Guns

The Will to Survive

/ hsoi

Greg Ellifritz writes up what he took from a lecture:

… by retired police Lieutenant Brian Murphy. Lt. Murphy [who] was the first officer on the scene of the Sikh temple active killer massacre in Wisconsin back in 2012. Lt. Murphy was shot FIFTEEN TIMES in the incident. He survived and created a lecture to share the lessons he learned during the challenging event.

While this comes from the context of law enforcement, this lecture contains vital lessons FOR EVERYONE. If you’re in law enforcement, certainly there are important lessons to take home and put into practice. If you are a private citizen, carry a gun, understand and take responsibility for your life and the lives of others (e.g. your family), there are important lessons here. And if you are a private citizen that hasn’t thought much about their own safety, other than perhaps that the police will save you, there are important lessons here as well.

For law enforcement, I’ll let Greg’s words stand for themselves. He’s a cop, I’m not. He can speak better to this end.

For private citizens that take responsibility for their own safety, especially if they carry a gun. I’ll just list a few points:

  • Even if you’re highly trained, you’re still human and shit still goes wrong.
  • There are no promises nor guarantees, and your fight is unlikely to proceed like your fantasies.
  • Knowing the two above points, you can and should plan, educate, and train accordingly. As well, be humble.
  • Greg’s point #7 – What’s important now – is a vital concept to adopt.
  • Greg’s point #8 — Survivors manage pain well. I think about the pain I was in at the gym this morning. I knew there’d be even more pain to proceed squatting 300# with the same crush-grip, but I did it anyways and pushed through. This isn’t to boast or show how manly I am, but for sure enduring hard times, pain, and agony in other areas of my life have helped me deal with pain in other areas of my life. Being strong (in all senses of the word) is useful.

And for those who haven’t thought much about their own personal safety and perhaps only count on the police and luck to keep them safe, a few points:

  • “In total, it took an extremely competent officer 33 seconds to deploy and fire his rifle. During that entire time period, the killer was firing more bullets into Murphy.” Thirty-three seconds is a very long time, and it’s a miracle Lt. Murphy survived.
  • “The killer in this incident shot two people outside the church and then went inside to shoot several more. While he was shooting people inside the church, several victims called 911. Lt. Murphy was closest to the location and arrived first. He saw two lifeless bodies on the front sidewalk, but he did not see the shooter” Lt. Murphy was the closest officer and fastest to arrive, yet many people still died – because it takes time for the problem to start, for people to recognize it, for people to gain the wherewithal to call 911, to relay the message, for the dispatcher to put out the call, for officers to respond and start to travel, then to arrive, then to be able to assess the scene and determine what to do, then start to do something about it. This all takes time. Precious time.
  • “For what it’s worth, the officers responding to this incident were better trained and equipped than 99% of police officers in the USA. They still made some very serious errors. Lt. Murphy was nearly killed. That happened to the best of the best. If you are working in a department that has no training and poor equipment, why do you think you would perform better?” While Greg’s comment is towards fellow LEO, think about that for a moment people – people have this (mis)conception that police are highly trained, elite fighting squads. The horrible reality is, they aren’t. Even if they are, there’s no guarantee the event will resolve like a Hollywood hero.

But for me, the biggest thing from this?

Lt. Murphy survived.

He didn’t give up.

He fought.

He lived.

Do you want to improve?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

A few weeks ago there was some hoopla around the use of timers. Two of the articles involved in the mix were Tom Givens’ article on “Metrics vs. Mediocrity” and Grant Cunningham’s on “Meaningless Increments of precision – and why you should avoid them”. There were other statements, especially in comment threads. People took sides, lots of defense of “my chosen doctrine” ensued, and in the end I’m not sure anything useful was accomplished.

From where I sit, I think there’s validity in all raised points.

Progress?

The first premise we must agree upon is a desire to progress, to improve, to get better. If you don’t care about making progress, then there’s no further discussion. But if you do want to get better, the next thing you have to do is answer the question: what is “better”?

In determining “what is better?”, we must have some scale by which to determime if something is better or worse than something else. This scale depends upon the context. For example, I could determine if I’m getting better at my job because I’m getting promotions, I’m earning more money, I can perform the tasks of my job in less time. I can determine if I’m losing weight because I step on the scale and see a decrease in my weight. I can tell I’m getting stronger because there’s more weight on the bar when I bench press.

In the context of shooting, how can I determine if I’m better than before? First we must identify the qualities of “better shooter”. I think most can agree upon two qualities: speed and accuracy. If you can shoot faster and more accurate, that’s better.

How can we measure accuracy? The use of a good target. Are you “hitting the bullseye”? Are you keeping all your shots within a 6″ circle? a 4″ circle? 3″? A B-27 is not a good target, but it is better than just plinking into a pond. Even a 6″ paper plate can make for a reasonable target. It often comes down to context (more on that below).

