Nutritional Plans

For the last five to six years I have been playing with either Paleo or more recent Keto based nutritional plans. I really enjoyed the Paleo, but either it wasn’t meeting my needs or I wasn’t as disciplined as I should’ve been. Enter the Keto plan. I found more of the results I wanted, but it was consuming so much of my time it was becoming unsustainable. Why was I even worried about what I was eating. I had no illness, obesity or life danger that would call for changes to what I eat. I looked at eating as a means to an end and that means performance.

High Performance Machine

My performance is waning as I get older. There is only so much I can do and only so much time I have left. Before I was focused on my eating, I relied on an insane workout capacity to manage my body composition. It was not something that was sustainable and I know that now. It was fun though, not going to lie. My meal plan was an after thought and I looked at my engine more like wood chipper than a high performance machine.

Discovering My Needs

Along the way I discovered a couple of important needs. One need I have come to value these days is time. I do not want to spend so much time preparing and cooking my meals. I want to enjoy my meals without laboring to make them when I would rather spend my time doing other more enjoyable activities. Another concern was simplicity. If preparing meals was complicated or required so many ingredients it was a one and done thing. I tried a few prepared meal plans and while nice, they didn’t make my palate happy. Then there was the cost. I wanted something without the fear of paying out the nose.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

I had a decent background on diets, but they weren’t necessarily for my own interests. They were family based. My children suffered from severe food allergies early on so we had a strict diet of allowable foods. I discovered all those years ago there were other options. As with most family based diets, the whole family tends to be on the diet when members have certain needs. It is just easier in the end. With time we were able to introduce and observe the effects of various foods. While creating a baseline of what and how the foods affecting our family we could make better decisions. These effects were mostly immediate, within a few minutes to an hour and therefor easy to monitor.

Simple Is Good

This year I decided to eliminate all foods that were not animal based. I had difficulty on my trip to Las Vegas, but aside from that it has been virtually all meat for this whole year. My intention was to go 90 days and review. The wonderful thing about something as simple as an all meat diet aside from its simplicity is its sustainability. After 90 days I realized it was sustainable, that I could maintain this style of eating meat indefinitely. I currently opt for about a 95% all meat diet.

Always Against The Clock

Since time is always working against me it was a major consideration. What I learned is by only having to prepare one item or a few items, no sides, it was both easy and quick. My kitchen routine was no longer split between the main entree and all the sides. It was simply the main entree. I loved the simplicity of this approach, but was surprised on my time savings. Less food to cook, meant less time to prepare, cooked and a big one; clean up. The simplicity was double edged though. Not only was it simple, but at times it could be plane. My culinary creativity has jumped off the charts and I have embraced all sorts of spices, marinades and styles of cooking.

The Almighty Dollar

A major shocker was the cost. Honestly, there is not a real big difference. I split my grocery bill between meat and everything else then compared it to last year’s spending. So far, it is pretty even favoring all meat slightly. If you cut away all the other foods then the cost of meats is somewhat offset. I’m happy about the exclusion of many of these other foods. Most of them did not sit well with me and it took restricting their intake to become aware of their impact. I will say my biggest cravings are for crunchy; which means chips.

Food Is Fuel

One of my reluctance in the past to explore these new pathways was how it would affect my performance. To my surprise it hasn’t or there is no noticeable change. Last year I got hit by a double injury whammy; knee and shoulder. My activity level took a nose dive; which is what prompted a more serious exploration of my eating habits. You could say I was experimenting with an all meat diet then, but it was more by accident and uneducated. My workouts and energy levels have all shown positive and not negative effects. I’m certainly not going to see amazing performance at my age, but I do want to sustain and pursue other activities.

Time Will Tell

There was a lingering question about health concerns. I have researched and read many resources. My conclusion, no idea. While there are tons of support for this style of eating, there are plenty of naysayers. The truth of the matter is this type of eating lacks true scientific research, but has millions of anecdotal observations. As it grows in popularity, there are more and more resources available. What I observed is the greatest critics to this lifestyle have no real evidence of a negative outcome because it hasn’t been accurately studied and their biggest complaint is lack of scientific study. I’m good with that, I’m okay not knowing. They will either make it important enough to study or continue to criticize, but from what I can tell all they can say is the lack scientific evidence for or against.

