Target Analysis Chart

Use these handy charts to diagnose grip or stance problems.

Printable Shot Grouping Analysis Chart – This link is a downloadable pdf of the chart, that allows you to analyze your shot groupings in order to correct grip or stance issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s another chart for right-handed shooters:

 

And a chart for left-handed shooters:

 

 

 

 

 

Shoot ‘n Safari in South Africa

A safari experience in South Africa is always good. Throw in a bit of shooting action, on a package designed exclusively for friends of GunGoddess.com, and it gets even better!

Tracking, trailing & spoor identification

Participants will learn the ancient art of tracking, trailing and spoor identification, which has been perfected by the San Bushmen and still used today. The Big 5 (lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, rhinoceros will be tracked on foot, if fresh tracks are found. Information on the birds, plants, insects and animals encountered on the way will also be provided, together with Shangaan myths and legends and the guides’ amusing anecdotes.

Firearm sessions

Firearm sessions include the use of a pistol, shotgun, semi-automatic rifle and large-bore bolt-action rifle. Participants shoot a variety of man-made, static & moving targets, jungle lane shoots, timed shoots and a selection of exercises to get the adrenalin and competitive spirit going.

Bush craft

Participants will be treated to an interactive bush craft session, covering topics such as lighting fire using friction, carrying a fire from one location to another, making rope and snares from plants in the area, making teas and herbal remedies, baking bread underground and more!

Bateleur Mobile Camp is situated in the heart of the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, adjacent to the Kruger National Park. This prime wilderness area boasts the ‘Big Five’, a large diversity of antelope species, the entire range of smaller predators and over 500 bird species.

This adventure can be booked on dates of your choice if you have a group of 4 or more, or join the GunGoddess group from 4 – 9 August.

See photos, contact info, camp and course details at: www.gungoddess.com/shoot-n-safari-in-south-africa/.

Quest for the Perfect Women’s Tactical Pants

My order arrived. I opened the plastic wrapper very carefully, since I fully expected to have to return it.

They looked good! Imagine my surprise when they also fit well! Thank you Blackhawk, for getting women’s tactical pants right!

 

The first thing I noticed was how well they fit around the butt. Yes, that is important to us ladies! There was no pulling or stretching, and no sagging. I love the mid-rise waist, and the expandable waistband is a great idea. In fact, thanks to that waistband, I really could have ordered one size down and it would have worked even better.

Size-wise, I loved the fact that you can order by inseam length, so the 31” length is perfect for me, without needing to be hemmed!

The pants feature the usual pockets and compartments. There’s also a hidden, zippered pocket at the right hip. Although frankly, that’s the one thing I would tweak – personally, I don’t need an extra, hidden pocket. I’d rather lose the extra fabric on my hip! But that’s just me nit-picking!

 

 

The fabric feels good, and I did wear the pants in a match, wondering if the waist would gape or there would be any discomfort with movement. They worked great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several brands and several hundred dollars later, my search is over, and I am officially in love with Blackhawk’s women’s lightweight tactical pants. Now the only decision to be made is, do I order the black or the olive drab next? May as well get both, I suppose!

These pants are not available on GunGoddess.com. I am reviewing them because I think they are great pants, unfortunately I don’t sell any, so check the Blackhawk website for more info!

Always bring a gun to a knife fight

These photos are of a law enforcement officer trained in hand-to-hand  combat.  The officer  figured that due to his size and fighting  skills, he could  disarm a knife wielding  aggressor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These images are a great reminder of a couple of things:

1. If you can escape the confrontation – run!

2. If you can’t escape it: Remember the 21-foot rule…an average man has been shown to be able to cover a distance of 21 feet in under 1.5 seconds. That’s all the time you have to respond to the threat.  An assailant with a knife who gets in close, can do a whole lot of damage before you even have a chance to draw your firearm. Just because the assailant is not armed with a gun, but instead has a knife, or any other weapon for that matter, do not underestimate the threat!

