Thoughts on Rational Preparedness

Submitted by MostlyGenius on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 06:36

After reading Rational Preparedness I want to clear up a few points, and expand on some ideas.


If you do want a pistol and are willing to be responsible and do it right, here is the way to go. Go to a reputable gun store. To find one, talk to those who do shoot and get recommendations. Try different guns, find one that fits your hand and has the things you need, such as stopping power, ease of use, good skull sweat in the design, etc. Also, keep in mind that no one pistol is going to be the best thing for all situations. Try them on a range, this is something good gun stores are happy to do. Most shooting ranges will rent pistols to you or let you try a variety of rentals for the price of one if you are pistol shopping. Once you have done your shopping and research, then buy what works best for you.

The problem with this thinking is that gun stores and ranges are full of people who have opinions without facts. They tend to regurgitate whatever they read in the latest issue of their favorite gun magazine. People will hold forth about the merits and demerits of a particular firearm that they have never even seen, let alone shot or owned. There are a lot of avid hunters that don't know or care about defensive shooting, as there are defensive shooters who don't hunt.

A reputable gun store is one that delivers on time and on price. They are in business to sell products in a difficult industry. I have a good friend who works at a gun store who happens to be extremely knowledgeable, a great instructor, and a fantastic shooter. He will give you his honest opinion of anything if asked, but if you say you want a chrome Desert Eagle point-five-oh with laser sights he will ask "cash, check, or credit card?" He is not paid to talk you out of anything. That is about the best gun store salesman you will ever meet.

Your firearms purchase is only a small part of the cost of owning a handgun. Plan on $250 for 'gear' like a good holster, belt, and spare magazine pouch. Plan on another $250 for training. Plan on another $500 for ammunition (much of which will be consumed in a good training course.) This doesn't include the cost of good cleaning supplies.


Once you have bought, then take the gun to the range and get with the range master/certified instructor. They will help you learn the pistol, clean it before using it (you need to get a kit with the gun), and teach you all you need to know. This may take more than one lesson, though a lot of range and safety basics can be covered during the try-them stage. Then practice, practice, practice. You need to do a lot to get used to the pistol and to break it in. You then need to go at least once a month to maintain your proficiency.

Unless you take a full day at the range once a month, maintaining is about all you will do. To give you an idea, I used to fire around 500 rounds per weapon per month when I was semi-serious about shooting. That was simply to maintain, not to necessarily improve – though I took any advancement I could get.

This is the trial and error method of learning to shoot. It is the most expensive and least efficient way to go about it. Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. If you aren't practicing correctly you are wasting your time and money. You could buy 10 cases of ammo and shoot it on your own, and not get half as far as you can with competent instruction in a couple of days a tenth of the ammunition. You can't know what you don't know. Take a class. Practice the way you were taught in class. Take the class again in six months and see how you are doing. If you know you are doing well then take the next level of class.

You are better off shooting 50 rounds a week than 500 rounds a month. Make sure that your range time is training and not just an exercise in converting money into noise and flash. Your training class should teach you the fundamentals and give you a plan for practicing. Dry practice is almost as good as live fire. You should dry practice at least as much as you live fire.


I tend to recommend a shotgun. If there is a situation, real or imagined, the adrenaline flows. Your hands shake, your heart hammers, your breath comes in gasps, and none of these things is conducive to pinpoint accuracy. Take a look one day at the statistics for gunfights, and see how many shots are fired at very close range, and how few (if any) hit the target(s).

Shotguns are NOT the ideal home defense gun. Buckshot does not remove the need to apply marksmanship fundamentals. You need to get all of the pellets/shot on target to be effective (or shoot slugs.) Shotguns are heavy. Recoil is considerable, especially if you are of small stature. This means that followup shots are going to be slower to get on target. Followup shots? Yes - there is no guarantee that a single shot will be enough to stop the attacker, or that you are going to hit with it, or that there is only one attacker. Pump action shotguns can be “short-stroked” inducing a malfunction. Shotguns require training and practice just like any other sort of firearm.

Safety is of critical importance. This is still true even in your hypothetical gunfight. It doesn't do you any good to shoot yourself, or a loved one in the course of your defensive encounter. Ensure that your “combat” practice doesn't shortcut safety. You will fight how you trained, so you better train as you intend to fight.

Nothing has been said about deadly force decision making, or the legalities involved. This is too important to ignore, and too important to accept the myths perpetuated by the gun store crowd. Get competent instruction.