Fact of Life

[sm]

Facts of Life

<pulls out Zippo, lights a Marlboro Red>

*cough* *hack* *cough*

Well then don't breathe while I smoke.

Now I got the right to be wrong - which means I also got the right to be right.
I just happen to be right is all.

I. Guns

It don't make a tinker's damn what anyone else uses, be it a Police Department, or a branch of the Military.
If a gun does not fit the shooter, they are not going to be worth a damn with it.
Gun fit encompasses a lot of things.
We got a search feature here, look it up.

Life example of lying to one's self -
Broadway Joe Joe Namath, quarterback for NY Jets back in the day, come up with the idea that wearing pantyhouse, kept him warm playing in cold climates. Other Professional Football players, College players found this to be true.
Silk Underwear , was not thin enough, and poly-pro was not out yet.

Every swinging Richard got a pair of pantyhose and thought they were a real deal professional quarterback, and these knuckleheads did not know what a football was, how to do anything with one, but they sure could strut and tell stories how pantyhose kept them warm and they beat the Key West Seashells 129-14 with a 159 yard pass with .99999 seconds to go in the game in a blinding snowstorm down in FL with the temps a minus 70*

Go shoot a bunch of guns, find one that fits you, and get some lessons and be one with the gun and to heck with anyone that says different.


II. Ladies and Guns.
Guys, just shut up and leave the ladies alone will ya.

Ladies, tell daddy, hubby, BF , your boss, whoever the guy is, to get lost.
Ladies do better with Ladies.
Just find a place with ladies and be yourself, meaning unlike guys with two heads and egos, "Girls, I don't know squat, but willing to learn, so what is what?
Let the ladies get some guns together, make arrangements at a rental range, whatever and get what you like.
The male in your life don't like it, get him some pantyhose and tell him he is a stud looking football player and he will be on 'Net with his buddies all night playing Broadway Joe does Cyberspace.

III. Kids and Gun.
First off just Cold Cock the first person that says kids should not shoot guns.
Some folks just need hitting anyway.
If a family member, fire them.
If a friend , fire them too.
Life is just too short to have some folks breathing your oxygen anyway.

Fun is the key. Yeah Yeah Yeah we got Safety Stuff.
Make the safety stuff fun. I mean if a girl wants pink on her safety stuff, fine, make it fun. If a boy wants a NASCAR sticker on his, go for it.
Got a old "Dead Head" sticker and some little lady thinks this is cool, great, stick on her range bag for safety stuff.

.22 single shot rifle.
Get one, hell get three.
I don't care if a old one , or a new one. Just have one a kid can learn to shoot on.
I don't care if you don't have kids, I don't care if you don't have nieces or nephews.
Do you really need "another" thigh holster and this time in LazyBoy Camo just because you have a C note burning a hole in your pocket?

Next time you have some money you just gotta spend, put down the $35 bottle of gun lube that enhances erection, promises to make you drive like Jackie Stewart and TEEM Tinkerbell uses in Iceland...
Get a Spinnner target, more bricks of .22 ammo, more safety eyes and ears...

IV. How to shoot a gun.
Correct basic fundamentals are the key.

One you have found the gun that fits YOU, get some quality lessons on whatever you are going to use the thing for.

All shooting is, is correct basic fundamentals repeated over and over and over and over again.

One cannot buy skill and targets.

Just because Sophie Loren wore Platex bras, does not mean if you wear a Platex bra you are going to become a curvaceous movie star.

V. Shotguns.

<lights another Marlboro Red>

So you want to be a shotgunner?

First off, there is a difference in owning a shotgun, and being a shotgunner.

Now, I happen to be right on all this. The fact that other folks , including some "known" folks agree with all this, just supports all this.
Accept it - Some stuff just "are". "A is A" as Ayn Rand said.

Most standard shotguns off the rack are just mass produced to fit a 5'10" male that weighs about 165 # and has a sleeve length of 32"

Sorry, but the factory just wants your money and it is up to you deal with the rest. Called Life, deal with it.

Shotguns are pointed - not aimed.
So YOU and the Shotgun have to FIT as one.

How many folks have a ghost ring sighting system on their forearm/ wrist/ index finger when they point at a light switch across the room?

Hell I knew there would be at least three in the crowd...*sigh*
TEEM SEEL 37.5 is meeting down the hall, hurry, and you might still get the free decoder rings and mouse pads with 4.5" ultimate extreme exotic 00000 buckshot on them...<door shuts, they gone>

"What shotgun do I buy?" - you ask

You don't go out and buy one yet.

"But I am lady and have filed a restraining order and am in fear of my life"
No problem, I can fix that in 5 min and have you up to speed on a shotgun in ten minutes or less. Just have seat next to me and after I finish we will deal with this. I have a helluva lot of experience in this area.

Now go find a seasoned shotgunner, that knows not only about gun fit, correct basic fundamentals, they also know how to read and access a person in using a shotgun.

Ladies, go find a lady. If there is a guy recommended, such as I am to ladies having earned a certain reputation with ladies , then ladies YOU have to feel comfortable with a guy assisting.
I prefer to have a lady assist me with another lady.

Girls got parts and have certain questions and needs guys don't.
Then again, I have earned a place to where I can be asked anything, and be adult about it, no matter how personal.
When I have to put hands on a lady, I ask permission and do not take advantage of it.

A variety of shotguns are available and the basic lessons on gun fit.

A bent arm and a shotgun only tells one that have a bent arm and a shotgun.
Sorta like a dime and a muzzle for checking a choke. All that tells one is they have a dime and a shotgun barrel.

28 gauge guns is what I and a lot of others prefer to actually start a new shooter on.
I don't care if they are 6'5" and play Linebacker or 4'10 and have to dance in the shower to get wet.

Wood stock, bone stock shotguns.
Wood is denser and has less perceived recoil.
Wood allows for fitting the gun.
Synthetic does not allow for a LOP to be properly adjusted. No meat to attach the recoil pad.
Synthetic - Forget drop at comb, pitch, cast on, cast off and getting/ having a variety of bone stock shotguns for a new shooter.

Now after actually shooting a variety of wood, bone stocked shotguns , from the ones the seasoned shooter has made arrangements to have for you, the one that fits the best, is further tweaked to fit the shooter.

So the stock has a pc of moleskin on the comb? It fits, it shoots where pointed and breaks clays moving 55 mph.
Ask me if I care a stock has a matchbook shim "here" and one "there" to tweak the fit. I don't, the student does not seen to care, she is grinning and having a good time breaking low 7 and if we don't find some more clays and /or shells she is going to toss a hissy fit as she ain't wanting to stop breaking clays.