How can we measure speed? You could do it by feel, but I’m not sure that’s very accurate or quantifiable. You could “race” against someone else, and while a little better than guessing, it’s still not a stable metric. So what are we left with? A stopwatch or shot timer. Sorry, but there’s no escaping that measuring the amount of time involved matters, because whether you’re playing a game (IPSC, IDPA) or in the context of self-defense, time matters – and getting things done faster helps you win.

But I think there’s more to it than simple targets and timers.

You need some sort of standard of measurement. This is simply a way to ensure you make apples-to-apples comparisons over time. In this context, it would be something like settling on a course of fire such as the “3 Seconds or Less” test or maybe the Rangemaster Core Skills or El Presidente – something that is well-established in terms of the course of fire and thus repeatable, and that measures both speed and accuracy. Then when you track your progress over time, you can see if you are making progress or not. Are you achieving a higher score? Better times?

But how to choose a standard of measurement? And how to know if your progress is meaningful? You need a goal.

This goal could be a specific one (shooting 2″ groups at 15 yards, or a 2 second Bill Drill), or it could be just a general guiding principle. By this I mean, maybe you are trying to get better for competition, or maybe you’re trying to get better for self-defense. It is important to have some sort of guide to help you know what road to go down, and how to value and utilize your metrics. It’s good to collect data, but you need something through which to interpret that data to make it meaningful.

For example, let’s say you have a 1.7 second concealment draw (full carry gear, IWB holster, normal clothing, etc.). In the grand scheme, 1.7 seconds is pretty good. However, many would agree that 1.5 seconds is a better number. Should you chase this 0.2 second improvement? I would say it depends upon your goal. Let’s say you also have a 4.0 second reload; that’s pretty slow. Knowing this, and given you have a finite amount of time and energy to devote to skill improvement, where should you spend your time? One could argue if you were working on improving your shooting in the context of IDPA, getting your reload to 3.0 or even 2.5 seconds would do more to improve your IDPA performance (score) than trying to get that 0.2 seconds on your draw, given the way the game is played and scored. However, if your context was self-defense – a context where reloads almost never happen, but a fast and accurate draw-to-first-shot is critical – it could be argued getting that 1.5 second (or maybe even a 1.25 second) concealment draw could be a much better use of your time.

Metrics Matter

I cannot abide with the “no timer” crowd, nor do I think metrics are meaningless. However, what we must do is use our metrics to guide our focus. If you’ve got a 1.5 second concealment draw, 0.2 second splits, 1.7 second reload, and other such “good” performance, I see nothing wrong with trying to get a 1.3 second, 0.15 second, and 1.4 seconds on those same skills – when has “being faster” and “being more accurate” been a bad thing? And we can only know if we’re getting better in these things through measuring them.

However, we could also take a step back and realize that perhaps we are “good enough” in these areas and it may be time to focus our energies in other areas. The data may show that we should focus on a particular skill (e.g. weak-handed shooting, reloads). Or maybe the general gun skills are good enough, so instead of spending more money on ammo and gun classes, spending that same time and money taking a force-on-force class, or a tactics class. How are your empty-hand skills? Or how about a medical class or a defensive driving class! If you’re a gamer, a class on stage planning and match performance.

But the only way to know for sure is to measure, and to measure with goals to provide guidance. And no, we can’t measure everything via methods as cut-and-dry as a target and timer, but we do need to be honest and as objective as possible in our self-assessments to ensure we actually are getting better (things like timers and targets just force us to be honest and have no delusions).

We have to look at the complete picture. Metrics are good, but they are just a means to the end. We need our goals to guide us. This is how we improve.

A little work

/ hsoi

In light of my “Getting To Work” post… I’ve started to get to work.

I happen to be at the KR Training ranch today, so I did a little range work.

Started with Rangemaster Bullseye. Wasn’t worth recording the scores. Basically, I know I can shoot at least a 270 (90%), and so if I don’t, I’m not going to bother recording the score. But I will take notes on my performance. Here it was pretty simple: both runs, just continue to work at 15 and 25 yards. I also found myself shooting high at 15 (and always 15 for some odd reason). Sight picture issues for sure.

After a couple runs of that, I did 2 runs of the “3 Seconds or Less” drill. First was just to change gears and clean it. Second was to not worry about points or score but to use it as some particular shooting strings and push myself faster to see what falls apart. I made some good times, but also got C-zone hits. Still, it was enlightening.

Then I ran Rangemaster Core Skills a couple times. Shot over 100 score each time, but each run had its issues. I made good time the first run but a lot of C-zone hits. Worse time next run, but better accuracy.

