Tip of the Week: Protecting Your Family with Kids in Tow

Some pretty good advice.  Every family has different needs to plan for in an emergency; from kids, elderly, pets, two stories versus single story homes, disabilities, etc.  But the key with all of these differentials is to practice your plan.  This week’s tip focuses primarily on defending with one arm while holding a small drooling machine with your other arm.  There’s a link in the article that takes your to the author’s website, check it out there is some other information that is pertinent for families.

http://www.breachbangclear.com/what-if-youre-armed-and-carrying-a-minion/

Tip of the week: Home Defense Planning

As I begin to prepare to take the NRA’s Personal Protection Outside of the Home course in October, I have been thinking about my home defense plan.  Regardless of the type of emergency, it is advised to take some time and talk with your family, spouse, or roommate what should be done in the event of an emergency.  Speaking generically about an emergency plan, a natural disaster plan is useful in the event of a fire or earthquake.  Expanding the topic for home burglaries or invasion, it is equally as useful if not more so.  Take the next 10 minutes and watch the video at the link below and review the steps to an effective home defense plan with your family. 

Rob Pincus of the Personal Defense Network discusses the Five Fundamentals of Home Defense tactics: Evade, Barricade, Arm, Communicate, and Respond. Thinking ahead of time about these five steps will empower you to respond more efficiently if you ever do have a threat inside your home, or trying to get into your home. Rob goes over each concept and gives examples of how you can employ them during an imminent home invasion scenario.

http://www.personaldefensenetwork.com/video/001515_fundamentals-of-home-defense/

You can also read more articles about firearms news and politics at Rob’s blog-

http://www.icetraining.info/

Record Highs

Our latest practice on Monday we welcomed two new CCLSC members Marina and Mellissa.  We also had a record number of ladies joining us at the range!

Erin and Hollie sending their target down range

Michele working with Matt getting ready to fire

Kanani and Mellissa shooting the Glock 19.

Kanani and Mellissa comparing the Glock 19 (9mm) and the Springfield 1911 (.45 ACP). 

Hollie lining up her shot. Her aggressive stance minimizes recoil when shooting.

Michele getting practice with the M&P 9mm. 

Erin and her "splatter" target.

Tip of the week: Making the Most of Practice

Last week I shared the difference between Training and Practice.  I want to add to that introduction with a few suggestions on how to make the most of practice.  Since practice is the repetition of what we have been trained to do, it would benefit us to be sure that we are practicing our new skills exactly like we were trained.  Shooting drills can help, having a skilled shooter watch our practice and give us feedback on what we are doing right or wrong and ways to improve our efficiency are also good ways to reinforce what we have been trained to do.

CCLSC’s focus is primarily defensive shooting, preparing for the emergency we hope never to encounter.  However, before we get that far, we want to be sure that our fundamentals and mindset are solid.  Working through malfunctions, acquiring your target and trigger control etc seem to be basic enough, but add a little stress to the mix and your skills will degrade exponentially.  Taking the time now, while the environment is “comfortable” will pay off major dividends later.  Dry practice is one of the easiest ways to get some practice if you can’t make it to the range.

A little homework before our next practice; take 10 minutes a day and work on your stance.  If you have a firearm available to use at home, BE SURE IT IS UNLOADED and work on your stance, grip, sight alignment/picture, breathing, trigger control and follow through.  Go slowly.  Make sure every movement is deliberate.  Ten minutes a day comes to about an hour and half of repetition between now and our next practice.  Don’t take my word for it.  Below is a link to Michelle Viscusi’s (the newest Team Glock member and contestant on Top Shot) video talking about dry firing.

Dry Firing Video link HERE

CCLSC Loves New Shooters

Welcome new members Michele and Hollie!  I am so glad that you joined us this week and hope that you received some good tips and information to become better shooters!

Michele shooting the M&P Shield - Nice flash!

Hollie shooting her M&P 9mm.  Working on her grip.

Monday August 11 at 4:30 pm is our next practice at Tacti-Cool Guns & Gear. Let me know if you are planning to attend.  Another reminder will go out again as we get closer, as well as on the day of practice.

CCLSC now has its own Facebook page!  If you are using Facebook I encourage you to “like”

 our page and help spread the word of what we do with your friends and family. If you don’t use Facebook, you can still view our page at the link to the right.

If you have been following us on Facebook, you will already know that I spent this last weekend certifying as an NRA Instructor for Personal Protection Inside the Home.  This two day training had a ton of excellent information and I acquired new skills to add to my tool box of defensive shooting solutions.  Feel free to ask questions, I would be happy to talk with you about the class.

