THE DEEP AND PROFOUND THOUGHTS OF CITIZEN STUART, MANCHESTER BASED LIBERTARIAN, TARGET SHOOTER AND SPACE ENTHUSIAST. EVERYTHING I SAY ON THIS BLOG IS MY OPINION, AND NOT NECESSARILY THAT OF THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY.
"This community site has been created to enable people to show that shooting in the United Kingdom is a safe sport. This site allow people from all of the different disciplines to share their experiences with other shooters and the non shooting public.
Anyone who shoots can contribute regardless of the discipline they enjoy, we would encourage skirmishers, target shooters, rough shooters and any other shooter to contribute.
So get your log-in, post your story and lets show that shooting is a safe and inclusive sport."
Sounds like it's got potential, I'll add it to my links and keep an eye on it. The various shooting sports in this country have always suffered a bit from having too much of a low profile, so anything that shows how much fun shooting can be is a good idea.
Following on from my previous post, here's a type of action shooting you can try in Great Britain! It's a video by the same guy as the last one, but this time it's himself taking part in a practical shooting competition using a .22 semi-automatic rifle. He's very good, too:
Statists everywhere will hate this video - a 14 year old with a semi-automatic rifle (albeit only a rimfire), taking part in a combat-inspired sport - the epitome of everything gun-grabbers hate. It's still legal in this country - anyone without a criminal record or mental history should be able to get a Firearms Certificate and have a go. And best of all, .22 ammunition's cheap, so you don't need massive amounts of money to blaze away. Brilliant.
It's called Practical Pistol. You used to be able to do this in Great Britain up until a few years ago. We'll be able to do it again when the pistol ban is repealed. I've yet to try it myself, but it's on my list of things to do. It makes the target shooting I go in for look a bit tame by comparison.
My gun club had its annual Christmas Fun Shoot last night. Being as it was free to enter, and I hadn't taken part in a club competion before, I decided to go along and have a go. The match was due to start dead on 7.00pm. Unusually, I got there about ten minutes early and was pleasantly surprised to see that a free buffet had been laid on. As people arrived, they were asked to write their names on a list and we took turns shooting the match in the order we were listed (I was Number 4). I'd better describe the club. There are two parts to it. The club room has a small kitchen and a large area for sitting around, chatting and reading (also a snooker table and a dartboard). The other part of the club is an indoor 25m range with four firing points. There's a window in the wall between the club room and the range, but it was curtained off last night so that no-one would know what the course of fire was until it was their turn.
As I was the fourth to register, I didn't have long to wait before my turn came to compete. I was given a set of active ear defenders and sent into the range. I went in and found that the firing lanes had been decorated with Christmas presents and suchlike and at each firing point there was a different gun lying ready. I was given a set of instructions which started "A fat man in a red suit with a long white beard has been seen burgling houses by going down chimneys and is suspected of sneaking into children's bedrooms and stealing their presents. You are authorised to stop him using any level of force necessary. The only reliable way to kill him is with a head shot." Yes! Detailed instructions followed. There was a different set of targets set up at each firing position. Starting from the right-hand lane and finishing at the left-hand lane I had to go through the course of fire as quickly as possible. Timing would start when I fired the first shot. I was shown how each gun worked and what I had to do.
On the first lane I was confronted with a cardboard cut-out of a reindeer with a pair of targets behind it which spun on a mechanism behind its head so that they'd appear between the antlers and move rapidly from right to left before disappearing again. I had a semi-automatic .22 rifle of some kind with a red dot sight (probably a Ruger 10-22, but I'm not sure) and ten rounds. I had to hit the targets as they moved between the antlers. Fiendish! I did my best but only counted nine shots (I may have accidentally ejected the first round). Confused, I at first assumed I'd had a jam, but realised the gun was empty and quickly moved onto the second lane. It was on that first round that I probably lost the most time, but I think I did reasonably OK - three or four hits on the target.
The second round involved a break-barrel single-shot .357 rifle - I don't know the type. There were three rounds of ammunition lying on the table next to the gun and three reactive targets downrange. These were about the size of a saucer and were designed to go down when hit. I had to shoot down all three targets as quickly as possible. Because of the design of the gun I had to load each round individually, fire it, eject the spent shell, and load the next round. I hit all three targets, which surprised me.
