The Satuit Nimrod

News Around The Club

Our fiscal year begins Tuesday, September 1st. In a departure from normal, we will hold the September meeting on that day. This will also be Key Night when we change the locks; new keys are free, replacements are $5.00. Dues must be paid by this date. Range access fobs will be turned off for those not up to date with dues.

During the September 1st. meeting we will adjourn for a Bylaw Change Meeting. We have only achieved a quorum at our monthly meetings once in 2026! We are approaching 500 members and have grown too large to consistently make a quorum as laid out in the current Bylaws. The Board of Directors (E-board) had to step in and vote in new members at their monthly meetings, along with taking over the general running of the club. The proposed changes we will be voting on will codify how the club is run by the Board of Directors going forward. This will also bring us into line with how the vast majority of sportsmen's clubs, like ours, are run.

Another important date in September is Monday, September 21st when we will hold our Annual Meeting and Election. The Chairmen of the various committees give their annual reports and we elect officers for the new fiscal year. A Nominating Committee was formed at the August E-Board meeting meeting. The positions open are displayed on the large green chalkboard. You can write in your name on the chalk board under the position in which you are interested or contact the Nominating Committee.

What Happened To The July Edition?

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed there was no July edition. Your editor tripped in the parking lot in June and injured his left knee and leg. After a few hospital stays, his knee is nearly back to normal and he can sit at his desk again.

Skeet and Trap

The new skeet machines have been installed and are running well. Thanks go out to Bill O'Neil for the work he put into researching and procuring the machines.

Skeet  shoots on Sunday from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm and Wednesdays from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm.
Trap shoots on Tuesdays from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm and Saturdays from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.

End times may be rolled back if there is no interest — best to shoot early.

Pistol

The Pistol Committee will hold a "Miss and You're Out!" Pistol Match on Saturday, August 29th starting at 10:00 am. The course of fire for this shoot is six 8-inch steel plates arrayed at 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 25 yards. First miss and you are out; scoring stops, but shoot the remaining targets, or dump your remaining rounds on the one you missed to vent your frustration. This ensures you leave the line with an empty gun. Ties are resolved via a "Quick Draw" target starting with the muzzle of your pistol touching the bench as we do not quick draws on our range. Any range legal pistol can be used, but a .22RF round will not move the plates on the Quick Draw targets — a 9mm pistol and ammunition will be available. No prizes, just bragging rights. $5 buys you an afternoon of shooting fun!

Cowboy Action Shooting

Our intrepid band of cowboys recently hit the trail and moseyed up north for the New Hampshire State Shoot. Sue Lennon took 1st place in the Lady Silver Senior Duelist category and Jean Alexander took 1st  place in the Cattle Baroness class.

Also, at the MA, ME & NH Wild Bunch State Championships, Ron Rice walked away as the Massachusetts State Champion. 

Congratulations to all.

There will be a Cowboy Action match on Sunday, August 30th, starting at 9:00 am. Contact Ron Rice if you have questions or need further information.

Safety Course

The monthly Safety Course is given on the first Wednesday and Thursday of the month. The next course will be given on September 2nd and 3rd. Register here.

Range Orientation Class

The next Range Orientation Class will be given on Thursday, September 3rd at 5:00 pm. This class is mandatory before you can access the pistol range. Register here.

Quotes of the Month

"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property… Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."

~ Thomas Paine. American Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)

"Because you won't get gun control by disarming law abiding citizens. There's only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up, and if you don't actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time."

~ Ronald Reagan.

"Nothing wrong with shooting…as long as the right people get shot ."

 ~ Clint Eastwood

Scary Self-Defense Truth: You’re Already Behind

by Jo Deering, posted on August 18, 2026 in NRA Woman.

It’s built right into the name—we call it self-defense, not offense. And being on the defensive means you’re already a step behind.

Unfortunately, should you ever find yourself in a self-defense situation, you’ll already be at a disadvantage. The bad guy has chosen virtually all the terms: He picked the date, the time, the place and most of the circumstances. The only thing you really have control over is whether you have the mindset and the resources (a defensive weapon) to have a fighting chance of coming out on top—and both of those decisions were made long before the moment of truth arrived.

