COMBAT SHOOTING

TRUE STORIESCARRY A GUN.A REAL-LIFE TUELLER DRILLA man shot a neighbor after she attacked him with a butcher knife.Tyrone Woodard fired two warningshots into the ground when CandiceHughes threatened him in his yard. Shestill charged at him with the knife. Woodard then shot Hughes in the lowerabdomen, and Hughes retreated to herhome, where police discovered her andsent her to the hospital. Her conditionis unknown.Macon.com Macon, GAWRONG GUY TO JACKA Toledo man was killed after tryingto rob a permit holder. Victor Wigginsdied in the hospital around 30 minutes after being shot, police said. Hisintended victim, Rahmaad Jones, wassitting in his car when three males approached and stuck a gun in his face.Jones drew his .40 caliber handgun, anda brief shootout followed. Wiggins wasshot twice. Jones was uninjured.Toledo Blade Toledo, OHMAN BEATEN BY WOMANHE TRIED TO AIDA permit holder kept a victim frombeing stomped to death by the womanhe was trying to help. The victim wasoutside Falsetta’s Market in Ann ArborLUCKILY, AN ARMEDMOTORIST SAWTHE INCIDENT.IT WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE.told him to mind his own business, andleft with the woman. The victim thenwent into a nearby store, called the police and then left in his car.A few minutes later at a red light,the victim said the man in the van approached him and began yelling.The victim exited his vehicle, wherehe was then punched in the head andforced to the ground. Two women, onebeing the one he tried to help earlier,exited the van and began to hit and kickhim.Luckily, an armed motorist saw theincident, stopped and held the trio atgunpoint until police arrived. The officers determined the motorist had a legal permit and was only trying to help.The attackers were arrested, and thevictim was not seriously injured.The Ann Arbor News Ann Arbor, MIGUN VS. BASEBALL BATIt is not known what prompted theincident, but two vehicles were at at theFredricksburg Road intersection in SanAntonio when one of the drivers exitedand attacked the other with a baseballbat.The victim responded by shooting his attacker twice. The attackerdied at the hospital. Neither person’s identity has been released.Police say the armed citizen had a license to carry a concealed weapon andwill not immediately face charges, as itappears he acted in self-defense.KSAT News San Antonio, TCGUN VS. AXEwhen he spotted a man arguing with awoman and trying to shove her insidea van.The victim asked if everything wasokay, and told the woman she didn’thave to leave with the man. The manPolice responded to the Safewaystore on Cottonwood Street to discoverJames Keith Orsini, 47, deceased frommultiple gunshots.What prompted the incident is stillunder investigation, but a confronta-tion with James Sherman King, 59, apparently started on the road and continued into the store lot.Mr. Orsini approached Mr. King witha raised axe, and that’s when Mr. Kingshot him twice.Cottonwood P.D. Cottonwood, AZDON’T ROB THIS STORECharlie Merrell, age 51, was in thecheckout line at his local IGA grocerystore when Dwain Smith, 19, jumpedonto a counter and pointed a .380 at astore employee.The robber demanded money, andthat’s when Merrell drew his handgunand demanded the robber put downhis weapon. When the robber hesitated,Merrell racked the slide on his gun tochamber it. The robber then placed hisgun and the stolen cash on the counter,removed his mask, and lay on the floor.Merrell held the man at gunpoint until officers arrived. Police say he had avalid handgun permit.Indianapolis Star Indianapolis, IADON’T MESS WITH TEXASMalcolm Abner, 28, and MichaelWest, 33, were wounded after allegedlytrying to burglarize a modular homedealership in Austin.Chester Stacey, 32, told police thetwo men came at him when he wentto investigate possible thieves on hisfather’s business property.A responding officer found Staceypointing his 9mm handgun at the oneof the men. The other man had run offafter being shot, but later approachedand surrendered to the officer.No charges have yet been filed,and police are still searching for twoother men Stacey claimed were on theproperty.Courier-Journal Austin, TXHow would you have handled situations like these? Discuss scenarios and more online in theusconcealedcarry.com forums. Familiarize yourself with your local and state laws regarding self defense.MAY/JUNE 2008 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COM7

