That if I'm ever attacked by brightly painted, clay pigeons, I should be able to successfully defend myself at least 50% of the time.
So, Greg and I hit Tenoroc range today, and unfortunately for my wife, I've found a new love in the world of things that go boom - clays. I can't tell you the difference between skeet, trap, and "Hey Leroy, hold my beer and throw this plate above your head and see if I can hit it with my eyes closed" but whatever it's called that we did today, I'm hooked. You walk from station to station and there's two machines that throw the pigeons out into the wood and you shoot them. If you like the station, shoot again. If you don't, you can leave.
It was a hoot. Even with my pump action Mossberg 500A, I did pretty well for my first time, especially when I started getting the 'feel' for it. Put the bead right below the pigeon, pull the trigger, and follow through - watch as little pieces of clay go flying off. I had waaaaaay too much fun, though, because now I want to start doing that more often. It combines the nice little walk like you get in golf with shooting stuff, so it's like twice the relaxation.
Did pretty good on the rifle range as well. I'm not accustomed to the outdoor range with hot & cold stuff and made a few etiquette faux pas as well as pelted the guy next to me with super hot 6.8 brass (had to move because I was generally hitting the guy in the face) so I absolutely must get a brass catcher both to keep my brass, which I lost a few, and to not annoy other people.
The iron sights worked pretty damned good. My front post is a little low as at 50 yards I should have been shooting high but was actually dead on. The rear BUIS kept flipping down after each shot, so I'm going to fix it to sit upright the whole time.
I was totally stoked about my M44 performance. At 50 yards, I kept pretty much every shot in the target. That rifle, while definitely able to be a sniper rifle, isn't and being able to hit minute-of-bad-guy is perfectly fine with me. During a Waste Material Connecting With an Atmospheric Mover Unit type of situation, I'll grab the EBR, but push comes to shove, I can still defend myself with a 60+ year old bolt action.
Greg, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Using the same ammo I was, he kept splitting the cases with his Mosin. It appears his may have reached the end of its serviceable shooting life. The RO offered to buy it from him on the spot, but it was Greg's first rifle and holds a special place for him. I know the feeling, 'cept for me it's like every firearm I own is a first something and I'm attached to it.
We also shot his SKS a bit and his 30.06 which, while having a cartridge that made the 7.62x54R look a wee bit small, had a hell of a lot less kick. Of course, the 30.06 hurts the wallet a bit more than the surplus Bulgarian stuff.
What a great day. I skipped coffee in the morning since I didn't want to shake and paid for it dearly with a horrific caffeine headache by the time I got home, so I won't be doing that again. Food and a bit of coffee is important before heading out to shoot. Can't wait to do that again (and sorry, Stacy, next time I'll drop you a line!)
Now for the not-so-fun part of cleaning everything.