Don't Mess With Southern Girls

Re: the recent events at a Connecticut School

I don’t know what the answer is but I doubt that revoking out constitutional rights is an answer - arguably more damage is done by the first amendment that the second.
I do know this - back in the early ‘90’s there was an indoor gun range outside Orlando, FL, which catered to the Foreign tourist (all those “civilized” countries where firearms are banned). All those people from Europe and Asia who came for Disney World and Universal Studios couldn’t wait to shoot “Cowboy” guns and “Dirty Harry’s” pistol. They also would pay just about anything for the privilege.

I understand that there are other ranges like this, I know there is one in Las Vegas.

So you people who are denied firearms, to some extent, finance and support our “Gun Culture”.

 

We're not "denied", most of us couldn't care less since it wasn't part of our culture to start with.

 

At the risk of taking Slipdigit's thread off topic... I managed a small gun store for a few years after I retired. We get loads of European tourists here and they'd wander in all summer for fishing gear and then be inexorably drawn to the gun counter. They were always shocked when I offered to let them handle the guns. This happened often enough that I'd be able to guess in advance what they'd want to look at with at least 90% accuracy.

The Scandinavians were at least as knowledgeable about hunting rifles as the average American and they wanted to check out the various bolt action hunting rifles.

The Germans always wanted to check out lever actions and single action revolvers - cowboy stuff.

The French (and perhaps Belgians since I can't differentiate the accent) liked the tupperware pistols and AR's and AK's.

We get a few Russians too, and they always marveled at magnum handguns, sometimes asking me to open a box of ammo so they could compare a .454 (or whatever) to a 9mm, etc.

And the British more often than not, didn't want to touch a firearm at all.

 

If you ever make it to Kodiak Alaska, I'll take you out and let you shoot everything from Garands to FAL's to AR15's and just about anything else you can think of. When you hang a steel plate out at 25 yards and pull a .22 handgun trigger and get the feedback of a "clang" to let you know you did it right, it will bring a smile to your face. When you hang a plate at 200 yards and squeeze off a round from a Garand to get a resounding "thwack/CLAAAAAANG" it's about as addicting as crack.

 

Slip.....Wars are a necessary evil. Guns are just 'things in the closet' until someone brings them out to use them.

Small correction. Guns are the basic 'tools' of the trade.

Looks very much like a target grouping from someone not holding their breath.

 

Is that an open invitation? No, I'm not checking flights in another browser window right now, nono, nothing like that.....:click-click:

 

(sorry, missed this post!) Another blog I read a lot has several other fun targets you can use for either instant reaction or as a game...in one, he drilled a bunch of small holes down a 1x4, and stood DumDum lollipops up in the holes. They tend to shatter in a sugary spray when hit. Another one is to start a new shooter out with a paper plate (a lot easier to hit a big white target, no disappointment when you don't shoot dime-sized groupings on the X at 50 yards from a Weaver stance with your average .357), then put some of those colored 1" dots (the type you'll see used as price tags at garage sales) on the plates, but make shapes out of them so you're shooting the "dinosaur" or the "tree" or whatever. Make it fun, and not so much about accuracy. He says that with new users, shooting a standard target is fun, but can be frustrating. For first timers, making it exciting will get them back a lot sooner, and you can work on sight picture, stance, breathing, speed, accuracy at that point. The first time out should emphasize safety, and fun (in that order). Haven't had too many new shooters out with me so far, so I haven't had the chance to experiment myself, but his advice is usually spot on, so I'll trust him on this one, too!

Skewers

DumDums

Dots

 

The thing with the balloons or pop cans is to demonstrate how destructive a bullet is. To me, that lesson is the most fundamental lesson a child needs to absorb. It's impossible not to look at that red mess on the ground and fail to equate that with a bullet striking a person. Safety, safety, safety and then... accuracy and fun.

 

Wholeheartedly agree. Apples and oranges and watermelons are good for that, too. You can see the entry hole and compare it to the exit hole. But, yeah, balloons would be impressive and a great way to get the lesson across!

 

What a great thread (including the "ways to get the lesson across)!!!

 

Here's some fun with a Garand, a FAL and an M1 Carbine using tracers. This is me, my son and his wife. The mountain face is just over 400 yards away.

[video=youtube;Jz8uWlqRnvA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz8uWlqRnvA&list=UUa8Ddxj_xCNEUuv89huzj9Q& index=4[/video]

 

Dang, that looks like fun. ...Family fun..Except it reminds me of the time Pa gave me the .357 when I was little too young to handle it...Result: bleeding forehead.

 

Yet, judging from the people using the ranges I mentioned, many of you would surely like to have them. And if guns are not part of your culture why so many wars using them?

 

Nice video. I guess that mountain makes a good backstop! And you really need a BAR to go with that Garand.

 

We had a lot of wars before guns were invented too.

 

Good job, dad. Great stance, great shooting. I'm going to tell on you for those hi-cap magazines. I recently sold 6 magazines for an AK at a gunshow in Wyoming...two 30 round, and four 40 round....for $200 dollars...and he was happy to pay it. Sillyness. Keep up the good work. Kids that enjoy and know/respect shooting sports are going to be set for a lifetime of responsibility and fun.

 

Why the fuss? NBC’s David Gregory Displays 30-Round Magazine On TV, Matter Is ‘Under Investigation’ By Police | Mediaite

 

Hehe...Poppy...I remember getting behind a 303/38 years ago...got right up to the sight, i was gunna nail a giant Pumpkin...The pumpkin did explode most satisfactorily...but the cost was a lovely rim cut on the bridge of my nose...The badge of a novice : )

 

Know what's funny? The articles author, Anjali Sareen, displayed their complete ignorance of the subject when they wrote: "NBC’s David Gregory may have violated D.C.’s gun laws by brandishing a 30-round magazine on his show, Meet The Press Sunday, and now the matter is “under investigation” by the police. The round was purportedly for an AR-15 or other similar assault rifle."

What Mr. Gregory "brandished" was a magazine not a round. A round or cartridge, in terms of a small arm, is a complete unit of ammunition consisting of a bullet/projectile, propellant, primer and shell casing. In artillery or larger caliber weapons a round refers to a shell, which consists of a shell body/casing, filler (if applicable) and fuze, for ammunition with seperate propellant charges or in the case of fixed ammunition, additionally a primer, propellant casing and propellant. Multiple rounds go in the magazine as the reporter originally stated correctly, when they said, "30 round magazine". I hope Mr. Gregory does go to jail just to demonstrate the stupidity of the law.

 

Are they still investigating him? I'd read somewhere that it was dismissed because of some B.S. reason, mainly due to the fact that he's a "celebrity" and was actually arguing for tighter gun controls and using it as an example. Had he been a regular joe, or been arguing against gun laws, he would have been tossed in a D.C. klink so hard windows would rattle in Nevada.

Yeah, I love the ones where they start pontificating on the fact that the Newtown CT shooter had an "XR-15" or "AK-15" in his trunk. My first question is "WTF is an XR/AK-15?" Second question is "WTF does it matter what was in his trunk? If it was in his trunk...he didn't use it. I'd bet there's a tire iron in there somewhere, too...maybe we should regulate those?" Usually the emotional knee-jerk-reaction types will glaze over and reboot at that point.