2 hours earlier she did not know what a LOP or Pitch was. Now she is ready for Team Beretta. *grin*

Those stock dimensions are what the student gets when they finally buy their own shotgun. A seasoned shooter with a quality gunsmith, that also knows about gun fit tweaks the stock.

Books by Brister and Misseldine are bought and read.
Everything from pattern boards, chokes, loads, stance, you name are learned.
Repetitions of correct mounting of gun to face every night to instill and ingrained. Stamina is also built up.

Will Fennell is on the East Coast, go see him and get lessons for example.
He will share the custom guns used by Big Boys and Girls are fit to the shooter - and many do not have beads on the gun on purpose.

TrapperReady, PJR, Lee Lapin, and of course Dave McCracken doing search will turn up other great tips.


VI. Ammunition.

1. Gun has to feed and extract and the magazines are an integral part of a semi-auto.
2. What ammunition is the gun designed to use?

i.e. Most dedicated .38spl guns were designed to shoot 158 gr loads to Point of Aim.

i.e Older shotguns, and some current one were/are manufactured for instance when/for 2 3/4", 2 3/4, or 3 dr eqiv of 1 1/8 oz of shot were the accepted standard at skeet/trap.
1 oz and for sure 7/8oz loads won't run them, because (a) that loading was not even a factory loading back when, and (b) you guessed it, the gun was not designed to run it.
So quit sticking shotgun shells in a gun that was not made to run those shells and problems will cease - promise.


[Point of Aim /Point of Impact (POA/POI)


3. It does not matter what a box of ammunition says, what marketing says, what the Internet says.
What does shooting the ammunition actually do out of your gun?

Shotguns : Say hello to Mr/Mrs Pattern board, they will be your host today.
Handguns/rifles : say hello to Mr/Mrs target downrange, they have some things to reveal to you.

Defensive stuff : Real simple, gun has to run, and projectile go where it is supposed to.
Forget the oopy goopy stuff.
Just get a load that works every time in your gun and mags if a semi, and stick with a proven load like a 158 gr LSWC-HP for a 38 spl, 115 /124(my preference) standard pressure 9mm, 230 gr standard pressure hardball, JHP, or 200 gr #68 .

.40 cal? Heck if know, I don't do .40. My gun platforms and calibers were chosen w-ay before this came to be.

Just some facts of life as I see 'em.

Never cared much for what folks thought of me nohow, so it won't hurt my feelings if you do not agree.

 

[XD Fan]

Well, that was a mouthful.

Good words, sm.

 

[General Geoff]

Just because Sophie Loren wore Platex bras, does not mean if you wear a Platex bra you are going to become a curvaceous movie star.

Liar!!! *cries*



Seriously though, some interesting insights. I get the impression that most of your guns and knowledge about them are older than me.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Ahhh. Much Better.

Thank you, Steve.

That's good stuff.

 

[Kilgor]

Very nice rambling write up.

Since you gave me your opinions, I'm gonna give you one of mine.

Them Marlboro's are gonna kill ya. You ought to quit.

 

[coelacanth]

the man knows whereof he speaks. 'Nuff said.

 

[esheato]

Shotgun Suspicions

It was the confirmation I had been looking for after years of hunting game birds and occasionally shooting clay targets. It seems I always shot better when I reacted instead of factoring lead, speed of the target and all that other stuff that gets jumbled inside your head before you pull the trigger.

"Have you ever noticed when you're in the dove field and somebody yells, 'David, over you,'" said Gil Ash, who teams with wife, Vicki, to form one of the top shotgun shooting coaching teams in the nation. "You whirl, mount your gun and BOOM. The dove falls like a brick. Then you sit there and watch a dove fly 200 yards across a field and you put the gun where it 'feels right' and pull the trigger. The bird keeps flying after you've emptied your gun. That's because you're thinking too much.

"Your subconscious mind has the ability to know, to realize, where that target is going to be before it gets there."

The good thing about the Ashes, who run the OSP (Optimum Shotgun Performance) Shooting School, is they back up their statements with fact. Gil said neurological studies indicate the subconscious tracks a target much better than anyone realizes.

"There is science behind what we teach," said Ash, who was recently with Vicki at Selwood Farm near Talladega, Alabama for a sporting clays clinic. "What we're doing is bringing science to the art. The reason you never look down the barrel of a shotgun is the time it takes for your brain to process what's going on. If you rely on your subconscious, that information is updated every five milliseconds. It takes your conscious brain somewhere between 200 and 300 milliseconds to process the information. When you're shooting, that makes the information old and different each time. If you're thinking about it, most of the time you're going to miss."

Instead of "thinking" about leads, barrel position and other aspects of shotgunning, the Ashes teach that the only thing a shooter should focus on is the target. Leave everything else to the subconscious.

"To even come anywhere close to achieving your potential with a shotgun, you must learn to shoot instinctively," Gil said. "You must let it go and let your subconscious control the gun and be aware of only one thing in the conscious mind - the target.

"The muzzle is not your friend. If you're looking at what I call the 'missing' bead, you're not going to break the target or drop the bird. The gun is in your peripheral vision. You know it's there. But you shouldn't be looking at it.

The Ashes, who offer a series of books and instructional videos, use car keys as illustration. When you get into a car you're not familiar with, such as a rental, you have to consciously look for the ignition switch and insert the key. In the car you've driven for years, you automatically insert the key without thinking about. It's the same way with a keyboard. If you're just learning to type, you're always looking at the keyboard. With as many stories as I've written through the years, my fingers subconsciously type the letters of the word that pops into my head.

"The conscious mind is really a one-track mind," Gil said with the fervor of a preacher during a summer revival. "The subconscious mind, on the other hand, can coordinate and be aware of many things at once. There is also that inconsistent 200- to 300-millisecond delay in conscious reaction. That basically means that if you are conscious of the barrel, you are shooting in the past tense. Perception is a lie, no matter how real it looked. On the other hand, the subconscious is reacting instinctively in the present. The more you are consciously aware of the gun or the lead the more likely you will miss the target.

"As long as it is focused on the target you have a chance to hit the target. The instant you become aware of exact lead, you have to take conscious focus off the target and onto the gun or the lead. When this happens, the gun stops and the target is missed."

Overcoming the inclination to think about how much lead to apply or barrel position to a certain shooting situation is not easy, which is why the Ashes are in so much demand around the nation. Gil says there's a misconception about instinctive shooting.

