I think it is funny people are worried about large capacity magazines and the damage they cause.
Of the recent shootings:
How many shots were fired?
How many successful reloads?
How many hits were actually made?
How many jams were successfull cleared in a quick amount of time?
I can think of a number of older gentlemen who prefer lever actions and super black hawks to ar's and glocks. and despite the ammo capacity downfall, could fire/reload at an alarming rate, hit more accurately, and be far more "effective" with their pistol/rifle.
It isnt the weapon, or how many rounds it holds. The people doing this crap are not 'plinkers' or 'gun activists' or well versed in gun control/use. It is the uninformed, untrained, off the wall jack ass that does something. So how does disarming the folks that dont fly off the handle help? Maybe work on informing the rest of the folks. :dunno: Just seems more common sense to take a proactive action and educate people than to freak out.
I am minded of someone who gave me grief over carrying my M1991A1SS - because I only had seven-round magazines, and he had fifteen rounds in his M9.
We were at an outdoor range, and it wasn't busy, so I called the RSO over and told him what I wanted to do:
- We would each put out three targets - one at seven yards, one at fifteen, and one at 25.
- We were each allowed a total of fifteen rounds (15+0 for him, 7+1 + 7 for me - two mags full and one up the spout in the beginning.)
- Each of us had to put five rounds on each target -
for score - as fast as possible. RSO had to say "Go!" - so there was no advantage, and we had to wait for it (to his credit, he had both of us standing there waiting for a good three minutes before he gave the "Go!" order.)
By the time he'd finished engaging the secon dtarget (15y,) I'd already engaged the first target, reloaded while engaging the second, engaged the third, dropped the empty and did a "clear and lock" on my sidearm back on the bench. I beat him by a good ten seconds. I also beat him by a good forty points and 2 or 3X when it was all counted up (he'd miscounted his rounds anyhow - had six holes in the 7y and 15y target, and only 3 in the 25y. The RSO scored us - decided to drop the the score closest to average for the target to deal with the extra holes, and the score was lost for the 25y target.)
We then posted new targets and swapped sidearms, and repeated the performance. I think I edged him out by 12s probably 60 points, and 3X or so. However, he
did get his shot counts right that time, each target had five holes in it! But, out of his 15 rounds, he had about six that were "off the island" and scored
nil.
Qualifying with a firearm to be used under stress is not about point-shooting - it's about
stress-shooting. Since its' inherently unsafe to have someone shooting at you when you practise, you just have to find alternate means to initiate physical/psychological stress. Any or all of the following, singly or in any combination you like:
- Great physical exertion. 100y wind-sprints are good for this.
- Physical wear. Hold a 15-20# weight with "wings spread" (arm straight out from the shoulder) for 3-5 minutes before you pick up your sidearm.
- Have someone shouting in your ear while you shoot.
- Have someone having a calm conversation with you while you're not facing the target, then he tosses firecrackers near you feet as your signal to start shooting (you're usually a quarter-turn away from the target, faced away from the guy talking to you.)
-- Additional Stressor: After doing a windsprint, you have to pick up your sidearm and load it - while you're panting and shaking!
-- Additional Stressor: Have your sidearm partially field-stripped, reassemble it after sprinting.
-- Additional Stressor: If you're using an auto, devise an "underload" where the bullet
will clear the barrel (critical!) but the brass will fail to eject - either reseating back into the chamber, doulble-feeding with the next round, or "stovepiping." NB: Mark these rounds clearly in our ammo - I usually used a red stamp pad for the heads, or colour the head with a red Sharpie pen.
Do not mix practice ammo and carry ammo! Think about it - you're tired, your shaking, you're trying to aim, and in the back of your mind, you just know that one round in, say, fifty will malfunction -
but which one? The highest incidence of "malfunction rounds" I've used is five per hundred, or one in twenty. These would invariably be scattered randomly throughout my training ammo - you may get one out of twenty, or you may get most of the way through a hundred then hit a block of them. Randomness is critical here.
Consider these tips a starting point for inducing stress. How about sprinting and then hanging upside down from an overhead bar with a holstered sidearm - draw and fire while inverted? Or hang from the overhead by your smart hand, and do a weak-hand crossdraw and fire rounds that way? Be creative, but
safety first! The ideas is to induce stress, not hurt someone while you're training (one of my favourites was to take a doubled strap and swat someone across the legs and lower back with it to screw up their aim. Not hard enough to raise welts, but hard enough to demand attention. NB:
This sort of stress requires a high degree of trust between trainer and trainee! I reserved "physical interference" for advanced students.)
)
