Guns

Let’s be consistent

/ hsoi

From Unc I read how a man was fired from his job for “liking” a Facebook post.

Daniel Ray Carter Jr. logged on to Facebook and did what millions do each day: He “liked” a page by clicking the site’s thumbs up icon. The problem was that the page was for a candidate who was challenging his boss, the sheriff of Hampton, Va.

That simple mouse click, Carter says, caused the sheriff to fire him from his job as a deputy and put him at the center of an emerging First Amendment debate over the ubiquitous digital seal of approval: Is liking something on Facebook protected free speech?

I think most people would agree that yes it is free speech, it should be protected. You are expressing your opinion. To “click Like” is merely a shortcut/shorthand for saying “I like this” or “I agree with this” or some other statement of agreement and affirmation. It’s just a more efficient (lazy?) way to do it. Are we saying that if someone typed a comment under the posting “I like this” that that wouldn’t be protected? or if I wrote it on a piece of paper, or spoke it aloud in a public venue for others to hear? So why wouldn’t clicking “like” be offered the same protection under 1A?

But apparently not:

The interest was sparked by a lower court’s ruling that “liking” a page does not warrant protection because it does not involve “actual statements.” If the ruling is upheld, the ACLU and others worry, a host of Web-based, mouse-click actions, such as re-tweeting (hitting a button to post someone else’s tweet on your Twitter account), won’t be protected as free speech.

Methinks someone in the lower court doesn’t quite understand technology advancements.

“We think it’s important as new technologies emerge . . . that the First Amendment is interpreted to protect those new ways of communicating,” said Rebecca K. Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia. “Pressing a ‘like’ button is analogous to other forms of speech, such as putting a button on your shirt with a candidate’s name on it.”

So isn’t that interesting? Our Founding Fathers never could have imagined this thing called the Internet. They could never have imagined Facebook or Twitter or iPhone’s. They could never have imagined the act of pressing with your finger could act as a proxy for expressing your liking something. But just like they understood technology advancements like clay tablets, papyrus paper, quill pens, moveable type, printing presses, pony express, and so on… they probably understood that technology would continue to advance. I’m sure they wanted speech to be protected regardless of the technology used to convey it. Certainly that’s what it seems the WaPo, the ACLU, and others put forth. I know many people will be outraged if these advances in technology would not be upheld as protected under that 200-year old document written by men that (some day) had no clue.

So why isn’t this same standard held to the Second Amendment?

Mind your mind (or, what I got from the BP2 class at KR Training, 11 Aug 2012)

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

 

Saturday August 11, 2012 was another fine day at KR Training. This time it was Basic Pistol 2. Class was sold out at 16 students, and we had a great mix: about 1/3 women, various ages, various ethnicities, various backgrounds. Yeah… keep trying to stereotype gun owners, keep showing your ignorance by doing so.

Class went well, and went just about as most BP2 classes do. Students learning fundamentals of sights and trigger control, and basic manipulations and shooting skills towards helping them pass the Texas Concealed Handgun License test. And the usual stuff crops up, of slapping/yanking the trigger, breaking old habits, not getting going fast enough, learning that DA/SA style guns are harder to shoot, and so on.

I want to expand on that last point for a moment. Hardware. It matters and can affect your skill, both positively and negatively. Many people come with DA/SA style guns and come to realize that first long heavy double-action trigger press is just difficult to manage, but you can’t avoid it and have to learn it. And then you also have to learn to change gears and shoot single-action. You have two things to learn, it’s harder, it’s more time being spent on things you don’t necessarily need to — have one trigger press and learn that sole thing and save some time so you can spend your finite time focusing on other areas that need work. Oh sure, you can be awesome with a DA/SA gun, look at Ben Stoeger, but are you willing to put in that much work to get there? If so, awesome. If you’re like me and have only so much time in a day, maybe you should look at something that permits more efficient use of your time.

