Category: Podcasts

Great Detailed Match Report from Walt in PA

On By Tom LindsayIn Competition, Podcasts, USPSA1 Comment

This isn’t Walt, he does this a lot better.

I’m a little behind in my blog reading and podcast listening, but with the warm weather this weekend, I got to do a lot of yard work, and, thanks to noise-cancelling ear buds, catch up some on the podcasts.

In his most recent podcast, Walt White at Walt in PA talked about his first USPSA match of the year, and that led me to the collection of videos and stage debriefings on his blog.

I am a fiend for good descriptions of stages and how they are shot – visualization, planning, and the actual “Red Haze” shooting of the stage, and Walt really delivered. Check out the hat-cam video Walt provides. Coupled with his insightful and no-holds-barred self examination, I found it a really great read.

I am almost convinced that Walt and I are separated at birth. He doesn’t cut himself much slack in reviewing his performance, and neither do I.

On a related note, one of the other podcasts I listened to was Episode 254 of Down Range Radio with Michael Bane. Michael has been competing as long as there have been competitions, and this episode he talked about Winter Range, the big Cowboy Action Shooting match. He didn’t do as well as he thought he should have, or could have, either.

But he talked a lot about how the top shooters are able to shake off a bad stage, and go on to the next stage. Without that ability, they could easily let a poor performance take down their whole match.

I’ve been looking into this concept some, and I plan to write about it some more in the near future. In the meantime, I will take away the good and try to learn from the not-so-good.

A New Look at Empty Mags

On By Tom LindsayIn Blogs, Podcasts2 Comments

I may be late to the party, but check out the newly re-branded EmptyMags blog.

JP was one of the first gun bloggers to welcome me to the fold. He’s been a great source of information and entertainment both on his blog Eyes Never Closed, and on the Twitter.

He recently started the Empty Mags Podcast, and has now combined those efforts into a unified website. I’m glad – this will give me one place to go. Believe it or not, I try to read all those blogs listed on the right side at least once a week, many daily.

Podcast of the Week – The RoadGunner

On By Tom LindsayIn Podcasts

The Un-Named Trucker (r) and some other up and coming gun guy.
Photo courtesy of the Un-Named Trucker

Okay, I admit I am probably the last gun guy in America to discover the RoadGunner Podcast. But I’m here now, and that’s what counts.

Over the last year my gun podcast repertoire has expanded to cover the 30 plus mile commute that I face twice a day. I have gotten to where I listen to music maybe two or three afternoons, but beyond that my drive is taken up.

I started hearing about this new podcast called the RoadGunner, hosted by an over the road trucker. Okay. I’ve known a few over the road truckers in my time, so in my mind, this was a wonderful podcast full of stories of duck hunting and hog hunting and deer hunting and squirrel hunting and coyote hunting. I am not a hunter. So I held off.

Man, was I wrong.

After the Gun Dudes hosted Mas Ayoob’s MAG40 class out in Utah, they started talking about what a good guy this new podcaster was. He goes by the name The Un-Named Trucker, because he’s a trucker and he prefers to remain unnamed. He drives an over the road big rig, for a company whose policies prevent him from carrying a firearm for protection. I understand completely.

The man has a gift for talking about guns and shooting and self defense, as well as just about every other topic. This is understandable, since a trucker’s life is spent behind the wheel, and he has ample time to work out not only the solutions to all the world’s problems, but effective and memorable ways to express them. He records his show while driving through the lower 47 states of America. He doesn’t visit New Jersey.

From his first show, this podcast has not failed to entertain and inform. Since he visits so many places, he’s become an expert of sorts in the gun laws of the various states and locales. He knows where all the good gun ranges are, and, like any trucker, he knows where the best food is, so he includes a food review of some kind in every episode.

He is also a very good interviewer, and he uses that skill in a lot of the episodes. His interviews are very conversational, and I imagine this flows well from a trucker’s natural skills – someone who spends almost all his day in the cab of a truck would probably be a very good conversationalist once he got to talk to someone in person.

Since I am late to the party, I am going back and listening to the old shows. The RoadGunner Podcast is published every weekend (again, this makes sense, since this is when a trucker is home the most) so I can fit it into my schedule any day. This is definitely a welcome addition to my weekly rota.

The RoadGunner podcast is a member of the Gun Rights Radio Network, and is available for subscription on iTunes.

Podcast of the Week: Gunsmithing Radio

On By Tom LindsayIn Gunsmithing, Podcasts1 Comment

As I’ve spoken of many times, I like to fiddle around with my guns. I’m a certified Glock Armorer, and I own books on the SKS and Mossberg 500. But, I’m not a gunsmith by any stretch of the imagination.

That doesn’t stop me from becoming a really big fan of Fred Zeglin and his new podcast, Gunsmithing Radio.

This is a fairly new podcast, with 4 episodes so far. There doesn’t seem to be any set schedule. In fact, I just happened to notice a new episode on my iPod this morning.

In the first episode, Fred explains that Mark Vanderberg, the founder of Gun Rights Radio Network, approached him to start a podcast about gunsmithing. Fred has been a gunsmith for about 30 years, and he agreed. I’m glad he did.

Episode 1 begins with an explanation of gunsmithing and how Fred got into the craft. Episode 2 explains how to become a gunsmith.

Episode 3 gets a bet more technical, by explaining the tools a gunsmith uses, and a little about how they figure into the business side of being a gunsmith.

I was just fine with my level of tinkering, to this point.

Then Episode 4 moves into how to do specific things with a specific rifle, namely modifying the trigger guard of the venerable Mauser bolt-action rifle. I listened, but I have to admit didn’t get all of it. For one thing, most of what he talked about was beyond my skill level, and second, I haven’t even shot a Mauser before, let alone disassembled one.

But all that aside, I’m a fan, for a number of reasons.

The first is the host. Fred’s style and tone is wonderful, at once conversational and professional. You can tell he’s had a lot of experience teaching his craft, which is a good thing, since gunsmithing is danger of becoming a dying field.

Second is that, even though I didn’t understand it all, this is what I call a “timeless” podcast, one I can keep, and listen to any time, from now on. It’s not so immediate that it loses its relevance in a week. Mausers will always be Mausers. Or not – that’s the beauty of gunsmithing.

I discovered one thing, though, that may help me in the future. I subscribe to most of my podcasts through iTunes, and I rarely visit the individual podcast websites. When I was researching this post, I visited the podcast website, and I found pictures of the Mauser, and all the modifications Fred talked about in Episode 4. So, next time, I’ll pay attention when Episode 5 shows up on my iPod, and I’ll be sure to visit the website.

So, Gunsmithing Radio has taken a welcome place on my podcast rotation.