XCR, 7.62X39!

19 Aug 08

RA/XCR, 7.62X39

I now have copy of Robinson Arms' XCR, in 7.62X39. Thirty round magazines that go with it are manufactured by C-Products and are in good supply. Asis my preference, mine is set up with LaRue BUIS, front and rear, and a Micro Aimpoint just behind the front sight, on LaRue's famous Quick-Detach mount. I also equipped it with an excellent Vickers two-point sling from Blue-Force Gear, making good use of Blue Force Gear's famous Wire-Loops to suspend the sling from the top of butt and from the left rail. Finally, I have a Safariland Rapid-Light affixed to the right rail, near the front. This XCR is eminently ready for serious service!

I ran one-hundred rounds of Cor-Bon 123gr DPX (7.62X39 DPX is now available from Cor-Bon) through it last weekend, and, as expected, the rifle functioned perfectly, much like my other XCRs in 6.8mm SPC and 223.

Light, reliable, handy, deadly accurate, and fast, this rifle is hard to beat as a travel gun. In fact, I just flew with it on a commercial flight to and from the West Coast, so I could have it with me while away from home. With its folding stock, it travels by air just fine, and I was delighted to have it close by! Combined with my Springfield Armory XD/M, Kahr PM45 (both in Comp-Tac holsters), and several Cold Steel and Emerson blades, it put me in a good position to take care of myself!

This is a serious, 300m rifle, with substantial penetration! With DPX ammunition, it make a formidable weapon. I'll be hunting with it this fall.

/John

Shooting Schools

19 Aug 08

A good friend will soon be publishing a book on shooting schools, and he has asked many of us currently teaching this Art to write a few paragraphs on what one should expect from such instruction. Here is my contribution:

With regard to shooting/tactics instruction , at the top of the list of " advice" is this: Don't put it off! We are plummeting headlong into some exciting World History, and Art that we teach, like so many other critical life-skills, defines the thin membrane the separates the Quick from the Dead!

When you walk into Class, leave your ego outside. Come to learn. Come to work. Neither your instructor, nor your fellow students, are interested in how wonderful you are, nor in the fact that you think it should be you who is teaching the Class! Not everyone in the Class will start at the same level, but all need to have a healthy, discerning, and enthusiastic learning attitude.

Don't come with the expectation of being entertained, nor to have "fun," nor to relax. Competent instruction is never relaxing. It is hard, grueling work, and the purpose is not to make you look good. That is of interest only to the shallow and self-centered. Competent instruction is always a tempestuous mixture of success and failure. Real learning takes place when you fail! Little is ever learned from success, but there needs to be enough of it to keep students motivated and moving forward. When success is always easily attained, you are simply striving toward the insignificant!

Your instructor should always lead the way, live-demonstrating every drill. You need to see it done, and know it can be done, before starting to learn how to do it yourself. Instructors who hesitate to boldly step forward and lead/show/demonstrate the way are always suspect!

Understand that some of the instruction will be dry. We try to make it as interesting and exciting as we can, but, in order for you to be a well-rounded and competent Operator, you need to be intimately acquainted with a wide spectrum of subjects and skills. Some are more interesting than others, but all are important.

Finally, expose yourself to as many good instructors as you can. None of us are perfect, nor does any one of us have a complete understanding of the True Way. We are students too!

/John