The guys at Lucky Gunner have a great Fiocchi ammo review that also includes a cool interview with non other than Carl Fiocchi. Definitely worth the read.
Practicing your weaknesses
I’m a big believer in practicing the aspects of your shooting that you’re not so great at; in my case it’s any kind of shooting past 10 yards can get unusually frustrating.
However, there are times when practicing your weakness can be quite rewarding. That’s the standard Bianchi Cup target; which I set out at 20 yards to practice what else but my long range pistol shooting. Specifically, giving myself 2.5 seconds to draw to a 10 ring hit at 20 yards. This is a standard practice drill that I use, as I’ve discovered if I can draw to an open 10 ring at 20+ yards in 2.5 seconds, I can get the same hit at 7 yards in 1.35-1.5 seconds.
Target at the right was shot with my Bianchi Cup Production division revolver, a S&W 686 SSR. Drawing from the holster, with an average draw to shot time of 2.47 seconds my score on that target would be 236-10x; that means out of 24 shots at 20 yards I only dropped 2 in the “8-ring” of the standard Bianchi target. Sure, I could have run the target out to 10 yards and shot a 1-hole group in the center of the x-ring, but that’s not a realistic training drill. That’s not hard and it doesn’t challenge my skills. Trying to shoot x’s at 20+ yards under time pressure? Now that’s good training.
That’s the point of practicing your weaknesses. You shouldn’t over-train them for certain, as you’ll probably never need to do a weak-hand only reload on the clock, but if you’re weak in certain areas that can offer an obvious improvement, train those. I’ve been shooting in practice at mostly 15 yards or greater; it’s had a tremendous impact on my ability to get fast hits at close range. Being able to hit a low probability target like a 4 inch x-ring on command at 20 yards makes whacking an 8 inch down zero zone at 5 yards seem very straight forward. At the 2009 Bianchi Cup, a veteran shooter said “IDPA and USPSA won’t make you better at this game…but this game [NRA Action Pistol] will make you better at everything”. He wasn’t kidding!
Sensei Jeff gets you shot in the face, again.
In today’s final installment in Lessons from Sensei Jeff, my favorite TDK black belt shows you how to not only get shot in the face, but mildly irritate your attacker as well so that if you are lucky enough to take their gun away, they will now beat you to death with their bare hands. As usual, here’s our time index commentary.
- 0:35 – This technique apparently only works if the bad guy already has his finger on the trigger. Now, I’m no TKD black belt (oh wait, yes I am) but I’m pretty sure that I can’t react faster with my entire body than he can suck that arm in and start shooting me. Also, do you really want to bet your life on a technique that only works if the bad guy is already about to shoot you?
- 1:17 – why is that guy bowing every time Sensei Jeff hands his gun back? “Thank you for muzzling yourself with this gun that has a magazine in it?”
- 1:35 – Back to the booby-trapped weapon! Seriously, does this happen? Ever? Maybe I missed that this was a common occurrence.
- 1:40 – Dude, seriously. The slide is on top of the gun. The thing that you’re “packing” is called the magazine.
- 1:49 – MOST. EPIC. FAIL. YET. He has now performed a tap-rack drill, and is now pointed a cocked firearm that may or may not have a round in the chamber with the safety off and his finger on the trigger at one of his own students. Can you say “I want my money back”?
If you’re going to train gun takeaways, buy a Blue Gun. They’re cheap, they’re safe, and it is completely impossible to have an ND with a blue gun.
This concludes our lessons from Sensei Jeff. I think this video is by far the worst in terms of the technique being presented and the ridiculously unnecessary safety violations in the video. Now, we’ve all had a pretty good laugh about this, but there are some very serious issues that I’d like to address.
First off, the safety issues. Don’t train with live guns like that. It’s incredibly dangerous and it’s how people get killed. I wasn’t joking about buying a blue gun for training purposes; it’s impossible for a live round to sneak in to the chamber of a solid block of plastic. Even in dry fire I’m a little OCD about press-checking my guns, because I don’t want the magical bullet gremlins to sneak one in the chamber. Don’t do that what Sensei Jeff does. I cannot stress enough that training with a live gun like that is just so dangerous and stupid that I run out of adjectives to describe how dangerous it is.
Now about the techniques themselves. Gun takeaways are generally a last ditch effort and are going to require a lot of strength and coordination. Sensei Jeff has a slightly different technique for every situation, which is great way to put your brain in to vapor lock when the balloon goes up, as you can’t remember which complicated, finesse intensive move you’re going to need to do. Hence why I’m a big of “punch him in the throat” followed with “stomp his guts out” as options to “fine joint manipulation”. The body tends to break down under stress, and the more complicated an action is, the less likely you’ll be able to actually pull it off.
