Basic IPSC advice for new shooters

I HAVE BEEN WATCHING a couple of new shooters try their hand at IPSC competition since sometime last year, with special interest.

I like to meet new people at the range, enjoy getting to know them, and after twenty-some years of experience at IPSC competition I still can appreciate the struggle to learn how to shoot a pistol safely, accurately, and quickly.

Those three factors are a difficult combination to achieve, and after twenty years of trying I'm still struggling. Because I'm getting older and slower, and I just don't have the talent, I probably won't move up to a higher class. However, I know many of the things that need to be known to be competitive, and even if I can't apply them beyond a certain level I flatter myself that I can share the basics with new shooters and perhaps help them progress more rapidly than I have.

I am especially interested in these two new shooters because they are shooting Revolvers.

Six shots, slow reloads.

This is perhaps the most challenging equipment choices in IPSC; and because it just feels so good to do well with 'difficult' equipment, perhaps the most rewarding.

I have no use for a revolver, beyond certain applications for which I am told (but do not believe) they were not originally designed: bud vase, door stop, hammer. I shot a revolver in IPSC competition one time, in a winter concealed-carry match, and it was an embarassing, frustrating experience. The only good part of it was that I won my division. I was the only fool who showed up with a revolver on that day.

Now these two new fools are showing up with six-shot revolvers, to shoot IPSC!

While I admire their gritty determination, I recognize that they rightly belong in a "Special Needs" group. Nice guys, a little soft in the head, and they already know that they are bound to be frustrated when they watch people using pistols with magazines so jam-packed with ammunition that they rarely have to reload during a course of fire, except for the occasional Classifier stage.

Consequently, even though my knowledge of revolver shooting is nil I'm unable to resist giving them some advice from time to time. When they ask for it. (Or when they can be backed into a convenient corner.)

Because most of that advice is equally applicable to any new shooter, I am going to modify it slightly and post it here for the dubious benefit of anyone who is so desperate for coaching that he or she will take advice from an admitted Geek:

I carry a first aid kit in my range bag. When the inevitable scrape or cut occurs, you are entirely welcome to first aid and advice, both of which are free but not of equal value.

The bandage is immediately beneficial.

The advice, however, is of no use until you figure things out for yourself. Then a little Aha-bell goes off in your head, and you realize "Aha! So that's what they were talking about!" It helps to have been told what to do and how to do it.

Even if you think you are dismissing the free advice; even if you resent the implication that you're not a naturally excellent shooter; even if you're consciously allowing the Old Poop to pontificate because you're too polite to cut him off cold -- somebody needs to tell you these things so you'll know when you've re-invented a useful tool

Shoot Accurately:
After Safety, at this stage of your development, accuracy is the most important thing.

It's even more important for revolver shooters, because when you have to make up a missed shot your whole game plan goes out the window. It takes something like five hundredths of a second longer to make *sure* you have a good sight picture and trigger control. Compared with an extra two-second reload, that's nothing. People who are shooting pistols usually have an edge, because they can often afford a miss or two before they have to reload. Still, you can count on a quarter of a second to several seconds lost because you have to (a) realize you have missed, (b) decide whether you should make it up, and (c) take the extra shot. Since you are aware that you are burning stage time, you'll probably hurry the make-up shot and have to take another one.

Missing is not good. Avoid it.

The speed will come, but usually not today unless you are unusually gifted.

You're not unusally gifted. You can shoot accurately, but you think you can shoot accurately AND quickly AND safely.

You can't. But you will. Trust me on this point.

Focus on your shooting.
You can't afford to just wing shots downrange in pedal-to-the-metal hopes of connecting with the target. You have to get your head into the shooting. Brian Enos calls it "focus". You don't CONCENTRATE on your shooting, because then you start to over-think it. Thinking while you're shooting a stage just tenses up your muscles and reduces the natural flow.

You probably already know how to make the shot. You think you have to do it quickly, so you push yourself to shoot quick. That's how you get into trouble, because you have to make up missed shots.

Your job isn't to push yourself to shoot quickly; your job is to just follow along and watch things happen. Call your shots, be aware of where the sight is when the shot breaks. That way, you don't have to listen the [clink!] when you hit that little plate, you just know whether you were on-target when you took the shot, and can immediately either make up the shot or move on to the next target.

Ron Avery refers to it as "see what you have to see" because every shooting challenge is different and it's not just the sight/target relationship. It's an awareness of everything that's going on, with yourself and the gun and the targets and movement and props and the RO and bystanders. Most important, it's focusing on the target you're currently engaging, not worrying about the target you just finished and not hurrying to get to the next target. Focus on THIS target, do what you came here to do, and then move on to the next action ... index to the next target, move to the next shooting position, reload, whatever it is.

Never look back.
It's hard not to worry about a mistake you may have made. The solution is not to make the mistakes. (Carpenters call this the "Measure twice, cut once" rule.) If you missed the target, go ahead and make it up. Take the extra shot immediately, without thought or self-doubt.

If you find that you move your attention from the target you should be shooting to the target you just left, you're wasting time and you're breaking your focus. You called your shot, you were right in your evaluation. No second thoughts. You may occasionally be wrong, but as you gain experience you'll be right more often than not and you WILL get your hits and you will NOT waste time and ammunition on 'insurance shots'.

Try to shoot every target in the A-zone, but don't try to make up a C-zone or D-zone hit. It isn't worth the time, and you may need that round in the next few seconds anyway. Don't worry about it.

Why are you spending your weekends on the range, anyway?
When you put it all together, and it all works, you get that occasional stage where you did everything perfectly and it's like an out-of-body experience. We all say we like to shoot, and we like the company and the fresh air and the exercise and the competition. That's not really why we keep showing up at the rock quarry.

We're there for the endorphin rush.

It's not at all like the effects of adrenaline caused by knowing that everybody is watching you, and being self-conscious. That's just nerves, and what the effect you're seeking is the complete opposite. It's being in The Zone and at complete peace. You marvel at how well things happen, but you don't think about them or try to make it happen.

Sometimes, when you get very close to The Zone, you notice little things. The most rewarding thing to notice is the "Hey, I can shoot this faster" moment, so you do, and it works just as well with absolutely no effort at all. It just takes a little nudge, like shifting from second gear into high gear. You're not pushing yourself to rush, you're just allowing yourself to move into a different rhythm.

It's all natural. It's not forced. You can't make yourself shoot faster, and maintain an acceptable degree of accuracy. You just let it happen, and when you're really ready you know it.

"You can't miss fast enough to win."
Whatever it takes to shoot accurately, do that.

Usually, it'll take a little more time than you would wish to spend, because you're aware of the passage of time. You can't afford to worry about anything while you're shooting, because that's a distraction and distractions make you lose your focus.

Don't try to save time by shooting fast.
You can save time by learning to reload quickly, which is something you practice at home while you're dry-firing.

(Standard precautions about dry-firing apply: triple-check that you have an unloaded gun, no ammunition in the same room with the gun, always put your aiming point on a wall that you can't shoot through even if you screw up the first two precautions, never point a gun at a person even if the gun is unloaded, etc.)

When you're shooting a stage, you can save time by saving steps. Learn to reload on the move. Keep track of how much ammunition you have left in the gun; pre-plan WHERE you will reload, and if you're using a limited-roundcount gun you can expect that every time you're moving, you're reloading.

You'll eventually figure out all of this for yourself, and it won't be real to you until you re-invent the wheel.

But remember, you heard it here first.

Now, go out there and win one for The Geek.

But remember, it's only a game.

Kansas Right-to-Carry Bill Passes!

NRA-ILA :: Releases

The Kansas Legislature today passed a Right-To-Carry bill over the veto of its governor.

Here's the text of the NRA announcement:

House and Senate Override
Governor Sebelius' Veto:
Kansas Passes Right-to-Carry

Thursday, March 23, 2006

(Fairfax, VA) – Both the Kansas State Senate and House of Representatives voted to override Governor Sebelius’ veto of the National Rifle Association (NRA)-backed Right-to-Carry legislation, Senate Bill 418, “The Personal and Family Protection Act.”

“After 12 years, it took a collective, bi-partisan effort to win this fight. Kansas now joins 46 other states who enjoy some form of Right-to-Carry,” NRA Chief Lobbyist Chris W. Cox declared.

The Kansas State Senate voted 30 to 10 to override Governor Sebelius’ veto of the Right-to-Carry legislation. Less than a day later, the Kansas House of Representative voted 91-33 to sustain the override.

Cox continued, “We want to recognize the steadfast support of several state leaders. Without their hard work, Kansans would still be deprived of this valuable law. Senator Phil Journey, Representative Candy Ruff, and Representative Gary Hayzlett worked tirelessly on this measure and we thank them.”

Kansas becomes the 47th state with some form of Right-to-Carry. There are now three states that do not allow any form of Right-to-Carry; Nebraska, Illinois and Wisconsin have yet to pass such self-defense legislation.

