A Cajun-Asian View

After 28 years of existing on this Earth, I can now finally say that I've handled a firearm. A friend and I went to the nearby indoor range (+1 Eyes Bleeding Warning: Gratuitous use of the blink tag!). He brought his .22 rifle that he got from his father-in-law along with two boxes of ammo for it, and we rented a 9mm Glock (Most likely the Glock 17) and purchased a box for it. Turns out that my friend had never shot a handgun either, so that was a new experience for both of us.

I've never been to any other ranges, so I don't have anything to compare to. But one thing did somewhat perturb me afterwards: The clerk asked if this was our first time at this range and we said yes, but he never did go over any range rules or relayed any safety advice with us and made sure we understood them. I really should have asked him about it instead of going ahead into the range and start shooting. That was a severe lapse in judgement on my part. I guess the combination of the clerks being pretty busy and the "newbieness" intimidation and excitement I always feel when trying something new got to me. Next time, I really need to swallow my pride and be insistent. In the end, no mishaps happened in my first session (outside of my friend's rifle jamming).

We got several paper targets and started with my friend's .22, since he has experience with shooting it several times already. After he takes his turn, I take my first forays of pulling the trigger of a firearm. And, well, the .22 is pretty fun to shoot at a target with. It could hold 7 rounds and I was able to empty it quickly because of the nearly nonexistent recoil (Not much more than the air rifles I remember shooting almost twenty years ago...). Strangely enough, I only remember the rifle jamming up once on me the entire session. In all, I think I fired about 60 rounds though it. On the other hand, it was jamming up on the fifth shot every time for my friend. I wonder why...

After we each took a turn with the .22, we went to start with the 9mm. One minor problem; neither of us has actually handled a real handgun! Luckily, the Glock is a rather easy handgun to figure out, and it didn't take too long to figure out how to release the empty magazine from the handle, load the magazine, and chamber the first round (Side Note: Why do such things like "figuring it out" don't occur to me as "BAD IDEA WITH HANDGUNS" until long afterwards? Sigh...). My friend took the first turn, and he was surprised at how loud it was; I did have to point out to him that he didn't put on ear protection. I had ear and eye protection on just about the entire time we were in the range. I like to keep my hearing, thank you very much.

As for me firing the Glock? Well, as expected, movies and video games do not at all prepare you with how much kick that even the 9mm Glock gives on each shot. Still, it didn't seem to affect me as much as it did my friend, though I do believe the fact that I outweigh him by 50 pounds (muscle mass built up from playing hockey, and we're going around the same height) might make a difference with that. We shot at targets at around 15 feet away (Again, hindsight suggests that we probably should have stuck with 7 feet for the handgun), and it was apparent that I was much steadier when firing.

I don't have any report of how accurate I was mainly because I was paying more attention to shooting at the target than about accuracy and, well, I'm not so sure as to how to measure that. Next time, though, I want to have someone experienced on hand (either a friend or go to a training class). I guess this really ends my report of my rather embarrassing first time at the range, though, again, there were no stupid mishaps, like accidentally discharging into the ceiling.

I am thinking about getting a .40 caliber Glock, like the Glock 27 like astro has, or the Glock 23 or even the 22, as a result of this experience, though it would depend on if my roommates are comfortable with me having one in the house. If I do get one, it would be strictly kept locked in the case unless I'm cleaning it or at the range. And no loaded magazines unless at the range, at least until I am very comfortable with handling it. I'm also wanting to go through and get a concealed carry license, though I might never actually carry the weapon on me in public. The reasons are really not out of a need of protection but something more academic. I guess I am the eternal student and learning how to fire and maintain a handgun was one thing that I've always wanted to learn.

• ‹ previous
• 71 of 114
• next ›