THE ORDINARY GUYCloseup of AkinsAcceleratorwith shroudmuzzleboosterprotoype.MR. BILL AKINS ANDTHE AKINS ACCELERATOR[ B Y M A R K W A LT E R S ]For those of you who may nothave heard of Mr. Bill Akins,simply put, he is a genius.He is a man with ideas that mostof us could never conjure up inour wildest dreams. Mr. Akinsis an inventor, a gifted man with ideasand dreams along the lines of Mr. JohnBrowning, Dr. Richard Gatling, and Mr.Samuel Colt. In my book, that’s prettysolid company!A recent edition of the Tampa Tribunepublished a story about Mr. Akins andone of his inventions as well as his plightinvolving the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). I readhis story with fascination and was incredibly impressed with his fortitude.Several telephone calls and a lengthyrecorded interview have allowed me tobring his incredible journey to the readers of CCM. You may wish to settle backnow with an adult beverage, or use whatever other means you use to relax as youread, for this extraordinary man’s plightwill anger you as a lawful gun owner.Mr. Akins has always been fascinatedwith rapid fire weapons, and spent yearsreading up on the inventors of such devices. He is a fan of old WWII vintage8television documentaries. While watching footage of US warships firing atJapanese Kamikaze aircraft, Mr. Akinstook notice of the barrel recoil on the UStwin cannons, noticing especially “howone would come back and then the otherwould come back.” He also observed thebarrel recoil on an old 1917 water-cooledBrowning machine gun from the frontview, and noticed that “the barrel wouldcome back a short distance within thewater jacket and then forward again.That, of course, is what operates theweapon, its recoil.”Mr. Akins wondered if (read this slowly), “the water jacket could be considereda stock, and if the barrel moved back ashort distance, compressed the springand then came back forward again, whycouldn’t you have any firearm that’s trigger attaches to the barrel receiver assembly where it’s all one unit, why couldn’tthat take the trigger back along with thebarrel, which would remove the triggerfrom your finger. If your finger was heldagainst a couple of ridges after it pulledthe trigger, your finger was then stationary. When the barrel came back underrecoil it would remove the trigger fromyour finger and then when the springpressed it back forward again, the triggerwould come back forward and contactyour finger again, functioning the trigger once again and firing the weapon.That’s how I actually got the idea. Thatwas in 1996.”Mr. Akins took an SKS rifle, somesprings from a Crossman BB gun anda Dremel tool, cleaned out the stock,drilled a hole, and—with a lot more intelligence than I have—tinkered somemore and, viola! He took the device outto a friend’s property where he set up avideo camera. Bill put his finger on thetip of the screw, “and when I did, it emptied the magazine at a rapid rate ofspeed although it functioned the triggeronce for each and every shot separately.I was quite happily surprised.” That wasthe beginning of the Akins Accelerator, adevice designed to rapid fire a semi-automatic weapon without turning it into amachine gun under current US law.Mr. Akins then contacted one of thenation’s leading firearm attorneys andasked him for a memorandum of adviceadvising that his device was not a machine gun, but merely a method for accelerating the rate of fire of a semi-automatic without turning it into a machineUSCONCEALEDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n MAY/JUNE 2008

