High Exposure

Unless he is a prohibited person, it is nothing like a straw purchase. Jesus, some of you are like a bunch of old farts. You give the kid a hard time because he hasn’t posted much range and shooting type stuff. You told him he’s a new shooter and he should post some questions to get the most from this forum. So, he posts range stuff and you jump all over him, pick him apart on what you think are technicalities. Red or Blue, Baby Boomer, Gen X, or Millennial - it doesn’t fucking matter. He’s a fellow gun owner for Christ’s sake, and a new one at that. Like it or not, that makes him one of us. Knock it off for fuck’s sake. This is a perfect opportunity to mentor a young shooter, but some of you are out for blood so bad you are going to miss the opportunity because you are acting like a bunch of liberal douchebags. We’re supposed to be better than that. Shame on some of you. Eat our own indeed.

All by itself? Absolutely not. As a big videogame on the boardwalk? Maybe. As value added to a gun shop or live fire range for additional training and task specific experiences? Yes, if factored in to the overall profit of the shop.

Hey, if you figured out how pick your bad guy before a gunfight, let me know. I know a whole bunch of guys that would be interested in how you do it. Whether you use a gun for defense, fun, or sport - there will always be someone better than you out there. The overriding goal of practice (in any activity) should be to get better regardless of your discipline. You should never feel you have become “good enough”, if you do you are lying to yourself. There is always something to get better at.

Yup. And probably created a few bad habits. It is the quality of your practice that determines improvement. Not the quantity of rounds fired in a single session.

Well done brother.

Ammo is freaking expensive. As such, I try to avoid “ballistic masturbation” as much as possible. That being said, I bring enough ammo to accomplish my shooting objective for that session/day/class. Sometimes that is a specific goal. Usually that goal is self improvement: • Work on improving 25 yard accuracy • Work on manipulations • Work on malfunction reductions • Work on split times or multiple targets • Work on the skills required to pass a specific qualification or test, etc... Sometimes the goal is to coach others: • Turning a new person onto the shooting sports • Working with an experienced shooter to improve - @Mrs. Peel and I worked on shooting cadence and rhythm drills last week Sometimes the goal is just to have fun - like the shotgun meet ups where your just having fun and blasting clays and shooting .22. A lot of times, it’s a some combo of the above. In my opinion, ultimately, you should practice to be better tomorrow than you were yesterday. Without that mindset you are simply turning money into noise - which is OK sometimes, but if that’s the norm it puts quite a strain on your training budget with no personal improvement to show for it. I try to have a plan for what I want to work on before each range trip. Then I go to my training book (when I take a course from another instructor, or find a drill I like I record it in a book and keep a copy with my range stuff) and I find drills that will help me work on that skill set. Then I bring enough ammo to cover my drills plus a little bit more. For a typical 1 hour indoor pistol range session, I grab 2 or 3 drills plus a warm up/cool down (I currently really like the Consistency Drill from Aaron Baruga to start and end my range sessions) and around ~ 200 rounds. That’s ~ 150 rounds for the brought drills, plus ~50 for unplanned events, ie: buddy wants to try my gun, or I am having malfunctions and need to trouble shoot, or my practice on one skill uncovers a deficiency with somethng else and I need to work it. If I don’t need those extra 50 rounds, I try not to shoot them. If I’m bringing a new shooter I double whatever I’m bringing to cover them. If I am shooting longer than an hour, or if I am working on multiple guns, I plan accordingly but in the same manner. If I am taking a course, I bring 50% over what the started course requirements are. Also, keep in mind that there is a point of diminishing returns when practicing or training. You shouldn’t end a typical range session exhausted and shooting like shit. You want to end just past your peak performance. If you continue too far past that point, you are only practice bad technique and sloppy shooting. How you perform at the end will replace any good reps you did earlier and actually degrade what you worked on. Don’t end your session being pissed at your poor performance and feeling down. End on a high note - shooting well and feeing good. Train for success - and remember: Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Only proper practice of perfection makes perfect.

Not the current one. But the new systems can recreate anything from photos and actors that we film.

Howard, those systems are a great tool for marksmanship for sure. But that is only one of the many ways these simulators can be used and a very small fraction of what they are capable of.

