IDPA

This is a bad idea

Posted on by Caleb

Yesterday I was kicking around some ideas on the Brian Enos forum about using .38 Short Colt loads in Safariland Comp III speedloaders.  That in itself isn’t the bad idea, but rather the discussion that came from it was kind of shocking.  Here’s the backstory – I have all the goodies set up to use .38 Short Colt for ICORE competition with my 627; the short rounds have about the same OAL as a 9mm and tend to load easier.  Plus, because the Short Colt cases have a smaller volume than the long .38 Special cases, it’s easier to make power factor and use less powder.

I wanted to make sure that the Short Colts would work in my Safariland speedloaders so that I could just shoot the same load in Retro division and Limited Revolver; it then occured to me to shoot the same load in IDPA as well.  That’s where the surprises started.  Until yesterday, I didn’t know that there was an official-unofficial IDPA Forum.  That’s not the problem.  The problem apparently is that at the officially unofficial IDPA forum, they’ll often give out “rulebook interpretations” from IDPA staff.  An example of this is actually the .38 Short Colt.

Apparently, IDPA Staff had issued an officially-unofficial ruling saying that use of the .38 Short Colt in Stock Service Revolver division was grounds for an FTDR and possible match DQ, as it would “clearly” only be done to gain a competitive advantage.  Here’s what the rule book says for Stock Service Revolver:

Handguns permitted for use in this division must be:

A. Any revolver of .38 Caliber (.357” or larger) or larger that utilizes ammunition with a rimmed case and is not reloaded with a full moon clip.

Now, if you’re like me, you’d read that and figure “hey, the .38 Short Colt rounds meet that definition, and as long as I make power factor I’m good to go, right?”  Apparently, you’d be wrong, and that’s not a good thing.  See, I don’t really care if IDPA thinks that using .38 Short Colt is too “gamer” to play, I’m fine with that.  My problem is how this all works out, and exactly why this is a bad idea.  Follow me around on this one:

  • You are an ICORE shooter and want to shoot IDPA with your ICORE load
  • You read the IDPA rulebook and don’t find anything that explicitly states that .38 Short Colt is illegal in your 686.
  • You shoot some club matches, have fun and decide to shoot a sanctioned match.
  • You go to your sanctioned match, pay your money, drive x number of miles, and when you get to the match are DQ’d because your equipment is designed to “give you an unfair advantage” based on a ruling handed out on a forum you didn’t know existed and that isn’t actually an “official” IDPA forum.

That would really turn me off to IDPA if I happened to me, and it’s not exactly a far-fetched scenario.  I have had my problems with IDPA’s rule book – I honestly feel that it’s too vague in areas and subject to interpretation by Match Directors and safety officers.  However, finding out that there’s a forum where rulings are handed down that are not dissemenated to the vast majority of IDPA shooters absolutely blows my mind.

Essentially, what that does to the entire rulebook is make it open to question and reduces it from a set of rules to “whatever the IDPA headquarters guys think it means”.  That’s just stupid.  I may not agree with everything that USPSA does, but their rulebook, all 6,499 pages of it is very clear on what can and cannot be done.  I understand that IDPA doesn’t want to be USPSA, but I’m a big believer in clarity being a good thing.  I’d hate to be the shooter that drive 100 miles to a major match to find out his equipment wasn’t legal based on a ruling on a Yuku forum he’d never heard of.  I’m seriously at a loss for words to describe how foolish I think this is, I mean just wow.

I think what’s most upsetting is that I really like IDPA.  I enjoy shooting it, I enjoy the discipline, and that’s why this just boggles the mind.  This sort of activity is massively unfriendly to new shooters or to shooters coming in from other disciplines.  Poorly played, IDPA.  Very poorly played.

Uncategorized

Questions for Congress

Posted on by Caleb

I mentioned on Tuesday night’s Gun Nuts Radio that next week’s episode is going to feature Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana.  This represents a great opportunity to ask a sitting US Congressman questions on some of the most pressing national topics today, such as health care, the budget, the budget, and did I mention the budget?  In all seriousness though, I want to know what you’d like me to ask Congressman Burton.  If you have a question you’d like me to ask Congressman Burton, email it to me at [email protected] and then tune in Tuesday night to www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts at 9pm to hear your question and Dan Burton’s response live on the air!

