A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.
– General Patton
Void
By Void I mean that which has no beginning and no end. Attaining this principle means not attaining the principle. The Way of strategy is the Way of nature. When you appreciate the power of nature, knowing the rhythm of any situation, you will be able to hit the enemy naturally and strike naturally. All this is the Way of the Void. I intend to show how to follow the true Way according to nature in the book of the Void.
– Miyamoto Musashi
Wind
By Wind I mean old traditions, present-day traditions, and family traditions of strategy. Thus I clearly explain the strategies of the world. This is tradition. It is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others. To all Ways there are side-tracks. If you study a Way daily, and your spirit diverges, you may think you are obeying a good way, but objectively it is not the true Way. If you are following the true Way and diverge a little, this will later become a large divergence. You must realise this. Other strategies have come to be thought of as mere sword-fencing, and it is not unreasonable that this should be so. The benefit of my strategy, although it includes sword-fencing, lies in a separate principle.
– Miyamoto Musashi
Fire
The spirit of fire is fierce, whether the fire be small or big; and so it is with battles. The Way of battles is the same for man to man fights and for ten thousand a side battles. You must appreciate that spirit can become big or small. What is big is easy to perceive: what is small is difficult to perceive. In short, it is difficult for large numbers of men to change position, so their movements can be easily predicted. An individual can easily change his mind, so his movements are difficult to predict. You must appreciate this. The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions.
– Miyamoto Musashi
Water
With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea. … If you master the principles of sword-fencing, when you freely beat one man, you beat any man in the world. The spirit of defeating a man is the same for ten million men. … The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things.
– Miyamoto Musashi
The Way
It is difficult to realise the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.
Miyamoto Musashi
How Speed is Developed
Today’s guest post is another good one from Jay of The Firing Pin Journal.
New shooters, and a few veterans, are obsessed with the speed of draw and fire. In and of itself it is not a bad thing but very often the desire for speed means a poor draw, poor presentation and a round going swiftly by the target with a scarce glance.
Speed is a byproduct of technique. You can’t start out as a novice shooter and expect to draw, aim and strike a target “as fast as possible” with any regularity unless you have worked on technique over a long period of time. Dry firing is a key component to developing technique.
Prior to dry firing make sure you remove the magazine, clear the weapon and put the magazines in another room. Make sure you have a a backstop where an errant round would go without leaving the room. Again, there should be no errant rounds because you cleared the weapon and put the magazines in another room.
Start by slowly drawing from your holster and working on the hand grip. The grip is essential if speed is to mean anything. A poor grip and fast draw will lead to no joy. Work on your stance and presenting the firearm. Then sight in your “target” and remember “FRONT SIGHT.” A surprise break from pulling the trigger and holding the weapon steady will allow you to see if you were accurate.
If you do this with dry firing and combine it with range training where you make every round count for something your speed will increase. The technique develops speed, not vice versa.
Jay
Quote of the day
I always figure you might as well approach life like everybody’s your friend or nobody is; don’t make much difference. – Paden, Silverado
Quote of the day
When you have to shoot, shoot, don’t talk. – Tuco; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Quote of the day
You see in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig. – The Man with no name