A gentleman in my department at work recently had a late night knock at the door that left him a little rattled. As a result, he decided to acquire a handgun. He made the rounds of the department asking people's opinions on what to get. This had the effect of shaking several closeted gun owners out into the light. As a result, several of us hit the range after work last week to turn some money into noise.

Of the six of us, one had never fired a gun before; one, only once before; one only had hunting shotguns; two each had a pistol that they shot on occasion (a SIG 228, and a 9mm S&W); and me. I ended up in the role of coach for the new shooters, which worked out quite well. I brought a handful of pistols for people to try. No surprise (to me), the Glock 20 was a big hit. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to shoot, and how accurate it is. Personally, I put less than 50 rounds downrange. That was easily made up for by the new guys having a great time.

The unintended consequence here was that I tipped my hand a little too far in regards to just how much I know about firearms. I've never hidden the fact that I shoot "recreationally". However, now I'm getting questions from many people about carry permits, C&R FFLs, self & home defense, opinions on different firearms, what ammo to use, and recommendations for local gun shops. Depending on the tone of the conversation, I usually manage to slip in a little history of gun control, some information on current gun politics, and recommendations for good training.

Every little bit helps the cause!

I got out to the range again on Sunday along with one of my regular training partners. Primary goal was to get some optics sighted in, and generally have a good time. Mission accomplished.

I re-zeroed the match AR after re-mounting the scope on risers and Leupold rings. It was absolutely dialed in, and I'm not concerned about the rings coming loose like the Weaver rings did. I also re-zeroed the EOTech that I moved back to my Stag homebuild. I think that will be my "primary" rifle, and I like the EOTech much better than the Aimpoint.

I got the opportunity to try out my buddy's TA11, which is an absolutely awesome optic.

I did learn that swinging steel rated for rimfire doesn't hold up well to 10mm rounds.

I decided to use my vacation time today to venture to the rifle range. I spent 3 hours shooting in 32 degree weather, with snow falling most of the time. The range was covered with snow about 3 inches deep, which caused me no issues. For the most part, I had the place to myself - a couple of guys spent about 30 minutes playing with muzzleloaders before leaving.

I finally got around to sighting in the scope I purchased in July. It's mounted on my PBR, and is a damn nice piece of glass. I sighted in at 100 yards, so now I need to go print off a ballistic drop chart, and figure out the finer points of MilDot sighting.

I also ran a couple through the match AR, which ran like a top. The groups weren't as tight as I would have liked, but more than accurate enough for any sort of practical shooting. I did notice that the scope is mounted WAY too low to be comfortable. I needed to lay my head sideways to see anything. I've got a set of risers around here somewhere, along with the original Leupold rings the scope was mounted in, although an ARMS mount might be a better (if not more expensive) option. I'll get that re-mounted and hope for better luck next time.

Then I pulled out the 10/22 and some swinging steel targets and went to town at 50 yards. That is such a blast. I put about 100 rounds into the thing just running the swingers. Great fun. I was also impressed with how quiet the Ruger is. I decided to shoot it with just ear plugs, and all I heard was the click of the firing pin and the bullet impact. No significant muzzle blast to speak of.

More cold weather shooting planned for next week!

I managed to get some range time on Saturday to give the Glock 20 its first workout. I'm pleased with its performance.

The XS Big Dot sights take a little getting used to, since I've used a 3-dot setups on my other Glocks for years. I dropped quite a few shots low, but I attribute that to an incorrect sight picture rather than a trigger control issue.

The gun is quite comfortable to shoot, even weak hand only. I fed it 150 rounds of Georgia Arms canned heat, plus 15 rounds of Double Tap 180gr Gold Dot, plus 15 rounds of Double Tap 200gr Hornady XTP rounds. All fed and fired as expected.

The G20 is BIG. I'm talking huge. When I ran 50 rounds through my G19, it was like handling a small toy in comparison.

Shooting is a perishable skill, and I clearly need to shoot more often than I've been doing. While my accuracy was good enough to drop a bad guy, my precision left a little to be desired. I also need to start loading dummy rounds into my magazines again. I had a stovepipe with the G19 that I cleared with all of the grace of a drunken monkey - totally unacceptable.

