NRA Range Report and Museum

We went to the NRA range Sunday. Me, Trollop, MbtGE and his Boy.

Trollop had never been and I wanted her to see what a primo range looked like. Well lit. Twice as long, and with programmable target trolley controls. And it was pretty crowded. She had to take the safety test to get her card, but that was no biggee. We had to wait for a lane, anyway.

She was disappointed with her shooting. She feels like she lost her mojo. Just not hitting as well as she usually does.

Here is her target.

We kept pasting fresh Orange Peel sticker over old ones so this is late in the session after she improved some with practice. Her Springfield XD and all but one on the sticker.

Her .44 is fixed, thanks to the tip from maddog. You need to check those screws on your magnum when you clean to be sure they don't rattle loose.

Another thing Trollop needs to work on is finger discipline. She has to readjust her grip after cocking and that finger keeps trying to sneak into the trigger guard. THAT could lead to a nasty surprise.

You can see in the picture the results of my previous shooting, aiming at the head of the silhouette with the Sig 229. I was stinking up the joint, too. I aimed at the head to keep Trollop's target holes separate, but I wasn’t hitting anything. In fact, I managed to hit the innocent 'bystander' 30 feet behind and over the left shoulder of the target. One in the throat, one in the gut. THAT’s why you aim for center mass until you get REALLY good. And even then…

Here is some work with the 1911 I did after warming up:

THAT makes me feel like I’m progressing. Things are starting to click into place with me and the .45. My skill with the .40 is staying the same or dipping a little bit. The one closest to the bullseye was the 7th shot of .45, 21 feet.

Plus I got to try out MbtGE’s new Beretta CX4 Storm in .40. First impression? It is very easy to hit the paper, especially with generic dot-optics. But the gun has a little more kick than I’d have guessed. I did a cheek weld to the stock and it smacked back harder than the M1A. Still, a fun little gun. I like it. It’s easily tailored to your needs. If you want the safety and bolt on the right and the mag release on the left you can do that your own self.

After the range session we wandered up to the NRA Museum. Quite a lot of really nice pieces to look at. The most fascinating to me were the custom guns and prototypes. Like the shiny steel Thompson Machine Gun looking thing that look like it took M1 Carbine magazines.

My only beef was the item description. You need to get a reference work to carry around with you to match up the numbered item in the case with the entry in a book. I shoulda gotten the book. Maybe next time I’ll go alone, get the book, and spend some time over it.