Guns

That’s not what I wanted

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

Well, that didn’t go as desired.

I have 2 guns: a S&W M&P Shield 9, and an NAA Guardian .32 ACP. The Shield was manifesting accuracy issues, the Guardian was a pawn-shop-find that needed some love. Both were sent back to their respective factories to be worked on. Both came back a couple weeks ago. I was finally able to take them to the range to see how things went.

Alas, I’m not happy with how things went.

Protocol

I figured this was mostly about function checking, including accuracy checking. I’d want to run about 200-250 rounds through each gun, mostly target ammo but some self-defense ammo as well.

I was going to start with Claude Werner’s drill (2 mags with 5 rounds each; 1 round, 2 rounds, 3 rounds (including a reload), then 4 rounds; repeat at 3, 5, 7, 10, and 15 yards). This would be good as there’s no timer, no pressure, done from ready position, and all about accuracy. So I could check out accuracy as well as basic function. If all went well, I’d shoot the Texas CHL test, which would do much of the same but adding in par times so a little more pressured use of the gun. That’d be 100 rounds of practice ammo. Then I’d use 20 rounds of self-defense ammo and do the “3 Seconds or Less” drill. Finally, I’d shoot another 50-100 rounds of just whatever I felt like doing, probably running the steel targets, including the 4″ flapper plate @ 25 yards.

I’d do this with each gun, and see how it went.

Alas, it didn’t.

Shield

Started with the Shield. Remember, it’s problem was accuracy. I couldn’t get it to group well, Karl couldn’t, Hank (gunsmith) couldn’t. Sent it back to S&W, supposedly all they did was “adjust the sights” (grr), but supposedly they did something because Hank’s testing upon its return and it was shooting better. Hank even showed me the target he produced at 10 yards.

So I started shooting. 3 yards was fine. 5 yards fine — but if there’s failure at this point that’s really bad. I did notice it was shooting high and a little to the left (e.g. 11 o’clock position). Hrm. I got to 15 and it was all over the place. Could it be me? I know I don’t suck THAT bad. But it was becoming difficult to tell. I tried more shooting of steel targets, flapper, etc.. I could get some hits, some not. It was getting difficult to tell if it was me or the gun, but for sure something is off with the gun — could just be sights. But for sure, something else seems amiss.

I ran some different ammo through, similar results.

So I bagged the gun, didn’t run through everything. Why waste ammo at this point? I’m going to have a couple other known good-shooters shoot it, see what happens. Depending how it goes with them, I’ll leave it for Karl to look at, and we’ll see from there. Something still doesn’t seem right.

Guardian

Started with the same Werner drill. Even at 3 yards I noticed a slight right-bias to the hits. My feeling was, because of the gun’s miniscule size, I was pulling the gun right. This only magnified as I went further back, and things just got stupid at 10 yards. But what was interesting was the holes in the target didn’t always cut nice ragged holes — keyholing? Not sure.

I could go back to 25 yards and hit the flapper — if I worked at it. The sights are terrible and I had a VERY hard time seeing them. I’d also have to do a lot of work to prep the trigger — a straight pull-through was almost impossible, but if I could stage it right and ensure I had good sights, I could hit.

But even after target ammo and then some Buffalo Bore (the Barnes flavor), my hand was just hurting too much. Not so much from the recoil, but from being cramped and all the weird rubbing of the gun in the hand. It’s just awkward.

Functionally, I think the gun is in good shape compared to when I got it. NAA seems to have replaced almost everything in it, so I should expect it’d working well now. I just cannot be 100% sure of the accuracy part tho — between being hard to see the sights, then my hand just being raw, I bagged it. I only got about 150 rounds through the gun, but it at least ran.

So I feel that the gun is OK, it will just need some red paint on the front sight to help visibility, then some more trials for accuracy to ensure it’s good and any issues are just me.

So…

At this point, I’m not pleased.

The Guardian I think is probably ok, but I just need more time to determine and have confidence that it’s as good as it’s going to get. That said, if I was pressed into needing it right now, I wouldn’t feel bad about it — just don’t ask me for shots beyond about 7 yards. 🙂

The Shield, I’m miffed. S&W gave no indication as to what was done, it seems like little was done, and it seems like the problem persists. And now it’s going to cost me more time and money to have to deal with this all over again.

Grr….

Hypocrites

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

“Somebody was tragically murdered, and I don’t think this tragedy warrants this conversation and pushing this agenda right now,” said Andrea Brauer, executive director of Texas Gun Sense.

From yesterday’s Austin American  Statesman article about the death of Haruka Weiser.

Sean Payton decries easy access to guns that lead to Will Smith’s death.

[then links to: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000652024/article/saints-sean-payton-on-will-smiths-death-i-hate-guns ]

Posted yesterday to Texas Gun Sense’s Twitter account.

