WRSA Intermediate Rifle Clinic - Brookings, OR - October 6-7

The beautiful Pacific coast is our next destination, as we hold our next Intermediate Rifle clinic near Brookings, OR on October 6-7.

Grab your gear (along with your rain slicker) and come join us in learning lots of practical things you think you already know.

What You’ll Need:
• Rifle/carbine
• 200 rounds ammo per day; > 80% of the course can be fired successfully with .22LR
• At least two mags (Note: we are Garand-friendly)
• Rifle sling and ammo carry (mag pouch, bandoleer, etc.)
• Optics/Irons – whatever you would use in an emergency; bring back-up irons if possible
• Food/water/sungear/raingear to get you through a day’s shooting; don’t forget the aspirin!
• Pen/pencil/notepad
• Kneepads/elbowpads/groundpads if you use them; leather gloves are strongly suggested
• Eye and ear protection
• Binoculars (optional)
• Pistoleros: bring your holstered piece, ammo, and an extra mag

What You’ll Learn:
• Practical zeroing for your rifle
• Rapid reaction shots at various ranges (from 3 to 200 yards)
• The importance of follow-up shots
• Immediate action drills
• Reloading techniques
• Moving safely with your rifle
• The necessity of weak-side training
• Your pistol as last resort


Where: We'll convoy via vehicle from the rendezvous point below
When: October 6&7, 2007 -- 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
How much: $75/day; $150/weekend; bring a buddy and receive 50% off the 2nd admission; active military are free with current ID. Young people under 21 are free with a paid admission; participation by minors may be limited as to the extent of training, but they will benefit from the instruction.

Prerequisites: Each shooter will be expected at all times to adhere to the standard gun safety rules, with special attention to muzzle and trigger finger control. Your weekend will be more enjoyable if your rifle is cleaned, properly lubricated, and zeroed at 200 yards. All shooters will have an opportunity to zero their rifles at appropriate distances. Make sure to remember your cleaning equipment, lubricants, and any necessary tools/manuals for all of your gear.

Rendezvous details: Oceanview Diner (541) 469-7971 - rendezvous on 10/6/07 at no later than 7:00 AM if you want to eat breakfast before heading to the range.

Contact info: westernshooters@gmail.com

The Origins of Political Correctness

An excellent essay on how Western Civilization got to the place we are today, and why that place is so dangerous.

An excerpt:

***

...We call it "Political Correctness." The name originated as something of a joke, literally in a comic strip, and we tend still to think of it as only half-serious. In fact, it’s deadly serious. It is the great disease of our century, the disease that has left tens of millions of people dead in Europe, in Russia, in China, indeed around the world. It is the disease of ideology. PC is not funny. PC is deadly serious.

If we look at it analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. It is an effort that goes back not to the 1960s and the hippies and the peace movement, but back to World War I. If we compare the basic tenets of Political Correctness with classical Marxism the parallels are very obvious.

First of all, both are totalitarian ideologies. The totalitarian nature of Political Correctness is revealed nowhere more clearly than on college campuses, many of which at this point are small ivy covered North Koreas, where the student or faculty member who dares to cross any of the lines set up by the gender feminist or the homosexual-rights activists, or the local black or Hispanic group, or any of the other sainted "victims" groups that PC revolves around, quickly find themselves in judicial trouble. Within the small legal system of the college, they face formal charges – some star-chamber proceeding – and punishment. That is a little look into the future that Political Correctness intends for the nation as a whole.

Indeed, all ideologies are totalitarian because the essence of an ideology (I would note that conservatism correctly understood is not an ideology) is to take some philosophy and say on the basis of this philosophy certain things must be true – such as the whole of the history of our culture is the history of the oppression of women. Since reality contradicts that, reality must be forbidden. It must become forbidden to acknowledge the reality of our history. People must be forced to live a lie, and since people are naturally reluctant to live a lie, they naturally use their ears and eyes to look out and say, "Wait a minute. This isn’t true. I can see it isn’t true," the power of the state must be put behind the demand to live a lie. That is why ideology invariably creates a totalitarian state.

***

Darkness is on the march, and continued passivity in its face guarantees a 21st-century technology-driven totalitarian Night unprecedented in human history.

Make your choices, and follow through.

UPDATE: Thanks to the good folks at Maggie's Farm, who bring us this related discussion of another cultural destroyer, Antonio Gramsci.

