Journal FroMan's Journal: Bitter clinging... 4
So, a bunch of men from church got together Saturday to bitterly cling to God, guns, and religion. Since I haven't shot anything since my teen years I figured I'd go along and try out some various guns. I'm interested in picking up a handgun at the moment, since our president elect is likely to try to make getting them more difficult. My personal hunch is we'll see another "assault weapon" bill within the first few months, because scary looking weapons are bad. Then we'll see something for handguns, cause they only serve one purpose, which is to kill people. Finally, if it makes it that far, we'll see hunting weapons targeted.
There were two stations setup, a shotgun/skeet station and a rifle/handgun station. Before we split up one of the men explained the rules and safety pointers. Once we were familiarized with the rules we broke up into groups to head to the respective stations. I went to the rifle/handgun station as I've shot shotguns before and am in the market for a handgun. We were setup across a pond from the targets, at a range of about 50 yards. Certainly longer than I would consider for a handgun distance.
We pulled out the rifles first, which were only 22s. Because of the cold they were not loading well at all from the clips. It took some playing with before I got my first shot off, but I pinged the 4" target from about 50 yards. Of course that was beginners luck as I was only about 75% after that. I might consider picking up a 22 rifle at some point for my rabbit issues, but certainly not any time soon. Over all, very uninteresting.
The pastor's son brought a 9mm. It was about a 4 inch barrel, which seemed pretty short. I'm not sure if he has a CWW or not, but that seems to be more the size I'd expect for carrying. He put in the clip and shot off at the target 2' x 3'. I'm pretty sure he didn't hit the target once, and sunk a handful in the pond. One of the professors tried next. He was a bit more accurate, actually hitting the target a couple times. I loaded up a clip to try it out and put most of them at the foot of the target. The issue was that the sight was low, so I couldn't actually see the target when it would have been centered. I found it was pretty nice, with not a lot of recoil. But I'm not sure my wife would feel comfortable with it, but there are some things you can do for limiting the recoil. This was the gun I shot the most, as it is probably what I would be looking for as a hand gun. I might consider something with a longer barrel around the house, as I'm not sure that carrying about town is really a
concern.
The second handgun I tried was a 45. Thise one certainly had a bit more recoil, and definitely would no be suggested for the wife. It would take a lot of concentration to use this in a defensive situation and be able to hit your target even if they were not moving, at least for a second shot be be any accurate. The trigger on this one was very sensitive. The professor who tried this one accidently shot off twice while only intending one shot because of the recoil and light trigger.
I also tried out a 22 handgun, which was equally unintereting as the 22 rifle. I don't really see the purpose of a 22 handgun as you are not going to be shooting small game with it, nor using it defensively. So it seems more like a toy rather than a useful weapon. I suppose you could use it to put down a rabid racoon, but that seems kinda a niche use.
While I'm not a huge gun buff, I do figure I ought to exercise my right. First, living out in the country I don't expect a cop to be around to help. And relying on a neighbor who wouldn't be able to hear a yell in the first case is no help. I don't expect to ever even need a weapon around the home, but I don't ever expect to need a cell phone to call for a tow truck either, but we keep one around just in case. We even use it for calling other folks once in a while too. Just as I'm sure when we pick up a gun we'll shoot off a few rounds every now and then too.
If the democrats (Score:2)
so much as breathe a word about any gun control legislation while our economy is so thoroughly screwed up, I wholeheartedly advocate kicking them all in the gender-appropriate gonads.
The Dems talked a lot about their new found love of federalism in the last eight years. Let's see how long that love lasts now that they've been handed the keys to the centralized kingdom again. I am always (more) leery when one party controls both the legislative and executive branch.
As an aside, the QOT(unknown time interval
.22 (Score:2)
Moo (Score:2)
They're cheaper to feed, so you can get in more practice. A .22 for plinking and something larger for defensive purposes would be ideal. If you're thinking of an M1911 (or one of its many clones), Ruger makes a version of the Mark III,
Clinging (Score:2)
People only cling to that which they feel will be taken away from them. With a Democrat controlled Congress and a Democratic President on the way and I'd cling, too.