Guns

2012-07-20 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 5

Movement

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press out 2H
  2. 10 draws stepping right, 3/4 speed, 2H
  3. 10 draws stepping left, 3/4 speed 2H
  4. 10 reloads stepping right (reload on the move), 3/4 speed 2H
  5. 10 reloads stepping left (reload on the move), 3/4/ speed 2H
  6. 10 reps wall drill from press out 2H

Karl responded to my question about the trigger, so that’s something for me to work on.

I also thought about something last night while standing on the back patio watching the dog frolic. And this is probably something that should have hit me a long time ago, but for whatever reason it opted to hit me now.

I work at 2 speeds. I work at dry fire speed. I work at live fire speed.

I find that in dry fire I work slower. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to trying to ensure everything is done right, or maybe it’s because I don’t feel the pressure and live feedback.

I find in live fire I work faster. There’s more pressure. There’s usually a timer and a set drill (whereas dry it’s just working some fundamental skill).

Yes sometimes I work with a timer dry and sometimes live is slow and no pressure. But it just hit me that I do this, and I think it may be causing me some leve of impasse.

I grant to some extent this is how things are and should be. That I should do some things slow in dry practice because that’s how you ingrain the right movements and motions. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast and all that stuff. But this should be a deliberate choice in practice. For example, how in steps 2-5 above they are done 3/4 speed, which TLG defines as “go at a pace you are doing things right and not fumbling”. So of course, that implies steps that don’t denote speed are done full speed.

But then I get to the range and I find I go faster, and it’s not always smoother or I find myself going “gee, I had no problems with this dry”. Well, it’s because I’m not doing it like I did in dry.

My challenge to myself. Work hard in dry to do it like I should do it live, but this means doing it more correct and 100% acceptable hits, not going faster than I can handle. But the bigger challenge? Next time I do it live, I need to do it exactly like I did it in dry… at least, as far as I can perceive and measure it to be the same pace. So it may feel slow, and if it does then it does. But I want to try striving to do it all the same (except where explicitly different, like 3/4 speed) and see how it goes.

Probably not articulated very well here, but I know what I mean. 🙂

The joys of controlled flight

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Or rather, the joys of FLITECONTROL.

I love Federal Premium’s FLITECONTROL wad in their shotgun loads. It allows you to deliver a tighter payload at longer distances. I know popular (faulty) knowledge is that you want to use a shotgun to spew forth a cloud of instant death, but really you don’t want that sort of pattern. You want as tight as possible for the application at hand.

I was happy to read the new Box O’ Truth #56 doing some tests with Federal FLITECONTROL in #1 buck.  You don’t see much #1 buck, but “Old Painless” makes a viable case for it. The thing is, patterns matter because pellets matter. You are accountable for every pellet that comes out of that gun. I recall hearing a story told by Tom Givens of some police action, but I admit my memory is fuzzy on this particular story. The key thing I remember was a shotgun was involved, buckshot was involved… and all the pellets hit the bad guy… well, all pellets but one, which hit the innocent hostage. That’s not what we desire. When you have more pellets coming out of the gun, you now have more bits of lead that you have only so much control over, but still all the responsibility for. So having 15 #1 pellets vs. say 8 00 pellets, the math says with 15 you have a better chance of one going where you didn’t want it.

But then, in comes FLITECONTROL. Look at the pictures Old Painless took. Very consistent with my shotgun ammo trials. This is why FLITECONTROL is a must-have for personal defense shotgun rounds. This isn’t to encourage taking long(er) distance shots, but more so that it helps to keep the payload on target. It improves your chances of taking care of the matter at hand, and reduces chances of undesired issues.

I’m not sure I’ll adopt this #1 buck, even with the FLITECONTROL. It’s new, relatively speaking, and I’m not going to rush out and deal with this. 00 buck is pretty standard and established. In fact, I’ve desired to move from the 9 pellet to 8 pellet loads (Federal Premium Tactical FLITECONTROL 8 pellet 00 buck, reduced recoil — ATK catalog # LE133 00). But what’s cool to see from TBOT is more demonstration of FLITECONTROL and why it’s the solid (only?) choice if you’re going to use a shotgun for personal defense.

