Last night I got the sheer pleasure of meeting Greg from West, By God along with his wife and a friend of theirs. This is the first blogger I've ever met face to face so that was kind of an event. We met at Shoot Straight for a night of poking holes in paper and making Sarah Brady soil her Depends.

Since I had to deal with the little ones last night, we couldn't get there until 7:45 PM and they closed at 9. Unfortunately, the rifle range was full so we shot pistols. Greg liked the 10mm, but still says he won't carry a Glock because he prefers a handgun with a safety you can click.

When the call for 15 minutes to closing was made, one of the guys on the rifle range packed it up and went home. Greg rushed in there to let me fire his SKS and M44. We didn't have much time so he let me shoot one clip in each (and yes, these things use clips to load the magazine). I tried to get a target out, but it fell off, so I just shot at little dots at the back of the range.

The SKS was nice. Good solid boom and an odd muzzle flip to the right. Comfortable in my arms and I liked the iron sights. I'm just an open sight kind of guy I guess.

Then came the Mosin Nagant M44. Oh. My. God. That thing would scare the shit out of dead people. The sheer concussion from the blast made me see stars (and that's not a joke or an exaggeration). The other rifle range occupants stopped what they were doing to watch.

Can't vouch for accuracy, but it's another one of those "if I don't hit you with the bullet, the fireball will roast you" kind of deals.

And since I found some for only $65, I'm picking one up. Can't pass on that deal, knowing how fun that was to shoot. I'm not done with rifle purchases, but that should hold me off for another year or so. Plus, I can reload 7.62x54mm so that makes me even happier.

My shoulder literally has tiny bruises where blood vessels popped and is sore as hell. But the soreness is nowhere near as bad as my jaws are from smiling so damn hard.

Thanks Greg!