Guns

Convey to the person what you want them to do

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I previously wrote an article on how “mindset is everything” and in there discuss the importance of conveying to the person what you want them to do. If you haven’t read that article, you should read it before continuing with this article. It’s brief, go read it. I’ll be here when you’re done and return. 🙂

An interesting report from Force Science News. The relevance here is to the issuance of commands, as I mention in my “mindset is everything” article, to convey to the person what you want them to do. The article discusses a study of how police give commands under stress and how the type of command affects compliance. It mentions two sorts of commands: alpha, and beta. 

“Alpha commands,” Lewinski explains, “are simple, direct and explicit, so that even someone in a chemically or emotionally induced fog is likely to understand them.” Examples: “Take your hands out of your pocket,” “Stop talking,” “Quit resisting,” “Don’t leave your vehicle.”

… “[Beta commands] are indirect or imprecise orders that require interpretation by the suspect, based on his or her inference of what the officer intends,” Lewinski says. Examples: “Move,” “Give it up,” “Don’t be stupid,” “Stop screwing around,” “Knock it off,” “Don’t make me kill you.”

In other words, officers in day-to-day interactions generally gave very clear commands about what they wanted, and for the most part they gained compliance. But when they felt themselves threatened, this direct precision tended to be abandoned quickly. While they may have started out issuing alpha commands, in the face of resistance and personal danger they overwhelmingly transitioned to vaguer, less direct beta commands and, in general, gained markedly less compliance.

…

Based on his work with autistic children and others who show resistance in classrooms, he knows that “beta commands are very ineffective and inefficient. They leave people guessing.” When teachers switch from beta to alpha commands, they experience greater compliance even from mentally and emotionally disabled students, Houlihan says. “With the change, you almost immediately see better teachers and better kids.”

He cites an incident from the law enforcement studies in which an officer was in a stand-off with a suspect who was gripping a knife. “The officer told him 5 times, ‘Don’t make me kill you’ before he finally did shoot the suspect. A terrible command! He might have thought he was conveying an order to put down the knife, but that’s not what he said. It was left up to the suspect to interpret what the officer meant and what action was expected. In effect, the suspect was put in the position of having to control the officer’s behavior.

It doesn’t matter the context: police work, self-defense, dealing with your kids, ordering food at a restaurant, talking with your boss or subordinates, whatever. If you wish to increase the level of success regarding compliance with your requests, clearly convey to the person what you want them to do.

Shoot to wound doesn’t make sense

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I hear about people that say in a self-defense situation you should shoot someone in the leg or the arm, instead of “center of mass”.  There’s many reasons for it, but in the end it’s just not sound reasoning. If someone needs shooting, then they need effective shooting. If they don’t need shooting, they don’t need shooting. So if push comes to shove and you must shoot, you need to shoot at the most effective target (e.g., “center of mass”) and not at some less-effective area like a leg.

I came across this article at Force Science News that discusses the situation in-depth. It approaches it from a police officer standpoint, which is a different situation than a private citizen defending themselves, but it doesn’t take away from the point of the article that shooting to wound doesn’t make sense.

Nyko Perfect Shot for Wii

/ hsoi

My mother bought the kids a Wii for Christmas. I have to admit, it’s a lot of fun. Growing up as a child of the video game age, we’ve come a long way from the Atari console’s “stick and one button” interface. Sure some Wii games aren’t very inventive in taking advantage of the platform, but most are and it’s neat to interact with games in a way that isn’t just button mashing.

I hear the kids downstairs playing on it right now, so on a whim I started to Google around to see what’s hot in Wii games right now. After a few clicks, I stumbled upon the Nyko Perfect Shot.

Want. Here’s an IGN review.

Nintendo makes their official Wii Zapper, but it pales. I mean look at the Perfect Shot: 1911-like styling; certainly more realistic in styling and ergonomics to a real pistol; the review reads like the trigger is pretty good; and look! Sights! That rules!

