There is one well-known firearms instructor who, somewhat controversially, administers epinephrine to students in his high level class to allow them to shoot under its effects in a range setting.
Yesterday, I had a can of Full Throttle, a can of Diet Dew, and two cups of coffee at Good Morning Mama's before going to the range. While not necessarily analogous, it did not do wonders for my shooting, especially the SHO and WHO stuff with the deuce-deuce, which is responsible for the peppering of .22 holes all over the target. There are three really badly dropped shots in that picture, too.
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| Just call me "Shaky". I'll never be a real gun writer if I keep showing pictures like this. |
In retrospect, I probably should have skipped the Diet Dew and the proffered refill on the coffee.
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| You can go "Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!" As a bonus, I'm pretty sure its very existence makes Chuck Schumer cry himself to sleep at night. |
Taylor Freelance +5 extended mag pad on the M&P in the photo above (also Leupold
DeltaPoint) allows you to get bored with shooting between magazine changes.
Funny about your "shaky" caption.
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity earlier this year to be part of a real ammo T&E which published here. My first experience at being part of the "gun press".
I was immensely embarrassed at my shooting performance that day.
Back when In was a semi-serious bullseye shooter, i discovered that caffeine was often involved when my groups shifted from MOA to minute-of-terrain.
ReplyDeleteSee, now I look at that picture and I think, hey, that's combat accuracy right there...
ReplyDelete[hides]
"My goodness, I brought way too much ammunition to this gunfight!" Said nobody, ever.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can use this angle to make "high capacity" mags mandatory...it will make spree shooters get bored and just stop!
ReplyDeleteTAMARA !
ReplyDeleteLAY OFF THE DIET ASPERTAME AT 94 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT IT BREAKS DOWN TO ITS COMPONENT PARTS AMONG WHICH IS FORMALDEHYDE WHICH IS BOTH A CARCINOGEN AND A NEUROTOXIN BOTH OF WHICH YOU DONT NEED !!!
"THE SHAKES" AS YOU PUT IT ARE SYMPTOMS OF NEUROTOXIC CONDITION
REMEMBER THE GULF WAR SYNDROMES ?
THEY WERE SHIPPING MEGATONS OF DIET
SODA TO THE TROOPS AT A MUCH HIGHER AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND DEPENDENT ON VARIOUS FACTORS QUITE A FEW CAME BACK WITH "PARKINSON LIKE SYMPTOMS" OF "GULF WAR DISEASE"
YOUR SHOOTING WILL IMPROVE AS WELL AS YOUR LONG TERM HEALTH IF YOU WATCH WHAT YOU INGEST READ LABELS !!!!
I am given to understand that _moderate_ consumption of alcohol, like a beer or two, or a glass of wine, (weight and resistance adjusted) has the opposite effect with most shooters.
ReplyDeleteTheir shooting gets moderately better.
On that note minor doses of a whole variety of "calming' pharma might prove helpful, at least in the technical accuracy department.
"Taylor freelance +5 magazine base pad", which is what makes the M&P il-legal under stooopid new Colo. law. We lucky folk here in the PDRofMD. can no longer buy more than a ten 'pew' magazine, alas! :'(
ReplyDeleteBefore I hit the range yesterday morning I had my normal cup of coffee, as well as a dose of my prescription meds that come with some moderate stimulant side-effects (most notably, shakiness).
ReplyDeleteOn top of that, the day before, I thought it might be a good idea to try out a new workout routine that involved, among other things, 150 pushups. This is not the sort of thing my body appreciates nor is it accustomed to.
Also, the range trip happened to be for my first ever 3-gun match. First stage involved steel @ 100 yd w/rifle. Not only could I not keep the "wobble zone" of my 4 MOA red dot within 3 ft, I didn't have the presence of mind to kneel down and use the provided table for support until the RO kindly reminded me.
Kneel to table, blam-ding, blam-ding, unload, show clear, relief... and failure to engage the final two sneaky pop-up targets.
muscle fatigue+drugs+more drugs+competition noob=still the best range trip of the year
A USMC E-5 and I got chided about our weak hand shooting at a training class due to the rather radom distribution of our rounds on the targets.
ReplyDeleteBM: How much coffee did you two drink?
Me: One cup is all I had time for.
E-6 shakes his head in agreement.
BM: Well God damn it go drink some more to stop your shakes. One cup is not enough for a person. I drink at least a pot before I hit the range.
Gerry
Do what I do, JohninMD. Buy your mags in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteTell us about the optic, Tam. You CCW with that on there or is this housegun? How you like it?