Moving on to the third lane, there were three more reactive targets, but this time the weapon was a Taurus 7-shot long-barreled revolver, already loaded with six rounds of .357. Long-barreled revolvers have gained a certain amount of popularity in Britain since the unjustified 1997 pistol ban, because they're a good way of getting round it. The difference between an LBR and a conventional revolver is that an LBR has a barrel length of at least 30cm and an overall length of at least 60cm - this is usually achieved by having a bar or wrist brace going back from the grip to make up the full length, keeping it out of the "banned" category. Apart from the unusually long length it's just like a "proper" revolver. This Taurus had a wrist brace, which was unfortunately left-handed, but the revolver was easy to use, and not as front-heavy as I expected it to be. I had up to six shots to shoot down all three reactive targets - it only took three shots, no problem. It's almost a pity that I didn't need all six shots, because it was the first time I'd shot a breach-loading pistol since my last holiday in Florida in 1999. I'll buy an LBR myself one day, when I can afford it, unless the pistol ban is repealed first.
The fourth and final stage confronted me with another cardboard cut-out, this time of Santa himself, missing the head. This time the weapon was a modern muzzle-loading single-shot pistol - one of the guys running the match said it was an Ardesa, I think. I don't know the calibre, but it was probably a .44 or .45. The idea of this stage was that as soon as I called "ready", a balloon representing Santa's head would pop up behind the cut-out and I had one shot to hit it with the pistol. The timing would stop as soon as I fired the shot. So I picked up the pistol, aimed at a spot above Santa's neck, called "ready", the balloon popped up in just the right place, I took the shot and no more Santa! Piece of cake.
During the whole course of fire, some demented Christmas carol was playing in the background, just to add to the atmosphere.
I reckoned I'd done reasonably OK, apart from the first round, but it was a couple of hours before everyone had shot the match, and in the meantime I relaxed in the club room, chatting to the other members and helping myself to sausage rolls, pork pies and mince pies.
I didn't expect to win the match, so it was no surprise when I didn't. First prize went to a teenage boy (he got a voucher to use at the gunshop). Out of the sixteen people competing, I came tenth, which I reckon isn't bad. The lowest score was 50 points, the highest score was about 150, I got 100 points. Most importantly, it was a lot of fun and a good antidote to Christmas. I'll definitely do it again next year!
Funny the things that pop into your head when you're doing routine chores. I was brushing my teeth the other day when I suddenly decided to enter at least one shooting competition with my Remington 1858 revolver before the end of next year. I suppose it must have been bubbling away in my subconscious, waiting for a moment when my conscious mind wasn't engaged in anything else to emerge. It does actually make logical sense. I've shot my Remy a few times since I got it working reliably, but I'm hardly a competent shot with it yet. I can just about reliably hit a politician-size target at 25 yards, so there's definite room for improvement. There's probably a combination of reasons why I'm doing so badly at the moment, but I think the two main reasons are:
1) The design of the grip. The Remington 1858 was designed for mid-19th Century people, who had smaller hands than moderns, so it's hard to get a grip on it that's both comfortable and secure.
2) My own lack of experience. The bang and flash from my Remy is a lot more impressive than the .357 Winchester I also shoot, let alone the .22 rifle or my air pistol. I might very well be subconsciously flinching, it's a common problem.
So it might be thought that entering a competition next year is over-optimistic, but to me it makes sense. The best progress I ever made in learning to shoot was a few years ago when I used to take part in air pistol matches over the Internet. The element of competition encouraged me to try that bit harder and practise regularly. I'm hoping this will have the same effect. I don't expect to turn into the next Mick Gault, but if I can learn to be a decent shot with my Remy, that'll satisfy me.
So I'm posting this as an aide memoire to myself. I'm going to improve my shooting with my Remy, take part in a competition next year, and so I get a decent score I'll take the following steps:
1) Shoot my Remington as often as possible. Not easy, as the gun club is only open a couple of nights a week and I'm on a shift system, but I'll do my best.
