Gun safety

From Carteacho is a reminder that the when the 4 rules are violated bad things often happen. There is a whole bunch of lessons in this story for most of us to learn.

I might get it

Back at the beginning of September I tried trap shooting for the first time, I got hooked immediately on the game. This after years of viewing shotguns as irrelevant to me for anything other than something more effective than any pistol for zombies. I had two shotgun choices at home a Mossberg 500 built in the 60's with a 26" barrel , variable choke and a youth stock or a S&W 916T I bought at a gun show right after I got back from Alaska that had had it's barrel shortened to a smidge more than the legal length and had no front sight because of it. I found a new 28" barrel for the Smith a couple weeks ago but it doesn't fit me much better than the Mossy.
Friday I picked up a 30 year old Browning Citori Trap, lordy what a difference it makes to have a gun that fits and is built for the sport. My best score to date with the Mossberg 500A I started with has been 22, which took an act of god and 600 rounds to get, my usual scores have been in the mid teens.
My first round today with the B gun was a 18 then I shot a pair of 21s a 19 and a 17. Unlike with the Mossberg when I missed I actually knew what went wrong with the shot. Apparently the way this is supposed to work is you put the bead under the clay and slap the trigger and you get little chunks of orange clay frisbee everywhere. Who knew? The Monte Carlo stock and 15" length of pull make it simple to bring the gun to my eye as opposed to contorting myself to see the bead. It still needs a some fiddling as it shoots a little low right now but it's a least on the same block of the neighborhood
I need it to be in. I also need to plug a book called the Stock fitters Bible by Rollin Oswald which has been tons of help in figuring out what I need as far as fit.
The other interesting thing was I shot 5 rounds of trap and one round of 5 stand (the game from hell) and wasn't feeling beat up and I didn't punch myself in the nose once from recoil.
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In the world of non politics

I am still feeling ambivalent about riding motorcycles after last year. I didn't get any really, really good scars but I got a couple little ones and a hand that by the grace of the flying spaghetti monster works almost as well as before punching the ground at 80ish.
I'm not sure what is going to become of the RC I sold the Ohlins Forks off it to put some money down on a Browning O/U because I tried trap shooting (oops). I think I am going to sell the Ohlins rear shock too so I can finish buying the Browning before the snow flies.
Speaking of trap shooting from a post I put up on TwinCitiesCarry/forum.com

Not being a hunter due to laziness and living in civilization I've not really thought about shotguns much beyond having one for HD. About a month ago I was supposed to get together with some Artistic type shooters (It's a weird attempt at changing hearts and minds) and try trap shooting with a Mossberg 500 I had bought at an auction two or three years ago thinking I'd use it for trade bait or sell, instead it has quietly rested in a closet. Well someone got hung up and the time got pushed back to the point I couldn't go so I decided to go to the Hudson Gun Club to do some pistol shooting, at the last minute I decide to bring the shotgun with figuring maybe I can find someone to give me a pointer or two and it isn't busy I'll still try hitting clay frisbees.
WHY THE HE double toothpicks has no one told me in thirty years of shooting that frisbee shooting is damn fun. Jeez people.
I've now become a member of the Hudson range (which has by the way a rifle and pistol range, trap, skeet and 5 stand ranges (fields?) as well as an archery range and cheap dues) all so I can (attempt) shoot little clay discs and burn up 12gauge ammo at a prodigious (for me) rate. I've also apparently become okay at the gun store because I mentioned I was thinking about buying a trap gun and suddenly Neil and Dave both got pretty animated (well for them) and started actually chatting, I've been stopping in there and buying stuff for 5 years.
I put a late seventies Browning Citori Trap on layaway and now have several hundred rounds of 12 ga ammo floating around the house and car. I've joined the shotgunworld.com forums and am busy soaking up how to approach the various shotgun games. Can you tell I have an addictive personality? I'm gonna need another 12 step program I can tell.

From Marko

you can’t ban ingenuity. « the munchkin wrangler.
Another gem probably soon to be stolen by a Lt. Col. or Major somewhere.

About those illegal Mexican guns , Days of our Trailers has found an interesting study. He gets a dig in at Chicago too.

Here's some irony

The Sudanese government has evidently decided the genocide isn't progressing fast enough. Linky proving yet again that unarmed people make great victims and that the UN does little that doesn't consolidate power in the hands of dictators and thugs.

Not so paranoid

And I ask, whose paranoid are you?: Lessons from the Columbine School Shooting
Waiting for the state will get you killed.

Sensible Progressive has an excellent bit of commentary

Sensibly Progressive in Politically Correct America: Did this student not see the 20/20 special that said a gun can't protect you?

Well done anonymous student guy

College Student Shoots, Kills Home Invader - News Story - WSB Atlanta
Apparently college students can tell when it is appropriate to shoot. It's too bad Mr Crook died because violent death is a bad thing on the other hand 10 innocents got to live which is the way it should be.

The War on Guns: Can Gun Control Reduce Violence?

The War on Guns: Can Gun Control Reduce Violence?

An excellent bit of testimony by someone who actually appears to know what he is talking about. From David Codrea

I obviously don't shoot enough

So guys at work think I shoot a lot because I will usually go through 500 to 700 rounds in a day at the range. I go to the range once a month in the winter and shoot in the back yard about the same frequency in the summer. That's maybe 6000 rounds a year of which 1500 is .22lr and the rest .45acp, I shoot a couple hundred rounds of .38 special and .357 magnum but revolvers don't do much for me so it's mostly to make sure the gun still works.
Anyway I am wandering the wilds of the intertubes and run across a couple guys who shoot in IDPA they average 24,000 rounds a year. Eeek! I think I need to start reloading. On a related note I wish the ranges running IDPA USPSA matches were closer than 100 miles away.