My day at the range

Shane

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Today I was awoken by my father who wanted to go shooting. So I hopped out of bed, and away we went. Arriving at Ames Rifle & Pistol Club, we went ahead and shot our old scoped Marlin .22LR, but it was a ton of fun nonetheless. The rifle has some feeding issues, and it's the only one we have.

It was my first time shooting with my father, who was pleasantly surprised that I already had good knowledge of range safety, and completely understood the operation of the rifle.

We shot some squirrel targets at around 40-50 yards. I hit the squirrel image right in the face! LOL [smile] . My dad had a grouping all over the neck! [laugh] HA. I was doing my shooting right handed even though I am cross dominant. As we attempted to shoot the metal things out near the giant dirt backstop, my father hit every shot, and I didn't hit it once! I realized this was due to my cross dominance. So we went indoors, and I finished off the rest of the day shooting lefty, with impressive accuracy.

So I think I'm going to keeping shooting rifles lefty. I'm just a beginner, so I might as well get used to shooting lefty now, because at a good range I just can't hit anything righty.

Outdoors, the .22 had more of a crack and echo than I anticipated. The recoil was almost none. I think .22 would be great for squirrels, but in my neighborhood that would be a major no-no.

I'm eager to try something more powerful! It's too bad we don't own anything but the .22

All in all, It was a good day of bonding with the old man. I'm anxious to go again.
 
Sounds like a great day!

Outdoors, the .22 had more of a crack and echo than I anticipated.
Uh... and how could you tell that, Shane? You WERE wearing ear protection, right? I can never really hear anything through mine when shooting a 22 except a click, so your comment is raising some warning flags for me. If you weren't wearing muffs or ear plugs, DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

If you were wearing protection, of course, me 'at's off ya, Guv... I couldn't hear an echo through muffs if I tried.
 
Great day for it... glad you shared the nice day with your Pops!!

Wish it could be that way for more of us!
 
I try to get to the range every Thursday with my father. We have a lot of fun. We started with .22 pistols and are now shooting .45 and .40 cal. Of course he's got the 1911! You've got to respect military training. There's something about the feel of a 1911 to a veteran. Then once we shoot the hell out of some paper, we grab a burger and beer at the local pub. Shoot with your Dad as long as you can, it's something you will always remember. In fact, this Christmas I'll be buying my 7 year old son his first Archery set. I plan on teaching him range safety with a bow and arrow, and then move him to a pellet gun this summer. Then we'll have three generations at the range together.
 
Uh... and how could you tell that, Shane? You WERE wearing ear protection, right? I can never really hear anything through mine when shooting a 22 except a click, so your comment is raising some warning flags for me. If you weren't wearing muffs or ear plugs, DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!
+1
 
Some of the best days of my life were walking down an old dirt road in the middle of nowhere, plinking at cans and talking to my father. I'd give anything to walk that road with him again.
 
Uh... and how could you tell that, Shane? You WERE wearing ear protection, right? I can never really hear anything through mine when shooting a 22 except a click, so your comment is raising some warning flags for me. If you weren't wearing muffs or ear plugs, DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

If you were wearing protection, of course, me 'at's off ya, Guv... I couldn't hear an echo through muffs if I tried.

We wore ear protection except for a few shots. I just wanted to hear it a couple times. And any time I was shooting the muffs were on. I just sat back and listened to it without the muffs a couple times while my Dad shot a few rounds. We'll have to keep it a secret. [wink]

Oh yeah!

And after I got home...I went shooting AGAIN! I called my buddy up and we went down to Canton Fish & Game and continued shooting .22 rifles (with ear and eye protection!)

Canton Fish & Game has a nice feel to it, but it lacks an indoor range and proper high powered rifle range.

I got to shoot a 12 gauge shotgun for the first time ever. It was a semi-auto. We shot slugs. I'm a little guy and I swear I thought my teeth were going to shatter from the concussion. So much fun. I'm hooked. Now all I want is memberships and more guns & ammo.

One day, Two ranges! FUN FUN FUN... [smile]
 
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Yup it was BIGBEAR383 and I at Canton Fish and Game!!! Freakin' awesome!

Thanks for letting me get on that twelvie!

Gotta re-up on the .22LR and go back and chill with that old timer, maybe sip a few Heinikens after.
 
Sounds like a great day!
Uh... and how could you tell that, Shane? You WERE wearing ear protection, right? I can never really hear anything through mine when shooting a 22 except a click, so your comment is raising some warning flags for me. If you weren't wearing muffs or ear plugs, DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

While I agree that he should be wearing ear pro, a 22 rifle is hardly the
loudest gun out there. Limited exposure likely will not cause him serious
problems. I wouldn't do it on a regular basis, though. I personally
always wear ear pro, even with .22 rimfire rifles. Hearing only goes
away and does not come back!

