From start to prone, self-educated marksman and Christian Camp Counselor Dustin Ellermann loaded, cocked and hit a moving target at 500 yards with a McMillan TAC-50 in 8.22 seconds!
That, my friend, is shooting! You must see this to believe it!
Did I mention winds were blowing in the 25 mph range?
Lest you think this was some kind of fluke, three other competitors shot the same course between 9-12 seconds.
And of course, one guy took five minutes and 14 cartridges.
Roughly a decade ago, Al Pacino starred in a movie entitled S1m0ne, a cyber-era updating of the Pygmalion myth in which a film director creates an uncannily realistic digital actress. Despite the fact that “Simone” was a computer-rendered composite fantasy, the lustrous blond enchantress becomes a global pop culture sensation – a profitable illusion sustained through increasingly desperate acts of misdirection on the part of the director.
It’s tempting to think that accused Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik is a S1m0ne-style digital fantasy drawn to specifications provided by Morris Dees’ so-called Southern Poverty Law Center. Breivik used social networking sites to create a cyber-persona seemingly made to order for left-leaning “watchdog” groups. Available photographs depict the blond, stereotypically Nordic Breivik as if he were a dress-up doll, his face oddly unmarked and expressionless as he poses in a variety of guises – including Freemason garb and a scuba outfit.
In similar fashion, his recorded ideological pronouncements – the quotes attributed to him in the aftermath of the killing spree in Oslo and Utoya, and his bloated “manifesto” – could be the work of someone determined to embody every detail of the familiar caricature of the right-wing “hate criminal.”
Wow! Who could forget Dr. Ruthless, the legendary proponent of street level close quarters self defense?
Back when New Yawk City was an even bigger Hellhole than it is today (if that is possible!), Dr. Ruthless stood up, Ted Nugent Style, and celebrated the primal instinct for self preservation that is the birthright of every human being.
(Note: the audio is kaput, just mute the volume, the staged scenes are necessarily somewhat cautious but check out the assailants really thick padding! What you need to see is the bubble helmet and practice protection during the training sequences! Definitely a solid idea. Anyone who goes through this class will leave more prepared to defend themselves!)
William Shatner interviews Bernhard Goetz-the New York Subway Hero on the Hulu.com webcast of Aftermath.
Boy howdy, this interview has something for everyone.
Consider… in 1984 a minimally trained,minimally equipped,minimally experienced city dweller arms himself. This in the days before fancy IWB holsters, IDPA, Thunder Ranch, Gunsite etc.
He covertly practices the skills he believes necessary to understand and when the time comes engages four targets, most at near contact distance,fires five shots, avoids two no hit bystanders and manages not to kill anyone! So much for one shot .38 Special stopping power!
His pristine grasp of the doctrine of provocative acts is at a level that should be more universal,even today,and after a quarter of a century he remains confident his actions were both successful and justified even though the NRA Fudd crowd and CCH Trainer Moralists may cringe to hear him speak.
Here is a fairly common urban phenomenon- when a modern adult encounters a hostile band of city juveniles, the youngest of the youngsters is likely to be armed and even more likely to be untethered to any sense of restraint because modern society has taught them they have a free ticket to ride until they reach the age of 18.
This can be confirmed in any courtroom where the docket is usually filled with a remarkable number of 18 year olds charged with serious adult felonies the day after their 18th birthday.
Seconds that Save Your Life
by Jim Higginbotham
Monday, July 19, 2010
There is only one type of shooting competition that only has a trophy for second place. The trophy is generally made of granite, has an epitaph inscribed on it, and when it is awarded to you, you are surrounded by everyone you love, crying their eyes out because you are dead. It’s called a tombstone.
A gunfight is a competition, but it isn’t a standard shooting competition like those you see in timed shooting sports. Speed is a factor, but it isn’t the only factor. And there will always be factors outside of your control, such as the physical and mental state of the threatening party, his competence, how well we shoot under the pressure of a gunfight, and what we are doing while engaging our adversary to keep from getting shot (or cut, or bludgeoned, etc.).
Some things, however, you can control, or at least prepare to control, and many of these involve speed and can be practiced. They are how fast you are able to present your weapon, how fast you can fire it accurately, and how fast you can reload when you are out of bullets or in danger of soon being out of bullets.
Wyatt Earp, one of the most famous gunfighters of all time, is quoted as saying: “Take your time…but be quick about it! He is also quoted as saying something to the effect of “Fast is fine but accuracy is final”. The interplay between these two factors, speed and accuracy, is one reality we must always recognize, the faster you go the less accurate you are.
Tantalizing Excerpt:
As flintlock riflemen can pump out a maximum of only four shots per minute, it is obvious that Vietnam troopers have 75 times the firepower of the flintlock riflemen of the Revolution.
This is in terms of muzzle statistics.
In terms of target statistics, the flintlock shooter has four times the firepower of the M16 user because he has the skill to make every shot hit and the M16 user cannot hit more than once per minute.
Here is one for the brain dead safe-storage Bolsheviks who believe one-size-fits-all Nanny State Government is good public policy.
This kid was trained, prepared and effective. It was always thus and will be thus always.
Nanny State Nitwits go pound sand.
The father’s comment is particularly appropriate. “ I trained him to use guns because everything on this ranch will bite you or stick you.”
Way to go Dad!
In different circumstances, compare and contrast the outcome for Ashley Carpenter, age 9, and John William Carpenter, age 7, who sacrificed their lives when called to defend their family without the equipment necessary to prevail.
Texas-born Simon Hughes, 5, doesn’t look intimidating.
But put a gun in his hands and pit him against an 800-pound alligator and it’s a different story.
Simon’s been training to handle a gun since he was just 4, his dad told MyFOXHouston — and it’s a good thing, too, or else he could’ve gotten hurt by the mega-gator that wound up on the Hughes family ranch.
