Month: April 2012

Ain’t politics grand?

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

This was posted at the McMilian Group International Facebook page (h/t to Rog and Dock)

McMillan Fiberglass Stocks, McMillan Firearms Manufacturing, McMillan Group International have been collectively banking with Bank of America for 12 years. Today Mr. Ray Fox, Senior Vice President, Market Manager, Business Banking, Global Commercial Banking came to my office. He scheduled the meeting as an “account analysis” meeting in order to evaluate the two lines of credit we have with them. He spent 5 minutes talking about how McMillan has changed in the last 5 years and have become more of a firearms manufacturer than a supplier of accessories.
At this point I interrupted him and asked “Can I possible save you some time so that you don’t waste your breath? What you are going to tell me is that because we are in the firearms manufacturing business you no longer what my business.”
“That is correct” he says.
I replied “That is okay, we will move our accounts as soon as possible. We can find a 2nd Amendment friendly bank that will be glad to have our business. You won’t mind if I tell the NRA, SCI and everyone one I know that BofA is not firearms industry friendly?”
“You have to do what you must” he said.
“So you are telling me this is a politically motivated decision, is that right?”
Mr Fox confirmed that it was. At which point I told him that the meeting was over and there was nothing let for him to say.

I think it is import for all Americans who believe in and support our 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms should know when a business does not support these rights. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. When I don’t agree with a business’ political position I can not in good conscience support them. We will soon no longer be accepting Bank of America credit cards as payment for our products.

Kelly D McMillan
Director of Operations
McMillan Group International, LLC
623-582-9635
www.mcmillanusa.com

As if you need another reason to leave Bank of America. Or for some, I’m sure it means a reason to bank with BoA… but hey, you enjoy your victim-rich zone.

2012-04-20 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 8, Deadlift 2

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Progress is always a good thing.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Deadlift (working max: 335#)
    • 1x5x135 (warmup)
    • 1x5x175
    • 1x3x205
    • 1x3x235 (work)
    • 1x3x270
    • 1x3x305
  • Asst. #1 – Squat
    • 5 x 10/10/10/10/8 x 170

Dang. Just realized I forgot to foam roll before I left the gym. Very important on days like today. I’ll do it a little later today, especially before bed.

Anyways….

Deadlifting felt so good today. I lift things up and put them down. It felt heavy, but not like I couldn’t move it. Was a little more in-tune with things mentally today, and that helped. I just keep looking forward to PR day, because I love setting deadlift PR’s.

On squat, I felt really good today… which is kidna crazy to me. I hate squats, but as is often the case… keep doing what you suck at, and eventually you won’t suck at it any more. Keep squatting until you don’t hate it. I still don’t love squatting, but I’m at least getting better. I tell you, that “chin in” cue is making a big difference in my form and how worked I get. Really keeps me from leaning forward and keeps me honest out of the hole.

I keep thinking about what to do after the challenge is over. I thought about it a bunch in between sets today. My present thinking is to stay the course, more or less. I don’t have a specific agenda, not working towards a meet, am not sure if I have any isolated weak spots because I’m just pretty weak all around. 🙂 So I think I’ll stick with the BBB template, but with some minor changes. First, I’m thinking about being “more boring”. That is, Jim said on the BBB challenge to mix up the main lifts and assistance work, so like instead of doing squat work then squat assistance, you do squat work then deadlift assistance… to make it less boring. I’m thinking about pulling back to doing the same in each day… kinda curious if that might make any difference, and if so what. Because, I’ll also be upping my assistance percentages, probably starting at 60%. I may also switch around the additional work (e.g. face pulls, curls, pushdowns, etc.) just depending how everything falls. The other big thing I’m thinking about doing is bringing back rep maxes on the final work set. Just have to see how this will all shake out.

Tho there’s a part of me that wants to try the Powerlifting template of 5/3/1. Why? I don’t know… variety, curiousity. I do think about doing a competition. Maybe nothing too serious yet but I keep thinking about the Hyde Park Gym’s push/pull event that’s coming up. I don’t think I’ll do this one, but it’s something like that for getting my feet wet that I might do. I dunno.

5 Important Skills for Protecting Yourself

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From the “clearing out my backlog” files…

From LowTechCombat comes an article about the “5 Most Important Skills for Protecting Yourself“. As with all LTC’s stuff, a solid article.

