shooting

Shooting Saturday – March 10th

Posted on by Caleb

I love Shooting Saturdays, those days of the month where all my cares evaporate in the smoke from my guns. I love it. I’m also thrilled that the weather is decent again, because that means that Eagle Creek Park range is once again open. As I mentioned over at Snowflakes in hell, I hate indoor ranges, so it’s nice to be able to shoot outside. The focus of today’s outing was to A)sight in my 10/22 at 50 yards, B) establish my maximum effective range for hog hunting with the .357 Taurus Tracker, C) Shoot my new 1935 Beretta, and D) get some good trigger time in with my GP100.

10/22 Sighting in
The sights on the 10/22 are the XS Ghost Rings, which is an excellent ghost ring style sight. I was worried that the front sight post wasn’t going to be high enough; low and behold I was right. I had the rear sight bottomed out – as low as it will go and still had to hold about a foot low at 50 yards. I’m normally fine with using a little Kentucky windage when I shoot, but that’s a little much. So, after I established that I need a higher front sight post; I moved the target in to 20 yards and proceeded to burn up the rest of the Mini-mags I had with me. There is something incredibly satisfying about shooting a .22 rifle as fast as you can pull the trigger.

Taurus Tracker shooting
I’m planning a wild pig hunt sometime in April, I’m going to be using my Taurus Tracker and another revolver; I needed to establish the maximum range that I could hold my shots to MOBP (Minute of Big Pig) shooting offhand. The Tracker is a 7 shot .357 Magnum with a ported barrel and excellent adjustable sights. Turns out that my max offhand range is about 35 yards with iron sights where I can hold all my shots on an 8 inch target. At 50 yards, I’ve got to have some kind of rest to make hits. I moved the target in to 20 yards and my groups tightened up to about 2 inches, proof that the Taurus will do its part. I’m very pleased with the revolver’s performance, and I’m looking forward to nailing some Tennessee pork with it.

Serious Wheelgun practice
This was a lot of fun, shooting the GP100 rapid fire at 7 and 10 yards, loading in a hurry. Good times. By the time I was doing this, I had already fired about 150 rounds from other guns, and my index finger was getting worn out. Lots of fun, good practice, had a little friendly competition with another shooter who was running a Glock.

Summary
I wish had brought my camera, because it was just a lovely day to be on the range. I reviewed the Beretta over here, so I’m not going to cross-post that. It was a great day to shoot, and I’m in a wonderful mood right now. Can’t wait for those pigs in April!

blogs

Kim du Toit blows up

Posted on by Caleb

If like me you’re a reader of Kim Du Toit’s blog, you might have been following the whole shebang that came in the wake of his post on some kid stealing someone’s wi-fi bandwidth (stealing bandwidth is “not cool”).

There was a blogger site set up for people to discuss the relative morality of the situation, etc; which resulted in some people that don’t like Kim airing their feelings publicly. That resulted in today’s post in which Kim basically lets said wankers have it with both barrels.

While I know that there are other really interesting things going on in the 2nd Amendment world, such as the DC Circuit Court’s decision on the 2nd Amendment which I’ll leave to the lawyers; I’m particularly interested in this thing with Kim.

A little history is necessary from me, first. Kim du Toit’s blog was the very, very, very first gun blog that I ever read. His website literally opened the door into the gun blogging world for me inasmuch as I realized that there was a huge community of gun bloggers out there. Because of that, his website (along with a few others) served as my primary inspiration to start writing this blog.

I don’t always agree with Kim; nor his wife. Sometimes I think they’re a little too conservative, but that’s the wonderful thing about opinions – everyone has one. This brings me to the larger issue, which is that of trolling, and “internet fuckwads”. My all time favorite comic Penny Arcade published a comic back in ’04 which basically explains a lot of the actions of internet trolls. (Some naughty words).

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

This is essentially what happened with the name calling, and while I understand Kim’s reaction, I also don’t. Trolls and assholes are part of the internet – if I had a dime for every person that was a complete prick to me online I’d be able to retire. It’s part of the greater problem I see of people not having any manners in this day. A lot of people (myself included a few times) use the Shield of Anonymity that the web provides as a launching platform for all sorts of vitriol and abuse.

