Momma's Getting A New Gun!

Well, a new-to-me gun.  The gun itself is about six months old and belongs to my shooting buddy, Mez.  He goes through cycles where he stocks up his gun cabinet(s) and then goes through and weeds out some guns, then doesn't like the emptiness of his gun cabinet and buys new guns.  You know, like some women and shoes.  Only the stuff in his closets is useful.

Being a wonderful shooting buddy, he offers me pretty much first dibs on any guns he's thinking of selling.  And, boy, oh boy, I wish I'd had the money when he sold his AR-15.  But I didn't and it went to a good home, I'm sure.

This time, when he emailed me that he was selling a gun I jumped right on it.  Not only is the price right, but I've been looking for one just like it.  It's a GSG (German Sporting Gun) 1911 chambered in .22.  Yes, you read that right.  A .22 caliber 1911.  I didn't get the one pictured in the link, with the faux suppressor.  Mine looks more like the one below:

Not my acutal gun, but one similar.  Image from Google Images

Some of you may be wondering why on earth I would want a 1911 chambered in .22 for Pete's sake?  Sounds a little odd, doesn't it?  The reason is simple.  My Para, though I love her to bits, is expensive to feed.  Putting more than a couple of magazines through her is, well, sometimes cost prohibitive.  Unless Mez is doing reloading for me, which he does frequently.  But that's beside the point.  With this little GSG I can practice 'til my little heart's content and not break the bank.

I can shoot the Steel Challenges with this gun for $20 instead of $100 (or more) to shoot the Para.  I'll still shoot the Para for the Defensive Pistol matches, but will "train" with the GSG.  I won't need any new accessories; since it's a 1911, it will fit in my holsters and I can practice my draws while at the range.

Additionally, I can now do my Fit Shot workouts at the range and not cringe about the money flying down range, when each workout requires something like 60 rounds.  As much as I love Fit Shot, I couldn't afford to do a workout each time I was at the range before.  Now I can :)

There are some .22 conversion kits that I could buy for my Para so that I could train with the gun I'm going to shoot, but they're a whole lot more expensive than this GSG (even a brand new one is only around $300) and with the GSG I get a complete gun, not just parts to change out in the Para.

I understand the argument about about training with the gun you're going to shoot, and I agree with it. However, training with a similar gun is better than not training at all and with the cost of ammo, similar is going to have to be good enough.

I've shot this gun and loved it.  It's a great little plinker and just a whole bunch of fun to shoot.

FitShot, Take I

I *finally* made it out to the range to try out FitShot with live fire.  I've been substituting weights for my guns at the gym for a couple of weeks, keeping in mind the point was to be able to do it with something that went bang.

Tara and I went out to the range and I realized I'd have to modify what my plan was.  Some idiot, who will remain unnamed, left her gun belt at home.  Not a huge deal, as the holsters I packed were paddles, but I couldn't add my second mag carrier because it's a belt carrier.

It was a brisk 42* at the range, with no wind.  That, right there, is a miracle.  There's almost always wind at the range.  The intro to FitShot calls for doing the sit-ups and squats with a carbine, but since I don't have one, I used my handgun instead.  Also, I was supposed to do release push-ups, but without my belt on, my holster kept sliding around my waist, so that I would have been laying on it.  I didn't want to grind dirt into my gun, so I went with regular push-ups instead of release ones.

Here's the modified workout:

• 20 full sit-ups; 10 shooting right, 10 shooting left
• 20 squats; 10 shooting right, 10 shooting left
• 5 push-ups, 5 rounds.  2 sets shooting right, 2 sets shooting left

I felt like I was moving fairly quickly through everything, but once I watch the video, I can see that I can shave off a whole lot of time by being more efficient in my movements.  I got spoiled doing this in the gym; there, everything is nice and level and easy.  Not easy at the uneven range, but a whole lot more fun!

Tara even had us running and shooting, but since we were both doing it, there's no video.

I would highly encourage everyone to try to incorporate some form of fitness into their shooting routine, because, let's face it, when the fecal matter hits the air circulating device, our hearts are going to be thumping and our fine motor skills are going to be shot all to Hades.  Might as well doing something proactive to give us the advantage.

I forgot to post my target when this post went up, sorry.  The target's not as gorgeous as it could be, but I'm not too upset, as this is a whole new exercise for me.

 
And don't forget about the give-away at A Girl and Her Gun.

Pseudo Fit Shot Workout

Last week, I mentioned that I might have fallen in love with a new workout that combines working out and shooting.  I've been dying to try it, but haven't been able to get out to the range to do so.

Since I can't get out to the range until this Friday, I figured out a way I could simulate the workouts at the gym without the risk of going to jail.  I weighed the guns I would be shooting if I was at the range and substituted the appropriate weights for them.  Also, since Fit Shot isn't really meant to be a workout-workout, I added in cardio and merged two of the sample workouts together so that I would have an hour's worth of exercise.  Here's what my modified workout looked like:

• 15 minutes on the elliptical machine, level 7
• 5 release push-ups; in a push-up position, go all the way to the ground, contract your back to lift your hands off the floor, then put your hands back on the floor to complete the push-up
• 15 one-handed dumb bell clean and presses (10#); the other hand is extended as though shooting one handed (2.5#); switch arms and repeat
• 20 full sit-ups; I did this with a 2.5# weight to simulate my handgun and since I shoot Weaver, it added a level of difficulty by requiring me to engage my obliques.  I did 10 holding the weight like I was shooting right handed, and 10 as though I was shooting left handed.
• 20 squats, again with a 2.5# weight; on the down portion of the squat, I lowered my "gun" to low ready, on the up portion I brought it on target.  10 right handed; 10 left handed.  Next time, I'll do the squats on the Bosu ball to increase the difficulty.
• 20 box jumps, with two 5# weights to simulate a long gun.  While on the ground I had my "gun" in the low ready position, double leg jumped onto the box, then went through the motion of shouldering my gun.  I did 10 for right handed shooting, and 10 for left handed.
• 20 minutes on the bike, level 5
• Repeat the weight exercises.

It certainly kept my interest throughout the entire workout and whetted my appetite for doing it at the range, when I can actually use my gun and shoot between each rep.  I only burned 296 calories, so it was a fairly low intensity workout, but I can change that easily by adding intervals to my cardio next time around.

I Just Fell In Love

...And surprisingly, it wasn't with a gun.

No, it was with Fit Shot, which combines a CrossFit-type workout with shooting exercises!  Tara and I met Rob Pincus at Valhalla several years ago, and had a private day of instruction from one of his instructors.  If I recall correctly, after they unloaded our gun bags, we were told that it looked like Soldier of Fortune puked all over their gun counter.  We took it as a compliment.  We had both of our tactical shotguns, Tara's long-range rifle, and our handguns.  Not much, but more than they were expecting two women to have, I suppose.

Anyway, the Valhalla shooting center has closed, and Rob Pincus has moved on to I. C. E., where he teaches Combat Focus Shooting all over the world.  He's also a Certified CrossFit instructor.

Do you see where this is headed?  Fit Shot combines "Functional Fitness and Practical Shooting Skills".  You know I love shooting from my Bosu, and I was pretty certain that was some cutting edge training right there.  This stuff makes my Bosu shooting look like child's play.



Their Facebook page has a lot of sample workouts that aren't nearly as intense as the one in the video, but I really want to try it.  I just have to figure out how to do something like this at the range, since I'm relatively certain that my gym won't let me work out with my gun on and dry fire at the wall.  Pretty sure that would induce panic in the other patrons.