The Gunner's Blog

It has been a long while since I wrote anything about strategy for personal, that is individual, self-defense shooting. I have had little new to say. In any case, few readers are interested in my take on the topic. Instead of fashionable and exciting run-and-gun my approach is more nearly described as hide-and-bide. What I have that is new to say, or new for me anyway, is an endorsement of red dot sights on rifles. A decent quality dot sight increases your hit probability when shooting fast. To briefly recap, the points I like to raise about defensive shooting are three. Fight from an ensconced defender position. Or at least, find the best cover you can. Use a weapon that maximizes your hit probability. That is where the dot sight comes in.  Use the advantage of surprise if at all possible. I still endorse the shotgun as a better weapon than a rifle, for the self-defense scenarios that are most likely. Its hit probability is better. Many peopl...

Some riflemen find that the scout scope (forward-mounted scope sight) becomes a problem when the sun is low and behind them. The sun causes glare in the scope. I have two solutions, either of which solves the problem. Either Put a lens hood on the back (ocular) end of the scope Or Wear a broad-brimmed hat. So much for the main objection to the forward mounting position for your optic. A lens hood is ordinarily seen on the front of an optical system, for the purpose of eliminating glare when bright light strikes the lens from an angle, but there is no reason it cannot serve the same purpose on the back end. You may need to improvise a suitable hood, but it is a simple project. As to hats, I am comfortable in a Stetson, but if your favorite boots have shoelaces you may feel differently. A Smokey the Bear hat will work, or a felt crusher. You could rock the safari retro style and wear a pith helmet...

The so-called California kneeling position, known also as double kneeling,  places both of your knees on the ground. It is great for field rest shooting. By field rest, I mean improvised firing positions in which you lean over a solid and steady object or lean up against one. You can easily adjust the height of the California firing position to shoot leaning over a rest such as a boulder or a fallen tree, or as easily lean your body slightly to one side to gain support from a vertical object such as a fence post or a wall. You would not ordinarily adjust by leaning backward, for bending forward is more natural and better balanced, yet the occasional situation might call for a backward lean, such as needing to shoot at an upwards angle. Because of its great adaptability to the height of the field rest and the target elevation angle, California kneeling is useful with nearly any rest you find. If you cannot find a field rest, you can shoot from California kneel...

The way I set up a lightweight bolt action sporter rifle is to mount a red dot sight, micro size, on the receiver ring. The sight is not in the way of loading the magazine, cycling the bolt, or clearing a jam. The sight picture is instantaneous when you raise the rifle. The rifle is light and well balanced in the hands, making it quicker to the first well-aimed shot than typical semi-automatics. I do not regard backup iron sights as essential. A spare optical sight is at least as good to have instead, if it is in some sort of return-to-zero mounting and you have brought with you whatever tools are needed to install it. You should, of course, have spare batteries always on hand for electronic sights. It is best not to trust in the claim that you have years and years of battery life. It may be true, but a defective battery can make nonsense of claims like that. For some riflemen, the backup is a conventional telescopic sight, for they reason that the scope can do some things the dot...