H/T to Tam for finding this video. As she mentions, you don’t need to watch the whole thing, because the derp comes fast and early in the video. While watching the video I was basically speechless, stuttering “what in the actual **** is this” when confronted with images like this:
Tactical Buzzwords to watch for
We’ve been discussing Derp-Based Training for the past week or so here on Gun Nuts, because it’s important to recognize silliness and bad ideas within our own community. Obviously, getting good firearms training isn’t something that everyone is going to do, but if you do choose to get training there are things you can do to make sure that you’re getting quality instruction.
Good firearms techniques should be based on Three Pillars of Radness: Demonstrate, Measure, and Refine. What that means is that your instructor should be capable of demonstrating the techniques he’s teaching. That doesn’t mean they have to demonstrate every single drill, but they should be able to demonstrate the skills they’re imparting to you. For example, if we’re working on revolver reloads, a good instructor should be able to demonstrate the different methods of revo reloads and explain each one. He doesn’t need then to demonstrate a 1-reload-2 drill, which is used for the “Measure” part of training.
Measuring the skill means using an objective standard. How do we do that? Group sizes and timers. Here’s an objective drill: “5 shots with no time limit, all shots must be within the 2 inch circle at 5 yards.” Or for timed skills such as the draw: “draw and fire two shots from the holster at an 8 inch circle with a par time of 2 seconds. Repeat 5x for a total of 10 rounds, you must have 9/10 in the 8 inch circle to pass.” Now, the inverse of this is that not all drills need to necessarily be that detailed, but a good class should use some kind of objective standard to measure performance and improvement. It doesn’t matter if it’s the FAST Drill, El Pres, or the Humbler. If you’re not measuring performance, you’re just fooling yourself.
Finally, refine. Every class I’ve ever gone to, regardless of whether I’ve been the top gun or middle of the pack, the instructors have offered refinements on my technique. “Try doing this differently to get result x” means they’re working to refine my performance on the objective metrics they use to measure performance. Now, refinement is the only pillar that also involves the shooter keeping an open mind. However, if you’ve picked your training class smartly based on the first two pillars, you’re probably in a good position to learn something from the class you’re attending.
Here are some warning signs to watch out for:
- The instructor prefaces various drills with “in most real gunfights” or the phrase “in the streets”
- If the instructor dismisses shooters with advanced skill as “gamers”
- No use of objective, measurable standards, and bases everything on “feelings”
Remember, the goal of training is to get better. If your class or instructor isn’t providing you an objective way to measure that improvement, than they’re not worth spending your money on. I’ve taken classes from all kinds of different instructors; tactical guys to USPSA Grandmasters and everything in between. Every single one of them provided objective measures of skill, and as a result I’ve benefited from every class I took.
If I had to condense this class into a single rule of thumb, it would be this: “If you class/instructor doesn’t use a timer to measure performance, they’re not worth it.”
Gun photos: Well, there’s your problem
Caption: Something’s wrong with my P229, it isn’t feeding!
Finding the Perfect Carry Set Up
Almost anyone who carries a gun has it: the pile of cast-off holsters, the list of guns they’ve lived and learned from, memories of bruises left by carry set ups that were just a little bit off. So how do we know when we’ve found something that works for us?Continue reading →
Ruger LCRx
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) announces the introduction of the LCRx™, the newest variation of the revolutionary Lightweight Compact Revolver (LCR®). Chambered in .38 Special +P, the LCRx™ features an external hammer that allows it to be fired in single-action mode.
“Since its introduction in 2009, the LCR® has become extremely popular with conceal carry customers seeking the simplicity of a revolver,” said Chris Killoy, Ruger Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Customers have been asking for a traditional double-action version of the LCR® with an external hammer for optional single-action shooting. We were listening and have added a crisp single-action mode to the already smooth double-action LCR®,” he concluded.
The newest LCR® maintains all the features of the critically acclaimed original LCR®. Its double-action-only trigger pull is uniquely engineered with a patented Ruger® friction reducing cam fire control system. The trigger pull force on the LCR® builds gradually and peaks later in the trigger stroke, resulting in a trigger pull that feels much lighter than it actually is. This results in more controllable double-action shooting, even among those who find traditional double-action-only triggers difficult to operate.
The LCR® has three main components: a polymer fire control housing, an aircraft quality aluminum monolithic frame, and an extensively fluted stainless steel cylinder. When originally introduced, the Ruger® LCR® revolver was one of the most significant new revolver designs in over a century, and it has since been awarded three patents.
In addition to the newly introduced external hammer LCRx™, the Ruger® LCR® is available in .38 Special +P, .357 Magnum, .22 Magnum and .22 Long Rifle double-action-only models. All LCR® models feature replaceable ramp front sights, and a fixed U-notch rear and some models feature a laser-sighting system from Crimson Trace®.
For more information on the Ruger® LCRx™, or to learn about the extensive line of award-winning Ruger® firearms, visit Ruger.com or Facebook.com/Ruger. To find accessories for Ruger® firearms, visit ShopRuger.com.
