My friend Wayne is a range officer at the club where I'm a member. Today, a bunch of range officers set up various steel targets on the field that's used for various matches and Wayne invited me and my wife and our daughter. We brought chips, pretzels, popcorn, and sodas and others brought more food and there were grilled burgers and brats.
The weather cooperated and we had a cloudless day in the high 80's. There were some temporary tent covers set up to provide some shade.
Our daughter, Lightning Lauren started out shooting her 1969 Colt Alabama Sesquicentennial commemorative Frontier Scout .22 that was previously unfired for 41 years. Not anymore!
Lauren sprained her left wrist playing travel softball so she had an Ace bandage wrapped around it. Just before she fired her first shot, a wasp flew under the front of her right shorts leg and stung her. Geez. She maintained her poise and handed me the Colt and took some time to relax in the shade with ice on her sting.
My wife, Robin (or Prairie Princess if we stick with Cowboy Shooting alias's) practiced shooting two handed with her AWA .44 Special Peacekeeper. She usually shoots one handed, duelist style, but she wanted to try two handed.
Here's Lauren's Colt and Robin's AWA side by side:
When my dad passed away in 2004, my friend Wayne bought some of the guns I had to sell to raise money for my mom. One of them was a Colt 1903 .32 Pocket Hammerless that my dad had picked up many years before I was even born. I had been chromed somewhere along the way and wore stag handles. Wayne thought it was a pretty neat BBQ gun but he hadn't fired it yet.
I was given a beat up Colt 1903 made in 1917 and I had it restored. I replaced the barrel with a new one and then had it engraved with 75% coverage American Scroll by Michael Gouse. Wayne and I shot our little .32's side by side.
The little .32's shoot great and have very little recoil. Robin tried the trim little semi-auto and really liked it.
Lauren liked it as well!
My dad had several Lugers right after WWII, but he sold them all. Around the early 1980's, he got a desire to have a nice Luger again. He talked to Simpson's LTD in Galesburg, IL and we road tripped down to pick one up. I still remember walking into the "Luger Room" at Simpson's and being in awe of the wall of Lugers, all lined up on wood dowel rods, barrels stuck muzzle first into the wall, on the dowels.
Just before my dad passed away, we discussed which of his guns I would keep. I asked him which, of the two Lugers he had, was the one we road tripped to pick up together. My dad said, "That was the 9mm."
I told my dad that I would keep the 9mm then. He said, "No. Keep the .30 caliber, it will be worth more money."
I replied, "But Dad, I don't care about the money. I want to keep the one that I have the memory of us making that trip to Galesburg together."
My dad laughed and said, "Keep the .30 caliber and remember that it was the other one we went to go pick up together." I heeded his words and kept the DWM commercial .30 Luger.
Some guns are just more fun to shoot outdoors in the bright sunlight. The Luger is one of them.
Everyone was really interested in the Luger. Everybody's seen them and some have handled them, but not many seem to own them. No one had ever shot one. We put 100 rounds of .30 Luger ammo through it. We shot it on the plate rack and I did really well with it.
Here's one of the other shooters with the Luger. You can really tell when it's empty!
Lightning Lauren liked it too!
If I apply to the History Channel's Top Shot reality show, I think I'll use this video as part of my video application. I've never seen anyone shoot plates with a .30 caliber vintage Luger before. The sights are pretty difficult, but I made them work! Here's the video, just mouse over it and then right click to watch it:
There was a very diverse assortment of guns on the field today!
One of the guys had a Caspian 1911 in .38 Super that was totally tricked out. I've never shot a red dot race gun like this before. I was amazed at how easy it was to shoot. It was shockingly accurate and I couldn't miss with it. The recoil was also very mild and Lauren couldn't miss with it either!
We had a great time today. The company, the food, and the shooting was all fantastic!
Here's most of our group, grillin' and chillin':
Last night we watched the fireworks in the town where I work (I was lucky enough to be off this weekend!). The local hospital lets the police/fire/public works employees watch the show from the rooftop of the parking garage. It's a great view and Lauren hopped on one of our department's bicycles when my fellow officers stopped by.
