Range Trip

It's always nice to go to the range for some shooting fun and is especially nicer when Brendan comes along. Today I enjoyed one of those especially nicer trips to the range. We went to the Nassau County indoor range in Uniondale right near the Nassau Coliseum. As per new policy we had to show our Leisure passes. Used to be all you had to do was show proof of residence but some arse hat bureaucrat figured out that the county could make some shekels off of we who use any county park facilities and voila the Leisure Pass. After showing the pass we payed $7.00 a head to shoot, and $2.00 for 12 small targets.

Once on the range Brendan started to shoot his Bulgarian AK and I my government issued Glock 19. I tried to adjust the font sight on Brendan's rifle for windage with hammer and punch but it did not work like the gun store cljerk who sold it to Brendan claimed it would work. I suppose we need some sort of adjustment tool. I told him to shoot using Kentucky windage and he asked "what's that". Once I explained it to him he was shooting center of target in no time. Nothing to brag about, but he was having fun and doing pretty well even if only at 15 and 25 yards (small range).

As we were well into shooting, there was a high pitched repeated tone over the PA system. The range office was making an announcement that the guys on two other points had only 5 minutes left of their allotted time and had to leave! That was foul indeed. I have never heard anything like this before at this range. While they charge residents $7.00 per hour, you always could shoot for much longer than an hour without anyone telling you your time was up. The dems are in power in Nassau County and things have changed, and ares till changing for the worse at this range. Just like with the Leisure Pass, they are trying to suck more money out of folks. Even if they insist on being hard asses about your time on the range, they do not need to embarrass or bother anyone by making such an announcement. All they need do is tell the guy as he leaves that he owes them for another hour.

I had 250 rounds of 9mm for myself to play with and shot it all up within less than an hour. Now I did not hurry up because of the above announcement. Had they made that announcement to me I would have given them a piece of my mind and thrown my next $7 at them for another hour if need be. I just shot up what I had because I had other things to do, and Brendan and I had planned for only an hour at the range.

I did most of my firing inside 7 yards but also a some further out. I am not the greatest shot out there by a long shot, that is for sure. Yet, I can hold my own and usually do pretty good. For instance the one target tat accompanies this blog was shot slow fire at 7 yards. I will not say how many rounds I fired at it, that will be part of my monthly contest to be posted later this week. The other pic is of a target at which I fired my last 38 rounds. I shot then rapid fire, just about as fast as I could pull the trigger once I got ther gun back on target after recoil. As you can see, there is a big difference between the slow fire and the rapid fire targets. When I can get both of them close to the same as the slow fire target, then I'll be a really good shot. As for now though, I would get the job done in a self defense situation even though the spread was considerable on the rapid fire target. Then again, if you consider chest cavity size, it is not all that spread out.

Once we were done shooting, we washed up, and grabbed a soda each and then made a stop by the bulletin board. There folks can list guns they have for sale. One lady had up a posting about a good number of rifles she is selling that her deceased husband had owned. While money is tight because times are hard I'll have to call her to see what she is asking on some of them. Good investments for the future. I took the list down and asked the range officer to make me a copy which he was happy to do for me. As I was waiting for the copies, a young gal and guy with whom I assume to be their dad came in to shoot. When asked what they were shooting they said .223. The range guy then asked what kind of 223 since they do not allow FMJ ammo at this range (although HP is okay). The dad then pulled out the ammo to show to the range guy. The range guy told him he could not shoot it, and that he had to hand over the ammo to the range guy who would keep it until they left! The range Nanny State at its best is all I can say. There is no way I would hand over any ammo to a range officer. Instead I would politely tell him it is my ammo and either I will keep it in my range bag or put it into my car, but he would not be holding it for me. In case I would forget it, I don't need to be dependent upon a range officer's realizing that I am leaving, then actually remembering that he has my ammo that he needs to return to me. Besides that, the policy sucks because it only goes to show that the government (and yes these are government employees working at a county government range) is telling us it does not respect us enough to trust us to follow the range regulations. That is despicable behavior on the part of the range personnel as far as I am concerned because it shows great disrespect to the shooters. That policy should be changed. As it was though, the shooter in question just handed it over like a sheep. Oh well - his ammo - his call.

All in all we had a very enjoyable day, and an eye opening one far as as enforcement of range policies goes.

All the best,

Glenn B