Vasilia Zhietzev
Member
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2003
- Messages
- 81
Allow me to start by saying I've never shot a full auto anything in my life. I've only been shooting about 3 years, so I had quite a few new experiences.
I got a very early start saturday morning, got out of Louisville by 6 a.m. When I got to the range at Knob Creek, I was greeted by a line of cars & trucks waiting to get in that stretched about 1/4 mile. The staff was very present, and I was parked in less than 15 mins after I got onto the property. It was pretty well thought out & not hard to get around, though a bit muddy.
I was kind of in shock when I got up to the main firing line, it looked like a battalion had parked there. I could not believe I saw so many...er..LARGE.. arms set up. Things I've only seen pictures of, with bores I could easily put my finger or hand into. I saw many men, loading magazine after magazine; unloading crate upon crate of ammunition that made my usual sunday bag look miniscule; stacks of rags, gloves, extinguishers, belts & belts of ammo the size of my hand and larger...all facing a range full of water heaters, cars, campers, a boat, an RV, a bus on a hill, pumpkins, you name it, it was out there ready to fired upon...
It was all overlaid with a sense of excitement not unlike a stage before the curtain goes up and the dry burnt charcoal scent - acrid, yet bracing - of gunpowder.
When the shoot commenced, I jumped. It was like a switch that turned on a stereo full concert maximum with white zombie at 5:30 a.m. right in front of me. Things went down in a matter of seconds, things caught on fire, things fell apart after 30 seconds of a 50 cal beretta. The noise was deafening at first(even with headset on), but after watching & listening I began to single out sounds: high ones with a constant chatter of light rounds, a solid buzz from a GE minigun, whines ending in a solid thump from tracers and single shots from midsized guns, underlaid with the deeper barks of the bigger pieces on bipods that took two hands to hold onto the firing apparatus alone; and punctuated with a basso profundo thump from the big boys mounted by themselves. The gunners worked as teams to keep it going, and kept it going for up to 20-30 minutes at a time. when the cease fire sounded, the dust and smoke parted in the morning breeze like a curtain and i saw everything annihilated, burnt, and in some places...gone...
Oh.
My.
God.
I walked away with a new respect for men(and women) in war. It took training, teamwork and guts to do that. I thought of my father - I had recently found out he had served in the Korean war in a mortar battalion. Even went in the field and radioed back where to position the guns. If this was just a taste of what this was (and still is) like, there are many unsung heroes out there.
Of course I cheered my self hoarse at the night shoots, which were even more interesting, because they had more tracers & I do like to watch stuff blow up to begin with...
In the meantime, I did meet a nice couple from this board briefly- bogie and wendy - I wandered many booths of vendors selling it all from ammo to camo undies (I wonder if the amount of camo worn was proportionate to the depth of wannabe felt at times) , watched part of the pistol competition - it was set up kind of like an IDPA match - hope the cops from Ohio - the two randy's- did well. I plan to sign up for that next year.They were very gentlemanly and escorted me for a bit. John Ross was not there, he stayed in Missouri to work on the injunction on the CCW, I believe.
I also did try some full autos for the first time - I did the jungle walk and got another layer of respect added onto the first I gained. The guys were very nice, and after I got onto the course, it was a bit more difficult than anticipated. I was given an older uzi w/ a folding stock - it took about three targets before I got the hang of how to aim & fire & hit the target - I tended to hit low - the argets were not easy to spot at first for a beginner like me - if I were a soldier in a jungle, I'd have been dead in the first 3 minutes. I can imagine what it must have like, having to look for enemy, which fired back, step clear of land mines, keep your cool sufficently enough to communicate with your team, AND use your own weapon quickly enough. I am going to change my training for long distance to include this. I'll never be a good sniper just doing benchrest. I also tried an HK with .223 rounds, very easy also. and a 1919A. All I can say is instant addiction. Oddly, I noted there were few females actually shooting. It seemed 90% male participation, and 90% female observation. Hope that changes.
I was full of thoughts as I was leaving from a full and satisfying weekend; in the afternoon sunset I noticed a spot of red in the sea of green olive drab. The red turned into a felt beret on an officer in desert camo walking in as I was leaving. What a sight he was, carrying a nice Colt, young, fit, a face keen with intelligence and a glint of humour when he caught my headshake out of the corner of his eye. I found myself thinking I should go back and shake his hand and tell him: 'hope you make it back safe to your home, wife & kids one day. Thanks for defending me & my home.' ...then decided he'd think I was deranged for doing that. I imagined he'd say: 'Are you nuts? I'm just a soldier!' Just like my father would have said when I found out how he served the country, had he been around. With a bemused smile, I realized that the officer was the very image of my father at age twenty three. I have the photograph with me every day.
And so goes the veteran of tomorrow.
