Range Day

Today we took some time out with Range Partner to sling some lead downrange. It was the first time M and Range Partner had met and the first time M has gone shooting with me (and as far as I know, only the second time she has ever shot handguns).

Along for the ride was Grand-Dad's High Standard, both the Glocks and the Sig. Range Partner brought a Glock of his own at my request, a Glock 21 with a .22 caliber conversion kit. Younger Son also came along, but he and Range Partner took turns with a .357 Taurus snubbie that Range Partner brought along.

After a review of the Four Rules (the first time M had ever heard them, so we went over them pretty extensively) and some basic instruction on grip, sights, stance and operation (I was ever grateful for the instruction I received at Tigerswan because all I did was review with her what I remembered from learning there) we loaded up and started putting rounds downrange.

First up was the 9mm Glock 19, followed by the Glock 21 with the .22 conversion kit installed. I wish I could say these were my targets...but no. Two fliers, one .22 and one 9mm, in the eight ring and the rest in the black, with two of the .22 and one 9mm solidly in the X.

Next up was the .45 Sig. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to shoot it, but she at least wanted to try it out. Four rounds went into the Sig, and when the smoke cleared two of them were in the eight ring and two in the ten. Next up she wanted to try the Glock 21 in Gods Own Caliber. So, off came the .22 conversion and on went the .45 slide and magazine, five rounds in the magazine...and as you can plainly see, two in the nine, two in the ten and one in the X.

Not bad shooting...for a guuuuurl.

Yeah. Not bad shooting for anyone, and when you consider this was her second time at the gun range to shoot handguns (and since the first time was a "here, point this that way and pull the trigger" you may as well say it was her first time) you could say that was pretty excellent shooting. Hell, she out-shot me, and I couldn't be prouder.

I really wish I could send her to one of Kathy Jackson's classes to learn how to shoot properly, but I will certainly find some instruction for her somewhere. I was OK with showing her the basics, but I'm not an instructor and everyone can do with some instruction. (Speaking of which Sean...isn't it about time for another Tigerswan class?)

There just might have to be a Glock 21 in her future as well.

Someone Is Paying Attention

I've had a Marlin 795 on my Guns I Want list for a while now to make a Liberty Training Rifle for Appleseed out of. The Marlin only needs sights and a sling to make it a good LTR while the more popular Ruger 10/22 seems to need an extensive list of modifications to make it a good shooter. All told I figure the Marlin fully modified would cost about as much as a Ruger out of the box.

Someone at Marlin has apparently been paying attention to the Appleseed Project because now they are getting ready to offer the 795 in an Appleseed configuration. It will come complete with the sights and sling, a spare magazine, and some fancy etching on the side. The only thing it would need to be absolutely perfect would be a wooden stock, but unfortunately that is not offered on any of the 795 models.

At first I thought the $300 asking price was a little bit on the steep side, but then I noticed that there is a certificate for an Appleseed weekend that goes along with it. In my opinion that makes the asking price more than reasonable. I've got my info in to be contacted when they come available.

I certainly hope I won't have to wait too long.

UPDATE: The wait was too much to bear. For a little less, and without the engraving, I have the rifle I want.

HT: Bob Owens

How Cool Is This

When Middle Daughter showed an interest in learning to shoot the first thing I did was buy her a copy of this book.

When we went to the range I called Range Partner and he brought his collection so that we would have a variety for her to try out, starting with the .22 High Standard. I want her to enjoy just shooting as much as I do regardless of whether she ever carries for personal protection, and going by the range day I think that mission was pretty well accomplished.

The author of the referenced book now has a website. If you have a lady in your life that you would like to introduce to shooting I highly recommend both book and website.

Also fellas, read it (book, website or both) yourself. It could prevent you from making some pretty basic and stupid mistakes when it comes to teaching your ladies how to shoot.  Including maybe making the decision to let someone else do it.

NOTE: Check out her link for TTAG. It's not what you think. Or at least it wasn't what I thought. Well done!

Strive To Deserve It

Tam had a post up today that consisted, in Tam fashion, of a thought-provoking statement (in this case a quote) with a link and not much more. The desired outcome, of course, is for you to follow the link and draw your own conclusions.

The link lead to a gun board discussion about situational awareness, which included a link to a personal experience story, which contained a comment from Weer'd containing a link to this story.

Within the comments of that story lies the title of this post.

The bad guys are out there. Just because you carry does not make you ready. You have to pay attention, too.

It frightens me just how much I sometimes fail at that last bit. I've been getting better at paying attention to my surroundings, but the more I start paying attention the more I realize how lucky I've been so far.

Which, obviously, is the purpose of this whole exercise.

Notes For Trainers

either real or imagined:

1) Disparaging remarks about the training I have just received and the trainers that provided it will not convince me that I need to train with you.

2) If I ask you what you teach, I expect an answer. A question is not an answer. Asking me what I want to know is a question, the answer being "I want to know what you teach" which, oddly enough, was the original question.

3) If you can offer "the same class" at 1/3 the price I will probably expect 1/3 the training, either in facilities or in experience. In your case I would assume both.

Fundamentals, Executed Perfectly

Dry fire exercise, when properly performed, is exercise.

A couple of things I have learned just from the past three days (Sunday, Tuesday and today; I missed Monday afternoon and had to make it up Tuesday morning) of dry fire exercise:

My trigger control is getting better. I still occasionally pull off, particularly when I have been at it for a while and am getting tired, but it doesn't happen nearly as often, even after only three days.