Big things I saw:

  • I am getting better at one-handed shooting – better than I think I can do, so I need to just keep doing this to build confidence at faster speeds.
  • I need to get better at “fast” shooting at distances, like 7-15 yards.

I spoke with Karl. His suggestion was because I can shoot fast (e.g. 0.1x second splits at 3 yards) that I do have the physical ability to run the trigger fast. So that’s not a problem. That I should do a bunch of shooting at 3 yards to really learn the rhythm of 0.2 second splits. While doing this, just “watch the movie” – just keep watching the front sight, really working to keep your eyes open, and just taking in what the eyes are seeing, learning that information. Then back up to 4 yards and run 0.2x splits and all A-zone hits. After that is determined solid, back up to 5 yards, and repeat. Just keep doing this until the wheels start to fall off (e.g. when you get D-zone hits), then maybe back up a bit (to the point where you were getting C-zones) and start to figure out what’s going on and work at that point until you are getting A’s. Then back up another yard, and just keep going.

While there’s still lots of things for me to do (15+ yard accuracy, reloads, etc.), this is identifying something that’s been something I’ve been seeing since this summer but only now am quantifying it as something to focus on.

More work.

 

Getting to work

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

After being less than satisfied with my performance at the Rangemaster Advanced Instructor course a couple weeks ago, I’ve been examining my performance. There’s a couple things in play: 1. hardware, 2. software.

Hardware

Guns and ammo I think played a small part. Small.

Gun

I was using my “backup” M&P9. I noticed this gun, despite supposing to have an Apex Tactical DCAEK trigger, while it had a very nice travel and reset also had a very hard break. My primary M&P9 had been in the shop for some long overdue TLC, and I got it back just prior to class – didn’t have a chance to shoot it and verify it before class, so I didn’t use it in class. The trigger on that, certainly Apex DCAEK, is a hair longer on the reset but the press and break is a little smoother and “rolling”.

I finally got to put a pull-weight gauge to them. My primary? 5.25 lbs. The backup? 7.25 lbs. Whoa. That’s not good – worse than factory! I’m going to investigate this at another time, but suffice it to say that while the weight isn’t a problem, the break is a problem. Difficult to convey here, but for sure that HARD break contributed to difficulties when you needed a more precision trigger press (e.g. fast mashing at 3 yards and you don’t notice it, but trying to be precise at 25 yards and for sure it gets in the way).

As well, there’s the whole auto-forward “undocumented feature” I keep lamenting about. This just keeps getting in my way. If I don’t think about it, then it has the inconsistent and problematic behavior. If then I do think about it, it causes me to pause and stutter (more on this below). Either way, somehow it gets in the way. I’m tired of it.

In discussing with a friend of mine, I wondered if weak magazine springs could be involved. So right after class I ordered brand new mag springs for all my practice magazines. I used them, and still auto-forwards sporadically, tho IIRC I had no failures to strip (but give it time…). The old springs were only about 1 – 1.5 coils compressed, so not bad but for sure the new springs are noticeably better.

But then, I got to dry fire a SIG 320. That’s the factory trigger? Oh lawdy lawdy.

Ammo

During the Rangemaster class, I shot Freedom Munitions 9mm 124 grain round-nose remanufactured. Have shot thousands upon thousands of rounds of FM ammo, it’s generally fine. However, I noticed sometimes at longer distances there’d be one weird flier, but I shrugged it off as me sucking. Interesting data point was Karl (i.e. USPSA GM and far more experienced and capable than I am) happened to be shooting the same ammo. Karl remarked to me observing weird ammo behaviors. So… hrm.

So the other morning while out at KR Training, I brought out a solid benchrest and a bunch of ammo:

  • Freedom Munitions 9mm 124gr RN reman
  • Blazer Brass 9mm 124gr FMJ
  • PMC 115gr FMJ
  • American Eagle 124gr FMJ
  • Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P GDHP
  • Speer Gold Dot 147gr GDHP

I had also ordered some Freedom Munitions 147gr RN and HP, but it still hasn’t shipped.

See, I did some reading on the FM ammo as it pertains to accuracy. Seems some questions exist, because of the use of plated bullets and then issues of (too much) velocity, crimp, etc. and how that could be a factor. It might be one thing to use plated when you handload, but when its an automated machine cranking them out, consistency may waver. It’s one reason I ordered the 147’s from FM to see how a lower velocity might come into play. Karl ordered some of their match ammo to see how it fares. To be continued…

I used my primary M&P, shooting multiple strings from 25 yards benchrest. I also did some runs of the Rangemaster Bullseye Course.

Summary? While I’d still love to collect more data, it does start to look like the FM may not be as accurate out to distances, compared to all the other ammo I shot. But it’s only a leaning – I’d really want to continue collecting data.

