Although I give major props for creativity I have to say once you tell everybody where you hid your guns they’re not really hidden anymore.
Tag: Miscellaneous Gun Stuff
Interesting Case Design
The Firearm Blog has the skinny on a proposed case design that replaces our tried and true brass casing with platic spiral cases. I see a few problems with this design myself beyond the lack of heat transfer mentioned on The Firearm Blog. The biggest issue I have is the fact these cases are almost guaranteed to not be reloadable.
Brass is malleable so after being blown out from the pressures inherit in firearm cartridges they can be resized back down to a specified size. Plastic does not have this advantage and I can’t imagine any plastic being strong enough to survive multiple reloadings. Just chambering and extracting the case will probably damage it beyond repair due to the physics involving plastic slamming against metal. The idea behind the case is that they will extract better but I don’t think extraction is really that big of an issue anymore. Most rifles and pistols have a very low rate of failure these days.
Methods of Training
Although I mentioned the fact that I was at a range two nights ago I forgot to mention the most entertaining part. A man was in the stall next to us teaching his girlfriend/wife/who-knows-what-relation to shoot a handgun. I will give this man kudos on doing that but also shake my head at his method of training.
First if you’re a lady heading to the range let me give you this pro tip (which I received from a female friend who pointed this fact out); high heels do not for a good time at the range make. This goes double if you’re new to shooting. I don’t think I have to explain the laws of physics involved with high heels making a very unstable platform but they also offer poor support for when you step on empty brass casings and tumble over. Lucky for the girl in the stall next to us that didn’t happen but it’s a real possibility so please ladies wear sensible footwear at the range.
The guy had a good shooting stance. He was leaning forward aggressively, feet spread a correct distance apart, and he had a good grip on his pistol. His student was shooting with feed spread very far apart and standing straight up. When you teach somebody to shoot also teach them a proper stance. I can understand a proper stance being difficult to achieve when wearing high heels and refer you to the paragraph previous to this. Having an improper stance from the start makes that stance habit forming and thus harder to get away from when you want to learn the correct way of doing things. Try to establish the correct procedures for doing things from the start.
Finally I have this little quip; the time you’re using to teach a new shooter is not the time to show off. It’s intimidating for a new shooter to watch an experience shooter unload a magazine into a target with some semblance of accuracy. This guy did this several times. If you want to shot off pick the proper time.
Beyond those criticisms I have to give the guy credit for getting a new shooter to the range and making it an enjoyable experience for her (he was smart and didn’t spend time ridiculing the woman for not being a pro shooter from the start).
Indoor Shooting Ranges
Yesterday I went to an indoor shooting range with a couple of my friends. I’m reminded today why I prefer outdoor ranges to the indoor ones. Although outdoor ranges close when the sun goes down most of the time indoor ranges means you get to keep breathing all the fun and exciting expulsions from the various firearms. Although these ranges are generally ventilated there is only so far that ventilation goes and frankly my throat is rather sore from the event.
Improper Use of a Firearm
Look I understand the desire to MacGyver tools into solutions for problems those tools don’t normally solve. Firearms are not tools you should be MacGyvering with. For example if you have a bout of road range pulling a gun on the person angering you is not the right thing to do. Remember the only time you should be pulling your gun is when you need to use it to defend your life or the lives of your loved ones.
This is Either Really Awesome or Really Bad
I present to you Glock soap:
Manly men deserve manly soap. Soap shaped like cool stuff, like a gun. Soap like this. It’ll leave you feeling as burly as Paul Bunyan and as smoothly dangerous as James Bond! Comes in its own hard-shell gun case, too.
Personally I’m willing to put this under the really awesome category.
How Not to Do Something
A lot of people complain about the grip of Glock pistols. Because the grip is an unmodifiable part of the gun the only way to change it is through destruction of the grip. Some people can do a half way decent job of modifying Glock grips while others do not. Presented in this link is an example of how not to modify your Glock’s grip.
Firearm Safety Fail
Here is an picture exemplifying what not to do with firearms:
One guy resting the gun against his “crotual area” (to use the TSA term) and another looking down the barrel. Yup this army is ready for action!
Calling a Bluff
Although I’ve never played for any extent of time I understand a big strategy in poker is to call somebody’s bluff. This is a great strategy in many regards but it’s also dangerous. Case in point Olin Corporation (they manufacture Winchester labeled ammunition) is moving it’s manufacturing plant after a union vote to refuse a pay freeze.
Basically members of the union thought Olin was bluffing and called them on it. Here in lies the example of why bluffing is dangerous, your opponent may very well be telling the truth. Personally there are a few things I’ll gamble on, my job isn’t one of them.