Florida Firearms Training

09/09/2026

Another Precision Rifle Level One class comes to an end. Everyone got great D.O.P.E out to 500 yards.

09/08/2026

Box opening on the new Arken Optics 7 - 35. This one is going onto a Mile gun. ***Correction on the video....Arken is now selling products both direct and through traditional distribution (retail stores). Great value scopes. Let us know what you think.

Thinking about buying the new Arken EP-5 GENII 7-35x56 FFP scope? S...

09/07/2026

You’re All Going to Die!

I originally posted this over 15 years ago on an online forum and got roasted for being judgmental and not nice etc. I have since reposted it on our page every couple of years...My opinion upset, in fact it infuriated a lot of shooters. So be it. It does not make what I say here any less real or relevant…. Enjoy!

You’re All going to Die!
Let’s say you’re going to learn to land a plan (just in case the you ever need to in an emergency, like the pilot dies or heart attack, terrorists have killed pilot etc). So you read a book, ask a few questions on a forum and watched a video or two, maybe you even fly an F16 video game a few times (I love those games) anyway, research done right?, you got your flying gloves, hat, sunglasses, got your tools...there you go, all squared away and ready now.. right?...

So many threads on gun forums, youtubers, and other instant experts saying they would do this or that or the other in a deadly force confrontation…it’s all theory of course!...it amuses me. The FACT that people think that information gleaned from reading a book, watching a video is somehow solely sufficient to survive deadly force encounters is just funny. Maybe theory and luck may well triumph, but for me and my family, I am not counting on theory or luck.

Ask yourself how will you react under an intense high stress life and death scenario?... And don’t say you will do fine because you took a CCW class and spent an hour on simulator somewhere. Don’t tell me you will rise to the occasion, because that’s just funny and will only make yourself look silly!

I am serious, really: How to well do you function when your heart rate hits 180 - 200 bpm? How is your decision-making process effected by high stress / deadly force encounters? How does your body (physically) deal with single or multiple imminent threats? How well do you communicate when under an imminent threat? When was the last time you physically had to fight someone and WIN? When was the last time you had to draw your handgun and use it while the BG is trying to stab you, shoot you, drag you into a vehicle or r**e you?

Come on be honest when? You may have thought through these scenarios and I hope at LEAST you have your own personal action plan worked out in your head!. Thats great and a good start, but have you tried to implement it physically? Have you actually role played it out with someone really trying to WIN against you and your plan?

For those of you that think that you don’t need to because you were in the military a million years ago, or were a cop or were a kung-fu ninja, bad arse etc, at some point in the past. Well good for you but my guess is REGARDLESS of what you did or were, if you do not train to deal with all the above mentioned, and I mean train as in man on man, body against body, force on force in as realistic an environment as possible with some kind of real pain involved then…in my best professional opinion: YOU’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!

You need to practice sparing. You need to practice problem solving during as realistic perceived high threat scenarios, drawing weapon from concealed at realistic ranges (while the BG REALLY tries to do his job), disarming, strikes, learn how to EARN your draw, communicate, move etc;. Unless you have actually trained in and practiced these key skills how can you self-evaluate your competence? How do you know what you need to work on? How do you KNOW what works and does not work when put into practical use?

A YouTube video?....really? For those of you reading that say “well that’s all good but I am old, weak, have a bad leg etc etc etc”…Mr. Mike Janich of Martial Blade Concepts once told me, and I now believe: “When your physical abilities begin to diminish, due to age or health, you need to increase your skills and adjust your tools and techniques to accommodate for that physical change” The threat does not change or go away. You need to adapt.

Thinking I will do this or that because so and so on you tube said it will work…is just fine….but it’s theory! And theory is great until reality kicks it in the nuts! Come out and do some real immersive training. Some Force on Force, Some MBC, Some Room Clearing. Either with us or somewhere else, but please stop pretending you’re ready to fight when you have not yet tested the results of your training.

Let the crying begin! I will get my popcorn.

09/04/2026

Anyone that has taken our Advanced Defensive Handgun courses will remember our instructors talk about this book, this author, this giant of truth. If you own or carry a firearm you owe it to yourself to get this book.

The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace Rated “5-Stars” on amazon with over 1,620 reviews. US Marine Corps “Commandant’s Required Reading List.” Audio Book narrated by Lt. Col. Grossman. On Combat was Amazon’s #1 best seller in “Military History” (2021), ...

09/03/2026

Great article by FFT Instructor Josh Stone on Gun Fighting! Enjoy.

“Tunnel Vision” Myth vs Fact By Josh Stone FFT Instructor

You are traveling at night, the way you often do on long road trips, to avoid traffic. The area is geographically familiar though you haven’t been on this stretch of road before. Your wife is in the passenger seat, long since passed out along with the kiddos in the back. The winding switch backs up the mountains this time of year are pitch black. Whatever moon light there may be is filtered out by the canopy of the towering pine trees. The dim glow from the dash almost blinding as you peer out trying to see around the next corner. Black Ice in the curve. No way to see it on the approach. Before you have time to react your Sedan is in a spin. You entered that curve doing at least 50mph. If you don’t make a correction immediately you will hit the side of the mountain or spin off the edge, a 300ft drop at least. Your eyes "lock" on the road and tunnel vision taking over. “Tunnel Vision”, It’s a term that gets thrown around a lot in the tactical or prepared citizen community. What are people actually trying to convey when they use that term? What exactly did you just picture in your head when you read it? What are the misconceptions that surround it? And why does it all matter anyway?

