Ever had to shoot while you’re trembling like a dog defecating razor blades?
I have. It’s good to know you can do it if you have to.
Discussed in my column in the current issue of GUNS magazine, here.
Share your own experiences and thoughts on the topic in commentary, please.
Gonna swipe “eldertude”, good one.
While teaching in the “Qualification Enhancement” program (couldn’t use the word “remedial” for some reason), I’d occasionally use your “spaz out” drill. Did help many, but there were a few who’d drop 20 points as soon as they heard the Q word.
There was one young lady who had both a shakes problem and poor trigger manipulation. I used a technique I learned from IALEFI to help her. She held the gun on target in a firing grip. I put a hand over hers (used my left hand to minimize contact with her dominant hand) with my trigger digit overtop hers and pressed the trigger. Kept the trigger pinned back until she was back on target and then reset and fired the next round. Only took one cylinder of ammo for her to see the light.
Personally, there was a barricade rifle standing stage from the “other” side. The score keeper eyed the clean score and mentioned that my gun barrel wobbled all over the place and he was expecting far worse results.
GrandPa took sonny squirrel hunting. The kid kept missing, until GrandPa decided to show him how. He held up the gun and it wobbled & wandered all over until BLAM and the squirrel falls dead.
The kid is unimpressed: But GrandPa, you shot all over the tree!
Occasional acute and some chronic problems with neck, shoulder, wrist, back have led me to keep a variety of lower recoiling firearms around for a variety of uses. Sometimes it is nice to have a .243 vs. a .308 for hunting, a .380 instead of 9mm for defense, and .22 rifles & handguns for recreation. Getting back into weight training the past 2 years has helped a lot but Father Time catches up to us all eventually.
I took Mas’ Stressfire techniques in MAS-40. i was amazed at myself how accurate I could be under stress, even if that stress was artificial.
Training is powerful!
Mas,
I turn 83 in September and I share each and every one of your experiences, mostly the hand shaking a bit when shooting distance shots. I am sorry for your discomforts but am comforted to know that I am not alone in these old age experiences. Thanks for sharing!
I have mild tremors, Im 65, what Ive found is a ‘crush grip’ on the pistol over rides the tremors. Im not shooting like I did in my twenties but I shoot well enough to protect myself.
That’s why I have shotguns for home. For other, I’d like to carry a Glock with a drum mag but hard to conceal so high cap mag n rosary beads my best advice.
Can’t hear the “fire” tone. On the line at Sig academy. Moved when I sensed the shooter next to me was drawing. LoL eh?
It’s always good to learn how to deal with the unexpected while practicing for any kind of an emergency because emergencies are usually full of surprises which often require some improvisation in order to adapt to the situation. As Mas said, it’s good to know that you can handle a situation because you’ve been there before, physically or mentally at least.
Several years ago, at an LFI-1 course taught by Mas, I had a surprising experience. The course was taught outdoors & it rained every day that we were there, so we shot while it was raining. I was shooting a Gen 2 Glock 19 which felt very slippery when it was wet. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do about it, but after a while I realized that it didn’t matter because I could shoot just as well with a wet, slippery gun as I could with a dry one, which is good to know. Over the years, I’ve learned how to adapt to other challenging weather conditions, as well as with bad lighting & other things. it’s good to have those experiences.
I can sympathize with Mas’ various ailments now because I have lost enough hearing to require hearing aids & I also suffer from occasional bouts of back pain & sciatica. With my hearing, it’s not so much that I can’t hear someone speaking, it’s that I can’t understand everything that they say. I can usually understand most of it, but I miss a few words here & there, so my mind has to try to fill in the blanks. If I need to get something repeated to me, it doesn’t need to be louder as much as it needs to be spoken more clearly & I have to do a lot of lip reading. At the range, I wear electronic hearing protectors instead of my hearing aids & they are very helpful.
Incidentally, I can tell you from experience that if you fire any kind of firearm indoors without hearing protection, or if you are in the presence of a firearm that is fired nearby indoors, you will definitely suffer some degree of permanent hearing damage. A centerfire handgun is really loud & a shotgun or a rifle (such as an AR) is much, much worse. I have read many descriptions by people involved in shootings saying that they didn’t hear all of the gunshots, they just heard their gun going “pop, pop, pop.” That’s because the first shot fired is so deafening that all the remaining shots are severely muffled & your ears will be ringing for a very long time afterwards, sometimes permanently. This is something to remember if you ever need to defend yourself against a home intruder. Put on a pair of hearing protectors (preferably electronic) before the shooting starts if you have time, & avoid any kind of shooting if at all possible. You won’t regret it.
