Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Highly recommend

The gun is a tool, your mind is the weapon, optimize your mind

Hojutsu

I had the pleasure of hosting, and taking the 3 day Hojutsu class from Soke Jeff Hall, and Sensi's Norman Hood, and  (guest instructor) LT Col (ret) Dave Grossman, this past weekend.
Hojutsu is the Japanese Martial art of gunnery, Hall has modernized it and it is now referred to as The Art of Shooting"

While many are under the impression that being a "Martial Art" there is a lot of kung foo or judo involved, but at this level there  are some very minor movements, and turns, more of an introduction to the art, as one progresses they can get more hands on if they wish. As practiced today, Hojutsu is the combination of the Modern Technique and traditional Japanese budo.


Hojutsu trains in handgun, rifle, shotgun, sub-machine gun, and precision rifle; they also train in unarmed defense, various impact weapons, edged weapons, and ground fighting. However, Hojutsu is primarily a shooting art. Note emphasis is on shooting, and it  pushes the student to be  not only faster , but more accurate in shooting.
The favored platform is the 1911, but any caliber or brand of firearm is acceptable, even 22's, 2 students shot the program using 22's, as Soke Hall said 10 fast good hits with a 22 are more effective than a lousy hit with a 50 caliber.
The course of fire extends from 2 yards, all the way back to 50, with a good bit of the shooting done at 25 yards, but there was also plenty at  3-5 and 7 yards.
I highly recommend this course to anyone that is looking at challenging themselves, and pushing themselves to a higher level.
The instructors were excellent, they seemed to be everywhere, and most of the time encouraging, as well as giving them suggestions and tips on how to perform better, it really was one of the best courses I've attended.


The nerve I pinched in 2011 returned with a vengeance, so my shooting was not up to par, when it hurts to draw and fire, last month I shot over 90% in the Rangemaster Instructor course, but  was barely keeping it at 85% this time around. I earned an orange belt which was more an award for attending the course. but it is definitely a course I will consider taking again

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Gun Porn

My team works hard, and sometimes with little to no pay. I decided to build each an AR-15 to match  them, Lisa is into Pink, Jim is really into zombies, and John  is a US Marine



Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Hojutsu

Hojustsu, the Japanese Martial Art of shooting is coming to Mad Duck Training, July 19/20/21st, Guest Instructor Lt Col (ret) Dave Grossman, author of ON COMBAT, and Soke Jeff Hall We expect to run 800-1000 rounds, course is only $375 for 2 and half days of training, contact us now to reserve a spot training@madduckttc.net
We have a few spots open

Friday, July 04, 2014

July 4th 1776-2014


Training Fallacies

John Johnston has a look

My personal take on it is that yes! a lot of people with little to no training were able to prevail were number one reason, they prevailed?,  they had a gun, the vast majority of criminals are those looking for an opportunity, they are not looking for a fight.. When suddenly confronted by an armed victim, they realize they have more pressing manners elsewhere. Which in studies are considered "Defensive Gun Use" such as Gary Kleck's studies, we are using guns 3 million times a year to stop what may have become a violent crime, in over *90% of the cases shots are not fired, in around 8% shots were fired, and nothing was hit., of course at the point the would-be criminal now knows the intended victim, is not really a victim at all, has a gun, and beats feet, in most cases.


 In the 2006 FBI study of assaults on Police Officers, they found :  40% of the criminal attackers received formal firearms training, over 80% regularly practiced with firearms (averaging 23 practice sessions a year), more than 40% had at least one gunfight experience, and 25% had been involved in more than 5 gunfights.  Of course in most law enforcement shootings the officer is in the process, of arresting someone who does not want to go to jail, and they fight to avoid going, and the dynamics of most LE shooting are different than those of civilians.

So when people tell me they hope they get lucky if they get in a gunfight, I tell them first off being in a gunfight is not being lucky, and if luck is involved, it is the attacker does not have the will to press on in the faced of armed resistance.

Yes in most cases the citizen with little to no training will prevail, if they have a gun, and have the wits to produce the gun, the criminal will seek greener pastures

For me I don't want the least going into a fight, I want the most, to insure my winning the fight.

In a lifetime, people will spend thousands and thousands of dollars on insurance, and the majority will never have their house burn down, or be involved in a car wreck, but balk at the thought of getting defensive training, spending a few hundred a year preparing themselves for something most pray never happens. 

I'd never had fun writing those checks to those insurance companies, but I have had a lot of fun in defensive shooting classes, that help insure my safety.

But the choice is your's if you feel what you have in training, mindset, equipment, etc are enough, then I wish you the best, but if you have doubt consider taking a course once a year.

Thursday, July 03, 2014

So the military is shopping

The MHS would replace the Army's inventory of more than 200,000 outdated M9 pistols and several thousand M11 9mm pistols with one that has greater accuracy, lethality, reliability and durability

While being up front, I am still a fan of the 1911, single action platform.
I do understand the shortcomings of the design, for military, it needs a lot of maintenance, there are a lot of parts some need to be fitted, and it does not have a large capacity, in a single stack design, and while it has served well for 100 years, something newer may will fit the needs of the military better.  

Perhaps it is time for the Military to adopt a striker fired pistol, in somewhat quoting Jeff Cooper, traditional double action pistols were the answer to a question not asked. The M9 and M11 getting off a first good shot is tough, I'm sure the pistols are very accurate, they are just really hard to learn to shoot accurately, going to a striker fired system, would give  them a lighter, more consistent trigger pull, which should lead to better accuracy, which is paramount in being able to hit the important parts, that make people want to be somewhere else. 

After 25 years the striker fired platforms have shown themselves to be pretty reliable and durable, with very little maintenance.   They have fewer parts for inventory, techs can be trained in one to two days to repair them. With many of the newer ones the grip size is adjustable, to actually fit a wide variety of shooters, over all grip size being one of the complaints with the M9. 

As to caliber maybe they need a new bullet rather than a different caliber. 9 mm is a good caliber, but standard FMJ's simply suck at stopping people,  issue something  like the Federal EFMJ, instead of standard 124 grain NATO hard ball ammo.

But the bottom line is they need to actually train people, not just qualify them, but train them how to use a handgun, and being the military I'm not sure that would happen across the board. Training is just not the cost of ammo, but scheduling and budgets and keeping paperwork to make sure those carrying handguns, are proficient, beyond lobbing 2 magazines of ammo at a rather large sheet of paper.