also affect travel, particularly on secondary roads. Even light rain can affect travel time, visibility, and vehicle stopping distance.
What’s the current situation locally? Watching the local news on TV or reading local daily newspapers that cover your geographic area are vital sources of information. And one day worth of news isn’t enough, you need go back many days, preferably a week or more. You want to know what typically goes on locally on the day of the week you intend to travel, so you can compare that with the day you actually travel. Obviously, there’s civil unrest with the protest and that was likely covered in the news. But other local events can hinder your plans, including concerts, sporting events, parades, and the like.
What’s the most direct route? If this route has potential obstacles, identify them and go around them. When I say go around, we’re not talking about detouring by just a block or two — give them all a wide berth as events tend to spill over. Watch for those flood prone areas and avoid them. Watch for those major sporting events and the huge traffic snarls they can cause. Identify parade routes, their staging areas and spill out zones. Plan your best driving route, then come up with two or three alternates in case you run into something unexpected that closes the road, like a water main break or a bad car accident.
With this, calculate the travel time and allow an extra 30 minutes for trips under one hour. Don’t discount daily big city problems, like rush hour traffic that crawls along significantly under the speed limit, or roving pothole repair crews. And if time allows, drive the anticipated route beforehand, preferably at the same time of day and on the same day of the week.
Where are the safe havens? A safe haven is any place that you can go into that can protect you from a given threat. In this scenario, a police station, military facility, or hospital are the most likely safe havens, but a shopping mall, subway station, or government building could also suffice for other potential threats.
What’s your physical condition and mental state? If you’re sick, injured, exhausted, or otherwise distracted, find somebody else to drive and be cognizant that your condition can impact your thinking. While cold medicine, a cup of coffee, or energy drink can help in the short run, they do have negative effects, too. Recruiting a trusted (and properly briefed/trained) family member or friend to drive is a good idea in this scenario, considering all you’ve been through with the birth of your son and his medical complications. Be willing to admit when you’re too exhausted and mentally drained to drive.
Is your vehicle ready? If your vehicle’s mechanical condition is somewhat spotty, it’s not the best choice to utilize for a priority movement. Again, consider finding a trusted friend or family member to drive in their reliable car or rent one. The last thing you need is a mechanical breakdown or to run out of fuel at a crucial point. You should also consider what kind of vehicle you’re in. There are better sight lines out of a taller vehicle, like a full-size SUV, than there are out of a low sports car. An SUV is also typically a lot easier to get in and out of.
The added bonus of the full-size SUV is a strong engine, robust drivetrain, and higher ground clearance, all of which make for a more survivable bubble when things go bad. For really high-risk scenarios, some executive protection SUVs are equipped with run-flat tires, bullet-resistant armor, and various countermeasures. While that type of vehicle is overkill for 99.999 percent of the world, adding liquid tire sealant, skid plates, and security window film to the glass can give us a poor man’s “up-armored” vehicle.
On-Site
While driving, keep your head on a swivel. Think in three dimensions by looking forward, backward, left, right, up, and down. Pay attention not just to other vehicles, but to the pedestrians around you. Don’t box yourself in when stopping at lights and such. Endeavor to maintain an escape route by leaving sufficient space between you and the car in front of you.
If you’re on a multi-lane road without a raised median, stay in the left lane so you can drive over the double yellow lines if you need to escape. If the roadway has a shoulder, staying right can give you access to the breakdown area if you need space to get out of harm’s way. Try not to stop in a blind spot of a tall building where you can’t see down the street and sidewalk to the left and right of you.
Use camouflage. We’re not talking about painting your vehicle in the gray shades of urban camouflage or wearing a ghillie suit — we’re talking about blending into the surroundings. If your threat area is full of black painted upscale vehicles, drive a black upscale vehicle. If your threat area is full of anarchists, you might consider plastering your vehicle with a few stickers for bands, clothing companies, or local hangouts that are popular among that crowd — these aren’t openly political or divisive statements, but they’re a subtle signal that you might not be an enemy.
Above: The birth of a child is an emotional time, and the protective instincts of new parents are heightened. If you faced a violent attack under these circumstances, how would you react?
Your attire is another level of camouflage; blend in with what the people in your threat area are wearing so you don’t stand out. You can also use verbal camouflage by shouting your support or approval for whatever their cause is, buying yourself time to get out of harm’s way. You could even beep your horn in sync to their chant, if necessary.
Record the encounter. Dash cams and body cams are everywhere these days. Some of the higher-end vehicles can even record multiple angles around your vehicle. If you have a dash cam or body cam, make sure it’s recording. If not, position your cell phone as best you can and hit record. Your copilot should also be recording, focusing on the highlights.
In our scenario, the first glimpse of people carrying signs should have registered alarm bells. At the first sight of this, it’s time to stop or make a U-turn. Don’t throw yourself obliviously into danger.
But right now, we’re in trouble as we don’t want to become the next Reginald Denny, the truck driver who was severely beaten during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. But we’re also not yet in a position where our use of deadly physical force is warranted. While there are still many options you can try, none of them are guaranteed and all of them are less than ideal.
Crisis
Shooting your way out at this point is a guaranteed ride to prison, even if you do manage to escape the rioters. While you’re certainly in fear for your safety, the window stomping protestor only damaged your property, while you likely caused a physical injury to him. Will the sight of a firearm dissuade the protestors? Probably not. Look what happened to Kyle Rittenhouse, attacked by a mob of mostly unarmed rioters even while Rittenhouse wielded a rifle. What about firing some warning shots in the air like they do in the movies? Bad idea. For starters, you don’t know where those bullets will land.
Secondarily, you’re now the one escalating the encounter with the threat of deadly physical force. Others are suddenly more justified in their use of force against you and your family, as they can say they’re in fear for their lives. Plus, what if a cop is on scene monitoring the crowd and suddenly sees you and your gun as a threat to everybody around? That warning shot might make the rioters scatter briefly, but it also might enrage them further and now you have several fewer bullets should this become a true use of deadly force situation.
