The KR Training May 2012 Newsletter is available.

Biggest news is the schedule for the rest of 2012 is up. Classes have been filling up fairly quickly, so my recommendation to you is to sign up as soon as possible.

5th grade student finds a gun on the school playground. (h/t JayG)

Why haven’t you heard about this? Because the only way this would have been covered by the national media is if the child shot himself or worse (better? ratings, y’know) started shooting up the rest of the students.

But instead, the child followed safety procedures — you know, the ones taught by that evil NRA in their dastardly “Eddie Eagle” program. Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.

And so, it wasn’t reported. It’s not “newsworthy”.

I applaud the child. I applaud the school for allowing the program to be taught to all students. If all the anti-gunners really cared about saving lives and “won’t someone think of the children”, they’d appreciate such programs for just such a reason. You can hate guns all you want, but the reality is they are around and no ban will ever eliminate them (criminals will always have them). So the best way to keep kids safe is through education… because for some reason we believe education is so vital, yet this seems to be one area where some believe ignorance is preferrable.

*sigh*

A woman was shot by a stray bullet while changing her child’s diaper in her Bastrop County home Saturday morning, police said.

Full story here, (h/t Brian)

This was “accidental” in that it appears there was no intent to harm anyone. But, if the facts of the article are correct, it wasn’t an accident, it was negligence … or ignorance about what a “safe direction” is.

Four men were found shooting on a nearby property and are suspected of firing the errant round that hit Jones, among a few others that hit her home and her husband’s car about 9:20 a.m. Saturday, Dezarn said.

Adel Mandavi, 26, Pouyan Mandavi, 21, Hani Zahrooni, 23, and Mani Zahrooni, 23, all of Austin, have all been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony and remain in Bastrop County jail Sunday, according to jail records and Dezarn.

“They didn’t have a proper backstop. (They were shooting at) just a clump of trees that had fallen over,” Dezarn said. “They were just kind of blasting away.”

They didn’t have a proper backstop, just shooting at a clump of trees.

Another article covering the story says they were shooting at a “deer box” (or maybe she said “beer box”? I listened to it a few times and couldn’t tell). Either way, cardboard certainly won’t stop a bullet nor will plywood that is commonly used to make deer blinds.

I think it’s time to go back and read this article on “what is a safe direction”.

The key here is where the bullet will come to rest. A clump of trees is not a solid object that can stop a bullet (not like a 15′ high mound of dirt). And it would seem numerous bullets did not come to rest.

Unfortunately the 4 men are now charged with a felony, and they won’t be able to own or shoot a gun again (if convicted). They’re all also pretty young, and the rest of their lives forever altered.

The Rules exist for a reason. While I certainly advocate getting as much education and training as possible, if nothing else please follow the core rules, be they the NRA 3 Rules or Col. Cooper’s 4 Rules. They’re there precisely to prevent situations like this.

While Apex Tactical Specialties hasn’t officially released trigger parts for the M&P Shield, they have released some research information. One key tidbit is the sear is the same as the full-sized M&P’s.

This bodes well.

So I picked up an Apex hard sear and set about installing it.

It’s pretty easy.

First, watch this video made by Randy Lee of Apex:

While that’s for the full-sized M&P, it’s MOSTLY the same. And really, it’s not too hard to do if you have some patience and the right tools. Yes, you need the right tools.

Some differences.

The Shield has a thumb safety, so that mechanism will be part of the mix. I don’t know what it’s like on a full-sized M&P, but on the Shield it does wrap around the sear assembly so it will come out. Because of that and how the trigger bar inserts into it, you will have to do a little finagling to wiggle the assembly out of the frame. Be careful, don’t bend/break your trigger bar! And also be mindful to look at how the bar end inserts into the assembly so you can put it back together correctly.

You will also need to take the safety bar off the assembly, because of how the sear pin works. Taking it off isn’t hard. Don’t force anything. If you look at the assembly you’ll see how the bar can be moved around, dropped down through some slots, and then gently “twisted” off the assembly. Again, there should be NO need to force anything. Just look at the assembly and work slow and easy. You should be able to figure it out.

