Shooting from cover

Last weekend our gun club hosted its monthly defensive pistol match. I desperately needed some time away from the kids after a few hot (100+ degree), activity-filled weeks, and was craving a bit of grown-up competition, so the Hubby agreed to take over the parenting duties for the morning so I could trek up to the range.

The weather was glorious, as the typically windy range offered only a light breeze, which was sufficient to take the edge off the 90 degree heat, but not enough to make shooting a hassle. Fewer than the usual number of participants took part, but the ones who came were energized by a state IDPA match that many of them had attended the weekend before.

As we walked the course, it became apparent that the majority of the stages were to be shot from behind cover. Since it's pretty hard to haul up barriers and walls to shoot behind when you're on your own, I relish the opportunity the DP gives me to practice what I can't easily practice solo.

The five stages were fast, fun and varied. The first was drawing from a seated position behind a table to eliminate three threats in a "doorway", Clint Eastwood style. The second was performed from a surrender position behind barrels, with a wall dividing threats to the left and right. I botched this one as I got excited and thrust my leg out from behind cover, drawing a procedural penalty.

The third one was my favorite. Rather than describe it, I had my run filmed so I could show you. Here it is.

You'll hear me reminding myself to "stop at the edge", rather than repeat the procedural error I made in the prior stage.

The other two stages involved a combination of steel targets and silhouettes, that needed to be engaged from both sides of barriers, or between two walls.

I had the distinct opportunity of shooting with some really expert pistol shooters. In fact, the two top shooters from the match were in my group. It was great watching these guys quickly, accurately navigate the courses of fire, but it also made me aware that there's a big difference between shooting from cover for a speed match, and shooting from cover in a tactically sound, real-life simulation.

For instance, I've always been taught that shooting from cover is a little like a game of cat and mouse. Unlike the defensive pistol course, in real life, you wouldn't exactly have a predetermined number of bad guys standing quietly behind a corner waiting to be shot. Your job, therefore, is to find any sneaky bad guys, while simultaneously avoiding exposing any part of yourself to their line of fire. To achieve this objective safely you must slowly, methodically work your way around cover, being ever vigilant not to expose any part of yourself, while simultaneously identifying and eliminating the threats. Running through the course quickly, like the sharp shooting fellas in my group so effectively did, would more than likely cause you to miss someone, or to poke out some body part too much and make yourself a target.

The basics of shooting behind cover are what's known as "slicing the pie". This technique entails working your way around your piece of cover in a small, incremental, systematic way, so as to never expose any part of you to something you don't already have your gun sites on.

For a little visual assistance on "slicing the pie", I borrowed this handy graphic from a fellow female firearm blogger named A Police Wife.

In the image, you are the blue guy, safely located behind cover (top of dotted arrow). As the graphic illustrates by the straight arrows, which represent your line of sight, you can not see the red guy from the first location, behind the wall. To find your target, you slowly work your way down, one "pie slice" at a time (follow the dotted arrow) until you have a direct line of site to the red guy, then shoot.

Most people start very close to the corner of the barrier. I did, in the match because, let's face it, I feel safer when I'm snuggling up next to the piece of cover that stands between me and an armed bad guy. But if Mr. Bad Guy is right next to the wall on the other side, and sees my gun muzzle poking out from behind cover as I methodically slice the pie, he could easily grab it and disarm me right then and there. This graphic actually illustrates that better use of cover comes when you work from farther back away from the wall itself.

The only other critique I had for my run on course 3 was that I missed the tactical reload between barrier 1 and barrier 2. If I'd been thinking tactically, rather than worrying about that infernal shot clock, I would have stripped the magazine from the gun while I ran from cover 1 to cover 2, retained the not-quite-empty one, replaced it with a full one, and been ready to engage with a fresh load of 20 rounds when I got to cover 2. Instead, I ran dry 2 shots in at cover 2, and had to hide behind cover to reload. This would have likely been the end of me in a real-life scenario, as the bad guys would have known where I was, and that I was out of ammo. That is NOT a situation I ever want to be in!

Hopefully this enlightens some about the use of cover for defensive pistol shooting. As always, I'd love your comments!

Many facets of being a Well-Armed Housewife

This post is simply to illustrate that there is more to being a Well-Armed Housewife than just packing a sidearm. Being truly "well-armed" means knowing how to respond in a crisis, whatever form that crisis may come in.