I’ll still happily shoot it, because cost and volume and it’s still generally just fine. But it’s the sort of thing where if I know I’m going to be doing something at longer distances where precision matters (e.g.  having to pass a qualification that will have 25 yard shooting with a tight target, e.g. B-8), I may use another ammo.

Only slightly…only slightly

Do I think guns and ammo played a part in my performance? Yes. But only a small part, like maybe < 5%.

But it’s still 100% on me, because it’s my gun, my ammo, my choices.

Software

This is really where it’s at – me and my skills.

The biggest thing I realized about my class performance was I wasn’t “just shooting”. I was thinking too much, worried too much, concerned about so many things that shouldn’t matter, and not just shooting, not just trusting the (new) level of my ability.

So in my first real range time since class, it was all about shooting the Rangemaster Core Skills. Just shut up and do it cold.

I scored a 108.

That’s the best I’ve shot on it, and I could have broken 110 had I not brain-farted on one string.

I went back in my records. I realize I’ve only shot Core Skills a handful of times. So I put all of my data into a spreadsheet on my iPhone so I could more easily track my times and scores.

First time I shot it? scored an 80, and was dropping points at 15 and 25 yards, plus the 1-handed.

I shot a 97.91 at the Advanced Instructor class, with 197 points and slow times.

This last time was a 191 points and a 35.31 on time.  Note: to get a 125 score, it’s shoot clean (200 points) in 32 seconds.

Seeing all the numbers in a spreadsheet, I could see where things are per string. For sure I’m getting better at longer distances, both in time and accuracy – this makes me VERY happy since it’s where I’ve been putting in a lot of work. I can see where I blow things, e.g. this last run on the “3 chest 2 head” I brain farted and shot 2 then transitioned…DUH…transition back then continue. But the important thing is seeing where I’m improving and where I can continue to improve. Frankly, one cool surprise is watching my WHO improving (going from like 5.31 and dropping shots, to 3.59 clean). Still slow, but better.

But the real big thing? I just shot. I had the pressure of someone else watching me, but I just turned off and performed. A big part? Just trusting – do right, watch the front sight, crush grip the hell out of the gun, press the trigger, move move move, don’t worry about the hits because if you do everything right they will be there. I’ve still got a ways to go, but I’m happy to be identifying my problems so I can work on them.

I did end the day with another run of the drill and blew it – had stupid things happen. A draw and got hung up in my clothing. At 15 yards firing 3 shots and thinking “wait… it’s 4 shots right?” Ed chimes in “it’s 4 shots” – damnit, bang. Or getting ahead of myself on the reload and totally flubbing the whole string. I didn’t bother recording this run. Brain had faded.

My goals? Being able to score 125 on this test, then being able to score at least 125 cold, on-demand, consistently. As well, being able to shoot the Rangemaster Bullseye, cold, on-demand, consistently with at least a 285. I can break 285, just not consistent enough.

Onwards

So the hardware? Whatever. I’ll keep shooting my M&P and my Freedom Munitions, but I cannot deny my SIG 320 interest growing stronger every day.

The software? Continue to work on things: concealment draw, reload, 15-25 yard shooting (esp. now shooting them under time pressures and on smaller targets), SHO & WHO. All the good things.

There’s always a place you can improve.

Experiments

/ hsoi

So I’m out at KR Training today.

Because of some scheduling and carpooling, I have the good fortune of having the morning to do some experimenting and exploration.

Remember my curiousity about my M&P’s? and some ammo wonderings?

Going to go explore. How deep I can explore all depends how things go and how time and the day rolls. But whatever I do, I’ll be reporting.

Stay tuned…

Boobs are not a credential

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

If there’s one thing the Internet has given us, it’s easy access to boobs – and I’m not just talking about breasts.

In the past few days, I experienced three specific incidents that motivated me to write.

First, there was a women advocating “unique” shot placement when using a gun in self-defense… against a woman: aiming for the pelvis, specifically the uterus. You can read the whole thing here (note: Melody Lauer posted, but it’s not Melody advocating this approach). This is terrible advice on many levels (would require its own article to explain, but thankfully you can read the comments on the original posting). Much of the authority for the argument comes from “being female”.

Second, via Facebook’s “someone you follow was tagged” feature, I came across a woman who takes a popular approach towards gaining “likes” and “followers”: showing her boobs; or at least short-shorts, tank-tops, and ample cleavage with the camera angles just right to titillate the viewer. Oh yes, and guns. In one picture, she stands pulling up her shirt ever so slightly, not just to show off her flat stomach, but also the 1911 she carries appendix style. The caption begins with “I get asked what holster I used to conceal carry”, and goes downhill from there. Not only a poor holster choice, but she also proudly exclaims how she doesn’t carry cocked and locked, but maybe sometimes chambered with the hammer down “if walking in a dark alley”. And she further claims that with “training and situational awareness you can still have plenty of time to draw and shoot”. The post continues on with a mixture of good and bad advice – mostly bad. I’m not sure from where she draws her authority, but for sure with thousands of followers, someone is going to listen to her advice.

