Category: Target Shooting & Marksmanship

Making Your Range Time Real Time — Train as You’ll Fight!, by H.R.

When you go to the range, whether it is in your or a friends backyard, at a local indoor or outdoor range how do you practice?  What do you practice?  Do you just put lead downrange as fast as you can in hopes that it hits the target because people are around and you want to sound like you know what you are doing (this is way more common than you might think)?  There are some things that I would like to put out to everyone that I hope can help you out in your range training. There are many …


Gold Medal Marksmanship, by 10x Shooter

This article is intended to assist our fellow preppers with marksmanship. I have realized that with all the new interest in the prepper movement we have those that have never handled a firearm among us!  I will start at the very basic level to help form a good foundation to build upon. For some this will be too basic or boring, however, they may see something of use. Some of this will also be story telling. I want the reader to get the “feel” for shooting, not just the science. If you are new to firearms or less than an …


Guest Post: Five Back-to-Basics Guidelines for Gun Safety, by Madison Parker

Whether you’re using a gun for home security, hunting, or whether you just enjoy shooting, there are some basic guidelines for gun safety you need to follow. You’ll hear these guidelines in every gun safety course, and you’ll see them printed on the instructions of almost any new firearm you purchase. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of negligent discharges happen because people fail to follow these basic guidelines. It’s always worth taking a few minutes and refreshing them in your mind, just to make sure you’re following them at all times. Here are five of …


Letter Re: Physical Fitness and Trigger Time

JWR, After reading the recent MBR article by Zorro, it seems that all the amateurs still fuss over the 5.56/7.62 or 9mm/.45 debate. At our police agency here in the Southwest, we focus on increasing our trigger time via the SIRT laser training pistol, practicing fundamentals through live and dry fire, working through scenarios (lessons learned) and practicing “range fitness”. A great resource for range fitness is www.militaryathlete.com. Rob Shaul speaks of high percentage shooting positions based upon the experiences of combat veterans, as well as developing the fitness needed to put the gun in the fight.  It seems that …


Choosing a MBR: The M1 Garand or the M14/M1A?, by Zorro

I am getting along in my years but, I recognize that I may need a high power Main Battle Rifle  (MBR) in the future if significant issues surrounding our standard of living within the US remain unresolved. So, what rifle should I choose Let me start by saying that a 5.56/.223 in a AR-15 or any other light caliber rifle does not qualify as a MBR with me. The 5.56/.223 55 grain round requires 2,800 fps at impact to produce a large wound cavity. When shot from a  20″ barreled  AR-15 the round is below that impact velocity at about …


Letter Re: Assuring M1911-Series Autopistol Safety

Jim, First, thank you so much for such a worthwhile resource for prepping and other useful information.   Regarding the recent article on M1911 series pistols, I could not help but cringe when I repeatedly read to release the slide and let it slam on an empty chamber.  It is my understanding that there is no better way to mess up a trigger job than repeated slamming the slide forward on an empty chamber.  The action of releasing the slide without a round being stripped off of a magazine to buffer the force will cause damage to the surfaces of …


Two Letters Re: Assuring M1911-Series Autopistol Safety

Mr. Rawles, While I agree, of course, with Steve V.’s assertion that firearms need to be handled safely, people should be familiar with their firearms, and training is a good thing; I very much disagree with the assertion that operating the slide of an automatic pistol the correct way is “an extremely bad habit”. First, his complaints about what happens when racking a slide with thumbs on opposite sides of the slide and facing opposite directions aren’t very valid in my opinion. The notion that a shooter’s hand and arm conceal the pistol making it “hard to see exactly where …


Product Review: Gamo Airguns CFX Combo

Airguns are a useful thing to have around for pest control and small game, can be backup weapons when necessary, and are legal in many places where regular firearms are not.  They are relatively quiet, inexpensive, and the ammunition (pellets) can be bought by the thousand for little money. The Gamo CFX Combo air rifle is a handy package, that includes a .177 caliber air rifle with muzzle brake/muffler and 4×32 telescopic sight.  It shoots 1,000 fps with lead pellets, and is actually supersonic (1,200 FPS) with PBA (Performance Ballistic Alloy) pellets.  These are harder metal and harder hitting up …


