Guns

Handshakes aren’t always polite

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Greg Ellifritz writes about how a simple handshake can be used as a ruse to get dangerously close to you.

I feel conflicted about personal safety techniques that make you come across as rude or unfriendly, because the majority of the time the situation is innocuous and now you just look like a jerk. But, there’s always a way to handle the situation that helps you maintain a friendly rapport yet keep you safe. Greg’s article offers a few such suggestions for dealing with this case.

One I recently picked up and will work to employ is how to disengage from street approaches. You know the situation: dude walks up to you asking for a cigarette or a light or the time, and there’s a host of ways to break off contact. A favorite of fellow KR Training instructor Tom Hogel is to say “Yeah, about 4:30” and keep on walking. It works because it’s an unexpected response to their script and resets their OODA Cycle. The response I recently picked up comes from William Aprill. His response is “No, but THANKS!” and saying “thanks” in a very cheerful and earnest tone. I like this because it resets the OODA Cycle, it responds and ends the contact, and you don’t risk coming off as rude — which I think matters not so much to dude, but in the eyes of others, especially if this happens when you’re in the company of friends that may not regard personal safety in the same light as yourself.

What stood out to me more from Greg’s article tho was his closing remarks regarding handshakes and open carry:

Hock Hockheim also has some interesting information on handshake problems in this article.  Have any of you open carriers considered this ruse?  What if someone approached you in a public place and said “I commend you for carrying your gun openly and appreciate that you are providing a visual deterrent against criminals.”  After saying this, he extends his hand to shake yours.  Would you shake?  If you are carrying your gun openly in a holster without retention, it might not be such a good idea!

When you assume…

/ hsoi

Whether you acknowledge it or not, you have a concept of what (your) attacker will look like.

Ask anyone about violent crime, about being attacked, and ask them to describe their attacker. Oh, they may not have fine-details down, like the color of their eyes, but they do have some sort of notion about the person – or the sort of person – that would attack them.

Often times it’s male, probably in the 18-30 age range. They’d probably be dressed in some sort of “covering garb”, like a mask or something else that obscures the face, with dark, long-sleeved clothing; people don’t imagine a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts.

As well, they might imagine the person’s circumstance, like they’re just some drug-addict looking for a quick score.

Stereotypes come from somewhere, usually seeded in truth. The problem comes when we start to base life-important decisions upon stereotypes.

I recently came across a discussion on Facebook on the topic of firearms. A person with a fairly anti-gun stance was coming from an angle of “assault weapons are stupid and unnecessary for home defense”. He said:

Most criminals look for soft, easy options. If you
don’t have an alarm system, but your neighbour does, and the crook is in your neighbourhood, guess what? Yup, you are getting broken into. Same goes for screens, and doors. They look for the soft options.

Now, he is correct. Fundamental rules of home safety/defense really start with other matters such as having locks and using them, having alarm systems and using them, and other things you can do to make your home a less-appealing target (relative to your neighbors). But this is not a discussion of home safety/defense.

What stood out to me was his assumption of who would be coming to break into your home, and under what circumstances. And thus, based upon those stereotypes and assumptions, whether guns (or a particular type of gun) was or was not appropriate/worthy/legitimate of use.

Back in April, John Hearne was on Ballistic Radio discussing the Newhall Massacre of 1970. If you’re unfamiliar with the incident, give a listen to the episode, or you should at least read about it.

Two men, Bobby Davis and Jack Twinning, were well-established violent felons before the incident, determined to not go back to jail and not be captured. In Newhall, they murdered 4 CHP officers. As they fled the scene of the initial shootout, the men split up. Davis came upon a camper, violently assaulted the owner, and took off in the camper. Twinning broke into a nearby home, and took the occupants hostage.

How do men like Davis and Twinning fit into your assumptions?

These were sophisticated, violent criminals, determined to do whatever it took to escape or die trying. They came upon innocent, uninvolved people – like yourself – and inflicted violence upon them for, what would appear to the victim as, “no good reason”.

