Read All About It

Well, for those of you who missed me in the Wall Street Journal this AM, here's the link. I say profound things about whether Winchester could be reanimated. I'd like to see it back, but with a totally different business plan.

I'm off tomorrow AM to the ICORE International Revolver Championships in California. I had planned to spend today at the range, but who the hell am I kidding? We'll film all day Saturday, and I'll try not to shoot myself! I'll be able to shoot a little of the match on Friday afternoon, and maybe a few more stages on Sunday. I'll be shooting the Randy Lee 629 with .44 Specials replacing the 'way too dirty .44 Russian stuff.

Rig-wise, I remain boring as dirt, with a Blade-Tech Dropped-Offset plastic holster on my usual Wilderness Tactical Products Original Instructor Belt (5-stitch; 1 3/4-inch). I'll be carrying the moon clips on some California Competition Works "Shoot A Moon" moon clip holders. I'll beat the lovely Lisa Farrell into taking photos and get 'em up on the SHOOTING GALLERY site ASAP.

And while I'm on the subject of revolvers, I've been reading a new edition of Ed McGivern's FAST AND FANCY REVOLVER SHOOTING; actually rereading...I read the 1938 book the first time when I was in junior high. I had forgotten what a great book this is...Ed was a crotchety old bastard, but he knew more about shooting a revolver well than any living human.

I was surprised to discover that Ed apparently coined the phrase "practical shooting." Here's the reference from the book:

What we are pleased to here call practical shooting simply means doing the same thing we do on the targets, but without any guides or marks of any kind to assist us. We must do these things much more quickly and with less preparation, and conclude the performance with less lapse of time, and be able to repeatedly within the much shortened time periods until the desired results become a certainty of performance.

Failure to connect properly with with sure hits on an opponent under actual conditions which exist during hold-ups, bank robberies, etc., for which it is generally understood that we are preparing and training our pupils, would, no doubt, mean that said pupils would "fade out of the picture" entirely, and perhaps permanently; therefore, training for practical conditions is a very different matter than ordinary target shooting for recreation or in competition for prizes or medals. There are no re-entry rules that apply after you are dead, such as are in force in certain target shooting matches.

Amen Brother McGivern!

And finally, I just got an email raving about trainer Matt Burkett's new podcasts. Matt is indeed one heck of a trainer; go to his site and check it out!