(argh, I hate it when WordPress eats my posts)
Tyler Kee, a writer over at The Truth About Guns, took part in a recent KR Training class.
With bonus picture of a tall ugly guy.
Tyler, thank you for the kind words. It was a pleasure to have you out. You were a good student and did well. When you come back out for Defensive Pistol Skills 2, I’m sure you’ll do just fine with the pre-class pop quiz. 🙂  Just remember: slow down, get acceptable hits.
Acceptable whims.
“Week 3”
I wasn’t quite in the mental zone today. Just not “there”. Still, a PR of 1x5x210 is acceptable. I could have gotten 6 and maybe 7 but felt like leaving some in the tank. Fine enough.
I forgot to do chins during my assistance bench set. Just not habit yet, but I’ll get there.
On a whim, I opted to do a little arm work. When I do any back work, I think about pulling with my elbow which engages the back more and the arms less. So I just felt like giving my biceps a little love. Nothing heavy, just a little bit to give them some pump.
And that’s all she wrote for today. I’m actually kinda enjoying knocking off the GPP and just making sure my walks to/from the gym are brisk. The machines are just boring. I’ll probably come back to them eventually.
ZMA seems to be having some nice sleep effects for me. I find myself sleeping longer, it feels like a deeper sleep too. I feel more rested when I wake up. It’s only been a few days on it so I can’t say for sure just yet, but so far results seem promising.
The kitchen scale is also getting some love, trying to weigh out my portions so I keep things within reason. All the exercise is good, but the only way I’m going to shed some fat is to tighten up my diet. It’s my biggest challenge.
About a week ago I started carrying the S&W M&P9 full time.
I think everything is about as dialed in as it can be, in terms of trigger, barrel, sights, and so on. I’m ringing small steel plates at 25+ yards with carry ammo (Gold Dot 124 grain +P) and with my handloads. I didn’t have a chance to see how things are behaving on paper in terms of exact POI vs. POA and grouping, since last Saturday at KRT was pretty rainy. But really, if I’m hitting that steel “hostage target” plate at 25+ yards, things are certainly good enough. I’m still hoping to get some patterning on paper tho, just to satisfy my geeky itch.
But the bigger thing is how it’s been on my hip for the past week.
I carry inside the waistband (IWB) in a Comp-Tac MTAC holster. It’s what I carried my XD-9 in for years, so I figured it was the easiest thing to get me started. I tried a friend’s Raven, and while I see the great benefits to the Raven, it just doesn’t work for my body. That said, the Raven is really cool for being an OWB holster that, as far as OWB holsters go, keeps it pretty tight to the body. That’s nice, and essential for concealed carry. So in this MTAC? Well, it’s the same MTAC as my XD was carried in (just a different kydex shell), and I am finding the M&P is carrying tighter to my body. That’s great for concealment, with the M&P concealing slightly better for me. But it’s a little more difficult on the draw, in terms of getting my thumb between the gun and my torso so I can get a grip to draw. I can do it, it’s just a bit of a tighter fit and I need to ensure a leftward lean to make space. No big deal, it’s what I do anyways, just have to continue to get used to the new feel.
Also, there was a burr on the M&P. On the polymer frame around the top of the beavertail area (and really, around the whole top of the frame but the beavertail was most noticeable) was a seam… a burr… something from where the mold parts probably came together during manufacturing. Well, while it was a tiny burr, against my side it was horrible. I wear up against my skin, so that constantly rubbing on me was going to rub me raw. I took a Scotch-Brite pad, because it was about the finest “sandpaper” I had on hand, and just spent a little time “polishing” up the top of the beavertail area, to smooth it out and remove the burr. Ah… much better.
All in all, it’s feeling fine. It actually feels a little nicer on my hip, I think due to how much closer it holds to my body. And while the beavertail makes a point that juts up, it doesn’t dig into me at all. Oh sure, it’s not 100% comfortable, but carry rarely is… as someone said, a gun is supposed to be comforting, not comfortable.
One thing I have noticed in shooting it… she seems to get a lot dirtier than my XD did. Same ammo, more crud to deal with. Not entirely sure why, or if I’m just having false perception here. But that’s how it seems.
When gripping the gun for one-handed shooting, my thumb wants to be right atop the magazine release. I’m not sure if this is going to be a problem, with an unwanted magazine release. So far it hasn’t happened, but my M&P experience is still young.
On reloading well… the giant “foot” of the magazine basepad is huge. I’m getting used to it, but it just feels so big, out there, and unnecessary. I’m used to my index finger resting up the front of the magazine when doing a reload; now it’s just a basepad in my palm and my finger tip touching the top of the magazine — the finger forming the hypotenuse with the magazine and the basepad. My understanding is the foot is there to help removing the magazine, but I haven’t seen nor felt it come into play. Maybe I just haven’t hit the right circumstance yet.
