bonedaddy

In the days of the Wild West, there was a young cowboy who wanted more than anything to be the greatest gunfighter in the world. He practiced every minute of his spare time, but he knew that he wasn't yet first-rate and that there must be something he was doing wrong. Sitting in a saloon one Saturday night, he recognized an elderly man seated at the bar who had the reputation of being the fastest gun in the West in his day. The young cowboy took the seat next to the old-timer, bought him a drink, and told him the story of his great ambition. "Do you think you could give me some tips?" he asked. The old man looked him up and down and said, "Well, for one thing you're wearing your gun too high. Tie the holster a little lower down on your leg." "Will that make me a better gunfighter?" asked the young man. "Sure will," said the old-timer. The young man did as he was told, stood up, whipped out his .44 and shot the bow tie off the piano player. "That's terrific!" said the cowboy, "Got any more tips for me?" "Yep," said the old man, "cut a notch out of your holster where the hammer hits it. That'll give you a smoother draw." "Will that make me a better gunfighter?" asked the younger man. "You bet it will," said the old-timer. The young man took out his knife, cut the notch, stood up, drew his gun in a blur, and shot a cufflink off the piano player. "Wow!" said the cowboy, "I'm learnin' somethin' here -- got any more tips?" The old man pointed to a large can in a corner of the saloon. "See that axle grease over there? Coat your gun with it." The young man went over to the can and smeared some of the grease on the barrel of his gun. "No," said the old-timer, "I mean smear it all over the gun, handle and all." "Will that make me a better gunfighter?" asked the young man? "No," said the old timer, "..but when Wyatt Earp gets done playin' the piano, he's going to shove that gun up your ass, and it won't hurt as much.

It was snowing hard when I left for the drive home tonight. About 40 miles out I hit a total "can't-see-past- the-end-of- the-hood" white out. I slowed down a little. I was just floating along, eyes searching for reflector posts on the roadside. I knew the road was pretty straight, so I just turned up the music and let my eyes process the little bits of information as they came in. Signs I see everyday looked strangely out of place as they approched and quickly disappeared in a swirl of white outside my truck window. "Oh, so that's where I am" I would think to myself. I worried just a little bit about a horse or broken down truck in the road. But mostly, I was just trusting. After about 20 minutes, I could see a hundred yards again. The road looked like a ribbon of smoke stretched out in my headlights. I was back in the world again. It seemed like it had been hours. I considered turning around and going back through it again. Nah, it's best just to take it as it comes.....

Kyle, lol...... Yeah, you sure can lose the match on those stages! I'll always remember jumping up to that little red car's window and trying to figure out just exactly where my gun had gotton away to. Great thought, I will try to "cement that one" in my mind too!

Brian, now that's a GREAT STORY! Hell, YOU WERE There! Ron, thanks for asking him about that.

Very cool standard Myorke. So many stages are just gunsmoke and shoe leather on close targets. Marksmanship is the thing.

Jon, FWIW, I just made up fifty inert rounds for the local Highway Patrol training officer. He had me leave the old primer in the resized cases and drill two 1/8 inch holes in the side of each case. I seated 180 grain lead bullets in the cases for him. The holes make them very easily distinguishable as inert rounds. Personally, I do like the weight and spring resistance when practicing mag changes. I keep mine in a special box labeled, of all things, "inert practice rounds". Have fun! -Sam

Kelly, Thank You!!! I don't know anywhere else I could get this quality of information.

Ditto that EricW! I hope it won't drift the thread too much, but I would really like to hear about techniques the "good guys" use for a rifle sling in 3-gun competition. Thinking that it might be slow has kept me away from it until now. Kelly, I too have tried the magazine rest with my AR when nobody was around. My rifle didn't jam. (But, I still felt like I was doing something immoral.) I'm actually going to start work on perfecting it, now that I no longer fear ETERNAL DAMNATION!. Thanks! -Sam

either/or or both is definately good. ahhh, it's all shootin'. gotta love it.

Kyle, the postal match was alot like the 4 stage super-classifier that some clubs shoot once a year. Of course, some people undoubtedly practice it ad nausem before the actual match. A guy could practice the heck out of it, or just go out and shoot it stone cold. That is up to each persons descretion, but we here at be.com could have our own gentlemens agreement about that. I would really like to hear everyone's stories about how they broke down the stages and engaged the targets. We could learn alot. Since we are are a world wide group, it seems fitting to participate in a world wide match. Team Ancient takes on the WORLD!

