[2ndDivisionVet]

Now more than ever, this seems like a good idea!!

[piroque]

You have to practice to get good, and you have to practice to stay good.

bump ,,, lock n load

[mamelukesabre]

I just went to a shooting range today! I only shot a 9mm pistol though. There was a one hour wait.

The gun business is booming these days.

[bobby.223]

sure does! I’m at the range once a week and up in the boonies twice a month makin’ many emptys and than off to the reloading bench.

[Texas Fossil]

Sure it is a good idea, and I am sure they are pretty busy.

Midland is hours away, and I can shoot here any day I like. And have friends who are “Good!” marksman.

I was brought up around it, my father was an armorer when he was in Europe. He maintained 50 caliber machine guns (bofers) and the like.

HR45 will meet Stiff resistance here.

[Redcloak]

So you bought a new rifle, now what are you going to do?

The very first thing you should do, number one on your to-do list, is join the NRA. Think of your membership dues as an insurance policy protecting your new rifle against Obama's grubby, grabby, little fingers.

[yarddog]

Hitting man sized targets at moderately long ranges is not that difficult. Our gun club had a thousand yard range and hitting a metal gong at 300yds.

I noticed my Nephew who is not a particularly good shot could hit it regularly using an old but accurate 1909 Argentine Mauser. The fact that the sights were dead on at that range probably made a difference.

Now a thousand yards is an entirely different thing mainly because of the difficulty in judging hold over. The sights had a thousand meter slot but it was not quite on.

[KoRn]

I bought a new AR yesterday:

This program sounds like a terrific idea!!

[wastedyears]

You need to already own a rifle to attend. :(

[Mariner]

'scuse me, but NOBODY was shooting .50cal muskets 500yds in 1776.

Nobody.

They'd barely shoot that far if you pointed them up at a 45deg angle.

Still the point's not lost. Each and EVERY one of us should be able to hit a water mellon at 500yds, every time.

Look for the resonance of your barrel...try different bullet weights. Use a bullet with a good ballistic co-efficiency (at least .400). You should be able to shoot 5 shots into a 1 inch group at 100 yds.

Even Ruger and Savage rifles will do that if you find their resonance.

[Bunkasaurus]

Gun salesman of the year in 1999 was “Y2K Man”
Wonder who the next one will be.

[Force of Truth]

Load it and hide it where I can get to it fast.

[Revolting cat!]

Why, you’re gonna shoot your eye out now!

[CurlyDave]

All throughout American history, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away — no ifs, ands or buts about it.

I call BS. I would like to see you try to hit a man-sized target at 500 yards with any of the revolutionary war era replica guns. I bet it would take at least all day to get even one hit with a black powder flintlock.

I shoot a .50 cal percussion cap replica and even with double set triggers, 200 yards is really getting out there. Trajectory is like a rainbow and you need to know the range very, very well to get a hit. They didn't have laser rangefinders back then.

I have cut playing cards on edge at 25 yards and can routinely split a ball in two on an axe blade at that range, but 500 yards is just plain out of reach with black powder.

[eyedigress]

If anyone is having trouble finding ammo I may have found a place well stocked. especially .223

[mojitojoe]

Practice is always good.... and withe the prices of ammo right now, expensive as well. If you need a self defense rifle or sg, I don't think you can beat the Saiga 12 gauge. 10 rounds or more in a shotgun is a powerful weapon. Just point in the general direction and you're gonna hit whatever the target is. You can pick them up for around 500. or less new. Of course if you send it to Tromix or do a rebuild to make it like an AR then you get up there over a grand in no time.
AR’s are more fun to shoot but it would take a lot more ammo to hit a moving target than a sg would. Ammo is in in insanely short supply. I had trouble even finding .38 special and .380, usually there is tons of that. .225/5.56 is really scarce too. Not helping matters is that some people are buying sh*t loads of it every time someone gets it in, then they sell if for double the price on the gunbroker online auction site.

[ExSoldier]

One thing I've not seen on this thread is the advice that is you're going to practice, buy ammo for that practice and DO NOT go through your cached supply of ammo you might intend be using when the proverbial balloon goes up!

[TYVets]

Appleseed Project at http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

I was surprised at the number of events around the country.

Sounds like a great idea for those who want to learn rifle skills.

[scottywr]

My son just won his 3rd straight state Team rifle championship and last year he was the individual champion here in Colorado. He is a patriot and loves his country, and will defend it in a heart beat.

[webschooner]

I went to a gun show Saturday. It opened at 9 a.m. I waited in a long line just to get in the parking lot, and then once in the state fair pavillion where the vendors were set up, the crush of people was such that sometimes you could hardly move.

I went looking for a specific home defense shotgun. At a little after 10 a.m., I found one new in the box. I tried to get a discount, but the vendor said that they came with three of the model I was holding (this was the first day of a two day gun show) and the shotgun I was holding was the last one. I bought it. If I had put it down, there was a guy standing next to me who was going to buy it.

When I went to my car to leave, the people were streaming in by the tens of hundreds. I can’t even imagine how anyone was going to be able to breathe in that building with all the people. It was unbelievable. I felt fortunate to find what I wanted, purchase it, and get out.

The OBamBam administration has certainly created a booming economy in firearms.

[VOA]

bump