We carry concealed to be ready for the kind of situations that we hope we never face, but the truth is, if you ever have to defend your life, you’ll be reacting to something someone else is doing—and reacting means that you’re behind. The bad guy is, at least initially, making the first moves that kick things off. How do you overcome this time deficit and level the playing field or gain the advantage?

First, understand what’s happening time-wise. Go ahead and take this little reaction-time test a couple of times (it only takes a few seconds).

How long did it take you to react to the stimuli? The truth is that the average human reaction time is 250 milliseconds, or a quarter of a second. Some are better than others—fighter pilots, race-car drivers and the like are closer to 100 milliseconds.

But that’s just a reaction to a simple stimuli and response, like seeing a color change and clicking a mouse as in the test above. When you add in a much more complicated, multi-layered response like drawing a firearm from concealment and presenting it to a target while moving toward cover, the time between “this is bad, I need my gun” and being ready to shoot is much longer. And at the same time, the stress is causing your heart rate to increase and your decision-making ability to tank. Normalcy bias makes it even worse, as your brain tries to deny what’s happening and takes time to catch up to reality.

Just Pay Attention

The best way to overcome the reaction-time deficit is something we harp on frequently here at NRA Women: situational awareness. If you can see trouble coming toward you when it’s 20 yards away instead of three yards away, you’ll buy yourself a second or two of processing time that can make all the difference—but you won’t see it from 20 yards out if you’re not paying attention to what’s going on around you.

Situational awareness doesn’t come naturally, but we have some tips you can use to exercise and build that muscle. The faster you notice trouble brewing, the better chance you have of avoiding it or reacting quickly if it does kick off.

Beyond that, what’s even better than seeing trouble coming? Avoid trouble altogether by simply not being in places where trouble tends to brew.

The Lizard Brain’s Response

You also need to understand what’s happening inside your brain under this kind of stress. First, the automatic response to danger happens in your primitive “lizard brain,” which processes things emotionally and is really quick to react, but has limited pre-programmed responses. The lizard brain doesn’t think; it just acts. When people say, “you sink to the level of your training,” this is what they mean. The lizard brain picks up whatever response it has thoroughly practiced or determined in advance. If you regularly think through “What would I do if?” scenarios and train with your CCW consistently, your lizard brain has those things pre-programmed and ready to run without thinking. If you don’t, it defaults to fight, flight or freeze and chaos generally ensues.

The more advanced and rational human part of your brain can process information, make logical decisions and control itself—but it’s considerably slower than the lizard brain, so it takes a back seat under stress. It’s not easy to get the human brain to overtake the lizard brain in a crisis, but you can practice consciously running an OODA loop in everyday life so that your lizard brain is more likely to start doing it in an emergency. And by training regularly, you can give your lizard brain the kind of pre-programmed responses you want it to have.

The more time you have to react to a situation, the more time you have for your rational brain to kick into gear. This won’t apply if a bad guy steps out from behind a corner and ambushes you, but there are plenty of dangerous situations where you’re near trouble but not the focus of it at the moment (like active shooters, or being a patron of an establishment that’s being robbed at gunpoint). In a situation like this, the sooner you can get past your panic and think “OK, this is scary, but what can I do about it?” the sooner you can start acting instead of reacting.

The bottom line is that in most self-defense situations, the bad guy dictates what’s happening (at least initially) and you’re stuck reacting, which costs you time. You’ll be behind. The best way to handle this is to avoid getting behind in the first place, by spotting trouble while it’s developing. Barring that, it’s wise to use your rational brain to pre-program your lizard brain with the reactions you want it to access in an emergency—and that’s something you do now, in a calm state of deliberate training, thinking and practice.

Club Calendar

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

Tuesday, September 1st – 7:30 pm

MONTHLY MEETING also KEY NIGHT and BYLAW CHANGE MEETING

Tuesday, September 1st – 8:00 pm

SKEET

Sundays: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.
Wednesdays: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm.

TRAP

Tuesdays: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Saturdays: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.

PISTOL
Miss and You're Out! Pistol Match, Saturday, August 29th, 10:00 am.

COWBOY
Cowboy Action Match, Sunday August 30th, 9:00 am.

SAFETY COURSE

Wednesday, September 2nd –7:00 pm & Thursday, September 3rd  – 7:00 pm. Register here.

RANGE ORIENTATION CLASS
Thursday, September 3rd – 5:00 pm Register here.