Guest GunBlogging!

Well, after offending the right wing of the blogosphere with my last post, I might as well piss off the lefties with some gunblogging. No one's ever accused me of not being an equal opportunity offender...

I'm actually going to sit this one out, and let a guest blogger do the talking. My buddy Zibig went to the shootin' range, and even took some pics to document the experience. I liked his email, so I asked if he minded me posting it on the blog.

Take it away, Zibig!

Hello All

I thought this interesting so I'll write it out and show you with pics.

As most of you know I currently suffer from permanent nerve damage to my hands and feet, ringing in the ears and some balance problems due to high dose chemotherapy. Also, alcoholism is kicking my ass and to top it all off I get very sick while driving. I don't know if it's motion sickness or a beautiful combo of problems coming to a head. Anyway, with three terrible strikes against me what can I do to try and relax and focus? Why, this is Texas, man, let's go shooting!

I've been out to the range a number of times now and have very much enjoyed each experience. Unfortunately, my friends can't always join me, but, they all have something I lack....a life. So, off to the range this morning.

Now picture this: a large outdoor range and it's Labor Day holiday here in America. You'd think people would be having weenie roasts and popping beers at 10am. Oh no, once again, this is Texas, buddy. The range was almost to comfortable capacity when I arrived and an hour later it was rocking! I wish you could here the sound. It was like a freaking police shootout! The tempo just kept increasing as time wore on.

You also get to meet the most polite, giving and interesting people when at a gun range. Guy next to me was an elderly gentleman who was shooting a black powder revolver. Takes some time to load, but, then slowly aim and....BOOM!!! Then there's black smoke everywhere and a laughing grin on my face. Real nice guy and I showed him my 22 auto pistol and offered to have him try it out. He loved it so much he said he was going to start the search to buy one for himself! Said "I miss the old days when I was a child and would shoot 22's in the woods". I could see the memories flowing across his face with that wispy gentle smile.

Anyway, going there is like a mini campout. Everybody is there...the large vietnamese family, the good ole white boys, couples of all shapes and sizes and yes...single women! I really thought it not a good idea to be hitting on them while shooting. Perhaps a club would be more suitable to courting.

On to the targets: As you can see at 10 yards (approx 21 feet) with semi-rapid fire I get some pretty strange results. Sometimes I can't hit a moving elephant. Next target over and I've shot your ass up real good ! I'm still trying to figure this out after shooting over 1000 rounds in the last two months. I need some help from friends on better shooting techniques. Meanwhile I need to constantly work on the ability to relax and focus. Focus, Daniel-San, focus! D'oh!

Sorry, I almost forgot to mention the gun I use. Officially it's a VERY OLD Smith & Wesson 422. Basically, an aluminum frame and the slide is steel. Result? A light weight plinking automatic pistol. That's right, sports fans...she isn't even a target pistol, she's a plinker. Damn fun though because it kicks a good amount for a 22 :-)

So this is one of the weird things I do for post-Cancer therapy. I told a guy at the range this and he looked at my target and said "That's not bad!" Nice that it came from a guy that's currently in the US Army and was shooting the best I've ever seen on a public range.

I hope everyone is doing well....take care,

"Zibig"