“As always, we appreciate the commitment and participation of our members in Kansas for helping pass this legislation and helping override the Governor’s veto of this self-defense law,” concluded Cox.

It took them 16 years, but they won the final battle against politicians, big-city kleptocrats, and liberal nanny-staters. Good for you, Jayhawkers!

That's 47 down, three to go.

---

On January Eighth of this year I talked about the efforts to effect a similar Second Amendment drive in Nebraska.

A local blogger, Gunscribe, has been actively campaigning to persuade his state legislature to pass LB 454, which would allow fellow citizens the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. I had asked him to keep me informed, but unfortunately events in his personal life didn't permit him time to maintain correspondance. However, he has been covering the RKBA issue on his blog and that may be enough to give us an outline of the issues.


Don't Take Your Guns To Town.
Essentially the state legislature doesn't want to pass it.

And they're getting some support from the "municipalities", which want an 'opt out' clause.

In what may be the stumbling block between the citizens of Nebraska and the proposed enactment of this bill, the "municipalities" (Omaha and Lincoln, primarily) want to retain the 'right' to impose local ordinances which will effectively cancel the provisions of the state law.

Gunscribe summarized the arguments pro and con. As far as the 'home rule' provisions which the big-city politicos espouse, it's "States' Rights" vs "Federal Law" all over again, except that the States Rights are spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

According to Gunscribe:

The crutch that these Municipalities lean on for enactment of these unconstitutional ordinances is their supposed "Home Rule Authority".
... Under "Home Rule Authority" a Political Subdivision cannot enact an ordinaces [sic] that are repugnant to or inconsistant with the Constitution.

Purpose of home rule charter provisions of Constitution is
to render cities as nearly independent as possible of state
legislation, subject to the general public policy of the state. State
ex rel. Fischer v. City of Lincoln, 137 Neb. 97, 288 N.W. 499 (1939)

[Emphasis added by The Geek.]

Further, the Constitution of the State of Nebraska seems to specifically support the Right to Keep and Bear Arms:

All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof. To secure these rights, and the protection of property, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Source:
Neb. Const. art. I, sec. 1 (1875);
Amended 1988, Initiative Measure No. 403

The judicial precedent for supporting a Right-To-Carry measure in Nebraska seems to be in place. Special interests have apparently accepted that they can't stop the bill. Now they're focusing on "Damage Control", in an attempt to define 'no-fly zones' where their own little feifdom can still impose a modicum of control over the rights of their citizens.

It's frustrating. Maddening. Still, it's a positive note, which presages that all parties have accepted the inevitable.

Consider it in light of the old joke about the man who asked a woman if she would sleep with him for a million dollars. When she admits that this might be possible, he asks if she would sleep with him for twenty dollars.

"Why, of course not!" she retorts. "What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Madam", he replies, "We have already established that. What we are doing now is merely haggling over the price."

Geeks with Guns

I can't say I never appreciated Day By Day, by Chris Muir, because my affection is obvious since his daily 'toon is loaded at the bottom of this blog every day. It's a service he provides for free, and it makes it easy for me to pay daily homage to his genius.

Of course, I'm not the only blogger who appreciates Muir; many of us who are predominantly gun-bloggers feature his daily 'toon. It's probably because if you like guns you're probably conservative, and DBD is certainly a Conservative forum.

You can go to Muir's website (see the link above, or click on the cartoon at the bottom of this page) to get the background of the four main characters: Damon, Sam, Zed and Jan. Or you can ignore that, and just enjoy their daily give-and-take.

If I was enamored of the Blogger-Tests, I would start one asking "What is your favorite Day By Day Character", but it would probably be either x-gen Jan or Baby Boomer Sam - Muir has a talent for celebrating feminine pulchritude.

The character I most closely identify with? No contest. Zed is an aging male Geek, gotta be the hero in my book.

The smartest character? Damon, who gets (almost) all of the very best lines, week to week.

The most interesting (and only) Liberal among the four main characters is Jan, who generally serves as a foil for the conservative messages Muir presents. Muir has endowed her with a sense of humor, which not only keeps the character likeable but makes me doubt her credentials as a card-carrying member of the Democratic Party. Well, I guess there must be at least ONE Dem with a sense of humor. Wouldn't you know she would be a regular in a Conservative Cartoon.

At the risk of sounding like a South Park fan: Favorite episodes are a possible source of diverse opinion. There's the time when Sam and Zed were explaining CCW to Jan. This winter, Sam bought Zed a shotgun for Christmas. Then Zed bought Sam a beautiful gown, took her to a ball where Bill and Hillary were guests of honor, and punched out Bill for making a move at Sam.

That Zed is a real Party Animal, and there's just another reason why he's my hero. Who wouldn't like a guy who fulfills so many of my own post-adolescent fantasies?

Usually, Muir dances around the RKBA/shooting issues. Not that he doesn't address them, but they are merged into larger themes. This week, he has Sam and Zed going to the range and inviting Damon and Jan as their guests. Nice of Zed and Sam, but this frightens Jan.



When they meet at the range, Jan is surprised that Sam is there for the joy of shooting, for not adopting the role-playing costumes she might wear -- using pistol-shooting as an excuse.



Sam then convinces Jan to try shooting a gun, in an attempt to show her that guns aren't ugly, they're fun.

Damon and Zed appreciate Sam's efforts to introduce Jan to the joys of shooting, and Jan's willingness to try something new even though Jan is dubious.

Damon -- has regrets.



_______________________________________________

You're probably wondering why I'm spending so much time picking my way through a series of cartoons that you could have read for yourself and sorted out the inherent message without this superfluous commentary.

I just wanted to draw your attention to the idea that, if you are a shooter, you can do yourself and the world a favor by taking a non-shooting friend to the range. Teach them the basic principles of gun safety, coach them, and let them find out for themselves the shooters are real people. We're not a bunch of nitwits who are acting out a fantasy role as we sit on the tailgate of our pickup and drink beer. We're safe and responsible, and that's the kind of people we want to attract to our sport.

Some people -- those who have never tried it -- think that shooting is, in fact, a solitary vice .

Those of us regularly participate in shooting sports, though, consider it a pleasurable excuse to spend a nice day with congenial company, sharing a social activity.

Several Gun Bloggers make an open invitation to ANY person who has never gone shooting, but would like to try it, to meet them at a range. The blogger offers to provide access to the range, firearms, ammunition, safe & appropriate targets, safety equipment ("eyes and ears"), and instruction.

Among bloggers on my "links to me" blogroll who make this offer are Captain of a Crew of One, One In A Row and The Smallest Minority, (I'm sure there are others in my blogroll who make this offer, I've only included one small section as a representative sample.)

Perhaps not surprisingly, two out of three of these folks are in Arizona. I am unsurprised because Arizona remains a bastion of RKBA enthusiasm. Captain of a Crew of One is in Virginia, and I make no assumptions although I do point out the large number of Virginians who were active participants in the American Revolution and signatories to the Declaration of Independence.

Why don't I make a similar offer?

Perhaps I'm not as courageous as these other bloggers. Shooters tend to be conservative (I believe I may have mentioned this observation before) and I am well-qualified to be counted in this personality group. I tend to choose my friends very carefully, and I would like to know something of the character of people I take to the range before I arm them.

This isn't a negative reflection on those who DO have the courage to offer an open invitation to a day on the range.

How about you? You're a shooter. When is the last time you took some one to the range who wasn't already a shooter? I have taken a few friends to the range, and we left friends, too. We always enjoyed the day, and while they haven't all ended up with the same enthusiasm for shooting that I have -- I believe every person I took shooting had some appreciation for the shooting sports as a safe, enjoyable activity.

You might consider taking a friend to the range this week.

Wet t-shirts are not generally recommended.


UPDATE: 23 March, 2006

Geekthanks to the Hobo Brasser for pointing out that I had been referring to "Zed" as "Zeke". I have no idea why I did this, but it certainly proves that I need an editor. I've corrected the mistake.

Russian Practical Shooting: T64 & BMP40

Russian Spetsnaz.Russian martial arts. Spetsnaz - Russian System Training. Systema. /Army training

So, you like to shoot "Major Power", eh?

Here's a place where you can learn to shoot the main gun of a Russian Tank, and also the cannon on a BMP40 (vaguely similar to a Bradley Fighting Vehicle).
Where?

The Ukraine!

Price is a low low $999.99 - each - for groups of five or more. If you form your own group, everybody gets a 10% discount.


Apparently, this doesn't include travel to The Ukraine, but you get some GREAT gifts!

After the training you will have Russian special force uniform, certificates, photos and a special tank driver's helmet as a present.

Their service also includes:

Preparation of target objects and field

leasing of stands

leasing of weapon emplace

leasing of training field for the whole delegation

Lunch .Including Russin [sic] caviar, Russian vodka etc.

Transfer to/from the military base

Instructors and interpreters services

They'll take PayPal (with prior arrangement) and the course is scheduled ... whenever you can get there, apparently.


Wire Paladin, San Francisco.

