On the left: USPSA (Production division). On the right: IDPA (Standard Service Pistol division)
Practical shooting is a sport, or a game, or a martial art based on the use of firearms. In that sense, it’s more like iaido or skeet shooting than fencing or paintball since it makes use of functional weapons against non-living targets. It’s “practical” shooting because it acknowledges that the firearms involved are designed for use against people so the targets are human-scale and engaged at ranges most likely to be encountered in real life. This distinguishes it from “precision” shooting, which is about shooting at small and/or very distant targets.
Precision shooting has been around as long as there have been guns. Practical shooting is much more recent. While some earlier shooting sports were based on dynamic hunting simulations, games involving handguns being used against human-sized targets began after WWII. As best as I can discover, they began in 1956 with “Leatherslap” competitions and the Bear Valley Gunslingers. This format involved shooting at an 18” diameter balloon at seven yards , with the first person to pop the balloon being the winner. I personally found the following article from the Summer 1958 edition of Guns and Ammo to be fascinating in how little things have changed over the past seventy years – the writing style, caliber debates, complaints about people gaming the rules. It’s uncanny.
Check out the pics of Lt. Col. Cooper cross-drawing and hip shooting!
It is interesting (to me) that the game changed how handguns are used. Check out this US Army training film1 from WWII: Combat Firing with Handguns (Military training video) Part 1 – YouTube While a two handed (completely different from the modern one) grip was used for longer shots, quick close shots were taught using only one hand, and the sights were explicitly not used. According to accounts I’ve read, this is how the shooters in Leatherslap competitions initially shot. Since speed was considered king, the shooters would point the gun at the target immediately upon clearing the holster, shooting from the hip. And then a few guys with names like Jeff Cooper and Jack Weaver started winning everything by actually hitting with their first shots by bringing the gun up to eye level and using the sights and what is called the modern technique. Modern technique – Wikipedia
Anyway, the sport continued to develop and/or splinter. In 1976 the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) formed, which lead to a US branch forming in 1984. This US Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) is my main sport. 1976 also saw the World Fast Draw Association formed. In 1979 the Bianchi Cup which catered to police was created (it was later purchased by the NRA.) Also in 1979 Soldier of Fortune Magazine put on the first 3-gun match. However, just as in the unarmed martial arts, some people complained that the sport had lost touch with its combat roots. In 1991, ICORE (International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts) was formed as a way of “stopping the ‘arms race’” (but mainly because they liked revolvers and were sick of losing to those lousy autoloader punks). And in 1996 a bunch of famous (for a certain definition of famous) gun instructors like Bill Wilson, Ken Hackathorn and Larry Vickers formed the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) a practical shooting sport formed around the idea of training for using handguns in self-defense scenarios. Since I only have experience shooting USPSA and IDPA, I’ll confine my writing about those.
One of these is a silly game. The other is srs bsns.
USPSA is a game. Not only does is not pretend to be anything other than a game, but section 1 of the rulebook is an explicit statement about how the game should maximize the freedom of the shooter to engage the course of fire (very libertarian).
1.1.5Freestyle–USPSA matches are freestyle. Competitors must be permitted to solve the challenge presented in a freestyle manner, and to shoot targets on an “as and when visible” basis.
As a game, it attracts gamers and therefore the rulebook gets longer and longer as creative people find new ways of abusing the system to advantage themselves. You’d think that after a couple of decades this would have been finalized, but you’d be wrong. Just two or three years ago, a major change had to be made because of a shooter far too clever for his own (and his competitors’) good2. As far as balancing speed and accuracy, USPSA values speed over fine accuracy, but absolutely destroys you for gross inaccuracy. Things like missing a target, forgetting about a target or shooting a no-shoot target have such enormous penalties that a mercy rule had to be put in place. The scoring system is no more complicated than that in cricket. Basically, each scoring hit gives you points ranging from 1 for just hitting the target to 5 for shooting the target between the eyes or in the spine/heart. You add up all the points scored, then subtract penalties (which are all6 -10 points) and then you take this number and divide by the time it took you to complete the course of fire. This is your “hit factor” and higher is better. The highest hit factor wins the stage. Determining how many points you earn towards an overall match score is a bit more complicated and we won’t go into it here3. Because USPSA is about freedom, speed, and puzzle-solving I am happiest when I find a unique, beautiful game plan and am able to execute it. Evil Sheldon can confirm that I got very grumpy when I didn’t see an “elegant” way of shooting a stage. Aesthetically, USPSA stages are typically minimalist/abstract/undecorated, and while props or stage decorations can be used they usually aren’t. I’ve worked three national matches without encountering any, though they are more common (but still rare) in lower-level matches.
You can tell what kind of game a shooter is participating in by how they’re dressed. USPSA shooters wear replicas of Batman’s utility belt. IDPA shooters wear fishing vests.