Trying to slowly drive through the crowd might be your choice. You have the safety bubble of your vehicle, at least until all the windows are smashed in. While the Civic is no SUV, it’s certainly strong enough to push people out of the way. In this scenario, consider the car sacrificial as they attack it. But be aware that professional protestors are known to block routes with hard barricades, like garbage cans and cinder blocks, as well as by laying themselves down in the street.
Waiting out the ire of the crowd from the safety of your vehicle might be an option, but one to approach very cautiously. If you’re lucky, they’ll just smash the windows, dent your fenders, pick up their windshield stomping friend and go on with their protest. If this is your choice, be sure your spouse is immediately calling 911, and let 911 know there’s a windshield stomping person who is injured, that you’re in fear for your life, and have a helpless newborn baby on board.
Above: If protests are expected in the area, plan your route carefully and be ready to redirect around congested streets. By the time a traffic jam forms, it may be too late to escape.
Mentioning that there’s a firearm on board could expedite the police response, plus the response is likely to be more numerous and heavily armed. Just be very careful with the words you use to explain this — “I’m a concealed carry permit holder, and I’m legally armed” will be taken very differently from “I’ve got a gun, and I’m ready to use it!” If this is a publicized protest and not a spontaneous one, the police are most likely very nearby for event monitoring, thus can quickly come to your aid.
If the irate crowd isn’t totally upon you yet and you can’t drive away, you could consider running away on foot. Crowds aren’t likely to chase you for more than a block or two as they get tired and dissuaded when their peers aren’t with them. There’s also a possibility the crowd will be more merciful at the sight of parents cradling a newborn, but putting your family at their mercy is a dangerous gamble. If you don’t feel you can outrun the protestors to a safe haven with your wife and newborn in tow, don’t.
Whichever method of escape you choose, make your next stop the police station. Give them your name, tell them where your vehicle is if you abandoned it, that you and your family were attacked by a rioting mob, and then shut up. Make sure your spouse also knows to shut up. If the police start asking questions, be polite, and tell them you need an attorney before answering any further questions. If you’re in a jurisdiction that’s sympathetic to “mostly peaceful” protesting, even if the cops are on your side, the district attorney might not be. It’s the district attorney who decides if, when, and how much to prosecute you.
Defense Attorney Jason Squires’ Approach
Preparation
There is a motto that applies to these situations that will serve you well: “When in doubt, GET OUT!” This motto suggests that good judgment — your brain — is the most effective weapon you will ever employ. By thinking ahead and working through scenarios in your mind, you can avoid a tremendous amount of trouble.
For the purposes of this unique situation, I’d say avoidance will serve a person well. For example: I need fuel in my vehicle. This need requires me to exit a freeway in a troubled part of town. What did I do wrong? I did NOT think ahead and stop for fuel in a safe part of town and avoid having to stop in the bad neighborhood. While fueling, my back can be turned while I work the nozzle and I can be approached by a bad actor. This has happened to me. I wear a suit for work and look like a guy with money. This makes me a target for panhandlers or troublemakers. This is a simple example of not thinking ahead. The point is subtle “mistakes” can cause irreparable injury.
On-Site
In this scenario, you weren’t able to plan ahead enough to avoid the situation. Now you’re traveling down a street and find yourself in the middle of a riot.
First, I’ll say it again: “When in doubt, get out!” At the very first sign of trouble, you must do everything you can to remove yourself from the equation. Use your most important tool, your brain, and your accelerator and speed your way to safety.
Let’s assume you’ve been surrounded and didn’t see this event coming your way. I’d immediately dial 911. Don’t anticipate much of a response from law enforcement. Law enforcement will likely be preoccupied if a riot of any magnitude occurs. The 911 call serves to preserve a record that you’re seeking help. This step is for a post-event analysis to document fear and concern for your personal safety. Further, don’t merely say “I’m surrounded by angry people.” But rather: “I’m surrounded by angry people, and they are going to hurt me.” This description might prioritize your event over other calls for assistance to the 911 call center.
Analyze the possible threats using a 5-foot, 15-foot, and then 50-foot scan radius. Meaning: What are the threats at 5 feet up to 50 feet away from you. Also, analyze the ingress and egress routes (turns, side streets, avenues to flee, etc.). Look for weapons of the rioters. Are these weapons an immediate threat to you inside the car, like a firearm, or are the weapons more likely to cause damage to property (pipe or brick, etc.). Sacrifice any vehicle damage to protect yourself and your loved ones. It doesn’t matter if you’re driving a Ferrari, sacrifice property to protect people.
Above: During protests, roadblocks can range from simple human walls to overturned cars and burning debris. Dense crowds may conceal these barriers.
Next, analyze the intensity of the rioters. I’m old enough to remember the L.A. riots and the helicopter footage of Reginald Denny being dragged from his tractor trailer and his head smashed with a brick. God bless Mr. Denny, but I wouldn’t have been traveling during such turmoil even if my job depended on it. I doubt Mr. Denny knew the riot/trouble had risen to such an intensity. So, for the sake of this example, you were caught unaware of trouble and find yourself in the middle of carnage.
Crisis
You’ve prepared as much as possible, taken every opportunity to avoid trouble, called 911, and scanned for threats and intensity. But despite it all, your windshield has been shattered and the angry crowd is closing in around you. Now what?
Remove yourself. Back your vehicle out of the area, pushing through the crowd without running anyone over. Remember, if a post-event analysis occurs, most injured persons will claim “mere presence.” This legal doctrine says I was merely there, and I personally wasn’t threatening anyone at the time when I was, for example, struck by the defendant’s car. So, avoid any and all injury to rioters. This seems counterintuitive, but threats are analyzed in a person-to-person lens, not as a collective. Each particular person/rioter must be offering a specific deadly threat to justify any significant use of force.
You may not merely claim the group was threatening you. Please let that sink in for future reference. Hurting someone with your vehicle will expose you to civil and likely criminal prosecution. You must show at every level that you exercised the minimum level of force to be legally “justified.”