On an entirely different topic, the PBS television show FRONTLINE recently broadcast a very interesting report entitled DOCUMENTING POLICE USE OF FORCE which seems to explain how some restraining techniques & the use of sedatives can result in the accidental deaths of individuals who are having mental illness issues, resisting arrest, or are under the influence of illegal drugs. It may be repeated on the PBS television network or you can see it here on YouTube or on PBS.org:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0UEY1PVRVY
https://www.pbs.org/video/documenting-police-use-of-force-iinql7/
It’s well worth watching & may serve as a topic for a different discussion.
That reminds me of a similar course in Columbia, MO. Some of us put on raincoats, but the military guys didn’t, saying it made too much noise.
I have kept electronic earmuffs next to my bedside pistol for decades. I think this was advice from Mas from way back. Edging toward getting a suppressor instead now that it is apparently easier to do.
Thanks. I turn 74 next week and have been a student of yours all my life. I never thought it possible that you are getting old too. I recently was leading a training class for my church safety team at an indoor range. My hands were shaking for reasons unknown to me. It’s comforting to know I’m not the Lone Ranger in terms of shakiness. I taught the class and made the hits. I’m glad you made it too. The Golden years.
I often have trouble hearing Tom’s start whistle as well – some other whistles are not as bad for me, so it’s a frequency thing. Stop whistles are worse since they are going off when there are still shots being fired which cut off the headphones to cancel the noise.
And I have also been surprised by Tom’s start signal, once because I just wasn’t ready – I don’t want to get “that look” from him again if I can help it!
Yes, you might have asked someone to tap the back of your shoulder when it’s time to fire. But that won’t help you in the real world if the mugger gives you the start-whistle or start-beep — but you don’t hear it.
So far (knock wood) I haven’t developed too much shakiness, but having hunted from tree stands in Northern MN for years I can safely say that I’ve had to take shots when I’ve been shivering hard for a half-hour. On t’other hand the sight of a nice buck stepping into a clearing gives me such a rush that I no longer notice that I’m cold, and the shivering disappears pretty quickly. I used to use glove-mitts where the mitten part could be pulled over the top of your hand to expose the ends of your fingers to get to the trigger of the rifle.
I now live in NW Wyoming and Yellowstone NP opened the East Gate and road (the closest to our home) on Friday morning. We did a quick opening-day trip and went up to Artist’s Point near Canyon where it was (according to the truck thermometer) 22°F. I wanted to take some pictures, but I can’t manipulate my camera with gloves on. By the time we reached a good spot my hands were so cold from the wind blowing out of the canyon that I could barely move my fingers, and popped off a few pics before giving up and putting on my gloves.
It’s important to know that you’ve got to keep your hands and fingers warm if you’re going to try to handle a small firearm like a pistol, even if you’re not shaking hard.
Yes, of the many types of competitions I’ve taken part in, there’s one above all that makes the knees and hands shake and gives one that “knot” in the stomach. When facing a table full of hostile pins, those range commands by the game master, “Timers ready, guns on the rail, shooters ready” can unnerve even the most capable shooter. But, the start signal is unmistakable, a 38-caliber blank.
I noticed a suppressor v active hearing protection mention above. This is kind of near and dear to me as I have occupationally related (gunfire) permanent hearing loss. A suppressor adds weight and bulk and isn’t nearly as effective in the real world as they are in entertainment productions. Also, the active hearing protection can give you back the hearing you used to have, and possibly even better than that, while still protecting you from impulse noise damage.
At least it does if you select your active hearing protection with care. After the death of my first set and discovering that the manufacturer now only deals with .gov customers, I ended up exploring the market. Replacement turned out to be more difficult than expected as the market is largely driven by occupational users. I found that one touch on/off and stout impulse noise protection was hard to find. One example actually amplified impulse noise. I finally ended up with the Peltor Tactical Pro NT15H7F. They also store your volume settings so you don’t have to fuss with it when you turn it on.
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