Target arrays on the Unknown Distance Rifle Range can be set to specific client requested parameters for multi-team day or night unknown distance oriented courses of fire or team competitions. Covered Elevated Precision Shooting Tower overlooks the UKD Rifle Range and this tower is a STABLE shooting platform. Range supports up to an 11 two-man team firing lines per relay.

UKD Range and EVSP targetry includes, but is not limited to:

• Steel Swingers
• Challenge Trees
• Breast Plates
• Head Plates
• Hotel / Tango Targets
• Special Effect Targets
• Static Vehicle Hulks on Request

Welcome to The Badlands Tactical Training Facility family y’all!

The post Unknown Distance Rifle Range Class 2019 appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

At the culmination of the course students walked away with the basic SWAT skills needed to become a successful entry level tactical operator. More importantly they will have the confidence and mindset needed to apply those skills within a Basic SWAT team environment.

Welcome to the family brothers, and thank you for what each of you bring to our community!

Learn more about 5 Day SWAT training.

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Awesome job team! Welcome to The Badlands Tactical family!

This 2-day course continues to be our flagship self-defense course. We don’t want anyone to be a victim! This is a fast paced 2-day class to learn the skills needed to survive a violent encounter. When the bad guys choose to attack you, they expect you to be submissive and comply. This course will teach you to DESTABILIZE them and buy yourself precious time for your defense.

The post Confrontational Dynamics – What A Great Crew! appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

We can’t pay anyone but we will sure feed you lunch and supper on Saturday and will give everyone who shows up a certificate good for any class we offer or a couple days private training! Anything you can do will help so don’t worry if you don’t think you can help with the roof, there is lots of work for everyone.

We hope to see you then and thank you for your support!

The post New Building Work Weekend! appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

The saga began when I found a place on my farm to put up a new target at about 620 yards. Although I could score hits, elevation and wind settings just seemed off; not by much, but something felt odd. I made appropriate notes in the data book and moved on.

Several weeks later I placed a new target at 700 yards, set up the dope and fired – no tell-tale ping. Re-adjusted the wind turret and sent another round – again no tell-tale ping. On the third shot I saw dust kick-up low-right. Made the necessary dope corrections and finally heard “ping”. Problem was the elevation was 1.25 MOA higher than my base-line 700 yard dope and wind dope was 2.5 MOA left which was simply not justified by the actual wind. Clearly something was wrong with this picture!

A few days later I went out just after daylight when there was zero wind to again try 700 yards. Used the 700 yard base-line elevation with zero wind and promptly missed low-right. Then I used the earlier dope and heard the familiar “ping”. I thought, “Ok my 100 yard zero has shifted” so I went to the 100 yard target. Guess what, 100 yard zero was good. Welcome to the disease; scope reticle cant!!

Reticle cant is different than rifle cant. If the vertical stadia of the reticle does not coincide with the vertical center line of the rifle bore, the reticle is canted and the scope needs to be rotated inside the rings.

Rifle cant is when the rifle, with the scope, is tilted to the side when firing. Sniper magazine, published in 2011, has an excellent article about cant which states 2.5 degrees of cant will shift the point of impact by 3 inches at 400 meters and by 7 inches at 600 meters.

Back to the problem at hand; how to rotate the scope reticle to line up with the rifle bore center line? This was not an easy problem to solve.

In an ideal situation you can hang a plumb bob on colored string at a distance of 50 plus yards, level the gun and rotate the scope until the vertical stadia is aligned with the string.

In my case, leveling the gun was a big problem because there is not a flat spot anywhere on the gun or the scope. After a long struggle I finally got the gun in a reasonably level position and could see the vertical stadia was tilted to the right about 3/8 of a mil. Loosened the scope rings and rotated to scope.

Now back to the 700 yard firing point to try again. This time the original dope worked and I heard the familiar ‘ping’.

