Wednesday, November 11, 2009

stop it.

To everyone who took the time to critique and evalute and rehash the 10 whole seconds of me shooting the M-14, thank you for your comments. But...I'd also like to clarify what was happening in that video.

1.) M-14s are really freaking heavy, my arms were already tired, and I was fighting a bit of elevation sickness. Plus, you know...small Breda is small.

2.) Aepilotjim suggested I use a tactical, forward facing stance that I had never tried before. As you can see, it didn't work out that well and just happened to be caught on video. I thought it was funny so I posted it.

3.) I know I need to "lean into it." Boy, do I know. But try something for me. Stand up and assume the off-hand rifle shooting position. Now attempt to lean into it without bending the ankle of your front foot. Keep your foot solidly flat on the floor. Your ankle must remain at a 90 degree angle. Now add in recoil and a heavy rifle and attempt to maintain your balance.

4.) And, despite all that, I was hitting the paper and stepping back up, post-recoil, to try again.

5.) Same rifle, different stance:

Now hush.

18 comments:

Unix-Jedi said...

Sounds like SOMEBODY's got a case of the MONDAYS!

Alan said...

I can attest to Breda's shooting ability. Scary good.

Anonymous said...

Bah, everyone's an expert on the Errornet, Breda. Besides, gun nuts can't help but give advice, it comes with the territory.

I know that the M14 is a heavy pig. An M14 with 5 loaded magazines in the equivalent of two Bredas.

:-)

Shootin' Buddy

Mike W. said...

You tried something new and it didn't work.

Keep shooting in whatever stance works best for you. We've seen your shooting, so obviously your usual stance works just fine.

Warthog said...

Ya know what? Who cares? The coolest part of the videos is that one can see how much fun you're having. Keep having fun and ignore the rest.

Word Verification: poled
What should happen the people who are trying to rain on your parade.

Sabre22 said...

As Long as you had FUN that is the important thing.

Murphy's Law said...

You shot and you had fun. That's all that matters. Don't sweat the critics.

And that's coming from another M1A/M-14 operating LBK.

Mad Saint Jack said...

Breda has your IP address, is good at research, and can hit a target at over 900 yards away. . . Shhhhhhh!

Steve R said...

Good point, Jack.

What is most important is that you had fun.

Second to that is that you were willing to try different positions and methods with a weapon that you had never fired before (and which was, as indicated, freaking heavy).

A video of one method that rocked you back got posted (by you no less) and elicited a bunch of comments from self-styled experts - phooey. I'll bet not one single one of those "experts" considered your very valid point regarding your left ankle and balancing.

Farmmom said...

Good for you Breda!!! Not a one of the "experts" that told you what you were doing wrong was there. I personally thought that you were shooting incredibly well. I admire your spirit and go to attitude! Thank you so much for coming. I enjoyed meeting you and you are welcome back anytime!

Tam said...

In order of importance:

1) Were you safe?
2) Did you have fun?
3) Did you hit well enough to be happy?

If the answer to all three is "Yes", then get down with your bad self and tell everyone else to shut the heck up. ;)

Glenn B said...

You can keep the angle at a 90 degree angle and put the leg forward depending on how much you can use the rest of the leg, but if I tell you how I am afraid you will get mad at me, and I don't wanna upset a woman who shoots as good as do you - so I'll hush:)

Safe shooting,
Glenn B

HK_USP_45 said...

haha, I like that. Tell us all to p!ss off. We're a critical lot, so we need to be put in our place. :)

Fenris said...

I'm just envious of the guns you got to shoot. Truly awesome.

And for what it's worth, looking at the guest list for the get-together, even if I don't have enough to worry about keeping my own stance correct, I really can't see you wanting for suggestions/coaching at your request.

Phillip said...

I'll never understand why people feel the need to give advice to women who are shooting. But then, I've seen women use the most horrible positions, stances, ways of aiming, and so on that you can imagine... and still hit the 9 ring with 5 out of 6 shots the first time they pick up a pistol.

Plus there's the whole "How wise is it to say something stupid or that could be taken badly to a heavily armed woman?" question that goes through my head.

For what it's worth, I didn't see any problems with what you were doing. I looked at the video and saw a petite woman that I know has a prosthetic leg holding a rifle that is almost as big as she is fire a cartridge that's probably longer than her index finger. I was impressed you stayed upright. I think under similar circumstances I'd have been sitting down after the first shot.

gunnypink said...

Breda, I had the benefit of doing many exercises with the 14 pound M-14 for prolly four weeks before I was ever allowed to crank off a round. Today, 42 years later, I too would prolly experience difficulty holding that weapon in the offhand position. As the others have already commented, if you enjoyed the shoot, overall, then be glad, and let the pooh-poohers wallow around in their puddle of pooh-pooh.

Clint said...

You're doing damn good Breda.

Some parents are known to push their kids to start running before the little guys have mastered walking.

It says more about them than it does about you.

Anonymous said...

bah! I showed the video to everyone at work and what did we see?
POW!
Step right back into it and
POW!
Way to go Breda!
Stance be damned - enjoy shooting it and keep pressing the trigger!