Before I discuss the article, you need to go read it. Go on, read it. I’ll be here when you get back. 🙂

You’ll notice that no where in the article does it say “have a gun”. Yes, I talk a lot about guns and find them to be a valuable and useful tool, but I know that self-defense goes well beyond that. It’s like Insights Training‘s hierarchy:

Mindset

Tactics

Skill

Equipment

Mindset is most important, and equipment is least important. We all talk equipment because it’s cool, it’s fun, but once you get your equipment figured out, it’s time to move on and build up the more important things.

Back to the article.

1. Stay Alert, Look Ahead.

Indeed. All too often the story you hear from people being attacked is “they came out of nowhere”. No they didn’t, you just didn’t pick up on them until it was too late. Col. Cooper would call that being in “code white”. We should strive to be in “code yellow” most of the time, but life is what it is and we’ll likely drift in and out of yellow and white throughout our day (and hopefully we won’t escalate up the scale).

This is part of mindset, to be aware, to stay aware, and to have your head in a place where you know attacks can come out of nowhere, suddenly. For if we knew an attack was coming, say an appointment tomorrow at 3:00 PM, why would we willingly walk into it? No, they are surprises, “when you least expect it”, so do your best to expect it. Sure we’ll be surprised some of the time, but do your best to minimize the chance. So take out your earbuds, stop texting while walking, and use all your senses (yes, even taste might sometime be relevant) to be aware of what’s going on around you.

2. Walk Confidently but not Arrogantly

That’s a new maxim to me, at least in phrasing. I think it’s a good one because yes, if you have too much swagger out there, could you be drawing in a challenge you don’t want?

But confident is good. I know I go back to Insights a lot, but those guys have a lot of… well… insight into such matters. I always liked Greg Hamilton’s take:

Most people are grass-eaters with their heads down on the ground. The jackals and lions know this and think of them as that. Hold your head up and walk like you are the biggest, baddest lion that walks. The jackals and lions will notice and leave you alone because they don’t want to get hurt. Don’t challenge them because they might feel they have to respond to it. All you want is their respect, not their dignity.

So there you go, same thing said differently.

3. Know When to Run

Amen. Yes there’s something to be said for fighting, but we must always remember the key point is to survive, to go home, to see tomorrow. Sometimes fighting will be the right answer, but sometimes running will be too. And remember you gun folk… just because you have a gun doesn’t mean you have or should use it. Same for you black-belt martial artists; just because you know 3608 deadly techniques doesn’t mean you need to try them out and prove your skill. There’s a time, there’s a place, and sometimes Nike-Fu is the best martial art.

Implied in this is to not going looking for trouble, but that’s discussed in #5.

4. Use Quick and Effective Techniques

The article was written by a guest author at LTC, a Jack Roberts of Black Eagle Martial Arts. I don’t know for sure what Jack studies, but it appears likely he studies a traditional empty-hand martial art. Regardless, what he discusses here is spot-on, in that you want to keep it simple and use whatever skills and techniques are truly effective and that can be applied (by you) under pressure… which implies you need to train under pressure. If you do study a traditional martial art, ensure there’s some sort of “alive” training. If all your techniques are just too deadly to actually practice for real (full speed, resisting partner, etc.), you may want to try a different art (if your goal is fight skill, self defense, etc.). But note that even in such arts, there’s likely a subset of techniques that you can focus on (I always think about Kuk Sool’s “Ki Bohn Soo #9” as such a technique)

It doesn’t matter what you’re working with, be it empty hand styles or firearms or whatever. Acquire good skills, simple skills, effective skills, that you can apply under pressure.

5. Stay Away From Trouble

I would put this as the #1 skill for protecting yourself. If you do your best to stay out of trouble, trouble generally won’t find you. John Farnam summed it up quite nicely:

Don’t go to stupid places; don’t associate with stupid people; don’t do stupid things. We will add to that, be in bed by 10 o’clock.

Not much more to be said.

KR Training April 2012 newsletter

/ hsoi

KR Training’s April 2012 newsletter is up.

In addition to normal schedule updates, there’s a couple cool things.

1. Skill Builder. A new mini course to allow you the ability to practice and improve on certain skills at whatever level you’re at. A useful class because you can work on skills you learned in prior classes under the watchful eye of an instructor, plus be able to do skills that you may not be able to perform at other ranges.

2. Take Your Daughter To the Range Day

KR Training is participating in the national Take Your Daughter to the Range Day event. Come on out!

 

2012-04-18 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 8, Press 2

/ hsoi

A good workout.