Some of you may say “We all know the vertical stadia must line up with the barrel centerline. What’s new here?” Nothing new at all – except the problem is easily masked in wind calls and range estimations when shooting at the longer distances.

I am really glad I kept everything in my data book so I could refer back when something just did not seem right. Without having kept good data from all the various ranges – Badlands, etc. , I would never have suspected any problem whatsoever. I simply would have just chalked up the experience to wind call errors and/or range estimation errors.

One last point – there is the possibility that all your dope is based on a scope reticle that is slightly canted. As long as the scope stays in this position everything will work just fine; although wind and elevation dope will be different from that of a non-canted reticle. However, dope is unique to every rifle/scope setup, so if it is working for you, leave it alone.

Thanks to our family member Trace Maker for this article!

The post Rifle, Scope & Reticle Cant– The Disease appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

…I nearly lost my fucking mind.

People ask me why I don’t teach legalize in any of my classes (except for some case law, usually reserved for the LE family). I explain that actually I do teach a lot of legalize, just not a lot of statutory legalize. I teach that if you are in fear of your life, or fear for the life of another then you can AND SHOULD use deadly force to stop that fear. I teach what constitutes being in fear for your life, what kind of weapons and items should cause that fear, what those weapons and items can do to you or another to cause that fear and how to determine if that fear is REASONABLE. We talk about imminent and immediate danger. We talk about the Five Arenas Of Combat and how they relate to our “Survival” discussing at length that surviving isn’t reliant on the pulling of the trigger alone. We talk about where in a civilized society does property trump human life in our priorities of life. And I teach that most of the time our evil little friend Ego, gets us in a lot of trouble.

But I don’t cite statute or ordinance numbers. I don’t tell students when they should “shoot the dirtbag”. I don’t play the expert and expound that if he is doing this, you can do that or tell you that you’ll “be covered” if you do such and such a thing based on a law. Why don’t I? Well, for a lot of reasons. First, I’m not an attorney or a judge and although I do have a lot of knowledge and experience with things legal, a student taking action on my interpretation of a law might get us both in a mess. Second, not all my family of students comes from where I do, and laws are different in different places. But lastly, and maybe most importantly, I don’t teach legalize because responsible gun owners don’t need it. Here’s my thinking; if you are looking for a legal reason–a permission slip as it were–to shoot somebody, then you are already outside the boundaries of responsible gun ownership. You are an aberration, an anomaly and you are wrong on many levels. On the other hand, if you are left with no other choice but to rely on shooting someone to save your life or that of another, if you have though about other options and knew they weren’t going to work or the bad guy kept you from them, if you have no other choice but to kill or be killed (paraphrase as you will) and then you use your gun, then you are just.

I recently attended a training event where a very well pedigreed…uh, I mean credentialed lawyer presented his version of protecting gun owners from criminal prosecution. He continually presented fairly complex legal concepts, in the form of state statutes, and how they would protect his new “clients” if needed. I must tell you, he was a rather spectacular speaker and I even caught myself nodding my head yes and wondering if I should put him on retainer. However, common sense got the best of me and when he asked if there were any questions I queried him as to his prosectorial experience. “Sir, I noticed that you have a very impressive record during your years as a prosecutor.” I led with. “Thank you” he replied as he began to explain his awesomeness in a jury trial. I felt myself shift my weight to the outside of my feet as I am prone to do when I know I’m about to jump in, “So sir, I’ve heard you tell all of us how under these statutes you can protect us from any liability, and that if we do end up in court in front of a jury, we will be ok.” He said “Yes, absolutely.” (remember that word please) Time to set the hook…”so regarding your exemplary prosecutorial record, would you say that every time that a jury retired to deliberate a case you had presented, you knew without a doubt that they would come back in your favor?” Wow, he didn’t see it coming, never lead with your chin folks. He arrogantly replied, “Of course not, anybody who has been in the business as long as I have can tell you; you never know what a jury is going to do.” bump, set, spike…game over!!! He actually almost caught himself in mid sentence, he just couldn’t shut up fast enough, but the look on his face made it clear he got the point, and so did the rest of the crowd.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think that a strong legal base of knowledge and a stronger legal team are critical to our journey to becoming professional gun owners. But it really gets stuck in my craw to hear that as long as I do something under such and such law, then I will be ok. That is simply not true. And we segue into the Huffington post article;