Practical Precision Shooting in Normandy - Summer, 1944

First, the obligatory disclaimer: I yield to no one in my loathing of totalitarian regimes and their apparatchiks - be they German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Korean, Vietnamese, or any other flavor of murdering scum.

So just to be clear - references to this article on German snipers in Normandy do not endorse anything other than their acquired skills at their particular mission. Note also the section detailing the counter-sniper efforts of US Army Technical Sergeant Frank Kwiatek.

A sample:

***

1. Fight fanatical.
2. Shoot calm and contemplated. Fast shots lead nowhere. Concentrate on the hit.
3. Your greatest opponent is the enemy sniper - outsmart him.
4. Always only fire one shot from your position. If not, you will be discovered.
5. The trench tool prolongs your life.
6. Practice in distance judging.
7. Become a master in camouflage and terrain usage.
8. Practice constantly, behind the front and in the homeland, your shooting skills.
9. Never let go of your sniper rifle.
10. Survival is ten times camouflage and one time firing.

***

Enjoy, and be sure to also read this article on Simo Hayha, the Finn often considered the world's most successful sniper.

Finally, no shooting library would be complete without copies of:

- McBride's A Rifleman Went to War, which is filled with practical advice on sniping in the First World War,

- Plaster's The Ultimate Sniper, an essential modern reference work, and

- Michaelis' Hard Target Interdiction.

Buy them now while you still can.

Reminder - WRSA Intermediate Rifle Clinic - Yakima, WA - 9/22-23

Hope to see y'all there this coming weekend!

The Code of the West

I'd been looking for a list like this for quite a while, and found it today on the always-reliable Maggie's Farm site.

While the code itself is very useful as a sound basis for successful interaction with all kinds of folks, I thought the section how violators should be punished was particularly interesting:

***

Back in the days when the cowman with his herds made a new frontier, there was no law on the range. Lack of written law made it necessary for him to frame some of his own, thus developing a rule of behavior which became known as the "Code of the West." These homespun laws, being merely a gentleman’s agreement to certain rules of conduct for survival, were never written into statutes, but were respected everywhere on the range.

Though the cowman might break every law of the territory, state and federal government, he took pride in upholding his own unwritten code. His failure to abide by it did not bring formal punishment, but the man who broke it became, more or less, a social outcast. His friends ‘hazed him into the cutbacks’ and he was subject to the punishment of the very code he had broken.

***

Read the whole thing, please.

UPDATE: Here's a bit more, also from Maggie's Farm.

More Resources for Homeland Security Use by Armed Citizens

Who could possibly object to free men and women learning tactics and techniques by which to defend their families and communities?

No one with righteousness in their hearts, that's for sure.

Bookmark the link and enjoy.

Hat-tip to an advocate of mainstreaming the 2A message....

Registration = Confiscation, 1938 Edition

Take the time to read this article by Stephen Halbrook, then ask yourself:

Is there any legitimate reason for the State to know what weapons I possess?

Ein Schweizer, sieben Deutsche.....

Hat-tip to Codrea's War on Guns blog.

WRSA Intermediate Rifle Clinic - Yakima, WA - 9/22-23

Grab your gear and join us on September 22-23 at the Sun Valley Shooting Park in Yakima, Washington for the next WRSA Intermediate Rifle Clinic!

What You’ll Need:
• Rifle/carbine
• 200 rounds ammo per day; > 80% of the course can be fired successfully with .22LR
• At least two mags (Note: we are Garand-friendly)
• Rifle sling and ammo carry (mag pouch, bandoleer, etc.)
• Optics/Irons – whatever you would use in an emergency; bring back-up irons if possible
• Food/water/sungear/raingear to get you through a day’s shooting; don’t forget the aspirin!
• Pen/pencil/notepad
• Kneepads/elbowpads/groundpads if you use them
• Eye and ear protection
• Binoculars (optional)
• Pistoleros: bring your holstered piece, ammo, and an extra mag

What You’ll Learn:
• Practical zeroing for your rifle
• Rapid reaction shots at various ranges (from 3 to 200 yards)
• The importance of follow-up shots
• Immediate action drills
• Reloading techniques
• Moving safely with your rifle
• The necessity of weak-side training
• Your pistol as last resort