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I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I am not a firearms expert or instructor.  I just enjoy guns and shooting, and I am always open to learning and improving my skills and personal defense habits.  Through this blog, I am sharing information that I have been taught, or that I have found personally useful, in the hope that it will be of value to you too.  Not all information you come across will be right for you. Assess, evaluate and decide what makes sense for you and your circumstances. All I hope to do is give you something to think about… Athena

 

 

When Was The Last Time You Rehearsed Your Home Defense Plan – Part 2 – Households with Kids

Our previous post discussed having a home defense plan if your household does not include children. In this post, we discuss how that plan needs to be different for a household with kids.

If you do have kids, your kids MUST know and rehearse your home defense plan with you, if they are old enough.

Designate a “safe room” in your home where everyone can gather if you are aware that something is wrong. The objective is to get the family together in a position from which you can launch a defense. This could be the master bedroom. If you can hear intruders breaking in, then one parent could go get the kids while the other protects the area from which the intruders may come. Only once all family members are accounted for in one room, can you then consider anyone else in the house an intruder.

This room must at least have a phone, and you must have home defense weapons either available in this room, or taken into this room.  If you are using a child’s bedroom, it will determine what can be stored there. So some items should be stored in this room, while others should be immediately accessible to you (eg. in a bag that can be easily picked up and carried) so that they can be taken into this room when you hear that breaking glass. This is the room in which the “fight” could occur, so be prepared with whatever you might need.

Once your family is safe, and police have been called, you have a decision to make. Do you stay put and wait? Or go check out the noise?

Personally, I believe that as long as all members of your family are with you, there is no need to leave that safe room.  You do not need to start a gunfight over a TV. If they want your stuff, let them take it. But if that safe room door gets breached, you will make a stand against whoever comes through it. If you are using a gun for home defense, get yourself into the best posi­tion to shoot. You have the advantage, as the intruders will be entering an unfamiliar room, possibly in the dark.

Clearing your house, on your own, against intruders who could be armed, could have disastrous consequences. But then again, you may not want to wait until your attackers break that door down and risk a gunfight in your bedroom with your family around you.

Or, let’s say you hear the sound of breaking glass and at the same time you hear your daughter screaming in her room… If your family members are in imminent danger or in contact with an intruder, staying put is not an option. The intruders must be found and stopped as quickly as possible.

In some cases, say you hear intruders breaking a window, and you know your family is safe, warning the intruders that you are in the home and armed may make them run. If they don’t, then you must be ready to defend your life and your family. Are they armed? A knife is just as dangerous as a gun. And as we know from previous posts, the average man can cover a distance of 21 feet in under 1.5 seconds. Think about that. How many of us even have 21-foot long rooms? You will have fractions of seconds to respond, if you go looking for, and find, the intruders. Watch their hands – it’s the hands that are a threat to you, not their face. But never shoot before identifying first.  Keep in mind they often work in pairs, so do not let your guard down if one intruder is stopped.

If you choose to stay put in the safe room, even if it sounds as though the intruders have left, then stay in the safe room until police arrive.

There are many possible scenarios that can present themselves. The situations will all be different – in some you’ll want to make yourself noticed, in some stay put with your family and in others take the fight elsewhere if necessary. This post is just intended to help encourage you to have your self-defense tools ready, have a plan – have several plans for different scenarios – and rehearse them with your family so that everyone can quickly spring into action when necessary.

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I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I am not a firearms expert or instructor.  I just enjoy guns and shooting, and I am always open to learning and improving my skills and personal defense habits.  Through this blog, I am sharing information that I have been taught, or that I have found personally useful, in the hope that it will be of value to you too.  Not all information you come across will be right for you. Assess, evaluate and decide what makes sense for you and your circumstances. All I hope to do is give you something to think about… Athena

Moms, Kids and Guns… contributed by Judit Roth

A good friend of mine was talking to me over dinner and asked a question about what I thought would be a great article for women who carry concealed. Now its easy to get into some tired song and dance about holsters and ammunition..but lets get real. Being a woman entails a lot of daily things that we men don’t even consider. Many women are mothers and have children. A really good article would talk about some of those things and how women have to balance between daily life and carrying a firearm. One of the most important things to consider in writing something like this is to not try and write some must adhere to bible or the gun gods will strike you down article…but rather to give women some ideas and how maybe they can overcome some of the problems.

