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My Almost-daily Journal |
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| About I love trying out new things, especially when it comes to internet technology. I never really kept a journal, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. Now, everybody will get a chance to look inside my twisted, and somewhat-warped mind.
I've also subscribed to Audio Blog, so a few times a week, I'll leave actual voice blogs. Very cool!XML Newsfeed Previous Posts
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Monday, August 25, 2003
Double Action Mark Wilkins and I were supposed to go shooting on Saturday. One thing led to another, and we decided to postpone shooting until Sunday. Let me tell you something about shooting... unless you live in Houghton, or have a cottage somewhere where there are no people within a 100 mile radius, shooting outside is next to impossible. It's a terrible thing that two dudes can't get together and do a little target practice outside! We headed out in the early afternoon to 22 Mile and Gratiot. That was the only outdoor range that we both knew about. You could sight in your guns on targets that were 100 yards away. We both have shot there in the past, but we didn't remember exactly where it was. We were driving in circles aimlessly, "Was it 22 and Groesbeck? Was it 23 and Gratiot?" We finally pulled over to a gas station at 23 Mile and Gratiot. The people running that gas station had last names that ended in "aj", "ood", or "ji"... they had no idea where the shooting range was. They had no idea where anything was other than the closest tanning salon - combination pager/cellular store. Ummm... no thanks. We drove back down to 22 Mile and Groesbeck and pulling into that gas station. Only vehicle there was a 1978 Harley... had to be the owner! Wow. A confederate white dude. For sure he'll know where the shooting range is... and he did! Unfortunately, he informed us that it was closed down three years ago in order to build a strip mall to houses stores that sell nokia cell phones, cell phone covers, and tanning salons. Go figure. We were bummed. We decided to head out to the Detroit Sportsman's Congress on Hamlin and Dequindre (or somewhere around there... towards Stoney Creek). Wow. What a cult. The only open shooting they had was trap and skeet. To shoot rifle or shotgun, you have to be a member. Membership costs $200/year, plus you owe 25 hrs of "service" per year. I'm not sure what the "service" consisted of, but I'm sure it was either picking up dead clay pigeons, pulling weeds, or cleaning up empty brass. Our only other outdoor option now was Bald Mountain Recreation Area located in Lapeer. No way was I driving all the way to Lapeer to find out that we couldn't shoot there, or that we owed somebody 25 hours of community service before we could shoot our iron. So with our tails between our legs, we decided to head south and shoot at the worst place in Michigan: Double Action! It's an indoor range with a max distance of 50 yards. It's just your run-of-the-mill gun store/shooting range, but it's run by the biggest assholes that live in Michigan. These guys are Michigan Militia, Nazi, skinhead, cop-wanna-be's, that think they have something to prove to their patrons. Talk about customer service? Not with Double Action. These guys are so cocky, conceited and full of themselves, by the time you're done looking around, you'll want to slap the taste out of at least two of the guys behind the counter. They treat you like THEY'RE doing you a favor. It's the only store in town, so they own that monopoly. Each of them also must have some inferiority complex, because everybody is holstered, with shoulder harnesses, ankle harnesses, with enough extra clips to start a revolution. When asked why they all pack iron, they're reply is, "...because we can." I'll bet each one of those pricks is BEGGING for an opportunity to pull their guns. You know what though? If I was going to rob that place, I'd put a bullet between the eyes of every employee that had a gun. I'm not sure if they're thinking straight. I was so happy to hear when that place got robbed a few years ago. A truck just drove head-first right through the front door. Too bad there weren't any employees behind it! Shit, the Houghton County Sheriff doesn't carry a gun when in the office. Why? When I asked him he replied, "Because if I don't carry a gun, I have a higher chance of not getting shot." Anyway, our Double Action visit wasn't AS bad as I portrayed above, YESTERDAY. But every single other time that I shot there, those bastards treated me like I was doing THEM a favor. I guess that's the price you pay for buying services that's a local monopoly. Needless to say, I finally got a chance to shoot my Ruger Mini-14 that I bought off of Mark about a year ago. What a beautiful piece of iron! Smooth action, reliable, with very little recoil. Only thing I didn't like was the short stock. But I'm short-n-stocky, so I didn't let it bother me too much. I wanted to rapid-fire that thing soooo bad, but they had a policy of one second between shots. I just wanted to unload my 30-round clip and see if the muzzle turned cherry red. I also shot my S&W 9mm... boy was I rusty! I was able to keep my shots pretty well grouped at 25 yards, but they don't call 9mm's spray-n-pray for nothing! And I also toyed around with my little NAA 22mag 6-shot deringer-type gun. It fits in the palm of my hand. The barrel is so short that there's very little rifling... some of my shots actually "keyholed" the target. I'd sure hate to catch a tumbling 22-mag hollowpoint coming at me. It was nice to get out and shoot my guns. I'm so glad that we got out. I just want to be able to do this, whenever I want, without having to spend $20 for two lanes for 30 minutes, being watched and harassed by Neo-Nazi, gun-toting militia with death-wishes. One last note... have you had to the change to see the new S&W 50-mag revolver? Damn!!!! posted by Dino at 1:42 PM (permanent link) |