My Week in Podcasts

I started listening to podcasts in my commuting time about three years ago, when I decided the cost of satellite radio had outstripped its usefulness. At that time, I found only two worth listening to, GunTalk and Downrange Radio, and I still listen to them.

It’s been a while since I reviewed any podcasts, and for that I apologize. I do listen to quite a few regularly, and you can read the reviews I've written by searching the label "podcast." Any time I hear of a new gun podcast, I try to give it a go for at least 3 or 4 episodes.

My attitude on podcasts is simple – I listen to get information about guns and shooting, and I listen to be entertained. Naturally, some podcasts resonate with me and some don’t. After a while, I stop listening to the ones I don’t get a lot out of, or that just don’t click with me, or that irritate me.  So, if you read about a podcast here, know that it’s one that I listen to, and enjoy.

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Having said that, around the first of the year I started listening to Shooting the Breeze with Walt White. I’ve been remiss in not writing a full review, but I plan to fix that in the near future. Suffice it to say that I like his podcast a lot, and not just because he references my stuff. Walt and I have a lot of similar interests and background, so he talks about things I am interested in.  Look for the review soon.

I also have half a review written on Julie Golob's podcast. Look for a review of it soon as well.

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Some podcasts come out on a regular basis, pretty much the same day of the week every time, and some come out either less frequently or on a sporadic basis. The latter shows I refer to as Free Agents, and I use them to fill in when the Regulars are gone.

Here is what my typical podcast week looks like. Note that the links are to the respective home websites of the podcasts. All of these are also available on iTunes, and most are on the Gun Rights Radio Network.

MONDAY

GunTalk with Tom Gresham in the morning. I don’t always get through all three hours of it, but I save some for weekend chores and fill ins.

The RoadGunner podcast with the Unknown Trucker in the evening. He once referred to my review of his podcast as "the greatest blog post ever written."  Gosh . . . .

TUESDAY

Gun Dudes in the morning. If you have a high tolerance for hijinks, this is a great show. These guys are serious about having fun shooting. They do tend to fool around a bit, and there are quite a few inside jokes, but I like the show.

The Power Factor Show in the evening. This is a video podcast with Steve, Rick, and Caleb, and it focuses on IDPA and USPSA shooting, with shotgun sports thrown in. I listen to the audio portion only. This is a little confusing at times but it's still a good show. This is not a podcast for new shooters - you have to know your shooting and guns, because they do, and they assume you do.

WEDNESDAY

Downrange Radio with Michael Bane in the morning. This is, to me, the daddy of them all. Michael produces the shooting shows on the Outdoors Channel, and has been a music critic and adventure sports writer, among many other careers.

That's Walt. He doesn't have a logo.

Shooting the Breeze with Walt White in the evening. This is actually a video podcast, but I only do the audio version. Walt reviews cigars as well as shooting and competition. He sometimes refers to this blog. But he's still a good podcaster.

THURSDAY

Handgun World with Bob Mayne in the morning. Bob is a salesman who travels throughout central Texas, shooting and talking about it. He shoots IDPA and describes it well.

Free Agent in the evening.

FRIDAY

Friday is Makeup Day. I will either finish a podcast I’ve started, or listen to a Free Agent. Sometimes I find a new podcast and give it a try. Who knows, I’ve added some before.

FREE AGENTS

These podcasts are irregular, but I listen to each episode when it comes out. (These are in alphabetical order.)

Empty Mags from JP. JP hasn’t put out a new episode in a while, but his slot is still open.

The Gun Runner Podcast, with Ryan Rocquin. Ryan is a former Marine and does an almost-daily podcast. I admit I can't listen to them all, but he is in the rotation.

Gunsmithing Radio with Fred Zeglin. This podcast comes out as Fred has topics to discuss. I leave them all on the iPod so I can go back and review them as I get Free Agent spots open. On the Fast mode on the iPod they take about 30 minutes so I can always find time

Julie Golob's Podcast. She's new to the podcast gig, but not to shooting. The reigning Ladies Bianchi Cup and Ladies USPSA Single Stack Champion, among a zillion other titles, Julie has been doing a podcast on competitive shooting since early this year. Her monthly podcast is a mix of interviews, how-to's and reviews.

The Rimfire Podcast with Ken Kowalski. Ken is currently deployed in Afghanistan and that doesn’t let him be as regular in posting as he could be, but we’ll let that slide.

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The New Shooter Podcast with Nick. Nick covers a lot of stuff for a new shooter, like competition and different kinds of guns. Maybe he meant New . . .  Shooter-podcast.

