Guns

AAR – Handgunning: Beyond the Basics @ KR Training, 16 June 2012

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

I can write this on the same day, because today was only 1 class: Handgunning: Beyond the Basics.

This is a great class, and I wish more people would take it. The only people who should NOT take this class are complete beginners. But if you’ve got any amount of experience beyond being a rank beginner, you should take this class… maybe take it more than once. We even had one gentleman in class today, who was returning to shooting guns after a 30 year absence! Great to have him back. 🙂

This class really focuses on fundamentals that matter to handgun shooting regardless of context: competition, self-defense, or just that you want to shoot cans off the fence faster and better. Like I said, this class is good for everyone and maybe even take it more than once. I found myself listening to Karl’s lecture and taking some notes to myself on things to work on that I hadn’t worked on in a little while.

The big take home? trigger control and sight picture (including follow-through). Trigger control is #1. If you can press the trigger smoothly, you’ll do great, even if you have crappy stance, crappy equipment, crappy everything else… if you can press the trigger smoothly and have the sights lined up, you’ll do alright. You’ll do better if you have better equipment and better everything too, but trigger and sights are key. The students of course couldn’t master this in the 4 hours of class, but they now know what to do and hopefully will practice.

Dry fire folks… don’t forget it. Even 10 minutes a day will do you well.

Today’s class saw a wider variety of guns than usual, but as usual those running DA/SA guns, big guns that don’t fit them, and other such things well… some people hopefully are going to the store soon. 🙂

One interesting thing tho was the M&P Shield. One lady in class had rather small hands. She was shooting an M&P9 with the small backstrap, but that was too big. We tried one of Karl’s 1911’s that are set up for small hands, but even that was having issues. I am still in the midst of my experiment carrying the M&P Shield, so I had that on my hip today and lent it to her for the remainder of class. To my surprise, the Shield was on the cusp of being too big for her too! Yes, small hands. I think the Shield will be her best bet, especially with the improvement in technique she picked up today, of what guns are available to her. Karl mentioned she might even want to consider a .380, not that we generally recommend those but they can be smaller and could work. The key is proper fit, because having a cannon you can’t manage isn’t going to be as effective as a pea shooter you can shoot awesomely.

On the Shield… I’ll have more comments on that later.

Weather was hot, thus the 1 class… but a good day.

Show Me The Data

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Facts. Funny thing they are.

Data is funny too, since it helps to reinforce Truth. Or at least, it should help to dispel falsehoods.

Those that don’t like guns like to tout that “more guns equals more deaths”.

I’ve yet to see their data that backs up this claim AND that stands up to scrutiny.

But then there’s Linoge, analyzing the data and the data shows that no, more guns does not equal more deaths.

So there you go… there’s the facts, there’s the data, there’s the hard evidence. I know the Truth may be hard to swallow, and I know this Truth may not help your agenda nor support your personal bias. But what are you interested in? Truth? or something less?

Can you carry…

/ hsoi / 12 Comments

Can you carry an AR-15 pistol concealed in the state of Texas?

In short, an AR-15 pistol is a firearm designed to be like a handgun/pistol (fired with one hand, not shoulder-mounted), to have a profile akin to a handgun (e.g. very short barrel), but to have components and setup based upon the AR-15 pattern of rifles. So it’s not a rifle, it’s a pistol, but it’s well… yeah, a little bastard child. 🙂

I hadn’t thought about this before, probably because it’s not really a useful firearm and really able to be carried concealed (it’s still kinda bulky and big), but someone asked and I thought it’d be interesting to look into it.

So… let’s see.

Texas GC §411.171 – (5) “Handgun” has the meaning assigned by Section 46.01, Penal Code.

OK…. let’s look in the PC.

Texas PC §46.01 – (5) “Handgun” means any firearm that is designed, made, or adapted to be fired with one hand.

Now, I didn’t do an intensive scrubbing of the Texas law code and IANAL and TINLA. But given it’s about a Texas concealed handgun license, and given what the Texas legal definition of a handgun is, and given what an AR-15 pistol is… well yes, I suppose you legally could carry an AR-15 pistol as your choice of concealed handgun in the state of Texas.

But just because you legally could doesn’t mean you practically should.

And I’m not going to speak for Karl, but if someone shows up to KR Training handgun class with an AR-15 pistol seriously expecting to take the class with that firearm, I at least am going to vote for sending the person home. 🙂

 

on testing and qualification

/ hsoi

ToddG reveals something that many wouldn’t like to know — the truth about police shooting qualification courses.

For the non-gun public, I think the thing they’ll probably be shocked to realize is how little many police forces actually shoot their guns, and how when standards are made “more realistic” lots of cops can’t pass the minimum requirements.

The anti-gun folk say things like only police should have guns… you know, people with training and skill. You would be shocked to see how many don’t have either. Just because your job requires you to have a gun doesn’t mean you can use it (effectively). Conversely, just because you’re a normal Joe Citizen doesn’t mean you don’t have nor can’t acquire good gun handling skills, and their skill level can surpass those who have “gun” in their job description.

This is not to say it’s this way across the board. Many police officers are good shots, and a lot of PD’s are realizing a need to up the ante — which is ultimately the crux of Todd’s article.

What’s sad is when people blame the test instead of looking at themselves. It’s like anything in life. If something fails or goes wrong, where does the blame first go? It ought to be on you, to examine yourself and see what you can do better.

