Of "assault weapons" and scatterguns

[Coinneach]

Morgan and I had made plans to meet up at Cactus Flats, in Penrose, CO, on Saturday. I got to the range about 1030, as is my habit.

The cartridge ranges were under construction. Sigh. I hadn't planned on doing any trap, so I only brought one box of target loads. For some reason, Howard didn't want me using slugs on his trap range. Guess the close proximity of the neighbors had something to do with that.

Morgan showed up about 1230. I suppose it's a good thing that we're not going to the TFL West Roundup. Two guys with shaved heads, an old pickemup, and a buttload of guns doesn't look real good.

We compared hardware (the *guns*, folks), then I suggested we head to Dragon Man's range. Yes, he's a quisling, but he also has the only other decent range in El Paso County.

We headed out about 1330. DM's is about 65 miles from the Flats, therefore we arrived at 1430. Mel gave us a discount, since his range closes at 1600.

On the way up to the range, my truck's clutch made its feelings known. There's a hellacious long hill, on which the revs started increasing, while speed decreased. Replacement is scheduled for next Saturday.

We set up our stuff on the 50-ft line, owing to the short-range nature of our guns. I had my Uzi, Llama .45, and Mossberg 12-gauge pump. Morgan had an HK (sweeeet!), a Kahr MK40, some cantankerous Hungarian(?) thing in 9Mak, and... sheesh, I can't remember the last one.

The RSO called us over, gave us a rundown on the rules, and said, "Rapid-fire is OK, but don't be hosing down my range like it's being strafed by a P-51 Mustang." No problem.

At the next break, we set up two qualification silhouettes at the berm. My first shot, a 12-ga slug, went through the adam's apple. Nice.

We threw a bunch of lead downrange, and those targets are *shredded*. I'll post the pix shortly. We hit them with 12-ga slugs, double-ought, #8, .45, .40, and 9mm.

Now, Morgan had never fired a shotgun until Saturday. I showed him how to load it (single and magazine), and gave him 2 target shells, a Sellier & Bellot #00 shell, a sabot slug, and a magnum #00. He didn't seem to appreciate the magnum, oddly enough. He smacked the hell out of the targets, though.

We also had a picture of Slobodan Milosevic to use for practice. After 14 .45s and I don't know how many .40s, I said, "Enough!" Loaded one of the S&Bs, and knocked the target and stand over. Milo wasn't getting back up.

Next break, we settled down to serious shooting. We posted two more targets at 20 feet and started center-punching them with the pistols and rifle. Morgan complained about the chest on the right target being vaporized, and started taking head shots. In the name of equal treatment, we then switched to the left target.

Now, when you gots an Uzi, you gots to do the point-shooting. I loaded up a 32-round mag and let fly. Jeeeezus, that thing is fast, even in semi-auto. RSO chided me about it and said he was keeping an eye on me. Yeah, fine.

Of course, the pow-pow-pow brought some attention. One of the IDPA wonks wandered over and asked what I was shooting. "An Uzi," I helpfully replied. "Really? I've never seen one before."

Insert grin here. I got him a fresh mag, showed him how to load it, and pointed out the grip safety. He's not a 1911 fan, so he had some problems with the concept at first. Once he got it down, though, he had a ball. As did the RSO, who came down later and who had never fired an Uzi.

Next up: pins. I put the scattergun and Eeeevil Assault Killing Machine away and put the Llama to work. I must say, I was impressed, by the gun and myself. Knocking down pins at 50 feet was no real problem, at least when Morgan left some for me to hit .

I had one malfunction all day. I was feeding alternate ball and Cor-Bon to the .45, and got a lockback once after a Cor-Bon. Racked, and continued firing; no more problems. I don't think Morgan had any problems with his HK or Kahr, but the 9Mak thing was a major PITA. The Uzi ate 200 rounds of PMC 124-gr 9mm with absolutely no problems (except for the smell... PMC's powder seems to have a high sulfur content). The Mossberg was, as always, 100% with a variety of loads.

Summary: an ass-kickin' good time. HK is definitely on my list (thanks again, Morgan), and I'll probably pick up a Kahr as well. I don't think Morgan will be looking at a shotgun anytime soon. In his words, "That thing packs a wallop."

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A vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.
Vote Libertarian - For A Change.

[Morgan]

Uzi - teeheehee (insert girlish giggling)! All that and a "cool quotient" of 10+.

12 gauge - Wow! I certainly plan on getting one, if only to have something my wife will let me keep to myself. I'll keep the bruises, too . I'll probably go for a carbine (Mini-14, likely) first, though.

Yeah, we had a great time. The HK USP40 really is an impressive piece, as is the little Kahr MK40. The Makarov beastie Coinneach referred to is a FEG copy of the Walther PP, and its just a piece. Scary that some cop had to use it as a primary.

Coinneach also showed me why I've got to move from Denver to Colorado Springs - he carried openly, and nobody even batted an eye at the IHOP we went to for a late lunch.

Oh, and Coinneach, no more bitching about your expensive clutch - the throwout bearing just started going on my 300Z - now THAT's gonna cost me.

It's great to meet a like-minded deviant. Next time we need to get BAB, OJ, Jim, and Motorep (and any other Front Rangers) to join us. Perhaps we should all try an IPSC or three gun match?

[jimc]

i don't think the ispc crowd would like us. i myself enjoy going out and doing some plinking and then there are day's when you just gotta ROCK!!!!!. give me some lead time wnd it's a go.if we go to the spring's we should do it on a sat nite so we are ready to rock sun early am. is there anywhere we can drop some p/dog's down there? morgan e-m me as i am not going to be able to attend the western tfl shoot