Straw Safety
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 28th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalHigh capacity packages!Right there on the aisle where a child could get hold of them.
[ This content originated at Musings Over a Barrel ]
Author Archive
Five O’Clock Friday: National Scotch Day
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 27th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalHappy Friday! It’s also National Scotch Day.I’m not really sure of the origins of this “holiday,” but who am I to argue?Enjoy.
[ This content originated at Musings Over a Barrel ]
Outdoor Dry Fire Practice
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 27th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalMost of my dry fire practice takes place indoors. Since the majority of that is working on draws, reloads and trigger manipulation, hanging some targets just about anywhere in the house suffices. Lately, I’ve been wanting to devote time to movement and…
Back To A Fiber Optic Sight
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 26th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalI may be the last person in the shooting sports to figure this out. But here I am.In 2015, I changed the black front post on my SIG P226 competition gun to a fiber optic sight. I shot with that for a couple years, before going back to the plain black s…
Open Carry is Constitutional
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 25th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalSo says the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
(Reuters) – A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, finding that Hawaii overstepped its authority to regulate firearms possession outside the home.
The ruling by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, makes the San Francisco-based court the sixth U.S. circuit court to interpret the Second Amendment that way and could set the issue on a path toward the U.S. Supreme Court, which has not taken up a major gun rights case since 2010.
The fact that this comes from one of the most liberal and anti-rights Appeals Court in the nation must have the leftists breaking out in hives.
Wouldn’t it be funny if this ruling was upheld by SCOTUS and the snowflakes started demanding we carry concealed because seeing a gun scared them so much? Sweet, sweet, schadenfreude.
See “U.S. appeals court upholds right to carry gun in public.”
[ This content originated at Musings Over a Barrel ]
July IDPA at Rivanna
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 24th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalI headed out early Saturday morning for the monthly match at the Rivanna range. Rain was forecast for the afternoon, but if the prognosticators were to be believed, we’d have good weather for shooting.We started off facing a simple line of eight t…
Rebellion DC Whiskey Bar
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 23rd, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalI spent most of last week in Washington, DC, stuck inside a hotel. Seated in a meeting, I was using the Untapped app to see if there was anyplace nearby for good beer. A listing for Rebellion DC popped up, and I noted the tagline, “Bar, Ameri…
Going to IDPA Nationals!
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 21st, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalWere in! This September, I will be shooting in the IDPA National Championship match.Four of us who shoot together regularly will make the road trip. I’m looking forward to an exciting adventure.There are fun times ahead! (And lots of practice…
Competitive Pistol Training with Brandon Wright
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 20th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalI recently took part in an intensive two days of competitive pistol training under the tutelage of Brandon Wright of Wright Shooting. Brandon is a Distinguished Master in IDPA and a USPSA Grand Master shooter, and a member to Team Smith & Wesson. In addition to his shooting accomplishments, he’s an excellent instructor. The seven others in the class were folks I shoot with regularly, which added to the fun, and even created a bit of friendly competition.
Throughout the two days of Competitive Pistol II, Brandon reviewed, in great detail, both the fundamentals and advanced techniques employed in competitive shooting. We discussed not only the how but also the why of the techniques we covered. And we ran the associated drills, over and over, as our very observant instructor demonstrated, watched, critiqued, and corrected.
While the techniques we learned were applicable to action pistol shooting in general, the emphasis of the class was on IDPA competition. The major themes of the class were efficiency in getting to the shooting, and then making accurate shots. With the 2017 IDPA scoring change to one second penalties per point down, inaccurate hits became even more costly. Putting the gun where it needs to be quickly, gives the shooter more time to insure accuracy.
Naturally, I won’t give specifics here, you’ll need to take the class yourself. General topics included different sight pictures, varying trigger presses, footwork and movement, reloading, and moving targets, among others. The individual concepts were reviewed and practiced. Different methods were timed and compared. A log book is a critical component of Brandon’s training. Eventually we put our new knowledge all together and ran different small stages to see how it worked.
Stage planning was also covered throughout the course. Brandon reminded us frequently why it is important know our skills and strengths, especially focusing on the time it takes to perform various actions. We were able to shoot the small stages repeatedly in order to compare and different interpretations of ways to shoot the stage. We even got in a few mini-competitions throughout the two days.
I fired somewhere around 1,050 shots in the course. Though I came away with sunburn and achy muscles, it was an intensely fun two days of shooting and learning. Several days later I am still processing everything did. I took copious notes, and have been adding to them since. Brandon has an amazing ability to break things down into individual components, fine tune what we do, and put it all back together again. There were many “ah ha!” moments throughout the course, as well as many bad habits broken and falsehoods disproven.
Going in to the class, I knew there was a lot that Brandon could teach me. Despite the awareness of having a lot to learn, the class was a humbling experience. I believe that seven of the eight students in the class hold Expert classification in at least one IDPA division, yet Brandon found frequent areas for improvement; grip, trigger control, stance, foot placement, stage planning… Despite that, the training was both inspirational and confidence building. With practice, I believe I can make that new knowledge part of my arsenal and habits, and improve my shooting.
I found the investment in tuition, ammo, hotel, food, and gas to be all money well-spent. Fortunately, so much of what we covered can be practiced in dry fire, in my home. Now that my week of travel for work is over, I look forward to doing just that.
[ This content originated at Musings Over a Barrel ]
No Blog Fodder
By David From http://www.musingsoverabarrel.com/ • Jul 12th, 2018 • Category: Blog Entries.LocalTap. Tap. Is this thing on?It’s been a busy week, but not one that was filled with shooting activities, nor even good beverages. On the bright side, today is my “Friday” as I am taking tomorrow off to begin two intense days of competitive pistol traini…
