Well, as far as I know Herschel hasn’t come screaming out of the woods to end this little escapade so either all is going well or he’s blissfully unaware of what is going on.

We start day two in front of the Golden TCJ Keyboard with a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer and get right into it.

Yesterday I brought up training that is available from a plethora of instructors in a variety of areas. One thing that may bring pause in consideration of actively seeking training is what value or practical use will it be. To be honest, unless you plan on developing a program that will continually refresh and reinforce what you learned the skills you paid to learn will go away. Use or lose it, so to speak. In my opinion having a plan in place to continually utilize what you have learned is just as important as the training itself.

Sometimes the training you get can have unexpected, and pleasant, results.

A very good friend has taken a few of Mosby’s classes. Now this guy is a driven animal in his approach to this stuff. His time is too precious to waste on something that he will not be willing to use and build on.

I received an email from him with regards to an “opportunity” he had to use the skills learned from Mosby. Here are his words:

“Local PD rangemaster just invited me to use their indoor range tomorrow night with whatever hardware I want. I asked about my AK w/fmj and he said sure, why not if I get tired of their Eotech’d M-4s. Methinks word about me attending Mosby’s classes has reached the right ears. Or not…”

“Okay – that was a blast and very ego satisfying. No way around it. Turns out I was being used but in a good way. Anyone surprised about that? Anyhoo, showed up as planned dressed in Dickies and a sweatshirt and a concealed G19. Shoulder bag held the day’s work clothes, work Makarov and holster, earpro, etc that I didn’t want to leave in the car.  Got met and buzzed in and greeted by two before led into a concrete maze to the range. Trip chat was them asking about my background & interest in firearms, what training and why. My views on what a man is and being prepared to solve one’s own problems seemed to go over well enough and I asked about their interest in me. They’d heard some favorable things and wanted to see for themselves.

We get to the range and I drop the bag and grab the earpro from it. Targets are man sized armed perp pics at 75 feet. They tell me to help myself and get warmed up. I notice how little direction they give me and suspect it’s a test to see how I run on my own re safety etc. Everyone’s ears are already on so I lift my shirt, skin my smokewagon and start putting rounds in and around the head of my target. They jump back and start swearing before calming back down. It never occurred to them I might be carrying and ready to go *immediately*. Gotta say that was enjoyable to see.

To my joy I’m getting good face hits at 75 feet and the misses are within 4 inches and a number of those “misses” are upper chest and neck hits due to jerking the trigger down. We’d only gone to 30 feet max with Mosby so this was seriously pushing it for me, but I remembered the training and worked the steps in order. They look at the target and say that wasn’t bad at all. Later they tell me I’m better than all but a few in the department and those equal or better are gun nuts, present company included. Turns out this is department weapon qualification week and they wanted to show the newer officers their marksmanship borderline sucks and there are civilians out there who can and will put pistol rounds in their face at 75 feet before they can draw.

Next up are the carbines, again at 75 feet. They’re all zeroed so hits are quick and easy. Eotechs are nice but irons are plenty at that close range. Easy as it is, several officers need hours to qualify and some never do (with no real consequences due to affirmative action and the union). I pointed at holes in the ceiling downrange and asked if those were what I thought they were. He shook his head and said ‘fraid so. There’s more but you get the idea. All involved made friends and left friends and a great time was had at least by me and I was given two full medbags – probably a result of my mentioning the TC3 training I got with the pistol class and how I’d spent a bunch of my money to fill out my very inadequate kit. I doubt they’d have done that if they thought I was an asshole at the end.”

So, there IS value in the training you get but only if you have a plan to keep your skills fresh and take advantage of opportunities as they may arise.

Please note the generally poor marksmanship of the department’s officers. These are paid professionals. Unless they have a personal interest in the shooting arts they have no real motivation to try and excel at it. My friend, with Mosby’s training under his belt (and his desire to excel) out shot the majority of officers on a fairly large department. He was the equal of their best.

Let that sink in.

[Sorry about the font change after the quote. Monkey just pressing buttons. I’m also forced to use my phone because I have had no luck getting my computer to work with WordPress. Sigh.

Mongo just pawn in game of life…]

Until next time.

A week or so ago Herschel contacted me and said he was going on a trip and asked if I would “like to guest post for him that week” or something like that. I replied that I was both humbled and honored by his request and said yes.

I then told him I have no idea how to do any of this. That didn’t seem a deterrent. We figured it out.

I still don’t know what I’m doing…

Well, a quiet recitation of A. Shepard’s Prayer and here we go.

Ruby Ridge, then Waco.

All we get is Xin Loi.

Countless no-knock SWAT raids with innocents and dogs injured and killed.

All we get is Xin Loi.

People shot dead in the doorway of their home, because…

All we get is Xin Loi.

LaVoy Finicum.

All we get is Xin Loi.

FBICIANSA shredding the Constitution they took an oath to.

All we get is Xin Loi.

Politicians raping this country, both figuratively and literally.

All we get is Xin Loi.

When is our Xin Loi moment?

There are a plethora of trainers out there ready, willing and able to pass on valuable skills that will greatly increase your chances of survival (or at least make a decent accounting) in the struggles that seem to be on the horizon.

Martial skills.

Medical skills.

Communication skills.

Local communities can even offer an education in growing and preserving food.

There is a wealth of knowledge out there. Knowledge to be gained in any price range. For any skill level.

You just have to look around. Urban, suburban or rural. It’s there.

The only thing I haven’t found is a course that tells you when to get out/bunker in. Or, more importantly, when to shoot.

Even Selco will tell you that he doesn’t have the answer to that. Sure, there are signs. Easily visible in hindsight.

But hindsight only helps the living.

In my “youth” I knew a man, a Korean War vet. A big man. Beyond good with a rifle, knife or tomahawk.