“Week 2” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • 3 reps – Press (working max: 160#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x65
    • 1x5x80
    • 1x3x95
    • 1x3x115 (work)
    • 1x3x130
    • 1x3x145
  • Asst. #1A – Bench Press
    • 5 x 10 x 140
  • Asst. #1B – Chinups (supersetted with Bench Press)
    • 5 x 4/4/4/3/2 x BW
  • Asst. #2 – Face Pulls
    • 3 x 12 x 65
  • Asst. #3 – DB Hammer Curls
    • 3 x 10/9/8 x 35

What a good day.

I’m getting better with my pressing technique. Before lifting off, taking the deep breaths in through the nose helps a LOT towards ensuring not only enough breath, but a clear head and no dizzy feelings during the lift. My body is staying tight, it’s all working well. I also did some brief, but not rushed, visualization before the big lifts, just seeing myself in the 1st person pressing out all 3 reps. When I did the 145, it felt like cake, which hasn’t been quite the case in the past weeks. I figure it’s a combination of the better breathing, the better tightness, and visualization.

Everything else rolled quite nicely. I’m happy that my chin-ups are progressing well. I’ll get to 5×10 eventually. 🙂

6 stupid gun myths – debunked

/ hsoi

The lists over at cracked.com can be hit or miss, but  here’s one that strikes the bullseye.

6 Stupid Gun Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)

#6 – Dropped guns go off

No, they don’t. Well sure, anything mechanical can fail, and there are some types of guns that are not drop-safe. But on the whole, today’s modern guns are drop-safe and will not go off if dropped.

So folks… if you drop a gun, let it fall. Do NOT try to catch it, because that tends to end up with fingers pressing triggers… and then yes, it will go off.

#5 – Ceramic guns are a thing

No, they’re not.

#4 – Bullets make everything spark.

No, they don’t. But Hollywood needs that drama so you can know there’s a gunfight going on.

It’s kinda like the way Hollywood portrays suppressors… sorry, “silencers” as making no noise at all, but they dub in that “thwap” sound because we need some sort of noise to know it was making no noise, right?

#3 – Shotguns are room-clearing murder factories

I’ve addressed this many times on my blog (use search feature). They don’t spray clouds of death. You do have to aim shotguns.

#2 – Deadly on the gun range = deadly in real life

Nope. Cardboard doesn’t shoot back, and the stress/pressure is never going to be the same.

#1 – Bullets turn people into pulp

Not even a little bit. Check this FBI report on a police shootout (contains some autopsy photos). 107 rounds fired (.40 S&W, .223 Hornady TAP), and he was far from pulp. In fact, read through that whole report as it’s rather telling about the realities.

Determined individuals can sustain many gunshot wounds in areas that produce great pain and continue to fight a long time, even without the aid of drugs or alcohol.

But they won’t listen to him

/ hsoi

Kip Hawley, former head of the TSA, “has said that the country’s airport security system is a broken mess making travelling ‘an unending nightmare’ for passengers.”

How refreshing. From the full article:

Kip Hawley, who was head of the TSA from 2005-2009, has argued that the system would be more effective if it embraced more risk including allowing passengers to bring almost anything on board including knives, liquids and lighters.

Hawley criticises the current procedure for reducing airport security into an ‘Easter-egg hunt’ where TSA officers look out for low-risk prohibited items, such as lighters, rather than focusing on disrupting terror plots.

And that it has. Countless stories of people getting lighters confiscated but more “deadly” items getting right through. Where’s security in that? But some politician feels better about it.

If you read the full article at the WSJ, it goes even deeper, and with a reasonable conclusion:

To be effective, airport security needs to embrace flexibility and risk management—principles that it is difficult for both the bureaucracy and the public to accept. The public wants the airport experience to be predictable, hassle-free and airtight and for it to keep us 100% safe. But 100% safety is unattainable. Embracing a bit of risk could reduce the hassle of today’s airport experience while making us safer at the same time.

That’s right. 100% safety is unattainable. But if perhaps if they can focus on major risk instead of Easter Egg hunts, if the citizenry can accept that you can’t live life in a protective bubble and perhaps are willing to accept some self-responsiblity for one’s own safety… maybe we could make life a little less hellish again.

Things your burglar won’t tell you – Coda

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The past 20-something days I posted 20 “Things your burglar won’t tell you”.

