Just got back from the range. Sometimes it seems such a hassle to get there. There's always other stuff to do, and sometimes it feels too hard.
BUT I KNOW that when I make the effort and actually get up there that I'll enjoy myself ... and then I wonder why I've put it off for so long!
To keep your firearms licence (handgun) here you have to shoot in a competition every 8 weeks. My club runs weekly competitions on Saturday afternoon / Sunday morning (they used to also do it on Wednesday afternoons - which I really enjoyed). To meet the one-in-eight requirement I had to shoot today. Even up to 10 minutes before I left I really, really couldn't be bothered.
But Shooting Buddy was here (and he needed to shoot as well), so we headed to the range.
There weren't that many people, so we ended up squadding with three other people only - two were ex-trainees of ours, and the third was a recent graduate of the current trainer. It was a great squad to be in. Everyone was easy going (but safe), and they all jumped in and helped. We also acquired a 'visitor' who ended up hanging out with us for most of the shoot and helped out as well.
There were four stages. The first we shot was an 'el president'. The second was all steel - shot from a little room with a foot activated door. The door - metal - was a bit tricky as it swung hard open when you activated the foot pedal and then started to swing back closed - eek! The third and fourth stages were larger stages (16 targets per) and trickier. I didn't enjoy ROing the last stage as it you couldn't safely follow the shooter adequately. This was okay for ROing the more experienced shooters (but not ideal) and with a recent graduate it wasn't good. He however, did great and we had no issues.
At the end Shooting Buddy and I let the visitor have a go with our 9mms and then hooked him up with another member with an Open 38super gun. He loved that :) Nice to see the "new shooter smile".
So all-in-all a great day - just need to remember this for next time when I'm trying to talk myself into going!
[UPDATE]Just wanted to welcome all those coming via Tam's place. Nice to see you here![/UPDATE]
6 comments:
You 'need' to shoot more, it's good for you from the stress reduction too :-)
Got to agree with NFO. We all need to shoot more. And remember, an OK day at the range is better than any day at work.
A poopy day at the range beats a great day at the office. :)
"To keep your firearms licence (handgun) here you have to shoot in a competition every 8 weeks. "
Wouldn't be easier just to overthrow your government?
"Patrick Henry",
"Wouldn't be easier just to overthrow your government?"
Big talk for a guy who can't buy a buzzgun without filling out a Form 4.
Shot with a group at a range west of Melbourne and got the full rundown on what Aussies have to go through to get and keep a gun. Seems crazy to a yank. Happy I live in the USA for the gun laws, heck, you can't even carry a pocket knife over there. I really like the people and the country when I visit.
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