How in the hell does any right minded, PROFESSIONAL gun owner find it appropriate to set a trap for someone to come into their home and then justify taking their life? Should we be led to believe that Markus Kaarma and Byron Smith truly felt that they were forced to resort to shooting someone because their lives were in imminent and immediate danger? Paul Ryan, Kaarma’s attorney said “Kaarma didn’t intend to kill Dede. “He was scared for his life. It shouldn’t be up to a homeowner to wait and see if (an intruder) is going to shoot him when he announces himself,” Actually, and taken at face value I agree with that last sentence, and I think this is the principal that the “Castle Doctrine” etc. is based upon, that a citizen of this country should not have to retreat from within his home to prove that he was in fear. But for fuckssake, Kaarma left his house, went outside and shot back INTO the garage “sweeping the garage with three low shots and a fourth high shot”. Exactly where in this is the fear?

I see in all of this a blossoming trend of us creating our own fantasies of what the bad guys are going to do to us, and then using a blanket of legal authority to justify our actions BEFORE an incident even occurs. We know that most force type litigation is based upon the perception of the shooter at the time of the incident. What the shooter felt was going to happen to them if they didn’t shoot right then. So it becomes a very difficult situation I think because we all know that we certainly don’t want our actions being second guessed any more than they already are. But by the same token, there has to be some transparency to actions leading up to the event. Let’s look at the situation handled in two very different ways: I can see a huge difference in a situation where a homeowner–after a burglary–buys a gun for protection, installs extra locks and lighting and, while on the phone to 911 and barricaded in their bedroom shoots an intruder. That is a professional gun owner. On the other hand, when a homewner moves their vehicle to make it look like no one is home, prepares their self with food and water and records them self telling the people he shot that “you’re dead” and “you’re dying” that is a criminal, and obviously a black eye to all professional gun owners in this country.

But what do we think is the actual difference? I mean, what does one have that the other didn’t? I think I can sum it up pretty quick, Ego. That little dude gets us in all amounts of trouble doesn’t it? He is the voice in our head that tells us that a human life is not worth as much as our purse is. Does that really make sense? To kill someone for stealing our purse? Or our TV? Of course it doesn’t and most of us, absent our EGO, will agree with that. But as I alluded to earlier, I think we get ourselves in situations where we create a possibility that a crime is going to be committed against us and then formulate a response. Tragically that response often ends with the probability of us shooting someone as 1. Meaning that that is the only response we favor, and we continue to justify it to ourselves by using statutory law reinforcing that we CAN shoot someone under that circumstance. I will submit that this may be the difference in an amateur gun owner, and a professional gun owner.

I think that as we all continue to mature and progress into a state of professionalism as gun owners, we must continue to recognize what professionalism is and what it isn’t. Although that may be slightly different from one of us to another I do believe there are some similarities that most of us desire. I hope that none of us want to be featured in the Huffington post for murdering a couple of stupid kids. Rather, I would hope that any of us that are forced to use our guns to defend ourselves will be able to say that we did so only as we realized it was the only action left for our survival.

Finally, as you all know I think training is key. A lot of training, not only on that pesky tactical load technique, but on how to run away, how to hide, how to not get blocked in at a gas station etc. All too often as amateurs we get caught up on the technicality of the gun and what cool gadget we need next. But as professionals that changes, and evolves us to where we can use the gun, and well. But only if we have to. So train hard, train real….and come shoot!

