Category: Fieldcraft
Big, heavy, full-sized guns are a great ticket to taming recoil. More mass helps!
There’s a reason why most people shoot a .22 better than a .44 Magnum. Recoil has long been the enemy of realizing the full measure of a gun’s mechanical accuracy. At my range, I’ve seen many very strong and hardy young men talk up hard-kicking handguns like the Desert Eagle and the S&W 500. I’ve also watched many of those strong, hardy young men flinch magnum rounds into the dirt.
To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, youth is wasted on the young. Now that I’ve shot long enough to shut off my inner reptile brain, my hands are admittedly achier than they once were. (Note: being a writer has not helped this condition.) As such, I certainly find myself in the ranks of those who see the worth of a “soft shooting” handgun.
You might find yourself with a similar value system for reasons of your own. If so, you’ll likely ponder the following: What makes one handgun shoot more stoutly or softly than another? This is an answerable question and one that transcends discussions of caliber alone.
Hogue grips have been a recoil reduction mainstay for decades.
Size And Weight
It’s been a while since many of us took high school physics, but we might dimly remember that force is equal to mass times acceleration. Many of us tend to focus on “force.” We can think of this as the power of the cartridge for which any particular firearm is chambered. However, we should be equally concerned with acceleration, and by that, I mean how rapidly any given gun accelerates into your hand under recoil. Newton’s second law tells us that acceleration and mass are inversely related for any given force.
Put more simply, big guns kick less than small guns of the same caliber. This seems counter-intuitive at first: Witness the number of well-meaning husbands who buy snub-nosed revolvers for their wives. Small guns seem cute, genteel, and easy to handle. That said, show me a lady who shot a scandium J-Frame .38 as her first gun, and I’ll show you a lady who had a horrible first trip to the range — and likely never returned.
If you want to keep recoil to a minimum, extra mass is the ticket. It’s another reason why I tend to prefer barrels of 6″ on revolvers and 5″ on autoloaders: More sight radius is nice, sure, but the extra weight out at the front of the gun adds just a little “special sauce” when it comes to taming recoil.
Ergonomics matter! Sig’s P-series guns are designed to ensure
a near-perfect meld with the human hand.
Ergonomics
A deceptive category, to be sure! Many people buy a revolver or semi-auto because it feels “good in the hand.” That’s better than nothing, but one also wants to make sure it feels good under recoil. The platonic ideal is a gun that fits one’s hand just so, with no gaps or recesses. This will allow the firearm and hand to behave as one unit under recoil, distributing all forces evenly. When this isn’t the case, it can feel like the gun is slamming back into one’s palm.
Sometimes our own biology is at fault when it comes to amplifying the negative effects of recoil. Many big-handed dudes have been cut by the slides of Walther PPKs and bit by the beak-like hammer of a Browning Hi-Power. Even a gun with a modest “kick” can be quite painful under recoil if your hand doesn’t interface with it well.
Personally, I don’t play well with medium- and large-framed guns from a certain manufacturer. Thanks largely due to their rectangular grip frame, they tend to vector recoil right into the knuckle at the base of my thumb — no thanks, I say. Not every pistol will work for every user, as we may perceive the effects of recoil differently from one another.
Gloves are an excellent way to ensure a more consistent human/gun
interface, reducing the perception of felt recoil.
Grip And Grip Material
Wooden grips on a revolver can be a thing of beauty. However, there’s a reason why Ruger ships its Super Redhawks with big, cushy rubber stocks: Metal and wooden grips have absolutely no “give.” On a heavy kicking gun, hard grips won’t make things worse, but they certainly won’t make things better. Instead, rubber grips once again help to distribute recoil over a larger part of the hand and over a longer duration of time. Those gray-pebbled rubber Hogue grips might not be someone’s first choice of shoes for a vintage S&W, but aesthetics be damned — they work.
Another interesting variable comes in the form of polymer construction. Almost as a rule, polymer frames will be lighter than those made from aluminum or steel. Based on our previous discussion of weight, one would think this would indicate they’d be harder kickers. And yet, I’ve shot some polymer guns that shoot as softly as their metal-framed brethren.
I think the phenomenon comes down once again to “flex” or “give.” Some polymer compounds can act as shock absorbers, as they can be compressed or deformed more easily than metal but will rebound to their original, molded shape. The effect is slight but not negligible!
Additionally, how one grips the gun is important. A strong grip locks the firearm into place and again aids the goal of allowing the gun, wrist, hand and arm to move as one unit. (And, as a combined mass, will therefore accelerate less under the same recoil force.) But supposing one has a weak and/or improper grip, the gun will squirm in hand and distribute recoil forces unequally. Good technique will absolutely reduce the perception of recoil.
