Call me Ahab

posted by Caleb on Jul 24

Check out www.actionairgun.com - it’s an interesting hybrid of USPSA and the e-postal matches that are popular with bloggers. One of the neat things about it to me is that it culminates in an actual championship match that is held live.

Aside from the obvious potential to use this as a training tool for people who already shoot action sports, I really dig the idea of using this to get people like my wife hooked on action shooting.

I’ll be following the development of Action Airgun closely.

posted by Caleb on Jul 23

Bowling pin shoot at Marion County Fish & Game this weekend!

July 26th around 8:30, we’ll be out there doing our damnedest to smoke some pins off the table.  I’ll be shooting my new Glock 24 in .40 S&W, which may or may not have enough juice to move the pins off the table in a timely fashion.

Just to give you an idea of how fun shooting bowling pins is, check out the video from the last shoot.

Come out, shoot some pins, and have a great time - I promise you won’t be disappointed.

posted by Caleb on Jul 22

Robb asks if he should get into competitive shooting.  The short answer is “yes”, but there’s a caveat to go with that, namely “which kind of competitive shooting”?  Based on his post, he’s limited his options to “practical” shooting like IDPA or USPSA, and ruled out bullseye, silhouette and other competitive shooting sports.

I am always 100% in favor of people shooting more - practical shooting as I’ve said in the past is really the future of the sport, it has a low bar for entry in terms of gear, is actually fun to watch other people do, and has the added benefit of building skills that can be useful in a self defense situation.

I started shooting competitively when I went to the Academy, where I initially competed in NRA Collegiate Pistol, and then eventually shot in some PPC (lolbattletech - ed) club level stuff during that time.  After the Academy, I shot cowboy for a while, and then when I moved to Virginia with Mrs. Ahab, I just…stopped.  I don’t know what happened, but I stopped shooting competitions.  I would still go to the range and practice, but my desire to shoot matches of any type had died off completely.

That continued for a few years, actually.  When we moved back to Indiana I kept practicing and going to the range, but still no matched until my buddy Greg convinced me to go shoot a bowling pin match at Marion County Fish & Game.  Despite being pretty roundly trounced, I was hooked back in like whoa, and have since “gotten the bug again”.  I shoot at MCF&G twice a month, once for pins and once for steel, and bought a gun (Glock 24) just for shooting those matches.

Now I’m looking at single action revolvers and double barreled shotguns, because I’m starting to get the itch to shoot cowboy stuff again.  My wife has never seen me do this, as I pretty much stopped around the time we met due to budget constraints, and sold off my cowboy guns (a decision I thoroughly regret).

The point of taking you through the history of my competitive shooting was to attempt to illustrate how thoroughly addictive it is.  If you do it smart and don’t get burned out like I did, you’ll have a fantastic time and you’ll get a lot better at shooting as well.  Don’t worry about whether you’re shooting IPSC, IDPA, Steel Challenge, Cowboy Action, GSSF or whatever; the point is to have fun and become a better shooter.  You can let the internets argue over whichever is “best” form of practical shooting, all I know is that I wouldn’t want the world champion of any of those disciplines putting rounds downrange at me.

That does bring me to one final point, though - the part about this being fun.  Don’t do what I did, and get burned out by taking the competition so seriously that it’s not fun anymore.  The nanosecond that it becomes a chore, or a burden, or you wake up on a Saturday morning and think “shit, I have to go shoot today”  - stop.  Just like blogging, the minute that shooting action sports, or skeet or bullseye or whatever ceases to be fun, it’s time to take a big step back and evaluate why you’re playing a game that isn’t any fun.

But don’t let that discourage you, because most people will never reach that burnout point.  So yes, go shoot action sports, have fun shooting your action sports and learn a lot of solid fundamentals!

posted by Caleb on Jul 21

This weekend my wife and I went out to the family farm to celebrate my father-in-law and my birthday (we do joint celebrations, it’s a long drive).  I also brought a pile of guns with me, since having access to 500 acres and a perfect backstop (giant pile of dirt) was too much to pass up.

For targets, I brought a bunch of the Shoot-’n-See targets - the kind where the round hits and the target “explodes with color” or somesuch, making it easy to see where your round hit.  However, my best idea was snagging a bunch of clays to use, because nothing is better for newbies than reactive targets.  Soda cans, steel ringers, or clay birds, my new theory of teaching is based around the fact that if the shooter can see or hear their hit immediately and get that feedback right away, they’re going to enjoy the sport a lot more.

The shooting was a big hit, my father in law, sister in law, her fiance, and my wife all had a pretty good time.  After my sister-in-law and her fiance went back inside, the three of us had a little fun throwing the clays by hand and trying to nail them with the .410 shotgun I had brought along.  While doing this, I discovered that Mrs. Ahab appears to have a natural gift for the shotgun.  Now, again this was with hand thrown clays, but once she got dialed in (it took 2 shots) she broke 10 straight clays without a miss, using 2 1/2 inch .410 rounds with like half an ounce of shot.

The best part of it is that once she starting breaking clays, she loved it.  The good hits where the bird would just blow apart under the shot would elicit a giggle from her, which resulted in me not shooting my shotgun very much.  I’m not complaining, even a little bit, since she now wants to get a good 20 gauge with a nice recoil pad and start shooting trap.  You should have seen the big old grin on my face when she said she’d be interested in continuing with the sport.