– Rich

The post Are you an amateur? Or, a Professional? appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

Make no mistake, I fully support the 2nd amendment, I am a law-abiding citizen, and to be honest I think that anyone in this country who wants to should be able to own, buy and carry any firearm they wish. I don’t think that our government should have any say in that matter other than our constitution grants the right.

Now wait you say, how is that supporting gun control? My support for gun control comes from my belief that the answer to gun violence is not government control, but rather personal and social accountability. Gun crimes, gun violence and gun negligence are not a symptom of the gun rather they are a symptom of the person using the gun. I find it interesting that if we remove the word gun from any of those situations we still have gun crime, gun violence and gun negligence. Have we as a society become so accustomed to a lack of common sense that we actually believe that if we take away the gun, then we take away the crime?

Crime, violence and negligence are systemic problems in our society. They are a symptom of so many failed systems. Our public education system, our criminal justice system, our entitlement system are all corrupt-perhaps not maliciously, but corrupt all the same because they don’t work-at some level. These things do not revolve around a tool, in this case a gun, any more than they do around any other tool, a knife, a hammer, a vehicle, or whatever tool is used to further a crime, violence or negligence.

So where does the solution lie? I know I mentioned that personal and social accountability is the answer. I think that as soon as it is no longer “sensational” to commit an act of violence with a gun and be a star on all the major media outlets then we will start to see a change. I think what should be “sensationalized” is the parent who left their gun accessible to a child or the person who left a gun unsecured in their vehicle, only to be stolen. The person “cleaning their gun” who shoots a hole through their neighbors bedroom wall? That should be sensationalized with the goal of those acts no longer being status quo. I realize that sounds a little harsh, it should. We as a society don’t fear punishment. We know this because of the obvious failure of the death penalty in stopping capital crimes. I mean, if people are not afraid of being put to death, then who thinks they are going to be scared of not being responsible with their gun? But in this society people are afraid of public humiliation and social scorn. A cultural or paradigm shift is what is going to be necessary to change gun crime, gun violence and gun negligence. And tragically this is not the kind of “immediate gratification” fix that our society today strives for.

This is a complex problem, I hope a lot of you will weigh in and start some good discussion here!!!

The post What’s gonna fix it? appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

So what do you guys think about the Zimmerman verdict? As far as the verdict, it went the way I thought it would. Especially after watching some of the State’s case. They really did not do a very good job, from a legal standpoint.

But I really think this whole incident drives home many of our philosophies. Regardless of your political ideals or how you thought the jury should have returned, there were some major points getting proved in this case.

Mainly that many many times even if something is legally just, maybe even morally just….the price is way too high. Clearly the decisions Zimmerman made forced the end result. But could he really foretell that much of the future? You’ve all heard us say it time and time again “if it is predictable, it is preventable”. It just begs the question of how much is too much. Should Zimmerman have stayed in his vehicle? Or not got involved at all? So what if he didn’t? And Trayvon Martin had in fact committed a crime? The what if’s are insurmountable in this case aren’t they.

But is the bottom line truly that at the moment of Zimmerman’s action he felt like he was going to die? Or is the bottom line that Zimmerman, by his actions prior to pulling the trigger, created the situation where the shooting was inescapable, destined to occur, a probability of 1? None of us can do anything but speculate on that and let me tell you, I’m very glad this jury basically refused to get drawn into that argument. It would have become a dark day for this country and how our legal system looks at use of force by it’s citizens. But how far off in the future is that argument? We are obviously already seeing again and again juries looking into “pre-incident” indicators. It may be slightly opaque right now but the window that our system is using to observe citizens use of force is certainly becoming more and more transparent toward them looking at the “before’s” to see if they equal and justify the “end’s”.

In classes when we discuss the 5 arenas of combat, we really hit home some of these issues. Zimmerman is a poster child for that block of instruction isn’t he? In hindsight, do you think he would make the same decisions he did prior to shooting Martin? To think about the issues he has faced since the shooting, which he has been cleared of, makes me shudder. How dramatically life changed for him and his family, not to mention the tragedy the Martin family will have to face the rest of their lives.