Any .22 rimfire handgun... hell no.. you couldnt pay me to be exposed
to that. That's absurdly loud in comparison to the rifle. Been there
done that. (not intentionally... some feeb started firing his pistol without
waiting for the people that were leaving to leave).

About the only 22s you can safely shoot for extended periods with no
ear pro would be a gun that has a can on it, or a gun firing CB Longs or
some other subsonic ammo. With that stuff the noise it makes hitting
the target is 10x as loud as the noise the gun makes. Course those
only work in bolt actions.

-Mike
 
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Exposure to .22lr will cause hearing damage. The more shots you hear, the more the damage. And it is irreversible.
 
Sounds like a fun time. I'm also cross dominant (that just doesn't sounds right does it?). When you were shooting the rifle on the right side did you close your left eye? If not that would be a huge problem. [rofl]
 
ok guys we were using ear protection i alwaysuse it. eye and ear. thanks for the concern.

+1
[laugh]

Did the troops in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq wear ear muffs? Do ear muffs also work good with incoming rockets and mortars? Were ear muffs mandatory on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge?

[rofl]

Ear protection is certainly necessary, and I want to have good hearing. So I will certainly heed your advice. But please don't give me a scolding for wanting to hear the report of a .22LR once in my life. It's a bit much. Like I already said, I wore ear protection with the exception of 2 or 3 shots, all of which I was not personally firing. So RELAX.

[horse] [puke2]

The RO at Canton Fish and Game certainly didn't feel he needed to give us a lecture. It took him about 20 seconds to realize we knew exactly what the hell we were doing and didn't need observation or instruction.
 
When you were shooting the rifle on the right side did you close your left eye?

Of course. My accuracy was still horrendous, especially at greater distance. Out near the backstop I probably couldn't hit a bus.

But once I went left handed, and closed the RIGHT EYE this time, my accuracy was impeccable.
 
I can relate. I once took my hearing protection off to see what my P99.40 was like. Once.

When I'm CCW'ing it, I'm not walking around with hearing protection. I think it's good to know what to expect.
 
Did the troops in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq wear ear muffs? Do ear muffs also work good with incoming rockets and mortars? Were ear muffs mandatory on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge?
Are a lot of them deaf or partially deaf now?

But please don't give me a scolding for wanting to hear the report of a .22LR once in my life. It's a bit much.
I'm sorry if I came off as scolding you. I wanted it to be more of a friendly warning. Shane, I rode motorcycles for 10 years before anyone ever told me that constant exposure to wind noise could damage my hearing.

Too late.

I'm constantly asking my wife "what did X say?" and when we're watching TV or a movie I have to have the sound up about 3 more notches than her. My audiologist confirmed it: "Noise-related hearing damage". Can he do anything about it? Nope. It's not even bad enough to need hearing aids... but it sure is annoying.

So I'll get off my soapbox now; I just wanted to try and help YOU avoid what ignorance has done to me.

And I'm seriously envious of your getting to shoot with your dad... My dad passed away 20+ years ago and there isn't anything I wouldn't give up to have one more day with him. Enjoy every minute you have with him, man...
 
Are a lot of them deaf or partially deaf now?


I'm sorry if I came off as scolding you. I wanted it to be more of a friendly warning. Shane, I rode motorcycles for 10 years before anyone ever told me that constant exposure to wind noise could damage my hearing.

Too late.

I'm constantly asking my wife "what did X say?" and when we're watching TV or a movie I have to have the sound up about 3 more notches than her. My audiologist confirmed it: "Noise-related hearing damage". Can he do anything about it? Nope. It's not even bad enough to need hearing aids... but it sure is annoying.

So I'll get off my soapbox now; I just wanted to try and help YOU avoid what ignorance has done to me.

And I'm seriously envious of your getting to shoot with your dad... My dad passed away 20+ years ago and there isn't anything I wouldn't give up to have one more day with him. Enjoy every minute you have with him, man...

Dwarven I thank you for this post. It means a lot because I don't want to come off as an unsafe shooter. Me and my dad had such a good time. I've been literally walking on water all day since. I told my little brother he should certainly take up the oppurtunity if my dad ever offers him a chance to go to the range.

But on another note:

DAMN...aren't those 12 gauges powerful!!! LOL...Like I said, I really thought my teeth were going to shatter and my right shoulder sprained all in one powerful BOOM.

I could hardly aim, except downrange!! With my cross dominance, I could hardly even attempt to shoot something with that type of kick lefty. I just shot righty and made sure I held on tight. With all those stupid rappers talking about their shotguns, I'd love to see them actually fire one slug and hit a target at 100 ft.

