The Tactical Life

Off Topic Guns & Shooting Sports
4140

Nice looking rifle. I am sure your son is pleased. One of the things you rarely ever read about is techniques for children shooting their first scoped rifle. First and foremost use a rest to sight in the scope, which can sometimes be a bitch with a pellet/ BB rifle. Not all those little pellets / balls are made to a precise standard.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to sight the scope in over 25 yards, usually 15 to 20 is better for velocity and accuracy. Without a lot of experience, a child will have a hard time making accurate shots over that distance. Remember, pellets / BB’s are very sensitive to wind and will drift on you like a racecar.

Start him shooting from a rest, keeping a reticle from moving is almost impossible without a rest or sling. Even adults will become “lost “in the reticule, trying to hold it perfectly still and jerk the shot. Just explain that without a solid rest, there will always be some minute movement. Experienced shooters will acknowledge the movement and simply make the shot when that “movement” matches their breathing.

Finally, buy some “splash targets, which when struck give an immediate hit placement. You can buy small ones with various critters on then, usually with a black background and when struck show a green or yellow hole. Even adults like immediate feedback. 1200 FPS? That is no joke, may have to get one myself. Be safe, have a great time.

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4141

Thought for the day:

It’s Friday, wear a little red today.

red

4142

Thanks!

4143

Dry fire/laser practice device that goes in your gun and has some recoil.

4144

Allen markets the splash targets as EZ Aim. Birchwood Casey calls them Shoot N-C.

I agree with Idaho, start shooting from a rest then work towards less stable positions in order supported prone, prone, sitting, kneeling and finally standing

Make sure they are seeing a correct sight picture through the scope (even lighting around the circle with the cross hairs centered). It will save problems diagnosing other shooting mechanics later.

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4145

Thought for the day:

People often get caught up in all of the reasons not to train. The painful truth is that nothing comes easy. No skill set can be purchased through fancy equipment. You have to find a way to train. Training can come in many forms from the expensive class with the A list instructor to quietly working out in your basement. Don’t let excuses dominate your training.

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4146

*Thought for the day:

The holiday season is approaching and with it an increase in violence. Ironic, I know, to write that sentence since violence in America has exploded since 2019. Spend some time thinking about you and family’s safety .

I wrote this a couple of years ago, it still applies today.

  1. Know who you are with: It is one thing to attend a social gathering, go to a ballgame, or peruse the malls with individuals who are trained for violence (Military, LEO, PSD, Corporate Security) and quite another to be with people who only have experienced violence through video games. Realize they will have no situational awareness, nor, the training to help you survive an attack. Realize that developing even a simple tactical plan will be met with skepticism and any attempt to make them understand will probably be futile. Do the best you can, but, have your own plan for survival, do not let well-meaning individuals comprise your strategy. On the other spectrum, being with someone who is trained and especially armed is a real bonus and simple plans can be made driving to the venue. Just establish who will do what, who is the driver, who is the primary shooter, who is responsible for hunting exit locations, while the other or others provide protection, etc.

  2. Yourself: Being alone during an attack and your response will basically come down to the fight or flight reflex. IMHO, what you will do, will be based on your psychological mindset, your training, your experience with violence, your profession. Be honest with yourself and your abilities to combat violence, experience has taught me that most men have a tendency to overestimate their combat abilities and usually just die on the scene. I don’t know what yours are, but, decide what you are going to do, before you arrive at the venue. In the middle of the attack is no time to be making the decision.

  3. Family: Unless you are trapped and facing death, this decision is already made for you. You must get your family off the “X” and out of the primary attack zone. There should be no attempt at heroics when the ones you love are counting on you to provide leadership: know what you are going to do, where to take the family, etc. Often, terrorists on a major attack will place shooters at the main exits and kill as many as they can as they run out. Know where all the exits are, take the time to drive or walk around your venue, learn where the exit doors are, where the service entrances are, where the security kiosks or police substations are, where the exit roads are, where are the bottlenecks that a VBIED could be parked.

  4. Spouse and Children: As much as I would like to assume your spouse is highly trained (man or woman) the odds are they are not, so, it is up to you to develop a basic plan. Have a quiet, serious talk and go over some basic strategy, Outline the need to be situationally aware, inform them what can happen and stress they are also responsible for helping survive an attack. I know it’s common for families to go shopping and split up, each going to their own preferred venue, but, during holiday vacations, that is a major tactical mistake. You don’t want to have some family member on one end of the venue and you on the other. Stay together, stay close.