IDPA is a game, but it pretends to be a self-defense training tool. As such, it is extremely concerned about proper tactics. Unlike USPSA with its mandatory freestyle shooting, IDPA believes there is one and only one4 correct way to engage a course of fire. The conceit is that each IDPA stage is a self-defense scenario, and every target to be shot can shoot back at you. Some of the tactics required to shoot in this way make perfect sense (if there is cover available, you must make use of it) and others seem a bit dogmatic (magazines containing ammunition may not be left on the ground.) IDPA does require a bit more discernment than USPSA. IDPA threat and non-threat targets are the same color (unlike USPSA) and you have to distinguish the non-threat ones by the silhouettes of open hands on them. Originally, Threat targets also had silhouettes of gun or knives on them to make the distinction between the target types even more difficult. IDPA also requires that competitors possess a flashlight and make use of dark stages (weapon mounted lights were prohibited, but I think that’s changed). One major advantage of IDPA is that the ammunition costs are much less than in USPSA because the round count is so much lower. Since IDPA is a self-defense training tool it only permits guns and ammunition carrying devices that could plausibly be carried concealed, and therefore an IDPA stage cannot require any more than 18 rounds to complete (consider an M&P Shield with two spare mags). IDPA matches often involve elaborate stage decoration as can be seen in this video. IDPAs scoring greatly rewards accuracy over speed. There is no multiplication or division involved. The score is the time taken to complete the stage, plus penalty time for inaccuracy (zero seconds penalty to a 4” head or an 8” heart circle, up to five seconds penalty for completely missing the target.) Lowest time wins. Match score is simply adding all the stage times together.
To show how the different scoring systems compare the following scenarios: 4 targets, best two hits on each score. The hare shoots three of them perfectly, put puts both shots on the fourth just outside the ideal, and he does this in four seconds. The tortoise takes five seconds to shoot the course of fire, but all his shots are perfect. Under USPSA rules the hare would win, with his hit factor of 9 (36/4) beating the tortoise’s 8 (40/5). Under IDPA rules, the tortoise wins with his total time of five seconds beating the hare’s six (four seconds plus two seconds penalty time). Now if the hare had put 7 of his shots perfectly but missed entirely on the eighth, under USPSA rules he would also lose, with his hit factor plummeting to ((35-10)/4) = 6.25 – USPSA penalties for gross inaccuracy are a bitch.
So that’s a bit about what practical shooting is, but why should you do it? Here’s a list5:
-
-
- If you are unable to safely and responsibly own, store and operate a firearm you should NOT participate in practical shooting.
- It’s absurdly fun.
- If you’re an androphile, this sport is a buffet. There are guys of all ages, races, types, sizes, fitness levels, and degree of beardiness. If you’re interested in chicks, the odds of meeting one who is single is… not good. However, all the women who do participate have a very realistic idea about whether or not they should be wearing lycra.
- It is a ridiculously fun.
- It’s an opportunity to use your firearm under conditions not typically allowed at a gun range. Pace IDPA, but this game is NOT combat training, but more practice and more experience behind the trigger is always a good idea.
- It is difficult to overstate how much fun this game is.
- It is good for your brain. When I was in college, I took a physics (statics and mechanics) class by the same professor that had taught my father. He gave two-hour, ten-question, open-book multiple-choice tests. There were no numbers, your computational skill was not being tested, but your understanding of the equations and how to apply them in non-obvious ways. Because it was multiple choice, there were double-strength fudge factor applied. If you turned in a blank test, you got a D. Two answers correct got you a C. People failed. That class is the only thing that has ever cranked by brain up to the levels this game does.
- More about how this game is good for your mind: I’ve played sports, including combat sports like taekwondo, karate, and judo. All of these things inculcated a deep focus in me. But practical shooting (unlike precision) is all about extreme awareness. You are keeping track of the muzzle, your body, the rounds left in the magazine, your reload timing, the next position you’re moving to, how you’re going to get there, your stage plan (and modifications to it as it deviates from ideality) where your shots are impacting the target and oh yeah, the sight picture and trigger press come into play at some point too. This may sound weird, but the closest experience I can relate this to is dancing in the physicality, spatial awareness and reactivity that your mind has to hold on to. Seriously, leading particular steps to your tango partner is not easy.
- Even if it wasn’t so good for your mind, it’s a whole lot of fun.
- It gets you outdoors.
- Did I mention this was a really fun sport?
-
Completely independent, and yet completely vital to how matches are run. “Muh ROADZ!”
Bonus third part: Ok, this sounds fun, how do I get involved?
First: Buy nothing. Unless you wanted to buy something anyway and getting involved with practical shooting is the excuse you need to spend the money, in which case you’re welcome.
Second: Find a group. Oddly enough, this will probably be easier in restrictive states than free ones. These games require organized groups to happen, and those usually come from gun clubs, and those are more common in places where they’re needed as opposed to places you can just go into your back yard and start blasting. The most productive ways to find groups are the websites of the individual governing bodies such as uspsa.org idpa.com scsa.org ipsc.org sassnet.com and the like. There is another very powerful site called practiscore.com which is used by many (most) of the practical shooting games as a way of publicizing, registering, scoring, and disseminating information about their matches. The only downside to practiscore is while it does have a search function, sometimes you have to be more specific than others in your search terms.
Third: Meet the group and find out what their requirements are and if you want to be handling firearms around them. They all vary. KF&G has zero formal preconditions, they’ll just assign a RSO to you for your first match. Saraspa makes you go through a formal introduction course. Also check out the people and how they interact. I have a lot of fun at KF&G matches and Saraspa USPSA matches, but for whatever reason, considerably less fun at Saraspa IDPA matches. When I’ve refereed matches I see groups with matching jerseys showing ingroup norms that I’d feel comfortable with and ones that… well, I don’t think I’d be paying tuition at those particular shooting academies for very long.
