Supers and Guns: That was the weekend that was

[roseembolism]

So, over the last weekend I:

1) Played a guest hero in the final game of a year-long superhero campaign...that ran Friday night and nearly oall of Saturday. I had a Green lantern Analog, and even if I didn't have that much to do I had a lot of fun. Part of it was the game, and a lot of it was the company.  More on that later.

2) Sunday I got up way, way, WAY too early to go up into the mountains to go shootin' with racerxmachinaas part of her belated birthday present. It started out cool and foggy- almost too cool, but the mountains were beautiful, and eventually the fog cleared away, and it became just a perfect day to be out shooting targets.

• We got instructions, and though I was very, very cautious, my major fear did not materialize: I did not drop a gun, I did not shoot anyone in the foot, nor did I forget and accidentally point at anyone anything that shouldn't be pointed at anyone.
• Of the three pistols we had (.22 auto target, .357 magnum, .45 automatic) the .22 was best for target shooting, with low recoil and a long barrel. The .357 was almost as good, and had the advantage of easier to see bullet holes. The .45 had a lot of kick to it, and I tended to not be accurate.
• I tend to overcompensate my aim for the anticipated recoil- have to work on that. it wasn't so bad on the short range targets, but the 40 meter plinking range ment I only got one good hit in, with the .357 of all things. That Nestle's Quick bottle will never menace the earth again!
• The targets were silhouettes, and after some deliberation, I decided not to take any home to pin on my annoying downstairs neighbor's front door, or put behind my desk at the office.
• My lovely sweet dear racerxmachinaallowed afterward that some time we could get some guns if we take shooting up as a hobby, most likely either a .22 or M-1 rifle, and some light pistols.
• She STILL won't let me buy a crossbow. And that's just injustice. She pointed out the reduced ineffectiveness of crossbows vs. zombies; I should have pointed out theri increased usefulness against vampires.

By the way, the people at the range were really cool and nice- it figures that the people there wouldn't be jerks about guns. there was a lot of checking out of each others guns, including a beautiful genuine W.W.I Mauser. And in spite of the "no instruction" rule, I got some good hints on firing stance and aim from a range master who turned out to be a really interesting SCA guy.


And then I went home, and collapsed and slept for four hours. Then watched anime to unwind. What a weekend.

Comments

[rhylar.livejournal.com]

There is a large diff between a .22 and an M1 rifle. I strongly recommend the .22 rifle:

1. Cheaper (about $200 - $250 instead of over $1000)
2. Cheaper to shoot ($0.10 per shot, not $0.40)

plus, big recoil guns aren't fun for some people. You may want a mule to kick you in the shoulder & the ears, but I don't.

A good model rifle is the Ruger 10-22. So named because its a 10-shot magazine, firing .22 ammo. Cheap, reliable, popular (so lots of scopes & accessories for it)

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

That sounds good to me. I seriously doubt I'd ever do hunting with it, so a .22 would probably be best for plinking. Not soon, but sometime I'll get around to checking out rifle prices.

Incidently, at the gun range I finally realized why that BB pistol I had as a kid had a collection of feathered darts; it was so shooters could identify which shots were theirs.