If you have children with you, one of you must be the primary protector, it is simply too distracting to watch the kids and watch for an attack at the same time. Having small children is a dynamic all its own, I know. I once was part of a team that was providing security for an executive and his family below the border and trying to run with a screaming 4 year old under your arm and returning fire with one hand is for the movies. Decide who carries the child and who looks for exits, who will take point and who will not.

Your spouse must recognize the threat and be able to function in a terrifying situation. Teach basic commands in a loud voice. Examples like: Get the kids! Get tommy! Grab my belt!, Run to the back of the hotel!, etc. Simple commands, they work, because they are simple. Have a daily schedule and stick to it. Know the places you want to visit, go there, do what you need to do and then leave. Try to arrange for visits during non-peak times. When the venue first opens at 1000 is much safer than 1900, remember terrorists use the maxim amount of destruction for the maximum amount of media coverage. I occasionally have to go to the Afghan government palace and I don’t go there after 1400, which is prime hit time here.

  1. Attack Dynamics: Talk to your spouse about a possible attack and the ramifications of being caught up in the situation. The noise will be loud, especially if they detonate a bomb first to soften up the guards/resistance or create mass panic which leads to easy targets. Try to make your spouse understand that people will be screaming and dying, and, if they have never experienced this type of violence, will probably go catatonic. This is a natural reaction that you must stop immediately, either by verbal commands or simply slapping the shit out of them.

You must get off the kill zone, you must survive or the kids will die. Try to convey how bad the panic will be and stress how important it is to follow your pre discussed plan and how you need to hyper focus on leaving by a safe exit, even to the point of running by people crying for help. You and the spouse have a family and nothing else matters. Harsh, I know, but there is a reason we leave a wounded member in a door way, it’s because we have to kill the threat, or, others will die. There is a reason you are leaving, so your family will live.

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4147

@treco - Clearly I’ve not looked at the thread for a minute…
Thanks very much for the input about swimming. Agree its a great way to get some workouts in without joint strain. Great suggestion! I been looking in our area for a pool to access. The Y has one, but I have a personal enemy who goes there so not an option for me…however. there IS an indoor swim club bout 5 mins from the house I’m bout to check out, else a rec center 10 mins away.
Presently, I think swimming is indeed best exercise I could do regularly.

That said, we were in DC 1st of the month and I’m pleased to say that from airport arrival on a Friday morning til the return flight Sunday evening, I was able to get a total of 13.2 mi. walking in…including about 3/4 mi. up a 20%+ grade at Mt Vernon.
So help me a few times that weekend I swore it was Currahee - 3mi up 3mi down lol. Was worth it, hadn’t been there for some time.
Anyway, I truly appreciate ya thinking of me and that suggestion. Thx!!

4148

Dude that’s soooo spot on. We do that with our abilities and tend to underestimate the abilities of others.

The “Afghan government palace”?
Dude, I’m soooo sorry u have that duty but gotta say you sound equipped for it :smile:

Oh, nearly forgot this 1911 transferring to me soon. This Taylor & Co. buys RIA’s, slicks them up, then resells at a still amazingly good price. Yes, military grade not WC engraved stuff, but I’ll take a straight shooter over pretty for actual carry/use any day…

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Also bout to acquire this Savage in .308 Win…scope is an Arken, a newer vet company who make Leupold+ quality optics for 1/3 the cost…

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(20" heavy barrel, folding stock etc…a gunsmith bought one retail, modded, sold to my kin’s FFL shop - handy, rifle+ a 6-18x50 illuminated reticle MilRad scope at 1400 bucks. Yeeha, my happy bday to myself, soon.)

Be safe. Be blessed.
Take care brother!

4149

Thanks, the same to you.

4150

Thought for the day:

Be obsessed with becoming a master of the basics.

Going through trauma recert this week. When was the last time you practiced applying a tourniquet?

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4151

@idaho - You seem like a fairly private guy so if you wish to not answer this question, that is completely fine.

Do you have a roommate/partner/children/parent/etc. you live with and/or spend lots of time with? I’m assuming your coworkers don’t need as much “help” with preparing for dangerous situations and reacting under stress, but are there civilians in your life that you find yourself having to work with in the ways that you’ve recommended others do? If so, how do you deal with the differences in mindsets and capabilities?

