Successful Assault on Wily Clay Pigeons

I am, apparetly, one of 3 people leaving Greenville/Spartanburg today...kind of like having my own toy airplane!

We were filming a sporting clays episode of SHOOTING GALLERY, something you guys have been asking me about for years. The big delay was finding an instructor I was comfortable with and felt would fit into the SG model, such as it is. I found Dan Schindler through his book, TO THE TARGET, and his work on mental training and was impressed with his wholistic view of the shooting sports.He proved to be ever bit as good — and better — than we expected. As always, my goal is take-home value, which I think you guys have come to expect.He is truluy a world-class instructor capable of taking complex actions and breaking them down into simple, repeatable pieces...and good heavens, doesn't sport shooting need more of that!

I think it's going to be a great episode, and the River Bend Sportsmen's Resort, where Dan's Paragon School of Sporting is HQ'ed, provides a beautiful backdrop. Of course, now the crew is spoiled and now expects all our filming to take place as beautiful resorts (not to mention the fact that Cheryl Schindler, a world-class photographer in her own right, prepared us a huge Southern dinner one night...that really spoiled 'em!).

When we finished up yesterday around lunchtime, we spent the rest of the drizzly afternoon breaking clays...I have to note that it turns out to be a lot more fun when the clays break! Hmmmm.

Check Dan out at Paragon's site.

Am sad to report that my very good friend Ed Head has left as GUNITE's Director of Operations. I believe Ed has been instrumental in bringing the great shooting academy back from the brink, and I'm sorry to see him go. He's still going to be teaching — in fact, we'll be filming a "cars, houses, and pocket pistols" episode of SG with Ed next month at GUNITE. And rest assured Ed will be a continuing presence on SG, DRTV and other projects.

All in all I'm pretty excited about how this season of SG is shaping up. You're going to see some cutting edge stuff that's not available anywhere else, again another of our goals. I'm also [leased with the birthing pains for GUN STORIES, scheduled for Q3 2011 premiere. Again, a series I've wanted to do for a long time. My plan, as always, is to reset the bar at a level my competitors can't reach. Works for me. I can announce that at this point, Steven Hunter and master gunsmith Bill Laughridge will be regulars. Haven't made a decision on host yet, but there are some verrrrrrrrrrrrrry interesting negotiations under way!

And speaking of Steve Hunter, there's a new Bob the Nailer coming in January, and Steve worked with SG Producer John Carter to do a video promo for the new book. I saw a rough cut last night, and it is just hysterical...I laughed out loud. The finished product will end up on YouTube and DRTV to promote the new book...I'll let you all know.

Had dinner with Ken Jorgensen from Ruger last night and we talked about wine and the new products coming from Ruger...MAJOR new products. I'll be shooting them in December, and you'll see them on DRTV quick like bunny.

I'm sorry I've been MIA over at DOWN RANGE...this is my second hellish season for filming and it's all I can do to keep running.

Rainy Carolina Clays

-- Post From The Road

No Banjo Jokes!

Am up in the Blue Ridge...



-- Post From The Road

No Video Blog This Week

Am in shaky Internet World without enough bandwidth to punch through vids. Audio podcast is A-OK and in the can for Wednesday AM. Gotta get up tomorrow & reassemble my O/U shotgun...glue & duct tape?

Monday Sighs

No upgrades for me on the cross-country flight today...sigh...Nurse Ratchet lecturing us on the fairness of baggage policies...sigh...butt hurts...bitch bitch bitch...

But seriously, I noted that all the magazines at the rack this month were about "survival." I was sort of thinking about the Cosmo survival issue:

1) Pick the right guy! like, NOT that whining ninny on "E" who does the fashion news!
2) Your backpack - think fashion!!! - must hold all your favorite Manolos!
3) Remember, your favorite shade of lipstick may not be available after the Apocalypse, so stock up!
NEXT MONTH - 10 Can't Miss Tips For Steaming Up the Bunker!!!

More coffee, please! Actually, I got to thinking about my 3 top "survival" tips:

1) Don't be stupid.
2) Keep smiling.
3) When in doubt, take the headshot.

I gotta go fly!

PS: Indiana Jackson and I both had clean matches last weekend!

Butt Donor Needed!

Wolf Bane's handy tips for shooting matches...on the first stage DO NOT stand up quickly, twist yourself oddly and pull a muscle in one's left butt cheek. Then, avoid stumbling, grabbing the props to keep from falling and hobbling your way through the rest of the stage! Then you don't have to suffer the slings and arrows of your posse-mates as you Festus your way through the rest of Day One of the Rocky Mountain Regional Raid.

