My cousin and I got great instruction. Our friend is an expert in firearms and brought along some sporting goods for us to try out. He started by teaching us the three rules of gun safety:
1. Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
2. Never point a gun at anything you don't want to destroy, and know your background. (remember that scene in "Face/Off" when John Travolta's character got shot in the back while he was holding his son?)
3. Never put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to fire.
The first and most exciting thing we did was trap shooting with a Remington 870 pump action shotgun. The target is a bright orange disc (clay pigeon) about the diameter of a latte mug that you put on a trap to fling into the air. The words FRAGILE AS EGGS were printed on the box, which I found amusing. Shotguns are accurate up to 25 yards and rifles 100 yards. Within 25 yards, nothing beats a shotgun. The U.S. is one of the few countries that uses shotguns in combat. We used 12 gauge ammunition. There are 95 pellets in a shot, which spray out after being fired. The better your aim, the more pellets will hit the target. This is useful when shooting at a moving target. Among the many things I had to remember was to rack the gun after firing so it was ready for the next shot.
Next, we went over to the rifle range where targets are placed at 50 and 100 yards. We used a Springfield Armory National Match M1A, which is the civilian version of the M14, and a Remington 700 with a 10X Leopold Mildot scope. The scope brings the target into view, so it is a great way to test your accuracy. My cousin and I both shot about an inch to the right. This is also where our friend hit the target, so we knew we were doing something right :). The funny thing was that both my cousin and I fired 4 shots with the scope, but only 3 holes were on the target. It's unlikely that we missed the target by a whole foot when the other holes were tightly clustered, but even less likely that a bullet passed through exactly where another hole had been.
Unfortunately, we didn't have time to shoot pistols. The range has an area set up where you can shoot at aluminum cans and plastic bottles in addition to the traditional paper targets. Oh well, next time. I had so much fun; I can't wait to do it again. Shooting is a lot like golf in that you have to make a conscious effort to free your mind of distractions and relax your body. It's also nice to be outdoors on a fabulous day.
step on the foot pedal and this contraption flings the target(s) into the air.
shooting 2 at a time! an accurate shot will shatter a clay pigeon into many pieces, as seen on the left. click on picture to enlarge.
rifle range with targets at 50 and 100 yards
rifle shooting at 50 yards. where'd the 4th shot go?
2 comments:
Amysan (aka "Dead-eye") and I (aka "Calamity Jane") talked about going one step further and trying out paintballing, but now that she's posted proof of her accuracy (both w/the target and w/that annihilated clay pigeon), will there be any takers?
wow! what a fun day! lots of stuff to learn... the guns you wrote about i had no clue what they were (heehee). but ya... where'd the 4th shot go? so strange!
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