Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

I finally managed to get a new Remington 870 barrel with the "DEA Sights" on it. 18", Imp Cyl. The new sights look odd at first. The rear sight is mounted just forward of the receiver. It is low, very beefy, and blocky. It looks VERY sturdy. The blade is the express type with a white vertical center line. This is NOT the replacement XS sight for the Remington factory rifle sights. This is a sturdy fixed rear sight.

The front sight is a white dot on a ramp. I got to do some preliminary testing today.

Federal 00 Buck, 2 rds @10 yds, 2 rds @ 15 yds, and 1 rd at 25 yards, all on one target. You could cover the pattern from all five rounds with my hand with the fingers spread out. Centered right on the sights.

Winchester Ranger Low Recoil slugs, 5 rds at 25 yds, offhand, fairly quickly. 4 of 5 went in the same ragged hole, 5th was barely out, my fault. Dead on the sights.

Brennekke Tactical Home Defense slugs, 5 rds at 25 yds. Bigger group, centered but low. That barrel definitely prefers the Ranger slug.

The sights are very quick to pick up and look REALLY rugged. I like!

The 870 - all too often overlooked but one of the most effective home defense weapons.

The 870, in my opinion, will go down in firearms history right along side the Colt Single Action, the 1911, and the Browning Auto-5... It just hasn't had enough time yet to gain "historic" status on par with the aforementioned firearms...

Of course, as far as home defense weapons go, there's been a many an intruder motivated to evacuate the premises (as well as the bladder) with the good old single shot... And many a wedding seen through to the end, as well.


Clint Smith shows a good method for home defense with the single shot at 1:45 into this video... Shows the stages of operation and what you should be doing in them to operate the shotgun smoothly. But what he says throughout the video is well worth hearing... "I don't need a $1,000 shotgun - I need to know how to run the gun I got!"


-Mike

Mike - a perfect key to Smith's statement is that you have to know how to operate the gun that you rely on - flawlessly. That means practice and too few of us - including me - get enough.....

John, what you and I (and Clint Smith, in the video) are talking about is what I refer to as "achieved smoothness." In a class years ago, upon watching a student fumble with the weapon in an attempt to too quickly "get on target", a well known instructor made the statement "Be smooth... Be smooth.... And remember, smooth is fast."

In the grand scheme of things, being on target and placing the shot accurately is only one part of the process... Think about it this way: When we learn marksmanship, we learn sight picture, trigger control, and follow through (and breath control for rifle work, but I'm talking pistols, here.) A three part process that allows us to accurately place the shot. We have to learn it, and master it in order to achieve our goal. AND it requires using live ammo in order to make sure we have tangible evidence of our mastery of the weapon. But what if we can't get to the range as much as we wish? Do we just let the other skills involved deteriorate as well? No... Everything I have just described in the marksmanship process assumes that we have the weapon at "low ready" or "on target." What about the part that gets us to "low ready" or "on target", though? What about the issues that can arise during a firefight?

I tell my students that if they can't get to the range to actually puncture the target with a bullet, they can at least practice the rest of the procedures at home in a quite room without any distractions. If they want to have some music playing, that's fine - I use Jeff Beck's "The Pump" because if lends itself well to mechanical motion and thus provides a cadence to the exercises... Ten minutes a night, before bedtime, can make all the difference in the world. Total focus on the task at hand is key... But care must be taken not to overwork the routine or else it becomes boring and dull (that's when people quit practicing.) Each night of the week, practice a different drill: (for example) Monday night is "drawstroke" night - do several sets of several repetitions, starting out slow enough to count the individual counts of the drawstroke, then gradually increasing the speed throughout the workout until at the end you are making the draw in one smooth, fluid movement; Tuesday night is "back to low ready, check 6, and reholster" night - works just like the night before, only this time we are recovering after the weapon has fired its imaginary bullet; Wednesday night is "FTFeed/FTFire/FTExtract" night - work on Tap, Rack, Ready! then work on Rip, Rack, Tap, Rack, Ready! drills; Thursday night is "Blind Combat Reload" night - do it on carpet (or else the wife may have issues with you dropping mags on the hardwood floors) and practice with strong side/weak side combat reloads, as well as one handed reloads with the pistol held muzzle down, between your knees, and do them all from standing and kneeling; Friday night is "Tactical Reload" night - practice getting a topped off mag into the weapon, while retaining the partially used magazine, and do not set anything down (1st mag, 2nd mag, or pistol) in the process; Saturday night is "Recap" night - Run through each exercise one time: "Drawstroke", "Tap, Rack, Ready" and "Rip, Rack, Tap, Rack, Ready", "Low Ready, Check 6, and Reholster", "Combat Reload", and then "Tactical Reload"; Sunday night is "Think About It" night - what else do you need to be working on regarding your "readiness status"? Is your gear what it needs to be? Is your daily routine setting you up to be a victim? And lastly, on this night and every other night of the week, thank God in prayer for what you have, ask him to keep you and your family safe, and remember Psalm 144:1-2.

All of these drills require that NO LIVE AMMO BE ANYWHERE IN THE ROOM!!, and that you have a couple of "Snap Caps" or other dummy rounds to use in the malfunction clearing exercises.

As one does this over a period of weeks, they will see their "smoothness" increase, and as previously stated "Smooth is Fast." I have found that the confidence gained through mastering this smoothness will carry itself over into the marksmanship portion of process. Is it a "Zen" state? I don't know, but I have heard others say it is... "Be the bullet" is just not my style of teaching - I prefer the "Master your movements and all will fall into place as it should" method. If we are not worried about having to be "quick on the draw", we can (when actually on the range) better concentrate on the sight picture, trigger squeeze, and follow through (the last thing we should see before the shot fires is also the first thing we should see after the shot fires: The Front Sight!). If we can do Combat Reloads, and Tactical Reloads (with retention) without having to look at the pistol, we can better concentrate on the threat and/or making the next shot. If we have practiced the clearing drills properly, they become a natural reaction, as opposed to looking at the gun and trying to figure out "why won't this thing fire?" If we practice Low Ready, and Check 6 before we re-holster the weapon, we have made sure that we still have our "Radar" working to prevent damage to ourselves from a possible second threat that we didn't see at the start of hostilities. PRACTICE LIKE YOU FIGHT, OR YOU'LL FIGHT LIKE YOU PRACTICE!!!

Just my 2 cents worth...

-Mike