I believe that marital arts training can be valuable for the CCW holder. Most fights don’t occur on brightly lit indoor ranges or sunny days in outdoor bays, and learning to fight with your body is useful. But remember that not all instruction is created equal; and in a lot of cases the martial arts community is more fraught with shysters and “mall ninjas” than the firearms community. Investigate your trainers – a guy like Sensei Jeff probably isn’t the best choice for learning to fight.
Beginner's buying guide to the AK rifles
From our friends at The Shooter’s Log; a how to guide on buying your first AK.
Abominations: universal belt slide holsters
Admit it. We all know that as gun nuts we have a box of holsters in a closet, under a bed, or some place where good, honest folk can’t see the poor decisions we made before we bought a Comp-Tac. And somewhere in that box is one of these, because we’ve all done it. 
I know, I’ve been there. I’ve purchased the accursed “universal belt slide holster” myself, and I honestly won’t tell you what kind of gun I carried around in it, because the shame would simply be too great for me to bear.
The whole “holster” conversation comes up time and time again, as I am routinely amazed to see otherwise intelligent folk taking their $500 gun and putting it in a $15 piece of nylon. After many, many pixels expended on preaching the gospel of good holsters, my argument can be distilled down to this: If you’ve decided that your life is valuable enough to make the decision to carry a gun, then shouldn’t your life be valuable enough to carry that gun in a good holster?
That’s really the core of my argument against them. I don’t even mind them as temporary solutions; I have bought many cheap nylon holsters to use as improvised gun cases. A $15 “Universal” holster is less bulky than a hard case and fits neatly in my backpack for range trips. But in the event that you ever need to use your gun to defend your life, you’re betting your life not just on the gun, or your training but also on your belt, your holster, and even your pants. And if you ask me, my life is worth a lot more than fifteen bucks.
Sensei Jeff on how to get shot in the spine
My favorite TKD black belt is back for more instruction on how to get shot! In today’s installment, Sensei Jeff explains how to get shot in the spine and/or lungs. And here is our time index commentary:
- 0:28 – Generally, people who know what they’re doing don’t get close enough to touch you with their gun.
- 0:37 – He says “let’s slow that down”, and I was thinking “that first run wasn’t the slo-mo version?” If you move that glacially when someone has a gun on you, you’re going to get shot. A bunch.
- 1:00 – “Be careful not to hurt his elbow”. WHAT. If someone has a gun on me, I want to hurt them the worst ways I possibly can.
- 1:19 – And we’re back to “packing the slide”. My delicate brain can’t handle this.
- 1:23 – At least this time he didn’t mention that it might be booby-trapped.
So far, this is the worst gun takeaway video yet. There are legitimate times that a gun takeaway might be your only option. The problem is that if you’re using Sensei Jeff’s methods, you’re going to get shot. Lots.
I would even say that in those situations you’re better off trying to use strikes such as punches, elbows, and knees to disable your attacker in a situation like that, as wrestling for control of a gun is generally a bad idea that only works out well in TV and movies. Tomorrow we’ll have our last Lesson from Sensei Jeff, on how to get shot then mildly injure your attacker!
2010 World Action Pistol Results
Each year, the Bianchi Cup is held in Columbia, MO and represents the National Championship for NRA Action Pistol shooting. However, there is one match that supersedes Bianchi Cup on the Action Pistol Calendar, and that’s the World Action Pistol Championships, held this year in Australia. NRA Action Pistol has a very large following in Australia and New Zealand, a fact I discovered in ’09 at the Bianchi Cup when I had the chance to meet more than a few participants from down under that made the trek to Missouri to shoot our National Championship. As usual, we happily reciprocated by sending the best action pistol shooters in the United States to Australia this year to see how we’d do at their match.
Here are the final results for the 2010 World Action Shooting Championships, broken down by division.
Open Division
- Doug Koenig
- Carl Bernosky
- Bruce Piatt
Ladies’ Division
- Anita Maciewicz
- Vera Koo
- Jodi Lyall
Note, my friend and multi-time US Champion Julie Golob finished 4th in the women’s division. While the world championships don’t enjoy the participation in Metallic and Production that you see at the US events, hopefully the bi-annual World Championships will continue to pick up steam. That’s one of those events that is on my “Must go someday” list; but a trip to Australia/New Zealand would be a long way off in my future.
Other news from the match – Team S&W’s Molly Smith, best known for rocking Steel Challenge with her S&W 627 shot a 1523, which is higher than the score I shot at my first Bianchi Cup. There is something rather humbling about losing to a 14 year old girl.
Congratulations to everyone that shot the World Championships, and hopefully I’ll be able to join you in 2012!