Third, in a Facebook “discussion” I only saw via screenshot after the fact, a man stated “If you have to shoot, shoot to kill. Dead people can’t take you to court.” This statement was rebutted by none other than Andrew Branca. The original poster then replied telling Andrew that he needed to talk to a lawyer about self defense, that he needed to do some research first, and that he should read self-defense laws. He even suggested the NRA had people Andrew could talk to about this topic. Hrm. I’m not sure where the gentleman received his authority to speak, but maybe he could talk to Andrew.

This isn’t just in the realm of self-defense. Another world I inhabit is fitness: weightlifting, powerlifting, bodybuilding, and such activities. You see it all the time where some “food babe” or dude with “ripped abz” and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers doles out advice. But upon what authority? What makes them a subject matter expert? Why should people listen to them?

It’s important to vet your sources (including me). There’s nothing wrong with letting people say whatever they want, but YOU need to be pickier about who you listen to and how much weight you give to what they have to say. Why should I listen to this person? What background do they have that makes them an authority and/or subject matter expert (SME)? And does that supposed position actually make the person an SME? For example, many people believe police officers are experts on law and how to shoot, merely because they’re a cop. But the reality is, some are, many aren’t. Vet your sources (including me).

There is nothing wrong with looking at beautiful plumage. We’re animals, and all animals are attracted to beautiful plumage. There are times when plumage is the correct and applicable criterion for the task at hand. But when it comes to matters of your life – be it your health or fitness, or what you do in the gym or for self-defense and how to handle a gun – please… stop looking at the boobs.

AAR: Rangemaster Advanced Instructor Course, September 2016

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

On September 16-17, 2016 I attended the Rangemaster Advanced Instructor Course, run by Tom Givens, assisted by Lynn Givens, and hosted by Karl Rehn at KR Training.

I passed the class, but am disappointed in my performance.

Background

Rangemaster provides one of – if not the – best firearms instructor certification course out there. It starts with the 3-day Instructor Development Course, then continues with this 2-day Advanced Instructor Course. Really, the Advanced Course is like days 4 and 5 – it’s really “one big course”, but it’s hard to work with 5-days straight: time off work, information overload, physical exhaustion, etc., so it works better to split it up. As well, I think from a practical standpoint it works to split it up: if you’re going to be a firearms instructor, you really need the core Instructor Development Course. Do you NEED the Advanced Course? I would say you don’t NEED it, but you’d be silly not to take it (if you passed the core course, of course) and you’ll be far better off if you do take it.

I took the core course back in 2013, and as soon as I heard Tom was coming to my home range to do Advanced, I signed up. It was originally to happen in 2015 but was rescheduled. I’m glad it happened!

Why take this course? Various reasons. Again, it’s really day 4 and 5 of the Instructor course, so to get the full picture you really need to take the course. It’s another opportunity to train with Tom Givens, and he’s absolutely one trainer that anyone serious about firearms for self-defense needs to train with. I consider him my #2 most influential teacher (Karl Rehn is my #1). I knew there’d be much to learn, and learn I did.

Class Itself

Here’s what’s posted on the Rangemaster website:

The Advanced Instructor Course is the second installment of Rangemaster’s instructor development curriculum. Our Three-Day Firearms Instructor Development and Certification Course packs an incredible amount of information into three full days of training. Since most of our students are there on their own dime and their own time, we hold that course on Friday through Sunday to minimize disruption of their lives. The Advanced Firearms Instructor course picks up where day three of the basic instructor course ends. If we had five full days, the advanced instructor course would be days four and five of the process. By making this a separate course, the students can practice the skills learned, absorb the material covered in the basic instructor course, and be ready to learn a whole new set of skills.

In the Instructor Course, we have already covered the academic side of marksmanship and adult teaching methodology and given the students a thorough grounding in pistol marksmanship. In the advanced class, we push students to even higher skill levels on the range, including firing in low light both with and without a flashlight (if the facility allows). In the classroom we will cover subjects including different scoring methods; target design; course of fire design; instructor liability and how to limit it; and some of the psychological issues involved in teaching people how to fight for their lives.

The advanced course is usually conducted from 9 AM to 6 PM on Friday and Saturday. Students will need about 900 rounds of ammunition. Students receive a comprehensive training manual. We only offer this course once per year, and enrollment is strictly limited to those who have successfully graduated from our basic instructor course.

Note: we did not do any low-light shooting, because of facilities limitations.

