Category: Target Shooting & Marksmanship

Letter Re: Marksmanship

Sir: That was an excellent article from Josh B. on Marksmanship. But as Gary D. pointed out, following those principles under stress can be a challenge. I thought I’d recommend a few stress inducers that I practice, which have improved my shooting skills. Before I begin, I’d like to note that I’m an US Army Infantry veteran. That should not imply that I am an expert. In fact, the more I practice and learn about shooting, the more I’ve come to realize how little I learned back then. Yes, the taught me the fundamentals, but I’ve since realized there is …


Letter Re: Which Ammo to Stockpile?

Dear Sir, When stockpiling ammo, should one focus on FMJ and soft nose/hollow points or FMJ only?  FMJ is a better value per bullet, plus it’s supposed to be a lot more accurate and reliable than SP/HP, but of course, it sometimes comes at the cost of stopping power. I’m packing a semi-auto in 308/7.62×51, and to my knowledge, there haven’t been many complaints about the stopping power of the 7.62×51 ball cartridge in military circles; many complaints come mainly from the kick and weight.  Add to that the fact that after TEOTWAWKI, shooting through cover and mass fire will …


Letter Re: Marksmanship

Dear JWR, The article on marksmanship by Josh B. was an excellent one and discussed all of the basic principals of good marksmanship except, in my opinion only, one. I have several years experience with three Law Enforcement agencies in training other Officers  how to shoot and have come to realize that the biggest factor in shooting accurately is mindset. In a real shooting scenario, you will most likely have no control over your breathing, your  posture, your grip or your trigger squeeze. You may be out of breath, your heart rate may be through the roof, you may be …


Marksmanship, by Josh B., USMC

The Basics There is a huge focus on stocking firearms, spare parts and ammunition, but using firearms and learning the fundamentals of marksmanship seem to have a little less importance. Not necessarily that it is not important to learn the fundamentals of marksmanship, but more to the fact that it takes quite a bit of dedication and on going training to become proficient using them. I find, being an NRA and USMC instructor, that some people share the idea that they are proficient because they “have been shooting their whole life”. Some of these people assume that they understand proper …


A Conversation with a TEOTWAWKI Survivor, by Rachel M.

It’s not every day I get the chance to visit with a TEOTWAWKI survivor – but when I do, I listen up. That opportunity presented itself yesterday, when I was privileged to interview Paul. An individual of small frame yet sizeable strength of mind and determination, Paul experienced the end of the world he knew and lived to help create a new one. Not only did he survive the collapse, but he proved to be a key leader and connector in his community as it struggled through the extended period of political upheaval, economic failure, widespread violence, and nefarious pillaging. …


Leadcentric Survival, by John in California

What follows is what I’ve done and why I did what I did. As they say, “At least have the sense of an old cow; eat the hay, and leave the sticks.” I hope there is some hay herein. I have links to vendors/manufacturers/forums/whatever, which I have found to be useful/interesting. Precious Metals: Sb – Sn – Pb aka 51, 52, and 82. These are the atomic “names” and numbers on the Periodic Table for Antimony, Tin, and Lead, respectively. Most people think of AG and AU, 47 and 79 on the Periodic Table, Gold and Silver respectively, as precious …


Pat’s Product Review – Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM II

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I cut my teeth on the military M14, way back in 1969, during my basic training at (now closed) Fort Ord, California. I learned to love it, and I qualified “Expert” with it – loved shooting that rifle. Later on, while working full-time for the Illinois National Guard, I joined the Illinois State Rifle & Pistol Team, and was issued a match-grade M14 (and 1911A1) along with all the ammo I wanted – those were the days. I shot in many competitions, and always winning in my classification with that M14. I always wanted an M14 of my own, however, …


Letter Re: Knob Creek After Action Report, Fall 2013

The weather at Knob Creek was great, the dust was minimal and the travel was above average.  The car ran fine, I didn’t die a fiery death and the CV joints only started making noise and going bad after I got home. Yeah! Best price I saw on .308 ammo was Military Shooters Supply, Inc. with PMC and Lake City (the 2 loose packed boxes I examined all had 2005 head stamps, (de-linked I imagine) for $340 per 500rd. They had PMC 55gr .223 $389/1000 and 68gr 5.56 $429/1000. Brown Bear 7.62×39  $119/500. Pat’s Reloading prices were not as good …


