During SHOT Show 2025, I was honored to be able to sit down with HK-USA President Mike Holley and talk about the culture and the mission of this great company. I think you will learn a lot about not only HK but about excellence and firearm manufacturing. 

Today, Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen interview Dan Brady of Apache Solutions to discuss considerations for defending yourself from threats while working in or around vehicles.

Today we had the privilege of sitting down and talking with Ty Fredericks, a pizza delivery driver that still carries the bullet that wounded him from an attempted robbery where he was forced to defend himself with his gun. You don't want to miss his incredible story of resiliency and survival, listen to today's episode now!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest industry news. We bring news stories about some new products coming to market, discuss some other relevant industry news including some new pistols from Walther and Beretta, the new US Army weapons contract that SIG SAUER recently was awarded, and we tackle some sticky questions surrounding the Buffalo, New York shooting. You'll also want to stay tuned for our reviews on a couple of new products! Tune in!

Riley Bowman brings onto the podcast for the first time Christopher Bean of Tactical Advantage to discuss something Chris is really passionate about--creating effective learning environments and fostering culture and community to massively impact student learning and performance. This is something that affects and can be applied by anyone in their respective circles of influence. But if you're an instructor or teacher of any kind, then this DEFINITELY applies to you, and you won't want to miss it!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest JUSTIFIED SAVES (Defensive Gun Uses) including the successes and the failures. Today we have plenty to discuss as we break down multiple events including carjackings, attempted robberies, home invasions, and more. Plus we discuss the case out of Washington State where one man, attempting to do the "right thing" was mistaken about a situation and ended up arrested for trying to stop the wrong man and shooting him!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share their response in this episode to the feedback received on a recent article Matthew published called "Quantifying Your Defensive Shooting Skills, And Setting Standards." How do we know how good is good enough? What are the standards we should be training to? Are some of the industry standards too high? Too low? How can we truly evaluate our performance skill?

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster decide to got back 6 years and revisit Episode #8 of the podcast where we discussed the relevance and efficacy of marksmanship skills in a defensive context. There are some statements and assertions that were made in that episode that we feel like we either need to correct or clarify with a greater level of knowledge and experience that we hold now.

Jacob and Matthew discuss legal issues from Georgia, Maryland, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and some more drama from the ATF under the Biden administration. Tune in!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss lessons we can learn from this one simple, low-round count drill known as the Mozambique Drill, or as has been also termed The Failure Drill. This was recently featured on the latest Shooter Ready Challenge.

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen talk about how important the use of cover is relative to prevailing in a deadly force event. Movement is also a very relevant skill to have as well, including being able to shoot while moving and hitting a moving target. Just how much of a difference-maker can this be?

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest industry news. We bring news stories about some new products coming to market, discuss some other relevant industry news including some new products from IWA 2022, we discuss some industry updates relevant to Ukraine, and we also provide our reviews on a couple of products! Tune in!

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen share with you our current approach to conducting dry fire practice SAFELY! Dry fire practice is important, it helps develop skill, but it should never come at the cost of injuring oneself or another person. There are simple things we can do to ensure a mistake is never made. We hope you'll join us for this very important topic!

Jacob & Brian discuss the recent attempted assassination of Former President Donald Trump and the lessons that can be learned and applied by all of us. Please tune in, listen, learn, and SHARE today's episode!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest JUSTIFIED SAVES (Defensive Gun Uses) including the successes and the failures. We cover some wild stories today, some of which seem almost too crazy to be true including one where a man successfully used a "Bruce Lee move" in a gun takeaway to defend himself. In another incident, a father had to shoot his own son armed with a gun and body armor. And in another story, a woman had to make a critical head shot on a hostage taker to save her boyfriends--and her family's--lives! Tune in, you don't want to miss this!

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen take a little different angle for today's episode, looking at the chaos of the last couple of years in the world, the uncertainty of the future, and where we see things going...both generally, and for our business.

Riley and Matthew discuss ways and strategies to track and analyze practice data, and not only that, but how to get the cleanest data to help you truly understand your skill level.

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss the recent Legislative News from around the US including stories about how the state of Washington did follow through on the legislation we covered last time to limit magazine capacities greater than 10 rounds. This is a huge, senseless loss to the protection of constitutionally-guaranteed rights. On the good news train, we cover SEVERAL states that have passed or are advancing constitutional carry bills. Plus other important news, tune in!!

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen share the latest industry news. We bring news stories about some new products coming to market, discuss some other relevant industry news including some new products from IWA 2022, we discuss some industry updates relevant to Ukraine, and we also provide our reviews on a couple of products! Tune in!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share (at least) 7 common gun industry clichés that just drive us bonkers! What are they? Do you use any of these?? I guess you'll have to tune-in to find out. Should be a good one today!

We cover some wild stories today, some of which seem almost too crazy to be true including one where a man broke into a home and killed the daughter of a man in an apparent attempt to take control of their home with an underground bunker. We also share the story of a man shot and killed in Florida who traveled hundreds of miles in an attempt to kill a social media star's family that he was stalking.

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss how to practice in dry fire the "table start," or grabbing the home defense pistol from the safe. This was recently featured on the latest Shooter Ready Challenge. Check it out at https://www.shooterreadychallenge.com and tune into today's episode!

Riley Bowman sits down with Wayne Dobbs to talk about his perspective on which skills concealed carriers should have and should be working to master. Wayne has spent his career in law enforcement and in diplomatic security protecting others and teaching others these relevant skills. Tune in!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster revisit an episode we recorded over 5 years ago about appendix carry. We discuss the things we've changed our minds about since then as well as talk about what's changed about the way we carry.

Today we are pulling an interview out of the podcast vault. This interview was originally conducted in 2016 but is no longer available in the podcast feed. It made us sad so we felt it was time to republish this one. Please tune in, listen, learn, and SHARE today's episode!

