MacBros RAW Show 24 – 2024 Year In Review

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We're two best friends, no filters, no rules Guns, gear, and training tools Real talk stories raw and wide Mac bros raw come take the ride Josh reviews with insight and flair Breaking down builds with a critic stare Darius brings strength, no limits, no fear Training hard minds that crystal clear From the range to the streets we keep it clear Miss get busted, troops appear We'll sing each other, run bold Mac bros raw, the truth gets told

Let's start the show! Lock it low, it's time to go! Let's start the show!

Welcome to episode 24. It's actually our last episode for 2024. This is the Mac bro show. I am Josh joined by my best friend. Darius, these gains. How's it going, man? What's up, man? How are you today? I'm good. I thought time away from work would let me rest. But it's been the opposite. Yeah.

what what what let me see that swasher mmm what are you wearing a shirt I this is uncle not planned not planned on how planned plan just happens like that guys do

We got your this back. So yeah, this is our fraternity TKE talk at Epsilon. So it was actually where D and I met in college. We were in a class together and then we I think I'll do that quick story because it's interesting. We were in an art class, I believe.

And we just sat next to each other and then we were individually recruited to pledge our fraternity. And then we saw each other. We didn't tell anybody and we just showed up in a room to talk about pledging and boom. I was like, hey, I know this guy. And after that, it kind of just kicked off and running. 20 years ago or so. Yeah, man. I thought it's been a while.

Yeah, and we still look like our pictures from college, which is kind of nice. So be the age well. We'll have to post an old picture coming up. Oh, geez. Yeah, that's going to be funny. Yeah.

I actually have one. It's right over here. You guys can't see it's on the shelf of our upload it for the folks online to see. So this week's episode, let me previewed last week is going to be retrospective. That's what D and I know from our professional lives, retrospective of 2024. So we're going to kind of talk about what went well, highlight some things that we thought were good, some things that didn't go so good.

And then maybe some things that we want to do to improve based off of what didn't go well. And then we're going to talk about goals for 2025. We've actually got a notepad here to notate goals that you and I say because I'm going to take a page of the game and just book and.

I'm then actually going to get a whiteboard or something and write my goals down because I have it in my phone, but I never see it all the time. So I think it'd be good to kind of hold each other accountable, talk about our goals. I think we'll stick to just two-way related stuff here. Our personal stuff will do offline. But I thought it'd be good for us to notate that. But before we do that, we always talk about what you call new business. New business.

That's new business. That's almost one of my favorite parts of this entire show that we do is the new business category. I don't have a lot of new business that I didn't blow out of the water last week, but I do have a couple of new business items.

Tier 1 holster for the Walther 4-inch PDP Pro E came in and I noticed some some changes with this. I don't know if it's the color. I don't know if it's the kydak choice but this one seems a little bit thinner than the

the baby blue one that I had as far as the kydex thickness, which is nice because you know it's the thinner is a little bit lighter. So yeah, that's kind of the new business there. And then the other new businesses I got to shoot the 48.

Bay City uh Cerro but we'll talk about t kind of the straight to b and then there's some s got um, plate for the wal

I don't know, bro, like four weeks. And I was like, man, I need to optic immediately. So I ordered a plate from a company called Grit. G-I-A-T-R. It's a pretty nice plate. I haven't put it on because I sent the wall third some monsoon.

So I have all the parts. That's how that goes. Yeah, I have all the parts to the wall that I have the ZR. I listen to everything you guys said. I have the ZR tactical guide rod, the heaviest, well, not the heaviest one, the one right underneath the brass guide rod, but it's still the mask they call it, M-A-S-S.

and then I have a 15-pound recoil spring and a 13-pound recoil spring for that. I got the optic plate and that's pretty much what I plan to do the walther, nothing too crazy.

It's the same old formula, right? Nothing crazy. Nothing crazy for us. I get that. Cool. Cool. Yeah. Good have gone with the calculated kinetics for the play. So there's a couple of options. People said that. I could have done that. I don't like the little bump nub on the front of the calculated. I know it's a great. I know it's great. Yeah.

It bothers me and it's just me because it actually goes up into the window a little bit. I think, I think. I have to look at the, oh, no, you know the reason why I didn't do it because I couldn't run an SRO with it. Yeah. That's why I didn't go with it, Chile, because I couldn't run an SRO with it. You guys know I'm SRO slut, so that's what's going on. He is a slut.

Let's see, straight over says, we need to get Jay with wall for arms. Hey, I mean, I'm not saying I'm not turning it down, but I would be interested in checking it out. I haven't shot it yet. I told you I won't shoot his until it's done up because I want to know what's possible. But it gets to hold it and do a little bit of dry reps with it. And it's really good. We mentioned it last week. Another reason why I will not buy a Glock.

Um, so it's funny you mentioned, um, calculated kinetics because that's in my new business this week. Okay. So I posted last week or two weeks ago my MMP, the little one. Yeah. And how my optic was just smoked up.

And it was all because of the little porthole cover thing right there, because everyone looks down there to see if they have a round. I don't get it. So like you mentioned, I listened to all the folks that gave me recommendations. There are a few that stood out. Calculated kinetics actually got in on the conversation. It's like, yeah, what he said, what he said, like, everybody that recommended them, they commented, yes.

So I have the calculated kinetics dog tag, and I thought that it was going to cover the whole. It's not a dozen, but the other one that I looked at was like double the price does cover the whole.

I went out and shot this yesterday actually at the range when I also picked up something that I'm not talking about today because that's new business but that's for a video. But I've got a new gun and I don't think anyone's anyone's guessed it yet so but like you mentioned it does kind of go over the optic a little bit but it doesn't get in front of the window. Okay. Can I see you there?

with the 507 comp. I'm curious how this works with other similar objects like the Vortex Defender XL or that Bushnell Optic B tried. I'm really curious about that.

Ruben cook 89. So did I hear that wrong? No blocks for me no more ever again Just that's just my thing. I will talk about that a little probably another episode We had an earlier episode about our glocks good or not you can go watch that on my YouTube channel or on the podcast network But yeah, the dog tag is very rugged I put

I think 100 ish through it. And when I had it smoked out before, I think that's like 150 rounds. And the glass is clear. I wiped the front of the dog tag and I got all the dust off of it. So I feel like it deflects it because it's thick enough.

And it also takes the brunt of it. So it's a little smoky, but that's normal in general for MMPs. For what is worth my MMP forage, I don't have this problem because of the length of the barrel and where the optic sits. That hole is further up, so I don't have that problem. If I had an SRO or something that hung over forward, maybe.

But for this one, I don't, again, like you mentioned, put more reps through and see if it's good. But nine to five tactical just joined the live. They were one of the ones that recommended this optic cover plate. It's really good. So I'm happy with it. And I got to say, I'm still shooting this little MMP. I really freaking love it, man. It is awesome. The grip texture by monsoon is nuts.

Uh, Vinny did this himself. It is incredible. And of course I have an affinity for all those things in my background with Star Wars. So this, this gun being done by Tater is really killer. So it, this is an EDC contender for 2025. Um, for sure. For sure. Um, yeah.

I looked at the calculated kinetics like everybody was praising about. I just, because aesthetic, I could not run an SRO. That's one of the reasons why I opted against it. That's your shark tank moment for those reasons I'm out. Yeah, for those reasons I'm out. I mean, it's a great plate. I do think that the plate that I did get is one that hasn't been talked about very often.

I am staring clear of what's the plate that everybody is having problems with. I hate to say it's C&H, but C&H has been stripping bolts on people. That's all you have on this. Yeah. Yeah. So I listened to you guys at, you know, C&H, you guys make some plates for a lot of things. I don't know what's going on with the Walther side of the house, but I've seen too many stripped bolts.

