Range Report.....and I made the news...sorta.

[VaughnT]

I had just recently put a pair of Uncle Mike's rubber spegel grips on my new HiPower and was looking forward to trying it out. Well, I took a trip to Asheville NC to shoot at On Target since it was such a nice day....and there's a really pretty manager at the Texas Roadhouse just down the road.

I decided to just sight in with my 147g Winchester JHP's from walmart. At 15yds, I put 75rnds through the target. All of the rounds impacted to the left of the vertical axis, and were a little high. I thought this might be my trigger stroke, but I wasn't too worried as I wasn't really trying to be accurate as much as I was wanting to see if there were any malfunctions with the weapon.

I put up a new target and pulled out 250rnds of WWB 115g FMJ. Every single round went to point of aim at fifteen yards. I chewed up the bullseye leaving a ragged hole about 6" in diameter. I can't fathom why the 147g JHP would veer left like it did, but I didn't change anything in my rest position so I know it couldn't have been something I did. Weird stuff, that.

Anyhow, there I was shooting for fun and making a big hole in the target when some super-bright light comes on over my shoulder. At first, I thought someone had lit up a Surefire eyeburner, but a quick look showed it to be a news crew filming a segment on women using guns for protection.

Well, I started watching them as much as I was shooting (the girl was kinda pretty, though her man was there with her).

Someone liked my grouping and asked if they could film me shooting, even though I'm not a girl. I'm cool with that.

Channel 13 WLOS Asheville. 1100pm. I didn't make the final cut, but the newscaster, arrogant and completely disinterested in the story, did hold my Browning HiPower while filming the intro to the story....so I'm a little famous, sorta kinda.

Oh, and that pretty manager at the roadhouse??? Well, let's just say that I was edited out twice in one day.

Sucks to be me.

[Nathanael_Greene]

Yeah, but at least you can count on your Hi-Power to be a faithful companion!

And as it gets older, it won't put on any weight.

Things could be worse.

[VaughnT]

Yup, yer right. But that girl sure was pretty.

[dhoomonyou]

if only women were like guns, you could trade in the old 44 for 2 22's.

[techmike]

if only women were like guns, you could trade in the old 44 for 2 22's.[QUOTE]

A pair of 38's is a good thing either way.

[RobW]

There's a German saying "Schönheit vergeht, Hektar besteht", meaning "beauty fades, property stays" :D

Except a Hi-Power, for sure! ;)

[Cacique500]

beauty fades, property stays

Until the faded beauty leaves with your property...:cuss: ;)

[Sleuth]

Back to the gun portion of your post:
Some guns will print different rounds in different places because of the harmonics of the action, i.e. the slower, heavier projectile leaves the barrel at a different point in the action cycle. Thus the 147's to one side, 115's to center. That's why some folks insist on adjustable sights.

[VaughnT]

Sleuth, that's an interesting point you bring up. I was initially thinking that I might just need to adjust my windage a bit if I wanted to stay with the heavier hollowpoint for defensive purposes.


A 115g hollowpoint should work as well on the bad people of this world as a 147g hollowpoint, though I'll be sure to keep 115 fmj in the weapon until I can stock up on some hp's at the next gun show.

As for the blonde.....it would have been nice, but she's "not much of a gun shooter person." Can't very well have that, now can we?!

[Sleuth]

I prefer the 147's, personally. But I'll give the short form of the bullistics course I used to teach:

Internal Ballistics: Who Cares!
External Ballistics: See Above.
Terminal Ballistics: SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT, SHOT PLACEMENT!

Any questions?

It's less what you shoot them with (within limits), than where you hit them.

(Yes, I called the course LEO BULLISTICS!)

[DMK]

I hope LOS does the story well. We've had some experience with them with soem projects we were doing at work. They tend to do a bunch of interviews where everybody gives them all kinds of interesting info, then they decide that didn't make any sense to them and put something on the air that bears no resemblence to reality. :rolleyes:

[Standing Wolf]

Well, let's just say that I was edited out twice in one day.

Rewrite.

[Snowdog]

I hope LOS does the story well.

I hope so too, but I'm sure Darcel Grimes will enjoy reporting the news "As it happens, as they see it". :(
WLOS does tend to cast things in a light of their choosing, which usually doesn't represent the truth as it should.

Vaughn T, Jeff still runs that place, right? Last time I was there (to shoot) was about a couple years ago (Rex's new indoor range is about 1/2 mile from my house). I do miss the atmosphere of On Target... friendly and helpful. Jeff's the guy that recommended I look into the K9 for carry, a heck of a good call if I ever saw one.
On Target is also a bit roomier than Rex's, but last time I was there, the ventilation seemed... well, the ventilation seemed to be off.

Glad to see you had some fun though. I'll have to look into those 147gr JHPs for future play dough tests. :D

[FLM]

Actuallly, Channel 13 did a pretty good good job on that story. I kept waiting for some sort of negative comment, but it never came. That girl was cute and not a bad shot. Snowdog, Rex's is where I shoot although I have a little bit longer drive than you. Good place.

[Zach S]

Snowdog, I'm obviously not Vaughn, but yes, Jeff still runs the place.

I've never shot at Rex's, never been there actually, I'm about ten or fifteen minutes away from On Target (well, sometimes an hour, depending on construction and mall traffic).

[edited several times because I'm not fully awake yet and my hands dont wanna work right]

[VaughnT]

Zach, you really should try Rex's. They aren't quite as polite as Jeff (though he did give me some short shrift while the news guys were there, but that's business....right?), or at least one of them isn't. The upside is that they have a very large selection of stuff to buy: their pro-shop is as large as Jeff's shooting range. It's the only store I've ever seen that has the entire line of Benchmade knives, and a great selection of magazines, and some surefires, too. And don't forget the reloading supplies, holsters, safes... Can't speak for their gun prices, but I did note that they didn't carry any Colts.

[Jim Keenan]

I think the current media motto is "All the news, as fast as we can make it up."

Jim