Winter Warriors in training.

Since two or more of the clan had gathered, a trip to the shooting range was mandated.

Aaron of The Shekel, Proud Hillbilly's Son-in-Law D., my nephew The Spud and me all went out to Aaron's club to do what real Americans do to celebrate holidays: shoot.

Aaron wrote the trip up here too, so read his as well.

All I brought to the party were my two carry pistols this trip--A Glock 23 and a Smith and Wesson 642 J-Frame--and a beat-to-hell Romanian SKS that I just acquired which looks like it fought a couple of wars. Aaron swears that Romanian soldiers only trained with their SKS rifles during the 50s, 60s and 70s, and I suspect that they all trained with this particular one exclusively because it is ragged. More on it later.

Here's The Spud knocking out push-ups in the snow for a couple of minor infractions, namely dropping a live round into the snow while loading magazines and standing in front of the muzzle of a benched and unattended rifle. Yeah, it was unloaded. So what?

He got his head back in the game right quick though, and he did good. Here he is, shooting one of D's L-frame revolvers.

And here he is ringing the steel with D's Berretta 92FS.

His stance is pretty good, he's taking the time to aim, and he's safe. What more can I ask?

D. with the J-frame, as we all competed to NOT be the guy who couldn't knock down three steel targets at 25 yards with it's five shots.

Here's Aaron with his nice new Israeli Tavor, topped with an Aimpoint Comp M3 optic.

D. with the same rifle.

I took a turn on it too, but found it a bit difficult to accurately shoot it while hanging on crutches on uneven, icy terrain. Still, it worked for me. I might have to consider one of my own now. And speaking as a left-handed shooter, I'm proud to report no issues with that ejection port on the right side of the rifle. It is a winner for anyone trying to operate in close quarters.

Then we dusted the SKS off.

Spud took his turn with it.

Best photo of the day: Daylight shot J-Frame touching off.

A good time was had by all. And while shooting on crutches in the snow might suck a bit, it at least gets you out of policing brass and pulling down targets all day. Silver linings...