Another Range Report
It seems that killing 9" pieces of paper is my new favorite hobby, so here's another range report...
John (not YJ but a guy I work with) and I went to the range with his new Kel-Tec PLR-16 as well as his .44 snub and my Glock 23. We had a blast. The kel-tec has a flash supressor, barely kicks at all, and will put lead downrange fairly accurately just as fast as you can pull the trigger. Man that was fun. I couldn't stop grinning. The sights need a little work though--they're too open for my taste. I put a few rounds through the .44 as well, just because I hadn't shot that yet...I still like my Glock .40 cal better, although I'm getting to the point where I can control the bigger handguns more effectively.
We had the range to ourselves for half an hour or so, so I worked on my draw-and-fire. I have absolutely no benchmark for this, except to know that faster and more accurate are better, but I can reliably draw from an exposed hip carry and hit a 9" target at about 15 feet in (I think) about a second. Plenty of room for improvement, but also raises an important question:
When will this be useful?
I don't carry exposed (I can't, by law). So it will take me even longer to get to my weapon in a "live" situation (yes, I practice drawing from concealment, but currently I cannot do so safely with a loaded weapon). I can't imagine being in a situation where I would feel the need to draw down on someone who is not brandishing a deadly weapon. Human reaction time is, if I remember correctly, about 1/5th of a second. This implies that a goblin would be able to shoot me 5 times before I could defend myself with a firearm (obviously, other factors involved will reduce this number, but not to zero). It still looks like I'm better off disarming the goblin (I know/practice a few hand-to-hand moves for this, and can reliably deflect a handgun before the trigger is pulled in non-lethal tests*) if I'm in hand-to-hand range, and just running otherwise (tried this once, it worked well).
There's a lot of firearm enthusiasts out there who espouse the use of handguns for self-defense. I ask of you: what non-apocalyptic scenario am I missing where a handgun will actually be useful? Should I, with practice, expect to be able to draw and fire accurately before a goblin can pull his trigger? As a budding firearm enthusiast, I am sincerely curious. This is not flame-bait.
*I've never tried disarming anyone who was trained to use a handgun in a hand-t0-hand situation. Does anyone know if police (and related personnel) are taught anything about handgun retention?
John (not YJ but a guy I work with) and I went to the range with his new Kel-Tec PLR-16 as well as his .44 snub and my Glock 23. We had a blast. The kel-tec has a flash supressor, barely kicks at all, and will put lead downrange fairly accurately just as fast as you can pull the trigger. Man that was fun. I couldn't stop grinning. The sights need a little work though--they're too open for my taste. I put a few rounds through the .44 as well, just because I hadn't shot that yet...I still like my Glock .40 cal better, although I'm getting to the point where I can control the bigger handguns more effectively.
We had the range to ourselves for half an hour or so, so I worked on my draw-and-fire. I have absolutely no benchmark for this, except to know that faster and more accurate are better, but I can reliably draw from an exposed hip carry and hit a 9" target at about 15 feet in (I think) about a second. Plenty of room for improvement, but also raises an important question:
When will this be useful?
I don't carry exposed (I can't, by law). So it will take me even longer to get to my weapon in a "live" situation (yes, I practice drawing from concealment, but currently I cannot do so safely with a loaded weapon). I can't imagine being in a situation where I would feel the need to draw down on someone who is not brandishing a deadly weapon. Human reaction time is, if I remember correctly, about 1/5th of a second. This implies that a goblin would be able to shoot me 5 times before I could defend myself with a firearm (obviously, other factors involved will reduce this number, but not to zero). It still looks like I'm better off disarming the goblin (I know/practice a few hand-to-hand moves for this, and can reliably deflect a handgun before the trigger is pulled in non-lethal tests*) if I'm in hand-to-hand range, and just running otherwise (tried this once, it worked well).
There's a lot of firearm enthusiasts out there who espouse the use of handguns for self-defense. I ask of you: what non-apocalyptic scenario am I missing where a handgun will actually be useful? Should I, with practice, expect to be able to draw and fire accurately before a goblin can pull his trigger? As a budding firearm enthusiast, I am sincerely curious. This is not flame-bait.
*I've never tried disarming anyone who was trained to use a handgun in a hand-t0-hand situation. Does anyone know if police (and related personnel) are taught anything about handgun retention?
posted by Ted @ 22:18
2 Comments:
At 31/3/08 14:11 ,
KAISER ANDY I said...
Congratulations on your grouping. With my glasses my focus changes when I squint or close one eye, so sometimes my grouping is horrible, but the design left in the paper would make a nice stencil.
I've thought about getting rid of my pistols since I have an SKS that has a 20rd magazine, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
And yes, there are only two reasons that I have firearms:
1)I like to shoot at stuff. There is no feeling of satisfaction compared to riddling to pieces a printer that has given one much grief.
2) Apocolypes. If everything goes to hell, and I have guns and ammo, then goons don't get to have my stuff. (stuff includes food and water for those wishing to diferentiate between "important things" and mere "possessions.")
At 31/3/08 20:18 ,
Yankee John said...
Dad's armed transport classes indicated that among trained users (cops), the second and third rounds struck flesh. Round one struck ground in front of target and rounds four, five and six (or more?) discharged in air above intended's head.
Draw and fire one-handed from forward leaning crouch with off-hand covering chest at heart-level. While it will not stop an accurate shot, it may slow down/redirect to non-lethal.
Remember, if you're in a pull situation, you were dead anyway...
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