"Some people think instinctive shooting means that a person walks on to a shooting stand, loads the gun without any plan or routine, calls pull and shoots the targets," he said. "That's not what I'm talking about. You have to have the mechanics in place to give you the confidence to let the subconscious work for you. You have to practice the fundamental mechanics of mounting the shotgun and swing techniques until they become instinctive."

The second aspect has to do with the focus of your conscious mind. The Ashes know the mind has a tendency to wander, so maintaining focus on the target is crucial.

After a missed shot on the range, Vicki asked me where I was looking.

"At the target," I mumbled sheepishly.

"Don't just focus on the target," she replied. "Focus on the front of the target and make a smooth gun mount."

Soon I was breaking targets right and left under her tutelage. The dreaded rabbit target became a piece of cake. Of course, I've got to make sure that instruction will hold over until the middle of September when dove season opens.

Instead of leaving the gun in the case, the Ashes suggest a simple exercise that can be done inside, not out in the sweltering heat of August.

First and foremost, make sure the shotgun is unloaded. Then take a small flashlight (a Mini-Mag works perfectly) and wrap tape around it to keep from scarring the muzzle. Place the flashlight in the barrel (top barrel for over-and-unders) and find a quiet, somewhat dark room.

To practice the gun mount, focus the light at an upper corner of the room with a lowered gun and then smoothly mount the gun, keeping the beam of light in the corner.

When Vicki had me try that the first time, my gun mount was so jerky it really wasn't funny. I jabbed the gun into my shoulder at the last second and the light beam jumped like crazy. With her instruction, my gun mount soon smoothed out and the light barely wiggled.

To practice for the crossing shots, first determine where you want to break the target. Then start with the aforementioned drill and swing your gun along the joint formed by the ceiling and the wall. When it's done correctly, the gun mount and swing will finish exactly at the predetermined firing point.

"It takes a lot of practice for it to become instinctive," Gil said. "But when it's done right, it's a beautiful thing."'

-----------------------------------------

Years ago, when I first started shotgunning. I had one of the "old guys" at the club assist with my instruction. His catch phrase when I would miss the target was, "DON'T THINK...JUST SHOOT!"

I didn't realize until a year or two later how significant that statement was.

Ed

Steve, I wasn't trying to take over your thread. I'll remove the article if you wish.

 

[Jim March]

In my personal opinion, handgun fit is as important as you describe shotgun fit. While I'm not a shotgunner, I'm decent with a wheelgun. I detest how SASS/CAS doesn't allow ergonomic modifications to handguns, but do for shotguns. It's discrimination based on the idea that "handguns are evil" and that real combat skills with the handgun are to be derided as there's no "good" use for them outside the game.

Disgusting.

Then again...I've worked PC tech support and sysadmin for 17+ years, fought carpal tunnel personally, I know quite a bit about hand fit on keyboards, mice and trackballs. The same thinking carries over to all other hand tools.

I'll go one more step: important breakthroughs in firearm ergonomics were made in the 19th century when firearm designers from JMB on down personally used hand tools. Daily. As a mechanical engineer in front of his CAD/CAM station the last time he's picked up a screwdriver.

This is most clear in shotguns. A true shotgunner of the late 19th century would know everything about fit and ergonomics that Steve knows...and would express it damned similar in very similar guns. Sure, modern stuff is tougher, holds more "boom" and is (maybe!) more accurate, but look at the ergonomics: unchanged.

Take it another step further back in time: the best axe handles are based on a design tracing back AT LEAST 300 years. And a design, not coincidentally in my opinion, somewhat related to the Colt "plowhandle" grip frame.

 

[AndyC]

It's not often that I laugh when I read something - that in this case just also happens to ring oh-so-true true

 

[sm]

I want to take that shot of coffee
and smoke that cigarette,
I want to taste that sweet addiction on my breath
Some cowboys just on out like that. - Tim McGraw, sorry dude edited it a bit.

Last 5 folks I buried that died of cancer, never smoked a cigarette in their life.
I was down the hall in a hospital when a 26 year male, that had never smoked, drank, whom worked out, jogged, ran marathons rarely ate red meat and all - died from a Myocardial Infraction [heart attack].
It is in the genes.

One sees sick and dying folks around Doctors, and Nurses. Quit going to the doctor and you will live longer - Doc shooting pard of mine.

Which brings up...

Absolutes.

'Taint any.
About the only two things that come close are:

1. If something takes life as we know it, someday that life will cease as we know it
2. Universe existed before I showed up, and will continue to after I am gone.

When I "cease"-
Just clean up the habitat for Quail, get a good brushfire going, toss my corpse on it, and walk off and get on with what you gotta do.

Absolutes:
Firearms ain't magic talismans to ward off evil.
Firearms ain't magic talismans that are absolutely assured of going "bang" either .
More than once I have had gun pointed at me, and the trigger pulled and it did not go bang.
Granted I didn't really take the time at the exact moment this occurred to investigate why.

I was a little busy doing stuff, like evading, moving off the line, going straight inside and taking the slide off the gun, getting the web of my hand between hammer and frame of revolver, using a simple Case Knife Trapper, with carbon steel blades to slice their guts open, shoving a gun up under a chin, hitting a Adams's Apple with the muzzle of my gun, or taking a cigarette ash can and beating a a lady BG about the head/body with the "tray" to get them to quit doing what they were doing.

Umm, this means don't get real attached to the idea that just because you are Good Guy , have a gun, and the situation dictates you use your gun - it will go bang when it is supposed to as well.

Mr. Murphy will always show up at the wrong time.

Lady Luck, well she is welcome any darn time she chooses to make her presence in my life.

 

[sm]

But what about getting back to shotguns and their use in defensive uses?

<looks, person asking ain't got curb feelers and fuzzy dice on a shotgun, lights
another smoke>

It ain't the shotgun itself.
It is the person's Software with the shotgun that makes the difference.

OK, you went out and got a seasoned person to assist in getting started with shotguns.
You got the correct basic fundamentals instilled with a gun fit to YOU after actually trying a variety, and have a pile of spent hulls from quality practice.
Hot Damn! Someone got "it".

Take this wood stocked, bone stocked shotgun to a Awerbuck's, Randy Cain's - etc- defensive shotgun class. For sake of ease, I'll just stick with Awerbuck, other Quality trainers apply as well..

"Mr. Awerbuck,
I come here to learn defensive use of a shotgun.
That idiot Steve got me set up with this here gun that fits ME, and I have lots and lots of time spent with it , doing repetition of correct mounting to face, Admin stuff, quality practice shooting moving targets, stationary targets while I move, some homemade 3 D targets and the like.
I know 4 rules, am willing, and all I have is this wood, bone stocked shotgun with a 28" barrel , that fits me, and hits what I am looking at".