No, I'm kidding about that. here's the real contact information:

E-mail: travel@UkrainianExpress.com
Tel: +38-067-2574311
Tel: +38-050-3315028
Tel: +38-044-5361237
Tel/Fax: +38-044-536125

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:

They also let you shoot a magazine each from a handful of handguns, plus a couple of magazines (or several rounds) from some 'long guns', to include the AK-74, the RPK-74, the classic PKM, and ten rounds each from an SKS and an SVD (Dragunov sniper rifle.)

Looking for something more ... 'middle of the road-ish'?

Launch a couple of RPG-7 rounds down-range after lunch.
It helps to settle the caviar.

Only Victims: 3 Dead in Restaurant Shooting

CNN.com - Police: 3 dead in restaurant shooting

Geek News, March 15, 2006:
Two murdered, two wounded in maniac-shooting at Pismo Beach Denny's restaurant. Murderer then takes his own life.


I've been to Denny's restaurants before, and I never saw the "Free Fire Zone" sign.

What is it that causes people to go crazy in Fast-Food joints? Is it the food?

This isn't the first time that restaurant patrons have experienced random violence by an armed, unknown assailant. Here's a small sample of prominent examples:

...

In 1991, George Hennard drove his truck through the plate-glass windows of Luby's Restaurant in Houstan, Texas, and shot two dozen people before he killed himself. Wikipedia has a good summary of the incident, including the following:

Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp's parents were among the 24 killed by Hennard in the attack. Hupp possessed a gun but left it in her car in compliance with laws against carrying a concealed weapon; she felt that, had her gun been on her person, she could have prevented the tragedy or limited the casualties. Hupp has since crusaded successfully for a concealed carry law and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1996.

There's also a link to a 2001 Houston Chronicle article which provides some historical background and details I couldn't find anywhere else.

I also found a WorldNet Daily commentary by Tanya K. Metaska, dated June 1, 2000, which features this incident from the point-of-view of an "armed female".

...

A man went crazy in an Amarillo, Texas Denny's in January, 2003, and shot four police officers down (there to break up a fight!) before finally being killed by one of the wounded officers. The incident is also blogged here ... although the blogger apparently thinks the incident happened in San Antonio.

...

Armed Females of America presents a summary of fast-food shooting, including Denny's in Houston (2004) and San Diego (2003) ... as well as several Pizza Huts and the odd Tacueria. No authoratative newslinks (MSM) are provided, so I'll have to offer this as "anecdotal evidence" only.

__________________________________________

These incidents include common factors:

• They all occurred in or near a 'fast food' restaurant, although I may be libelling the quality of food at Luby's -- I don't know, it's not a nationwide chain and I've never eaten there. (That Luby's has since been closed due to 'competition'.)
  
• They all involved seemingly motiveless murders, usually with multiple victims.
  
• "Assault Weapons" were not typically involved.
• At most of the restaurants, the victims were not able to protect themselves against random attack. The situation where four armed policemen were attacked and shot with pistols taken from the policemen is atypical; however, note that the rampage might have continued to include civilian victims, except that one of the wounded policemen ... the youngest, least experienced officer still in his 'probationary period' ... managed to shoot and kill his assailant despite having been wounded several times. One wonders if the officers could have been protected from their grevious wounds if an armed civilian had been present and had acted in their defense.
  

Whether or not the attackers had legal access to the firearms used is not the issue. Criminals will always find weapons. The point of contention is whether or not the VICTIMS should have been legally armed and able to prevent the carnage. Personally, I'm inclined to agree with Suzanna Gratia Hupp: if not for the endemic anti-gun hysteria in this country (and other countries), law-abiding citizens would be able to arm themselves in self-defense in any public venue.

And they should.

...

This has been a quick survey of restaurant-related random murders in America. In truth, we would be able to make the same points in many other venues; including churches, schools and night-clubs. The places where people gather are focus points for random violence. The Conventional Wisdom is that these are places where firearms SHOULD be prohibited, either because the potential for maniacal attacks is increased (eg: nightclubs) or violence is unlikely to occur because 'everyone is un-armed' -- schools and churches are peaceful places, where peaceful people gather.

The true fact is that these are the very places which attract deranged murders, if only because they are confident that they will find no defenders.

Only victims.

Incidently, while researching this post I found an interesting article in the Lawrence, Kansas Journal-World (February 9, 2006) which discussed a proposed Concealed Carry law for Kansas in the light of a recent local shooting. The article itself is worth the read, but the real meat is to be found in the 113 comments submitted by readers. It's a fascinating summary of the entire concealed carry argument ... both sides ... with as much ignorance and bias to be found in any discussion of the subject. The participants obviously have passionate opinions, and express them with various degrees of authority and credibility.

UPDATE: March 17, 2006

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - A gunman opened fire early Friday at a Denny's restaurant, killing one man and seriously wounding another, police said. It was the third fatal shooting at the restaurant chain in Southern California this week.

The 2:45 a.m. shooting happened after a fight between two large groups inside the restaurant, said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department.

One victim re-entered the restaurant after being shot and died inside, Martinez said. The other victim was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.

The gunman was being sought by authorities. The shooting did not appear to be gang-related, Martinez said.

The shooting was the third in a Southern California Denny's in three days. In Pismo Beach on Wednesday, a transient with two guns walked into the restaurant at lunchtime, fatally shot two men and wounded a married couple before committing suicide.

And in Ontario, a 37-year-old man was fatally shot in a Denny's parking lot Thursday after a fight. The gunman was still being sought.

I know this seems like I'm picking on Denny's Restaurants, but I'm not. I like the restaurant, and I often dine there when I'm travelling because I know I can count on the consistent quality of the food and service, and the cleanliness of the facility. It's not their fault that so many incidents occur at their ubiquitous franchises. The fact is, with 1,600+ restaurants in the chain, located all across the country (since 1953), they cover too much of the market not to be a prominent feature on America's streets.

Running Gun IPSC - Pics and Movies

Running Gun IPSC - Pics and Movies

You may have noticed, if you're a regular reader, that I spend a lot of time shooting IPSC matches, photographing them, making videos of IPSC matches and posting them on the internet.

Most of the videos I film never make it to the internet. That which does, is most often made available through Jerry the Geek's Video Shooting Gallery. I have what I consider a good album of IPSC type competition footage.

Tonight I was reviewing my blog statistics, mostly looking at what people were searching for when they hit on my blog. I found a page where someone was looking for IPSC Videos, and found another site that looked promising.

I wasn't even on the first page. But number one on the first page was




(UPDATE: March 31, 2006)

(This website is UP again! Click on the banner to access it.)

As near as I can tell, this is a gun club in Ontario, California. I don't know who runs it, and I hope someone can give me some background on the club and the man.

All I can say is, this defines IPSC video. Great hoser-cam photography (I see the fine hand of Nolan Smythe in this), incredible editing, multi-cam technology, world-class shooters and in-your-face 3-gun match stages combine to make this a product far beyond anything I'm able to produce.

If you have a high-speed internet connection, or a lot of time to spare, click on the club logo above and take a look at the "Pics and Movies" segment which prominently features a

" ... 5 minute video (which was) was put together by Mike Pellisier, Ron Filho, and Jojo Vidanes. Starring are Mike P., Ron F., Jojo V., Mike Voigt (El Prez), Ralph Arredondo, and Debbie Keehart-Ross. It was filmed at the Raahauge range during one of our weekly IPSC matches."

I watched this 'main' segment, and was entranced. This is the best live-action IPSC-type video photography I've ever seen.

If you go to the website and scroll down a bit, you'll see individual stages professionally filmed with some (lame!) narration. If you're not weeping because there aren't enough videos to keep you glued to your seat for more than a half-hour, you have no heart.

Of course, they don't have it mixed with appropriate music, which is the only criticism I can offer.

Click on the link, sit down, shut up, hold on.

And if you really need music, play THIS while you're watching the videos.

PS:

There are some other worthwhile things to see on this search-page.

Team Darkside's videos are shot from too far away, and you can't really see what's happening. Besides, there is no sound.

However, I do recommend you go to the "The High Road" forum's video segment. Among the videos featured there you can find Travis Tomasie's "Perfect Reload" video.

IPSC Safety

At a recent club match in the Columbia Cascade Section of USPSA, the Match Director made a special announcement about an incident which occurred during the match.

After a competitor had completed a stage, and the targets had all been pasted or reset, the Range Officer started the next competitor only to discover (after the competitor actually started shooting at targets) that 'someone' was still working on the stage and was, in fact, downrange of the competitor.

As soon as the presence of a downrange person was detected, of course, the competitor was stopped and the person downrange returned to a safe area. Nobody was injured, and since the competitor was only likely to engage targets which were obviously backed by a berm, the situation never presented a great danger of the downrange person being harmed.

Still, when so many of the 'fail-safe' measures which are an integral part of IPSC safety rules have been faulted, the question remains as to what can be done to make this a safer shooting sport.

