Gun-Related "Great Days" You've Had

[buck00]

Ever have a simply great day, the kind that you look back on later with a smile? I was thinking of some great days in recent years, and several were due to firearms. Maybe some of you have had such great days.

It could anything; that day you hit all 25 clays with your father, the excitment of walking out of a gun shop with a brand new rifle/pistol, taking down your first big buck with a 30-06 in the snow, a tour of the Kimber factory, or finally putting together that dream AR-15.

So I was wondering: what was your best gun-related “great day” ?


* note: to clarify, this is non-SD and non-combat

 

[jnyork]

If I wake up alive and can manage to struggle out to the range and spend a nice morning with some old friends, that is a GREAT morning for me.

 

[Eleven Mike]

When I qualified with the M-16 for the very first time, in the rain, laying in a cold puddle of water. At Fort Benning, Georgia.

Maybe not the best day, but the first that came to mind.

 

[Boomerang]

Just about every week when I go to the club and see some of the best people I've known, and shoot with them.

 

[esq_stu]

Normally, Sundays are honeydew days - honey please do this, honey, please do that. This Fathers Day, I was left free to tinker - cleaned guns, replaced parts in guns, made changes to guns, etc., all without being asked to do anything (except light the grill and make a couple of steaks).

All in all, a good day.

 

[Halo is for Kids]

This happened in AZ with a popular manufacturer of ak clones:

I called the factory looking for an underfolder and they told me they had one to sell me. So... I drive across town (about an hour) and the guy at the front says that he's sorry but they didn't have any to sell.

I explained that I had called and he said, oh ok well if he told you we'd sell you one then we'll sell you one. He takes me and my buddy to the back and we see four rifles just finished and on the rack. "Pick one out" he says. I look'em over and pick out the one I like and the builder comes over and says "we can't sell those, they haven't been test fired."

The guy from the front, says "well you heard him, do you guys want to go test fire them?" I look at my buddy and ask him as calm as I can if he wants to go and he says "sure." So off we drive (me, buddy, and factory rep) into the AZ desert with four rifles, an AK pistol, and a few hundred rounds.

To this day the only person that's fired my rifle is me, including the factory function test.

 

[Catherine]

Two times with a certain handgun.

I rented a S&W Model 629 with my late husband at my former indoor range back east. I used cowboy loads... 44 Specials. It was a special moment for me because I have had a HUGE crush on Clint E. in all things including his Dirty Harry gun/movie role since I was a kid (Rawhide!) and as an adult - all movies including his westerns/mysteries.

I shot the famous S&W Model 29 out in Colorado with a late close gun/political buddy, Vietnam Veteran and all around good man. It was on BLM land over by Grand Junction. I used his hand loads in 44 Magnums. It took 2 weeks to get the smile OFF of my face and the 'woo hoo wiggle' off of my body. It's a 'girl thing'. Grin.

I have owned and shot 2 mint S&W Model 29's too.

The first time that I shot a centerfire rifle was out west too. That same trip to CO. A vacation and shooting trip. It was a Ruger Mini 14 in .223 caliber - walnut stock. That was a grin and wiggle time too. Some stranger wanted me to try his SKS out there. I was with friends so I tried it.

Another time was here in MT. Deer Creek - my range. http://www.wmfg.org/
A retired policeman who went to another LE job wanted me to try his UZI. He had 3 set ups for it in 22LR, 9mm and 45ACP. I chose the 22LR and shot it semi and FULL auto @ the 50 yard range. I hit the gongs too! Woo hoo! That was FUN!

I have had other special gun moments too. I may post more later on. Beautiful days in ALL seasons. Shooting in blizzard type weather at a high power shoot with a rifle that a gun club buddy lent to me at my old outdoor gun club, back east, S. Sportsman's Club. Going to other events in MI - high power shoots with gun/political buddies and running into other people that I knew from my rural county, retired police men, other gun/political activists, etc.

The gun community is like my former boating community under sail and power. A close knit bunch and 95% of them are "GOOD" people even the none P.C. ones!

Fun events, good friends, nice guns, picnics, camping, good talk and tons of fun shooting back east and OUT here... life is good.

Catherine

 

[brighamr]

My favorite gun day. A few years ago, I drove to see my parents in UT. This was my first trip back in 5 years, and it was pretty emotion filled.

Anyway, after about 20 minutes of people crying/hugging/gushing, my dad asked if i wanted to go to the range (one of the few things we have in common). We drive down, and the local range had recently aquired NFA items for rent! I rented an M16, bought 400 rounds of ammo and spent a while blasting away with my 62 year old father. It was the first time either of us shot an MG, and he was smiling/laughing like I'd never imagined. It's an experience I'll remember.


Another good one. The very last time I got to hunt with my grandpa, we didn't even see an elk! We got back to camp and he offered to let me shoot his 300 savage (something very rare. He was the type of guy that had 20 bullets, and required 20 animals or it was a waste of ammo). Anyway, he had me fire it once at a rock about 400 yards away. I don't think I hit the rock, but just being able to shoot grandpa's rifle was a pretty big deal.