Who: Western Rifle Shooters Association
What: Intermediate Rifle Clinic
Where: Sun Valley Shooting Park, Yakima, WA – see details below
When: September 22-23, 2007 -- 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
How much: $75/day; $150/weekend; bring a buddy and receive 50% off the 2nd admission; range fees are separate and will be $35/shooter/weekend

Prerequisites: Each shooter will be expected at all times to adhere to the standard gun safety rules, with special attention to muzzle and trigger finger control. Your weekend will be more enjoyable if your rifle is cleaned, properly lubricated, and zeroed at 200 yards. All shooters will have an opportunity to zero their rifles at appropriate distances. Make sure to remember your cleaning equipment, lubricants, and any necessary tools/manuals for all of your gear.

Rendezvous details: Sun Valley Shooting Park
1452 Suntargets Rd.
Moxee, WA
(509) 576-0866

From Yakima: Take State Hwy 24 East 12 miles to Suntargets Road, then follow the road to the end

Contact: westernshooters@gmail.com

AAR - WRSA Intermediate Rifle Clinic - Douglas, WY

The blue skies of windy, wonderful Wyoming gazed down on us as we conducted another WRSA Intermediate Rifle clinic - this time in Douglas, Wyoming. Our local host could not have done a better job at securing us a fine range and balming any of the administrative details associated with a successful shoot. Many thanks!

Following target set-up and a safety briefing, we started right in with weapons familiarization drills - loading, unloading, and reloading. Rifles on the line included 3 M1 Garands, an AK47, SKSs, and several flavors of AR. Optics rode about 50% of the rigs, and folks' sidearms ran the gamut of Glocks, Springfields, 1911s, and other usual suspects.

After-action drills came next, and as always, the habits developed over years of range shooting needed to be tamped down in favor of more practical steps. The concept of scanning left and right via head turns, while keeping the muzzle on the neutralized target, followed by controlled muzzle scans left and right, kept people on their toes. Malfunction clearing drills came next, with students learning how to set up and then clear various flavors of badness in their irons.

As will be the case in future shoots, we placed a considerable emphasis on weak-side shooting, stressing the importance of being able to use barriers to their best advantage via this technique. Many eyes were opened at both the difficulties and the positive results to be gained by this kind of practice. Thanks to the construction and materials scrounging efforts of our host, Jack A Sol and Prairie Fire, the group had an excellent selection of barriers with which to practice their shooting and moving.

Accurate, fast shooting was emphasized throughout the weekend, as was the importance of cover, short-distance movement, and not getting fixated on solving a problem (be it intentional or spontaneous) while in the shooting zone. To illustrate some of the dangers inherent in close-range engagements, students finger-tracked (in lieu of tracking with live rifles) an instructor who jumped up from concealment and sprinted as fast as he could between points of cover. That brief exposure (six seconds or so) at less than 20 yards resulted, all agreed, in the almost-certain death or serious injury to the runner had the game actually been playing.

We also conducted a number of scenarios, including

- a "Hogan's Alley" walk through the gully behind the adjacent range,

- a "solo frontal assault" using microterrain and concealment points against multiple targets (once with rifle only and once with rifle/pistol transition),

and

- the always-popular "We're here from the undead and would like to ask you a few questions" encounter, where the shooter (who foolishly got separated from his or her rifle) has to engage multiple targets at 50 yards by pistol while advancing to one's rifle to conclude the fight.

Participants were encouraged to think and use terrain or cover as best as they could, and were also required at times to shoot various stages purely from their weak sides.

Finally, on Saturday night, we also had a chance to do some late twilight/almost dark instinctive shooting instruction with both pistol and rifle. Although range rules and a nearly-full moon prevented us from doing all that was possible, it was nonetheless a great chance for everyone to learn something new. Just as importantly, folks had a chance to compare the effectiveness of various optics and rifle flashhiders, and also learn why compensated pistol barrels aren't such a good idea at night.

All in all, we had great weather, great shooters, great hosts, and a great opportunity to exchange thoughts on what works and what doesn't work in a great setting. Who could ask for anything more?

Hope we see you at the next event in Yakima on September 22-23!

PS: Jared of the WRA shot virtually the whole course using his .22LR Ciener conversion kit for his AR, including the longer stages (< 100 yards). If you don't have one of these, what are you waiting for?