Fourth: if you get an invitation to go to a match, go! And bring your stuff – this is a fantastic game to play but honestly it sucks as a spectator sport. Even for those of us like this game, we generally only watch other people shooting things that we will or have shot because it’s interesting to see how other people approach challenges, but I can count on one hand people that watch match videos otherwise. There is a good reason I’m not linking great and interesting match videos — they don’t actually exist.
Here are a couple videos from a guy who might be a bit of a D-bag, and is not a GM, but does produce helpful content for new (and experienced) practical shooters (and he has an excellent logo).
Starting off in Practical Shooting part 1
Getting Ready for your First Pistol Match – how to know you’re ready – YouTube
Be Safe. Have Fun. Burn it down.
1Tracers are cool. I understand that whole “don’t start wildfires” thing, but really, tracers should be required at high-level competitions just for video purposes.
2The rules are very straightforward – anything inside the boundary markers is in bounds. The boundary lines are in bounds. Things touching the boundary lines are in bounds (this is what caused the problem). Touching anything not in bounds meant you are out-of-bounds. Stage 1 at the Universal Shooting Sports Academy in Frostproof Florida is a “shoot house.” A roof and some steel supports to which and within which walls could be set up. Typically, the course of fire would be start outside the house and shoot some targets, run into the house via one door, shoot more targets, and then exist through a second door and shoot some more targets. However, since the house was not wired for electricity and USPSA does not do “dark stages,” there was a 2’ gap between the top of the walls and the roof so light could get into the house. The walls touched or were the boundaries, so touching them did not put you out of bounds. Somebody realized that by leaping onto the walls, he could shoot through that gap without having to leave the house. The next issue of the rules made climbing on walls illegal.
3While target and stage scoring is explained in detail in the rule book, match scoring is NOT.
4symmetrical stages may give chiral options, but that’s it.
5I’ve Got a Little List (with lyrics) / The Mikado / Gilbert and Sullivan – YouTube
6 Overtime shots on a fixed time stage are -5 points, but that’s the only exception. I promise. Until the next rules revision.
I tested all of the formatting and links out before I submitted this, I swear >.<
Tonio’s revenge.
I haven’t fired any of my guns for more than a year.
*feels shame*
Since I can no longer just shoot in my driveway, I guess I’ll have to shop around for a range/club in the spring, maybe. Or see about public/BLM land where one may legally shoot.
Steel Challenge is an excellent winter sport, and will let you poke around the local clubs to see which ones have members you can stand to be around.
I feel your pain, I pay 150 a year to be a member of a private gun club that I havent been to in 2 years. Ammo is just so expensive and such a hassle to find around me that I can’t ever justify the trip to the range. Its just not enough of a priority right now
I just reupped my membership to both of my clubs. One of which I keep debating letting lapse, since they remodelled their 100 yard range so that you can’t see downrange unless your face is at bench level. Supposedly it is to keep people from shooting over the berm, but I can’t see if anyone is out there!
We have a range local here like that. You have to fire thru a length of culvert pipe while basically sitting at a picnic table. Still $10 to shoot.
Sucks ass, won’t go back.
Knob Creek Range is almost as close. Managed range line, >300 M firing lines, and you can bring out your own things to shoot, just as long as you clean up after yourself.
Actually a little cheaper with the military discount.
But I haven’t been out in months.
“Ammo is just so expensive and such a hassle to find around me that I can’t ever justify the trip to the range.”
We’ll talk about high-volume reloading next…
On BLM land in Portland, you can test your skills against random people on the streets.
Items i through xi also apply to sporting clays, a sport about which I am inordinately fond.
Great piece(s) about a shooting sport I’m never tried, but about which I’m becoming interested. Any room in there for a big-bore wheelgun guy?
Absolutely. USPSA has a Revolver division with a Major Power factor option (bullet weight in grains x bullet speed in feet/second > 165). ICORE obviously is all about that.
Interesting. There is a big club down in Chugiak that (I think) hosts USPSA matches. I may have to look into it…
…in the spring, though. We’re still digging out from over a foot of snow at the moment.
Yup. IDPA here shoots indoors, but USPSA has shut down until spring. Steel Challenge otoh, doesn’t require running around so it keeps going as long as you can walk to the shooting area without falling on the ice.
Sure. ICORE was mentioned, and both IDPA and USPSA have revolver divisions. I might lean a little towards IDPA, if it’s available in your area.
I’ll look into those as well, thanks. I was a pretty fair hand with a single-action back in the day, although I could probably use some brushing up right now.
Pew Pew Pew.
🙂
Doooo eeeeeet!
Wouldn’t that violate the range safety rules?
While locked down during the initial COVID overreaction I wound up 3D printing a fully functional model of a Luger P08. It took days, but was actually quite fun and interesting. I never specifically knew how the action worked, for example.
Two observations:
1. It’s crazy chunky for a single stack magazine.
2. It’s not especially conducive to a two handed grip, but if you hold it one handed it feels like an extension of your arm.
I read somewhere that it was designed primarily to be shot one handed.