Two .380s, two action types. The locked-breech GLOCK 42 is a
softer kicker than the Colt 1908 despite less mass.
Action And Slide Velocity
Remember our previous discussion of a force being exerted over time? Well, it also applies here, and not all guns are created equal. While exceptions exist to the rule, most autoloaders can be classified into “blowback” and “locked breech” designs.
Blowback actions are the simpler of the two. When a round is fired in a gun of this design, only the stiffness of the recoil spring and mass of the slide inhibit its rearward movement until the chamber reaches safe pressures. As the gun cycles, the slide (and only the slide) moves backward, usually at a high velocity, contributing to a “snappy” feel when it rams into the rear of the frame. Usually, this action is reserved for guns chambered in smaller calibers.
Conversely, just about any gun chambered in 9mm or larger is going to have some kind of locking mechanism. If you watch a video of a 1911 or Walther P38 in extreme slow motion, you’ll see the barrel and slide travel together for a bit before the barrel unlocks and the slide continues its rearward movement. Recoil forces act on more things, in more directions and over a longer period of time. Recoil is generally felt more like a shove than a snap.
Guns chambered for .380 ACP — of which there are a lot — can be one of the two action types. My GLOCK 42, a locked breech design, is very comfortable to shoot. My Colt 1908 is far less pleasant, thanks to its blowback action. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t note there are blowback guns in larger calibers.
Additionally, springs are a factor. For example, H&K’s USP series of handguns utilize a dual spring system, where the last bit of slide travel under recoil is further dampened by a second, stiffer recoil spring. As I understand it, H&K moved away from this design in the name of simplification — why use two parts when one will do? I see the logic, but I (and other devotees) simply love how the USP setup feels.
Also, when guns have no springs or slides, there’s little to attenuate the recoil. A single-shot handgun or revolver typically has greater recoil than an autoloader of identical size, weight and caliber.
It’s a physical law: Recoil increases as heavier bullets are driven progressively faster.
The .22 short (28 grains @ 800 fps) will do less pushing than the .30-06 (165 grains @ 2,800 fps).
A bad grip. The gun is not set into the web of the hand nor aligned
with the bones of the dominant forearm. Felt recoil: Increased!
And Egads … More?
We haven’t even begun to touch on the effect of muzzle brakes, bullet weights and velocities, slow-burning vs. fast-burning powders, torque, weight changes as magazines deplete, aftermarket parts and add-ons and the much-ballyhooed subject of bore-over-frame height. And I’m sure there are even some factors I’m forgetting.
The main takeaway is there are so many different variables and so many guns we’re rarely able to make apples-to-apples comparisons when it comes to recoil. Sure, I can tell you a 4″ gun will kick more than a 6″ gun if it’s the same make, model and caliber. Or an M&P .40 will kick more than an M&P in 9mm. However, if you were to ask me off the top of my head whether a Ruger LCR in .327 Federal kicks more than a .45 ACP-chambered 1911 stoked with +P+ ammo … who knows?
Don’t get me wrong: Keeping track of all of the above variables is certainly helpful when it comes to identifying soft shooters or hard kickers. However, the real world almost always complicates our well-crafted theories. Sometimes you just have to shoot a gun to find out how much you can tolerate the kick, push, shove, or slap it transmits when you pull the trigger.
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Range estimation is a key skill in the sniper’s toolbox. If you don’t know how far away your target is, you have little chance of hitting it on the first shot. One shot, one kill…right? There are many methods of locating the target’s range. For the purpose of this period of instruction we will be covering range estimation with the mildot reticle and it’s variants. In years past the basic mildot reticle came in two flavors. You could either get round dots or “footballs”. In recent times the footballs have faded from existence. They have been replaced by a myriad of lines and circles and dots. The basic premise that we are going to demonstrate here will work for any milradian based reticle.
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| Mil Relation Formula | ||||||||||||||||||
| The core of rifle scope range estimation is a math problem referred to as the “Mil Relation Formula”. This takes the height of the target in inches, multiplies it by a constant and then divides by the number of mils read in the scope.
The basic formula looks like this:
The 27.77 is a “constant”. This is sometimes expressed at 27.78, which is the mathematically correct rounded number. Most Marines will use 27.77 because that is what we were taught. Either will get you close enough to make a first round hit. Other formulas are available to convert range to meters or to start with the target height in a different unit of measure. I prefer this formula because it is easy to remember and uses units that most of us in the United States are familiar with.
