Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them
The kids at GarandThumb have some fun shooting hollowpoints through heavy clothing to see if the old saying is true: that hollowpoints are “useless” (i.e. they don’t expand) when fired through thick winter clothing, because the hollowpoint cavity gets clogged up with material before entering the body.
My thoughts are below the fold.
I’m talking about yesterday’s post, and more specifically about this EwwChoob mini-video (which you should watch now if you haven’t already, because otherwise what follows may be incomprehensible).
As everyone here knows, I’ve spent most of my life shooting the 1911 pistol — most often the Government model, but a great deal of the Officer’s and Combat Commander model as well. There’s also been quite a bit of IDPA shooting, less so of competition, but mostly as training because I’ve always thought that IDPA is quite good practice for what one might encounter in a truly bad self-defense situation.
I am of course therefore well acquainted with the concepts of “indexing” (keeping the gun aligned with the shooting arm) and “breaking the grip”, i.e. moving the gun out of the “proper” firing hold — in this case, to reload magazines.
Let’s talk about that reloading thing for a moment.
While I have fairly beefy hands, my fingers are not especially long. So my shooting grip looks like this (please excuse the crappy photography):
As you can see, my thumb isn’t long enough to reach the mag release at all — which means that in order to drop the empty mag, I have to break the grip:
Not only has the grip been compromised, but the handgun is no longer indexed to my arm, being pointed both off to the side and upwards.
Is this important? No, it absolutely is not — because the only reason for indexing the gun and having a proper grip would be if I were about to pull the trigger, which I’m not, because I’m busy reloading.
Once the fresh mag has been inserted, my left hand immediately comes up to assume the combat hold, and it forces the gun back into the proper indexed position relative to my arm, and the grip back into the locked position for firing.
I have practiced this action countless thousands of times, both “dry” (i.e. with an unloaded gun and mag) and “hot” (fully loaded, in the act of actual shooting), and the operation is as flowing and mechanical as changing gears in a car with a manual transmission.
In other words, I can’t see what all the fuss is about. Of course all the approved positions are going to be compromised while I’m reloading, but who cares? As long as it all gets back to the proper upright and locked position* in time to fire the gun, everything’s fine and dandy.
Or have I missed something? (If I have, it’s probably too late to change anything anyway — some habits are just too ingrained to change.)
* even my shooting position is not in the “popular” manner; instead of locking my arm straight, I have my elbow slightly bent, in the manner of Jeff Cooper:
…because I’ve found that it makes it easier to shoot from cover, and quicker to reacquire the target from recoil. YMMV. (Caveat: it’s not for everyone, so adopt with caution.)
I probably sacrifice some accuracy thereby, but not enough to concern me — I’m shooting combat/IDPA, not Bullseye FFS.
I’m not sure that I agree with what this guy says, but rather than try to influence anyone, have a look for yourself and see what you think (it’s just a short video).
Responses in Comments, and I’ll post a followup tomorrow.
In this report about a kid caught driving at some ridiculous speed, the article’s author complains:
Sadly, authorities did not provide a photo of or details on the specific make and model Corvette, but the teenager ran for approximately 20 miles (or 10 minutes), according to a release issued by state police.
Yeah, we gunnies have the same problem. While we applaud and congratulate hero citizens for whacking some bad guy in the act of larceny, we are never told what gun was used to send the goblin to join the Choir Invisibule (/Monty Python).
Hell, all we are told is generic shit like “handgun” or occasionally “shotgun”, which is fine, but we would really like to know the important stuff like type of gun, caliber, ammo type (e.g. whether FMJ or hollowpoint), and even more accurately, what brand or type of bullet — Remington Gold Dot 200gr, Hornady Extreme Defense 185gr, SIG Elite V-Crown 124gr, etc. This is important information, because then we can see for ourselves how well or otherwise the boolets affect the ungodly, instead of just having to rely on the usual “ballistic gel” so beloved of ammo testers.
Equally important is where said goblin was ventilated, along with pictures of said wound. (Okay, maybe that’s a Pic Too Far, but you get my drift, right?)
If the Jackals Of The Press (JOTP) can’t be bothered to do any research, or even push the officials for details, what’s the point of even pretending to “inform” the public?
Saw these SOTI:
…which made me ROFL. That’s a good reason right there where one should strive for excellence over average, and I’m proud to say that I am — although I must say that several if not most of my Readers are probably more excellenter than I am, if you get my drift.
The second thing, though, is somewhat more alarming:
I mean, WTF? We Texans are beaten by those rednecks I mean our fine neighbors in Oklahoma and Louisiana? Like Orwell’s Snowball, we Texans will just have to Try Harder, and although I would like to Do My Bit, I’m only one Pore Ole Man…
I would be embarrassed by the folks in Montana and Wyoming, except that only about fifty people live there in total so the sample skews the average.
And it must be said, speaking of rednecks and hillbillies, that I am mightily impressed by the good people of West Virginia.
And on a branch line in my train of thought, I wouldn’t mind one of these, in .357 Magnum:
…or, if I don’t want to be too show-offy:
…because that case-hardened receiver is just too purty for words.
Then again, the brass Henry Golden Boy is made in Murka, while the Cimarron isn’t.
And lastly: that Citadel thing is just too fugly for words.
…I mean, I know that to sell anything these days to the Operator 5.11 crowd you have to make it all tactical ‘n stuff, but seriously?
To whom it may concern:
re: This stuff
Contrary to what it says on the box, this “target grade performance” .22 ammo, supposedly “ideal for semi-auto” actually isn’t any of those things, as I discovered at my favorite (indoor) range yesterday.
Out of the 325 rounds contained in said box, I experienced no fewer than 28 failures to fire (FTF) — all, it should be said, did fire the second time around — and to be frank, the “target grade” accuracy wasn’t anything to write home about, either (more on that in a bit).
Now I know what comes next: “Your rifle isn’t working properly! Check the firing pin!”
Ahem. I fired 100 rounds through each of the following (same range session, btw):
By rifle (top to bottom):
Taurus Mod 63 (Winchester ’63 clone): 7 FTF
Marlin Mod 60: 8 FTF
Ruger 10/22: 9 FTF
All three were meticulously maintained and cleaned, all are either fresh out of the box or nearly so, and none has had more than 100-odd rounds fired through them. Sorry, but a 7-9% failure rate in ammo which is supposedly “target grade” sucks dick worse than Madonna on her last Saturday night drunken pub crawl. Honestly, I get better results from the awful Remington Gold 500-round bulk ammo.
And by the way, all the rounds fed flawlessly, whether through a tube mag or the 10/22 magazine — the rifles, in other words, were without fault.
Now for that accuracy thing.
I will frankly admit that my old eyes do not engender the best accuracy in the world with iron sights, but I’ll also suggest that a 2.5″ (best) grouping at 20 yards is not really acceptable off the bench — at least, not to me it isn’t.
So I fired off the last 25 rounds (4 FTF, FFS) through something a little more accurate — a rifle which usually gets sub-1″ groups at the same distance. Here’s a full picture of the rifles I took to the range:
I would humbly suggest that in my shaking old hands, that Marlin 880SQ (top) is as good as any “target” rifle for the price, and better than just about any other of that type that I’ve fired before.
The result: 1.75″ (best 5-round grouping of the five strings, the others were over 2″). So I popped off five rounds of its usual feed (CCI MiniMag 40gr), and got a 0.72″ group with a called marginal “flier” — excluding that, it was a 0.5″ single hole. Now that’s what I call “target grade” performance.
You guys need to step up your game. And fix your frigging priming compound.