Guns

2012-07-27 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 2, Day 4 (basic routine) and Day 5 (malfunction clearances)

  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
  7. 10 reps of TRB, 3/4 speed, 2H
  8. 5 reps of LRW 3/4 speed 2H
  9. 10 reps of wall drill from press out, 2H

I just realized that I didn’t dry fire yesterday. Oops. That’s what I get for being in a hurry to get to work. I also didn’t get it done this morning… work’s been engulfing this week. So, let’s just combine the two sessions and get things done.

Wither Personal Responsibility

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Remember that off-duty cop that negligently left his Glock under the seat of his car, then his 3-year old that wasn’t in a child seat found the gun and accidentally shot him?

Apparently his lawsuit against Glock is being allowed to go forward

Los Angeles Judge Kevin Brazile dismissed Chavez’s case two years ago, saying that he had failed to show that an alternate gun design would have prevented the shooting. Brazile also said that a police department review of the handgun showed that the advantages outweighed the risk.

But earlier this week, the state appeals court ruled 3-0 that the suit could move forward, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. After reviewing evidence presented by Chavez’s lawyers, the court found that a grip safety “would minimize the risk of accidental discharge without undermining performance.”

Ah… it’s in California. That explains everything.

Personal responsibility just doesn’t matter any more, does it.

No wonder everything is going to shit.

And for the record, saying a grip safety would minimize risk without undermining performance shows what they (don’t) know about guns and shooting performance.

Yup… this proves it. Guns can only be used for evil purposes.

/ hsoi

Due to some recent events, and because it’s a big US Presidential election year, of course many folks are talking gun control and gun bans. Why? Because guns are evil, guns are bad, and if we just banned guns everything would become hunky-dory.

I just read this article, which proves that point:

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith’s store.

Some crazy guy walks into a store, buys a knife, then turns around and starts stabbing people. He seriously stabbed two people while screaming “YOU KILLED MY PEOPLE!”. That’s textbook crazy right there.

Then, before the suspect could find another victim – a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. “A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith’s grabbed him.”

So you see, proof right there that guns can only be used for evil purposes.

Oh wait.

That looks to me like a gun was used for a good purpose. It stopped a crazy person from going on a killing spree.

Actually check that. The gun didn’t do anything. You see, it’s an inanimate object. It can’t do anything. No, it’s all about the person using the gun.

Some private citizen, carrying their gun (concealed carry, it would seem), was able to draw their weapon, point it at this rampaging lunatic, and got them to stop their rampage before tons of ugly could happen. The gun didn’t do anything, but this person did a very good thing and happened to use a gun to do it. In fact, without the gun they wouldn’t have been able to do this good thing. Huh. Imagine that.

Where were the police? Because I’m told the police will protect me and are all the protection we need. I’m sure they would have shown up eventually, but how much death and destruction would have happened?

This also demonstrates that concealed carry is bad. Because private citizens don’t have the wherewithal. They’ll just be a liability. They’ll just be dangerous. Uh huh.

By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, “This was a volatile situation that could have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten worse. He was definitely in the right place at the right time.”

Dozens of other shoppers, who too could have become victims, are also thankful for the gun carrying man.

And I bet if you were there in the thick of it, you too would be thankful for that man — and his gun.

It’s not the implement. It’s the man using the implement.

2012-07-25 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 2, Day 3, reloads

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

While the session calls for different speeds, I did all my reloads fairly slow or even slower. I wanted to ensure the entire orchestration of movements was correct and solid.

I also did some Burkett Reloads and played around with where my eyes look. Do they look at the top edge of the magwell? the bottom edge? or somewhere “in” the magwell? Results inconclusive, but you do need to focus somewhere, not just have nebulous eyesight in the area. I think having a point “in” the magwell works best because that’s where you want things to go… aiming with your eyes, and if you aim to an edge, you’ll hit the edge. I’ll want to play with this more. To this point I’ve just “looked”, but I’m playing with a refinement of the look.

No one is above having problems

/ hsoi

Todd Louis Green has just started a new pistol endurance test, and report #2 had a few things that I’d like to point out.

This is probably more relevant to beginner and intermediate students.

First, a common thing we see in many Basic Pistol 1 & 2, Defensive Pistol 1, Handgunning: Beyond the Basics, classes is… trigger slap/yank. In fact, we actually see it in all our classes, but those classes tend to manifest it a lot more because it tends to be the first time folks become aware of the concept and start to understand why all their shots are going low-left.

From Todd:

As expected, the biggest challenge with the crisp trigger break has been anticipation. During the Rangemaster class we shot a number of qualification standards and while I was able to score 100% on all of them, at the 25yd line I definitely launched a few that danced precariously close to being outside the 8″ scoring zone. That’s just sloppy trigger work on my part and a habit I’m going to have to break. Most of Monday’s practice session was spent working on 2″ dots at speed to help exterminate the jerks and snatches infesting my trigger finger.

A 1911’s trigger is rather different from a Glock, and Todd is feeling the effects and having to adjust. The take home? Even someone who shoots as well and as much as TLG still can have troubles with trigger control. None of us are above it, so don’t get yourself too stressed out about it. Know that it’s there, know that you’re doing it, and just work to improve.

Second, equipment matters. Do not be afraid to modify the gun (within reason) to help you shoot it better. Or, don’t be afraid to get a whole other gun. Now in TLG’s case, he’s shooting a particular gun for a particular reason, so he can’t get a whole other gun, thus he has to modify it. The key is everyone is built different and so if one gun isn’t working for you, you need to make adjustments to the equipment to make it work.

