Caltrops - Rants





	[quote name="Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS)"]I know it's been two years since you asked this question but I thought I'd add my two cents. I once took my brother target shooting at a full-service range with small handguns with wadcutters, and I'd had some practice, while my brother discovered the difference between what you see in the movies and on TV. I did okay while he couldn't even scare the target, let alone hit it. By "full service" range, I mean they provide everything if you don't have it: they rent you the shooting booth, the gun, hearing protection, and they sell you the paper targets and the ammunition. Booth rental when I did it, which was probably back around 2000 the last time I did, the booth costs like $20 an hour, the guns cost about $7 and up each for whatever time you're there, the hearing protection (full over-ears headphone-style) is about $2, and the targets are around 50c. Ammo is comparable to what a Wal*Mart would sell them for, bullets are like $7/100. The rule is the range gets to keep the spent brass, so some places may do their own reloads and thus sell you the ammo they build. For target shooting this is okay. They may also charge a membership fee, so a first-time visitor will probably spend about $100 to $150 the first time. If you do this regularly you acquire most of your own items and so it will cost progressively less. The handguns that we used were a small-caliber revolver which means it had virtually no recoil. It might have been like a .22 or .25 (I don't know if that's a valid caliber) but it was fun to shoot and didn't have any noticeable recoil, which is an important point because if the gun is going to hurt when you use it, you might flinch or have trouble concentrating on hitting the target. I've shot a Glock-9 at a different range and not knowing about the slide problem I got the typical new-user pinch as the slide kicks back and scraped my hand (you have to know you keep your hand away from the area where the gun's slide kicks back to eject the spent brass). And the son-of-a-bitch kicks like a mule! It will hurt your wrist to use anything with strong recoil until you're used to it. For maybe now probably for a couple hundred bucks or so you can go to a range and rent four or five guns plus supplies and see which you like. If you haven't fired a gun or don't have much experience before I'd suggest getting a shotgun; they're easy to use, they don't jam (or so I've heard) and at close range you just have to aim in the right direction. Make sure it's placed fully against your shoulder, the kick is HARD, and will push back; if the gun slams into your shoulder instead of pushing you a bit it can break bones or otherwise injure your shoulder. Otherwise if you're using a handgun you need practice, and regular practice, to be able to aim unless it's at point-blank range. And you need to use hearing protection when practicing; a gun is LOUD and loss of hearing is a common occupational hazard among professional shooters. If you are going to use a gun for self-protection you need to practice with man-sized targets, aim for the heart or between the eyes. You also have to have the will to say that if there's an emergency you're willing to kill someone else. There's no other way to put it; if you don't have the cojones to be able to put one in someone and live with the potential consequences of killing a human being, well, as someone once said, you'd best get a (big, vicious) dog instead. At the crucial moment it is possible that if you can't blow the bastard away he might end end up taking the gun away from you and using it on you. [/quote]