OUCHIES! Hey, even though I managed to salvage a 33 second run out of that debacle, I am still suffering piteously.

I think I'm going to need a complete butt cheek transplant and am looking for donors. I have already turned nixed Lady Ga Ga and Coyote Calhoun...I'm still waiting to hear from Brad Pitt, Hipshot and Linsay Lohan, if they'll let her call from the slammer.

BTW, GREAT match so far!

BTW BTW, do SASS rules allow me to shoot with one of those soft pillows duct-taped to my posterior????

Still clean after Day One.

Officially a Cowboy RO...

Actually an RO-I and an RO-II, after an all-day class and time on the range. Long overdue, but I swear this is the first spare day I've had to take the classes.

Am pretty proud of today's podcast and the comments on the DRTV Forums. If you get a chance, please give it a listen. Also, take a look at the Forum comments, as some top trainers weigh in on the subject.

'Way tired tonight...gotta go to the range tomorrow...Rocky Mountain Regional Raid this weekend. Marshal's at the IDPA Nationals in Tulsa this week for DRTV, so watch for those reports.

Sorry for Light Blogging!

The last few days have been lunacy squared. Started on Friday when I got a mandatory evac notice for the Secret Hidden Bunker while I was having dinner in the Tulsa airport waiting for my 8pm flight home. Believe me, this is a very bad place to be notified that a wildfire is heading for your home. After about 30 minutes of panic, planning, and general yeechiness, I got the "all clear" message.

Got home late, fretted, got up early Saturday and shot the cowboy match up at Pawnee Station. Shot clean, but a little slower running a '92 Puma .357. Was fun, though. Had dinner last night with Savid Fabricious, who was in town for a YPO meeting. He's got an upcoming book based on counter-kidnapping stuff from his own and Israeli experience. I'm reading the draft this week, but am sworn to secrecy.

Today has been a haze of studio work. Am working on Down Range Radio tomorrow on some topics I think are pretty important in the wake of the CCW shooting in Vegas. I think we're moving into some uncharted territory here.

Interesting Day!

Went from working with Mike Seeklander on extreme close quarters stuff for SG to working with Rob on similar material for TBD. Not huge differences, but definitely a difference in technique. I think it's good to show differences between instructors, because -- quell surprise! -- not everybody thinks the same way. I believe, as do the people I work regularly with, that there is no one "answer" to self-defense training needs (and if anyone tells you that they have such an answer, run away!).

I suppose it's like different schools or styles of martial arts...no one is necessarily better than the other. "Absorb what us useful" after all.

Lawrence of Suburbia

-- Post From The Road

Retention w/LimitedMobiliyy

-- Post From The Road

Limited Mobility Self-Defense

For TBD...



-- Post From The Road

Running Out the Door...

...to the range, but when I get back tonight I want to do a little gossip rundown. I'm hearing rumblings that U.S. Shooting Academy might not be the only uber-range facing some challenges. I'll try to run it down later.

We're working on self-defense issues for the disabled/physically challenged today...something that our TBD viewers have been asking for. I also want to care out an hour for cowboy practice....I've got a big match coming up next weekend and I'm trying to work on problem areas, including the left0hand draw.

And BTW, I made the mistake of listening to O'Reilly last night, and Megyn Kelly from Fox News just lit me up. In response to the NY man with MS-13 on his lawn, she said something to the effect of, "Why can't these idiots just let the authorities take care of these things? Just run back inside and wait for the authorities." Perhaps one day Ms. Kelly will discover exactly why you can't just hide in a closet and wait for the "authorities." I hope she survives it.

Of course, people like her never have to deal with the gritty realities the Real World..that's just for us little people...

Tactical Elbow

I think you guys are going to really like this stuff ( which will link nicely with TBD Season 3). I wanted some Real World take-home value, and I've been really impressed with Seeklander's evolving techniques...



-- Post From The Road

Seeklander Pummeled

-- Post From The Road

On the Range Today

Filming close quarters' stuff with Mike Seeklander...

I think what I meant to say yesterday is that I celebrate the fall of any NRA-rated "F" politician, regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation or ostensible political affiliation. I don't live in Delaware, so I'm not up on the winner's specific stands

Yeah, So?