So yeah, I heard away from them. But the great one that I have, the GRITR, it has the lugs in the front and the lugs in the back. Yeah. And then it bolts down. So I have two points of

This plate I just picked up I'll do it quickly that plate that I have it's for a different gun. Yeah, it has one in the front in the back It's what came with and then it has the lugs in the front in the back to lock the optic in So that's a good plate, but that's that comes with a gun that I'm not mentioning yet He said from the edition from hall of son. I have a I have a 507 comp literally right here on the desk. He has options. I do yeah guys I have And I have

I have SROs that are unmounted that are sitting as well. So it's a good plan, man. It's been planning. Yeah, I like the SROs. It's a new business. It's just a package I received. So I just want to give them a shout out. So Jeremy and the guys at Xtech Tactical, we met them at GunCon. They're going to start working with me and some of the squad roles guys with their stuff. They sent me a care package over. I just want to highlight some of the things they sent. So they know I'm an MFP guy. So about a 22 rounder.

here. I like this FPC. I might acquire one of those this coming year because I like car beans and it folds. That's cool. But so I got that. They sent me some Glock 17 mags, which I put to quick use recently. So these are really good.

work as they should. Yes. Yeah. No issues. This is what we saw at Gunkonda was really cool. They've got this speed load mag. So it's got this little pull down system here for you to load your mags and it stays like that. It's not a device. So you can see there, you know, kind of put your round up top.

and just pull down and pull down. So these speed load mags are really cool. I'm excited to test this out with the AR to see how it works. That kind of ties into some of my goals with New Year. So excited to test this out. I got a couple of these. So probably you run one and we could do our macro thing with that. The other thing they sent me, which was really cool. I got a couple of things, but they sent me their adjustable grip.

So it looks like it has different angles, and you can adjust it to your preference. So you can do 33, 25, and 17 degrees. OK, so it's really cool. The new ones grips. We just got our 11 right or 12.

Yeah, the die free codes are 12. So depending on size of gun and maybe purpose of use, each one might be different, but it's cool that this is something innovative, that they've got where it's adjustable. So to the guys at Xtech, thank you for sending this out. It's really cool stuff. They sent me a school brass bag here. My college days. You're going to make a ship knob cover with it.

That would be cool. That's old school for us, right? But yeah, so I thought that was really cool with them. So I just want to give them a shout out and hopefully we can work with them in the future and it'll all go as well. We'll be able to share with you guys those benefits, maybe with a discount or something in the future, but extra tech to go check them out. Also, yeah, jumping back over to new business. We have the Tyrant.

base plates for the shield arms mags. If you have a shield arms S15 mag for the Glock 48, Glock 43X, JW and I have been testing these.

I want to give my thoughts on this real quick, since I don't think it's a conversation we should like dedicate an entire hour to, but I just want to put a snippet to it. I am not comfortable with these. They are nice, but when you seat it into the bottom of the firearm,

If you don't have a really good positive confirmation that it actually seeded all the way in. Yeah, it's a very. Yeah, piece of metal and piece of metal. It's probably I would say half the thickness of the fact.

the factory one six out just a bit so you know you can kind of bump it there um yeah yeah i agree guys if you guys are shopping for base plates for your s15 chill arm mags um take it from me i i'd steer clear of this type um just because even with the magwell on maybe if you i didn't have the magwell it would be a positive but with the magwell on it it's not even touching it it just doesn't feel like

When I'm running the gun at speed, it doesn't feel like the magazine is completely seated when I'm going to perform the next action.

That was something I was going to bring to the table. I only put about 50 rounds in it. And Laserblade did a fantastic job. I have a video that will drop on this. Cool.

Very cool. All right. We got more new business, but we're not ready to drop that yet. So we'll get to that maybe in a week or two. I'm still I'm still filming. Just know that I got a gun before the end of the year and I'm excited. OK, so getting into this week's episode, we're going to do our retrospect for 2024. I took the time today and yesterday to go back. I was actually looking to answer some questions to get lots of questions for older videos.

And I keep on getting videos from last year and earlier this year and I forget that I try to drop a video every week. And I realize how much stuff I've published in a year and what I've done.

One of my first videos this year was me building my AR with Gammage. I did like three videos with him on that. Four, actually, because he screwed up once. And I didn't shoot my AR, but like a magazine through it. So that's got to change. But for you, D2024 was a crazy year for us. It kind of did a lot of new things. What went well for you this year?

All right, so I mean, we're talking about a whole year. We're going to kind of about 45 minutes. Actually half of that, because there's two of us, so we're going to split the 45 minutes and half. So it's not kind of a long and drawn out conversation. You guys are just hearing us chit chat about these things. I think 2024 went by very quickly. I think the most notable for me was the gun con event.

meeting all the other, meeting all the other, what do we want to call ourselves? Social media influencers or people that? I hate that term influencers because it makes it sound like we tell people what to do, but we're labeled so influencers. Yeah, I'm trying to find another term for influencers.

But basically what we try to do is give data where data is not easily obtainable. For me, I don't have a YouTube channel, I don't have a blog, I don't have a website.

Not that I can't do it and not that excuses. It's just I have to dedicate my time out to where I need to give it to you guys. I post in my story, so I'm constantly busy with the kids. But this year, I kind of want to make some of those things some goals. I've been talking to you about a website for a while.

I've been talking to you about doing some of these competitions. Everybody says you should do competitions. No doubt, guys. I would love to do some competitions.

But I think this year I'm going to at least try to do one or two, three, however many I can get to if they fall into the life, the time that I can get to. So I'm going to put on my work hat real quick and bring you back in. So for this year, 2024, what are some things, what are some highlights that you thought you did well or we did well or squadrons as a group did well?

Well, as far as milestones go, we hit two. I hit before 2024. I hit 2000 followers on Instagram and then actually hit 2000 and then we hit 3000 before breaking into 2025. So that's pretty cool, especially because I only use Instagram. So yeah.

That's a big accomplishment. You guys see, I don't put a lot of time into editing my videos. I shoot 90% of my videos or raw videos. I don't do zero edits. So I have to be cognizant in my mind, whatever I'm going to do. I got to do it under a minute and 30 seconds.

For those that edit and watch your videos, it frustrates us. I'm so sorry, you guys. So I just, you know, we add that. So those are like big accomplishments for the year that I think has been really positive as being able to stay consistent in providing information for the people that follow me. I try to look at things that people are thinking about or they're just like, oh, I don't know how that will look.

I want to be the crazy guy that's like, let's do it, you know? What else has been pretty big? I think the main one, like I said, was GunCon. I did a few travels before that because we skipped last the year before where we went up to Brownells. We did a couple of the hosted events every year with them.

I think, yeah, those are kind of the biggest ones. I missed a couple of things that you guys did as Squadrill's group. I was really sad that I missed that. That's kind of something. If I had to go back in time, I would really like to take advantage of.

But that'll be the next question that you asked me. So recap wise, GunCon was amazing. We hit almost 2,000 followers in one year.

And we're just moving forward. We're connecting with people. We're looking at the smaller companies to say, hey, what do you have to offer? Is it reliable? Can people use it? Is it affordable? And we just move with that. So yeah. And you got a firearm to send to you for review.