As well, we had some folks come with guns that just weren’t right for them. A young lady came with a Glock 27, which is a fine handgun but is not something suitable for a beginner. It’s small, it’s harder to shoot, it’s going to be very snappy (.40 S&W, small gun). We loaned her a Glock 22 to use and things went much better for her. I think she’s now in the market for a Glock 19. Another lady in class had a M&P9c, but it was proving difficult for her to work with. I loaned her my full-sized M&P9 to shoot, and instantly she did better. Small guns are fine, and it’s understandable for people to buy them because we’re trying to be frugal and spend our money wisely, we’re thinking about concealed carry, and so we think “buy a small gun”. It’s what I did. I learned, and these folks learned, that it’s better — as a beginner — to get a bigger gun and learn your fundamentals with that larger gun. Once you have those down, then you can work on learning with the smaller gun because now you just are learning the gun, not learning the gun AND learning to shoot.

Hardware matters. It can make you shoot worse, or it can help you shoot better.

But the biggest thing that came from class was attitude.

We all want to do well. We don’t like it when we mess up. I saw many students get upset with themselves, shaking their head, muttering, and otherwise chastising themselves for messing up.

Please don’t do that.

You are learning. That’s why you came to class, right? You admitted you didn’t know something and you wanted to gain knowledge. So why get mad about not getting it? What happens then is you have a mental conversation like “Damnit! Messed up again!” and then it’s time to shoot again, and the only thought in your head is about messing up. So what do you think that’s going to lead your mind and body to do? Succeed? Unlikely.

Instead, learn to let it go.

Acknowledge you didn’t do something right. Yes it might get you a little steamed or frustrated, but let it go. Let the frustration pass through you and out. If you dwell on it, that means you are making yourself stay in a state of frustration, and that will not help you. So let it go.

Then, tell yourself what you need to do. Be mindful of phrasing here. If you are having problems yanking the trigger, don’t tell yourself “don’t yank the trigger”. Instead, tell yourself “press the trigger smoothly”. You need to know what TO do, because if you only say what NOT to do, it still doesn’t tell you want TO do, and what TO do is what matters.

So while hardware matters, really what matters more is you and what you do. Your mindset matters much more than anything. As you are learning, as you are practicing, don’t be hard on yourself. Be honest with yourself, and work to know what TO do; direct yourself in that way.

Apart from that (and being wicked hot out), a great day. Much thanx to Ed for driving. And great to run into Rog and Dock at lunch. Makes for a good day.

A month of dry fire – a review

/ hsoi

For the past 4 weeks I’ve been following TLG’s dry practice routine.

I’m ashamed to admit it’s the most religious I’ve been about dry practice.

First, the frequency. This program has me practicing 5 times a week. In the past, at most I’d work 2-3 times a week, if that often.

Second, the duration. In the past when I did practice, my sessions tended to be longer. These sessions don’t take more than 10 minutes, if that.

Third, the solid program. In the past when I did dry fire, there was no formal program — I worked on whatever I felt I needed to work on at the time. If I didn’t have something solid to do, I had a few simple routines, like one from Tom Givens, that I would run through. But often that would cause me to gravitate towards specific things, and certainly other skills would be neglected or not get enough of the focus they deserved. On this program, just about everything gets covered and in a reasonable proportion.

TLG makes it clear this is an example program, but I think it’s a good one and certainly would recommend it as a starting point for others. I like that it focuses most essential skills like trigger press and sights, and on the press out. I like that it works a full set of skills so even “less important” skills like flashlight work isn’t forgotten, but it’s also not emphasized. I like there’s some flexibility to work on other things, like I used those sessions to work on the basics with my snub. My take is one should try the routine as-written, then see from there how it could change. I wouldn’t change anything too radically, but you might see that wow, my WHO really is bad and perhaps add a little more WHO time.

I think what opened my eyes to this approach was all my weightlifting. Since my teenage years, any time I picked up iron it was always some willy-nilly routine probably based upon whatever I read in that month’s Flex or Muscle & Fitness. It never took, and while I saw some progress, I see now that progress was merely because ANYONE will see progress in that initial beginner phase because the body easily adapts. But once you get through that phase, you need some greater smarts about how to progress — if only I had Rippetoe and Wendler, Starr and Tate, WFAC and EliteFTS back then. Following a solid program has made all the difference in the world. And the right thing to do is find a solid program created by someone else — not just anyone else, but someone who has a clue. They will probably create a program that’s right and correct. You follow it, you get your results. You stay in the game long enough, you’ll be able to formulate your own that best suits you. It’s the sort of progress I hear about all the time for lifters, and the concepts really are the same in any field so it applies just the same here to shooting.

