Guns

Maybe I need some “damp” fire

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I’m taking a small break from the dry fire routine.

I need to fall back and regroup. While following TLG’s sample routine is certainly a good starting template, I have been thinking it’s time to adjust it more to address my specific needs.

I’m also bothered by my performance this past Saturday. Something isn’t clicking, something isn’t happening between live fire and dry fire. I don’t know. But I can say, I’ve got a trigger slapping problem. Maybe I just need a lot more live fire, putting holes in paper, and seeing what happens. That is, do more of my diagnostics in live fire. I do think that’s part of my problem… let live fire tell me what to work on, then work on it in dry. I just need a lot more live…and I need time for that. *sigh*

But I might have a possible solution.

“Damp” fire. 🙂  Or at least, that’s what I’m calling it.

It’s not live fire, but it’s not dry fire either. Basically, it’s getting an Airsoft gun and working with that. My hope is it will be close enough to my real rig and I’ll get the active feedback of a hole in paper to see what I’m doing wrong. I mean, I’ve been thinking how a lot of ball-and-dummy drill is in my future, but that means I need real live fire, which is not always possible for me. But I can do Airsoft at home, and that can be better than nothing. Or so I hope.

It may not solve my problems, but it might. We’ll see. What’s the harm. Plus then I’ll have an Airsoft gun to use in FoF scenarios. 🙂

I have purchased an M&P replica. This one is CO2-powered, which I’m OK with. Supposedly can get 200-250 shots per cartridge. Supposed to be metal and have a good heft. All signs point to being a reasonable attempt at replicating my carry rig, tho we’ll see how the trigger is by comparison.

It’s been shipped and is on its way. Hopefully will be here before the weekend. I’ll report back on it later.

2012-09-15 live fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

The routine allows for substitution of live fire for dry fire, so my “week 1 day 5” was replaced with some live fire.

I was assisting at KR Training, so I didn’t get to do much formal, but I did a few things.

Let’s just say I stunk up the joint.

*sigh*

Well, I’ll break down some things.

Before DPS1 we do a pre-test with some reactive targets. I was going to demonstrate something to a student. No prep, no forethought that I was going to do this, it just happened as the course of conversation went to say “this is what you do”, and I just drew, 1 shot on target 1, 1 shot on target 2, both reactives fell over, and that was that. There was no thought, no nothing, cold, nailed it in short order.

That made me quite happy. Of course that’s what I should do, but what got me about it was hitting it cold, no thought, no prep, no nothing. Very happy with that.

But later on, there’s this “hostage” target Karl has, where it looks like a large steel IDPA/IPSC-shaped no-shoot with a small flapper just over the shoulder… probably 4-6″ (one of these days I need to measure precisely how much is exposed). It was probably 20 yards from me. I went through 3 magazines: 1 2H, 1 SHO, 1 WHO. I thought I was doing OK because I kept listening for the distinctive “flap” sound it makes when you hit it. Then Hogel comes up and asked who shot up the no-shoot — “because I just painted it”. *sigh* Looks like it was me, having a bunch of “near target hits”, or rather, unacceptable hits on the hostage. *sigh* Looks like the flapper activated either from splatter or impact vibration. *sigh*  I was most upset with that, thinking I was doing well, but I wasn’t.

On some other steel work, I was hitting poorly. I could tell what it was: trigger slapping, plain and simple.

The bad part was, I just didn’t have enough time to shoot on my own to really work and try to diagnose the problem. To shoot as I have in dry fire. There’s still a disconnect in my head somewhere. I need to figure some things out, collect my thoughts, then go talk with Karl.

AAR – KR Training – BP2 & DPS1 – 15 Sep 2012

/ hsoi

A fine day at KR Training. Basic Pistol 2 in the morning, Defensive Pistol Skills 1 in the afternoon.

Rain was predicted, and we saw none of it. Some darker clouds would roll in and out during the morning, but no rain. In fact, a lot of sun by afternoon — I’m sunburned. I didn’t put on sunscreen expecting to be under a raincoat all day, since the forecast was saying the rain chances would pick up in the afternoon. Silly me for believing the weatherman. 🙂

Since Tom and I will be teaching these classes sans Karl in October, we did a lot of the teaching this time around to help get our heads more aligned towards running things vs. just assisting. My personal take-home there is we need to keep moving, mind the clock and our pacing, and remember that we don’t need to dump every bit of information on the students at this time. They have enough to swallow, enough pressure, enough nerves… get them to focus on the basics, to lay the groundwork even if we have to leave out details, even if we have to kinda allow some things to be learned “wrong” and re-/un-learned later on.

Case in point, reloads. At this point, we just need them to reload their gun. Officially we don’t teach reloads until Defensive Pistol Skills 2, but reloads do happen and we just want them to remember if the gun is dry, get it running again. That’s the key. Some important points like the basics of how to reload are important, like proper positioning of the magazine in the pouch, use of the “shooters workbench”, looking at the magwell, and so on. But there’s so many other things that CAN be involved in reloads, but honestly, they’re not important right now. Again, only so much time, so much information overload already for students, and they likely won’t remember this minutia anyways so just focus on the gross effort, skills, and mindset changes for now. And then, that keeps the class better on track.

