Thirty-five miles on the bike today, up to Carlsbad and back on the 101 for an almost 2000 calorie burn. Earned the right to take SNO and his GF down to Bronx Pizza in the Hillcrest neighborhood for a slice of straight-to-the-heart. Went shooting after, pistols this time.
My man chose a Springfield Armory M1911 – he is a bit of a nostalgaic – while his lady friend found the Ruger Mark II .22LR – a lovely little pistol, easy to point, fun to shoot, and cheap to operate besides – more to her liking. And I? I shot the H&K USP 45ACP, and was very pleased with it, taken as a whole. Oh, I had quibbles: The slide release is almost too far forward for single handed operation, and the magazine release back there at the base of the trigger guard seems a wee, flimsy thing, almost an afterthought.
The Ruger has the advantage of letting you safe the weapon during charging – in the H&K, like the 1911, the mechanical safety can only be engaged once the slide is forward, and the weapon charged, which always felt to me for a moment like the barn door was open and the horse there in the archway, turning it over in his head. Weighing the odds.
The M1911 was the first pistol I ever qualified on, and fits my hand like a life-long lover. I like the grip safety, and the authoritative, no-nonsense feel to all its mechanical functions. Even after all these years, it is a pistol that seems to know what it was made for. A pistol whose only concession to modernity is dignified contempt. It almost felt like cheating, trying the H&K instead. Ten rounds in the magazine, to the 1911′s eight was little enough differentiation, but the H&K was a dream to shoot, with a tight action and dreamy accuracy. Using silhouettes I put all ten rounds into a dense cluster in the 10 ring at 20 yards with aimed fire, taking my time.
That would have been harder to do, I think, with SNO’s gun.
Three weapons, fifty rounds each, six targets and three to a lane: $95, not cheap, even with a military discount.
But still: Good clean fun.
And only in Americatm
…fits my hand like a life-long lover.
Day-um! What a spectacular turn of phrase, Lex. And appearing so unexpectedly in the middle of all that mechanical talk! ‘Scuse me while I go swoon…
*returning from swoon (it was a short one, fortunately)*
Btw, is SNO’s girlfriend the daughter of a very liberal family that you mentioned here somewhere, once upon a time? If so, I gotta wonder what her parents think of her apparent interest in shooting.
Captain,
I can definately relate. I’m the proud owner of a H&K usp 40, double action with two 13 round mags and tritium sites. What a fine piece of weaponry. The double action makes for a longer/ harder trigger pull but not to the point of affecting the accuracy.
God, I wish I lived in a country where an afternoon of pistol shooting was considered ‘good, clean fun,’ and not a prelude to a bloodbath.
Ahhh! A man after my own heart! You have reminded me that I have an itch to scratch. The snows have melted and the range is 5 minutes away…it is time for some good clean fun. And a lot cheaper here too. Which to shoot first, the 1911 or the M9? Maybe the Makarov…
Re: only in America…
if you’re doing the tourist thing in Beijing anytime soon, the Chinese Army will gladly take your USD’s in exchange for the opportunity to play Rambo with a wide array of their small arms. I worked on a project there a few years back and heard tell from a number of our company personnel stationed there that they had played with quite a range of automatic weaponry.
Somehow I don’t think the locals get the same opportunity…
Hoping it’s still there….but there was a great shooting range in Phuket Thailand, with an indoor range,and an outdoor course with pop-up targets,next door to elephant rides.I wanted to go thru the outdoor course on an elephant, but my host drew the line there….dangit.
Or try Cambodia, you can RPG a cow for 30 bucks US.
They couldn’t understand why you’d rather shoot your weapons of choice at something a little less alive.
FbL – She is rather liberal – in fact, her email address starts out, “treehugginfeminazi,” so: Yeah.
But we are making rather a Second Amendment fan of her.
Chris – can you not shoot pistols in Oz? Even at an indoor range?
Lex,
you can, but there’s a hell of a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic hoops of fire to jump through. You have to be a member of a gun club and the process from joining to approval to purchase a firearm can take 8 months or longer.
Also, and it may just be the difficulty involved, but gun clubs seem to attract a high proportion of seriously obsessive gun nuts. This might not be the case in all gun clubs in NSW, perhaps just the ones I have visited.
If you’re a fan of the 1911-style pistols, you should try the Para-Ordnance P14 – the slightly wider grip gives the advantage of a double-stacked magazine – so 14 rounds of .45 ACP to play with. The “Limited” edition also features adjustable sights, a big step up from the micro-sights present on the venerable Colt .45. I’m also a big fan of the Glock, any caliber, although the .45 and .40 are favorites. Impressive accuracy, large mag capacity, and nary a stoppage to be found however long and hard you shoot them (no innuendo intended).
Chris -
Dunno what it’s like in NSW but here in Vic you can pretty much turn up, sign your disclaimer, quick rundown of how not to shoot someone and off you go.
At the moment I’m trying to find out if you can turn up somewhere and try shooting at the clay discs.
I’ll sponsor you Lex
http://www.sanners-lake.com/
Chris,
Outside the “blue-zones” there are ranges like the above from coast-to-coast.
B2
And it’s by a driving range too? Cool! Throw in bass fishing and I’d think I’d maybe died and gone to heaven.
Cep’n of course it’s in “Merlan.”
Yeah but it’s “SOUTHERN Merlan” at least..I’ve actually been hoping we’d secede to join VA!
Merlan is all “Taxation without competent representation”.
B2
Lex,
Drop by The Silverton Hotel in Las Vegas (just west of I-15 on Blue Diamond Hwy. They have an indoor shooting range, a bass pond and one of the world’s largest sportsman’s stores (not to mention a Mermaid Bar). Life is good!
BTW,
As a homicide detective in Los Angeles, I’ve had to attend the autopsies of several hundred of my “clients.” Conclusion: It matters very little about the caliber of the weapon; it’s where the bullet hits that counts. I’ve seen live people with multiple large caliber holes in them; and very dead people with a single .22 hole in them. Note to target shooters who have “never seen the elephant”…the mechanics of handgun shooting are infinitely more difficult to practice when there is a very good chance that the target will shoot back.