Was this an anomalous situation? Certainly. But like many things, statistics are of little comfort when you’re the exception.

It is dangerous and risky to your life and the lives of those you love to predicate behavior upon assumptions, especially when there are solid facts that you could better predicate upon. Take time to examine your assumptions, discarding what is incorrect, and revising to make better.

My First Open Carry Holster

/ hsoi / 26 Comments

So with (licensed) Open Carry coming to Texas, that means some (licensed) people are going to carry their handguns openly.

If you chose to do so, please do so with thought, wisdom, education, skill, and respect.

One part of this equation? Holster selection.

As the law has been passed, open carry of handguns in Texas can only be done if the handgun is carried in a shoulder or belt holster. As well, the law mentions “restraint holster” (whatever that is, but I’m sure they mean a holster with some level of mechanical retention), but only within the context of classroom instruction and the instructor – that is, it doesn’t APPEAR that you actually HAVE to carry in a “restraint holster”. However this is where wisdom comes into play, because you would be foolish to open carry in anything other than a retention holster.

Note: the above is somewhat speculation as we are still waiting on the Texas Department of Public Safety to interpret the law and implement the necessary portions within the licensing program (which I guess is now just a “HL” instead of “CHL” program?). We (C)HL instructors are still waiting to hear on things, so you’ll just have to be patient like the rest of us. And meantime, err on the side of caution and well… don’t be stupid.

Going with that, as an instructor, while I have my reserves about open carry, I acknowledge people are going to do it, and so it’s best as an instructor to have as much knowledge and experience in the matter as I can so I can most effectively guide people to good and reasonable choices.

So after talking at length with a Deputy friend of mine and doing a bunch of my own research, I picked up a Safariland 7377.

Why?

Why get one? Again, while I don’t see myself open carrying as a general rule, I want to be educated and have first-hand knowledge, so having my own holster(s) and actually using them is part of the knowledge equation. Ignorance never serves any positive end.

Why get this particular one?

Safariland is pretty much the gold-standard. This is life-safety equipment – more so given this particular context – and I don’t care to entrust my life and the lives of my wife and children to anything less than the best. Will I explore other brands? Sure, but might as well start with the gold standard.

Why the 7377 model?

First, I didn’t want any true duty holster. Why? I’m not a cop. But more simply, the duty holsters tend to be fashioned for duty belts, which can be 2″ or 2.25″ wide. I don’t have such belts, nor pants made with such wide loops. I have a 1.5″ belt, so duty holsters are not appropriate. Thus I went with Safariland’s “concealment” (i.e. same basic holsters but with mounts for 1.5″ and 1.75″ belts), but with a wonder just how well it would actually conceal.

Second, why the ALS system? I appreciate the fact that all you have to do is reholster and it’s locked – you don’t have to flip or engage anything to activate the retention feature. Granted, ALS-alone is only a level-1 retention, but still it’s something. As well, my understanding is the older SLS feature can deactivate if you’re rolling on the ground, etc.. Finally, there are people in this industry whose knowledge, skills, and experience I trust, and they recommend ALS.

Third, of the different models of Safariland, concealment line, ALS, the 7377 seemed more likely to conceal (vs. the 6377). I haven’t been able to compare the two in person, but at least from pictures, videos, and descriptions, it does seem the 7377 is able to be made thinner thus more concealable.

Why am I worried about concealment? This is an open carry issue! Because at least in my context, I see any chance of me being openly carrying as a state change. For example, wearing a suit, gun on my hip under the jacket, take off the jacket and now I’m open. Thus I need the ability for one holster to handle both states.

So after looking and much consideration, the 7377 was settled upon.

While I was at it, I also picked up a 6006 ALS Guard, because why not order it at the same time. Try it both ways, and if I do like it it makes it Level 2 retention.

BTW, if you’re curious what all this “retention level” stuff means, here’s Safariland’s explanation. Also note that Safariland only rates their duty gear with retention levels; their “concealment” line doesn’t get such ratings/verbage.

I placed my order, and it came in yesterday.

