Sunday, November 13, 2005

Second amendment diary – Home on the firing range

Although I’m still waiting for my class A license, a neighbor of mine took me to a firing range today so that I could shoot under his license. (He checked with the local police department to make sure everything was kosher.) He had a 0.22 caliber Ruger rifle which he completely broke down and re-assembled so that I could see the mechanics. We placed targets at 50 and 100 yards and took turns from 10-round clips.

This was the first time in literally 20 years that I’ve fired a gun. My uncle had some property in Sussex County, New Jersey and we’d go skeet-shooting with double barrel shotguns. This was my first trip to a firing range with a rifle. I tensed up on my first shot, but the 22-caliber has almost no recoil and I felt silly for being nervous. Anyway, we shot a couple hundred rounds each although neither one of us managed to put many into the 100-yard target. I had more luck at 50 yards and on my “final exam” I put four shots within the 1-inch center; two missed the target completely.

Anyway, it was a great time on a bright and cool New England afternoon.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you had a good time - there aren't many ways to better spend a sunny day than with a friend at the range.

Just a quick note from the gunblogger's style guide: most people would write it as "22 caliber" or use the phrase "a .22 rifle". The word "caliber" means "tenth of an inch".

Anonymous said...

Um, I meant hundredths, not tenths. Sorry...

Bruce said...

I'd have just dropped the zero. I'm not that finnicky.

Anonymous said...

it's good that you and your friend are following local laws and procedures.. but that whole 'license' and 'check with authorities to see if it's ok for my friend to touch my gun' makes me bristle.. a prime example of how distorted and controlled the second amendment has become in much of the country

not too far removed from San Francisco, which just passed the referendum to ban all guns in their 'fine' city.. rather ironic that the ban only applies to local residents.. it wouldn't be illegal for me, as a visitor, to have a gun in city limits

anyway, glad you have fun, Eric.. you're getting me amped about doing some shooting of my own.. of course, I don't have it a whole lot better than you do.. I'd have to drive an hour to the nearest public range in order to shoot my pistol.. I could go target shooting on any private land outside of city limits, but I don't have friends who could help me out

Mad Boston Arab said...

scan the target and put on online :)

Anonymous said...

Do you think you could hook me up with some nice Israeli-made equipment? I want to defend myself when Gavin Newsom comes to disarm me