Just for fun

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Labguy47

Labguy47

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Most of what I see on here lately is caliber wars, tactical koolaid, and who’s doing what politically. Does anyone shoot just for the pure enjoyment of it? I know I have a lot of medical issues, but I just enjoy pushing myself to make that one shot that everyone else would call BS on. Does anyone else do a mag dump just because they can? So what about shooting brings a smile to your face?
Mine is watching my daughter shoot.
 
I love watching new shooters hit their target and see the “I did it!!” face.

I took my girlfriend shooting the other day. After significant time shooting one round at a time with various handguns, I stepped up to two rounds. She did great. So I gave her a full magazine with my 10mm, which she had already shot. Told her to shoot it as fast as she could pull the trigger until it was empty. She didn’t think she wanted to, but did it anyways. When the magazine (8 rounds) was empty she looked at me and said “Yeah, that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.” Her favorite gun to shoot was my RedHawk 44 Mag with full house loads. I was shocked by that one. I recorded her in slow-mo with my phone. The “Ohhh” face after the shot was priceless.

I may or may not have done the belt loop trick with a full 20 round mag with my M1A a few times. But my memory is kind of foggy with that one.

I’ve tried a few shots off of the “Impossible Shots” tv show and found them to be (at least for me) well named. But it was still a hoot trying.

Finding the perfect load and having my leverguns shoot sub-MOA.
 
I enjoy shooting. Helps me mentally reconnect with my time in service via the smells, sounds, feeling of the recoil. I continue to train and try to improve my defensive shooting skills to better protect my family. I love the accomplishment of sending rounds down range that I made. I love everything about shooting. I feel at home and at peace on the range.
 
All my guns are defensive tools but they all bring a smile to my face. I enjoy bumping paper plate size targets out further and further. I enjoy pushing myself to shoot faster.

I’m not a very competitive person by nature. I more or less care that I shoot a little better every time I shoot. But when I look at other shooters in other lanes and see them all over a silhouette target or not even hitting the silhouette at like 7 yards, and I’m tearing a baseball sized hole through a paper plate size target at 20 yards, and shooting faster than them, I think “Maybe I’m not too bad.” There’s an entire universe of better shooters than me who are either faster, are more accurate shooters at short range, or can ring a gong at long distance, but I enjoy having reasonable competency levels.

When I shoot ammo I assembled myself and it shoots much better than factory ammo, it makes me smile.

Sometimes I just feel like plinking. I enjoy that.

I don’t even mind cleaning my guns.

Honestly, for the most part, owning and shooting guns, along with loading ammo brings a real sense of calm to my life. I have a high stress job with a lot of anxiety generating bosses and coworkers. If I didn’t have my firearms hobby, and a place like THR to come and discuss it, I’d probably be really unhappy.

I need a focus other than my career. This is one of the fun passions I choose to engage in to make life fun, and almost every aspect, save the monetary cost, makes me happy.
 
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I love shooting my 375 H&H at distances I'm told it really can't do and score hits it really shouldn't make. I love shooting my FAL with the iron sights just because. I love shooting my AR because it makes scoring hits stupid easy. I love shooting. I love competition and pushing my self to be better. I love that I am a damn good rifle shot and a pretty decent combat pistol shooter. I love shooting.
 
Hitting a plastic target ball or cube from Academy (look for bright yellow or orange), loosely tethered to a metal stake. This is Most of my rifle shooting, and primarily from 30 yards; the max. distance to stay between Lateral safety berms on our narrow Action Pistol ranges. Three imported AKs are used. Employ the Ruger Mark IV, "M&P" (Walther) .22, CZ and Sigs on steel plates!

This is almost too simple to be believable, and always fun. Why bother with only benchrest shooting, even with a tight group, just watching holes appear?

I barely cheated death twice in 12 months last year: 100% blocked chest artery (very lucky timing-zero heart damage, Zero Death:small odds) and head-on driver on curving rural highway, at night (road shoulder was avail. and other car's lights were on: 8 sec. from a head-on when he/she became visible!!).
Very close calls with both.
Life and good health are too short. Fun is the only objective, before it is too late. You might not receive any warning....or might not pay attention to it; shortness of breath for Weeks-but never told my wife.
 
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Shooting is zen inducing...the resulting focus is so relaxing. That being said, though, teaching new shooters is even more fun for me.

I'll never forget the women's range event I hosted. Everyone started with .22s but several ended up using one of my garands to blast a series of frozen gallon jugs. One of those women was about 75...the looks of conquest and satisfaction on their faces was incredible!
 
Love teaching and coaching other shooters but sometimes I like to just get away to the range by myself. It's my escape time when I take the guns I want to shoot and maybe try out some new handloads I have put together. I find it to be both relaxing and energizing to focus on my shooting technique and in trying to be as accurate as I can be.
 
Unfortunately I have limited opportunities for fun in the UK (no centerfire semi-auto and no access to full auto). So I will break down my fun times by territory:

South Africa

1) Fired an 88mm howitzer at a bus a few kilometres away. That was on a cadet weekend organised by our high school. We fired a lot of rounds, but hit that bus only 3 times. It is hard to do!
2) Fired a select fire R5 rifle on an intermediate rifle course. The R5 is a modified Galil used by the South African Police Service
3) Set off various exploding targets with an air rifle

USA

1) Got to fire the M1 Garand rifle (thank you Larry Ashcraft!)
2) Rented a Kel-Tec S2000 several times at a Florida shooting range. I really like that gun!