The Urban Shooter Podcast,  with pastor Ken Blanchard. I've met Ken and he is a great guy to visit with, and a great shooter. Ken covers shooting, rights, life, music, and zombies.

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As always, if you know of a shooting podcast that I should try out, please leave a comment. I'd also like to know what you think of these shows.

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Should I start a podcast? Maybe record them during the Friday commute? Hmmm . . . .

Kindred Spirit

Photo courtesy of Walt in PA

Over the past few months, Walt White over at Walt in PA has been blogging extensively about his USPSA shooting experience. In fact, he and I have corresponded a lot recently, via email and Twitter, so I thought, if my readers like my stuff, they should go check out his.

He's gone from an unclassified shooter last year to becoming a C Class Production shooter. I'm D Class, in Production.

He shoots a Glock 17. I shoot a Glock 17.

He makes video of his matches. I make video of my matches. (His are a lot better. I covet his head-cam.)

He's a architectural designer-drafter by trade. I'm a recovering engineer turned headhunter.

We have a lot in common.

Even our approach to shooting is similar. Take a recent post he had about his goals for shooting USPSA. Good stuff.

Go check him out, and while you're at it, subscribe to his podcast on iTunes* and follow him on Twitter.

* Sorry, I don't have the doohickey that does that. But go to iTunes and search for "Walt in PA." You're a grown-up.

Great Detailed Match Report from Walt in PA

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

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

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

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.

Podcast of the Week: Handgun World Show

The Handgun World Show, www.handgunworld.com, is a podcast hosted by Bob Mayne, who is a man after my own heart. He’s not law enforcement, not military, not a firearms trainer, he’s just a regular guy who likes guns.

Why does Bob carry a gun? Because he can’t carry a cop.

Handgun World is a fast paced mix of information, reviews, competition advice, interviews, and general gun stuff. Bob Mayne is a salesman living in San Antonio, and his sales territory covers a lot of central Texas. So, he gets to record a lot of his shows in the car. I admit I may steal his idea some day.

I just discovered his podcast, and I must say I’ve enjoyed every episode. Bob is a big fan of the Glock 19, but he’s not afraid to air episodes about other guns. Since he competes regularly in IDPA, a lot of his shows cover competition, practice, and lessons learned. He also shares a lot of practical information on concealed carry, which makes sense, given his line of work and his background. He recently did a show on concealed carry for business that I found very informative.

He has also interviewed a lot of firearms trainers. I especially enjoyed his interviews with Gabe Suarez, and with Suarez International trainers Don Robison and Jon Payne.

The Handgun World Show is available for subscription on iTunes, and it's a welcome addition to my afternoon rides.

Podcast of the Week - The New Shooter Podcast

As you know, I'm always on the lookout for gun podcasts to make my 1-hour-plus commute tolerable. A new one I recently came across is the New Shooter Podcast, on the interwebz at www.newshooterpodcast.com, and on Twitter at @newshootercast.

Nick is the host, and he is what he says, a new shooter. He came to shooting recently, and decided to share that experience with the rest of us through the podcast medium.

So far, Nick has posted five episodes, and I've enjoyed all five. He starts, as a lot of gun podcasts, with a list of what he's done with guns (an admitted homage to the Gun Dudes), news, and email feedback, then he moves into a main topic.

Topics have been varied. The first episode was a very interesting interview with a documentary filmmaker about her latest project, a film called A Girl and a Gun. Other topics included how to teach first time shooters, and the Zombie Shooters Association, which I reviewed some time back.

Nick's style is easy and enjoyable. He presents a good amount of information on his topics. His interview style isn't as polished as a TV new anchor, but he's as good as most other podcasters, and I like it.

The New Shooter Podcast is a welcome addition to my iTunes subscription page, and to my commute. Thanks, Nick!

Love The Smell of New Podcast in the Morning

Smells like . . . victory.

The Rimfire Podcast was my morning drive today, and I was impressed. Host Ken Kowalski dispensed with the whole "this is why I started this podcast" explanation, and even the "this is what a rimfire cartridge is," and jumped right into a meaty subject, .22LR caliber AR-15 conversions. He covered two options, a .22LR bolt swap, and a complete dedicated .22LR upper. You'll have to listen to his podcast to find out which one he recommends.

You can listen online at http://therimfirepodcast.com or subscribe via iTunes. The podcast has a Facebook page as well.

I look forward to future installments.