While these 1,000 brain types argue amongst themselves I’ll be over hear enjoying the simple life.

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Nothing is Free in Life

I have made my feelings known on aftermarket triggers that significantly reduce pull weight. You have to accept nothing is free in live. In order to get them to this super lightweight they had to do other things. In some cases, those other things have to do with the internal safety mechanisms. I have seen many of these drop-in kits malfunction. They override the internal safeties resulting in negligent discharges. At what point do you draw the line. Do you have to see the gun completely fail. Do negative outcomes weigh heavy on your mind or do you disregard them for a perceived advantage.

Treat the Cause, not the Symptom

That’s what we are talking about here. A perceived advantage. Something that you feel makes you shoot better. In all likelihood it only masked your shooting errors. It deals with the symptoms and not the causes. As an educator, you want to focus on the causes. What is causing the shooting errors and what are the corrective strategies. Why would you continue to aim high to mask poor trigger management. The answer is complicated, but it involves ego, pride and ignorance. Your ego is too big to admit there’s a problem. Your pride is to big to seek help. And ignorance is a matter of not knowing what you don’t know. No matter what the motivation, treating the causes is the only true answer.

Don’t Be That Guy

On top of all this is seeing unsafe actions that are quickly becoming more “acceptable” or termed “modern”. Neither of these justify forgoing safety, yet we see it all the time. Case in point. Putting your hand in front of the ejection port to manually cycle the action. Everything works until it doesn’t and when it doesn’t bad things happen. If these bad things happen the hope is we learn. If not, they continue to happen until bad things happen or you win the lottery. The above ramblings point to an event that happened at a recent class. More importantly, they happened to me. I’m sharing in an effort to remind people that safety is free.

Life Lessons

On day one of class a student was having consistent problems with his gun/ammunition. As per procedures we try to trouble shoot the problem by removing one variable at a time. The problem continued and eventually I took the gun for closer examination. My first mistake was in not clearing the gun. However, the problem was only visible live fire. I attempted to replicate the problem through other means and came up bingo. As I observed the cycling I noticed a pattern that had to do with the slide’s movement. In an effort to replicate the pattern I had to retracted the slide a fraction of an inch to get it to fire. With the trigger depressed and no audible or tactical reset the gun would fire when it would return to lock up. I moved my hand slightly forward of the ejection port thinking I had identified how far back I needed it to move to replicate the action. Nope, it went off sooner. My hand was close enough to the muzzle to get slight burns.

I was lucky. The student put away the gun and he was lucky to have a fellow student loan him a gun to finish the class. My lesson was re-learned and shared in an effort to avoid future problems.

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The Carnage

Over the years I have seen plenty of gear related problems. In a recent Concealed Carry class we had a holster come apart, literally. We had some other gear issues requiring attention and luckily we caught most of them before they became real problems. In a separate incident I had a front sight come loose. I’m glad it was the sight and not my shooting. The damn thing was listing and I finally asked myself is it me or is my sight post leaning. It is virtually impossible to work with equipment that doesn’t have some type of fastener. It doesn’t matter how tight or the proper torque was applied or done per the manual. They require periodic maintenance.

The Basic Tools

One of the best tools I’ve ever brought was this small screwdriver. It had the various spare bits stored in the body making it super convenient for a range bag. I love this tool, it has done me right over the years. No matter how small your range bag, there’s always room for one of these or similar. In addition, a small tube of thread locker will help ensure you don’t have to repeat the process any time soon. While there are tons of tools you could have, these are the minimum in my opinion.

Maintenance Interval

When it comes to your holsters and magazine carriers I suggest once a month you check all the hardware. Some will go so far as to recommend using thread locker on all of your hardware. For some gear it is required and for others you might abstain. Learn what causes the hardware to come loose first. If you do apply a thread locker on your concealed carry gear, go with the lightest bond. You don’t want permanency, you want security. If you are attending a high intensity class with lots of drawstoke repetitions then at the end of the day do yourself a favor and check. If they are loose then hopefully you avoided a mishap. If you find yourself in a situation where you’ve lost hardware you could be in a tight spot. Most folks will have spare guns, extra magazines, but how many carry more than one holster. It may not be practical, but getting extra hardware is a simple solution.