The only way you get into this class is if you’ve passed the “basic” Rangemaster Instructor Development Course. If you do have that credential, you ought to have a good idea of what to know and be able to do to perform in the Advanced class. You’ve studied with Tom, you know what he emphasizes, and this is consistent with his outlook and curricula. It’s just tougher. More advanced topics in the classroom, more advanced skills and expectations on the range.

A few things to point out (specific to this class, but applicable to any class).

You will want at least 5 magazines (if shooting a double-stacked modern striker-fired gun; more if a single-stack), more if you can. You’ll want to wear (cargo) pants with deep pockets, to hold extra magazines, to hold loose ammo. You will be working with partial magazines, reloading mags by hand while on the line, no chance to run back to the fumble tables to use your UpLULA to reload.

If your magazines are hard to down-load/strip, keep a couple empties on your person. There will be drills where you’ll do things like “make a 2 round magazine” so  you can shoot to slide-lock then reload. Friend of mine in class had these Wilson Combat 9mm 1911 mags which are great mags, but you just cannot strip them by hand. If you have magazines like this, keep 1-2 dedicated empties.

Make sure you know your gear and that it’s dialed in. So buy your ammo ahead of time, benchrest your gun, and know how it shoots and patterns with that ammo from 0 to 25 yards. Make sure your sights are in good shape. Bring a spare gun in case of breakage, and also ensure it runs well. Make sure the guns are clean, well-lubricated, and ready to go.

We went through maybe 500-600 rounds of ammo. Bring 1000.

Wear sunscreen. Drink LOTS of water. Keep water with you somehow (e.g. Camelback, closable jug to keep behind you on the line) since again you won’t always be able to walk off the line. During my class, temperatures were in the mid-90’s with wicked humidity: we were soaked in sweat and had a few people get woozy. Tom was VERY good about managing things, shooting for a bit then going inside into the air-conditioning for lecture, and alternating range and classroom to keep anything from getting too much. Still, take care of yourself.

Mind your gear. It needs to work, it needs to be reliable. Retention holsters cause hangups. I personally was battling the M&P auto-forward “undocumented feature”  (i.e. “bug”) throughout both days. Many times it would auto-forward and NOT strip a round, causing me problems. Then I just racked it every time, and sometimes would rack out a round and sometimes not. And of course, every time the drill required a specific round count after a reload (e.g. Casino Drill) would be a time a round would properly strip, then I would rack it right out of the chamber (expecting the auto-forward to have failed to strip) and throw off the ability to complete the drill correctly. Ugh.  Oh and what was really fun? On one drill it auto-forwarded and somehow I wound up with a double-feed! That’s a first. I’m actually quite pleased that I instantly recognized it, didn’t get hung up about it, went right to work on clearing it, got back up and running, and managed to finish the string in time! (John Johnston of Ballistic Radio was my partner for that particular drill and witnessed it, even pointing it out to Tom). I’m happy with how I handled the malfunction, but I’m about finally fed-up with this “feature” of the M&P. There was a lot of SIG 320 love going on in class… but another discussion for another time.

Electronic muffs are essential.

If it’s going to be hot/sweaty, some way to manage the sweat is useful. That could be headbands or caps, to keep sweat out of your eyes. That might be a towel in your back pocket to wipe your hands down. It might mean something like Liquid Grip to help keep your hands dry. Tom let us shoot most of the drills from open carry, if we wanted to (some drills had to be shot from concealment). I shot from concealment on day 1, then from open on day 2. In my case, having my gun and magazines up against my very sweaty torso just made for a wet gun against my wet hands. So having the tucked-in shirt on day 2 helped keep things dry. If you might be in such a situation, consider wearing some sort of moisture-wicking undershirt. You could even consider an OWB holster (so long as it could still be somewhat concealed when drills require). If in doubt, check with Tom WELL in advance of class.

Can’t hurt to have something to manage wear and blisters on your fingers and hands.

So, that’s about it for some general class things.

In the classroom

The classroom material was good. We each received a binder full of class materials, packed with useful information that you will come back to later on. Just a great reference.

A few things that stood out to me.

Tom spent some time talking about target selection and design, and methods of scoring. While none of this was unfamiliar to me, the way Tom went through it all made me more aware of little details that perhaps get taken for granted. I also appreciated the discussion of Comstock scoring. Usually Comstock is saved for “gaming” and you just don’t see it much in “self-defense” courses of fire – they usually use time limits (e.g. “3 shots, 3 yards, 3 seconds”. But Tom made a great case for using Comstock (and other such scoring systems that measure both accuracy and speed, like Vickers Count) in defensive pistol work, especially when you get to this level of shooting.

