Gone Shooting

I went out shooting today with my buddy Matt.

It was my first time (well, technically it was my third time) shooting a handgun and it was a total blast.

We shot at an indoor range attached to a gun shop and the place was hopping. There was a line to get into the ranges and lines at every counter with folks looking at, holding, buying, and talking about guns and ammo. It actually took us an hour to get our turn in the range.

Clearly I'm going to need more work if I'm going to be a handgun shooter and/or compete in 3-gun matches (rifle, pistol, and shotgun) because my entire first magazine, aimed at the Police silhouette's chest area, went into the area between the belt and the knees. OUCH! That's right, I didn't manage to kill the bad guy but I made sure he was no longer able to reproduce.

Matt gave me some pointers and the next magazine got me closer to the "5X" target in the center of the chest but I still didn't manage to hit it. There are plenty of things to do wrong when holding a handgun that will allow shots to wander. Muzzle flip, loose wrists, too much finger against the trigger, and more can throw off the intended trajectory even at the 21' (7 yards) target we were shooting.

Finally, on the third magazine, I hit the chest. Then I hit it again. Then a third shot right between the first two. Hurray! I was finally getting what the sight picture was supposed to look like. Then the fourth round went low and to the left. Oops.

I shot a total of 100 rounds yesterday and will probably shoot more the next time out because it only took me 20-30 minutes to go through all the rounds I brought. I ended up hitting the "5X" on all three silhouettes I brought and many, many more spots on the target, off the target, and even two just off the paper.

I've now got my three targets hanging up in the basement and was going over them last night to see how I did and find many groups of three or four shots in 1" groups but still 12" from the center of the target so I'm going to have to figure out how to bring my groups up.

Next time I think I'll use some different targets so I can figure out what my sight picture has to do with where the bullets are going. It took me a year to figure it out with the muzzleloader and, once I understood what it was supposed to look like, put three shots through a .75" hole at 100 yards.

I really enjoy shooting and would like to do lots more of it going forward.

Thanks Matt for coming along, providing me with instruction, and picking up the range time and targets on your dime. I had a blast and will return the favor the next time you're out this way.

Thanks for reading,


B