I guess politicizing tragedy is OK when it serves your goals, and tasteless when it doesn’t, eh?

 

Minimums aren’t enough

/ hsoi

A permit class isn’t training…a permit class isn’t practice.  A permit class is the bare minimum information that state bureaucrats think you need to be able to safely load, unload and carry a pistol, in legal locations, in the state in which you reside.  If you want to actually LEARN how to use that gun, you’re going to need training.  You don’t have to look far on this site to find great places to train, that will actually prepare you for what you will really encounter on the streets and parking lots of America.  Even if you think you, “know all there is to know,” about defensive pistolcraft, shooting under the supervision of a competent instructor who can see things you cannot, relative to technique, is invaluable.  I highly recommend you seek out competent instruction…getting the, “paper,” is just a legal hoop you have to jump through!

Dr. Sherman House

Gunsmithing

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

Guns are machines, are tools. Like anything, they wear out and need some love. I’ve got 3 of my guns in various states, and it’s kinda interesting.

My Smith & Wesson M&P Shield, my NAA Guardian, and my M&P9.

Shield

I have a S&W M&P Shield 9, one of the early models. It’s been ok, but maybe I never pressed it really hard at longer distances. Some months ago I was shooting it and it was a horrible experience. Up close things seemed ok, but you get to 15-25 yards and shots were all over the place. Surely this can’t be me.

Karl happened to be there at the time, so I had him shoot it. Karl (remember, not just the head of KR Training but also an IPSC/USPSA Grandmaster: read, he knows how to shoot) had the same results. We shot benchrest, various ammo from cheap stuff to quality stuff, and no go. Karl had his Shield with him, so we swapped top and bottoms (his bottom, my top; his top, my bottom). I forget the exact results but one combo had the same problems. So there was some sort of mechanical problem. We did notice uneven wear on the locking block.

So the Shield went back to Smith & Wesson via Hank Flemming (best gunsmith in Austin). Should be covered under the factory warranty. Tho Hank did have to do some work to pull my aftermarket stuff out and put factory stuff back on. Even then, before sending it out Hank shot the gun and replicated Karl and my results.

Upon return, Hank shot the gun and it was shooting like you’d expect it to. Put the parts back in, shot fine as well.

Thing is, all S&W said on the invoice:

Evaluate/Repair

Adjust sights

Passed range testing

No details as to exactly what happened. There’s a big checklist on the invoice about parts, but nothing is checked off if repaired or replaced. So who knows.

A bit annoying to not have full records, but that’s how it goes.

Guardian

After picking up my NAA Guardian .32 ACP at a pawn shop, I really enjoyed shooting it.  It didn’t perform well, but after changing some springs and new magazines, it was much happier. Cool thing is NAA warranties their products for life by any owner. So I had Hank ship them the gun along with a letter detailing my issues and what I was looking for.

Took about a month and a half, but I just got it back.

The invoice?

  • slide
  • firing pin
  • retainer firing pin
  • spring firing pin
  • extractor
  • extractor plunger
  • spring extractor plunger
  • hammer pin
  • follower hammer
  • spring hammer
  • screw handle
  • trigger
  • drawbar spring

All new parts. And polished the feed ramp and chamber.

I think the only original part is the frame. 😉

Thing is, I’m a little bummed about the replacements, at least the new slide. The old slide had some really cool original markings, because my serial number indicates it’s from their early product runs. With the new slide, I lost those, and they did not ship back the original parts with it. I’m a little bummed about that, but whatchagonnado?

Still, the contrast here is seeing NAA detailing all the work done and S&W not.

On both guns, I’ll take them with me to KR Training next time I’m out and run them through their paces to ensure they’re working well. If all is good, I’ll put them back into service.

Other M&P

My main/original M&P9 I think finally needs some love. It’s been my primary carry gun for the past 4 years, with thousands upon thousands of rounds through it, and even more dry fire. I’ve been having some light strikes, had a failure to extract last week, other weird extractions. So I’m having Hank replace every spring in the gun, and give it a once over for any wear and tear, replace anything that needs it, etc.. Just get her happy again.

Take-Home?

If it’s something you trust your life to, be sure to keep it in working order.

Because it is a working tool that can and will wear out, have 1 or 2 (at least) more. Make it the same gun, set up in the same way. That way if you switch between them, you don’t notice and don’t have to “get used to it”. Or have ones similar enough, e.g. an M&P9 and M&P9c, a Glock 17/19/26.

Find a good gunsmith, one you can trust.

Be sure to put your gear to higher tests. Just taking it into the back pasture and plinking is a good start, but running your gear hard is important. Again, if you trust your life to it, ensure it’s in good working order.

