Range Run Report, June Afternoon

Temps in the 80's. 100% sunshine. What's not to like?

I was surprised to see a large ... I mean very large tent still set up behind the pistol range. This puppy took up almost the entire parking area. Range Officer told me they were still squaring away the range after last weeks open house. He estimated attendance near 1,000 folks.

Pic from '05 Open House. Maybe 1/3 the size as this years cover

My friend, the Barrister of the Berm, rolled in and we proceeded to the sign-in shack.
Next to the shack was a Norman Rockwell-ish scene of Grandpa and Grandson taking a S&W M29 out for some fun. Out of 50 lanes, two (2!) were occupied. This was gonna be good. Plenty o' elbow room. This is why I try to make range runs in the middle of the week.

Target at 10 yards for some sort'a close work.

I had brought a S&W M36 to play with. @#$%@ autofocus fail.

Bo'B brought his SIG SAUER X-CHANGE Kit™ with the ability to switch out slide and barrel, from 9mm to .22lr ... a sweet set-up. The shooting commenced and was truly unremarkable. Meaning that everything worked as it was supposed to.  No surprises, no malf's, (well 1 failure to extract with the Sig). The Barrister of the Berm, who's a new-ish shooter, hadn't shot a snubbie before, so he took a turn at it.

No scootin', no runnin', no watermelons allowed ... just the basics.

After a leisurely hour and a half of working on basics, we headed over to the 100 meter range.

Oddly shaped bench in foreground is for handicapped accessibility

ISRA range has 100 YARDS and 100 METER ranges. We picked the 100m since there was only 1 other shooter there. As we set up, I half-jokingly remarked that I want my boys to spread my ashes here after I'm gone. Really. I love this place. On a Wednesday afternoon in June, we had, for all practical purposes, a private range. About an hours drive from Mordor on the Lake.

Meanwhile, an hours drive away ... no fun

Bo'B and I took turns firing the M1A from a sandbag on the bench. After my recent case separation snafu's, I just wanted to confirm the rifle was running right. So ... I brought some new, store bought ammo, as well as reloads. Again, I'm happy to report that the session was unremarkable. Factory ammo worked flawlessly. Reloaded ammo was some old stuff that I just wanted to burn off. Some of the soft point tips were slightly deformed from storing bullet point down (D'oh!). Didn't expect great accuracy from these, and that's exactly what I got.

We took our time at a sedate pace. Barrel stayed cool. Conversation was shared. Current events were discussed between shooters turns. Iced tea was poured, and cancer sticks burned.

Bottom line on the whole outing? Sometimes it's not about the guns. Sometimes it's not about how small the 5-shot group is on the target. Sometimes its about just relaxing, having fun and socializing.