Weapons training—starting from mastery

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Gabby
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Weapons training—starting from mastery

Post by Gabby » Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:19 pm

Weapons training—starting from mastery

Most people who have fired a weapon did not hit the bulls-eye the first time. For most, shooting or hunting never became a sport or an activity for self-improvement, self-defense, meditation, or mastery—in part, because they discovered that hitting the bulls-eye wasn't as easy as it looks in the movies. Also, they realized that it would take considerable time, discipline, and money to become a confident accurate shooter. First-time failures, as with trying a guitar or piano, are disheartening; for most, shooting is added to their list of incompletes, "Things I started and still don't feel good about." Those who strive to become a marksman fire thousands of expensive rounds aiming to get the most holes in the smallest circle (referred to as a tight shot-group).

There is a way to start out with a tight shot-group. "Teachers" refer to such a training as starting from mastery. This other way is considerably less expensive and more satisfying than starting from embarrassing (possibly invalidating) failure after the first few shots. With this other way, after firing your first magazine, all the holes in the target will be within the bulls-eye. Your first experience will be as a successful shooter, a civilian marksman.1

Mastery has to do with intention. It's about manifesting one's stated intentions. With weapons, it's about accuracy at a specific distance. Each Expert has a distance at which they don't hit the bulls-eye consistently. The way to discover one's intentions is to look at the results. An excellent activity for experiencing intention is cleaning a window. Few teens have been taught to clean a window; fewer still have ever completed reading a book, every word, beginning to end.

It's assumed that you have completed a local gun safety class and have fired your weapon during licensing/certification.

Note: This process requires about 100 bullets (22 caliber short @ .15 per bullet circa 5/22) and 24 inexpensive paper targets; the caliber of your handgun is unimportant.

Begin Weapons Training: Stand so that the muzzle is touching the + in the center of the 2" diameter bulls-eye; and shoot one round (use either one or two hands to grip the pistol*). If the hole is not dead center, shoot again. The second hole will be close to the first. What you're correcting for is your grip, your breathing, trigger squeezing, and recoil control. Fire again and again, reload if necessary, until successive shots are within 1" of the + at the center of bulls-eye.2 Replace paper target when necessary.

Once you've discovered how to breath, squeeze, and control the recoil so as to hit what you're aiming for—move your muzzle so that it's 2" away from dead center of the bulls-eye. Fire a shot and make adjustments. Once you have a tight shot group (all holes within the 2" diameter bulls-eye) move away so that the muzzle is 6" away from the bulls-eye.

When you're satisfied, move the muzzle so that it's one foot away from the target and repeat the process. After each successful grouping move two more feet further away.

What you'll eventually notice is that there will be a distance from the target at which the first, and some successive holes, are not consistently within the bulls-eye. That's the distance from which you should practice until you have a tight shot group. If you follow these instructions you'll experience the pride and satisfaction that motivates gun enthusiasts—you'll have an expanded experience of the word intention.

Tip #1 To share this process effectively photograph or print it out—if you attempt to teach someone from memory (after reading this) you'll most likely modify or leave out a step, and they, because of your unconscious intention, might not experience the satisfaction of mastery. The process works as described.

Tip #2 When possible leave the session as a marksman, in that way your neural pathways will have been imprinted with the memory of you being a success; thereafter, you will always know the distance from which you have been consistently accurate.3

Tip #3 If you have a weapon for self-defense/home protection then start the training all over again except shoot two rounds each time (referred to as a double-tap).4 You can also practice using a revolver's double-action feature—squeezing the trigger without cocking the hammer. Eventually, you can repeat the same process but shooting from the hip; it's lots of fun. You'll be surprised at how accurate you can be when you know you're a marksman from a specific distance.

