https://youtu.be/6h8NgvSQRr0

James Yeager gets a lot of grief for his take-no-prisoners STFU FOAD videos, including ones where, it’s true, he goes completely off-the-rails. But it’s also true that Mr. Yeager is pretty much a pussycat in person, not entirely dissimilar to how he appears in the video above. He also knows his sh*t. While I can’t confirm his claim that his training has created or saved over 50 lives, he’s certainly not wrong here, recommending that gun guys and gals only re-holster an empty gun with the slide locked back. And never put empty mags in a mag carrier. As for Mr. Yeager’s warning to take internet gun gurus with a grain of salt, that rule applies to all of them. If you know what I mean . . .

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69 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve long been of the opinion that some people take certain aspects of gun safety too seriously.

    That said, I basically consider this a solution in want of a problem, at least for me.

    A lot of ranges don’t allow draw from a holster, so to cover all your ranges, you rotate which pistol(s) you’re shooting. The one in your rig isn’t getting shot that day because you put 100 through it last week. Problem avoided before it occurred.

    • “I’ve long been of the opinion that some people take certain aspects of gun safety too seriously.”

      +1
      My biggest pet peeve being the insistence on showing an empty chamber when doing an online gun review. It’s not so much the reviewer choosing to do so but the outrage of his/her viewers when they don’t.

      Don’t know why, it just rubs me the wrong way. There’s safety, then there’s being a mother-hen

      • I’ve always thought it’d be entertaining if a YouTuber would always clear their firearm by performing a mag dump. Safely of course.
        I could see someone like FPS Russia doing this.

      • Same here. Because heaven forbid there’s a round in the chamber, and the gun goes off and the bullet flies through the screen and hits me in the head.

    • I’d have to agree with you on that. I’m still P’d off at a particular local range here in Houston, where several years back the overbearing, badly aging, Range Safety Nazi (RSN) made an ass of himself. I was there with my then-20 year old niece, out for a nice afternoon at the range over Christmas vacation. We’d been to the range together several times before over the prior couple of years, so she was familiar with the experience, but still what I would consider new to firearms.

      We were working with a new Sig .45ACP full size, loading and firing one round at a time, and a good time was had by all. The RSN rightly picked up that she was new, but went way out of his way to inject himself into our session and give unsolicited, unwarranted safety advice. Actually, it was a little pervy the way the old guy kept sidling up behind us (her) on the line, but I digress.

      Bottom line is that his hovering and sidling made her so nervous that at one point she released the slide with her finger not quite clear and it nipped her slightly. It *barely* broke the skin, which only reluctantly released a half of a drop of blood, and even that only upon squeezing the finger to test whether it had in fact broken the skin. That sent the RSN into a panic and a frantic mad dash to retrieve the first aid kit. A swab of antiseptic and a bandaid later, and Barney Fife was congratulating himself and lecturing us on safety.

      We’ve never been back to that range. She enjoys guns and have visited other ranges since, but disdains know-it-all gun culture types. So she never discusses guns except around family.

  2. leather is bad for steel, so thanks.
    something else i don’t have to think about.
    storage? range time? all that extra unsnapping.
    involved in a shootout and all out of bullets? can’t see it mattering much at that point.

  3. I have seen this ass hat say shit that is totally stupid. His rant that you can not build an 80% lower is ridiculous. I have built two and know several people who have had not problems building them. I don’t need some idiot telling me what is common sense.

  4. This guy also recently claimed that he carries safety pins on his plate carrier so he can (and I’m quoting) “Re safe grenades after the pin is pulled but before the spoon is popped.”

    Yeah, I’m sure this guy deals with live grenades at his high speed low drag tier -1 operator academy.

      • Yep. Yeager’s sarcasm and harshness isn’t for everyone. He left policing because it became too political. And he has the respect of more few combat vets I’ve met. Given that, I can see why he is hated by statist and liked by thinkers…

        His philosophy – below – applies to many domains.

        Mindset.
        Tactics.
        Skill.
        Gear.