UK

1) Welcome to suppressor city! I have a lot of suppressors, more than 10. There's a definite smile factor shooting suppressed, even if it is only .22
2) I have a semi-auto Bora Arms shotgun with 10 round magazines, used for practical shotgun. That can be quite fun!
 
RedlegRick said:
Shooting is my Zen. When I'm doing it, that's all I'm doing. Not worrying about bills, politics, my girlfriends issue du jour, nothing.
Just the motions and focus on that moment in time. Can't describe it any better.
Click to expand...
Same here. Loading up gear to go out to the middle of nowhere, with no distractions. Just like camping, only more fun. I enjoy the peace of settling behind a rifle, and of putting all focus onto target, trigger and breath control, and safety, of course. Wife enjoys it, when she gets a chance. Boys would go more often than I do, if they could drive. Daughter is just starting, but she still loves hanging out with Daddy, and seeing who get collect more brass. The whole family enjoys it.
 
luzyfuerza said:
. . . teaching new shooters is even more fun for me. . . One of those women was about 75...the looks of conquest and satisfaction on their faces was incredible!
Click to expand...
I taught a ~70 yo grandmother and recent widow from church to shoot defensive pistol this past year. It really was very satisfying to see her gain confidence. In late January she walked into church and told me she'd shot Best in Class in her CWP permit course of fire. . .
 
Slamming a .451" ball of lead into a steel plate at any distance and hearing the report while the target itself is obscured by smoke.

Dropping a big ole whitetail in his tracks. I imagine it will be even more satisfying when I use hand loads this season.

Watching a clay disc turn into a little cloud of orange powder and smelling the distinct sourness of burnt 800-x.

Levering round after round feeling like I'm riding for the Sackett brand.

Chasing that elusive perfect load for each of my guns.

Shooting more so I can make more.

Cleaning my well-worked guns and making them purty again.

Getting my guns dirty so I can clean them.

It's all fun for me. Knowing that I have the capacity to feed and protect those I love with my hobby is just a nice side benefit.
 
Seeing a rifle that was shooting 1.75 moa start pulling in to 1.25 moa after a trigger job I applied. Then 3/4-1 moa after glass bed the stock, finding the proper load for a rifle, etc.

Waiting for a new rifle to arrive after I've ordered it. For some reason I'm always so excited in the few days waiting for my new firearm to arrive.

Plinking with several firearms I own. I've often read people stating "If it doesn't help to improve defensive use of a weapon I see no need to do it" with regards to bench rest shooting but I enjoy shooting from a bench trying to get the tightest group possible or even trying to hit tiny little targets.

Having the old bull best the calves. I have twin boys fixing to turn 14. They already can outrun me, throw a tighter spiral, out pitch me, beat me in basketball, easily dispatch me on a video game, BUT..... Ole dad will absolutely smoke them at the range with any gun, doing any gun related activity. As long as my eyes hold out, I do believe this will be the case so I enjoy that.
 
Shooting is relaxing for me, I forget about everything else and just shoot. Have been shooting metallic silhouette with centerfire and rimfire riles for a while now and just this year added pistol. It is a very challenging and humbling sport, you shoot unsupported in the standing position at targets from 25 yards to 200 yards depending on the category you're competing in. You shoot and hopefully hear a clang and the silhouette falls over. I like competition and shoot better when competing against others rather than by myself. I get a kick out of the friendly banter and razzing we give each other on our shooting skills. The people I interact with is a very important factor in my enjoyment of the sport.
 
"Fun" is too simple a term to describe it. A part of my soul is more accurate. I think there is something in masculine nature that has an attachment to objects of war. The artistic design of the object itself, then the mechanical genius of it too.
My guns are very important to me.
Shooting in the middle of nowhere, forgetting all else and focusing on the target. It's a meditation. Removing all other objectives but hitting your target and feeling your gun as an extension of your body, then when you hit your objective, you forget all else. And then collecting the brass and cleaning it when I get home. It gives me a objective that is outside of anything else.
Lately I wonder if I'm more of a reloader who shoots, than a shooter who reloads. Perhaps I am. It is the study of weapons that made me to study a much greater range of history than I ever would've before. Note that I said weapons, not specifically firearms. I used to be a cold weapons enthusiast too, into swords, bows, etc. but I grew out of that. It's guns that are more bred into my DNA.
Being able to shoot any handgun with confidence, to anylize any rifle from a defensive standpoint and historical one, it's something I'd never trade for anything else. It's who I am
 
I forgot to add: in South Africa I had an old BSA air rifle with a cheap Tasco scope on it. It was old but super precise and I had great fun splitting pellets on a scalpel blade with that rifle.
 
Time at the range is peaceful, even serene and sharing that time with my wife makes it even better. I enjoy making accurate reloads and maintaining the guns. I like chatting with other shooters enthusiastic about the hobby, it's a chance to learn and to share. I love the sense of history with black powder guns, mil-surp bolt actions, and single-action revolvers. (Garands are in their own special category.) I REALLY love introducing kids and newcomers to these 'old' style weapons. Put a 45-70 round next to the 22lr or 223 a seven year old has been using and watch his eyes get huge. Same when you show him a flintlock with a 42 inch barrel that he's about to shoot (from a rest).

And as I approach 70, there's enough of a little boy left in me to imagine riding the range with my 45 Colt revolver and lever action rifle or walking into the Kentucky frontier with D. Boone and a flintlock across my arm. :D

Jeff
 
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