Monday, July 11, 2011

Shots Fired


Here's my review of the Sure Shots shooting seminar hosted by The Blackstone Group (BSG Services) and Dillo Dynamics: It was awesome!

We trained all day, from 9 to 6, and still only barely scratched the paint job on the surface of what there is to know about firearms. I have begun to think you could study for years and still find there was more to discover.

What put me at ease anyway is that I've had weekly shooting sessions with my friend Heath for the last 2 months - I buy his ammo & pay the lane fees, he points my gun in the right direction for me. I'm supposed to be practicing to not look like a goober when we do weapons at my next Phase training, but it paid off in spades yesterday. I was quite nervous shooting the first 5 rounds, but after that it began to feel familiar and was just fun in the (105 degree) sun.

Making it even better was the volunteers Blackstone brought out. Each group of 2 shooters had their own coach, who stayed with them throughout the day. We had 15 shooters, so that's a lot of people volunteering to stand out in the heat. My coach was a man I already know (I teach his son & he helped me out tremendously once when I was injured in class). I confess I was hoping he'd coach me for a bit, but fortunately I ended up with him the whole day, which means I hit the jackpot.

And what a day it was! I ended up using one of their Glock 19's (which I now know won't be the type of gun I purchase, as I had trouble with the magazine release all day) & we shot standing still, moving, behind concealment (we learned the difference between concealment and cover), and shooting while holding the gun in various positions. We also shot one-handed, which was easier than I expected - which brings me to another point. Every lady but me (if you read the last blog post you know this was an all-female shoot), found it painful to shoot holding the weapon close to the body. It was too hard on the wrists.

However, I have an old wrist injury that has forced me to do push ups on my knuckles (instead of supporting my weight on my palms) for well over a year now. I found shooting without the support of my extended arms to be painless & pretty easy, so there you have it. Start doing your push ups on your knuckles!

I also shot a John Browning 1911, a timeless work of art that is smooth as silk but surprisingly heavy.

I shot an M-freaking-4. That's what's in the photo.

And the queen: The H&K UMP .45. This is the gun I taunted and caressed after I shot it. My coach actually had to remind me "it's just a tool" because I kept whispering to it. Seriously, I could feel my testosterone levels skyrocket after I shot it, and I was jabbering away about it non-stop at breakfast this morning.

And I want to do it again. Oh, yes I do.

I was talking with a friend this afternoon about getting a group together to go out and do another seminar, so if you're interested, contact me via the blog comments or on Facebook.

And another thing. I want to thank the folks who worked the seminar for their time, expertise, patience, and attitude. These men all looked like they just stepped off the cover of Military Hero magazine, and they were just the nicest and most generous people ever. Females engaging in a stereotypically male pursuit often face eye-rolling men who just put up with their presence to be polite, but do not take the females seriously. This was NOT the case at this seminar. Regardless of the student's level of experience she was treated as a serious student, capable of achieving any goal she was willing to earn.

There was also a woman volunteer, my friend Teresa J. of the Austin Police Department. Teresa consistently sets the standard for professionalism while still being completely approachable and generally awesome. My great thanks to her and her most excellent husband Jason for inviting me to the seminar.


1 comment:

  1. Parker,

    IF you thought the UMP and M4 where badass I have a Beowulf .50 cal you can try.

    Chad

    ReplyDelete