Big Picture Logistics

There is a saying, amateurs argue tactics and professionals argue logistics. Many times in classes students find themselves in a pickle with their gear. If you have one of these niche guns you may be S.O.L. I’ve found most classes students go out of their way to help one another. It’s hard to help though when you are so far out on the fringe. I carry spare equipment and gear to every class and have loaned them out on more than one occasion. More than once I couldn’t help the student because our gear didn’t match.

Preparation can go a long way as can spare parts and hardware. Put some thought into periodic and mandatory maintenance routines.

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Is It Safe

This kind of reminds me a little of daylight savings. Nobody is willing to repeal it because they don’t want to be that guy. They don’t want to be associated with some kid who got hit by a car in the dark on their way to the bus stop. You have to put things in perspective, if your trips to the range are about the same as your trips to the dentist then it is unlikely you are putting enough rounds through that would significantly foul the gun and possible induce a stoppage. This in now way eliminates human error, but if the gun is from a quality manufacture, firing quality ammunition then it is safe to say you are good. What is far more important is knowing how to properly lubricate a gun.

Let’s Break It Down

This is also not an excuse not to clean your gun when necessary. The most common reason for avoiding periodic maintenance is not knowing what to clean or how to clean. Before you can clean a gun, you must first be able to safely unload the gun, then inspect and confirm it is safe. You will want to then be able to disassemble or field strip the gun to it’s basic parts. Usually the frame and slide. Keep in mind the recoil spring and recoil spring guide will be under spring tension. Keep them pointed away from you or others nearby. Now that you have fully disassembled the gun for cleaning you can actually start the cleaning process.

A Little Elbow Grease Goes a Long Way

Like any cleaning you will need a few supplies and tools. Some type of cleaning brush, cleaning solvent, rags and a quality lubricant. There are plenty of other items you might want to have, but these are the very basic requirements to ensure optimal functionality. From here you want to common sense. Spray, brush, wipe and repeat. Everyone has their own system and you will develop one yourself. I typically start with the barrel and accessories, then work to the slide and finish with the frame. Your cleaning brush should have soft bristles, like a tooth brush to avoid damaging the finish. While it may seem smart to use something tougher for those hard to clean areas it will cause damage to the gun in the end. Nothing functional, but aesthetically. Once you are done cleaning the next step is to lubricate and reassemble.

The Quest for Lube

Choosing quality lubricant is easy, find a product designed to lubricate guns. Avoid the multiple purpose products and stick with designed for products. You can apply lubricant to all the disassembled parts. How much do you apply? Again, you will get the hang of it the more you clean guns. After you have fully reassembled the gun you will wipe down any excessive lubricant. Lastly is the function check. To ensure you reassembled the gun correctly you will perform a function check. Start by ensuring the gun is unloaded and lock the action open. Pointing in a safe, release the slide, then pull the trigger and hold it to the rear. Cycle the action. Then release the trigger to ensure the trigger resets. If it does, then lock the action open and you are done.

That’s it, nothing too fancy. Learn how to clean then as you get better you will learn how to inspect for wear and tear; which is far more important.

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Understand the why

Should you clean your handgun after using? It’s a trick question, the real question is why do you clean your gun? Most folks have no idea why they clean their guns, they clean them because everybody is telling them if they don’t the Baba-Yaga will come for them. If you look at your handgun as a tool you need to ensure the tool functions properly. A clean gun can still malfunction, but not for the reasons you think. Most modern day service handguns are built to handle tremendous abuse, but wear and tear will still take it’s toll. Parts, particular small parts can and will give out. In some case when these small parts break they render the weapon totally inoperable.

Small parts breakage

The reason you clean your guns is to inspect these small parts. To inspect them for abnormal wear and tear in an effort to avoid a catastrophic failure. The best way to inspect a handgun is to clean it, so you can see burrs developing or metal wear. What sucks, a lot of folks reading this blog have no idea what parts they should be inspecting or have an interval for routine maintenance and replacement. Even the simplest handguns are complex machines at their heart and need this type of maintenance. Research and develop your own maintenance intervals so you can stay on top of them and avoid issues down the road.