These came in my monthly HOA newsletter, and I thought they were worth sharing. They listed their source as:

Convicted burglars in North Carolina, Oregon, California, and Kentucky; security consultant Chris McGoey, and Richard T. Wright, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

And they’re all pretty spot on and worth heeding. Furthermore, you should read deeper into them because some have implications beyond what they initially state.

So… now that you’ve been armed with knowledge, what are you going to do with it?

 

2012-04-16 workout – Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 8, Squat 1

/ hsoi

Oh crap, this is killing me… and it’s only the first week (of the 2nd month of the BBB challenge).

“Week ” – BBB 3 Month Challenge

  • WORK – Squat (working max: 280#)
    • 2x5x45 (warmup)
    • 1x5x115
    • 1x5x140
    • 1x3x170
    • 1x5x185 (work)
    • 1x5x215
    • 1x5x240
  • Asst. #1 – Deadlift
    • 5 x 10/10/10/6/6 x 205
  • Foam Rolling

Holy crap…. 🙂

Squatting was ok… and I’ll talk about this more in a moment.

Deadlifting was killer. It involves so much of your body, so many muscles, so many large groups, it gets your blood pumping and I’m sucking wind. The weight wasn’t heavy, I was pooped! I suck. 🙂

I couldn’t do the hanging leg raises… I was empty. But I was sure to foam roll the heck out of my lower body. Will try to remember to do more of that tonight.

As for squatting….

I’m noticing my form is improving, but because the weights are heavier, it’s then hurting me. Like on my last set today I was all over the place, heavy forward lean. I am giving thought to resetting my squat weight, so I can get my form back in order. That “pull the head/chin back/in” cue is really a great cue. Plus I’m videoing myself to ensure I go deep in the hole, and putting all of these things together, the heaviest weights I’m doing are just getting sloppy. But, that might be ok… your heaviest weight is going to be less than ideal form, but it still feels like it should be better. So I don’t know for sure. Thinking aloud right now.

AAR – BP2 & DPS1 @ KR Training, 14 April 2012 (or “your gear sucks”)

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I love being a teacher. If there’s anything I’ve learned over my lifetime, it’s that teaching is something I’m to do. I don’t attest to be the best, and I know there’s much to learn both about what I teach and how to teach. But I’m thankful for the opportunities I have to teach.

And so, another weekend out at KR Training with Basic Pistol 2 in the morning and Defensive Pistol Skills 1 in the afternoon. The weather was gorgeous, a good breeze all day (due to being on the southern tip of the storms that rolled through the midwest this past weekend), just a fine day to be outside.

I also got to meet Mr. & Mrs. Groundhog. Mrs. Groundhog was coming as a part of her winning the “A Girl And Her Gun” contest, and I was honored they chose us and that I got to be a part of her journey. I wish I could have chatted more with them that day (busy day!), but we did get to chat some and they were good folk. I look forward to seeing them again in the future, and reading their AAR of their range day.

Updated: Their post is up! And I’m a caffeinated squirrel. 🙂

What made it even finer were the students. Basic 2 got off to a rough start, but a lot of that came down to gear. DPS1 had its host of gear problems as well. Most of what I could talk about here is the same stuff that tends to come out of every BP2 and DPS1. Things like slowing down, practicing fundamentals, ball & dummy drill, working on the press out, working on trigger control, do more dry fire and so on (search my site for past articles, if you’re curious). But what really struck me out of the classes was gear, so I’d like to start off by saying:

Yes, your gear sucks.

There, I said it. Deal with it. 🙂

The thing is, you don’t know what you don’t know. So how can you roll into a class and know what gear to have? And you try to take input from sources you consider knowledgable, but the reality is most guys at the gun store, most people on the Internet, most well-meaning husbands and boyfriends… they don’t know, and they don’t know that they don’t know. And don’t take your advice from magazines either, because magazines never give bad reviews because they can’t afford to upset their advertisers.

Consequently, a lot of people start off with crappy gear.

