Friday, April 3, 2015

Home on the range

Took an hour off from work this morning to go to the NRA’s indoor firing range here in Fairfax (stress relief). One of my colleagues received a ridiculously long and pointless email from one of our directors yesterday, so I printed it out (three hardcopy pages, it turned out to be), and “redacted” the thing, alternating between a Smith & Wesson Model 58 .41 Magnum revolver and an EAA Witness .38 Super semi-automatic pistol (double-plus stress relief).

I was using 210 grain semi-wadcutters in the .41 Magnum. Easy shooting in single-action mode, but a tough trigger pull in double; the great thing about the .41, though, is if you use it in a defensive situation, the assailant is going down, no matter where you hit him. The .38 Super was pure pleasure all the way round: low recoil, deadly accurate and zero malfunctions. And it takes a 17-round magazine (I’ve got three). The Witness is manufactured by Tanfoglio of Italy. Mine is full-size, all-steel frame, a very solid, reliable gun – and disassembly for cleaning is easy for even the least mechanically inclined (such as yours truly). I’m so impressed with the quality, in fact, that I’m thinking of picking up the compact version of the Witness .45ACP.

A cup of coffee and the smell of cordite in the morning; tough to beat.

8 comments:

Deborah said...

"Redacting" such self-aggrandized ramblings from ivoryites is always a worthy endeavor proven to improve ones' health. It would be study that most of us would approve of (and probably sign-up for). Much better than the seven million dollars to ascertain why lesbians get fat.

Redact on!

RebeccaH said...

Redacting emails. Why didn't I ever think of that?

Minicapt said...

"EAA" > "Experimental Aircraft Association?

Cheers

JeffS said...

No shooting this weekend, but I am reloading .45 ACP, 230 grain FMJ bullets today. Almost as good as redacting e-mail!

Maybe tomorrow I'll reload some .223 -- there's a 3 Gun shoot coming up in a couple of weeks!

Paco said...

Jeff: Tell me more about the 3 gun shoot! That sounds like fun.

JeffS said...

3 Guns is a practical shooting competition, using a rifle, pistol, and shotgun. You move from one weapon to another, and engage a variety of targets. It's timed, with penalties for misses, safety, etc. Safety is ensured by range safety officers, and how the weapons are positioned before and after shooting.

The first one this year went like this for the second phase (the first phase was similar, just fewer targets). All targets are metal disks, easy to tell when you hit them:

Pistol: Engage 7 targets at 15 yards, minimum of 1 round per target. Move, engage 3 targets at 25 yards, 1 round per. Penalty of 2 seconds for each miss. Reloads authorized, not required (depends on your marksmanship and pistol model). Magazine limits: 10 rounds or more, 3 mags. Less than 10 rounds, 4 mags.

Shotgun: Engage 11 stationary targets and 2 skeets, moving and shooting. Reloads required (unless you have a magazine fed shotgun, natch). The skeets are thrown by a spring activated when you shoot a particular target, so you have to be quick.

Rifle: Engage 7 targets at 100 yards, 1 round per, from a supported kneeling or standing position, or prone (they had a portable wall on the line, with crenelation for standing/kneeling). Move, engage 2 targets at 200 yards, same assortment of positions.

I usually shoot my AR15 (5.56), 12 gage (tube feed pump action) and semi-auto pistol (.40S&W or .45ACP). But any calibers are welcome. .22LR is common (although a pain at 200 yards), and some people shoot .308 on the rifle (semi-discouraged because those can punch holes in the targets at 100 yards. 20 gage shotguns are also used.

I expect that you can ask at the NRA range about local events.

JeffS said...

I forgot they shot videos of the last event -- here's the link.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCABQEkewj0uEOaQp1Xi-vig

Paco said...

Jeff: Sounds very challenging. I'm not sure I can even see one hundred yards, let alone hit anything at that distance (unless the metal target is a large utility shed).