Do you still believe?

[4v50 Gary]

Keith mentioned comparison and it got me thinking.

With the exception of Switzerland, against all other nations we appear favorably. However, the Swiss have always led us and during our Civil War when many Americans didn't know how to shoot, every Swiss male was a rifleman. Guess some things don't change.

 

[Hal]

do you believe america is still a nation of riflemen?

No.

What we are and always have been is a nation of warriors not soldiers.

 

[hillbilly]

Why did Arkansas elect Bill Clinton?

Well, remember, Slick Willy is a master deceiver and liar.

Slick Willy never ever ever mentioned any sort of gun control as his plan while Gov. of a small, rural, Southern state.

His gun control plans only came out after he was elected to the office of President and he didn't have to convince Arkansas voters of anything anymore.

As for riflemen in Arkansas..........Arkansas has lots of military and ex-military guys of all ages. Military snipers in the various services tend to come from rural Souterhn states for obvious reasons.

I teach English at a small public college, and in just one of my classes, I have at least four ex-Marines. And that's just the Marines, not the other military vets. I think all Marines probably count as riflemen.

Besides the military connection, Arkansas has lots of kids as young as 8 who use rifles to take deer. I have four younger brothers, and two of them are riflemen, with the other two knowing their way around firearms well enough to shoot them safely.

Just as an example.....I live in the Ozarks in Crawford County. Yesterday, I had a concealed carry class out on my private range.

The class' gunfire apparently inspired other folks that they should be out shooting on such a fine day, as before we were done, there was the sound of target practice from at least five other shooters ringing from all points of the compass.

Northwest Arkansas, where Mopar Mike, is becoming rapidly urbanize and yuppiefied. But if you look around the riflemen can still be found, even there.

hillbilly

 

[longtom4570]

I think every one can become a rifleman go to fred's M14stocks and click on becoming a rifleman or woman. Iam learning how to be one, even after going thru basic training after i learn i will teach my boys
just got to suck it up and do it

 

[Keith]

Let me tell a story.

Ten years ago I was on a creaky old Coast Guard Cutter doing "REFTRA" with the navy down in Hawaii.

We had three kids that hung out together and were real shooters - two from Montana and one from Alaska. These guys had "customized" the sights on several of the guns, including the fifty caliber mounted on the bow. They had added a smaller "target" apperture and the front sight was filed down into a point. They may have played with the "trigger" in some fashion as well, I don't know - I don't want to know... They got plenty of practice and they were damned good!

The navy drill was to simply bracket a white rubber ball that was perhaps 3 to 5 feet in diameter, at various ranges - 500 meters, 100 meters, etc. Just bracket the ball - one burst over it, one under it - nothing more.

Well, at 500 meters the shooter let off a single round and "popped" the target ball. The navy Gunners Mates thought this was amusing and just a lucky shot. We dropped another ball and the gunner repeated the feat - popping the ball with a single shot at 500 meters.
They started to get real interested now and dropped another ball, steamed out to 1000 meters range and then made the back-up gunner shoot the ball instead of the original shooter. And this kid did the same thing! He took his time and made some sight adjustments, let off a single round and popped the ball at 1000 meters!
And picture that this is from a moving platform where the shooter had to time things with the swells, and put up with a certain amount of engine vibration...
That was the end of the shooting drills as far as the navy was concerned! The other three or four stations didn't even have to demonstrate their shooting. We got 100% for that portion of the training and were back at the pier by ten in the morning - and off to the beach...

All three of those kids could really shoot, even though one of them didn't get a chance that particular morning. Two of them were just 18 or 19 and another was in his early 20's. They'd grown up around guns and understood the concepts. They thought no more about "customizing" that gubmint fifty than they did about doing the same with their own rifles at home.

So, we still have some rifleman in this country.

Keith

 

[4v50 Gary]

Sea snipers. That skill is actually useful for cutting lines and aerials on other ships. The Spanish Navy used snipers to do that so a helicopter could land a boarding party on board a North Korean freighter that was Iraq bound (before our little coup there). They intercepted some missiles for us.

 

[BluesBear]

Sadly we are no longer a Nation Of Riflemen.

If there are 80 million of us gun owners out there why do so many anti-gun Horses As.... er, um, I mean politicians keep getting elected and relected?

I think the only thing worse than not knowing how to use a gun is owning a gun and not having the resolve to use it. America is now, by large, a nation of fat, lazy, let-the-other-guy-take-care-of-it people. How else could you explain the facy that ANYONE would ever believe Michael Moore and his ilk? How else can you explain having a president who thinks all guns are bad, oral copulation is not sex and that was to stupid too know how to properly smoke a joint?

So far as America being a Nation Of Riflemen... I doubt if our Founding Fathers would even consider us to be a Nation Of Americans.



<sigh>

As for me I am still hanging in there. In the past 2 years I have personally transformed 3 Sheep into Shepherds.

 

[Mike Irwin]

No.

A nation of gunowners, but hardly a nation of riflemen.