        In that order…

      • Michael:

        Un-knot your panties, break out your butthurt cream and, most importantly, learn some motherfucking English before you accuse me on failing to understand something. Otherwise you might just make yourself look like some sort of uneducated moron with a chip on their shoulder and a penchant for stupid statements.

        You wouldn’t say “Oh, this is over in Egypt”. You would say “Oh, that is over in Egypt”. Unless of course you’re some sort of fucking retard. The reason is as follows:

        “That” is used to refer to things which are not here, not in close proximity or in proximity but not in your current possession. Or the word could be, as it was here, used as a determiner which refers to something previously mentioned, known or [that should be] understood.

        “This”, OTOH, is used to refer to singular objects which are currently present, very nearby or currently in your possession.

        Vhyrus’ comment is here, that is present on this board. James Yeagers’ comment is not here, other than in the reproduction Vhyrus produced for us. Therefore it’s literally not possible, other than in some broken-retardese version of English, that I was referring to the comment Vhyrus made. Were I referring to his comment I would have used the word “This” or more likely, since this is an interwebz board I would have used ^^^This^^^. Either way I would not have used the determiner “that”.

        Just in case you still don’t get it: Yeagers’ comment about the carrying of safety pins what I was saying was dumb. I was not referring to the comment the comment Vhyrus made.

  5. If I want to learn how not to use a handbrake, and how to take yourself out of a gun battle by abandoning your buddies and hiding in a ditch, I’ll talk to Buck. Otherwise, he is just an affliction attired jackwagon with a YouTube channel.

    • Nah, TTAG writers love this idiot for some reason, and not ironically either.

      Yeager’s lecturing people is rich, given how one of his instructors had a ND not that long ago. Maybe those “dumb” press-checks would have prevented that? Yeager is one of those tacti-tards he seems to loathe so much, he just can’t see it.

  9. So since I carry a revolver, does that mean that I should lock the hammer back before reholstering?

      • Correct. Yeager’s harshness and sarcasm isn’t for everyone. He left policing because of politics. He has the respect of many vets from his BlackH20 daze. Given that, I can see why he’s hated by statists and like by thinkers.

        His philosophy applies to many domains.

        Mindset.
        Tactics.
        Skill.
        Gear.

        In that order.

        • Yeah… I meant to say round under the hammer and royally screwed up. I caught that much later after the time limit expired.

  12. None of my guns are glocks! None of my guns are glock 19’s! Although that cz that was reviewed the other day was mighty nice.

  15. He might be right in this instance but I really can’t take anything he says seriously. Not when his classes teach you to throw your expensive firearm on the ground and grind it with your shoe to emphasize its just a tool and resulting in a ND shooting through two tires on someones truck. I don’t treat any tool I have that way and certainly not a firearm..

    http://bearingarms.com/bob-o/2016/03/10/crybully-james-yeager-responds-tactical-response-negligent-discharge/

  16. “…recommending that gun guys and gals only re-holster an empty gun with the slide locked back.”

    No, I’m going to say he’s wrong.
    Even if you won’t.

    See, TTAG… You don’t need paid trolls. You cite enough bad advice to create your own

  17. Not a Yaeger fan. But he has a point. I witnessed this exact failure he is describing by a local sheriff deputy years ago. I was at the local range in the small town I grew up in. The local LE used the public range since they didn’t have their own. A deputy showed up while a friend and I were enjoying the day at the range. We began chatting and the deputy offered his duty weapon for me to try. This was in the late 80s, so before auto loaders were popular so the gun was a revolver. As he handed the gun to me the deputy warned me the gun was loaded. Just to note, he walked directly from his patrol car to the shooting area in his duty gear. Being a bit of a safety Nazi myself, from habit I swung the cylinder open to find six empty chambers. The deputy didn’t believe me at first. I’m sure he was thankful this was discovered at the range and not on an emergency call.

  18. If you “feel” the need to pay 1000.00 to a roid rage yo yo for “tactical training” so you are “certified” to stick a gun in a mans belly and pull the trigger, break out the plastic. Or take the same 1000.00 and buy a case of ammo and practice practice practice by yourself, without some buzzcut maniac screaming at you and throwing loaded guns in the dirt.