Those women with small children are at a disadvantage. They have a small child that is dependent on them and while children are awesome (I have a special one of my own), how should a women try to carry, walk, and push a small child. First I think that an ounce of prevention will be worth more than the proverbial pound of cure. I know its hard with children, especially when they’re cranky and tired and you have had a long day. You let your guard down and try to simply focus on getting home. Those are the things that can get you in into a bad spot. I know its hard but at times like these take a few seconds, and look around. Try to avoid putting yourself in a position you feel uncomfortable with. If you feel like something is not right …leave. Move to the nearest “safe” place and wait or seek help. I know sometimes getting children to listen to you can be likened to “Herding Cats” but it can be done. Secondly if something feels not right or you find yourself in a bad position, move yourself physically into a better position, I know any woman would…place herself between her kids and what she may perceive as a threat. It can be a subtle move to place yourself between the kids and the situation..even moving an infant in your arms to your non-draw side. In an overt situation, there is no need to be subtle about it. You can use cars or any physical barrier to act as place to shield your children and defend yourself. You can and should discuss this with your children…those that can comprehend. You can use special words, or anything to make them remember. Teach them to get “small”, and stay down,to listen for instructions. And if you tell them to run explain to them where to run. “Head to the people, get help”….or something else appropriate. Once you commit to fight, FIGHT.

Somethings to practice at a range, maybe carry a 30 lbs. backpack or sack on your “Off-Hand or Non-Firing” side..practice your draw and fire. Maybe even move to behind a barricade and do the same thing. Also – if you have small children – get an old stroller and practice moving or kneeling in front of the stroller….practice your draw and fire. Any little thing like this, so that you at least have an idea, can be such a huge advantage in a high stress situation. Also remember your mindset will be your greatest asset in any high stress situation. *I WILL NOT QUIT, I WILL FIGHT!* Exercise your mind…what would you do, how would you do it?

Practice with your weapons, rather than carry it like an extra set of keys. Learn that you can strike with a pistol, as well as fire it. I hope that this has given you something to think about and yes we can expand on this all day…but you must put it into action.

Train Hard and Shoot Well….

Rifle Adventure – by Katherine Page

Rifle shooting has a new addict. This weekend I finally learned to use a rifle. And it was so much FUN!

I’ve never been afraid of firearms or had any kind of aversion to them. I grew up with the attitude that they’re tools for various jobs — hunting, defense, competition, etc. They simply exist, and what they do depends on the human hands who hold them. I’ve always wanted to learn how to shoot, but other things got in the way –no time and a million other excuses. I recently decided that this would be the year to learn to use a rifle and a handgun. In November, I bought my sweet little Ruger 10/22 Carbine. She’s a pretty girl with a lovely wood stock.

The cost between a group class and a private lesson wasn’t significant, so I signed up for a private class over two days. (Well, that and the places with group classes I e-mailed for information didn’t answer my inquiries about signing up.) The first day, the instructor came to my home with a Ruger 10/22 tricked out with all sorts of good stuff, a lever action rifle (don’t remember its name), Mod 98 Mauser, AR-15, and an air rifle. I spent a lot of time getting to know and understand the basics of safety, use, and care for the rifle, asking as many questions along the way as I wanted. Fully disassembling my rifle and putting it back together wasn’t complicated at all. One of my dogs even got into all the action when he snuck away with my rifle’s magazine while we worked on dry firing and chewed it up.