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| Measuring with Mils | ||||||||||||||||||
| The hardest part of range estimation by the Mil Relation Formula is actually measuring the target. To be accurate you need to train your eye to measure to the nearest tenth or a mil or 0.1 mil. Most experienced snipers can measure down to five hundredths of a mil or 0.05. All it takes is practice.
First Focal Plane vs. Second Focal Plane: Rifle scopes generally come in two varieties. The most common is the Second Focal Plane reticle. In this type the reticle covers more or less of the target depending on the magnification setting of the scope. If you are looking at a target through the rifle scope and you turn the power selector ring the reticle will appear to stay the same size as the target zooms larger. This causes a couple of problems. The first being that the reticle will only be accurate for ranging at one power setting. The second is that the reticle will only be correct for holds at one power setting. First Focal Plane scopes have been gaining popularity in the US. They have the benefit of the reticle reading correctly at any power setting. When you look through the scope at a target and turn the power selector ring the reticle will appear to grow or shrink at the same rate as the target. The drawback to this is that the reticle thickness becomes a compromise. Too thick of a reticle will obscure too much of the target at high magnification. Too thin and it will become invisible at low power. The reticle also becomes easy to loose in the background on low power in low light unless it is illuminated. Verifying the Reticle Scale: Your first priority before using your Mil reticle is to verify that the scale reads correctly and at what power. This is a fairly simple exercise. First find a large piece of cardboard. Draw a vertical line on it with a heavy black marker. Using a very accurate ruler make horizontal hash marks across the vertical line every 3.6″. Be careful with your measuring. Set your cardboard at 100 yards and line the center of your reticle up with the bottom most hash mark on the cardboard. Each mil mark in your scope should line up with each hash mark on your cardboard. If you are using a mildot type scope then the hash marks should bisect the dots. If you are using a line type reticle like the GAP reticle then the hash marks should line up with the full mil hashes in the reticle. What if it doesn’t line up? If your scope is a Second Focal Plane scope, then experiment with different power settings until you find the one that matches up. When you do, take a silver sharpie and make a mark across the ring and the scope body so that you can quickly locate the correct setting in the field. If your scope is a First Focal Plane and you are sure that you measured correctly when laying our your board, then you need to contact the manufacturer for warranty service. Milling the Target. Hopefully your scope came with literature showing the scale of the different portions of your reticle. In any Mil based reticle the center to center distance of the most prominent marks should be one mil. All other measurements are up for grabs. Here are a couple of common reticles: |
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| We will use the “Army” type Mildots for most of our examples. These are the most common and found in Leupold as well as many other makes of rifle scope. I am not aware of any new scopes using the USMC Mildot. I include them here on the odd chance someone comes across an old USMC scope.
To range a target to a tenth of a mil we need to build a stable position just like if we were going to send a shot downrange. Any tremor is going to cause problems. Place the reticle over the target and count how many full mil increments there are. |
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| In the image above we see that the Taliban fighter is 4 mils tall. Since our S2 briefed us that this selected target is 5’8″ (68″) we can plug these figures into our formula. | ||||||||||||||||||
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| 68 inches tall times 27.77 (our constant) divided by the number of mils the target measured in the scope (4). Crank that through your calculator and you see that our target is 472 yards away.
Now let’s make this a little more difficult.
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| In this image we can see that our innocent little friends are taking a stroll. Our loader is more than two and a half mils tall, but that’s not going to cut it.
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| If we look closely at where his foot falls above the third mill dot we can begin to break it down. With your minds eye, split that mildot in half. That half mildot measure 0.1 mil. Now you can’t quite fit that half mildot between his foot and the top of the whole mildot, so we break it down again. This gives us 0.05 mil. Now add that to the “half” mildot and we get 0.15 mil between the center of the dot and the bottom of our jihadist’s foot. If we subtract 0.15 mils from 1, we get 0.85 mils. Add back in the two mils above that and we get a measured height of 2.85 mils. Lets assume that our militant here is 64″ tall (from our intel reports). Let’s plug that into our formula.
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| If we didn’t go to the trouble of breaking it down and just rounded it to 3 mils we would have come up with 592.42 yards to target. In this case that would have resulted in an elevation error of about 12″ with M118LR. Breaking the dot down to .05 will give you improved accuracy but is not required for closer range targets.