Had a good day back in June. Got two, 99-07 & 99-39. Same day. About a month after I started my studies at be.com. Must be something going on here??? Oh yeah, I shoot limited exclusively. (And thanks, Brian!) (Edited by bonedaddy at 9:18 pm on Jan. 3, 2002)

Ron, hehehe, I knew the 2 dog dare would get you. I'll mention the AH postal match at our annual club meeting on the 13th. I'm sure some of the Ghost Town boys will want to play too. As far as my lunch is concerned, last time I took one, somebody ate it for me. Phil, looks like you did real well last year. 51st overall and 2nd in NZ! Nice! Hey guys, my butt has been kicked so much, I have permanent callouses. It looks like Eric Grauffel totally smoked everybody last year! Oh well, its cool to know there's a whole world of shooters out there.

Kyle, "stage of the month" club! I great idea! Pat, SG and all, with a little forethought each stage could teach a specific lesson or test a certan set of skills. In a years time, one's knowledge base could be greatly increased. We have access to some of the Great Masters here at be.com. Maybe Brian, Travis, Jack, or others would consent to designing an occasional stage that would serve as a learning tool? One other thought, many of us have probably shot the American Handgunner Postal Match at some time or another. It's been a few years since I did, but I was thinking of doing it again this year, since I've gotton to know alot more "distant friends" here at the forum. I'd be willing to delegate the tedious task of scoring and reporting a match to the staff at AH and just sit back and enjoy the fun of shooting and reviewing the results. Alrighty then...... TO ALL WHO WILL ACCEPT - I DARE (double dog) YOU TO SHOOT THE AMERICAN HANDGUNNER POSTAL MATCH!!!!!

My hat is off to you Bill! Working mostly in a vacuum, I didn't realize for a long time that USPSA shot the El Prez with the targets closer together. Out of habit, I still keep it set up "the Colonels way" down at the Pistol Palace. Once in a while, I encounter the stage in a match setting and always feel pleased that I've practiced it the hard way. Tradition often pays too heavy a price to innovation.

Ron, sometimes when I can't figure out which answer I'm the most comfortable with, I try looking at it like this. If I get run over by a beer truck or something and this was my last day on earth, how would I have wanted to spend it? Would I have rather been a smokin' hot "C" shooter or a good "A"? Cool thing about living every day as though it's your last. One day you'll be right.

Duane, the excitement was missing because YOU WEREN'T THERE! Folks were walking around asking "where the hell is Duane?" Flex and me were really looking forward to giving you some grief. It made me feel sad. Next year OK?

...dentures, and yelled "juth take th' dann gun an get outha here".

Greetings, Hardball! I made the exact gun change you are talking about around four years ago. Now, I find my self working on keeping familiar with the ol' single stack. I made it into "Limited A" shooting the 1911 .45 in 1997, and then transitioned to the STI. I posted a link to another topic under this Training Drills section in answer to your question. I recommend the Dot Drill 101 because it can help you to self-diagnose any anomalies that may arise from the transition. If no issues are present, you can move ahead with confidence. There are things I notice when practicing with both styles of pistol, as I did yesterday. The difference in body width changes the way my hands meet. The biggest adjustment seems to be getting the grip to "feel right". And it's easy to louse up the position of my finger on the trigger when going from one gun to the other. When drawing at speed, I must trust the grip to be "right". If it isn't "right", I lack confidence on every shot fired. You may find that you desire a short trigger on the wide body, even if you are shootng a long trigger in the single stack. Everyone has different needs. Good shooting, - Sam http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...=5&topic=38

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011222/t...chips_dc_1.html Charlie Schumer has got to love this one. You want to own a firearm? OK, no problem. We just put the little chip under your skin and away you go. (Edited by bonedaddy at 8:28 am on Dec. 23, 2001)

It's all shooting. Having a few laughs about the different rules is OK. I would become a dedicated practioner of either, depending which club was closest to my home.

.....just as the door locked behind me. I could see my car keys.....

Duane, a 1.35 draw from concealment is impressive! (Especially under the pressure of a match.)

..I can't remember what happened next, but there's a lump in .... (Edited by bonedaddy at 10:53 pm on Dec. 20, 2001)

Ron, that's what I like about you! No pretenses. Yeah I shot with some guys that were shouting orders at the targets once. Running your mouth has been proven to slow your reaction time. When it came to my turn and the buzzer went off, I just went to it. After I was cleared, I just glanced downrange and said "April Fool Moth#*&%ers!" Now, who was more tactical? (Edited by bonedaddy at 10:42 pm on Dec. 20, 2001)