I hated seeing Mike Seeklander go down right off the bat. Mike lives in the Tulsa suburb where I got my start in police work and lived for about 15 of the last 25 years. For me, he was the "hometown boy". I hope Caleb hangs in there!
I was sorry to see his poor showing. Tam was tellin' me he can shoot well under stress but I think equipment unfamiliarity flummoxed him.
Not knowing the rules for the rifle practice makes it hard to know how much trigger time and known-specific-issues talk they had; one of the very hardest things to do if you've been sold as An Expert is to admit ignorance when encountering a new gun. If the youngest is their best rifle shooter (and possibly one the likeliest to know what's what), that doesn't make it any easier.
...There really is a level on which interpersonal interaction does count -- less whining, more hardware talk-talk!
Mike is definitely awesome with a handgun and is on staff at the United States Shooting Academy here in Tulsa.
One of the commenters over at Tam's linked to a video he made when he got home using a borrowed Springfield to show he was not as bad as he looked on TOP SHOT.
I had to call BS on the video because he was using an '03A3 (with peep sights) instead of a 1903 or '03A1 with the damn complicated V-notch/ladder sight situated way down there.
Mike has a lot of experience with peep sights on rifles (he's ex-USMC) but obviously not with sights like the original '03 used (the OLD Corps would be mortified). I emailed him today to offer a loaner '03A1...
Knowing he's in the training business explains to me why he felt he had to make the video.
I understand a bad day. I understand being unfamiliar with the equipment. I'd expect, say, Clint Smith to make that shot cold, because his unit had to turn in their Mk I, Mod 0 Rocks for T&E Springfields, but it wouldn't shock me if plenty of other instructors had similar results under similar circumstances, and I'd still have no problem paying to take a pistol or carbine or shotgun course from them.
But Joe and Jane N00b might not understand that, and he needs to re-sell himself as a trainer.
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7 comments:
I deleted the above because it was a re-post of my first comment, which didn't show up thanks to Blogger being down.
I hated seeing Mike Seeklander go down right off the bat. Mike lives in the Tulsa suburb where I got my start in police work and lived for about 15 of the last 25 years. For me, he was the "hometown boy". I hope Caleb hangs in there!
I was sorry to see his poor showing. Tam was tellin' me he can shoot well under stress but I think equipment unfamiliarity flummoxed him.
Not knowing the rules for the rifle practice makes it hard to know how much trigger time and known-specific-issues talk they had; one of the very hardest things to do if you've been sold as An Expert is to admit ignorance when encountering a new gun. If the youngest is their best rifle shooter (and possibly one the likeliest to know what's what), that doesn't make it any easier.
...There really is a level on which interpersonal interaction does count -- less whining, more hardware talk-talk!
Roberta,
Mike is definitely awesome with a handgun and is on staff at the United States Shooting Academy here in Tulsa.
One of the commenters over at Tam's linked to a video he made when he got home using a borrowed Springfield to show he was not as bad as he looked on TOP SHOT.
I had to call BS on the video because he was using an '03A3 (with peep sights) instead of a 1903 or '03A1 with the damn complicated V-notch/ladder sight situated way down there.
Mike has a lot of experience with peep sights on rifles (he's ex-USMC) but obviously not with sights like the original '03 used (the OLD Corps would be mortified). I emailed him today to offer a loaner '03A1...
Knowing he's in the training business explains to me why he felt he had to make the video.
I understand a bad day. I understand being unfamiliar with the equipment. I'd expect, say, Clint Smith to make that shot cold, because his unit had to turn in their Mk I, Mod 0 Rocks for T&E Springfields, but it wouldn't shock me if plenty of other instructors had similar results under similar circumstances, and I'd still have no problem paying to take a pistol or carbine or shotgun course from them.
But Joe and Jane N00b might not understand that, and he needs to re-sell himself as a trainer.
Tam,
You're right, and he told me that a lot of the reason he made the video was just for his own peace of mind.
Besides, the average non-gunny wouldn't notice the '03 / '03-A3 difference or understand it, but what a topic it has become at VFTP!
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