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txradioguy:

--- Quote from: Elderberry on August 17, 2023, 12:34:35 pm ---American Excellence

Citizen Free Press
@CitizenFreePres

https://twitter.com/i/status/1556356171279126528

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The original three gun competition.

That kid is good.

Elderberry:
3.0 Carbine Drill: Practical Exercise For The M1 Carbine

American Rifleman by Justin Dyal August 19, 2023

Last year, my cousin gave me an M1 that was our grandfather’s, figuring that I would shoot it more than he was. The M1 served duty in World War II, and it was made by Saginaw Steering Gear. I was thrilled to have it and immediately cleaned it up. I believe this little carbine was the first centerfire rifle I ever fired as a youngster, and I remember being immediately taken by the gentle recoil and sharp bark of the M1. I began to think about shooting the early war M1 in context; firing it practically much as it may have been used in its role as a personal defense gun, or as a light rifle by those not typically armed with the Garand.

As I experimented, I settled on a 10-shot drill consisting of three stages, each having a time limit of 3 seconds. I call it the 3.0 Carbine Drill with the decimal point linking the .30 cal. and the 3.0 seconds.

The 3.0 Carbine Drill consists of rapid-fire strings of three shots fired at 10 and 20 yards, followed by single shots fired from classic marskman positions at 50 yards. The chart below details the stages.


Stage       Start Position         Rounds        Distance   Time Limit

1               High Port           3           10 yards        3
2               Low Ready           3           20 yards        3
3               Kneeling/Ready      1           50 yards        3
                Sitting/Ready       1           50 yards        3
                Prone/Ready         1           50 yards        3
                Standing/Ready      1           50 yards      NTL



For the target, I use a simple piece of 8.5”x11” copy paper folded in half to make a 5.5”x8.5” vital zone. I score the strings as hit or miss, e.g., 8/10. Late hits deduct a half point. The target is just small enough to give the shooter a nice challenge and force good technique. However, the target is large enough to allow even worn M1s with modest accuracy and surplus ammo to have a reasonable chance to clean the drill. My grandfather’s old carbine is humble in the accuracy department, but even with truly nasty surplus ammo, it is able to print 3.5” five-shot groups at 50 yards and can easily hold the half page. 

Whenever I teach, I often query groups of experienced shooters what they think is a practical time frame for a target of opportunity or to expect a shooter to respond within in an emergency beyond personal space. Without exception, the answers register around 3 seconds. This 3-second span is the golden default when looking for a practical time limit for many shooting tasks or scenarios. In this case, each stage has the shooter working deliberately but with a sense of urgency to make the time limit.

Stage 1 has the shooter at the high port position, with the butt of the carbine somewhere near the belt line and the muzzle up just under the line of sight. There is a round chambered and the safety on. The target is 10 yards away. In the chaos of battlefield conditions, whether the villages of Italy and France or the vegetation of a Pacific island, 10 yards is a good ballpark distance for soldiers unexpectedly coming face to face with enemy. In World War II Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy’s autobiography, To Hell and Back, he speaks on several occasions about running suddenly into German soldiers at close range and having to rapidly fire multiple shots from his carbine. He tells how he had to rapidly engage two soldiers who unexpectedly hopped into a trench he was using to approach an objective under cover. In other battles, he mentions having to rapidly fire multiple shots at a single soldier, both to overcome misses and to stop the enemy before it had a chance to hit Murphy.

Stage 1 is in this spirit, with the shooter mounting the M1 to a firing position and firing three rounds into the half-page target in 3 seconds. Many shooters will benefit from the old, close-range aperture sight technique of boosting speed by aiming with the front sight while keeping it roughly centered over the top of the aperture leaf rather than taking the time to look through the aperture and finely center the sights. I first learned this technique when taking a close-quarters military class with the old carry-handle M16A2 and later found that some Marines in the Pacific campaign were known to roughly file a big express-style ‘V’ in the top of the aperture leaf for a similar approach.

Stage 2 has the shooter at 20 yards, beginning with the carbine in the shoulder and muzzle depressed at the base of the target stand at the low ready, safety on. On the start signal, the shooter again fires three shots in 3 seconds. As I thought about this distance, I mulled over how it might relate to my grandfather’s generation; suppressing a pill box or machine guns nest’s firing port as a fellow GI moved to place a satchel charge or toss a grenade.

It also reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Medal of Honor citations. Hospital Apprentice First Class Robert Bush, a Navy Corpsman with 5th Marines on Okinawa, was treating a critically wounded Marine officer when a banzai charge broke through the perimeter and threatened to overrun his casualty-collection point. Bush drew his pistol and engaged the enemy with one hand while holding a plasma bottle aloft with the other. As more of the enemy approached he picked up a discarded carbine, accounted for six of the enemy and protected the wounded, despite the loss of one of his eyes due to enemy fire. It’s an incredible story that illustrates, in one small way, why Marines feel the way they do about their corpsman brothers.

More: https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/3-0-carbine-drill-practical-exercise-for-the-m1-carbine/?utm_source=newsletter

mountaineer:
What kind of idiot tries to rob a gun shop?

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https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1700653821926728061

Smokin Joe:

--- Quote from: Jack Russell on September 10, 2023, 11:20:52 pm ---I started shooting clays with relatives a year or 2 ago.  We are very average at it, but are looking to improve...lol.  I've watched some videos on youtube on how to improve.  One of the things they mention is shooting your shotgun with BOTH eyes open and never focus on the barrel bead, but focus on the clay.  I've been closing one eye and focusing on the bead.  I can see where this would work.  To improve my chances I just got new glasses (it's only been 20 years), and upgraded to a 12 gauge over and under, from a 20....lol.  It had to be these items and not my lack of ability...lololol.

Any thoughts on shooting with both eyes open?

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I learned moving targets on ducks, from a river blind. Yep, both eyes open. I only squinch down to one when I am using a scope.

Elderberry:
I've always shot with both eyes open. My only problem was when I was taking an ROTC Problem Analysis course that also taught pistol marksmanship. You can solve many a problem if you're good with a handgun.The instructor brought up eye dominance and I discovered I was left eye dominant. My scores went to crap until I learned to not think and just shoot the way I always did and my scores restored to normal. Once you've practiced enough, one doesn't need the sights at all except for long range shooting. Muscle memory, instinct shooting, takes over. 

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