Some Thoughts on Shooting and Self-Defense from Oleg Volk

I enjoy Oleg Volk's blog, but haven't visited for a couple of months. He posts beautiful photos of various firearms, and generally has links to the manufacturers or sellers of the various products featured in his photos. But besides shooting photos, he is also someone that knows a lot about shooting guns. There were a couple articles of his that I particularly wanted to bring to your attention:

1.  "Designing Meaningful Practice Targets." Volk discusses here that there comes a time to set the brightly colored paper and steel range targets behind, and move to targets that better test or challenge your abilities. He has a few suggestions: (i) use paper bags or other natural colored targets that can be placed directly on a berm and/or behind concealment at random distances to better mimic natural camouflage; (ii) use target with numbered dots (where you have to shoot a the specific dot) to practice trigger control; (iii) use targets with the hole cut out of the center to pay more attention to what your "strays" are doing; and (iv) use balloons to mimic movement.

On the latter point, Volk appears to be talking about balloons filled with helium and anchored by a string, so they float and move with a breeze. I've used just regular balloons that I've blow up and attached to sticks stuck into the ground, and they don't give you very good movement. A couple things about balloons, though, is that they pop easily if they contact brush or other sharp/pointy vegitation. Second, be sure to clean up the balloon remnents so an animal won't unwittingly swollow or choke on the scraps.

2.  "Two Lessons from the Biker Attack on a Family in NY." His first tip is to avoid high population, gun-control jurisdictions like New York, New Jersey, Chicago, etc. (Volk specifically notes the involvement of police officers in the group behind the attack). Second, he suggests going armed if you can, and learning the rudiments of shooting from a car (which he further explains in his piece). Volk recommends a .223/5.56mm pistol for vehicle defense.

Volk also knows people, and one of the articles he links to is this review of the International Disaster Kit--3-Day essentials. The kit is a barebones emergency kit with the basics of food, water, firemaking and so on, including a paper "pot" to cook your meals in.

Check the articles out.