July 17, 2006

Boom Boom Club

A few weeks ago, we took a day trip up to Prescott to visit this shop - now I am a gun owner (some might call it a canon).

The first range we took it to was Shooters World; conveniently close to work, air-conditioned indoor range. At $13 per hour (or portion thereof) it is a bit pricey, though. Also, though they may be watching through the windows, there aren't many employees on the firing line with the customers. If you need help or instruction you are on your own - though you may be able to get it in a class for a fee. It was a very humbling experience shooting at targets on a range, seeing how inaccurate I was at the various distances.

Yesterday we went to Ben Avery - what a difference. $5 gets you a whole day of shooting, or as much of it as you can take...we made it about 3 hours. There are an abundance of safety officers on the line, all quite friendly and open to questions. From that humbling experience at Shooters World, I was feeling pretty bad about my skills. I grabbed one of the range volunteers and told him I needed help - he gave me two tips and I hit just on the edge of the bullseye with my first shot. I emptied the whole clip in a 5-7 inch group. Wow - I was amazed :-) Now, that was sitting down and at a target 5 yards away. I didn't do quite as well standing up or at a longer distance, but I did SO MUCH better than I had been doing.
The boyfriend and his buddy had their hunting rifles, which one of the range workers sited in for them...quickly and for free.

A great way to, as Len says, "turn money into noise" - in my case just shy of 200 rounds and the range fee.....about $30 all together.

BTW: Forgot to mention that they carded me when I went to buy ammo. My birthday on Wednesday is decades away from the ammo buying threshold, so I thanked him profusely for making my day :-)

Posted by Vox at July 17, 2006 03:15 PM | TrackBack | Arizona , Phoenix , Sports , personal
Comments

I've wanted to make it out to Ben.What was the climate like? How much shade and or cooling do they provide at BA?

Posted by: wickld at July 17, 2006 08:14 PM

Last time I was at Ben Avery, I ALMOST gave in to the temptation to go out and check my target while people were still shooting. You just get so caught up in what you're doing... One of the workers there told me it's quite common.

Posted by: Special Agent Johnny Utah at July 17, 2006 09:12 PM

It was very hot, WickId, but it is all shaded. We had a cooler full of icy cold water bottles and we went through all of 'em, and we were all completely covered in salt by the time we were through, but I never really felt uncomfortable even though I was wearing jeans and a thick t-shirt.

I never actually got close to going out while they were still shooting, but there were a few times where I sure wished I could get a llok at my target - and didn't want to wait. I can see how a person could be curious and distracted enough to do it. Hopefully, the sound of all those guns snaps them out of it before they get into a danger zone.

Posted by: Vox at July 18, 2006 07:41 AM

Congrats and welcome to Community of Hoplophiles!

Posted by: Cowboy Blob at July 18, 2006 01:26 PM