I can see solid improvement in my skill. I still have a long ways to go, but improvement is there and I’m happy. I attribute it to a solid working of fundamentals AND that it’s done often. Again back to lifting… to see strength gains you have to lift, recover, and then during the period when your body “supercompensates” you lift again… so it’s always this level, dip down, peak up, and then continue progressing from that peak. That’s how you progress. If you lifted say only once a week, you will have come down off that peak when you start again and so at best you’ll maintain. If you lifted once a month, you’d never see any progress. And so it is here, dry practicing every day leading towards gain, instead of a couple times a week and merely maintaining. I would say that if a couple of times a week is all you can do, that’s alright — it’s a minimum to maintain your skills. If you want to improve, you gotta do more. I want to improve, I gotta do more.

The road ahead is long, but the journey is good.

I’m going to stick with TLG’s routine as is for now. I don’t see much reason to change. The “shooter’s choice” Fridays might change up a bit as I get to them (e.g. drawing from an off-body carry mode that is used on occasion; perhaps transitions from primary to BUG), but for now that’s all I can see changing.

2012-08-10 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, Day 5, shooter choice.

Same as week 3 day 5, I’m going to work on basic routine using my snub.

  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

 

2012-08-09 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, 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

I can see improvement in my repeatable index and trigger control. Speed getting better, grip staying consistent and strong. It’s all coming along nicely.

Yes, if you want to maintain skill you need to practice. If you want to improve skill you need to practice a lot more.

Quotes for today

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

From this article:

“I’m not saying you should outlaw guns, but I don’t see the point of hundred-round magazine clips and automatic weapons if you just want to target shoot,” said John Tyson, 66, of Winchester, Va.

I’ll respond with a quote from Mike Muir:

Just ’cause you don’t understand what’s going on don’t mean it don’t make no sense, and just ’cause you don’t like it don’t mean it ain’t no good.

Mr. Tyson continues:

“People say it’s their right to bear arms, but when the Constitution was written there was no such thing as an automatic weapon.”

People say it’s their right to free speech, but when the Constitution was written there was no such thing as the Internet.

2012-08-08 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, Day 3, 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

This of course requires knowing proper flashlight technique. For those curious, KR Training has AT-1A Low Light coming on October 20. The class can only be offered a few times a year due to the need for low light that comes at a time that 1. isn’t during deer hunting season (consideration of range neighbors), 2. isn’t very late at night (again, consideration of neighbors).

This routine again stresses what I like about TLG’s sample routine. It covers the majority of all needed skills, but puts a proper emphasis and perspective on the skills. Low-light flashlight skills aren’t likely to be needed (in reality, you will usually have enough light; and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be shooting at all), but they are still useful to practice as you may need them.

If nothing else, you get more SHO practice. 🙂

I couldn’t practice in true low-light given it’s daylight out, but I did draw the blinds and turn off the lights and got things as dark as I could. On the reloads, I just closed my eyes, but don’t forget the flashlight may still be in the mix and you have to contend with it (lanyard? stow under the armpit?).

M&P over XD – a subtle point

/ hsoi

For years I carried a Springfield XD-9, but some months ago I switched to a Smith & Wesson M&P9.

There were many reasons for my switch, and if you’re curious you can flip through my article archives. What follows isn’t a reason for my switch, but I think works out to being a good but subtle win for the M&P over the XD.

First, in most respects the guns are the same and both will function fine for most people. Both strive to provide some degree of ambidextrousness, but neither are 100% ambi. The XD has a mag release button that works on both sides, but the slide-stop lever only exists on the left side. The M&P has a single-sided mag release button that with a little bit of work can be flipped over to work from the other side, but it only truly works from one side or the other. However, the M&P does have a slide-stop lever on both sides.

After my prior “weak-hand-only” dry fire session, I noticed how much my old XD habits remained and that I hadn’t yet created the muscle memory for the M&P in this regard. It didn’t take me long to adjust to using the middle finger of my left hand to press the “same-side” mag release button, but even by the end of the session I was still forgetting about the slide-stop on the right side. But it made me realize something:

I think the M&P has a better ambi setup than the XD.

First, for a left-handed shooter, the M&P wins because you can have all controls “in the normal positions” on the M&P. A little work to flip the mag release button, and you’re there. Nothing can be done with the XD to make it 100% lefty-friendly like this, tho you can work around it.