Another key point: Do not interact or antagonize your rioters. Don’t verbally fight with the rioters. These persons are looking for an excuse to engage. The crowd provides anonymity and camouflages bad actors, as they merely blend in with the crowd. Don’t fight the crowd; you will lose. At every level, seek to remove yourself — at the first sign of trouble and every step thereafter.
The analysis changes with vulnerable persons in your care. Meaning: I enjoy greater legal latitude when protecting my kids and myself. The law recognizes a parent’s obligation to protect their children and law enforcement will almost always apply the “defense of others” analysis when a parent is defending his/her children.
Your vehicle is your shelter — use it. A brick or pipe doesn’t immediately threaten you inside a vehicle. But your car will not provide shelter indefinitely. A few hits with a pipe and your windshield will be compromised. So, the second weapons start striking the vehicle, you’re instantly in a “time is of the essence” situation. You’ll have seconds, maybe a minute, to remove yourself from the situation.
People often ask about the use of firearms. This is legally complicated. Each jurisdiction has restrictions and regulations related to firearms possession and ownership. Study the laws of your jurisdiction to remain legal. Also, learn the Justification Statutes in your jurisdiction. Having a professional relationship with a local defense attorney will serve you well, as you can seek advice and consultation with a qualified attorney.
Above: It’s often difficult to distinguish between angry protesters and physically violent rioters. The latter group knows this and uses it to their advantage, committing “hit and run” attacks before disappearing back into the crowd.
But I will say that nationwide, most jurisdictions allow you to protect yourself. The question quickly becomes, to what extent and what implements may I use to protect myself and remain legal. That’s extremely complicated. Here, there’s no clear answer, and it’s so heavily fact dependent. Clearly, using the minimum force necessary to protect yourself will provide the best legal protection possible under the circumstances. Period.
Ask yourself the question: How do I express fear? If I were on a 911 call that’s being recorded, am I going to sound frightened? Will I come off flat and emotionless? Men often try to hide fear and concern. Well, a 911 call isn’t the time to seem tough. A 911 call during a riot is a time to sell fear. Express yourself in an appropriate manner.
I say appropriate because you don’t want to sound like you’re going to die when the local teacher’s union blocks the road holding signs demanding higher pay. But if I were surrounded by an angry mob, I’d be expressing fear to 911 that I’m about to be seriously injured or die, and the frequency and pitch of my voice would reflect my fear. Many clients do themselves a disservice by failing to show emotion in a self-defense encounter.
Often, especially with men, the defender acts almost entitled to cause serious harm in a given situation. No! You can only use force to defend yourself from a similar or higher threat of death or injury. I shall exaggerate the point: I cannot discharge my firearm at a man holding a butter knife 35 feet away and say he had a weapon. The threat must be proportional and very serious to use any serious force.
Lastly, your vehicle is a weapon. Most people, even rioters, will move to avoid being hit by a car. I’d aggressively use the vehicle, without deliberately hurting anyone, to remove myself from the threat. Once removed, ask the 911 operator what they want you to do next (for example: stop at 91st Avenue and Thomas and wait for a patrol officer to take a report). This would suggest that you’ve remained on the 911 call during the entirety of the situation. I’d recommend staying on the phone and preserving the record of fear in the event someone was harmed by my attempts to protect myself.
Some might suggest not calling 911 to hopefully avoid prosecution in the event their vehicle strikes someone. Yes, you’re putting yourself at the scene, and by calling 911 you’re documenting that you are responsible for any harm. Some people would rather remain anonymous and hope law enforcement never finds them. Well, that approach is very difficult in today’s modern age. The amount of video evidence in today’s protests make it unlikely that law enforcement wouldn’t eventually find you. So, run to the law; don’t run from the law.
Disclaimer: The above-listed description is not legal advice. Seek direction from local, experienced attorneys in your jurisdiction. Laws vary from state to state and county to county. Always seek advice from competent and experienced attorneys who specialize in firearms laws.
Conclusion
As is often the case with emergency preparedness, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Planning ahead might allow you to avoid areas where protests often occur and recruit someone who isn’t sleep-deprived to take on the responsibility of driving your family home. Do everything in your power to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You might think, I shouldn’t have to change my plans to avoid protesters blocking the roads. I should be able to drive directly to my destination without worrying about being impeded or attacked.
That’s true — in an ideal utopia, you shouldn’t have to be concerned about your own safety on the roads, but here in the real world you sometimes do. Avoidance is the only surefire way to steer clear (no pun intended) of all criminal and civil liability, both of which have become increasingly serious concerns in cities that aren’t friendly towards armed citizens.
Above: The First Amendment clearly acknowledges “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” However, violent and disruptive protests have become a cause for concern in many metropolitan areas.
Remember Daniel Perry, the man involved in the Austin, Texas, shooting we mentioned in the introduction? He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. During the trial, evidence was presented that showed Perry searching for locations of protests — not an unreasonable thing to do if he wished to avoid them.
However, it also showed him sending friends messages such as “I might go to Dallas to shoot looters,” “I will only shoot the ones in front and push the pedal to the metal,” and “I wonder if they will let my [sic] cut the ears off of people who’s [sic] decided to commit suicide by me.” (He also apparently searched for “good chats to meet young girls.”) Unsurprisingly, this made it extremely easy for prosecutors to show criminal intent and achieve a conviction.
Even if you’re not a scumbag who’s deliberately seeking out a violent confrontation, remember that all your actions leading up to an incident will be closely examined in the courts. Defending yourself may be a split-second decision, but everything leading up to that moment doesn’t have to be. If you have a proven history of being polite, upstanding, and taking proactive steps to stay out of trouble, dealing with the legal fallout of a self-defense incident will be significantly easier.
Meet Our Panel
Jason Squires
Jason Squires is an attorney with over 25 years of defense experience protecting the rights of citizens accused of gun crimes. Squires also represents, advises, and protects members of law enforcement following “deadly force encounters.” He’s an avid firearms enthusiast and when not working, he competes in 3-gun competitions nationwide.
