Got lots of errands to do today.
One thing on my list is loading up 20 rounds of 9mm on my reloading equipment. I cobbled together a base for a powder throw (pics later), so I should finally be able to do a full set of reloading on my own equipment.
More later.
How do you get a bunch of gunnies all worked up? Start by saying their choice of handgun sucks, both the make/model and the caliber.
So it goes without saying that the second installment of InSights Training Center’s series on equipment choices, Handgun Design, is going to ruffle some feathers. 🙂
The thing you have to realize is, these guys see many many guns, many many levels of skill, and hundreds of thousands of rounds going downrange. Between what the Insights instructors do as trainers and then what they do in whatever other job they may hold, they see a lot. No handgun design is 100% perfect, but there are those better than others.
A lot of what they say echos what I’ve said before about choosing a gun. That’s not too surprising as Insights training has been an influence on me.
One thing Jeff writes about that I take a bit of exception to is dealing with new gun designs:
One of the most important criteria for selecting a firearm for self defense is reliability. The gun needs to go bang every time. For defensive purposes, guns should only be considered if the platform has seen years of use and millions of rounds down range. I have no interest in being a guinea pig. The latest gun design might be cool to own, but it has no business out on the street until someone else has verified it with a very large sample and lots of rounds. This generally restricts our selection to guns that have been issued to large government organizations.
I’ll start out saying I do agree with him. Reliability is paramount and I too have no desire to be a guinea pig. The trouble is if everyone adopts this mentality then no new gun design will ever make it out onto the street as a carry tool. If you do think some new gun is snazzy then by all means go ahead and buy it. But before you entrust your life to it, ensure it’s reliable. Take it to the range. Take it through training classes. Lend it to trusted friends to shoot. Put thousands upon thousands of rounds through it. See how it performs. Report your findings, like what ToddG did on pistol-training.com with the M&P-9 and H&K P30. Make sure that it’s a reliable platform for you to entrust you life to. Of course in the end it is your life, so value it as you wish. Point is, you should not necessarily leave the reliability testing to “someone else” because if everyone did that then no one would do it. Instead, if you want to be one of those cutting edge folks, please go ahead and do so. Just keep it in perspective that it’s worthwhile to ensure the platform is proven and solid before you trust your life to it. You really don’t want to have the first spectacular failure be when you need failure the least.
I’ll also add about deviating from original design. This is why you tend to see 1911-style guns in chamberings other than .45 ACP not always running well (or at least, not without a lot of work). But there are some exceptions to this rule, such as the Springfield EMP, which was designed from the ground up to have a 9mm (or .40 S&W) chambering.
Finally regarding 9mm well… I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. All pistol rounds suck, but the shootability of 9 speaks for itself.
Courtesy of New Jovian Thunderbolt, remember Buy Ammo Day is coming on November 19.
Firearms instructor John Farnam writes about training experiences with particular pistols (with a follow-up article here). There are certain pistols that have external hammers but those pistols must be carried with the hammer decocked, such as the SIG 226, Beretta’s, H&K’s, etc.; to carry with them cocked is dangerous. What happened was experienced shooters were reholstering their cocked guns and didn’t realize it until an instructor pointed it out.
If well-trained people can forget….
IMHO, decockers add complexity. If I think about it from an engineering design standpoint, and more specifically thinking about the “user interface” to a pistol, decockers are a design feature that is more complex than it needs to be. Granted that’s part of the point, when you consider the evolution of where these guns came from, but it no longer has to be the case. When you have guns like Glocks, Smith & Wesson M&P, Springfield XD, and so on, they provide a much simpler user interface. You’ll also see that other manufacturers are moving towards similar designs. Evolution.
Read my write-up on choosing a gun for more details.
Karl Rehn, the “KR” of KR Training, is my primary firearms instructor and an all-around swell guy. I find via Linoge an interview with Karl regarding the Ft. Hood shootings. Worth a read.
The scores from my first IPSC match have been posted.