I have to admit a certain ambivalence to yesterday's Delaware vote. Yeah, I'd have liked to have seen a conservative in the Biden seat, but the Repiblicans didn't run a conservative. And let's say I lived in Delaware, overcame the nasty taste of bile in my mouth and pulled the lever for the ostensible Republican, what would happen on a close gun vote? The guy has an "F" rating from the NRA and is a BFF of George Soros. Yah, right...we'd get boned. again.

My Favorite Headline So Far This Week...

Steve Jobs Stopped in Japanese Airport With Ninja Throwing Stars

Ninya! Steve Jobs can cure ham with his mind! Steve Jobs' iPhone 4 can get reception in hell! Stop me before I get carried away...

So here's the story:

From the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction department: Steve Jobs was prevented from boarding his private jet, due to his collection of ninja throwing stars.

According to a report in Bloomberg news, security officials in Kansai International Airport near Osaka detected the weapons inside the Apple CEO's carry-on luggage, and stopped him from taking them aboard his jet. Apparently the security agents felt the stars, or shuriken, a traditional Japanese weapon used by ninjas, were a security threat.

Citing an article in Japanese magazine SPA!, Bloomberg said that Jobs was incensed. He reportedly argued that the throwing stars weren't a security risk -- after all, he wouldn't try to hijack his own plane, would he? Jobs then told officials he would never visit Japan again. Apple declined to comment.

So what is the point of being a gazillionaire if you can't bring your secret ninja weapons on your private jet? And secondly, why would he have have such a lame weapon? He's Steven-Fricking-Jobs! He could have something cool, like designer miniguns or a Camel Gatling:

Or this steampunk-styled .50 BMG:

Here are the details on the .50 from The Firearm Blog.

I'd put Jobs on SHOOTING GALLERY if he bought this baby. All it needs is a big brass water-cooled sheath over the barrel, and even this week's DOWN RANGE Radio chanteuse, Emilie Autumn, would be impressed. Here's the lovely Ms. Autumn with her wicked violin:

I love her recordings...think chamber music for psychotics. I also like her pet rats,  Sir Edward and Basil. More women violinists should have pet rats, I think. It sends a good message.

BTW, I read an excellent article on this AM on gun rights on Reason.com this AM:

Gottlieb attributes the rapid turnaround in part to the brazen overconfidence of gun controllers. If Washington, D.C., had not challenged the March 2007 appeals court decision overturning its highly restrictive gun ban, the Supreme Court would not have had the opportunity to declare in Heller that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to arms. If Chicago had not insisted on maintaining its gun ban after the Heller decision, there would have been no McDonald, and the question of whether the Second Amendment binds states and cities would have remained unsettled. “We needed a little luck, and the other side gave us that luck,” says Gottlieb. “Our opponents are our biggest supporters.”

Well, stupid is as stupid does.

Monday in the Studio

Gotta go be VideoBoy this AM...then audio recording all afternoon. Felt pretty good about my cowboy match on Saturday. Dropped one stupid pistol shot as my hand outran my brain.

Check out this "militarized" skateboard, the DTV Shredder...I'm thinking this thing has huge implications in the Zombie Apocalypse, especially with a top speed of 30 mph!

Here's the YouTube video fo the Shredder in action...

Imagine a zombie fighter with a sword from Zombie Tools Mark III Bone Machete swinging that bad boy off the back of the Shredder. Yee-haw, Undead heads flying like cabbage under the blade of Iron Chef Bobby Flay!

The Memory Hole

Nine years ago the United States was attacked by fanatics professing a particularly virulent strain of radical Islam. Almost 3000 of our countrymen, including hundreds of heroic first responders, were killed.

We have been at war ever since. We are still at war, regardless of what those who profess to "lead" us believe.

We will be at war until there is no enemy. Or there is no us.

Remember, because so many want us to forget.

HGTV From Hell

You probably think Janich is building a coffin...


-- Post From The Road

One More Day...

...of filming Janich bouncing people all over the place. Considering all I have to do is stand around and say, yep, that's good; no, that's not, I'm surprisingly tired.

The wind is coming up tonight...it's already starting to gust as a front comes through. I understand the City of Boulder has already warned residents in the west side of town — adjacent to downtown — to be ready to evacuate tonight if the fire jumps the lines the firefighters have been laying down all day. A monster that won't go away!

Smackdown Time!

-- Post From The Road

What We Do For Art...