Of course I think that polite discourse should be the order of the day, and in my everyday interactions with people, I expect it. I don’t expect it on the web because it’s not the standard. By far, the gunblogging community carries itself head and shoulders above the majority of the web that I’ve encountered when it comes to courtesy and polite conduct online.

While it’s Kim’s website to do as he pleases, I wish that his reaction wasn’t quite as harsh. I really enjoy a lot of his posts, and the ability to make the occasional comment was something I enjoyed as well. I am sad to see that being removed.

I do wish Kim and his family the best of luck with all; the soul baring nature of the post makes it definitely worth a read, as always.

Uncategorized

Wisdom of the Duke, March 9th 2007

Posted on by Caleb

I love Fridays; we go out with our friends, and it’s right before Shooting Saturdays (when I go to the range). Plus, I get to post what is basically the only recurring theme of my blog, Wisdom of the Duke.

“Out here a man settles his own problems.” – John Wayne from The Man who Shot Liberty Valence


Mmm…quotes against the Nanny-state from The Duke. I’m sure that some of my readers are of an age where they can remember when people solved their own problems. I just feel like today there is far too much an emphasis on getting the government/administration to take care of your problems for you.

I remember that LawDog had a post a while back about a mom who called the police to deal with her recalcitrant daughter, that’s the sort of thing I’m talking about here. When I was younger, if you were being bullied it was still (although it was starting to be frowned upon) acceptable to drill said bully a good one-two combo to the stomach and face. These days that would land your child with a suspension, and possibly an arrest when the bully’s idiot parents call the cops.

The result of children in school being trained to tell teacher and expect the authorities to protect them will be that sooner than later we will be saddled with an entire generation of proto-adults that run around expecting Mother Government to handle any bad situation. This of course will make it easier for Mother Government to take our guns, our freedom of speech, and pretty much whichever freedoms they want.

They won’t even have to use force on most people, because they’re being trained to accept the will of authority figures without question. When you start them sucking on the teat of Mother Government while they’re in school, our children will simply grow up accepting the Will of The State, and we can watch individual rights erode.

“Don’t worry, call the cops. They’ll protect your house from intruders. Anyone who owns a gun is just paranoid.”

We need more men that “solve their own problems.”

Uncategorized

Actual treason

Posted on by Caleb

I know that the word “treason” gets tossed around a lot these days; however from CNN.com I have an actual case of treason. It seems that a former US Navy sailor has been arrested on charges of espionage. He was discharged in ’02, apparently they didn’t know at the time that he had been feeding classified information of his battle group’s force protection plans to terrorists.

I am glad that he has been arrested and will face a trial for his crimes. I’m somewhat disappointed that the didn’t catch him when he was active duty, because (although my UCMJ is a little rusty) I believe they could have stood him up against the wall for this.

Either way, it’s always nice to see another terrorist bastard go down.

Uncategorized

Captain America – RIP soldier

Posted on by Caleb

Most folks have probably heard by now that Marvel Comics has decided to kill off Captain America as some sort of silly assed political statement. Well, his character is their property, so that’s their right, of course.

It saddens me that a character that was once used quite literally to represent the patriotism, courage, and fighting spirit of the country has been killed off in the name of politics. Of course, since it’s a comic he’s probably not really dead, or worse yet they’re going to sully his memory with some half-assed culturally sensitive replacement. I haven’t really read comics in years, and yet all this has got me thinking about how our current generation and culture regards heroes and the concept of noble character.

If you take a brief gander at today’s heroes in modern media, they are often anything but “heroic” in character and action. I was raised with John Wayne, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones movies. You know who the good guys are, and even though they may have character flaws, their actions were inherently noble, and based on noble motivations. Heroes were fictional characters based on ideals that might not have been obtainable in real life, but that was the basis of their appeal (to me, at least). I knew that despite his roguish nature, Han Solo was a good guy, because no matter what he said, he was committed to fighting against evil, and fighting for his friends.

I’m realizing as I write this that what I’m trying to say is rather hard to actually articulate, so bear with me if I ramble a bit. I’m…underwhelmed by the vast majority of heroic characters that I see in movies these days. One of my greatest disappointments in heroic characters recent was Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies. While I greatly enjoyed the movies, I was hoping that the character in the movie would have been more faithful to the character in the book. If you haven’t seen and read them, in the movie Aragorn is portrayed as being somewhat reluctant to embrace his destiny as the leader of Men, whereas in the book his is portrayed as ready, and simply waiting for the right time.