Oo… massive amounts of want.

But then, what game to get to go with it? Ghost Squad? Call of Duty: World at War? Medal of Honor Heros 2? Hrm…. 🙂

Updated: I caved. Went to the local GameStop and they had one in stock. Also a copy of Ghost Squad, which the guy working there (who has worked there a long time, has a trustworthy opinion regarding game stuff) said was a lot of fun. The game was even on sale this weekend, so bonus there. Didn’t cost me much for the two things. I haven’t played with it yet (got other things to do first), but I did take it out of the package and fondle it. The grip is very thick, probably to accomodate/balance the Wiimote’s size. I do like how they did the “pass-through” for the nunchuck. The trigger feels as good as you can expect for a little plastic contraption like this, but what tickled me was while it looks like a little pivot trigger, it actually slides back and forth just like a 1911 trigger would. Nifty. As soon as I get a chance to try it out, I’ll report back.

Shooting, relaxing, and having no mind

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

I was scheduled to participate in a handgun class today, AT-4 Extreme Pistol. However due to the heavy rains and flooding issues the class has been postponed until tomorrow. Heavy rains, shooting on the move, paper targets… just doesn’t mix well for a safe and productive class. Tomorrow should be better.

Some weeks ago when I was assisting with a class I mentioned to one of the instructors that I was signed up to take AT-4 as a student. He gave me a puzzled look and wondered why I would take the class, saying something to the effect of I shoot better than that and don’t really need the class. While I appreciated the complement, I’m still taking the class. I signed up for it a long time ago, back when I was still unsure of my skills. While I apparently underestimated myself, I know I can still learn a lot by taking the class. Plus it’s good to just take it as a “résumé” builder — the more formal training the better.

I’ve been thinking about how to approach the class. What do I want to get out of it, what do I want to focus on for myself apart from the class curriculum. I think I’m coming back to something I’ve spent a long time trying to improve about myself:

Being relaxed.

Some years ago I injured myself in some way and so I wasn’t sure how I could keep up my empty-hand martial arts training while I healed from the injury. My teacher at the time suggested to me to work on forms and utter relaxation. To use only those muscles that had to be used and nothing more. For instance, if you’re in a horse stance, your leg muscles certainly need to be at work… but all of them? Your quadriceps sure, but your hamstrings not so much so ensure they’re not tight. Certainly in a horse stance your shoulders aren’t involved so why should there be any tension in them? You’d be surprised how much we involve muscles that have no true reason to be involved, and all that does is consume energy and tire us out quicker. The more I worked on being relaxed, while that in and of itself was difficult, the end result was making things a lot easier. Endurance went up merely because I wasn’t wasting energy.

I still have to work on the physical aspects of this. I guess it’s in my genes to be a tense “type A” person, so it’s an effort to relax (ironic eh?). It’s even in little things, like noticing during a workout or even just sitting here right now at the computer as I type this and I furrow my brow. There’s no need. If the brow is furrowed, I’m not relaxed. The more relaxed I am, the better I move, the better I work. Plus, it telegraphs. Can’t have a relaxed poker-face.

So back to the handgun class. I think the key thing I want to focus on is being relaxed. The class is about pushing your skills further, so if I really want to shoot well the more relaxed I am the better I will perform, the faster I can perform. But that’s just the physical side of it. I need to be mentally (and emotionally) relaxed as well.

No Mind. The Japanese would call it mushin. Chinese, wu-hsin. In Kuk Sool’s hyung bup, “mind clear”. I don’t want to have a gazillion things racing through my head. Maybe “front sight front sight front sight” but I don’t even want that. I want my mind to just be. Just let things flow. Be one with the gun, the target, myself, everything. Harmony.

This will be my personal goal for the class. We’ll see how I do. 🙂

The Inter-American Arms Treaty (CIFTA)

/ hsoi

I’ve been passing on covering things like “the Mexican Gun Canard” and the 20/20 “guns on campus” abomination because other blogs have covered them mighty well. I have nothing to add.

