Shooting with the GoPro

[zmiles308]

Getting bored at the range by myself so whipped out the gopro and balloons. I have no formal training and am looking for some critiques/advice. (flame suit on). I noticed 3 main things:
-On longer distance shots I bounce my trigger finger(1:00).
-Overexposed when shooting over truck hood (not confident enough to shoot over my hood)
-Should I be hitting the saftey when switching shoulders / going to secondary?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7EWFk7YzlM

Equipment Rundown:
XCR 5.56 - late model, no problems with strict junk food diet. DO NOT order direct from Robinson.

Sig p226 - slide wouldn't lock back consistently (I know I ride high and hit it sometimes). Problem would occur shooting offhand and racking slide. Fixed by polishing off thick anti-corrotion coating.
tlr2- laser crapped out, streamlight has great customer service. I think the laser is loosing zero after couple mags though.
adj. NS - rear sight elevation adj has alot of upward play and can get hung up enough to through off poi

Savvy Sniper Sling - awesome, hk clips are kinda hard to go from single/2 point.

VTAC light mount - works + cheap, wish I got an aluminum mount.

Magpul ACS- bit wobbly, fixed with strip of tape on buffer tube (need to re-up)


Hope this is the right place to post.

[Failure2Stop]

Overall, not a bad little vehicle drill.

There's a book's worth of info about working in/around vehicles, so I'm not going to get nitty-gritty on the tactics side, but getting used to shooting out of/around the vehicle is a good thing to build basic competance.

Recommend getting a "range vehicle" to build skill in shooting from a low profile. Alternately, you can use canvas or cardboard on the vehicle to avoid scratching it up. Airsoft replica weapons are also decent for that without blasting holes in your vic.
A plywood mock-up of a vehicle silhouette is also a good idea before shooting around a real vehicle.

Safety goes on when switching shoulders. Safety should only go off when a threat has been identified and the decision to shoot has been made. If you are switching shoulders, there is obviously no threat present or you would be busy shooting it.

Transitioning to secondary- unnecessary to put safety on, as the transition will happen for one of two reasons:
Rifle no go boom.
Need smaller gun for very close work.
If the rifle no go boom you don't need to hit the safety since the trigger already failed to work. If you need to put the big gun away to use the pistol, the rifle should already be on safe, though double checking is not a bad idea.

[sboza]

More concerned about your trigger discipline. Look at 52 sec for the worst violation. Get formal training before trying to be a ninja.

I don't put on safe when transitioning to secondary because the reason for the transition is a rifle that doesn't go bang when the trigger is pulled. This has been discussed numerous times and there are a few (very few) who insist on safeing prior to transition to secondary. If you are just playing games and transitioning to secondary with a live primary, yes put it on safe and know you are developing bad habits.

And yes, you engage the safety before transitioning shoulders. Any time you unmount a LIVE gun from your shoulder, you place it on safe.


ETA - Finger off of trigger until you have an acceptable sight picture.

ETA - I'm not trying to discourage you. F2S is right, shooting from your vehicle and, somewhat less relevant to the average guy, shooting around your vehicle, bailouts, etc... are very important skills. But these are more intermediate-advanced skills and, at the very least, safety fundamentals should be second nature by the time a student begins this training; and even then, the watchful eye of an instructor is invaluable in bringing any safety issues to your attention (allowing you to realize them and fix them). Trigger discipline is the most fundamental of all of the safety rules in my honest opinion since, under stress of training or real life and especially when in confined spaces, there is a good chance you may flag yourself. For example, strong side draw with a threat at the driver side door. Yeah, we train the student to draw and use the steering wheel as a guide to prevent flagging but, on the day, that is probably not going to happen and your gun will take the shortest path to deal with the threat which may easily involve flagging your own legs. I cannot stress trigger discipline enough!

[Failure2Stop]

More concerned about your trigger discipline. Look at 52 sec for the worst violation.

Good catch.

[B Cart]

I think that is a great drill to practice and it looked like you did the drill well. Good job on scanning for additional threats once you transitioned back to the pistol. I think F2S summed up the rest with his feedback.

I did get a little sick watching the gopro footage, as it seemed like it was mounted sideways maybe?? I have a gopro hero 2 that I use for shooting drills and using the headband works really well. How did you have that mounted?

