Official Statement Regarding Gadget-Like Device

Posted in Gear, Safety | 10 Comments »

Rules Exist for a Reason

NBC’s Channel Five in Dallas reports the tragic shooting and death of a woman, mother of two, who was innocently sitting in her hotel bed when a bullet struck her in the chest.

The bullet was fired from an adjacent room by Michael Gray who was allegedly cleaning his gun when it “just went off.”

The interior walls of a hotel room are NOT a safe direction.

The gun did NOT just fire on its own. Someone pressed the trigger on a loaded gun. That’s how they fire. That’s how they’re supposed to work.

If more people would treat their guns like tools instead of magical talismans, these tragedies would be avoided. Too many people fall into the trap of thinking the gun is incapable of causing injury until the person behind the trigger wants to shoot someone. You see it all the time on the range with casual gun handling from folks who think guns can’t kill on the range. And if you were a fly on the wall you’d see it in homes and hotel rooms all across the country from people who think guns can’t kill when there’s no one around who deserves killing.

But guns don’t know who does and doesn’t “deserve” killing. They’re machines. They’re tools. They fire when the trigger is pulled. That’s how they’re supposed to work. The person holding the gun is the only one who decides when.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

(hat tip to RoyGBiv on pistol-forum for the story)

Posted in Safety | 20 Comments »

Gabriel’s Vision for Success

Lots of instructors — myself included — talk about the importance of vision, seeing, focus, and such for shooting performance. Most of them — myself included — never really take the time to analyze exactly how their vision works while shooting.

Gabriel White (who goes by the moniker “OrigamiAK” on a number of shooting forums) recently penned a detailed analysis of exactly how his eyeballs do what they do as he is shooting. Entitled simply Vision, Gabe has generously allowed pistol-training.com to reproduce it in the Articles section of this website. You can read it here. Computer aided graphics are included at no charge:

It really is a very interesting and informative article, particularly the realization that convergence and accommodation aren’t necessarily linked. The first time Gabe mentioned that he does this, I publicly told him he was crazy. Then I grabbed a SIRT training gun, aimed at the nearest wall, and realized I’d been doing the same exact thing all along without even realizing it.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Learning | 13 Comments »

Springfield/Warren 9mm 1911 Endurance Test: Report #30

Lots of mechanical goings-on with the SACS/Warren gun since the last update and I am now officially moving into the realm of kitchen table 1911 tinkerer.

As mentioned last time, I’ve switched to the Wilson Bulletproof 9mm slide stop. It dropped right in and has proven 100% reliable over thousands of rounds and almost 500 slidelock reloads. While the thumb shelf doesn’t protrude quite as far outward as a typical 1911 slide stop, the flat surface (as opposed to the normal slope) is much more positive and results in fewer fumbles. Also, because it rides a fraction of an inch higher without the slope, the Wilson Bulletproof part allows me to get a slightly higher support hand grip on the gun without interfering with consistent lockback of the slide. About the only way it could get better would be if Wilson would start making the new semi-extended Bulletproof slide stop in a 9mm version.

As reported a week ago, I had some issues with the new black Wilson ETM 10rd 9mm magazines. After thorougly  cleaning the inside of the mag tubes and the followers, they got tested again and showed no signs of trouble. I’ve also left each of the six mags fully loaded in a gun for at least 24 hours and none of the followers became “stuck” like last time. I’m confident enough in them that I’ve gone to using the black ones as my concealed carry mags. I keep one in the gun and two on the belt with three others (unloaded) in reserve if any of the carry mags shows signs of wearing out. The stainless ETMs I use for practice are running without trouble even though some have gone more than 5,000 rounds on the same spring & follower.

And in further Wilson Combat love, the Wilson flat wire recoil spring kit is working perfectly in my test gun.

• The 17# spring, as it shipped from Wilson, allowed the 9mm pistol to run without any stoppages whether I was shooting standard or +p rated ammunition. However, slide motion was clearly retarded and the muzzle movement in recoil was less than ideal.
• Wilson Combat suggests cutting 2-3 coils from the spring for 9mm 5″ guns so I tried that. The gun was still 100% reliable but recoil became inconsistent. After talking to a buddy (thanks, Bill!) I polished the cut end of the spring and that fixed the problem.

On a lark I also bought 11#, 13#, and 15# Glock flat wire recoil springs because they are compatible with the Wilson guide rod.

• The 13# spring provided an incredibly flat shooting experience but it lacked enough force to feed some FMJ (and all JHP) ammo that I tried when loading from a locked back slide. (as always, stoppages caused as a result of parts experimentation don’t count against the gun)
• The 15# spring — after polishing per Bill’s advice — gives 100% proper function and is almost as nice shooting.

