Monthly Archives: April 2012

Rifle Instructor Workshop

Posted on by Melissa

So as you may already know, I’m an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, and have been for about two years. I decided that I wanted to extend my credentials, and I figured my next step was rifle. Luckily, my husband happens to be an NRA Training Counselor, and he was teaching a Rifle Instructor Workshop this weekend. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Well he’s your husband, so of course he’ll just let you slide though the class and sign your certificate!” That’s not how my husband operates, and that’s definitely not how I operate. I put everything I had into this class, and I learned a lot.

What made our class even more fun was that there were only six of us, and we were all already pistol instructors. We traded off teaching each other the sections from the basic rifle class, so that we can teach our own NRA Basic Rifle class. I already knew two people in the class, so we were joking around, having a great time. The only time we weren’t having a great time was getting into the different shooting positions. On Saturday, we were “teaching” each other how to get into the positions, and on Sunday we were at the range actually shooting from the six different positions. A couple of the positions were VERY uncomfortable. The sitting position, as I’m demonstrating here, was the worst!

By the end of the first day, my back was killing me! But it was worth it, since I passed the class and will soon have my credentials to teach the NRA Basic Rifle class! Next step: SHOTGUN!

Shoot like a girl if you can! My second trip to Frontsight

Posted on by Melissa

What an awesome week! I just got back from Frontsight Firearms Training Institute. This time I went with all “my boys,” my husband, brother-in-law, and 17 year old nephew. My husband took the four day tactical shotgun class, and my brother-in-law, nephew, and I took the four day defensive handgun class. If you’ve followed my blog before, you’ll know that I’ve already taken the two day defensive handgun class from Frontsight. The four day class goes above and beyond the two day class, and I was excited to review the skills I learned from the two day class, and to learn more advanced skills.

The neat part about this trip to Frontsight was that I was able to experience how easy it is to travel with guns. We had 3 pistols and a tactical shotgun with us. We were traveling with a lot of gear, so we were quite a spectacle! We had the shotgun and my Glock in a (very heavy) rifle case. Each of us had a suitcase, and we also had two carry-ons. We had the other two pistols in a hard sided case in one of our suitcases. You must have the guns in a hard sided case, and they must be padlocked, not TSA locks. So all we had to do was go up to the airline’s ticket counter and let them know we were traveling with firearms. The ticket counter lady’s reaction was the same as if we’d told her we were traveling with clothing. All we had to do was fill out a form that went into the cases, and the lady just wanted to see that the actions were open and the guns were unloaded. Then TSA takes them and x-rays the cases, and then they take the guns and put them in the belly of the plane. The only slight restriction is that you can only have eleven pounds of ammunition per piece of luggage. That’s it! We decided to buy the ammo in Las Vegas so we didn’t have the extra weight, since we needed 600 rounds each, and my husband needed 500 shotgun shells.

The class itself was intense. Our days started at 5:30am. We stayed in Las Vegas, so we had to drive about 45 minutes to get out to Frontsight, which is near Pahrump. We had to be at the range at 8am, except on the first day, we had to be there at 6:30am for check-in. We were on the range from 8am to about 5pm. There were forty students in our class, and we were divided up into two relays. One relay would be shooting, while the second relay lined up behind them acting as coaches. This made the range very safe, with twenty sets of eyes plus our instructors and our rangemaster. The only time someone got hurt was if their gun bit them, so a Band-Aid fixed that right up. Or, if it was me, I was in a hurry doing a tactical reload, and my magazine bit me, and I have a nice blood blister on my thumb.

Out of the forty students in our class, there were about ten women. Not to brag, but the women were out-shooting the men most of the time! At one point, we had a steel target competition. This included a hostage target, and two other “bad guys” behind him, all made of steel. Steel is extremely fun to shoot, because it moves when you hit it, and makes a very satisfying “tink” sound when you hit it. Most of the women in our class out-shot the men in the steel competition. Our rangemaster’s best quote for the entire class was “Shoot like a girl if you can!” Unfortunately I didn’t do as well in the competition, but I only lost because my opponent shot the bad guys faster, but I didn’t shoot the hostage, like a lot of people did!

The best part of this trip to Frontsight was going with my family. Even though my husband wasn’t on the range with me, I got to spend time with my brother-in-law and my nephew. It made our class so much more enjoyable, because we all get along really well. We had a great time on the 45 minute drive back to Vegas because that was our “debrief” time. We would talk about “that guy” on the range, or the funny things our rangemaster said. We also heard about what happened in the shotgun class from my husband. I was so proud of how much my nephew took in all the information and improved his shooting in four days. My brother-in-law wasn’t too shabby either, the last drill we did, he shot five shots within the size of a quarter. This is my biggest tip about going to Frontsight. If you can go with family or friends, it makes the experience more fun.