Awerbuck hasa student that gets "it".
He will access YOU, and YOUR environment and therefore be able to assist YOU for defensive gun needs.

He may choose to have you try some other guns , and shoot them to access you.
Just write down the exact specs, and whatever else he suggests for you, and then get a second gun set up exactly as he said do.
Then go out and be one with this gun.


Just never made sense to me why a person would order a bunch of crap, then get a shotgun this crap bolts onto.
They have no idea if the gun runs out of the box - since they did not shoot it to start with, and for sure not know if it fits them, if they can reach all the controls and all...
They have no idea what loads that gun and it's barrel with forcing cone, bore diameter likes, constriction at muzzle (choke) , or anything else.

This is sorta like having a after sex cigarette before you even get a date, much less get to the bedding part.

 

[sm]

So what is a defensive shotgun to You?

Whatever is handy.

Currently loaned out is the one I keep "handy". H&R Topper Youth 20 ga , fixed modified factory , plain barrel with a factory bead. Loading is Forster Slugs.

I like simple, and there is that part about pissing off folks into buying skill and targets. *grin*

I do-
Bone stock wood, no sidesaddle, no mag extensions.
I am real big into the gun going "bang", so to me Less is More.
I don't care if it is a Single Shot, O/U, SxS, Pump, or Semi-Auto.
2 3/4" shells, and I don't care if the barrel is 18.5" or 34".

My preferred load is slugs, NO reduced Recoil anything - ever, and Prefer Slugs, Foster or Brennke. 2 3/4" only.

NEVER a stock with a recoil reducing feature, Pistol grip with full stock, and all this other marketing hyped crap.

Shotguns are pointed, not aimed.

World Wars,Various Conflicts, Enemy tossing grenades and bone stock Model 97s, Model 12, 870, Ithaca 37 shot these grenades BEFORE they reached US and Allies.

Some of these "grenades" had "gas". So in a trench, with perhaps Trench Foot, a country boy raised right, learned how to shoot and he fells what he is looking at, mounts a '97, smoothly and quickly mounts shotgun to face, his human computer takes over and he fells that "gas" in No Man's Land, and he, and the rest of his Trench Buddies are safe.
He and others like him continue to bust these "grenades" with a simple shotgun using correct basic fundamentals over and over and over again.

Military also used Skeet for Aerial Gunners to learn how to shoot moving targets , so they could understand hitting moving planes.
Planes intent on crashing themselves on deck.

I know about this in a "civilian capacity". More than once I was there, when during Civil Unrests, a Firebomb was tossed at a house, and a Mentor used a bone stock shotgun, felled that firebomb which fell into the street, and therefore did not make it to a porch and set it on fire.

Now laugh at the Clay target shooters that hit 4" discs moving 55 mph and faster.

Can you hit a 4" target coming at you at 55 mph, 21 yards from you?
Skeet shooters do it all the time at station low 8.

Get your Ultimate Extreme with Exotic ammunition and try low 8 and get back to me.

~
Serious shotgun needs to be set up for the smallest person that might have to use it.

LOTs of folks on this board alone have this set up, not to mention elsewhere.

Bigger Person can effectively shoot a smaller gun - a smaller person cannot always effectively shoot a bigger one.

Never ever learn anything with a crutch, for if that crutch is lost, you will fall down.

No recoil reducing stocks, no pistol gripped only , or pistol grip and full stock, no nothing.

Side saddle will impede a gun running, and one cannot just punch pins and get the trigger group down , out, fixed, it takes a wrench.

Pistol grip with full stock will not allow one to get down under a vehicle as well to shoot feets, or bounce loads.
Plus if PG on full stock was so great, then how come Int'l Skeet and Trap folks don't use them?
One has to shoot from low gun, and the targets fly faster than 55 mph in these sports.

Shotgun has to run port up, port down, upside down and up and over one's head.
One can shoot a regular old bone stock from up and over head in a confined space, where that PG will impede.

This all might make clearer why forever, folks have been able to defend themselves in times of conflicts abroad, and at home.
Been able to fell flying game in the air, running game on the ground to put food on the table, with a bone stock shotgun, that fits, using correct basic fundamentals.

Don't bet that person with a 34" barrel gun cannot get gun mounted to face and break a target faster than a person with a shorter barrel - unless you like losing money.


I am not going to be at your gunfight - Awerbuck

 

[Tinman357]

Steve....

If I'm ever in your part of the country, I'd like to buy you a glass of whatever tickles your fancy and just sit and listen, openminded, to whatever knowledge you wanted to share with me. Refreshingly honest post.

Thank you.

 

[Picknlittle]

So SM,...tell us how you really feel!

 

[elrod]

As George Wallace used to say, "Thats puttin' it down there where the goats can get it!"

 

[Ieyasu]

carpal tunnel relief...

I've worked PC tech support and sysadmin for 17+ years, fought carpal tunnel personally, I know quite a bit about hand fit on keyboards, mice and trackballs. The same thinking carries over to all other hand tools.

Jim, don't know whether you're still using a mouse, but if you don't have carpal tunnel in your left hand, try using the mouse with your left (if you're a lefty, obviously switch to your right). I've recommended that to several folks and it's worked for them. It only takes a day or two to adjust.

 

[sm]

So what about the firearms and stuff on TV?

Hell if I know. I do not personally own a TV.
New is just a filler for more .gov BS propaganda and brainwashing.
Expose enough folks to something they come to accept it.

Hey, it worked for the Good Guy Countries showing Bad Guy Countries propaganda stuff so will, .gov just decided to show the home folks in the name of Tyranny.

Entertainment is just that - entertainment.
When I had a TV, all 13" of color, with rabbit ear antenna, and NO remote control, I watched Educational tapes on VHS, or Old movies, made back when folks could write, and actors and actresses could act.
Comedy is great. Peter Sellers and Pink Panther movies for instance, to heck with guns, and martial arts, it was a comedy and just accept it as being so.

Now take some older actors.
Jerry Lewis , can't stand him and his comedy, respect his fund raising, still if Memory Serves he was THE fastest Quick Draw and Sammy Davis was number 2.


As a kid the neat part of TV was the Test Pattern , great target for suction darts and target practice.

Just accept the TV does NOT own you, and is only a Medium. A medium that been proven to brainwash folks and shape societal views and affect legislation.
Unless you just happed to like being controlled...

Don't take it serious, use it responsibility.
Like get the kids some suction darts and let them shoot the TV to keep from driving you nuts while you fix supper, fold clothes or whatever.

Movies?