2012-07-19 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, 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 need to ask Karl about something with trigger work during dry fire. Because we don’t have reset and because I’m so conditioned to “the break” and then other artifacts of dry fire, like holding the trigger back, manually cycling the slide, then reset and fire again, I notice that I always hold the trigger back. I started instead pressing the trigger, click, then releasing the trigger to about where the reset point is. So basically, working the trigger like you really would, tho there’s no reset. I think that’s better and more correct, and creates less training artifacts. But could it have any other side-effects? Hrm.

Anyways, I did that through most of the practice, and I noticed my front sight moving less. I think when I hold the trigger back I end up holding the trigger back. Coupled with my grip, it basically forms a big tight squeeze and my brain is basically thinking to clench the hell out of the gun… which causes front sight to dip, which is no good. But when I just press and release, like a real trigger press should be, dip goes away. Hrm.

Maybe I’ve been doing my dry practice wrong all this time? *sigh*

My brain hurts

/ hsoi

TLG posts about yet another SERPA ban.

And reading all the comments defending the SERPA make my brain hurt. Because all the problems are due to poor training and lack of practice, and all we need is more training and more practice and we’ll never have any problems. Or at least, I’ve never had any problems and my data set of 1 (or maybe a few more people, like my friends) never had any problems. And so my point is proven.

*sigh*

I don’t know. Maybe it’s the engineer in me that says things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler.

The SERPA is not as simple as possible.

It’s design intentionally plays into what your trigger finger is otherwise trained to do — thus now your trigger finger must learn to do two things, not one, thus things are more complicated. But really, your finger is doing the same thing in both instances, and that’s why people shoot themselves with this holster. So if you want to keep from injuring yourself, you now must learn two things instead of one. By definition that’s not simpler.

More dohickies and parts means more things that can break and more things that can go wrong. I know you have ninja-like skills and will never end up on the ground, and you take meticulous care of your gear such that a pebble or grit will never ever enter the release mechanism and cause it to jam. I know it will never happen to you. But it’s happened…. just not to you. Simpler holsters don’t have this problem.

The design of such holsters fails from an engineering perspective. It is unnecessarily complex. Let’s ignore the fact more people have shot themselves in use of this holster. Let’s ignore why non-LEO’s even need retention holsters in the first place. Let’s ignore these don’t conceal very well. Let’s skip the fact that even after tons of training and practice we can still revert to lizard brain when the pressure is on, especially if things don’t go as smoothly as we always fantasized it would. Let’s ignore that someone might have a critical need to use their tools before they had the 10,000 repetitions to ingrain the new skill. Let’s just look at it from a pure engineering perspective and ask why? What problem is this solving, and is this really the best way to solve that problem? is there really nothing better? can we be willing to admit failure, if it means we can improve? and if the solution isn’t here today, then why aren’t we working on something better?

But in the end, my brain just hurts reading endless comment from the defenders. Their reasons don’t hold up. It comes off as nothing more than emotional appeals to defend their personal choices. Which to an extent makes sense… it’s how we humans work. But what are you interested in? Defending your ego, or defending your life?

2012-07-18 dry fire practice

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, 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

I need to get another set of weighted practice magazines, but I wish I didn’t have to buy through RINGS given my prior poor experiences with them. Well, I don’t need, but it does help to have magazines of full weight and that can also allow the slide to be cycled without locking.

 

A Girl and a Gun

/ hsoi

A local “a girl and a gun“, Julianna Crowder is featured in today’s (July 18,2012) issue of The Shooting Wire.

Founded in February of 2011 in Austin, Texas by Julianna Crowder, a female (obviously) firearms instructor, A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League was born out of Crowder’s desire to build a stronger community of women shooters.

Using a little marketing savvy and a variety of social media tools, including MeetUp.com, Crowder kicked off her A Girl & A Gun events, like Girl’s Night Out, Breakfast & Bullets, and “T” Time (the “T” is for “target” or “trigger”, natch), with just five or so participants.

And then it began to grow…and grow…and, grow faster.

This past February A Girl & A Gun celebrated its one year anniversary with 250 members. Today, they have approximately 470 members – a mere 88% growth in five months – with 11 chapters in Texas, one each in Colorado and Virginia, and chapters forming this year in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia.’

It’s been great watching Julianna work and her project grow as much as it has in such a short time.

