Category: Shooting

This article from Officer.com talks about the benefits and downsides to using IPSC and IDPA competition as training for Police Officers.  I think a person who competes in IPSC and IDPA is going to do better in a gunfight than someone who does not.  I think his points in regards to the downsides seem reasonable, but you can’t really practice real gunfighting.  Competing in practical shooting sports isn’t perfect, but it helps.  Ultimately, I agree with the conclusion:

Are you afraid that your shooting isn’t up to snuff? Well, you’re probably right – the average competitive shooter is a better shooter than the average cop. But you know something? They already know that! A friendlier, more supportive bunch of people you’ll never find. So swallow your pride and get to it!

That advice goes for people with concealed carry licenses too.

Mr. Completely gives us an overview of what Cowboy Fast Draw is all about.  He’s planning an event at GBR IV where folks will get to try out this kind of shooting, which involves wax bullets propelled by shotgun primers.  Looks like a lot of fun.

Local Montana papers promote the shooting sports while the rest of the media is busy trying to destroy them:

Unless you are actually involved in the sport of shooting, you may  not realize that there are five smallbore shooting clubs in the area; Pondera Valley, Brady, Ledger, Valier and one in Shelby.

The are made up of men, women, and students that thrive and participate in a lifetime sport. The sport is also handicap accessible, especially when the new Shooting Club building is complete just north of town.

What you’ll really love is where they have some of their competitions:

Right now the local shooters use the basement of the Brady Community Center, which has five lanes for firing. Ledger Community Hall has five lanes as well, Valier has six and the Shelby Club has eight lanes.

Shooting in the Brady Community Center?  I think I knew where I’m moving when I retire!

From Today’s Outdoor Wire:

On a completely unrelated note, the shooting world lost one of its best-known names last week. Former Los Angeles County Deputy Jack Weaver, 80, died Tuesday in Carson City. Weaver, for those of you not familiar with the name, is the man for whom the Weaver Shooting Stance is named.

One of the time consuming things in running silhouette matches is having to make the line safe, go down, and reset all the animals.  Resettable targets would be ideal, but not many people make them, and some brands have issues with the animals popping back up on you.

I went down to club this morning to check out some targets we’re considering using for our air rifle and air pistol silhouette matches.  They are made by a guy up in Binghamton, New York.  His company is called Noteworthy Targets, and make these 1/10th scale NRA Air Gun Silhouette targets that reset.  We shot at them all morning with a hard hitting .22 caliber air pistol, a high powered .117 air rifle, and my .177 air pistol.  They worked pretty well.  The demo model brought down for us were air rifle targets, and my .177 couldn’t knock the rifle rams over at the regulation 18 yards, but if we get lighter air pistol ones made, that shouldn’t be a problem.  The great thing is, when they go down, they stay down.  They are also fully adjustable, so you can adjust how heavy you set them.  Today we had them set pretty heavy.  The animals also screw on to the shaft, which is nice in case you need to take them off for repair.

He makes a lot of other steel targets if you want to get into shooting at steel.  It’s a lot of fun, if the range you shoot at allows it.

SayUncle has a pretty good round up, and Tam talks about the media reaction to finding people with Nazi stuff.  Our shows here usually don’t have Nazis or anything like that.  A few people selling militaria, but I’ve never seen any real crazies with tables at shows here.  Maybe promoters in this area weed that stuff out.

I had a reader ask about a range bag he was looking at.  It’s actually the exact range bag I use.  He also asked, as a competitive shooter, what kind of stuff I kept in my bag.  I can tell you the most important thing that should be in your range bag is the item that you won’t realize isn’t in your range bag until you get ready to shoot a match and realize you don’t have it.  The thing I chronically like to forget is magazines.  But here’s what’s in mine.

• A brick of .22LR, because I shoot it so much it never leaves, and is replaced when I exhaust it.
• 4.5mm Pellets for air gun shooting.
• CO2 cartridges for air gun shooting.
• Peep sight aperture for the air pistol.
• Hearing Protection.  Two sets.  In case something happens to one, or someone forgets their own.  If you’re competing, it’s great to have electronic muffs so you can hear range commands and talk to people without having to shout.
• Spare set of eye protection in case someone on the range needs some.  I wear glasses with polycarbonate lenses.
• Pencils to write down scores and various other things.
• Clipboard for keeping your scorecard in place when it’s windy, and to have a hard writing surface.  Some matches provide these, but not all.
• Scorebooks for NRA and IHMSA
• IHMSA rulebook.
• Spare money.  Nothing sucks worse than showing up for a match and having to run to an ATM machine before you register.
• Staple gun to hang targets.
• Masking tape  to tape targets up and for patching bullet holes in targets.
• Tacks for hanging targets if staples or tape run out.
• Spare batteries for red dot optics.
• Kalashnikov front sight adjustment tool.  Not much cause to use this regularly, but I use the AK for cheap practice, since ammo for it is still cheap, relatively.
• AR-15 front sight adjustment tool.
• Multitool for fixing various thing.  Has bits for allen nuts, and various other things.
• Magnetic tool for picking up silhouette animals without having to bend over.
• Zip lock bags for collecting spent brass.
• Various smaller targets that can fit in the bag, just so I always have something to shoot at on me.
• Chamber flags.

That’s about it.  I don’t keep oil in my range bag, because it can ruin a bag and its contents if it leaks, and it always seems to leak.  Other items are transitory, like ammo, and magazines for whatever gun I happen to be shooting.  I always take guns in separate cases.  In my car I usually will keep a few targets, my shooting mat, my spotting scope, and a tripod for the spotting scope.

I guess when you collect safari guns, that run you 4 to 6 dollars per trigger pull, you learn a thing or two about how to sight in without going through a pile of ammunition.

Today we had our first IHMSA shoot of the year, and it was a beautiful day.

Because I had a wedding to go to yesterday, I didn’t get to hand load for field pistol. Instead I shot smallbore twice, once standing, and once freestyle (creedmore position).  Shot an 18 standing, which was disappointing (Only single A).  I was hoping to do better.  I need to practice more out at 75 and 100 yards, because that’s where I’m missing animals.  The target area you’re aiming for is about the size of a DVD box at 100 yards.  Shooting Creedmore, I managed 28, AA, and enjoyed shooting in that position, though I need to work on making it more stable.  Shooting freestyle, you have to get a perfect score to shoot an International level score.

Then on to air pistol, where I shot in Ulimited Standing Iron Sights with an IZH-46 that our NRA air gun match director loaned to me to decide whether I wanted to buy one (to which the answer is a resounding yes).  Shot a 30 with it, which for USIS in IHMSA is only AAA, but would ahve been a master score in NRA Outdoor Air Pistol.  Shot production with my Crossman 2300S.  It was like going back to driving a Volkswagon after driving a Rolls Royce around.  Only 21 with that, but since it’s a production gun, I’m on the upper end of AA with that score.

I should note that the pistols the big bore shooters use fire rounds which would defeat soft body armor.  Big bore silhouette might seem like a sport, using single shot pistols, would be fairly safe, but it could be under threat again if the “cop killer bullet” nonsense ever rears its ugly head again.

Caleb explains how not all 9mm are equal.