One thing I've found myself doing more and more of lately is shooting Sasha offhand. When I go to the range, most people are sitting down at the bench, shooting as far as they can. Now, I can't tell you their reasons, and I'm not denigrating them for it, but I've come to the realization that shooting while sitting down is not good for me.
Sasha is not a hunting rifle. Sure, she could be used for it, but the main reason I bought her was as a SHTF weapon. We get hurricanes here in the sunshine state, and many times we can go without power for days on end. For some odd reason, when disaster strikes, some people think that means they can come and take stuff from your house.
Now, inside the house, a shotgun does wonders. And yes, I need to get one and it's on my list as soon as I scrounge up some cash (*cough*hitthetipjar*cough*). For the time being I think I can manage with my current arsenal, but over-penetration is definitely a problem.
However, if it looks like our neighborhood is experiencing problems, I want to be able to stop the goblins before I need to do close quarter combat. I pray I never have to do anything of the sort, but as someone who stocks up on supplies, the last thing I need is some idiot thinking that his poor planning gives him rights to what keeps me and my family alive. If my wife ever gives in and lets me get a whole home generator, I'm sure the lights being on will attract thieves like moths.
If, God forbid, it ever comes time to protect my family like this, I'm not going to be shooting much more than 50 yards anyway, and I doubt I'm going to have the luxury of sitting down in a chair and pulling up a table to shoot from. I need to be able to hit my target while standing, and possibly moving. And by practicing offhand, I won't rely on a bench to help me shoot. I can hit 50 yards, every time, without fail. Sure, it's a 10" grouping, but it's a hit and with a 7.62x54R, that's good enough to stop any threat. It even gets me better at operating the bolt, which on the M44 is notoriously sticky.
I'll still shoot sitting. It's comfortable and you get the fun of trying to shoot longer distances. But, I believe in the axiom that under stress you revert back to your training, so I'm going to train myself to stand and fight.
Although the thought of sitting in a lounge chair with my rifle is kind of funny.
rolled out on
Thursday, August 02, 2007 8:44 AM