Author: hsoi

Perla’s

/ hsoi

Had dinner at Perla’s Seafood and Oyster Bar last night.

Austin folk, if you like fresh seafood, especially raw oysters, you must check out Perla’s.

Atmosphere is relaxed, casual, but neat and trim. If you showed up in your summer shirt and shorts you’d be fine, or if you’re in a suit you wouldn’t be out of place. We dined inside, but they have an ample outdoor patio under the oak trees right on South Congress Avenue.

I had a half dozen oysters. I forget exactly which I had… they have about 20 different varieties. But they were quite good. I appreciated the freshly grated horseradish. Wife and I also shared their salt and jalapeño pepper fried calamari… quite good, not overdone at all (very easy to overdo it). For entrées, Wife had an angel-hair pasta with some Gulf prawns, watercress, capers, olives, and I forget what else was in the sauce… paired well with a pino grigio Manu Sauvignon Blanc (wife corrected me). I had a pan roasted grouper with morel mushrooms in a fantastic lemony buttery sauce; very delicate, well executed. We also shared a side of their lobster stock, cheddar & green onion grits — folks, you’ve never had grits taste so good. Finished off with a strawberry rhubarb tart, which on the plate looked like it was going to be a load of pastry but wound up being quite well balanced and not heavy at all.

Service was excellent. This isn’t a hoity-toity fine-dining establishment, but you can tell they care about service and providing not just quality food but a quality experience as well. I appreciated how the waiter knew what was going on, what the restaurant did and didn’t have. The waiter didn’t interfere too much in our meal, but you could tell he was always keeping tabs on things. Just very well executed.

Prices are on the expensive side, but I’ve come to expect that whenever you go to a seafood place that doesn’t consider seafood to be “catfish”. 🙂  I like catfish, but I hope you understand the differentiator here.

Thing is, as I look at the Yelp reviews, Perla’s seems to be a mixed-bag. We had no problems with service, but that seems to be their biggest problem. Maybe it was because we had a special night there (and making prior reservations sure helped). Maybe it was because we came on a Tuesday night a little earlier than later and they certainly were not full (not empty, but certainly no one was waiting for a table). Who knows. But the end result was we had a good experience. Maybe the lesson is to make reservations and go at off times?

Anyway, I’ll certainly go back. Hopefully it will be another home run when I do.

Leatherman MUT

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I love my Leatherman Wave. One of the handiest tools I have, and I carry with my always.

I see Leatherman has come out with a new product, the Leatherman MUT. (h/t Uncle)

Here’s a link to their PDF brochure.

I don’t think I’d use this as my EDC, but in the range bag or taking with me (in addition to the Wave) into the field? It could be useful.

And just for the TXGunGeek I have this little quote from the brochure:

The MUT comes with a wrench accessory that features 1/2” and 3/8” 12-point heads for adjustment to optics systems. Built to military performance specifications, the ballistic nylon MOLLE sheath features extra wrench and bit kit accessory pockets. When not in use the sheath can hold a double-stack 9mm clip.

Clip. *sigh*

Shooting a pistol from the benchrest position

/ hsoi

A friend of mine has begun pistol shooting and he was asking me about shooting his pistol from the benchrest position. I went looking for some resources online, especially pictures (this friend lives in another state so I cannot physically demonstrate and teach him things), and surprisingly didn’t find a lot about pistol benchrest shooting. However, I did find a few things worth sharing.

The above image is from this article by Barbara Baird on the BassPro.com website. Ms. Baird is an NRA Certified Instructor, and as an NRA Instructor myself I can say what is being demonstrated above is the NRA taught technique.

It’s not the best technique.

I’m not going to say it’s wrong, because I’m unaware of any “One True Way” to shoot a pistol from benchrest. But there are two problems. 1. Look at what is supported: hands and wrist. Is the gun itself supported? The point of shooting from a rest is to remove you (the shooter) from the equation as much as possible. You strive to do everything you can to reduce or eliminate the gun moving so you are shooting from the most stable platform possible. In the above picture, just a tiny movement of the wrist is all it would take to move that gun. The gun itself is just not that well supported. 2. The shooter is using a semi-automatic handgun, and resting in that manner puts upward pressure on the bottom of the magazine. This can cause the magazine to be pushed further upwards into the gun and could cause feeding problems. It’s not horrible to do this, but just be mindful that your shooting position doesn’t interfere with the function of the gun.

