Three Ways Gun Owners Can Get Their Act Together During Quarantine
Eve Flanigan 04.10.20
For the gun enthusiast, all those cheerful “we’re in this together” COVID distancing messages can ring aggravating. All we want is some range time – be it with friends or alone with our favorite ballistic blaster. To ease the pain, here are five practical ideas for passing the time with tasks that’ll find you better-prepared when things get back to normal.
Make, or update, your gun inventory.
Gun theft is a common property crime. Of course, if this misfortune happens to you, it’d be nice to get your goods back. Most guns recovered from crime scenes are stolen. Chances of recovering a stolen gun are quite high if your local police department has a serial number in the reports it submits to, and receives from the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC). It’s also easier to identify guns and gun parts with photos.
Inventory your firearms by recording the make, model, and serial number of each. If you have a bill of sale or receipt, photograph it, along with your firearm. Copy that information onto digital files or printed documents that are kept at your residence, separate from the firearms. Keep a second copy in storage in a safe deposit box or trusted friend or relative’s secure possession. Cloud storage of these files is another option, however there are few cloud systems that have not been hacked, so files you can put your hands on, even if they’re on a flash drive, are the most secure.
If you’ve already been victimized by gun thieves, consider entering your gun as stolen onto the civilian-accessible version of NCIC, hotgunz.com. It’s also a great resource when buying a gun to check that it’s not on record as stolen.
Give your guns a spa day
No CLP for this job. We’re talking TLC, butt to muzzle, baby! Pull out one to three guns at a time and, after making sure there is no ammunition in the same room, give them the complete owner’s manual-recommended complete cleaning. High-quality solvents and oils to make this exercise good for your guns. The time spent concentrating on a task that turns out a shiny, well-kept product is good for you.
Good tools make gun cleaning easier and more enjoyable. Check out Bore-Tips cleaning sponges for getting into those hard-to-clean crevices:
Want the best chemicals? Check out Modern Spartan Systems; They offer solvents that specialize in eradicating copper or carbon reside, and oils that continue performing in the worst of conditions. For precision rifle shooters, oils by Modern Spartan Systems and Extreme Force promise not only protection from temperature extremes, but the opportunity for better precision thanks to the molecular interface of lands, groves, oil, and bullet. It’s all too scientific for me but is something as simple as oil will help me make that one-chance shot on a trophy animal, I’m in.
Practice your art
When you do go back to the range or field, unless you’ve been doing some dry fire drills such as the ones for pistol and carbine we’ve posted recently, your skills will have diminished. Set yourself up for success by logging a little practice. Even one minute of drills per day, done faithfully during the quarantine period, can help you stay sharp and ready. Defeat boredom and make your preparation well-rounded by drilling not only marksmanship, but also gun handling—which is the factor that usually wins or loses a gunfight.
Gun handling drills can entail many things. Drawing from concealment, preferably with one hand and with a time of less than two seconds between “Zero” and seeing your front sigh on target, is a good one. Paired with that, it’s critical to practice re-holstering without flagging your own body parts with the muzzle. Many gun carriers ignore the location of their support hand during re-holstering. Go slowly with the unloaded handgun, in front of a mirror for at least a few reps so you can really see if you’re muzzling your own body parts or putting your finger(s) on the trigger at inappropriate times.
Until next time
With your guns properly logged, maintained, and handled, you’ll be well-set to join in on future installments of this series of lockdown drills and activities for gun owners. Until next time, be well and stay sharp on your dry fire!