My forearms ache. Properly executing that grip puts quite a bit of strain on the muscles in the left forearm, particularly when you are gripping as tightly as (humanly possible) you are supposed to.

The grip is the foundation on which all the other control methods build. Properly executed the grip allows everything else to fall into place. This may sound simplistic, but believe me it came as quite a revelation after only a couple of days worth of dry firing when I suddenly realized my sight picture and trigger control were improving.

Concentrating on sight picture rather than the target is harder than it sounds. I have had to do it without my glasses, or by looking through bottoms of the bifocals, because when I wear my straight lenses the sights are too close and they blur. Curse my old eyes! It looks like I will have to bow to the inevitable and ditch the straight lenses all together.

Ten minutes doesn't seem like much, but after five I am ready to quit. I have to force myself to finish, and when I have to force myself to finish I also have to force myself to do things the right way. Training consists of forcing yourself to do things the right way while you have the time so that when you don't have the time you will do things the right way automatically.

Stance. Grip. Presentation. Sights. Blur the target. Trigger control. Follow through.
Stance. Grip. Presentation. Sights. Blur the target. Trigger control. Follow through.
Stance. Grip. Presentation. Sights. Blur the target. Trigger control. Follow through.

Am I leaving anything out?

All In Perspective

Now that I've had time to sleep on it I am still disappointed in my performance yesterday, but I know how to fix it so that's what I'm going to do.

When I was at the height of my disgust with myself I said I was going to take up a different hobby, like needlepoint. That was never going to happen, of course.

I started the day with ten minutes of draw, reload and dry-fire exercises.  This will be my normal daily routine from now on.

I know how to get better. I will get better. I know how to do it now.

And as an aside note I am looking for a Glock 9mm that fits my hand like the G36.  Is there one? Suggestions? Yes, it must be a Glock since that is what I carry, and I want it in nine for its inexpensive feeding habits.

UPDATE: It looks like the Glock 26 and the 36 are very comparable in size. Does anyone have one that they would be willing to comment on?

Train Like You Fight

and fight like you train (except for Sean S. No one wants to see that).

I used to hear that a lot from the Chiefs, and they are right. What you learn to do in training is what you will do under pressure, and if what you learned is wrong (or if you never learned the right way at all) you will do it wrong when it counts.  Training is all about practicing how to do it right.

The bad news is I have trained myself how to do a lot of things wrong. The good news is now I know what I have to do to fix it.

Among the things I learned:

Serpa holsters, to borrow a phrase, are miserable balls of suck and fail when it comes time to rapidly draw. No I didn't shoot myself in the leg (never even came close) but having to activate the release certainly delayed my presentation. It is now in the box of rejected holsters.

My Grok does not like to go through more than about 100 to 150 rounds of white box Winchester before it wants to be cleaned.  I got a lot of practice clearing malfunctions. Good for the training I suppose, but not so good for the shooting.

Doing it the right way includes a lot of things you have to think about in the proper order, and by the time we had worked up to number three or four my brain was frazzled.

Doing it the right way hurts in places I didn't know I had.

Practice, practice, practice.

I need to shoot more.

If you ever get a chance to attend the basic pistol class at Tigerswan, leap at the opportunity.  It's money well spent. Just be warned, if you don't shoot a lot, or if you have never taken a formal class, be prepared to be humbled.  These guys are good, and they will show you how to be good, too.

All in all it was great getting to put faces to names, the camaraderie was good, and the training was, too. There were six bloggers including your humble scribe and four non-bloggers, including a father/daughter team in which Daughter out-shot Father and Father is all kinds of proud over it.

Bloggers in attendance were Sean Sorrentino of An NC Gun Blog who was also the instigator of all this madness, John R. of No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money, fellow former Tomcat airdale squid Rich from Knitebane Manor,  fellow vintage military bolt action rifle aficionado Paul from Arms are the Mark of a Free Man, and George from Newbie Shooter. Those worthy gentlemen who were not previously on the blogroll (John, Rich and George) are now there.

Also in attendance were husband/wife Sean and Lynell (who don't have a blog, they make them) and retired Army Special Forces medic George and his daughter Erika who, as I mentioned above, had a very good day.

And now, if you don't mind, I'm off to get a bit of the shut-eye. I really shouldn't, I have to work tomorrow night and I really should stay up all night tonight so I can sleep tomorrow, but I've been up since 4 AM and I'm about to fall over.

I hope your day was equally productive.

One More Day

Tomorrow at 0400 (that's 4:00 AM for you cake-eating civilians) the alarm will sound off. I will rise from my bed rested and refreshed (yeah right) to begin the day with a smile on my face and a song in my heart (but not right away).

Estimated time of departure from the Refuge is 0430. At or about 0600 I will link up with the rest of the group in Garner NC for the trek south to lovely Fayetteville NC. Our destination: TigerSwan.

There we will all participate in shooty goodness until approximately 1700, then we will depart for Garner once more. We have plans to meet for supper during which I imagine much laughter and the telling of tales both short and tall will occur.

I will be wearing The Coolest Shirt In The Gunosphere from the beginning of this operation until its conclusion for the after-shooty gathering.

It should be a great day and I'm looking forward to it. Much thanks to Sean of An NC Gun Blog for arranging this class.

EDIT TO ADD: Roberta X reminds us that the world ends today.  I'm hoping it ends quietly, 4 AM comes awful early in the morning.