Better Late Than Never

*click to embiggify images*

I was sure I'd be getting hate mail by now, but it looks like the other blogmeet attendees have posted up nicely on the events of last Saturday.

As it turns out, four guys is plenty of fun at the firing range. Particularly when, between the four, you end up with ten pistols, six rifles/carbines, and around 1200 rounds of various caliber ammunition.

I learned a few things at this little soiree. First, Murphy is a good enough shot to make you look bad. Srsly. That said, if you EVER have the chance to go on a lead-flinging expedition with the man, take it. A finer range buddy, there is none. In addition, he was instrumental in the sighting in of my AR. Thanks again, Murph!

Next, I MUST HAVE a Springfield XD45. I mentioned this as a possibility after shooting my brother's XD9. Now there's no question. It's like it was made for me. It's the precious. We needs it.

Also, when the range is hot, never, EVER remove your eye protection. I did not. That said, if I had, I would likely have a very damaged right eye. We had two lanes, and there was a Dad at the lane to our left with a couple single-action .22 wheelguns and his son and daughter. One of them squeezed off a round, and some manner of projectile flew sideways out of the cylinder and right into my right cheek, exactly one inch below my right eye.

That. Shit. Hurt. Fortunately, no major damage.

I learned that ranges that are primarily for hunting tend to have stricter rules. Slower rate of fire, benchrest only, crap like that. Their range, their rules, but it still kinda sucks. The warning you read about at Murphy's? Yeah, that was me:)

I learned that the 7.62x54R round is pure, unadulterated evil. The Mosin-Nagant M44 carbine is a gun that truly kills on one end and maims on the other. The muzzle flash is impressive at worse, and monumental at best. WOW, that thing is fun to shoot!!!

The CZ-52 (7.62 Tokarev) was not nearly as vengeant on the shooter, but with a blooming flash of its own, the East Bloc pistol was a hit all its own. Fun to shoot, and brass all over the place that created weird looks on the faces of the brass-whores on the range. That pistol ran good, but needs some TLC. Another post...

I learned that 10% can pull off calm in the face of pretty explosive circumstances. He experienced a case head separation for some reason that let off quite the report and blew the magazine out of his Kel-Tec Sub 2000 (which, BTW, was two tons of fun to shoot. Want!). Aside from leaving quite a bit of spent powder on his hand, he was none the worse for wear. Phew!

I learned that I am mo-happy with my AR. That is hands-down some of the most fun I've ever had behind a gun! I'm so stoked; I've still got a ton of ammo for it! I may be forced to go shoot it up next weekend;)

Oh, and one other thing. Next time, I need to let everyone know how to find us next time we go! Every one of us that was there uses an psuedonym for blogging, and only one of us posts pictures of his face. If I'd caught that sooner, then Sabra may have joined us as well. Sorry, Sabra! I'll make it up next time, I promise!

Folks, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the meet. We're so totally doing this again sometime. Better planning, better hours perhaps. We'll keep you posted!

Murph, Firefighter4884, and 10%: thank you for making this a great time. I'm honored to know you all. I can't wait to do it again.

And to all who wanted to come but couldn't, maybe next time! We'll try to coordinate with Miss Phlegmmy so our meet isn't the weekend after hers, and maybe we'll get some rock star bloggers at ours!



tweaker