When the target won’t stand still, or you do not know the height of your target you can use objects nearby. In the city this is pretty easy. Out in the woods it’s a bit more difficult. If you have several objects in your field of view, range the largest first. Larger targets will generally give you more accuracy. Ranging several targets and taking the average will also cut down your error. After time you may notice patterns to your errors. It’s good to note these so that in the future you can take them into account. A laser rangefinder is an excellent tool to have to confirm your calculations when you are learning to read mils. If you are working with a spotter, both of you should do the calculations independently and then take the average. Mildot ranging is an excellent skill, but is only as accurate as you are. It is also slow and difficult to use on moving tagets. In this a laser rangefinder excells. However, batteries die and electronics fail. Backup skills are nice to have.
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| Additional Formulas | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Common Items | ||||||||||||||||||
All dimensions are approximate and should be verified by the user. When possible it is a good idea for you to actually go out to the areas you work and measure common items. If you find yourself frequently in the same housing projects, then measure some windows and doors. They may come in handy some night if your LRF dies.
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For the last couple years, there has been an epidemic of mass shootings targeting people in bars, malls, and outdoor parties. These have generally been gang members targeting other gang members.
It’s spring. We see this stuff every year as the temperatures warm. This year seems even worse, with lots of “Spring Break” parties targeted. That, combined with “de-policing” means criminals are going to do what criminals do with no one to stop them.
Understand that if you get caught up in a mess like this, the cops won’t be speeding to your rescue. The community doesn’t want the cops arresting bad people anymore. The cops will respond, getting there after all the shots have been fired to coordinate medical care and write a nice report.
I’ve received several emails similar to this one lately.
“Let’s say I’m at a place of business or some other public place and a scuffle breaks out resulting in shots fired such as at Polaris this week or another mall last week or in front of a bar last night. Last night, 15 shots were fired. Being armed competently what should I do? What would you do?”
I’m going to answer this one simply and directly. You off-duty cops and legally armed citizens have exactly one role in this situation: Make sure you and your family/friends don’t get shot. That’s it. End of lesson.
When I hear shots nearby, I immediately get down on the ground or behind cover. I assess where the shots are coming from and I plan a path of retreat in the opposite direction, ideally moving between large pieces of cover as I make my escape. That’s it. There is absolutely nothing else you should do.
These are young thugs fighting other young thugs. These are gang bangers fighting other gang bangers. These are drunken idiots who decide to whip out a pistol when they are insulted. None of those situations involves you in any way, even if you are in danger of catching a stray round.
They don’t want to shoot you. The only way you will get hit is by accident. Don’t go looking for trouble. Don’t try to intervene. There is no “innocent third party” to protect. Let the dumbshits shoot each other. You don’t have to play their game.
And you don’t have to “be a good witness” either. If these jackasses get arrested, do you want them getting you and your family’s names, addresses, places of employment, and phone numbers? As soon as their court appointed attorney files for discovery, all of that information goes directly to them. Now you’ve become an active player in their game. And in that game, they don’t care about the same rules you do.
A friend of mine’s 18-year old son was at a mall where there was a gang shooting. A ricocheting bullet hit him in the arm, but didn’t penetrate his jacket. He was listed on the police report as a victim and the boy (he was still in high school) was issued a subpoena to testify against the accused who had fired the shots. My friend’s son didn’t see anything and provided no useful information for the prosecution, he was still ordered to appear in court. Does that sound like a good plan to you? Would you instruct your teenage child to “be a good witness?” Not me.
Don’t involve yourself in this stupidity. It will only harm you in the long term. If you intervene, you will either get shot by the thugs, shot by the cops, sued by the person you shoot, or criminally arrested. If that doesn’t happen and you make a statement to the cops you take the chance of being hunted down by the arrested party’s crew at a future date before trial.
Say it again with me: “Not your people, not your problem.”
Get out. Not playing is the only route to victory.
Categories
Gun?, What gun? NSFW
As we get older, we must keep in mind that we can still be a target for criminal attack. In fact, we may become even more of a target as the years catch up with us. The crooks see the gray hair, the wrinkles and figure that we will be less likely to resist and less likely to be armed. Age may cause us to have physical problems to deal with, but many of them can be overcome. We owe it to ourselves and our families to be as tough a target as is humanly possible. Here are a few ideas to help older defensive shooters deal with their issues.
1. Use The Most Powerful Handgun That You Can Shoot Quickly And Accurately.
You may be surprised to learn that this is what I tell all shooters, regardless of their age. However, you may have found that, due to infirmities, you can no longer manage that .357 Mag. or .45 ACP pistol. This doesn’t mean that you should quit. It means that you should scale down to a 9 mm Luger, .38 Spl., .380 ACP, or even .22 LR, depending upon your particular needs and abilities.
