Range time with the CCW arms.

[Adam Helmer]

Fall is in the air here in Northcentral PA and it is time to wear the sleeveless vests. The vests hold off the chill and cover the strong side holsters. My friends come to the farm for range time since silhouette targets are banned at their nearby gun club. I see a target as merely a target, but the "trapshooting clique" at the club had enough votes to impose the "No humanoid target" rule. Be that as it may....

We had a chat session last week after range time and the discussion revolved around "similarity of conditions." In other words, how many folks practice drawing and target acquisition while wearing the vests, jackets or outside the trouser shirts they wear on the street. I had a CCW friend a while back who always shot year-round on an indoor range in shirtsleeves. He wore a heavy coat on the street in Winter and one day had a heck of a time getting to his gun BECAUSE he NEVER practiced drawing with a parka in the way!

When I ran the semi-annual qualifications for agents, I always required them to come to the range with some sort of jacket or sports coat on their person because our regulations required our guns be covered on duty, and all draws would be with a jacket in place covering their guns. Practice all draws under a SIMILARITY of CONDITIONS so the muscle memory is in place for the day you face Gravest Extreme.

Adam

[Catfish]

Sounds like some excellant advice and something I neglect to do. Guess I better with it.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I see a target as merely a target, but the "trapshooting clique" at the club had enough votes to impose the "No humanoid target" rule. Be that as it may....

This has GOT to be the dumbest rule that I have seen come across the boards in recent times. Michigan state ranges have a similar ban, so I asked the range officer "What exactly is a 'humaniod' target"? I was told a target resembling a human. O.K......so a black sillouhette isn't a humaniod target, right? Oh, no....it is, because the outline is that of a human! O.K., so a big rectangle with a little rectangle on top isn't a 'humanoid' target, right? Now it depends on which range officer you talk to......and they all cap it off with "Look, I don't make the rules, I just enforce 'em":rolleyes::mad:
We are allowed to use images of 'legal' game animals, but not 'illegal' ones......so no shooting at pictures of elephants or gorillas, even though (last time I looked, anyway), Michigan didn't have an elephant or gorilla season! And what if it's illegal in one state, but not another and I plan on hunting in that state?

THEY'RE ALL MADE OUT OF PAPER, FOR CRIPE SAKES!!!!!

What a bunch of mental pygmies we have running this state..................:mad:

.....but I degress! Adam, I would love to practice more with my CCW sidearms as you describe; however, ALL of the private and public ranges here REFUSE to allow drawing from a holster of any kind and rapid fire (we must allow one second between shots). Having said that, I do practice (with an unloaded firearm) drawing from a concealed position, and once or twice a year I go to the State Game Area were I know of a parking area that is pretty much a shallow bowl. I usually go in Jan/Feb/March, as most hunting seasons have closed by then and I'm not disturbing anybody's hunting. I also try to wait until after noon so as not to disturb any local residents in the area. The sides of the parking area make a pretty good berm, and any rounds that are off target end up in soft dirt. I take along some cardboard sillouhettes that I cut out of refrigerator boxes and some stands I've made out of 2x2 pieces and 3/4" pine planking. I've only had two people stop to see what I was doing......one was a county sheriff who told me to have a nice day and to please make sure I cleaned up my mess, and another was an A-hole rabbit hunter who came in and tried to claim he was hit by a spent round! I asked him were he was hunting and he told me west of were we were; I said "that's funny, because I'm shooting in a southerly directions, and I'm not using the ammo that killed JFK" (the humor escaped him:rolleyes:)....he later admitted that he just didn't "like the noise while he was hunting rabbits". What a jacka$$!
Anyway, good post and that is what I do....maybe someone can find a similar area and do some of the things I do.