My point wasn’t about the running the tech. It was about running the scenarios. You need a proctor that is able to examine and dissect the actions and decision making process of the user during an AAR. Then go over them with the user in a way that the user will accept and cause self reflection on their mistakes and successes. The scenarios are like a choose your own adventure book. You can change them on the fly based on the actions of the user. You need someone experienced in use of force decision making and the legal standards of use of force at the very least. A bad proctor can create serious training scars at best and cause someone to use extremely bad judgment in a real world use of force situation at worst. Sure, anyone can run a zombie blast’em scenario with no ill effects - and they are actually very fun! But when you start getting into scenarios that simulate the legal use of force in real world conditions as a tool to hone the response of law abiding armed Americans, anything less than an experienced proctor is irresponsible, in my opinion anyway.

We can fix that.

Another difference is you don’t get to train with your own guns. I can’t easily bring my AR, set up with my accessories (lights, optics, slings) and use it. I’ll have to use the the facilities weapon. Same with pistols. I can’t bring my own firearms. The company I am familiar with does make drop in kits for all kinds of firearms, but they are expensive ($4k per) and take time to install.

Welcome! More shooters and more NJGF members is more gooder!

Most systems have guns that recoil. Ours used air systems like an Airsoft gun. Here’s the thing: Yes - startup costs will probably be less to build a virtual range that a real range, which will effect your pricing model. But, all things being equal, how many ports does a firing range have? 10? 12? Now, how many shooters per hour of operation does a range need to stay in business? How many per hour to stay make a profit? You need one simulator system per shooter you wish to accommodate. So, you either need to buy 10 or 12 systems OR charge 10 or 12 times per hour to make money. I think it would be an excellent supplement to a gun store, an existing range, or a training company. As a stand-alone venture, you’d need to buy quite a few to make any money.

Cleaning guns is dumb and I hate it but I’m not paying someone else to touch them.

Every Police Academy that I know of, most counties, and quite a few departments already have their own. We are looking at getting a new 5 screen, 270* system sometime in then next year probably. Our current one has the ability to recreate our qualifications and training courses of fire. They are a great tool for use of force and decision making. They do a decent job of simulating real guns, but will never replace them. Without proper training to go hand in hand with the scenarios - the ability to conduct good and honest AARs following each scenario, a proctor knowledgeable and experienced in use of force, and a firearms instructor that knows how to handle guns in a gunfight (not mere marksmanship), the training value is lost and all you really have is a very sophisticated and expensive video game.