I got quite a few firearms this year. So I mean like Willson said he won, right? Oh yeah, it was fun to review. Yeah, yeah. So that was a first. That's that's kind of cool. That is a big deal. Yeah, for me, that's a big deal. Again, guys, I only use Instagram. So

In the past, I give everybody feedback. In the past, you used to use Facebook during COVID. I keep telling D during COVID because he was home. He started doing like a little educational series. And it was like day 125, the pandemic, do this. And, you know, let's just do this these gains way. So, you know, it's not necessarily the official way, but what works for you. I know you still have those videos. I feel like you could just release those and you'd like start a channel and

It would do well, but I agree. As someone that does it and I have a passion for it, I really, really enjoy it. It's a labor of love for sure because there are some days I get burned out or I lose inspiration. And Lou caught on to it a couple of times where I don't sound as emotional or upbeat or informed. Sometimes I get a bad product and I just don't know how to

convey something appropriately, the words just escape me, and then the emotion goes with it. But no, I've done retrospectives a lot more frequently. That's been a lot of the stuff I do at my job, so I might do this a little bit differently. This year, I think that I'll go with me personally individually from the two-way realm, then I'll talk about squad drills from my view, and then Macbros. So me personally,

I think what went well is that I made, I dedicated more time to try new things. You know, I did a full month of dry fire just because I saw my skills lacking. I went places with you that I don't think I'd go unless you said, hey, let's go do this.

You know to various people's homes to go do home range day things. I get in the shoe with buck and the guys that was new. I was intimidated by that. I definitely learned some things about myself. Where I'm not good and where I am good.

I built my first AR with Gamage and I look back at those videos fondly because I don't get to spend time with Gamage and Dalton often because they're not nearby but you know you guys are my brothers and more than just like you and me or fraternity brothers and you and I are like blood brothers but

the image adult and then Greg or my brothers and i don't get to see that much so getting time with gamage for several days for some hours making those videos was super fun because you know gamages lovable and knowledgeable and we're cracking jokes and i just watch the video and like that's right we said that funny joke that's funny

And some of the things we still say now come from those videos. And then Sarge came in via text saying, hey, your gash tubes upside down. I'm like, how do we miss that? So I learned a lot with that. That was really cool. Guncon, huge pilot of the year, got to meet a lot of people that we know from online and connect with, got to meet, you know, a gut punch Barbie, a full metal sensei from Honey Bear Tactical. They're amazing people. And we love them from a distance.

And it was great to see those people. Good to see our friends at Brownells and John Patton was very open. That was super cool, man, because I was surprised that I got an invite as media, because I don't consider my following to be very large. It has grown. My YouTube has grown to over 3,600. I think I started the year at, like,

a little over 1,000 or 1,400 because I did a giveaway last December for hitting 1,000 followers, something like that. So I've got more than doubled in a year on YouTube, which is really cool. I've been dedicating more time to that earlier. Someone congratulated me for doing weekly uploads.

Now you get weekly uploads twice and that's I I applied you I gotta applaud you on it. It's it takes a lot of me man. I'll get I'll be honest Because we now upload weekly for Mac bro. So Mac bros goes on my channel for now until you and I discuss you know things down the road and then my individual stuff but

Um, you know, got to kick it with the ultimate damage a few more times this year, which was really cool. Um, Gamaj and I had a range age of the two of us, but someone else was awesome. Um, so I think that getting time individually to the range was good. Um, I think that, um,

the quality of the range time was good. I got a lot of guns this year. I tried a lot of different things out, which was cool. And I'm trying to like rattle my head like, I got this one. I didn't keep it. I got traded. And so I networked. And so I met some people in my local community through networking. We had two A-Day this year at West Armory, which was really cool. So going into the squad drills around squad drills, plays host with Sergeant Mayhem at West Armory.

for two a day with Brownells and I think that's another thing that we don't talk about or people don't really I don't think a lot of people know that if you I'm sorry I didn't mean to cut you know you're good I'm taking down Katie's note because that's actually on my list of goals for next year I'm writing that down 20 I thought it was this if you didn't write it I got it screenshot it yeah but I

man. Yeah, it's wild when you start thinking about everything that you go through. There's a question here. How many rounds did you all shoot this year? Don't even ask me. Don't even ask me. I have no idea. I might even try to count. Just I will say honestly, not enough. Yeah, not enough.

Not enough. And some of it is because it wasn't dedicated for training or dedicated for competition or whatever. It was, hey, I'm testing stuff out. I'm seeing how this fuels without any other intentions. But it wasn't enough in my opinion, for sure.

I would. Yeah, I would say we're deaf. I mean, for guys who aren't competition shooters, if you're not a competition, I'm not a competition. Yeah, we probably. Oh, man.

I would say because we only go to the range once a month. No, no, not even man. Not every other month. So we go to the range once every six months generally. I would say maybe five case probably generous. Yeah. Yeah. Five thousand rounds.

5k is generous. I think is what I I went through this year and I might be overestimating but I don't think it matters. I think that It it's the quality of the work that you do I would say that by only going to the range so often and only shooting somebody rounds to produce the content that we did I think I'm pretty proud of but getting back to squad drills and well and well for squad drills We created new branding new logos. Yeah, we've got our new

dojo style stuff, which then went into getting Greg, Fireman, his competition shirts, which we love him for making that happen, because he pushed us about wanting that. We want him to have that. So now we have them minds, not nearby, but so only the five of us have those. That's awesome. We have a special thing. We have the five of us and then others got to go to GunCon. And so that was like the first time we got to spend time together besides Brownells two years ago.

And it was awesome. It was awesome just to not do shooting stuff and just like have meals and tell jokes and ride in the car. I got to meet your dad. Yeah. I mean, I've seen him before, but like long, long time investment of conversations. It was really meaningful, really meaningful. And I think that that is

Crazy to even think about that because so for folks that were there at gun con a lot of you guys are following us. We're at gun con The guy that was with us that wasn't part of the the squad Joe's guys that was my dad I flew him to gun con and Took care of everything for him because I wanted to introduce him to the squad Joe's guys that I had been talking about for like what five

It was awesome for him to be able to see like the world that I'm into in real time because you know you can tell somebody all these things but when they're around the people that you talk highly about and experience that high caliber person personally

than it's even more special. So now like for myself and my dad, GunCon is going to be like a thing we do on top of the squadron. So he'll be joining. So that was a big deal. I did. I didn't forget about that, but I definitely didn't like that's a pretty big accomplishment. Yeah.

man i gotta say um you know after those that don't know my dad and i don't speak um you know he left the the picture years ago and so i've been leaning heavily on on darius and others too so that that whole uh in my heart and senior dad meeting him you know we've met but not like very long we had dinners um but we just hit it off i mean the first thing i noticed these were an m&p hat on like

Yeah, and after my heart, he knows what to do, you know, but it was super cool. He fit in. I gifted him some squad drill shirts and, you know, it was, it was like having another unofficial or an honorary, like, you know, our fraternity and honorary member in the group. So no, that was cool. So for you guys that watch us,

we don't get to like sit down and like break bread all the time. Usually it's like, hey, rain's time. If we do rain's time, like Dee said, once every couple of months, that's, I mean, we talk every day. But the squad was guys, we talk every day. Even then, and I hope, you know, the wives don't see this, but even when we go to range days, we're supposed to like, as husbands, we're supposed to end our range day at like one.

we just keep going we're just like we'll just sleep on the couch because we don't see the guy so we'll just we'll just take the hit and we'll sleep on the couch yeah it'll simmer down in two months which is the next time we show up so it's okay we can deal with it yeah but yeah I know I like it

The thing, too, is we made a great relationship with Johnny Guo, the Johnny Guo team. Yeah, that was cool, too. That was really cool. We got to meet with their videographer, Mike Iso. So follow him. He does great videography and photography. And we just got to meet with him. That's where you guys see some of those cool slow-mo artistic videos. It was super cool.

I gotta say that was cool to have someone else film us because we've never really done that in the past. We film each other and we know what to look for. But then he's like, you guys just keep doing what you're doing. And even film each other like you normally do. And that's how we got to connect with Johnny Gloss. We know Wick Actual, Wick Actual does some of our simple work.

and other things that we do with him. He's supported us two a day. We meet Mike, the videographer, and then Johnny's messaged me directly and said, hey, this is Johnny. Thank you for the support. And Johnny's very important in the industry. So it's cool that he's also local, which is, I think, the other kicker is their local people so they know the Florida vibe.