Well society went to hell in a hand-basket when the Drive-In Picture shows went out.
Adding the Walk-in Picture shows got rid of Balconies.

We got guys growing up not knowing girls wear bras, how to undo one on handed and the smooth transition skills when the gal wears one with the snap in front.

No wonder guys have to have Big Head Safeties on shotguns and Ambi's on Semi-Auto handguns.
No wonder guys cannot run a gun without looking at one, they have no practice doing anything in low light, no light, much less while moving and scooting and using cover.


Girls, they won't bite, and that thing they do on your ear is called nibbling, don't get squeamish, and don't get all tactical. One is not supposed to be in condition yeller all the time - then again one can't anyways.

Girls just want a guy to pay attention and listen.
Girls just want a guy to pay attention and listen.
Girls just want a guy to pay attention and listen.

Even sharing that 3 times, some of you boys still were not paying attention or heard a word I typed.

Guys, just go out and get The Sackets , Got Sam Elliot , Tom Selleck and some other folks you will recognize.
Now look at the note you wrote down when the girl said what food she liked.
If there are kids, look at what they said they liked.

Just out of the blue, let this lady know, and kids if applicable, to clear a evening and you have a surprise. Don't worry about cooking or nothing.
No gift giving day, no strings attached.

If this means you have to get the kids hot dogs and whatnot and her Chinese, and yet another stop for that Chocolate

[She said bite sized York Peppermint Patties and Heath, just thought I'd save you the trouble from looking at the note - I was paying attention and listening, and I was bit further away from her than you were at the time]

Then get this stuff.

YOU are going to prepare, set this out, clean up and take the trash out.
I promise you will not lose membership in the Boy's Club.

Now, before you put the movie in, you are going to watch the movie.
It does not matter about the guns, if period correct, nothing.
This is called Quality Time, and if you blow it being a anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive jerk - I will sic the dawg on your butt.
That is if there is anything left when the gal get through with you.

She smells good don't she?
Kids are having a pretty good time too huh?

*Pitter_Patter* - Yeah, girls got hearts that do that when they see Selleck and Elliot.
Oh part is due to the fact they are handsome and have that "draaawwwl".
Part is the fact the "guys" are real "guys".
They are living life, not just "existing".
They have a life that is varied, and they are knowledgeable about all sorts of stuff, besides just guns, horses, knives, rope, and the like.

They live life - they don't fantasize about life.

Respect for another, including ladies. They do not talk down to them, treat ladies like a second class citizen or nothing.
Respect is something one earns, so if you want Respect you gotta earn it.

Take note how real men had time for kids. Passing forward all sorts of stuff, not just guns, and knives, all sorts of things on how to be responsible and all.

Notice the ladies? Well they too were pretty self reliant, responsible for themselves.

Hint - Females have always been the "hunted" and the "target".
Females have genes, passed down since forever and some call this "Instinct" .

Natural order of things, these matters of Predator and Prey. Species get what they need for adaption to environment and surviving in said environments.

Now the fellow with the beer gut, dressed in some fantasy get up pretending to be TEEM SEEL 37.5 most likely is never going to have some sleazy guy eye him , check out his bra size, how he swooshes them hips and have this sleazy guy be thinking "Oh yeah ! I likes what I sees and how I would like to have my way with ...."

Sorry dude, it ain't gonna happen. You are most likely to fall for the BG lady in a crew with no bra, low cut top, short shorts and once distracted the other BGs folks that were following you, take you down.

The female on the other hand, can "sense" something is "creepy".
If this lady is a mom, she has additional "instincts".
If ladies , moms or not, have kids around, even more "instincts"

Natural Order of things - that Female is going to protect kids, no matter what!

The female of the species is the more dangerous of the two - Kipling

Did you pick that up in the movie, The Sacketts and other Older Classics? Well that stuff is in there.

Guys have manners, they tip there hat, say "ma'am" and open doors.
Not that Females "can't" open the door, or has to have "sweet talk" or "attention".
Called Chivalry , Respect and all.
Mom's smother kids, and worry about kids.
Guys do this stuff.

She either goes through the door or it slams in her face, don't matter, the guy being what a guy does did his thing, if she want to be a biatch, that is her right to be one.
Just she might consider pulling her Robin Hood Flour Panties down a bit to get them un-wadded and see it that helps her attitude.

Still the Internet did not disappear, all your gun buddies are still here. Your guns are just fine and dandy and it was sorta nice, spending some Quality Time with a lady, lady with kids and just watching the movie and not picking it apart nice wasn't it ?

There is more to responsible firearm ownership than firearms - me

Responsible TV and Movies use are just two examples...

Guys, that Kate gal is some kind of cute in The Sacketts ain't she?

 

[sm]

So what about Internet?

Like having my own Library and Resource Room at my finger tips is what it is.

See I am just dumb older Southern Boy, come up poor.
Going the Library was a big treat! All them books, magazines, journals, publications, stuff on Mico-Fiche, oh man oh man!

Just a kid and this real purty HS girl showed me the Micro-Fiche deal one day.
I mean newspapers from other cities, states, even countries!
"If you need me to help you , just let me know"
I about drove that poor gal crazy. She was nice, had a neat giggle and beautiful smile. She never talked down to me, never seemed to tire of my questions.

"Just checking up to make sure you are okay?" she would say and take note of all the stuff I was writing down in a notebook and using that Library pen she gave me.

"Sweetie , we are going to have to close in a bit. I'm sorry, but we need to tidy up and you do have a way home right?"

"Yes ma'am, I have a way home".
She fussed at me when she saw me walking, or acting like I was going to hitch-hike home to save the 7 cents for bus fare.
"Get in, and I wish you would ...ohhhh! Boys are such a pain!"
Then she patted my knee, "not fussing, just fussing like girls do, when boys are hard headed".

I still use Libraries, and Resource Rooms. Some kids I hang with, we all go to the Library. Lucky little brats, they don't have to contend with the card catalog being too tall for them to use, much less figure out, like I did.

Still peaceful, and one can focus and all.

_

I put off computers and 'Net as long as I could.
Figured the things would improve, come down in price and be easier to work like Microwaves did.

Internet is interesting. Spent some time doing some Social Experiments.
Society is more "open" than it was in years past, some matters one did not "talk about".

Internet is a reflection of society.
Folks always hid behind something, always pulled pranks, stirred stuff up. Hang up calls, Crank Calls, Anonymous Letters...now they just use Internet.

Folks always pretended to be something they were not, still do it via 'Net.

I was born in the last great decade.
Since then folks have become more uncivil and less polite.