Joey Nickischer
Joey Nickischer is a retired detective with the New York City Police Department. He currently works as a technical rescue instructor with numerous organizations, covering topics including high angle rope, mine rescue, off-road operations, and wilderness search. He serves as a team leader with the Westchester County Technical Rescue Team and is the commander of the Putnam County Technical Rescue Team, as well as serving as ex-chief of the Patterson Fire Department.
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In a true case of “what’s old is new again” the last several years have seen not only a resurgence of the lever action rifle, but an evolution of it. Although this platform was once reserved for ranchers and cowboy action shooters, well-known companies like Midwest Industries have committed significant resources to developing accessories that modernize this oft-overshadowed platform. Smaller custom houses like Mad Pig Customs go even further, offering complete boutique tactical lever gun builds with selectable furniture, accessories, and colorways. With all this effort expended to teach an old gun new tricks, some of you are certainly wondering: why?
We’re not sure there’s a definitive answer. If all you care about is practicality and cost-effectiveness, it’s impossible to deny the advantages of a modern semi-auto rifle with a detachable 30-round magazine. But there are still some genuine merits to an updated lever gun, sometimes colloquially known as “the cowboy assault rifle.”
Speaking assault rifles, a rifle with a manually cycled action and tube magazine can skirt just about any assault weapon restriction in the country. You can forget about fin grips and put flash hiders back on the menu, even in places like California. For those who live in (or frequently travel through) freedom-restricted territory, a tactical lever gun might be a great way to get around draconian legislation while still having an accurate and heavy-hitting rifle with all manner of modern accessories.
Above: Tom's rifle features a traditional sling from Wilderness Tactical attached to studs on the underside of the stock and handguard.
Caliber options are many, ranging from rimfire to the behemoth .45-70 that has a documented history of taking down most of the world’s biggest and toughest game — Marlin even jokingly advertised it as effective against a T-Rex. Both of the sample guns you’ll see in this article are in .30-30 Winchester, a highly respectable caliber in its own right for general preparedness. With bullet weights typically ranging from 150 to 170 grains and muzzle velocities around 2,000 feet per second, this caliber has been used on nearly every game animal on the North American continent from mule deer to black bear, elk, and moose.
This translates easily to use as a defensive caliber. While not known for its long-range capabilities, it's generally accepted as a 200-yard cartridge, which is right in line with most mass-issue military calibers. In fact, its trajectory and ballistic data is very similar to that of arguably the most widely used military caliber on the modern battlefield: 7.62x39mm Russian. While a lever gun lacks the capacity or rate of fire of an AK-type rifle, the .30-30 is in very good ballistic company when it comes to in extremis use in mixed terrain environments.
Above: During the class, Gunsite instructor Lew Gosnell imparted wisdom and coached us through a variety of drills to improve our lever gun skills.
Preparation is an intensely personal pursuit. Some folks have determined that they simply don’t require the capacity or fire rate of a modern semi-automatic carbine. But many of those same folks think it prudent to have a firearm of some kind around for the ever-ominous “just in case.” A lever-action rifle is easier to shoot than a pistol and reaches farther than a shotgun. But, until a few years ago, this choice meant sacrificing easy access to modern enhancements like suppressors, weapon lights, electronic optics, lasers, modular grips, or adjustable stocks. Those days are over, and we’re here to prove it.
We’re showcasing two separate rifles, both built by Mad Pig Customs, each with different furniture and accessories. Mad Pig refinished each rifle in our preferred Cerakote colors, installed their signature lever and trigger parts, and performed a complete action job to ensure smooth and reliable functionality. We hope to shed some light on the myriad possible configurations available with a modernized lever-action rifle and prove once and for all that this platform hasn’t been relegated to history books.
RECOIL Staff Editor Tom Marshall’s Setup
This rifle started life as a Marlin 30AW. No longer in production, the 30AW was meant as a more budget-friendly alternative to the flagship Marlin 336. With less expensive furniture material and less refinement in the fit and finish, the 30AW was truly a working man’s gun. The team at Mad Pig Customs stripped this rifle down to the skeleton and rebuilt it, starting with a Midwest Industries M-LOK handguard and a Form Stocks back end.
The MI handguard offers a full-length, seven-sided M-LOK surface with a continuous top rail. This allowed us to mount both a Vortex UH-1 holographic sight (on an ADM riser) as well as a Holosun LS-321G dual-beam laser/illuminator. Also from Midwest Industries are the universal shell caddies, which each hold a pair of .30-30 rounds. The Form stock retains a modicum of traditional styling with the upgrade of an adjustable-height comb, which comes in handy when using an optic riser.
A SureFire Dual-Fuel Scout light gave us low-light ability, with a dual-lead remote switch to run both light and laser from one switch. A pair of Walker Defense NILE grip panels and an Emissary Development Handbrake Mini gave us a little customization for support hand control. Finally, a Langolis Rhodesian sling from Wilderness Tactical was mounted to the factory sling studs. The muzzle device is a Rearden Manufacturing brake that also features their suppressor mount.
RECOIL OFFGRID Editor Patrick McCarthy’s Setup
Unlike Tom’s rifle, this one has been a so-called “tactical” lever gun from day one. It started out as a Marlin 336 Dark Series, a special variant that was only available for a short time before Remington went bankrupt, ceased production of Marlin rifles, and sold the brand to Ruger. (Ruger recently announced the re-launch of the Marlin Dark Series, this time with a M-LOK forend and adjustable stock straight from the factory.)
Above: A lever gun's manual of arms is somewhat comparable to that of a pump shotgun, but the half-cock safe position requires an additional learning curve.
Originally, the Dark Series came with a 16.25-inch threaded barrel, XS lever rail with ghost ring sight, and black-painted wood furniture. Mad Pig Customs replaced this rifle’s wood furniture with a machined aluminum stock from Chisel Machining and a LASAI handguard from Hoptic USA. The stock features a soft Kick-Eez recoil pad, adjustable cheek rest, QD sling socket, and an attachment point for a six-round Hoptic LongBow ammo carrier.