Man, very cool, man. You're not wrong, man. We've made, I think, the one thing that squad drills as a whole, and the one thing that your dad mentioned, I'll just say to everyone here, the five of us, D, me, Dalton, Greg, and Gamers. The five of us squad drills have created unique relationships with organizations, and then we found a way to kind of spread the wealth amongst one another. Everybody's got their own thing they're into. Me and you have a lot of similarities, so we have this show.

But I think that that's what makes our group so unique is that we are connected on multiple levels, but we also have our own individual lanes and we can be solo acts if we needed to kind of, you know, if the boy band had five dozen timber lakes, we got that, right? And so I think that that's really cool that we as a group were individually able to connect with organizations. You know, I've connected with kitty and optics. I've connected with ex tech. I've connected with dive Rico.

Leisure carry all these ones you've connected with others that I don't even work with and we help each other out and share information and then it hopefully helps the community See what's out there when it comes to the data like you mentioned that isn't attainable and then identifying organizations that do good products good customer service and are very reputable and are going to be here for a while and stand behind their products so squad rules has made big ways You know, I think the cool thing is that we didn't hold

things off from happening if we couldn't all make it like when we met up with Buck and shot with him four out of the five made it no problem when we shot with Johnny Glox's folks four out of the five made it okay or three out of five so it's not always if we can't all make it we cancel it's just no we're just gonna keep going we understand we all have our lives you got sports I got kids everyone else I mean we all have kids we're all dads we all have our jobs so you know this isn't our job this is our

I wouldn't even say it's a side hustle. It's just our hobby. Yeah. It truly is a hobby because the cash flow is not enough to support the ridiculous issue to be. Absolutely not. No way. That's why we have drums. Yeah.

Yeah, just honestly, we're out of this stuff for you guys because we know that it is, we've been blessed enough to be in a space where we can spend a little cash to take things to the end of the world, I guess you'd say, or push the limits on some tools that we'll just look at and be like, ah, you know, I don't have the money to do something like that. And we're here for you guys. So if we can do it, we're going to try and do.

Yeah. And again, we don't mind getting any picks because we know we have opportunities that others don't. Yeah. So, you know, that, yeah, I mean, there's a lot there that we did as a group. We did shooting and did some, we did that tactical game style shooting with the guys and.

That was cool because we said who's going who's not going and then we all five showed up. Yeah, so it's kind of like we didn't realize we're all showing up. We need some of us were. Yeah, that was cool. We got to get out to hang again. That was one of those. It was a range date. We didn't get to sit back in.

Chill. We had to do work, you know, and film. And then we had to get home at a reasonable time. But yeah. And then with Macbros, I think the thing is that we just we exist. You know, Macbros exists. I feel like specifically because you're a dad pushing us.

And, you know, we had some conversations about our connection and people seem to gravitate to what we do and how we are. And it's just natural. I think of us similar to, oh, I hate, I don't know their names. It's the duo, the comedians, Bobby Lee, the Korean guy, and the redhead.

Is the Anthony something rather, but they have their own show. And they're in their best friends, right? So they rip each other and all that. So I think of our dynamic is similar to any duo that you see that has a long term or immediate connection that is honest.

So we've done this is episode 24. We've done 24 consecutive weeks with the exception of one for a break to the holidays. And we're going to keep pushing. We're trying to do weekly. We're uploading on YouTube, uploading on the Fire Emblem Radio Network, which is another big thing as we just started this.

And then Sean here from We Like Shooting, who runs Fire and Ready Network, who's also a friend, said, yep, you guys have done network, you good stuff, these conversations are meaningful. And it shows the data showing, you know, we've got good views on YouTube, we've got better listening on podcasts, this is more of a podcast medium.

We've got people chiming in here and joining us every week, even if it's, I don't want to say even if to correct those that are here, but if it's just two people, I'm happy that it's here. But honestly, this is me and you talking. And so we exist. And in reality, I know I just said like, but in reality, these are conversations that you and I have been having for many, many years, not about starting

you know this Instagram channel since we are doing a recap of 2024 we're just talking about historical conversations that we've had.

So when we take these conversations and we're just talking about it in like a closed loop because that's what you do when you have privacy and we put it out in the open forum because we find out there's people that are thinking the same or they have the same questions or they have questions on things that we're thinking about and it just develops into these topics and things to test out.

I like it, dude. I definitely enjoy jumping on this show with you. I definitely enjoy opening up the floor and hearing others give their feedback and hearing examples from just not the squad girls group, but like additional people that are doing their own thing on the side, you know, they're hustling as well. We get

It's amazing, dude. This has been really satisfying and I don't know. It's humbling at the same time. No, I agree with you because I think we don't have a mission statement like all good companies do. We're also not a company yet. But I feel like one of our key

Tenants is that we want to promote positivity in the gun community or in the second eight to eight community, right? Yeah, because there's a lot of intimidation that exists because of the topic at hand and the serious nature of it, but I also know that everyone we've met

is laughing, hugging, and then when it's time to do work, their face changes, they do work, and then it's back to being happy, you're lucky, what have you. And it was interesting to see that we're not finding people that think like us. We're finding people that don't know what they're thinking. We're helping to be guides, shepherds along the journey.

Kind of like Brownells is kind of our guide as well. They're they're the Obi-Wan Kenobi for my Star Wars people, right? And I think we're similar to that both you and I squaduros the collective But it's cool to meet and talk with people that are like no I don't agree with you and I have a different opinion like I love engaging with Lou all the time I know he's watching so he's just gonna get in his feelings now I love engaging with Lou because he has a totally different perspective. He has different experience. He has a background that I don't have

and that but he's willing to have the conversation he's been intelligent about it but also you know give us a hard time and I feel like that's what we need is people to be willing to have conversations that may not agree with one another and that's okay if we at the end of the conversation walk away and we still don't agree

At least we have the conversation. If we don't have the conversation, we don't agree, then we might feel a certain way and we shouldn't have to feel that way. It might just be internet beef that doesn't need to be a thing, right? It is non-existent. And as the expert in internet beef in the squad, you know what the talk is like.

Yeah, absolutely. And I want to also give a couple of shout outs to like, uh, uh, especially straight arrow for people that don't know straight arrow straight arrow. Actually, uh, he lives in Atlanta. No, no, not Louisiana. Louisiana. And, um,

He actually flew down to do a range session with us just to like join us and shoot. And that's crazy given the fact that he never met any of us in person.

Yeah. If you think about that, like, for me, if I'm like, I'm going to fly down and hang with this group of guys that I've never met. And we've shot with the group. We've hung out with groups of shooters and they have different ideas and ways that they carry themselves. The mixed batch, yeah. Right. It might not be in the same mannerisms that we carry ourselves, but then

Again, we laugh and smile and wear pink t-shirts with pink letters on it and pink guns. We're in a unique space. I think that we're in a unique space. I think that we also are people have found us. We've found more people and others have kind of.

the sound their way with, you know, joining us, squad drills, what have you. Because I know, for example, when we go to Ohio, range date next year,

That's our people. That's our people. We're going to be around people that shoot ported guns, shoot fast, unapologetically have loud guns and they both with ports and with a surrogate, whatnot. And that's, that's their jam. But we also know that where we, where we do two a day, it's, you know, the guns get us a once or twice look at before they's like, I should, no, I want to shoot the camo one. Okay. Yeah.

You know what, going into it, keep going, but I just want to throw in there. In two-aid day, what I hear the most complaining about is the fact that we have red dots on every gun. That's the most complaining that we get. It's like, ugh, this would be better if it didn't have a red dot. And I'm like, what? What? What? You're you living in hops? Yeah, I agree with you. You are literally keyholing out the circle, and you said this would be better if it didn't have a red dot.