Compare to this picture (and ignore the revolver vs. semi-auto aspect):

The above picture is from the ChuckHawks.com website article on shooting a handgun from a benchrest. What do you notice that’s different? Look at how much support that gun has. The gun frame is cradled in a sandbag. The shooter’s wrists are supported by sandbags. The shooter’s elbows are supported by sandbags. It’d be great if the shooter could have been all the way up against the bench, his chest pressing into the bench, but looking at the width of that bench and I don’t think there’s enough room. Nevertheless, this demonstrates the key: support! The gun and the shooter are as rested and supported as they can be. As much movement as possible has been eliminated without interfering with the function of the gun. That’s the key.

One thing both pictures demonstrate? The shooting position is as close to a “normal” shooting position as possible. That is, the standard two-hand Modern Isosceles stance, but instead of standing just resting on the bench. Isosceles, Weaver, whatever it is you do, just note to continue to do it from the bench.

The reality is, life does not always hand us ideal situations. My friend’s gun is a Taurus 709 slim and there’s just not a lot of “frame underside” by which to support the gun, especially when you compare it to that big revolver in the second picture. Furthermore, the range you’re shooting at may have tables only so big, may have restrictions or limited equipment. Sometimes you just have to make do with what the situation provides you. Just remember, the key is to support the gun as much as possible to eliminate movement and other “shooter influence” from the process of shooting.

Do give a read to Ms. Baird’s article (it’s fairly straight-up NRA Basic Pistol material), the Chuck Hawks article, and also this article from Guns & Ammo Magazine. They all contain good information on pistol benchrest shooting.

How to handle your mistakes.

/ hsoi

When you make a mistake and flub something, what do you do? Do you stop and start over? Or do you just keep going?

Whatever you do, it’s been my experience that most people always do the same thing no matter the context. Today I write to say we need to consider how we recover from mistakes and choose the right approach based upon the context.

For example, I was doing dry-fire practice working on drawing my pistol from a concealment holster. Typical ways to flub the draw are the shirt doesn’t get out of or remains in the way, or your strong hand gets a poor initial grip. What do you do? As soon as you notice the flub do you stop and start over? or do you acknowledge the flub but proceed and work to recover from it to still reach your end goal? I used to stop and start over, but now I want to keep going. My reasoning? If the day comes and my life is on the line, I could well flub things. In a situation like that, what should my ingrained response be? Recover and move on? Or go “damnit! I screwed up!” reholster and ask for a do-over? I don’t think the latter is reasonable for the situation, so the only option is to recover and move on. Thus I must train myself to acknowledge the flub (must know what went wrong so I know what course of action to take to recover) then immediately recover from it, keeping my cool the whole time. This is the response I would want to have if my life depended upon it, so that’s how I must train.

Let’s consider my martial arts practice, specifically working on forms. If I was working on a form because I was entering a competition, I’d probably want to train myself to recover and move on. You’re performing, and the show must go on! But these days I do not participate in martial arts tournaments, so if I’m working on a form it’s because I want to get it correct, because there’s something in my own body and soul I wish to feel. Plus I’ve been away from Kuk Sool for almost a year and I admit some things are slipping my mind. Thus stopping and fixing is fine for me here because the context may dictate it (i.e. I forgot) or perhaps because I came to a point in my practice where I realized something and wish to focus on it. My goals here are different, and how I contend with mistakes must serve the end goal.

This reminds me of when I was in undergrad and played in a rock band. We were doing some basement recordings. We only had so much tape, so when we’d screw up I’d tell the guy running the board “Rewind and erase that.”  But he never listened to me and kept tape rolling. In my mind there was no point in keeping bad takes, especially when we had a finite amount of tape. However I’m glad he kept the tape rolling because it captured some gems. Looking back I can say we should have handled it both ways. When we’re working out a new song, sure we have to stop when mistakes are made because we’re still learning. But once the song is known, when we’re doing rehearsals for gigs, just keep going… unexpected things could happen during the gig and we wouldn’t come to a halt on stage, so practice accordingly.

Be clear on your end goal(s) and ensure you work towards it. One part we overlook is how we handle our mistakes. The way we handle our mistakes may need to change based upon the context, so be sure to analyze, figure out the plan, and behave accordingly… especially as you practice. Train yourself to handle your mistakes as the context dictates. Your life may depend upon it.