gun under federal or state laws. Mr.Akins was told that his device fell underthe same category of some other similardevices that have the same functionality, such as the Hellfire. Having receivedthe information he requested, Mr. Akinswent forward with a patent search.As he puts it, “I went to the Universityof South Florida library and did what’sknown as a poor man’s patent search. Isearched all through the patent recordsand much to my surprise nobody hadone.” Mr. Akins then contacted a patent attorney in Ohio and had professional drawings of his device completed.He applied for a patent in 1998, and in2000 was granted his patent from the USgovernment. At this point, Mr. Akins hadspent approximately 10,000 of his ownfunds, not including his own time. Withpatent in hand, he began contacting various firearms manufacturers in searchof someone to build his device. Duringnot get it to fire more than one shot andthat it “wasn’t a machine gun.” Bill andhis partner inspected the returned stockand noticed that there was no damage asdescribed to them by the ATF. In fact, itappeared that the screws in question hadbeen intentionally removed and tapedto the stock. His theory is that the ATF“tried to make this not work.”Wanting more clarification, the partners again contacted the ATF and weretold that the Akins Accelerator was nota machine gun. The ATF agreed to putits findings in writing, which they did. Iwant everyone to hear me correctly: theATF put into writing their findings thatthe Akins rapid fire device was NOT amachine gun. They had written thatdespite the fact that the screws had dislodged, they fully understood its methodof operation and the device was not considered a machine gun.The letter from the ATF stating thatThe ATF put into writing theirfindings that the Akins rapid firedevice was NOT a machine gun.Tom Dotson shooting prototype SKS with Akins Accelerator.this time, his attorney introduced him tosomeone on the west coast who was interested in his device and its subsequentmanufacture. After lengthy discussions,the Akins Group, Inc. was formed inOregon.Based upon the patent application,Mr. Akins and his partner began prototyping. A metal prototype of an SKSrifle stock was made and sent to theBATFE (ATF). The ATF then evaluatedand tested the prototype and informedthe Akins Group, Inc. afterwards that thetest fire had resulted in “several screwscoming loose from the stock.” The ATFsent it back, claiming that they couldthe device was not a machine gun, andthe written statements that the ATF fullyunderstood the device’s method of operation, satisfied the Akins Group’s attorneys, so the partners proceeded withproduction. An engineer improved uponMr. Akins’s device slightly by reducingsome friction, which allowed the deviceto operate on a firearm that producedless recoil. The company then beganproducing the Accelerator using a Ruger10/22 stock. They sold around 200 of thedevices.It was recommended that the partnersbegin using injection molded stocks, andafter much discussion Mr. Akins put hisMAY/JUNE 2008 n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n USCONCEALEDCARRY.COMproperty up for a 65,000 loan to produce the molds. The Akins Group hada website, and also began marketing forseveral months in print ads. The injection molded Accelerators were sellingfantastically well. Things were lookingup and the company was “in the black”in a very short time.HERE COME THE FEDSThings were looking good. Sales of theAkins Accelerator were great. Then theAkins Group received a letter from theATF in which the company was ordered,under threat of prosecution, to “ceaseand desist” all sales and to turn over allinventory and their entire customer list.Keep in mind, the Akins group was notselling a firearm, only an ATF-approvedrapid fire firearm accessory. The ATF wasnow saying that the device that they hadtwice approved in writing as not being amachine gun was in fact a machine gun.Without a hearing of any kind, the ATFwas overruling their previous decision.Mr. Akins has his theories about whatcaused the ATF to reverse its original decision and who may have been responsible for the reversal. As this is now a legalcase, I will refrain from naming names.Mr. Akins and his partner, after receiving the ATF cease and desist letter, askedthe ATF for an explanation. They did notget one, and according to Mr. Akins, they(the ATF) “had dug in their heels.”The Akins Group attorney sent another letter to the ATF asking that theyplease review their previous findingsand find that the device does in factconform to the letter of the law, and reverse the decision which halted sales ofthe Accelerator. We can all guess whathappened next: The 14 page letter wasanswered with a one paragraph responsestating that the ATF noted the attorney’sargument but the ATF’s position had notchanged.With money running low, the AkinsGroup was having a difficult time paying a nationally recognized attorney. Butthe company pushed forward in its attempts to reason with the ATF. However,the ATF dragged its feet, taking monthsto respond, thereby effectively shuttingdown production while the Akins Groupwas drowning in a cesspool of strongarm government bureaucracy. Friction9