If you are planning a trip to Frontsight, here are my best tips:

Frontsight is in the middle of nowhere. During lunch, you do not have time to get lunch anywhere except right there. You can order lunch from their food company, but if you are with a large group and are there for four days, it can get expensive. We bought a $6 Styrofoam cooler, and every morning we hit Von’s (aka Safeway) and stocked up on bread, lunch meats, cheese, fruit, chips, drinks, and ice. It was so easy, and much cheaper. Now if you’re by yourself or with one other person, and just want to buy lunch, order it ahead of time; it’s very tasty.

Make sure you bring a lot of high SPF sunscreen. I used 70 SPF. You will be in the desert sun almost constantly. You need to apply in the morning, and reapply often. So have the sunscreen with you in your range bag, along with nail clippers and a nail file. Whether you are a man or woman, you WILL break a nail, if not a couple. Have the nail clippers so you can cut it down so you’re not scratching yourself or catching it on clothing.

Pay close attention to what clothing you bring. Wear high neckline, close-fitting shirts. A couple of women on our range were wearing V-neck blouses. Needless to say, they caught a lot of very hot brass down their shirts. I wore a high necked shirt, and I still caught a piece of brass down my shirt. It will probably still happen, but you’ll lessen your chances. In terms of pants, I suggest tactical pants. I bought 5.11 tactical pants because they are sturdy, and they have lots of pockets, which you will need in the class for storing extra magazines and loose ammo. Check out www.lapolicegear.com, they have lots of styles and sizes, including pants specifically for women. If you don’t want to spend the money on tactical pants, at least get cargo pants. Make sure to wear sturdy, comfortable shoes. You will be on your feet for eight hours a day and they will get dirty. I wore my combat boots, and they worked out great.

My biggest tip to anyone who is going to attend any class at Frontsight for the first time: Go there as a blank slate. I don’t care if you were Army Special Forces for 25 years, go there open to all of their training, and try their way first. If it doesn’t work for you, fine, you can switch back to your training after you leave. If you go there closed minded and don’t want to try any new techniques, there is no reason for you to go, so save your money. Frontsight is the best firearms training you can get in the civilian world, no matter if you are brand new to shooting, or if you have several decades’ worth of experience.

If you’d like to see the pictures from our Frontsight trip, head over to my Facebook page and “like” Women With Firepower.

Next item on my wish list: A Suppressor for my Glock

Posted on by Melissa

I was at an outdoor public range a couple weeks ago with a friend. It was a combination pistol and rifle range, and my friend and I were shooting a couple of my pistols. There was a lot of noise on the range, obviously, with about twenty people shooting their guns. But through all the normal gun shots, I heard something like you hear in an assassin movie. I looked to my left and saw a rifle with a suppressor, and I was so jealous! I would love to have a suppressor, but they are a little difficult to buy.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) categorizes silencers as a National Firearms Act (NFA) firearm. (Silencer is a common term for suppressors, and that is how the ATF refers to them, but I will always call them suppressors, because nothing can really “silence” a gun.) Other weapons categorized as NFA firearms include full-auto guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, “destructive devices” including Molotov cocktails and bazookas, and “any other weapon” which includes cane guns and gadget guns.

The process for buying a NFA firearm is pretty lengthy. When you’ve picked out your suppressor, you must fill out an application with the specific serial number for your suppressor. Before you send the application and $200 in taxes to the ATF, you must first have the “Law Enforcement Certification” completed by the chief law enforcement officer. Your gun dealer then holds on to the suppressor while your application is being processed, which could be up to six months! If your application is approved and when it’s sent back to you, then comes the happy day you get to go back to your gun shop and pick up your suppressor. You must do this with each NFA firearm you purchase. From then on out, any time you have the suppressor, you must have a copy of the ATF approval on your person. By the way, if you didn’t know already, I happen to live in Colorado, where suppressors are legal. If you live in state where they are illegal, then you are out of luck.

I don’t understand why suppressors are so restricted. I feel they should be as easy to purchase as any other gun. Suppressors actually make your gun safer. The most obvious way is that suppressors reduce the gun’s report (gunshot noise), which is safer for your hearing, with or without hearing protection. On the range this isn’t such a big deal, but if you’re protecting yourself in the middle of the night, are you really going to have time to put on your hearing protection? Probably not.

When you screw on a suppressor to the end of your barrel, you are adding weight on your gun. Extra weight is always a plus on a gun, and when it’s on the end of your barrel, it will reduce both recoil and muzzle climb, which will make you more accurate. In a home invasion scenario, you need to stop your target as soon as you can so you have less of a chance of you or others in your home getting hurt.

So yes, I really want a suppressor, but I am certainly not looking forward to the process to purchase one. The great part about being a gun-lover in Colorado is that if I want a gun, I go to my local gun shop (usually the Shootin’ Den in Colorado Springs), fill out the application, wait an hour or so, and then go home happy with my new gun. We don’t have a waiting period of several days or weeks. I don’t usually buy things online because I’m very much an instant-gratification kind of girl. So whenever I do go through the process of buying a suppressor, it will be so hard to wait!