I grew up in a gunless household. To be honest, I don't think there was ever a need to have a gun, not like nowadays I suppose. The first and only time I shot a gun was somewhere out at Mt. Charleston with this guy I was "dating" at the time. We pulled over to the side of a pitch black road, he got his gun out from under his seat and handed it to me. I proceded to set it down on the floor politely and step away. ha! He thought it was the cutest thing, and it was. hahaha! Anyway, he picked up the gun showed me what to do and put it back into my hands. I, naturally, closed my eyes, turned my head, and he covered my ears. BANG!! I have no idea where I shot, since it was dark. I'm hoping, to this day, that I didn't shoot anything or anyone. But, this is the extent of my gun shooting experience. I've been out to Lake Mead with some people who were shooting deserted cars and cans and bottles and such, but I just hung out.
Sooooo, my good friend Dayman (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/daymandashit) BBMed me that he was going to go to shooting (http://www.americanshooters.com/) and wanted to know if I'd like to go. In the middle of homework and needing a break I agreed to go. Not to mention, it is/was #37 on my list.
I didn't know what to expect going in to this place. I just kind of stood next to Day scoping the scene. Someone was shooting something that made my heart jump. Day said it might have been a .45, but whatever it was it was loud as hell! Even with the headphone/ear protection thing on.
Day started getting everything set up.
Springfield Armory XD-9
He went first, shot a couple and then set it down and motioned for me to step up. I was so nervous. I'm pretty sure I may have blushed a little, too, or it just felt like my face got red. My whole body was shaking, all the way from my finger tips to the tips of my toes. I think I fired off 5 rounds and set the gun down and got out of the way.
After that it started getting easier and more comfortable. It was definitely more relaxing than I thought it would be. There are those few times where everything is silent; there's no other guns going off, your aiming your shot, taking a couple deep breaths, the ear protection makes things real quite, then BOOM!
We went through two boxes of bullets and were probably there for an hour and a half or so. I would, and can't wait, to do it again! Like I said before, I've never been a gun person, never thought of owning one. But maybe it was my ignorance that was talking then. I still don't really see myself owning a gun anytime soon. But when I do buy my own place, I will definitely consider purchasing a cute little something-or-other handgun.
Next time I may get my Gangster Badge. You know, turn the gun to the side and shoot it. hahaha!!
Check out the rest of the pics:
That moment of "Zen" I was talking about. Setting up the shot.
Dayman's shots were the ones in the head. Mine were the ones scattered all over the body. This was the first attempt.
Dayman!
One of the next times for me.
When I was finished with this guy he was for sure dead!!
I'm sure these weren't all ours, but there was a lot!
Now I know how to shoot a gun, thanks to Dayman, so try not to make me angry or I'll shoot you with a smile on my face. hahaha!
- Liz
**********************************************************************************
Jen Here!
So, I have never shot a gun before. I haven't even held a real gun. To tell you the truth, they really freak me out and this experience did not change that. Actually, it might have made it worse. Sometimes I tend to have these crazy visions in my head of the worst case scenario ...for example, sometimes when driving (especially on expressways), I get these crazy thoughts like ...."what if my brakes stopped working right now?" or "what if something fell on my car from the overpass?" or "what if that Justin Bieber song comes on the radio again, I go absolutely insane and start just plowing into other cars like it was bumper cars?!" ....then all these visions come to my head and my heart starts pounding like it is actually going to happen. Wow, maybe I just admitted that I have a serious problem haha. But SERIOUSLY, when I hold a gun, I think of all the crazy things that could accidentally happen. And knowing me, being blond and Polish, it would happen to me. I am the one that can't walk down a two lane dirt road without falling in the ditch (just ask my brother).
Liz, as you can see from her previous blog, went shooting a couple weeks ago. We went back to the same place and this nice handsome fella helped us out! Bonus! He suggested we get the 9mm and we would start off with 50 bullets between the two of us. He showed us how to load it and when he was done and asked us if we felt confident to do it ourselves. We exchanged clueless looks that he definitely picked up on so he came into the range with us to help us out! Whew! Fyi- if you don't own your own gun, shooting can be expensive! To rent the gun was $10, the ammo was $12, $15 each for shooting range, targets are $1 each along with eye and ear protection. All in all, it was $61.01. It lasted us about 10 minutes. That is about $6 a minute (yes I used a calculator for that)
Luckily, every time he DID load the gun for us. One time Liz started but he took over. What was he trying to say?! haha. I am really not a baby when it comes to most things but I was seriously scared to take that first shot. I was kinda shaky and sweaty. I am surprised the gun didn't just fly right out of my hands because I wasn't expecting it to have that much power and kick back. You are thinking "DUH...its a GUN Jen!"...Listen, I used to carry around one of those huge super soaker guns with the tank on your back when I was younger and I THOUGHT that had power, ok!?
Luckily, every time he DID load the gun for us. One time Liz started but he took over. What was he trying to say?! haha. I am really not a baby when it comes to most things but I was seriously scared to take that first shot. I was kinda shaky and sweaty. I am surprised the gun didn't just fly right out of my hands because I wasn't expecting it to have that much power and kick back. You are thinking "DUH...its a GUN Jen!"...Listen, I used to carry around one of those huge super soaker guns with the tank on your back when I was younger and I THOUGHT that had power, ok!?
I couldn't tell you if I was actually hitting the target or not. I know we have a decent amount of bullet holes in our guy but there is a chance that most of those are from Liz. After a few shots, Liz let me in on how to aim, which was a great help!
Can you see the bullet holes!? They are there! He is hurt bad!
All in all, it was an experience. I was too nervous with the thoughts going through my head of Liz rushing me to the hospital because I accidentally shot myself in the foot and trying not to get blood in her Mustang. Maybe I am too creative for my own good! Also, I just felt out of place in there with all those guns. GUNS EVERYWHERE! Not my kind of place to hang out. Maybe if I went with someone that was really knowledgeable in guns and shooting I would give it another go. One guy advised us that Wednesday was "Ladies Night" ...I am still trying to figure out if he was joking or not.
Our cute instructor let us know before walking out and after Liz asked if there was any Go-Carts or anything else they offered there, to wash the lead off of our hands before we touch anything. He said it makes you crazy. If anything crazy goes down, now I have two things I can blame it on, when I can't blame it on the alcohol, I will blame it on the lead. :)
Bang, Bang!
No comments:
Post a Comment