We met up at an outdoor range the next day, thankful for the spring-like weather.  We hung my first target, loaded up my 10/22, and started firing. Oh, heck yes! The first shot went to the 6 ring, then I put a 2 inch cluster in the 7 ring. I adjusted my aim and put one cluster in the 9 ring and one in the 10 ring. We moved through the positions (skipped kneeling for my old knees). Once through the positions, we switched to centerfire. The instructor brought out the AR-15. I flinched at first, anticipating the recoil, throwing those shots out of the center; but once I convinced myself it wouldn’t hit me in the face, all was well. I couldn’t get a good hold on his Mauser, which I had been lusting after since I laid eyes on it, so I did not fire it. However, trying to get it into a position where it was secure against my shoulder with good cheek contact and the ability to see through the sights was a great lesson on the importance of a good fit. I fell in total love with the M-1 Carbine and CZ-452. They were comfortable to hold and fire. I ate cartridges for those like candy. I have a feeling I’ll be adding multiple military surplus firearms to my collection. Firing the rifles was relaxing and challenged me to improve with each fresh target.  It felt great to chew a 1-inch hole right near the center X with no aberrations near the end of the day.

Mostly men were using the range, however there was one other woman with her husband and a handful of teen boys using handguns and rifles with their fathers. I was happy to see a girl of about 10 learning from her father, too. I feel inspired and cannot wait to get back to the range! I’m excited, too, to start looking for a handgun.

Katherine & her Ruger 10/22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please share YOUR shooting experiences and stories. You never know… reading about your experience might be what motivates another woman to give it a try herself! Email Athena@GunGoddess.com

 

When was the last time you rehearsed your home defense plan?

More importantly, do you even have a home defense plan? Or do you think you’ll quickly be able to come up with that plan AFTER you hear the sound of breaking glass?  Don’t get complacent, thinking that you live in a safe neighborhood, and a home invasion probably wont happen to you. Home invasions happen, and when they do, even if you are in a position to defend yourself with a firearm, the scenario will be very, very different to the casual, relaxed, comfortable atmosphere that you normally shoot in at the range. NOW is the time to come up with a home defense strategy, and rehearse it with all members of your household.

NIGHT INVASION – NO KIDS

If you do not have chil­dren in your home, it’s a little easier for you. You could keep your bed­room door locked while you are sleep­ing, to buy time. Even if you don’t keep it locked, hearing a noise doesn’t mean you have to go room to room, looking to bring the fight to the invader.

You DO want to react to any noises you hear – ie., don’t lie there waiting to see if you hear the noise again. Get out of bed immediately, arm yourself and be ready to spring into action. The noise will be nothing 99% of the time, but the one time that it isn’t, you will be ready.

Make sure your weapon of choice is within reach and ready to fire. A gun locked in a safe, that requires you to enter a combination 3 times to get it to work, does you no good when you have seconds to respond. Unlock that safe before going to bed – every night. You wont have time to load an empty gun. And you don’t want to realize, as the bad guy is coming towards you, that you forgot to take the safety off. Your home defense weapon must be accessible and ready to use within seconds.

If the invader is already in the room or within sight, identify first, then take action to stop the threat. If you have time (eg. you can still hear noises/voices but they are downstairs), get yourself into a pre-determined defensible position, or “safe room”, probably the bedroom that you’re already in. If there are family members in other parts of the house, a different plan will be needed (we’ll address a “family plan” in the next blog post).

This room should contain everything you might need if you have to defend yourself. At a minimum, it should have a phone with which to call the police, a flashlight, and your weapon of choice. Once you’re in it, stay there until the police arrive. No-one has to be a hero. No matter how well-trained you are, no matter how indignant you feel that someone has invaded your space, you have to ask yourself whether “stuff” is worth dying for.

Do you really want to get into a gunfight over a TV?  Because if the invader is also armed, or there are multiple armed invaders, you could lose your life for that TV.  If they want your stuff, let them take it. Just stay put, but be ready to defend yourself if the fight comes to you.

