Is there anything you ever think to yourself sometimes that would be pretty cool to do, but not sure how you'd make it happen? Well, I had one of those days today.
Going to a shooting range is generally not something that a man card-less guy could get away with, but that's exactly what I did today. I saw some Facebook posts a few weeks ago between a couple of my friends at Alpha discussing shooting, and I mentioned to one of them that it would be cool to do, but I have no experience doing it. If I ever went with anyone, they'd have to start our session with "see that hole at the end of that cylinder? well, don't point it at anything or anyone that you wouldn't want to change the life of forever". (I seem to recall "the talk" my parents gave me started the same way, but I digress).
I've never been to a range before, but my friend John frequents the one in Longmont about once a week. I had to sign a waiver to use the range that said I was never diagnosed as mentally unstable, I've never been convicted of a felony (convicted? never convicted), and that I wasn't illegally using drugs. I guess I answered correctly, because they let me in, or they just knew John well enough to know that if I even looked at someone the wrong way with a weapon in my hand, he could disarm me and make my life pretty miserable before I was able to say "just kidding!".
While filling out the waiver, I heard John talking to someone behind the counter about some of the merchandise they had for sale. It was either that or he was speaking Chinese, because I understood exactly 0% of what they had said. This was my first sign that I had a long way to go before I could even dream about saying I knew anything about guns. The second sign came when the guy asked if I owned any guns, and I rolled up my sleeves and flexed and said "only two".
When we were all signed in, we went to a small prep room to put on those cool glasses and hearing protection (I see why those are required now), then made our way to one of the lanes. John actually competes in shooting events and is exceptionally knowledgeable about guns, and he was a great instructor. He brought a .22 pistol, a 9mm pistol, and I believe an AR-15 rifle. I asked him at least a dozen times what each gun was just so I could brag about shooting them later, and I'm pretty sure I'm still not correct on what they were. Anyway, he showed me which way to point them, how to load them, how to shoot them. Interestingly enough, people who visit shooting ranges aren't amused when you aim a gun down the range and start shouting "PEW PEW PEW!!!!" Lesson learned I guess.
I generally hit the targets and even got in the vicinity of where I was aiming most of the time. That rifle intimidated me, though. I kept thinking back to videos I had seen of people shooting a rifle and the recoil slamming it back into their face or knocking them on the ground. And since everyone there remained upright the entire time, I thought it would be best for me to remain that way as well. And I did. After one shot and seeing just how much kick each weapon had, I could relax a little more and just revel in the manliness of propelling metal projectiles into deserving sheets of paper. It was cool.
Here is a pic of the carnage I wrought on my unsuspecting victim:
Those three shots grouped right in the center that I circled are where John showed me how it was done. To my credit, I did at least hit the target with all but one shot (and that one shot I was aiming at the guy who would have been standing over the target's left shoulder, so I guess that counts). This target was 25 yards away, so if you ever feel like starting something with me, you better be at least 25.1 yards away or you'll have a 16 out of 17 chance of being my next victim.
So John, thanks for taking the time to educate me a little about one of your passions. You really were a great instructor, and hopefully we'll have the chance to go to the range again sometime. If I had a man card, it would have had a couple of transactions made on it today.
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