But to author and editor Paul Erhardt, I do have to say:

A Girl & A Gun gives its members a fun, social atmosphere in which to learn about firearms, without the interference of what Michael Bane famously described as the “Little Lady Syndrome” where men are compelled to be the “experts” and end up coming across more condescending than chivalrous.

Sorry ladies. We can’t help it, it’s in our DNA.

Actually Paul, we CAN help being condescending.

Other than that, it’s a great article about Julianna’s efforts. Cheers!

Train to a higher standard

/ hsoi

There was a discussion on the Insights Training Center mailing list where someone posed a “what would you do in this scenario?” type of question. John Holschen posted some response, and this snippet in particular stood out to me:

If your question was really about the physiology of a hypothetical “hostage shot” that you have no choice but to take…
1. Anything other than a bullet in the brain or upper spine is unlikely to produce instant physiological incapacitation.
2. Not all bullets in the brain or spine will produce instant physiological incapacitation (especially from a handgun.) I.E. There are no guaranties.
On an additional note: I expect that most people in this situation would wish they were more competent in their firearms skills than they currently are (i.e. could more reliably deliver bullets to a smaller target area.)

It’s the last part that stands out.

It probably stands out to me because of this past Saturday’s Skill Builder class. We’re trying to get people to shoot to a higher standard. That B-27 target creates a horrible standard. Not just because it’s anatomically wrong, but on the TX CHL test if you get a hit within the 8 ring or higher, that’s a “good hit” earning the maximum 5 points. That 8 ring is HUGE. If you can only keep your shots within that 8 ring, you’re not doing too good. The reason is, under pressure your skills will degrade. If you can keep things in a 6″ circle even under the artificial pressure of class or competition, then when the flag flies you’ll be able to keep them i that 8-ring. If you can only keep them in that 12″ area when there’s no or very little pressure, when the flag flies you’re going to be making unacceptable hits.

I recently saw some pictures of some students that passed their TX CHL test, and the targets looked like they had been peppered by a shotgun blast (and one had a textbook case of trigger slapping/yanking). I am happy to see these folks seeking their CHL, and I hope they will seek further training to improve their skills.

In the Skill Builder, we shot at a 3″ dot and worked on groups in that 3″ dot. Then we worked to stay within the “-0″ ring of an IDPA target (8” circle) against the timer. Finally, we moved to the KRT-1 target, which has some rather small targets. The class ended with shooting the “3 Seconds or Less” drill on the A/B zones of the KRT-1, which is tougher than usual because the A/B zones on the KRT-1 are smaller than the corresponding zones on IDPA or IPSC targets.

Can you do this?

Can you do this on demand? Repeatedly?

Can you do this cold? because when you get attacked, you won’t have a chance to warm up.

You must understand that when the flag flies your skill and ability will degrade. Karl likes to bring up something Paul Ford said. Paul is ex-Austin PD and SWAT, been in a few gunfights, and Paul said something to the effect that in a gunfight you will do about 75% of your worst day at the range. So get that. It’s not your best day, it’s your worst day… and then you’ll do even worse than that. Think about your most recent bad day at the range when you just couldn’t hit shit, you just couldn’t perform. And now think about that being worse…. is that how you want to perform when your life or the life of someone you love is at stake? Or maybe you should do what it takes to ensure your worst day is at least better than most people’s best day. So that if you found yourself in that hypothetical situation that John Holschen spoke of, that you’ll have the confidence and knowledge that you can and will perform, instead of wishing you had trained harder.

2012-07-17 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

All draws from concealment, but no extra stuff involved like moving on the draw. Just focus on the draw, the press-out, and the trigger press.

I noticed I reverted to closing one eye. It’s something I have to be conscious and “fight”. But I can tell my brain isn’t totally ready to see that sort of visual input “at speed” just yet. It’ll have to get there, and the only way is subjecting it. I do need to keep this in mind next time I do live fire, so my brain can take in that visual input.

 

On small guns

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Too many people who carry a gun for personal protection choose to carry a small gun.

Why?

I reckon because they’re more concerned with daily comfort. I get a lot of fellow Texans going on about the summer heat, and how in the summer they’ll carry some tiny gun in their pocket because anything else is too hot or uncomfortable or hard to wear and conceal in summer clothing.