Second, for someone like me where left-hand is “weak-/support-hand”, I still think the M&P wins because if I still have enough hand to shoot, then I still have enough finger that can press the “same-side” mag release button. And then all other controls are where they should be. But as witnessed by my dry session, you have to learn it because most guns are not set up with slide-stops on the right side and so you have to make sure you train your body to use it. With the XD, you just have to train using other approaches.

So all training issues aside and looking purely at the design and mechanics of the guns, I do think the M&P gains a slide edge here.

2012-08-07 dry fire practice

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, Day 2, SHO (all drills WHO)

  1. 20 reps of wall drill from press-out
  2. 10 reps draw & fire, slow
  3. 10 reps draw & fire 3/4 speed
  4. 5 reps reload from slidelock, slow
  5. 5 reps reload from slidelock 3/4 speed
  6. 5 reps TRB
  7. 5 reps LRW
  8. 10 reps wall drill from press-out

All WHO. Man, that’s painful, especially the reloads and malfunctions…. yes, weak-hand ONLY, only one hand involved period. The one thing I wasn’t sure about was drawing. Was this supposed to be a true WHO draw, reaching across my body to a “backwards” gun? Or was it to be a regular SHO draw then transfer to my weak hand? I figured WHO-only since again everything seemed to point in that direction. And this post by TLG confirms yes, it’s WHO draw across your body. Fun! NB: if you haven’t been properly trained in these techniques, don’t necessarily think you can get it off YouTube. Learn from a proper trainer (I learned from Karl Rehn and Claude Werner).

One thing I focused on was my grip, as noted in yesterday’s session. I should clarify. It’s not that there’s some greater rearward pressure from my fingers. No, it’s still an evenly pressured crush-grip. However, what I need to feel is my fingers being active and involved. If I feel that, I know I’m gripping the dickens out of the gun. As noted in the past, one problem I have is getting my grip to be solid during dry fire — it’s too easy to slack off here and not grip much at all, which then can lead to great inconsistency. I’m sure that carries over into live fire, not so much the grip itself but consistency of grip. A consistent, strong grip leads to better recoil management and shot recovery. We’ll see how emphasis on this in dry work will translate to live work for me. Will take time to get there.

I must admit, it’s rare for me to work all these WHO skills, like the reloads and malfunction work — I can’t remember the last time I did it WHO. Again, a good rear sight (e.g. Dawson Precision Charger) makes a big difference. I think this is also the first time I ever did it with my M&P, and I learned a few things:

  1. I do miss the true ambidextrous mag release of my Springfield XD-9. You can overcome it tho with the M&P, just using your fingers instead of your thumb. I discovered my middle finger works better than trying to get my index/trigger finger on the button.
  2. I must remember there’s a slide-stop lever on the right side of the M&P (something the XD lacked), and my thumb here will work the same way as SHO.

 

2012-08-06 dry fire practice

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, 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

I try to dry practice in the morning but that didn’t happen today.

I really like the emphasis TLG’s routine puts on one of the most core skills: the press out. This basic routine and the skills within are so fundamental, and the heavy emphasis on it is starting to pay off.

While practicing tonight something hit me. I do struggle with trigger slap as I go faster. I try to do things like lighten my trigger press, but it just doesn’t work. In order to overcome the trigger break, the trigger weight, and with speed, there’s just gotta be a particular amount of force applied. I mean, if F = ma, there’s just gotta be a particular amount of force, and if I go faster it’s going to apply more force… the trigger and my finger and everything is just going to hit the end of the trigger’s range of motion with a particular (or increasing) amount of force. And so, the front sight dips.

For some reason this evening I was very aware of my right hand’s grip pressure — the way the ring and pinky (and to some extent the middle) fingers were applying pressure to the frontstrap, such that I felt this particular pressure in the palm heel of my right hand. It wasn’t so much that I felt a crushing grip, or that I felt my palm heel pushing forward. I mean, technically it was a very strong crush grip all around, but mentally there was some emphasis of the feel of those fingers pressing back. And that seemed to make all the difference in the world. Even doing 1H shooting and WHO especially… that sort of grip and mental emphasis made a big difference in things remaining steady.

I’m going to keep focusing on this and see where it leads me.