At the range in Alabama

October 6, 2009

So one of the things you do in Alabama is head out to the range to shoot some paper. I first shot paper targets in the Boy Scouts with a .22 rifle, but there were no .22's in sight this day - for this day was vacation and Matt, my father-in-law (whom I call "Dad") and I went out to their gun club for a spot of shooting.

This is Matt, and this is the 100 yard lane. Coming from sunny and open Southern California I enjoyed being surrounded by forest at the range. I was pretty excited to be there to say the least.

First out of the gate was Matt's classic lever action cowboy Winchester .30-30. Seeing a rifle like this with a scope attached spoils the classic look, but it's still a fine weapon and a whole lot handier shooting at slow moving paper targets. Apparently everyone should have one of these says Matt, my brother-in-law.

Here's Matt lining up for some shots with that lever action classic. You'll notice we're soft. He's not riding a barely broke in mustang and shooting from the hip one handed - oh no. He's using pillows (or cushions - I'm never sure which is the right word here) from the couch at home. Or maybe from a sofa. Whatever - we're soft and don't care.

If you haven't met Matt, you'll notice he's an Alabama fan. That's to be expected around these parts I would imagine. He's also seemingly never without some form of Crimson Tide attire. Even when he's decked out head to toe in camo and off hunting he's probably got one of those Alabama t-shirts on underneath...

We brought a bit of ammo down for the rifles - and we collected some brass for later reloading. I was having a blast. Pun intended, naturally.

Here's me and Dad's rifle. Make that one of many - I forget the caliber of this one - it might have been a .270 but I'm not sure. Anyway it's a standard bolt action rifle and I'm left-handed. And it's also the one he's got with him right this very minute in Colorado hunting some Elk. Hope they don't get snowed under too bad up there in the mountains. And I also hope they bring back some tasty meat and send some out here to us...

After the heat made our desire to keep blasting lead downrange fade we headed to the now shaded Pistol ranges for some fun times. We had this, a classic Colt double action .38 Special revolver. This is a fine piece and one Matt has his eye on. It's not his of course, but Dad's. I was pretty surprised at how wonderful, straightforward, and accurate a weapon this was. It was great fun to shoot. We saved all the brass for re-use. Brass is expensive now-a-days.

Then there was Matt's Beretta 9mm. It's just your standard 9mm 1911 style weapon - and works just like it should. They're fun to shoot - you can tell there's a smile on Dad's face here...

Here's me - floppy hat folded up with the ear-muffs and about the squeeze the trigger. Again I'm left handed, shooting straight armed, and I'm using my right trigger finger on the outside of the guard to stabilize my aim. I have no idea if that's good technique or a lousy lazy shooting style, but hey, it works for me.

Matt decided to try some rapid-fire with his pistol. So I tried my hand at camera shutter timing to get some cool action shots and tried to shoot a bullet. It's fun watching and figuring out the exact moment to press the shutter to catch the best action of the shell casings ejecting, the slide operating, and, of course, the bullet itself. Matt and I were reviewing the images on the camera LCD and were pretty stoked with this one - a casing recently ejected in mid air and close to the weapon, another just being ejected from the chamber, lots of smoke, and what we though was the bullet in the frame! Upon getting home to California and firing up the review monitor I could tell we didn't have the bullet. I'm not sure what that object to the right of the gun and beyond the shell casing is, but it's got to be too small a diameter to be the bullet. I'd expect the bullet in flight to be almost the correct diameter and stretched out in a longer streak as it covers much of the frame at once. I still think Matt will like this one all the same.

Here's me - shell casing flying and back on target. I wasn't as quick with the rapid fire as Matt was but I think we did pretty well in the accuracy department. That piece of paper wasn't going anywhere after we'd finished with it.

Dad won the "single handed, and wrong handed" challenge I laid down while Matt and I tied for last place. The concept was easy - One revolver, six rounds, six steel targets to flatten, one handed only, and not your natural hand. They both shot left handed, while I fired with the right. It's Dad's gun, so he ought to do well and here he's a study of concentration. Playing to win you might say.

Of course all those weapons had to be cleaned before being put away - so clean them we did and here's the cleaning mess laid out all across the outdoor dining table. We made sure to keep the gun oil off the table - nothing worse smelling to the ladies than a gun-oiled table!