There was also a video presentation. It’s something that is so dense with information, delivered so rapidly, you really need to watch it like 4-5 times before it sinks in. I hope there’s some way to get a hold of this video because I would love to watch it 4-5 more times, do you follow?  One thing that really stood out to me was he mentioned there are 3 things we humans deal with: fear, pain, death. That so many people work their whole lives trying to avoid those three things. But if you’re going to be a warrior, you have to work to make those things your friend. There’s really a lot do it, it’s worthy of an article unto itself, and I may write that up later. But just start to roll that concept around in your head.

We also had a special medical presentation by Andy Anderson. It was short and focused on tourniquets. Very cool thing? Andy brought a couple of those finger-tip pulse detectors. The intention was to apply a TQ and register no pulse – because then you knew you applied it tight enough. You need more pressure than you think. In fact, when they tried it on me, it was a struggle to cut off my blood flow. I don’t have huge muscular arms, but they have some meat on them, and it required a LOT more tension to shut things off. And yes, it hurt like crazy. Welcome to the TQ reality.

None of the classroom material felt redundant – truly an extension of the material already learned in the base Instructor class.

On the range

There’s a lot I could say about this. I’ve been thinking about it ever since class. What I’m going to say is not making excuses, but merely me recording my thoughts. I own my performance.

So I did pass the class, which I’m happy about. But I am not happy about how I performed. I expected more out of myself, especially regarding the stupid mistakes.

Before I go into class, I have to back up.

I’ve been treading water in my performance for some time now. Karl finally kicked my pants enough and over the summer I finally got my USPSA classification (“B” class, Production). I’m happy about that, but it made me realize how much I suck. When I saw what it took just to become “B” class, then you see what it takes to become “A” class, yeah, I suck. But I worked on what was needed to make classification and got it. I’m happy.

As soon as I earned the classification, I changed gears to prep for this Advanced Instructor course. For ages I’ve known that my 15-25 yard shooting sucks, but I always focused on other areas that were of greater importance. But now was the time to focus on 15-25 yards. So I did, and I’ve gotten MUCH better. I’m shooting at 25 yards better than I ever have, and I’m very happy about that. While my 25 yard shooting isn’t awesome, I was making 280+ (out of 300) on the various runs of the Rangemaster Bullseye course (except for the one double-feed run I mentioned above, got a 274 on that because rushing from that malfunction), and on many of the drills with 25 yard shooting I was doing well. Again, I’ve still got a long ways to go, but my improvement at 15 and 25 yards was evident to me. So I’m happy about that.

But that’s all I’m happy about.

Basically, I blew the mental game and screwed myself.

Goal? Pass the class. So I told myself during my prep to slow down and get the points. Don’t shoot faster than I can shoot right and well. Generally good advice, but I didn’t apply it well. So say the string is 3 shots, 3 yards, 3 seconds. I would work to use the whole 3 seconds to ensure I did right and well. Take a little more time to aim, to validate the sight picture, etc.  Not a horrible thing, but it was not the right attitude for me to take. It was a deliberate change to how I shoot, and basically laid the groundwork for me not trusting myself and my abilities.

So I go into class, the pressure is high, and I’m thinking way too much. I’m focusing on the wrong things. And so, I blow it. I really needed to just shut my brain off and “just shoot”. Do what I can do, and let myself just do what I can do. But I focused on too many things that didn’t matter, then would try to focus on some things I needed to focus on, too many things in my head, and things would just fall apart.

I can blame my gear a little bit. My primary gun had been in the shop for months to get some long-overdue TLC, and I got it back 2 days prior to class. I hadn’t had a chance to shoot or test it, so I only brought it in the off-chance my secondary failed. I’ve long known my secondary has a hard trigger break, but supposedly has an Apex DCAEK so I just rolled with it. Well, a couple days after class I put both guns on a trigger pull gauge. The gun I took class with? 7.25# pull. My primary? 5.25#. Heavier plus that hard break, no wonder I’ve developed a hell of a yank!

I’ve been shooting Freedom Munitions 9mm 124gr RN reman (because price). It’s generally been good ammo, but I saw a few weird fliers that made no sense. Karl used the same ammo when he shot the class, and he mentioned the accuracy issues to me as well. Light researching seems to raise enough of an eyebrow regarding this ammo (rather, these particular bullets) and its accuracy at distance. I’ve since purchased a bunch of other ammo (brands, bullet shapes, weights) to explore a bit.

Thing is: while some things could be gear – in the end, it’s still my fault. I still own it. Why? Because it was my choice to use the gear I did. Heck, start of day 2 I actually put my original gun in my holster but changed my mind a couple minutes later because the triggers have enough difference in the feel and I didn’t want to risk making that a factor. So in the end, it’s all still my choice, my problems.

But it tells me a few things.