The handguard is equipped with a Hoptic USA Quiver carrying two more rounds of .30-30, a JMac Customs HRD handstop, a Burn Proof Gear heat-resistant rail wrap, and a SureFire Mini Scout Light Pro Infrared with selectable white or IR output. Atop the rifle’s original XS sight rail is a Leupold Patrol 6HD 1-6x24mm LPVO in a Midwest Industries 30mm QD scope mount; a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro NV red dot is mounted at the 12:00 position on a Reptilia ROF-SAR ring mount.
Above: The Burn Proof Gear Rail-Rap seen in these photos is our latest addition to the rifle. The suppressed barrel heats up quickly with rapid fire, and this offers protection for gloved or ungloved hands.
The magnified optic’s simple duplex reticle and illuminated FireDot are ideal for daytime shooting, and the top-mounted, NV-capable DeltaPoint pairs with the IR weapon light to make this rifle usable under night vision just like my favorite AR-15s. I topped off my rifle with a JK Armament suppressor attached to the threaded Rearden SPB muzzle brake via a Rearden Atlas adapter, and a Blue Force Gear Vickers padded sling.
Ammo Carriage Considerations
One of the downsides of lever guns is their tube magazines, which make their manual of arms more like that of a shotgun than a modern bolt-action or semi-auto. While we’ve already touched on the idiosyncrasies of reloading, this also affects ammo carriage and load bearing. You won’t be carrying a box magazine in a belt pouch, so you’re left with tossing a fistful of loose rounds in your pants pocket — a compromise that’ll inevitably lead to slow, fumbled reloads — or seeking specialized ammo carriage equipment that’s a little harder to source. We found two companies who offer lever-gun-specific ammo pouches.
Wilderness Tactical offers a simple, low-profile solution called the ZipLoader. This is the equivalent of wearing an ammo butt cuff on your belt. It’s a simple nylon platform with 10 elastic loops for individual cartridges. We paired this with a small, zippered Bug Pack, also from Wilderness Tactical, which was used to carry loose rounds to replenish our other ammo carriers between drills.
Above: Sellier & Bellot provided the 150-grain .30-30 ammunition we used during this lever gun class at Gunsite.
For those who want a larger supply of organized ammo storage, or more flexibility for carriage, Grim Hunter Tactical makes two products we had the chance to evaluate for this article. The first is their Quick Loader Pouch, a fold-out pouch that carries 24 rounds. There are eight loops hard sewn to the outside of the pouch. Inside the pouch are two more tear-away “cards” that hold another eight rounds each, which attach to the inside of the pouch by hook-and-loop.
We really like this modular design, as it allows you to attach those cards to other places you might want ammo — stick them to the headliner in your truck, the outside of your range bag, or even the sleeve of your combat shirt or jacket. The Quick Loader Pouch can be ordered with either MOLLE/PALS backing or a belt loop and is available in nearly two dozen colors.
Above: The lightweight Patrol 6HD LPVO from Leupold provides plenty of magnification for precise shots, and the top-mounted DeltaPoint Pro NV is suitable for night vision use.
If your lever gun is your dedicated bugout or SHTF rifle, Grim Hunter offers a Lever Gun Chest Rig consisting of two Quick Loader Pouches and a third detachable pouch that can be used as a medical kit or admin pouch. On Grim Hunter’s website, you can choose to have your ammo pouches biased to the left or right side of the rig, based on personal preference. It’s available in a variety of colors with multiple harness options.
Finally, much like a shotgun, it may be advantageous to carry a few extra rounds on the gun itself for speed reloads. These can be carried on a traditional fabric or leather butt cuff or attached to modern M-LOK-mounted carriers such as those seen on our rifles.
While testing and training with our lever guns, we used Sellier & Bellot 150-grain soft-point .30-30 ammo.
Home on the Range at Gunsite
The effectiveness of any tool is contingent on its user’s skill and experience, and our lever-action rifles are no different. The two of us have spent quite a bit of time training with AR-15s, but AR-15s these ain’t. Many of the fundamentals carry over — stance, grip, sight picture, trigger control, and so on. However, the manual of arms is drastically different from an AR, in addition to the reloading and ammo management challenges we mentioned earlier.
This led us to seek training from Lew Gosnell, an instructor who has amassed a variety of vintage and modern lever-actions and spent many years teaching students about the intricacies of these rifles. Gosnell is a Marine Corps veteran who also spent 31 years working in law enforcement on the streets of East L.A. These days, he teaches Defensive Lever Gun and other courses at Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Arizona.
In case you’re not familiar with Gunsite, it’s considered by many to be the mecca of firearms training in the United States, if not the whole world. Founded in 1976 by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper as a location at which to teach his Modern Technique of the Pistol, Gunsite has evolved into an expansive facility with a wide range of pistol, rifle, shotgun, and even edged weapon classes.
It offers everything from classrooms and traditional range bays to run-and-gun Simulator courses, complex shoot houses, and vehicle-based training areas. It’s like an amusement park for shooting enthusiasts, complete with catered lunches, an on-site campground, and a museum built inside Cooper’s home.
After traveling to Gunsite and meeting Gosnell, we headed out to the 50-yard Hanneken range to start working with our lever guns.
Half-Cocked
The first order of business was to learn about manipulating the lever gun’s safeties. Both of our Marlin rifles feature manual cross-bolt safeties — Marlin calls it a Hammer Block Safety — but this feature is a relatively recent addition introduced in the early 1980s. Gosnell and many other lever gun users view this manual safety as redundant and excessive. Historically, the primary safety on an exposed hammer lever gun was the half-cocked position, pulled back halfway to full cock.
This prevented the hammer from resting against the firing pin, which could potentially fire a round if an object struck the hammer hard enough. It also prevented users from carrying the gun fully cocked and ready to fire at all times, which could lead to a negligent discharge if a foreign object touched the trigger.
To prepare our lever guns for a drill, we went through the following procedure:
Half cock the hammer then engage the manual safety.
Load the tube magazine.
Cycle the lever to chamber a round. The hammer is now fully cocked. (Top off the tube magazine with one more round if necessary.)
