Firearms Friday: The First Resolution

This will not be one of thee guns taken to the range!

Of the many plans that I made for the past year (and the years prior) one of the things that I never seemed to be able to make time for was heading to the range. The opportunities are few and far between these days. Heck, there are even other build projects and reviews that have been put off for month and those are just the things that I can think of off the top of my head. So, given that the holiday falls on a Friday, I guess one of the first resolutions that I will make is a very simple one… get to the range more often.

Given where we now live, the traveling logistics should be much easier. And now that things are slowly, very slowly, settling down, I might be able to find a little bit of time here and there for some range meditation. Of course, let me be clear that there is little chance that I can find a regular routine for this and I don’t expect to get out a lot but it would be nice get on the firing line more than a couple times over the course of the year.

Not only do I need to regain some proficiency but it will also allow me to assess what I need to work on (both new issues and old glitches). This applies to both my own shooting but also some of the builds and modifications that I have done over the past couple of years. It will hopefully allow me to get some training in while also working in some time for evaluations. If so, expect to be reading some reviews in the weeks and months to come. I am not going to say what I am going to write about but it is safe to say that many of these items have been mentioned before and many of the parts can be found in some of the lists that I have compiled over the years.

There are several AR parts and platforms that need some rounds down range. There are also some interesting (and not so interesting) handguns that need to be tested. And there are a number of people with whom I need to catch up and one of the best places (at least with that motley crew) to meet would be at the range. However, most importantly, I need to have that peace behind the trigger that allows me to forget the world for a few seconds as I focus on putting rounds on target. Maybe, put maybe, I can regain the proficiency that I once possessed.

Firearms Friday: Competition

There are a few types of competition that can be found on nearly every range. Some are obvious while others are completely foreign to those who have never been on a firing line. And, for many of us, despite our lack of success we continue coming back hoping to improve with each round down range.

The first competition is with yourself. You look to quite the rest of the world, focus on your mechanics, and perform well on the range. Sometimes the target shows you are able to focus while other times it is clear that you are thinking too much or you are unable to focus intensely on the objective at hand. For many of us who see ourselves as novices, it is a constant routine that we go through each time we walk up to the firing line.

The second type of competition I see every time I walk into a gun shop or step foot on a range. There are always firearms on display that you would like to have for yourself. I don’t care who you are, that thought always runs through your mind at least once. Sometimes it sprints, sometimes it is a brisk walk, but it is always moving through your mind. Thankfully, the majority of gun owners will let you fire a couple of rounds just to satisfy the mental itch. But it usually doesn’t last long and there are some people I see walk onto the line the next time with the same firearm that they were eyeing the previous week.

The third type of competition is the most obvious and the one that I am looking to pursue in the future. There are numerous clubs and competitions of all kinds in the area and even though I don’t expect to place well, I am eager to get out on the range and see what I am able to do. While I was never a precision shooter, my combat accuracy is pretty good so I would like to see if the range skills I have developed will translate to the steel plates.

However, the issue that many of us face with this third kind of competition is that is actually involves all three kinds at the same time. We compete with ourselves and with others as we look around and covet the high end competition guns and optics all around us. But, that is all part of the sport and part of the hobby as well as the common threat that ties us together as a community.