I don't understand. I've stopped trying to convert people and just realize that if all things go right with mother nature.

We will more of us will exist than those that don't like red dots. Yeah, and are we going to Ohio range day? We have not talked about that yet, be shoots. I have to check the calendar to see feasibility and everything has a price tag. But let's jump into. We kind of talked about what went well this year. What are some things that you think didn't go well that you kind of want to improve on?

OK, so I think the things that didn't go well. You guys know just like any other firearm practitioner, I have to watch my words in case Instagram is running through their AI. And they're like, what did he say? He's an active what? So a professional firearms practitioner, that's the term we'll use.

I think what I would like to have done better is obviously more training. I do more gimmick training if that makes sense. I go out on the range cold and I rip build drills.

Anybody can rip build drills if you get into ripping one into rip build drills. So I think that I really need to start pushing myself into space that makes me uncomfortable. But at the same time, I like being uncomfortable. Does that make sense? It does. You wear tight shirts? Yes.

I feel that I perform better in chaos and I want to really push that more and see like being an actual like chaotic situation. I want to do CQB.

I want to do that. I don't want to, I don't want to buy a plane ticket and fly to another state to do it. I just want to be able to like drive somewhere and go and perform it. I would like also do a sim force on force training with simulation rounds. Now you're talking about your key things.

Yeah. I have an affinity for, I never want to get, nobody ever wants to get shot. Never want to get shot, ever, ever, ever in my life. But the thrill of somebody being able to change the dynamic of the playing field, based off of their mindset, extremely excites me.

I want that. I want somebody to move and I need to process, you know, on an academic level. Okay, if he's going right, do I move right? If he's going left, do I move left? Do I move right? Do I move with him? Do I mirror him? You know what I mean? Do I push back? Do I be aggressive? So I want to really push myself. And I think that's something that I think I could do better.

because even at the indoor range I was getting to a point where I was bored and as you guys can see I put in my story. Sarge saw me on the security camera and he sends me a text message. I'm not going to use the terms that he actually used. I kind of softened the terms because you got to remember that Sarge is a veteran. So he has the veteran terminology that took back his statements.

But he made me do something that I don't do, which is shoot, we can. I think the last one was like three years ago, and you guys saw me shoot, we can right out the gate. I mean, hitting alphas at 10 yards, whatever, but I want to push myself more. I need to do that on my own instead of like somebody telling me to do it. So that's what I think I could do better is

I just really pushed myself more, which would probably involve doing competition shooting. So yeah, man, what else can I do better or could I have done better?

I don't know, everything else like Instagram wise is just to have fun guys. Like the numbers, getting followers and all that jazz, that's cool. But I'm honestly just posting to have fun. And I don't really care what people think about it. If I get three views on it or I get no.

24,000 views on it. It is what it is. I just want to document, I just want to document my growth. So that's where I am. So I just want to be more growth, dude. I want to travel though. That's what I want to do better. I want to travel with the group. I don't like solo traveling to go do training sessions and just, man, it's cool.

Yeah, yeah. So I'll touch on that as well. For me, this year, what didn't go well was squad drills getting together. We didn't have an official, did y'all have a range day? If you did, I think I wasn't there this time. I think you did. I think you guys had a range day where we had people in the community meet up with us, shoot with us. I didn't make it to that. Unfortunately, I had a conflict.

And that frustrates me. But priorities are what they are. Your hobby can't take the place of your job and your family. But what frustrated me this year wouldn't go well. I don't think I shot nearly as much as I did last year when it came to meaningful shooting and drills and practical training. I did more dry fire. So I think I would say I made up for it, but I don't feel like I did because

It's not the same feeling as like you mentioned about traveling solo. I do this, I can keep myself accountable, but I really enjoy it, even just with just one other person, you or can measure Greg or it's just, it's a reason why I currently don't golf because I used to be a very active golfer. So if you're in Florida, you want me to dust off my clubs, let me know. But, um,

I used to golf a lot and I stopped because I was going by myself. I don't like playing with randoms because I usually get people that drink and cuss and want to just tear up a golf course and I appreciate the beauty and things like in firearms. And so same thing at the gun range. I'm not looking to

have a bunch of people bark at me and drill sergeant me my dad was a drill sergeant I don't need that you know so that's not my my love language so to speak that's why me and Kevin Dixie get along so well because he speaks to the level that I like to understand but he's also can speak to multiple people yeah which is a beautiful thing about people like KD and other instructors that are willing to do different communication styles based on their audience and the individuals in the class which is really nice but I don't think I shot enough

I think that I wasted my time to agree with some guns that I think weren't worth my effort and put some time behind some products in hindsight I said yes because I was just looking for something but ultimately it wasn't worth my time and energy and I think that to make to be better about that I need to really value my time and

make decisions that are going to be meaningful to me, not just because I'm getting a kickback or something on it, but with companies that have things. So if company A has a, I'll use KD's term, they have a widget, right? They got a widget, they got to do the key and they want me to just try it out.

If it doesn't fit within my current rotation of things that I do, I shouldn't do it even though they'll say, yeah, we'll pay you X dollars if you look into or we'll give you a bunch of it. That's cool. And it's hard to turn those things away. And I think this year, I reviewed a couple inferior products that I realized I don't run them now. I've gotten rid of them. I've given them away. And.

It wasn't genuine to me. To make that better, just be true to who I am and stick to what I like unapologetically, but still, like I mentioned before, be open, try things, but when it comes to endorsing stuff, putting my time behind it, I need to really consider, like you mentioned earlier, the effort to make a video, the effort to make content, because I do edit, and I do those things.

There is effort there. And I think finding the balance of being a content person, but also a practitioner. It's hard to do. I've talked to Sean about this and he's talked about it several times. It's hard to set out time to go test a product and then have that same bandwidth to then train and make sure your skills are there and not have depreciation in your skill set because you're trying to form product a gun. What have you? So that I think shoot more.

I mentioned before in one of our shorts that came up. I want to do more of the things that I'm comfortable with. I'm not big into competition, not because I don't like I don't think I'm good enough. It's just that I don't like the idea of people watching me hold and holding me accountable.

And I really feel like I just got to get over that because I know I got people that want to see me there, even if I don't perform. And if I don't perform, then it's going to hold me accountable. And I just know that that fear is just something that's like, if I don't do well, they're going to say, Hey, Mac, bro, one or two, which one ever number you give me.

Um, thing one, thing two, macro one, macro two. Uh, you suck. You're all talk. You're just an internet guy. And I know I'm not, but if that day you catch me in a bad situation of not doing well, then I'm going to have to eat that humble pie and I really don't want to. So I've been avoiding that. So next year, I'm going to do competition of some sort. I don't know what it is yet. We'll figure it out.

Um, I don't want to do it alone. So I'm bringing you or somebody with me just so I have a battle buddy. How come? Yeah. Um, I think that was the main thing. Um, the travel this year was cool. I think that we just didn't make it happen for certain reasons. I have one more. I did a couple of have additions to that same statement. Okay. Uh, where you had talked about, I wanted to dive deep into the statement that you had talked about. You didn't shoot enough. Um,

And then I also made the same statement in a different variation where I said that you guys tend to see me shoot like niche kind of shooting styles. It's like, oh, it's always Bill drill. It's always this. It's always that.

I think that even though it is niche or you didn't shoot enough, I think that you're still, and I have to remind myself, you're still putting quality shooting time in. It's a build your own. I'm not hitting alphas. I'm pissed. You guys don't understand. I am pissed. I'm like, what the heck?