With the manual safety still engaged and the gun pointed in a safe direction, place the firing hand thumb on the fully cocked hammer and apply pressure.
Maintaining firm pressure on the hammer, press the trigger just long enough to carefully lower the hammer into the half-cocked position.
Index the trigger finger safely on the side of the receiver and disengage the manual safety.
As soon as Gosnell gave the command to fire, we quickly thumbed our hammers back to fully cocked position and pressed the trigger.
In a way, the manual safety serves as training wheels — if a shooter lets the hammer slip while returning it to half cock, it prevents the gun from firing. But once we had done enough dry and live fire reps of this process to be fully comfortable with it, we left the manual safety disengaged and carefully returned our guns to half cock after firing. Always be careful to maintain a good grip on the hammer while returning it to half cock; this isn’t something that should be rushed. As Gosnell explained, this procedure may feel strange to us today, but it was the standard modus operandi for more than a century before the introduction of cross-bolt safeties.
Feeding the Beast
Loading a lever gun is similar to loading a shotgun, but the placement of the loading gate on the right side of the receiver (as opposed to the underside) means you’ll have to load with your firing hand. Hold the gun in a low-ready position against the shoulder and press each round into the tube magazine until the loading gate closes behind it. Alternately, you can use a “violin load” position by resting the buttstock sideways over your shoulder, leaving the loading gate facing upward. Gosnell reminded us to keep our heads up and eyes downrange while loading to remain aware of potential threats.
Also like a shotgun, it’s OK to load a round directly into the chamber while the action is open. This can be useful for speed reloads in conjunction with a match-saver-style ammo carrier directly in front of the ejection port (as seen on both our rifles). However, be aware that lever guns can have trouble feeding if they’re operated at steep angles. So, don’t try to chamber load — or operate the lever at all — with the muzzle pointed at the ground.
To run the lever, be quick and forceful but deliberate. Babying it or failing to run the lever all the way forward may induce a malfunction. We also found that the angle of hand movement is important. Depending on your rifle and lever design, you may need to push your hand down, forward, or somewhere in between to achieve the smoothest action.
Testing Our Skills
Once we were comfortable manipulating, loading, and firing our lever guns on the 50-yard range, we moved on to more complex challenges. After all, that manual of arms may feel comfortable on a flat range, but doing it while running, transitioning between multiple targets, and navigating around obstacles is a different story. This wasn’t just a lever gun class — it was a defensive lever gun class.
We started by setting up a barricade on the range, leaning out from either side to shoot without exposing ourselves more than necessary. Then, we ratcheted up a notch by heading down to The Pit, an indoor Simulator course that most of us would call a shoot house. We practiced clearing the structure, “slicing the pie” around doorways and corners to methodically take in every angle before proceeding.
Above: Tom Marshall slides into a shooting position.
Admittedly, we’d prefer a semi-auto rifle over a lever gun for these close-quarters applications, since thumbing back the hammer before firing and running the action between shots was tougher than just mashing a trigger. That said, our Mad Pig Marlins had no trouble getting repeatable, accurate hits on the threats in hallways, corners, and windows. The tall-mounted red-dot optics on both rifles were helpful for this purpose, offering a wide field of view and fast sight acquisition.
Next, we headed to Gunsite’s Military Crest, a winding trail with various natural shooting positions and an array of steel targets at distances of 100 to 200 yards or greater. We braced off trees and rocks, and used our rifles in standing, kneeling, and sitting positions. With a slight hold-over for the longer shots, we had no trouble ringing steel from each position. The only challenge we encountered was running the lever in positions where the rifle was rested on a flat surface, such as kneeling behind a stump; it may be necessary to lift or rotate the rifle to make room to move the lever. This is also why lever guns aren’t ideal for prone shooting.
Above: Whether you're a fan of modern “tactical” lever guns or you prefer wood furniture and iron sights, get out there and train. It's the only way to build lasting proficiency.
For our final challenge, we moved to the Scrambler, a course that continued our work on positional shooting but added an emphasis on speed. With four rounds in our guns and a shot timer running, we sprinted between seven positions and shot steel targets while standing, kneeling, and sitting. Some stations had fallen logs or trees to use for support, but others required unsupported shots. This also tested our ability to load our rifles quickly while moving, and to carefully engage the half-cocked position after each hit — just like any other move-and-shoot drill, it’s essential to make your weapon safe before running ahead with it. By the end of the Scrambler, we were out of breath and grinning.
Final Thoughts
So, the question remains: Is it worth the effort to teach an old gun new tricks? Based on our experience with these two builds and our range time at Gunsite, we’d give an emphatic yes. While we certainly won’t deny there are more efficient, ergonomic, and cost-effective defensive weapons on the market, that doesn’t mean the venerable lever gun isn’t worth owning. And if it’s worth owning, it’s worth modifying and improving with aftermarket parts, just like your favorite semi-auto carbine.
Above: Some may scoff at the idea of using a lever-action for home defense and CQB, but in states and countries where semi-automatic rifles are heavily restricted, it may be one of the best options available.
These two modernized lever guns were built to deliberately push the envelope and become as AR-like (or “tactical,” if you prefer that term) as possible. They’re unabashedly extreme, like classic muscle cars converted into fire-breathing supercharged dragsters. You may not want a full M-LOK forend and adjustable stock for your lever gun, much less an infrared laser and night-vision-height optic mount, and that’s OK. Our intent was to show what’s possible using existing off-the-shelf components and a little fine-tuning in the hands of lever gun specialists at Mad Pig Customs. The result is a pair of rifles that never fail to stir up controversy on social media or draw a crowd at the local range. More importantly, they’re much more capable for dynamic shooting and defensive use than they were in unmodified form. Sorry, grandpa, you may not like it, but the future is now.
What do you own that costs upward of $10,000 but is fragile enough to break if it’s dropped a few feet onto a hard surface? Unless you’re a collector of Ming vases, antique Waterford crystal, or high-end camera equipment, it’s probably a very short list. But there’s one thing that many military members, law enforcement officers, and shooting enthusiasts wear that fits this category: night vision.