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. is one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of rugged, reliable firearms for the commercial sporting market. The only full-line manufacturer of American-made firearms, Ruger offers consumers over 400 variations of more than 30 product lines. For more than 60 years, Ruger has been a model of corporate and community responsibility. Our motto, “Arms Makers for Responsible Citizens,” echoes the importance of these principles as we work hard to deliver quality and innovative firearms.
Arms Makers for Responsible Citizens®
Photo of the day: Five-seveN
One of those weird guns that never really caught on, but I still kind of want. The Five-seveN and its cartridge have a dedicated and loyal following, much like the 10mm.
FFL Horror Story
We’ve all heard of the “Gun Show Loop Hole” and know that no such thing actually exists. Private sales happen the same way inside gun shows as they do outside gun shows. Federal Firearms License holders use 4473 in their stores or if they sell their inventory elsewhere. This was a given as far as I was concerned, until a few days ago when a former FBI informant shared with me this story.
Chris Costa: Easy Day
Costa Media Group presents the action short: Easy Day.
Sure, the gun control didn’t work THIS time, but it will! We promise!
You have no idea how difficult it is to type something up that isn’t just swear words at this point. Courtesy of the NRA Facebook page I was led down the rabbit hole to this magnificent article, wherein one of the people who pushed a bunch of new gun control laws in Colorado following the Newtown shooting said:
“So things like universal background checks, I think they are going to make us safer, but in this specific case aren’t going to make a difference at all…”
***CENSORED*** me.
Let’s all hop aboard my way-back machine (or Tardis, if you’re into that sort of thing) and revisit what Governor Hickenlooper said not even a year ago. He said that expanded background checks were necessary to stop guns from getting into the hands of bad people, and that magazine limits were necessary because standard capacity magazines:
“have the potential to turn killers into killing machines.”
So now, a few months after he signed the legislation that infringes on the rights of Colorado citizens there’s another incident and he admits that what pro-gun people said the whole damned time was right all along. The conclusion you’re forced to draw is that the legislation pushed after Newtown and Aurora were not, in fact, about stopping mass shootings. They were just a convenient excuse to pass gun control. Specifically measures which had absolutely no bearing on the events which he and those of his ilk were holding up as reasons to pass the legislation. When reality nicely demonstrates the absolute fiction of the policy proposals and the propaganda he used to push it, he makes a brief acknowledgement that, you know, it didn’t do anything here…here in exactly the sort of thing he claimed it was going to stop…but that everybody was still much safer. Sure, he can’t actually articulate how any of it contributes to increasing safety, but he’s certain it is and you can absolutely trust him because, you know, he’s a politician. Those guys never lie!
This is the Pollyanna refrain of gun control. Something terrible happens somewhere and a bunch of people with boiling grudges against the idea of firearms freedom run to the scene and splash around in the blood in front of the cameras, wearing sackcloth and ashes and weeping about how we need to pass X legislation to stop this thing from happening. Then the horrible thing happens again, exactly the thing they said the laws were supposed to stop, but they assure you that either it’s going to work one day or what we really need to do is double down on what has already been proven as a failure.
Meanwhile Wayne LaPierre gets treated like some sort of social pariah to the point where people wish him dead for saying that these idiot laws won’t accomplish anything productive and gets laughed at for suggesting the one ***CENSORED*** thing that prevented Arapahoe from being a blood soaked killing field. When put on the spot even a scoundrel like Hickenlooper is forced to admit his proposals are an utter failure, irrelevant to stopping the acts of violence he used as justification to pass this nonsense and yet somehow he’s still a respectable figure and the NRA is still the bad guy. How the hell does that work???
There’s nothing remotely honest, sincere, or noble about those who are pushing for gun control. If they had a point they wouldn’t need to try and soak everything they want to get done in the blood of innocent victims to try and generate some momentum. They wouldn’t blithely pull the Little Orphan Annie routine and insist that their failed policies will really work tomorrow, someday, maybe when confronted with the cold hard reality of their utter failure to accomplish anything useful today. Honest people would examine their actions and the results of their policy proposals and maybe actually learn a damn lesson when what they said originally proves to be untrue. Only in politics can you be completely, utterly, inexcusably wrong about reality so often and yet still have a job and credibility. If your weatherman predicted record highs and it turned out to be a blizzard every bloody time he’d be mowing lawns. If you ordered a steak and your waitress brought you a salad every time, they’d be unemployed. If you went in for rotator cuff surgery and the doctor cut off your leg, he’d no longer be a doctor. Yet politicians routinely screw around with matters of life or death in complete ignorance, fouling it all to hell and face no consequences.
We all need to commit this moment to memory. We need to burn this into our brains good and hard so that the next time somebody splashing around in the aftermath of tragedy tries to insist we need to “compromise” with them we remember what their game is and refuse to play it. You don’t compromise with this sort of foolishness. You call out their idiocy for what it is, point out the manifest failures of their policy proposals, damn them for the scoundrels they are, and hold fast the line.
Photo of the day: “Take me to the range, please”
The cat’s in my range bag, so it’s topical, right? Submit your captions in the comments to earn lulz!