Call me Ahab

posted by Caleb on May 31

Don’t you hate it when the crazy people have some of the same labels as you? A friend of mine directed me to this blog entry by someone who seems to be a bit of a fan of Sam Brownback. I have no inherent beef with Brownie, he doesn’t seem like too bad of a guy despite some of his positions. The blog entry on the other hand, is 31 flavors of delicious crazy.

What’s even worse than the debate raging in American schools about the teaching of the soulless doctrine of evolution, is the non-debate over an issue that rational Americans have foolishly conceded to the secular among us: the issue of Heliocentrism, or the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

I find it moderately disturbing that people exist who question things like that. Questioning the revolution of the Earth around the Sun is like, well, it’s like questioning gravity. What’s even worse is that this doesn’t appear to be satire, as there are other posts in the blog that take just the same (crazy) tone as this one.

But here’s the real prizewinner right here.

Look, people, even your Heliocentric hero Galileo recanted his idiotic notions about the Earth revolving around the Sun. If he’s your so-called reliable source on this, I think it does wonders to shatter the idea’s credibility that one of its main proponents backed away from it so abruptly.

According to the historical record, Galileo only recanted because he was order to do so by the Catholic Church; which was part of his sentence for heresy. I believe that legal term for that would be “under duress”, which is a nice way of saying that it doesn’t really count anyway.

What I find frustrating by ideas like this isn’t that they exist; if you want to hold some crazy belief about the Earth being the center of the solar system, that’s fine. My concern is two fold in nature: 1) that the people who hold these ideas believe that their crazy theories are just as valid as scientific fact, and 2) that because of the crazy person’s use of a label like “Christian” they’re just enforcing the constant negative stereotype being driven down people’s throats.

I don’t want people to think that all Christians are ignorant, hateful people just because some (loud) Christians are ignorant, hateful people.

posted by Caleb on May 31

Yesterday, I posted about the value of training for situations that you’re likely to encounter. Just as SWAT teams train for breaching houses and other situations that they’re likely to encounter, armed citizens should train with their defensive weapon(s) of choice for situations that they’re likely to encounter.

A few of the people in the comments mentioned that their training method generally focuses on rapid sight acquisition and multiple rapid shots, and I agree that those are two of the the most important things for the armed citizen to practice.

If you’re in a situation where you need to defend yourself with a handgun or rifle, the ability to get on target quickly and place hits on the target is of paramount importance. Since my favorite range doesn’t allow drawing from the holster, I practice my draw at home with snap-caps to anchor that skill. At the range when I’m practicing, I always start my drills from step 2 (or 3) of my draw so I can practice acquiring the sights and pressing the shot out.

That being said; I also practice formal bullseye shooting and target shooting. I get a lot more excited about teeny-tiny little groups than I do about blasting a lot of rounds downrange. I would say that in an average range session, I devote equal amounts of time to practicing defensive shooting and shooting for groups/score.

The skills that you develop shooting bullseye; such as sight picture, trigger control, discipline, etc will make you a better shooting when you’re shooting defensive pistol. Of those, I would say that skill with trigger control is the most valuable for defensive shooting - it doesn’t matter how fast you squeeze the trigger if you’re constantly jerking your shots away from COM.

My combat pistol teacher at the Academy had a saying he was fond of that I’ve heard repeated elsewhere. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. It’s a nice modernization of the Wyatt Earp quote of “you must learn to be slow, in a hurry”. Before you can become a good defensive shooter, you need to have a fundamental grasp of the mechanics of good shooting. I don’t think that this is a problem for any of my readers, rather I think that it becomes a training issue for new shooters.

Before you worry about double taps and Mozambique Drills, make sure that you can hit the target consistently.

posted by Caleb on May 30

Or at least, I’m full of venom and vitriol. Unfortunately just like Sebastian I seem to running low right now; I wonder if vituperation or sarcastic castigation would do instead?

I just think it’s funny when the anti-gunners say that we’re full of hate.

posted by Caleb on May 30

Stoppage has an interesting tidbit about his thoughts on Japanese culture and their low crime rate. Like him, I’ve heard the argument from gun control types that the low Japanese crime rate is a result of their rather draconian gun laws. He points out quite rightly that there is a huge cultural difference between America and Japan.

One of the biggest examples of this would be the emphasis on individualism vs. collectivism. Although seemingly in decline, the American attitude is still swayed towards the value of the individual. Japanese society often places a higher value on the group as opposed to the individual, which you can plainly see in the deference to authority figures.

Frankly, I have no interest in the modern Japanese culture - and even less so in its imports to the US. My interest is historical, as I have enjoyed in the past studying the Japanese evolution from a feudal, semi-tribal society to a modern industrial society. It’s pretty cool.

posted by Caleb on May 30

From a South Bend police officer. In an editorial on why gun control control won’t work, South Bend police Sergeant Al DeRoo makes a lot of good sense.

He also lays out a nice step by step explanation of the Indiana concealed weapons permit process, from the local background check, to the state level, all the way up to federal portion of the event. My favorite part is where he points out the innate hypocrisy of people who oppose the Patriot Act but support gun confiscation.

These gun control advocates want the government to authorize police to enter homes and confiscate weapons should a person have guns in his or her home. Some of these same people are angry about the USA Patriot Act which allows our government agents to tap certain phone lines for the safety of our citizens. There’s a hew and cry that this is a violation of privacy even though it’s for our protection.

What about authorities entering your home and taking your weapons, weapons for your protection?