Early Internet, well you know the history of computers, DARPA, ARPA and all that jazz.
So the folks back them that could afford a computer, were Professional and Educated.
Internet , if you will, was expensive! So folks that communicated between colleges and science centers and all, well they were civil, polite , professional and had the money to spend for Internet Access.

Remember that part about how folks have become uncivil , not polite, and all since I was born?
Computers come down in price, as did Internet Access fees.
Now anyone can be a uncivil Jerk, not only in Society, also on 'Net.

Some folks just cannot behave themselves and have to ruin it for everyone.

Don't make a tinker's damn about Rules of Conduct, and all, Folks make whatever gathering of folks work.

-

'Net is pretty neat. I get even more old , after spending ~ 30 years in a work and go to College. First one in family to attend.
I have taken semesters and never set foot on the college campus.
Online classes, and even had a study partner, a young lady in the Country of Spain!
Helluva deal. She in Spain and me in the South of USA.
I made a smart remark about online classes and one could "be in class" in pajamas.
"I'm just wearing a big old comfy shirt and nothing else" she said one day.
That will disrupt a classroom, even a virtual one.
She likes shotguns, shoots a SxS 20 bore with double triggers , driven bird hunts.
They ever get that bridge built from here to there, I gotta invite to go to Spain and shoot birds.
We got our project done early.
Had to.
We had some shotgun and bird shooting business to attend to. *grin*

New Zealand is another place once the bridge gets built , I have an invite to visit.

I have lost count of the number of folks I have assisted and shared with on Shotgun stuff alone.
I do this behind the public view a lot.
Pretty neat to one day hear a lady shot her first straight and "shoot her hat" via cyberspace. *smirk*

Internet, just another one of them things we are supposed to be responsible about.

Fence sitters are lurking so one is wise to post as to attract and not drive away.

 

[Bob F.]

Steve: "Damn, Boy! I've missed you!" You're an a roll there guy! Good to read more of your stuff, as always! Get a chance, go to "shotgunning forum" and check out the "870 add-on" thread. Got a couple pics ther for ya!

Keep 'em coming. Got a son and couple friends I wish I could spoon-feed this to!

Stay safe.
Bob

 

[MaterDei]

Steve, I hope you type fast.

 

[sm]

Oh I ain't doing nothing more that what Mentors & Elders did to me and other kids coming up.

<strikes a kitchen match on post, fires up a cigar, back porch sittin' >

Nope, I just sharing like I do with others.
Might just be me and the kids that call me their Adopted Uncle, might be me and the moms, dads and grandparents. Heck some of the best times sharing just me and some old dawg.
Just facts of life from just having lived is all.
Only thing one has is what they experienced and been through.

Just, well, we all was out in the barn, rain come up real fast and we headed in to stay dry. Kids, the moms, and myself just barn sitting, I had a nice spot on some bales and the dawg come up to snuggle.
Kids wanted to me to share and "we read your stuff on Internet, maybe some other kids would like to hear this stuff"
One of the mom's commented, she sorta liked this stuff, her daddy gone, but when she was brat, folks gathered and just interacted on life stuff.


How raised - what you do.

Called - passing forward is all.
Just raised where if you want to keep something, give it away.
Parenting is nothing more than passing forward.
Just because you sired or spit out a kid, don't mean you a daddy or a momma.

Folks that are actually there for a kid, are the real Parents - don't matter what a piece of paper says called a Birth Cert.
Might be kid's Aunt, Uncle, could be Grandparents, might be someone not related at all.

Might be that single gal that shows up with Pink Cricket, pink eyes and ears and a brick of .22.
Some little lady gets some "parenting" from someone not even kinfolk on a Saturday Morning. Heck, they might not even be the same race, same Religion , or anything.
Some stuff just "are" like I said.
Ayn Rand calls it "A is A".


Might be that older fella, the one folks say is widowed, and the only kid he had, got killed in a war. You know him, they all over the place...
But he has made a lot of empty shotgun hulls, reloaded them up back up, just to do it again.
You remember him, he is the one with a new fella out there on Skeet Field 3, the one on the end.
He and that fella a few weeks ago tried a bunch of shotguns for fit, ended up with a 870 in 28 gauge, and tweaked it to fit better.
Remember last time out they working on incomers ...


Remember getting a lumpy throat and eyes tearing up....
...that little cutie over near the pattern boards. She had grandpa wrapped around her little finger.
That little .410 was still bigger than she , but grandpa, well doctor says he not got long, damn war took its toll on 'em.
Momma gonna had to hold them muffs on, daddy got them clays set up on the box.
Grandpa got down to her level, getting up he needed a little help.
Just a real real mild load with popcorn kernels, instead of pellets... "bang"..."bang"..."bang"...
...wiped your eyes didn't ya?
Little cutie done hit them clays. She had a big old grin, and orange clay pieces and them spent hulls went into a Mason Jar, with a Picture of the day Grandpa gave her his old .410 and he helped her shoot it.

I was a littler kid once, still a kid, age just a state of mind...

Some of the best Quail Hunting I ever went on, we drove on out, sat on the tailgate and never uncased the guns.
Bob-white...Bob-white... them quail doing as they do...
Sipping coffee from a Old Stanley Thermos, eating a baloney sandwich for breakfast and Mentor, lady and gents both, just sharing with me a kid the facts of life and they had lived them.

Lady might be making a whistle with a Case Pocket knife as she sharing...

Old boy might be rolling a cigarette and the damn thing looks like a hard-roll when the done it, and he wadn't even looking at what he was doing!

Some of the best fishing I ever done, we never even baited the hook, just set the braided line in the water, and while watching the water, facts of life just shared...

Flooded Timber one time, the temps dropped, it started sleeting, then the snow come down like you would not believe!
Greenheads started coming in and, we were just awed.
We had the guns out, put 'em back in the cases.
Just sat there, watching the snow coming down, and that flooded timber just fill keep filling up with ducks.
Only sounds were those of camera going "click".

Fact of life right there. We all learned a lot that day, and while some of us shared the same things, we each got facts the others did not.

<blows smokes rings, takes a sip of black coffee>

This ain't nothing new, been going on since the beginning of time - this passing forward.

I mean one day folks cease being, if'n they don't pass forward how the nexgt bunch gonna know what to do?

One learns from mistakes, a helluva lot less painful and expensive if'n them mistakes were someone's else's - anon

Makes a lot of sense don't it?

You know what the most valuable resource we got is?
People, especially the older folks.

Wouldn't hurt none to take a kid fishing, go see that older couple down the way you been meaning to.
I assure you going to the range with your kid, will reap more benefits than not.