It makes sense that since handguns aren’t a primary military arm, there’s not going to be much (if any) rigorous testing of doctrine. And then if there is any empirical evidence on the most effective way of using them, it’s going to be based around non-typical individuals. So Billy the Kid’s technique might be a terrible idea for most people, but it’d be what people see “the best shooter” doing and what gets copied.
i got to witness that first-hand at the last Race Gun Nationals. Many people copied the stage plan of the best shooters (including shooting a popper TWICE in order to make it fall faster) but it turns out that plan wasn’t any faster than a more chill rearrangement of target order.
I have a P-08, a 1938 Oberndorf. Got it for a song since it’s been polished and reblued, although it retains Nazi proofmarks.
The Luger may be the most graceful semi-auto handgun ever made. It’s beautiful. As you note, when you extend your arm, you find yourself looking naturally right over what passes for its sights.
On the other hand, like a lot of late nineteenth-century German arms, it contains a million screwy little parts that have to be perfectly fitted for the damn thing to work. It’s touchy about magazines and ammo. The sights suck, and no matter how much I play with ammo, mags and so on (including the original number-matching mag) my copy stovepipes on average once in each mag. It’s the Britney Spears of pistols – beautiful, but not really good for anything.
Also, Bill Ruger reportedly copied the Luger’s grip shape and design for the original Standard semi, resulting in one of the best .22 rimfire sidearms ever made.
…Maybe? He copied it off of the Nambu, but was the Nambu a copy of the Luger?
You are right – I stand corrected. It’s still a piece of ergonomic mastery, no matter where it originated.
And I was remiss in not mentioning a contemporary of the Luger – John Browning’s great old 1911, the slab-sided old workhorse that is still the gold standard for martial sidearms, 110 years after its debut.
I have my Father’s Ruger Standard. Unfortunately, all of my Grandfather’s firearms disappeared into the family of my uncle’s second wife.
I have the Old Man’s Standard. He owned only three guns throughout his long life, and I’ve got all of them.
I remember my Grandpa had an old Fox (I think) side-by-side double he had owned since the 1920s. The gun, along with all of his fishing gear, disappeared from the house during his funeral. Nothing else was touched, and whoever took the stuff knew exactly where to go to get it, which means it was probably someone from the family.
Some people are just shit.
“disappeared from the house during his funeral”
Who left early?
I don’t remember anyone leaving early. But then, I was fourteen.
No doubt that the Luger was developed for the class of individual who was likely to sport a “Schmisse” dueling scar for status.
I’d think a one handed pistol would fit well into the zeitgeist. Pistols in a military formation in the 20th century were more for discipline, security, and status that actual combat.
If you needed your pistol in combat, it was because you were losing.
“You are not using it correctly!”
/Ze German Engineer
LOL
I completely agree.
Fettling the 3D plastic parts to simply function at all was a royal PITA. I imagine the actual pistols required a fair amount of hand fitting of the mass produced parts.
My great uncle was a pilot for the RAF in WWII. He somehow ended up with a bunch of souvenirs, including a couple German rifles (replete with swastikas), helmets and even a naval mine!
His storage building was a museum of awesome for my brother and me.
If there’s one place where the Germans unambiguously got it right, it would be with the 98 Mauser.
Speaking of German Engineering – EF’s Audi decided that opening the gas tank was verboten, even with the emergency release in the trunk being yanked… (ahem!)
I had to give it a littler American old-push, breaking a little plastic clip. The door now shuts flush and opens. But no more ah… locking mechanism. Not that we have a raft of gas theft in our neighborhood.
Aren’t you in charge of that? It seems to me you’re not doing your job.
That is not theft. He’s LORD Humungus. All guzzoline is his rightful claim.
Terrific article, NA!
Genius work on obscuring the serial numbers!
I am trying to stay off at least a couple of lists.
They’ll just scrape practiscore for names.
I wish to register a complaint. this post is discriminatory to those of us living in civilized countries
*stamps complaint*
*slides complaint into circular file*
Next.
*ahem*
I knew that “civilization” crap was a thin veneer that only needed a little scratch to remove.
How is anyone supposed to compete in that? I’ve been assured Romania has no guns. Do you just point their fingers and go ‘Pew’?
Well, IPSC Canada used to be a thing…
Just as an illustration as to how pedantic and rules-lawyering USPSA can get:
There is a penalty for failing to shoot at a target (in addition to the penalties for missing it). If your gun jams, or runs out of ammo, or squibs, can you just point the gun at the target and yell “bang” in order to avoid the penalty?
No.
They’ve defined what “shooting at” means (specifically, the bullet has to leave the barrel). The fact that they had to define this means that some jackass presented them with a situation in which the definition of “shooting at” became important.
Many Americans think that Europe has no civilian gun ownership. Not the case, as you can see.
Even the UK has a practical rifle and shotgun scene.
Awkward.
I now belong to a range that has matches, but otherwise doesn’t allow most members to shoot in that area. I’ve been busy with other stuff and my scope is supposed to finally arrive today or tomorrow so I’ll be working on mounting and zeroing…
Finding a group sounds like a good idea and I’ll try it in the new year.
Yes, my clubs also don’t allow general membership into the practical shooting areas unsupervised. Because practical shooting takes pretty much all of the standard rules of a square range and stomps all over them (No holster work? One shot per second? No running with
scissorsa loaded firearm?) they want to eliminate any potential liabilities.I just know that my first run through there won’t be in a competition.
