The Second Half of Shooting

Clean your gun!  Good grief!

I just bought a used .22 and I could tell as I was looking at it in the store that it hadn’t been cleaned in a while.  The saleslady said, “I bought it from a guy who hardly shot it and sold it because he needed the money.”  The grime in and around the receiver told me he might have waved a toothbrush at it once.  “Hardly shot it” didn’t sound right to me.  So home I came with it, and I tore it apart,  and I scrubbed and scraped and picked and swabbed and oiled and smoothed and NOW I have a clean gun.

Same thing happened a few years ago with a Remington 552 Speedmaster (.22) that I bought from a local pawn shop.  It was FILTHY.  Thick black gunk fell out of it when I pulled it apart.  I’ve never seen a gun that dirty.  Who in their right mind never cleans a gun?  It’s pretty easy to do.  Does it take time?  Sure.  Is it fun?  Well—that depends on how you define “fun.”  Is it satisfying?  Absolutely.

It also helps you figure out how the gun works.  I always poke around a little bit to see what’s what.  It’s nice to know what goes on when you load a weapon and pull the trigger.

And it’s a great way to teach your kids patience and the value of a job done well. 

Happy Valentine's Day, Honey. Here's your Ruger.

Recently, my wife bought a pillow.  A day later I bought a gun.  And we were talking about them. . . .

My wife: “If you had bought this pillow for me on Valentine’s Day I would have hugged you.”

Me: “If you had bought this [here I point at the rifle] on Valentine’s Day I would have hugged you.”

My wife laughs at this.

Me: “Seriously.”

My wife: “I would never buy you a gun.”

Me: “But what if I told you which gun to buy?”

My wife: “That would take the fun out of it.”

Me: “Yeah.”

And I think to myself: Yeah, I should probably buy my own guns.

My wife is awesome.

You have a GUN in the house???

The other day a teenager told me she didn’t know you could own a gun in America.  She had just learned about the 2nd Amendment.  At first I got wound up for political reasons, but then I thought, you know,  she’s a girl, so that’s one strike against her as far as having someone teach her about guns (I know—sad, but true).  Next I thought: well, she probably has a dad who isn’t a gun guy.  Maybe his dad wasn’t a gun guy.  Now, I’m sure there is a War for Independence veteran somewhere way back up the family tree, but unfortunately he's not around anymore to teach anyone about all the reasons we need to own guns.  Finally I felt sadness—sadness because that little girl grew up in a home without a gun. 

Can you imagine living in a home without a gun?  That sounds awful. Think of all the fun you’ve had with firearms throughout your life (maybe you’re a newcomer—but there’s a reason you’re here, right?).  Now imagine a home where everyone sits around and smiles pleasantly and unimaginatively at each other, where no little kids run willy-nilly through the living room yelling “Pow!  Pow!  Pow!  I got you!”  Imagine a home where boys don’t make guns out of My Little Ponies.  Or imagine a little boy or a little girl—your kid's friend—who comes to your house and hears you talking about a gun.  Imagine the look of wonder that would come over his or her face, the look of attraction to the mysterious forbidden treasure.  Imagine what would happen if your kid needed to defend himself, and had access to a gun, but didn’t know how to load or shoot it.  Ugh.  Lord have mercy.

Kids should grow up with a gun in one hand and a book in the other.  I’m dead serious.

Punching Holes. Making Memories.

When our family was living in Colorado Springs, we heard about (not sure how) Dragonman’s, a place just east of town.  It was a gun store, a shooting range, a military museum, and generally a place with a LOT of masculinity and gunpowder.  We went out to shoot and had a great time.  In fact, I think it is the first my wife and I went shooting together (when she saw me surfing around Dragonman's site this afternoon she said, "Hey, look!  We were there!").   

It was a surreal place.  When you turn off the highway and onto the property, you are treated to some smile-inducing sights: there is a full-sized devil next to a “Warning!  This spot might be for you!” and there are cars riddled with bullet holes.  There is a wrecked car next a sign which reads: “Caught stealing from Dragonman.  Shot Feb 1 1992.  Didn’t get far. . .they’re still in the car!”  And yes, there are bloody mannequins in the car. . . .  It really is an experience—even an attraction.  In fact, it has a page dedicated to it in a Colorado Springs Tourist Guide.   