Shooting the .22LR is very enjoyable and mild. The 12 gauge was an added treat since I never shot one, and I will always take an oppurtunity to try a new caliber.

But it's also kind of a sad day. Because one realizes how much fun shooting is, and also these stupid commies banning all our guns. I'm not even sure if I can get an LTC-B in my town. I'm going to try in a year or so.

One thing is on the Canton Fish and Game application, it says "Don't apply solely to try and get your LTC." I kind of see where they are coming from, but if I love shooting, and shoot my lawfully owned rifle their on a regular basis, am I really just joining for my LTC, even though thats what I really desire? Of course not. I'm a target shooter! I'm not a danger to society. This type of shooting brings familys together, and it teaches you more about responsibility than 95% of Massachusetts kids will ever know.

It's these bastards like that guy at the Foxy Lady who mess it up for everybody. The fact that he was licensed makes us all look awful. If I see his ass in the next life, he better have his rifle cause I'd give him a barrage of punches to the center of his face. I can't imagine a man with a twig and berries going out for a fun day of safe shooting, and not leaving A) pro gun rights B) pro humanity. We need to lobby Deval to take him out for a day of shooting on a .22LR, same with the rest of them.
 
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My late Father went over D+10, fought across Europe thru the Battle of the Bulge to Berlin. He was US Army Infantry, BAR operator for part of the tour. I think they may have used spent shell casings for "protection" of some sort, but I'm not certain of it.

He was VERY hard of hearing!
 
I didn't mean to be sarcastic, I'm sure they have some hearing problems, I was just trying to compare it to a .22LR for 3 rounds.

I've posted about it before but if any of you guys could meet up with me I'm a solid, concientious person. I want to try some new guns those with historical significance.

Specifically:
M1 Garand
M1903 Springfield (scoped?)
M1911 Colt
AR-15
German K98
Russian Mosin Nagant (scoped?)

Oh yeah, by the way, do any of you think the concussion and recoil of any of the above mentioned rifles compare to a 12 gauge shotgun shooting slugs?
 
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+1
[laugh]

Did the troops in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq wear ear muffs? Do ear muffs also work good with incoming rockets and mortars? Were ear muffs mandatory on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge?

No, back then hearing protection was obviously an afterthought. As a result
a buttload of vets do have significant hearing loss or tinnitus, or combinations
thereof.

On the other hand, you do hear of guys every once in awhile that had
some absurdly noisy job (eg artillery) and still have halfway decent
hearing. I think that's just a matter of everyones ears being different. It's
safe to say though, that ones vulnerability to hearing damage is a pretty
difficult, if not impossible thing to test for.

Hearing damage expresses itself in very strange ways. In some people it
can cause tone deafness, in others, they end up with tinnitus, etc.

In any event, theres a reason the DOD is pouring all kinds of money into
try to research drugs which help prevent hearing damage in
theatre. It's probably a big source of injury claims and the like... and it
has numerous long term effects.

The field is rather interesting... theres also a big difference between
damage caused by constant source of noise (eg, as dwarven says, wind
noise, or jet engines, etc) as opposed to impulse noise. They both
can be pretty harmful. I think for some people constant noise
sources are worse because its frequently a job related thing. A friend of
mine who is a steelworker basically has a constant ringing in his
ears. He literally cannot go to sleep without a fan running, leaving a TV
set on, or something else generating noise so his brain will ignore the
constant ringing.

Then on the other side of the coin you hear of freak things with
firearms... eg, I was reading of an account of a cop who had used his .357
snub while sitting inside a motor vehicle at a guy who was trying to
attack him. After the incident he stated that he was deaf in one ear
for several months, and then eventually some of his hearing came back,
but it never fully recovered. Of course, losing hearing to him was a lot
better than being dead! It does make sense to me though... small
wheelguns, even a .38 +P seem to have a pretty significant bark
to them... mainly due to the near nonexistant barrel and the gas
escaping from in front of the forcing cone. Then you have other
accounts of self defense where people don't even remember hearing the
shots they fired, etc. The sensory overload of the incident makes you
forget a lot of things.


-Mike
 
Oh yeah, by the way, do any of you think the concussion and recoil of any of the above mentioned rifles compare to a 12 gauge shotgun shooting slugs?

IMO shotguns are worse than just about everything you've mentioned, of
course with shotguns the amount of p3wnage you get in the shoulder
depends on a few different things:

-The load the shotgun is running. reduced recoil slugs arent any worse
than birdshot. Magnum slugs, 00 Buck, and any 3.5in shell is terror
in comparison. IMO some 12G loads can impart more recoil energy
than most -common- rifle calibers. The only things that seem to punt
more are the dangerous game calibers. (eg, the ones far above 30-06 ).