Heh--reminds me of my early NRA Highpower days shooting local 100yard matches. There were four of us who regularly shot together. We would pile into the local Denny's for the Grand Slam breakfast special before heading out to the match. So, wired up on coffee and maple syrup, we would attempt to shoot 20 rounds standing. Somewhere in the middle of the match, the caffeine would run out about the same time as the sugar crash, which meant it may be necessary for a friend to kindly wake you up in the middle of your rapid fire string and remind you that there are 30 seconds left to re-load and finish the stage.
ReplyDeleteThe Sergeant Major who was the NCOIC of my college's ROTC Detachment wore a tab I don't recall ever seeing again in my 20+ years, "President's Hundred".
ReplyDeleteHe was also coach of the school rifle team. ("You can get a letter in that?!")
(Alas, I wasn't up to snuff with a 40X in .22LR...)
He said when they hosted matches, he made sure his team was only sipping cocoa or herbal tea, but the other team had plenty of the strongest coffee he could find.
Learned a couple of decades ago to stop drinking anything with caffeine in it on Wednesday if I had plans on going to the range on Saturday, especially if the plan was to take the .22-250 give it a two to five hundred yard work out.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling that Tam wired on way too much caffeine is probably still a much better shooter than I am at my best. My current excuse is that my old eyes can no longer focus on a front sight.
ReplyDeleteHow is that red dot working out?
I liked the red dot I had on my deer hunting shotgun until the cheap piece of BSA junk broke. Shopping for a new one.
Tam high on coffee can STILL kick all of our asses... Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteI followed the link to Amazon. The reviews of the sight were not inspiring. How is yours working out for you?
ReplyDeleteFrom the next barrel over, I just sort of noticed the big hole in the center you could fly a drone through.
ReplyDeleteI've got a +5 Arredondo extension for my M&P .40cal. Having 20+1 rounds of 1cm Short can be a real comfort at times.
ReplyDelete"Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!"
ReplyDeleteAh yes... Bloomberg, right? Semiauto rifles can `spray` a full mag but semiauto pistols cannot...
Not long ago, I ran across an old (1963ish) American Rifleman magazine. A column on Bullseye shooting had the recommendation, "If you're shaky and things just aren't going right, sit down and have a cigarette to calm your nerves..."
ReplyDeleteSee? You quit too soon! (kidding!)
I can't hardly drink ANY coffee and go to a Match and expect more than a low-score offhand (200-yds.), especially with the Garand. Even 20-min later in slow-prone it's shaky-bakey time, even when one's self-delusion *thinks* they're as stock-still as a stone statue.
ReplyDeleteHazMatt, if you can do that many pushups, what the bleep are you training for?
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to know is whether you shot tighter groups than The Great Cornholio.
ReplyDelete"administers epinephrine"?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteWow, nothing like starting a day with a few felonies.
So, uh, what do his state's boards of medical and/or nursing practice have to say about that?
Or did he just stay at a Holiday Inn Express once...
Aesop,
ReplyDeleteThere is someone qualified, both legally and educationally, on hand to do the administering. The instructor in question is very well-versed in matters legal.
Anon 4:22,
ReplyDelete"I followed the link to Amazon. The reviews of the sight were not inspiring. How is yours working out for you?"
So far, so good. It's been banging around in a range bag for months now, in addition to the shooting, and it's holding zero and the battery's still peachy.
Drang.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was so upset when I lettered in Rifle/Pistol at college that he called the NCAA to verify that such a reality was possible and then complain when told it certainly was.
Since the 'uppers' (caffeine) had, by your estimation, such an effect, have you noticed any differences since you stopped using 'downers' (nicotine)?
ReplyDeleteJust wondering whether my 'excessive' use of both (I have trouble seeing my shoes, let alone tying my laces until after a couple of cups) have an effect or is it the 'change' in amounts normally consumed that's the cause? (I subjectively feel better at fine motor skills after a couple of drags). Your opinion is probably worth a lot more than mine since I would still have been bragging about that target (may have something to do with bi-annual range time and.. Ok, less ability though).
The shakes don't matter if your trigger control is good. The reason most people end up all over the target when they shake isn't because of the shake -- it's because the shake freaks them out and they start yanking the trigger to "grab" the magic moment when the sight wanders across the perfect center of the trigger. The cure is to accept the shake and press the trigger smoothly despite it.
ReplyDeleteArrrgh! "Trigger" = "target."
ReplyDeletesigh.
Shaky hands while shooting? Just follow Charlie Askins advice from "GUNS" magazine article published 50 years ago and have a drink before the match to "settle you down."
ReplyDeleteThings were different then, but even with that, I think 'ole Charlie may have been trolling, just a bit.
Rob (Trebor)
(And, no I don't a link handy. It was in an article in one of those "50 years ago this month" PDF issues "GUNS" was putting on line awhile back)