This is needed because one end of the sear pin has a cap on it, which ends up being under the safety’s thumb bar. Thus why you need to take the safety bar off. But then getting the pin out is easy. And do as Randy says and shows in the video – keep the assembly upright!

When you have the factory sear out, compare it to the Apex sear to see what’s different. It’s so slight, but makes such a big difference.

Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly, and when you try to work the assembly back into the frame, if it’s hard do NOT force it. Chances are you don’t have the end of the trigger bar back and into the assembly all the way. Check that, and once it’s all the way inserted, the assembly should drop into the frame easily. Apart from these few little things, it works like the video.

Again, NOTHING should be forced in any of this procedure. And if you screw up your gun, it’s not my fault. If you don’t know what you’re doing, if you have any doubts, take this to a gunsmith. I assume no responsibility here for you or your stuff.

But now that it’s back together?

Oh my.

It’s a big improvement.

There’s not that hard wall of a trigger break point, and it certainly doesn’t take as much effort to pull. I don’t have a pull weight gauge, but I’d say the improvement was along the lines of what Randy shows in the video (e.g. a 4-5# trigger). It’s still a bit gritty, but it’s certainly more pleasant to use. I am very curious to see what else Apex does in their “Shield Carry Kit” to improve the trigger.

I’m pleased, and can’t wait to try it out at the range.

Back in the “explaining going faster without necessarily going faster” article, timaustintx posted a video of current USPSA Production champ Ben Stoeger shooting the F.A.S.T. drill.

Here’s the video:

Ben shoots the drill a few times, putting up amazing times on each run. What’s different about each run is he uses different gear and technique. And take note of the final comment he makes.

Gear matters.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, the tools you use can help or hinder you. It’s not just in shooting; in my daily life as an iOS programmer, using Apple’s blessed toolset of Xcode helps me write apps. I’ve seen some people try to use alternative toolsets and they always struggle or have shortcomings. In constructing a house, having a good hammer and proper screwdrivers enables you to better get the job done. Proper tools, and then the best of those tools will help you accomplish the task.

This is why in classes we implore people to get proper guns, ones that fit. Why we want people to get good holsters, good magazine pouches. They will help you shoot better, and yes the crappy stuff you bought at Academy will hinder you. Ben’s video is good demonstration of this because he’s got top skill and the only thing changing is his gear… and it affects his shooting.

To follow up on the “going faster” post tho, check out Ben’s “take 2” of the FAST drill.

Some people were giving Ben a hard time for not shooting the drill exactly as written. So Ben made this second video, and still put up awesome times. Heck, shooting the drill at 25 yards he shoots it better than most people do at 7 yards.

While there’s a lot of things you can learn from watching Ben’s videos, the one thing I want you to focus on in terms of the “going faster” context is how Ben changes up speed.

Watch Ben’s non-shooting movements. Look at his draw, his reload. Look how fast they are, and look how they are the same speed regardless of the distance he’s shooting at. He’s always fast on these things, not wasting time. But he changes up his speed when required, such as at 25 yards (you have to go slower at longer distances or smaller targets). It’s not one steady acceleration curve from start buzzer to end buzzer, but going at the right speed for the subtask at hand. And notice that while Ben changes up his speeds, he’s still “going faster” but not “going faster” and puts up some amazing times on this drill.

So don’t think that to go fast you always have to go fast. There’s more to it.

 

This past Saturday’s KR Training time was just one class, Basic Pistol 2. What was different was the KR in KR Training wasn’t with us. Karl was taking a well-earned day off, so this class was being run by Tom Hogel and staffed with myself, Paul Martin, and Ed Vinyard.

Things went quite smooth. Twelve students of varying demographics and experience levels. Equipment was in pretty good shape too for this class. Usually we have a lot more people with problem equipment, but we had only one that I think is going to ditch his DA/SA gun for something like a Glock or M&P. We don’t have to convince people of this, they convince themselves. Once they have to really run their equipment, they find out how much it doesn’t work. It’s just good that guns have a fair resale value.

All in all, class went smooth. The recent cold fronts and rain gave us some great weather. And with a good group of students that came with minds open and ready to learn, we couldn’t ask for a better day.

