OT: Range report
Don Foreman
announcing a meeting this Saturday. Y'all probably know or can guess
my attitude about organizations and meetings, but this one might be
worth attending. It's a briefing on all the new stuff the club has
for IDPA (international defensive pistol association) competitions.
I've never wanted to compete nor thought I was anything like good
enough to compete, but now I'm thinking it might be a lot of fun and
I'd quite probably learn a few things from some very good shooters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAT4QPrHy0c
I think I'll check this out. Might be a lot of fun. I don't think
I'd do at all well at bullseye competition with handgun, but I'm not
half bad at hitting tactical targets with rapid fire.
-----
The Gunsmoke Social and Luncheon group met today. Mary has the flu
so she missed this shoot. We missed her but had a great time
anyway.
I'd mentioned in an email to Brian that I was sorta thinkin' about
trying a Beretta 92fs which is essentially the M9. Brian said funny I
should mention that, he'd thought about that also. I hadn't used
the free rental I had coming from buying the Carry9 last Feb so I
found the cash register receipt in my wallet. It was blank. Their
cash register prints with disappearing ink! Might be thermal paper
that fades in a wallet or something. Clay, the guy that handled the
sale, was working today so I handed him the receipt and said I'd like
my free rental today, please. He looked at the blank paper and
grinned then at me like "are you shitting me or what?" "Hey, you sold
me the gun, remember?" "Nope." "Last February at Robbinsdale?"
"Don't remember a thing, what was your name again?" "Here, hold the
receipt up so the light grazes it at a very oblique angle and you can
sorta subtly see slick where it says "Clay, give Foreman his freakin'
free rental now, conserve your range lights and target hangers." He
broke out laughing. "Yeah, if ya get the angle just right...."
The appeal (to me, anyway) is that it's a bit different from others I
own and it has become sort of a classic because it's been the standard
sidearm for most U.S. military since the mid-eighties. It has nice
lines, too, not as plug-ugly as Glock and its ilk. We liked it and
we found it to be a very accurate pistol. I'm not breathing hard to
own one, but I think if I saw a good deal I'd be able to pry my VISA
loose. I've accumulated more than enough for one in my
whut-I-no-longer-spend-on-smokes budget.
We do have a little bullseye competition during our gunsmoke social
meetings. We put up a 5-bull target, a sheet with 5 targets on it so
each of us has a target with our name on it. Today we did that on a
third lane while Todd 'n Laura shared a lane and Bri and I shared
another lane. Then, when we weren't shooting on our lanes we could go
over to the "competition" lane. We each shoot 10 rounds at each of
3 different ranges from 8 to 25 yards. I won hands down last time
but I used a .357 Magnum revolver with a laser sight. Todd yelled,
"THAT'S CHEATING!" I replied, " lasers are fair for those over 65,
and wouldn't you cheat in a gunfight if you could?" Case closed. But
today I used a .45 sans laser while Brian and Todd used the rented
Beretta 9mm and Laura probably used her Sig 9mm. Don't know who won
today. Brian thought he did but neither Todd nor I think so. He did
very well at 8 yards but lost it at 25. All or most of my rounds
were in the black as were all or most of Todd's and Laura's. The
targets we use are considerably smaller than the NRA standard 25-yard
slow-fire target. We don't score the targets at all, just look at
them. It's all in fun. A lot of fun.
They got to try my very small pocketpopper .380 (Ruger LCP). Laura
didn't like it, found it a bit snappy for her. That's really
interesting because she shoots very well indeed with a compact .40S&W
which many shooters find objectionably snappy. Reaction to recoil is
a very individual and personal thing. Brian and Todd were both
surprised at how accurately they could shoot it, given that it has
almost invisible sights and a horribly long trigger. The key to that
little popper is to use it as a point 'n shoot rather than aimed
delivery of fire at range beyond clear and immediate threat.