No kids of your own?
So?

Go be a gopher for a kid, older couple.
You can fix a hot dog or a hamburger can't you?
You do know how to make tea and coffee don't you?

Toilet bowl brush ain't gonna bite, using a mop and broom won't kill you, and you know, that lady and her daughter just might come back to the range because a REAL man cleaned the bathroom where the wimmin folks needed to go.
That is called "attracting" new folks to responsible firearm ownership.

Try it, I dare you.

 

[sm]

Respect The Quail

Robert Ruark's Grandpa said Respect the Quail, always Respect the Quail

Old boy was right, and still is.
If'n you got a copy of Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy, get it back out and read it again.
If'n you never read it, well go get some copies.

I done lost count on the number of times I have read that one Ruark work alone.
I've ordered by the box and given a copy to kids, both boys and girls.

The Old Man and the Girl , you know there is just something about a little cutie all snuggled up and smelling of little girl with her book and she gets a kick out of her very own book, and "we gonna change the title a bit, and Ruark won't mind" and she scrunches that nose and closes both eyes trying to wink at you.

Tough.
You want to know what tough is, go to a Vetern's Hospital and see the Men & Women that have served and fighting to survive.

Go to a Pediatric Hospital and see the kids dying.
Kids, maybe the 10 year old with her hair all gone, and she is helping a littler kid learn to read, color a picture, or finger painting on a glass wall for everyone to view on a unit.

Difficult is reading The Old Man and the Boy to these folks.
They the ones tough and I am the one trying to read to these folks.

Code blue and alarm goes off, and that old war horse, is gone. That is the quietest quiet one hears, is when one expires.
Ruark's Book, he wanted to hear about the Quail one more time.

Difficult is be bopping in to the unit to do your Volunteer bit and the Nurse has this look.
Inside a part of you dies right there.
She does not have to say a word, her eyes says it all.

The Doctor snags the coffee pot and you and the doctor have a visit. Doctor shares the kid, fought hard, hung tough, but the it was time for the kid to go.
The parents are in the room and it gets a bit blubbery.
Ruark's book, the copy you gave that kid is in the room being gathered with everything else.

You already signed the book, the doctors, all the nurses sign it.
The kids are sad, but kids are kids, they are the ones that get the adults back right.
They sign the book, insist the parents stay and once again a kid comes up with there very own Copy of that Ruark Book and again you read to the kids.

Kids follow the words, turns are taking reading the book of another kid in your lap.
Maybe a doctor, a nurse, another parent takes a turn.


Oh there are stories about guns, fishing reels, dawgs, deer , trucks, and Quail, but there is a helluva lot more to that book that one realizes.
Fact of Life are in that book.
All sorts of lessons about being a decent human being with morals, values and ethics.
So much more.

Ruark has other works, and everyone has Facts of Life, besides the story itself.
Something of Value gets its name from a Proverb.
One would be wise to read that book and the one translated means "Freedom".

Hunting stories, well some lessons for sure about hunting and shooting.
Why does Ruark say "shoot twice" ?
Fact of life is he didn't, and the leopard he just knew he felled was gone.

Well all that stuff is old stuff and old stuff has no place in a modern world with computers

Whelp, I am not the only one that uses a Number 2 wood pencil to figure IP Addressing with them O's and 1's and how many bits to do what needed so a computer can use Information Technology effectivley.

WeatherIdiots got fancy computers and tell folks it is dry.
If they would stick their butts outside they would get sopping wet from rain.

There is a Natural Order to things.
Critters ain't got computers and satellites. They never had them. They know when it is going to rain, snow, storm, or tornado or whatever.

Ruark , Hemingway and others shared these things. Learn to read critters, and other Natural Order of things.
WeatherIdiot don't know, he/she just wants to look good and keep ratings up, so maybe a better paying market will want to hire them.

Quail.
Itty bitty thing. Beautiful creature.
Get to paying attention to Quail and I mean really get to know everything about Quail, their habitat, how they set up to survive in the world and one will be a richer person.
Did you catch the part about "survive"?
Talk about Strategy & Tactics, forget the latest computer graphic aided fantasy movie with tack-tickle guns, knives, and the like.

Quail will EXPLODE and cause a grown man to pee himself and by the time he gets hisself "composed" that quail and covey long long gone.

"One can't miss with all them pellets" - ha! Old boy never got the gun up, much less got the safety off, and forget slapping a trigger!
He was too busy peeing hisself and rattled due to that Explosion at his feets.
*snicker*.

Quail read people, places and things. They real good at at. Then again when one is the hunted, one tends to take what Nature gives them for tools of survival and practice, and hone these tools.

Feral cat gets out in the habitat. Momma Quail done had that Feral spotted way before the cat knew it.
Baby Quail over yonder, safe, Momma way over there feigning a busted wing.
Feral cat comes a stalking, sneaking, getting closer and about to pounce on Momma.
She Explodes and is gone in a nanosecond.
Feral cat failed.
Momma succeeded, and her babies safe.

Bob-white...Bob-white...

Respect the Quail.
Always Respect the Quail.

 

[Will Fennell]

Raurk

sm,
If more folks would read Raurk, there would be more happy people on earth

And if more folks would shoot more, the would buy less gadgets...

BTW, I used the Series 1 Kimber today, with a .22 conversion unit, to introduce 2 new lady shooters......they quickly advanced to Darby's BHP.

 

[sm]

Focus on the target, not the equipment - Will Fennell

Right smart fella, seems he read Ruark, and still passing forward as raised to do.



Darby must have read Ruark too, letting hubby borrow her BHP for new shooters.

See there is a place for being selfish.
Being selfish means making sure YOU have your act together so you can pass forward correct basic fundamentals.

Will and Darby got it right. Then again most shotgunners I know right nice folks anyway.

Must be a Ruark Thing going on...

 

[sm]

"So what about..."

Q. Racking a shotgun to scare BGs?

A. Now why in the hell would I want to give away my position and cover by racking a slide and all?

I mean folks don't make a lot of racket out deer hunting racking bolts and hollering at deer - "Yo Homie, that my venison!"

Q. Gun Cleaning?

A. I don't to speak of. *grin*

Hey remember that part about Mentors and me being a kid?
All that stuff they passed onto me?

Helluva lot of that passing forward occurred with ME cleaning Their guns, while they sipped coffee, smoked, ladies did their nails or whatever.

I finally got big enough , turned into a Mentor, and now my turn to let kids, and those I assist with Inspect and Maintain my guns.

