The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
This is your last chance to vote in the contest between Joe Huffman and Caleb at Blackwater. The odds have gone from 100% in Joe’s favor at the beginning, hovering between 75% and 85% most of the time, now dropping to 70% as we approach the last day.
As soon as I see a post about the results, I’ll remove the poll.
UPDATE: The poll is now closed. Joe Huffman beat Caleb both in the poll and on the range.
I have been very impressed with Todd’s instruction. Todd is mostly concentrating on tips and techniques that will make us better shooters. I have never done shooting on the move before, and never shot at anything that moved except for clay birds. I thought I did pretty decently on both, doing my best to follow some of Todd’s advise. The cool thing about what Todd has taught us, is that I think I could come back and show other people his tips. Here are some pictures below of Todd Jarrett at work. Click on the pictures to see descriptions of what you’re seeing.
Now I just have to go home and practice, practice, practice everything Todd has taught.
Overall, my experience with the LDA, after a day of shooting hundreds of rounds of ammunition, have been pretty favorable. The LDA trigger is nicer and smoother than the one on my Glock, and shoot pretty decently with it. My main complaint about the platform is the fact that it even has a safety. I know, I know, a Glock user complaining about a manual safety, big shocker. But I think, given the similarity in operation to a Glock renders the manual safety superfluous. More than a few times, I ended up actuating the manual safety when I was shooting, causing the gun not to fire. Not a big deal on the range, but in a life and death situation that could be lethal.
The platform itself is reliable, however. A few people had issues with it, mostly people who were used to shooting standard single action 1911s, but I had only one FTF, and it was my fault for fumbling my grip. I also deliberately eschewed oil and cleaning throughout the day to see if it could take it without failing. It did.
Para has offered us a pretty good price to buy the guns and have them shipped to our local FFL, and I plan to take them up on the offer. I have enjoyed shooting the gun. I will still remain a Glock guy for my carry piece, because I’ve put thousands of rounds through it with no failure, but if I start shooting IPSC, steel plate or bowling pin shooting, I think the Para LDA would work better for me. The LDA 1911 makes a great competition platform for shooters who carry a Glock as their self-defense piece. The feel of shooting it is similar enough that your shooting technique for one won’t interfere with the other.
Tomorrow we get to try the grips that Crimson Trace provided for us in Blackwater’s shoot house. I will offer my opinion on that after tomorrow.
There’s nothing gun bloggers like better than Blackwater provided transportation of a shot up car. Blackwater is the largest single buyer of used cars in the State of North Carolina. They buy them for everything from stunt driving to their own version of Smash Up Derby, usually involving a lot of breaking through barricades, and often firepower.
The really great thing was that I managed to fish about 40 once fired Lake City brass out of the vehicle. The really funny thing is, the radio in the vehicle still worked just fine. I guess the Blackwater mechanics have their priorities in order. Thanks to Blackwater for telling us “Hey, if you need some help getting to and from your range, the keys are in the ignition of those shot up cars, feel free to use them.”
This morning we got our hands marked up by Todd Jarrett to teach us a proper grip. Let me tell you, it works. My speed and accuracy improved markedly. I still have some difficulty with the draw, but there’s nothing that will correct that except for repetition.
Todd also had us shoot a silhouette target at 25 yards. I did respectably, but let me tell you, Caleb got all of his hits in the kill zone. I had to shoot low and right to find the bullseye.
So the Obama/Bayh bumper stickers were a leak to distract folks. It looks like it’s Joe Biden. So, like I did with Bayh, let’s look at Biden’s record. We don’t have to go far. Remember the YouTube debates where he said a gun owner was not “mentally qualified” to own guns for simply asking a question.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9aIb-IplqY[/youtube]
NRA has been tracking the U.N.`s gun-ban activities for well over a decade, and thanks to the Bush administration`s appointees to the U.N., the U.S. position on any global gun-ban treaty has been consistent and uncompromising: Hands off the Second Amendment rights of American citizens!
However, all that could change, now that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee–which approves or rejects our U.N. representatives and assesses international treaties for possible ratification–is chaired by anti-gun U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
Like Schumer, Biden is rated “F” by the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) for his countless votes against firearm freedom. Like Schumer, Biden voted to expose the lawful firearm industry to crippling lawsuits; to extend and expand the Clinton gun bans; to allow a ban on most hunting-rifle ammunition; and to deny the free-speech rights of groups like the NRA during elections.
Now, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden can use his power to sabotage pro-freedom nominees for U.N. ambassador–as he did with Second Amendment defender John Bolton–and bully fellow senators into accepting whatever gun-ban treaty the U.N. concocts in the name of fighting international terrorism.
Biden is bad news all around for any gun owner. Pair him with Obama, and it’s a far left gun ban ticket.
Here’s some video of a few familiar bloggers shooting plates with Todd Jarrett with us today at ParaUSA Gun Blogger Summer Camp. Caleb is looking pretty sharp. It’s going to be an interesting settling of this bet.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pot6c7H8G78[/youtube]
Tomorrow is going to be a lot of fun.
I have an air gun in the car if the .22 is too much.  In other news, Caleb shouldn’t leave himself logged into the blog while Robb is around ;)
On Blackhawk:
These guys are making and designing a lot of cool gear. SayUncle and I were particularly interested in their upcoming tactical stocks for the Ruger 10/22. We saw a prototype version, and they say the final production version will be better, which is good because I thought the prototype was pretty sharp. Blackhawk has been absolutely great to us as bloggers, giving us two different holsters that work with the 1911s we’re using.
On Blackwater:
As Tam and Kevin said, it’s like Disneyland for gun nuts. It’s a really impressive facility. Blackwater has been completely open with us, gave us a pretty thorough tour of the facility, and let us drive around their track in the Blackhawk Bus. If Blackwater has a reputation for being creepy mercinaries, I’ve gotten none of that impression so far. So far, my only impression is of a world class training facility. Though, they do have black helicopters.
On Todd Jarrett:
Todd is a true professional. I’ve very much enjoyed the instruction so far, and have discovered shooting steel is about the most fun you can have and still keep your clothes on. Plus, excuse my jumping up and down like a little girl (which Caleb is), but Todd Jarrett complimented my shooting! Tomorrow is definitely going to be fun, and I don’t care how hot it is out. He’s corrected a few things I was doing, and I’m going to do my best to stick with his instructions.
It’s a little too early to draw a final conclusion, but for this Glock shooter I find the LDA trigger to be very familiar and comfortable. Keep in mind I do not own a 1911 currently, so I am not, by any means, a 1911 critic, but I can compare it to what I’m familiar with. The operation is similar to a Glock trigger, in that you have take up, and then a point where it breaks, but the action is a bit lighter than with the Glock, and I shoot a little better with it.
More pictures and impressions to come along later.
Now that Drudge has likely leaked the identity of Obama’s running mate, there are a few things gun owners should know about him.
Sen. Bayh pledged last year [2004] to support legislation to block frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry, and NRA sent a letter to Indiana members encouraging them to thank him. Sen. Bayh failed to honor his pledge and voted for the Reed amendment to completely gut S.397. When the Reed substitute was soundly defeated 63 to 33, Bayh voted against final passage of the bill.