First of all let me apologize I have been slacking on my post. I may have to move from weekly to bi-weekly, (the use of bi does not offend anyone here, I hope, if it does we may need a conversation on gender and pronouns, and snowflakes and feelings and gender neutrality and allowing your child to pick there gender and asking your child's permission to change diapers and; it goes on and on with the progressives in the world today. I don't know about you guys and gals but this is getting really old with the continued attacks on common sense, decency, morals, ethics, etiquette, and science. I warned all readers in my previous post this is my blog and I am sharing it with you, read it don't read it, I do not care, if it changes how you feel about something or causes you to do some research good. If not that is okay too. My thoughts my feelings my page.).
So why do I have a picture of a bullseye on a dart board? What could I possibly be on about? Well I am going to talk about skills and move into tactics. This should be fun and educational. Definition:
skill
[skil]
NOUN
the ability to do something well; expertise. "difficult work, taking great skill" synonyms: expertise · skillfulness · expertness · adeptness · adroitness · deftness · dexterity · ability · prowess · mastery · competence · competency · capability · efficiency · aptitude · [more]
a particular ability. "the basic skills of cooking" synonyms: accomplishment · strength · gift · forte
Well that is a straightforward definition, the ability to do something well. Like hit a bullseye with a dart. If my throw is consistent and repeatable with good aim I can hit the bullseye every time. This is skill, it translates straight to a firearm. Why is this important? Should you be able to hit a target with your firearm? Absolutely you are responsible for every round that leaves your firearm and being accurate reduces the chances of sending rounds off target. Meaning you intended to put accurate fire into a target. If we are hunting that means we take our game with a good (ethical) kill shot and the animal is not lost or suffers a painful, drawn out death, from our lack of skill. This means we need to practice to be skillful with our firearm. What should we practice? Wasting ammo by blowing a bunch of random holes in paper? Mag dumps in the direction of a target?
This is a common conversation I have with people everyday.
Person: "I brought 300 rounds of ammo for my AR to the range and I am gonna shoot them all."
Me: "Really what are you shooting at?"
Person: "THE BERM."
Me: Inner thought "the berm is as big as a bus, what are you going to gain by dumping rounds into the berm."
This mindset needs to stop, it is fun, but is it helping us build a skill? Cover fire by volume, accuracy by volume, wall of bullets. Have you priced ammo lately? Spoiler it is expensive and limited right now. Blasting rounds down range in an ammo dump is building the skill to blast ammo down range with ammo dumps. READ THAT AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL IT SINKS IN
It does not help us to be a better hunter, it does not help our accuracy, it certainly does not help us conserve ammo.
But Scott your just talking about AR's, am I, how many folks go straight to the pistol range and do the same thing?
Your target looks like it has been shot with a shotgun, there are holes everywhere.
But I hit the bullseye!!!!
Yes you did, was it with the first round or the 50th round?
Do you see where I am going with this, coming to the range and wasting ammo is a really bad strategy if you want to develop skills. You need to develop a plan and set goals if you want to be skillful and accurate with your firearms. Pick out a drill(s) to work on for your range day and come to the range with intent and purpose. Don't waste your ammo developing, and reinforcing bad skills. Learn how to hit the bullseye and be consistent and repeatable with your grip, sight picture, and trigger press.
Having ingrained bad skills leads to frustration when movement, malfunctions, and stress are thrown in the mix. Murphy's Law learn about it, study it, and do everything you can to make Murphy's job harder. In general, Murphy's Law declares, "if there is anything that could go wrong, it will eventually go wrong" (and usually, in the worst possible moment). Meaning the tool you are depending on to save your life, or harvest your dinner is now a jammed, broken, malfunctioning piece of junk. If we can shoot one round and hit the bullseye, meaning we stopped the attack or harvested our animal, then Murphy is going to have to work harder to mess us up. Being accurate is a direct reflection of our skills. Having good skills comes from training to develop good skills. Practice, Practice, Practice, but do so with the intention of developing good skills. In other words, learn to hit the bullseye every time. Are we going to hit the bullseye every time? No, we probably are not, but we will be employing good skills so our misses will be much smaller. What do I mean well lets look at this target for an example.
This is a 5 shot group at 300 yards with one of my rifles. The top impact could be considered a miss on the bullseye in the center of the target. The remaining 4 shots are all on the bullseye. So was it a miss? Yes it was but only by about 3/4 of and inch at 300 yards. That is damn accurate if you ask anyone.
Skills are important but are they more important than tactics?
Well what are tactics?
tactic
[ˈtaktik]
NOUN
tactics (plural noun)
an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end. synonyms: strategy · scheme · stratagem · plan · set of tactics · maneuver · course/line of action · method · program · expedient · gambit · move · approach · tack · path · road · [more]
the art of disposing armed forces in order of battle and of organizing operations, especially during contact with an enemy. Often contrasted with strategy. synonyms: battle plans · plans · game plans · moves · maneuvers · logistics · strategy · policy · campaign · generalship · military science · organization · planning · arrangement · administration · direction · masterminding · orchestration · handling · running
You can be the greatest shooter in the world but if your tactics suck you are going have trouble. Can't get close enough to the animal to harvest it, big problem. Get ambushed in your vehicle, can't get your firearm into the fight, did not see the ambush coming, this is a really bad day. So tactics ends up being, far and away, more important than skill. I can be a really poor shooter but if I can close the distance and put enough rounds down range, I can win. Where is this going? We need to have a good skillset along with good tactics to be successful. If I am hunting I need to have the tactics to get close enough to the animal and the skill to put accurate rounds on target. Meaning I successfully harvested the animal.
If I am involved in a gun fight with a bad guy, my tactics and skill will have to be better than his. Bad guys know this, so they try to ambush people and catch them by surprise. This is why the bad guy does not march down the street for a mile waving his gun around and threating to rob the bank, before he robs the bank. Remember you are likely fighting for your life from a severely disadvantaged position, when dealing with bad guys. Your tactics and skill may be enough to overcome the initial attack. What does this mean? We all need to practice our tactics and skill. Can I shoot from bad positions, can I see if I loose my glasses or contacts, can I draw my gun with my support hand, can I shoot with both hands, or strong hand or support hand only? Are these skills or tactics, in my opinion they are both. If I practice something and become proficient at it, it can then be considered a skill. If I need to shoot support hand only around cover that can be a tactic.
In closing, we need to practice skills and tactics and we need to have a plan to become more proficient at both. I can help you with this, and would be pleased to do so. Thanks for reading and if you need anything reach out.
Scott
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