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8/24/2023 0 Comments The difference between hosting an event and running an event. The dangers in hosting a social firing line/event. One thing to keep in mind and a struggle with bringing in and training new trainers is teaching the separation of the social part of the event from the running of the line and the safety of the participants. Assume will always make an ass-of-u-me. This is the danger, assumption that everything will always turn out fine and the complacency that follows. And it is complacency the can and does cost people their lives. When people get involved in the shooting world and helping at events, it is first and foremost because it is fun. It is a great time to be around the sport and the people who enjoy doing it. You meet interesting people and there is always stories and conversations about everything shooting. Before you know it, the match is over and you are thinking of what a wonderful time you had. How great is was to be there and to be part of the event. So you volunteer or offer your services again. As time goes by, it becomes more about you being at the event and having a great time being a part of it than the responsibilities you signed up. It is easier to engage in side conversation, talk shop about your most recent purchase or new reloading data or the latest article you read on that hot new caliber. Your head is turned, your eyes are not where they belong and your ears are not listening to anything other than the sound of your own voice. Then BAM. It happens. Right there next to you and under your watch. Paint whatever picture of whatever accident you can think of and insert it here and you are responsible. I don't want to paint a grim picture, but this is the gremlin you battle. When bringing on new instructors or training new range officers, this is what we focus on. Keeping your wits and all your senses at full alert every second you are there on the firing line. You are the last hope or chance someone might have at preventing an accident and possibly saving that person or some innocent bystander their life. The bottom dollar. This is the sign that gets everyone thinking I should do this or I can do this. $! And although I am all for more shooting range and events to enjoy, this simple sign of a dollar brings people to hosting events because they can and because they see money. I have been to many matches over the years and decades. I have seen both sides. Great run events that where professionally ran and scrupulously managed for safety. I have seen matches where the end couldn't come fast enough so the days tally can be counted and celebrated. Shots rushed, people herded through stations like cattle and range officers where more like ticket takers at a sketchy amusement park filled with carnies. "Step right up folks and take your shot", can you see and hear it? Time will and does take its toll on even the best range officers, the newness and excitement can wear off. Or you have a day where you just don't want to bother or be bothered. You get tired, it's the same old, same old. This is the point I promised myself many years ago that if I reach, I will close the school permanently. Yes, I do this for a living and have been blessed to be able to do so. But I have always done it to share my love and passion for the sport and the art of marksmanship. And although I have to pay bills and payroll, I never really did it for the money. When I retire, I will probably still work and share my passion and at that point probably for free to give back all the good that I have been blessed with over the decades.  Practical Tactical October 14th, 2012 So, to those who work so hard at matches and events, I always say thank you and have nothing but the most respect for those that would choose to help over shooting an event. It takes a pretty special person to do that. For those that are thinking in the future of joining the ranks. Keep in mind and always be mindful as to why you are there and the responsibilities that are yours now to bear. Keep in mind that even though your are calling shots, running targets and running stages, you are there to serve and to be the eyes and ears for those that are deaf and blind. The line in the sand that says "not on my watch". And above all be wary of the sirens song to draw you into the socialization and the fabric that makes up its net. This trap is set, it is always there and an easy snare for the split second you let your guard down.
Monetary gains are a bonus and a reward for the efforts and hard work done, earned through the hours of the kings guard standing silently, alone and always at attention. You have earned your salt, spend it well at the days end. And for those looking in from the outside, to the gains and glory of those standing watch. If you choose to join the ranks, leave both of these notions behind. Look to it as an honor to serve, as a service to those around you and to the loved ones of those attending. They are counting on your diligence for every waking moment those attendees surround you. Do not let the social aspect draw you in or the greed of an easy dollar tempt you. Do it for the right reasons.
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8/17/2023 0 Comments Preparing For A Match/Hunt And The Dangers Of Doing It Too Close To A Match Or Hunt. I want to take a few minutes and write about training for new shooters and the dangers of doing it too close to the start of the match or hunt. So we had a great customer call in who is getting ready for his first match and obviously very excited. He is getting ready and making a very common mistake new shooters will do and that is just a few short days before the match or hunt, you decide to go to the range one more time to check things out. Then bam, it happens. Something is off a little. The round is a little too far left or right. Your zero is off, or you made a wind call and a bad one at that leaving the bullet .5 mils left of the target. Then, the inevitable happens, Bam, the panic sets in that something is wrong. I have received this call and email many times, often with some panic in the voice or a feeling of anxiety and urgency in the email. I want to share with you some sound advice for new shooters and it applies the same for both match and hunting preparation equally. I want to share with you my advice for this subject that I have given many times. For new shooters it will help you get to the starting line with your head in a good place and started off on the right foot You have to resist the urge to go one more time to check things or to practice bumped up against the shoulder of the start date. When you are one to two weeks out and practicing, this should be just to make sure everything is right and tight. No serious training, just a zero check to breath and maybe some fun easy targets to get some trigger time. But no serious training or final modifications to your loads or your rifle should be happening in this time window. All of that should have already been done previously with your focus now to just put a couple rounds down range for fun and to congratulate yourself for doing a great job doing on all the hard work and training to be here right now at this point in time. Relax and just shoot a little. Now the advice, do not and I mean "DO NOT" go the range days leading up to your departure. Once you are less than a week away, step away and prepare yourself mentally and physically. Get your kit sorted and packed. Get your dope and equipment prepared. Go over your equipment pre-flight checklist and check all your batteries. But, resist at all cost the urge to go to the range one more time. If you do, the anxiety and pressure building will play itself out in your shooting, and things can go wrong in a hurry not because there's a problem with your kit, load or rifle. It's your head. You are under pressure and worried. Give yourself a break and stay away from this potential explosion of a pressure cooker moment, Keep in mind, nothing of real value is going to come from training this late in the game. It would be like training the morning before the game. It's a little late...you got what you got at that point. The only thing that can and often does happen especially to new or newer shooters is all the above. Remember, you don't have to be perfect. Remember that you did the work and earned the right to take the shot or be at the match. Remember why you are going in the first place...to have fun and grow and learn as a shooter and marksman. Give yourself a break and a chance to go and enjoy what you have earned and you will be surprised on how much more fun you will have and oftentimes how much better of a shot you really are.
