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Gun Thread: El Firsto of Decembero (The First December) Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be December? You know what happens in December? Do you know? Christmas! Christmas happens in December! Oh the pure, unadulterated joy of receiving gifts! Also, Boxing Day happens in December, but never once in the entire history of my life have I ever heard of anyone celebrating Boxing Day. Not even a little bit, and not even in Canada where this pseudo-holiday evidently it took root. I have a WeaselTheory that the reason people wish each other "Happy Holidays" rather than the preferred "Merry Christmas" is because Boxing Day is sitting right there on the calendar and people feel compelled to include it lest they offend the Boxing Day adherents, if there are any, which I do not believe there are. Anyhoo...

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

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FUNdamentals
Last week we reviewed grip, so this week why don't we discuss a proper shooting stance. There are three classic stances; the Weaver, the Isosceles and the Fighting, or at least that's what it says in this article helpfully titled The Three Shooting Stances. I am sure there are more, probably lots more, like the Rainy Tuesday Under a Full Moon stance, and the Look at my Bad-Ass Self With a Drop Holster Tactitard stance, and so forth, but I like keeping things simple.

The key is to use whatever position is necessary to achieve a solid foundation without torqueing yourself into an unnatural position if at all possible in order to mitigate recoil and easily re-acquire the target for follow-up shots. If you can do that best by standing on your head and shooting weak handed, then by all means shoot standing on your head weak handed. When I am evaluating a shooter's stance, I am primarily looking at weight distribution. Look at the photos in the article linked above and imagine a combination of the Weaver and a little of the Fighting stances. That looks about like what I recommend.

Whatever you do, please do not employ the Waiting For a Bus While Casually Checking Email on Your Phone stance that is evidently gaining popularity now. Instead, think aggressive with about 65-70% of your weight on the front foot leaning into the target. If you start square to the target with 75% of your weight on your heels, only bad things will happen as you begin shooting. Trust me.

As you set up on a target, remember to focus on stance every bit as much as you are on grip, trigger and sight alignment, and periodically check that you're not doing something goofy and getting yourself all out of whack. You are focusing on fundamentals, aren't you?

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Highway Patrol and Trigger Discipline
This week our Highway Patrol episode illustrates improper trigger discipline. This otherwise most excellent and popular series from the 1950's is summarized on Wikipedia and includes the following:

Two technical advisors (one a patrolman on active service and one retired) read scripts before scenes were shot and were present during filming "to speak up whenever a technical violation, however slight, occurred."

Well that's nice. Now settle in and let's take a look at a random episode.

I'd like to think the highly celebrated technical advisors were on a much deserved vacation when this episode was filmed, but unfortunately our pal Broderick Crawford runs around with his finger on the trigger in just about every episode I have watched. Broderick, Broderick, Broderick... what are you doing, bro? Work with me here!

Finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. The quickest way to get yourself kicked off a range (and deservedly so) is by displaying poor trigger discipline. The only time your finger is on a trigger is when you are preparing to take a shot. Period.

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1911 Madness!

It's 1911 Madness week here at the ol' Gun Thread!

Assembly at the Factory by Gum Chewing Lady
Work it, Sister!

Cleaning

Cleaning 2: A Different Perspective

Cleaning 3: How Bill Does It

Fake? Whaddya Mean It's Fake?!

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Our Pal The Steel Rule

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This Is Not a Test!!
Great movie! I bet the cop is a real live wire at parties.

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Cozy Cave Utilization Update
Our little girl Gertie is settling in quite nicely, and Fun Size Joe is being a very patient big brother.

The proper order of things.

As we see here, Gertie has commandeered both cozy caves!

Meanwhile, Fun Size Joe knows his place in the WeaselPack is secure.

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Ammo Link-O-Rama
I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA
Bud's Gun Shop
American Elite Ammo NEW!

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That's it for this week - have you been to the range?