A set of dual-tube night vision goggles (NVGs) can easily set you back $8K to $15K, and this equipment is extremely sensitive to hard impacts, long-term light exposure, and other environmental damage. That doesn’t even include the cost of the related accessories that accompany NVGs — helmet, mount, ear protection, clear eye protection, infrared lights, battery pack, and so on. It’s a substantial investment, so you should protect it accordingly.
I’ve gone through a few different methods of carrying my NVGs over the years, including small soft cases and hard Pelican cases lined with foam. Although these worked fine for the night vision system itself, they still left me with a helmet and pile of accessories I needed to carry separately. But recently, I found a carrying case from OTTE Gear that stows all my NV-related gear in a safe, easy-to-transport package.
Make and Model: OTTE Gear V2 OG Helmet Bag w/Nods Box
Capacity: Up to an XXL Ops Core ballistic helmet with AMP ear pro attached
Constructed from 500D Cordura nylon sandwiched around a thick layer of closed-cell foam, OTTE Gear’s Helmet Bag is designed to protect a ballistic or bump helmet of any size through XXL. It features a Y-shaped adjustable retention strap that holds your helmet firmly in place inside the bag, and a full-clamshell flap that opens wide to offer easy access to its contents. It’s available in a variety of exterior colors, ranging from the typical black, ranger green, and coyote tan to MultiCam, “chocolate chip” desert camo, and OTTE Gear’s signature Poppies of War pattern. The interior lining is a bright orange 500D Cordura that offers lots of contrast in dimly lit environments.
One inner wall of the OG Helmet Bag is lined with three pockets for small items, such as clear shooting glasses, in-ear hearing protection, chemlights, and spare batteries. The other side is lined with loop material that accepts Velcro-backed accessories like IFF strobes and morale patches. The bottom surface has a small field of PALS webbing for MOLLE-compatible accessories or pouches.
At the back of the bag behind the helmet, there’s a padded divider that fits around a removable OTTE Gear Nods Box — a rectangular zippered case that fits single- or dual-tube night vision, a mount, and other items like batteries or eye pro. The Nods Box has two more adjustable dividers to prevent contents from bouncing around. Both the Helmet Bag and Nods Box are made in the USA.
My Loadout
So, let’s take a quick look at the contents of my OG Helmet Bag. First and foremost is a Team Wendy EXFIL LTP bump helmet (size XL). It’s equipped with a TNVC Mohawk counterweight/battery carrier, as well as a Nitecore NU05-MI USB-rechargeable green/IR strobe on top. The right side rail has an Inforce WMLx Gen 2 white/IR light attached to a Thyrm VariArc swivel mount, providing forward-facing illumination outdoors or upward-facing “umbrella” lighting indoors. The left side has a Streamlight Sidewinder Stalk white/R/G/B/IR admin light.
Stuffed on either side of the helmet in the main compartment, I have a pair of Apex Protective shooting gloves and a set of Gatorz Blastshield ballistic-rated clear shooting glasses. Side pockets contain a few standard chemlights, as well as a Blue Force Gear Marco mini-chemlight dispenser — the latter was designed for LE and MIL users to mark cleared rooms, but it’s also useful for marking shooting positions and obstacles on the range. The last pocket contains a set of SureFire Sonic Defender earplugs.
The double-padded Nods Box contains a set of AGM Global Vision NVG-40 green-phospor night vision goggles, a Wilcox G24 mount, and a few small accessories. There’s a weatherproof Thyrm CellVault loaded with three spare CR123 batteries, plus a SureFire X300V white/IR pistol light that can be swapped onto whichever handgun I bring to the range. Lastly, I have a CR123-powered Fenix CL09 magnetic mini-lantern that can be clipped or stuck near a loading bench or staging area to provide a little red or green light. It’s just enough to make it easier to load mags or clear malfunctions, but not so much light that it interferes with night vision systems.
Above: Eye and ear protection are a must for any type of firearm training, but nighttime training also requires a variety of white, multicolored, and infrared light sources. I also recommend bringing a set of gloves — cold, numb hands make everything more difficult.
Closing Thoughts
No matter who you are, $10K is a substantial amount to spend. If you’re going to put that kind of money into night vision, you should do everything in your power to keep it safe while it’s in storage or in transit. The OTTE Gear Helmet Bag does just that, while also protecting your helmet and keeping important accessories organized. In addition to the helmet bag, OTTE makes some really nice apparel (like the LV Insulated Hoodie seen in the first photo), utility pouches, chest rigs, and other gear that can make training and range sessions more convenient — day or night.
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Welcome back to our dive into the world of gear! In this edition of Gear Up, we explore the latest innovations and reliable classics that are key to staying prepared for any challenge. From cutting-edge technology to time-tested tools, our focus is on equipping you with insights and information that keep you one step ahead wherever the journey of life may take you. Whether you're bracing for the unknown or fine-tuning your preparedness kit, join us as we unpack the must-haves for this month.
PLANO: Rustrictor All Weather 2 1-Pistol Case
Notes:
Safely transporting sensitive items requires a special degree of protection. The Rustrictor All Weather 2 1-Pistol Case by Plano is designed to offer that protection for firearms during transport or storage. It integrates Plano's Rustrictor technology, which is said to block rust and corrosion five times longer than competing products. This case is constructed with industrial strength materials, making it highly durable and reliable. It features TSA-approved lockable latches for secure transport and a Dri-Loc seal for watertight, dustproof protection. The interior includes customizable pluck-to-fit foam, allowing for a tailored fit to your pistol and accessories. This case ensures comprehensive protection from impact, water, and dust, thanks to its hard plastic exterior and specialized seal.
Interior Dimensions: 12.5 inches L by 10.1 inches W by 4.8 inches H
Vosteed’s Raccoon Button Lock Knife features a 3.25-inch 14C28N steel blade, known for its excellent corrosion resistance and toughness. The knife is designed with a simple geometric shape, a drop-point blade for versatility, and a comfortable choil for precision. Its handle is made from Micarta, offering a secure grip, and includes a reversible pocket clip for convenient carry. The knife incorporates a button lock mechanism for smooth operation, alongside caged ceramic ball bearings for effortless blade deployment. This compact and durable tool is ideal for everyday carry, showcasing a balance of functionality and design.