Between the 15# Glock spring and the cut Wilson spring I’d say the difference is negligible. If I was doing it again I wouldn’t bother buying the Glock springs. The only benefit of the Glock spring is that it’s slightly more convenient because it can be used as-is without modification, but since I’d take the time to polish the ends anyway it’s not particularly onerous to cut a few coils off the Wilson spring at the same time.

Finally, my rear Warren Tactical sight came loose during a shooting session a few days ago and had me thinking I’d completely lost the ability to do a press-out or even just plain hit the center of a target:

That windage was good for a few inches of POI shift at just seven yards! A wrench and some blue Loctite solved the problem handily, though. The witness mark on the sight and the serrations on the slide made getting the sight centered easy without having to worry about zeroing it at the range, too.

From a shooting standpoint, I continue to enjoy shooting the gun and struggling to master it. I’m becoming more attuned to the trigger: I’ve shot a couple perfect 7yd Dot Tortures with it over the past few weeks; and, on Friday I was shooting Bill Drills with .14 and occasionally .13 splits. Both my draws and reloads are getting cleaned up enough that I’m starting to feel like I know how to shoot a pistol again. My best official F.A.S.T. time since the last update was a 4.35 (clean / 1.40,.26 / 2.15 / .18, .19, .17).

With all the hardware issues sorted out for the time being, the next few weeks should be dedicated to much needed software improvements. My number one shooting goal between now and the end of the year is to turn in consistent sub-2s concealed reloads with this gun. Check back in a few weeks for the next report.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

You can also follow and discuss via the pistol-forum.com 2012-2013 Endurance Test thread.

Previous Springfield/Warren 9mm 1911 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Springfield 1911 9mm | 10 Comments »

The Goldilocks Zone

A buddy sent me a link to an article by an instructor that could be summed up as follows:

• anyone who shoots slower than me needs better training, preferably from me;
• anyone who shoots faster than me needs smarter training, preferably from me.

I’ll never understand the need some instructors have to carve out a definition of “just right” so narrow that only they and their adherents qualify.

How can you criticize a shooter for identifying, engaging, and hitting a threat too fast or too accurately?

Sure, I might not agree with the specific technique someone uses (or teaches) but I’d never tell someone that he hit a target too fast. Technique and execution are different things. No matter what technique someone chooses — whether it’s what I teach or something totally different — no one should criticize an ability to do it exceptionally fast & accurately.

As an instructor I might think a student is shooting too wildly. And I have tools to address that: target discrimination drills, smaller targets, greater penalties for misses, and the like. But I’d never stand up, say “I can do this in three seconds so if you do it faster, you’re wrong.”

There is no magical Goldilocks Zone of shooting speed. Being faster is never a bad thing. If someone makes an error while he’s going so fast then the issue is the mistake, not the speed. Telling someone never to go that fast isn’t the answer. Addressing the mistake is the answer. Maybe you’ll need to slow down to solve the problem correctly and that’s fine, but doing it right is the goal, not coasting at an artificial speed limit just for the sake of it.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Learning, Teaching | 4 Comments »

ToddG on Ballistic Radio Sunday 27-Oct

I’ll be the guest on 55KRC’s Ballistic Radio  again this Sunday night. The show is hosted by pistol-forum.com regular J.M. “Sparks2112” Johnston. You can listen live via the 55KRC web site or afterwards through the Ballistic Radio podcast.

Topic this week is Becoming a Firearms Instructor. Tune in and check it out.

Tune in Sunday at 7pm Eastern.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

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Diminished Training Value

People often ask me why there are 1″ squares on my Q-PT target. This excellent training video from the brilliant folks at Dynamic Pie Concepts explains it far better than I ever could:

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Humor | 10 Comments »

Excellent New Cardboard Target

The folks who developed the NRA’s new National Defense Match (NDM) program may have been all about rifles, but the target they came up with is outstanding for pistol training of any kind: the NDM-1.

The target has a shorter body than the traditional IPSC/IDPA cardboard, bottoming out at what would be the lower edge of the C-zone on an IPSC Metric or the -1 zone of an IDPA target.

The NDM-1 is otherwise similar to an IDPA cardboard with a few key differences. Starting with the head, the new NRA target has a 3×5 A-zone inside the 6×6″ head box. The 8″ circle is one inch higher, making it more anatomically correct. Finally, there is a central 4″ X-ring.

It’s an outstanding training target that allows you to shoot all sorts of drills, including the F.A.S.T. The smaller size will make transporting targets easier and shipping them less expensive. The targets are produced by National Target, the same company that sells the official pistol-training.com “Q” target.

The NDM-1 will also make an excellent KSTG target… for all one KSTG clubs in the known universe! Which is probably no surprise as one of the key people behind the National Defense Match is also part of the team that runs the KSTG matches at the NRA Range.

