"There stands Jackson...

...like a stone wall." Every now and again, I check out today in history. As fate would have it, I did so today and I learned something about the significance of today that I had not known. Yes, I already knew about the above quote, though I would not have remembered it, or who spoke it; but I had no idea at which battle it was uttered, nor on what day or date, nor by whom it was uttered. It was uttered by Confederate General Barnard Bee, on Sunday July 21, 1861, in the (first) Battle of Bull Run, aka: the Battle of Manassas, or just Manassas as it was known by the confederates. After that, Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson was commonly known as: Stonewall Jackson. It is a name, no doubt, with which most of us are familiar, but how many knew the details of how he came by that moniker?

If you want to learn a bit more about it, then go to this link:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul21.html#bullrun

Another site to check out to see 'today in hsitory' is: http://www.historynet.com/today_in_history

Great stuff!

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye's Firearms' Training and Tactics - Another Safe Day At The Range

Brendan and I went to the range today and had a blast (whether or not a pun was intended has not yet been determined). We brought along the Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun, the Yugoslavian SKS, the Ruger 10/22 (with untried red dot scope), the Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and I also had a Glock 19. We took some videos at the range today. I don't know why I never thought of this before, but today it dawned on me that our digital camera takes videos, so why not give it a shot (yes this pun was intentional)!





As you guys have probably figured out by now, I am a bit of a stickler for safety at the range (or anywhere else when firearms are involved). I guess that comes from 5 years of summer camp and lanyards across the thighs if I was unsafe while shooting there, 28 years as an LEO where I got my behind chewed out more than once, 14 years of which included collateral duties as a firearms instructor when I chewed out some people more than once, and because I know that firearms mistakes are often fatal. There are few transgressions of firearms safety rules for which I will not immediately correct someone with whom I am shooting; I like to breathe without extra holes.

Today, Brendan was pretty safe, as he always is when we go to the range. Take a look at the embedded video (I actually joined YouTube today to be able to do this, I hope it works) and watch him load, shoot, then check the 870 after he is finished shooting. Then think about whether or not he did anything wrong safety wise. Please exclude his not wearing a cap, I meant to bring a couple of them, but forgot them; and in our case today one was not needed because no one was next to us so hot brass was not a problem. If you are not a stickler for range safety you may not think he did anything wrong as he follows the basic rules of firearms safety; but he did do/or fail to do at least 1 thing; and had he done otherwise he would have been safer. No criticism of him from me over this, just told him about it; and he did all other things very well safety wise from what I could see. So don't get me wrong and think I am posting this to be critical of him or to embarrass him; but I am posting it to show you how easy it is to do something not safe, or to forget to do something safe. The truth is, he got me on a video forgetting to do something too. Take a look at that one, and see if you can spot it; and I do not mean my stopping to put on my safety glasses that I obviously had forgotten to don before picking up the rifle.



Comments welcome and anticipated.

Thanks,
Glenn B