Tag Archives: target practice

May31

A flight of New England Fancy – A bit of Archery

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…


Sunday, 24-Apr-2022


Man… how longs it been since I drew back a bowstring?

I think… Hood River, maybe? I’ve been to the shooting range a few times in the last few years, but the archery range? Yeah, man… I can’t think of the last time I’d been.

I had Sunday free. A few tentative plans, but overarchingly I was free to set my own timelines. I chatted with Daniel, Liz, the whole crew, and we came up with a slightly ambitious timeline for the day… starting off with me stopping by an old haunt from when I worked down in Stoughton at Artisan.

Ace Archers, out in Foxborough.

Back in 2014/2015, when I was working South of the City, I’d stop in at Ace every few weeks… sometimes more, if the week was going well. I’d rent a bow, shoot a few arrows, and feel fancy and like a slightly-less-accurate Robin Hood. Just as suave though, of course.


It was neat – the place hadn’t changed a bit in the years since I’d been. They didn’t have my info on hand anymore, to the surprise of no one, but soon enough I was checked in and launching arrows downrange. Wasn’t even half-bad, if I may say so…

Sep30

Getting in my vaguely regular practice at the range – 22-Sept-2020

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Tuesday, 22-Sept-2020

 

I have various skill sets that I try to keep fresh – driving in the snow, for example.  Not skills that I’d always need, but ones that I feel are important enough to spend time keeping at least vaguely fresh.

One of those is hitting a target with a gun – Not something I’d hopefully ever need, but something that I feel is a good thing to keep at least competent at.

 

So, Laurel and I headed to the range after work on Tuesday.

It’s a range that I’d been to before – it’s actually underground, strangely enough, up in Washington.  Nothing super fancy, but definitely a solid setup.  Good safety precautions, pleasant staff… really all that I could ask for in a range.

We parked, signed in, rented a pistol, and headed in.

I mean… that’s really it.  We shot for about an hour, switching the pistol out once and then renting a rifle to complete the practice.  Just reminding ourselves how to load a magazine, how much recoil to expect, that sort of thing.  The range-master was excellent, and gave some really good tips too.

Simple, easy, and enjoyable.  With pizza afterward?  A good evening indeed.

 

Ohh, and here’s the pictures.  Did pretty well for not having shot in a few years.  Even better – they had a COVID-19 target, so… I saved us, guys.  Shot it dead.  All better now, right?

Jan8

Christmas in Arizona: Heading to the rifle range with Dad

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A southwestern Christmas – Vacation in Arizona

Sunday, 22-Dec-13 through Saturday, 28-Dec-13

 

Thursday, 26-Dec-13

  • We actually get ourselves moving this morning, in a quite quick and efficient manner… as scary and impossible as that sounds.
  • Look into shooting ranges over breakfast; a nice and simple affair of coffee and muffins. We find a range nearby at the Pima County fair grounds, and after fighting with their website for half an hour, find the hours of operation. Finally.
  • Guns and rifles, pistols and Ammo! All of it gets packed up, secured, and stowed into the truck. A case for everything, and everything in its case.
  • Head to the range, and go shooting!
    • Firearms are something that I like to keep in practice with. In my opinion, the chance that I’ll ever truly need to use one, for hunting or anything else, is almost negligable. But, the penalty for failure in that situation is extreme – and keeping in practice isn’t a difficult proposition… so why not? And anyways, shooting holes in paper is a fun way to pass the time and hang out with my dad!
    • SKS, .22, 30-06, fun times. 100 yards and 200 yards. A quick note about the SKS – it’s a Vietnam-era rifle, used by the Chinese army. My dad got it years ago, and it’s honestly one of my favorite rifles; it’s wood, it’s simple, and it just seems to have a good personality (for a tool designed to kill). Not the most accurate though, so we spend a bit of time with the elk hunting rifle as well.
    • Pistol time! After a bit of a break, of course. Snacks and water and relaxation, watching some of the other folks shoot. I see one girl there with bullet plugs in here ears – literally .45 shells cleaned up, and popped into the gauged holes. Interesting… I am definitely in Arizona. I debated asking her if I could take a picture… but decided that her brothers and father may object. And since they had many firearms nearby… I took the wiser approach and stayed clear.
    • Ohh, and it’s cold, by the way. Not freezing, but windy and chilly. In the sun it’s tee-shirt weather, but once I’m in the shade? Yeah, I am quite glad that I have a nice jacket on.
    • Pistol time! .22 revolver, then the .44 revolvers, and Denises .45 Kimber semi-automatic. I have to say, I do enjoy the Kimber nearly as much as the SKS – it’s a simple gun; easy to strip and clean, and easy to load and fire. It works, and it’s well engineered. I love simplicity, and this is a perfect example of it.
  • After a while, head out and roll back to the house.
  • Home, dinner, and relaxation

I started aiming for the center, but to distinguish between, I ended up aiming for the corners too

Pistol target, .45 semi-auto & .44 revolvers, 25 yards

The scope was zeroed in at 100 yards, so this was basically the most accurate range that we had. Not bad for it being a few years since I shot last.

30-06 hunting rifle, with scope. 100 yards