  19. Tactical gun training is unfortunately going the way that martial arts training went a long time ago. A lot of instructors get the idea that the way to attract students (or just YouTube views and self-created ego boosts) is to do diatribes on things they feel other instructors do wrong. Then it becomes a head game of “my style can beat your style.” Well styles don’t win fights, people do. Dogma does not create safety, people do. Gun trainers don’t win any gunfights their students get into, the students do…or don’t. If an “expert” has to put other experts down to prove how tacticool they are, I will not listen.

    One thing I learned as a Navy officer and aviator: The main thing for safety and combat effectiveness is to have standardized, but flexible, procedures, learn them cold and follow them as the situation demands. We’d hear about procedures that the Army or the Air Force had and shake our heads and wonder, “What’s with that? I don’t get it.” But we knew that was part of their doctrine, it worked for them and they would probably find some of our procedures strange.

  21. Any time I see Yeager or a similar type featured, this comes to mind: Considering the history of the US, from colonial Salem and West Jersey to the settling of the plains, Texas, the west….do the Yeagers of the world have any idea how many an Aunt Betty, Grandma Jones, or weak sister Cornelia was able to kill a homestead-invading parasite using Uncle Elwood’s rifle laid up by the kitchen door? Decisiveness seems to be the requisite virtue. Have a gun. Realize in time that you’re about to be killed, maimed, raped, or kidnapped. Shoot the bastard enough. When it’s over, clean up.

    I think lots of the followers of Yeager types ought to be honest with themselves, and just switch over to Cowboy Shooting

  24. Ever noticed the difference between a douche like Yeager, and Hickok45? I’d storm the gates of hell with Hickok. The ditch bitch… not so much.

    • Hey bro, I’m no fan of Yeager’s and I have no combat experience myself but I’ve read a lot of differing opinions on Yeager’s “Ditch Bitch” vid and if you have a better basic ambush survival plan, than get off the x so as not to draw fire on yourself or your already injured comrades, find cover, locate the source of incoming fire and return fire then I’d love to hear it. The guy made it back home, survived an ambush that one his guys didn’t and there’s isn’t a damn thing I saw in that video that he could have done more to save the other guys life and now, douche or otherwise, he’s got to put up with motherfuckers who, ninja or not, were not there on the ground with him that day and have nothing more than a shakey vid to judge what went down. Unless of course you know something the rest of the world doesn’t? Of course even if you do, its now 2016, tactics have evolved and hindsight is 20-20, or so they say. So again I ask you, after calling a man who saw combat and lost brothers a “ditch bitch” why don’t you tell us all how better to survive an ambush on the streets of Iraq, a decade ago, without big Army to back you up, other than, get off the x, find cover and return fire.

      • Getting off the X is a fine plan. Getting off the X while taking your wounded car buddy with you? Sure. Getting off the X while leaving the other guy in your car wounded and trying to fight with the cover and concealment he has (the car itself) and taking yourself totally out of the fight and not getting back in the fight is cowardly. This isn’t Call of Duty sunshine.

        • Hey man, you ever see that movie Black Hawk Down? Of course you have. Hell I bet you stood up in the theater and yelled “Hoorah!” when that Hoot guy told that other dude some shit like “This here is my safety.” Probably spilled popcorn all over everybody too huh? There’s a lot of reasons to pick on Yeager that are legit, but unless you were there, that day in Iraq isn’t one of them.