-- Post From The Road

Post-Lunch Nappie

-- Post From The Road

You Make Up the Caption

-- Post From The Road

Dealing With Pesky Zombies

-- Post From The Road

More Thwack!

-- Post From The Road

Thwack!

-- Post From The Road

Filming Day

Working on TBD today, so I'll try to get some pictures up from the filming.

I've got a couple of blank slots for SG 2011. I was thinking of putting a list of my ideas (including a day with the top women practical shooters, a class with a red-dot sight on a service pistol, more carbine instruction, and several others) up on DRTV and letting you guys pick the shows you'd like us to do.

Good idea or stupid plan???

Fire Day

"Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the wind turns the minutes to hours..."
--Gordon Lightfoot


Scary as hell today, but we're safe.

The wildfires burning outside Boulder are well away from the Secret Hidden Bunker, but it has been a spooky day. Wind up to 65 mph pushing an out-of-control fire, cutting a swath through the canyons.

Our thoughts and our prayers are with our friends in the fire zone, and with our good friend and his crew who are on the fire line tonight.

Arf!

Our President is deeply disturbed:

President Barack Obama came out swinging in Wisconsin today in a speech that, while making clear references to policy and future plans, didn’t shy away from tackling the opposition. The day’s soundbite, however, wasn’t aimed at the Tea Party, the Republicans, or any political group in general, but at “powerful interests” who “talk about me like a dog.”

In a statement issued late this afternoon, Alf the Wonder Beagle thundered her disapproval at being compared to the President:

"He goes off the prompter and he can't even speak American English! It's 'like a dog,' dog!" the Wonder Beagle huffed."Besides, I have never once poo'ed in my own house! Can he say that? What about the health care bill?"

Updates as they develop...

Oh No! Fatwa City...

I note that today's Day By Day cartoon features a "man with a turban." Oh no! Fatwa City! My high scool pal Bill Baker, who's an instructor for Tom Givens at RangeMaster, has already volunteered to mover to the Secret Hidden Bunker to watch my "6." Hey, we can have a BBQ!

Shot okay at today's match, but my '73's much-ground-on bolt finally gave up the ghost. Gonna have to default to the back-up '66 for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Raid. No big.

Zoms Rule!

Just getting ready for the Zombie Apocalypse...

Sigh...Summer's Almost Gone...

Where will we be...where will we be indeed....

Took yesterday off and drove over to Summit County for one of our favorite bicycle rides, from Frisco up to the top of Vail Pass (10,662 feet), then whoop de do, back down again. It is a beautiful ride in any season, sort of the distilled essence of Colorado. The high aspen are just starting to go shimmery green, the color they get before they go gold. The temperature was perfect, in the high 60s, and the hordes of Labor Day end-of-summer crowds had not yet descended on the mountains.

Then stopped at Backcountry Brewery for one of their award-winning pilsners, Ptarmigan Pils, never as good in the bottle as fresh from their taps.

Am chasing my tail today, doing a little work on next week's podcast so I can take Monday off and lots of telephone conferences. We start filming Season 3 of TBD in Denver next week, with more Season 11 SHOOTING GALLERY scheduled for the week after. Gonna be crazy time for the rest of the fall, to be sure.

Shooting-wise, one of the Ruger 6.8s showed up, so I'm going to try and work in a side-by-side with the same gun in 5.56...I just ordered a bunch of 6.8 — ouchies! They're not giving the stuff away, are they?

Joe Huffman had a nice post yesterday on the current antigunners' cry for us to find "common ground." I of course agree with Joe — the endless meme of "common ground" is simple code language for, "would you guys mind giving up a bunch of your enumerated rights so we can feel better about ourselves?" The answer is no. You want to feel better about yourselves, take a firggin' Pilates class...or go to a range and learn how to shoot! It's amazing how empowering shooting can be!

Bad News

From the U.S. Shooting Academy site:

To Always WIN THE FIGHT

It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that I must announce today the death of Mr. Tom Fee, owner and president of the USSA. The originator of this dream that we all call USSA, Tom was a man with a keen and driven vision of what he would design, fund, and construct for our future USSA family. A heart as large as this academy itself, Tom promised to provide a state of the art training facility for our military, law enforcement, and civilian defense training where real-life lessons would not only be practiced, but would become the common theme of each day. No stone un-turned, No innovation refused, No cost too large. TOM DELIVERED!!

