Deer Hunter
Member
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2005
- Messages
- 4,097
I did a lot of things this Easter weekend that were fantastic. I caught some fairly huge bass out of our two little ponds, went camping with my bro-in-law, sister, and sister's friend (which included chopping wood at 1 in the morning with my bro in law, learning how to throw a large axe into targets, and making smores), and had some fantastic food with my great family. After a little bit more fishing (more big bass) after Easter lunch, I took my cousin, who is nearly 17, and my brother in law with me over to the land we lease. It's 200 acres of near worthless land that is a mile and a half down the dirt road from our house. I grew up in these woods, so they mean a lot to me.
My cousin has never really had much interest in firearms at all. His family is from a very wealthy neighborhood north of Dallas. Give him a fishing pole and he'll be after them all day long, but guns? He doesn't care much for my old mil-surp rifles or "huntin'" rifles at all. He went with some members of my family as we went shotgunning once, but talked on his phone the whole time. However, while he was visiting the same time as my sis and bro-in-law, the bro-in-law asked to see my "AK".
My cousin's eyes got WIIIDE. "You have an AK? Seriously?"
So my THR mode kicks in, and I explain to him, "Well it's my Saiga, a semi-automatic russian rifle that is mechanically an AK-47 variant that is chambered in .223, blah blah blah." So he asks to see it, and instantly falls in love. Here's the rifle.
So he's asking all kinds of questions about it, "What's it shoot? What's with the scope? Does it kick? How many rounds does it hold? Where did you get it?" So I answer all his questions, then show him my STG 58. He also thoroughly enjoys that one.
Well, now back to the part of the story that happened today. A few weeks later after a bountiful Easter lunch with the family. As we head into that little plot of forest, I take along some ear plugs and my Saiga with one of my galil mags. We first check a perch trap in a creek, then drive up to camp to pack up the tent. Once the work is done, I set up some trash (used bean can, bottles, aluminum cans, a half-full jar of Salsa, etc) about 20 yards away and show my cousin how to shoot my Saiga.
Safety, four rules, etc. I shoot first, to let him see there is no kick to it. Salsa sprays across the ground and my target lies in ruin.
Now he's excited. I hand him the ear plugs, and he goes to town on the can. Then the bottle. After those two shots, he puts the safety on and asks me more questions about it. I told him how I bought it cheap, modified it to what he sees now, and bought the POSP scope for it.
Now he wants me to build a rifle for him!
As we play with the rifle, showing him how to load it, etc, my brother in law runs to the house to pick up his K31. He got jealous and wanted to shoot something too.
While he is gone and between switching the gun between us, we hear a four-wheeler come down the trail to the camp. It's my other Cousin, 3 or so years older than me, with his newly wed wife. A little Asian woman who loves fishing, hunting, hiking, etc probably more than most members on this forum.
He tells me, lighting a cigarette, "We heard the shooting while headed to another little pond over in the gov't woods and she said, 'turn around! I wanna go shoot a gun!'"
So this warms my little soul, and my Saiga is blushing just a bit.
She's never shot a gun like this, so it's more alien to her than it was to my little cousin. I show her the safety, how to hold it, how to look down the sights or the scope, what to expect, etc. I give her the earplugs as I hold the rifle. She took aim downrange, after I corrected her posture and how she was holding the gun, and she let off a round. She laughed, handed me the rifle, and said "That thing's loud!" Not her kind of gun, but her husband assured me that she shoots her .22 all the time. I'm kinda starting to like this girl. Go Cuz.
About that time, my brother in law shows up with his K31. He loaded some in the mag and when everyone was safetly plugged up, he let six rounds downrange at targets. He only hit 2, hehe. He's gotta learn to take his time. (Although that's saying a bunch, he got a much larger buck than I did this last season with that gun
)
All in all, it was a good time. My Cousin wants me to build him a gun and seems extremely eager to learn about AKs and ARs. I'm really pleased with that. Not sure what his folks would say to him owning one, but him showing interest is the great part.
Oh, and by the way, he never once missed what he was aiming at. He's a natural.
My cousin has never really had much interest in firearms at all. His family is from a very wealthy neighborhood north of Dallas. Give him a fishing pole and he'll be after them all day long, but guns? He doesn't care much for my old mil-surp rifles or "huntin'" rifles at all. He went with some members of my family as we went shotgunning once, but talked on his phone the whole time. However, while he was visiting the same time as my sis and bro-in-law, the bro-in-law asked to see my "AK".
My cousin's eyes got WIIIDE. "You have an AK? Seriously?"
So my THR mode kicks in, and I explain to him, "Well it's my Saiga, a semi-automatic russian rifle that is mechanically an AK-47 variant that is chambered in .223, blah blah blah." So he asks to see it, and instantly falls in love. Here's the rifle.
So he's asking all kinds of questions about it, "What's it shoot? What's with the scope? Does it kick? How many rounds does it hold? Where did you get it?" So I answer all his questions, then show him my STG 58. He also thoroughly enjoys that one.
Well, now back to the part of the story that happened today. A few weeks later after a bountiful Easter lunch with the family. As we head into that little plot of forest, I take along some ear plugs and my Saiga with one of my galil mags. We first check a perch trap in a creek, then drive up to camp to pack up the tent. Once the work is done, I set up some trash (used bean can, bottles, aluminum cans, a half-full jar of Salsa, etc) about 20 yards away and show my cousin how to shoot my Saiga.
Safety, four rules, etc. I shoot first, to let him see there is no kick to it. Salsa sprays across the ground and my target lies in ruin.
Now he's excited. I hand him the ear plugs, and he goes to town on the can. Then the bottle. After those two shots, he puts the safety on and asks me more questions about it. I told him how I bought it cheap, modified it to what he sees now, and bought the POSP scope for it.
Now he wants me to build a rifle for him!
As we play with the rifle, showing him how to load it, etc, my brother in law runs to the house to pick up his K31. He got jealous and wanted to shoot something too.
While he is gone and between switching the gun between us, we hear a four-wheeler come down the trail to the camp. It's my other Cousin, 3 or so years older than me, with his newly wed wife. A little Asian woman who loves fishing, hunting, hiking, etc probably more than most members on this forum.
He tells me, lighting a cigarette, "We heard the shooting while headed to another little pond over in the gov't woods and she said, 'turn around! I wanna go shoot a gun!'"
So this warms my little soul, and my Saiga is blushing just a bit.
She's never shot a gun like this, so it's more alien to her than it was to my little cousin. I show her the safety, how to hold it, how to look down the sights or the scope, what to expect, etc. I give her the earplugs as I hold the rifle. She took aim downrange, after I corrected her posture and how she was holding the gun, and she let off a round. She laughed, handed me the rifle, and said "That thing's loud!" Not her kind of gun, but her husband assured me that she shoots her .22 all the time. I'm kinda starting to like this girl. Go Cuz.
About that time, my brother in law shows up with his K31. He loaded some in the mag and when everyone was safetly plugged up, he let six rounds downrange at targets. He only hit 2, hehe. He's gotta learn to take his time. (Although that's saying a bunch, he got a much larger buck than I did this last season with that gun
)All in all, it was a good time. My Cousin wants me to build him a gun and seems extremely eager to learn about AKs and ARs. I'm really pleased with that. Not sure what his folks would say to him owning one, but him showing interest is the great part.
Oh, and by the way, he never once missed what he was aiming at. He's a natural.