There are certain things that a hairy-scary self defense instructor isn't supposed to admit, that they skipped some milestones in the long and sometimes bitter struggle to achieve manly he-man macho studmuffinism. But I'm about to drop a bomb, bare my soul, and let the cat out of the bag.
You see, I'm just not that good with a rifle.
Oh, I'm okay, I suppose. But it is on the low end of okay. Anyone who spends even a moderate amount of time on developing their long range, reach-out-and-touch-someone skills would sneer at my own pathetic fumblings and declare them complete shite.
People who are not involved in the shooting sports would be puzzled about this. After all, it isn't as bad as being born hideously deformed so that I will never be able to find a woman who could bear my touch.
Those who are involved with the shooting sports would scoff at such an attitude, and point out that there is always plastic surgery to improve my looks while lack of aptitude with a rifle is a permanent disability!
But it isn't as bad as all that. You see, I certainly do have the ability to sight a rifle effectively, I just have let those skills atrophy. ("Blasphemy! Sinner unclean!" is heard off in the distance.)
The vast majority of my students choose handguns for defense, the legacy of close to 100 years of movies and 50 years of TV where the hero ignores more effective firearms in favor of the lowly pistol. I do manage to convince about five or ten percent of my students to give shotguns a try, however, so at least a few of them will be well served if they have to take up arms to save their lives. But so far a total of three people have wanted to learn how to use a rifle. Three people out of close to 18 years and 700 students. It has been about 15 years since I went to the outdoor range and managed to fire off more than the bare minimum of rifle rounds needed to just get comfortable.
With all of the time spent on handguns, with a very few sidetracks to use a shotgun, it is no wonder that I will have to train my hands to once again know the ways of the rifle.
I'm filling your eyes with this tale of personal heartache and woe because of this post by Chris, who I have heard is fast becoming a skilled rifleman in his own right. His big complaint seems to be that rifle manufacturers are putting out long guns that are set up to accept a scope mount, but which do not have any simple iron sights at all. This, as he colorfully expounds, is the next best thing to an abomination against God and rifleman.
His final paragraph sounds like he is talking to me personally....
"These things being said I have a little advise for the beginning rifle shooters. Start small with an experienced shooter; learn the fundamentals with a .22 it is cheaper to shoot and more forgiving on your shoulder than picking up a .308 and trying to put 100 rounds down range. Next learn all of the standard shooting positions: prone, sitting, kneeling, and off hand."
I already have a Ruger .22 autoloader. I wonder if Chris wouldn't mind heading out to the range when I have some time so he can give me some pointers?
Comments (3)
go look at this nation wide rifle shooting skills program
http://www.appleseedinfo.org
Posted by oe | April 28, 2008 10:06 PM
Posted on April 28, 2008 22:06
When I went to a state range in Michigan with Bob people looked at us like we were crazy because we were the only ones standing up and shooting off hand. Of course at this same range the most fascinating rifle, of the 8 or so that we had with us, wasn't any of Bob's very nice WWII era military hardware or his high end Savage-Anschutz .22 target rifle it was an old beat up Remington 33 that belonged to my grandfather that I had finally convinced my father to let me borrow.
Posted by Chris | April 29, 2008 5:43 AM
Posted on April 29, 2008 05:43
My training and experience are "old school." I learned basic rifle marksmanship in high school ROTC from instuctors who were Korean and WWI vets. Pre-induction NRA instruction enabled me to shoot Expert with the M14 rifle in boot camp and at least for a day or two, get cut a little slack, in the eyes of GySgt Alvarado, who made Lee Ermie look like a pussy.
Years later I was commended by the Marine Corps for work in the modified development and operational testing of the M16A2 rifle. Other projects I worked on included capture, technical evaluation and exploitation of Soviet arms and equipment from Afghanistan, the M4 carbine and M9 pistol programs, AN/PVS4 night vision, M40A2, M24 and "special application" sniper rifles. These programs evaluated the effectiveness of small arms in realistic, prolonged combat scenarios, and often in actual deployments. Getting outside the lab and interviewing the grunts and spooks who used them formed strong opinions of what is practical in small arms.
Any serious using rifle MUST have either iron sights or separate, back-up scope, pre-zeroed in its own quick detachable mount which will return to zero.
Every rifle I own has iron sights. Some have ONLY iron sights, but all of my scoped rifles ALSO have irons. Plain open sights are better than none, but I prefer a receiver sight. A young man with good eyesight can shoot well enough to cleanly kill big game with open sights to 150 yards. A receiver sight increases useful range, but 200 yards is a practical limit unless you are being shot at, in which "all bets are off."
The M1918 Picatinny rail provides a good platform for either optics or irons.
In sporting arms Sako offers a well made, sturdy peep sight for their bolt actions which will also fit CZs. I bought several of these sights at Waffen Franconia in the 1980s, carry them as pre-zeroed backup, and salvaged what would have been lost hunts for people with failed scopes by having them available.
My primary hunting rifle is a .30-'06 Mauser stocked in the German style, equipped with fixed 4X Zeiss Diatal-C optic in a quick-detachable EAW pivot mount by Ernst Appel. It permits carrying the scope protected in a leather hard case on the belt or stashed in the gun trunk. The factory iron sights are zeroed with RWS 180-gr. TUG at 200 metres. The Federal 180-gr. Premium wqith Nosler Partition shoots to the same zero and the irons have never moved in 25 years. The scope zero has the 180-gr. load striking at the cross hairs at 200 metres and at the top of the Duplex post at 300 metres. It returns perfectly to zero and the rifle has killed over 100 head of big same over the years.
XS systems backup sights are available fit either Weaver or Picatinny bases and are good choices for most American rifles. My three Marlin lever guns are all equipped with XS Lever Scout mount which accepts a Trijicon RX09-23: Trijicon® RX09-23—14.4 MOA Chevron Amber Reticle w/ Cyalume Port & A.R.M.S #15 Throw Lever Mount or other conventional optic of choice. A Marlin carbine so-equipped makes an ideal car gun for carry in states which are not "assault rifle" friendly.
http://www.trijicon.com/user/parts/products1.cfm?PartID=126&back_row=0&categoryID=8
New England Custom Gun (NECG) also makes some sturdy backup receiver sights which fit Ruger or Weaver bases that work great on a hunting rifle.
Finding a sturdy front sight suitable to put on a heavy barreled varmint or sniper rifle and provide a correct height for zeroing required some thought. I solved this on my tactical rifles by having the muzzle machined to directly accept an M14 rifle front sight. Being able to adjust the front sight for windage and machining the front sight to zero enables you to keep one backup receiver sight and move it around several rifles. I who have done this quite successfully, although you must have a skilled and understanding gunsmith or your own test range close to the Bridgeport milling machine.
Posted by ke4sky | April 29, 2008 9:47 AM
Posted on April 29, 2008 09:47