Can't wait to go back next year. A good first experience. Thanks for reading an amateur's observations.
I got a very early start saturday morning, got out of Louisville by 6 a.m. When I got to the range at Knob Creek, I was greeted by a line of cars & trucks waiting to get in that stretched about 1/4 mile. The staff was very present, and I was parked in less than 15 mins after I got onto the property. It was pretty well thought out & not hard to get around, though a bit muddy.
I was kind of in shock when I got up to the main firing line, it looked like a battalion had parked there. I could not believe I saw so many...er..LARGE.. arms set up. Things I've only seen pictures of, with bores I could easily put my finger or hand into. I saw many men, loading magazine after magazine; unloading crate upon crate of ammunition that made my usual sunday bag look miniscule; stacks of rags, gloves, extinguishers, belts & belts of ammo the size of my hand and larger...all facing a range full of water heaters, cars, campers, a boat, an RV, a bus on a hill, pumpkins, you name it, it was out there ready to fired upon...
It was all overlaid with a sense of excitement not unlike a stage before the curtain goes up and the dry burnt charcoal scent - acrid, yet bracing - of gunpowder.
When the shoot commenced, I jumped. It was like a switch that turned on a stereo full concert maximum with white zombie at 5:30 a.m. right in front of me. Things went down in a matter of seconds, things caught on fire, things fell apart after 30 seconds of a 50 cal beretta. The noise was deafening at first(even with headset on), but after watching & listening I began to single out sounds: high ones with a constant chatter of light rounds, a solid buzz from a GE minigun, whines ending in a solid thump from tracers and single shots from midsized guns, underlaid with the deeper barks of the bigger pieces on bipods that took two hands to hold onto the firing apparatus alone; and punctuated with a basso profundo thump from the big boys mounted by themselves. The gunners worked as teams to keep it going, and kept it going for up to 20-30 minutes at a time. when the cease fire sounded, the dust and smoke parted in the morning breeze like a curtain and i saw everything annihilated, burnt, and in some places...gone...
Oh.
My.
God.
I walked away with a new respect for men(and women) in war. It took training, teamwork and guts to do that. I thought of my father - I had recently found out he had served in the Korean war in a mortar battalion. Even went in the field and radioed back where to position the guns. If this was just a taste of what this was (and still is) like, there are many unsung heroes out there.
Of course I cheered my self hoarse at the night shoots, which were even more interesting, because they had more tracers & I do like to watch stuff blow up to begin with...
In the meantime, I did meet a nice couple from this board briefly- bogie and wendy - I wandered many booths of vendors selling it all from ammo to camo undies (I wonder if the amount of camo worn was proportionate to the depth of wannabe felt at times) , watched part of the pistol competition - it was set up kind of like an IDPA match - hope the cops from Ohio - the two randy's- did well. I plan to sign up for that next year.They were very gentlemanly and escorted me for a bit. John Ross was not there, he stayed in Missouri to work on the injunction on the CCW, I believe.
I also did try some full autos for the first time - I did the jungle walk and got another layer of respect added onto the first I gained. The guys were very nice, and after I got onto the course, it was a bit more difficult than anticipated. I was given an older uzi w/ a folding stock - it took about three targets before I got the hang of how to aim & fire & hit the target - I tended to hit low - the argets were not easy to spot at first for a beginner like me - if I were a soldier in a jungle, I'd have been dead in the first 3 minutes. I can imagine what it must have like, having to look for enemy, which fired back, step clear of land mines, keep your cool sufficently enough to communicate with your team, AND use your own weapon quickly enough. I am going to change my training for long distance to include this. I'll never be a good sniper just doing benchrest. I also tried an HK with .223 rounds, very easy also. and a 1919A. All I can say is instant addiction. Oddly, I noted there were few females actually shooting. It seemed 90% male participation, and 90% female observation. Hope that changes.
I was full of thoughts as I was leaving from a full and satisfying weekend; in the afternoon sunset I noticed a spot of red in the sea of green olive drab. The red turned into a felt beret on an officer in desert camo walking in as I was leaving. What a sight he was, carrying a nice Colt, young, fit, a face keen with intelligence and a glint of humour when he caught my headshake out of the corner of his eye. I found myself thinking I should go back and shake his hand and tell him: 'hope you make it back safe to your home, wife & kids one day. Thanks for defending me & my home.' ...then decided he'd think I was deranged for doing that. I imagined he'd say: 'Are you nuts? I'm just a soldier!' Just like my father would have said when I found out how he served the country, had he been around. With a bemused smile, I realized that the officer was the very image of my father at age twenty three. I have the photograph with me every day.
And so goes the veteran of tomorrow.
Can't wait to go back next year. A good first experience. Thanks for reading an amateur's observations.