That seems to me to be an excellent example of the problem. Heroes can’t be too heroic and manly anymore, lest the pansy viewing audience not “identify” with them. Modern viewing audiences apparently need to see flaws in their heroes; which is fine in some cases (the Punisher wouldn’t work too well as a Boy Scout). The problem is that when the situation calls for someone truly noble in character, that character will have little silly flaws added to make him or her more “appealing”. I’m tired of that. I would like to see some John Wayne style heroes again; men (and women) who ride into town, and dispense red-hot justice to all the purveyors of evil within range.

My blog asks “What Would John Wayne Do?” Why, he’d kick some ass, take some names, and never question the rightness of it. Just like Captain America.

Fair winds and following seas, Cap’. Your character, and what you represented to thousands of people like me will be sorely missed.

hoplophobia

A house divided

Posted on by Caleb

I really wish I was talking about Purdue University and Indiana University here; but I’m not. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this issue because in the wake of the Zumbo thing it’s being literally beaten to death in the blog world. I figured that since everyone else is flogging a dead horse, I might as well get my shots in.

I am an extreme gun rights advocate. I carry a concealed weapon whenever it’s legal, I own a bunch of guns and a lot of ammo. My preference runs towards rimfires, mouseguns, and C&R, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want other people to own whatever. I recognize that I am at the extreme end of the gun rights spectrum, but there are a lot of people out here that agree with me. There aren’t enough to get the job done.

We need hunters. We need plinkers. We need casual “every now and then” people. We the people that keep a revolver in the nightstand “just in case”. We need shotgunners, air gunners, WWII reenactors, we need every single bloody person in the country that owns a gun to get on board. Different groups have estimated that there are between 40,000,000 and 100,000,000 legal gun owners in the country. How many of those 40 million people think like we do? The answer is: “Not enough”.

We need to win their hearts, their minds, and their votes. That’s how we all get to keep our guns. If you know a casual gun owner, reach out to that person. If they don’t like your CQB Tactical Destroyer, so what? Get them on board, and do it with kindness and politeness. If you make people feel welcomed, they’ll stay with us.

blogs/shooting

Citizen stories

Posted on by Caleb

It seems that in Mississippi, it is actually okay to help others in dire need. The gist of the story is that Crazy Asshole decided to attack his wife in broad daylight with a knife, until a Well Armed Samaritan puts a stop to the whole thing with his pistol.

Unfortunately, Mr. Asshole is currently breathing (which is too bad); but it is interesting to note that the life of the victim was saved, and no shots were fired. This is precisely the type of case that gunnies refer to when we’re speaking of defending one’s self (or others) with a firearm without having to drill someone.

There are a couple of great quotes in the article, and one section that makes me scratch my head. This quote in particular:

As the attack continued, people were yelling at the man to stop and honking their horns, Stuckey said. She said she called 911.

“Honking their horns”? Honestly, what the hell is wrong with people? I’m sure that someone that drove by had a 9 iron in their car, that would have been a lot more effective than a horn honking.

On the bright side, the woman will probably be fine, her skeezy husband will probably go to jail, and a citizen successfully used a weapon in her defense. Good day.

H/T to Uncle

shooting

Mousegun League scoring

Posted on by Caleb

After much deliberation, we’ve decided to go with the IDPA scoring system, which uses the Vicker’s Count method. This should place more emphasis on accuracy rather than speed; additionally since everything is reduced to a time number where the lowest number wins it allows for an easy solution to the handicapping issue for extremely small pistols. While we have not (of yet) determined the specific handicaps; specific pistols and revolvers of certain weights will have 5-15 seconds removed from their score on each stage.

Below is copy of the basic scoring set up for a Vicker’s Count, copied directly from the IDPA rule book.

Easy way to score Vickers Count:

1. Write down the raw time from the timer.
2. Count the total number of misses.
3. Multiply the number of misses by five (5) points down.
4. Add the number of points down for the remaining shots to the number of misses.
5. Write down the total points down and multiply by half (.5) second.
6. Write down applicable penalties, for instance; add three (3) seconds for any procedural penalty.
7. Add the raw time to the converted points down and applicable penalties for a final score.
8. In this way, everything has been converted to time so that the lowest (fastest) time wins.