I do want to do more shooting with it. Hopefully one of these weekends at KRT I’ll have a little more free time and can run some drills.
But all in all, it’s carrying well, shooting well, and I’m adjusting to it just fine.
Broke the 300# barrier. 🙂
“Week 3”
Finally! I broke the 300# barrier, deadlifting 305 for 7 reps. Nothing monumental in the grander scheme of the history of lifting, but for me? It’s a great personal record. I knew it was going to go well… could just feel it when I started my work set. Happy happy.
Next cycle will be a cool PR too… 3 plates.
But after deadlifting, I didn’t really want to do much more. It took a lot out of me, and while it didn’t kill me well… my lower back wasn’t feeling hot since class on Saturday. Being on my feet all day makes my lower back unhappy. So, why press my luck when I’m already behind the curve? Everything else? Just skipped it… maybe it’s because I have the day off and hope to rest a bunch today. Recovery good. Tho the grip work, that wasn’t intentionally skipped… I just flat out forgot to do it and didn’t realize it until I sat down just now.
I will say, the leg raises are getting better. Yes I know my rep range hasn’t changed much so it doesn’t appear that I’m making progress with it, but I am. First, I’m finding a way to do these and keep my shoulders happy. It’s a whole “ritual” in terms of grasping the bar, allowing my shoulders to relax, then slowly tighten things up, slowly let my body hang but not totally dead hang, but then slowly lower my shoulders so it’s not an awkwardly tight position…. then I can go. So that’s good. Plus when I curl, my curls are getting MUCH better. More body involvement, tighter and stronger “crunch”, knees really coming around. I can tell that I’m getting stronger here and really doing MUCH better in terms of form and technique. So I am progressing acceptably here, even if it’s not obvious on paper.
Anyways, I’m not going to sweat the details. I set a great and satisfying PR. Going to take it easy the rest of the day.
You cannot have violent crimes without victims. Refuse to be a victim.
—Tom Givens
Poison – “Nothin’ But A Good Time”
(it’s hair metal at its finest….)
Just returned home from another day at KR Training. Today was a single class, Defensive Pistol Skills 1.
I want to start by giving a pat on the back to all the students for attending. Last night we had some wicked storms roll across Texas dumping 2-3″ or more of rain. Some minor flooding, many stock tanks are overflowing their banks. It makes it tough to drive, and a soggy situation for a class. But class was held despite all the rain and muddy conditions. Why? Because life isn’t always ideal. You can’t ask that mugger to come back when it’s 75° and sunny, so it’s good to practice in less than ideal conditions. So a big pat on the back for all the students for being troopers today…especially when the mud was flying as bullets impacted the muddy backstop. 🙂
Today’s class really demonstrated the value of dry fire. Because of the rainy conditions, we modified the class a bit to work on some skills dry in the classroom. This enabled students to focus on the fundamental skills and not get too caught up nor overwhelmed by a lot of other factors. Plus since there’s no BANG occurring, there’s no flinching, you can learn proper trigger press, you don’t have to reload and thus can work the trigger many many many more times. There’s no question the students all shot better and progressed faster because of the dry work.
Another reason to work dry? You can do things you can’t otherwise do. For example, the last “close quarters” drill we do? Good luck finding a range that will allow you to do that drill. But you can work on that skill dry at home. No, it’s not 100% the same, but it’s better than never practicing the skill at all. Everything we did in class today you can do dry to work on those skills: draw, present, trigger prep, follow through, trigger reset, clearing concealment garments, reloading, moving, one-handed shooting, running the 3 Seconds or Less drill. All can and should be done dry.
Besides… with the rains like it is, many ranges are going to be closed due to conditions (e.g. Austin Rifle Club will probably be flooded since it’s located in a floodplain). Dry work to the rescue!
Otherwise, the usual set of comments apply:
Another good class. Another good group of students…. muddy students, but good students. 🙂
Updated: Tyler Kee was a student in this class and wrote up his experience.
When discussing the notion of law-abiding citizens carrying guns in public, a common refrain from those against the notion goes something like “I don’t want those people around me and my children.” They find it scary and horrible that such people would exist and dare go out in public and mingle. The belief tends to be that those people are dangerous and will kill me for sneezing in their general direction.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
People who have concealed weapon/handgun permits/licenses tend to be more law-abiding than most. Click here to read the facts about what owning a gun and a CHL says about a person. To own a gun, to get a license, you have to go through so much. Then to keep it, you have to go through even more. By nature, you must be a law-abiding person.
So how does the logic hold that a CHL-holder is dangerous and ready to kill you for your parking space? I’ll grant, there are exceptions, but the exception does not prove the rule.
But what’s worse about this is those same people don’t seem to acknowledge what they are certainly surrounded by: felons. Violent felons. Yes, as you walk around the grocery store, as you stroll down the street… do you realize who is mingling among you?