between the partners of the Akins Groupbegan to worsen, as Mr. Akins wantedto civilly disobey what he believed to beunlawful action by the ATF regarding thedisassembly of the device. There werethreats against them and their customers. The partnership and the companybegan to fall apart due directly to a government entity that does not appear tobe answerable to anyone.Bill Akins contacted his senators andUS representatives, “who would havelow level staffers respond with nothingmore than what the ATF had already toldus.” After complaining to his representative’s staff members, he was told thatthe office would no longer assist him. Ofcourse, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida hasan “F” rating from the NRA regarding hissupport of American’s firearms rights.Go figure.It is important to point out that the ATFapproved the device based, not upon thecaliber of the weapon upon which it wasinstalled, but upon the device’s “methodof operation.” Mr. Akins contends thatthe ATF was lying to the senator’s andcongresswoman’s offices, by telling themthe device it had approved was not thesame as the one the company was selling—when in fact it was.The ATF is holding its ground, unilaterally destroying a man and his companywith no compensation whatsoever, afterit had approved their product two yearsearlier. Bill now does not hear back fromhis congressional representative or hissenators. As he puts it, “Because it’s afirearms issue, they don’t want to touchthis issue with a ten-foot pole, especially because it’s a rapid-fire device.” TheNRA will offer no support for the samereasons, believes Mr. Akins. It appearseveryone is ”Chicken Little” about anydevice that goes rat-a-tat-tat-tat, eventhough it conforms to the letter of USlaw.The ATF did apologize to Mr. Akinsthrough congresswoman Ginny BrownWaite, admitting they had made a mistake, but they claimed their mistake wasthat the device should never have beenapproved in the first place. As Mr. Akinsputs it, “So we get no due process of law,no compensation or any hearing of anykind, just arbitrary action.”As it stands now, Mr. Akins and hispartner are no longer in business together. With the support of his wife, Mr.Akins has pushed forward in the face of arogue government agency which decidesto make law, rather than to enforce thelaws as Congress has written them.Through this whole fiasco, Mr. Akinshas been forced to the very edge of financial disaster. The action taken againstthe Akins Group by the ATF has cost Mr.Akins hundreds of thousands of dollarsand the last 12 years of his adult workinglife. Mr. Akins is now surviving on what’sleft of his life savings in his quest to rightthe wrongs perpetrated upon him. Hehas finally found an attorney willing totake on this bloated government agency. As I write this, Mr. Akins is pressingforward with his legal efforts against theATF and gets a “two thumbs up” fromme! I’ll keep everyone informed as thiscase winds its way through the cesspoolknown as the BATFE. nWHEN SURVIVALCOUNTS! NAA - .22 MagnumActual Size Shown* Highest quality rust resistantstainless steel* Original half-way notch safety cylinder.* Call or Write for your FREE Catalogfeaturing NAA’s complete line ofFirearms and Accessories.* LIFE TIME WARRANTYNORTH AMERICAN ARMS, INC.2150 S. 950 E. Provo, UT 84606-6285Toll Free EDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n MAY/JUNE 2008