Position yourself within the safe room to have the best line of sight to the door, behind cover if possible. You have the advantage – you will do far better in your own home, in the dark, than a stranger will. If an invader is determined to get into the safe room, despite your warnings that you will shoot, then when that door comes down, you will do whatever it takes to stop whoever’s coming through it.

Be aware that many criminals work in pairs, so be prepared for a second or even a third invader and don’t drop your guard after taking action against the first. Even if you don’t hear anything after stopping the invader, even if you think the house is empty, there is still no need to leave the safe room. Stay ready, and wait for police.

There is no “one size fits all” home defense plan, and this post is just touching on the basics, just giving you something to think about. YOUR plan will depend on your specific circumstances, your weapon of choice, the layout of your home and many other factors. But the most important thing to take away from this, is that you must have a home defense strategy in place BEFORE you need it.

Next Post: Having a plan when there are kids or other family members in the home.

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I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I am not a firearms expert or instructor.  I just enjoy guns and shooting, and I am always open to learning and improving my skills and personal defense habits.  Through this blog, I am sharing information that I have been taught, or that I have found personally useful, in the hope that it will be of value to you too.  Not all information you come across will be right for you. Assess, evaluate and decide what makes sense for you and your circumstances. All I hope to do is give you something to think about… Athena

How Close Is Too Close? Why you need to be able to fire those first 2 shots in under 1.5 seconds

The Tueller study is credited with first establishing the importance of maintaining a “reactionary gap”. This article by Dennis Tueller first appeared in the March 1983 issue of SWAT magazine. (Read, print, date & sign Tueller’s article…it could make a difference to your legal case if you ever have to shoot someone in self-defense. See end of article for additional info.)

Here’s the original article in its entirety. “How Close is Too Close?”, by Dennis Tueller:

The “good guy” with the gun against the “bad guy” with the knife (or machete, axe, club, tire-iron, etc.).  “No contest”, you say. “The man with the gun can’t lose.” Or can he? A great deal depends on his ability with that gun and the proximity of his opponent.

If, for example, our hero shoots his would-be attacker at a distance of 20 yards, he loses. Not the fight, you understand, but most probably his freedom because he will almost certainly be charged with murder. The only thing that justifies your shooting another human being is the immediate need to stop him from trying to kill you (or someone else), remember?

If, on the other hand, our hero waits to fire until his attacker is within obvious striking distance, he may still lose. His shots may not stop his attacker instantly enough to keep him from using his knife.

So, what is the answer – just how close is too close?

Consider this. How long does it take for you to draw your handgun and place two center hits on a man-size target at seven yards? Those of us who have learned and practiced proper pistolcraft techniques would say that a time of about one and one-half seconds is acceptable for that drill.

With that in mind, let’s consider what might be called the “Danger Zone” if you are confronted by an adversary armed with an edged or blunt weapon. At what distance does this adversary enter your Danger Zone and become a lethal threat to you?

We have done some testing along those lines recently and have found that an average healthy adult male can cover the traditional seven yard distance in a time of (you guessed it) about one and one-half seconds. It would be safe to say then that an armed attacker at 21 feet is well within your Danger Zone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the photo series illustrates, even if your draw and shots are perfect, you are cutting things awfully close (no pun intended). And even if your shots do take the wind out of his sails, his forward momentum may carry him right over the top of you, unless, of course, you manage to get out of his way. And if you are confronted with more than one assailant, things really get tricky. So what’s a pistol-packing person to do?

Having analyzed the problem, the following suggestions come to mind: First, develop and maintain a healthy level of tactical alertness. If you spot the danger signs early enough, you can probably avoid the confrontation altogether. A tactical withdrawal (I hesitate to use the word “retreat”) may be your best bet, unless you’re anxious to get involved in a shooting and the consequent legal hassles which are sure to follow.

