If Not Ambushing ‘Walkers’ – Your Holding Ground At The Outhouse

By Major Van Harl USAF Ret

Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)-  I have a small farm in the middle of nowhere that the Colonel and I have owned for thirty years.

After two military careers we now actually live in the same state as the farm so we get there a lot more often.

However I still do not have indoor plumbing. I built a wooden outhouse back in 1985 and it has continued to be in use to this day. A year ago we build a $2000 new metal outhouse ( read Happiness Is A $2000 Outhouse Off The Grid ), but it is still an outhouse and you have to walk about 50 yards from our barn to use the outdoor facilities.

It is fine in the day time and when the electricity is working, but let the power go out and it is mighty dark in our little valley. Even on a moonlit night, with the stars out you cannot see more that fifty feet in front of you. If you had to use the outhouse in the middle of the night there is a chance you might run into something or someone you don’t really want to inter act with.

For me the answer is to carry a firearm to the outhouse, but there is still that problem of identifying and sighting in on the perpetrator of danger in the dark.

I was testing two Henry Repeating Arms firearms (www.henryrifles.com) out at the farm and took along a couple of iProtec firearm lights (www.nebotools.com). One was the iProtec LG220 ( tiny.cc/av6p6x ) which is a 220 lumen LED light with a universal mount and the other was the iProtec LG 110 ( tiny.cc/ew6p6x ) which is a 110 lumen LED shotgun light and red laser, also with the universal mount.

The universal mount lets you clamp the light onto almost any rifle or shotgun. Before I attached the iProtec lights to a firearm I turned off all the building lights on the farm and started to shine the lights into the small valley my place sits in. With the iProtec LG 110 I could spot man or animal size objects about 100 yards out. Using the iProtec 220 this increased viewing by 50 plus percent and gave a much wider lighting of the valley.

So if a herd of “walkers” were to be coming down the hill from the west side of the valley, headed to my outhouse, I could make them out in plenty of time to sight them in, and take appropriate action. The two firearms I was testing were the Henry AR-7 22LR Survival Rifle and the Henry Mare’s Leg Lever Action Pistol in 357 mag.

I clamped the iProtec LG 220 to the barrel of the AR-7. Turned off all the building electric lights, switching on the LG 220, sweeping the valley, I starting engaging some targets set up 50 to 80 yards out. No problems hitting any of the targets.

I then put the iProtec LG 110 LED Firearm Light with the laser sight on the AR-7. It is not an adjustable laser since the LG 110 is for a shotgun, but using only the laser to sight in on the targets and not using the rifle sights I was still able to hit all of my man size targets. I was holding inch and a half groups off-hand with the Mare’s Leg in the day light.

The question was how to use this distinctively unique firearm as a close-in protection weapon, without having to raise it to normal sighting heights.

I clamped the iProtec LG 110 to the front of the Henry Mare’s Leg. I set up a silhouette target 35 yards from the outhouse. Stepping out of the outhouse in almost total darkness I could not see the silhouette. I turned on the light of the LG 110 to find the target and then the laser to acquire the target center. Then I put six rounds into the center of the silhouette, holding the Mare’s Leg at waist level and relying on the laser sight.

Checking my pattern I complained to my brother-in-law Dave that I was disappointed with a 6-8 inch group of rounds on target.

His response was “you’re not trying to ambush “walkers”, your just holding ground at your outhouse.”

Brother Dave was correct. The goal was to be able to exit my outhouse in the middle of the night, locate the threat, sight in the danger and engage if necessary to protect myself. Extrapolating from that, if you have a Mare’s Leg and the iProtec LG 110 light & laser I would suggest this could become a very effect home defense tool. A combined mechanical team that would work extremely well in the tight, close quarters of a home, if evil came knocking in the middle of the night.

Should you ever need to use the above two Henry firearms for what I call “social purposes” I strongly suggest CCI 22LR Stinger Hyper Velocity Ammo for the AR-7, and seven rounds of Buffalo Bore’s 38 Spl + P Outdoorsman 20H/20 ammunition for the Mare’s Leg (it gives you that one extra round in the magazine). The ammo and the guns are the most unique in the firearms industry and both can save your day from danger.

On a side note, since the second attack in Paris, always buy more fresh ammo, and always keep your firearm of choice close by.

Major Van Harl USAF Ret. / [email protected]

About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.: Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School.  A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI.  His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training.  He believes “evil hates organization.”  [email protected]