The things that I was working on to get me to “B” class? They are not ingrained yet. I need to work on them more, and shooting drills with a more Comstock-like approach (e.g. Rangemaster Core Skills, or just taking any established COF, figuring out a Comstock par score, and tracking my progress). Time AND accuracy. Push myself, always, and trust myself.

That I do have a decent baseline. I mean, when pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion, you descend to some level. It was good to see that my descent is still pretty good. But I can also see how there are things that need more work. Things that need to become my baseline.

That I am going to be doing some gear evaluation.

I feel embarrassed by my performance.

But you know… as the late Pat Rogers said: “Learning occurs only after repetitive demoralizing failures.”

I’ve got work ahead.

Crazy thing is, I was planning for my 2017 training to go in one direction. This makes me think I may need to modify those plans. TBD.

Closing

It was wonderful to see Tom and Lynn again. They are wonderful, genuine people, with an unrivaled passion for teaching. I always look forward to time with them to learn and grow.

If you’ve passed the Rangemaster Instructor Development Course, I highly recommend taking the Advanced Course. You will learn more, be challenged more, and grow more.

KR Training September 2016 Newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training September 2016 Newsletter is now available.

Many good classes scheduled for the remainder of the year, and some great stuff coming in 2017 as well.

See you on the range!

You just don’t know, so behave accordingly

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Sometimes you just don’t know. And if you don’t know, I don’t think you should get involved.

This past Saturday night, around 9 PM or so, I was driving the family back home from visiting friends. We pull up to a stop-light at a large intersection: highway runs north-south, we’re on the cross-street (going under the highway), there’s a gas station next to us, lights, people.

I see a young man and young woman, the man is carrying a large sign. It looks to be an advertising banner (e.g. “Hot Dog & Soda, $5” or some such thing) to put on the roadside to try to draw customer into the gas station. I thought perhaps the sign blew over and this guy was recovering it, or maybe given the time the station was closing and a worker pulling in the sign for the night, or maybe one of those “sign twirler guys” calling it a night.

Nope.

“Sign guy” walks over to a street light pole that has someone sitting at the base of it. Sign guy wraps the sitting guy up in the banner sign and starts beating him!

WTF?

After a few seconds of punching, sign guy (and the female  he was with) continue walking down the side walk. Sitting dude pulls the sign off himself, and continues to just sit there.

It became a teachable moment for my family.

First, would I have intervened? Highly unlikely. I have my family in the car, and THEIR safety is paramount to me. No, I don’t want to see someone get beat up, but if I get involved it could risk the safety of my family and I cannot do that.

Second, what happened? My kids’ response was that “sign guy” was the jerk. But was he?

Maybe the sitting-guy did something to sign-guy’s lady, and sign-guy was defending her (honor).

No one seemed that beat up, and the punches didn’t seem like much either. Maybe they were friends and messing around?

Or maybe in fact sign-guy was the jerk.

The problem is we don’t know. We don’t know the story, and if we interfere we risk getting it wrong. We see the guy getting beat as the victim, but maybe he’s the perpetrator. So what happens if we get involved and actually assist the bad guy?

This is a danger in getting involved in someone else’s business. You risk not knowing the whole (or enough) of the story, and you risk getting it wrong and possibly making the situation worse. I grant this is a tough thing, because we want to help. Plus we bemoan the state of our society where it’s a common exhortation that “everyone stands around and does nothing”. Every situation is different, and you have to take them as they come; but as a general rule, I’d rather not get involved if there’s risk to my personal safety, the safety of my loved ones, and a good chance involvement could make the situation worse. Better to choose options that make the situation better (think about what those could be).

Consider this from another angle.

Consider how your actions might be viewed by someone else.

If you jumped in, might someone else rolling up to the scene view YOU as the aggressor, as the attacker, as the jerk, as the person in need of “corrective action”?

Or how about if you find yourself in a legitimate self-defense situation (of yourself)? You have a gun out, someone else sees it. How do you think YOU will be viewed? How about when the police roll on scene? They will see “person with a gun”, and what conclusions do you think they will reasonably jump to?

Lessons to learn: get the whole story (or at least enough of the story), and remember that you too may be viewed with a partial (or incorrect) story. Carry yourself accordingly.

And yet another SERPA fail

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Owner of a local gun store (Crosshairs Texas, in Bastrop — just east of Austin) put a round into his leg. Why? SERPA holster.

Here’s the video he posted from the ER.

It’s not news that SERPA holsters (and those styled similarly) are bad news, and thus have been banned on many ranges and by many trainers. But some people continue to cling to them for whatever reason. Hopefully the above video adds yet another to the pile of examples of why the SERPA (and similar such holsters) is bad and should be avoided.

Thank you to Crosshairs Texas for posting that – learning point for everyone.