GUNS

Andy and I went to the target range on Saturday. Big fun!

I drove in and parked between a Hummer and an oversized Ram truck. I was in redneck heaven. Andy was already there when I arrived. We read the rules and paid our dues. We were ready as soon as a lane opened up.

Inside, behind glass windows, the 12-lane shooting range was packed...old, young, men, women, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, you name it. One guy was shooting a huge revolver that would have made Dirty Harry jealous. It made an explosion with each shot that rocked the place.

When it was our turn, we went to the counter and the guy asked what gun we wanted. I told him we were beginners. He said all the small caliber 22's were already taken. I picked out a Glock model 34. The semi-automatic weapon shoots 9mm shells from a magazine that holds up to 17 rounds. It has an extra long barrel which is good for accuracy and longer range than most 9mm pistols. This is not a concealed carry weapon, it's too large. 9mm is equivalent to about 36 caliber. We bought a box of shells and a paper target, donned our ear protection system, put on the safety glasses and headed through the double doors, into the range and up to lane 4.

We had been given a 30 second explanation of how the gun worked, how to load the magazine, how to put in the magazine and how to shoot it. When we got inside, through the pop-pop-pop of guns going off, the smell of gunpowder, we got to our lane and looked at each other with that "did you get all that?" look. No matter, we went to work. Andy attached the paper target to the runner and moved it out about 20 feet or so. I loaded the magazine...it wasn't easy. Okay, shove the clip up into the gun, make sure the release has popped out meaning it is in place. Reach your thumb up and release the slide to load a shell into place, keep your finger off of the trigger until ready to fire, hold the gun firmly, line up the sights on the target, squeeze off a round. It was easy. We weren't too bad. Andy was a very good shot. I couldn't figure out if I should wear my reading glasses so that I could see the gun sights clearly and not see the target very well or not wear them and look at fuzzy sights but be able to see the target. It didn't matter.

Andy was taking Flip videos while I was shooting. We traded off and I took a few seconds of him shooting. He told me later that he didn't want to make anyone mad in that place...they all had guns. We finished our fifty rounds in about a half hour...it was a blast. The next day, I split time between surfing the web about guns and watching the military channel. Next time you see me I might be wearing a camouflage outfit and driving a pick-up with a gun rack.
:-)