RetiredUSNChief
Member
I know just enough to be dangerous but somethings instructors say I really don't believe.
If that makes me the student that all instructors hate so be it. But I just hate it when I see someone depress the muzzle to the point I can see it with the naked eye and the Instructor says trigger control. Do they really believe this or is it a matter of trying to get the students mind thinking about something else to the point they don't flinch?
I, too, know just enough to be dangerous. But most importantly, I know enough to know that I don't know.
In the world of engineering, what that statement means is that I'm well grounded enough in the engineering principles that I know enough to recognize when things fall outside normal or expected parameters and to seek the appropriate guidance...whether that be from drawings, technical manuals, or other engineering resources. I will "pick up the phone and call someone", if you will.
From my own background in naval nuclear propulsion, Admiral Rickover had this to say:
Facing the Facts: "Another principle for managing a successful program is to resist the natural human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. It is not easy to admit that what you thought was correct did not turn out that way. If conditions require it, one must face the facts and brutally make needed changes despite considerable costs and schedule delays. The man in charge must personally set the example in this area."
You also cannot properly identify a problem with certainty unless you carefully inspect/observe it first...with a mind open to the facts as they really are and not what we want them to be.
If an instructor is not paying close, personal attention to the student under his instruction, then he cannot say with certainty what is causing his bad marksmanship. EVERYBODY flinches...it's a natural, instinctive behavior. But flinching can be controlled.
And, contrary to your statement which I quoted above, many other things DO contribute significantly to poor marksmanship. I can cite a specific example from personal experience.
My first pistol was the AMT Automag II. An excellent pistol, very accurate, and fun to shoot.
My second pistol was the Colt 1991A1. Also an excellent pistol, as accurate out of the box as I could wish for, and I ran hundreds of rounds through it the first day I took it shooting.
My third pistol was the Beretta 92FS. All of the sudden, I couldn't hit squat. My rounds were all over the place...yet I still had no problems with my first two. It wasn't "flinching", or it would have affected me with my other pistols. And I had untold thousands of rounds through my other handguns, not to mention others I've shot before them.
Had I had someone observing me, they might could have identified my problem sooner. As it was, it wasn't until I forced myself to do some extremely slow fire, bench shooting with my hand and pistol supported enough to take out any significant movement while I was concentrating on a smooth trigger pull.
My shots immediately improved. So I studied the trigger in comparison with my other two pistols...and the trigger pull is different than them. The AMT and Colt triggers were both triggers which pulled straight back (I don't know what it's called, so bear with my description). The Beretta trigger, however, pivots around a pin at the top of the trigger.
That's all it was...I needed to learn a different trigger pull. And I rapidly became as good a shot, if not better, with the Beretta as I was with the other two.
Yeah...I admit some instructors I've seen on video (I've yet to take any formal classes) grate on my nerves. BUT...if I'm attending a course, I fully intend to go with an open mind and follow my instructor's lead. Odds are they're a better shot than I, and odds are they've got quite a bit more ammo down range than I. And they've probably got a LOT more firearms training than I do. It would be a waste of my time (and money) to attend such courses only to ignore what my instructor was trying to put out.
There is often more than one way to do anything...and many of them may be perfectly acceptable. Unless it's unsafe, I don't think I would ignore or dismiss what an instructor would be teaching out of hand. That's not why I'm seeing the instructor.