So, I’m putting an erstwhile training program in place.  We’ll start with hand thrown clays, then move up to ones thrown with the sling-thing that I have, and after she feels comfortable with those, we’ll move it up to actually shooting trap from the booths.  From there, who knows?  Maybe she’ll starting shooting IPSC matches or something crazy like that.

posted by Caleb on Jul 18

Looks like I’m all set to shoot the Steel Challenge match this weekend - despite my ghetto-fab holster, I’ll get out there with my Pt-92 and get my ass handed to me by pretty much everyone out there.

But the important thing is that I’m practicing, so that I might have a small chance of beating Joe Huffman at Blackwater Summer Camp.

From my research, it seems that Steel Challenge matches are broken down to several relays consisting of a selection of 8 stages.  The divisions for Steel Challenge are huge, and cover every division in IDPA, USPSA, and even throw in cowboy shooters for good measure, so that I could shoot a pair of single action wheelies and be competitive (within my division).  For some reason, that makes me want to buy a pair of Ruger Blackhawks and start smoking some steel.

I let you know how the match this weekend goes!

posted by Caleb on Jul 17

Now up and running - here’s the URL: http://gunblogrifles.wordpress.com/

The summer match has been posted, complete with links to where to find the targets and courses of fire.  I’ll be shooting in the “smallbore” division, since I am not cool and don’t own any major centerfire rifles.  I will see what kind of damage I can do at 50 yards with my unscoped .22 Magnum though.

This is the brainchild of Sebastian, so if you’re looking for someone to thank, he’s your man.

posted by Caleb on Jul 16

“Bang-’n-Clang”: A general catch all term used to describe action shooting sports where the targets are primarily steel, such as The Steel Challenge.

Used in a sentence: “I am totally addicted to these bang-’n-clang sports - the instant feedback and fast pace are awesome times 10.”

Speaking of steel, the Atlanta Conservation Club has a Steel Challenge match this weekend, I’ll be there shooting my Taurus Pt-92 in the production division, assuming I can find enough magazine holders for the show.

Should be a lot of fun!

posted by Caleb on Jul 16

The podcast went extremely well - you can listen to it on our Gun Nuts page right here, or simply click the flash player to listen as well.  Don’t worry if the audio cuts out there around the 4 minute mark; my hosting software decided it didn’t love Ahab very much.

 

 One for the Ladies [58:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Again, the live link to the show page itself is here, click over to check it out.  Having Breda and Tracy on the show was fantastic, both of the ladies were able to offer excellent insight and thought on the issues that surround women and the shooting sports.

I also want to say thank you to our callers, Jay and Joe for calling in and sharing their questions with us.  We’re looking next week to have a discussion with someone from VCDL on what’s going on in the world of state level activism.

posted by Caleb on Jul 15

The results from Friday’s Steel match at MCF&G are posted on their FNS site, click the link for July 11th to view the full page results.

I am actually pretty happy with my finish - for this being my first action style match in years, I am just glad to have finished in the top 25% of shooters. As I expected, despite the fact that I was shooting a wizbang Open gun, I got all stomped by a bunch of guys shooting Production guns - but then again, I was expecting that. I wouldn’t expect to jump into golfing and be Tiger Woods, either.

Out of all shooters, I finished 13th out of 57, and if you only count people shooting centerfire pistols I finished 7th out of 45.  I am pretty pleased with both of those scores, but not pleased enough to not want to shoot better next time.

On a humorous note, I technically “won” the Open Division, but that was by default since I was the only gun entered under “Open”.

I had a load of fun - I’m looking forward to the August shoot, where I hope to crack the top 10 overal.

posted by Caleb on Jul 14

First up is Kirkland, Washington (wooo PacNorthWest) native Travis Tomasie of the Army Marksmanship Unit with a neat article detailing his meteoric rise to the top of the USPSA shooting game.  They talk a little bit about guns and gear, but what interested me the most about the article is the picture of Travis during a USPSA match - specifically his footwear.  If you look closely, you’ll see that he’s wearing cleats, like you’d see a soccer or baseball player wear.  At first, I did a double take, but then I realized that if you’re shooting a run-’n-gun match on dirt, cleats might not be such a bad idea.  You can get started moving faster, stop quicker, and generally provide that all important aspect of shooting - a stable firing platform.

The next article is a brief blurb in the Fresno Bee about the USPSA Area 1 championships where Brad Holt won the production division.  Now, I could be wrong, but for some reason I want to think that the USPSA Area One championships take place at the Hogue Action Pistol range, just south of Morro Bay, CA.  If they do, I need to punch my ticket to that event ASAP.

I really enjoy seeing practical shooting sports covered in the local paper - not to slight shotgunners and clay shooters, but I think that a lot of the future of the shooting sports lies in the run-’n-gun events, the practical shooting.  The fast pace and hang-and-bang nature seems like it would appeal to the younger demographic.  That creates a double bonus, because 1) you attract young shooters, and 2) action pistol shooters are “high volume” shooters, buying gear, ammo (or components for reloading) at a huge level.