In fact we’ve already talked about the possibility of making a couple of minor changes and adopting them for future KSTG events. You can see a mock-up on the right.

The central X-ring is removed and a visual indicator is added to the 3×5 A-zone in the head. The trick would be coming up with an equitable way to tape the head box after it’s been shot without requiring multiple paster colors and without disadvantaging subsequent shooters.

If either the standard target or this hypothetical KSTG target become publicly available through National Target, you’ll read about it here.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Competition, Gear | 9 Comments »

Warning: Wilson Black ETM Magazines

Earlier this week, I bought some of the new black Wilson ETM 10rd 9mm magazines. The main reason I wanted the black mags was for concealed carry. The black color is slightly less likely to draw attention if my concealment garment shifts, but mostly it just helps me tell my carry mags apart from my practice mags at a glance.

I took the mags to the range and put 20 rounds of carry ammo (the outstanding Federal 124gr +p HST) through each of the six magazines followed by another 30 rounds of practice ammo. Three hundred rounds of testing showed the mags working as expected so I loaded three of them up, put one in the gun (after topping it off) and went about my business.

The next evening I needed to do a little work on the pistol so I removed the magazine as the first step in clearing the gun. This is what I found:

There was no tension on the rounds in the magazine. They were all just loose inside. The top round was probably a half inch below the feed lips. Turning the magazine upside down, all I had to do was shake and the rounds came tumbling out. As you can see in the video, the problem was the follower. It got stuck at the bottom of the tube and even after all the agitation from shaking the ammo out it was still trapped down there.

Communications back and forth with Wilson Combat led to the discovery that this is a known problem with some of their black magazines due to a new treatment they’re using. Apparently, some kind of sticky film is left over from the blackening process and it creates substantially more friction inside the magazine tube. Yeah, you think? The fix was as simple as thoroughly cleaning the inside of the mag tubes with gun cleaner (Wilson advises mineral oil is even better).

Another day at the range and another 50rd through each magazine worked fine. Now I’m leaving them loaded and testing one at a time in my backup gun, leaving it fully loaded in the gun, round in the chamber, for 24 hours to see if the follower gets stuck again. So far so good.

Nonetheless, I spent a day and a half walking around with a gun that may not have fired more than one round because of that gunk. It was by my bed as I slept and on my hip while I hiked, ran errands, and spent an evening out on the town with my wife. Even when I press-checked the gun everything seemed fine. But I’ve got no way of knowing whether I could have counted on the gun to function properly in that condition.

I use Wilson magazines because I can count on them. This experience was totally unsatisfactory. I do expect Wilson will be addressing the problem and future customers won’t have to worry about it. Still… not at all what one expects from Wilson Combat.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Gear, Safety | 30 Comments »

Gun-Induced Ego

Finally, you said to yourself, Todd’s going to talk about something he really understands. But sorry, this post isn’t about my ego. Let’s face it, there aren’t enough electrons on the internet for that…

No, this is about how people get so egocentric about their choice in firearms. Yesterday’s post about j-frames and capacity helped draw out exactly the kind of response — as discussed here by Tam — that I’ve come to expect: defensiveness. People don’t like it when you suggest that their chosen everyday companion is any less but the mighty Excalibur itself!

Another great example is the perennial series of threads on 1911forum.com that essentially embody the angst between guys with inexpensive guns and guys with expensive guns. When you reduce it down to its basic components, the problem is that the guy with the basic, off the rack 1911 is upset his gun doesn’t get more respect from the high-dollar camp; and, the guy with the bespoke $mega-thousands french bordered 1911 with the genuine Tyrannosaur femur stocks is upset his gun doesn’t get more respect from the store-bought crowd.

These are both folding knives:

One is way, way more expensive than the other. They’ll both cut stuff. So if our goal is to carry something that can cut stuff, either one is suitable. Somebody might want the smaller, cheaper one with the nifty bottle opener. Somebody else might want the bigger, more expensive quasi-custom one.

Neither of them should get so emotionally invested in a piece of metal with a sharp side that they need everyone else to acknowledge the superiority of their choice. No matter how awesome your Emerson is, someone, somewhere, would rather his little pocket knife with a bottle opener. Accept it. Don’t argue about how you could open a bottle with your “wave” if you had to. You just sound stupid.

And no matter how cute and compact your no-brand pocket knife is, someone, somewhere, would rather carry something that’s more suitable for fighting angry Generation-Y meth head zombies. Accept it. Don’t argue that your knife is really sharp and cuts deeper than it looks. You just sound stupid.

The same is true for guns. No one should pretend that a j-frame is the combat equivalent of a rolled up newspaper, but neither should anyone fool himself into believing that it’s the combat equivalent of a company of US Marines. Don’t whine and deny the limitations of your choice… adapt or choose something else.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Posted in Gear | 19 Comments »