The gun is wearing fairly thick stocks (Crimson Trace Lasergrips) which, combined with my stubby thumbs and more than a decade of using my trigger finger to drop a magazine rather than my thumb, made reloads glacially slow. I’ve now installed an Ed Brown extended magazine catch. The catch needed major fitting as it would neither allow a magazine to be inserted (no pressure on the mag catch button) nor allow a mag to drop free (when the button was pushed in all the way). My totally inexpert Dremel and sandpaper work was adequate to the task but I’ve got both a 10-8 mag catch and a custom Heirloom Precision (thanks, Jason!) extended catch on their way.

You can also read about some other equipment issues, such as magazine failures.

I mention these things for the sake of beginner and intermediate shooters (because I expect advanced shooters should know this already). No one is above having problems. No one is above working on their technique. Don’t beat yourself up because your technique is poor, or your equipment isn’t up to snuff. Just acknowledge the issue and work to remedy it. This will enable improvement and progress.

2012-07-24 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 2, draws.

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

I’m trying to make the strings that don’t specify speed be at “full speed”. Granted, they aren’t as good as they could be, but I am seeing the sights and able to call my shots, which is still of use. But it just means on the 3/4 speed and slow speed to make them all perfect. From that will come the correctness.

Press

/ hsoi

This morning as I got into the shower after my workout, I looked in the mirror and realized my ass has gotten bigger.

All hail the mighty squat. 🙂

And I thought about how much I actually hate to squat. It’s always been the movement I liked the least. And I reckon it still is, relatively speaking. But I did realize that I don’t hate it as much as I used to. How to get good at what you hate? Keep doing it until you don’t hate it any more. You probably hate it because you suck at it, so keep doing it because that’s the only way you’ll stop sucking at it. It’s like shooting weak-hand-only… I still suck at it, but I don’t hate it so much because I practice it more and have gotten a lot better at it. And same with squats.

But then I started to think what my favorite lift is. I still think it’s deadlift, because there’s just something so basic about picking up heavy things. It’s probably also because it’s the lift I can move the most absolute weight with, but I really think it’s the visceral primitiveness of it all that appeals to me somewhere deep down inside.

So on that note, I was surprised to find that what came in a very close second was the Press.

Yes, Bench Press is relegated to 3rd place.

While The Almighty Bench is such a hallmark of weightroom manliness, I like the Press even more, probably because no one does it. And probably because it’s also got this visceral primitiveness… because once you pick something up, what’s a logical thing to do with it? Lift it over your head! (or maybe throw it). It’s hard to do. It’s a little scary. It’s intimidating. And you just can’t move a big number… it takes a while to work up to being able to put 45’s on and press it up for reps. It’s even more work to get to pressing your bodyweight. And so, it’s not as ego gratifying, and people are going to stay away from it because it’s hard.

And maybe that’s why I like it so much.

So by wonderful coincidence, this morning Mark Rippetoe publishes an article all about the Press.

Yes, this video is awesome:

And Mark is awesome:

But if the real reason you don’t want to press is the fact that you don’t want to confront a hole – likely a gaping-ass hole – in your strength, then the bar is right: you’re a pussy.

Lifting is hard. Lifting heavy weights is harder. Swallowing your ego and making yourself better is hardest.

2012-07-23 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 2, 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

Today felt like a bit of regression for some reason. I was in a hurry for sure. Was not a quality session. My own fault.

KR Training July 2012 Newsletter

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The KR Training July 2012 Newsletter is now available.

Carry a pocket gun or other small handgun? Our new Defensive Pistol Skills BUG (backup gun) class was designed specifically to train you with the small, difficult to shoot carry gun. It’s scheduled for July 28, registration is open now.

Just added: August 18th Beyond the Basics class, 8-12.

To see the entire 2012 schedule click this link
http://krtraining.com/schedule.html

Perspective on 1H Shooting

/ hsoi

Todd Louis Green has been on a roll lately with some top-notch articles. I’ve actually been meaning to write up my comments on his “1H Shooting” for a while now… better late than never I guess.

First, go read the original article. It stands alone just fine and I think Todd makes a great point about perspective. Is learning to shoot and manipulate your gun with one hand important? Yes. But how important depends upon your actual need and shouldn’t depend upon things like “well what if you’re injured in a fight?”  I mean, yes, that’s still a valid point to consider, but should it dictate that you spend all your time learning 1H shooting? Probably not. Yes you should know it and if you don’t know how to do 1H shooting and manipulations you really need to learn them. But I like Todd’s reasoning here:

But just keep in mind that the time you put into polishing your WHO double feed malfunction clearance technique is time you’re taking away from improving the skills you’re far more likely to need, like drawing and hitting at speed with two hands.

Very true. Our time and other resources are finite, so we have to keep that perspective.

But then Todd goes on to say:

For someone who hasn’t yet learned the proper way to draw, reload, and clear malfunctions both SHO and WHO I’d recommend fixing that flaw, but in terms of sustaining those skills you need to look at your actual needs. For example, competition-oriented shooters will probably never have to perform WHO draws or one-handed reloads but SHO and WHO shooting is extremely common in both USPSA and IDPA. A K9 officer, on the other hand, is extremely likely to need strong hand only skills.

So again, it all comes down to YOUR needs. What are YOU training for? What does your context require? You shouldn’t neglect things, but just find perspective. I don’t NEED WHO shooting that much, but I need to practice it more because, as an instructor, I need to be able to demonstrate things to students. I’m expected to have a higher level of skill. That said, I still don’t kill myself to practice it to death tho. As you can see from my recent dry fire logs, I have other things that need my primary focus.

Learn to shoot one-handed. Learn to manipulate your gun one handed (and consider how hardware may matter, like Dawson Precision Charger rear sights). Practice these skills, but keep perspective relative to your context and needs.