- Birdsong's Black-T finish is the bomb-diggity shizznit for corrosion resistance; my Pro is still rust-free after being carried, sweated on, and stomped into a mudhole over the last eight years. But when your hands are sweaty and covered in Bullfrog SPF 30, that stuff is so slick that it makes the proverbial wet bar of soap look sticky by comparison.
- More magazines are better magazines. Have a plan to keep them organized in your pockets. In addition to the full ones in my belt carriers, I'd go out onto the range with full mags in my left front and both hip pockets. Empties and partials would go into my right front between strings so I wouldn't get them confused.
- You know what would be awesome? Making sure you change the batteries in your Peltor electronic earmuffs before you go to gun school. That would be awesome, because then they'd be something other than a slightly lame set of ear pro. Note to self: Change batteries.
- I was getting incipient wet-molding with my cowhide Brommeland Max-Con V by the end of day two. In other words, being out in the 90 degree sun, I was sweating enough on my inside-the-waistband leather holster that it was starting to mold tightly to the gun; I could feel it dragging at my draws noticeably by the end of the day. This had never happened to me before in the two years I've been using this holster. So for day three I went to my horsehide Milt Sparks Versa-Max 2, which rides almost identically to the Max-Con V, but has a slightly more vertical cant. Also on day three, I was wearing those baggy cargo-type trousers instead of jeans, which put my belt line maybe an inch higher. Guess which slowed my draw down more: Sticky holster or changing the height and angle of the draw by maybe an inch and five degrees? Yeah. Carry your gun in the same place all the time if at all possible...
Monday, August 17, 2009
More notes from school...
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15 comments:
Horses sweat.
Men perspire.
Ladies merely glow.
Keep that holster waxed, it will hold its shape.
Boy howdy was I glowing. :o
An IWB leather holster to a gun class in Indianastan in the heat of August? That's just being a glutton for punishment.
Train like you fight.
It seems pointless to me to go to a defensive handgun course and use a holster/gun combination that you never carry in real life.
I know that both Shootin' Buddy and myself were using our street gear. There was one father/daughter pairing using M&P compacts; he from appendix carry under an untucked shirt and she from a purse.
I realize what you're saying here, but I'll bet even with the different holster and its slightly different angle you weren't all that must slower in your presentation. It just seemed that way.
I doubt if a bad guy would be able to tell the difference on the street.
The big thing is to practice or train enough to tell the difference to yourself.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Train like you fight.
I concur. I forgot that you carried IWB when carrying a fullsize heater. I loathe IWB holsters, so when I'm not carrying a pocket pistol, I'm carrying on a belt holster set at the same cant and height as my competition holsters.
"Change batteries in Peltors" aye.
Carry LOTS of spare AAA's as well. My Peltors have a way of moving that round switch to "on" in the bag. If I get a "second use" out of a set of batteries, the batteries are probably gonna die in the middle of a string. Bought the mondo-bag of Duracells for Bride's upcoming TR class.
Other than wringing out gear/technical issues, did you run any drills that you found useful or maybe just entertaining?
Any good quotes for us un-American gun totin' types from the class?
Oh, I've got a week's worth of blogfodder here. :)
"Change batteries in Peltors." Affirmative on this end. Guy next to me in tactical shotgun made me realize THAT a while back. I always keep at least 2 changes of AAA fresh alkalines in my range bag. They're cheap at any local drugstore, and easily available.
Yes, you can get nickel metal hydrade rechargeable AAA's. Without going into the Ph.D. level electrical engineering, ask your local photographer about NiMH batteries micro-discharging. Trickle charging is involved as a partial solution. The problem has been mostly addressed by the industry on the AA size battery, but there's work yet to be done on the smaller AAA size.
Pro photographers go through a bunch of batteries; rechargeable NiMH's are a God-send. You just have to be aware all batteries are either charging or discharging. And physically smaller batteries have more problems here. With the upper milliamps NiMH, over a few months this discharge rate is significent - to the point batteries need charging, even if they've just been sitting in a photo or range bag, "unused."
Of course, all batteries micro-discharge, that's why old batteries "go bad." And any rechargeable battery has a finite number of charge-discharge cycles. You need the kind of battery charger with a read-out to tell you when a rechargeable is dead.
So, to avoid problems, I go with cheap drug store alkaline AAA's. The fruit-cake flower children can wail for all I care.
A coating of "Leather Lightning"(?) from Mitch Rosen or "Draw Ez" from Galco inside a leather holster will work wonders.
In my experience, changing the angle of the holster, especially to a bit more of a vertical draw angle, will have a dramatic effect on speed. Or, at least it will FEEL that way! Seems that trying to drag the slide through the front of the holster will make it act like it has a security lock engaged. Discovered this effect when I picked up a Fobus paddle rig for class use as I didn't have a Rosen ARG for my G27 Glock. Afterward, a comparison showed that Fobus designs their holsters with slightly less angle than the typical industry standard seems to be. A heat gun fixes the problem with them. That initial "stick" as you try to draw sure can raise your heart rate, as it seems to take forever to get the gun to start to move! Worse, for me, was it didn't happen every draw. That leaves one fumbling for an explanation for the intermittent problem. Well, that's one of the purposes for classes. Better there than on the street.
I have taken several classes from Lou and consider him a friend. IMHO, He's one of the 2 or 3 (if not the best) instructors in the country. Congratulations on completing the class. And you rarely see one of "those guys" in a YFA class
"he from appendix carry under an untucked shirt and she from a purse."
How did those work out, specifically the latter?
Noah,
Tune in today and tomorrow; I plan on a couple of wrap-up posts.
Will do!
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