Just another tie-in between practical shooting and libertarianism:
These games are almost completely put on with voluntary labor. Maybe some clubs require you to put in setup/takedown hours, but all of the local matches I’ve been to rely on social expectations and not being a dick in order to make the workload manageable. Match fees go towards purchasing equipment. Spontaneous order is how it all happens.
Practical shooting is a sport, or a game, or a martial art based on the use of firearms.
What does that make practical magic?
A YA book series?
I was gonna say gay, but not in the good way, but NA beat me to it.
*checks gun club website*
Monday night trap is back as of last week.
Sweet.
NA: Apparently I’m not allowed to quote what you posted last thread, but trying to continue the convo here:
Yes, I think wrongfun is bad, like I wouldn’t destigmatize taking meth, even though I don’t think you should go to jail over it.
Whores are better than politicians in the same way that druggies are better than thieves.
In the Venn diagram of druggies and thieves, there’s a pretty big overlap.
I’ve known one Junky who never ripped me off. Even with his – now departed – lust for heroin he never stole from his friends.
Only reason I’m still friends with him — well that and his deep store of vintage British vacuum tubes; and also quality vinyl.
I didn’t say it was a circle, but there’s a reason the junkie burglar is a stock character.
I believe the jurisdictions that experimented with tolerating hard drugs (to the point of supplying free drugs to junkies) experienced dramatic drops in petty theft. Junkies steal because illegal drugs are expensive and they can’t/won’t hold on to high-paying work.
Taking drugs out of the black market might have an effect on that Venn diagram.
“Wrongfun is bad” isn’t really a position that can be argued with.
Whores provide a much more valuable service than politicians do, and more importantly, they’re only advancing their own personal interests. They’re not trying to reorder society to need more whores, set up their family as a long-term whore dynasty, aggregate more power from the common citizenry to the demi-monde, etc.
[“Wrongfun is bad” isn’t really a position that can be argued with.]
It wasn’t my term! 😛
“Whores provide a much more valuable service than politicians do, and more importantly, they’re only advancing their own personal interests. They’re not trying to reorder society to need more whores, set up their family as a long-term whore dynasty, aggregate more power from the common citizenry to the demi-monde, etc.”
Completely agree.
It wasn’t the term, but the attitude. Moral positions aren’t subject to inquiry.
It is a moral position, but I also think it is genuinely bad for you. Anyway, back to the real world.
Also, I should mention that for you guys who prefer longarms, USPSA, IPSC and SCSA all have division for pistol-caliber carbines. SASS requires a level-action rifle.
Do these organizations do three-gun stuff as well?
*Italians – Builds city on Mud*
*City sinks into Mud*
USians – “Climate Change!”
I read somewhere that it was designed primarily to be shot one handed.
That’s because you’ve got a saber in the other hand.
Rapiers had gone out of style by then. Sabers were still in vogue.
STEVE SMITH RAPEYER THAN HIGHWAYMAN!
heheheh
BEND OVER AND DELIVER FOR YOUR BUTTHOLE I’LL BE TAKIN’
I didn’t think Madonna was that old.
Whores provide a much more valuable service than politicians do, and more importantly, they’re only advancing their own personal interests. They’re not trying to reorder society to need more whores, set up their family as a long-term whore dynasty, aggregate more power from the common citizenry to the demi-monde, etc.
Don’t forget the part about a willing exchange of mutually agreed value.
ISTR that across cultures, a prostitute’s hourly rate is equivalent to a half-day of their customer’s wages.
I wonder if a politician had to negotiate for their pay rather than forcibly extract it, what they’d be worth.
What’s your source on that first sentence?
Maggie McNeill.
Geeze.
Ain’t no 10 seconds that is worth 4 hours of work (or 6+ in most time periods?).
Daily Quordle 318
6️⃣4️⃣
8️⃣7️⃣
So yeah, NA, this is an excellent overview of practical shooting competition. Well done.
I encourage everyone to come out and give practical shooting a try. It’s a hoot, and there is no faster path to mastery of the handgun than competing with one. There’s good reasons why the high-level DoD special mission units hire USPSA national champs to tune up their shooting.
Looks like a great time.
Unfortunately, that would violate the no-new-hobbies rule in the kinnath household. I would have to find some other time-consuming, money-burning hobby to jettison (and there are plenty of options, just not ready to get rid of any of them yet).
I’m going to have some brass grips made and I seem to have misplaced my glibs logo art files. Anyone have a copy?
Related to that — I took the gun that I’m having the grips made for to the gunsmith to have the mag release swapped and the counter dude said “did you know this is only an ounce and a half away from being an assault weapon?” And I’m trying to make it ~11oz heavier.
GFY NYSAFE act.
You need some Antigravitons?
A physical assault weapon?
That’s a weird one.
It is the “No Desert Eagles or other big handguns” clause that is about as rational as the rest of the unconstitutional claptrap.
I’m pretty sure it was them trying to close a loophole on AR pistols.
But yeah, autoloading handguns have a NY-legal limit of 50oz. Production/Carry Optics division limit is 59oz.
I emailed it to an email addy ending in 1777.
Again. 🧐
Yup. Somehow it vanished from my files. Thanks’s again.
👍🏻
Great article, NA.
“U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper studied the art of the draw as these series of photographs illustrate. Three sequence photos were taken in 1/250th of a second and published in Guns & Ammo’s first issue.”
That is stupid fast, if true.
