Psychoanalysis of THR members by type

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cleetus03

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Stereotypes are fun and Sigmund Freud Psychoanalysis's are even funner. Like it or not we all know or represent the following types of idiosyncratic behavior & mindset regarding "Gunnie Pet Peeves".

The following list was composed by a random blog I found to hit the spot right on discussing our quirks, lmao. Enjoy and feel free to add to this list.

1. The super-tacticool dude who has all the latest gadgets, attends all the courses, extolls the latest training techniques, etc. - and is morbidly obese and sweats while brushing his teeth. Look, your odds of dropping dead from a massive coronary are several orders of magnitude greater than your odds of getting into a gunfight. The best thing you can do to improve your odds of surviving is to put down the tactical Twinkie...


2. Guys who live and die by long range shooting. Now, don't get me wrong. If you want to outfit a serious rifle with top-shelf glass so that you can put a ½ MOA group up at 600 yards, power to you. That takes incredible discipline and dedication to reach that level of shooting, and I applaud your hard work getting there. Just don't give me **** about zeroing my 4X scope at 50 yards. Look, I don't hunt. The odds of me using my rifle at anything greater than 50 yards is awfully remote. I just don't see much practical reason to spend a ton of money on braggin' rights.


3. The insistence on short barreled rifles for inside-the-home defense. Now, don't get me wrong. "Because I want one", "Because it's cool", or "Because I can" are all perfectly valid reasons for wanting to drop the money on the stamp for an SBR. Claiming it's the be-all, end-all for home defense, though, is a little on the silly side - if it's a pistol caliber, you're losing all the advantages over a handgun, and if it's a rifle, you're sacrificing accuracy for the sake of a really bright muzzle flash. Don't rationalize that $200 stamp as necessary for your home defense needs.


4. The whole "train like you fight" mentality taken to the extreme. Shooting without hearing protection "because you won't have time for ears when the bad guys kick in your door"; the whole "standing on the live range so you know what it's like to have bullets going by you"; basically, anything that throws common sense, the four rules, or proper shooting etiquette out the window in favor of "realism". Look, the odds of getting in a firefight are astonishingly low. The odds of serious hearing damage is pretty much 100%...


5. Insisting on only owning guns chambered in "military" calibers so that you "have a supply of ammo when TSHTF". Look, sparky, it's always a good idea to have a firearm or two that takes common ammunition. That's just plain sense - the major ammo manufacturers will have the most of whatever they sell the most of, and ammo that gets used by the Armed Forces will always be in demand. But honestly thinking that there's going to be some sort of SHTF scenario where you and your AR will be out roaming the street taking mags off of fallen soldiers is just a little too "out there" for my liking...


6. Shooters that base a gunnie's worth on their ability to shoot tight groups. Not all of us have the time and/or money to send hundreds of rounds downrange two or three times a week. If you do, and your level of proficiency makes Jerry Miculek go "DAMN!", that's awesome. I'm envious of your dedication to the sport. But please, don't look down your nose at me because my shots go low and right, or high and left, or somewhere other than the X-ring. Would I love to put all 10 shots in a tight circle you could cover with a half-dollar? Hell yes. Do I think you're any less of a gunnie because you can't shoot at my level? Hell no.


7. Anyone that honestly buys into the whole "9mm vs. .45ACP"/"Glock vs. 1911"/"AK vs. AR"/"Revolver vs. semi-auto"/"S&W vs. Colt vs. Ruger" nonsense. Sure, it's fun to argue in favor of/against your favorite/non-favorite gun/caliber/action, but in the end, it's all good. The only bad gun is one that doesn't work for you. Otherwise, it's all gravy.
Click to expand...


Original blogger of this list can be found at;stuckinmassachusetts
 
This should probably be made a sticky, but I'm not sure there's anything left to add to this list. I'm actually tempted to close...
 
8. The guy who has never owned a gun, shot a gun, or even handled a gun but is the internet expert on everything. He has forgotten more about guns, than you will ever know. He goes to gunshows and irritates vendors and attendees with his vast knowledge. He hangs out at the local gunshop and forces the owner to listen to his expert opinion. He has played Half-Life and Halo so many times, he thinks he is better trained than anybody in the military...
 