Pat’s Product Review: Black Hills Ammunition

I actually got started writing back in 1983, when I reviewed books for a Christian bookselling company. These were soon-to-be-released books. My “pay” for reviewing the books, was that, I got to keep the books. I built-up quite a library of Youth Ministry books over a couple years. I had help along the way, with my meager writing efforts, and I still don’t consider myself any sort of writer, per see – but I hopefully can communicate with my readers, so they understand what I’m trying to convey to them.   It was 1992, before I started writing firearms articles, …


Letter Re: Loading Your Own Ammunition

Dear Editor, I have some comments to follow up on the letter from Kent from Illinois. I specifically left out mentioning match primers, salvaging brass with swaged primer pockets, etc., as this article was on the basics, barely touching upon a few advanced techniques. As to touching the primers: My handloads suffered from maddening duds occasionally, until I tracked down the cause. An old timer told me about skin oils and primers. I, being a young know-it-all, could not find this old timer’s story mentioned anywhere (this was way before broad public use of the Internet), so I set off …


Letter Re: Loading Your Own Ammunition

Mr Rawles, I’m writing to make a few points about the article Ken in Montana wrote about reloading, as there are some issues I have with it. I’ve only been reloading since 1999, but . . . . First, Winchester primers are also brass in color, so anything other than silver doesn’t automatically mean they’re Remington. Additionally, people who are just getting into reloading should ask around about the reliability of the primers they’re going to use, as some primers have harder cups and don’t detonate reliably. I generally only use Winchester and CCI. I’d be interested to know where …


Loading Your Own Ammunition, by Ken in Montana

With the current shortage of ammunition and the consequent high prices, it makes more sense now than ever before to learn how to reload your own fired brass casings.  I even suspect that in the future, this may well be the only way for the ordinary citizen to obtain ammunition. It’s not at all difficult, it only requires a little understanding of the process, and the ability to follow directions. This will become very important later, as each caliber requires its own set of powders, charges, primers, and bullets. No one can learn them all, there are millions of potential …


Letter Re: Airsoft: Effective Firearm and Tactical Training for Adults and Children

James, Just wanted to amplify the recent contribution on Airsoft which focused mainly on Airsoft battle rifle emulations. Our concealed carry instructor had mention Airsoft handguns as CQB/indoor training and drill options. In particular he thought well of the “GreenGas” Blowback emulations of semi-auto handguns. I filed this under someday and didn’t begin to investigate Airsoft handguns until the recent spike in ammo prices.  The propellant, Green Gas, is propane with a bit of silicon oil added for a lubricant. Adapters are available so you may use larger (lantern and torch size) propane tanks which are more economical.You can purchase …


Airsoft: Effective Firearm and Tactical Training for Adults and Children, by So Ed

To many people, Airsoft is just a toy gun that annoying 12-year olds spray at each other with plastic pellets in the back yard.  But to the military and creative survivalists, it’s a training tool that saves lives. The Japanese invented Airsoft in the 1990s and militaries worldwide soon discovered that the inexpensive, safe Airsoft guns are a realistic method for training tactical movement, magazine change drills, building clearing, and much more. What is Airsoft? There are a myriad of different types and styles of Airsoft guns, but the common attractive feature is that they are modeled in size and …


Letter Re: Practice, Cub Scouts, BB Guns, and the Old Guy

Dear Jim and Readers, I want to start out with a little bit of pre-history. About five weeks ago I had my first heart attack, and the doc installed a stint. That was a wake-up call! Wow. Of course the subject by the doc was diet, lose the lard, get exercise. I started losing by cutting back, but I needed a bit more help. Work would be nice, it would help with my activity level plus I needed some extra finances to come in as some big bills were hitting all at once. So when all these things begin to …