But discussion of the Inter-American Arms Treaty (also known as CIFTA) has ugly implications. You need to contact your Senators and ensure this doesn’t happen.

Sebastian has good coverage. The NRA’s statement.

Grip work and rain

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Current weather forecasts are for rain, and lots of it. A very slow moving storm system coming across the area. I’m thankful for it because Texas is in a major drought so all the rain we can get I’m happy for.

The slight bummer? I was going to be at the gun range for a lot of the weekend. Will I still? Depends on a few things. But regardless it made me think about shooting in the rain. Specifically, shooting my polymer-framed Springfield XD in wet conditions. The grip on the XD is kinda slick and if it was wet it’s not going to be the easiest thing to keep hold of.

I do regret not getting the stippling grip modification by Springer Precision. I’ve tried it on a buddy’s XD and it’s awesome. I guess I might have to go the grip-tape or skateboard-tape route, but I know it’s not as good as the stipple job.

The point to think about is shooting in less-than-ideal conditions. When it comes to defensive shooting, you have no control over when and where the situation would occur: low light? cold weather and you have gloves and a heavy coat on? rain? ice? While we all like to practice in nice and dry conditions, every so often we should push ourselves outside our comfort zone and work on the less-than-ideal.

Competition as training

/ hsoi

Sebastian has a posting on using competitive shooting sports as police training. Good stuff all around and I think the main article makes all the relevant points. I’ve been wanting to get into competition shooting (IDPA or IPSC) but so far the schedule just hasn’t meshed for it.

What I wanted to comment on in Sebastian’s article tho was his comment that “you can’t really practice real gunfighting”. While you truly can’t practice this (or at most you’d only be able to practice it once :D), I’d say what gets you closer than anything would be force-on-force training.

Sight Picture

/ hsoi

ToddG at pistol-training.com has an article about sight picture. What I like is the article’s graphic and discussion of sight picture names and how they relate to what the graphic displays. This is one of the better discussions of the matter I’ve found.

For the record, I use #2.

Citizen preparedness

/ hsoi

I’ve seen this before and in light of my postings here and here, I thought it would be worthwhile to post. There are certainly a great many things one can take from this video, but the one I wish to stress is training. Lance Thomas feels he was able to handle his situations because of training, and he flat out says that just having a gun isn’t enough… you have to train.

Choosing a gun, another take?

/ hsoi / 19 Comments

Earlier this morning I wrote a piece on choosing a gun. Then I see via SayUncle a link to a piece on advice for a first time gun buyer. Uncle is right that it’s nice to see a positive piece in the mainstream media, but I have to take odds with the advice given. In light of my earlier posting, I feel a desire to comment on the article.

“[For the first time buyer] we usually suggest a shotgun or a revolver because of the simplicity.”

While I appreciate simplicity, what’s so simple about these? Granted their internals might be different and simpler than others in their class, but should we be looking at internals or operational simplicity? When it comes to a shotgun, what do they tend to suggest? A pump action shotgun. Operationally speaking, that’s not simple. You have to know how to pump the shotgun, you have to have the mental wherewithal to pump and not short-shuck it, then deal with the malfunctions that might ensue. Folks, a simple “point and click interface” goes a lot further, and frankly a semi-auto shotgun is going to be simpler to operate than a pump action, especially for people that don’t want to practice much. But then you do get the complexity of having to ensure you have a shotgun load that can operate the semi-auto’s mechanism, dealing with cleaning and maintenance, and so on. There’s always a trade-off. 