The central issue seems to be that Vision Barriers, used to force a competitor to follow a pre-planned mode of target engagement, constitute an intrinsic flaw in the attempt to make IPSC as safe as it can possibly be.

The same opaque barriers which add an aura of mystery to a competitor's engagement of multiple target arrays make it difficult for the Range Officer to easily scan the shooting bay to determine that all personnel have returned to a safe area before the next competitor begins to engage the targets.

The responsibility of ensuring a safe shooting event is primarily on the Range Officer. This person, assumed to have been trained by the National Range Officer Institution in the safe operation of an IPSC match, is responsible for every thing that happens on a single stage during an IPSC match: Scoring, time-keeping, a fair accounting of each competitor's performance -- these are all important functions of the Range Officer.

But most important is the primary responsibility of the Range Officer: Safety.

In this endeavor, the Range Officer is supported by many people. The score-keeper not only faithfully records the time and score for each competitor's performance, but also keeps track of incidental events during the competitor's stage performance: foot-faults and adherence to the published stage procedures are just two of the score-keeper's duties.

The score-keeper also is responsible for helping the Range Officer to determine that all IPSC targets have been completely pasted, all steel and moving targets have been properly reset, and that the range is clear of all personnel, including especially target tapers and people who are picking up used brass.

The individual squad members have their own responsibilities. They must help the Range Officer and the Score-keeper in the effort to ensure the safe operation of the range, and they are also responsible for being aware of the safe location of every person on the stage.

Often, it's difficult for the Range Officer and the Score-keeper to keep track of all of the squad members and spectators -- who may not be an official member of the squad, but who may be helping with the target-resetting and brassing duties.

When a new shooter comes to the line, the Range Office may or may not declare "The Range Is HOT!" in an effort to announce that all persons must return up-range of the starting position, if they are not already there. Usually, the Range Officer has already (with the assistance of the Score-Keeper) made the determination that all personnel have retired from downrange. Anyone who is downrange at this time is responsible for immediately notifying the Range Officer that the range is NOT clear.

After this point, the Range Officer directs the next competitor, in a loud "Command Voice":

"Load and Make Ready!"

A certain time passes while the competitor loads his pistol and in all respects makes ready to engage targets on the stage, then assumes the starting position according to the published stage procedures. This may take from five or ten seconds to over a minute, depending upon the circumstances.

Then the Range Officer asks the Competitor: "Are Your Ready?"

Lacking any negative response from the Competitor, the Range Officer announces:
"Stand By", indicating that the time will start within the next three to five seconds.

Finally, the Range officer presses the time-start button on the timer, which causes the timer to to make an audible sound signaling the Competitor to begin engaging targets.

Usually, this is a drawn-out process with many loud audible clues that the next competitor is being prepared to engage targets. It should, under almost all circumstances, provide plenty of opportunities for everyone on the stage to be aware that a new shooter is on the line and being readied to engage targets. Anyone downrange should have been able to hear the commands, and appreciate that his person is in a position where he should not be.

This SHOULD be adequate preventative measures. I myself have, while acting as a Range Officer, failed to note that a person was downrange (bent over, picking up brass) in a cul-de-sac formed by two solid vision barriers, when I gave the command "Load And Make Ready". Fortunately, other members of the squad were more situationally aware than I. The immediately shouted "Stop! There is someone downrange!" or words to that effect, and I stopped the competitor from drawing his pistol before we could ask the brasser to please clear the range.

Because the existing procedures are demonstrably a point of failure of existing safety rules, the Columbia Cascade Section is taking measures to remove what we sincerely hope is the last source of failure of safety precautions: the member clubs are beginning to replace solid vision barriers with perforated barriers, which look like the familiar 'orange snow-fence' (be they orange or black) and which provide better down-range visual access.

This won't happen immediately, of course, but at least one club has already scheduled a "work-credit" night (when the club members who participate are rewarded by a decrease in their annual dues, proportional to the time spent in the effort) to replace all solid vision barriers with perforated material.

I have been competing in IPSC matches for over 20 years, and this is the first time I have ever heard of a person being 'caught down-range' when the timer goes off. I've probably participated in over 800 matches (40 matches a year for 20 years) involving at least three hours per match ... say, 1,600 hours in competition. This is the first time I've ever heard of this kind of complete break-down in range safety procedures, especially because it requires that EVERY PERSON PRESENT failing to observe the basic safety procedures.

Once in 20 years is 100% too often. It won't happen again.

I applaud the Columbia Cascade Section Coordinator, Mike McCarter, in his bold decision to invest time, money and personnel to make IPSC as practiced in the United States Practical shooters Association an even safer shooting sport. I encourage every club in the country ... indeed, as IPSC is an international sport, every club in the world ... to follow his lead.

Mr. McCarter informs us that he will soon submit an article to the Front Sight Magazine (the official publication of USPSA) describing the efforts that the Columbia Cascade Section is making to promote the sport and to make it safer. I understand that this change in policy will be prominently featured.

The Case AGAINST Lasers

Shooting Gallery - On the Outdoor Channel

Michael Bane's article on laser sights reminds me of an incident which occurred at an IPSC Winter Club Match a few years ago.

Okay, it wasn't an 'incident' as much as a 'revelation'.

This was a winter match, and everybody wore coats. It was the first year that the Sherwood gun club decided to concede the coats, and declared that this was a Concealed Carry match. Rules: handgun and ammo must not be visible when you stand with our arms outstretched, and the way you present yourself to the Range Officer for inspection must be the way you shoot the stage.

Fair enough. The kicker was "Bring Your Stubby Revolver/Carry Gun!"

At the time, my 'carry gun' was an STI Edge in 1omm, which only could be carried in a 'race-gun holster' due to the extended dust cover. I wore it with my rain coat buttoned up ... well, all of the velcro front-fasteners were velcroed together.

The whole point of the match, for "normal people", was to give us a chance to see how we would do in an IPSC match if we actually used our carry gun. Generally speaking, it was pretty embarassing.

One of the shooters, though, actually brought a stubby Glock with minimal barrel (I don't know what the model number was, I'm not much up on Glocks) equiped with a grip-activated Laser Sight.

The guy was a Master Class IPSC competitor, and accustomed to shooting with an Open Gun. He had a matched pair of hard-chromed open guns with Holosights, and usually was among the top competitors in the club.

Not today.

Every target he engaged, he put on a dancing exhibition. It was a performance similar to the classic "C-More Shuffle", in which a shooter with a red-dot sight is trying to learn how to shoot it during a match. When he started to shoot at a target, he was looking at the minimalist sights, and expecting to see a dot on the target. The problem was, he was accustomed to shooting over the SIGHTS. He wasn't use to looking for a dot on the target.

And when he was looking for the dot on the target, he couldn't find it. Well, it was daytime and the bright cold winter sun just washed out that little red dot on the brown cardboard target.

He ended up with a lousy score, and placed low in the order of finish, because he was relying on his ability to put the dot on the target ... and see it ... and not drag the dot off the target when he pulled the trigger. None of which happened, mostly.

Now, Michael makes a great case for he 'intimidation factor' of a laser sight. Heck, I've seen "Predator" probably a dozen times, and you just can't argue with that kind of graphic evidence.

Or can you?

The thing is, for a "Bad Guy" (Michael's "BG") to be intimidated, he has to see the dot tracking on his anatomy. If the gun is pointed where it oughta be, it's either painting his heart or his head. How many of you thing that you can see a dot on your face? How many of you expect a BG to look down at his chest when he has been TOLD that there is a gun pointing at him?

Show of hands?

Right. The laser sight is only intimidating if the BG realizes he is being painted.

So what if he's not intimidated, and he makes a big rush at you -- the home owner?

This is "rubber meets the road" time, and you probably are going to revert to point-shooting techniques. That is, you're going to swap one shooting technique for another, under the most extreme conditions imaginable. You think you've got the BG buffaloed, and suddenly you're in a Robert Ruark situation where the Buffalo is charging you and you don't know whether to follow the bouncing ball or go with your instincts ... so you hesitate.

What will you do? What WILL you do? Drag out your American Express Card, a la Karl Malden?

Or will you be confused, distracted, and dead?

I'm picking Door Number Two.

The way I see it, if you're counting on your Laser Sight to save your bacon, this should be the gun and the sight that you use "all the time." When you go to the range, you practice with the belly gun and the laser sight. Forget about practicing with your iron-sights, or your dot-sight. Your goal in practicing is to build the groove in which you look at the target, point the gun around the room (or the range) until you have confidence in your ability to rely on the laser sight exclusive of any distractions such as a 200 pound biped Buff charging through your foyer directly at YOU!

If you have any other handgun-shooting interests, consider that the skills needed to shoot well with a laser sight COMPLETELY ignore the skills needed to shoot without it. Point-shooting, being entirely aware of the orientation of the gun, is not a skill which is apparently reinforced with a Laser sight.

Need proof?

Got to a gun store, ask to try one of their laser-sight equipped guns, and try to sight it on the Cape Buffalo head on the North Wall. See how long it takes you to redirect your attention from the over-the-barrel sight picture to the dot-on-brown sight picture. Consider what the Wall Buffalo might be doing if he was an aggressive biped while you're trying to find the dot, and ... walk away.