First Impressions

While the holster itself seemed fine, I’m not sure about the belt mount. It’s the 567BL Injection Molded Belt Loop. It feels solid enough, but some of the flex makes me wonder. Plus the little bars that go through the belt loop that you are to cut out to make fit a 1.75″ belt? I’m curious how well those hold up to abuse. So… the holster seems fine, no better nor necessarily worse than any good kydex holster. Just a wonder about the belt mount.

BTW, I have seen this and other retention holsters sold with a paddle mount. FFS… no, just no. I could maybe see it if you had it on a training version of the holster, but for actual carry? No.

The ALS worked like a breeze. Heck, I could barely tell it was even there! It’s quite a natural drawstroke, tho depending what you do with your thumb you may have to adjust. Me, I do tend to get a full grip when I draw, so I do have to (re)train to adjust for this, and certainly had more than enough times when I didn’t successfully disengage the lock because training artifacts and n00b (tho that mostly happened with the Guard installed).

I installed the ALS Guard. Holy crap! That beats your thumb up pretty quickly because it’s mighty stiff. Yes, it’s a good level of protection, yes it adds some complexity to the draw, but it’s still generally a natural motion. But disengaging is so stiff well… after a couple dozen draws I stopped because my thumb was getting tender; it’s a lot of impact on your thumb’s distal joint, which doesn’t have much padding. I could not see going through an all-day training class with hundreds of draws with this setup. But if this was something I had to carry, I would just suck it up, practice daily, and just build up a callous/tolerance.

The holster itself compared favorably in size to my Dale Fricke Nehemiah. The holster itself is just a hair larger, but not by anything I’d consider relevant.

Of course, the holster does sit further away from the body. I think something could be done to bring it a little closer, or at least get it so the gun butt is angled in a bit more with the contour of the body. I’ll have to play with it.

Did it conceal? Yeah, but it was very clothing dependent. Some t-shirts I conceal IWB with no problem manifested this huge wart on my hip. But some of my 5.11 concealment shirts concealed it reasonably well. Yes, I could bend and move and you might see the shirt move or bunch in an odd way, but most people are unlikely to notice. Jackets and coats shouldn’t be a problem. I would say this holster CAN conceal, but I wouldn’t call it a concealment holster.

What Next?

So that’s just my first impressions. Overall I dig it. I look forward to trying it out more and even trying other brands/models to further my knowledge of the topic.

BTW, here’s a good article on such holster selection. It is oriented towards cops, but much of the reasoning here is same and sound, e.g. buy good gear. I don’t agree with his saying the Serpa is a good system, but otherwise his approach is reasonable and worth a read.

 

KR Training June 2015 Newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training June 2015 newsletter is now available.

In addition to good articles and useful information, there’s a special discount running for this Saturday’s classes. Click to see, and then join us on the range. See you there!

On Open Carry – Coda

/ hsoi

So Open Carry (of handguns) is coming soon to Texas.

In the past when speaking on the topic I’ve framed it as two matters: legal and tactical. These days I’ve added a third facet: social.

Please do flip back and read the prior entries:

Coda

What makes a hot topic a hot topic is the contention around the issue and the passion with which people carry themselves when debating the issue. Open Carry is a hot topic.

I think it’s great to see the legislative improvement regarding Open Carry. Is this enough for some people? No. But it is important to remember that sweeping and fast change is rare, and usually what winds up getting things there is incremental change. With many things in life slow, steady, incremental improvements, consistent work over time, that’s what gets you where you ultimately want to be. It’s like crash dieting vs. changing your lifestyle, which is going to lead to a better results over the long haul?

And because there are less legal impediments for law-abiding citizens, that does open up more options from a tactical perspective. But remember to evaluate your tactics from a point of knowledge and ability. This isn’t just getting a retention holster and learning a few retention techniques (but that is part of it), but dedicating yourself to greater awareness, getting empty-hand skills, undergoing scenario force-on-force training and improving your overall skillset (that whole “with greater power comes great responsibility” thing, and that includes improving yourself). It’s also making wise choices, because it may be the better approach is to remain the gray man, to not draw attention to yourself. Choose wisely, and don’t let your choices (driven by ego or ignorance) put you into a position of regret.