I am certainly not using this forum to show support for or against, or to say right or wrong on either party. But I am using it to ask you to keep using those great brains of yours and to continue to be heads-up shooters. Don’t decide that since you can use and choose to carry a gun, your probability of using it is 1. That you are stuck with that option. Every situation has tens if not hundreds of outcomes based on very rapidly changing circumstances. Make you’re ability to survive the probability of 1, the guarantee. If you must use the gun to support that then so be it, but remember your brain, your instinct and your ability to move are the tools you will survive because of, the gun just supports them, not the other way around.

Come Shoot!!

–Rich

The post The Verdict? appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

So who carries your pistol with you? No, not now and then. I mean all the time? Every place you are legally (and maybe even when that is questionable) justified to carry? How about in your home? Do you carry a pistol on you when you are in your house or your yard? Church? Of course you do, because we all know that bad things can happen anywhere and at anytime right?

The question I am thinking of is; why not? What possible reason would motivate someone in this day and age from NOT carrying within their legal means? Think about it, we make a major investment in order to be able to carry a handgun. They cost money to buy, shoot, clean and hide on our person. We invest our time researching laws, getting training, talking to “subject matter experts”. We invest our emotions analyzing our faith, our beliefs and values and reaching the conclusion that we are in the minority who will take another persons life in defense of our own or another person. We invest in our families, teaching them gun safety, immediate action plans and where the safe room is. That all makes our pistol ever so powerful.

And yet, some days we just leave that pistol laying and go about our business. So, do you have a back-up plan if things go sour? Are you “committed to the fight” so to speak? Or did all your expectations of courage and bravery get left behind with the “gat”?

Here’s the point; in the right hands, with the correct mindset that pistol is one of the greatest tools ever created and utilized by mankind. However, it is simply that. A tool, nothing more. The real weapon is that warrior who is carrying the pistol. And if that warrior is of the correct mindset, and is who we consider the “right hands”–AND IS WITHOUT THEIR PISTOL–then they will still make the right decisions and take the correct actions. Whether that decision is to fight, or run, or observe, or help is not the issue. The issue is that our warrior will do SOMETHING for the better, something for the good of the people or the moment, something that many of us expect ourselves to do but when faced with the situation-fail to do.

Too many people in our community don’t have that warrior within them. Yeah, they carry a gun. They may even be good with it. But what happens when the fight comes to them and they don’t have the tool? Sure, their expectation is that their warrior is going to answer the call. But many times they see their pistol as the warrior and have failed to train their selves to function without it! That person is relying on what they expect to happen instead of what they have trained to happen. Remember; we don’t rise to the level of our expectations. Instead, we fall to the level of our training.

I get asked a lot at the beginning of a class. “When are we going to the range, how many rounds for today?” I’m always amused at the looks I get when I answer “in a while, we’re gonna talk about philosophy first”. But inevitably by the end of the class that same student comes up and tells me that they never realized that there is a before and an after, not just the during of the fight and that they have a lot to think about. I like to think that those simple words, “I have a lot to think about” is the birth of their warrior. That student came to class expecting to use their pistol to become a warrior, but hopefully left, preparing their self to be the warrior making the pistol just the tool it is.

So where is your warrior? At home with your pistol? Hiding under your expectations? Or is he out here, everyday? Training, planning, wondering what would happen if….and what he would do about it?

If you’re here, reading this….your warrior is alive and hunting. That’s good, that’s very good! Keep him strong!

Come shoot!!!!

– Rich

The post Peace Warrior appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.