I suck! 🙂
To keep things in perspective, this was my first time and so I was going slow because I don’t know how to play the game. Along the lines of not knowing how to play the game, there were learning experiences with Comstock scoring; say if I shot twice on a target and one shot was a clean shot to a no-shoot I could shoot again and that would have affected my score. So, I don’t take my scores from the match as any sort of gospel as to what sort of shooter I am. However, it is some degree of a snapshot and I want to analyze things to see where I need to improve.
In light of the Foot Hood shootings, many people are asking this question.
Of all the places you’d expect someone to be armed, wouldn’t it be a military base? We trust them with massive amounts of weaponry when they’re overseas doing their jobs, so why can’t we trust them here?
On a side note, the officer that stopped the killer did exactly what has to be done these days: direct and immediate confrontation. Still, 3 minutes went by, many people died and many more wounded. How might things have been different if these soldiers were able to do what they’re trained to do?
From today… just some random bits of things.
iPhone
I’m peeved that my iPhone went dead. I have no idea what caused the sudden drain of battery. Google turns up this isn’t an unheard of thing and hypotheses are some apps just are poor at battery management. That perhaps somehow I put the phone to bed with particular apps still running and someone sucked the battery dry. Don’t know, but oh well.
Managing Unknown Contacts
To understand the term “Managing Unknown Contacts” (MUC) see here or here. I failed at this this morning. *sigh* When I left the house this morning I stopped into the drug store to get some food and drink to eat during the match. When I went in I saw a girl (probably 18-25 years old) gathering her stuff on a bench outside the store. I go inside, do my thing, I come back out to my car and the girl approaches me. Initially I was stand-off-ish and unwilling to help her, but she ultimately said she just wanted directions. I answered her question and she went on her way. So, it was probably nothing.
However, I got in the car and realized I failed MUC. I didn’t move well, I didn’t use my hands right (e.g. fence), wrong dialogue. I know why: I was preoccupied with the match. Bad bad bad me. *sigh*
CHL
I am surprised at the number of people who have CHL’s but don’t carry. So… why do you have a CHL?
People at the match seemed surprised that I came to the match carrying and that I wanted to leave the match carrying. They were surprised at my carry. I was surprised at their surprise, and at their lack of carry.
I want to start asking people who have a CHL why they have a CHL if they don’t carry… and carry always (apart from legal or other such reasons).
Reloading
I got to try a Hornady Lock-n-Lock AP. I’m sold. No the Dillon isn’t bad, but there’s no question the LnL AP is evolution.
Walked away with a LOT of 9mm brass today (lots of people didn’t want their brass). Happy me.
Match People
I forgot to mention about the match. I was surprised at the level of shooters. I figured it was a local club and that it might not be that hot… maybe one or two guys, but that’d be it. I was floored at the number of people with “sponsor” shirts on, race guns, and other very serious gear and really into it. Lots of quality shooters. It was good to watch them and how they went about things, from how people choose to handle the course of fire (I like that about IPSC, vs. IDPA) to how they shot (e.g. the steady cadence in particular strings of the stage). Or just being impressed with how fast some of these guys are.
Family
I love my wife. She supports me. She is a rock for me.
Finally!
I got to try my hand at action pistol competition. Specifically, an IPSC (USPSA) match run by the Austin Lone Star Practical Pistol Club (ALSPPC) and hosted by the Austin Rifle Club.
Foo.c was there too. In fact, we were on the same squad together.
This is the first time I’ve done any sort of formal firearms competition. Why do it? Because I can. Because I’m curious what it’s all about. Because I’d like to test my skills in pressure situations, and push myself to improve. I know this is not “self-defense handgunning” and I don’t pretend that it is. I do think it can be likened to sparring or how any sort of competition is akin to “self-defense” and “on the street”. It will still make me a better shooter, period, even if it’s not all “tactical”.