Always remember: if you put yourself in the public eye, the public will watch you and will judge you. If you do not like their judgement, handle it like a professional, handle it with dignity and respect, handle it with humility. Let them see that you are a Good Person by any standard (yours, theirs, society’s). Don’t become fuel for their fight; be someone who can dampen their flames.

On Open Carry – Social

/ hsoi

So Open Carry (of handguns) is coming soon to Texas.

In the past when speaking on the topic I’ve framed it as two matters: legal and tactical. These days I’ve added a third facet: social.

Social

A big reason a lot of people open carry is for the sake of normalization. I get it. If you see guns every day, it’s just part of life, it’s just normal. It’s the same arguments for multiracial couples (like my parents), homosexuals making PDAs in public, and so on. The more you see it every day, it becomes “normal”, it becomes “no big deal”. Desensitization.

Where trouble comes in is what can go with it, and how people go about it.

I don’t know if he still does it, but blogger Robb Allen used to do Open Carry Fishing events. Under Florida law you cannot open carry in general, but you can when hunting, camping, and fishing. So he organized events where people would go fishing and openly carry while doing so. It was no big deal, there was no thrusting of “his rights” in other people’s faces. Basically, he was polite, reserved, a gentleman.

Then there’s folks like Open Carry Tarrant County and shenanigans like this. No dude, you’re not being nice, you’re being a dick. Yeah, your points are valid, but your social skills suck. You failed Persuasion 101. No one is going to listen to you when you are rude, intimidating, argumentative, and carry yourself like an overbearing asshole. In fact, precisely because of that behavior you wind up setting the whole movement back and doing far more damage than any anti-gunner ever could. You also give them precisely the fuel and “ammo” they need to rally the “unwashed sheep” against us. Gee, thanks but please, stop helping.

Pro tip: what matters isn’t the message being sent but the message being received. Allow me to put my graduate and postgraduate education in Human and Speech Communication to use. Does it matter that Jimi Hendrix was kissing the sky? or that people heard he was kissing this guy? Does it matter how Cory Hart wears his sunglasses at night, or the fact still to this day no one knows what the hell he’s singing in the chorus? They all know what message they are (trying) to send, but what long matters is the message actually received. Consider how many times in your life you thought you were crystal clear in your communication, yet someone still misunderstood you? And likely, you thought it was their fault for not understanding you. Nope, sorry but it was your fault for not sending a message that they would clearly understand. You failed to understand your audience, you failed to shape your message in a manner your audience would understand, and you failed to either pay attention to the feedback they sent or failed to solicit feedback from your receiver/audience (and then perhaps also failed to pay attention to that feedback). You carry a gun because you believe personal safety is your responsiblity, right? Well then take some responsibility for your communication and actions, and failings therein.

In the end, failures of communication lie with the sender of the message. And often that comes from not shaping the message to the audience.

When I talk about some computer programming problem, how I talk about it depends upon the audience. If I’m speaking with another programmer, I’ll probably get very technical, including speaking in jargon. If I’m speaking with my wife, I can get semi-technical because she may not be a geek but she’s been with me for many years and knows how things go. If I’m talking with a 6-year-old, I’m certainly not going to use jargon and certainly will have to choose different words and a different approach. In each case I’m working to send the same  message, but I must take my audience into account in how I shape and send my message to ensure successful receipt of the information I am trying to convey.

So if I want to convey that carrying a gun is normal, I must first consider my audience. Consider the people around you. Many of you live in an urban environment that is likely filled with people who don’t think carrying a gun every day is normal. So you must consider you are starting from that deficit. Now if you want to win someone over into thinking it’s normal, well, consider what THEY consider normal. In their mind it isn’t normal to walk around all day caressing a gun and thrusting it in people’s faces. So what might they consider normal? Maybe not drawing attention to it, because chances are they didn’t notice in the first place, and so long as you don’t make it some centerpiece, they likely won’t either. And if you don’t draw attention to it, maybe if they do notice and see you otherwise just going about your business…. well sure it may surprise them and make them a little guarded, but like any good desensitization they’ll consider it less and less of a threat if the accompanying behavior is also less and less of a threat. If all they ever see is people acting – what they consider – normal, then eventually it will be.

