The Gun Blogs

In this latest Bite Me, Brady entry, we focus on the logical disconnect of our favorite form of gun banner, the Strict Constructionist. Here, we take him to task on his interpretation of the Constitution and display a gun that is free of "reasonable restrictions". It is a gun that is legally a non-gun but is still a gun.

Enjoy some obsolete non-gun porn here.

Last Saturday was "I'm bored" day at the Rustmeister household. Steady rain, nothing good on the tube, stir craziness setting in, time to GET OUT. It was time to go shooting.

I knew what was happening, but rather that tip off my kid, I just said "I'm going out. want to go?"

This is hit-or-miss with him, as he's now 13 and sometimes too cool to hang with Dad. Somehow, he caught on (musta been that look in my eye), and came with us. Us being me and my GFs 10 yr old granddaughter (yes, I'm that old).

Now, granddaughter (let's call her Kris) has been around firearms most her life, but never shot. Why is beyond me. Anyway, we went up to the newly-opened indoor range at Brighton Arms and rented us a .22 revolver. Also in attendance - a Ruger Blackhawk chambered in .30 Carbine. It was in need of a holster, and the shop had a big box full of sundry holsters for 10 bucks a pop. Found one, too.

We got set up for the range, all paperwork filled out, ears & eyes secured, ammo purchased. Time for Kris to shoot.

She wanted my son to go first, so he popped off a few rounds in the .22 and then six out of the .30. Big grins all around while shooting that. The Blackhawk has much thunder & lightning going on when shooting. It's a real attention getter.

Then came Kris' turn. We went through the four rules, sight picture, how to load the gun and hold it properly, etc. I also had to get on to her about her bugger hook on the bang switch a couple times, but that's to be expected.

I have to say, she was a natural. The pistol was a single action job, and she handled it well. She even got the off-hand thumb-cocking going on without me even showing her. She even touched off the Blackhawk once, voluntarily, but didn't much like it.

My big moment was when I sent the target all the way to the back of the range and popped off a few with the 'hawk. Shooting offhand, I managed to hit pretty close to where I was aiming. I was pleased. Impressed the hell outta my son, too, which pleased me even more.

It was a couple hours well spent. The kids had fun, a new range was broke in, stir craziness was abated, and we get to welcome a new shooter to the fold.

It doesn't get much better than that.

Working at a gun shop gives me some wonderful oppertunitys to try stuff I otherwish would not have. At time I am very impressed, other times not so much. This time was both, and a learning experince to boot. I took home a brandnew Taurus 650 CIA (carry it anywhere) mine is a .357 magnum, 2' barrel, Double action only. Now I am ussaly a fan of having the option of the single action; however where I to be involved in a gunfight with this gun, I would not be using single action! So I am training myself to shoot double action, as most of the handguns I carry daily are either double action only, or double action first shot. There are rumors that DAO shooting is inaccurate, and diffcult. While it may take more concentration to fire in DA mode this is not a bad thing as it helps us to concentrate more on a consistant trigger squeze.
I like the little 2" revolvers because they tend to be there by my side when not other firearm will quite do the trick. Add to that the performance of the .357 Magnum caliber, and you have yourself a great little combo. I drive a pickup that the desighn of the seats allows me to afix a holster inbetween the drivers seat and the center consul. This is where I prefer to have a revolver. I cannot readily reach my holstered weapon the gun-in-the-seat meathod is wonderful. With the small CIA all I have to do is put the gun in my pocket when I leave the truck, which not only secures the firearm, but also provides me with a great back up gun.
Anyone reading this must note that although these meathods work for me they may not be ideal where you are. I live in Alaska, and it is simply a differant kind of enviroment. We have cold weather, animals, remote wilderness areas, and the usual assortment of drunk, vandals, and criminals. No, the truck never leaves the driveway with out at least one rifle, and one handgun. Here it is dark half of the year so it is impertive that one should learn to shoot a firearm in darkness. I think that this is a must have skill for anyone who takes their personal saftey seriously. If you think about it most crimnals will not attack you in daylight downtown, but add darkness to the picture, and suddenly the other person has concelment.
Constant darkness is one reason why I do not carry full power .357 loads in the Taurus. When testing the gun in darkness the muzzle flash from this little gun was enough to blind me to the loaction of the target for almost 3 seconds. To any of you who have been in a gun fight you will know that three seconds can very well spell life or death. I also know that it is unlikely that an assailant will stop their attack INSTANTLY after my first hit. With that in mind I choose firearms that are able to fire without essesive muzzle blast. So I carry the .38 special +P loads, and a speed loader.
Bullets do not do the shooter any good unless they impact their target. We must test our carry guns first for reliably and second for accuracy. It works. I am not going to tell you that you can hit a gopher at sixhundred meters. I was able to relably hit the head at 25 yrds on a standard size siluette target. long range is not where the real shine is though, its the personla distance shooting that will make or break the gun. I was able with very little practice shoot fist sized groups at 10 yards. These groups where all point of aim.
So on the stevedcross scale of gun testing I would give this little bugger a 6. I would have scored it higher, but there was a problem. This gun willnot work with Cor-bon ammo. I have no ideal why, it just does not work. It works with other ammo of the EXACT same power leval, but not the corbon. Now this is important to remember because had I not tested my ammo I would have been in for a rude supprise had it come time to use it. I will work on this though and let everyone know when I fighure it out. Meanwhile I would advise you not to shoot Corbon in Taurus revolver as I am not the first one to have this problem.
Good luck and stay safe
stevedcross

