Perishable Skill
Tam on not going to the range regularly. Also, last few times I made it to the range, I discovered something: vision in my right eye is not what it used to be. I’d have never noticed was I not trying to line up a front sight and a target.
May 6th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Frackin’ Old Age! What good is the knowledge and common sense one finally learns when one’s body can’t use it? Oh well, at least I live in an age of lasers and red dots. That should buy me a few more years.
May 6th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
‘Course one problem with practicing at a gun range is that DGUs almost never happen at gun ranges. Nor does the DGU typically provide the opportunity to break out your shooting bag, don your shooting glasses and your earmuffs, and shoot from a nice supported position at clearly defined targets under tightly controlled conditions.
I’ve decided that hunting is something just about every serious packer of heat should be doing. It does at least provide for some kind of rapid decision making, dealing with the elements, having your time and circumstances set by the target and the environment, and it gives you some insight into terminal ballistics. Range shooting it ain’t. Not by a long shot. All that and it puts meat on the table.
There is another style of practice I call “The Walk”. You go out alone or with a friend into the wilds. Take shots at various distances, which you must be prepaired to determine in the field, at random things like rocks, stupms, etc. “Bet you can’t hit that rock with one shot– it must be 400 yards out…” That sort of thing.
Time was when the local dump was a fantastic place to shoot. You could break glass, automobiles, furniture, dead horses, and no one cared a whit. We had hours and hours of fun at the dump when we were kids. Most dumops are closed to such things today, and that’s child abuse right there. They call them “land fills” now. Fucking retards.
Your eyes’ accommodation ability starts to degrade in your 30s or early 40s (I’m fifty something). Just gotta live with it. It sucks. I had my shooting glasses optimized for long distance, but that means it’s extremely difficult to focus on a front sight unless I’m using a longrifle. An aperture rear helps increase the depth of field though, and a small peep makes it almost infinite. Adapt to the circumstances, and overcome. Pistols are giving me the most trouble right now, especially plain black sights and especially plain black sights with any glare on them at all. The Glock dot and bracket isn’t so bad. Optic sights of any kind are still fine and dandy.
May 6th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Having just endured a retina detachment and retina repair surgery, I will say this:
If you notice *anything* degrading see your vision doc. If you see stuff beyond the occaisional miniscule floater, see him quickly. If you see a “spot” that does not move, and grows slightly larger See the doctor *now*. Euse the emergency contact #.
When the retina rips, they can just stop the rip by tacking it back into place. The damaged tissue no longer contributes to your vision. So… the trick is to stop the ripping as soon as possible.
Bert (who permanently lost ~25% of his right side vision a few weeks ago)
May 7th, 2011 at 10:33 am
Well, Lyle, you’re a lot more tactical than me. 😉