[HTML1]
I made the trek to Greenfield Massachusetts this Labor Day weekend to shoot the breeze with ace firearms parts and tools fabricator Scott Conti. Scott and I are working on a new sighting system that is, quite simply, the best sighting system in the history of the world ever. But you know how it is. You go to the range to “work” on something and you end up doing something funner than hell. Shooting bowling pins at 25 yards with my Colt 1911 MKIV Series 70 Jim Clark Customs “Bowling Pin” model? Priceless. What’s the most fun you’ve had at the range lately and ever?
Golf.
Robert – where in Greenfield is this located? I went to high school up the road in Mt. Hermon
Most fun I’ve had was shooting a subgun match with my NFA PPSh-41.
Renting full-auto machine guns at an indoor range was tops for me!
next up:
Going to the range with my new KNOXX recoil reduction stocks for both my mossberg shotguns and shooting them both.
The breechers grip and the adjustable Gen II stocks work as advertized and firing my Just in case II mossberg pump one-handed was just plain awesome!
Next up will be to find out if I can put a breechers grip on Serbu super shorty.
Then it will be time to tryout those new bump-fire stocks to see how much fun they can be.
Off brand soda costs about $2 a 12 pack… great cheap “reactive” targets for plinking at the farm.
Totally. 500 gr S&W 500 through a coke can. Lots of fun.
Yup. Cheap soda rocks! Also, thrift stores are a treasure trove of good targets. Lawn ornaments, toys, old kitchen appliances, you name it, i’ll shoot it
Get cheap mineral water – its not so sticky
The guns and I enjoy long walks on the beach and watching the sunset. Sometimes we go hiking and windsurfing. We like to go out dancing and eating at nice restaurants. But sometimes we like to stay home and unwind with a nice cleaning. You know the normal kind of stuff you do with your guns
Now that there was FUNNY!!!!! Two thumbs up!
You windsurf with a gun? Could you provide some details please?
during my military days we were training with a group of marines and the man in charge was a gunnery sargeant. after the real training was done the gunny brought out an m14, which had been replaced by the m16 at this time.
those of us that had done well with the m16’s at 300 yards got to touch off a few rounds at 600. i had always envied the ranges the corps had and this place just re-enforced my jealousy. great day and i even managed to learn a few things.
Shooting steel. Nothing is a bigger buzzkill than having to wait five or ten minutes to find out how well you’re shooting, and set up new targets. Instant feedback=instant gratification!
Robert,
Are you going to be doing a post on your sights soon? Really interested to see what kind of shape that project takes.
When I was a kid, old cans of Coke and beer were my favorite targets. I would hold my .22 bolt action in my right hand, shake up and throw the can with my left, and bust it before it hit the ground. I loved the smell it left behind…..
Most fun EVER at the range was the day my sister-in-law outshot 6 NJ police officers on the other end of the range. My brother, his wife and I were there to basically just to get some practice in shooting paper targets. The cops were blasting at silouette targets about 30 feet to our left. Then by chance, both groups, (us and the cops) decided to shoot bowling pins. None of the cops cleared all six pins even after emptying their semi-auto pistols. But my sister in law cleared all six with 6 shots from her .357, as did my brother. I sadly only cleared 5 with 6 rounds from my revolver. The cops that were previously slapping high fives and hooting after every target shot suddenly got quiet, packed their gear and left. Hmmmmmm…. good times
A friend and I refilled empty gallon milk jugs with red water and tried to hit them with shotgun slugs at 200 to 300 yards. That was challenging and fun.
Even better was a 5 gallon latex paint bucket. After using all the paint, I refilled it with water and re-sealed the lid. There was still enough paint residue on the walls of the bucket to make the water inside look white. Of course you cannot just shoot the bucket with a slug from a 12 gauge shotgun. You have to hang it on a 20 foot rope from a tree branch and make it swing toward you like a pendulum … and then shoot it as it is swinging toward you. The giant white cloud when the bucket exploded was very rewarding.
