Just got home….. long long day. Tired, wet, but happy.
More later.
Me
Quiet
Busy. Will write more soon.
New Shooter Report
After a few false starts (Oldest learning about achieving goals and being task focused, failing a few times but finally succeeding, thus here we are), I was able to take Oldest out to the Austin Rifle Club. Due to circumstances, Youngest had to come too, which was cool. I’ll speak about each in turn.
Magazine Pouch Purchased
I’ve gone from pondering to purchasing.
Injuries suck
For the past few weeks I’ve been having some pains in my hands, especially my left hand. It’s difficult to grip things even slightly tightly. Trying to get that Todd Jarrett Kung-Fu Action grip on my gun? forget it, it’s way painful, especially in the knuckles of my left hand. 😦
I have some spring clamps in my garage for woodworking and repair needs. I sometimes just squeeze them to work on my grip strength. I can barely squeeze it with my left hand, without pain.
I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’m suspecting it’s due to typing all day and having slacked off recently in my posture. Especially with my left arm because I picked up a bad habit of resting my left elbow outward while typing thus canting my left wrist and stretching out the ligaments on the back of my hand leading up to my index finger. When I look at the mechanics of it all, it makes sense given the way the pain hits me.
I haven’t been to my martial arts classes in a couple weeks because it all involves either hitting things with my hands or having to grip/grab things. I figured there was no reason to risk making it worse. My hands are very important to me, especially given how vital they are to my earning a living.
*sigh*
But I just came in from doing my first workout in weeks. Swung my sticks around for a while, then some calisthenics like push-ups. Things to work with my hands but not work them too hard. It wasn’t too bad. I think I’m going to get back into the swing of things and just take it as it comes. Of course, I’m also kicking myself for not working out at all. I could shadow box, I could work on other empty hand things, or I could have just gone back and practiced my Kuk Sool hyung to keep my conditioning up. I don’t know why I didn’t do that stuff, but back in the saddle I go.
Where will this journey lead?
I remember going to “horse camp” a few summers as a kid, and I did some one-off horse rides at other times in my youth. It was fun to ride horses, but I never developed a passion or developed much interest in them. Heck, as a young child somehow I got to be part of a National Geographic book on pets (me and 2 of my cats were photographed for it). One thing I recall from that book was a chart discussing each type of pet in the book. The chart contained things like the food they would eat, care required, activity level, housing needs, etc.. There’s one row in the chart that always stuck out in my mind: cost. I will also never forget that of all the animals listed in the chart, only one was listed as high cost.
Horses.
Friday miscellaneous
I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid…
Zipped over to the indoor range this morning to recheck the zero on my hunting rifle. When I was last at the range I had some issues with zeroing and so I wanted to ensure I went back to reconfirm. Got there, shot at 100 yards, cold barrel, hunting load, nailed it just where I wanted it. Shot 2 more rounds, grouped well. Gave it a couple clicks left just to fine-tune, 2 more rounds. It seems to be going where I want it. Any fault now lies with the shooter, not the gun. Was at the range maybe 20 minutes total, which was fine with me. I was the first customer in the door this morning. As I was packing up, lots of folks were coming in. You can tell other hunters are getting ready for the season.
I also had my first real hunting dream last night. I was up in the tree stand, looking down at the hunting grounds. Just a large vast tract of land, but trees and scrub and other such stuff out there. It was early morning, the sun just starting to creep up and light just starting to come into play. I would see some animal, shoulder my rifle, but then not shoot because I would see another animal and change to that. Some of the animals were takers, some not. I recall a zebra. Not 100% sure where that came from, Wife thinks it’s because of my newfound love of Pearls Before Swine. Never shot anything, but I could see the land, the animals. I could feel the cold air. The anticipation. The excitement.
I’m thinking about shooting in the steel match on Sunday. Don’t know yet. We’ve been having a lot of rain (finally) and the range may be too muddy, yet again. No word yet if the match is on or not. If it is on, not 100% sure I’ll shoot it as I’m feeling that I’d like this weekend to sit around and do nothing with my Wife and Kids. Either way, while I was at the gun range I picked up an inexpensive bag for the Buck Mark to make it easier to tote around.
Finally got my badge/passes to the Austin Rifle Club. I’m a full-fledged member now. I hope now I can make it a fairly regular thing to get to the range, and to take the kids.
Final thoughts?
Give someone a hug today. Call your mother. Smile, laugh, play. Don’t spend too much time on Facebook… go outside. 🙂
My flashlight
I carry a flashlight with me wherever I go. Why? Because it’s useful.
I never carried a dedicated flashlight, even something like a cheap little keychain fob LED. A couple years ago I started to carry one, and now I can’t live without it. You just don’t realize the utility and cannot appreciate it until you have one on you. There are more than enough times you’ll find yourself out and about, in a low light situation, and you will find it useful to have a light. Our eyes tend to work better that way. 🙂
The flashlight I carry is a SureFire E2L Outdoorsman.
