Like most people with a hobby I'm happy to talk about mine, share some of the concepts with people. However one of my hobbies, firearms and shooting, is not widely accepted, certainly not here in Australia, and so I tend to stay reasonably quiet about it in real life. At times people get wind of it though and I tend to get asked someone interesting questions from time to time.
One of the most prevalent of those question is, can you take me shooting?
I can is the answer...However do I want to is a question I follow up with in my own mind. Taking someone I don't know well, and probably don't trust much, to a secluded location and putting a loaded gun in their hands is not something I feel very comfortable with. So, I pick and choose who I take.
A month or so ago I had exactly that happen and as it was someone I had known for a while, a young chap who hadn't been shooting for long, I felt it might be ok.
I took the lad to a big farm in the southern Flinders Ranges owned by a friend of mine, pictured above. If you are keen-eyed you'll see some targets we have arrayed out there at 250m, 350m and 500m from where the shot was taken.
The idea was to show him some skills around long range shooting as that's where he wants to focus his attention. I love it too, marksmanship, so no worries mate, let's go.
One of the rifles I took was this Tikka T3 which sits in a "bedded" GRS ergonomic stock, has a custom-made muzzle brake and a Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56 F2 scope with an MOAR reticle. The bipod is by Atlas.
I used to shoot this gun in long range competitions. I've had it out to 1231m (1346 yards) repeatably and it's nice to shoot; Accurate, repeatable and reliable.
We arrived in the early morning and once set up I started doing some instruction with the guy which he took on-board well. Sharp lad.
The 22 year-old hasn't got a firearm of his own yet. He has fired a few, .22LR's mainly, but based on suggestions from people like me has held off from making a commitment on a centrefire rifle until he has fired a few and knows a little more about what he likes and doesn't like. It's smart to do this.
Over the course of the day he got better and better which means we started to stretch the range out a little further. We ended up out at 500m. Half a kilometre isn't a massively long shot for a marksman, but is far enough that many factors come into play, the same at greater distance. Of course, I wanted him to be accurate and so we put a lot of work into the skills required and he seemed to soak it all up.
Below you can see what we were shooting at, a steel torso-shaped target with a head, set at just over 500m.
You'll note two distinct groups on the target. One of five shots (on the head) and several on the chest area. Mine are the head shots and the young lad shot the others. (We repainted the target a few times over the day. These were the last shots.)
At the start of the day the lad was not able to shoot like this. He could hit the target, but there was no consistency and his shots were spread all over the plate, and that was at 350m! He made a great improvement I'd say and it's a good indication that he listed to what the old G-dog had to say. My super-good dialled in rifle helped too of course.
He loved the .308. In fact the shots on this plate above were all taken with that rifle. He just sort of connected with it; It became an extension of him and he felt really comfortable...That was the problem...He liked it too much.
The day was successful.
We packed up and started the two hour drive home. That's when it happened.
"G-dog, you ever thought of selling that .308?" Said the impetuous young chap hopefully.
It's been a few weeks since this day and he has been pestering me ever since. He started off with a price and I just kept saying it's not for sale, but his price is rising and rising and...Well, it's getting to a point where I could sell the .308, which I rarely use, and replace it with something else, plus have a lot of change. He wants the scope and all which is cool...And I've been thinking about adding a new zombie gun to my collection, one with iron sights instead of scoped...It has been tempting, and considering the price he is talking is almost what the gun cost me in the first place...Hmm, tempting.
Have you ever been tempted by price, to sell something you didn't formerly have any intention of selling? It's a really hard decision! So many I know never sell guns, but I'm one who doesn't like to have stuff for the sake of it and I don't see much point in have things I don't use. Hmm, I'm making a good sell the gun argument I think...Tempting.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
Discord: galenkp#9209