Use of a laser sight is an unique skill which must be learnt, and practiced constantly. If you're not willing to shoot somebody in the privacy of your home, at the cost of allowing all other gun-handling and gun-pointing skills to atrophy, you might reconsider the vagrant thought that lead you to consider a Laser Sight handgun for home defense.

Or, you can rely on bluff to defend yourself against the Buff.

Kudos to Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery: The Outdoor Channel

I been on blogging-hiatus, and recently catching up on my blogging, and my blog-reading.

Michael Bane's "Shooting Gallery" now includes dynamic hot-links to recent articles from blogs which, apparently, are linked to in his personal website. (I assume that the links are automatic and dynamic, because it has a link to an article that I wrote less than an hour ago.)

I'm flattered that it caught my latest IPSC-related article. He's temp-linked (not a permalink for that website, I'm sure) to the IPSC Practice article I wrote earlier tonite. I'm reluctant to publish this update, as it will wipe out the earlier link ... I think.

You can see that IPSC PRACTICE article here.

You can see Michael's Outdoor Channel website online,. and it is now linked on my links sidebar as:

Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery: The Outdoor Channel

Thanx, Michael. I owe you.

IPSC: The P-Word

It was a beautiful late-winter day in Corvallis Sunday, so SWMBO and I went to the range to PRACTICE!

I never practice.

Okay, that's not quite true. I love to practice, but due to my work schedule and the shortness of the days, I almost never practice during the winter.

However, last spring I bought 2000 rounds of new Winchester brass in .38 Super caliber, and half of it still sits in a cardboard box on the floor of my garage, next to the loading bench. I don't like to use brand new brass at matches, so I usually load it up and take it out for practice ammo.

Having some spare time Saturday, I loaded 400 rounds of it up and invited SWMBO to the range for a practice session. There was no club match scheduled for this weekend, and she has been complaining that her performance -- not up to her standards -- in matches during this winter is mostly due to her inability to get in any practice time.

Here's the answer: let's go practice!

She had, of course, no alternative but to go to the range with me, to practice. Sneaky Geek to catch SWMBO in a quandry.

On the drive to the ARPC range (where the only significant activity was a Black Powder match in Bay 3 ... there were 5 cars there when we arrived 15 minutes after the BP match was to start), we discussed what we should work on during our practice.

I had no idea what I should work on, and neither did SWMBO. I asked her what she thought I should work on, and she begged the question by suggesting that I was a much better shooter than she was and it was not reasonable for her to criticize my IPSC performance.

No help.

So I suggested that since she had complained about her inability to get good stage times, I though she would benefit from training which emphasized quick and efficient movement out of a shooting position, and into a shooting position.

Also, her time to transition from one target to the next might possibly be improved ... as might mine!

She very graciously acknowledged that this was an area in which we might both improve, so when we arrived at the range we quickly set up a stage designed to emphasize these skills.

Starting in a shooting box, engage a US popper (never mind whether you hit it or not, it's just there to distract you from what you're going to do next) and then immediately transition to an IPSC target ... both set up at about 15 yards distance.

Then, exit the shooting box as quickly as possible, move to another shooting box downrange and to the right: total distance about 15 yards. There are two full IPSC targets set 10 yards downrange of the second shooting box, so we need to have the gun mounted and something of a sight picture as soon as we enter the second shooting box to engage these two targets.

I took the first run on the stage, and everything went beautifully. I afterward consistentlyl missed the popper, of course, but was leaning perfectly on my way out of the box and caught two-Alpha on the IPSC target. Quick, efficient run to the 2nd box, gun mounted when I entered and dropped only one point on those two IPSC targets. Good time, good balance, good focus. Not perfect, but it was the best run I made in about 15 attempts.


SWMBO tried it, and took about 20% longer with a lot of misses, so we started focusing only on the concept of engaging the targets on the way out of the box. I suggested that she should already be shifting her weight as she transitioned from the popper to the IPSC target, and she didn't like it. She wanted to step out of the box with her leading foot, which was often touching the ground out of the box before she took her 2nd shot. She was working on her accuracy, and not paying any attention to her movement.

I suggested that she lead with her trailing foot, in a cross-over movement. She didn't like it, it didn't feel natural and she was concerned that she would trip over the box on the way out. Well, I have been known to do that myself so it seemed a reasonable concern. But she tried it anyway, and discovered that it wasn't as easy as it looked but it was do-able.

It took about a dozen runs before she could time the lean, the cross-over, and the shooting with accuracy so they all worked out for her. It wasn't consistent, but she was more comfortable, so we started trying to put that together with having the gun mounted and prepared to engage the two IPSC targets downrange as she entered the second box.

All this time, I was working on the same techniques, and I found my performance to be degrading with every attempt.

We had been filming each other with the Geek DigiCam on every run, and SWMBO finally asked me to please turn off the unspeakable camera, it was making her self-conscious.

I discovered that it was having the same effect on me. When we practiced with the camera obviously running, we did a terrible job. Without the camera we weren't as concerned with looking good as we were with working on the technique.

Toward the end, we quit working on the leave-the-box technique and focused on the enter-the-box problem. To make it more rewarding (we were both getting a little frustrated by this time), we moved the IPSC targets up to seven yards from the box. This helped us a lot by giving more positive feedback, and we found that we were actually getting more A-zone hits when the targets were closer. This was surprising, because we were actually getting clean misses, rather than C-zone hits, at the two yards greater distance. Go figure.

To wrap up the practice session, we rewarded ourselves by just starting at the second box and hosing the closer IPSC targets. After a dozen runs of the four-shot exercise, our draw times were getting down close to where we thought they should be, we were getting good splits and cutting our transition time between targets to around twice our split times.


We learned a few valuable lessons during the practice:

• Don't try to practice under the forbidding eye of an obvious running camera. It may be okay to set up a camera on a tripod and just let it run, but when you KNOW someone is watching you through a camera, it's a distraction.
• Instead of starting with a difficult problem, start with an EASY problem and make it progressively harder. For example, we should have started with the targets closer to the shooting position and gradually moved them farther away as we became more proficient. Doing it the other way is not only counter-productive, it's frustrating and detracts from the value of the lessons learned. You should start with what you KNOW you can do well, and then challenge yourself to learn what you can do better.
• Practicing with someone else is a good thing. You can take turns, which gives you time to relax between runs. We don't shoot five runs back-to-back in matches, and we shouldn't do that in practice. With the continued, prolonged tension of trying to do too many rounds per turn, you can see your performance degrade and you don't pay attention to EVERY run. They all just seem to blur together, and you learn nothing.
• Practicing with a timer works. It's the only way you're going to gauge your progress. If you can maintain an acceptable level of accuracy, and see your stage times going down, you're encouraged to keep it up. Always have a decent timer handy, and running with the timer on your belt instead of in the hands of a RO puts you in control of your practice.
  
• It IS a good idea to plan what you're going to practice before you get to the range, and to keep the lesson-stages simple and quick. You don't want to spend more time than necessary changing stages, and if you have too many items on your agenda you don't learn any of them well because you can't get enough repetitions to burn in the new skills.
  
• It IS a good idea to finish off a practice session with something easy, fast, and fun. It rewards you for a good practice, and it cancels out the gloom if it has been a bad practice -- and restores your confidence, which is an important part of competitive shooting. Besides, we shoot for fun, we refuse to put up with a day at the range which is NOT fun.

You probably already knew all of this. Heck, I knew it. I set up a bad practice, because I was out of practice at -- er -- practicing.

The next time we go out to practice, we'll use the tripod mounted video-tape camera instead of the handheld digicam. We'll start with closer targets, and move them out as we gain confidence in our skills.

My usual plan is to use the club matches as practice sessions, and hope I learn enough to keep up my skills. My new plan is to schedule at least one practice session a month, more in the summer, and work on specific skill sets.

One more thing:
We brought along a large plastic tarp to catch the brass. We needed two of them, because we were shooting from two different positions. It made a LOT of difference in the amount of time it took to pick up all of that new brass, especially in that the surface of the practice bay was large gravel and I know we lost some of the brass in the intercises between the rocks.

PS:
In case you missed it, the blue underlined text is a link to 1mb videos which demonstrate the subject.

PPS:
Unless you're just going out to shoot up some "questionable ammunition", prepare for your practice the same way you would prepare for a match. Have good ammuntion, have a clean gun, do whatever is required to ensure that your practice is not cut short or slowed down by jams and other malfunctions. Practice all of the safety rules, every time.

Work hard, have fun. Make loud, rude noises and generate noxious burnt-gunpowder stenches. That's what it's all about. Improving your skills, and enjoying it, comes naturally from all of the above.

Christians cower in fear in the New Palestine

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

Palestinian educator Dr. Maria Khoury geared up for the winter chill with what was at the time a meaningless purchase: a black silk scarf with silver stripes to drape around her neck.