There were 66 people participating (fairly big turnout). Everyone was broken up into 5 squads, since there were 5 courses of fire, one in each of the 5 shooting bays. Because there were a lot of people, the match did take a while to do… 4-5 hours to run the actual match. Frankly, that’s the biggest downside to this. Cumulatively I shot probably what? 5 minutes? And meantime I was there 5 hours (a total of about a 7 hour day, including driving time). That’s the biggest bummer about it all is all the “hurry up and wait”. I will say I did like how our squad ran, in that everyone contributed to helping with tasks to make things move quickly: taping targets, resetting poppers, picking up brass, scoring, etc.. Because everyone chipped in, our squad moved along pretty well. The bummer was the squad in front of us in the rotation was moving very slowly (few people on that squad were helping) and the held up the waterworks, which was a shame. But oh well, this is how it goes. Â The only other downside was today was unseasonably warm, but still a great sunny day for shooting.
So what was good about it?
Why the shooting, of course! The courses of fire were fun and challenging. I am “unclassified” since this is my first match, and I shot in a division called “Production”, which is basically using a factory-produced firearm. It can have a few modifications (e.g. better sights), but it’s nothing like the highly-customized race guns. Works fine for me, because at this point who cares. I just wanted to go and try… there’s no “gaming” involved in this (yet) for me.
My goals? To learn how to shoot IPSC, to not come in last (ha!), and to have fun. As of this writing, I don’t know the results of the match, but I did learn how to shoot it and I did have fun. I also learned a few things. I need to continue to familiarize myself with the rules of the game so I can just “go” and not have to sweat some of the stuff (e.g. making up a hit on a no-shoot). I need to do a lot more dry fire working on my trigger control (sometimes I was pressing “too hard” and thus end up pulling the muzzle down). I need to work on my long-distance shooting. A lot of the shooting today was at longer distances and it’s on those I had the most trouble; most of my handgun work is defensive handgunning and thus mostly at closer distances (and those I shot fine).
Another good thing? The people. Everyone in my squad ranged from friendly to very friendly. We had a mix of old timers and n00bs like me. While the guys that knew each other certainly joked around a lot with each other, they were all willing to answer questions, help out, and just talk and have fun. It was a great attitude and great group of people. I’m sure I’ll see many of them again at future matches. This is also a good thing because of the wait factor. Having good people to talk with really helps pass the time.
So that’s all good stuff. I learned a bit about how to shoot IPSC. I learned about some things I need to work on. I had a pretty good day. I’m sure I’ll do it again.
BTW, no pictures because something strange happened with my iPhone and it lost all battery charge. Don’t know why, but I’m bummed I couldn’t get any pictures or video because the phone crapped out. Oh well, next time.
This weekend marks the opening of the (firearm) deer hunting season in Texas.
And I won’t be a part of it.
*sigh*
All that work on the lease, working towards this point. And I can’t capitalize on it. My first opening weekend.
*sigh*
Why not? Work obligations. To be fair, no one at work is forcing me to do this. I spoke with a co-worker about a problem the product is presently experiencing, and given the scope of the problem, the customer requirements, the greater implications for relations and contracts and revenue and so on well… in my mind the only right thing to do is stay home and work on the problem.
I’m mostly doing it out of obligation to myself. I just feel that’s the right thing to do. As soon as the fix is completed and given to the QA department, you better believe I’ll be out hunting. The rut is on and I don’t want to miss it. I already put in for a day off (to have made for a longer weekend), so if it means mid-week next week I just take a single day and spend it out in the stand, then that will have to do.
It’s life. These things happen. You roll with it. And in this case, I may be able to make some lemonade.
You see, due to all the rain we’ve been having the action shooting bays at the Austin Rifle Club have been soggy and any Steel and IPSC matches have been cancelled for the past some months. Finally the rain has held off long enough for ARC to get in and repair the bays, and so this weekend ALSPPC won’t be holding an IPSC match: they’ll be holding 2 IPSC matches! One on Saturday, one on Sunday. If you read this blog regularly you know I’ve been trying to get out to competition but the weather and range issues or some other 3rd thing always prevented it. But now it’s here, and if workload is such that I wouldn’t be able to go hunt, I ought to be able to at least slip away for half a day and shoot my first IPSC match.
Don’t know how it will go just yet, but here’s hoping for a little lemonade this weekend.
Updated: I want to go on public record saying, Jon you’re a good guy.
Stuff From Hsoi 