Carpenters and Plinkers
Learn how to use your tools correctly while avoiding nicknames like "Lefty" and "Stumpy" is like learning how to shoot better.
Let’s say a fellow is a power tool enthusiast, presumably a carpenter.
He and his buddies study tool catalogs religiously, love to cruise hardware stores and trade shows, and can quote the characteristics of most tools by rote.
Thankfully, this fellow is good about following basic safety protocol with no problem, as are his friends (most of them, anyway.) He reads the included manuals and follows the recommended safety procedures, such as wearing eye and ear protection when using these devices, and insists everyone else in the area does as well.
Unfortunately, not all of his brethren are this careful. Unbelievably, a few diehards don’t bother with such “unnecessities” as eye and ear protection. Missing digits (and pending lawsuits against manufacturers of “unsafe” tools) of a few of the real hardheaded show some are even less prudent. Thankfully, these types are a minority, but none of the group really does anything to remedy this.
He’s usually in the garage once or twice a month - sometimes more, sometimes less. So what does he do in there? Throughout the week he collects random pieces of lumber. Often, it’s scrap throwaway pieces. Once in a while, he’ll visit a hardware store, drool over the new tools, and occasionally splurge for a piece of standard-length lumber.
In the garage, drilling and cutting are done randomly. A bit is picked casually and a hole bored aimlessly somewhere with little regard to placement. A chunk of wood is tossed on the table saw, an angle is picked out of the air, and a cut is made. When a piece becomes too short to cut or has too many holes, it’s disposed of. Once in a while, he’ll find a bit of junk and poke a hole in that to amuse himself. Again, safety usually isn’t a problem and he’s pretty good about keeping the area and tools cleaned up, at least better than most of his peers.
Once he started a basic woodshop project, however, after realizing his cutting and drilling weren’t as accurate as he thought partway through he quit and went back to the scrap. Most of his friends haven’t even bothered with this much.
The local hardware shop hosts classes and even sponsors woodworking shows encouraging patrons to bring in projects to demonstrate their ideas and skills, but none of these folks attend or support such activity. “Elitist”, “arrogant”, and “snobs” is how they describe woodworkers who use blueprints or plans, take classes, submit entries at shows, and assert the idea that other power tool owners should do so as well. They are convinced such activity isn’t necessary to maintain their “real world” carpentry skills, provided you don’t ask them to demonstrate by showing something they’ve actually built.
Would it feel right to apply the title of “carpenter” to these fellows? Contrast this to how a serious woodworking enthusiast or professional carpenter works.
Now replace the hardware store with gun shop and public range, lumber switches to targets, replace cutting and drilling for shooting, and the woodworker’s projects and shows become shooting events and training. Note how many gun owners and plinkers follow a very similar path.
To be honest, being a shill for training courses doesn’t necessarily make one an expert. Not everyone who abstains from formal training courses does so through ignorance. Money is sometimes a factor – those “tools” are expensive!
A person is skilled because of what he can accomplish and there are many paths to enlightenment. A certificate from a gun school doesn’t automatically make one skilled and isn’t required provided the measurable skill is there.
Shooting events and training aren’t limited to flying to an expensive school for a week. Attending an organized match held at your local shooting range is a shooting event, too. You can earn a Master classification from any national shooting organization and never leave your home range, provided they are hosting sanctioned/approved/official events.
You might not even need this much. Many of these organizations have fixed classification courses and publish their standards. You can easily set up a National Match course, a Classifier from one of the national-level organizations tracking them, or similar at your home range. NRA publishes the Marksmanship Qualification Program, available as a free PDF, and it has over a dozen courses with published standards.
Once or twice a year, find a local club hosting an event that appeals to you and attend. If you finish high and walk away with good scores, your skills are top-notch in anybody’s book. If not, hit up the top finishers for their advice. Offer to buy them a beer or lunch and practice what you learn. Repeat until you’re the club champ and your developed skill will probably meet (or possibly exceed) the folks who get paid to teach at big-name schools with national-level reputations.
You hit the nail on the head. Big difference between being a recreational shooter and becoming a gunfighter. Dedication to the craft, practical exercises, and reloading are the difference between a survivor and a statistic. And buy the cheap AR to start. I'm not saying you couldn't sell a larue rifle if you didn't like it? The difference in money spent between a beginner AR and a top shelf rifle can be used for ammunition and classes.