What are the odds of you being able to get golfing lessons from Tiger Woods or a weekend of tennis pointers with Steffi Graf?
In very few sports are the top athletes so accessible.
Sebastian has a sort of extended mix compilation video up from this past weekend's class.
That's an awfully tactful way of saying "no one who isn't a shooter cares about it." :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I took up martial arts and have gone to several seminars and gotten face time with Leo Gaje and Dan Inosanto. Genuine grand masters of the arts. Dan taught Bruce Lee how to handle weapons, Leo's called the blade master for very good reasons. It's really cool to get face time and tips from a guy at the top of his skill set.
ReplyDeleteOh, nice light posting by the way. Three before ten.
ReplyDelete>You know what makes shooting such a neat sport?
ReplyDeleteThis post smacks of Obama-ish elitism.
What are the odds that the rest of us are going to be invited to a training facility like Blackwater to learn from top trainers like Todd Jarrett?
Some of us don't even have someplace to shoot -- much less access to competent trainers.
Therefore, shooting is not a "neat sport" for most of us; as much as I wish it could be.
Speaking of martial arts, I did have the honor taking Aikido at Gaku Homma's dojo in Denver. While most of the classes were taught by other instructors, Homma Sensei taught the first class.
ReplyDeleteGaku Homma was the last live-in student of Morihei Ueshiba, Aikido's founder.
www.nippon-kan.org
Interestingly, on that first day, he asked the class why we were there. There were the usual answers about fitness and defense.
"If you want to get in shape, go to a gym," he said, making weight-lifting motions with his arms. "If you want to defend yourself, get a gun," while making a "gun" with his index-finger and thumb.
In contrast, all of the firearms classes I've taken have been a complete waste of time and money (except for getting the necessary paperwork for my CCW). I tend to discourage people from gun ownership nowadays for the reasons I've stated above.
Demographics, economics, and geography are going to destroy the gun culture in a way that Sarah Brady could never have dreamed of -- even as the number of gun owners increases. And we've got our heads in the sand, telling ourselves how wonderful our goold-ole-boys-clubs and old-wives-sewing-circles are.
"This post smacks of Obama-ish elitism.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the odds that the rest of us are going to be invited to a training facility like Blackwater to learn from top trainers like Todd Jarrett?"
Yeah, I won a prize. Not a particularly expensive prize, either; about the equivalent of a year's membership at your local fitness center or dojo.
If you want to take the exact same course I did, I provided a link in the post so that you could contact Todd and arrange it.
So you could get your shooting buddies together and schedule a course, or you could piss and moan about elitism on teh intarw3bz.
I bet I already know which you're going to do, too, Mr. Anonymouse.
Heh Stomping the mouse!
ReplyDeleteWatching the videos of Todd J. on Firearms and freedom, I was struck on how effortlessly he cycles the slide on his .45. Any insight as to spring weights, make, bullet weight, etc? my Springfield Companion is a bit on the "rough to Rack" side and I usually end up racking the slide, engaging the safety, and setting it on the bench when I let others give it a try - unless they are really familiar with a 1911. I get nervous watching a neophyte struggle and sweep the muzzle across a couple of targets just trying to chamber a round.
Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself.
Keep an eye on that sunburn.
Yeah anonymous, any vacation will run you a couple hundred to a thou. You can learn something interesting or you can suck down beers on a beach. I've done both, I think I ought to try a premium shooting course next time.
ReplyDeleteUp close, you can see how he does it: his forearms and calves are like bundles of cable. The first thing he said in the classroom was that everyone would need to increase their grip strength by 20%.
ReplyDeleteNow, I can close the Captains of Crush Trainer model ten times with either hand, and do the Number One 6-8 times on a good day. I scoffed a little. But today I worked 'em hard, because he wasn't kidding. My left (weak) hand in particular is behind my right in this respect, and Jarrett could tell me where I would hit because my support hand wasn't gripping tightly enough. Part of that is just habit--I was forgetting to squeeze hard with that hand, because that's not the way I was taught before--but I see where the strength comes in, too.
I don't think you'd want to play a game of Mercy with that guy.
As far as I know, his Tac-S was identical to ours, right down to the "Gun Blog .45" markings. I didn't find it hard to cycle at all, and I think someone said the spring was 20 pounds.
On the other hand, my impression was that everything we did was more difficult with the 9mm, which Tam used.