But getting up in people’s faces is not going to win them over. It doesn’t matter if it’s your “right”, because even with our beloved First Amendment, no one likes someone else getting in their face and yelling at them. You being an asshole is a sure-fire way to make people think all gun-owners are assholes. And how does that help the cause?

Look, if your tactics at promoting “gun freedoms” wind up getting us less freedoms, your tactics aren’t working. Feedback: pay attention to it.

If you’re going to open carry as a social statement, then remember all that goes with it. Let your social statement show that you are a responsible, law-abiding, respectful, courteous, and kind citizen. Yes, you need to be a Boy Scout here: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent.

Or consider it another way. If you carry openly, their going to see the gun and judge you upon that (and whatever irrationalities they may hold about gun owners). That’s going to be a difficult race to win. If you carry concealed, they’re going to see you first, and judge you upon you. If you’re being a Boy Scout in both situations, in the latter you’ll start from less of a deficit. And don’t you think you’ll get further if they first know you’re a normal guy and then learn you’re a gun owner? Don’t you think they’ll be more open to your advocacy?

On Open Carry – Tactical

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

So Open Carry (of handguns) is coming soon to Texas.

In the past when speaking on the topic I’ve framed it as two matters: legal and tactical. These days I’ve added a third facet: social.

Tactical

So just because it’s legal, does that mean it’s a good idea? Because the law says you can, does that mean you should?

As with many things in life, it depends.

There are stories of open carry deterring crime.

There are stories of open carriers getting robbed of their openly carried guns.

There are stories of police having their guns taken and being killed with their own guns. Uniformed police of course open carry, and in retention holsters. Granted, uniformed police act in a different capacity than private citizens, their job requiring them to come into close contact with known criminals who obviously have no reserves about murdering people. But too many private citizens allow strangers to get too close – witness the above open carrier getting robbed.

Yeah yeah… it won’t happen to you. You’re head’s on a swivel, you have the senses and awareness of Daredevil, you live in Condition Yellow. Sure. Fine. But you’re also human, and your awareness will slip, you will make mistakes.

If there are people in this world willing to murder a cop for their gun, what makes you think you’re immune?

Why advertise?

Most any trainer worth their salt understands that a fight avoided is a fight won – that whole “discretion is the better part of valor”. Open carry all too often becomes a situation of not avoiding the fight.

Certainly I’m making a blanket statement, from a tactical perspective, with a general recommendation against open carry. It does certainly depend upon context and situation, and may be right and may be harmless at times. But on the whole, in terms of general procedure for daily life, I remain unconvinced open carry is a sound tactical option for most private citizens.

And a big reason for that?

I’ll talk about tomorrow.

On Open Carry – Legal

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

So Open Carry (of handguns) is coming soon to Texas.

In the past when speaking on the topic I’ve framed it as two matters: legal and tactical. These days I’ve added a third facet: social.

Legal

From a legal perspective, I don’t see much reason for open carry to be prohibited. From a legal perspective, the reasons for carrying arms doesn’t and shouldn’t hinge on whether it’s under or over your shirt. Whether you, or those around you, are aware of it or not.

And sometimes, open carry may be the only legal means by which a person can arm themselves.

But that’s really all there is about it, and we to consider all this law does is change the status of certain behaviors in the eyes of the law.

To that end, I strongly urge you to know the law. A couple key points:

  • It is licensed open carry of handguns. You still need a CHL – tho I guess they’ll have to just call it an HL now.
  • You will need to know the law. The revisions to the Texas law code are… interesting. Take a read of Paul Martin’s analysis
  • Open carry remains prohibited on college campuses. Just because both Open Carry and Campus Carry passed in the same legislative session doesn’t mean that we’ve got unrestricted both. Again, know the law.

