The first guy I took was my friend, "W". He is a WWII Veteran who will turn 90 in a few months. Yep -- he is that old and still handles himself pretty well and knows his way around guns and firing. He just got a new .22 mag. pistol. It was very nice, very clean. He got his target set at 20 feet and proceeded to put six rounds in the "belly" area of the target. He was not happy with the pattern, said it was a bit sloppy. The problem was, he forgot his box of ammo and they didn't have any .22 ammo out at the counter so that ended his shooting with that gun. That stuff is pretty hard to come by right now. Seems everyone is buying small caliber hand guns and ammo production is not keeping up with demand. I think "W"and I will have to talk to the government about all of this -- must be a hold up somewhere.(Hmmmmm).
So, anyway, when "W" was finished with his pistol, I asked him if he might want to shoot my 9mm. I told him the .45 cal. might be too much for him with his bad shoulder, but I thought he could handle the smaller 9mm. He has one of these so he thought he might be able to shoot it pretty well. I don't think I wanted to question his abilities -- he used to be a real fine shooter, and I have no reason to doubt him after the display he put up with his little .22 (first time he ever fired it). I don't hold his age against him when it comes to shooting, and he doesn't hold mine against me when it comes to missing (sorry, Mr. Reagan).
Below is a picture of "W" on the firing line. The target on the right is the shot group with the 9mm. It is a bit hard to see, but if you look down around the belly, you'll see five holes. He had six rounds, and I told him to try to put the last one in the yellow circle in the head. Seems he was a bit low, but probably would have taken out a couple of teeth on the bad guy.
When we were done firing the 9mm., he just looked at me and said that was not too bad for the first time with this gun. But in the next breath, he said that wasn't a very good grouping and he would do better the next time. I am sure he will.
The other gentleman I took, about a week later, is a good friend of mine. He's a Vietnam Vet. "B" is taking classes to get his permit so he wanted to get in some practice. He, too, just bought a new "piece." He told me that the first time he fired his, he couldn't come close to hitting anything. He said he never fired anything this small before. This time, however, he did pretty well. This is a picture of one of his targets, and it has quite a number of holes all over the place. But that is because we were moving the aiming point all over the place, trying to get some good shot groupings. Besides, the targets are about $1 each so no sense in getting a new one after just a couple of rounds. He knew what he was doing.
You know, there are lots of things people do around here in the winter to pass time. Some go to movies in the afternoon, some take power walks at the local indoor mall, and some read. I like to go to firing ranges, and I like to take some of my friends with me. It gets all of us out of the house, doing something different. For some it satisfies that primeval desire that men have to still shoot things and kinda lets them think they are living just on the edge of the blade again. Yeah. OK. maybe that's a bit over the top. But there's just something about doing Colt or Remington surgery on a stationary target that is not firing back at you, running toward you with a knife, or otherwise threatening to make your life a whole lot shorter, followed by you admiring your handiwork with the sounds of Don Johnson's "Miami Vice" theme song playing over the range's stereo. Man it doesn't get any better than that.
Also, did I mention that I/we get to have all this fun in a heated indoor range? I got a note from my old Army and golfing buddy, Dave, when I wrote my last range article. He reminded me how much "fun" it was to go to the range in the rain, the snow, the sleet and ice. Yeah, Dave, that was fun. I just wish that you, as our supply sergeant, could have arranged for the stereo just once.
Gun control is a big hot button political item right now. Fall behind a bit in your campaign and you have already gone through the usual stuff ("I'm more conservative/liberal than you" or "I did not send classified stuff on it" or "I am more in favor of immigration reform than all of you put together." and so on, and so on...) and I can guarantee that it won't be long before "that gon question" (as some of my neighbors say it) hits the teleprompter. It gets pretty near impossible to hold a civil conversation with some people on this issue, so I just ignore them.
A lot of my friends like "W" and "B" have guns. They're pretty good people. I think I'll use them as my measuring stick. As long as they are OK with theirs, I think there will be hope for all of us.
If guns cause crimes, then all of mine are defective. (Anon)
Hooah
