Month: July 2022

This week of July 2022, we have in the showroom some… drum roll, please….. SWISS MODEL 1906/24 LUGERS!

Everyone always asks when we are going to get surplus. Surplus dries up, that’s just how it works. Since it dries up, it costs money to get what people can find. So the days of 75-dollar AKs and SKS rifles are gone forever. When this stuff pops up now, we do what we can to get it.

This brings me to my gun of the week.

Really Cool, I know it’s not the same model but it always reminds me of Indiana Jones.

Check them out before they are gone!

-Cano

I have been posting about our EDC/Pocket Dump setups and it’s been all the guys carrying. This week I wanted to take a look at what the office mom carries.

Autumn has chickens and she loves her chickens… I expected her to have some sort of chicken or baby chick in her bag. That and snacks… because I like snacks and I was hoping she had some in the bag.

Autumn is running her M&P Shield with an extra magazine and plans on upgrading to the new Shield Plus. This may frighten you but she carries a screwdriver as well, she said “A knife is ok, a screwdriver is personal” and then shouted, “catch me on D-Block bruh!” Once she sheds her inner gangster she goes right into mom mode. Cellphone/keys sure but an apple for a snack! We have lotion and bandaids and her wallet. Now, this obviously is not her pocket carry, but unless you want her to shank you this will be her post!

-Cano

I am sure by now you are familiar with Eli and the events at the Indiana mall. A person of evil decides to harm innocent lives, Eli stepped in without thinking and ended the threat before more lives could be lost.

40-50 yards from concealment. 10 shots with 8 hits in under 15 seconds. There are some that say he was braced, some say he was walking in towards the threat. Either way, it’s damn fine shooting under the highest stress possible for a civilian. Nobody knows for sure but he reportedly used a Glock, and seeing ten shots makes me think 43x or 48. If that is the case it makes what he did even more impressive.

I was watching videos of people running his drill this weekend and I noticed nobody had done it under elevated heart rate like the adrenaline Eli would have been having. So I hopped in the car and went to the range to try it out.

I ran 50ish yards and back with ten burpees to get my heart rate up as high as I could, 153ish is what I could get that quick. The first run, was cold except for the cardio I just did. 8/10 shots 11:11 with a horrible draw. Eli didn’t get to use an excuse of a horrible draw but I am. Still passed and they are lower torso shots so the stomach and intestine areas, not an easy area to repair so I will take it.

Second attempt: 9.86 8/10. I did not have a round chambered so I sped everything up. Always carry with one in the chamber! I am more ok with this one, still mid-thorasic hits. I am shooting and not accounting for the distance like I should. Still a pass and that threat should be down.

I went on Instagram live and completely failed when I moved to shooting steel. 4/10 and it was just sloppy.

For redemption I went to my personal carry ammo. Decided to make it as real as I could.

9/10 hits at 9.41. I will take that all day.

Sure I didn’t get all A zone and didn’t bother calculating hit factors cause 1. I don’t care, that’s for nerds that keep score. 2. In a situation where my life is on the line, I will take stomach hits, arm hits, hand, face. A hit is a hit and if it stops the threat, I call that a perfect score.

Here is the video for you to check out if you want to. Go train!

One of our employees took her first pistol class this last weekend. These are her thoughts:

Hello all, Autumn here! This past weekend I had the honor of participating in a pistol 1 class at Impact Shooting Center and I truly do not think I can put the experience into words, but I will give it my best shot. 

1. What is your prior firearm experience?

Working in the firearms industry, over the past 5 years, I would consider myself street smart when it comes to a firearm, how they work, the components of one, and how to operate the trigger. My range and behind-the-trigger time used to be weekly, about 5 years ago, but that was completely self-taught with the assistance of my sister and brother-in-law; outside of that, I have had very little prior firearm experience.  Going into this class I was looking to sharpen what I thought I knew and it turns out it wasn’t as much as I thought. 

2. What firearm were you shooting?

I took my Smith & Wesson M&P 9 Shield, with iron sights, to this class and it proved to be a headache, but hey! It’s the gun I am currently carrying so I decided that I should practice with what I’m carrying. This handgun had two magazines, one 7-round magazine, and one 8-round magazine; luckily, another AIM employee showed up and had 3 extra magazines for me to borrow, which definitely helped with how much reloading I had to complete. My other conundrum was that I am left-handed and my handgun is an older model and did not have the capability of switching the mag and slide release.