So then I'll run it again and I'll run it and then I'll start pushing it back and you know seven yards I'm trying to rip it 10 yards I'm trying to rip it yeah, but as I don't have a long time to like just Slowly gain so I'm trying to absorb all of the changes all the corrections that I'm making into a shortened amount of time But I agree with you dude. I agree with you

I think that what would benefit both of us, and we've said this time and time again, you said it, dude, I've tried out so many guns this year. You guys have seen I've been trying out so many guns this year. I want to get back to that groundwork, and I want to solidify one or two guns as my primary workhorses. It used to be my pink Glock 19.

It's not my 19, although that is the best performing gun for me as of today along with everything that I own because I have so much time behind that gun. But for 2025, I think I want to solidify probably the Walther as my choice of gun. And I want to run that primarily exclusively for the most part. So I think that will help us for next year.

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think that I have to. I admit that this year I've tried a lot of stuff just to try stuff. And I keep coming back to and bucks on here. So Buck, thank you for joining. I keep going back to the MMP. I love the MMP platform. It just works for me. The trigger is is ridiculous, as you guys know, especially those of you who shot mine. And I got to move them now. So one goes down. The other is good.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. I agree with you. Picking a platform is great. I carry my Mac bro because it's just the most comfortable carry, but I don't want to be a hypocrite and go shoot. Let's say Florida could see a carry league and not shoot the macro.

And you know so i want to i want to figure that out i think that this might be the solution to it this m&p 3.6 inch but i think that's the other thing is that you know we've got other things that's actually off camera so i can show right we've got other things that we're working with and trying out it's just uh my main mantra that i keep saying is that

For me, every single pistol handgun that I own has to be carry worthy. And that's just because I don't want to be in a situation where I can't go and not carry a gun. If one of my guns goes down, I will be able to have a holster for it and it carries. And I can utilize it just as well as everything else.

So I think that that's the biggest thing is finding that line of demarcation of what is stuff that I don't have to run as hard, but I run well and the stuff that I'm going to really train hard in. So when I did my one month of dry fire, it was my MMP2 point on my forage. I

was doing that over and over and over again and you know doing the grip and the presentation and it became second nature but I'll tell you I carry my Mac bro all the time it's thinner this gun feels big in hand but I'm reminded that I told you when I did my M&P dry fire for a month that gun eventually became second nature my hands got comfortable I got used to it

And it's like this gun doesn't feel big anymore. The other guns feel smaller now. So just perspective has changed, right? And so that's one of those things that once you do something enough, it becomes second nature to get comfortable with it. And that's why guys like Buck and Lou and the guys that compete often, that's why they're so good because they

Do that with those guns consistently. And that's what makes sense. That's why Vinny runs 2011 exclusively for competition because it's all the same, you know, dynamic and controls. So yeah, I think that's going to be something that we need to do next year. So let's dive into next year to kind of like round out this conversation. Now we're over an hour, but I figured we would be over an hour. So for 2025, what are some goals you have? And I'm going to start and I'll take them down as you're saying them.

as my goals to make sure that I'm accountable, right? That's the term for 2025 is accountability. Yeah. Yeah. I think that that's the one thing that if anyone is rounding out episode 24, if you don't hear anything else,

We hold each other so accountable. Now, we don't force each other and drag each other, but we will talk shit to one another until we realize, OK, I get it. I am not doing my part or I'm not doing my part as a father, a husband, a squajos guy, a Mac bro, whatever it is.

And so, D and I talk about this all the time. We set goals, we check in on one of those goals because we're not like, we go to the gym. D goes way more than me. I mean, freaking look at the dude. He definitely goes more than me. That's a goal for me and that this coming year is to really engrain that into my lifestyle, but.

He checks on me and says, hey, I haven't seen you post in a while. Are you still going? Even if I haven't posted, we talk about it. So we hold each other accountable to our goals. We do checks on our goals. When we hit a goal, we celebrate it. We either go out to launch or chat or whatever. We celebrate it. Yeah. And we say, cool. Next goal. What's the next goal? And it's this endless cycle. And some people say it's not healthy, but it's what makes us work. Yeah.

And we continue going and going because we want to continue to grow so that like, if we look back on 2024 from the beginning of the year, right, to where we are today, if you look at followers, connections, people we met, you know, we have done so much. And then if you look at where we are individually for the past.

10 years since we had kids. Your kids are older than mine. How have we grown from that point? And we talk about it as individuals that we know people from college, high school, and they're still doing the same things. And we just continue to evolve and modify, just like our handguns, so to speak, to become newer versions of ourselves and not necessarily for the wrong reason, so always better versions of ourselves.

And so in that vein, I'm going to write these down and I'll write down mine. I also don't mind already ahead of time. So I'll share it with you. What are some of your goals for this year? So I definitely want to, so not to be in the, to get into the weeds. I'll just keep a high level goals. Uh, definitely need to shoot more with the squad, squad drills, main guys. Yeah. As not a full group. Um,

And I apologize, guys, if you do come to shoot with us as a squadrope group, just to be straightforward with you guys. There's so many people that attend those. I don't feel like I get the shooting that I really, really, really, really need to get in for the amount of time that we're in there and out. I'll join you guys, but yeah. So when I say the squad, guys, I'm talking about the five tier group of gentlemen.

So that I want to do more. I would like to compete because everybody says to compete. It will benefit me. I do come from a very heavy, heavy, heavy competitive paintball background.

Competition will be great, but I just enjoy being shot back at. It just changes the dynamic of the game. So I'm going to look for CQB for the next year. That will be a goal of mine. And if there's a STEM rounds group that does simulation rounds, I would love to definitely get my hands in on that action.

And then the last goal will be to meet some of the vendors that we've become friends with. Now, I actually, let's change that word. It's not vendors, it's partnerships. Meet some of the folks that we've partnered with. Talk of my language.

Yeah, you know, we've we partnered with Vinny and the monsoon tactical team. So I want to meet them in person. Yeah, partner with like Ranger proof. That would be cool. We partnered with Johnny Gloss. Yeah, love to go to Johnny Gloss range and show off the 43 11s that we have in our our 48, which are freaking spicy. All these thing triggers are. I know it's a Glock 48, but

When I post the video tomorrow, you'll see. I'll just let the video do their talking. But yeah, those are kind of the big things that I want to do is meet the partners in person.

I'd say that's the right word, given my professional background. I'm looking at Lou across the internet in his cozy home. There's definitely a difference in vendor versus partner. Vendors, you typically pay every now and then, and they might do some work in partners. They work with you.

Yeah, I just want to call a couple of comments really quickly. Buck Lawler, good dude. He shoots down in Ruskin all the time. He's traveling all over the place. One of the quickest rising competitive shooters that I've personally met. And I've met JJ Rakaza for like five seconds. But Buck's moving up the charts and what he does. And he's one of my favorite shooters because he preaches concealment shooting. I love it. I love it. But um, he says competition breeds greatness boys agree.

I just haven't done much competition a long time. So that's a little like I used to play softball and basketball and all kinds of things. And like you and I, I know that I can get a hot head. So I'm trying to realize that it's not the nature of this. And he mentioned that getting the five squad boys in for a classic gun craft. I think that's a good idea.

i definitely think that um each one of us has a different area to improve on um i know greg is definitely our stand out in the group he's been doing competitions while we got jerseys for him because we want him to rep squad drills but i think we need to we need to catch up a little bit i think is when we're not trying to compete and compare i think that we definitely need to do that so um buck will uh we'll be in touch when we'll try to find some time if it's not all five

at least be me and Dee for sure because Dee didn't get to shoot with you and I feel like he missed out a lot on some opportunities to learn some stuff.

So cool. Those are some good goals. I think five, four, five is fair. Like at work, that's a good number. I want them to be tangible and obtainable. I don't want to make a freaking goal of that. I'm like, oh, yeah, I want to go visit like 12 freaking trips outside of the state of Florida. I'm like, that's so for all my my nerds out there. You're making me smart goals.