Then we look at a revolver, and while a revolver is a bit mechanically simpler than some semi-autos, operationally they’re just about the same as modern semi-autos. With a revolver (assuming a double-action revolver), you pull the trigger, gun fires, chamber advances and the gun is ready to fire again with the next trigger pull. Take a modern semi-auto like a Glock, Springfield XD, or Smith & Wesson M&P. You pull the trigger, gun fires, “chamber advances” (empty case extracted, magazine pushes next round up and slide goes forward to chamber the round), and the gun is ready to fire again with the next trigger pull. In the end, the operational simplicity is the same. Now, when it comes to malfunctions, yes a revolver is better because you can just pull the trigger again, no tap-rack-bang. But I’d rather take a little time to learn about and practice malfunction drills and have 19+1 rounds at my fingertips than only 5 or 6 in a revolver. Then we can talk about dealing with caliber, capacity, practice, speed of follow-up shots, and so on with revolvers vs. semi-autos, and while there’s many facets to this equation and always trade-offs, I still think most people will be better off starting out with a semi-auto.

Hill says the first home defense gun he recommends to his customers is a shotgun. “If somebody enters your house,” he says, “and they hear the sound of the shotgun being pumped, if they’re smart…they’ll leave.” … “An intruder knows that sound,” she says, “and it’s intimidating.”

I know some people live by the mantra that the sound of racking a shotgun is the be-all-end-all solution to home defense. I am not sold on it. Granted it’s an intimidating sound, but it assumes the invader will hear it and then be scared off by it. Basically, you’re bluffing and you better hope they don’t call your bluff. If it comes to a point where you must use a gun, then you must be prepared to use it… not to be making “scary noises”. It also means that when you make that sound, you’ve given away your position. It also means that the gun is not ready to go. If time is critical and you raise the shotgun to your shoulder and you press the trigger and it goes click instead of bang, or that you now MUST rack it to ensure you’re ready to go (again giving away your position, giving up precious time), is that tactically sound when your life is on the line? Furthermore, given the meager capacity of a shotgun, being down by one load can be a disadvantage. It also implies you’re using a pump action shotgun, which as I’ve said before doesn’t equate to the simpliest firearm to operate.

Bauer also touts a shotgun’s stopping power and says it’s good for beginners because it requires less aim than a hangun.   She recommends loading it with a No. 4 buckshot.

So something that kicks like a mule is good for a beginner? If you don’t practice with it, that recoil is going to be an unwelcome surprise. If you do practice with it, that recoil is going to wear on you and how willing will you be to continue to practice when your shoulder says “no more”?  Less aim? Hardly. Check out Box O’ Truth #3’s list of Lessons Learned #2. In fact, take a read over my take on a home defense tool, which talks about shotguns as a home-defense weapon.

“Birdshot,” says Gregory, “won’t go through the walls of your house which means  family members in other rooms, like your children, won’t get injured.”

If it won’t go through walls of your house, it won’t go through the bad guy either. Again, see The Box O’ Truth. That isn’t to say that birdshot doesn’t have a place, but it’s not my first choice (then, neither is a shotgun).

Gun store owner Hill says you should take your time choosing your first gun.  And if more than one person will be using it, both people should come to the shop to get a feel for the gun’s size and weight.

“The wife should always come with her husband,” he says.  “A gun is a lot like buying a mattress. It’s what feels good to the hand.”

I will agree that you should take your time choosing your first gun. I emphasized this in my previous article. I’ll also agree that if more than one person will be using it, you should tailor things for both people. For instance, I’m certainly right-handed, but my wife is fairly ambidextrous and tends to shoot lefty. As a result, choosing firearms that have ambidextrous features (e.g. magazine releases) is a good thing. If you have to make a choice to serve one person over another, choose either the dominant user of that or the smaller person. So if the firearm is going to be used 95% by this one person, I’d say to set things up primarily to suit that person, but ensure the other person can use it because chances are that 5% of the time may be the time that saves someone’s life. Or opt to fit the smaller person because it’s easier for a big person to use something fitted for a smaller person, but it’s tough for a smaller person to use something fitted for a larger person.

Our experts’ second choice is a .38 revolver.   They selected this gun because it’s easy to load and unload.  And, unlike semi-automatic handguns, revolvers don’t jam.