But now, on her daily excursions from the West Bank's Taiba to nearby Ramallah, the scarf serves as a political symbol of the changing times.

"Since Hamas took over, I cover my head in Ramallah," she says. "I don't feel comfortable."

In the largely cosmopolitan Ramallah, though they comprise some 10 percent of the population, Christians are becoming less and less visible.

The first time that Khoury ran into her local parish priest there with her head covered, he raised his eyebrows and laughed.

"I see more and more women covered up," Khoury says, explaining that for now, it's preferable to play it safe and assimilate on the street, even if she would never choose to cover her head otherwise.

"Years ago I even used to go in short sleeves," she says. "You'd have to put a gun to my head to get me to wear short sleeves now."

With fear of government-supported religious coercion on the rise since Hamas's unexpected win in January's Palestinian elections, Christians across the West Bank and Gaza Strip are keeping a low profile, with eyes wide open.

It's not unusual that a minority population live in fear of ostracision for holding religious beliefs which are atypical in their society. But it does seem strange that minorities would make such statements as "You'd have to put a gun to my head to get me to wear short sleeves now."

This is beyond religious belief: it's a matter of a culture which rewards idiosyncratic dress with intimidation. Fear of degradation, rape, assault, death and dismemberment is becoming typical of Palestinian society.

This is an entirely negative reflection on the Islamist influence on government in this region, and we here in what we so cheerfully call "a civilized society" just can't quite get our minds around the concept.

When we condemn a judge for posting the Ten commandments in his courtroom, we act as if we are stopping this kind of extremism before it can be properly started.

But really, we have no idea.

We may be outraged that someone would suggest that they have religious priorities.

We may be quick to step on any hint of absolute morality, because it undermines our inherent of moral relativism.

We feel that our concept of atheism is consistent with avoiding acceptance of ANY religious beliefs in a secular society.

But looking at the extremes in which this antagonism to SPECIFIC religious beliefs (or more accurately, a disinclination to accept the religious beliefs of the majority) may be taken, it seems clear that any society which physically threatens mild deviations from the norm of the local culture is not only counter-productive, it is downright evil in that it causes a significant portion of its population to live in fear for their safety.

I don't know if the Palestinians have a good case to make for the return of land which they claim as their own, by historic right.

But I do know that the issue goes far beyond land. It encroaches upon the right of any people, or any culture which differes from that of its neighbors, to survive.

The right of free people to co-exist is central to civilized society. Any culture or society which alienates its neighbor from free practice of a legitimate religion is not only not endemic to a civilized society, it is a plague upon the earth and deserves no support regardless of the wrongs it believes to have been visited upon it.

On a personal note, I suppose I must know some Jewish people, and I might even know a Palestinian ... it just doesn't occur to me, in most circumstances, to wonder or worry about the religious or cultural antecedents of my friends or acquantances. However, if I had to choose between a pair of people from these two societies, I would be more inclined to support the one who was not committed to the total elimination of the other.

The Palestinian radicals who consider the finest act of their short life is to spill the blood of their proclaimed 'enemy' have already branded themselves as outsiders.

I much prefer a people who want nothing more than to live their life in celebration of their God, without actively seeking the elimination from this earth of a people who don't happen to believe in God in the same way.

William Conrad

If you are an old guy, and you listened to Radio on Thursday Nights ("The Lone Ranger") and Sunday mornings after church ("Gunsmoke"), you know who William Conrad is.


If you only watched television, you know him from "Cannon", which revealed him as Santa Claus with a Gibert Roland pencil-thin moustache.

But William Conrad was much more than that.

He was ... "The Voice" before James Earl Jones and Star Wars, and even before Don LaFontaine.

Picture Orson Wells, and you have almost the complete image.

For me, his most memorable role was as the narrator of "Leiningen and the Ants", a dramatic story which Charleton Heston later portrayed in a movie.

As much as I admire Heston, and as well as he played the role, I have to say that Conrad's vocal presentation was more dramatic, more profound, and more inclined to put me on the edge of my chair.

In fact, you can buy at least some of Conrad's performances here. (I did, and I'll be anxious to get them so I can listen to him while I post later articles here.)

Perhaps this article was initiated by a fit of nostalgia, and I'll be the first to admit that Thomas Wolf was right when he suggested that "you can never go home any more", meaning that when you go home ... it isn't the home you remembered.

It may be disappointing to actually sit through hundreds of hours of William Conrad reading scripts and books in MP3 files.

But I don't think so.

And if it happens that IS boring, I'll never say so.

William Conrad is the king of radio drama, with the possible exception of the recent books on tape narrator Frank Muller.

In Dutch with The Dutch

Cartoons: The End of Europe’s Tolerance? - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com

Do you remember when The Dutch use to be Mister Saturday Night of the Continent? Mister Nice Guy.?

You know, wooden shoes, tulips galore, Zuider Zee means we're all in this together, Dutch Boys holding back the flood waters with a single digit for the Greater Good, Dutch Masters such as Rambrandt, Celebrate Diversity?

No more.

Today, they have stolen the Look&Feel of Peter Finch in "Network". They're hanging out of the gabled windows screaming "I'M MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!"

They're tired of the riots.

They're tired of having their commercial products boycotted, their embassies burned, their expatriate citizens being assaulted.

They're tired of having foreigners demand that they no longer exercise their freedom of speech.

They're tired of having their movie makers shot, stabbed and exsanguinated on the newly mean streets of Amsterdam.

They're tired of having immagrants ("welcome to our shores!") preach hatred of their culture, their moral values, and their religion.

It is as if they had taken in a homeless person (in the millions), to nurture and to include in their family, and now they find they must protect their back from the alien knife when their only intention was to offer sanctuary and succor to a guest.

As of today, in The Netherlands it is not permitted to speak any language except the home language in public. The burqua may not be worn in public. (No word yet on jewish skullcaps or Catholic crosses.)

Muslim Imams must be 'vetted' to insure that they accept the values of the indiginous culture. Those who don't seem to embrace the rights of their hosts are educated in the 'normal' values. If the imams don't pass the test, or who later demonstrate that they have disingenuously avered an acceptance of the moral values of the country while privately rejecting them, are required to leave the county as unsavory characters.

No more will they allow Imams to preach sedition and revolution and Jihad in the mosque.

No more will they allow muslims to riot, burn and pillage for the sake of religious fervor.

No more will they allow muslims to import young girls, keeping them pent up in 3rd floor apartments and failing to learn acceptance of Dutch culture and language.

No more will they allow immigrants to rape with impunity, and indulge in 'honor killings'.

No more will they allow immigrants to divide their country because these 'guests' refuse to accept civilized values.

The Dutch are taking their country back. If it insults imported extreme religious priorities ... well, too bad. It's their country, and they didn't fight the Nazi's just to save their country and culture for a latter-day fascist invasion.

I say, good for them.

It's about time they acted like they had the cojones to assert the worth of their own culture.

If the immigrants don't like it, they can rethink the reasons why they moved there in the first place.

Extreme situations call for extreme measures, and continuing with their "Mister Nice Guy" persona in gthe context of this assault from within just ain't working for them.

The immigrants who make the extreme effort to move to a new home, and then choose to undermine the structure of that new country, risk reaping the whirlwind.

The whirlwind is now in force, and it has no patience for seditionists.

So be it.

Oh -- My -- Gawd

Michelle Malkin: THE MOONBATS PLOT A COUP

Michelle Malkin via Analogue Kid.

I can't say anything. Neither can AK or MM. This scheist speaks for itself.

Grunt Whining, Grunt Cooking

In 1969, I was a platoon sergeant in a "Grunt" platoon.

"Grunt" means U.S. Army foot soldier, nobody special.

Not Marines, certainly. Absolutely not Special Forces (Green Beret) or "Special Operations Group" (S.O.G.) or Rangers, or Delta Force. Not "Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol" (LRRP), not Airborne or even Military Police or Cavalry or Artillery ... we were Infantry, The Queen of Battle. The Sharp End.

Look at the U.S. Army, eliminate the elite units, take away any glamour or esprit de corps or special training and tactics, and what you have lift is Grunt Infantry.

The Airborne folks had a special name for us: Straight Legs. That means we didn't even parachute into a battle. We walked in. And when the battle was over, those that were left walked out.

No glory, no transportation, no dates with the Donut Dollies or Canteen Girls or Nurses. If you watched "China Beach" on television a decade or two ago, you didn't see us except as the guys on the stretchers.

Well, the amenities often DID include helicopter rides. If we were to be inserted into a hostile area, we rode helicopters. If we were wounded during that activity, we got a helicopter ride back to the rear ... if we were lucky, which we usually weren't.

Before I begin to sound too much like a whiner, let me emphasize that nobody expected any more than this sort of "oh, by the way" treatment. We were almost 100% draftees. Cannon fodder. Reluctant soldiers. The losers in the Draft Board lottery. We didn't want to be there, they didn't particularly want us there, but they (the guvmint) needed warm bodies so they sent us to fill out the ranks. Our best usage was to draw fire away from the GOOD troops.

