Hoot & Shoot, Midland, MI

11 Aug 07

Hoot & Shoot, First day:

Just completed the first day of my friend and colleague, Evan Marshal's, Hoot and Shoot Event at his ultra-modern, indoor pistol/rifle range in Midland, MI. Evan has been running his range for several years, and the H&S Event is a way to get a number of instructors and operators together for an annual small-arms clinic.

Evan lectured us on the deepening War on Terror and on the important of being constantly armed. He demonstrated a number of concealment options, particularly for second guns.

Ed Lovett and I did a Rifle/Pistol Course, where students transitioned from rifle to pistol, then back to rifle. We also instructed students how to perform brain-stem shots with a rifle, at close range.

Ed than went on to teach a Class on the use of the snubby revolver, and I did a Class on retention and disarms.

Mike Shovel was on hand to conduct one of his famous a live-fire, ballistic demonstrations. We fired a number of different brands of pistol ammunition into gelatin blocks, along with 223 and 30 M1 Carbine. All rounds had to penetrate four layers of denim before entering gelatin. Not surprisingly, DPX expanded the most consistently, fundamentally unaffected by the denim. The denim curtailed expansion with conventional, lead-core/brass-jacket bullets.

Ed Lovett did a contact demonstration on gelatin with a snubby revolver. Then, he performed the same test with the muzzle several inches out of contact. The difference was amazing! When in contact, high-pressure gas is blasted into the temporary wound cavity, greatly exasperating tissue destruction. Damage from the contact wound was nearly twice that from the out-of-contact wound. A strong argument for shooting from contact, particularly with a snubby revolver (when one finds himself in a position to do it)

I demonstrated a similar contact shot with my Detonics 45ACP 1911 and 180gr DPX (my carry round). Damage was again extensive, but rebound from the gelatin prevented the slide from completing its cycle. So, the technique has its risks with autoloaders.

Tomorrow is the last day. More later.

/John