If that’s your choice, it is. But I myself and many others I know strap on a full-sized gun every day no problem, even in the Texas heat, and we don’t have to wear a trenchcoat to do it.

I was reading an interview with Tom Givens. I just adore Tom because he’s got so much knowledge, and is able to say everything so dead on. He’s one of the most credible sources in this area, given his personal background and that he’s had about 60 students involved in self-defense shootings. We know what he teaches works. We know he speaks from truly knowledge, not Internet Toughguy or “been around guns all my life” bravado.

I think the place where most people who carry a micro gun screw up is that they think the primary purpose of my pistol is to be comfortable and concealed. No, the primary purpose of your pistol is to fight for your life in a sudden, unforeseen crisis. So, when that crisis presents itself, that little, bitty gun is hard to grab in a hurry, it is hard to handle correctly, it’s hard to hit anything with, it doesn’t hold many bullets, and when you hit somebody with it, it doesn’t hurt much. It’s not the optimum thing to fight with. If a fight starts, I want the biggest gun I can get with the most bullets I can get in it and the biggest bullets I can stuff in it.

As an experiment, I tried carrying the M&P Shield for a while, but I gave up on it. I do believe that gun fits particular circumstances, and if it’s the biggest gun you can get then so be it. But if you can get bigger, why shouldn’t you? Tom continues:

But think about that, if you reach for a pistol only because there is a deadly threat to you or somebody you love, you better have a pistol you can fix it with. I’ve interviewed an awful lot of people after gun fights and I’ve never had anybody say to me, “You know, when the bullets started coming back this way, I wished I had a smaller, less powerful pistol with less ammo in it.”

So Caleb asks if you’re underpowered with a wheelgun:

…and as I sit here typing this am carrying a Kahr PM9. All of those guns are not my first choice, but they’re guns and that’s something.

If it’s not your first choice, then why did you choose it? Granted, circumstances may dictate, e.g. a need for very deep concealment. These things happen. But if you have the choice, why would you intentionally cripple yourself? Tom’s thoughts:

I think carrying a small, inadequate pistol may be better than nothing, but I’m not really sure about that. You might be better to just take off running instead of shooting somebody with a thoroughly inadequate gun.

In the end, it’s your life and your choice as to how you wish to value it. And yes, I’m with Tom on this one because well… a good way to help you on the road to success is to see what other successful people do and emulate them. You may not reach the same level of success as they do, or you may exceed it. But no matter exactly where you end up, your chances of succeeding due to following success tends to be greater than if you take some other path.

I’ll leave you with these words from Mr. Givens:

One of the things we do in training is reintroduce the reality of why we carry a gun, and to put a sense of urgency into it. Maybe you’ll never need it, but if you do need it, you are going to need it horribly and maybe it is going to be your life at stake.

I saw a tagline the other day on an Internet forum that I thought was just incredibly bright. It said, “It’s not the odds. It’s the stakes.” And boy, there’s a lot of wisdom in that statement.

We don’t carry the gun because of the odds we’re going to need it today. We carry it because the stakes are our own life or the life of a loved one. That is what we are literally betting. So if you go out unarmed or you go out inadequately armed, you are betting your life, you are betting your children’s lives, you are betting your spouse’s life. I am not willing to bet the lives of the people I love on some tiny, little pocket rocket.

2012-07-16 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, 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

Simple enough.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’ve finally hit a breakthrough with my eyes and am able to shoot both eyes open — I still see “double” but my brain is able to cut the path and know the right visual input. I shot the dry routine this way, and will keep shooting all my dry routines this way, because obviously shooting this way is NOT ingrained in me because as far as I can recall my life-fire is still closing one eye.

Shot with my full-sized M&P9, racking the slide for a proper trigger break every time. Of course, couldn’t practice reset. If someone can make a trainer in the M&P form factor that can simulate reset with a good ApexTactical-like trigger, oh, I would buy that in a heartbeat. I will generally practice this way, unless noted otherwise.

Also noticed a strong desire to firm up my grip, especially the ring and pinky fingers on both hands… which causes a lot of “pull” and tension in the wrist flexors. But that really helps me prevent any movement in the front sight as I work the trigger. Tight tight tight… and if you think you’re tight, you probably aren’t.