It was interesting to see the makeup of folks shooting on the range today - mostly folks in their 20s, coming in groups of 3 or 4. There was a group next to me, tearing up a Bruno target with a shotgun and a .308 of some sort. I noticed them on the display floor handling a bunch of EBRs before hitting the range. Most everyone there was all over the paper at distances of less than 10 yards, and more then a few were new shooters being introduced to shooting by a friend.

Overall, a good time at the range.

Wife and baby went to visit grandma for a couple of days, so I grabbed my Glock and headed to the range. 204 happy pills down range. I haven't shot a gun in 3 months and it showed - at least for the first 2 mags. It's like riding a bike - came back pretty quick.

The gun store was surprisingly well stocked - much more so than I've ever seen them. They had a full assortment of Glocks, including all of the .357 "Auto" models. Of course, they didn't have the G20 I wanted! They did have a pair of G29, including one for just $450. Good price, great caliber. I'll have to think about it. It would be an easier decision if I hadn't just picked up a nice scope for my .308, to replace the one I moved to my match AR. More on that later!

This past weekend, I participated in a Suarez International Force on Force Gunfighting class. This class uses Airsoft pistols to create a dynamic environment, where your target moves around and shoots back. Shooting at a stationary cardboard silhouette target is one thing; when that target charges you with a knife in his hand, intent on driving it into your gut, everything changes.

We ran a series of drills, including bad guy with a knife; bad guy with a gun; two bad guys - one knife, one gun; and two bad guys, two guns. Each combination of these were run with the good guy or bad guy initiating the action. In some scenarios, the bad guys were mobile, in some they were not. We worked these drills from ranges of 21 feet down to about 6 feet. We worked on some close in techniques for managing high and low knife attacks, and worked some pistol disarms. We played out scenarios including getting approached at the ATM, bank robbery, convenience store robbery, and a stick up at the gas pumps.

Some of the scenarios were no-shoot drills, like the guy just wanted to know the time. Those drills showed one of the major weaknesses of this class: we all expected something to happen, and so we were hyper-vigilant. The drill loses something when the "good guy" just stares down the potential "bad guy" instead of playing his part. This proved true in any of the one-on-one drills as well. While standing toe to toe with someone, knowing that he's going to pull a gun, you are on a hair trigger, and your reaction time (OODA loop) is much shorter.

I learned a couple of good lessons. First, standing still will get you dead. Not moving against a mobile opponent sucks. I "knew" that I need to move at the start of a fight, but this was eye opening. It's not about a step to the left or right, it's an explosion of speed in an unexpected direction that makes your opponent process what just happened. A street thug expects you to hand over your wallet when he sticks a gun in your face. He doesn't expect you to slam him into a wall and pump rounds into his side.

Lesson two: Fight to the end. This isn't a new concept to me, it's a mindset I've developed over the last couple of years, but it was a good reminder. If presented with violence, I'm going to shoot, stab, beat with a chair, or choke with my bare hands - but I'm going to win.

Lesson three: The fight happens up close. This "realization" has made me consider looking into some good hand-to-hand or martial arts class. The ability to deflect the initial attack and create space to bring a weapon into play is key. Having a "weapon" that can't be taken away in a "gun free zone" in an added bonus.

A couple of notes on the equipment we were using. Airsoft pistols are gas powered replica of common handguns - in my case a clone of my Glock 19 as posted previously. The majority of students were shooting glocks, although two were shooting 1911 style guns. The gun shoots a 6mm, .20 gram plastic pellet around 300 fps. Students wore heavy sweatshirts and paintball masks to protect from injury. Most wore gloves. Even through that clothing, these pellets sting, and frequently leave small welts and/or blood blisters. A few pellets managed to catch some folks on bare skin (throat and forehead), and left open, bleeding wounds. That said, Airsoft guns really are toys. They are rather delicate / finicky in use, and don't take well to getting dirty. They require ample lube to continue to run. They don't have positive extraction, so malfunction drills are not as effective as they should be.