Yes. Exactly. Smart goals. Smart goals. That's an acronym. Google it. I'm not going to do it now. But OK, cool. I think that we have a lot of this similar stuff, which is not surprising because we have talked. So I'll say my goals and I'm going to say kind of how I think I'm going to accomplish those to kind of put some action out there. And then this will be in the ethos to hold me accountable.

more range time just in general, just more range time shooting and make it meaningful. Take some training classes. I've taken a total. Do you count that tactical range that is training class? Yeah, okay. I think if somebody teaches me something, I don't know. It's formal. I'm trying to think what did I learn?

I learned how to shoot from a knee with a rifle. I've never officially learned how to do it. I learned that I was close. So I think I have personally, in my six years of shooting firearms, I've had

for formal classes, and I consider Buck's day with him a class because he was an instructor teaching us things as the lead. And he was great. I learned a lot in the short amount of time from him and also about myself. But I've taken some lessons with the KD Kevin Dixie phenomenal. I've taken some lessons from Buck.

I've taken some, uh, other lessons from the, uh, we've done the two classes, the one, two classes with Rod, right? The one with the, the tactical day thing. And then the tactical range day thing. So one was like a physical one who wasn't as physical. So that's it. I've done four formal classes.

Yeah with barrel hatchet that's right so that's it I've only done four and the rest is YouTube University watching modern samurai online watching point with tactics online. Those dudes are incredible their skill level intimidates me.

I couldn't even imagine how far behind I would be in a class. But I'm putting it out there. I'm being open and honest, which is how I feel with the end of the year. It's just important to be vulnerable and honest. So more range time, train. I want to do competition. I think Florida Conceal Carry is where I'm going to be going for that because I like to run Conceal. It puts us all in the same division, and I run ports. So great.

And I want to do more time with my rifle because I mentioned earlier in the show, I built my rifle the earlier this year, I maybe put 50 rounds through it. And I feel bad that I invested that much time and content and making something that I haven't shot nearly enough. And then I want to collaborate more.

I want to collaborate more with everybody in person, whether it's just range day content or with products, just whatever it is. I'm not looking to make content. I'm looking just to have a good time and record it. And then whatever happens is organic. There might be an agenda, of course, but I want to do that. So besides that, just get better and organized with my time when it comes to this stuff. So yeah.

There's a couple of statements that were made. Don said you'll get put in open class. So down here in Florida, or specifically at Guncraft, they have a concealed carry match in which you can run ports. I think you can run ports and you can run non-ports and you're still under the same umbrella as long as it's concealed, correct?

We'll let Buck chime in on that. I believe concealed carry is just everybody's in the same group. But Don Welsh, I understand that everything I own is ported. So someone said leave the ports at home. I don't have anything that is imported. It's just not my flavor. So I recognize that I will be with people shooting open style guns.

I'm not looking to win a trophy. I think that's the thing I want to clarify. If I shoot competition, it's not for me to win anything. It's for me to see how my skills are and I want to verify where I'm good and identify deficiencies.

So I can be better. I'm not looking at my name on the leaderboard. I don't care about that stuff. I'm not in it for the money or in it for the prizes. I'm in it for another opportunity to shoot people, have a good time. And that's it. So concealed carry league works for me, just like Buck said in the live chat. Only the slide size matters. And that's still to be determined because I believe it's the first season they've had in the league.

But I know more leagues are showing up like that. So I feel like personally, everybody should be in an open division because if you're running what you got, that's what you got. You see, but we know that. Straight arrow, run what you carry and let the chips fall where they may. That's going to be a topic for another conversation. I think we can have that top that I would like to have that conversation after we've done a couple of competitions. Yeah.

Because there's different skill sets in any capacity where you see guys with these awesome fully decked out 2011s running premium ammo and then you see their EDC and they can't handle their EDC.

Yeah, that's why I like concealed carry leak because I see people run what they carry. And we know some people that run their competition gun as their carry because they will compete with a prodigy and then they carry a prodigy. Cool. I love that. I think it's the best thing ever. That's one of my favorite things to see is when someone runs a carry about knocking people that shoot certain guns for competition and it's just, you know, that's just your flavor. That's your cup of tea. But yeah, yeah.

Buck gave us some validation, some corrections in the chat about what the leak is doing. It sounds like the first match for concealed carry is going to be are going to be in Mark, so we got some time. I've got some time to get an ammo together. Look at the last message.

Most people who shoot USPSA don't carry guns outside this. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, a lot of people that shoot competition don't carry. Yeah, that's fine. That's just not me. That's why Donovan, Buck, Vinny, those dudes that run from concealment, that's my jam. I hope that down the road, concealed carry becomes a more popular thing and becomes more mainstream. And some of the rules that apply to USPSA start to be modified for

Those that run concealed carry, especially appendix. But ultimately, I think that that's my objective is to get out and compete. It's another excuse to say, hey, I went shooting because I know like concealed carry league is once a month. OK, so once a month, I do that. And then the other times it's with you guys and just having fun doing other types of drills. I'm hoping for at least twice a month, but I don't want to put something in stone because there might be some months that we get out three times some months that we don't.

But ultimately, that's my goal. So I think that I'm going to write down here the ways that we can accomplish some of these things. So those that are keeping notes at home, we have agreed to three events. And I just looked up on how a range day, based on timing, I can't make it. It's in September at the end of September. And then it's in Ohio. The next month after that is on scene range day.

So, three events that D&I will be at, definitely. Some of Squadronals may join us, but the two of us would be there. Are Gun Con 2025? Don't know where it's going to be at. I hear it's not in Brownells, but I'm not sure. We'll let John Patton announce that. I don't know anything really. So definitely Gun Con 2025. So if you're going to Gun Con, yes, I want to do that.

See me there. Train and learn. KD saw me at GunCon. I wore his hat and he said, you should come to train and learn. I told him I'd be there and I'm a man of my word. So I will be at train and learn. I think you're joining me. It's in May. It's in Atlanta. Not a far trip. I think.

You know, I think a couple of other squadrons guys are going to join us. So I think, uh, Gamage will be joining you for sure. So train and learn in May and Atlanta area. I will definitely be there to learn and try stuff and just see people. Um, the last one is monsoon range day or monsoon demo day. That is just a passion event. Um,

to just have fun with people that we connect with. I'm planning on bringing most of my builds that they've had their hands on and see people we know from afar, chop it up, watch guys just rip through drills at a speed that I've never comprehended and just learn and have fun. Just like bucking the rest of the guy. You made this statement. Once you start hanging out with the people that are shredding it up, you'll be right there shredding it up. That's how it works. That's how it works.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm I'm that's that's those are the three three events that so the chat is going nuts. So first of all, I love that we got people on a Sunday night. We might have to change the Sunday nights. I don't know But I feel like first of all, thank you everybody's joining us online. It really means a lot to us and you guys

and some new people. So thank you for joining us live. The chat is going wild. If you're not listening or watching this live, you're missing out on some great conversations. They're talking about competition from concealment. I agree with you, Buck. So my favorite thing ever is seeing people that run from concealment and everyone else running outside of waistband. And then the arrow says, what are you doing up here? And then you're like, no, I'm good to go. Like run the, run the timer. I'm ready to go. So I love seeing that practical shooting is what it's all about. I agree.

Outlaw leagues. I'm not probably kind of have a shirt to her to that. I might look into that if that's a thing Buck and if any chocolate it up. Yeah Yeah, so those are the three heavy hitters. They just happen to be within like the same three or four months I'm not going to shot show

Wasn't invited to it. I don't have the money to go or the timing maybe in 26, but I've done Vegas before with my fraternity brothers and I've had enough of Vegas already for a lifetime, but you know, you never know. But I know there's other things I want to go do and see, but not planning for this year just because of logistics. But a lot of things Lou does out in Nevada looks great.

