Another Lesson Learned

Sunday I went out with a good friend to get in some shooting – target practice, a bit of training and fun. It turned out to be a learning experience for me as well as a fun afternoon. What did I learn? Well, that I cannot shoot a Ruger LCP well enough to justify keeping it as a self defense gun. Now, I love the Ruger LCP. I've had the older model, and, later bought this one, the newer model with the improved trigger. I have shot a good number of rounds through the LCP platform, but this weekend, I learned that I can't shoot it accurately enough.

This is not a gun problem. This is a shooter's problem. My problem, and not necessarily yours or anyone else's problem. I spent a few years moderating a gun forum that had quite a number of LCP owners and entusiasts as members. I'm certain that many people can perform up to expectations with their small .380 handgun, but my experience has been different.

What happened was this. I have a new LaserMax CenterFire sight on the pistol. I believe firmly that on small, self defense handguns, a laser is a necessary accessory. Most bad things happen in the dark, or darkness, and a laser can help ensure one hits what is being aimed at, especially with a gun like the LCP which has minimal sights to begin with. I fired some close range, steady rounds to ensure the alignment of the laser was correct, then moved to a steel target set up about chest high, and about chest size. Drawing and firing the first magazine at ten yards was enlightening. I shot more plants and dirt than steel, even with the pulsating red dot to aid my aim.

Not good. Reload. Shoot without the laser, still quickly, although slower than one would take in a real crisis situation. Six shots. Two hits. Again. Same speed but closer. Two hits again. Moved to about five yards and repeat. Better, but only 50% hits. Even with more attempts it didn't get any better.

If I had to place the errors anywhere it would have to be with two things, the very small form factor of the gun, coupled with a difficult and long trigger pull.

The short barrel, light weight and two-finger grip necessary on this pistol require the shooter to have an exceptionally steady hand, especially when pulling the trigger. Any slight variation will move the barrel way off target. Unfortunately, even with Ruger's improved trigger on this newer LCP, the effort and distance required to pull through to the break point is too great to maintain acceptable accuracy for me.

The LCP generates a significant amount of recoil which, coupled with the light weight of the pistol, jerks it off target with each shot so one must be very deliberate getting it back on target and trying to make a smooth trigger pull for the next round. Frankly, this was very difficult for me.

During the afternoon, I fired many rounds through the M&P Shield 9mm, an M&P 40, and a .38 special airweight, all with acceptable accuracy in slow and rapid fire. Not marksmanship competition accuracy, but with good "stopt the threat" accuracy.

Why do I have an LCP in the first place? It is small, very small, light weight, easily concealable and comfortable to carry all day, and it is effective with the modern self defense loads. All this is good, but not worth anything if the gun can not be used effectively and responsibly. For me, it's not effective, and perhaps more importantly, not responsible since I do not want to ever endanger innocent people by not being able to shoot at and hit the threat and nothing else.

I can not justify keeping the LCP for those two reasons. I will sell it and point the buyer to this article, so that he or she will understand the limitations and advantages of the pistol.

I encourage you to evaluate your carry arms for their effectiveness and responsibility when being used by you. You might be in for a surprise.

I certainly was.

Posted with Blogsy

A Naked Man, a Knife, a Hammer and LSD

Like many of us who carry, I am sometimes asked 'why?', and if I'm paranoid. I try to explain that although I live in a very peaceful community, sometimes bad things can happen. Any where. Any time. Case in point from a very liberal, and some would say, laid back town where I used to live:

"A Boulder (Colorado) police officer shot and killed a University of Colorado student believed to be high on LSD late Monday, after the man attacked residents with a knife, then confronted police with a hammer while naked, officials said.

Police said the suspect — identified by the coroner as Samuel Forgy, 22 — climbed onto a railing at the 19th Street apartment complex as if he was going to jump down on the officers on the landing below him.

Police said an officer tried unsuccessfully to use a Taser on Forgy before he was fatally shot by a second officer, but a neighbor who witnessed the confrontation said the stun gun and the handgun were fired almost simultaneously.

"There was a crackle and then 'pop, pop, pop,'" neighbor Nikki Larsen said Tuesday morning. "One after the other. It was less than a second. In an instant of time, Taser — then three gunshots."

CU officials confirmed Forgy was a student on the Boulder campus, where he was majoring in applied mathematics. He transferred to CU last year from the Community College of Denver, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Bouler police said they were originally called to the scene after a resident of an apartment at 1841 19th St. phoned 911 shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday to report that a man was acting erratically and was outside the apartment, screaming.

When officers arrived, police said, they found a 23-year-old victim with cuts to his face. The man suffered multiple knife wounds, including a 6-inch cut to his forehead and a bite on his hand, police said." – from the Boulder Colorado newspaper, The Daily Camera, 7/28/15

That bad things happen unexpectedly, anywhere is not news. What is interesting as well in this sordid tale are the opinions and observations of people who were nearby or who head about this incident and have made their comments on it.

Note the neighbor who claimed that the stun gun [sic] and the handgun were fired "almost simultaneously". Less than a second. An instant of time.

Most probably not. Eye witness (or ear witness, in this case) testimony has been proven notoriously inaccurate. People are not video or audio recorders. Their brain interprets what they see and hear, and often, distorts or even creates memories of events, especially traumatic events. What is apparent is that there was the sound of a taser, then sounds of gunfire. 

Why would the neighbor say this? Probably because she believes it, but that doesn't make it accurate. Perhaps she doesn't like guns or violence and believes that the young, naked man, high on acid, already having cut up one person and threatening the police with the hammer, should not have been shot.

I read one account of this in the campus paper in which one person, allegedly at the scene, complained that the police should have only shot to injure the naked man instead of shooting him to stop him. Which, in fact, did stop him from harming anyone else. The police rightly pointed out that when someone is intent on doing you death or bodily harm, it is not a good idea to try a Hollywood shot to merely "wing" the person, or, like Roy Rogers, shoot the hammer out of his hand.

This is, unfortunately not an a-typical scenario or reactions to it, but similar to what one can expect should you ever have to use your weapon in self defense. There are those who will not accept, condone or approve your actions even though they are moral, legal and necessary to save your life. All the more reason for you to know your legal and moral rights and be prepared to act upon them should that awful necessity arise.