Overall, this was a pretty good class. I would recommend this class to trained shooters. That said, there were a few things in the class I didn't care for. First, pre-class communications were lacking. I would have expected an e-mail a week or so in advance, confirming the class was on, and providing start times, directions, et cetera. Second, the class seemed a little bit disorganized. I couldn't tell if this was the curriculum, or the instructor. There was a lot of downtime that consisted of storytelling, rather than working drills or interesting scenarios. We probably could have completed the shooting drills in one day - that's disappointing.

I will be doing more FoF classes - most likely with Tactical Response.

Since I worked for 12 hours on Sunday, I was strongly encouraged to take a day off this week. Since my wife is out of town on business, today I did the only reasonable thing - I threw a half dozen guns in the car and headed to the range!

It was a nice sunny day, temperatures around 35 degrees, with winds blowing about 20 MPH. My goal was to sight in the scope and break in the barrel on the match AR I finished a couple of months ago. I also wanted to test out some 9mm reloads I've had kicking around for a while, and just generally shoot my guns. I haven't gone shooting in an obscenely long time. (Since October!)

As is my habit, I first stopped in Cabela's to grab whatever I might need or want. In this case, I needed a 36" cleaning rod for a .22 caliber gun, as well as a set of extra high rings to mount the scope on the AR. The rod was easy; the rings left something to be desired. I really wanted a set of Leupold PRW rings, which they don't carry in store. Instead I ended up with a set of Weaver rings, which feel flimsy. For $20, they served their purpose for today, and will be relegated to inactive reserve next time I place an order with Midway (or whoever). I also grabbed some .308 brass and bullets, as well as a 10-pack of American Eagle XM33C (.50 BMG). I don't own a gun out of which to shoot these particular rounds, but I figure

• a) some day soon they'll be worth their weight in gold
• b) they may serve as sufficient motivation to acquire such a weapon
• c) it's occasionally useful to have such as props for demonstration or photography
• d) I just wanted to see .50 BMG in my ammo inventory spreadsheet.

Anyway, I got to the range, got the scope mounted (extra high rings put the scope way over the boresighter, so had to guesstimate - 8 rounds to bullseye!), and got the barrel break-in well underway. I spent a little time running up & down the 50yd range with a 16" AR, until some other folks showed up wanting to shoot there. Then I moved to the pistol range and did a little move and shoot for a few hundred rounds. I probably spent about 4 hours out there. Good times.

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Oh, I suppose I need to explain the title of this post. It refers to Cooper's color code, as in: someone pulled a gun on me today, and I was mentally prepared to shoot him (Condition Red). Everyone walked away with the correct number of holes in their body, so no foul. Quite honestly, I don't think the other guy was even aware that what he was doing was threatening.

Keep two things in mind while I tell this story. First, this story about a High Road member being killed at the range, so the killers could steal his guns. Second is the (possibly hypocritical) fact that I don't trust people to handle guns around me until they've proven through their actions that they are as conscientious of safe handling as I am.

So I'm working on getting my gun sighted in when an older gentleman (later self-identified as 70 years old) pulls up in a minivan, gets out and strikes up a conversation. Shooters being the friendly community that they are, this doesn't surprise me. He pretty quickly comes around to asking if I'm a member of the range, since it's a private club and they do try to run off non-members. Once I've passed inspection, the conversation wanders here and there, until he says he's got a "protection permit", and he suddenly pulls his hand out of his coat pocket with a little silver semi-auto in it that he starts waving around!

Up to this point, I'm cruising along in a comfortable condition yellow, standing off to his right side (think interview position). Now, I expect to see guns at the range; I don't expect to have one suddenly presented with finger on trigger. I took a step backwards and swept my jacket clear of my holster, but didn't go so far as to acquire a firing grip. It immediately pegged my "Oh shit" meter - the thought in my head was "if that comes my way I'm killing him". I'm actually a little surprised at how calm and rational it seemed.

The guy didn't seem to notice my action, and continued to ramble on about how he doesn't trust semi-autos because they jam, and don't have hammers, but he carries this anyway, but doesn't keep a round in the chamber because it's not safe. He dropped the pistol back in his coat pocket, and I mentally dropped back to a light orange, and began to make motions to end the conversation. He took the clue and went about his business.