4152

Dude this reminded me of, let’s see, 38 years ago when I had a duffel stuffed with watever I could find (was teenager, no $$ for heavy bag), strung from a metal beam in my parents basement. Every evening, and I mean EVERY one, for bout 2 years, I threw 300 alternating reverse punches, 150 front, side, roundhouse, inside/outside Front and spinning crescent, and spinning back kicks ea. leg. I’d had maybe 9 mos total formal TKD instruction…
I grew up in a “rough” environment, and this practice served me well with fighting others my age (13-17 yo). BJJ hadn’t taken root in USA at that time.

Of course nowadays training looks quite different, but your point is as valid in any case → No effort = no results.

4153

No, a current lady friend and an ex-wife .

I help teach a civilian CCW class twice a month. About 4 times a year , I am assigned to a facility that gives classes to State Department emp

having computer issues this morning.

Just a lady friend and an ex-wife.

cannot reply for some reason.

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4154

Had to reset password on Fire Fox. Google Chrome is not allow me to post if anyone else is having a problem.

About 4 times a year, I am assigned to a State Department training facility in Virginia, to help teach a “survival” class to employees leaving for their first overseas post. The course consists of information and tactics on kidnapping, situational awareness, firearms familiarization, etc. Since State recruits heavily from the Ivy league and north east schools, I find most of the people attending the class to have absolutely no common sense, life skills, or practical survival intelligence. There are basically privileged assholes with a superiority complex. As an instructor is most frustrating, especially, since all of them have the “won’t happen to me disease”.

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4155

Thought for the day:

As I said yesterday, master the basics. Have confidence in your abilities and know your limitations. Arrogance will get you DRT. (Dead Right There)

It’s Friday , wear a little red for those deployed:

red.PNG

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4156

This started my day off with a chuckle, thank you.

A course like that sounds interesting to me. I like where I live but there’s just nothing like what some of you people have in other places. No courses like these, not much for serious martial arts, etc. It’d be cool to learn from someone such as yourself with real world experience.

4157

Slightly off topic, but a fun story anyway.

I went to school in DC, pretty good school, but my friends and I were all pretty rural guys, so we poked a lot of fun at the higher society type kids. We would go to parties at Georgetown or GW, pretend to be from some state school in my Midwest, have a good old time. The running gag was, whenever we met a kid from an Ivy League, we would pretend we had never heard of it.

Enter my Junior year. I’m at Georgetown with my buddies, all of us prepping to commission after college, all of us wearing boots, ball caps, drunk as all hell while slamming whiskey and chewing Copenhagen. In short, a great Saturday night. Some kid comes to talk to me, asks me where I go to school. I say “Kansas” (go Jayhawks), and he obviously waits for me to ask him the same. I don’t. After looking a bit perplexed, he offers up that he goes to Harvard, to which I respond “never heard of it, is that like a community college around here?”

In moments, this mans face has changed more shades than a west coast sunset. He keeps repeating “Harvard! Harvard university! It’s an Ivy League! You know, Harvard law, Harvard medical school, half the presidents went there, you know Harvard!”

Now, normally I don’t keep this joke up, it’s normally just a quick bit to mess with a guy. But he was so upset, I couldn’t just let him off the hook. So I keep up my feigned ignorance just going “look man, I’m sure it’s a fine school, but wouldn’t I of heard of it if it was that great?”

Now my buddy notices what is going on. He looks at me from behind Mr.Harvard, winks, then walks, introduces himself to me, and asks where I go to school. I say Kansas again, and ask where he goes. He replied “Yale.” I immediately freak out. “Oh my god, Yale is such an amazing school, how did you get in, you must be so smart, that’s so impressive.” Meanwhile, Harvard man is about to have an aneurism. He literally SHOUTS “how do you know Yale and not Harvard!!!”

At which point friend #2 pops into conversation, goes “Harvard? Isn’t that the legally blonde school?!”

Harvard man storms out of the room, absolutely pissed at the world, while the 3 of us drunken hicks just about pissed ourselves laughing. Good times, good times.

(Before it sounds like I hate all Ivy League dudes, one of my best friends on earth is actually a guy I met doing this joke. When I said I hadn’t heard of Dartmouth, he just shrugged and said “meh, it’s a little liberal arts school” no knocks on smart people, just pretentious ones)

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4158

Nice. I needed your post this morning, but, WARNING: Woke police probably will have you under surveillance after reading your post.

4159

Thought for the day:

Yesterday, I helped teach my 20th class for civilian CCW. The students had competed the necessary 20 hours of classroom instruction and the final hours were on the range. After the day was over, I am convinced that we have become a nation of candy assess. For those who are not, here is your thought for the day:

better than yesterday