Next, if your “Early Warning System” tells you that a possible lethal confrontation is imminent, you want to place yourself in the best tactical position available. You should move to cover (if there is any close at hand), draw your weapon, and start to plan your next move.

Why use cover, you may wonder, if your attacker is using only a knife? Because you want to make it hard for him to get to you. Anything between you and your attacker (trash cans, vehicles, furniture, etc.) that slows him down buys you more time to make the appropriate decisions, and, if it becomes necessary, more time to place your shots.

I suggest you draw your weapon as soon as the danger clearly exists. There is no point in waiting until the last possible second to play “Quick-Draw McGraw” if you recognize the threat early on. Also, the sight of your “Equalizer” may be sufficient to terminate the action then and there.

The purpose of the pistol is to stop fights, and whether it does so by dropping a thug in his tracks, or by causing him to turn tail and run, your goal is accomplished, is it not?

At this point it might be advisable to issue a verbal challenge such as, “Stop”‘, “Don’t move”, or “Drop your weapon!” It may work, and even if it doesn’t you’ll be developing your legal case for self-defense by showing that you did everything you could to prevent a shooting. If all goes according to plan, the odds are that by now you will no longer have a problem, your attacker having remembered he had a more pressing engagement elsewhere.

But, as we all know, things seldom go according to plan and the ideal circumstances previously described are probably not the norm. For example, if this goon tries to throw his knife (or other weapon) at you, what do you do then?

Realistically, knife-throwing is something of a gallery trick requiring specially balanced knives and a pre-measured distance to the target. Suffice it to say, however, that if your attacker is within effective throwing range he will almost surely have encroached into your Danger Zone. This throwing business does create something of a timing problem, for, if you fire after he has thrown his weapon, you may have difficulty convincing a jury that you fired in self-defense since technically you were not in jeopardy if your former attacker is no longer in possession of a deadly weapon. Something to consider, and just one more reason to use cover if it is available and time permits.

Sometime, of course, despite your best efforts, you could find you are suddenly, at close quarters, the intended victim of some lunatic slasher. If you are an expert in one of the many martial arts, you may opt to go at it hand-to-hand, and if you are in this category you do not need advice from me on how to do it. So, we’ll get back to the use of the handgun for solving the problem. What it all comes down to now is your ability to smoothly and quickly draw your pistol and hit your adversary, and do it all reflexively. And the only way to develop these reflexes is through consistent, repetitive practice, practice, practice.

Practice so the right move comes automatically.

One thing you should practice, with this kind of encounter in mind, is the step-back technique in which you take a long step to the rear as you draw. This puts another three to four feet between you and your attacker, which may be just enough to make the difference.

Remember, the greater your skill with your weapon, the smaller your Danger Zone will be, but only if that skill is coupled with good mental conditioning, tactical planning and alertness, because no amount of skill will do you any good unless you know that you’re in trouble.

Skill at arms and proper mental attitude. that’s the combination that will make you the winner in a “Close Encounter of the Cutting Kind”.

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If you ever have to shoot someone in self-defense, knowledge of the Tueller study and awareness of how fast a 21-foot distance can be covered by an average man, could be useful in a legal defense. However, you would need to prove that you knew of this information prior to the date of the incident. It is recommended by many sources that any information you come across, such as this article, or even course notes from classes that you take, anything that could impact how you respond in a self-defense situation, how fast you respond and at what distance, should be saved, dated and signed. Some sources suggest mailing a copy to yourself and saving the sealed envelope to avoid any date dispute. I am not a lawyer and I am not offering any legal advice! I am just conveying information that I have learned from various sources.

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I hope you enjoyed this GunGoddess.com blog post. I am not a firearms expert or instructor.  I just enjoy guns and shooting, and I am always open to learning and improving my skills and personal defense habits.  All I’m hoping to do with this blog is share information that I have been taught, or that I have found personally useful, in the hope that it will be of value to you too.  Athena

A Soldier’s Christmas