Your current facility that we all enjoy and love daily is the continuation of all that Tom Fee envisioned providing to you. Tom is gone, but his dream is larger, the vision is constant, and our determination is unbreakable. The USSA, forever under the watchful eye of "Tommy", will continue to succeed and flourish for many years to come and will never compromise our relentless commitment to the USSA family that rests deep within our core ethos:

That's right pal, TO ALWAYS WIN THE FIGHT

Tommy you will be missed

In honor of Mr. Tom Fee and in respect to his wonderful wife Bridget and their 5 daughters, the USSA will recognize a day of mourning and will be closed for business Wednesday Sept 1, 2010. We will re-open tomorrow Sept 2, 2010, ready, willing and determined to provide our USSA family the quality of service, training, and camaraderie that you have grown accustomed to during the past 5 years. I thank all of you in advance for your patience and understanding during these difficult and challenging times and would ask that you keep the entire Fee family in your thoughts and prayers at a time when they will need them most.

I look forward to seeing you all down range soon

Semper Fi

B.K.Delauter

CEO
USSA

I worked with Tom Fee and my heart goes out to all of my good good friends at USSA...

Technological Unintended Consequences

You guys know I've been pretty happy with my iPad. The biggest benefit of the tablet is that it has unshackled me from the 6+ pounds of my laptop, which I've carted around the world for years and years. I've always been puzzled about the direction laptops took over the years. My second computer (first was an IBM PC) was a...pause for effect...Osborne CPM machine (pictured above) back in 1981 or so. Lucky I didn't go blind on that little 5-inch screen, but I did manage to write a couple of books on it, including one that used a pretty nifty database I put together. I sort of wish I still had the old thing, but last I heard it was being used as a doorstop in some non-profit's office.

Early on, I got hold of one of the NEC "notebook" computers (a friend of mine was their flack) that were never in widespread distribution. It was a wonderful little monster, only good for word processing but I used it all the time. And yes, I did have an Apple Newton, but in my defense I'd like to point out that I was writing for the Chicago Tribune News Syndicate at the time as one of their computer "experts," and they chipped in the money for me to buy the thing and try it out. I spent hours inputing my address book, personal data, etc...and it crashed...I spent hours inputing my address book, personal data, etc...and it crashed...you get the picture. Plus, it would only "recognize" my handwriting if I wrote with my left hand. I discovered the Newton a couple of years ago in a box in the basement, and I think I finally threw it away.

Anyway, the iPad is what I always wanted...light, fast, always connected, able to do almost anything I wanted to do on the road. I have an app for podcast that I'm working with, and my Blue Snowball USB mic will connect through the iPad's camera connection kit...limited audio editing, which is the only thing holding me up there. Ideally, I'd like a subset of GarageBand, my primary audio editing tool. Since the iPad already has a subset of iWork, I'm hoping GarageBand is in the future.

So, as to the unintended consequence, I don't ready the pathetic dead tree media anymore. I whip through the news, RSS feeds, etc. every morning while swilling coffee like a crazy person. I previously did this on a laptop, and every time I came across something interesting, I'd pop it onto the MB Blog. In fact, I wrote most of my blog posts over coffee in the AM. Since I changed to the iPad as my morning "paper," my blog posting has dropped, because that's harder to do on the iPad than a laptop (or maybe I just haven't ramped up to full speed on using the iPad). It's also harder to use the internal keyboard...I have a wireless keyboard, but I'm still figuring out how to juggle the keyboard, the iPad and coffee at the same time.

So this is my excuse for the relatively light blog posting...I'm working on it!

BTW, David Crane over at Defense Review has a great article on the Reset Rifle-Integrated Power Rail, essentially a powered accessory rail for the AR platform and/or next-gen battle rifles:

Manufactured and marketed by RESET Inc. as an “integrated powered rail adapter for any tactical weapon”, the RIPR is designed to act as a central power source and thus obviate the need for multiple batteries types for tactical rifle/carbine/SBR accessories like combat optics, laser designators/illuminators a.k.a. targeting lasers/illuminators, and tactical white lights.

My friend Clyde Caceres had one of these at Wes Doss' conference a few weeks ago and I spent a bunch of time with it. It's an interesting concept...a central battery driving a powered rail, so accessories could be made smaller and lighter. David quite correctly notes a number of potential problems in his article (so read it!), but this may be the way military weapons are heading. My understanding is that the system can also carry a data pipe, allowing real time GPS feeds, information updates, all kinds of Starship Troopers stuff. Worth keeping an eye on, n'est-ce pas?