Routine maintenance schedule

Most modern service handguns have many of their OEM parts available in the commercial market. You can order online and watch various tutorial videos (no guarantee on their validity) to help become more knowledgeable with end user maintenance. I suggest keeping a small parts replacement kit in your range bag so if you do have a problem on the range you are not too inconvenienced. Then create a routine maintenance schedule where after so many rounds you will visually inspect your firearm for potential issues. Here’s a tip, if you cannot find at the very least a recoil spring for your particular modern service handgun, you might want to question your purchase. I disagree with manufacture’s approach to only allowing access to spare parts at armory levels or worse having to ship the handgun in for repairs. You, as the end user should have the knowledge and resources to care for your handgun indefinitely if necessary.

Oil the crap out of them

What is a good interval, an interval you may use for defensive tools. A lot of this will be personal preference, but I am far more likely to oil my handgun than clean after use. Sometimes I will fire only 50 rounds and other days it might be 500 rounds. My governor is the total rounds fired since the last inspection and for me I use 1,000 rounds. Let that soak in for a moment because I’m sure someone’s head just exploded at that statement. That means at every 1,000 rounds I will fully disassemble, clean and inspect my handguns. Any part I feel has reached the end or near end of it’s service life is replaced right then and there. What you will find me doing in between this interval is oiling the crap out of my guns. I put way more stock in a dirty gun properly oiled, than a dirty gun with little to no oil.

Take care of your gear and your gear will take care of you is great, but truly knowing your gear is the secret. To know and understand how it operates in order to keep in the highest state of readiness.

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Get with the program

Well, first off that sucks. If you are relying on a firearm to save your life or the life of a loved one you better get with the program. I mean honestly, how hard is it to right in a wheel book the total number of rounds to fire. I know you have to add it up to keep a running total and that can put a large demand on your brain, but that’s why you have a smart phone. I try to emphasis the importance during every class, I mean you change the oil in your vehicle right???

Cycle of operation for dummies

So, what’s the big deal about replacing the springs in your firearm anyways. Well, in case you are aware most of the modern day semi-automatic pistols are “recoil operated”. That means that after the round is fired the slide and barrel unlock as they move to the rear. In the process the spent casing is being extracted, ejected and the firing mechanism is being re-cocked. At the further most rearward travel the energy from the fired round is expended and the RECOIL spring brings the slide forward, scraping a fresh round from the top of the magazine, feeding it into the chamber and locking the barrel into battery.

Factory recommendations

One of the most common problems with modern day semi-automatics is the resiliency of the recoil spring. As the firearm is used over and over, the wear on the spring eventually takes it toll and the strength of the recoil spring to accomplish it’s task starts to diminish eventually leading to a stoppage. Add a dirty gun, harsh environment, poor ammunition and you are compounding your problem. While many manufactures recommend replacing the recoil spring at certain intervals, I cannot find a consensus between each manufacture, much less each caliber. As a rule of thumb, 3,000 rounds is a good start point.

YMMV

In my experience, I can start to feel the slide slowing down. The movement is not quite as definitive, it has a sluggish nature of sorts. While you can clean your firearm and apply a fresh coat of lubricant, that is only delaying the inevitability. You are going to have to change your springs at some point. And that is why it is so important to keep a round count, so you have an idea of where you are regarding your spring replacement. Your mileage may very, which is why you need to observe and record your results on your own. I have found that for my .40cal’s I need to replace the springs around 2,000 to 2,500 rounds and my 9mm around 3,000 to 3,500 rounds. While yes, I can push them further and often times on my training guns they get very little maintenance, but for all my duty guns I keep on top of them.

Peace of mind

It is a very small investment actually, many of the recoil springs cost about $30 or so and the peace of mind knowing your system is at peak levels of performance is priceless. Now, if you don’t keep a round count then what are you to do to maintain your recoil spring? Something I have done is monitor my round count, then compare the recoil spring in the firearm with one that is brand new. If the used spring is shorter by two full coils then I go ahead and replace them. I have found that according to my round count that is pretty damn close to the recommended interval. During one of my classes recently I started to feel some issues brewing, when I got home I compared the springs and sure enough it was within the range and I went ahead and replaced it with out breaking a sweat.

A lot of people ask why we replace the factory captured recoil spring on our TRICON ProCarry with a traditional one. And now you know.

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