But yes, playing tickets are going to happen for GunCon. And we may not fly to train and learn. We'll figure that out with my drive. And then monsoon demo day. Definitely want to be there. Definitely want to see the guys just get some big meaty hugs from Vinny and the guys up there and see what it's like to do some Ohio shooting. Oh, yes.

But yeah, so that's what's on the agenda. Anything else is cake. You better say again. I piece a pistol man. Say it again. Better solidify pistol choice. I think that.

Well, my brain is out right now. So everybody, it's curious. They've been asking me, um, uh, has been saying, Hey, echelon or M&P. And that's where I'm at right now. I think those are the two gun platforms that I'm at. It's just my echelon is full size.

And my MMPs are not their compacts. So I'm considering getting an echelon compact and see how that floats with me when it comes to me running. It's just that I know, believe it or not, for the folks that have seen me shoot, I can hit 10s and 11 splits with this thing, with this MMP.

Those that knows what that means means that I can be slow on the draw. I need to work on my speed on the draw. I can be slower on transitions because I make up forward and splits. I need to not rely heavily on that, but I also know my MNP and me. I'm going to be posting a rip session here soon online.

I crush it. I love this gun. I shoot well. The grips are all great. The porting really helps a lot. But the trigger is it, man. The trigger is it. It's amazing. I've literally followed Donovan's formula for how he does his triggers. It's the exact same thing I have in mind. And that's how the splits are. And yeah, it's incredible.

I think that's the two guns I'm debating on. I just need to put more time on it. Somebody said no code witness. Yeah, most of Josh and I, we don't normally run irons on any of our stuff. I only run a front and that's just as a backup. Is it? But you can't see that front side with that optic. I can. Yeah, I can with this one. It's really low. It's not a code witness.

I thought you couldn't see that. It looks super low. Yeah, I can see it. Let me turn the dog. It is that dog tag really knocks it down. That plate cover. But yeah, for my bigger one, and I'm with Buck, I like it smooth. My echelon doesn't have irons. I don't run irons on the rear because we talked about in the back and we asked about how we grip our guns.

back. Yeah. Yeah. Buck had asked a question to me about the MMP 2.0. So I have an MMP 2.0 4 inch that monsoon tactical or vein since he's online here. He put lucky sevens on it. I put quite a few rounds on that gun.

has upgraded guide rod. It's a 15 pound recoil spring. It's phenomenal. Phenomenal gun. I just don't know for me. I just don't feel connected to it like I should. I can hit with it. I just something about it. I just don't feel connected. So I want to give this Walter a chance because for me, coming from the Glock 19 platform, I for some odd reason, I feel very connected to the 19.

And the current Walther Pro E reminds me of a if a Glock 19 and an M&P 2.0 had a baby. That's what the Pro E would be. So I get the M&P is is taking a step down and having a baby with a glove. I get apex. We'll say I get the M&P apex trigger in a Glock.

That's what a Walker Pro E is, in my opinion. It's a light gun. The polymer is super light. It's very top heavy. I already know that. I think you just been talking to Santi too much. That's OK. That's OK. That's fine. Hey, give it a shot. I respect it. If it doesn't work, I'll go to the M&P 2.0 because I already got it. It's already ready to rock and roll.

Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. Yeah. So yeah, I think that in the first, we'll just talk like work talk. I think the first quarter of the year is me. I don't have the echelon compact, so I can't really look at it. So right now it's going to be the M&P and I got two of them. So it'll just be, you know, which one do I shoot and I'll just shoot those as much as I can. I've got another gun on my desk here that I don't think I'll do competition with, but it is a very nice gun that I could do competition with.

It's just the learning curve is a lot higher than what I currently have. Yeah, man. I'm excited for 2025. Everything that we've talked about, and there's even conversations that we haven't shared with the community here as a whole, but just things that we've talked about back and forth. I'm super excited, dude. I think it's going to be an even better year than 2024 was.

For the people that said, hey, leave your ports at home. What is it that we can say is blown out. Turn the light on an angle because the light is here you go. There you go. Only ports. I only have ports. I'm sorry if you don't like that. Don't even hand me a gun that's not ported. I handed him. My brain always said when I get a stock gun is mad.

with ports it's like it's like sriracha like sriracha is amazing on just about everything oh sorry go ahead and finish your port statement i have another uh high level goal i don't think i'm going to be able to obtain it but it is it's up there

Um, no, I was just to say is that I don't have I've thought about getting barrels that are not ported to change to run Carry optics or limited optics or I don't even know any of these things in me. I just heard of these phrases But I'm not I'm gonna say true to myself. I'm just gonna run ports and ports only that's that's what I have This is what I have this is what I shoot. If you don't like it suck it

There you go. I'll be traveling to Europe, so I already spoke with my pops because, you know, they're already over there. We're going to see if we can go to Bull Armory since they're over in Europe. Yeah, so. Oh, snap. You know, we're located. We already know that the shop is there and stuff like that. So if we can stop in and check that out,

That's cool. Yeah, I'd like to do more stuff like that, but I don't know if the travel is going to allow, and I travel for work too, so that's going to be difficult. But I am going to try to make some of my work travel. I'll add, I guess, side quests. So if I'm at a work thing somewhere, and I've never been, and I noticed a lot of their shooting, maybe I can go meet up with them and go shoot or go to see a vendor or a partner.

Cool, but yeah, I think that, I think that kind of covers everything. So, I wanted to say for everybody, first of all, thank you all for joining us. We've been a little long, but I knew we would because of the nature of the conversation. If you don't do this, I think it's healthy. I do this with my wife. I do this at work.

Intro selection or reflection is important to give you context of where you are in life. And I think a lot of people don't do that. They're focusing on the thing ahead, always going for the next thing, chasing the care, so to speak. And it's important to realize where you've come. If you haven't made any progress, then I think you need to have a honest conversation with yourself and realize, hey, why have I not moved from this couch? Why have I not changed anything?

Why haven't I gotten the promotion? Why haven't I found my true love? Why haven't I saw a sub two second bill drill? Why haven't I done the things? I think that that's important to think about because if you're not making any progress, you're not going to be where you want to be.

Um, and I got a lot of things. I already told the offline. I got a lot of things I'm trying to accomplish this year not gun related. Um, and I just see the days are going to be long, but I know this time next year, if I stick to it, it'll be totally different. Yeah. You know, I'll be shooting faster, shooting often the content's going to be different. The videos like this are going to be different who we're talking to, where we're going. It's going to be different. Um, and, and I've got goals for Macbros as a, as a, as a, as a

Group what we're gonna do the two of us and there's there. It's only up right so take some time to think about your year. I know people do that with New Year's and set you know New Year's goals and all that and resolutions but hold yourself accountable if you need somebody hold your accountable tag us.

That's what we do. Tag when you're doing something and we will tag you when we do something and we will make sure that you're being accountable. We don't see a tag in a while. We'll reach out and say, what's up? So yeah, man, I think I think Red Show is healthy. I do this every quarter at work. It's important. It's also how you.

Make improvements right I so that's I think that's the things I should man I don't I'm like I'm the comment. You just said I don't I just keep going I never stop and look behind me. I just I keep moving forward. I am I look back often and then I'll get off my

Mr. Rogers moment of the day. We're hitting our limits. So I just got this. Yeah. So take time to reflect because I think that if you don't reflect, you won't appreciate where you are. Yeah.

So, yeah. So, D, this has been very healthy. I think we've got a lot of good comments and feedbacks. So, thank you everyone for joining us for episode 24 of The Mac Bros. Raw Show. Again, subscribe on YouTube, JWED, follow us on the firearms radio network and all the things that we do on Instagram. And 2025 is going to be a big year. So, we will see you all next year.

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