“all the women who do participate have a very realistic idea about whether or not they should be wearing lycra.”
So none of them are wearing lycra? 😛
“This may sound weird, but the closest experience I can relate this to is dancing in the physicality, spatial awareness and reactivity that your mind has to hold on to. Seriously, leading particular steps to your tango partner is not easy.”
I guess I’m out. Seriously hate having to dance with some followers, to the point that it just isn’t worth it to me. Which is another way of saying I’m not a good leader, also its immoral anyway.
“Starting off in Practical Shooting part 1”
This video is no longer available.
“Getting Ready for your First Pistol Match – how to know you’re ready – YouTube”
Nice shorts.
“5I’ve Got a Little List (with lyrics) / The Mikado / Gilbert and Sullivan – YouTube”
I’m impressed at the list actually. More perceptive than you’d expect.
Most of them are not wearing lycra. But those that are…
Leading is hard.
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZcrJfJaS_k
I think he’s trying to countersignal with uncoolness.
That’s funny.
I like how he stressed that the winner that year was a dude shooting a $600 gun.
My hunting buddy won the sporting clays comp at his club with an 870 he got when he was like 12. He was just really, really good.
Yeah, Nils is just Better Than You(tm). He literally used the same gun in both the production nationals and Race Gun Nationals.
On the LH / EF front:
LH Jr has a new companion, paid for by the local Network 180 / Social Security. She’s 19 with cocoa colored black skin. Good looking, maybe a 7/10. But EF caught a whiff of Marihuana during the last visit. Companion claims her boyfriend grows weed and she ahem borrowed his jacket. Yeah… pull the other one.
And with Christmas season here tomorrow I have to go to the dreaded company Christmas party – this time at a brewery. Worst part: no game to distract us so instead it will be awkward silence around a table. Really looking forward to that – not. Lawyers – EF excluded – tend to annoy me since I know it will be nothing but work talk. ::sigh::
Sales are still cratering in the antique / vinyl world. Even with Christmas shopping season I’ve only made a few hundred $$$ over rent. And if I’m not selling then I’m not buying.
*not that we’re against MJ but this young lady is driving our son around. Just want to make sure she’s sober to do the job.
That’s not too much to ask. One of the reasons kid #2 no longer lives with us is she started coming home high after work. She was driving my car to get home.
dude said “did you know this is only an ounce and a half away from being an assault weapon?”
Because you could use it as a bludgeon?
What UnCiv said. Nobody Needs a Deagle!
Who likes getting hit in the face with hot brass?
‘just in case we forgot about anything’ factor going on there.
Ooooops: SEE IT: Awkward moment White House press secretary
@K_JeanPierre reads wrong scripted answer during press briefing
Man, she can’t even do a good job of pretending that these aren’t staged.
In her defense, the reporters asked their pre-written questions out of order.
That’s no excuse, it doesn’t take that much brainpower to make sure you’re looking at the right canned answer.
How long have you been working for the government again?
FOIL Request denied.
More brainpower than this administration has collectively let alone individually.
She’s smart. If you say not, you’re racist! /canned Whitehouse response to UC
I’ve already been classified as such for the crime of being white, so I don’t give a damn about the accusation.
I’ll judge people on their merits, and she isn’t demonstrating any.
The words white and racist no longer need to be used separately, as one implies the other. We need a new word to cover both.
Infidel?
That’s what happens when the only qualifications are female, black, and lezzie.
Not on the list: Can read, Can think under pressure.
Hey, that’s Blackberry you’re talking about!
So I get the sense that Not Adahn likes guns and finds shooting to be fun. 🙂
Thanks for writing. I like reading about all the interesting activities from the Glibertariat. Especially one of the most libertarian activities there is.
Just FYI, mobility assistance is allowed in USPSA. And in SCSA, there is only one stage that requires any movement at all on the clock.
My wife does those obstacle course races (aka Spartan), and they have an adaptive version where people help you get from obstacle to obstacle. It really is great that there are few things I wouldn’t be able to do. Unfortunately my biggest issue is time and money. I need to win the lottery so I can do all this cool stuff. I used to shoot back in my college days and I had a great time.
Nicely done.
Question, how do you like the CZ? Would you buy it again over a Beretta 92 if you were under a circumstance where you really only get one?
I shoot the CZ faster. Undoubtedly because it’s quite a bit heavier. Also out of the box, that particular CZ’s (Shadow 2) trigger was much better than the M9’s. However, after I put the LTT trigger-job-in-a-bag into the M9, it’s better. However however, the M9 is now less reliable with the lighter hammer spring. There is also a HUGE price difference — that CZ was $1300 v $600 for a used M9 + LTT TJIB.
But yes, I absolutely love the CZ, and it is a better overall gun than my DIY competition M9. I have not been able to shoot its equivalent from Beretta (92X performance) to give you a valid comparison.
Gracias.
My local merchant of death has the Shadow and the all steel 92X. I was there for something else, but I might play with them next time around.
Leftists can’t stop attacking voters.
Racist Sunny Hostin takes a swipe at Walker’s supporters, “Who are these 1.7 million people?!”
Attacking “the white guys,” Sunny claims Republicans, not Democrats, are obsessed with identity politics. “They found…the worst, most unqualified, most undignified black man to run“
I really don’t get the Walker hate. Dude is a saint when compared to Warlock.