Rhino review
Grant Cunningham, who may know a thing or two about wheelguns is taking a multi-part look at the Chiappa Rhino Revolver. I am deeply skeptical of this revolver, so as an enthusiast of the roundgun I’m eagerly awaiting Grant’s opinion here. He’s obviously squared away when it comes to wheelguns, so what he has to say about the Rhino should carry a lot of weight.
The Cougar Magnum
“Cougar Magnum” is an extremely evocative phrase for anyone that played Nintendo 64 in the mid 90s, as the 6 shot revolver was a mainstay in Goldeneye multiplayer. With a slow rate of fire and low ammo capacity, it was best used in sneak attacks and made a great alternative to mines for spawn camping people. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that the Cougar Magnum was in fact a real gun. During the halcyon revolver days of the late 70s and early 80s before the wondernine revolution, there was a popular cottage industry that mated Colt Python barrels to Ruger Security Six revolvers or Smith & Wesson frames, with the resulting creations being referred to as “Cougar” or “Smolt” revolvers. In California, the best shop for turning these guns out was run by Bill Davis, who also made extremely high end competition revolvers for Bianchi Cup and PPC shooting. But this isn’t about just any old custom revolver, this is about a very specific gun – 30+ years ago, a young LA County Deputy was looking for a 6 inch revolver that would meet the requirements of LA County’s individual officer purchase program, which allowed deputies to carry revolvers of their own choosing as long as they were .357 Magnum/.38 Special six shot revolvers with a barrel length of at least 4 inches. This young deputy, younger than I am today as I write this post had a Cougar Magnum built by Bill Davis’ custom shop.
That gun sat in my father’s Safariland holster for years, before the LASO switched from their long serving revolvers to the Beretta 92FS. In the intervening years, my dad would occasionally take the Cougar out to the range to make sure everything was running fine, until finally I convinced him to let me shoot the gun in the 2011 Bianchi Cup – my way of paying tribute not only to my Dad, but also to law enforcement officers everywhere. This gun and Bianchi Cup share a common friend in Bill Davis, as I mentioned he made many a fine revolver for Action Shooting competition, and next year I’m excited to see how one of his guns holds up to the passage of time.
The Cougar has held up remarkably well; while suffering from some holster wear, all the carbon fouling is new, from my usage. This is a gun that was meant to be shot, and that’s something it does phenomenally well. The black ramp front sight pairs with the target rear to allow me to shoot a 4 inch group, double action (of course) offhand at 25 yards. You can see how the Colt barrel is mated up to the Security Six frame; this is by far one of the most mechanically accurate revolvers I’ve ever shot. With an 8 lb trigger pull, the DA is ridiculously smooth; I shot a Bill Drill in 2.37 seconds using this gun, and I shot a FAST Drill using the same gun and the pictured Safariland Comp-I speedloader in 6.49 seconds. A six inch vent ribbed bull barrel is just silly in how easy it is to shoot fast, the gun comes back on target so easily with +P .38 loads that it’s almost like cheating.
In the coming 7 months until Bianchi Cup we’re going to be talking a lot about the history of this gun – this is a firearm that has stories to tell, and here on Gun Nuts I’m proud to tell those stories for the first time. Then come the 2011 Bianchi Cup, I hope to add another chapter to the stories that have been written with this gun. I’m glad you’re along for the ride with me.
Sensei Jeff gets you shot in the face
Our favorite TKD black belt, Sensei Jeff is back and this time his lesson is how to get yourself SHOT IN THE F***ING FACE. Here’s Sensei Jeff now on what to do if you’re attacked in a suburban TKD dojo by a gi-wearing red belt pointing a (hopefully) unloaded Kimber at your face. Here’s our time index commentary, a little bit shorter this time.
- 1:10 – Sweet Buddha on a bicycle, there is a magazine in that gun. I..I…I just don’t know what to say any more.
- 2:04 – What is it with this guy and assuming that the bad guy’s gun might be booby-trapped? Is this common in Miami? Muggers running around with booby-trapped guns waiting for TKD masters to just take them away then blow up or something?
- 2:09 – Oh, at least this time he said “pack the clip”. We’re getting closer, I think.
Once again, general comments. If someone is pointing a gun at you with the intention to relieve you of your property, it is a REALLY GOOD BET that they’re not going to stand there and let you take the gun out of their hands. They’ll react. They’ll move. They’ll fight back. And more than likely, they’ll shoot you in face if you try what Sensei Jeff is showing you. You are not Jet Li.
Now, there is a lesson in here for gun owners and CCW holders. Getting close enough to a person that you’re covering with your firearm so that they can grab it is a bad idea. A gun is not a contact weapon. However, we have methods of dealing with that, such as “shooting with retention”. I’d really like to see one of these done with an airsoft gun, so Sensei Jeff can demonstrate the part where you get shot 6 or 7 times while trying this.