Yesterday was a day that boiled down to fighting one fire after the other. At the end of the day I finally managed to write a couple of thousand words on THE NEW SURVIVAL GUNS (NSG). I went back and read what I've written to date and I was stunned and shocked to discover that it was pretty good...meaning, I would have liked to finish reading the book if there had been a rest of the book to finish. Maybe if I put it under my pillow at night it will finish writing itself...naw, that didn't work with FIVE TO GO!
Been interesting following the Internet meme on "which gun is best," which is exactly like the old magazine controversies of "...semiauto or revolver,...9mm or .45...black or flat dark earth???" Honestly, I'm trying to get beyond that in NSG. As I've been talking about a lot in the podcasts, I think it makes a lot more sense for humans, which are amazingly adaptable creatures, to adapt themselves to the steel and plastic of guns, which isn't all that adaptable at all. I would say our goal as shooters should be to shoot whatever is in our hands to a certain level of competence.
It's sort of like the on-going trigger pull discussion we've had on DR Radio, which grew out of discussions I've had with Bill Rogers, Dave Spaulding, Ed Head and others...to wit, except in specific competition contexts, trigger pull matters much less than we gunwriters have led people to think. I have proven this to myself pretty categorically. That's not saying that my trick guns don't have world-class trigger pulls, but I don't need that trigger pull to deliver the shot.
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7 comments:
Perhaps eventually you'll also write another Kashi and Anna book?
Regarding Trigger-Pull; I've written here before that the charachter "Kid", in the movie "The Quick and the Dead" said it best. He said: "The gunfight is in the head and not in the hands." I've never let trigger-pull control me. That's because I never listened to anyone that told me that it should. I also learned on some very basic guns, because that's all that I had.
My own son is a prime example too. He easily qualified for both Rifle and Shotgun Merit Badges in Boy Scouts, at a very young age. He made it look easy even having to use well-worn "camp" guns. I asked him how he did it so well. He said that he just knew that he could do it and it was something that he wanted to do. He has gone on to being a fine marksman. He shoots his pre-WW II Mosin-Nagant 1931 off-hand at clay pigeons that I hang at 100 yards and powders most of them. That gun definitely has an "interesting" trigger! He also racks the bolt open with his right hand and then proceeds to catch the empty shell with that same hand, using only his side vision. He grins slyly as us old guys just shake our heads. The gun stays pointed down-range, ready for the next shot, as soon as he racks the bolt closed. Then he "dusts" another one.
But, at times, a gun gets into his head and he goes to pieces. As an example, I'll put one of my fine Colt Custom Shop 1911s in his hand and he shoots like a beginner! That's with a trigger that breaks as if it's made of glass. I asked why he has such a bad time and he said: "I'm afraid that I won't be able to shoot it was well as it can shoot."
So, maybe Henry Ford has a better saying here. He said: "If you believe that you can, or can't do something, you're right!" If you believe that a trigger will control you, it will.
Life Member
P. S.: Join the NRA and get your boys into Boy Scouting. Be a Scout Leader if you can.
Personally, I prefer my carry guns in red and gold... Now, if it'll just get back from the custom shop... (I can't quite handle all the "everyone's an operator" stuff.)
I'm close to the point where I feel guns are like shoes. Everyone has their own reason for their choices and you can get a closet full. :)
"I would say our goal as shooters should be to shoot whatever is in our hands to a certain level of competence."
AMEN!
Ratcatcher55
There are points here that I agree with, and points I take issue with.
"I think it makes a lot more sense for humans, which are amazingly adaptable creatures, to adapt themselves to the steel and plastic of guns, which isn't all that adaptable at all."
"Molding the person around the thing" is something that I don't care for. That generally signals a design failure on the part of the "thing" in question, or so I was told in design school - and I believe it, too.
Any pistol is an artifact of human effort and planning - they don't grow on bushes; someone had to plan it and make it. If a bunch of people are having to adapt to a human-produced item, then the item should be superseded by a new iteration of that product that works better. In that sense, the plastic and steel is infinitely adaptable, as it is brought into being only by human effort.
On the other hand, from a practical standpoint, in a "time is life" situation, you might not be able to lay your hands on the ideal "latest and greatest" firearm right away, or at all. One might be stuck with, I dunno, a single action revolver in .44 Special. ;) It behooves us to include unfamiliar firearms into our training for that reason.
Or as you said so well, "I would say our goal as shooters should be to shoot whatever is in our hands to a certain level of competence."
- J. Dock, African Beer aficionado
"I think it makes a lot more sense for humans, which are amazingly adaptable creatures, to adapt themselves to the steel and plastic of guns"
I couldn't disagree more. I am a died in the wool 1911 shooter, probably because I spent the 3rd decade of my life shooting 30,000+ rounds a year at the taxpayers’ expense and created muscle memory and habits that are still solidly ingrained 30 years later. I am not afraid to try other platforms and shoot them regularly. Some work fine and others require me to “adapt”. I find Glocks point high and I have to adjust (read adapt) my grip anytime I use one. XDs work well, as do SIGs. I can live with the transition from DA to SA for the first shot from my SIGs because I know it will be “on target” for the first shot. Not necessarily pin point accuracy, but on target. However, and this is adaptation again, I have to settle for less than I am capable of with a different platform. I believe that an individual should select the platform that best fits him or her and then perfect their technique with that platform. I am well aware that an individual can adapt and perform well, I shoot long guns from the port side and managed to earn my way onto various teams over the years, all through adaptation.
I also disagree about triggers. IMHO it is far better for an individual to learn and work with the best trigger possible. After they have mastered the basics of marksmanship, then they have the skills necessary to work with and around less than perfect trigger systems/setup. Perfect the basics and you can then overcome most obstacles.
Thaine
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