3. What did you hope to learn going into this class?

All these handicaps aside, going into this class I was really hoping to learn how to be in better control of my firearm and have more confidence behind the trigger.  Even though I am comfortable around firearms when it comes to conceal carry I lacked the confidence. So I was hoping that I could gain the confidence and control through some training and instruction.

4. What was your biggest takeaway from the class?

My biggest takeaway was my grip and even though I thought I was holding my firearm the correct way and applying the right amount of pressure, with the correct hand; I was actually not. 

5. What area did you improve the most?

My grip and stance are where I improved the most.  Shane took a portion of the class to explain the differences between the fight stance and the isosceles stance and how these two stances affect the body’s movement when pushed upon in different directions. Then he took another portion of the class and explained grip and arm extensions and how when you correct your grip and hold your arms out at the right extension, without your arms being locked, you have a more secure grip and are in more control of your firearm.  With these couple of little tweaks to what I thought I knew, my shooting became significantly better.

6. Is there anything you thought you would learn but did not?

Shane covered everything and more. I left the class feeling infinitely more knowledgeable than when I went I entered. 

7. How do you think the instructors did?

The instructors did awesome! They didn’t let anything get past them; the moment I started slinking back into my old ways they were right there reminding me.  My favorite instructor was BFlann Superstar! 

8. Are you interested in taking more classes?

I would love to take more classes, I feel like this intro class has given me the desire to grow and become a better shooter. There is nothing more rewarding than a day’s worth of hard work and you see the hard work paying off, just after a few short hours. 

9. Do you practice anything you learned in class? Like dry fire or grip?

I have practiced since the class with my grip, but truly I probably have not practiced enough.

10. How did you like your first class?

I loved my first class and am truly grateful for AimSurplus, Bryan, Peter, Josh, and James that pushed me to go and get started past entry-level gun ownership! 

Sometimes I like to switch it up and carry something other than my normal m&p setup. Today was one of those days.

Let’s start at the top left, arguably the most important part of the carry. The black cold brew coffee. It fuels the soul. Then you have my HellBent front pocket wallet and my keys. We have some AimSurplus grape chapstick. My Hellbent “bottle opener”. Kershaw Shuffle 2 knife so I don’t have to worry about breaking or losing an expensive knife plus they are nice. Front and center we have my LV ghetto camo print holster from NorthCoast Tactical and that is holding my STI 2011 4.0 Tactical that is ported and an SRO. The only things you really need.

-Cano

This past weekend a group of AIM employees got to hang out and shoot some guns at Impact Shooting Center. 2 of us took the class. Pete helped teach and earned the 3rd ever Impact Shoot 2 patch! The infamous Josh Vance took awesome pictures of everyone. Bryan helped instruct and almost died from the heat. I helped when needed, shot a little, and then brought 4 guns home at lunch to repair before class ended.

If you are new to pistols or it’s been a while and you want a refresher, take a class with Shane. You will leave a better shooter, fully comfortable with your firearm and part of a shooting community.

Here are some pictures that I took:

And here are pictures from Josh Vance that are real pictures.

-Cano

There was a meeting at work with the fancy kids. The Flux Raider boys brought their toys to work.

The flux brace takes a sig p320 and makes it into a cool little setup that is giving you the third point of contact, making your pistol shoot more like a rifle.

This lets you have a cool little backpack setup and it’s a Sig that will run reliably so you do not have to worry about it.

-Cano

Do you hate Josh Vance? You should. Most people do. It’s a lifestyle #Ihatejoshvance

Here is his EDC:

Josh is always shooting pictures whether you want him to or not. kidding… kind of… He’s got his Canon on him ready to go.

He’s got his trusty Glock 19x with SRO, Apex Trigger, and x300 wrapped in a Tier1 Axis Elite.

His Kizer knife and Streamlight flashlight keep him ready at all times.

I enjoy most his Wendy’s frosty card. you never know when you need a frosty and having this card makes sure you will get one for free.

We have a ton of the colors from Lancer. Really great quality mags but also a great way to change up the color scheme and have some fun with your setups. I personally use Lancer mags to designate my subsonic .300 blackout rounds from supers. I pick up a Lancer I know it’s subsonic, but I still check to make sure because why not.

We also have a smoke, clear, and FDE Translucent but they don’t look as cool in the picture. Check em out!

-Cano