Uncategorized

Gun Nuts and Cutting Edge Training

Posted on by Caleb

In case you missed it, here’s the link to download last night’s episode of Gun Nuts Radio, featuring Tom Benge of Cutting Edge Training.  Taking the time to talk to a guy like Tom who has over 20 years of training experience in the law enforcement and private sector is a great opportunity as there are lessons for everyone that carries a firearm regardless of whether or not they’re a law enforcement officer.  Click here to hear the full episode, or here for the .mp3 version.

Briefly discussed were my thoughts on McDonald, as well as a teaser for next week’s show, where I’ll be proud to host US Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana.  We’ll be discussing a wide array of topics with Congressman Burton, and I want to know what you’d like to ask him, so send your questions to me at [email protected] with the title “questions for a congressman” in the subject line.

Probably the best piece of advice from last night’s show was Tom’s summary of his experience in training with advice for the concealed carry permit holder: “be smart”.  Be aware of your surroundings and be aware of what’s going on, and you’ll avoid 99% of the dangerous situations that you could be exposed to.  The show is also available with the rest of the archive on Gun Nuts Host - Gun Nuts Radio: The Next Generation of Shooting | Blog Talk Radio Feed - Gun Nuts Radio: The Next Generation of Shooting | Blog Talk Radio Feed by clicking that handy button. Check out the featured product, the Crimson Trace MVF-515R available on Amazon.

Join us next week for an interview with Congressman Dan Burton on Gun Nuts Radio, your number one online source for all the latest info in training, shooting, and politics!

revolvers/shooting

More on the thumbs forward revolver grip

Posted on by Caleb

It’s been pointed out in comments to the post below about holding your revolver with a thumbs forward grip that a guy blew his thumb off using a similar grip and a .460 S&W X-Frame revolver.  In the interest of clarity, the thumbs forward grip is safe to use on high powered magnum revolvers if you use it correctly.  The guy that blew his thumb off is a classic case of “doing it wrong”.  Here’s a picture of how he was holding his gun when the “accident” happened:  see how the support hand is holding the frame of the revolver and not the stocks?  That’s not good for a couple of reasons.  While it allows you to support the absurd weight of the X-frame better, “tea cupping” under the frame like that obviously places the thumb of your support hand at risk and also reduces your ability to absorb recoil with the revolver.

In that picture, the hands are broken – not in the sense of broken bones, but rather there isn’t enough contact between the firing hand and the support hand to create a strong grip on the revolver.  Even if you don’t injure your support hand shooting like that, the recoil will most likely torque the revolver clean out of your support hand anyway.  The danger in shooting the big X-frame revolvers is the temptation to cheat on your grip due to the weight – they’re big, heavy guns and they’re built that way for a reason.  Personally, I don’t particularly see the appeal in those guns.  If I want a magnum revolver, it will say “.44” or “.41” on the side, and if I want a .599 Heffalump Magnum, I’ll get a T/C Encore or something.  Not to disparage the super magnum revolvers, they’re just not my cup of tea.

humor

A better summary of McDonald

Posted on by Caleb

My new favorite blog that I always forget to link to has the best summary of the McDonald arguments:

GURA: Scalia! An argument for incorporating under privileges and immunities, YOU CAN HAS! 
SCALIA: WTF are you talking about? We can incorporate it under due process. I hate due process and I even think that. 
GURA: Uhhh
SCALIA: Are you trying to get a job at a law school? 
GURA: Oh sh*t
SCALIA: SERIOUSLY STFU IF WE USE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES THESE F*CKOS WILL LEGITIMIZE EVERYTHING STFU STFU STFU 
GURA: But you hate due process
SCALIA: I LIKE IT NOW

Sorry Laurel, I had to semi-censor the naughty words to keep it PG-13 up in here.  But I literally lol’d at work.  The rest of the summary is equally hilarious.

Uncategorized

McDonald round-up

Posted on by Caleb

Uncle has a good aggregator of the McDonald content (as well as the title I wished I was funny enough to think up), so hit up that link for more links to other commentary.  My thoughts on McDonald are pretty simple – I’m not a lawyer or a legal scholar, I’m a guy that pulls triggers and then writes about it.  So bear that in mind when reading this!

