Met son Kevin at Cambridge range today about 1:30. Right on time
even, that may be a first for him. We'd agreed to have a range date,
intro to a few rifles and handguns. Whaddadad, right?
Kevin is 37, y'all know how old I am. Well, better late than never.
He's a busy guy.

We had a swell time. Spent the whole afternoon, didn't depart until
5:30. Gorgeous day. 58, sunny, very light breeze, autumn showing its
colors. Flannel shirt weather in MN.

Oldfart No-el and a bud were at the rifle range, occupying 6 of the 8
benches. I asked him if they planned to be there awhile. He said
"yup". Hm. Seems like they could have been a bit more accomodating
than that, but oh well. We know how oldfarts can be, right? I said
we'd go do handguns for a while because the target frames we'd want
to use (100 yd) are not visible from the remaining benches they didn't
have covered with their stuff. I was polite. Folks tend to be polite
at shooting ranges for some reason. It isn't like golf.

We shot handguns for a while. That was fun. Knocked down some
bowling pins, blew up a gallon milk jug full of water with a .357
using a full-magnum hollowpoint load, etc etc. Shot up some paper,
of course. Kevin did quite well for a newbie. Heck, he did quite
well for anyone. I didn't shoot all that well today -- and I didn't
care a bit. HFIJ1, Having Fun Is Job 1.

We then repaired to the rifle range. No-el was leaving, otherguy was
a whole lot more accomodating -- and he was leaving too. Awright!
Otherguy showed us his as we showed him ours. That always takes a few
minutes. Friendly guy. He had a handgun that'd stop a grizzly if
not a locomotive. That sucker would motivate Dirty Harry to deposit a
masonry unit in his shorts. Looked like pain to me, but some guys do
enjoy those boomers. I can see how a bit of wrist discomfort might
be acceptable if it stops a grizzly with a bad attitude.

After a bit of intro using the .22-250 rifle (which I'm SURE needs a
nice new Nikon scope hint hint but we bravely mucked along), Kev
tried the little Czech .223. He fired two rounds at a small groundhog
silhouette target. His first two rounds almost went thru the same
hole. He didn't believe me when I'd said that (I was spotting thru
the spotting scope) but a 100-yd hike downrange confirmed it. It
looked like one hole in his 16X riflescope but I was pretty sure it
was a doublet with my 45X spotting scope. That inexpensive little CZ
rifle has no business shooting that well, but it does. I got a jewel
with that one. The kid ain't bad either.

He shot no more at that target. I think he wanted to keep it to show
his girlfriend. I don't blame him. Awright, I encouraged him. Not
bad shooting at 100 yards with a little rifle that doesn't weigh 7 lb.
The shooter wasn't bad either.

We weren't done yet. The effect that the .223 had upon a very,
very ripe tomato at 100 yd was flat amazing. Said tomato was dead
ripe a week ago so I decided it would make a better target than
sandwich today. (Mary's on travel, 'nuff said.) Transport from
kitchen to range very carefuly in baggie. Had no doubt at all
that Kev could/would hit that leaky tomato first shot after his shots
at the groundhog. I asked him if he'd rather shoot or watch. It's
not an easy choice: hitting is a hoot but watching is too. He
elected to shoot. Thought he might. Hoped so. I watched thru the
spotting scope. The recoil of the .223 is so mild that he got to see
the show too.

Pink mist it was not: more like pink atoms. The tomato simply
disappeared. Vaporized. Gone. Effect on an 0.5 liter water bottle
is pretty spectacular, but the tomato was a real surprise. Made us
laugh out loud and utter ungentlemanly exclamations like "HOLY
----!!!!"

Did I mention that we had us a good ol' time? Gawd, that was fun.
HFIJ1.

I'm invited to a shoot week after next with some former work
colleagues and a bud of theirs that's a deppity shurf who is said to
have many amusing war stories. That should be interesting and fun.
I'm looking forward to it.

Gunsmoke is heart healthy! Obama's gun-control attitude would
suppress the development of father-child bonding and would impair the
health and longevity of our senor citizens with cardiac issues. Sarah
may not have informed opinions on supreme court judgements but she
certainly knows about gunsmoke.

Don Foreman wrote:

Met son Kevin at Cambridge range today about 1:30. Right on time
even, that may be a first for him. We'd agreed to have a range date,
intro to a few rifles and handguns. Whaddadad, right?
Kevin is 37, y'all know how old I am. Well, better late than never.
He's a busy guy.

Ah good story and I'm sure you cleaned up the range trash.

Where is Cambridge at?

Wes

--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

On Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:13:06 -0400, Wes wrote:

Don Foreman wrote:

Met son Kevin at Cambridge range today about 1:30. Right on time
even, that may be a first for him. We'd agreed to have a range date,
intro to a few rifles and handguns. Whaddadad, right?
Kevin is 37, y'all know how old I am. Well, better late than never.
He's a busy guy.

Ah good story and I'm sure you cleaned up the range trash.

We did indeed. Folks are good about that here.

Where is Cambridge at?

50 minutes north of the twin cities up Hwy 65. The range is
on a gravel road a coupla miles from Cambridge.