“Now who is going to do somethin ’bout da demon baby problem. Because da ting about demon babies is dat dey, you know, tend to spread. Sometimes dey bite. In which case, you turn into a demon baby. But me, I drown a demon baby. It’s not my job to judge da demon baby. Dats fa Jesus to decide. It is, however, my job to set up da meeting.”
The party of Al Franken suddenly has a problem with a celebrity running for public office.
Don’t forget Sonny Bono
Brandon said that nobody needs no semi-automatic weapons. No, he really said that, you can look it up. So, I guess muzzleloaders is it. What a maroon.
Don’t be silly. It’s a double negative, so it really means everybody needs semi-automatic weapons.
That was MY double negative. This is what he actually said:
“The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick”
How the fuck can a president say something that stupid and not be called out by everyone with a brain? Which I realize doesn’t apply to anyone around him.
I believe he has been.
But we already knew Gropey Joe is against guns. We knew that long before he made those statements.
Didn’t he suggest people shoot the suspected intruder with a shotgun, through the door? He must be against doors too.
I thought it was ‘fire into the air’ rather than at the interuder, and leave yourself with an unloaded weapon. But ‘beat them back to the double barrel shotgun’ stage of disarmament is just another stepping stone.
Does that apply also to apartment dwellers and those in multilevel homes cuz that sounds dangerous.
I’m not sure, but is shooting a metal door with a shotgun, at close range, a good idea? I mean, it would probably just go right trough, but I don’t like the idea for some reason.
It’s a terrible idea.
Besides, what did that door do to you?
Shooting anything at close range is a terrible idea. You have no idea what it is actually made of, what’s behind it either. It is really is metal a shotgun will certainly ricochet some pellets.
Can’t get you fucking rubes to go along if you have the means to resist.
rubesKulaks and wreckersI assume he has no problem with me stockpiling black powder then. I have to have enough for my Brown Bess, which incidentally is a literal weapon of war.
That there’s bombmaking material, peasant, the BATFE will be along to shoot your dog and arrest you.
My small, Podunk club has a skeet and trap range along with rifle and pistol ranges. I have been the “events coordinator” for the club in the past, several times, and it has always been the shotgun games that bring in the bodies, we would have 30-40 people coming out to shoot. When I put on pistol or rifle matches the numbers fell off dramatically to the point I just quit doing those and focused on shotgun, the one exception was a 22 match I put on that had the largest turnout of all. I’ve since handed over the events coordinator position to my friend and he is doing shotgun, pistol and rifle matches and turnout is low across the board, even with the fact the club gives away firearms to drawing winners at the end of the club year to people who participate. It is getting ridiculous the amount of work put into these events with maybe 5-10 people showing up, and spending thousands of dollars on shotguns, pistols and rifles for giveaways. I am unsure how to fix this, I really enjoy shooting shotguns with my fellow club members, old farts I’ve know for 20 plus years, but they are aging out of competition and the younger people just don’t seem interested. Our club has a member cap of 260 people, but when you can’t get more than 20 to show (not to mention competitions are open to the public) it seems the club is dying. We fill our cap every year, current members get to renew first and non-members are admitted on FCFS basis and many don’t get in, and I know we have a bunch of hunters that sight in their rifle once a year and never step foot on the property again that year. I am getting disillusioned.
We support and help fund the local 4H shooting team, we are trying to get younger members interested. We offer membership to family of any member who passes away to try and get younger people in. But the way it is looking shooting events are headed to the dustbin. Now I’d rather just go shoot with some buddies after work then try to bring in a large enough crowd to make it worthwhile. And I am probably going to be elected president of the club next year, I hate being pessimistic about it.
A member cap which prevents utilization of facilities seems a bit foolish. That number should be slowly raised until there’s enough people regularly on premesis to justify not raising it further.
I believe it is an insurance cost issue, if we allow more members the cost goes up significantly and we would have to charge higher annual dues. I often go out there after work with my Marlin 39A and just ping the metal targets and only have the occasional armadillo for company. On the weekends there is usually a bunch of people with some waiting to get on a station. We don’t have full time staff, RSO, rentals, ammo sales, or anything else, just a place to go shoot, and I kind of like it like that. I just don’t understand the dropoff in event participation we have been seeing.
Could you offer a fee-based, one-day pass for non-member FUDs to sight their rifles for hunting season?
Not a bad idea, I may push that at the next meeting.
KF&G has that same usage pattern, so they keep adding new members. I think they’re over 450 now with not noticeable issue with the place filling up.
As far as events, I don’t know how you’re advertising them. I find out about other club’s events through word of mouth or Practiscore. KF&G is the only club I know of that does homebrew events, the other clubs do “official” things like ATA, NRL, Project Appleseed etc.
We only do homebrew events, try to make it interesting but maybe that is being counter-productive. We have everyone’s email address and send out fliers for events a couple weeks prior, we have a website that posts the events and a Facebook page as well. Ten years ago when I was doing the shotgun events I would email all members (pain in the butt, for sure, splitting it into groups and many dead email addresses) and we didn’t have FB or our own web page and would get a full event. Now with more ways to advertise everything is falling off. It’s frustrating.
Guns and beer seems like a bad idea, but I can do both.
Col. Charles Askins Jr. claimed that he won two Conventional Pistol national championships while drunk.