What people describe “tunnel vision” to be and the use of that term in and of its self is an issue. When I use the word “Tunnel Vision” what is it that you see in your brain (or even worse, how have instructors described it to you in the past)? The image that I see is my peripheral vision narrowing and giving way to a dark tunnel with a light being in the center of my field of view. Does this ever happen? YES, absolutely it does. Typically, with blood loss or before loss of consciousness. I've even heard instructors describe it this exact way when referring to high stress stimulus like gun fights and car wrecks. In truth, this isn’t scientifically what happens at all. There is no narrowing of the field of view or peripheral vision. Your eyes are like cameras and they take in all the light. If not, MORE light than usual. The pupils dilate under stress specifically to let in MORE light. Not less.

So, what actually happens and why does the distinction matter? As mentioned before, your pupils dilate and you become target or threat focused. That’s a physiological and psychological response. Stress hormones and chemical are released in the blood stream. Multiple of which affect the eyes. Dilating the eyes to allow more light to enter than usual, even in broad day light.

The next thing that happens is the actual topic of our discussion and it’s harder to explain scientifically if you've never experienced it firsthand. It’s the psychological response. Example: Have you ever been in a restaurant with your spouse? Actively listening to what they are saying? The tables around you fall into a subtle hum in the back ground. You only “hear” what your wife is saying. Until the next table over says your name. Not referencing you of course but someone they know with the same name. Either way, it got your attention.

Your ears are microphones that pick up every word the people say around you. But your brain is the computer that filters all that information out and runs it as a program in the background. Allowing you to concentrate your full attention on the conversation at hand until it hears something that over rides that normal process. In this case your name. This is called “auditory exclusion”. And you experience it every day of your life. The same exact thing happens with your eyes to some extent or another every day. But under stress it happens to the extreme.

Your eyes lock on the “target” (maybe that’s the ditch if you haven't taken a defensive driving class, and maybe it’s the avenue of escape if you have). Maybe you're a hunter and you are getting “buck fever”. All you can see is the buck, paying no attention to the even bigger one coming into the clearing until it’s too late. And you've shot the smaller of the two, now you are watching the larger bound out of sight. Or maybe you’ve been in a gun fight, having shot the threat in the chest. Your eyes locked on the gun in his hand. You can recall ever detail about the tattoo on his fingers. But can’t give an accurate description of his clothing the bad guy was wearing to the officer.

Your eyes will fixate on what it perceives to be the biggest threat. And your brain filters out all the other information. Even though your eyes, the cameras, captured the image your brain being the computer decided the only important thing was the weapon. Everything else can be ignored. This is called “visual exclusion” and it’s the term most people are searching for when trying to describe this psychological phenomenon. When we mix up terms, we paint the wrong image in people minds until that image becomes the “fact”. So, because you have heard “tunnel vision” over and over again, that what you expect to experience, but it never happens when you are faced with a high stress environment. You are expecting a visual stimulus (the black tunnel) that never comes and you never realize you are suffering from “visual exclusion”. And therefore, you never make any attempts to try and break it. The effects / outcome of this could fill an entire separate article all by itself. Suffice it to say, you want to break that “Visual Exclusion” both in a gun fight and in any other stressful environment. Having the full picture of what is going on or as much of it a possible, is always better than not.

This brings us to the “search and assess”. Without turning this into a second article, the objective is to break the visual exclusion and start processing the environment around you. When doing this we take a look around. It’s important to not let the “search” portion turn into simply going through the motions without any real “assessment”. We are looking for more threats, this could be more “bad guys” or it could be more environmental hazards if you’re a firefighter or L.E. We are looking for good guys, this could be more; victims, family, friends, L.E. We may also be looking for a piece of cover to escape the hail storm coming down after our wreck on an icy road, a bullet proof barrier, or a place that isn't full of smoke or harmful fumes in an emergency. The search and assess is designed specifically to get us thinking tactically again (whatever tactically means in that hazardous environment) and to break us out of the “threat / target” focus that our eyes want to lock us into.

If we are going to have conversations about tactics and techniques, they need be to accurate. That starts with calling a round a round and not a bullet. Calling a magazine by its name and not a clip. But also, the more technical things like “tunnel vision” vs “visual exclusion”. Yes, they both exist. But they aren’t the same thing. We have an entire generation of people (myself included before I was corrected) that have a fundamental misunderstanding of what is going to happen to their body under stress because we try to over simplify our descriptions and verbiage.

Hope this helps and challenges you to become more accurate with your vocabulary. As a good friend and mentor Mike Janich of Martial Blade Concepts once said “words mean stuff, so use the right words”.

See you on the range!

09/01/2026

You know you want to come out and train. Your spouse knows you want to come out and train. Your kids know you want to come out and train... We know you want to come out and train!...Just do it!

This is what we are doing every week...Just saying 😉

09/01/2026

Finally got the new precision hunter rifle sighted in and tested out to 500 yards. This one is a R***r American gen 2 ranch rifle in .308 cal, with a Ultradyne Mercury muzzle break and a TRACT Optics TORIC UHD 2.5-15X44 FFP scope. The perfect precision hunting rifle set up for out to 500 yards.

08/26/2026

FFT Instructor Bob, getting his TRACT Optics scope sighted in on his .338 lapua 1 mile rifle. This new scope has over 50 mils of usable elevation - 28 mils in the turret alone with a 200 yard zero. A superbly-engineered piece of equipment with German-made glass. TRACT Optics

08/23/2026

For all our friends that are thinking of trying hog hunting. Here is a great book. Written by an outstanding outdoor author, friend and FFT student. Extremely helpful to new and old hog hunters. Enjoy.

supports the ethical hunting of wild boar using fair chase standards—the method sportsmen use to pursue other big game animals. A fair chase hunt levels the playing field for predator and prey, encouraging the pursuit of feral hogs without the use of high-tech gear or questionable tactics. Wit...