Good point. The entire article is well worth a read, in fact I can even forgive him for accidentally writing AK-15 near the end. Although, I should point out that the importation of full automatic weapons like the Ak47 has been illegal for some time.

posted by Caleb on May 30

Show of hands: how many of my dear readers are confident in their ability to make a pistol shot on a man sized target at 50 yards? Next question, how many of you actually practice defensive shooting with a handgun out to 50 yards? I know I don’t; the longest shot I’ll take during serious defensive practice with a pistol is 20 yards.

For rifles I don’t actually practice out much further than I do with pistols. The average WW2 infantry engagement took place at 30 yards or less and while I’ll take the occasional 100 yard shot with a rifle; I generally restrict my “practical” practice with a rifle to 50 yards and closer.

I’m a firm believer in the adage of “you fight as you train”, which means that since I’m not in the military any longer I need to train for situations that I’m likely to encounter. Mathematically speaking, the odds of me needing to engage someone with a rifle beyond 50 yards are, well, slim and none - and slim just left town. Similarly, the odds of me needing to engage someone with a pistol beyond 15-20 yards are extremely slim as well.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t practice long range shooting. Shooting at longer ranges is an excellent test of your skill as a marksman, at the same time shooting accurately at long range is a completely different discipline from shooting fast and accurate at close range. Both have value and are skills that should be practiced.

I like long range shooting; producing small groups on distant targets brings a smile to my face every time. I also like practical shooting, fast shooting at close range targets is just as much fun. The thing is that when I’m practicing defensive shooting, I’m working to improve skills that I could end up betting my life on. That’s why it is so important to train for scenarios you’re likely to encounter.

50 yard headshot on a moving target? Probably not. 7 yard COM shot on someone with a knife? Much more likely. Again, that’s not to say that the skills involved in the 50 yard headshot are less valuable than the skills in the 7 yard body shot.

I don’t want bullseye shooters to take any of this as a slight - what I’m trying to point out is that there is a distinct difference between training for using a gun in self-defense, and shooting a gun accurately. There also isn’t any reason that you can’t do both, but you have to remember that they are two different things entirely.

posted by Caleb on May 29

Are up over at Free Spirit Mind. Saying that I’m pleased with my performance would be a lie; as Mr. Completely and Bill absolutely spanked me in the Rimfire Iron Sight Category. I take some small solace in knowing that I did come in first place in the Centerfire Iron Sight division, and first place out of all “Centerfire” class pistols.

Thoughts - I agree that the target was hard; and since it was purpose built to provide a challenge for target sighted .22s, it was a pain in the ass for my fixed sights .22 Magnum. It was very challenging and a lot of fun though.

According to Mr. Completely’s place, the next match is scheduled to open June 4th, and is hosted by SailorCurt. I’ll make a concerted effort to shoot more guns in this match than I did in the last one.

posted by Caleb on May 29

I’m going to reach into Ahab’s bag of wisdom here and pull out some advice for any gents that are considering taking up the fine hobby of muzzleloading firearms.

As you know, it is recommended that before and after a session with a muzzleloader, that you fire a percussion cap on each nipple over an uncharged chamber or barrel to remove fouling. While this is an excellent idea, doing it indoors might cause your wife to become “mildly upset”; additionally if you’re unfortunate enough to own a cat the feline may become lodged in your leg.

“Honey, the ATF doesn’t classify it as an explosive” is not justification enough for storing 25 pounds of Pyrodex.

Just because some guy on the internet put the metal parts of his ‘60 Colt Army in the dishwasher doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t tell your wife before you do.

Standing in the kitchen cleaning guns while your wife cooks does not count as “helping her with dinner”. Trust me.

Don’t ever tell your wife that you’d be more attracted to her if she found a perfume that smelled like blackpowder. It’s just not a good idea.

If you follow the above helpful tips, you as well as I can enjoy the fine sport of muzzleloading firearms, and preserve your marriage to boot!

posted by Caleb on May 29

A couple of quick movie reviews for you guys, as I had a bit of free time over the holiday weekend.

First up is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. I have seen both parts 1 and 2 of the trilogy, both of which I enjoyed immensely. I’m a big fan of “pirate” movies in general, as they usually have the three elements for making an Ahab-Approved movie: cool boats, sword/gun play, pirate wenches.

At World’s End had all three, thus I was satisfied. I will say that if you haven’t seen the first two, don’t go see part three because you honestly won’t have any idea what’s going on who is on whose side. Some reviewers said that the plot was hard to follow, I disagree on the grounds that it might be hard to follow if you have a short attention span or haven’t ever read a book.

On a gunny note, the movie did have one thing that I’d been praying for since the first movie. During one scene, there’s a bit of a Mexican standoff between several of the characters, which prompts Jack Sparrow to try and fire his pistol. I say “try”, because everyone’s pistol had just received a thorough soaking, and suddenly every character experiences a failure to fire due to wet powder. It brought joy to my heart.

Final review: I give Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 4 sails out of 5.

The second movie I watched was on DVD, an Australian set western called The Proposition. This was an excellent, intense character driven western. More in the vein of the gritty spaghetti westerns that are Clint Eastwood’s heritage, The Proposition held me on the edge of my seat for the entirety of its short 104 minutes. I strongly recommend renting or buying this one on DVD, especially if you’re a fan of the gritty, violent western.

posted by Caleb on May 29

I just wanted to offer a quick comment on the Red Sox victory last night (GO SOX). Watching my boy Kevin Youkilis hustle around the bases for an inside the park homerun was an absolute joy.

For those that don’t follow the Sox or baseball, it would sort of be like a bare bones Ford Taurus winning the Indy 500.

Awesome.