Letter Re: Gaining Key Rifle Skills Via the Appleseed Program

Mr. Rawles, I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time now and have gleaned tons of useful information to prepare my family for many different situations. I live in hurricane country, so while the likely hood of a total collapse of our economy might be small, the possibility of another Hurricane Katrina event or worse is not. With the weather starting warm (here in the southeast anyway), I started thinking about shooting skills. I had grown up with rifles and shotguns, so in the past I have been focused more on pistol skills. This spring I took to the …


From Cartridge to Target: A Bullet’s Flight and Impact, by HardWalker

Lots of care and time are taken to select the appropriate firearm. A precisely crafted piece of machinery primarily designed to do one thing, send a chunk of metal downrange and high speeds with the intention of killing someone or something. There are many ways of doing this and many types of bullets designed for many different purposes. We all can gather the hearsay of what round is the best, which manufacturer has the furthers traveling, hardest-hitting or bang-for-buck ammunition. So when it’s all said and done, understanding what happens to that piece of copper, steel and lead once it …


Review of the USSA Tactical Shotgun Course, by Bubba Man

Here is my review of the USSA Tactical Shotgun #220 course, conducted in December, 2010. I started out with about 850 rounds of #7 bird shot, 150 rounds of 9 pellet 00 Buck and 50 slugs. I should have brought more slugs as I wound up borrowing about 10 from one of the other students. When I was done, I had about 200 rounds of #7 birdshot and 50 rounds of 00 Buck and no slugs. First let me get this out of the way; Those of you who know me, know that I am currently a fat, out-of-shape, somewhat …


Letter Re: The Ethics and Methodology of Sniping after TEOTWAWKI

James; I am glad that something has posted such a thoughtful essay on the merits of and moral questions involved in sniping after a collapse. I am not a sniper, but I regularly compete in High Power shooting events and have learned a lot. The first thing I learned is my .308 is marginal at 1,000 yards.To get there I use very expensive Berger bullets and my groups are twice as big as the guys using 6mm or 6.5mm bullets. At a 1,000 yards some of the favorite cartridges are .243, .308, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5×287, .287, .260 Remington, 6.5 Lapua, …


Planning for Training, by B.D.

When you’re training, your main goal should always be to improve tactical and technical proficiency.  Combat is a contest of skills and abilities, and without tactical & technical proficiency you’ll surely lose this contest, going from survivalist to speed bump before you know it.  Let’s start by defining these terms.  Technical proficiency is obtained from the experiences you gain from training whatever equipment you plan on using, whether it be an AR-15, a field dressing or a compass, to name a few.  Tactical proficiency is best gained through experience training with your team, such tactical movement exercises, drills for reacting …


Training and Practical Tactics, by Southwest LEO

First and foremost let me say that this is in no way meant as the definitive way to do things. This is only one man’s opinion of things that I have used in my job and have kept me safe over 15 plus years on the job (I am also not a tactical operator–I am just a beat cop). Also know and respect your local laws when training. Safety is also a factor. I have done live fire training and even with all safety being a priority wearing body armor and having an instructor right next to you my pucker …


Letter Re: Zen and the Art of Basic Rifle Marksmanship

Jim, Thanks again for the great job on your blog.In reading the recent excellent article forwarded by Doc in South Carolina titled “Zen and the Art of Basic Rifle Marksmanship,” a few additional thoughts came to mind. I recall my father teaching us boys how to shoot at ages 11-12. We used a break-open pellet gun, similar to the Gamo that I now own (now with a scope on it), to shoot at a small target mounted on a pellet trap, which was in turn mounted on a large and thick piece of plywood.  Our instruction was carried out in …