We were surly, undisciplined, uninformed afterthoughts in the war of attrition. If we lost the war, it was because nobody expected any better. If we won the war, it was because we happened to be there in support of the Marines, or because we received exceptional support from the Green Beanies and outstanding intelligence from the LRRPS and tactical advice from the Rangers.

We didn't get anything from the Green Beanies or the Rangers, and the LRRPS let us walk into ambushes rather than to chance revealing their position by warning us.

That's okay, we never expected anything better and I can live with that. Support was a concept, best illustrated by 8-day "reconnaissance" patrols that they sent us on (similar to kicking a hornet's next to see what happened) during which they sent in a helicopter every two or three days to give us ammunition, C-rations, and 5-gallon plastic water bottles.

Never mind that in that tropical jungle environment, where we moved 10 kilometers through dense foliage every day and set up ambushes at night, we drank more water in a single day than we received in resupply each insert. We had enough food, and we found enough water, and we survived.

Mostly.

We didn't care about the glory (which we didn't have) or the supply (which we didn't have). If your boots rotted during a mission, they would usually send another pair out to you eventually. It may not be your size, but you got new boots. Trousers ripped and embarrassingly exposed? No problem, another pair of pants will be forwarded from the Slop chute (an admittedly Navy term, but appropriate.) Again, one size fits all.

Food ... was an issue.

Ultimately, food was the ONLY thing we really cared about. Well, and our Sundries Pace (SP) issue, which came twice a month. We got razor blades, writing paper, candy and chewing tobacco. Most important, we got cigarettes for free! I wasn't a confirmed smoker until I served my tour in RVN, but I've never been able to permanently kick the habit since I got back to The Land of the Great PX, and had unlimited access to cigarettes ... at greatly increased prices!

We would send back a wounded man from time to time. Regrettable, but not important. One time we sent back a man who, while fording a stagnant stream, had picked up a leech. Nothing new about this, we forded a lot of water hazards every day and leeches, ants, centipedes, flies and other insects were our constant companions. Unfortunately, this leech had crawled up into his penis, and by the time our boy reported it to the company medic (another draftee with a total of three months of medical training), it had almost disappeared into the penis in question. The medic had called in a 'Dust Off' (medivac), and the helicopter pilot complained vehemently because he had a Priority Dust-Off and the patient walked to the helicopter unaided. The pilot was accustomed to PDO patients being carried on board,bleeding; not walking with no visible injury. No matter that the leech would have invaded the patient's liver within 24 hours and killed him in another 12 hours. We were just Grunts, and ignorant, so they eventually let it go without further comment.

No problem, we can handle it. Chopper pilots are very polite and accommodating when they land in a circle of armed men, all weapons trained inside the Landing Zone at the Senior Pilot of a helicopter.

Every week or so, we got to walk to the "Red Line" (representing a road on a map) to where we would, sooner or later, be picked up by trucks to return to base. Or, if we were within 10 kilometer of the base, we would walk back to the base. It was considered "extended reconnaissance" to walk back to the base, and A Good Thing as long as you weren't the people who had been in the jungle for a week and had been living off rice-paddy water (requiring halogen application for an hour before it could be drunk, to kill the parasites) and usually uncooked C-rations which were left over from WWII.

All of this is a preamble to the central thesis: Food is Important to Grunts!

During the one-night-a-week (average) when we spent the night within the confines of a protected perimeter (Night Defensive Position, or NPR: a semi-permanent base camp which included a Mess Hall), we got a dinner and a breakfast of reconstituted whatever's. Reconstituted milk, reconstituted eggs, reconstituted juice, reconstituted mashed potatoes, etc. In the civilian world, we would call it powdered whatever. No food value, very little vitamins, very lilttle minerals, mostly powdered water. The water was chlorinated. Do the math, and it's perhaps not surprising that we honored Joseph Lister for his contribution to our well-being because that was the best water we got for months on end.

But the food that we ate was the food that we carried on our backs. If we were very very lucky, it wasn't all the egregious C-rations, and that's the point of this entire essay.

C-rations were "Canned Food", and everything we got was in a can. Think of dog food with out heat or flavor. The least appreciated was Ham&Lima Beans. Actually, it wasn't bad unless you got a can with a great huge glob of pork fat and very little beans or ham, which happened to me one night as I attempted to eat a can of 'Ham & M*therF*ckers" in the dark. If you find a can of ham fat during the day, you can meld it with other meals to provide value to otherwise bland meals; by itself, I can attest that a mouthful of cold ham fat has little to recommend itself, except as an experience you can use to gross out your friends for decades to come. What do you do? You choke it down: that's the only food you're going to get for 12 hours, and you have many rivers to cross before more food is available.

Personally, I traded "the good stuff" (canned peaches, for example) for "Ham and Eggs" meals. The value of Ham&Eggs is that it has a certain modicum of not-entirely objectionable taste (think reconstituted eggs with spam flavoring --- yummy!) whether it is heated or not.

Speaking of heating, we didn't have stoves. We didn't have heat-tabs, which go with the cute little stamped-metal stoves and heated one canteen cup's worth of coffee, or whatever. What we had was C4 explosives. Everybody carried a one-pound chunk of C4, which was roughly equivalent to 1.5 pounds of industrial dynamite. But it wouldn't explode if you put a match to it; it required a percussion effect to explode. If you lit it, it would just burn with a fast, blue flame. That was enough to heat a canteen-cup full of coffee, or hot chocolate, or a can of C-rations.

Actually, it wasn't enough. You had to cut off a 1" square chunk of C4, and heat your can. Then cut off another 1" square, ditto. And do it one more time, to get a canteen cup of liquid to where it was luke-warm, and thus drinkable. It wasn't actually "drinkable" because it hadn't actually boiled. But it was hot enough to dissolve instant coffee or instant coffee, which was all we had.

Unless we had ... something special.

We often "worked"(patrolled) with members of the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam -- ARVNs.

They had even worse rations than we did. They had rice, usually from Texas. Sometimes they had mackerel (sp), which is a terribly oily fish and was what the NVA and the Viet Cong had for meat. We couldn't get that from them, but the ARVNs would usually trade rice for C-ration.

That's right: their diet was even poorer than ours, and they considered our C-rations to be a delicacy, because it included Meat. Sorry bastards thought a can of Ham & M*ther-f*ckers with a glob of fat in it was a delicacy. They would trade almost anything on the one-in-ten chance of getting a glob of fat because it was it was an improvement on their regular diet. The sad part of it is, they were right.

But they had rice, which we did not.

Before every mission, we tried to find an ARVN who had a pound of rice or two to trade for C-rations. It didn't always happen, because usually we considered the ARVNs to be politically unreliable,k and avoided them. We were desperate for a variation in our diet, though, and we actively sought them out prior to another mission.

Because we never had a cook-pot, we also (to our everlasting shame, because we KNEW that nobody would understand) hunted through the garbage pits of the mess hall for #10 cans which had been cleaned before disposal. We knew that they were filthy and germ-ridden, but the only alternative was to use our helmets as cook pots, and the resulting stew invariably tasted of olive-drab paint. Also, the helmet stank forever on from the residual stew-orts, because we had no means of cleaning cooking utensils. Remember the lack of potable water?


On an ideal mission, we would set out with the following:

• a large tin can to cook in
• a pound of rice
• several C-rations which prominently featured meat. They were never the SAME meat, so we had a different taste every meal.
• Enough water to make a rice stew. Usually, it was water we retrieved from a bomb-crater. It was usually fairly fresh rain water, but not always. We could not afford to use drinking water for cooking. Or washing. Or shaving, or any other use.
  
• There would be a tactical situation in which we would be able to build an actual fire, using wood, and keep it going long enough that we could boil the components of the rice stew.

There were usually four or five members of the patrol (usually a short squad, rather than a platoon), who kept themselves supplied with one or more of the following condiments:

• salt
• garlic salt, or garlic powder
• Java Black Pepper
• McMennahin's Tobasco Sauce
• Italian Seasoning
• If you were very very lucky, Onion Salt or Onion Powder

Here's the recipe, for a small portion (we didn't have the pot capacity for more, or the heat source to heat more between movement end and dark) of Rice Stew:

• Four Cups of water
• Two cups of rice
• as much meat-dishes as you could find in your butt-pack; usually two 8-ounce cans
• any fat or oil that you could find or scrounge
• any salt that you could find or scrounge (not included in SP packs, so Ham&Eggs was prized as much as Ham&Lima because it was intrinsically salty)
• Lots of Java Black Pepper
• Lots of Hot Sauce (Tabasco)
• A healthy measure of Garlic, Onion, or any other pungent herb available
• As much Italian Seasoning as you could talk the "Italian Guy" out of, for a disproportionate share of the meal.