Biggest thing to emphasize to those in the class? Slow down. Yes, you have to know that speed matters, but right now you need to be correct. You now understand proper technique, so now is the time to apply it. Don’t worry about speed, don’t worry about trying to go fast; worry about trying to be correct and do it right every time. That said, don’t waste time, don’t dawdle. Realize that speed will matter and is something to work towards, but for now, work on learning the motions and being correct.

FWIW, a new class called “Skill Builder” is starting and will be running fairly regularly. I’d recommend folks check this class out as a way to practice under the eye of an instructor, and also to gain assessment of where you are and need to go.

Finally… Karl left a new acquisition for us at the ranch to try out. An M&P-22. Man, that’s a fun gun! In most all respects it’s the same as a full-sized M&P, just in .22 caliber. From what I remember now as I write this, the backstraps were not interchangeable, I don’t recall how ambidextrous-friendly it is, and the gun does feel lighter in the hand which make sense since the barrel and slide can’t be as heavy. Oh, and I do recal the trigger was actually pretty decent and had a tactile reset! It was a lot of fun to shoot, and certainly would make for a good .22 pistol, either as a trainer alternative from your regular M&P or just as a .22 to have fun with. It did have some ammo-related problems, like failures to feed, failure to eject, stove pipes, and such, but we’re not sure if those were due to the gun or due to the ammo itself. Would need more testing to determine, and I’m sure we’ll have a line of people willing to test that out. Fun little gun!

I took the M&P Shield out to KR Training last Saturday for Basic Pistol 1 and Defensive Pistol Skills 1. My original intention was to take it just for the BP1 class to have all the students try shooting it, given the “buffet” nature of the class. However a few days before class, Karl told me of a returning student that wanted to try shooting the Shield during DPS1. I remember the student, she had small hands, and so it made good sense to have her try it because that’s the main thing we’re thinking the Shield would be good for: folks with small hands. Plus I figured it’d be good to have the gun run for a little while in some different classes and environments, get more rounds through it and so on.

So how did it go?

I think alright.

I read somewhere someone’s description of the Shield as “too big to be a small gun, and too small to be a big gun”. I think that’s a reasonable description. It’s not really a pocket gun, tho I guess if you had big cargo pants pockets it could work; it certainly fits into the pocket of some of my larger cargo pants/shorts. But it’s not big enough to do things like allow me a really good grip on it, or have a nice long sight radius. But wearing it in a holster on my belt? That’s fine, and frankly I think a bit more appropriate than in a pocket.

There’s no question that it fits well for folks with small hands. Numerous sets of small hands went onto the gun and they worked out quite well. The recoil spring is strong so it takes a bit of work for people to rack the slide (many times small hands also means less strength), but with good technique it can be done. So this bodes well.

Given the “small/weak hands” situation tho… the trigger. Well, it can be worked, but it’s got such a heavy break on it that it can make it harder for these very people to shoot it. It’s not impossible at all, but they’ll probably shoot it better if they got some trigger work done. I’d be curious to see how the forthcoming Apex Tactical SCK trigger kit could help things out here for folks.

The gun ran well during the day. Probably had 300 rounds put through it over the course of the day (so now about 500 total). I only saw a couple problems. First, the slide often didn’t go into battery. My suspicion here isn’t the gun but the operator, but it does harken back to issues of strength and technique. Second, the lack of magazines was a bit hampering for a class. Whenever Smith & Wesson finally starts selling magazines, you’ll want to get a bunch. Having just the 2 magazines made it difficult to manage class. Plus, while the magazines claim 7 and 8 round capacity, you really only want to use 6 and 7, else it can become difficult to seat the magazines. Again, this harkens back to a strength issue.

I’m happy that the gun continues to run and seems to be getting better with break-in.

It’s a little hard to shoot because it’s a bit muzzle-flippy and a bit hard to get a grip on. It’s also a bit hard to manipulate. While it’s certainly proving to be a good fit for smaller hands, if those smaller hands are also weaker hands well… the gun isn’t unmanageable, but it can be tough. Technique can help overcome this tho, but that’s going to require some training and practice.

I’m not down on the gun at all…. just trying to be realistic about it. It’s quite appealing given the name, the engineering behind it, the features, the pricepoint. But is it just going to be sexy, or actually useful? I’d like to be useful in general and to specifically solve problems for people.