Here are a few shots of the fireworks from last night:
Happy Independence Day everyone!
-Steve
The weather cooperated and we had a cloudless day in the high 80's. There were some temporary tent covers set up to provide some shade.
Our daughter, Lightning Lauren started out shooting her 1969 Colt Alabama Sesquicentennial commemorative Frontier Scout .22 that was previously unfired for 41 years. Not anymore!
Lauren sprained her left wrist playing travel softball so she had an Ace bandage wrapped around it. Just before she fired her first shot, a wasp flew under the front of her right shorts leg and stung her. Geez. She maintained her poise and handed me the Colt and took some time to relax in the shade with ice on her sting.
My wife, Robin (or Prairie Princess if we stick with Cowboy Shooting alias's) practiced shooting two handed with her AWA .44 Special Peacekeeper. She usually shoots one handed, duelist style, but she wanted to try two handed.
Here's Lauren's Colt and Robin's AWA side by side:
When my dad passed away in 2004, my friend Wayne bought some of the guns I had to sell to raise money for my mom. One of them was a Colt 1903 .32 Pocket Hammerless that my dad had picked up many years before I was even born. I had been chromed somewhere along the way and wore stag handles. Wayne thought it was a pretty neat BBQ gun but he hadn't fired it yet.
I was given a beat up Colt 1903 made in 1917 and I had it restored. I replaced the barrel with a new one and then had it engraved with 75% coverage American Scroll by Michael Gouse. Wayne and I shot our little .32's side by side.
The little .32's shoot great and have very little recoil. Robin tried the trim little semi-auto and really liked it.
Lauren liked it as well!
My dad had several Lugers right after WWII, but he sold them all. Around the early 1980's, he got a desire to have a nice Luger again. He talked to Simpson's LTD in Galesburg, IL and we road tripped down to pick one up. I still remember walking into the "Luger Room" at Simpson's and being in awe of the wall of Lugers, all lined up on wood dowel rods, barrels stuck muzzle first into the wall, on the dowels.
Just before my dad passed away, we discussed which of his guns I would keep. I asked him which, of the two Lugers he had, was the one we road tripped to pick up together. My dad said, "That was the 9mm."
I told my dad that I would keep the 9mm then. He said, "No. Keep the .30 caliber, it will be worth more money."
I replied, "But Dad, I don't care about the money. I want to keep the one that I have the memory of us making that trip to Galesburg together."
My dad laughed and said, "Keep the .30 caliber and remember that it was the other one we went to go pick up together." I heeded his words and kept the DWM commercial .30 Luger.
Some guns are just more fun to shoot outdoors in the bright sunlight. The Luger is one of them.
Everyone was really interested in the Luger. Everybody's seen them and some have handled them, but not many seem to own them. No one had ever shot one. We put 100 rounds of .30 Luger ammo through it. We shot it on the plate rack and I did really well with it.
Here's one of the other shooters with the Luger. You can really tell when it's empty!
Lightning Lauren liked it too!
If I apply to the History Channel's Top Shot reality show, I think I'll use this video as part of my video application. I've never seen anyone shoot plates with a .30 caliber vintage Luger before. The sights are pretty difficult, but I made them work! Here's the video, just mouse over it and then right click to watch it:
There was a very diverse assortment of guns on the field today!
One of the guys had a Caspian 1911 in .38 Super that was totally tricked out. I've never shot a red dot race gun like this before. I was amazed at how easy it was to shoot. It was shockingly accurate and I couldn't miss with it. The recoil was also very mild and Lauren couldn't miss with it either!
We had a great time today. The company, the food, and the shooting was all fantastic!
Here's most of our group, grillin' and chillin':
Last night we watched the fireworks in the town where I work (I was lucky enough to be off this weekend!). The local hospital lets the police/fire/public works employees watch the show from the rooftop of the parking garage. It's a great view and Lauren hopped on one of our department's bicycles when my fellow officers stopped by.
Here are a few shots of the fireworks from last night:
Happy Independence Day everyone!
-Steve