While a .38 isn’t the worst caliber in the world, there are better. I spoke to revolvers earlier, but on the subject of loading and unloading them well… are they easy to (un)load? I suppose, especially if you use things like speed loaders to load them. I don’t find dropping a magazine and inserting a new one into a semi-automatic handgun to be that difficult an operation. But either way, the key is to practice. Can a revolver jam? Maybe not jam, but they are mechanical and like anything mechanical that can break and/or malfunction. They are not immune.

“If you’re going to stand your ground,” says Gregory, “then a shotgun will work.  But if you’re going to be moving around your house, you can’t hold a shotgun and a cell phone or flashlight at the same time.  A handgun is easier and it’s more accurate.”

If you’re going to move around your house, this is why something like an M4-gery works well. They do raise a good point about two hands and operation. This is why having a weapon-mounted flashlight can be useful. This is also why it’s important to not just have these tools, but having a plan on how to use these tools.

Whether you choose a revolver or a shotgun, all our experts agree, you need to learn how to use your firearm.

Although I haven’t agreed with a lot of their advice, this final point is one we certainly agree on. No matter what tools you choose, you need the education and training to learn how to use it.

Updated: John The Texaner has a reply to this posting (as you can see in my comments). So in the spirit of that, I’d like to reply to his reply. 🙂

In general we’re in agreement on things. He is right that this particular blog posting deals with new shooters as the article this blog entry replies to was geared towards first-time shooters. As I stated in my other piece on choosing a gun, knowledge is best. As John mentions, getting range time is invaluable because it gives you “hands on” experience and first-hand knowledge towards what works for you. The first time you feel the recoil from a 12 gauge, your eyes are opened a little bit. 🙂  Education is so important.

He does touch on an interesting point worth elaborating. John mentions how he took his girlfriend to the range, and unfortunately it wasn’t the best range experience: indoor range shooting 12 gauge slugs. That’s not a great initiation. While sometimes that may be how it has to go (and this certainly isn’t a slight or comment on John), generally a good way to introduce a newbie to firearms is gentle and easy. Find a good location that is as free of other distractions and issues as possible… indoor ranges aren’t ideal because they’re loud, but sometimes that’s all you have. Outdoor can be better for noise, but maybe not for weather. Then when you choose a firearm, pick something light and easy. For instance, for a total novice, start with a .22. Move to a 9mm or a .38. Then try a rifle like an AR, then a .308. Basically, you’re moving up the ladder of power, slow and gradual. It’s often more successful to ease people into things instead of dropping them off the deep end. Again, not a comment on John, just  was an opportunity to make a general comment about introducing people to firearms.

One thing John mentions is the special stock that he added to his shotgun. How it improved the recoil is awesome. It also points out something to consider. You’ll see in the picture on his page how it has a shell holder on the buttstock. Carrying extra ammo is good. One disadvantage to this setup is it’s biased towards shouldering on the right shoulder. What if the shotgun has to be shoulders on the left? This is a consideration for lefties, but it’s also a consideration for righties because sometimes you may have to shoot “weak side”. This is why I think something like a TacStar SideSaddle is a better solution. But again, your needs are likely different from mine. There’s nothing wrong with a buttstock setup, just ensure it works for you.

But one place where John and I disagree is on the choice of home defense weapon. That’s OK. He practices hard with his choice, and in a lot of ways that’s key. He points out the strengths of the shotgun, and there’s no question it’s a devistating weapon. I’ve laid out reasons why I think there are better choices, but that’s why I’ve suggested before that the key thing for folks to do is to take your time, get educated, and make the best decision you can that works to suit your needs. No one holds the monopoly on “the ultimately weapon” and really what’s ultimate is what’s ultimately works for you and your needs. What you feel is best to address your situation, what you’re willing to become educated on, what you’re willing to practice with, what you’re willing to build your skills on.

John, thank you for your input! Much appreciated!