It’s just tough… we love what we do, we just want to share that information. We want to enlighten as much as possible and have no vested interest in withholding information. It’s not like we’re some secret martial art society that withholds the true art until you’ve paid thousands of dollars and invested 20 years of your life. We want you to have knowledge… we just have to sometimes remember a steady drip is better than a flood. 🙂

Otherwise, a fantastic day.

Classes were full.

Basic Pistol 2 was majority women.

Defensive Pistol Skills 1 had about 1/4 women, which is good for such a class. I have been seeing a small increase in female enrollment in the intermediate-level classes, and I’m happy to see that. I hope to see a continued rise in such enrollment.

Lots of returning students too. Thank you all for that complement and believing in us.

 

You won’t melt from this unique training opportunity

/ hsoi

It’s been about a month and a half since we’ve seen any rain here in Central Texas. Of course, that happened during the hottest part of the year… so intense heat and no rain really compounded our drought situation.

But the weather is breaking. The heat is going away, and yesterday it started raining. As far as I can tell, it’s been raining all night. This morning has a nice steady shower. This is the sort of rain we need, so the hard ground can soften up and soak in the rain instead of it all running off. Looking at the landscaping I can tell everything is perking up, both flora and fauna.

The cool part — apart from the drastically lower temperatures — is the rain is predicted to keep up through the weekend. Just what we need.

But it’s not just what we need ecologically.

It presents a unique training opportunity.

As per usual, we’ve got classes at KR Training this weekend. Whenever weather issues coincide with classes, Karl is proactive in sending out email to all enrolled students to discuss how we’ll proceed. Sometimes we have to consider cancellation or postponement because the weather is going to be severe and detrimental to learning and safety. But this is rare, and usually class can proceed, tho with minor changes to the program. We’ve done this many times before and are able to reasonably adjust the layout to cope with weather (e.g. some drills we will do inside with dry fire; many times this actually yields better end-results!).

But as per usual, once this email goes out, the student cancellations also start to roll in.

On the one hand, I understand. There was a time in my life where I refused to get wet or get dirty and just didn’t have the right mindset in me.

On the other hand, I’ve grown and changed and realized that such a training opportunity is a blessing.

The bad guys aren’t going to wait until it’s sunny and pleasant out to attack you. No, shit can and does happen at any time under any circumstances. It’s wise to train under different circumstances and settings so these things don’t affect you, or perhaps you can learn how these situations affect you. Better to learn in practice (when you can afford mistakes and a learning opportunity) than to be forced to learn when the flag is flying. For example, while I prefer to do my dry fire practice in the morning, when I do it at night I can see how tired my eyes are and that changes things for me. I’ve read about many top competitors that vary up their practice schedule because major (national, world) matches go forward rain or shine, so you better be used to shooting in the rain, in the mud, in the wind, in less than ideal circumstances, if you want to win.

If you don’t train in discomforting situations, those situations will never become comfortable. How do you think that fares for you ability to perform in the face of whatever gets thrown your way?

If you only do the things you like, if you only work under ideal circumstances, then you are leaving large gaps in your training, education, knowledge, and ability.

Yes, I won’t train at the Austin Rifle Club in the rain because they’re in a flood plain and rain means flooding and true (avoidable) danger. But the worst that happens at the KR Training facility is a little mud.

You won’t melt.

Rain isn’t a training artifact we can conjure up. It comes when it comes, and so when opportunity knocks you ought to take it. You may learn something you couldn’t learn any other way.

2012-07-19 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 4

Basic routine

  1. 20 reps of Wall Drill, from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, SHO
  3. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, WHO
  4. 20 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, 2H
  5. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, SHO
  6. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, WHO

Trying to get my groove back regarding practice sessions.

Trying to focus on picking up speed, but again, not necessarily by going faster, but by ensuring no time is wasted. Press out and press trigger with less time wasted in doing both… so the time between “start” and “click” is used as wisely as possible.

2012-09-12 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 3, reloads

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  2. 20 reps reload from slidelock, slow, 2H
  3. 20 reps reload from slidelock, 3/4 speed, 2H
  4. 10 reps reload from slidelock, slow, 2H
  5. 10 reps of wall drill form press-out, 2H

I’ve been falling a little behind in my practice, but dedication and accountability are motivators.

Keeping the gun up in your line of sight is useful. That is, you’re reloading almost in front of your face… not in front of your chest, nor your stomach. But yes, way up there. Not only keeps whatever was downrange in your field of vision, but it means there’s less for you to have to hunt and find when you shift your vision back to the target. Plus it means less movement for your hands and gun since they are ready to “ride the rail” of the eye-target-line back out, instead of having to get brought back up there. Every tenth of a second matters.

 

2012-09-12 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 2, draws.