[Zhurdan]

You shoulda had a V8! :D

Fun looking drill. Looks like you went at an appropriate speed while in the vehicle to assure a good shot with the pistol vs perforating your passenger side door. As always, know your skill level and use alternate means (cardboard or plywood as suggested) if you're gonna push it harder. No need to ruin a perfectly good door. hehe.

I've not done any rifle work out of a vehicle but plenty of pistol stuff. Might have to give it a go soon.

[zmiles308]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm planning on takeing classes when time allows, In the mean time its fun to be a ninja (every once in a while). I definatley see your point on trigger discipline. It's always on my mind between drills but kind of goes out the window when im in the middle of one. I will work on that. Hopefully I will be getting some barricades and some steel targets soon.
The go pro is mounted sideways on a skateboard helmet with the surfboard mount. I don't have any editing software and coudn't figure out how to rotate the video. The tang on the helmet is a ghetto Xenonics Nightvision mount for hog hunting (not very useful as I dont have a IR laser yet).

[B Cart]

The go pro is mounted sideways on a skateboard helmet with the surfboard mount. I don't have any editing software and coudn't figure out how to rotate the video. The tang on the helmet is a ghetto Xenonics Nightvision mount for hog hunting (not very useful as I dont have a IR laser yet).

Cool. Gopro also has some really good sticky mounts that you can stick on the top of helmets (I have one on my ski helmet). They stay on there great, and then you can mount the camera straight if you want. But thanks for posting the vid and you'll have to post more in the future :-)

[zmiles308]

Thanks man, I tried mounting ontop of the helmet but the perspective was too high. I think the headband is my best bet, I will get one. I will hopefully get some footage over springbreak with some different weapons. I appreciate yalls input. I know this is no alterative too a class, but its all I got rite now.
Shooting dirt clods. Always load you mags ahaha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzhqYSA1hQ

[eodinert]

I stuck my gopro on a skateboard helmet; the soft rubber of the helmet didn't like the sticky tape on the mounts. I ended up using the 'head mount' strapped to my skate helmet, that worked pretty good. Get the 'grab bag' of mounts gopro sells, they have some that work pretty good.

[Dave_M]

I've had great luck with rail-mounting my GoPro. Looks neat too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQ1VHLsncc

I modded a scope ring to accept the camera

A big +1 to getting a grab bag of mounts.

[Irish]

A couple of thoughts, I'm curious and not busting your balls. Do you normally have your pistol mounted in that way or do you keep it holstered on your body?

What type of real world scenario are you trying to replicate? Security contractor type of thing? Do you normally drive around with an M4 in that position? I tend to doubt it but just thought I'd ask.

Lastly, wear your seatbelt when practicing so you don't forget to unbuckle it and get all goat****ed when the ninjas are attacking! ;)

[B Cart]

I've had great luck with rail-mounting my GoPro. Looks neat too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQ1VHLsncc
I modded a scope ring to accept the camera
A big +1 to getting a grab bag of mounts.

That does look pretty sweet! I've shot a lot of shooting footage with my gropro, but never on a rail mount. I have seen them online though. What rail mount did you use?

[Dave_M]

That does look pretty sweet! I've shot a lot of shooting footage with my gropro, but never on a rail mount. I have seen them online though. What rail mount did you use?

Since it was DIY, it was like, $8. I'll take pics of the setup later

[zmiles308]

I normally keep the pistol there when around the farm or when traveling back and forth to college. Just turned 21 and have a cc permit now and keep a pps in a crossbreed on me. But I still keep the sig in the truck unless I will be leaving the vehicle.

Drawing pistol from driver seat seems practical too me.

Rifle stays their when spotlighting hogs. But the hogs in florida arenot as aggresive as the discovery chanel would have you believe so i usually dont have to take cover behind my tire :D . I'm joining military after I graduate so I play around with shooting from behind things.

Good point on the seatbelt, should make things more interesting.

[zmiles308]

I would also like to see your scope mount setup. Although I find a helmet (preferably head) mount is better for checking out what your hands are doing (interesting with pistol).
I also put the camera down range and its nice to see whats hanging out when I think I'm shooting behind cover.