Random reflections

I recently spent a few fun hours re-checking my zero with a newish load for my AR.  I also took the time to set up my chronograph.  While I wish I had the ability to shoot targets at 50, 100, 150 and 200 yards, it isn’t very feasible.  The next best option is ballistic software.  If I have all the important parameters, the software can calculate my impact displacement at different distances.  Since the majority of times I’m interested in hitting a 12x12 inch plate no farther than 200 yards the important parameters are, bullet weight, muzzle velocity (hence the chronograph), Ballistic Coefficient (manufacturer’s website) and distanced zeroed as well as scope height over the center of the bore.  These are all pretty easy to get.

I didn’t really expect anything to change much.  I altered my windage slightly and was good to go.  The really important things I got out of checking my zero was time practicing the perfect trigger pull and confirmation nothing was loose on my rifle.  I know and believe that if I do my part, the rifle would live up to its side of the partnership.  You can’t buy confidence like that.


There’s a good reason to shoot matches on sunny, sweat-dropping, hot, windless days.  It has to do with discipline.   No, no, not Madame Fifi’s discipline, but the ability to stay focused on the task at hand.

There is a cycle of discipline with matches.  In a good club level match, all the shooters take turns, shooting, scoring, patching, running the stage and acting as safety officer for each other.  Some portions of the stage are very important, like shooting the weapon.  Some are extremely critical like assuring nobody is downrange at the beginning of the stage.  Others are less important and of no critical nature like patching the target.
 
Mastering the ability to change your focus and concentration will benefit you in many ways.  Changing focus quickly as conditions change is a useful skill.  Knowing you have these abilities is a large percentage of accomplishing this.


There is still a lot of excitement over the mass shooting at the Orlando nightclub, Pulse.  Unless you live on your very own cloud nine world, you know that a Dickless Wonder shot up a gay nightclub, killing 49 and wounding 53.  The police arrive on the scene and attempt to negotiate with Dickless who, now that he has an audience, pledges allegiance to ISIS and talks about putting hostages into bomb vests.  It’s hard to criticize the police under those circumstances, but I will anyway.  They appear to have fallen into the trap of believing Dickless Wonder wanted to survive the event.  That’s the old hostage model. 

In the old model, the guy with the gun wants something, maybe to shoot his ex-wife, or maybe he wants a good ham sandwich and media attention.  But above all he wants to live through it and get away or at least become the darling of the media.  This wasn’t always true, but the old model worked well enough most of the time.

The new model appears to be way different.  Dickless wants to kill enough people to get a seat on the national media stage and set a new record.  He wants people to say “Not since Dickless, has anyone achieved higher level of mayhem and violence.”  He’s not especially interested in surviving, as long as he can continue to kill at his leisure.

What this means for us is that we can’t depend on the police to rescue us.  It’s up to us to know where are the exits, both the official and unofficial (like the kitchen’s back door).  In Ohio, I can carry into an establishment serving alcohol if I don’t drink.  That’s a small price to pay.  It doesn’t take advanced legal training to know if someone is killing random, unarmed individuals, the law allows you to stop him anyway you can.  Your humanity demands it.


One of my favorite websites kind of suggested that having a low capacity, hard to shoot, small caliber handgun is pretty useless in these circumstances.

as well as the video tape of the execution of Paris police officer Ahmed Merabet following the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the security tape from a bar during the November 2015 attack in Paris have lead me to a different conclusion.

What’s the worst that could happen if you emptied your 5 shot airweight revolver at any of these criminals?

Imagine you leaned out your window and fire two rounds at one of Officer Merabet killers and three at the other before they executed him.  I think they would have thought “Damn, someone is trying to kill me, we better beat feet!”

The guy with the AK in the bar and grill during the Nov 15 Paris terrorist attack, what do you think would have happened if the guy hiding behind the bar dumped three rounds at him and maybe even skipped one off of him?  The terrorist may have opened up on the empty bar, but he might have also thought “Damn they’re shooting back.  Nobody said they would shoot back.  Do I still get 72 virgins if I'm wounded and my leader shoots me instead of patching and packing me out?”

Dickless in Orlando wasn’t a very good shot.  One survivor reported on NPR he was shot twice in the leg, played dead and was later shot two more time in the arm and hand by Dickless who was aiming for his victim’s head.  I have to think if some popped off with a little .22 caliber semi auto with five rounds in it and managed to scare Dickless, Orlando would have turned out with fewer deaths.

What am I saying?  When someone is killing people around you, don’t wait for your turn.  Take the initiative and fight back!

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