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  2. 20 reps of wall drill from holster 2H
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from holster, SHO
  4. 5 reps of wall drill from holster, WHO
  5. 10 reps draw & fire at 3/4 speed, 2H
  6. 10 reps draw & fire slow 2H

The day job has been taking a lot of my time, so blogging has been light.

I did get this done, just couldn’t post until today.

I can’t wait to verify my dry skills with some live work.

2012-09-10 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

This marks the start of month 3.

Week 1, Day 1

Basic routine

  1. 20 reps of Wall Drill, from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, SHO
  3. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, WHO
  4. 20 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, 2H
  5. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, SHO
  6. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, WHO

Again, it’s so simple, yet so useful. It’s about as fundamental as you can get.

My focus? Don’t forget everything else I’ve been doing, like riding the rail of the eye-target line, gripping like hell, etc..  But let’s try to not waste any time. Get the gun out there, allow a “good enough” sight picture, and press off that shot. Minimize the time… don’t rush, just minimize and don’t waste.

2012-09-09 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, Day 3 (makeup), low-light

  1. 10 reps wall drill, SHO with flashlight
  2. 10 reps ID, move right, engage
  3. 10 reps ID, move left, engage
  4. 5 reps ID, draw on the move, engage
  5. 5 reps reload in the dark
  6. 10 reps wall drill, SHO with flashlight

I missed doing this day in the course of the normal rotation, thus I had to make up the missed session. Just took care of that.

I’m looking forward to October 20 @ KR Training. Going to have Defensive Pistol Skills 2, AT-2 Scenarios, and AT-1A Low Light Shooting. We can only do these days 2x a year because of the realities of light. It’s a LONG day, but always well-worth it.

If you’re in the area and haven’t taken any of these classes, you should consider it. The only class I’d put a hard prerequisite on would be DPS2 — you should be a graduate of DPS1. But AT-2 and AT-1A? Sign up. AT-1A, because of the flashlight requirement, will be a lot of one-handed shooting. And while AT-2 is “force on force” it’s not hard-core. Don’t let either of these two notions scare you off. In fact, if you feel a little unsure or challenged by it, I’d say that’s a good sign you should take it. Get your feet wet, break the ice, and take your skills to a higher level.

Based on characteristics, not gender

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

The feature article in the Sep. 5, 2012 edition of The Shooting Wire is titled “Between the Berms: The Weaker Sex?”

It’s about the introduction of women to shooting sports, and how often it’s done in a manner that treats women as weaker. That they are given .22’s to start out with because there’s less recoil. But that many times men are started out with 9’s or .45’s because they can handle it.

Actually what further struck me about the article was the author, Paul Erhardt’s, use of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association as examples of tough women. It makes me smile because I know a member of the Texas Rollergirls has been out to KR Training a few times. I’ve seen her on the track, I’ve seen her shoot, and she’s certainly tough.

I think Paul’s right tho. There’s a lot of “little lady” sexism in shooting for whatever reason. It may be ignorance. It may be machismo. It may be chivilary. It may be misunderstanding. But whatever it is, it’s there.

Over my years of teaching, especially teaching beginners, I see that factors should generally not be gender-based but characteristic based.

The ability to properly grip a large gun isn’t based on gender, but on hand size. I’ve seen women with large hands and men with small hands.

Starting off a new shooter (never held a gun before, never shot a gun before, maybe never seen or heard a gun except via Hollywood), it is wise to start with a .22. This is especially true if they’re nervous or scared or intimidated by the notion. If someone is scared, starting off with a .44 Magnum is going to be loud and painful and not sow productive seeds. As a n00b they don’t know how hard to grip the gun, any loud noise is going to make them jump. Starting with a .22 is great as a “lowest barrier of entry” to ease them into things. But it certainly shouldn’t stop there. Move them on to a 9, to a .45, to a .40. If you’ve got more, let them try more… but only as much as they wish to. I’ve had some students shoot a 9 and want to stop. I’ve had some clamor to shoot the biggest, baddest gun available… again and again. I’ve seen this from men and from women.

If we talk recoil and “being weak”, I’ve seen some weak men that couldn’t adequately handle a mid-range caliber handgun. I’ve seen men with grip problems, arthritis, and other things that essentially make them “weak”. I’ve seen women hammer the hell of of every gun they shot.

On the other hand, there are certainly issues that are gender-based. Women are built differently from men, with different curves both concave and convex. This creates realities about things like carry methods and holster selection. IWB doesn’t work for many women. OWB can work with drop-and-offset holsters. Men generally can’t wear a Flashbang Holster.

In competition shooting sports, all other things being equal, men are generally going to produce faster times than women when the sports involve more physical aspects like running. Usain Bolt holds the world record in the 100m sprint with 9.58 seconds. Florence Griffith-Joyner holds the record at 10.49.

 

So there are certainly some realities that gender brings to the table. We cannot and should not deny those, if we’re to be honest and forthright.

But on the whole, most issues, most problems, most limits when it comes to shooting… they have nothing to do with gender and we need to look beyond gender at the issue’s fundamental nature. That way we do best service to the shooter, no matter who they are or what their gender is.