8. The guy who has never owned a gun, shot a gun, or even handled a gun but is the internet expert on everything. He has forgotten more about guns, than you will ever know. He goes to gunshows and irritates vendors and attendees with his vast knowledge. He hangs out at the local gunshop and forces the owner to listen to his expert opinion. He has played Half-Life and Halo so many times, he thinks he is better trained than anybody in the military...
Click to expand...

Lots and lots of these on every forum...
 
9.


People who only have old Guns...but, with effort, and determination, can warm up 'okay' to an early S & W Model 10 Revolver if the front Sight has been reshaped into a half Moon...and the Magna Stocks changed out to round-tops...who when they say "1911", mean it literally (ie: 1912-1923 production, and not an A1 or later variation... )
 
10. Or is just like Old Fuff and actually remembers when firearms where put together by gunsmiths instead of mass produced, back in the good ole days. But he is still tolerant of all of us NEWBIES that he will still give us sage advice. ^He is the MAN! He has forgotten more about guns than most will learn in these politically correct times.

11. Just see Gecko45 ---that's just sayin something!

12. See Skippy's List
 
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Like any other online discussion site, THR has its fanatics, heretics, and deviants.
 
I've seen this essay making the rounds on the various forums, as well as having read the original blog post. I'll be completely honest:

The author either doesn't know what he's talking about, or he's writing about various shooting sub-cultures that I've never witnessed first hand.


1. The super-tacticool dude who has all the latest gadgets, attends all the courses, extolls the latest training techniques, etc. - and is morbidly obese and sweats while brushing his teeth. Look, your odds of dropping dead from a massive coronary are several orders of magnitude greater than your odds of getting into a gunfight. The best thing you can do to improve your odds of surviving is to put down the tactical Twinkie...
Click to expand...

My perception of those who actually attend shooting schools is that they trend towards being late twenties to their fifties, and in average to above-average physical condition. While there's no shortage of armchair revolutionaries tacking lasers to their SKS's, I have yet to see or hear of any of them attending classes from the likes of Pat Rogers, Rob Pincus, etc.

2. Guys who live and die by long range shooting. Now, don't get me wrong. If you want to outfit a serious rifle with top-shelf glass so that you can put a ½ MOA group up at 600 yards, power to you. That takes incredible discipline and dedication to reach that level of shooting, and I applaud your hard work getting there. Just don't give me **** about zeroing my 4X scope at 50 yards. Look, I don't hunt. The odds of me using my rifle at anything greater than 50 yards is awfully remote. I just don't see much practical reason to spend a ton of money on braggin' rights.
Click to expand...

Fifty yards is shotgun and pistol territory. If you don't actually ever try shooting a rifle past those distances, you plainly don't have an appreciation for what can be done with a rifle, or you don't have access to a proper shooting range. There is much obvious and inherent utility in being able to effectively employ a rifle at distances greater than fifty yards, especially under field conditions. In this listing, I can only see sour grapes on the part of the author, which is really kind of sad.

3. The insistence on short barreled rifles for inside-the-home defense. Now, don't get me wrong. "Because I want one", "Because it's cool", or "Because I can" are all perfectly valid reasons for wanting to drop the money on the stamp for an SBR. Claiming it's the be-all, end-all for home defense, though, is a little on the silly side - if it's a pistol caliber, you're losing all the advantages over a handgun, and if it's a rifle, you're sacrificing accuracy for the sake of a really bright muzzle flash. Don't rationalize that $200 stamp as necessary for your home defense needs.
Click to expand...

Plainly the author has never actually fired an SBR in cramped quarters. His argument that you're losing accuracy is disingenuous at best, as anyone who's using an SBR for home defense isn't looking for a weapon they can use to employ at long distance. Home defense implies distances of twenty yards or less, where the advantages of maneuverability are going to trump the negligible loss in accuracy. Muzzle flash and report can both be mitigated with a suppressor.

4. The whole "train like you fight" mentality taken to the extreme. Shooting without hearing protection "because you won't have time for ears when the bad guys kick in your door"; the whole "standing on the live range so you know what it's like to have bullets going by you"; basically, anything that throws common sense, the four rules, or proper shooting etiquette out the window in favor of "realism". Look, the odds of getting in a firefight are astonishingly low. The odds of serious hearing damage is pretty much 100%...
Click to expand...

Who does this? No, really? In all of my years of being involved with various facets of the shooting culture I have seen exactly ONE example of this; the recent video with the cameraman standing down range at a supposedly professional tactical pistol training course. One example is an extreme outlier and not indicative of any sort of trend that I'm aware of.