I know. It’s boring. It’s not some tacti-cool flashlight like their Z2 or G2Z or the E2D Defender or 6P Defender. That’s OK and how I wanted it. I didn’t want a flashlight that draws attention. I wanted a flashlight I could take onto an airplane and have no one think twice about. I wanted a flashlight that I could pull out at a Scout campout and no parent or BSA policy would freak out over. I wanted a flashlight I could use on a daily basis, but that I could also use in a self-defense situation if necessary. I think the E2L fits that bill.
Many of the “tactical” flashlights are designed around a very powerful beam of light. That’s great for blinding people, for flooding an area with light. But what if you’re working on something close up? What if you’re out camping, it’s nighttime, you need to read a map. Having 100+ lumens reflecting off the map back into your eyes is not enjoyable. The E2L has two settings: a low power with 3 lumens, and a high power with 60. The low power is actually still fairly bright: shine it in someone’s eyes and they will be blinded; I’ve had it reflect off some close-up materials and still mess up my vision. The high power may not be as bright as some other flashlights, but it’s still amazingly bright. I recall on one campout using my E2L as a floodlight, holding it at arms length above my head, to light the way for a bunch of Cub Scouts and it lit up the pathway some nearly 100′ out like daylight. Another parent was using one of their cheap-o $2 special flashlights and it didn’t illuminate much past the end of their feet. So the variable light output is a big part of why I like this flashlight, because it enables more practical daily use.
The clip on the flashlight is also helpful as a daily flashlight. Just attach it to something like a hat brim and you’ve got hands-free light.
To use the flashlight in a self-defense context, I’ve found the flashlight works fine. It provides ample light, even if all you get is the low beam. In fact, to quickly switch from low to high beam is a mini strobe effect which at least when I’ve surprised some friends doing a quick “from darkness, to low beam to high beam” flicker has proven to be a bit more disorienting than just flashing to a single beam. I have not struck anyone or anything with the flashlight, but I feel that it could work fine for such a thing. The bezel doesn’t have the extreme crenellation the “Defender” flashlights have nor the added strengths of say the Pyrex window, but there’s a mild crenellation and certainly if the flashlight doesn’t survive the encounter I’m not going to sweat it too much… I can always buy another one afterwards.
I’ve been quite happy with the flashlight. I’ve tried using a more dedicated “tactical light” as a carry flashlight, but how often do you need such a thing? If you’re a police officer, perhaps so. But for private citizen me, most of my portable light needs are just daily needs to help me see where I’m going or what lurks in some dark area. I feel the SureFire E2L Outdoorsman provides me with a flashlight that addresses daily needs quite well, and doesn’t leave me feeling at any sort of disadvantage in other possible use areas.
Note: I’m not affiliated with SureFire. No compensation or anything for this. This is just private me talking about the gear I use.
How disheartened should I be?
Last night, Wife had a workshop to attend so it was just me and the kiddos.
We had dinner at home, then opted to go out for ice cream. The particular shop we went to has a place outside where you can sit, kids can run and play, and you can just enjoy the evening. The weather was fantastic last night, so outside we went. Being a gorgeous Friday night, lots of other people were out and about, many kids running around, chasing each other, playing. A good night.
As soon as we found a spot, we sat and started to eat. Not a few seconds later did I look over and see a little girl maybe 8-10 years old lying in the grass on her back, crying pretty hard, holding her head. One of her friends was kneeling over her asking if she was OK. I could hear the crying girl affirming she was OK, so as I watched for a few seconds I was observing a few things: was she in fact OK? give it a few seconds to see if she shakes it off, gets up, and keeps on playing? Parents coming over to check on her? Well, I saw none of this. Little girl remained on the ground crying, no adults whatsoever coming around. In fact, there was a lady sitting on a rock between me and the little girl (i.e. right there not 10 feet from the girl, closer than I was) and the lady never made a move to check on the girl.
After a few seconds, I opted to go over and check on the girl. I asked her if she was OK, she continued to nod yes and got up off the ground, sill crying, but I could tell she was OK. She ran off to go find her parents. I watched the girl run off, over the hill, down to another restaurant then lost track of her. A minute or so later I noticed a couple of the other girls that were in the same pack were pushing each other with mean looks on their faces and one got knocked to the ground. I was “this close” to stepping in but as soon as the one girl hit the ground everything broke off on their own. As I saw these girls throughout the evening, they were all still playing with each other so who knows what the social dynamic was.
So what bugged me about this?
That no one cared.
The place was swarming with adults, but there’s a little girl… crying… lying on the ground in pain. And no one noticed. No one (but me) cared. If anyone did notice, they didn’t feel any motivation to check on her and help her. I’m not painting myself as a saint, but rather an observation of how oblivious people are.
As my own children played and ran around, I kept an eye on them but also watched all the other people. Task fixation was rampant. People minded their own children to some extent, but then there was little mind paid to what was going on around them. I was just a bit appalled. Why is this? What has come of our society?
Furthermore, I watched other children on the playground. I saw the general lack of manners, turn taking, consideration for others. Then I saw their parents, and the role model was evident. Not all were this way, but many were.