It will take some time for the laws to shake out, for Texas Department of Public Safety to make some determinations, and then for TX CHL (or maybe just “HL”) instructors to receive updated information, curriculum, and then how to proceed.

I know folks are excited here, but be patient.

 

KR Training 2015-06-13 BP2/DPS1 Quick Hits

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

It felt good to be back out at KR Training this past Saturday. The weather was awesome – warm, humid, but really not so bad (trust me, it’s going to get worse in a couple months, but it’s better than past summers). And there was only like a 5 minute cloudburst, else nice partly cloudy skies and just a good day to be outside.

Held Basic Pistol 2 (Defensive Pistol Essentials) and Defensive Pistol Skills 1, which are a very popular pairing of classes. Classes were sold out, and filled with a diverse group of folks of ages, genders, classes, you name it. Sorry, but your stereotyping of gun owners holds no water.

Here’s a few things I’d like to reinforce to the students.

Dry Practice

Take what you learned in class and practice it at home. You can do this for free – no cost of the range, of driving to the range, ammo, whatever. Only thing it costs you is about 10 minutes of your time, and after all your hard investment in class, 10 minutes a day every day (or at least every 2-3 days) is well worth it as you WILL see improvement in your skills.

Just work on the things from class. If you were in BP2, you can work on the TX CHL test. If you were in DPS1, work on the “3 Seconds or Less” drill. But you don’t even have to work on something like that. Pick a particular skill and work on it. For example, if trigger control needs work, try the Wall Drill. You could even try something as simple as this:

  1. two hands, gun on target, press the trigger (don’t disturb the sights) — basically the Wall Drill. Repeat 10 times.
  2. Do the Wall Drill again, but this time press out (positions 3 to 4). Repeat 10 times.
  3. If you were in DPS1, do the Wall Drill again, but now from the holster. Repeat 10 times.
  4. Basic Wall Drill. Repeat 10 times.

That’s it. Shouldn’t take you more than 5-10 minutes, and if you do that every day I guarantee you’ll improve.

Don’t worry about speed, worry about technique. Getting that sight picture. Pressing the trigger smoothly so the front sight remains steady. Working on the simultaneous pressing of the gun out and pressing of the trigger in. Speed will come.

Simultaneous Actions

This is new and awkward for folks, but this is where speed comes from. That from that high, compressed ready position, that when you press the gun out, you also press the trigger in – simultaneous action.

Most people are used to pressing the gun out, letting it settle, finding the front sight, then pressing the trigger. That’s a lot of serialized action and it all takes time. Simplifying, let’s say it takes 1 second to press the gun out and 1 second to press the trigger in. That means it takes 2 seconds to complete the task. But the mechanics of the actions don’t depend upon each other: they are independent motions. Thus you can do them at the same time. So if as you press the gun out you also press the trigger in, now you’ve accomplished the task in less time, and you never had to actually go faster. In fact, you could actually move slower and still accomplish it in less time! This is how you go faster without going faster. It’s about efficiency and economy of movement.

This is something you can – and should – practice dry. Again, don’t worry about speed, work on getting the mechanics down.

Equipment Matters

It’s great that the word is slowly getting out that equipment matters.  You can buy skill in this realm.

For example, we had one lady in class shooting a Ruger LC9. We could tell she could shoot, she understood what to do, had all the mechanics down, but she just had a rough time getting things done. In between classes Karl switched her over to a S&W M&P9 and she instantly shot so much better. It’s amazing what a better gun, with better sights, and a better trigger can do, eh?

A gentleman in the DPS1 class was shooting a Kahr PM9 from a pocket holster. This is a very tiny gun, and shooting from a very difficult starting position. Was it a struggle for him? In parts, yes because big hands making a fist in a small pocket is difficult to draw from. He had the marksmanship skills no problem, but the equipment was a challenge. Still, I applaud him doing this because that’s how he has to carry due to environmental constraints, so that he was willing to train precisely in the manner he chose to carry, that’s good. Even if the end result was he learned how much it sucked, at least he knows and now can seek improved solutions.

