Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bad Influence

So this week-end, I did much good gun stuff.

I know... I do much gun stuff every week-end. It's what I do. Either gun stuff or airplane stuff of dog stuff comprises most of my free time.

Well this time, Nicki was along. We went shooting and I gave her carte blanche to try anything in the gun room that struck her fancy. She's now decided that she absolutely must have a Model 1911 .45, hopefully as a replacement for those effective but dull Glocks of hers. She also took a liking to the M1 Carbine and the SKS.
Here she is, killing targets downrange with my ex-Yugoslavian M59 SKS. ----->




For my part, I took along an old World War two-vintage M1 Garand--one that I've had for several years but never actually shot before.This particular Garand came from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) back in the day, and while I was quite pleased to see that it was a Winchester rifle with what was probably the original bolt and barrel and the nice green parkerized finish, a check with the bore gauges indicated that the throat and muzzle were both heavily worn to the point where I simply relegated it to the display rack without even bothering to see how it shot. It sat there for probably eight or nine year until Friday, when on an impulse, I grabbed it and took it out to the range, basically just to play with it and pot-shot at whatever targets of opportunity presented themselves. However I was shocked to find that despite it's badly worn barrel, it was dead-bang accurate and almost invariably put round after round into some old plastic laundry detergent jugs and small boxes at both one hundred and two hundred meters. That just goes to show that you can't always judge a rifle just by the amount of indicated wear in the barrel--this one still shoots good enough to use in the local CMP matches. Nicki shot it too but she seems to think that the M1 Garand is a mite too much rifle for her. I can understand that. The M1 is a man's rifle and she is, after all, just a girl.

After the shooting, we took in a classic guy movie that Nicki had never seen before: The Wild Geese, with Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore and Hardy Kruger. She actually got teary-eyed when Richard Harris died on the airport runway, screaming his son's name as Richard Burton emptied an Uzi into him. It was cute.

Saturday we went to the gun show in Chantilly. Neither of us bought anything because the prices were high and the selection on things that I needed was poor. There were very little in the way of ammunition and even less when it came to reloading supplies. One dealer had a few boxes of Winchester small rifle primers on his table and I had to ask the price because I was sure that I was reading the sticker wrong. But he confirmed that he was charging $135.00 for a thousand primers. As the normal price is about twenty to thirty dollars per thousand, I let the profiteer know what he could do with his primers and anything else on his table. Pity, because he did have several other things that I might have bought in a package deal with a box or two of reasonably-priced primers. His loss, but that's what happens when you get greedy.
Bridget and her guy were supposed to join us there but bailed on us, allegedly "sick". (insert rolling eyes emoticon here.)

And after spending all this time with Nicki and giving her some good shooting tips, does she thank me or tell me how great I am?

Uh, yeah. As if. But she gets points for the attitude.

Later that evening, a nice Thai dinner settled her down a bit and served to put a nice cap on the evening.

Now it's Sunday and I have to spend most of the day doing household and yard work and giving Lagniappe some attention since he was badly neglected this weekend, but I figured that I could spare a few minutes to blog about the past couple of pretty nice days.

14 comments:

  1. Just a girl, eh? A girl who shot the hell out of some box way downrange with that thing - the very first time she ever shot one! Something you conveniently forgot to mention, I might add! And WHO was it that shot three pins using only three rounds with that revolver... hmmmmmm?

    And even though I'm currently sporting enough bruises from it on my shoulder to look like a victim of a tragic domestic violence incident, I still had a marvelous time! :-p

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  2. OK, for the record, she did very well with my old Detroit Police Department S&W Model 10 revolver when we were plinking at bowling pins.

    She also managed to skate out of here without cleaning a single firearm, too. Grrrr....

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  3. :-(

    Leave them for next time, and we'll clean together. I promise I won't bail on you again.

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  4. Anonymous7:06 AM

    Sounds like a great time. Mrs. Long Rider (aka Cpdcoppurr) spend quite a bit of time shooting. For us it's always quality time.

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  5. I was VERY sick, I'll have you know. I don't have a lot of patience for the public in general on a GOOD day, add copious amounts of boogers and some bronchitis and my filter is completely non-existant.

    Plus, the boy went on Friday and bought me a gun and then promised to get a bigger one for me for my birthday.

    But, we will have to come out your way soon. I want to meet Lagniappe and shoot your guns. And meet you and see Nicki too, I guess.

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  6. I'm sorry to hear that, Bridget. I hope that you get well soon. I guess that I got the wrong idea when Nicki repeatedly made little air quotes with her fingers every time that she said the word "sick" when telling me why you weren't going to show up.

    And Lagniappe and I both look forward to the meeting, especially if there is shooting involved.

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  7. Sounds like you guys are two peas in a pod...

    After reading both your and Nicki's blogs, it confirms that:
    a) she is a pretty good shot
    b) she really has a thing for your gun (no that's not a double entendre)
    c) she really loves your dog and so far it seems that he could actually move in with her cats without incident.
    d) she is okay with getting a few bruises

    Not sure, but it sounds to me like you'd better hire security for both Lagniappe and your guns...because she has her eyes on both. :-)

    Glad to hear you both had a great weekend.

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  8. She's not a bad shot...more like a work in progress. :-)

    And there are still issues revolving around the dog/cat interface, particularly with the cats that screech and hiss and claw at Lagniappe from beneath the beds and other places where he cannot actually get to them. He's not sure what to make of the one that just shrugs him off, but the ones that flee from him or demonstrate any aggression towards him are still, in my opinion, living on borrowed time.

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  9. It would have served her right if I HAD shown up and then coughed and sneezed all of her rabbit ear making self.

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  10. Superman, you're just an instigator of the worst kind! ;-) Air quotes, eh? Luckily both B and her BF know me well enough to know better, and I have informed them that you're a troublemaker!

    As for a work in progress... who was killed three pins with only three rounds, hmmmmmmm? Something a certain cute guy couldn't do (and no, I don't mean the member of the Gump convention)!

    Laura, he's just mad because I insist on keeping my index finger on the trigger guard, despite his admonitions. :-p

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  11. Anonymous8:27 PM

    This is adorable!!!! Qeue Barry White music if you can hear it over the gunshots!!!

    Glad to see you both had a good time.......... Hubby cleans my weapons!!! He thinks it is the gentleman thing to do.... So one for you Nicki!!!!!

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  12. After the little video all I can think of is the line from
    Super troopers "Next person that says "shenanigans" gets pistol whipped"

    LMAO

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  13. Say what's the big idea? You think that now that you have a soulmate, you can just stop writing. What no more Lagniappe stories? Where is all that entertaining writing your blog fans look forward to?
    Man, you aren't kidding with saying she's a bad influence! ;-)
    Sheesh...:-)

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  14. Somehow I knew this would somehow wind up being MY fault! LOL!!!!

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