-Wether you're holding the gun correctly.

-What the gun is. A rem 870 pump with a butt pad on it is not nearly
as bad as one of those old "kmart special" single shot shotguns that have
a solid plastic plate on the rear end of it. Many automatic shotguns
can tame the recoil considerably. Many pumps equipped with a Knoxx
recoil system can also shave the edge off quite a bit.

Out of the three though, holding it right is by far the most important... if
you hold the rifle or shotgun -tight- against your shoulder, then there is
minimal pain/discomfort, except maybe with the heaviest loads.

Out of all the ones you mentioned above, I think the M1 Garand and the
AR-15 are probably the easiest to shoot, recoil wise. In the case of the
Garand, it's mass and its gas system really sucks up the "percieved"
recoil. The AR-15 just has no recoil because the cartridge isnt
super potent. (although it certainly does bark pretty loud,
though.)

-Mike
 
We were shooting a Winchester semi-auto 12 gauge. It was at least 10 years old, and had minimal, if any, padding on the butt. It held 3 rounds. The adrenaline rush from anticipating the concussion and recoil is phenomenal. I'm 5'9 140 pounds. After watching my friend 6'5 315 pounds get the recoil, I knew I better be extra careful. I managed the 12 ga. but I think more experience would have been smarter before I try it again. Does a shorter barrel 12 gauge have more kick than a longer barrel? I wonder how big the shells we used were, possibly 3 inch.

I'm glad to hear the Garand is managable because that may be the first rifle I purchase. I'm not sure if I should go Miltech or get a CMP. If you paid 1,500 for a beauty of a Garand would it be worth using as your only rifle? Just curious. With the FID card, this seems about as good as it gets with power and capacity. Not to mention the historical significance, and one day I want to be a WWII collector.
 
We were shooting a Winchester semi-auto 12 gauge. It was at least 10 years old, and had minimal, if any, padding on the butt. It held 3 rounds. The adrenaline rush from anticipating the concussion and recoil is phenomenal. I'm 5'9 140 pounds. After watching my friend 6'5 315 pounds get the recoil, I knew I better be extra careful.

Yeah, no pad means its going to be relatively mean in terms of a bite, but proper holding of the thing still makes a big
difference. Sometimes over-anticipation of recoil doesn't help, either. [grin]


I'm glad to hear the Garand is managable because that may be the first rifle I purchase. I'm not sure if I should go Miltech or get a CMP. If you paid 1,500 for a beauty of a Garand would it be worth using as your only rifle? Just curious. With the FID card, this seems about as good as it gets with power and capacity. Not to mention the historical significance, and one day I want to be a WWII collector.

Well, it depends on wether or not you want to compete formally with it
or not. If you don't care about that and just want something thats
a useable rifle, you can get a decent M1 for $700-800 and even
less. (I'm not sure what the CMP ones are going for nowadays).

FWIW, I do agree with your assertion WRT an FID card... the Garand is
just about the best you can do with an FID if you want a semiautomatic
military battle rifle. I would imagine you can also get an SKS if
it only has the 10 round internal magazine, as well. An SKS is almost a
must have due to its relatively low cost.

-Mike
 
Dwarven I thank you for this post.

You're welcome. About the only advantage to getting older is that you get to make all your mistakes and you can try to help someone younger than you avoid making the same stupid ones! [wink] (and no, I don't consider myself old... but someone under 21 might. [smile] )


DAMN...aren't those 12 gauges powerful!!! LOL...Like I said, I really thought my teeth were going to shatter and my right shoulder sprained all in one powerful BOOM.
Oh, yeah... I feel your pain. I put 10 slugs through my Mossy at the NES Destroy a Car Shoot and had a HUGE bruise the next day. DR showed me his Knoxx Compstock and let me try a few rounds out of his shotty equipped with it, and the reduction in recoil was AMAZING. I'm getting one... Well, actually, the SpecOps version as I'm pretty short and this stock is adjustable for length.

I want to try some new guns those with historical significance.

Specifically:
M1 Garand
M1911 Colt

Oh yeah, by the way, do any of you think the concussion and recoil of any of the above mentioned rifles compare to a 12 gauge shotgun shooting slugs?
Betsy (M1) and Brother John (1911) are always up for a trip to the range! This weekend is out, alas, but if you PM me your email address I'll mail you when I'm going to hit the range next. As for recoil? NO WAY. Both are a pure pleasure to shoot... and my Mossberg with slugs and a factory stock is cruel and unusual punishment. [rolleyes]
 
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