My favorite event involved an expired can of condensed milk and a .357 Magnum revolver. My revolver has a 4 inch barrel and I was shooting 158 grain bonded hollow points at 1400 fps. I placed the sealed can of condensed milk about 20 feet away and maybe three feet off the ground. I assume I hit the can perfectly because the can and its contents literally disappeared. I could not find a single piece of metal or a single drop of milk anywhere within a 40 foot radius. I noted an ever so faint fogginess in the vicinity as well that I presume was the milk.
I have a “Home made” dualing tree 6 swing targets, 3/8 thick The 2 on top are smaller. On the verry top is a 3 sided 2 inch “Pin-wheel” getting it to spin is blast.
Never need re-placing and two of us trying to get all 6 on the oponents side is FUN
Using a 22cal pistol and 75ft away is a challange.
Night shooting. Old water bottles with glowsticks inside. Hang them from wood brackets at various ranges, and play “find your reticle”. The rewarding part is the Predator like green splashes from the best hits. =)
see, that’s 1 of the things i like about this site. glow stick targets for night fire. i would’ve never thought of that .
A few years ago we had an older tech guy come fix our computer. He distinctly told us that when we retired obsolete models we had to take out the hard drive and destroy it thoroughly before throwing it away because they still hold personal info information even after being shut down.
Since then all broken computers in my house get a 12 gauge lead massage before being tossed. it’s quite fun
You can score bowling balls cheap at Goodwill or Salvation Army. We found out what they look like on the inside with a Mosin-Nagant and an SKS.
What do I do for fun with my gun(s)? Shoot them. A lot.
A couple weeks ago some people brought Tannerite to the place I use as a range. They had a lot of it — filled several small bottles and made little explosions everywhere. The big finale was 1 pound of Tannerite under half of a 50-gallon drum. Made a great big boom, pieces of the plastic barrel flew a good 40 feet in all directions, and filled the valley with smoke.
Very fun to see, but that’s a once in a blue moon type thing.
One of my favorite things is what I call my “zombie drill.” I set up 5 milk jugs filled with water at various points between 30-50 yards away, load 6 rounds in the 30-30, and explode them all as fast as I can. Every once in a while I spice things up by lining up cantaloupes instead and executing them for their heinous flavor crimes. Doesn’t seem to be much of a deterrent (they keep showing up in fruit salads no matter how many I splatter across the landscape), but it makes me feel better seeing at least a couple of those vile globes get what they deserve.
My son and I also stage little competitions all the time to see who can hit several targets the fastest or with the fewest shots. We get hundreds of foodservice can lids (basically coffee can size) from the school lunch staff, and they’re great targets — visible without optics at long range, and it’s easy to see your hits at short range. One of my favorite things to do is set them up at 12-25 yards and shoot them as fast as we can with our lever-action .22’s. One point for each hit on the target, and 5 points to whoever finishes first. Every once in a while he beats me. 🙂
i’ve long since accepted the fact that my kids can now outshoot me. but i make them bring their a game when we get together and start shooting.
Just shows that you did your job well as a parent, IMHO.
managed to get a slidefire stock to work on my S&W M&P 15-22. made lots of friends at the range that day, go figure.
On a regular basis, the 200-yard metallic silhouette shoots for .22LR rifles at the local rifle range. Hitting a ram at 200 yds (or a turkey at 150 yds) with a .22LR is a challenge, plus a lot of “immediate feedback” satisfaction.
On an occasional basis, the “Frozen Chosin” shoot at the Nampa (Idaho) Rod and Gun Club in January – 200 yard Korean-era rifle shoot (Garands, ’03 Springfields, etc.) at Army-style OD silhouette targets, in a timed event, with 4-man squads. Cold, lots of ammo downrange, politically incorrect, and a blast.
I shoot coconuts with my Mauser at long range.
Sometimes it’s just dinner and a movie. Occassionally we’ll go out dancing or just a concert. But when she’s in the right mood… I start by turning putting on some soft, smokey, slow blues. Turn down the lights…
Comments are closed.