Tuesday, August 03, 2004
I Love The Smell Of Gunpowder In The Morning
So what does a girl wish to do on her birthday? Have a party? Go shopping? Go out to dinner?
Pscht!
Please.
This girl goes to the range. Granted, the range time was already scheduled between father and son, I just tagged along because I am so not even remotely modest or shy about asking to tag along to the range. I had purchased 100 rounds of .45 ammo expecting to shoot Kim du Toit’s 1911 the whole day cause I knew I needed more practice with that one but I ended up shooting 9mm most of the time.
Anyway, I did shoot the 1911 at first and did some practice shots just above my stick on targets to reacquaint myself with it and did so-so. The problem for me with the 1911 is that it gets really heavy after awhile and as I am working on breaking old die hard habits with shooting, (some self taught, some.....well...some taught to me by the military), I take my time between shots because I am a perfectionist. If I don’t have a big gaping hole in the target by the time I’m done shooting, I’m not satisfied. It’s also the reason I like to use the smaller stick on targets because it makes me shoot even more precisely. The regular target is too easy and I’d never improve that way.
So, did the 1911, arms got really tired, so I switched to a Browning High Power, owned by the Mrs. Now that gun I did fare a little better. Not too bad for the first time shooting it, if you ask me, but again, not good enough. Still, I found myself much better able to focus on a certain point in the target instead of worrying about how my shoulders were feeling and so, again, I did a site bit better on it by the time I got to my second stick on target dedicated to that gun.
Then we, (Kim, his Son & Heir and I), took a short break to get something to drink before heading back into the range. Kim decided to have me test out two new (to me) weapons, both of which were 9mm. The first one was a Kahr MK9. I was instructed to “aim for the head” and I shot off a magazine into the target’s head. Oh yah. I’m liking this gun!
The second gun was the CZ-75, also 9mm and this time I was instructed to shoot for the target’s neck. Again, did really well on this gun too and frankly, I really liked them both but for some reason, I decided I really liked the Kahr over the CZ. I have absolutely no reason nor explanation as to why that is....I just did.
Here is my target, (at 30 feet):
Target 1 was the 1911.
Target 2 was the first go round with the Browning High Power. Target 3 was the second go round with the High Power.
You’ll then see shots through the head, (Kahr) and the neck, (CZ), and then target 4 was the Kahr again.
Target 5 was mostly the Kahr with some CZ mixed in.
And yes, those small black circles are covering up my random shots, mistakes...usually when I would anticipate the recoil and jerk the gun. (Bad habit working on breaking.)
For the most part, it doesn’t look like I shot all that much better on the CZ or the Kahr but trust me, I did. The biggest noticeable difference is the time between trigger pulls. With the 1911 and even a bit with the High Power, (in addition to other guns I’ve shot), I really do take my time in between each shot. We’re talking a good...10-15 seconds which I know drives Kim and others crazy with impatience but they also tell me, “time is irrelevant” when it comes to practice. It’s better to take your time, do it right and learn the proper way to do things than it is to rush through, like some guys do at the range, trying to look like a scary bad ass. Hey. I might take more time but my targets have a tendency to look a hell of a lot better than most guys’ targets at the range. (With the exception of everyone I’ve shot with because they are all so damn good at it and considering some of them shoot in competition or used to, I don’t feel too bad. If nothing else, they are my motivators. One day, I will also be that good.) But on these guns, I was probably 2-3 seconds in between trigger pulls with a max of 5 seconds. BIG difference.
Aaaanyway. So, we’re out of rounds and we go back to the main room to return the CZ and the Kahr. I’m looking at a few versions of the Kahr and we find one that is made of alloy, the PM9. I get to pick it up and I cannot believe how light it is. The guy behind the counter, (forgot his name), drops 11 rounds in my hands and allows me to shoot the alloy version.
I go back into the range, pick up a discarded target and aim for the neck of the target. I shot a straight line down the center of the target’s neck. The recoil on these things is a bit more than I’m used to which is not to say I can’t handle it because I can. I actually like a big recoil. That’s a psychological thing, plain and simple. Anyway, the recoil can cause me to aim too high so I did that and then overcompensated by aiming too low. Regardless, every single one of those shots was dead center, perfectly in line with each other...just some were higher and some were lower and when I say it was a straight line down the target’s neck, I mean, literally, it was a straight line down the target’s neck.
I want one.
So now there are two guns I want and want right this second. The Walthar p99....you’ll never talk me out of it. And this Kahr PM9...the alloy version.
They will both be mine.
Then we came home and had ribeye steaks, mashed potatoes with cheese, corn on the cob, some squash veggies, bread and a 4 layer cake. My birthday dinner prepared by the Mrs.
Oh yah. Life was fucking awesome yesterday.