I got to thinking about this during a recent carbine class, how many people treat their firearms, defense, and tactics training as simply a diet? You know what I’m talking about, in fact most of us-myself included-have probably gone on the latest wonder diet or meal plan in order to knock off a few of those pesky pounds. When I was a detective sergeant, and made sure I never missed a burrito break, I weighed nearly 230 pounds and was a mess physically. Every time I decided to get the weight off and get back in shape I’d buy the latest fitness dvd or buy a gym membership. Supplements, workout machines, magazines were a constant drain to my finances. Sure, most of them had some effectiveness toward my goals, I lost some weight or gained some strength. I figured I just needed to work harder, sweat more, put on some road miles and spend more money on stuff to keep me in shape. But no matter how much money I spent, any weight loss or fitness gain was soon lost because I became satisfied that I was approaching my goals and didn’t need to work as hard toward them. Soon, there I was right back at the taco stand, not going to the gym, drinking dark beer instead of running a couple of miles. Sure, the diets worked, sure the Soloflex machine built muscles and the latest coolest running shoes helped me put on the miles. But as soon as the diet got boring, or the Soloflex became a clothes hanger and the shoes stood a chance of getting wet from running in the rain, I would go right back to being out of shape and looking for something to get me where I wanted to be and right now. I was on that famous “diet roller coaster” and didn’t realize it. Later in life I discovered that things like proper nutrition and regular exercise were far far better for me that dumping a lot of money or sweat into the latest loose weight now fad.

So what does that have to do with shooting and gun stuff? Well, you guessed it, it’s exactly the same. I’ve seen so many people spend a bunch of money on the latest and coolest gear to make them shoot better. Then they dump a bunch more money into an expensive course or school where they are taught some damn cool stuff that they can do with guns, which they start to forget within about 48 hours of their check clearing the bank. Then they are sent off just to be replaced with the next crop of folks who are trying to buy their way to their goals. Now, don’t get me wrong….there is nothing wrong with spending money to help you achieve your goals. But honestly how many people who buy the latest video for CrossFit or P90X or the newest nordic-flex-bow-kettle gizmo actually meet AND maintain their goals with that equipment or plan? The answer is easy and you have to look no further than CraigsList or Ebay to see how many used fitness machines and exercise books/videos are on the market. How many people actually renew their gym membership because they have used it all year? Not many.

Which brings me to the point. How do we make firearm training, safety, tactics etc a lifestyle, not just a diet. Learning to shoot and shoot safely and responsibly should be a lifestyle choice, just like proper nutrition and regular exercise. Protecting yourself and your family has to be a constant state of vigilance, not a SlimFast shake. But instead they often seem to be treated like the latest fad diet-get results now, now, now. But then what? Do people expect that the very technical skills they learned at the pistol class they took will still be with them tomorrow? Or next week? Or next year? No one knows when those skills are gonna be needed and I can promise you one thing, technical skills are very perishable and degrade immediately without continued and dedicated practice.

This is one of the main reasons we promote basic skills at Badlands. I tell students all the time that there is no such thing as “High-Speed, Low-Drag” but rather the best of the best simply employ the basic skills perfectly, every time. EVERY TIME. That is why when we are your instructors we pick on the every little detail, why we train until each student has it right, and why we stay away from the coolest new gizmo or trick from the latest action movie. We believe that a “brilliance in the basics” is what makes us and you successful. Whether that success is taking a trophy Ram, or having the highest ‘X” count, or maybe it is making it home to your family from a long patrol shift or getting your team back to base or stopping the armed criminal from getting through your back door. Those successes are why we choose to do what we do.

So please, make some lifestyle choices that will keep you fit and healthy physically….but then apply those same choices and attitudes to your decisions about firearms, tactics and safety. Make them a lifestyle that you can live with. Buy good equipment that will work and not break, get a good solid foundation of training conducted by professionals. Then commit to continuing that training and always working to better yourself.

Remember, at Badlands you are all part of our family. And this is the lifestyle of our family, to shoot, train, discuss, we even argue and bitch!!! But most of all, to stay at it, to keep getting better and to keep you motivated to train and learn!!

Come Shoot!!

–Rich

The post A Diet? Or, Lifestyle? What is your training to you? appeared first on Badlands Tactical in Grandfield OK.