 

New CHL-16 (March 2016)

/ hsoi

The Texas Department of Public Safety sent this email to all Texas LTC Instructors:

Attention Instructors:
Please be advised, the current Texas License To Carry a Handgun Laws (CHL-16) 2015-2016 publication dated January 2016 was recently revised due to formatting issues and other minor modifications.  A revised CHL-16 with a new publication date of March 2016 is now available and may be accessed and downloaded at the following DPS website link:  http://txdps.state.tx.us/InternetForms/Forms/CHL-16.pdf
 
Thank you for your continued support of the Handgun Licensing program.
Regulatory Services Division
Licensing and Registration Service
 

(yes, they use Comic Sans for their signature…)

Worth picking up and (re)reading, because laws matter.

No one helped – two sides to every story

/ hsoi

Via Greg Ellifritz, I read an article about 7 self-defense cases and their implications.

In discussing one of the cases:

Finally, you need to be able to handle it yourself: John told us that of some 30 people who witnessed this struggle in a public place, not a single one came forward to help him.

Now, this statement can be taken for what it is: you’re in a struggle, lots of people around you, no one steps in to help, which means yes you are on your own so you ought to be prepared to handle things yourself.

What stood out to me is depending which side of the story you’re in, the fact that “no one helped” gets either condemned or praised. And it’s as if we want it both ways.

On the one hand, people want other people to help. They are of the mind that if I saw something bad happening, I would step in. Certainly this is a good thing, to help someone in need. And if you are the one in need, you’d likely welcome all the help you can get. As well, people often view the fact that “no one helps” as a sad commentary on society today, and thus state that as demonstration that they are not part of that particular societal problem.

On the other hand, often people of this same group discuss the realities of getting involved in someone else’s problem. You could wind up hurt or dead. You may not understand the complete context of the event and could wind up helping the wrong person, or making a bad situation worse. You could cause problems for yourself, and there may be nothing done in return by those involved to contend with your problems brought on by helping them with their problems (e.g. medical bills, loss of job, loss of life, etc.). So it is often suggested that it could be a very bad thing to get involved.

This is something I personally struggle with, because it’s in my nature to want to help people, yet I know if I help it may not have the desired effect and things could wind up worse for those involved and myself. My personal safety and well-being does matter more to me (if I’m hurt, can’t work, die, get sued, etc.; who is going to take care of my wife and children?), but yet I have a hard time standing by and watching others suffer. It’s a tough spot.

At least what’s needed is for us to stop viewing it from just one side. That no one came to help, maybe there’s good reason why they didn’t, and if the tables were turned you may not have helped either (despite your well-intended fantasies to the contrary). Work to understand the complete picture, which from one person’s perspective may have been an incomplete picture thus the choices they made. Work to ensure you can take care of yourself, both in the moment and afterwards. Work to ensure you have full understanding before you plunge headlong. Don’t just work to have good intentions, work to be able to do actual good.

Where do I need more work? weak-hand and 25 yards, of course

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

A couple days ago I posted a simple accuracy drill from Claude Werner (by way of Dr. Sherman House).

Yesterday I was out at the KR Training facilities and shot it.

First, since I was cold – both ways, in that I hadn’t shot yet AND it was in the low-50º’s with a very strong and cold wind – I shot the “3 Seconds Or Less” drill. 19/20 – dropped one of the weak-hand shots. Dang it; my nemesis strikes again.

Then I shot Claude’s accuracy drill. This is with my primary carry gun, a S&W M&P9 (full-size).

  • (3) 10/10
  • (5) 10/10
  • (7) 10/10
  • (10) 10/10
  • (15) 9/10
  • (25) 6/10

Even though 25 yards is not part of the drill, I did it anyways because I know I need more practice at 25 yards.

I ran a few other drills, shot some steel, did some other things.

What do I need to work on? Same as usual: weak hand, and 25 yards. And probably weak-hand at 25 yards too. 😉

I have been focusing on them. On weak  hand, it’s grip, finger placement, then pressing instead of yanking. In fact, on one-handed work in general, I am constantly reminding myself to keep my grip strong: thumb wrapped down and actively involved in the grip, and pinky crushing things as much as possible (involving the pinky matters a lot in a strong grip).

On the 25 yards I did observe and validate something I’ve been seeing in my dry fire practice: sight alignment. At 25 yards you really need that “type 4” sight picture (see: Brian Enos), everything has to be perfect. I know I’ve had some problems seeing the sights crisply during dry practice and that translated into live practice — where I was able to see the sights better. Still mulling through all of this in terms of what to correct, but it was enlightening. For sure, the 25 yards was all about sights and that I was less than perfect with that picture.

In other news, I think I’m going to have to swap out this gun and take it to the gunsmith. I think it’s just time for some love and care (e.g. new springs, new extractor, deep ultrasonic cleaning, etc.). I’ve been seeing little things here, little things there, and some things that happened yesterday pretty much clinched it.