      • 4 years ago I didn’t own a single firearm. I never served in any branch of the military or law enforcement. Due to events I saw taking place in this country politically and criminally (we’ll separate the two for now), I surmised that an armed citizenry was needed more than ever in my lifetime. So at 47 years old, I started shopping. First stop, YouTube. I discovered Hickok45. I think I found TTAG through their Guntruth channel. I kept seeing this one guy that seemed to have a pompous attitude based solely on my prejudices against people with tattoos and long goatees. His video titles were curt. “1911”s suck!” I avoided his videos for months. I didn’t know what a 1911 was. I didn’t know what action meant. I didn’t know the difference between 45acp or 45lc. What I did know is that every time I saw an image of a pistol that was stainless steel with rosewood grip panels that looked like the gun the army used to use, that was the one I wanted.
        Then I saw a video titled “James Yeager is a Coward”. I thought to myself “that’s the asshole who’s videos I don’t want to watch”. “I knew I was right about him.” I must have replayed that video three times looking for any evidence of cowardice. This video proved one thing. A lot of people hate James Yeager for no reason at all. I was one of them.
        I watched “1911”s suck”. OMG! He’s talking about the gun I want! He made some very valid points but he did it in such a non PC way that I enjoyed the refreshing honesty in his delivery. I went on a binge viewing of all his videos, fat Yeager and roid Yeager. I was laughing so much that my wife sat in on a couple bids to see what was so funny. She became a fan immediately. She turned to me and said “that’s you”.
        I don’t agree with everything he says, but I know he believes in what he says. He is passionate about his field. He may be wrong but he isn’t bullshitting.
        Hickok45: “Looking for your first gun? Glock 19, that’s your gun”.
        Yeager: “All handguns should be Glocks. All Glocks should be the Glock 19”.
        Get a second opinion and make up your own mind. But I don’t understand all the butt hurt from people who draw different conclusions. Hate is not going to change anyone’s mind.

        • It was not until I read your comment that I actually went back to the top and watched the video. After reading everything in the comments to this point, I expected something a lot worse. I can’t really say if I’m a Yeager fan or not, but I can’t say I found anything really wrong or offensive with the advice dispensed in this particular video, and here’s why.

          The first rule of gun safety says to assume every gun is loaded. So along those lines, since that is already the assumption, my gun is in fact always loaded. Whether its on my nightstand, in the glove box, on top of the fridge or in my holster, it’s hot, loaded and ready to go. Always.

          If I’m lucky enough to have a range day at my club range and I go through a hundred rounds or more (or 20), I do holster my pistol with the slide back since I want to have a stark visual reminder the gun is empty and not to forget to put my carry rounds/mags back in before I leave. It seems like simple common sense to me, and pretty much what Yeager is dispensing here. His tats look kind of funny to me, but I’ve seen more roid rage on WWE wrestlers than this guy.

          As for the ‘ditch bitch’, saw the vid but I wasn’t there. However imagining myself in that chaotic of a situation I’d hope I had the presence of mind to move away from the vehicle that was taking all the fire, though I’d likely have been to scared to move and stayed. Whose to say what the right move in that case was? Not me, but it didn’t seem clear cut to me what the right move was. He lived, so there’s that. Anyway, I think a lot more shade is being thrown his way than is warranted, but to each his own. BTW, I like hickok45 too, he cracks me up.

  25. The world would be a boring place without Yeager. Just watch and enjoy 🙂 I would even take his class (disposable time and income provided) for the sheer value of good cheer.

    • I don’t care how many times I read this type smug “armchair” type of comment during a thread discussion I always envision the poster as a pimpled 20 something that got kicked out of basic for showing up with drugs in their system and thinks playing Medal of Honor is “tactical training” or a 60 year old FUDD that was an Army Vehicle Mantenance Specialist and think he could have assaulted Bin Laden’s compound with a Smith and Wesson 686 revolver and a lever action in 30-30. Go home Rick, your operator level is too low for this conversation.

  27. There is no tactical training created for which I need to pay, but if you think you can compete with Mr Yeager, by all means don’t let me stop you. I am sure you will make it quite entertaining for many a budding tactical enthusiast.

  29. yeager has good advice, sometimes. Im not sure this is one of them. as far as his past, i actually looked into and watched his Contractor video and other facts. i do not think he is a coward or acted cowardly. But he is definitely over confident about pretty much everything. But he is an experienced trainer and former cop so somethings he says are coming from direct experience, some are just him talking. he is good at marketing, i’ll give him that. I rarely watch his videos but used to watch more, i usually just catch stuff like this. Sometimes he says stuff like ” dont worry about your front sight” that is just ludicrous and other times stuff like ” USPSA will give you bad training scars if you dont work to correct them” are right on point. but he knows all to well, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Which is true.

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