These smaller calibers may not be as capable, but they sure do beat fighting with your fists. The lighter the caliber, the more important bullet placement becomes. So, you’ll have to practice more and work on delivering the best bullet placement possible.
2. Consider Changing Carry Positions.
One of the most common defensive carry techniques is to wear the handgun on your strong-side hip, just behind the hip bone. Unfortunately, with aging, many shooters lose mobility in their joints. To make a draw from this popular position, your shoulder must move up and back, and it must do it quickly. Some folks just have a tough time with this.
A better choice for the aging shooter might be the appendix carry; that is, wearing the handgun on the strong side but in front of the hip bone. The shoulder does not have to move so radically with this technique. The same may be true with the crossdraw carry method. Both carry the handgun on the front side of the body and will be easier to get to and allow for a quick pistol presentation.
3. Dealing With Fuzzy Sights.
About the time that we hit middle age, the sights on a handgun sure do start to look fuzzy, and a clear sight picture rapidly becomes a thing of the past. Some folks deal with this natural phenomenon by using the close-range portion of their bifocals. However, for all of us, glasses are the answer.
Even if you don’t use bifocals, your optometrist can have a corner of your glasses ground so that you can see the sights clearly through that portion of the lens. If you don’t feel comfortable discussing your shooting skills with your current optometrist, ask at your local shooting range or gun store until you can get the name of an optometrist who is a shooter. You’d be amazed at how many of these professionals enjoy the shooting sports and understand the needs of aging shooters.
4. Weakness In The Hands And Forearms.
Some older shooters find that, due to arthritis or some other ailment, they can no longer work the slide on a semi-automatic pistol. In most cases, I have found that they have been doing it wrong in the first place.
Too many shooters want to hold the auto pistol in their hand with the arm almost fully extended. Then they use the thumb and index finger of their support hand, at the very back of the slide, to work the slide and chamber a round. This whole technique looks very much like the way we shot slingshots when we were kids. Regardless of age, this is a very poor technique and is an indication of someone who is a real tenderfoot regarding this business of self-defense.
The closer your hands are to your chest, the more strength you have in your hands and arms. Hold the pistol close to your chest and parallel to your chest, with the muzzle pointed to the side. However, you should be conscious that the muzzle is still pointed in a safe direction at all times.
Put your support hand over the top of the pistol, in the area of the ejection port, and grasp the slide firmly with your whole hand and all of your fingers. At the same time that you pull the slide to the rear with your support hand, you should push forward with your strong hand. The isometric push-pull, along with holding the gun close to the body, utilizes much more of your bodily strength and is a much more positive way to charge your auto pistol.
However, there are those who simply are dealing with issues that make them too weak to run an auto slide. They might consider making the transition to a double-action revolver. The action of loading and unloading a DA revolver requires much less muscle strength. When transitioning to a revolver, however, don’t hesitate to have a professional gunsmith smooth up the action to make the double-action trigger pull as easy as possible.
5. Increase Mobility With Exercise.
The older we get, the more important exercise is to our maintaining our body strength and mobility. If you have health issues, it is critical that you do not start an exercise program without consulting with a physician. Just as with the optometrist, you may find it a bit more comfortable to find a physician who enjoys the shooting sports.
When you start hunting for a doctor who is a member of our shooting fraternity, you will be amazed at just how many of them there are. I don’t want to sound “New Age” here, but the fact is that a yoga class, especially one for older folks, is a great way to increase your agility and mobility. However, if you have any doubts about your ability, take the time to consult with a physician.
It is critically important, as the years go by, to continue to refuse to be a victim. Seek the advice of other aging shooters, use your mind to solve your particular problems as they relate to shooting skills, and simply say to yourself, “I am tough, I am an American shooter, and I am not going to give up.”
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For example here is the Big Guy (General George Patton) who is doing some land navigation with his compass it the right way! Note that he is OUTSIDE & FAR AWAY from his tank. So that is its magnetic signature will not f*ck up his compass sighting.
It was stuff like this & other stuff that made his Armies so much more effective. Like stress on Land Navigation, Marksmanship, Combined Arm Tactics, Communicatiosn, taking care of your gear and your troops. etc etc. No wonder why the German High Command always rated him as their most dangerous opponent!
I just hope that Valhalla is as much fun as the Old timers say for him! Anyways thanks sir for terminating with extreme prejudice so many of our Foes in your time.
Grumpy