Then we walk through the parking lot and I see people just walking out in front of moving cars. I don’t care if you have a legal right of way, if the driver doesn’t see you, you will lose the battle with the ton of steel hurtling towards you. Why do people do this? Sense of entitlement? Ignorance? An “I’m right and fuck you!” attitude? I don’t get it.
Just how disheartened should I be in my fellow man?
I am no saint. I used the opportunities from last night to talk with my children to reinforce some valuable lessons (teachable moment). Yes sometimes you have to resist, but sometimes it is better to yield. Pay attention to the world around you. Be polite. Treat people as you want to be treated. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Range Report – always good to learn something
Went to the Austin Rifle Club this morning with Tom Hogel. Tom is becoming a good friend, and he’s certainly a mentor for me in the realm of shooting (and some other areas too; I learn a lot from him). It was good to have his eyes looking over my shoulder, and I always welcome his input and corrections.
So we met for breakfast (big mushroom omelette, side of grits, fresh squeeze grapefruit juice… mmmm), then headed to the range.
Working
My intention was to work on things from the Combined Skills class, Tom’s intent was to work on some 25 yard shooting. I started just warming up at about 7-10 yards and was shooting OK. Tom was watching me and he directed me over to his 25 yard setup. I was shooting for accuracy and not hitting where I was shooting. Tried Tom’s gun and was nailing it, Tom tried my gun and was also a bit high, so there’s suspect that my sights might be hitting high at longer distances. I’m not convinced that’s the case just yet (1. we should have used a benchrest to verify, but didn’t, 2. I have other issues which I’m about to detail), but I have noted it for later to check into. Watching me shoot more and me paying attention to my shooting, some things were noticed.
First thing noticed by Tom was my trigger finger was bumping into the frame of the gun, thus pushing my shots to the left. I didn’t notice it myself, but once he mentioned it I did notice. My finger is coming into the trigger guard at a downward angle with the pad of my finger touching the “top” of the trigger (where it comes out of the frame); thus, that means the side of my trigger finger gets pressed into the frame and my finger works at a downward angle. When I moved my finger pad to tough the end of the trigger, all was better. Tom suspected it might be subconscious… my fingers are hurting from the past weekend, I’ve got a rubbed raw spot on my right middle finger (where it comes up under the trigger guard), so my body might be trying to avoid it. I suspect not. I suspect it’s just an unconscious shifting of my hands or a poor grip from the get go. I’ll have to watch for this and do a lot of dry fire to try to get the proper trigger finger back.
Second thing was uneven hand pressure. I’ve noticed this lately. I’ve been working hard on that “Todd Jarrett kung fu grip” where you “grip 20% harder”, and there’s no question it helps with recoil management. But what happened was I was putting a majority of my grip into the left hand. It was an effort to put more into my pinky area, to counter the arc the gun takes when it recoils. While it worked well for recoil management, the trouble was I noticed it turned my grip into a Weaver-esque “push-pull” sort of tension. That’s not what you want. What you want is a neutral grip (read Brian Enos‘s book). I had noticed this in the past some weeks, it was alluded to during the Combined Skills weekend, and Tom mentioned it again. So today I worked on that a bit, adjusting my grip (along with the trigger finger), and lo… shooting improved.
Another thing that came from this. I’ve been having problems where I’m shooting and next thing I know my magazine drops free. Not good. I’ve been trying to determine why this is happening. Is it something I’m doing? bad magazine? faulty magazine catch? I’m not sure, and honestly I’m still not 100% sure of the problem, but I suspect it’s me. While shooting today (i.e. being aware of trying to look for the problem), I noticed that upon recoil my left index finger is wrapped around such that it contacts the magazine release on the right side of the gun. Is that what’s happening? I don’t know, but it’s highly suspect. No mags dropped free today, but feeling where my fingers shifted during recoil I can’t help but wonder.
Playing
After having shot a bit, Tom pulled out his .44 magnum revolver. Big gun, heavy. Slick trigger on it. I shot some target loads and they were no big deal. Shot one powerful CorBon load… ooh, that kicks. It wasn’t too bad, to be honest. The main thing it did was fuel my desire for a big revolver. 🙂
Also, every time I shoot one of Tom’s XD-45’s (all Springer Precision customized) I want to get my XD-9 5″ customized.
As well, picking up all of that .45 ACP brass… yeah, I want a gun in .45 ACP. 1911… mmmm….
Got to finally try out the SureFire Shottimer iPhone app. It works but… being under the tin roof of the range, I think there was just too much noise/concussion for the microphone to pick up everything. If a shot went fast enough it could miss a follow-up shot. I played around with the settings some and couldn’t get it quite right. I’ll keep playing with it tho. It’s free so why not.
Summary
So what did I learn:
- Need to be aware of trigger finger bumping into the frame
- Need to even out my grip pressure – neutral pressure.
- Keep watching my grip, if it’s causing the right-side mag release to hit.
- .44 Mag is fun
- I want lots and lots of money to buy more guns and customize them too. 😉
- Tom’s a lot of fun to hang out with.
A good start to the weekend, I’d say.
Stuff From Hsoi 