The 4 rules of gun safety

*The 1st Law of Gun Safety - The Gun Is Always Loaded!


*The 2nd Law of Gun Safety - Never Point A Gun At Something You're Not Prepared To Destroy!


*The 3rd Law of Gun Safety - Always Be Sure Of Your Target And What Is Behind It!


*The 4th Law of Gun Safety - Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until Your Sights Are On The Target!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

New post.....finally

Been a while since I last posted. I've been taking off the end of the year to attempt to let my shoulder heal a bit more, so no workouts and no shooting since the first Saturday in December. Shoulder does feel a little better. Doctor thinks it's just a touch of tendinitis left over from tearing the muscle. So, just a couple more days and I'll be back shooting again (first Saturday in January at CCSC). In the meantime, been enjoying the holidays. Hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. My favorite toys so far have been my Kindle Fire, and my Black and Decker 1 cup coffee maker.

Today, I took my oldest son to Shooters Express down in Belmont to celebrate his 16th birthday which was on the 27th. I took him to shoot some of the full auto's that they have. We started out with a H&K MP5:
We didn't get very far with it. Seemed like it didn't want to feed rounds very well. The range master had warned us about it, but we decided to try it anyway. After a few futile minutes with the best being a 3 round burst, we switched out to a Colt M16 in 9mm:

The gun we shot did not have the barrel shroud, so ignore it. This firearm ran much better, although it was only semi-auto or full auto, no 3 round burst like the MP5. Because we had so many issues with the MP5, the RO gave us a 15% discount on the ammo. I like Shooters Express, just wish they weren't over 30 miles away, otherwise I'd go there more often. Anyway, here is a pic of my son holding the Colt:
And a video of him dumping some rounds full auto:
And finally a video of semi-auto fire:


Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Results back from the latest club match

Ok, so I didn't win, but in the end, I felt like I won with the way I shot. I was fifth out of six marksman stock service pistol shooters, but I had the fewest points down at 22, with my closest competitor at 27 points down. Like my mentor told me, accuracy first, speed will come later. Final scores show me with a total time of 127.83 seconds, a raw time of 113.83 seconds, with 22 points down, 1 procedural, 0 hits on a non-threat which I was sure I would get on the clamshell on stage 5, and 0 failure to neutralize. Looking overall, 10 of the 43 other competitors had the same or fewer points down than I did, so I guess this new trigger pull is really making a difference. Thanks go to Morgan Allen for giving me that tip. Now I just need to keep practicing and slowly and safely increase my speeds.

Well, that's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Great fun at the CCSC match today!

Great time today with the folks of CCSC. Richard Hart put on a great match with some challenging stages with lots of movers, droppers, pop-ups, and shooter movement. I don't have any videos of me shooting, but tried to get a video of someone shooting each stage.

Stage one was the most difficult with the most moving targets. We had two drop turners and a pop-up which dropped after a few seconds. I had my worst target on this stage. I missed one shot on the pop-up and a shot in the 1 zone, so that cost me 6 points. Out of the rest of the 6 targets I was clean except for two down. Overall, finished the stage in 31.27 seconds and down 8 points. Missed the pop-up as it was the 2nd part of a dual activator with the other being a double drop-turner. Should have shot the steel, then the pop-up, then caught the drop turner on the second turn. Here is a couple video showing what the stage looked like:

 Basically you shoot both targets to each side, then move up to the barrier. You can shoot either side and I shot the right side first. I then shot the steel which activated the drop-turner. Shoot the drop turner, then the other static target. From there, I did my reload and moved to the left. Hit the steel, then the drop tuner, and tried the pop-up, then finished with the static target.

Stage 2 had a first for me. An electrically activated target. You're standing in a doorway, press the doorbell, and two targets on a rail come towards you. These are like drop turners that move forward. You shoot 2 rounds at each, then move to your right to a window and shoot two targets as they become visible with a non-threat in front of them. After those, you move to the rear and right and shoot a long distance target (guessing 15-20 yards), then another target that is tilted about 45 degrees and under hard cover. Excuse the video, people kept getting in the way...... /sigh. I finished in 27.03 and down 3 points. One point down on one of the targets covered by the non-threat, one point down on the far target, and one point down on the leaning target.


I missed getting a video of stage 3, but the basic premise is that you have 6 rounds in your handgun and you are at the inside corner of an inverted L. From cover, you enter an "alleyway" and fire 6 rounds at a static target, 5 to the body, one to the head while retreating to the next cover point on your left. Once you reach cover, you reload and engage another target to the left with 3 rounds to the body. Went down 6 points on this stage. This should have been an easy stage, but I messed up. Put up and excellent group on the target while retreating. Problem is I forgot I had to put one round in the head. All 6 shots were in the zero zone. Knew I did it as soon as I fired the sixth shot. Oh well. Oh, and you can't reload and re-shoot the target either. After that, it was an easy engage on the other target. Finished this stage in 12.33 seconds and down 5 points for missing the head shot.

Stage 4 was interesting. Your gun starts in a "lockbox" with the magazine installed, but no round in the chamber. You sit in a chair a couple yards away. On the buzzer, you move forward and retrieve your gun, move slightly left to cover as a "bad guy" in view-able through the window. You engage 2 shots on each target to your right, then engage the target through the window. Finished this COF in 10.68 seconds and down 0 points. MY FIRST DOWN ZERO EVER!!!!!!!

Here's Jeff Dampac (really good shooter) showing how it's supposed to be done.

And the last stage..... had a lot of movement starting from left to right, shooting on the move, and shooting a clam-shell target, a first for me. This video gets most of what you need to see. There is a target as the shooter comes around the barricade that must be shot on the move. I finished this stage in 32.52 seconds and down 6 points. Well, that and a procedural which cost me another 3 points. I forgot why I got the procedural, but was excellently surprised when I got a 0 on the clam-shell target. One in the chest 0 zone and one in the head 0 zone. Yeah, that was luck. The clam-shell is really quick. Here's the video:


Lots of fun today. My shooting was much better thanks to a change in my trigger pull which was suggested by Morgan Allen.

On another note, CCSC will be having a "Fun Shoot" on December 31st. You pay a fee and you get to shoot a bunch of different types of guns and at different types of targets from "Steel Challenge", to IDPA, to rifles. Looking forward to maybe taking a couple of shots with an AR type rifle.

Well, that's it for me. Hope you folks have been having a great weekend! Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Match Saturday at CCSC..... and prayers to VT

Going to the IDPA club match on Saturday at CCSC. Should be interesting using my new grip and trigger control. I've been working with my trigger finger and the squeeze. I've gone from being low left, to centered and a bit high, so it will be interesting to see how I shoot.

Prayers go out to the fallen officer and family at the Virginia Tech shooting. Remember to thank an officer when you get the chance. I bet they don't hear it nearly as much as they should for the work they do.

That's it for me. Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Power Factor Show talks about competition vs. self defense

Thought this was a pretty good video and brings up a lot of good points. Really like watching Rick, Steve, and Caleb.


Remember, shoot safe, shoot straight!