I don't know about you, but there's nothing like going shooting and having it turn into an experience.  I have a group of friends who like to shoot, and there is (usually) lunch or supper afterwards.  That leads to more conversation than you typically get at a shooting range (“What???” Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! “Whadja say?”), so it’s nice to sit around and see where the conversation goes.  It's easy to recommend a place like Dragonman’s for more than a trip to a range.  It makes for great memories, especially for kids.  I want my kids to remember times like that, places like that.  Those times, those places--they stick, and as life rolls on they will be awesome mile markers in our relationships.  I don't know about you, but I want to make memories like that.     

What gun? THIS gun!

I found IMDB a few years ago. . . .  It’s the Internet Movie Database, and it provides all sorts of movie info.  The thing for which I’ve used it the most is to identify the name of Actor Such and Such in Movie X.  In the years since the website has expanded significantly.  It’s a good clearinghouse for all sorts of movie info.  Imagine my surprise and delight when, a year or so ago, I found the IFMDB, which is the Internet Firearms Movie Database.  Want to know what rifle Tom Selleck used in Quigley Down Under?  The IFMDB reveals it’s the Shiloh Sharps 1874 Long Range Rifle.  The website provides a picture of the weapon, and a screen capture from the movie, and then tells us about it, noting the following:

“[This is the] Uberti Sharps 1874 Long Range with 34" barrel, fitted with Vernier sight. The film credits the actual rifle used as being manufactured by Shiloh Rifle Mfg., Big Timber, MT. Differences between that and the Uberti can be seen in the photo - The tang sight windage adjustment is at the base on the Uberti while it is on the slider of the Shiloh's sight. The Shiloh has a patch box in the stock which the Uberti does not, and the Shiloh has the curved military butt plate compared to the Uberti's straighter shotgun butt.”

It’s a great website, and it has helped me find out all sorts of info.  Want to know what guns Tom Selleck used in Magnum, P.I.?  (Who wouldn’t?)  Click here to find out!

Anyway, go surf around on the site.  It’s pretty cool.

A Rebel With a Mauser

Han's blaster

When I was a kid I wanted a blaster like the one Han Solo carried in Star Wars.  I was watching the original movie the other day and it was interesting that, for me, the whole story picked up when Han entered the picture.  Then I realized it got exciting because Han was an outlaw and a renegade, and he carried a cool gun.  Luke didn’t show up in the movie with a weapon, so he was a bit of a pansy (I call ‘em like I see ‘em).  Han, however, wore that blaster like it was a part of him, and man oh man didn’t I want to be Han Solo!  Of course, I also wanted to be Luke Skywalker (I liked the Jedi Mind Trick thing), but the renegade with a pistol on his hip was too good to be true.  All my friends wanted to be Han Solo, too, and one kid even had the gun.  Which we all borrowed.  A lot.

Mauser C96

Luke’s weapons were boring.  He borrowed them—heisting a gun from a stormtrooper he’d just pounded, picking one up, etc, etc. . . .  Han’s blaster was unique.  In fact, according to the Internet Movie Firearms Database (more on that this weekend), the blaster was modeled after a Mauser C96 and was “the best known duplicate of a real gun [in Star Wars].”  I always liked the “broomhandle” grip and the box-ish sort of look.  It stood out—no one had a gun like that.  

So who would you rather be: (1) boring Luke from boring Tatooine with his boring blaster, or (2) Han Solo, a cool outlaw who carried a cool weapon and knew how to use it?    

Seriously?  It’s no contest.  Han—hands down.

Louis L'Amour, Anyone?

I need to get a hold of some of those books—especially the Sackett series.  I remember reading them and thinking how incredibly cool the Sackett boys were.  Here are a couple favorite LL moments, stories I still tell:

1. I remember a story in which the bad guy feels something punch him and when he looks down at his stomach he notices a shirt button is missing.  Then he hears the distant report of a rifle and realizes he’s been shot.  The hero (one of the Sacketts, I suppose) has made the button disappear by driving it into him in a spectacular example of marksmanship.  I still remember how I reacted when I read that scene: what a great shot, and what a great shooter!  Cool as a cucumber.  Why can't I be a cowboy?

2.  I remember another story in which the main character is sitting by the fire at night, but he won’t look into the flames.  Naturally, all the city slickers would—because we're dopes.  Our Western Hero won't look into or even at the fire because he wants his eyes to adjust to the darkness quickly, if need be.  Adjusting your eyesight from the brightness of the flame to the darkness outside the firelight would be difficult, and a shooter who waste those precious moments could find himself dead on the ground next to his precious campfire.  That’s another “western tip” I remember.  Of course, it’s one I’ll probably never use.  But I know it if I need it, and G.I. Joe says that knowing is half the battle.

Today’s directive: get acquainted with Louis L’Amour.