Serves two, three, four, six ... as many as had contributed to the meal. Often it was heavily watered (from disreputable water sources) to make it go farther. The guy who had to sacrifice his helmet as a cook pot typically got a larger portion, but that was a bad trade-off because, as previously mentioned, it either tasted like olive-drab paint or had been used before and reeked like rotting food. We trusted the paint-smell more than that which we got from previously used helmets, which explains the value we place on large cans from the Mess Hall Garbage Dump. (I am, to this day, convinced that the Mess Hall staff at November 2 Night Defensive Position made special efforts to wash and disinfect #10 cans before disposing them in the dump in recognition of the hight probability that they would be used to serve American Troops in the immediate future.)

As we sat around a dying campfire (always before the sunset, so we wouldn't reveal our position), we use to tease each other about being back in The World and preparing this sort of meal for our family. The visual images included crouching on top of a stove while the pot burbled on the burner, half-naked and reeking, chattering a monologue in which every other work was the F-word, oblivious of the sensibilities of our intimate family. We are voluntarily ignoring the stench of Olive-Drab paint from the the new GI Helmet we're using as a Crock Pot, because we know that the smell from a 'used' pot is even worse.

Strangely, I made a pot of GI Rice for my wife during a R&R leave of absence in February, 1970, while we re-established our relationship in Honolulu, Hawaii. She liked it. I was comfortable with my meal for the first time in that month, although I admit I easily ignored the temptation to squat on the stove while cooking.

Why am I telling you all of this useless War-Story history?

Because I still make this dish for myself on a monthly basis, and I have a pot of GI Stew on the stove even now.

It's cooking in a Revere Ware Dutch-Oven. The rice is probably from the same ranch in Texas as provided it to the ARVNs in 1969, but I have more confidence in its cleanlilness. The Garlic and Onion are flaked-version from CostCo. The water is filtered through a Brita refrigerator pitcher,all of the seasonings come from jars with the "Spice Islands" logo on the label. It will be served with either Ritz or Nabisco crackers, or fresh-toasted Sourdough Bread from San Francisco (with Tillamook Creamery Butter spread) on the side.

The Tabasco sauce, however, is from New Orleans as before.

Some things just don't allow substitutes, no matter what the circumstances.

Negligence: Las Vegas Officer-involved Shooting Video

I don't know if I've ever actually posted the video, but I do know that I cited it in March of 2005.

In case anyone is still interested, here it is.

Essentially, during an arrest in Las Vegas, Nevada, a suspect was being cuffed by a deputy sheriff in a parking lot while being covered by another deputy with a drawn pistol. During the engagement, the covering deputy's pistol (Glock? Sig? hard to tell) discharges, striking the asphalt pavement near the prone suspect. The suspect and the arresting officer are noticibly disconcerted, if I may be forgive the understatement.

Fortunately, nobody seems to be injured and the covering officer immediately holsters her pistol. One wonders a lot of things, such as whether the covering officer really needs to have her pistol drawn and pointing toward the suspect ... but that is a matter of departmental policy, and I'm not conversant in this area.

Watch the video, draw your own conclusions, but I note that you're probably as poorly informed on departmental policy as am I. Still, when a firearm discharges, we might be forgiven for jumping to conclusions in regards to the degree of negligence which might be involved.

QUALITY OF THE VIDEO:

It comes across as rather rough on my computer, you might be well advised to download it before you play it because of transmission interference. If you don't get a 'clean, smooth' copy let me know and I'll see if I can find a file version that isn't 4th or 5th generation.

Target Barn Shooting Bag

For my birthday, my Sweetie (SWMBO) bought me a brand new red Range Bag from Target Barn.

While my bag is red (as is SWMBO's T.B. Professional Range Bag), it's available in four colors: Black Blue, Green and RED!


My old Dillon bag was green, and I was ready for a change. I have too many things in Dillon Blue already, and Black is so ... common. I had started campaigning for a red Target Barn range bag for my birthday as soon as I bought one for her, last year. This year she remembered and bought one for my very own, bless her heart. I'm not saying she feared that I would steal hers, but I did admire it and I'm sure she just wanted me to quit drooling on hers.


The "Professional" grade range bags from Target Barn come with a couple of great accessories. Included in the $69.95 price is a brass bag and a pistol sleeve.

The brass bag has a plastic snap-on clip so it readily attaches to your range bag. There's a drawstring at the top, so brass doesn't spill out when you unload it from the back of your Jeep, and the bottom is a mesh that drains foreign debris (such as dirt, sand, fir needles, etc.) and water. MAJOR factor in brass-bag selection in Oregon.

The pistol sleeve has a zipper on the side ... not on the top ... and is big enough that a STI Competition pistol with C-more sight and compensator fits comfortably inside and you can still zip it closed. I'm reasonably confident that any IPSC pistol will fit as well inside this commodious bag. There's a side-pocket which zips closed where you can store this pistol sleeve, although unfortunately you can't zip the side-pocket closed when the pistol sleeve is inside it ... in order to accommodate the oversized pistols, the pistol sleeve is too tall to allow the outside pocket to close with the sleeve inside it. However, it does fit completely inside the main compartment (see below) without interfering with the operation of the double-zipper that closes it.

If you don't want to store your pistol sleeve inside this pocket, it works great for storing two of the Dillon small utility boxes ... I use them for First Aid supplies and Tools & parts ... and a small timer.

On the outside wall of this zip-pocket is a smaller zip-pocket, perfect for storing flat items such as score sheets, match booklets, rule books or notebooks where you can record notes for your future memoirs.


Another feature of the T.B. Professional Shooting Bag is a side pocket with magazine loops stitched to the inner wall, holding as many as 7 double-stack magazines. I also use it for storing a small KleenBore Pocket Cleaning kit (PocKit), and a couple of granola bars for snacks. I get hungry during a match.

On the exterior wall (inside the pocket, protected from the elements) of that same zippered side-pocket there's a strip of elastic material with stitching at half-inch or one-inch intervals which allows you to insert pens, pencils, knives, screwdrivers, squib rods, chapstick (or lipstick) tubes, cleaning rods, etc.


The main compartment is the length of the bag (16-1/2" less padding) and easily eight inches wide. There's room for earmuffs, belt, ammunition, camera, gloves, snacks, a plastic zip-bag of cleaning rags and small towels, and a whole lot more. There are side-pockets, accommodating the pistol sleeve (with some difficulty) on one side and a large staple gun with a box of extra staples in the other side.


There are small zippered pockets on the ends. I keep a folded disposable rain poncho in one end, and the other end contains a "snake" bore-cleaner,
a small bottle of oil and a four-ounce squirt bottle of MP7.




ALL of the walls of the Target Barn "Professional" Range Bag are padded. almost everything seems to be double-stitched. The material is heavy Cordura (or ballistic) nylon. The padded shoulder strap is fitted with STAINLESS STEEL pressure clips for sure, easy removal and installation. The clips attach to large STAINLESS STEEL D-rings, which are triple-stitched to a heavy (Cordura or ballistic nylon) strip which runs under the bag from one D-ring to the other, between the double-walls of the main compartment, so the weight of the bag and its contents is supported not by the bag fabric, but by this heavy strip.

The large D-rings provide a place to hang the brass bag, and any other containers you wish. I have a couple of extra brass bags, and I use at least one of them for holding a bottle of water. I also have various protective eye-glasses in cases which attach with clips. Some of the clips aren't large enough to encompass the thickness of the D-rings, but I have circular key rings which I use as an intermediary link between the clip and the D-ring.

My Dillon bag had plastic clips between the shoulder strap and the bag, and didn't provide a place to hang brass bags, eyeglasses, water bottle holders, etc. I clipped them to the zipper pulls instead, and broke two of the zipper pulls and one of the zippers because I stressed them beyond the capacity for which they were designed. This is not a problem with the Target Barn bag.

The Target Barn puts two thick, heavy plastic strips at either end of the bag, to support it on whatever surface you choose to place it on. These don't really keep the bag out of the mud, but they look like a very sincere token gesture to protect the contents from ground moisture.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

The bag isn't perfect. I would like to see it a half-inch taller. This would allow the pistol sleeve to fit easily into one of the interior side-pockets of the main compartment, and perhaps even into the large side pocket, without interfering with the zipper.

It might even allow 170mm magazines to fit into the magazine-carrier side pocket.

Even if this dimensional change isn't implemented, I can live with the pistol sleeve fitting imperfectly into the side or main compartment.

The biggest downside is the inability to accommodate long magazines in the magazine carriers. This could be resolved by either moving the series of magazine pockets lower in the side-pocket, or leaving the bottom of at least a couple of the magazine slots open at the bottom, so the long magazines could slide farther down and clear the zipper.

However, neither of these limitations detract significantly from the over all convenience and usability of the bag. It was designed to be a small, light bag that meets most of the requirements for most shooters, and it accomplishes that goal admirably.



For those who feel they NEED a larger bag, Target Barn also offers the Tournament Bag ($135) with larger dimensions (23x10x14" high!), greater capacity, but the same great durability, quality and accessories ... except the "pistol sleeve" is replaced with a "pistol bag", and the water bottle is included!