There was some illumination from the windows to the store area, but not much, really.
I'd not tried that before. Not terribly shabby. I couldn't see the sights, other than the three glowing dots. But when I fired, the sight alignment showed up in the muzzle flash.
It gave me some confidence in the night sights.
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I am reasonably confident that there's going to be another "zOMG, Buy Everything!!!11!!1!" ammunition panic this Fall, as people begin to wrap their heads around the possibility that Hillary Clinton will be the next president.
Right now, ammunition, other than .22, is plentiful enough that the online folks are running sales. What I did was buy a box of Perfecta rounds in each caliber from the local Walmart. Perfecta seems to be their lowest-cost brand and it runs all right. That gives me a price per box, with tax. And I can compare that to the online prices, with shipping.
Upside of online buying is it's often cheaper. The downside is that you have to buy in bulk for the shipping costs to drive the price per box down to a reasonable amount. At the local discount store (most often, Walmart), you can buy a box or two as your cash flow allows.
I've a mind for a minimum stockpile amount of range fodder that I'll maintain for the time being. I'm pretty much there. Taking stock of what I have was a good exercise. The older ammo will go downrange, first. (After the baggies of mixed rounds.)
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I picked up a working IBM T42 at a thrift store. That particular store does sell things "as is", but they check out their electrical and electronic goods before putting them on the shelf. 80 Gb drive, 1.5 Gb RAM, 1.7GHz M chipset and it has Win 7 Ultimate loaded.
Cautionary tale, people: If you're going to donate computers, at least wipe your browser history and saved passwords. There were four different email accounts that I could have accessed, along with three FB pages, at least one Amazon account and two easily identifiable business wireless networks.
Another tip: If your business is "XYZ Machine Tools", it'd be a good idea to not label your wireless network "XYZ Machine Tools".
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One of the things I've seen on the fora for serious gun people is a disdain directed at anyone who carries more than one type of gun on a regular basis. The thinking is that if you want to be really good with a gun, you should carry one type, such as a Glock 17/19/26, a S&W M&P, a 1911 or a Sig 224/226/229. And even that is sort of frowned upon, lest you bring a Glock 19 magazine along with your 17.
There's probably something to be said for that. But it depends what you want to do, I suppose. If the whole idea is to be ready in case bad shit comes your way, it might make more sense to get serious first-aid training and even entry-level paramedic certification, because the odds are you're far more likely to be in a situation where someone else needs help than in a situation where bullets are buzzing about.
Funny thing, though: If you read enough of the "thou shalt only carry one platform[1]" stuff, you almost always will find that the writers carry one gun type, until they can't. And then they opt for a J-frame Smith or a .32 KelTec.
As for me, I shoot for fun. I shoot in different matches; a Bullseye gun doesn't work so well in a PPC match. A red dot on a Ruger 22/45 is as close to having a race gun as I get.
And yes, I'll carry different guns, depending on the circumstances. All, though, are some flavor of "grip and rip" that'll fire double-action, at least on the first shot. As much as I like my JMB-designed guns, they're now range-only.
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My club recently had a combat pistol match. I enjoy them, for I use them as a testing session. One guy there had a series of moves that I found baffling. On the draw, he'd level the gun downrange and then bring his hand and arm across his body to his off-hand. So he would be holding the pistol with both forearms pressed against his chest (down around the bottom of the sternum. Then he would press the pistol straight out into an isosceles stance. When he finished the string, he'd bring the gun back in reverse order.
He shot pretty well, so I guess it worked for him. But it still looked kind of ninja-ey to me.[2]
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There's this funny little lever on most autos called a "slide stop." When reloading, what's so wrong about just pressing that down? It would seem to take more time to use one's off-hand to pull the slide back, out of the stop notch and then release it so the slide will chamber a fresh round. If you thumb off the slide stop, then all you have to do is slide your offhand up from slamming the magazine home and into your grip.
But what the fuck do I know.
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[1] Another term that I despise.[2] One of the shooters mentioned that he'd been caught short at the first panic and had to lay off practicing for many months because, like everyone else, he wasn't paying those prices.
14 comments:
What will be hilarious is if there is a shortage because everybody is predicting there to be a panic and thus buys up all the ammo before the people panicking can buy it all up, rather than because there is any shortage. Sometimes people are their own worst enemy.
^ rather than because there is any panic ^. I.e., they're panicking about the possibility of a panic. How... recursive :).
I didn't have to buy much. After the `09 panic, I began keeping a certain amount on hand. I went through a fair amount of it when the `12 panic hit, but I never ran out. Did run pretty low on .22.
Now I'll just buy what I use up.