Well, I know what my dry fire will be consisting of for a while. 🙂

Please, stop perpetuating this nonsense

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

On a neighborhood forum, people were commenting on a recent car break-in. One person said:

I think the sound of cycling an empty pump action 12 gauge might do the trick for a situation like this. You don’t even have to get very close for someone to recognize it and drop a deuce in their pants. I guarantee they’ll think twice next time However, for the home make sure it’s loaded.

Can we please stop with this?

  • Sounds aren’t always what you think. Ever hear a sound that you weren’t expecting, didn’t hear it again, and you shrug it off because you can’t figure out what it is? Yeah, that would happen here.
    • So rack it twice? No…
    • If you must make noise, how about yelling (from a safe place), “Stop! Police are on their way!” (and hopefully you have called the police prior to making this claim).
  • If the simple act of racking a shotgun is sufficient to make someone shit their pants, I’d hate to be in the Remington or Mossberg factory because the workers there must be knee-deep in it with the sounds of racking all day long.
    • Yeah I know, hyperbole.
    • Ever met a determined individual that has nothing to lose? Think a sound is going to deter them?
  • Bluffing is what you fall back on if you have nothing else to offer. It’s not a good strategy to lead with.
  • Having an empty shotgun is reckless. What good will it be to you if things go pear-shaped (and they can, and go there faster than you think)?
  • It’s a vehicle break-in. While it sucks and I understand the emotion, and while Texas law may allow for the use of deadly force to protect property (under certain circumstances – if you don’t know what they are, go read the law code), just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Beer & TV time, people

Please people. Stop with this “just rack a shotgun, they’ll shit their pants”. It’s terrible advice.

Index points aren’t always aim points

/ hsoi

Over on the Facebooks, Phil Wong posted a link to this article: “Don’t count on a head shot“.

I commented on Phil’s post, and felt it’d be a good repost my comment here.

While I agree with the premise, I disagree with the proposed solution.

It’s saying things like “from the front, aim at the eyes”; from the side” aim at the ear”. Well… maybe. The trouble is that with such index points we start to rely upon those index points. What happens if those points don’t present themselves to us? Also consider that those points are on the perimeter — the actual target (brain stem) is somewhere else. So now we’re trying to connect dots: muzzle to brain stem — and it’s well possible that the actual line from muzzle to stem does NOT intersect with those index points. Thus if you do line up muzzle to index point, as the line continues it may totally miss the stem!

This is not what we want.

How could such a thing happen? Well, how often are you perfectly square to your target? Was told a story of a hostage situation, police sniper on the 2nd story roof, was taught to “aim at the ear” and so he did, but from that altitude the angle created [hit the ear but] totally missed the brain stem. While it did take down the bad guy, the bad guy also wound up having involuntary muscle reflex as a result of the less-than-optimal shot, pulled his trigger, and killed the hostage. Undesirable ending.

So, angles matter, and thus points of aim/targets matter.

It is useful to use those cranial index points to help you learn where the brain stem is within the skull — triangulation, basically. But when you actually go to line up and aim, aim at the actual target, not some relative index point.

Thanx to Tactical Anatomy Systems LLC for some teachings on this point.

Think about it.

It’s easy to line up two points (that’s essentially what defines a line). Trying to get a third point along that same line is more difficult. Muzzle and target, muzzle and index point — if you just line up those two points, it’s easy. But trying to hit the stem by aiming for an index point, now you’re lining up three points (muzzle, index point, stem) and THAT is harder to get right.

So, just pick the two points.

And again, if you have to use index points to help you triangulate and learn where the deeper point is, that’s ok — that’s about locating the target, which is a good thing to do too.

Todd Louis Green has left the range

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Todd Louis Green, best know as the man behind pistol-training.com, passed away today (March 15, 2016) after a long battle with cancer.

I never knew TLG nor had the opportunity to train with him, but he did leave quite a mark on me.

First, he had a great catalog of drills. Many drill lists are full of chaff and it’s hard to find the wheat. This curated list was all about the wheat. Trivia: I won the contest to name the “4×20 Transitions” drill 🙂

Second, the FASTest is one of the best drills and tests out there. So simple, yet it works so many things and proves to be one of the better challenging benchmarks out there. We’ve used it for some time at KR Training. In fact, Karl had some steel fabricated specifically so we could do the FASTest on steel (more reps, less taping/resetting).

Third, TLG was one of the biggest proponents of appendix carry. He wrote many solid things on the topic. If you’re going to carry appendix or consider it, you’d do yourself well to read everything TLG wrote on the topic.

Fourth, I love this dry-fire routine. I have it printed out in my stack of dry-fire materials. In fact, I started running through it again just the other day. It’s quite useful and logically formulated. If you use the principles he outlines, you can come up with your own routine.

Todd, thank you for what you gave to the world. You left the world a better place. What more can a man ask for out of his life?