Rules of Gun fighting

1 Have a gun.
2 Bring your friends who have guns.
3 If it’s worth shooting, it’s worth shooting again, and again, etc.
4 Only hits count. Front Sight Squeeze; Repeat as necessary
5 Any hits count for something.
6 If they are throwing mortars at you, shoot them! (see rule #3).
7 If you can see them you can shoot them; So do it ( personal experince)!!!
8 Proximity negates skill.
9 Always Cheat.
10 If not shooting you should be communicating, reloading and/or moving.
11 Someday, Someone may kill you with your own gun, but they will have to beat you to death with it because; it will be empty.
12 Have a plan.
13 Have a back up plan because the main plan will fail.
14 Flank them, don’t get flanked.
15 Be aggressive.
16 The faster you finish the fight the less chance you have of getting shot.
17 Tactical reload, as soon as possible.
18 Be polite, be paranoid.
19 The only things that matter are you living and them dying.
20 Bullets go through walls
21 Bring extra ammo.
22 Women and children can and will shoot you. Trust NO One!
23 If you do get shot, shoot back, relax, and don’t panic.

This is not original to me, just figured that I would share, pass it along, some I have added from personal experience, but again I am not the first person to say this. Add some of your own, and we can try and get the 50 best or something. So comment and I will edit the list to include good ones.

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Mad Ogre's musings about using cowboy guns in a tactical competition seems to be somewhat controversial. It seems that many folks feel the need to defend the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting. Personally, I don't think it's necessary...it is what it is. I had some fun with it, but like most competitions, I just don't take them seriously.

Therefore, why not play an IDPA-style game using a single action revolver, shotgun, and a lever/pump rifle? Feel free to wear your ATF black ninja suit and body armor. Jeans and a ripped t-shirt are fine too :)

We could probably learn lots of interesting things about tactics. For example, how does one reload a single action revolver on the move? Is a break action revolver really necessary? What about keeping a levergun topped off?

I'm going to propose some rules for the game. They'll be based upon the IDPA and CAS rules. However, I intend this to be more of a learning process, versus a competition (which will doom it to oblivion, but I'll have my fun). Perhaps tactics and skill evaluation should be the focus, versus round count, speed, and variety in stages.

Some thoughts on rules:

0) The focus is upon fighting, not shooting targets. A high round count is fun, but not realistic. A low round count is realistic, but probably not that much fun. The problem becomes how to merge the two together. I'm not sure what to do here; if you have suggestions, please comment.

1) Gear

1 revolver, 1 rifle. Shotgun optional. It seems to me real cowboys only had one rifle and a revolver. Perhaps the average cowpoke had only a rifle...something to research.

2) Separate stages

Revolver and rifle stages should be separate. If you have access to a rifle and a revolver, then choose the rifle! It makes sense to use the most powerful weapon available. Therefore, rifle stages should test CQB, short, and long distance shooting.

3) Reloading

Due to its low capacity, keeping your revolver loaded appears to me to be important. Therefore, I'm considering that a stage is NOT completed until the competitor has fully reloaded his or her revolver. Afterall, there may be more goblins lurking around!