In retrospect, it's clear he didn't see his actions as threatening, but he also had no grasp of proper range etiquette - I had a bunch of hardware spread out on the bench, and he just wanted to show off his. It's also clear that he didn't understand that I saw his actions as threatening and had just become much more dangerous myself, which means HE was in condition white.

Could I have dealt with it better? Absolutely - a firm command to drop the weapon (or put it away?) may have been called for in the moment, although in hindsight it seems foolish and inflammatory. The idea of reprimanding and lecturing a man over twice my age on range safety seems beyond arrogant. Asking that he put it away because he's making me "feel uncomfortable" makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth. How would you all have handled it?

I made the trip up to the range today. The trip was a disappointment - the pistol pit was reserved for a pistol team practice (unpublished on the club schedule), there were a lot of people there, and it was cold and raining. I don't mind the cold or rain, but the other two points bothered me. I put a few hundred rounds through my 10/22, and a couple of mags through an AR. The batteries on the AR EOTech crapped out while I was shooting. I carry spare lithium AA batteries in my GHB, but don't have any dedicated to my range bag, which will soon be remedied. I do carry a set of CR123s (for flashlights) and a 9v (for my electronic hearing protection) in my range bag.

The requisite trip to Cabela's was acceptably fruitful - I picked up some more reloading components, shown here with some other items delivered during the week.

From Cabela's I picked up:

• 100 rds loaded .223 - $23 / 50 rds. This was some of the cheaper stuff.
• 250 Berry 124gr 9mm FP bullets - I've loaded some of the Rainier bullets I've been getting, and was disappointed with how much they deform in the process.
• 100 Barnes TSX 63gr .223 bullets
• 50 Barnes TSX 165gr .308 bullets
• 200 55gr .223 FMJ bullets - these have gone up $3 per 100 since the last time I bought them.
• 100 new .308 brass cases

Deliveries earlier in the week brought:

• 5000 CCI small rifle primers for .223
• Barnes Reloading manual #4
• Speer Reloading manual #14
• RCBS primer pocket swaging kit - for reloading military brass with crimped primer pockets.
• (2) 2oz Fox OC spray - I usually keep one by the door as an option for unexpected visitors and to carry with me when taking the dogs for a walk. I also like to keep one in my coat pocket in the cooler seasons (only because that's when I wear a jacket). These things expire - they lose their propellant pressure over time. When I test fired the one I've had by the door for the last couple of years, it just dribbled down my hand. Oops!
• A Safariland 6004 drop leg holster for a Glock 19 w/ TLR-1 weaponlight. I acquired this in anticipation taking of a rifle class next year. A couple of things about it surprised me, which will eventually make it into a post of it's own.

I also treated and stored 10 gallons of gasoline. The shortages Hermit is experiencing in Georgia make me think I'm way behind on fuel storage, although prices here have dropped to $3.329 for regular.

This was an expensive week, but since my dollars will be worth much less in the coming weeks, it's like I'm making money with these purchases.

Finally got pictures from the last day of Advanced Fighting Pistol. There are some good ones.

Contact Shots:

Simulated Gun Grabs:

I like this one, practicing covering a wounded partner. Note the empty mag hasn't hit the ground yet.

The rest are here.

I finally made it up to the range today. I did some shooting with JR last weekend at the indoor range, but couldn't do the kind of training I can do in the pistol pit.

I ran about 300 rounds through my G19: shooting on the move, shooting from the ground (fetal, supine through the legs, supine over the head, sitting & kneeling), one handed drills, weak handed drills, malfunction clearances, firing from retention, reloads and 360* threat scans. I really worked the drills learned at Tactical Response. I also did a little bit of longer range work - head shots from as far back as I could go, maybe 40-50 feet?

Then I headed down to the 100 yard range with my 10/22. I resighted the gun at 100 yards with Velocitors, then made the mistake of switching to MiniMags. Note to self: Minimags drop an extra 4 inches or so - that extra 200 fps from the muzzle matters.

Finished up by running a mag through the AR - I stuck my flattop upper on my new "match" lower to test it out. That two-stage Geissele trigger is very nice. I was getting some nasty looks from some of the others on the line, even though I made a point of moving to the empty 50-yd range. Guess the folks with the pretty wood-stocked bolt guns don't like those evil black rifles.

It was a good day.