Let’s look at the gun itself. The single-most important thing in choosing a gun is ensuring the gun fits you. The biggest, baddest gun in the world that you can’t shoot properly is useless. It always happens in class… we’ll see a person with small hands, typically a lady, that brings out a box with the words “Sig Sauer” on it. As soon as we see that, we know what’s going to happen — we’re going to lend her one of our guns. Why? Because Sig’s are HUGE. They have really big grips, they have a DA/SA trigger, which means a really long and heavy trigger … and that person with the little hands won’t be able to get their finger properly on the trigger let alone press it well. And usually, the Sig will be chambered in .40 S&W, so couple that sharp, snappy recoil with a gun they can barely hold on to, and it’s a recipe for disaster. We lend them one of our guns, and by the end of class they are more than happy to sell their Sig (good thing they have good resale value). What gun do we lend them? Sometimes it’s our personal carry gun that we have on our hip (e.g. S&W M&P9), but we’ll actually look at the person and their situation and find something in the safe that’s appropriate for them. For example, one lady in this past BP2 we lend a 9mm 1911 to because it had very thin grips and a short trigger, and it worked so much better for her than the big chunky Glock she came with.

Then there’s the whole “little lady, you need to shoot an airweight J-frame” crapola. We do our best to steer beginners away from that situation.

We also find that people shoot a lot better with full-sized guns, especially when you’re learning fundamental skills. Yes that Glock 26 might be good for concealed carry, but you should first get a Glock 17 or 19 and learn good fundamentals and shoot well with it. I went down this road when I started, first buying a subcompact then Karl showing me the error of my ways… when I got a full-sized gun, things were so much better and I was able to learn without fighting the gun and the quirks of small guns. If you’re a beginner, or someone willing to “start over” and learn things right, then don’t buy a gun because you want to carry it; first buy a gun that you can learn to shoot well on, then once you can shoot well, you can look at other options.

Gun fit matters. A lot. If you can shoot it, if you can hit what you’re shooting it, if it’s not painful to shoot it, if you even end up having a lot of fun and success in your shooting… gosh, you might just want to keep shooting, you might just want to practice more, you might end up getting really good, and it might end up building up those skills that one day save your life.  Read this article on choosing a handgun; it’s a sensible take on what really matters.

After fit, I’d say keeping it mechanically simple is good. Simplicity is important, says me the engineer. The more dohickies, gizmos, latches, levers, buttons, switches, and other things you have to deal with, the more things you have to deal with, and the more things that can break and go wrong. Striving to have something as simple as it can be, but no simpler, is really the best when it comes to mechanical items. DA/SA guns have lots of mechanical mechanisms to have to deal with. Decockers add a bunch to the mix. Even thumb safeties — especially when you don’t NEED them, add so much to the mix. Sure a 1911 needs a thumb safety, but why do so many modern striker-fired guns have them as some added gizmo? I know… because some government or agency contract wanted them, and people buy them, but truly what good reason is there for the extra complexity? One lady in DPS1 had a Walther PK380 and oh… I can’t take that gun seriously for personal defense, and least of which is because it’s a .380 Auto. The thumb safety is difficult to operate with your thumb, and how in the world are you supposed to operate that magazine release “lever” under stress or with one hand? We also couldn’t figure out how to decock it as it didn’t have a decocking lever… but I read now that the way you’re to do it is to engage the safety lever then pull the trigger… holy shit! If that’s not a huge safety risk I don’t know what is. By the end of class this lady was shooting alright, but there’s no question the gun itself was holding her back because it was just too much poorly-designed stuff to deal with.

Then there’s other gear. The biggest? Holsters. You’re unlikely to find a good holster in a local store. Maybe you’re lucky and able to, and boy do I keep thinking about opening a gun store in town that only stocks good stuff… but I’d probably be out of business because people don’t know what’s good nor what’s bad, until them come out and shoot a more serious class like what KR Training provides and really put gear through its paces. Maybe KR Training should just have a pro-shop on site…. 😉  And it’s not just holsters for you gun, but magazine pouches too (you don’t need nor want covers on them; covers have a place but generally private citizens don’t need them).  If you want a short-list of people that make stuff we like: Comp-Tac, Raven Concealment, Blade-Tech, all make good stuff. I’ve not personally tried Kolbeson Leatherworks‘ stuff yet, but I’m wanting to (and he’s local).

And the list can go on.

Yes folks, equipment matters. Do not be caught up in ego here. Ego will get you hurt or killed, or at least hold you back. If you are fighting your equipment, get rid of it. And yes, you might have to go through a few guns and a ton of holsters before you find what works. That’s life… guns and ammo are cheap, life is not. I guess it just comes down to how much you value your life.

But anyways… once we got the gear straightened out for folks, we did have great classes. Students were good, shooting really well, you could see lightbulbs going on and people improving as the class went on. I hope to see the students back for future classes, as there’s still much to learn. And meeting and working with Mrs. Groundhog was the icing on the cake for the day. Practice well!