But it’s like any sort of mandated government “test”, be it a police qual or be it standardized testing. There’s lots of politics, lots of wrangling, and lots of weight put onto the test — even if the test has nothing to do with anything in the real world. But because such weight is put onto the test, all “education” then becomes is prepping for the test. So we don’t prepare people for the real world, we just prepare them for a test that really doesn’t matter much in the world — but it matters to some pencil-pusher or politician somewhere.

Well, at least in this area of life it seems some are trying to get it and improve the way things are.

Why NOT birdshot

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

So as long as we’re talking shotguns, let me again dispel the “common wisdom” that you should use birdshot.

Here’s a video of protesters in Bahrain getting shot with birdshot. Sorry I can’t embed it since it’s on liveleak. (h/t Cornered Cat)

From the FB posting:

Greg Ellifritz writes: “For everyone who thinks 12 gauge birdshot is a good defensive round…

“Apparently, in Bahrain they use bird shot to disperse crowds like cops here use tear gas. They shot one protestor in the back and later you can see his friends attempting to remove the birdshot. None of it penetrated deeper than 1/2 inch into his body. A painful bunch of little wounds, no doubt, but nothing that will reliably cause the rapid blood loss needed to make the guy stop quickly.

“Caution for the weak-stomachs out there. This one is a little bloody.”

I did find this YouTube video:

which is a different video, but the results are the same. No, it’s not pretty getting shot with birdshot. But it doesn’t really stop much of anything. These guys are in for a lot of medical treatment, it’s going to be sore, it’s going to suck, you’ll have lots of little scars, but the attackers were hardly stopped. In fact, consider that the police are specifically using birdshot to disperse the crowd — that is, they are seeking an annoying but non-lethal solution.

Food for thought.

Some will still find a way to argue and justify their decision to use birdshot. And yes, you may have a legit reason (perhaps you’re dove hunting). But on the whole, birdshot is a poor choice for personal defense. In personal defense a primary goal is to stop the attacker, and birdshot doesn’t stop the attacker.

Carry a gun in National Parks? This is why.

/ hsoi

Authorities confirmed tonight it was a stranger who stabbed and sexually assaulted a woman in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park earlier today.

Full story. (h/t Unc)

There was much uproar a couple of years back when it became permissable to carry concealed weapons in national parks (so long as you still had credentials and obeyed the local laws).

Folks wondered why in the world would you need a gun in a national park?

Let’s ignore how much of our national parkland is used for the drug trade and wandering into a marijuana farmer’s camp is probably one of the most unexpected and undesirable things that you could do.

Let’s ignore the reality of wild animals and that your stumbling upon a baby bear will not elicit a warm hug from the momma bear.

And now, we have a stabbing and sexual-assault.

It wasn’t like the woman was in some remote area of the park either. She was on the Gatlinburg Trail, which is “frequently used by joggers, walkers, and bicyclists.”

“Things like this don’t happen everyday. It is definitely a rare incident,” Melissa Cobern with the Public Affairs Office of the National Park Service said.

That may be true. But just how much comfort should the victim take in being told “but it’s a rare event you were brutally stabbed and sexually assaulted”? Statistics are of little comfort when you’re the anomaly.

 

Shotgun Primer

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Over at The Art of Manliness, they have A Primer on the Shotgun.

It’s a nice introductory piece, done with the help of Mike Seeklander… so there’s no b.s. and just good solid advice.

There’s a lot more to shotgunning than what the article can present, but that’s the limits of the medium. But it is a nice starting point for those that have no idea about shotguns and are looking into them, especially for personal defense.

I’d also suggest you take a look at the shotgun ammo trials I did a little while back.

Once you’ve read the article, if you do buy a shotgun, consider getting some shotgun-specific training. Rangemaster’s Defensive Shotgun is a good start.

And then finally, consider that a few modifications to your shotgun can be useful and make the gun more shootable and more suitable to your needs.

 

Where I took Daughter today

/ hsoi

And so yes, today I took Daughter to the range.

I also took Oldest, Youngest, and Wife.

We went to KR Training. Karl had all the steel out and we shot .22’s all morning. Shot my iron sight Buck Mark, shot Karl’s Buck Mark with a red dot scope, an M&P 22 pistol, a Ruger 10/22 with a 4×32 scope, and another Ruger 10/22 with a red dot. Just lots of .22 fun, shooting at steel, listening to it go “ping”.

The kids liked all the guns, but I think they like the rifles and red dots more. I’m not totally sure why, nor they, but my guess? Easier to shoot and get successful hits. Makes sense.

Oldest tho… I think I’m going to have to get him his own 10/22 and let him customize it. He had WAY too much fun dumping 25-round magazines. Even with 25 rounds, they run out of ammo too quickly. 🙂

Wife even had fun.

After shooting, we went up the road to the Elm Creek Cafe. All this time and I’ve never been able to eat there for one reason or another… and boy I wish I had eaten there sooner. That’s some fantastic “home cookin'” type food. Just awesome. The salad bar was full of fresh veggies from the owner’s own garden. Youngest tried frog legs… I’ve never had them either, but I tried some and they aren’t bad. Oldest had quail, which I’ve only had a time or two before. Wife had their grilled chicken friend steak and boy, that was good. And we brought home one of their dewberry pies…. we’ll have that after supper tonight. 🙂  And great hospitality too. Just good folks there.

Yes… guns are bad. They bring nothing but horrible things to this world… you know, like families spending time together. We can’t have any more of that in this world. 😉