I thought this was a pretty good article about Memorial Day and what it was Vs. what it has become. Personally, I find it distasteful when people say “Happy Memorial Day”. You may have fun spending time with family and remembering comrades but it’s certainly not a “happy” holiday. That being said, I’m sure if those we have lost were here, they would be making an effort to enjoy themselves right next to us. And, if they knew we were moping around over our lost loved ones, selfishly remembering what we lost, instead of selflessly remembering who they were in life through stories and memories, they’d be laughing at us and think us fools. The key to Memorial Day, to me, is to remember WHY you're out there enjoying a day off of work. To make an effort to spend it with family and friends. To remember loved ones lost and revel in honor of their lives and the sacrifices they made for us and our country. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/05/25/the_democratic_holiday_137097.html The Democratic Holiday COMMENTARY By Robert R. Garnett May 25, 2018 Chiefly observed as summer’s kickoff, a weekend of auto racing, shopping, American flags, and grilling out – Memorial Day was originally dedicated to solemn remembrance of the nation’s war dead. That’s still the holiday’s nominal purpose. It honors all kinds – well-to-do and hardscrabble, bright and dim, genteel and loutish. The only requirement, but a stern one, is dying in defense of the homeland. The discovery of the sunken wreckage of World War II casualty USS Juneau two months ago, far below the blue swells of the Coral Sea, offers poignant testimony to the rich democracy of Memorial Day. Best known of the light cruiser’s crew were the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa. A little rough, sometimes rowdy, they were seldom in serious trouble back home, but seldom up to much good, either. None graduated from high school, only one advancing past ninth grade. Father Piontkowski at St. Mary’s saw less of them than the Tic Toc Tap on Sycamore Street, near the town’s big meatpacking plant where all five at one time or another held low-level jobs. For those lacking skills and schooling, jobs were scarce in the 1930s. The two oldest Sullivans, George and Frank, served four-year hitches in the Navy. The middle brother, Joe (known as “Red”), worked at Schultz’s Sunoco for a time, learned how to change a spark plug, developed a passion for motorcycles, joined the Black Hawks motorcycle club, hung out at the Tic Toc, bought a Harley, and roared about town and country. His Black Hawk nickname was “Crash.” His brothers, too, became Black Hawks. Then came Pearl Harbor. All five promptly enlisted in the Navy, George and Frank for a second time. “I have four brothers and 2 buddies from my Motorcycle club,” George petitioned the Navy Department. “Otherwise, anyone of our brothers which there are five of us and our 2 buddies would like to stick together.” Honoring this request, the Navy assigned the five brothers to newly commissioned Juneau. More typical of the ship’s crew, perhaps, was 18-year-old William Meeker of Harrison, N.J. Just out of high school, Meeker was working at the local A&P when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He enlisted the next day. Soon he began writing to a neighbor back home, a girl he scarcely knew – Winnie. Meeker enjoyed Navy life. “Well,” he wrote Winnie from somewhere at sea in July 1942, “the fella next to me is writing to his girl back in Kearny [adjoining Harrison]. In fact quite a few fellas are writing home to their sweethearts. We’re all in the mess hall. Some are reading books for pleasure and some studying seamanship. Others just sitting and talking ... One fella playing solitaire and some of the other fellas just sitting daydreaming ... An evening on board. Kinda pleasant don’t you think?” While the Sullivans swapped motorcycle yarns on the mess decks, the sentimental Meeker worried about his mom and dad. He had a request for Winnie: Would she visit his parents? “I pray for them,” he added. Those feelings were reciprocated. When after four months the mail finally caught up with Juneau, he’d received 23 letters from his mother. Winnie had written, too, enclosing her photo, as requested. All Meeker’s longings began to center on the girl down the street, the one he hardly knew. He fancied them almost married, dreamed of a life together, of relaxing with “a pair of soft slippers, a nice big soft chair, and you,” adding: “I wonder if it will ever come true.” In early November, Juneau weighed anchor in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific, and set course for Guadalcanal. A few days later, past midnight, a dozen outgunned American ships, including Juneau,intercepted a Japanese armada approaching the island to bombard its critical airfield and the beleaguered U.S. Marines garrisoned there. With two dozen ships intermingled in the darkness, maneuvering blindly and exchanging salvos at close range – “a barroom brawl with the lights out,” one survivor described it – four American ships were sunk; a fifth was scuttled in the morning. Hundreds died, including two admirals. Badly damaged, Juneau survived the night only to be fatally torpedoed next morning, sinking in minutes. The earthy Sullivans, the romantic Meeker, and all but a handful of their 700 shipmates would perish – Annapolis grads and roughnecks; captain and humblest boot. Before the cruiser had sailed for the Pacific, Meeker had managed briefly to visit home – and Winnie. “If I were a little more impulsive I would have kissed you believe me I wanted to,” he lamented afterwards. The missed opportunity haunted him. Three months later, “I still can’t figure out why I didn’t obey my impulse to kiss you that day I was at your home,’” he wrote. “There won’t be any hesitation the next time.” The next time. How many young Americans in uniform have carried that wistful prospect to a grave far from home? For the Winnies they relinquished, for the never-realized homecomings and unlived summer days – all honor to them on this dawn-of-summer weekend, and as poet Thomas Gray put it, “the passing tribute of a sigh.” Robert Garnett is a professor of English literature at Gettysburg College.

Congrats on raising a hell of a kid. Wish her well and thank her for her upcoming service.

Instructors at Gunsight and a few other places have been rocking suped-up “Tactical” lever guns for years, and they can make them sing. If you are using a lever gun as a HD/SD tool, I think making them more capable in that role - adding a sling, a light, and a RDS makes sense. It’s 50 state legal, and is a viable option for those stuck in states where using a semi-auto in that role can be problematic at best. I have been lusting after one of these for years:

Psst. Sniper22, buddy, pal... You are playing right into Handyman’s hands. He’s our resident curmudgeon and we love him for it. The only way to win is not to play. ETA: Doh! I’m a fool. Reading back you are playing along. Getting the emails one at a time, you seemed incredulous. Reading the messages in order all together, you are in on it. My bad. Carry on.

Yeah. And broken! I have tens of thousands of rounds on my primary Glock training gun. Same striker as the day I bought it. What is the benefit to the lightened striker? And is the juice worth the squeeze?