Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease

Cliff’s Notes version.

Since I was too busy having fun shooting, I only got a few photos.  TD doesn’t mind me posting things as long as his face isn’t shown, so I’ll be posting thumbnails after the cut at the end of the post, along with a link to a video of myself “cutting” a guy’s head off with bullets (i.e. shooting across the neck of the target silhouette).

I’ve never been to this range before, but Rustmeister has been quite a few times and is a member, so when he suggested it, I was curious to check it out.  Since I’m driving TD around, he really had no choice but to comply.  ;-)

Before we left, Rusty opened his gun safe and showed us his arsenal.  I know he doesn’t have quite the collection that some people have (*cough*Tam*cough*), but I was impressed, particularly because nearly every gun in there has a backstory.  It was neat.

After that, it was off to the range.

Guns I shot:

S&W-60 .38 snubby J-frame; Seecamp .32; M-1 Carbine .30; CZ-85 Combat 9mm; Kel-Tec .380; Beretta Bobcat 21 .22; Ruger Blackhawk .30 Carbine; S&W 3rd-Generation semi-auto 9mm (Rusty, get back with me on that model number, yeah?); and, of course, my XD-9.

The Blackhawk was first.  Hooooooly shit, that was fun.  It doesn’t have a hell of a lot of kick for what you’d expect, but damn, that thing makes fun boom and a pretty big fireball.  I shot a few rounds and then left it alone, since Rusty didn’t have a lot of ammo left for it, and we still needed some for the M-1.

The Kel-Tec was awful.  All three of us shot it, and all three of us had the same complaint:  our trigger fingers like to have been ripped apart by that damned thing.  A .380 that’s that light is just a bad idea.  And whoever thought of those grips should be…well, you know the rest.

I tried the S&W-60 the last time I shot with Rustmeister, and I remember that as the moment I decided that I never wanted to own a wheelgun.  I couldn’t control the damned thing.  Well, I figured I had several months of shooting under my belt, and a bit more confidence, so I tried again.  No such luck.  It was awful.  TD came over and landed 5 headshots, seemingly without trying.  I demanded that he tell me “how the fuck” he did it.  He told me something that made me kind of raise my eyebrow, but I tried his advice, and bam:  hit 5 out of 5 headshots.  And shooting with it?  Was actually EASY after that.  I shot one more set, then asked Rusty if he was still trying to sell it, which he confirmed.  So guys, I’ll have a new (to me) S&W-60 on Saturday, when I will be buying the gun from Rusty…while we’re at a gun show.  O NOES - A PURCHASE AT A GUN SHOW WITHOUT A BG CHECK!  Haha.  (for those who don’t know, if you buy a gun in TN from a private seller, you give them money, they give you the gun, and you’re on your merry way - I’m not sure how it works, exactly, but I guess if it’s not for commercial profit, you’re not obligated to report it?  I have no clue.  I only know that it’s awesome.)

The Seecamp restored my faith in tiny guns - that thing was awesome.  It shot where you pointed it.  It didn’t have a lot of recoil.  It’s TD’s carry gun of choice, and I can see why.  If it wasn’t $450, I would totally consider getting one.

Next was the M-1.  WOOOEEE!  That was awesome.  I want a rifle now.  I’d never shot one before today.  I can definitely see the appeal.

The Beretta was a “plinky” gun.  TD pointed out that if I didn’t think it was effective, I should go down the range and try to catch some of the bullets.  *rolls eyes*  That’s not what I mean when I say “plinky”.  I just mean that, compared to everything else I was shooting, it felt like I was shooting a cap gun.  I have no doubt that it’s effective - I mean, it shoots projectiles, doesn’t it?  If I find a .32, I’d like to try that out.

The CZ was great.  I’m not used to it, so my aim was off, but I enjoyed it.  It’s got a really solid feel, and it’s very satisfying to shoot.

The S&W 9mm was about the same - I liked the weight of it.

All-told, I shot about 200 rounds, and ended up using 200 rounds of one of the bricks that I bought at Bass Pro the other day - TD and Rusty helped with that, of course.

Photos and video link under the cut.

What Rustmeister brought with him:

TD:

We’re not allowed to do headshots at my usual range because of how the target clips are situated, so this was a novelty to me:

Mmm…boomsticks…

TD shoots the Blackhawk.  I was trying to get the flash, but no such luck.

TD and Rusty shoot ‘em up:

Rusty using up his .380 rounds:

Here’s the video of me shooting out the neck of the hapless silhouette.  (Sorry - no embedding until I change my blog format and update Wordpress.)  Apologies - the compression makes it pretty much impossible to see where the shots are landing.
Here’s what the target looked like when I was done:

We headed back to Rusty’s, and he showed us his beer collection.  I don’t think these need any explanation, and they’ll make a good ending to this post, I believe.

Cheers!