Love loading!

Kanani showing off just a bit, dual weilding
two shields at once.  Not an effective way
of shooting but very cinematic.

Mentoring is one of the best benefits for new shooters - two of our
experienced shooters, Shellie and Julie helping out new member Michele.

 

Back from vacation, Erin puts her sights on target.

I always encourage our members to try new things.
Well, there isn't a lack of new handguns or rifles to try
at CCLSC.  Here, Julie shoots an AK47 pistol.

CCLSC shot after practice!
Left to right -
Back: Kanani, Hollie, and Julie. Front: Shellie, Erin and Michele.

Tip of the week: Training versus Practice – I am taking a little break from my SA (situational awareness) soapbox to share with you the differences between Training and Practice.  Training is defined as the acquisition of a certain skill or learning a new skill.  Practice however is the repetition of something (usually one’s training) in order to get better or improve one’s performance.  Both are necessary for improving your shooting skills. Put simply, Women’s 101 and Advanced Pistol are both training classes, while CCLSC Monday’s are practice. Practice is essential to reinforcing your training.  You will need to practice what you have been trained to do so that you can perfect those skills – Perfect practice makes perfect.  Practice will also increase your muscle memory so you can perform those same skills under stress and pressure.

If you would like any extra help to perfect your shooting during practice, let me know and I am happy help.  Monday’s are also a great place to get extra feedback on your shooting.

Lastly, the Austin Sure Shots publish a quarterly magazine and put a call out to the ladies’ shooting clubs across the county to feature in their next issue.  So, I submitted CCLSC’s information.  The Austin Sure Shots are a women’s shooting club in you guess it, Austin Texas.  They offer training in shooting, self-defense as well as general information about shooting and guns in general.  There is a lot of good information each quarter in their online magazine.  They also feature a section for Training in every edition.  Take a look at their website – http://www.sureshotsmagazine.com/

Sure Shots are also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/austinsureshots 

Tip of the Week: Personal Security

We have been focusing on situational awareness over the last few months and how it applies in different situations.  This week's link discusses situational awareness, proxemics and personal security.

Determining the proximity of a threat and how to gauge distance as part of your personal security, helps you avoid an aggressor.

http://www.breachbangclear.com/sa-and-personal-security-own-your-ground/

Much of dealing with a potential issue, is avoiding an issue in the first place. Planning your escape route is next on the list to getting away from a threat.  There is some great information in the article.  In short, the author is going to help explain how you can be prepared and perceptive without being paranoid.

Advanced Squared - Day One

CCLSC recently secured some space to do some additional training over the next few months.  With limited local training available, CCLSC decided to work together with local oil company PCEC and our sponsor Tacti-Cool to pilot some advanced training.  Hence "Advanced Advanced" was born.

To participate, CCLSC members must have completed the Advanced Pistol class at Tacti-Cool and be able to demonstrate several key skills that will form the core of our training.  Proficiency in drawing from a holster, reloads, malfunctions and basics in rifle shooting.

Our first meet up focused on a basic review of qualification, shooting from behind a barrier on both the right and left hand sides, basic reloads, tactical reloads, cover versus concealment, follow up shots and multiple targets. Rifle drills included shooting from behind a barrier, follow up shots, optics/red dot sights, and multiple targets.

Shellie and Kanani running pistol drills.

Getting started with safety briefing and instructions for the next drill

Nicole shooting rifle.

Ali practicing the drill, while Kanani waits her turn.

Kanani shooting from behind a barrier.

Shellie working on her rifle drills with multiple targets.

Shellie working on her pistol drills -
shooting from behind a barrier.

Kanani waiting for "go ahead" from Matt.

Ali, shooting her pistol from behind the barrier.

Nicole, taking her target down from behind the barrier.

Kanani, peering out from behind the barrier and
taking her target down.

Ali, Nicole and Kanani enjoying themselves.

Matt giving reviewing rifle basics, while Flood oversees the instruction.

Kanani getting additional instructions for the drill.

Ali shooting rifle from behind the barrier.

Kanani shooting the rifle drill.

CCLSC getting ready to unload their rifles the "old fashioned way".

CCLSC arsenal.

A little downrange camera action.

Shellie and Nicole watch as Ali shoots her rifle drill with multiple targets.

That's so CCLSC!
From left to right: Ali, Matt, Shellie, Kanani, Flood and Nicole