I've donated 3 computers...one was wiped with a seven-times random rewrite, that was a pain...so the next two got donated with no hard drive, but with the original disks for the system, to charities that could use them as office computers by using any old hard drive.
It was a PITA for me to get ammo at a reasonable price for quite a while - I would have bought a 9mm instead of the .45 I have had I known about the 'zomg' folks creating shortages. I'm glad I'm down to going to the range twice a year (just to make sure I can hit center), instead of going monthly for my former employer. I was paid enough to cover the ammo, but still got sticker shock each time I bought it.
I suspect that one of the reasons this bias against the slide stop exists is holdover from military training. Some guns are easy to release the slide using a finger/thumb, and some, even of the same model, are near impossible to do. Since they mandate condition 3 carry(empty chamber), They are already training people to load the gun using two hands to rack the slide, so doing the same when the chamber is empty again is logical. This neatly sidesteps the potential for variable slide release results when using the lever.
As a lefthander, I rest my trigger finger on that lever as I slam a mag into my small 1911's. The combo trips the lever as the mag seats, saving a bit of time. Can't do it with my little Glock, as the lever pad is so far to the rear, it's not very ergonomic. And that's with a lever with a bigger pad. I can drop it, but it's not quick, as it requires a fair amount of deliberate force to move that lever.
Remember the Johnny Carson toilet paper panic of 1973?
Will - a question for another who shoots left. I started practicing firing using my right hand in the theory that I'd be able to have a better selection of holsters, and it would also make reloads easier since guns are designed for right handers. I got pretty accurate with my 'off' hand, but I'm still more comfortable doing everything left handed, and never switched over during my years of carrying a gun. I'm not a strict left hander, as I write and do a few other things with a right side bias, but rifle and handguns are definitely left side dominant. Have you done anything of the sort?
I have a question if I may? I was on my own land the other day and being remote, people do shoot.
This time however, I could hear the smack of impact before the bang.
I don't like to be ignorant, but that does mean that I was "down range", right?
I know they are clowns, but impact first? Was I not closer to the target that the shooter?
Just a wondering
w3ski
w3ski--Yes, you were closer to the target, and not very far away, since it's not terribly loud. Do you know any more about the geometry? Could you see either shooter or target?
No idea as to the target. The already were known to launch 'golf balls' far and wide. One hit my roof. They live above me on a small hill. Lots of trees in between. We only have an acre and a half. They have 5 up there.
Next time I am going to hoot back. At least.
thanks
w3ski
I carry differently depending on the circumstances, e.g. weather, what I'm doing, where I'm going. Most of my carry is some version of a 1911 or Glock. And you're right, lots of those folks 'change' their carry when they have to/need to...
We used to routinely do those 'night shoots' to get fam'ed with actually using night sights. It 'does' work! Another way to do it, is a laser trainer in your carry gun, then use it in the house to see how effective night sights are...
w3ski,
It means that they were likely shooting in a direction where you were closer to the target than to the shooter, since the rounds were supersonic.
w3ski,
Not only were you closer to the target than the shooter, the target could have been between you two. In fact, that is the more likely case, although you may not have been in a direct line.
Marc,
until my twenties, I could shoot with either hand, pistols and long guns, although I much preferred shooting left-handed. I'm left eye dominant. That normally only matters in long guns, though. I could also pitch baseball, and bat, with either hand equally well. (I threw sidehand accurately.) Same with golf. I had both sets of clubs in my teens.
I could write with either hand, but I never let any teachers know, since they tried to make lefties write with their right hand in those days. Didn't have much creativity when using my right hand for writing or flying. I quit after my first sailplane flight, since the instructor demanded that I fly right-handed. I was competent, but it was about as interesting as driving a bus. At least one study claimed that even right-handers are more creative in artistic endeavors when they utilize their left hand. They've also determined that forcing lefties to write with the right hand causes some psychological problems.
I shattered my right wrist in a motorcycle collision with a drunk when I was 21, and have limited mobility with it, so it makes using a conventional stocked long gun difficult. I can still shoot handguns righthanded, but it feels awkward for some reason. Even using isosceles left-handed is a problem, so I usually use a Weaver, or modified Weaver, when shooting with two hands. (I wore a cast for 4-5 months, and impacts to that hand felt like I grabbed a high voltage line, for about a year after tossing the cast.)
There is a wide range of "handedness". Those who write lefthanded are normally considered to be a left hander, especially if other actions are also done with that hand. The writing is supposed to be indicative of brain wiring, generally. (I'm drawing a blank on the other actions, and my lefthanders book is out on loan) It turns out that it is not as clear cut a subject as the public once thought.
Tam, at View From teh Porch/Books,Bikes, Boomsticks, is a lefty that shoots righthanded. I don't recall the reason. Possibly cross-eye dominant.
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