Saturday, June 25, 2016

Long Week Training Future 2A Leaders.

I spent the week training about 200 new shooters in basic marksmanship and fundamental rifleman skills. It was a very nerve racking environment, but the benefits are amazing for the future of 2nd Amendment causes. I'm given a very narrow set of rules to follow, but we do what we can with what we have.

All week was also spent in my hammock in the woods. It was absurdly hot even during the night. At one point, I could feel the sweat dripping off the bottom of the hammock. Insane conditions to try to sleep in, but worth the effort. I tried to stay busy until 11pm when the cool started to seep in from the woods, but even that was of little use with temps at 80 degrees and the humidity hovering near triple digits. A couple nights storms rolled in and it was a nice change to have wind to cool off the hammock bottom.

Many parents were more than amazed at the things that were taught in my time with their children that they didn't know themselves. Eye dominance was a huge skill set that most common shooters know little about prior to getting frustrated. Bone to bone over muscle holds, trigger squeeze orientation, directional bias, target fixation, etc. It was amazing to watch how limber young minds can be.

There were a few combat vets there with their kids and one day we had a rain out and all packed into a pavilion. A few of them were suffering with the noise and activity so I took them aside and for a cool drink and a chat. It takes a lot of situational awareness training to spot them all, but with a little practice, it's pretty easy to spot people that are teetering on the edge. I just wish the rest of society would put the phones away and take a chance at meeting the people around them instead of the screen full of people they barely know. A little small talk and social etiquette goes a long way.

Some of the best training I was given for spotting distress was presented to me in a Divemaster class years ago. Once you start keying on the little things, the small cues become more obvious to you. As in most instances, the hand tell the tale, along with body position and direction. 

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Availability of Weapons In The US Saving Lives?

I've been thinking about this for a while now and have finally come to a consensus on my feelings and the facts. The US gun culture is creating a climate that makes it easier to purchase civilian weapons than it is for terrorists to import true weapons of war like were used in Paris, France. It's nearly impossible to buy a gun in France, so the terrorists purchased and smuggled in full auto AK47's. If you're already smuggling weapons, you might as well include some mines, grenades and incendiary devices, right?

Let's face it, a Glock is far less dangerous than an RPG or many other weapons out there. If they are going to have to import their weapons, I'm sure those will be far more potent than what is currently available to radicalized US citizens.

The gun culture of the US continues to save lives, even without arming the good guys. With that being said, carry your darn gun! All the time, and be ready to use it when you must. Where I live those pesky No Guns signs carry no legal weight, so I ignore them, just like the criminals do.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Critical Thinking in Practice, Not Predisposition.

Every once in a while I'll have a rough time overcoming preconceived notions and generally accepted knowledge used as fact. Take for instance my day's endeavor. I've been working on load development for a very odd rifle. Proof research barreled Remmy long action in 300 Win Mag. I've been told be several people that those barrels like heavy bullets, and I favored the heavy bullets, loading a full set of them for my daily grind at the range. I did this in deference to the findings of my last outing with the same rifle where I used 168 grain Sierra Match Kings to break in the barrel and do the zero work while breaking it in. As soon as I felt the barrel was ready to start grouping, I switched to 190 SMK's and the groups opened up a bit. I did find a narrow node where it would shoot 1/2" groups with 190's, but for the most part, the 168's shot better.

Given my predisposition, I loaded a bunch of 208 Amax's for the outing, in total opposition to the findings of my first trip. The results were less than stellar. 1.25" groups all day. I jut happened to also take another 300 win mag I built years ago for F class competition. The ammo it uses is a 175g zooming at 3185 FPS. I decided to swap ammo and shoot the faster 175's. They are 60-70 FPS faster than the 168's I used to break it in. Guess what- 3/8" 5 shot groups.

We often times take the intelligence out of the equation and interject our own untested facts into our decisions when we have solid, verifiable evidence that they are false. Allowing your feelings to get in the way of sound decision making can be a catastrophic tragedy. Luckily today it only cost me about 60 bucks in fuel, ammo and some shoulder abuse. Making a decision without any solid evidence to support it is also a fool's chore. It's like picking a wife or husband based on what their favorite color is. Start studying your choices, be critical of your past choices. "Because that's the way we've always done it" isn't an acceptable reason to continue that behavior. Critical thinkers not only solve issues, they also find inefficiencies and assist in process streamlining.

Questioning your choices can be a humbling experience, but also enlightening. Having a peer or family member review your logic can also help establish a baseline for you to follow when questioning your decisions. For instance, if you tend to over spend on amazon while sipping on a frosty beverage, start limiting your exposure to either the brew or the shopping website and see what the outcome is. Ask yourself why you made the choice you did and learn from it's success or failure.  It's tough adulting some times, so don't take criticism personal. Learn from it, embrace your shortcomings for the lessons they teach you. Take command of the decision making process and become wise from your mistakes as much as you do from your successes.