The most recent: the day my wife shot my saiga-12, at a 3gun practice Her first time at practice, and she just grabbed my gun and got in line. I am still so proud!

 

[3KillerBs]

Over 20 years ago a guy borrowed his mom's .22 rifle for me to use and took me to an old quarry to plink cans. I'd never fired a gun before and I loved it.

When we'd shot an entire 50-round box of ammo we shared an ice cream sundae and went back to his parents' house to return the rifle and have dinner.

I've loved shooting ever since, I ended up marrying him, and I love my in-laws so it was definitely a great day.

 

[wagoneer1019]

having the owner of POF-USA take me and my dad out to show us how to use my dad's new p-415 he also had some full-auto stuff he let us shoot he...good time

 

[1KPerDay]

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=349968

 

[XD Fan]

I had the honor of being the first person that took my wife (At the time, we had just begun dating.) shooting. It was our third date. I bought the ugliest old .22lr rifle for $50 at a pawnshop. She really enjoyed it, but grin on her face after she shot my .308 was priceless. That was 19 years ago.



Last year we both took my (then five-year-old) daughter shooting for the first time. She had asked if she could have a pink gun so I bought her a pink Cricket. We took off for the Mark Twain National Forest, with a pinic, bug spray and ballons for targets. They both loved it. Oh the joy!



There have been many more, but the best ones always invovle my wife for some reason. The only problem is that she has started confiscating some of my guns and branding them with her name.

 

[mejeepnut]

There just has been to many great gun days for me to just mention one,thats why I do it!I mean realy,what else can you say about something that has replaced fishing!

 

[Shung]

The day I went to Pick up with some other friends, 14 x AR-15M4 !!!

Made me smile when I came back home with 5 of them in the trunk for a friends delivery

 

[btg3]

1. Having the best stand on the dove field which resulted in a sore shoulder and in helping a few other shooters fill out their bag limit -- at age 12.

2. Taking turns with my brother shooting a carbide cannon.

3. Watching my son and daughter each win a BB gun at a turkey shoot.

4. Watching my son and daughter take honors for their respective age groups at youth pellet shoot.

5. Watching my wife qualify for her CWP.

6. Winning a new Mossberg 835 ultimag at a turkey shoot.

7. Taking my son to make his first handgun purhcase and subsequently shooting IDPA together.

8. Shooting and cleaning the same guns that my Dad and I shot together 40 years ago.

8. Taking a 90 yr old out for some plinking with his new Bersa Thunder .380 (which he gave to me a few months later).

10. Being told by the range owner that I have an illegal class III EBR (which turned out to be legal, dang it! ).

 

[Treo]

Three come to mind, that might be stretching "gun related " just a bit but ,

Apr. 1990 Last FTX in Graf W/ Btry A 3/35 th FA I fired the last( arty) round of the FTX, never went back to Graf.

May 2000 my National Guard unit was the last unit in the United States Army to retire the M110A2 Self propelled Howitzer. I got to fire the very last 8 inch round ever fired by the U.S. Army. ( I HEARD they sold all the guns to Morrocco)

FEB 2003 For the very last time I turned my M-16A2 in to the unit armorer and became a civilian.

No question about this one
MAY 2008 Took two friends from church shooting they were like kids in a candy store.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Picking up my second handgun, a Ruger Redhawk, is high on the list. The cop that registered it took his .357 out of his holster and asked, "Wanna trade?" Then the first time I touched that thing off was like a dream come true, of sorts. Funny, I don't really shoot it anymore.

Putting my Colt Mark IV together with all the custom goodies and then tuning it to get precise accuracy was another high point.

Firing off hundreds of rounds per week was a great time when a group of us was going to our semi-local DNR range every wednesday after work. We also got several new people to go, including some ladies, and even helped a future SEAL get his first taste of guns and shooting.

Best was a frog hunt I went on with my bro-in-law back in 70 or so, traipsing through a swampy two-track in the Hiawatha National Forest. We missed only one each; him with his Ruger RST-4, me with my Glenfield 60.

 

[Nate C.]

Any day at the range is a good day.

 

[Kind of Blued]

I'm scheduled to have two of them in a row next week.

My three best friends who I haven't seen since I moved away are heading out west to shoot all of the new toys I have accumulated and take an AR-15 clinic with me the next day. One is a gunny, the other is a gunny at heart, he just doesn't know it yet, and the other is quickly becoming one, and will be sped along by the birthday present I'll be giving him when he gets here.

Any day I buy a gun, or basically any gun-related accessory, is also a great day. I've had a lot of these kind of days lately...

 

[GlowinPontiac]

That day would be the Christmas morning many many years ago i woke up to find my Marlin .22 all wrapped up next to the tree.