360º World

In the afternoon I worked the shoothouse. We weren’t out to teach anything here about movement in structures and such. The key was to sow the seed that the world is 360º, that people are 3-D — breaking though the notion of range artifacts (straight lanes, flat cardboard targets, etc.). It was certainly eye-opening for a number of folks, and if it gave you something to think about that you didn’t think about before, then great.

Speaking of which, I just learned that in December, KR Training is going to be hosting a new guest instructor, James S. Willams, M.D. and his Shooting with Xray Vision class. Seems quite relevant here.

As well, that weekend is going to be a great double-bill with Caleb Causey of Lone Star Medics offering his Dynamic First Aid class. Folks, if you don’t have some medical knowledge I highly recommend you get some. You are more likely to save lives through use of medical skills, so consider coming out for a good weekend in December to pick up on these unique and important offerings.

Happy

In the end, just a great day out there. Great group of students (including Oldest… always enjoy spending time with him). Got to get back to teaching. Man… just a good day.

Thank you all.

2015-06-11 – live fire practice

/ hsoi

Did some live-fire training today.

One major difference was using a bone-stock factory M&P 9. The only modification was the dots on the rear sight were Sharpie-blacked out. The factory trigger isn’t bad, but it sure has a hard-break. Apex DCAEK is forthcoming, as well as some Dawson sights (Charger rear, serrated black, 0.125″ notch; red fiber front, 0.100″).

That said, the setup and exploration was simple: draw practice. Random start. Hands start in various positions (at sides, on earmuffs). From concealment (under a t-shirt). At the buzzer, draw and fire one shot on a 12″ steel target at 10 yards.

I started with some dry fire, just Wall Drill stuff. Mostly to get used to that trigger. Two hands, SHO, WHO. Then live fire with the same, just on target and pressing trigger. Then did the same from low ready. And then again from press-out. After that, from the holster and on the timer.

On the whole the times averaged out to about a 1.5 second concealment draw. Some faster (1.38 I think was my fastest), some slower, and most of the flubs came from not getting concealment out of the way. But really, I’m happy with this. The daily dry fire and pushing myself in dry work is paying off.

I want to push myself harder tho… right now I actually want to keep speed at about 1.5 seconds but get the accuracy in line. I’d like it to be 1.5 second and ALWAYS hitting (today it was not always hitting). I know that I’m pushing fast and not necessarily seeing what I need to see, but certainly was surprised at how often I did see. What was cool was because of the way the ground is right now (after all the rains), if I missed and hit the berm it kicked up these perfect dirt clouds. It was actually more obvious when I missed than when I hit! And many times I’d see my sights and what they were doing, and the cloud confirmed it. Like I noticed the sights were to the left and sure enough, cloud. It was most excellent feedback.

So I’m happy, but now I want to keep that pace and bring up the accuracy to go with it.

But as well, I want to play with a few parameters.

First, I want to try on paper targets so I can work at closer range. Work at relatively the same speed and see how it goes. Can I work at 3 yards and maybe get to 1.25?

Second, I wonder how much my concealment draw is holding me back. I can distinctly remember feeling like I had to wait with my right hand for my left hand to get the shirt out of the way before I could really move my right hand in. So, I want to try again from open carry and see how it goes. If nothing else, it may give me more information as to where I’m holding back and what sub-position to work on.

Crazy thing? After shooting like that, I tried doing some slower “group” shooting on a small distant steel. I was missing so I stopped, unloaded and worked dry. Holy crap, every single shot was a yank – sights dipping like mad! Thing is, I couldn’t help it. I kept trying to stop, but couldn’t. My arm muscles were just clenching. But I also realized it was an age-old problem — it was my strong-hand muscles really clenching, and my support-hand was not crushing. Once I realized that, crushed with the left hand, and all was better.

So… I got my homework. Back to dry fire.