Shooting Tips - My Gun Culture

Shooting Competitions Suck

By Tom McHale|2025-11-30T20:18:22-05:00November 30th, 2025|

Some writers like to tackle controversial topics like a rodeo bull gearing up to take out a flock of clowns. Half the time, the pot stirrer may not even care one way or the other about the topic they’re either defending or hyping. I get the strategy, but it’s just not me. And trust me, I’m not trying to do that here, although I will admit the title is somewhat provocative. On purpose …I’m addressing the topic of shooting competitions because I have a genuine love/hate relationship with them.

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Goop, Gunk & Good Sense: Cleaning and Testing for Reliability

By Tom McHale|2025-11-25T11:50:10-05:00November 25th, 2025|

Gun cleaning marketing suffers from the same problem as diet fads: spiffy photography and sometimes questionable science. Some products are game-changers in extreme environments; most are not. For average users, what separates success from failure isn’t a proprietary magic chemical. It’s far more mundane. You know, stuff like good cleaning habits, proper placement of lubrication, and simple functional checks.

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OODA Schmooda: The Loop in Normal and Useful Terms

By Tom McHale|2025-11-07T18:37:23-05:00November 7th, 2025|

OODA. No, we’re not talking about some new yogurt that keeps you regulated.We’re talking about the famous Air Force acronym developed by Air Force Colonel John Boyd to describe human decision processes.In the gun community, this concept has been used, abused, misunderstood, and, in my view, misapplied to the point where it’s become some abstract bastardization of simple strategy.

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A Stroll Down Accuracy Lane

By Tom McHale|2025-10-31T09:58:24-04:00November 7th, 2025|

I made at least one good decision when I started writing about guns a couple of decades ago. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, right? I started to keep some basic records about the performance of the guns and ammo that came and went for various stories. I’m mainly talking about the significant stuff, like bullet velocity, basic notes on any performance issues with the guns, and accuracy results.

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The Ransom Rest: When Your Gun Shoots Better Without You

By Tom McHale|2025-10-31T09:55:04-04:00November 3rd, 2025|

Most any modern gun is far more accurate than the shooter who uses them. And before you yell foul, I’m including myself in that statement! It’s just a function of being human.

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Back to the Future: Why DA/SA Still Deserves a Spot in the Holster

By Tom McHale|2025-10-31T09:53:16-04:00November 1st, 2025|

I like a variety of action, how about you? Single, double, double and single. They’re all good in my book. Striker-fired is fine too, although for reasons we’ll explore in a minute, I seem to have drifted away from that a bit for my most common daily choice. For now, I will say I seem to be a founding member of the minority group if we’re segregating by action types.

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Little Fingers…

By Tom McHale|2025-10-31T09:51:42-04:00October 31st, 2025|

I work out of the house, so my carry gun lives in my office — the room right off the front door. I don’t often carry in my own home, but I’d still like a gun to be easily accessible in case the coyotes making more frequent appearances in my neighborhood start getting cranky. Or something worse of the human variety. People are crazy.

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Pumpkin Spice Frappu-Shoot-O: The Great Pumpkin Reload

By Tom McHale|2025-10-29T17:17:45-04:00October 29th, 2025|

Starbucks doesn’t get it. At all. Every year when the leaves start changing, they make a big deal about their half-full-double-caf-decaf pumpkin spice mocha Frappuccino lattes, but I’d venture a guess that they don’t know anything about reloading for the fall season.

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Job One: Teaching the Next Generation to Shoot

By Tom McHale|2025-08-19T08:49:10-04:00August 19th, 2025|

If we want to preserve the shooting sports, there's nothing more important than teaching the next generation to shoot. In fact, this is also not coincidentally the very best way to protect gun rights over the long term. The more people exposed to the activity in a safe and responsible manner, the better for everyone.

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An Interesting Take on the “Defensive” .22

By Tom McHale|2025-08-16T12:31:58-04:00August 16th, 2025|

The debate on whether or not it's okay to use .22 pistols for concealed carry or self-defense is never-ending. I can see why. On one hand,.22s are easy to shoot for almost anyone, and most everybody will shoot a .22 faster and more accurately than a larger caliber gun.

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