A rifle stage should have the same requirement for completion.

4) Timing, scoring, and related

Short times are fun. Ripping off 20 rounds of 40 S&W into a bunch of targets IPSC style is neat, but it's clearly a game. I believe one competitor in a national IDPA match cleared a room in under 10 seconds.

In real life, both are totally unrealistic. Taking only 10 seconds to clear a room is suicidal. Five minutes is probably better, but not good for competition.

Perhaps the rule should be "in the spirit of the game". If you have to pie a corner, then take your time and do it correctly. The time should not count for or against you. Unfortunately, most targets do not move, so a goblin's reactions are not simulated.

One solution is to create moving targets using rope and something on wheels. As a shooter pies a corner (or moves through the course), someone pulls a rope to cause movement. Since a moving target is difficult to hit, perhaps straight accuracy should be used in scoring.

5) Shooter movement

One idea is that the shooter MUST move while shooting, with a few exceptions. This makes everything much more difficult and realistic. Combine this with a moving target and you have a much more difficult scenario.

Possible exceptions include: shooter has achieved hard cover, the scenario calls for it, and so forth.

6) Gun classifications

1) Black powder revolver, rifle and shotgun
2) Revolver: break action
3) Revolver: "traditional" Peacemaker type
4) Rifle: lever and pump action
5) Rifle: Single shot or double barrel
6) Shotgun: single barrel
7) Shotgun: double barrel
8) Shotgun: pump action

If you can think of any more (or less!), please comment.

7) Competitor Classifications

1) Revolver and rifle
2) 2 revolvers and rifle (like the regular and duellist classes in CAS)
3) Three gun: rifle, revolver, shotgun
4) Revolver and shotgun
5) Long range (100-1000 yards)

I'm sure there are other groupings, but these spring to mind as easy to remember and deal with.

8) Targets

Human shaped showing torso, neck, head and arms. It can be a picture, but some sort of scoring system must be available (perhaps a clip-on template used after each person shoots?). Tactical Teds with a scoring sheet attached would be great.

Accuracy does not necessarily mean striking the nervous system, heart, or other vital organ. It depends upon the circumstance. If the competitor is pieing, then he or she should shoot at the first possible target he or she can see...which could be a toe. Therefore, there will need to be right and left side pie targets. All the targets can be the same; the scoring template just needs to be adjusted appropriately.

9) Round count

I think that round count should be in the area of one to two full loads of any weapon used. With moving targets and moving cow[boys|girls], I'm assuming there will be misses. Maybe each person should carry three loads.

Revolver: 5-12 shots for single gun. 10-24 for double gun.

Rifle: 10-20.

Long range: some traditional number...maybe ten shots, one per target.

10) Calibers

Traditional cowboy calibers, modern, etc. There definitely should be a 22 rimfire class because it's just such a fun round.

Here's my old 4" 681 .357 Magnum revolver with aftermarket stocks. It's an "L" frame square butt in .357 Magnum. The difference between a 681 and a 686 is that the 686 has an adjustable rear sight.

The action has been smoothed and polished to a double-action pull of an even 9 pounds as measured on the Chatillon force-o-meter.

It's pretty well used but not anywhere as beat up as my 686 match pistols (banner image), very little end-shake and a little cylinder play at lockup. The lamp-black on the sights is barely visible in the bottom view and really it's not a very durable sight contrast material but I'm a traditionalist in some ways. I've shot almost no factory ammo through this pistol, mostly it's been old match or practice ammo (125 grain JHP at 1100 FPS, a warm .38 but not yet a magnum load).

This was my fighting gun back when I shot revolvers in competition but now, when I use autos for both purposes, it's just an extra pistol. too big for my wife and too heavy for concealed carry.

Cross Posted at Ninth Stage.

Some gratuitous gun pr0n for your enjoyment. And, for those who don't prefer wheelguns, I included a Glock!

Clockwise from the top, we have:
Ruger Blackhawk chambered in .30 carbine
Redhawk .44 Mag
S&W Model 15-3 .38 Spl
Iver Johnson .22 LR
Hopkins & Allen Model 1901 in .32
S&W Models 36, 342 and 60-7 all in .38 Spl.

Below them is my Glock. Got it in trade from a german kid back in 1981. It cost me one military field jacket.