A reliable holster with strong retention and plenty of comfort for daily wear is an absolute must when carrying a handgun. The Alpha Series Glock Holster from VyperKydex checks all of these boxes. It’s a high-performance, appendix carry holster designed with the Modwing claw and molded-in wedge for enhanced concealment. It offers versatility through five clip positions and reverse cant options, making it ideal for comfortable and discreet carry. This holster is built for those who prioritize both functionality and comfort in their daily carry setup.
Seeing in the dark is crucial, whether it’s finding your way, or finding something you’re looking for. In pitch-black outdoor settings, more powerful lights often make it easier to accomplish the task at hand. The Saint Torch 31 is an ultra-bright searchlight with a maximum output of 20,000 lumens and a beam distance of up to 740 meters. It features a built-in rechargeable battery pack (6 x 4,800mAh) and LED battery indicators for power level monitoring. This high-intensity light is designed for extensive search-and-rescue operations, providing broad and far-reaching illumination.
Do you ever wish you could check your game cameras without having to leave the house? Moultrie’s Cellular Trail Cameras are here to save you time and effort, using an affordable cellular plan to send you stills and videos wherever you happen to be. The Moultrie Mobile Edge Pro Cellular Trail Camera is designed for enhanced wildlife monitoring with innovative features like False Trigger Elimination Technology, Nyxel NIR technology for clear low-light images, and Auto Connect for reliable connectivity. It boasts a 36MP sensor, FHD 1080p video with HD audio, built-in memory, and a 100-foot detection and flash range. The camera is easy to set up via QR code, supports multiple power options including AA batteries or solar, and comes with a two-year warranty.
The Leatherman ARC is a premium multi-tool featuring 20 tools, including a MagnaCut knife blade for superior edge retention and durability, pliers, bit drivers, a file, and more. It's designed for easy, one-hand operation with all locking features for safety. Built with sturdy materials like 420 and 440C Stainless Steel, DLC Coating, and MagnaCut steel, it promises durability and corrosion resistance. The ARC also includes a four-pocket nylon sheath and a set of nine double-ended bits, enhancing its versatility. Made in the USA, this multi-tool exemplifies Leatherman's commitment to quality, backed by a 25-year warranty.
Survival kits are great for removing the guesswork of kit-bashing your own. The VSSL Camp Supplies II kit is a comprehensive outdoor preparedness tool housed in a durable, water-resistant military-grade aluminum cylinder. It includes a variety of essential gear like a fire striker kit, water purification tools, fishing tackle, and a wire saw, among others. Designed for versatility and ease of use in the wilderness, it also features a 4-mode LED lantern and an oil-based compass for navigation. This kit is engineered to support adventurers in any outdoor scenario, ensuring they're equipped for survival and emergency situations.
Prolonged physical exertion requires more than just water. Your body also needs additional elements to function at an optimal level. The Protekt Hydration Liquid Supplement is designed to maintain optimal hydration and replenish electrolytes lost during activity. It features a proprietary blend with a 10:2:1 ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium, essential for preventing dehydration symptoms like fatigue and cramping. The formula is calorie-free, sugar-free, and made with natural flavors, available in Raspberry, Lemonade, and Watermelon. It's easy to use, simply add to water for instant mixing. Ideal for intense workouts, travel, or daily wellness, it comes in convenient single-serving packets.
Although ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain, there are some cases where more space is necessary. The Stone Glacier R3 7000 is a robust, lightweight expedition backpack designed specifically for military use, offering a spacious 7,000-cubic-inch (114-liter) capacity. It features top access for radio antennae or comms cables, internal Velcro patches for modular storage, and side stretch pockets for additional storage. This pack integrates seamlessly with the R3 Frame, allowing for an expanded load shelf capacity, and is compatible with R3 Side Bags, enhancing its utility for extended missions. Crafted from durable materials, it's designed to withstand the rigors of reconnaissance and rescue operations, making it a reliable choice for demanding environments.
Outdoor gear is typically designed for men, so it’s always great to see products with women as the end user in mind. The Kestrel Women's boot by Schnee's is engineered for early season hunts in warm environments. Featuring top-grain leather and Schoeller fabric for durability, it integrates a 100-percent Waterproof Sympatex Membrane and a Vibram Circuma outsole for traction. Its pLite midsole offers support and shock absorption. Designed specifically for women, this boot is lightweight at 3.4 pounds per pair and handcrafted in Italy, ensuring both comfort and quality for outdoor activities.
Streamlight’s Speedlocker is a secure, portable storage box designed for safely locking personal items. It features a patented mechanical keypad for quick, one-handed access without the need for batteries. Its lock is user-programmable with 31 different combinations. The box is made from rugged hard-shell polymer and includes a foam insert to secure valuables. It's designed to fit various compact firearm models, though Streamlight says it should only be treated as a portable locking container, not an approved firearm safe. However, it’s air travel suitable with the included padlock, water-resistant, and has mounting holes for securing to rigid surfaces.
The Moki II R-Deck by Kokopelli is a two-person inflatable kayak designed for a range of water activities, including lake, calm river, and ocean paddling. It features a removable spraydeck for weather protection, comes with two Alpine Lake paddles, a Nano Barrel Pump for inflation, two EVA seats, and a wheeled carry bag for easy transport. The pack also features a variety of carry handles and shoulder straps to wear it as a backpack. The kayak has a high-pressure drop-stitch floor, Halkey Roberts Valves for easy inflation, and a 9-inch removable tracking fin for better navigation. Weighing 53 pounds, it supports up to 600 pounds and packs down for convenient storage and transport.
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Exploring the open water is exciting, but also perilous at the same time. Stay aware of your surrounding by learning some Cold Water Safety tips, and be ready for the worst by exploring the dangerous force of Raging Waters.
Jason Squires
