In 1947 Edward
Murphy was involved in experiments involing measuring human stress while riding
a rocket sled. He had an assistant
install 16 strain gauges to meaure the stress . . . only to have the assistant
install all 16 backwards. This lead to
the very first iteration of “the law” . . . "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of
those ways will result in disaster, then he will do it that way." Over time this has morphed into “Everything
that can possibly go wrong will go wrong.”
In other words . . . Murphy’s a Bitch!
I’m going to combine a couple examples here – one noted
during training some regional LEOs . . . and one where Murphy smacked me
up-side the head. As Han would say – “Don’t
get cocky kid!” First, fall
qualification for some officers from a couple different communities in my area.
I have been using 45
rounds at the beginning of a qualification shoot for a review and evaluation
period. I begin with the “Drive, Touch,
Press” drill and move up to controlled pairs.
Typically three “dots” are placed on the target with one for the Drive,
Touch, Press drill, one for a single round engagements and the final for
controlled pairs. This gets over the
initial nerves of a qualification shoot, allows me to evaluate and tweak things
that have slipped a bit sideways and just to “break the ice” just a bit. Once this is complete the qualification shoot
begins. The instructor in charge was using
the marksman ship course beginning with 18 rounds at 25 yards and moving
forward from there. There were a couple
re-shoots involved but by the end of the night and the low light portion of the
qualification everyone had successfully qualified.
However . . . a
few areas of concern did pop up. First
off, I’m just a civilian schlub . . . I am not an officer, I do not patrol our
community and am not involved is the daily encounters that may well test an
officer’s ability to use their firearm.
That said – I carry every day in every location I am legally allowed to
. . . and I train and take coursework throughout the year. This is where one of my concerns come to the
fore . . . I would venture that most officers only visit the range when it’s
time to qualify. Of those officers that
attended the qualification shoot there were only a couple that regularly visit
the range . . . and the VAST majority do not take independent training. I shared in a “fairly direct fashion” my
thoughts on this topic. Yep, I know coursework
is expensive, time consuming and that training on your own is as well. However, an officer’s ability to respond
appropriately, accurately and lethally if necessary may well be the difference
between going home or going into a ZipLoc.
The same can be said for civilian shooters. Please . . . take good coursework and train
on your own on a regular basis.
The other
benefit to consistent individual range training . . . you actually run your
duty gun in a “safe” environment rather than drawing in with the need to defend
your life. You increase your skill level
while confirming you have a working weapon.
We had two officers who finally had to switch to an alternate weapon
because the weapon they were using – their duty gun – would not function
properly. Take just a moment to let that
last sentence soak in . . . their duty gun would not function properly.
In this case “Murphy”
simply caused some good natured ribbing and some serious cautions about how well things would go should their day go sideways in a really big way . . . with their duty gun inoperable. Murphy is always waiting . . . looking for a
vulnerability . . . a chance to make your life difficult. The best way you can guard against “his”
efforts is to be diligent in your training.
No guarantee .
. . but at least an opportunity to circumvent a worst case scenario . . .
So on to my own
personal experience. I am sitting with
the local PD Captain who is the primary training officer. We are laying out the local recertification
schedule, chatting about some paperwork I’ve been remiss in turning in (fixed that
this afternoon) and talked about an opportunity to go to an AR15 Armor’s
school. Also . . . the upcoming carbine
class.
This is taught
by the Captain (he’s on the staff of the ILEA) and I’ve been invited to take it
so I can see how he teaches it so I can lend a hand there as well. Cool!
So I was telling him about my recent range trips, how my carbine
performed, the course of fire, how I needed to use iron sights because my
batteries were dead (Murphy – always looking out for me) and how well my irons
had held their zero. As I said those
words I felt just a bit of a tingle on the back of my neck. While I had just recently evaluated myself at
50 yards, it had been probably over a year since I’d pushed out to 100 yards with
either my Eotech or the irons. Well,
today was Friday, the weather was yet again specatacular and my desk was
reasonably clear . . . I grabbed a hundred rounds and headed to the range. Now I’m already seeing this in my head . . .
send a quick 5 rounds down range to check the zero on my Eotech. Then another with my co-witnessed irons . . .
15 minutes I’m done and can get on with the fun stuff!
The first part
goes like glass – 5 rounds with the Eotech . . . all fall into the “high center
mass” area . . . cool!!! Let’s finish
this puppy up! 5 rounds with my irons .
. . and . . . nothing . . . NOT A SINGLE FRICKIN ROUND ON PAPER . . . PERIOD!!! WTF – over!
I do the usual
justification – nerves, must have just not been “on my game” . . . trigger
press was probably crappy . . . don’t tell me you haven’t told yourself similar
things when your shooting is just “off”.
So . . . 5 rounds . . . being VERY DILIGENT . . . and . . . nothing . .
. ONE MORE TIME, NOT A SINGLE FRICKIN ROUNDS ON PAPER . . . PERIOD!!! Heavy sigh.
So – over to
the pistol side of the range, I set a target stand out at 10 yards, put up one
of the 50/200 zero targets, and I send 3 rounds towards the target. All three rounds are very, very, very far to
the right. I crank the crap out of the
windage setting . . . repeat . . . crank . . . repeat . . . and I’m there. Putting my 55 grain round 1.9 inches below my
POA. Back to the 100 yard range . . .
I send 5 rounds
down range . . . all are in the area of “high center mass” but a bit left. One more tweak and I send another 20 rounds –
in 5 round groups. Final result – down 2
for 25 rounds – 92%.
I followed this with another 25 rounds using
the Eotech. You’ll notice the first 10
rounds were to the left. Again, a final
tweak . . . and the remainder of the 25 rounds were just fine. Zero rounds down for 25 . . . a 100%.
So what’s the
lesson here . . . “Don’t get cocky kid!”
I “knew” that my carbine just plain held it’s zero . . . period. I KNEW it . . . yet it had not. I fell into the same trap . . . and had not
shot at distance in way too long. Should
I have needed AR to defend against a threat at distance to protect myself, my family or someone in my
charge . . . it would not have gone well.
I was NOT diligent in training on all my platforms. Such sloppiness might – if Murphy is feeling
particularly vindictive – prove fatal.
Murphy is a
bitch . . . what can go wrong – will – at the worst possible moment for
you. Train, run your gun
frequently. It is your best possible
chance to keep “him” at bay. It is NOT a
guarantee . . . but it certainly helps . . .
Hit the range
folks . . . hit the range . . .
VERY good advice.
ReplyDeleteHeh... BTDT, as you well know... Sigh... And also, remember Murphy was an OPTIMIST!
ReplyDelete