Mentors ran into Gun fixing gal, or guy place, drank their coffee, ate the junk food, messed with the dawg, flirted with the wife or husband, stepped out back and shot guns the Gun Person built, fixed and needed shooting while Gun Person messed with Mentors guns.

I keep telling folks I was raised right, and there is a lot of truth in working smarter not harder, but they won't listen. *snicker*

My take mirrors those of Mentors of course, which mirrors folks that actually shoot their guns.

Let us take the years it was guessed I shot over 50,000 rds of shot gun shells.
This back in my serious Range Bum days when if I was not actually shooting, I was hauling butt getting someplace to shoot.
Same time period I and some like me, only busted Quail in 4 states in 2 days, in umpteen locations.
Single engine planes and run-ways out in the middle of nowhere.

I myself had 11 shot gun shell reloaders up and running, and still, with a crapload of shells loaded up ahead in the winter time...logistics sometimes coupled with time meant, having to use store bought shells.

I did not have time to clean a gun.
Most problems are chambers (it didn't used to be with paper shells,) and extraction.
Gas guns, shove a Pipe Cleaner in the port..


Break open guns, use RIG +P or STOS on hinge pins.
*grin* STOS, sometime I gotta share when Ponsess Warren come out with this I guess been 20, maybe 30 years ago.
Boy! We really had fun with this stuff and yeah, it really is Slicker Than Owl Shoot!

Then these screw in choked come out. Great, just great, something else to make sure had something on the threads...

Hit these areas and run with it.
Dirty gun will run wet, dirty dry gun won't.

Folks spend too much time worrying about what is NOT important on a gun and NOT enough time on what is.

Shooting doubles and what do I care if my bore has nice swirls, I don't.
I DO care that chamber is clean and I get two shots off, because I did not shoot 100/100 and get in this shoot off to lose to any of the other folks that run 100/100 also.

The easier part was running a straight. The real competition with the pressure was the shoot off.
I mean sometimes you have shot 2 boxes (25 shells in a box) and nobody has dropped a bird yet.

Gun gotta run.
You had best also built up some stamina from doing nightly repetitions. Gun clean or do 200 correct mounting of gun to face and swinging through?
I and those like me, chose to do nightly repetitions.
Swirls in a bore don't mean squat.
Chamber and extraction done, let me do reps.

3 boxes and still in a shoot off. This after you have shot perhaps the straight in 12 gauge and 20 gauge.
We still shooting the 12 gauge shoot off, and not gotten to the 20 bore shoot-off yet!

Good thing I was nuts and got to doing 300 or more nightly reps instead of over cleaning a shotgun.

Rut Roh, just me and that other older fella left and he has more experience than I do.
I bet he does more Reps than I do, and I Know he does not have time to waste over cleaning his gun either...


Q. You guys were nuts!
A. Well it don't hurt none if you are a bit crazy. *grin*

We played for keeps, lest we not make it back.
Clay games, Gunfight games before 3 Gun even came to be.
Which btw "shooting" does differ from "gunfighting".

Unwritten Code: Never show up to compete with a clean gun.
Always shoot that gun, after inspect and maintain.

Note I use the term "inspect and maintain" and not "clean".
There is a difference there as well.

Q. So what is a key to some of this stuff?
A. Shooting is 90% Mental and 10% Physical. Misseldine put it this way and the way I agree, as did others now passed and folks today still do.

Perhaps a more recent term is Software vs Hardware.

Physical is stuff like a Quality Gun that fits you, shell pouch, holsters, clothes you wear, including shoes, folks always overlook shoes, ears, eyes, ammunition tested and patterned/shot for groups and the like.

Once YOU find what works for YOU. Forget it!
I mean get multiples of the exact same , but Forget it !

Mental Game is where one should put time and energy into.

This includes not only mindset, includes quality practice and repetition of mindset.

NEVER Be Programmed, Predictable, or Punctual.
On the streets, this will get you hurt or dead.

Don't get used to only shooting in nice weather, and the targets always the same.
You may find yourself in a tourney, a training class or on the streets and I assure you if your Mind is programmed, predictable, and punctual, you will suffer or worse.

Take Skeet, you got a gun that fits, correct basics and all the other Physical stuff, and you showed up with a dirty gun.

My goal was to have 95% mental game and 5% physical.
I was not the only one.
Laugh at my Beretta 303, or SX1, my worn leather shell pouch, Aviator shooting glasses.
Laugh at the old boy with a Rem 3200 and he had shoe laces to keep the gun case closed.

Yep, that was electrical tape and candle wax on them shells to keep the pellets in.
We wanted you to see them when we asked to shoot two.
No we didn't fumble, and drop them shells, we dropped them on purpose for you to see.
Oh we meant it , when we said your gun was pretty and " that ain't a scratch on the receiver is it - we wanted you to look, squint the eyes and rub that spot.

Me and the other fella got one thing on our mind and that is the leading most edge of that clay coming out at 55 mph.
We don't see the pretty girls in bikini's doing the range work, we don't care if the wind kicks up, we don't care if the clay kicks up, or down and gets out of regulation.
Rain, snow, we don't care, all we know is a clay is coming out and not matter how, we are going to ready to pick up on the leading most sliver and we own it!
One leading edge sliver at a time we own it.

"That was the fourth box, we done" - Me and the other guy are told, as we snagged a swallow of water, tossed a fifth box of shells into pouches and were ready to shoot again.

It takes a bit for the world to come into focus, with sights, smells and sounds.
Someone takes your gun, your stuff and been known to have someone put an arm around me as I walked off the field. I was still in another world, and walking, well I sorta had to get focused on that again.
Been known to walk smack dab into a bench, a gun rack, mind still thinking about a low 5 I was not as far out on as I should have been, still if it breaks, its broke.

"You got 30 minutes before you do the fun pump doubles , go change shirts, and close your eyes, I got your gear ready to go, and oh yeah, looks like you got 2 shoot offs and one is going to be under the lights...".

In 3 days you have shot 800 rounds. You smell shotshells, you see clays bust when you close your eyes, you are still in rhythm with with Skeet stations, running the gun, everything.

Guns will get inspected and maintained, you have exact multiples.
It is 3 am and you can't sleep, you light another smoke, and in a hotel you pick up a shotgun, check it, and start doing repetitions.

You got 5 days, until you are 500 miles down the road and once again, there you are on the station again, sweating in the sun, every ounce of energy is being poured out, there you go, turn the pages, one leading sliver of orange at a time ...
...over and over and over you do this.

Guns get gone through during the winter. Inspect and Maintain during the rest of the year.
WE come to shoot, we bought guns to shoot, we just shoot the darn things.

Mental Game is where tourneys are won, and where one survives the street.