Dogma

[geezer-lock]

Ruminations on dogma.

Dogma is a good thing if it is your dogma. It relieves you of the responsibility of thinking for yourself and makes for a handy way to dismiss non-believers.

“That automatic will get you killed”

In the beginning, at least in the modern, competition sense, revolvers ruled. Automatics sprayed bullets everywhere, then jammed and would probably shoot you in the butt if dropped. Oh, did I mention that they kicked like an Army mule?

A real S&W M&P was a six shot, .38 special loaded with a lead bullet and carried by military and police the world over In Bullseye and PPC a Smith and Wesson Model 15 with a 6” barrel and Partridge sights would carry you far.

If you think that this type of thinking has gone away, you probably don’t have an active group of old geezers shooting in your area.

In the meantime, many folks just drove the gun of their choice and shot the COF.

“That’s not real combat”

No Second Place Winner, Bill Jordan

Principles of Self-defense, Jeff Cooper

These two books dominated the discussion for many years. Jordan was a revolver guy to the core, and Cooper, well he was the Colonel after all and was a first class historian and writer. Both had a bully pulpit of sorts and their views were widely known. Cooper and his followers shot “combat pistol” informally for a number of years and his students carried the word into the world. Then they decided to codify the word and they called it “practical”.

In the meantime many folks just drove the gun of their choice and shot the COF.

“That’s not practical”

About twenty minutes after the competition of practical shooting was writ large on the shooting scene, someone discovered that by modifying the follower and spring of a 1911 magazine the venerable old warhorse could carry nine (9!) rounds. The race was on and other innovations followed. And they were judged “not practical”.

And some folks just drove the gun of their choice and shot the COF.

“That’s track and field with a pistol”

My personal favorite and one still in common use today. I favored it as a young man because I was a distance guy not a sprinter. As a geezer I favor it because I am a walker not a runner. Bill Wilson used it to create one of the commandments of IDPA.

Many folks just drive the gun of their choice and shoot the COF

“That’s not a real target”.

When the B27 silhouette target was the only thing going, some bright young fellow with a federal agency came up with a “more realistic” target with a smaller “X” zone that looks like a soda bottle. Other designs followed to the accompaniment of much cursing and teeth gnashing. Somehow a turtle became the classic IPSC target. Some of this stuff moved.

Most folks just drove the gun of their choice and shot the COF.

“That’s not the way we did it in (insert the conflict of your choice).

I love our veterans. I have to I’m one myself. Those of you that have never been on a battlefield should thank your lucky stars and our vets, I do and I sincerely appreciate their sacrifice.

An old sergeant major once told me that it was really hard trying to translate his expertise with a howitzer into a job in the world. It is even harder to reconcile battlefield experience with competition rules. Many of the rules were proposed and written by veterans. Embrace them, live by them.

Nearly everybody drives the gun of their choice and shoots the COF.

“That revolver is going to get you killed”

We have come full circle now. Legendary gunfights are often used to “prove” a point. Unfortunately erroneous accounts or just plain ignorance lead to conclusions that are exactly the opposite of the facts. Many firearms instructors (including me) have used the Miami FBI shootout of 1986 to teach recruits about handling high risk arrests. Some variation of the events has been used in “scenario based” competitions.

Despite the extraordinary documentation that exists, many still insist that the FBI agents involved suffered (2 dead, five wounded) because their revolvers were not up to the task. If fact the fight was ended by six .38 Special +P rounds fired by Agent Edmundo Mireles from his revolver.

The membership moves on, we adapt and keep shooting. I trust that there are folks out there that know a lot about shooting, some of them know something about teaching and a few are probably pretty competent stage designers. The best MD’s and RM’s know their audience and provide the thrills and chills that they want. And the whole time I’m using the gun of my choice to shoot the COF. You could do the same, or go play checkers.

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