 The wind meter is a great tool, but often times not used as correctly or looked at correctly for those that want to grow into great wind callers. The wind meter will tell you the speed of the wind. It will also provide some input on the direction it is coming from. But it will not teach you to read the wind. Too often, shooters' eyes are focused on the screen of the meter and not out in the environment where they should be. The meter should be a training tool, stepping stone or a bridge to span the gap of what the speed is and how it looks and feels in the environment. Like all technology, it is only good at one thing....data. But, you have to do the work to learn what that looks like in the field, how it is felt on the skin and what that means or how does that translate to a speed that you can then use to make your call. The wind meter should be the tool to teach you the wind, not just used for speed. You should be able to look at the environment and all the things that surround you and use them as tools or gauging blocks to calculate a wind speed or in the beginning to start guessing. Then, use the wind meter to see if you got it right or how far off you were. When I was young with a daughter of about 5-7 years old, I took my wind meter with me everywhere. Taking dogs for a walk and to kids' soccer games. My wife often would look at me like wives often do, with that confused and questioning your sanity look. But I would feel the wind, look at it., and ry to see how it is moving and what was it's rhythm. Then, I would pull out the old yellow Kestrel and see how close to the actual speed I really was. This went on for years, varmint hunting and even match shooting. I would try to read the wind first, then use the wind meter to see if I got it right. One thing that led me to this post is the simple fact that too often at the schools, students focus on the screen. They fail to look beyond the meter to see that those conditions look like in mother nature. She will show you, but you have to do the work and have the patience to learn her. To be honest, I don't think she cares if you get it right or wrong. But she will show you the answer if you just look. At the school, I often get grief now and then from students asking "where are the wind flags?" I tell them there are a thousand of them out there, can't you see them. They often look at me confused. I then explain that we don't put man made flags up and never will. But, I also explain that mother nature has hundreds out there, you just have to take the time to learn where they are and how to read them. Now, I am not trying to come off as a guru or a wind whisperer. To be honest, this is a hard road to walk as it requires patience and the ability to allow yourself to make mistakes and be wrong without giving up. This is the learning curve that, once mastered, separates the good from the great. Use the wind meter to train yourself to read the environment and eventually the tool will be used to just verify what you already know. www.wolfprecision.net https://youtu.be/wJniurPogrE https://www.patreon.com/posts/ep51-hornady-iii-86404778?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link   One nagging question is whether or not a rifle chamber is a verb or a noun. Can you change one to the other? The funny part is, the rifle is made up of tangible working components. All of them are a noun except (unitl now) the rifle chamber. The chamber was a service, a job, something you had done. Don't believe me? Walk into a gun store and ask to buy just a rifle chamber and see just what funny looks you get.
The ACE system completes the rifles transition into a true all-component status. The chamber is now a stand alone working part of the rifle, a tangible usable and reusable part separate of the barrel. We don't thow away an action when the barrel is shot out, nor the stock. That would be crazy. But, we throw away what could be one of the most important parts of the rifle, the chamber, every time. As it was, up until now, it was simply a service provided to the barrel. In the future, picking the chamber as a selected component is now a reality. Buying a good one and using it over and over again has finally came to fruition. The only service that a builder or gunsmith provided that you could not complete the rifle without them, was the chamber. That is now no longer the case! The future of a true component based rifle system is here, with each and every part a stand alone entity with the ablity to be changed, swapped or re-used at the owner's will or discretion. You no longer need to rely on the service of a third- party machinist or shop. Think about the process of rebarreling a rifle as it once was. Your prized rifle is now shot out. It is no longer the tack driver it once used to be. With a heavy heart, you pack her up and send her off with the hopes that she makes it there to the smith and back. And, with the hope that he treats her with the same love and care you have shown the rifle for years. Then, when you get her back, with anxiety, you load her up, take her to the range and hold your breath with fingers crossed for the first few rounds. Is it going to be the same rifle she once was.? Maybe, maybe not. Fast forward to 2024. Your prized rifle is now getting close to giving up it's best accuracy. It's barrel is slowly being worn down and she is just hanging on. You prop her up on the bench and with careful love and attention, take your chamber off the old barrel and put it on the new. You give a little extra cleaning attention to her while you put her back together and later that evening at the range she is shooting like she did when she was brand new. That is the future; that is progress; that is the ACE system and that chamber is now a noun, no longer a verb dependent on someone else. And this chamber is yours. |
Jamie DodsonPresident of Wolf Precision and inventor of the ACE. Archives
December 2024
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