New Found Ability

This past Saturday, The Rifleman taught a pistol class to a group of a dozen Patriots. Of this group, there was but a sole Patriot with whom The Rifleman had not made their acquaintance previously. In other words, almost all of these Patriots have had a class with The Rifleman previously.

Despite occasional rain, and even downpours, the class went very well. Every Patriot was able to make significant strides forward in their quest to become better marksmen and to become better at their pistol craft.

One Patriot, in particular, stood out among the others to The Rifleman. No, she was not the best shooter of the day - there were a couple of participants who have had extensive training and practice prior to the class. No, she was not the worst shooter of the morning starting out - in fact, she has had this class twice before.

No, this Patriot, @Heather3per on Twitter, crossed over into the realm of being a really good shooter, from the realm of being a decent shooter.

She started the day with her carry gun - a Sig P938. This is the same model that the Rifleman's wife carries, as well. It is a small pistol with limited magazine capacity, and a short sight radius. However, it is well built and easily sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of a 200 round Tactical Pistol class. @Heather3per noted early that the magazine Springs were very stiff, and it was very difficult to load rounds.

As the day wore on the stiff magazine springs came to bear. @Heather3per was getting tired, and the cold and the rain did not help. She brought these things to the Rifleman's attention a couple of times throughout the day. To be fair, the Rifleman would have taken these as complaints from a lesser person, but since @Heather3per has taken several classes, her issues were noted seriously.

In the early afternoon, she notified The Rifleman that she may have to go ahead and stop because her hands were getting too sore and tired to load the magazines. The Rifleman drew his Sig P320 and offered it as a replacement. @Heather3per had been noticeably wearing down in the drills prior, but something sparked in the drills immediately following. 

She had been getting good hits all day, with the occasional thrown round, here or there. Once the larger pistol was in her hand, she realize she was able to print very tight groups. It was at this point that a transformation could be witnessed. No longer was @Heather3per "trying" to hit a target, now she was hitting whatever target she wanted to hit on command. 

In fact, she ran through the final assessment, and added to her degree of difficulty buy intentionally making headshots from every position. Only one head shot was called for, the rest of the positions called for a body shot, as they are a bit easier. But, @Heather3per had found her stride.  She willed the pistol to do her bidding. If she wanted to make a headshot, by God she was going to make a headshot.

It was a work of art to witness her make this transformation. Her confidence was through the roof, as well it should be. A transformation had been made, and she seemed to revel in her new-found abilities. The switch had been thrown.

You can do this too, fellow Patriots. The first thing you need to be able to do is practice your Marksmanship, such that you can print a 4-inch group from standing at 7 yards. Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. And, ironically, if you wish to be able to shoot faster, you need to be able to shoot more accurately. Speed is a side effect of accuracy.