Case in point: Little Sister's 4th birthday. This year I decided to make her birthday cake and cupcakes from scratch. Usually, I scurry down to the local grocery store, flip through the book of theme cakes, wait for the kid to arrive on a selection and place my order. But this year, in a tiny effort to free ourselves from grocery store dependence, and with the belief that I may possibly be able to produce something more food worthy than high fructose corn syrup laden confections, I elected to take on the challenge.

Years ago, I made carrot cake cupcakes from scratch, without correctly adapting the recipe for high-altitude baking. The resulting hole in the center of each cupcake required me to apply the frosting like Spackle to conceal the crater. Determined not to make the same error, I spent several weeks researching recipes and the related adaptations for high-altitude preparation. It's important to note that Joy of Cooking alone has 4 pages of warnings and recommendations related to baking cakes and cupcakes. I swallowed hard and persevered.

Once I decided on two cupcake recipes, one for chocolate and one for vanilla, I started researching how to decorate them. Little Sister wanted roses, you see. I searched out recipes for homemade butter cream frosting and I checked out books at the library and craft stores, purchased the decorating tips, parchment icing bags, and the other doodads for the job.  For a week, I attempted the technique using cheap store-bought frosting and failed desperately. Roses are something that people must spend years perfecting because mine just looked like piles of goo. Back to the drawing board.

Next stop, YouTube (which, incidentally, is going to make how-to books entirely obsolete, as you can learn so much more about anything by watching someone do it, rather than by following some cheesy hand-drawn illustrations in a how-to book) I came across a hilarious series of videos on decorating that re-inspired me. With new resolve, I set out to ice the cupcakes with zinnias. Practicing on the back of a bowl with dollar store frosting for a full week, I triumphantly mastered the zinnia. Hooray.

Now we arrive on the actual birthday, and the day before the big party. I wake up early to start baking.  I baked 48 chocolate and vanilla cupcakes (for the party) and had just enough chocolate batter left over to make a special, coordinating 8" round cake to put the candles on for little sister to blow out at the party. Everything went as planned. Cupcakes were baked, cake was cooling on the counter.

Enter Fern, the chocolate Labrador  

I only share all of the aforementioned background on the intensive planning and execution of the cupcake process so you can fully appreciate what happens next. Here's how it goes down.

I hear crying in the kids' rooms and scurry out of the kitchen to assess the situation. I'm in Boy's room for maybe 90 seconds, and when I return to the kitchen, I see the cake on the counter with a huge bite missing, and Fern below it, swiftly attempting to wolf down the evidence. Little Sister comes around the corner behind me, and, seeing the half-eaten cake and the dog eating it, bursts into tears and runs to her room shrieking, "my birthday is ruined".

Admittedly, at this point, if I had been armed, I might have simply shot the dog. In fact, I had quite a lovely 2-second fantasy about doing just that, but then, I couldn't help imagining the looks on my children's faces as they witness me executing the family pet. I also couldn't figure out how I would explain the blood stain and bullet hole in the floor to perspective home buyers...so I regained composure (sort of) and dragged the dog outside by her skin (or it may have been some other body part, I was really too angry to care) and came back in to assess the damage and console the birthday girl.

Here's where the well-armed bit comes in. As I survey the damage to the cake, I recognize that while I couldn't, in good conscience, serve a salvaged dog-eaten cake to my guests, I could surely cut off the contaminated portion, and we could eat what was rest as a family. When I sliced off the chunk, I noticed the cake's new shape lent itself to that of a slice of watermelon. Lightbulbs went on.

I ran into sobbing Little Sister's room and suggested that not only could I save her birthday cake, but SHE and her brother could help me decorate it. She brightened and I set about icing the odd-shaped cake. I then turned the decorating over to Boy and Little Sister, as they dumped half a jar of red and green sprinkles over it. We strategically placed a few chocolate chips to emulate watermelon seeds, and by golly, the watermelon birthday cake was a resurrected success.

When we all sat down to birthday cake that night, each one of us agreed it was perfectly decorated and delicious, and all in all, no worse for the wear.  So the moral of this story is: when the dog eats the birthday cake, it takes a well-armed housewife to make watermelon. Adapt and overcome, my friends.

PS. The cupcakes and party were a total success too.