I don’t necessarily think that Col. Askins is someone to emulate (he was described by a USCBP friend of mine as ‘a serial killer with federal law enforcement credentials,’) but hey, it was a different time back then…
Read Askins’ biography, Unrepentant Sinner: The Autobiography Of Col. Charles Askins (if you can find a copy) and you’ll see that he is nowadays not someone to emulate; among other things, he shot his first man at age 14, when the target was trying to steal a horse. He also reportedly said he took up hunting game because he was no longer allowed to hunt men.
Remarkable fella. But a product of his time. Not ours.
Not only do I own a copy of Unrepentant Sinner, I have an old copy of Charles Askins Sr.’s book Shotgunology. Great read. Among other things, Charles Askins Sr. invented jug choking and the Federal Flite Control wad back in the 1920s. Plus ca change…
Alcohol on the range is grounds for expulsion and banning from the club. Alcohol on the various dove fields in the area is encouraged.
It depends a lot on the area. Here in NoVa, a typical monthly USPSA match will draw 50-80 shooters, sometimes more.
We are in North Texas west of the Metroplex. Maybe just not a lot of interest here, maybe I’m not putting on the right events. Need to reach out to other clubs/ranges in the area and see what they do that brings people in.
I wonder when this became a thing.
Danielle Mei Cabana, 6, was admitted to the BC Children’s hospital with flu symptoms and passed away last week.
According to an Instagram post by dad Denis Cabana, Danielle had caught the flu at the same time as her sisters around Remembrance Day.
Danielle was taken to the hospital last Wednesday when she appeared to be still fighting the flu after her sisters had recovered. She was soon moved to the ICU where she was diagnosed with myocarditis due to the flu.
I’ve been fighting the flu since Monday before Thanksgiving, still not over it completely, if my sinuses would clear up I’d feel a lot better. Hopefully my J&J vaccine I was forced to take doesn’t kill me.
Eat more hot peppers.
No one has a clue, move along, citizen.
Influenza can cause myocarditis.
But the incidence rate shouldn’t be higher this year unless something “else” is going on.
It’s just stress causing it bro or smoking too much weed or climate change or whatever bullshit they’re throwing at the wall this week to see if it’ll stick.
Random reports of myocarditis are just anecdotal evidence, you really need a detailed study. The problem is, the CDC is not doing any.
Influenza has a bad habit of killing the very old and the very young.
Normally, this would just be another said story. But now it is suspect.
Poor Pie.
Croatia joins Europe’s free-travel zone, Romania and Bulgaria barred
Or Lucky Pie, since he maybe doesn’t get invaded now.
I can understand keeping the damn Romanians out, no end of trouble those people, but what’s the Bulgarians ever do to anyone?
I don’t know what they did, but they clearly pissed off Basil II.
Well crap. Twitter is back to asking you to sign in after you look at a half dozen tweets.
Darn. I was really enjoying that.
If you use Chrome use the following extension
Breakthrough Twitter Login Wall
Just hit the “X” button.
I’m using Brave, if that matters.
I’m at a loss for words. If I’m looking at this thing “installed” in the second picture you give up your compact car parking spot for a bomb shelter.
I’m not exactly sure what the family is going to do after the week’s worth of food and water run out and they can’t go to 24 hour convivence store. You are going to be in the middle of a bombed out city…
Keeping up with the Morohoshis: Buying a bomb shelter in the Tokyo suburbs
I’d just add:
If you show up to a match, learn to help paste targets. MDs and ROs and other competitors hate prima donnas who think they’re too important to paste targets and help the match go smoother.
I am somewhat disappointed that nobody noticed the forearms on the IDPA shooter. That is some recoil control irght there.
Looks normal to me but I spend a lot of time at the range
“House Passes Record $858 Billion Defense Policy Bill”
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/ukraine-aid-audit-bill-voted-down-dem-led-panel-amid-record-858-billion-ndaa
Damn you could buy nineteen Twitters and a coupla Facebooks for that kind of scratch.
Coulda ended world hunger a few times over!
10% of that will go to Ukraine
Also, was this the bill with the provision to end the military COVID jab mandate? If so, did that bit survive the process?
Yes, and it’s still in the bill.
google news is reporting the defense bill passed with a measure repealing the vaccine mandate.
Does that apply to civilians employed by DoD? >.>;
Wanting to know how our money is being used is opposition to spending? Got it. Thank god no one said that to my face – I’d be absolutely unable to contain my fist.
Democrats have been critical of the growing Republican calls for more oversight of the Ukraine aid. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the head of the House Armed Services Committee, even dismissed the concerns as “Russian propaganda” and said the calls from Republicans to increase oversight “makes me a little crazy.”
The nerve of these peasants wanting to know where all this grift is going.
I guess that’s proof that most of it’s being funneled back to Democrats.
Don’t you dare get in the way of the treasury looting.
We’ve left “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” and are on to “We have to pass the bill so you never find out what’s in it.”
The cunte who chairs the committee also gifted us with this Goebbelian disaster.
BTW on the Kroger issue that made the rounds with Sen Cotton – the actual uniform requirement is quite a bit more ambiguous.
Two workers protested Kroger’s ‘rainbow’ logo. Now they’re getting payouts.
In the National Guard I was in the damn “Rainbow” Division. Everyone hated our patch.