Paul Markel spent 17 years as an Ohio State Certified Peace Officer. Â Recently he wrote an article that presented a solid point: (h/t The Shooting Wire)
I spent 17 years as an Ohio State Certified Peace Officer. During my time spent with a badge I frequently encountered criminals, bad guys who I had previously arrested, in the aisles of the local grocery or big box store. My wife learned early on in our marriage that if I pointed someone out during a shopping trip we needed to move to another area of the store. The last thing I wanted to do was encounter some maggot I’d arrested a month earlier while my family was present.
For the naïve in the audience; no, the bad guys don’t go to jail and stay there after the police catch and arrest them. Vermin arrested for vicious felonies will bail out of jail and spend months on the street before ever going to trial. Even if they are convicted our broken justice system sees them back on the street much sooner than most citizens would imagine.
What’s my point in all this?   It’s simple, every time you leave your home and go out in public you are brushing elbows with felons.  You just don’t know it.
Chew on that for a moment. Have you ever looked at one of those sex offender registries where you can plug in an address and it shows you all the registered sex offenders in the area? Of course you’ll plug in your home address and likely discover you’re surrounded. Shopping for a new place to live, you plug in every address of every house/apartment you look at, and they’re all surrounded.
Yes folks, you are surrounded by people who have done bad things.
You just haven’t met them yet.
And when the time comes for you to meet them, how are you going to respond? Certainly it depends how they introduce themselves to you. But assuming it’s not with a smile and a handshake, how will you respond? Do you truly believe fighting back isn’t worth it? Are you truly going to passively submit to them? to let them have their way with you… with your wife… your daughter…. Really?
Give Mr. Markel’s article a read. Long ago, I was in that camp. Then I realized how the logic of that camp really doesn’t hold up when faced with the (ugly) realities of life.
One thing that seems to transcend political bounds is the notion of free speech.
We all consider free speech to be important. And folks sure love to use it as their defense or justification to say what they want.
Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t get what “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….” actually means, and the intent of the amendment.
You see, the main purpose of that amendment is to protect unpopular speech. We don’t need to protect popular speech, but we do need to ensure that people can say things others might not want to hear. Unfortunately, a lot of those folks that tend to be the ones that rally behind “free speech” the most also seem to be the ones that want to silence the things they don’t want to hear.
You know… offensive speech. Or other types of unpopular speech.
When politically motivated fundamentalist Christians campaign to remove books from school libraries, or when they speak out against rappers and rock musicians who glorify violence and hedonism, the free speech advocates in the art and entertainment community are the first ones to stand up in their defense. They loudly condemn those who would pull books from libraries as closed-minded fools and defiantly proclaim “I read banned books” on bumper stickers and buttons.
But there is a serious and jarring disconnect in this community. They seem to understand that the First Amendment isn’t about protecting popular speech. It is actually about protecting the right of the people to express the most unpopular of ideas. The problem is, a staggering number of these supposedly free-thinking folks are quite willing to step up and openly advocate censorship and the stifling of free expression, even by force in some cases. Of course, in their view, they are not advocating censorship at all, because censorship is when the government shuts someone up. When they do it, it’s called “creating a safe environment for x” or “raising awareness of x”. The unnamed variable “x” is whatever progressive social cause they feel like inserting at the moment.
This group uses language as a subtle, yet powerful weapon to tilt the playing field of debate before any ideas are ever in play. Their favorite buzzwords are the aforementioned “awareness”, followed by “tolerance”, “acceptance”, and “sensitivity”. They treat these words with reverence. In their minds they are holding aloft the banner of enlightenment, boldly marching against “hatred”, “intolerance”, “bigotry”, “ignorance” and “racism”. So before anyone has even begun to discuss a given issue, the progressive protectors of “free speech” have rigged the language and set themselves up as moral superiors, whose opponents by definition are backwards, hateful bigots. They clamor to shout down anyone who dares to think outside of the intellectual/philosophical boxes they have constructed as morally correct ideological packages. And they are consistently winning. Censorship is in. Ask Tracy Morgan.
Setting a PR is always gratifying.
“Week 3”
I do like PR days. I wish I did 5 reps, but my rhythm was off and 4 was all she wrote. Still, a PR is a PR.
On assistance pressing, I think I’ll bump it up to 85 instead of 80 next cycle. Push myself a little harder. But the 5/3/1 work will still only go up the prescribed 5# jump.
I’m still happy about chins. I’ll bump it to 5×2 across, and if I can’t get 2 then make that 2nd a negative.
I’m finding I can deal with 15 maybe 20 minutes of steady state cardio because I can distract myself with other things. I’ve been catching up on twitter feeds and article reading. *shrug* It’s something. I just hate cardio.
I’m looking forward to Monday. Very much looking forward to that PR.