Riley Bowman brings back Matt Little from Greybeard Actual for another episode where we're going to discuss how to use shooting drills appropriately to maximize skill development. This will be one you don't want to miss...if you care about improving as a shooter!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss the recent Legislative News from around the US including stories about how one state is suddenly pushing hard to limit magazine capacities. We also discuss the likely ramifications of the recent Remington-Sandy Hook settlement and what it means for the rest of the industry. Plus other important news, tune in!!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest industry news. We bring news stories about some new products coming to market, discuss some other relevant industry news including a pretty disturbing story involving a world champion shooter, and we also provide our reviews on a couple of products! Tune in!

Today, Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen discuss the Fundamentals, Accuracy, and Speed Test, a popular shooting drill. How to do it, how to practice it, etc. This was recently featured on the latest Shooter Ready Challenge. Check it out at https://www.shooterreadychallenge.com and tune into today's episode!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest JUSTIFIED SAVES (Defensive Gun Uses) including the successes and the failures. Last month's JUSTIFIED SAVES episode featured a number of carjacking stories, and this one is no different with a sprinkling of armed robberies sprinkled in. What are you doing to prepare yourself should such an event happen to you? Are you preparing yourself mentally and emotionally while also making sure you understand the law, so you don't make a mistake??

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share our takeaways from last week's SHOT Show that our team attended. There were certainly ups and downs, but fortunately mostly ups! Tune in to hear about the latest and greatest new products and innovations coming to the industry!

Riley Bowman brings a unique format to the show for the first time, something we're calling "The Random Show." Meaning Riley's going to cover a wide-array of topics and ideas, sometimes bringing on various guests or hosts. While we will tend to stay focused in the firearms/self-defense space, anything is on the table.

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest industry news. We bring news stories about some new guns hitting the market soon, and we discuss the new .30 Super Carry from Federal and what it means, and we also provide our reviews on a couple of products! Tune in!

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen talk about some of the challenges associated with dry fire practice and then propose a bunch of solutions for overcoming those. We can attribute obtaining much of our skill to regular, effective dry practice, now let's make sure we're doing it safely and maximizing our time doing it. Tune in!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest JUSTIFIED SAVES (Defensive Gun Uses) including the successes and the failures. We discuss the unique circumstance where recently two state congresswomen have been carjacked as crime continues to rise and become more bold. Also an important lesson and reminder of the importance of target identification and family communication. Tune in!

Brian and Jacob tackle this common question. There are legal, moral, and tactical considerations. Please tune in to hear our take on this.

Riley Bowman brings Scott Jedlinski back to the show to discuss red dot pistols. This is a fast evolving world in the realm of pistols and associated equipment, so we'll get an update from Scott on what he's seeing in the industry and training community. If you're considering or are already using a red dot optic on a pistol, you'll want to tune-in to today's episode!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss vision and the importance of purposeful vision and its relevance to top performance under stress. Should we be incorporating more vision-related concepts into our training? Why is it important?

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen talk about why more people don't carry medical or trauma gear. You've heard us talk before about how much more likely you are to need medical-related gear than a gun to save a life. So you better tune in and hear all the reasons why we think this is and how to overcome this if this describes you!

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss shooting while moving. How to do it, how to practice it, etc. This concept was recently featured on the latest Shooter Ready Challenge. Check it out at https://www.shooterreadychallenge.com and tune into today's episode!

Riley interviews Brian Hill of The Complete Combatant about his approach to coaching, or teaching, as an instructor and how we can apply methods such as diagnostic skills, predictive analysis, and adapting to the student. I promise there are lessons applicable to even those of you who are not instructors.

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss the recent Legislative News from around the US including stories about how one state's governor recently vetoed Constitutional Carry legislation. Meanwhile, Constitutional Carry has a chance in another US state, and we need to help support its passage.

Riley Bowman interviews Chris Cypert of Citizens Defense Research. Chris is a recently retired US Army Green Beret medic with multiple deployments overseas. He now spends his life doing his best to be an awesome father and husband while teaching other citizens to be the best they can be as defenders and gun carriers. He comes with a unique and well-spoken perspective.

Riley and Matthew share the latest industry news. We bring news stories highlighting the silliness of oversensitivity towards guns, particularly how two photographs have practically burned the interwebs down this past week. We also discuss an enlightening article about the myth of the "murderer you know," and we also provide our reviews on a couple of products!

Riley and Matthew share the latest JUSTIFIED SAVES including the successes and the failures. We also discuss the recent Chad Read/Kyle Carruth shooting in Texas as well as the Florida Road Rage incident where a pregnant woman was killed.

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster discuss Ready Positions and Target Acquisition Efficiency, and how we can practice it in dry fire. This concept was recently featured on the latest Shooter Ready Challenge.

Today we look at all the recent Supreme Court actions that have impact on the 2nd Amendment as well as other court battles and news relevant to all American gun owners. Please tune in, listen, learn, and SHARE today's episode!

Riley Bowman and Jacob Paulsen discuss a recent article from Greg Ellifritz titled "Too Much Situational Awareness?" which is a great question that we should all ask ourselves: can we have too much situational awareness? How can we properly assess risk and apply ourselves appropriately to various situations we find ourselves in?

Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest industry news. We bring updates regarding the Rittenhouse case, the Alec Baldwin shooting, and discuss the errors the FBI makes with regards to background checks. We also share a couple of new gun releases and provide our reviews on a couple of products! Tune in!

Today, Riley Bowman and Matthew Maruster share the latest JUSTIFIED SAVES (Defensive Gun Uses) including the successes and the failures. Not only is the justified use of deadly force important to understand and execute, but we also need to be prepared for the aftermath, and that includes talking to the media. Tune in!