Shooting with Aaron and Spud

As always happens when I go back to visit family in Michigan, I get together with Aaron of The Shekel blog and we go out to a gravel pit near Lapeer and shoot guns. This time was no exception, and we brought the Spud for the first time, because he never gets to do "guy stuff" normally and I don't want him growing up to be a hair stylist or an interior decorator...not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.

On the way, we stopped at a yard sale and bought a small mini-fridge for $5.00. The sellers swore that it worked, but were reluctant to let me plug it in and see. That didn't really matter though as we bought it to use as a target. Once at the pit, we set it out at approximately 200M and commenced to shooting it to pieces. Don't ask why--it's just what guys do.


Here's Aaron, demonstrating his new Saiga 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun. Basically, it's what you get when you re-engineer an AK-47 to fire 12 gauge shells. And with that Eotech sight on top, it's a wicked piece of work. Aaron put the first hole in our mini-fridge as the first slug he fired from the Siaga went clean through it. It was also devastating against cardboard boxes with shot, and we even shot a bit of skeet with it as another shooter tossed some clays for us. The Eotech works surprisingly good for that, too.










And the Spud got to shoot. Here he is with his own BB gun, a Crossman 760 that I got him for Christmas a year and a half ago. This was his first time out with it since no one that he lives with will take him shooting. Once he learned how to pump it up and aim it, he was gleefully killing plastic bottles regularly.


Then we put the Spud on a few grown-up weapons. Here's Aaron, coaching him on the AR-15 (top) and the Spud, still under close supervision, firing an AK-47 (bottom).










Then it was time to bring out the Browning.After anchoring the tripod's feet into to earth and watering the ground forward of the gun to prevent the muzzle blast from kicking up a massive dust cloud, we were ready to try out some of the new cloth-belted 1950's-vintage ammunition that the CMP so graciously made available. It was the first time that I got to test this ammo, and I have to say that I was pleased. Every round fired without a hitch, and aside from a heavy lacquer build-up inside the barrel's chamber from the glue used to put the rounds in the belt (not something I'd ever want in one of my rifles...), it was clean and shot well. Here's Aaron firing, with the Spud spotting for him.
And here's the Spud, getting some machine gun trigger time. He's not aiming and not on target, but he's having fun burning up ammo (and a good barrel). And yes, that's me in the background yelling "Stop!" over and over.


He'll get better.

And here's Aaron, demonstrating the concept of aimed MG fire. He's slower, but right on target. That poor mini-fridge never stood a chance.


We shot some pistols, too, and even gave Spud a whack at Aaron's Glock 22, which Spud did not care much for. He says that it hurts his hand. I just think that he's developing good taste and knows instinctively that Glocks are...well...let's just say that they're like the mopeds of the gun world. They do the job, but without any coolness or style.


A good time was had by all. When asked if he had fun, Spud grinned from ear to ear and yelled "YEAH!"

Happy gun.