Podcast of the Week - the Gun Dudes

Carl, Stan, Tom, and Travis are four UPS drivers in Utah who share a love of shooting. They get together once a week and share that love with us as the Gun Dudes Podcast. For me, they are my Tuesday drive to work.

Imagine four good friends at a barbecue, eating meat sandwiches, cutting up, and talking about guns. That’s what this show is like, a sometimes irreverent mix of serious talk and general horsing around. Along the way they share some really good information, things they have used and they know work.

Now, I admit that this podcast took a while to grow on me. Sometimes the fooling around almost gets in the way of the real show, but they always come back to the topic. Somebody is almost always fiddle with a gun, and you can hear them racking the slide, working the cylinder, or handling the guns some other way. Sometimes there is a secondary topic going on with a couple of the guys. And there is always sarcasm and endless needling of each other, especially of the one or two of them who aren't on this week's show.

Because there are things they always do right, I keep coming back. They all shoot IDPA so there is a recurring focus on competition, training, and practice. Some of them are Glock guys, and they actually published the first Gen4 to Gen3 conversion chart I could find. They are also involved in Scouting so they talk a bit about training new shooters.

The show starts with the question, “What did you do this week with guns?” and each of them tells about their week. Then there are segments with news, emails to the show, and “Missfire Awards,” a round-up of miscues and gaffes, usually ending in a bad guy captured or worse. They always urge listeners to join the NRA, Second Amendment Foundation, and US Concealed Carry Association.

In addition to the regular segments, there is always a topic of the show. Some topics have included dry fire practice, IDPA competition, becoming an IDPA Safety Officer, taking new shooters, and various training classes they’ve taken. They also publish some videos of segments on the podcast, and they maintain a Facebook page as well.

I get a lot out of this podcast, and yes, I find myself laughing at a lot of what happens, and wincing at some of it. But despite the shenanigans, there is a lot of good information in this hour, and it’s time well spent for me.

That New Podcast Smell

This week, JP at the EyesNeverClosed blog posted the first episode of his podcast, the Empty Mags Podcast. If he keeps up with it, I think it’ll be a good one to watch.

The first installment was impressive, and not just because he told about this blog in the first five minutes.

JP's style is relaxed and conversational. He really appeals to me because his target audience is the everyday shooter, the regular guy or gal who owns a couple of guns and shoots for fun, competition, and self defense, not an operator. He maintains an even pace throughout the show, and he changes topics effectively.

The main topic of the first episode is deciding whether to build your first AR rifle, or build it. I won't give away his advice, but he convinced me. Give a listen and see if you agree.

Gun Podcast of the Week - Tom Gresham's Gun Talk

I love where I live in Kennesaw, Georgia. But that means I’ve never had a very easy commute, dealing with Atlanta traffic, which means I have to have something in the car to keep me interested, or I go nuts.

In the past couple of years I’ve found a number of podcasts that fit this bill nicely. I'm always sampling new podcasts, some of which I like, and some not so much. Over the next few weeks I'll share what I've found, starting with the ones I listen to regularly.

Gun Talk
http://guntalk.libsyn.com/
Available on iTunes

I wanted to start this feature with the first podcast I started listening to. Tom Gresham hosts a weekly 3 hour syndicated radio show covering all facets of the shooting world. I first came across this show one Sunday afternoon on satellite radio, and when I discovered the podcast, it became a staple.

Gun Talk is a very well produced radio variety show, where the topic happens to be shooting, hunting, reloading, and self defense. Tom mixes interviews and personal commentary with listener calls and other segments.

For me, the top feature is the interviews. Tom’s interviews feature the top people in shooting and gun rights, from Rob Leatham and Doug Koenig, to Alan Gura and Congressman Darrel Issa. He also does interviews with gun and accessory manufacturers, and trainers like Tiger McKee and Ed Head, which are very informative. Tom is a great interviewer.

The call-in segments are a good mix of information and listener questions. Having been involved in shooting from a very early age (Tom is the son of legendary gun writer Grits Gresham), Tom usually has an answer, but he’s also quick to admit when he doesn’t. Fortunately, the listeners almost always have an answer, so stay tuned.

Tom handles discord well. Callers who disagree are never dismissed out of hand or derided. Rather, Tom states his view, and does so compellingly.

Tom also hosts and produces several TV shows on the Versus network – Gun Talk TV, Guns and Gear, Personal Defense TV - and he gives good information on what’s coming up on those shows.

Gun Talk is my Monday commute, and it starts my week off well.