Suggestions

We have had some great suggestions, including a “gun box” to make sure that your pistol fits the size requirements, as well as the possibility of a derringer division. I personally like the idea of a derringer division, so I’ll submit that idea for review. With the regards to the gun box, we’re not going to go in that direction yet, and we hope that the spirit of gamesmanship does not overtake the shooters that would get involved with Mousegun Shooting. With an eye towards preventing trying to game the barrel length and weight restrictions, the official rules will have a ban on aftermarket grips.

Forthcoming info

Now that the scoring system and divisions are roughly in place, our very next update will be on administrative details, course procedures, equipment and safety restrictions.

We’re also looking for ranges in the Central Indiana area to hold our first match. If you belong to a range that you think would be open to 10-30 people with wee-little guns having a little shootin’ match, drop me a line. admiralahab @ gmail dot com.

hoplophobia

Hoplophobia redux

Posted on by Caleb

Sebastian once again has an excellent post up, this time regarding the motivations that your average lefty has behind supporting gun control. It is as usual well thought out, and I recommend that you read his piece in its entirety. I wanted to elaborate on it a little further; literally to take it down to the level of individual people.

The majority of the friends that my wife and I have are liberal. I don’t really know how this happened, but it just did. In my original piece on hoplophobia I discussed a case that I encountered while my wife and I were dating; as well as a conversation I had with a friend. Neither of those examples really pointed to the root of why so many Americans seem to support “reasonable gun laws”, and as a general rule would haven’t a problem with taking away your AR15 or my Saturday Night Specials. The problem that allows liberals in power to exploit the average American and pass their onerous gun laws is one of perception.

Let’s look at two examples, myself and a liberal friend. I was raised by a cop, and I was raised to not fear firearms. I was taught how to handle them safely, and as I grew older I began to actively study their uses, both modern and historical. My Liberal Friend (whom we’ll call Stephanie) was raised in a house with no guns, and her first exposure to guns was actually from me. The biggest difference when it comes to gun control is our perception of firearms. I understand that a gun is nothing more than some steel and plastic designed to expel a metal particle in a particular direction at high speed. It has no individual will of its own, and is only rendered dangerous by the end user. Stephanie, on the other hand only knows of guns what she has learned from the media; both the news and fiction.

In fiction, firearms are portrayed almost as magical devices, slaying evildoers and good men alike, a powerful object that grants those in power even more power, and those not in power the will and power to defy their oppressors. They do some crazy things, like when a 9mm tosses a guy through a wall, but that’s neither here nor there. In the news media, firearms are rarely portrayed in a positive light, and you are bombarded with weasel words such as “Saturday Night Special”, “assault weapon”, and “sniper rifle”. A lifetime of media exposure without the balancing influence of actual education and gun ownership leaves a person with a preconceived notion of what a firearm is used for: usually the killing of other humans.

The final perceptive issue is how those without education into firearms perceive gun owners. Again, by early adulthood a person will have been bombarded with images from both the news and fictional media about gun owners being paranoid, antisocial, “shoot first ask questions later”, redneck, and anti-government to name a few. I have discovered that my liberal friends don’t have a problem with me owning guns, because in their mind I am educated, responsible, and not “threatening”. They are scared and of the invisible “gun owning boogeyman” that the media has constructed, they don’t want him owning guns. Since I’m not the boogeyman, my guns are okay, except for the assault weapons and sniper rifles because “what do you need those for?”

So what we are left with is The Great Divide between the gun owners and the average non owner. I honestly feel like the average person that says they support gun control doesn’t do so out of an actual desire to take guns away, but because they’ve not been educated they feel that it actually is a reasonable measure to remove the guns that the media says are bad. Your dedicated hard-core antis probably can’t be saved, but it’s not them we need to covert. It’s Suzy Soccermom that we need to see our way. Oprah fans. It falls to us, the gun owners to educate people. We’re the ambassadors of our sport and our hobby to our non gun friends, and how they perceive you will help in shaping their perception of gun owning people.

I’m not saying that we should go and proselytize people in the name of the Gospel of the 1911; but to simply be responsible and when an opportunity presents itself to tear down some anti-gun bias, do so in a polite manner. I’m happy to report that two of my “non-gun” friends have asked me if I could take them shooting when the weather warms up; of course I will. I’m always happy to haul the .22s for a newbie.