Shooting just for fun?

[chriske]

At our club indoor range, I go out for a smoke when "JimmyGlock" steps up to the line,
letting him have his fun going through 300 assorted 9mm/.40 rounds shooting 20 " groups at 10 yards.
It seldom takes him longer than 15 minutes, and he's not really a bad sort, just sort of overenthusiastic .

 

[hq]

and engage us in a conversation where he asked us why we always are shooting .22's. Told that we just like to shoot for the heck of it, he informed us that we need to be able to protect ourselves, and we need to practice with real firearms that have some knockdown power! Galling to say the least, not to mention that from the looks of the target on his lane, he could barely hit anything with that shiny Kimber 1911 on his hip.

We've been getting that a lot too. My favourite range guns are 50's vintage Woodsman Match Targets; very classic and way more accurate than I am. I have no problem with recoil but having less of that makes target practise more enjoyable. And I love to shoot, plink, hunt... anything that requires absolute concentration, just because I like it.

Having (unfortunately) had to defend myself with a gun has given me some perspective. There's nothing wrong in being prepared but being able to control your nerves in an extreme situation is far more important that having practised emptying a full high-cap magazine to the general direction of the assailant. I'm not at the range to practise self defense, I'm there to have fun and improve my marksmanship skills.

Yes, I have a solid IPSC background from the 80's and early 90's and sometimes I surprise even myself how fast I can still go from holstered to a .44 caliber hole in 7- or 8-ring at 25 or even 50 yards, but blasting away hundreds of rounds at a target at a spitting distance? I can't really get it and I'm only "semi-old", in my 40's.

Different strokes for different folks. Marksmanship and the sheer joy of target shooting is way underrated these days.

 

[SHOTshlr]

shooting for fun & plinking

carl; i am alive & well & so are some of my friends. we also play golf/w ruger 22 autos, shoot necco candy wafers at 50 yds. at the club we belong to. long live plinking& fun shooting!!!!! SHOTshlr

 

[cofcman]

I shoot often just for the fun of watching the golf ball dance, or the *tink* of the steel. The shards of clay bird or the old AOL cd's that used to come in the mail still give me pleasure. Its not about marksmanship, or competition, or self defense... just the pleasure of firing.