3@CC PFL9 I 8;P@ K?@J LPJ?FNJ LG ?A 1 @A/7 A57/85 .18@?- Q e[a OM eUZS M XQ QRRQO UbQ SaZ TMZ e[acMZ [ Va [ e[a OMZ O[ZOQMX U .8-/7 ?A 1 @A/79M W 5 Va QOQUbQP Ye ?a\Q @aOW 0QXadQ T[X Q 5 TMbQ \QZ TaZP QP [R P[XXM X[[WUZS R[ TM \Q RQO 5C. T[X Q cU T XQ TMZ M U RMO [ e Q aX 5 Va R[aZP TQ \Q RQO [ZQ cU T e[a \ [PaO MZP M MN[a [ZQ TMXR TQ \ UOQ @TU T[X Q Z[ [ZXe » Ye 9 O[Y\MO Na MX [ Ye RaXX UfQ 9 5 U TMZP P[cZ TQY[ O[YR[ MNXQ T[X Q 5 TMbQ QbQ c[ Z 5 M S QM RQQXUZS [WZ[c 5 OMZ OM e M RaXX UfQ \U [X O[YR[ MNXe b M Y[a Q SaZ @TMZW R[ e[a S QM \ [PaO 8[a 2 9M MOTa Q 1-888-732-5011crossbreedholsters.comE[a [cQ U [ e[a QXR MZP T[ Q e[a X[bQ [ e M / [ . QQPT[X Q TQ Y[ O[ZOQMXMNXQ MZP O[YR[ MNXQ T[X Q MbMUXMNXQ @TQ XQM TQ NMOWUZS MO M M cQM TUQXP MZPO[ZR[ Y [ TQ Oa bQ [R e[a N[Pe cTUXQ NQUZS [bQ UfQPMZP \ QbQZ UZS TQ TMYYQ [ [ TQ M QM [R e[a SaZ R [YS[aSUZS MZP OTM»ZS @TQ WePQd U TMZP Y[XPQP MZP \ [bUPQ\XQZ e [R Q QZ U[Z cU T[a NQUZS [[ UST YQMZUZS Z[ M\ [ aZ ZM\ MZP X[c TQ P Mc @TQ Q T[X Q aOOQQP Qd QYQXe cQXX M NQUZS UZbU UNXQ O[YR[ MNXQ MZP QOa Q @c[ cQQW e U R QQ SaM MZ QQ XURQ UYQ cM MZ eCTe Z[ e M / [ . QQP [PMe 2MYUXe ;cZQP MZP ;\Q M QP 9MPQ UZ TQ A?-REEDCROSSBHOLSTERS

SIG SAUER ACADEMYPRINCIPLES OFPOINT SHOOTING[ BY GEORGE HARRIS ]As this is being written,the SHOT Show hascome to a close.Alot of new subject lines haveevolved from the multitude ofnew products on display to tantalize the attendees. Of great benefit to thewriters and trainers are the people thatthey meet and the conversations thatthey have regarding the various viewpoints on the industry. One of the topicsthat recurred daily was our concept andteaching methodology of point shooting at the Sig Sauer Academy.One of the most stimulating conversations that I had on the subject of pointshooting was with fellow ConcealedCarry Magazine columnist and psychology professional, Dr. Bruce Eimer.Bruce and his wife had stopped by theSig Sauer booth to see all of the new pistols, rifles and accessories on display.They did not realize that an area of thebooth was staffed with members of theAcademy training cadre dedicated exclusively to promoting the courses andseminars offered to armed professionaland responsible citizen customers.Once Bruce introduced himself and hiswife to me, it became apparent that wehad much to talk about. We had severalparallel interests in the world of firearmstraining. Yes, you guessed it! A majorpart of our conversation was centeredon point shooting and the techniquesthat we use at the Sig Sauer Academy toteach that method of shot delivery. Wequickly realized that our readers mightbenefit from our perspective, so Brucesuggested that I write in my columnSimply put, each ofus has been pointingat the objects of ourvisual attentionsince we werein the crib.about some of the key principles thatwe teach.What you are about to read is an example of an age-old concept called bymany names but not often understoodas to how it is brought to practice andwhy it works. Point shooting, instinctiveshooting, reflexive shooting, target focused shooting, index shooting, etc. arenames used to describe shooting meth-ods that do not rely on the front and rearsights to guide the shot to the target. I’mnot going to debate which of the abovetitles is better or more meaningful thanthe other but I’m going to tell you whatwe use and why we use it.In keeping with the SIG principle offirearms training, “Simple Is Good,” weuse the phrase point shooting to describe shot delivery techniques whichrequire minimal to no use of the sightsto successfully engage a target. Thesetechniques utilize an individual’s natural quality of eye/hand coordinationand vision control of both central andperipheral input to guide the bullet tothe target. Of course it always helps tohave a gun properly fitted to the shooter’s hand (covered in a previous article)to enhance the position of the muzzleon the target as the hand extends naturally to where the eyes are looking.Simply put, each of us has been pointing at the objects of our visual attentionsince we were in the crib. This is donewith both eyes open and with eitheror both hands. Anything that we lookat, we can point at. Look at the target,point at the target, shoot the target. It’sthat simple.Cultivating our peripheral vision andunderstanding how it enhances ourABOUT THE AUTHOR:George Harris has spent over 30years in the field of Adult Educationwith more than 17 years at the SIGSAUER Academy.He has focusedhis efforts in thearenas of smallarms, small armstraining and

May 05, 2016 · 357 MAG, 140 gr. FTX . . Item No. 92755 44 MAG, 225 gr. FTX . . . Item No. 92782 357 Mag 140gr. FTX (8" barrel) MUZZLE 50 yds 100 yds 150 yds Velocity (fps) 1440 1274 1143 1049 Energy (ft-lbs.) 644 504 406 342 Trajectory (inches) -0.9 2.2 0.0 -8.9 357 Mag 140gr. FTX (18" barrel) MUZZLE