November 13, 2011
Bang Bang
That video's just there because I like the song. The band (Clutch) started as a heavy metal group, but put out a CD of blues covers, just because they could.
This morning I went to a local shooting range with my buddy Iggy, his wife Courtney, and a friend of Iggy's whose name I confess I can't recall. Iggy brought a 22LR plinking rifle and a shotgun that he owned; I rented an M4 carbine, it being the closest thing they had to an M-16. Iggy then rented a classic M1 Garand, after he and I drooled over it a bit. I'd say "They don't make them like that anymore!" except the M1 was far from being WWII surplus; it was manufactured in the late '80s, with a synthetic stock and a modern-style magazine. (I suspect it was technically an Beretta BM-62 from Italy.)
We were at an indoor range, just 150 feet long, standing only, which means I gave up much of the advantage I had over Iggy. He's a prior soldier, and the Army only practices shooting in the prone. We Marines do standing, sitting, kneeling, and prone, so I guess I supposedly do have a standing advantage, but that was always my worst posture. Anyway, to compensate for the short range, we aimed at 25' pistol targets from 50' out, meaning our targets were relatively quite small.
I had a surprising level of difficulty with the M4, because it had a fancy red dot sight attached. I just couldn't get proper sight picture with that funny dot. The M1, on the other hand, had very traditional peep sights and was huge fun to shoot. We also popped off quite a few rounds with the .22LR.
The only problem was bullet expense. The .22LR rounds were about 4¢ each. The M4's .223 rounds were 50¢, and the M1's .30-06 were 75¢ each. After a couple of magazines, that starts to hurt.
When I got home, my roommate saw my targets and asked to come along next time. He's more than welcome! He learned to shoot while a draftee in the Korean Army. Also invited for next time is my friend Bucky's wife Lara. (I suppose Bucky is invited too.) Lara was a competitive shooter back in high school, and word is she'll crush every one of us on the range. With her AR-15. Which, rumor has it, she had repainted in bright pink.
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That video's just there because I like the song. The band (Clutch) started as a heavy metal group, but put out a CD of blues covers, just because they could.
This morning I went to a local shooting range with my buddy Iggy, his wife Courtney, and a friend of Iggy's whose name I confess I can't recall. Iggy brought a 22LR plinking rifle and a shotgun that he owned; I rented an M4 carbine, it being the closest thing they had to an M-16. Iggy then rented a classic M1 Garand, after he and I drooled over it a bit. I'd say "They don't make them like that anymore!" except the M1 was far from being WWII surplus; it was manufactured in the late '80s, with a synthetic stock and a modern-style magazine. (I suspect it was technically an Beretta BM-62 from Italy.)
We were at an indoor range, just 150 feet long, standing only, which means I gave up much of the advantage I had over Iggy. He's a prior soldier, and the Army only practices shooting in the prone. We Marines do standing, sitting, kneeling, and prone, so I guess I supposedly do have a standing advantage, but that was always my worst posture. Anyway, to compensate for the short range, we aimed at 25' pistol targets from 50' out, meaning our targets were relatively quite small.
I had a surprising level of difficulty with the M4, because it had a fancy red dot sight attached. I just couldn't get proper sight picture with that funny dot. The M1, on the other hand, had very traditional peep sights and was huge fun to shoot. We also popped off quite a few rounds with the .22LR.
The only problem was bullet expense. The .22LR rounds were about 4¢ each. The M4's .223 rounds were 50¢, and the M1's .30-06 were 75¢ each. After a couple of magazines, that starts to hurt.
When I got home, my roommate saw my targets and asked to come along next time. He's more than welcome! He learned to shoot while a draftee in the Korean Army. Also invited for next time is my friend Bucky's wife Lara. (I suppose Bucky is invited too.) Lara was a competitive shooter back in high school, and word is she'll crush every one of us on the range. With her AR-15. Which, rumor has it, she had repainted in bright pink.
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