He would always say that he would make the first move. We were just to watch. We wouldn’t know when to shoot. He would. By the time we figured it out it would be over.

The Time to Shoot had passed and the Time of Shooting had started.

He’s long dead now. The ferryman has his payment.

I wish I could ask him about the time to shoot. Maybe, just maybe I could learn something.

Folks and valued readers.

I’ll be “out of pocket” for the week.  I’m making what I believe will be a very interesting and adventurous trip with one of my sons, and I’ve been preparing for a long time for this.

I’m tired of the hiking, biking, gym visits,  swimming and other punishment I’ve dealt out to my body for this trip.  I’m ready to get it on.  I want to do this thing.

I think I’ll have some very nice pictures for you when I get back, as well as some observations for you about being in the bush.  In fact, I already know I’ve got some observations that will interest you just in preparing for this trip.

In my absence, WiscoDave will be guest blogging.  Be kind to him.

Vox has gotten its pink panties all in a wad over big bullets and guns, looking for something else to control.  The amusing thing about this “study” is this.

I think someone needs to go back and review the definition of caliber (Which is a measure of the inside diameter of the barrel, most often specified in fractional inches, not in metric units).

So this “study” has the .357 magnum shown as a large caliber, while the .38 special is shown as a medium caliber, ignoring the fact that it’s the very same round.

The 7.62X39 belongs in with the medium caliber, not large caliber in this picture.  And none of this has anything to do with ballistics.

Layers and layers of fact checkers for this “study.”  And Vox has no more sense than to glom onto something as stupid as this.

But restrict “big bullets and guns” and the world will be a better place, and pink unicorns will fart pixie dust rainbows while we hold hands and sing Kumbaya around a campfire.

Or something.

I like what I see.  The price seems reasonable, and the accuracy good.  Bergara is doing good things, and it hosts the popular 6.5 Creedmoor round.

The Washington Post.

Paul Penzone is the sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz.

I am not fearful of firearms. I believe the Second Amendment was written with purpose and with sensitivity to generational circumstances. But what I am extremely concerned about is who has access to firearms and the devastation firearms are capable of in the wrong hands.

Imagine a world in which anyone — including terrorists, convicted felons and domestic abusers — has immediate access to untraceable guns. Now imagine that many of these guns are made entirely of plastic or other materials not recognized by traditional metal detectors.

Idiot.

As for The Washington Post, just consider: layers upon layers upon layers of “fact checkers” believe we’re soon going to have plastic chambers and barrels.  I wonder if SAAMI knows about this?

Randall sends this.

Here we go with backstop again.  The shooting should never have happened.  The officers didn’t know what was behind or around their intended target, and obviously missed.

I don’t want to hear another damn word from the controllers about how armed citizens are a danger to society.  Not … one … more … word.

From readers Richard and Michael, Foxnews:

An Oregon woman recently came home to an unusual surprise: a mountain lion, which continued taking a nap for six more hours behind her sofa.

The odd encounter took place on July 8 in the Ashland, Ore., home of Lauren Taylor.

After drinking from a pond in Taylor’s backyard, the cat likely entered her home through an open back door, she explained in Facebook. The post had garnered more than 17,000 reactions and shares as of Tuesday morning.

“This is wild,” she wrote. “The door was open and the room has huge plants and stairs built around real tree branches, so she likely didn’t even realize she was walking indoors until she was inside.”

After entering the home, the cat was startled by Taylor’s roommate, who screamed upon seeing the mountain lion. This prompted the wild animal to hide behind the sofa, where it snoozed for several hours.

Taylor made a noise to wake the feline, but then “gazed lovingly into her eyes, and communicated using feline-speak eye blinking to calm her,” she wrote.

“It was amazing to realize that this worked. I gazed lovingly then blinked hard and then she did it back,” Taylor continued, adding that the cat then went back to sleep. “She clearly felt safe and she showed no inclination to leave.”

When the cat awoke a second time, Taylor said she “again connected in a loving gaze and communicated trust through blinking.”

With just “a couple hours to dawn,” Taylor decided it was time to “prompt her to leave without alarming her so much that she panicked.”

The Oregon woman then used a drum to encourage the lion to exit the home.

“She roused and knew just what to do…. walking out through the open doors, through the yard, across the creek, and through the empty field behind us exactly as we had shown her,” said Taylor, adding she has “extensive experience working with energy and animals.”

“It was a perfect ending to a blessed encounter that could have been dangerous if approached from a lower frequency,” she continued. “May she stay safely in the hills to enjoy a long life as a wild and healthy lion.”

You can go check out the pictures and video yourself.  I just don’t know what to say.  Honestly.

Read again.

Taylor made a noise to wake the feline, but then “gazed lovingly into her eyes, and communicated using feline-speak eye blinking to calm her,” she wrote.

When the cat awoke a second time, Taylor said she “again connected in a loving gaze and communicated trust through blinking.”

“It was a perfect ending to a blessed encounter …

Lovingly.  Calm her.  Trust.  Blessed.

She’s fortunate the lion didn’t scalp her and eat her brains out of her skull.

Remember I said this?

Now.  Go back, re-engineer it for the 5.7X28, knock $400 off the price, and you may have something there.

Well, they’re too late.  CMMG has now come out with one of their AR pistols in 5.7X28, using the radial delayed blowback system.  It’s a little more pricey than I would like, but their products are very good.

Readers know I have an FN5.7 and like it.  I like the 5.7X28 round, for certain applications and under certain conditions.  I also like the idea of minimizing calibers in your gun safe, meaning having pistols and PDW of the same caliber.

This meets that criteria.  CMMG is doing some magnificent R&D work.  In order to hire the best engineers and mechanics you have to pay them well.  But they have to make that money back somehow.