A Day at the Range

Sunday, 1300hrs , Arrive home from church, refuel children, lay down girls, kiss wife, and then my weekly dilemma begins. Me and "The Boy" have the rest of the afternoon to wage all out war on the evil forces of paper, clay pigeons, and bowling pins. Its range time! But, I go through the same ritual each week, which guns do I take? I can't take them all, because If I got pulled over I would have a tough time convincing the police officer that I wasn't on my way to arm the local militia. So, I try to think about what I am going to work on that day and pack accordingly. The Boy is easy, his .22 cal Crickett is always a favorite, he also packs his grandfathers Smith & Wesson model 63, and now that he has the Stoeger 20 ga, it's usually with us to. I try to only take what I'm going to shoot, but that isn't so easy when I'm staring at a safe full of guns. Here lately It has been a little easier, me and The Boy have been working a lot on our pistol skills.(Which after months of preparing for hunting season has been much needed.) We have both taken quite a liking to IDPA, for those of you who don't know what it is, it stand for International Defensive Pistol association.(www.idpa.com) IDPA as a sport is the use of practical equipment to solve simulated real world self-defense scenarios. Grown up GI Joe training is another way to look at it. Standing on the firing line and putting holes in paper is great but, it can get a little mundane week after week. It adds a significant challenge to shooting, and its a lot of fun. The Boy fell in love with it right away and he does pretty good too. You would be amazed at how difficult it is to hit a 2'x3' piece of paper at 10 yards while you are walking, running or crouching. And if you think that's hard, try a 4" clay pigeon. As for weapons, my trusty Firestorm 1911 .45 auto has seen thousands of rounds on the IDPA range alone. I also run the course with my Olympic Arms AR-15. It makes a quite handy QCB(close Quarters battle) weapon. Well when we are not running around like schoolboys, we are probably at the 100yard rifle range. Another problem with the Socialist Republic of Maryland, not many long 200+yard ranges. If we want a farther target, we just have to get a smaller target. Well anyway, here is where I run into most of my problem. The majority of my guns are long guns. I have taken to a savage model 111 in .270 win. Its a flat shooting and accurate rifle that with the right ammo will print 3/4" to 1" groups all day long. I also favor a really cheap Russian surplus rifle from WWII called the M-44 carbine. Its a basic bolt action mosin nagant in 7.62x54. As for accuracy, at 100 yards it could perform its intended task, but not much more. It is fun to shoot, and is good for about 7 out of 10 clay pigeons @ 100yards. These are the guns that get the most lovin', but they all eventually get their barrels warmed.
When I think of the benefits of that range time that me and The Boy have, His love of guns, shooting, and being outdoors are among the biggest, but for a homeschooled child, it gives him a chance to interact with other that share his love of shooting. The ability of most 7 year old boys to hold an intelligent conversation with another child is rare, much less an adult. But all they need is a chance. Give them something that they love, and let them learn all there is to know about it and you would be amazed at what your child could do. Gavin hold conversations with grown men about everything from guns to homeschooling and people just get a kick out of it. Give your kids a love, whether it be shooting, building, sewing, or cooking it doesn't matter, if you love and feed it, there is no limit to how far they can take it. But if you give them nothing, that's what they'll be.