Tip for self-defense mastery: You want to know the distance from an attacker so that you can confidently place two rounds dead-center in an attacker's chest; that's the distance you need to master with the above weapons training. The premise; if you hit an attacker in a shoulder or arm it could trigger a rush of adrenaline that would further enrage a drug-addled attacker (this rage is communicated non-verbally, as he/she attacks, with even more ferocious energy; the violent approaching distraction can trigger fear and affect your abilities). In other words, as with a charging bear, the odds are better for you if you wait until the charger gets within your proven abilities—"... until you see the whites of their eyes." And yes, it's scary.

1 "marksman" It's understood that in the military the award of Marksman (the basic pistol qualification) requires a specified number of rounds within a designated target at a specific distance from the target (such as 25 yards). The qualification badges for different weapons, listed in order of the ability to hit a mark are: Marksman, Sharpshooter, Expert, and Sniper.

2 "bulls-eye" Some people with less developed arm and hand muscles can't hold a pistol firmly and long enough to shoot a tight shot-group at any distance; they may need to start with a .22 Long Range pistol (lighter with much less recoil). Recoil meaning, when you fire a pistol it tends to move backward-towards you and at the same time, the barrel also moves up. I.e. A .45 caliber pistol will offset one's balance easier than say a .22. If you're new to shooting and buying your first pistol I suggest something like a Ruger Single Six that comes with two cylinders (one .22 long range cylinder—cheaper bullets for practicing—and the second cylinder for .22 magnum rounds). Most agree that the .22 magnum bullets are a bit better for protection (measurably better-stopping power) —and, that they have less recoil than a larger caliber pistol.

3 "accurate" As you approach mastery in your profession you'll begin noticing the correlation between your personal integrity and results—so you'll incorporate scheduled clearings in your relationships—clearings restore and maintain your integrity. Life's unacknowledged perpetrations (the deceits and abuses you think you got away with) these incompletes serve as barriers to consistently manifesting your stated intentions (including all targets, goals, objectives, missions and conscious intentions), affecting daily outcomes for yourself and all with whom you relate. The premise: You can't be certain as to the source of, the cause of, a failure or "accident" if your mind thinks it could partly be about a deceitful withhold or an unacknowledged perpetration, perhaps a childhood lie or spousal verbal abuse, perhaps the condition you left your spouse in this morning. Arrogance is trying to achieve and sustain mastery without cleaning up one's past; such arrogance begs to be humbled. The negative karma from all perpetrations can be disappeared via communication.

4 "double tap" Most everyone can imagine what it must be like to have the attacker still coming at you after the first round.

Additional philosophical/legal considerations:

Some people believe that if you shoot an intruder you should shoot to kill, else, you're ripe for possible retaliation by a vengeance-seeking, permanently disabled, failed, blaming intruder, or a lawsuit claiming he was unarmed, etc. The problem with this thinking is that if you purposefully consciously (as opposed to defensively) killed your attacker you'll live for the rest of your life knowing you had a choice. The guilt of killing another, even in battle, can have undesirable effects—often for life. Putting another round into the attacker to finish them off, while they are laying down, to make sure they are dead, is murder. Forensic detectives can tell the distance and angle of a bullet's entry quite accurately. You might think it wise to put a round into both hands or both knees, or even blind him/her, so as to permanently disable the attacker, but it would be spiteful—for which there would be undesirable karma for you. If you believe another (an attacker) can't possibly change then the same applies to you. Mo betta to have an attacker know you could have killed him/her but later, during their imprisonment, think of you appreciatively as compassionate. If your attacker is wounded but still raging and trying to get up, is still moving, and you're petrified that he/she could still hurt you, shoot them in the foot.

The above process works for beginning archers also, though, begin a bit further away from the bulls-eye.

* This educational process is referred to as Discovery Learning. It's most effective if one does it alone, without coaching or help. Simply observing another affects their outcome. Going slowly, without consideration of another's time or thoughts, virtually eliminates most at-effect behaviors due to another's magnetic (often intimidating) presence.


** "grip" If you prefer to hold your revolver with two hands make sure the fingers of your steadying hand are not in the way of blow-by gases from a revolver's rotating cylinder. Read about revolvers for seniors: Pistol-buying tips for seniors


Last edited 5/19/22

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