I did read the transcript yesterday, and I was most impressed with Gura’s ability to stand his ground on the P&I despite the fact that the Court basically shot P&I down in the first couple of paragraphs of transcript.  His rejoinder to Justice Sotomayor was great, and I felt that his rebuttal arguments were much stronger than his initial statement.  I was also impressed with Paul Clement, former Solicitor General that actually argued against Heller and was speaking on behalf of NRA in McDonald.  His argument for incorporation via the Due Process clause was very well received by the Justices based on my interpretation of the transcript.

Conversely, the lawyer for Chicago had a pretty rough go of it – again, this is based on my reading of the transcript so I may inputting a little personal bias here – but I felt like he was in water that he couldn’t tread any longer and seemed rattled by the questions from the Justices.

I do concur with other, smarter, dudes though.  I think that the Heller majority will hold and that we’ll have incorporation under the Due Process clause.  At the ground level, a win here will mean largely the same thing that the Heller win meant: we still have a lot of work to do, but we’re moving in the right direction.  I understand the desire to go for everything, but we’re not going to see a massive shift in national policy and feeling towards “shall not be infringed” over night.  I’ll take a win in Heller, and I’ll take incorporation via Due Process in McDonald if that’s what we get. 

revolvers/shooting

Thumbs forward grip on a revolver

Posted on by Caleb

A little background on previous discussion of the thumbs forward pistol grip (aka high thumbs and Todd Jarrett kung-fu grip) involved a little bit of talk on how it can be less than ideal on revolvers.  I actually use this when shooting revolvers, because my hands are the right size to lay my thumb along the frame without it going forward of the cylinder gap and getting burned.  What’s interesting though is that I’m not the only guy that shoots a revolver like this, as this photo (courtesy of Yamil Sued) of Craig Buckland from the recent IDPA 2010 Indoor Nationals shows.  What’s cool about the photo is that you can actually see the flash from the cylinder and that it’s mostly directed up and away from the shooter’s thumb.  I’m not saying that you should switch and use this grip, because what works for me may not be your ideal solution.  However, even for revolver shooters, the thumbs forward grip is clearly viable.  

In the picture, Craig Buckland from Team S&W is shooting his Model 67 in .38 Special using the thumbs forward grip.  The bullet has left the barrel and the gun is already back on target for a follow up shot.  Now, admittedly a .38 doesn’t have a mighty amount of recoil, but the way the thumbs forward grip works helps to eliminate much of the “follow up” time on your splits (the time inbetween shots).

As mentioned though, the thumbs forward grip can result in a slightly toasty thumb.  As a matter of fact, if you click the picture for fullsize, you can see that Craig’s thumb is a little “cajun style”, and my support hand thumb gets pretty dirty when I shoot as well.  Make sure that your support hand thumb isn’t near the forcing cone and you’ll avoid burning yourself.

If you are interested in revolver shooting though, try out the thumbs forward grip.  It’s the same on revolvers as it is on semi-automatic pistols, and allows for better recoil control and faster follow up shots.  Try it out next time you’re shooting and see if you get better results compared to your current gripping style.  It may feel a little weird at first, but once I switched, I haven’t looked back.  Locking the support hand thumb down in the position illustrated engages the muscles in the support arm to better control recoil and muzzle flip.

Gunsite

Gun Nuts Tonight: Cutting Edge Training

Posted on by Caleb

Tonight’s Gun Nuts Radio will be excellent episode, we’re featuring my friend and world class trainer Tom Benge of Cutting Edge Training.  I met Tom last year at a Gunsite Carbine course where he was working with Crimson Trace training people on the use of their new MVF-515R vertical foregrip light/laser combo.  Cutting Edge Training focuses on teaching not just shooting, but fighting as a concept, and Tom is an excellent instructor and an all around fun guy to talk to.

Tonight’s show goes live at 9pm Eastern time on the BlogTalkRadio Network at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts – join us live or catch the download during the week, but don’t miss Tom Benge from Cutting Edge Training on tonight’s Gun Nuts Radio!