Busting Stereotypes

/ hsoi / 10 Comments

I’m in Austin, Texas. I’m leaving the local indoor gun range. What do I see parked next to my car?

A Volvo. Stationwagon at that.

A Darwin fish.

A rainbow bumper sticker.

The desire for self-protection runs strong through many people.

Zeroing in the Wilson 6.8 SPC upper

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Took the new 6.8 to the local indoor range to get her zeroed.

I’m shooting Silver State Armory’s 6.8 SPC 85 grain Barnes TSX tactical load. The rifle is a Wilson Combat 6.8 upper (and all their “factory” trimmings), on a Bushmaster lower, with a Rock River Arms 2-stage match trigger. Magazines are C Products 10 round. Scope is a Burris Fulfield II 3-9x40mm on one if their P.E.P.R. mounts.

Allow me to interpret (click on the picture if you want to see a larger version).

I started at 25 yards just to get something on paper, ensuring the scope wasn’t too far out of adjustment. Moved to 50 yards and got things roughly zeroed. Then obtained a new target, which you see above, and sent it out to 100 yards. Starting in the center, the high shot was the first shot. My friend Charles said if you were zeroed at 50 yards you’d be 1.5″ high at 100 yards and that seemed to be the case (given the rough 50 yard zero I had). Adjusted and got the lower shot. Adjusted more and got the almost dead-center shot.

The lower left grouping is then shooting at 100 yards. It’s a 3 shot group. While not the best group, I blame that on operator error. All shots went where my eyes said they went.

The lower right grouping is shooting at 50 yards. If I zero at 100 yards, I want to know where impact will be at 50 and 25 so I can know what sort of holdover I’ll need. So that is a 3-shot group at 50 yards. Looks to be about 0.5″ below point of aim, and I can live with that.

The upper right grouping is at 25 yards. That is a 4-shot group. Looks to be about 1.5″ below point of aim.

I’m pleased. This combination of ammo and rifle is quite accurate. Certainly it will do whatever job I ask of it. And we now have evidence… if I fail to bag that deer or that hog, it’s my fault… can’t blame the equipment. 🙂

New grill/smoker is needed – Suggestions?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’ve had a Weber kettle grill for gosh… 12 years? 15 years? Quite a while. It’s actually served me quite well. It handles grilling needs, and some years ago I added a 3rd party thermometer to the lid and so I’ve been able to use it as a smoker with pretty good results.

But… she’s at her end. The “vanes” in the kettle are no longer moving. One of the vanes has worn so much there’s a hole. There’s just no more ability to control the air flow. I can make a fire in it, but controlling it is pretty much gone. It then becomes an art of just controling the fire itself to keep the temperature right.

Furthermore, I’ve known for a long while that while from time to time I want a grill, most of the time I want a smoker. As well, while the Weber has enough space to say feed a family or enough hotdogs for a neighborhood cookout, it just doesn’t have the square footage on the rack to hold what I cook these days. Plus when I smoke or otherwise indirect cook, there’s even less rack space available.

It is time for a new setup.

There’s a guy I’ve spoken with that makes custom setups. I’m going to talk to him, but I fear it may be too costly. On the flip side, the quality should be good enough such that it will last me the rest of my life with proper care.

The main things I want?

  • Square footage. I don’t need to feed an army, but being able to hold a couple racks of ribs or a couple briskets or a couple legs from a feral hog. Plus being able to throw a dozen ears of corn on the side the last 30 minutes.
  • Charcoal/wood. No gas, sorry Hank Hill.
  • I do want to be able to smoke but also grill. I really don’t want to have one smoker setup and one grill setup. But from what I’ven seen on the market so far, what I want may not be there.
  • Offset firebox for smoking.

I may have to go the custom route to get what I want. But if any good readers have suggestions towards what fits my bill, please comment.

(BTW, the Big Green Egg has always been curious to me, but it’s just not big enough.)

My Friend takes AT-4

/ hsoi

My friend Ron drove up to the area to take KR Training’s AT-4 Pistol Skills Development class this past weekend. Here’s his review of the class.

I wish I could have been there but I had a prior engagement this weekend.

Looks like Ron had a good time and got a lot out of the class. I like his final take on the whole thing:

I’d also recommend it to any gun owner I know. You learn how true Jeff Cooper’s saying “Having a gun doesn’t mean you are armed.” is. If you can’t hit stuff in a class like this I shudder to think how much you will miss when you life depends on it.