2) Shoot my air pistol in between times for practice, at least two or three times a week. It's not the same as the Remy, but at least I can practise sight allignment and follow-through.
3) Read up on the subject. There's plenty of written material on marksmanship around. Of course it does tend to make the boss curious when I'm reading the US Army Pistol Marksmanship training manual at my desk between phone calls...
4) Try and find the best way to grip the Remington given the undersized grips.
5) Exercise more, especially the fingers - a strong grip and improveded upper body strength's got to help.
6) Seek advice from people with more experience - the Internet's a really useful resource for this kind of thing.
If I can develop a proper training routine, I should be ready to take part in a competition in a few months. Maybe I'll go to the annual Phoenix Meeting in Bisley next May. Even if I don't do very well, at least it'll be fun!
This is a Reminton 1858. It's not mine, but it's similar. The main difference is that mine has adjustable sights.
Freedom in Ireland - a small step in the right direction
Target Shooting Ireland have a very interesting story on their website. It seems that Frank Brophy, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland has won a court case appealing against the decision of his local Garda to refuse him a license to own a pistol. This will make Mr Brophy the first private citizen in the Republic for over thirty years to legally own a pistol. The Irish government has the same paranoid attitude towards its own citizens having weapons as the British government does. It seems back in the seventies the Irish government had a mass roundup of legally-owned firearms (using the usual excuse of fighting terrorism), returned some of them - mostly .22 rifles and shotguns, I think - and put the rest into storage or else disposed of them. Since then, even though there's never been a formal ban they've refused to grant licenses for pistols and some other types of firearms. So this is a bit of a landmark ruling.
The gun that Mr Brophy is buying is one of these:
It's what's known as a Free Pistol, which is a dedicated single-shot .22 target weapon used in slowfire competition by top-notch marksmen all the way up to Olympic level. It's a bit more specialised than most pistol shooters would buy just for informal target shooting at the range, and definitely not the best weapon for self-defence, but maybe the fact that there is now one legal pistol shooter in the Republic will start to open the door for the rest. Personally, I'd like to see a completely free market in guns, so that little old ladies, the handicapped, members of ethnic minorities etc could buy guns and protect themselves from violent criminals, so this is nothing like a perfect solution. But it is a small step in the right direction. Change comes a step at a time. For now, the Republic of Ireland is a slightly more free place than it was before.
This evening I've been mostly pistol shooting. Since the statist gangsters in Parliament banned almost all breech-loading pistols in 1997, the sport's actually become more diverse than it used to be, as people like me have taken up shooting with the types that are still legal. The two pistols that I'm currently running are a Baikal MP-651K CO2 air pistol and my recently-repaired reproduction Remington 1858 muzzle-loading revolver. I described getting the revolver repaired in an earlier post, I also had to replace the trigger spring on it a few days ago, so I was keen to test fire it and see if it was working OK.
So I arrived at the gun club shortly after 7.00pm. For some reason the club room was full, but the range itself was half empty, so I decided to go right in and fire a few shots from the Remington. These things generate a lot of smoke and we're normally only supposed to use them at the end of the evening when everyone else has finished shooting the more modern stuff. I'm usually the soul of range etiquette, but as I said I was keen to see if it was working properly, so I shot the Remington first of all. The Remington 1858 is a mid-19th Century design, and was widely used in the American Civil War (so it's good for killing Southerners). The main difference between it and most modern designs is how you load it - pour a measured charge of gunpowder into a chamber, insert a wad on top of it (I pre-lubricated mine with Brunox this time), insert a lead ball on top of the wad, use the built-in ramrod to force the ball all the way into the chamber, and repeat with the next five chambers until all six are loaded. Finally, put a percussion cap onto the steel nipple at the back of each chamber. The gun is now ready to fire. I sent a target all the way down the range - 25 metres - and proceeded to ventilate it. Shooting a .44 calibre muzzle-loading revolver is definitely an impressive experience. The bang itself literally rattles the teeth and there is a large amount of smoke and flash. One difference between a muzzle-loader and the more modern types I'm used to is the amount of hot gas and smoke that comes right back at you, presumably through the flash hole in the nipple. You can literally feel a wave of hot air go over your hand and face. Eye protection is practically mandatory when shooting a firearm like this, I think, just to prevent the outside chance of particles of burnt powder or bits of shattered percussion cap going into your eyes. Fortunately I wear glasses for shooting anyway. Recoil was also very noticeable, in the form of muzzle-flip, aggravated by the fact that the grips on this mid-19th Century gun are a bit small for a man who was born in the mid-20th Century (we're all a bit bigger than our ancestors apparently, presumably through being better-fed).
