Firearms

Getting Your Money’s Worth

Actually, we’re not cheap and can afford to put up a new target for each shooter when we go to the range. But sometimes we put up a target and see how long it will last.

Initially, we put up a small pistol target and took turns shooting the hand guns at it at it until it got pretty beat up. Then, I put a stick-on target on the beat up one and went at it again. In short order, however, the stick on was all shot up.

At this point, since we still had ammo for the hand guns, I put up a silhouette target and we took turns shooting at it until we were out of ammo.

Now, enter the shotguns. I brought my Remington 870 12 gauge and took five shots at it. The target was battered, but still hanging. At this point, Damsel took her 20 gauge Remington 870 and gave it the coup de grace as you can see when you play the video. We both got a laugh out of it.

Today was a lot of fun at the range. You should go shooting.

Avoiding “To Whom It May Concern” Rounds

head shotsOne of the drills we like to practice when we go to the range is to fire at silhouette targets while trying to avoid letting any rounds fall outside of the body mass. We do pretty well when firing at the center of mass of a target. This assumes that you have a shot at the center of mass.

What if the target is partly shielded by an object, like a fence or an automobile? It’s a little more difficult if all you can see is the head and shoulders. So, I like to practice shooting at the nose of the target and try to keep the rounds close while firing about one round per second. I’m getting better at it, but I always seem to have a couple of outliers. One of these pierced an ear and could probably be considered a “to whom it may concern” round.

Resemblance

Damsel takes photos of our arsenal before, during and after the weekly cleaning and maintenance session. She took a photo of the Remington 870 trigger plate assembly; when I looked at the photo, it reminded me of something completely unrelated.

Is it just me, or does the assembly resemble the profile of an airborne Canadian honker?

trigger plate assembly and Canadian goose in flight

Stripping the Remington 870

After today’s target practice, we did the usual strip and clean routine for all the guns. I took this photo of the Remington 870 broken down into pieces. After looking at it later, it occurred to me that this is the way they would have you store your long guns in Washington, D.C. According to the regulations there, you may own a shotgun but it must be stored disassembled while in your home.

“‘Scuse me, Mr. intruder, while I go and put my shotgun together so I can defend my home.”

parts is parts

Hopefully, the Supreme Court will rectify the D.C. gun insanity in the near future. I also am hopeful that some of that goodness will rub off on some similar gun insanity in other places, especially California.

Wheel Gun Art

Revolvers make good still-life subjects for some of the gun art photos I like to compose. I liked the way the rounds in the cylinder cast a reflection in the polished frame – very nice, if I do say so myself. Click the image below for the larger version.

purdy-gun.jpg