Its entire utility (to me) is as something I might drop in my pocket
when I surely wouldn't pack a more substantial arm as a vulnerable
senior on remote walking trails. It wouldn't be used for aimed fire
beyond 10 yards, it'd be used for point 'n shoot at range where I can
about smell the stinking breath of my attacker. I regard it as less
than a serious gun for one who goes forth armed expecting trouble, but
rather more potent and effective for a vulnerable strolling senior
than pepper spray or 911 where there's no signal. When ya shoot it
like that, it's amazingly accurate. I showed Todd that I could empty
it in under 5 seconds, shooting one-handed, pointing rather than
aiming, and all of my hits were in the max zone of the silhouette.
That sort of shooting is not impaired by adrenaline because it's all
about large muscle rather than small muscle and it's aided rather than
impaired by tunnel vision.
Todd quietly observed that the range staff sometimes doesn't like
rapid fire like that. I didn't know that! I shoot there more often
than he does but he must have seen someone get chastized. I usually
shoot some rapid fire when I go alone or with Mary. I think they
look thru the windows when they hear rapid fire, and if they see holes
appearing where they should be appearing then they don't sweat it.
And, they know me there. I haven't shot out any lights or busted any
target hangers for a while now...
RBnDFW
...a good report.
> Todd quietly observed that the range staff sometimes doesn't like
> rapid fire like that. I didn't know that! I shoot there more often
> than he does but he must have seen someone get chastized. I usually
> shoot some rapid fire when I go alone or with Mary. I think they
> look thru the windows when they hear rapid fire, and if they see holes
> appearing where they should be appearing then they don't sweat it.
> And, they know me there. I haven't shot out any lights or busted any
> target hangers for a while now...
Every range I've been too have a "no rapid fire" rule.
Most take it with a grain of reasonableness.
The first thing I do when I get to a range is draw and empty my pocket
pistol rapidly. Then I get out the guns I brought to shoot.
So far nary a mention. Even when I've had some defective pistols that
doubled. Now THAT is rapid fire!
Wes
>Every range I've been too have a "no rapid fire" rule.
>Most take it with a grain of reasonableness.
Is that a commercial range?
Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller
Don Foreman
>RBnDFW <burkh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>Every range I've been too have a "no rapid fire" rule.
>>Most take it with a grain of reasonableness.
>
>
>Is that a commercial range?
>
>Wes
Yes.
There's nothing about rapid fire in the rules published on their
website, but the final authority is always the range officer in
charge. They've never said anything to me about it.
Doug White
news:rispm59f05cfocflt...@4ax.com:
My (private) Club has a rule against "rapid fire", but it's generally
interpreted to mean "firing faster than you can safely hit things",
combined with "we don't want the neighbors to think anyone has a machine
gun". CONTROLLED rapid fire is OK, especially at rates of a shot every
second or so, which is about what is required for many competitions.
Olympic rapid fire goes down to 4 seconds, and that's to raise your
pistol, and hit 5 _separate_ targets.
The biggest problem with folks firing as fast as they can pull the
trigger is that it chews up the ranges. Very few people can keep their
shots safely on the paper at those rates of fire. Hell, lots of folks
can't keep all their shots on the paper firing one at a time.
Doug White
Don Foreman
wrote:
>Don Foreman <dfor...@NOSPAMgoldengate.net> wrote in
>news:rispm59f05cfocflt...@4ax.com:
>
>> On Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:56:59 -0500, Wes <clu...@lycos.com> wrote:
>>
>>>RBnDFW <burkh...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Every range I've been too have a "no rapid fire" rule.
>>>>Most take it with a grain of reasonableness.
>>>
>>>
>>>Is that a commercial range?
>>>
>>>Wes
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>> There's nothing about rapid fire in the rules published on their
>> website, but the final authority is always the range officer in
>> charge. They've never said anything to me about it.
>
>My (private) Club has a rule against "rapid fire", but it's generally
>interpreted to mean "firing faster than you can safely hit things",
>combined with "we don't want the neighbors to think anyone has a machine
>gun".
This range has a variety of machine guns available for rental.
http://www.billsgs.com/modules.php?set_albumName=MachineGuns&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
I've never seen an MG in use there, but they are available. I suppose
they'd see most activity on evenings and weekends, while my range
visits are always midday on weekdays.