Happy Shooty Fun Fun
Well, the semester ended last week and so to celebrate surviving we went out shooting with our friend who we will call ‘Andy’.
Andy is a certified firearms instructor and he brought along his three favorite pistols; A Sig 226 9mm, A Sig 239 .357 and a Beretta M9 9mm with a conversion so it can shoot .22s. Since the range was indoors we couldn’t take Bruce with us, but we are planning on going to another range in a few weeks where we can put some rounds through him as well and get him broken in on a few silhouette targets.
Anyhoo, we got out there late in the afternoon so we didn’t have that long of a shooting time, but it was OK with us, the wife wanted to learn more about shooting and I just wanted to knock some of the rust off of my skills. In the Navy I had qualified as sharpshooter with pistol and rifle but since that was about 17 years ago and it had been ten years since I had last picked up a firearm I was a little apprehensive about it. I wasn’t afraid that I was going to shoot my foot off or anything, it was more that kind of apprehension that you get when you haven’t done something in a really long time and you don’t want to look stupid. You know, the old ego kicking in.
There were two lanes open, but the target retrieval motor on one of the lanes was broken so the three of us ended up on one lane The first one that we shot was the .357 and I must say that while I like Sig, this gun made me love them. The trigger pull was nice and smooth, the sights were bright and the recoil wasn’t as much as you would expect from a .357, especially one this small. I was able to get back on target very quickly and put five down range in no time at all. The wife (who has small hands) was easily able to control it as well and put five of her own in center mass as you can see here, this one was at ten feet.
When you pull the trigger on the 239 though it makes a very nice BOOM followed by a shock wave you could feel and almost see. We even had a guy who was two lanes down come over to ask what we were shooting, the lust in his eyes over it was obvious. It was even more fun because that was while the wife was shooting and the surprise in the guys eye’s to see a small lady making such a big boom was amusing.
We shared this target and that one that dropped out of the five ring – not mine. I’m just saying.
Once we did that one we decided to try the 9mm 226 Sig and I have decided as soon as the money is available I will be getting one of my very own. First time shooting it and while I did finger the trigger a little too much I still did a pretty nice job of keeping them in center mass and after firing off ten in quick succession I decided to try triple taps and see if I could still do them. You can see the results for yourself.
I walked them down the head a little bit, but overall I’m pretty happy with how I did. This target at least isn’t going to threaten anyone ever again by putting it’s hands on it’s hips.
After that it was round after round through the .22. I didn’t get a shot of that one, but suffice it to say that another target was filled full of holes through the heart by the wife and I. I must say that considering she had only shot once or twice before now both Andy and I were very impressed at her skill. She listened to everything he had to tell her, handled the gun safely and with confidence, and kept her shots nice and tight. Little practice and time and she’ll be out shooting all of us I think.
We are planning on getting out and going again next weekend to a different range that allows shotguns so I’ll let you all know how that goes.
