Hot Shot

Saturday morning I made a very long drive out to the Immokalee gun range. I was going to finally get the opportunity to shoot the two guns I have owned for quite awhile now, the 1911 A-1 and an AR Pistol. I was meeting a friend of mine from the gym that was a sniper in the military. Obviously he has a tremendous amount of gun knowledge so I thought it would be great for him to show me the ropes of shooting.

This was an outdoor range with 11 or 12 “bays”. They are long areas that are enclosed on three sides by huge berms that looked to be 15-20 feet high. They have longer bays used for rifles and shorter ones for hand guns. We were in a rifle bay which is approximately 100 yards in length.

My inexperience with guns was immediately evident when I started trying to load rounds into the magazine for my 1911. It holds 7 or 8 bullets but after putting four in I could not load any more. I asked my buddy what I was doing wrong. He laughed and said I had the bullets facing the wrong direction, duh.

It was a very warm and humid day but my friend wanted me to get a more realistic experience. He asked me if I wanted to put on his tactical/bullet proof vest. I said sure, why not. This thing is heavy, weighing between 40 and 50 lbs. I told him I can’t imagine walking around all day in the vest and all of the other gear in the military. It gave me a greater appreciation of the reality of military action.

I got some very important safety rules that need to be burned into your brain as well as basic operation of the guns. I luckily had decent ear protection along. The first time I fired the gun the level of sound was unexpected as was the force of the kick back. I was not very good with the accuracy with the 1911. I hit the metal target a few times but missed a lot more. Then it was time to try out the AR pistol.

Even though it’s called a pistol it really is a short barrel rifle. My buddy recommended a red dot sight for it which he installed for me when I got there. It did not take long for me to realize I enjoyed shooting the AR more.

The shooting position lends itself to more accuracy, at least for me. It also has a much bigger 30 round magazine which means more shooting before reloading. The red dot sight also made it easier for me to hit the target which resulted in more accuracy.

In addition to my guns I got to shoot a number of my friends guns, he has a huge collection. His equipment was top notch. With his one rifle I hit a target 100 yards away 6 times in a row while seated. Overall my buddy said I did really well for the first time ever shooting a gun. Between the heat and the tactical vest my shirt was drenched with sweat by the end of the roughly two hour session. It was a fun time and I definitely will be doing it more in the future. The only downside is it makes me wish I chose a different handgun than the 1911.

I got out on Saturday night to see The Accountant Two. As homework I watched the original Accountant which came out in 2016. I don’t recall even hearing about the original when it came out with Ben Affleck playing an interesting role as an autistic accountant that just happens to also have incredible combat experience. I liked the original and I liked the sequel as much if not more. I’d give it a solid A- if you like action/revenge movies.

Over the weekend more developments occurred in my local conflict that involves me, the HOA and other individuals. For some reason unknown to me a scorched earth stance seems to now have been established which absolutely will not get this other party the end result they are looking for. This approach makes no sense to me but it is what it is. Everyone has to deal with the consequences of their words and actions in the end.