Category: Shooting

Bitter points to an article that shows only 1/4 of rifle shooters reload.  I would haver thought that number was going to be much higher these days, considering the price of ammo, and the chronic shortages of reloading supplies.  The only thing I don’t reload these days are shotgun shells and .22LR, which also happens to be what I shoot the most of.  Everything else I’m reloading.

Speaking of reloading, they are looking to restrict reloaders in Canada.  Massachusetts already restricts them in this manner.

Mr. Completely has some advice for bowling pin shooters.  I’ve never tried bowling pin shooting myself, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun.

I can see our friends at the VPC blog are in hysterics over the threat of handgun snipers.  No doubt this threat is real.  Here’s some video of these dangerous individuals training:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtsxt7xgbpc[/youtube]

What’s even more scary, is you can tell those folks aren’t only training to assassinate pigs, turkeys, rams, and chickens, presumably to be followed by babies and small children (obviously they kept the baby silhouette’s hidden for the cameras), they actually seem to be enjoying themselves!

UPDATE: Note they use the small children for what they call “target setting” and force these poor kids to hide behind bunkers while these people practice their asassination techniques.  No doubt one day these kids will be in the crosshairs.

It’s not number one, but when you’re competing against that many shooters who are that good, you end up pretty happy with fouth in class in the latest March E-Postal match.  My fly swatting was good, ended up in a three way tie for second in that part.  Could have done better on the bullseyes.  I need to work on follow up shots.  Overall, I scored 7.  Mr. C. is a tough man to beat, and so is Merle.  Looks like JimmyB is going to be as well.  Gotta worry about Denise too, and then there’s Ahab, who didn’t shoot this match, but no doubt will shoot others.

SayUncle tells about a local angry gun guy (there are a lot of them) and a new local range that’s being opened.  A lot of the dumb rules you see at ranges and clubs are stipulated by insurance policies.  Insurance companies are in the business of insuring against risk, but because they are also in the business of making money, they prefer that they never have to pay out on the risk they are insuring against, so you get dumb rules.  You can, of course, pay for better insurance, which some ranges do, but it costs more, which gets passed onto the consumer.

My club doesn’t allow you to bring a firearm onto club property to shoot unless it’s unloaded and cased.  For concealed carry, I was told if they don’t see it, it’s not a problem, but you can’t shoot or show your carry piece, unless the shit has hit the fan.  The local indoor range allows shooting carry pieces, even from the holster, but it’s $20 an hour to shoot there, and yearly memberships are $200.

I really do have to wonder what actuarial evidence insurance companies have that certain types of gun related activities are risky while others aren’t.  Firearms accidents at clubs and ranges aren’t exactly common.  I’ve heard of suicides happening at ranges that rent guns, but are accidents really so common you can determine which types of activities are more dangerous than others?  I’m skeptical that insurance companies can really prove an articulable danger with some activities they try to limit at ranges.  I suspect it’s probably more along the lines of “That sounds dangerous, so we think we can get away with charging more if you want your policy to cover that.”

Nonetheless, we shouldn’t blame ranges for the failing of their insurers.  Maybe once Gunny gets his range stable and profitable, he’ll be able to afford a policy that lets his patrons shoot their carry guns.

Bitter notes that the anti-hunting forces, namely PETA and HSUS are getting on board with very similar messaging, which likely means they are learning from each other.  It’s encouraging that there are more women getting into hunting, but HSUS and PETA are correct that numbers overall are dwindling.  It’s very important to the shooting sports to maintain hunting as part of them, which is why groups like PETA and HSUS need to be considered no better than groups like VPC and Brady campaign.  We have to adopt the NATO doctrine; an attack on one is an attack on all.

It’s important to let hunters know about these groups and what they are doing, and get them involved in preserving their sport.  We also need to let dirty hippy hikers and birdwatchers know that hunters are the ones paying for the habitat preservation they so freely enjoy.

Thanks to Uncle for pointing out these two posts.  I’ve also noticed that a lot of fanboys mostly have video game experience, and most have never fired a real gun before in their lives. Go read both posts.

Larry’s latter post is also interesting, speaking of the difference between fanboys and beginner shooters.  The first centerfire rifle I ever fired was a Kalashnikov, and in the beginning I too couldn’t shoot well at all.  I still have a long ways to go before I’m winning matches, but my shooting has improved greatly just shooting matches at my club, 90% of the time using inexpensive factory guns chambered in .22LR.

The traditional shooting sports are a great way to become a better shooter, and I’ve noticed the improved shooting translates over to black rifles just fine.  The only thing getting worse is my Glock shooting, but that just needs to be “good enough” and grapefruit sized groups at 25 feet meets that standard.  So my advice to folks who might have a black rifle or two, and want to get better, put it down for a while, join a club, and shoot lots and lots of .22LR.  It’s cheap, you’ll have fun, and come out on the other side a better shooter.

SayUncle tells a horrifying tale of the US military destroying ammunition stores..  One of the little known legacies of the Clinton presidency: the military cannot legally sell surplus ammo to civilians.  President Clinton signed an executive order forbidding the military from surplussing any ammunition to civilians except through the CMP, but the CMP has not gotten surplus ammo from military stores for quite some time, and their charter only allows them to sell ammunition for firearms in the calibers that they sell, so basically .30-06, .30 Carbine, and .22LR.

So you can thank President Clinton for this horrible tale, which is why we must not allow another President Clinton to take the White House, or Obama for that matter.

UPDATE: This may be a gunny urban legend.  Still researching.

Well, not really too much glory.  Real glory would be getting one for winning a sanctioned match, but I will take what I can get as a beginner.  It takes a proud place on my shooting hat:

 

Now all I need is a pig and a turkey.  The turkey pin will be tough.  A brief explanation of the pins and hat.  The hat is from last years NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis, which was hosted by the Missouri Sport Shooting Assocation, who’s pin you see thusly.  The other pins are all, save my animal pins, from exhibitors at the annual meeting, except the ILA pin, which just kind of appeared one day.

You actually get good articles on the shooting sports in local papers outside of Philadelphia.  I think this is actually true of most areas.  This is an area of the country where high schools still have rifle teams.   But there are still ninnies:

The event was moved after State College Area school board members refused to grant space at Mount Nittany Middle School, citing the district’s no-weapons policy.

The board’s decision in January disappointed leaders of the Tussey Mountain club, who wanted to hold it in the club’s hometown. It also sent a message to local shooting aficionados who think the sport deserves respect and support from the public.

School boards are elected, and we should get to work on putting people in there who will restore the rifle program to the middle school.  In these communities, there’s probably enough support for youth shooting programs to put significant pressure on the school board to change their policy.