It Has Been Said...

That a bad day at the range beats a good day at the office, a sentiment with which I heartily concur. Now, when you have a good day at the range, it can erase an entire bad week at the office. And when you have a great day at the range, well, the sun is shining and all is right with the world...

Saturday afternoon was spent in gunnie heaven (or, as I like to call it, gunnervana, the state of perfect gun nut bliss) with Lissa and her husband Mike. They are currently going through the byzantine process of getting their permits in MA, and are starting to think about which gun(s) they would like to purchase with their shiny new permits. Being as I have a few guns kicking around*, I'd offered to bring them to my club and let them try a few guns from the G. armory.

*Lissa asked how me how many guns I owned, just out of curiosity. I paused for a bit, thought about it, and replied that I wasn't quite sure, but I was pretty sure it was under triple digits... She laughed and remarked that she thought it might be over 50 or so...

We went back and forth in e-mail a few times hashing out what they'd like to try. Here's what we finally settled on:

1. Sig P226 (9mm)
2. Colt Gold Cup 1911 (.45 ACP)
3. Sig P232 (.380ACP)
4. S&W model 38 (.38 Special)
5. S&W model 422 (.22LR)
6. Remington model 572 (.22LR)
7. S&W model 39-2 (9mm)
8. Marlin model 39A (.22LR) - this was the only gun we didn't shoot.

Lissa and Mike are "more of a semi-auto family right now" (Mike's words), before anyone wonders why I didn't bring the S&W model 19 or 17. The P232 and the model 38 were explicit requests - Mike had inquired about "anything like a snub-nose .38 or a .380 ACP" they could try. Not wishing to subject either of them to the Snubbie from Hell™ quite yet, I opted for the model 38 instead - slightly heavier than the SfH, and .38 Special only. The P232 was a natural choice given their predilection for SigSauers; I figured it was more refined and would be more to their liking than my Makarov, she of the spartan Russkie stock...

We started off with the 422; always good to warm up with a gentle rimfire I always say. Lissa and Mike are, how shall I put this, rather competitive in their shooting - it was very cute to watch - and insisted on calling a cease fire after every couple of sets so they could compare targets. Even though I hadn't been in quite a few weeks, I wasn't as rusty as I feared I would be (no "minute-of-berm" for me this time! *g*). We moved onto the Sig P226, and continued in the Sig family with the P232. Neither was much of a surprise - they're Sigs. They work, they work well, they put the bullets where you want them to go.

And then we tried the snubnosed revolver.

The snubnosed revolver is not an easy gun to master; it takes a lot of dedicated trigger time to develop mere proficiency. The short sight radius combined with the most rudimentary of sights make it a daunting gun to shoot accurately - Lissa asked if the smaller-barreled gun was less accurate than a gun with a longer barrel, and I responded that it was harder to shoot accurately, not that it had any less inherent accuracy. Important distinction. It's even harder when you're shooting double action only on a gun that's set up for either (i.e. doesn't have an improved trigger). I haven't seen a range report from Lissa yet (and she had the camera!); I won't divulge her reaction to the snubbie other than to say she made a note in her little notebook (she is so organized!) that basically crossed it off her mental list...

However, we made up for it with the Colt Gold Cup National match - both Lissa and Mike chewed big ragged holes in the centers of their targets (and I even got a couple bullseyes!) with the stainless .45. Lissa commented on the heft of the Colt - this is not something you'd want to tote around all day to be certain - and quite correctly opined that it's probably why the .45 ACP doesn't seem to have the same recoil as even the .380 ACP. It seemed to me that the Gold Cup was a hit - we broke out additional magazines even - as it's just such a joy to shoot and really wrings out the best of even the most mediocre shooter like your humble host. We then had a brief discussion of the bazillion different flavors of 1911, then put away the paper targets. It was time for fun...

Busted out the Remington, set up the steel plates and some clays, and spent the last half hour or so plinking away with a .22LR pump-action rifle. Talk about fun! I brought along a jar of Federal bulk .22LR for the occasion, and we managed to shoot a good 3/4 of it in that half hour. Breaking clays is fun; clanging steel is fun; hitting the steel plates with a pistol and the clays with the S&W model 39 at the 25 yard berm was eminently satisfying as well. Lissa commented on Marko's prowess with a pistol from the Northeast Bloggershoots, and the simple fact that my meager shooting could prompt that memory put a smile on my face that's still here today...

Thank you, Lissa and Mike, for making the long haul out to the sticks to go shooting with me. I've got a bunch more guns you can shoot if you'd like; I'd love for you guys to try out the S&W model 17 (.22LR) wheelgun (I will try to convert you yet!) as well spend some more time plinking. Let me know the next time you want to head out this way, and I'll clear some time to head back to the range. Oh, and if it helps to sweeten the deal, we could hit the rifle range with some evil black rifles and scoped bolt actions for long(ish) range goodness... ;)

If Lissa and Mike had half as good a time as I had, I'll be a happy man, because they'd be pretty darn happy with our shootie outing this weekend...

That is all.

PS: Sorry there's no pictures, but the kids were going to a Halloween party and Mrs. G. wanted the camera. Lissa took a bunch, and I'll rely on her good graces to pick the least ugly picture of me... ;)