Friday, July 19, 2013

Training - Rust . . . .

 

Posting has been very light the past week because of our annual camping trip to a little island off the tip of Door County in Wisconsin – Rock Island.  It was a great time, as usual – but ridiculously hot, the hottest is our 30+ years of going there.  That said, it was a great time and there’s more than one post that’s coming from it.  I’ll have a review of our new Eureka Timberline Outfitters SQ tent for the “preppers” that are visiting my site, my new solar panel to charge the cell phone (yes, for the first time ever there was cell service – good news and bad news combined I suppose) and a Lithium-Ion battery “brick” that I took as well.  Lots to do, lots to do!!

But first, lets chat a bit about “rust”.  A tool left unused, un-exercised and uncared for will rust.  There are excuses that sound something like . . . “damn, should have oiled that wrench”, but the clear fact is that if a tool is used, it seldom rusts.  And a tool left unused is quickly covered with brown flecks that clearly show your neglect.

Your shooting skill set is a finely crafted tool that “rusts” all too quickly.  For me, a week on an island meant no range trips – SIRT pistol range in the office or live fire at our chapter house.  And, after a week away, the range was not going to happen today with a week of alligators all demanding my attention.

That said, there was time for a couple of rounds on the SIRT pistol range in my office.  The Dot Drill, a couple of the first stages of an IDPA qualifier and then some hostage drills clearly demonstrated the beginnings of “brown specks”.  Did I say something about rust???  My first round through these drills saw most first-round hits high and right.  My eyes floated between focusing on the target and then the front sight . . . and then back again.  And the impact point became a broad dash with the SIRT pistol rather than a crisp dot.  Heavy sigh.  After only a week away from any trigger time of any kind – there were specks of rust on by “tool”.

Keep that in mind.  If you carry for personal defense, trigger time is simply a must.  Your “tool” needs to remain sharp, properly “oiled” and free of rust . . . . because a rusty tool will put you at a real disadvantage should a mortal threat show up unexpectedly.

There is simply no short cut . . . .

3 comments:

  1. "There is simply no short cut . . . ."

    Amen - and a great reminder.

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  2. The military uses LPS (1) and (3) to deal with preventative oxidation issues/rust. LPS 3 really works.

    Before LPS 3, I used motorcycle chain lube because the bee's wax in the lube embedded itself in the pits in the metal and it kept it from rusting. After you use chain lube, the metal is sticky. Simply brush very lightly with a rag with WD-40 and the sticky film is gone. That's even good for immersing handguns in salt water, but you need to repeat the treatment.

    LPS 3 replaced cosmoline. And it's 3 years of rust proofing per application. It has no sticky film or residue.

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  3. Yep, had the same issues last weekend at the range... three weeks off and I HAD to go back to basics!

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