After firing six shots (without a single missfire) I was satisfied that the revolver was shooting OK, but the range was now getting a bit smoky (it's an indoor range, so there's really nowhere for the smoke to go) and one of the committee "suggested" that I might want to lay off shooting the Remington till later. That was OK with me, so I switched to the Baikal.
The Baikal MP-651K is an 8 shot CO2 pistol, which means it uses a cylinder of compressed carbon dioxide gas in the butt to power it. These were actually banned until a few years ago, for no good reason - the only good thing about the 1997 Firearms Acts was that CO2 guns were legalised. The magazine is a rotary thing that takes 8 .177 pellets. I wanted to shoot the Baikal at 25m, which is long range for an air pistol (I mostly shoot it at 6m at home), but if I focus I can still get reasonable groups at that range - reasonable meaning hand-sized groups. I also wanted to see if the sights were adjusted properly, and I figured shooting at long range would be the best way to show if they needed adjusting. Shooting an air pistol is a different experience from shooting a muzzle-loader, but just as much fun in its own way. The first obvious difference is the almost total lack of noise, especially as I was wearing ear defenders (which you have to wear on a shooting range if you don't want to go deaf). There's also no flash, no smoke and no recoil. One odd thing I noticed while shooting at 25m, which I never notice when shooting at shorter ranges, was that I could actually see the pellet in flight! Air pistols are extremely low-powered, so the pellet was only moving at maybe a couple of hundred feet per second. This made it very easy to see where the shots were going compared to how the sights were set. As I'd suspected, the shots were going high and to the left of the point of aim. I probably spent about an hour shooting the air pistol, seeing where the shots went and adjusting the sights to compensate. I still wasn't shooting dead on by the end of the session, but that could just as easily be due to tiredness starting to set in as the sights. Next time I go, I'll put a bipod on each of my pistols and find out exactly how accurate they are. Having shot maybe 32-40 pellets, I decided to take a break and hang out in the club room for a bit. The topics of conversation were the usual - speculation about what types of gun would be banned next, complaints about the uselessness of the "gun lobby" in this country, media bias and showing off our various guns. Even after the various bans, there is still some interesting hardware available. While I was shooting the Remington, the guy in the lane next to me had been shooting a .22 Kora, made in the Czech Republic. This is a long-barreled revolver, basically just the same as the types that were banned a few years ago, but with a 12 inch barrel and a butt extension, to give it an overall length of 24 inches. This takes it outside the category of "short firearms" that were banned in 1997. I want one of these, but they're a bit expensive for me at the moment. Koras are the cheapest of this class of gun that I'm aware of, and they cost over £300. Other types cost over £500. My financial resources at the moment are approximately nil. Maybe next year.
Getting towards the end of the evening, everyone else had finished shooting so I went back into the range with my Remington for the last quarter hour. Five minutes to load the gun, maybe a couple of minutes to fire all six shots - long-winded but fun!
And so I went home, but not to relax, not right away. The trouble with muzzle-loaders is that you have to clean them right away, especially when the gunpowder you use is Pyrodex. If I left it overnight I'd end up with a pile of rust, so as soon as I got home I did a very thorough cleaning job on it, involving liberal applications of Brunox (a combination lubricant and nitro cleaner recommended to me by the guy who runs Henry Krank's), brushes and boiling water. I reckon I've now cleaned and oiled that gun to the best of my ability, but I'll still check it for signs of rust over the next couple of evenings - you can't be too careful. And when I'd finished that, then I settled in for the night, watched "Comedy Connections" and started thinking about supper. Muzzle-loading revolvers are like cats - you have to attend to their needs and then your own.