5. Insisting on only owning guns chambered in "military" calibers so that you "have a supply of ammo when TSHTF". Look, sparky, it's always a good idea to have a firearm or two that takes common ammunition. That's just plain sense - the major ammo manufacturers will have the most of whatever they sell the most of, and ammo that gets used by the Armed Forces will always be in demand. But honestly thinking that there's going to be some sort of SHTF scenario where you and your AR will be out roaming the street taking mags off of fallen soldiers is just a little too "out there" for my liking...
Click to expand...

Well, ok, I can't disagree with this one.

6. Shooters that base a gunnie's worth on their ability to shoot tight groups. Not all of us have the time and/or money to send hundreds of rounds downrange two or three times a week. If you do, and your level of proficiency makes Jerry Miculek go "DAMN!", that's awesome. I'm envious of your dedication to the sport. But please, don't look down your nose at me because my shots go low and right, or high and left, or somewhere other than the X-ring. Would I love to put all 10 shots in a tight circle you could cover with a half-dollar? Hell yes. Do I think you're any less of a gunnie because you can't shoot at my level? Hell no.
Click to expand...

Equivocation for sloppy shooting technique. Of all of the High Master, Grand Master, and Legged Out competitive shooters I've met from all shooting sports ranging from Olympic Air Pistol to IPSC, one of the unifying traits they all share is a willingness to help those of lesser ability to improve their technique. I'd be hard-pressed to name all of the helpful ones, and could list the jerks with fingers on one hand with fingers left over. The author plainly thinks that there is an exclusive clique of shooters of great technique, and once you're in this clique that you get to be a jerk to everyone else. This is patently untrue.

Also, extreme accuracy is only one metric for judging a shooter's skill. Safe handling, speed, ability to manage things such as reloads and jams, cross-platform familiarity, etc. are some examples of others.

7. Anyone that honestly buys into the whole "9mm vs. .45ACP"/"Glock vs. 1911"/"AK vs. AR"/"Revolver vs. semi-auto"/"S&W vs. Colt vs. Ruger" nonsense. Sure, it's fun to argue in favor of/against your favorite/non-favorite gun/caliber/action, but in the end, it's all good. The only bad gun is one that doesn't work for you. Otherwise, it's all gravy.
Click to expand...

I can't majorly disagree with this one, either. If a particular gun suits your needs, go with it. However, particular makes and models of gun, or particular calibers may be ill-advised for various applications. Criticisms of platforms, gear, or caliber need to be conducted within the framework of applicability for a given scenario to be useful.


Frankly, I think this author spent more time sitting in front a keyboard writing his list of "observations" rather than actually attending ranges, matches, shooting classes, or other events where he could truly learn that perhaps the stereotypes in his head don't really apply to reality.
 
Pigeonholing can be a dangerous thing. Many here, myself included, just may be a mix of any one of those stereotypical categories.

Besides, is anyone here truly qualified when it comes to anything even remotely approaching "psychoanalysis?"
 
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Besides, is anyone here truly qualified when it comes to anything even remotely approaching "phychoanalysis?"
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Probably as qualified as anyone else, which is to say, no.:D
 
Justin;
Dude, lighten up...he is being facetious. He is just basically pokin fun at all of us THR members. I and a few others thought is was just plain funny. And frankly, a delightful diversion from daily lectures doled out by the leadership.
 
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I prefer the tactical ice cream sandwich.

As a tactical food Twinkies almost make sense thanks to the quick energy burst and near indefinite shelflife.

I am taking this too far.
 
Besides, is anyone here truly qualified when it comes to anything even remotely approaching "psychoanalysis?"
Click to expand...

I'm sometimes called psycho by.... well, we'll call them friends. Does that count?:evil:
 
13. The avid videogamer who plays Call of Duty too much and knows next to nothing about guns, and corrects people when they say they own a Gewehr 98, telling them it's either a Gewehr 43 or a Karabiner 98k.

More prevalent on Youtube, but I've seen it in a few forums.
 
Like it or not we all know or represent the following types of idiosyncratic behavior & mindset regarding "Gunnie Pet Peeves".
Click to expand...

While amusing over the top caricatures, I have to disagree that we know or represent most of the 7 pet peeves.

The humor is in the absurd exaggeration of the familiar, but it is not the reality.

I guess that makes me a stick in the mud too.
 
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