BassCliff
Professional
Hey howdy hey!
It was as fine a day as you could have here in the Golden State. My friend Roger, retired LEO, is a member at the Burro Canyon Shooting Park (also a public range). I went as his guest where he was able to procure a private 25 yard bay just for us to have our fun. It was a nice drive up the canyon. As you can tell, this place goes all out when it comes to signage.
We got to the range office just before it opened and we were second in line. During the week the members like to snatch up the private bays so they don't have to shoot on the public firing lines with the riff-raff.
Roger had a couple of clever PVC target stands in his truck so I didn't bring mine. I got out my little kit on one of the tables, my XD9 and Walther P22 with some PMC, WWB, and .22 CCI.
Roger brought a few of his toys to play with. Besides his PM9 carry, he's got a Sig, Glock, an old .22 rifle, and he brought along his tactical Remington 870 for me to try out.
Of course the first thing I like to do is shoot a 10-10-10 drill cold. Here ya go, not too bad. The first shot was a little slow but I made par time with only two out of the black.
On the next drill I tried to push pretty hard and the accuracy suffered, as usual. At least they're all on the paper, barely.
Then I wanted to practice some distance marksmanship. I put up some reactive targets and shot at them from about 25 yards.
I started off OK but tended to trail off low and left. Then I would re-focus and get back on target.
Roger suggested that I put up a silhouette and shoot at it from 25 yards, just to see if I could really do some damage from that distance if I had to.
I tossed ten rounds at it and hit them all center mass. Still, I should do better.
Then I moved back up to ten yards and did a couple of "Failure Drills", two center mass, one head shot. Roger said I'm doing OK. Then he let me try out his tactical Remington 870. It was decked out with polymer furniture, light, sling, upgraded sights, sidesaddle, etc. Unfortunately it jammed after the first tube I shot and he had to take it apart to fix it. After that it ran flawlessly through a whole box of 8 pellet 00B.
It had jammed the second time I loaded it, would not chamber a round or go into battery. After removing the barrel and emptying the tube we were back in business. For one tube I walked up to ten yards and tried it out on the silhouette. I like that big ragged hole. All the small holes are the wadding. The groin shots you see are because the wind knocked down the target but I shot it anyway as it was falling.
We also shot at a couple of those self-healing ground targets, squares that would dance and jump with you hit them. It was cool going back and forth between them while practicing target acquisition. Roger gave me a complete lesson on his firearm. Thank goodness. I had trouble figuring out how to wear the sling. I got it now.
It's been a while since I shot my P22. I took it up to ten yards and shot at the reactives. It shot really well today. I thought I had to adjust the sights because I shot it so badly last time. But, as usual, it's not the firearm. It's the shooter.
I shot a few more 10-10-10 drills at the end of our session. Drat, still too many in the 8 ring.
This turned out to be a pretty good score. I muffed defeating my garment, hence the delayed first shot, but then took my time anyway. I didn't make the par time but this string was more accurate.
Then I pushed hard for my last one. Not bad times but accuracy is sub-par. At least they're all on the paper again, barely.
These are the self-healing squares we were shooting at today. I like these better than the round units. These don't roll away so easily, you don't have to chase them down.
Then we called it a day, cleaned up our messy shotgun shells, put our targets away, and went to lunch, Roger's treat. He's a good guy. We had fun today and my training was productive, especially with the shotgun. I want to get one for home defense very soon. Thanks for coming along with me. If any of you know of a good outdoor range in the greater Milwaukee area, please let me know. Thanks!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
It was as fine a day as you could have here in the Golden State. My friend Roger, retired LEO, is a member at the Burro Canyon Shooting Park (also a public range). I went as his guest where he was able to procure a private 25 yard bay just for us to have our fun. It was a nice drive up the canyon. As you can tell, this place goes all out when it comes to signage.
We got to the range office just before it opened and we were second in line. During the week the members like to snatch up the private bays so they don't have to shoot on the public firing lines with the riff-raff.
Roger had a couple of clever PVC target stands in his truck so I didn't bring mine. I got out my little kit on one of the tables, my XD9 and Walther P22 with some PMC, WWB, and .22 CCI.
Roger brought a few of his toys to play with. Besides his PM9 carry, he's got a Sig, Glock, an old .22 rifle, and he brought along his tactical Remington 870 for me to try out.
Of course the first thing I like to do is shoot a 10-10-10 drill cold. Here ya go, not too bad. The first shot was a little slow but I made par time with only two out of the black.
On the next drill I tried to push pretty hard and the accuracy suffered, as usual. At least they're all on the paper, barely.
Then I wanted to practice some distance marksmanship. I put up some reactive targets and shot at them from about 25 yards.
I started off OK but tended to trail off low and left. Then I would re-focus and get back on target.
Roger suggested that I put up a silhouette and shoot at it from 25 yards, just to see if I could really do some damage from that distance if I had to.
I tossed ten rounds at it and hit them all center mass. Still, I should do better.
Then I moved back up to ten yards and did a couple of "Failure Drills", two center mass, one head shot. Roger said I'm doing OK. Then he let me try out his tactical Remington 870. It was decked out with polymer furniture, light, sling, upgraded sights, sidesaddle, etc. Unfortunately it jammed after the first tube I shot and he had to take it apart to fix it. After that it ran flawlessly through a whole box of 8 pellet 00B.
It had jammed the second time I loaded it, would not chamber a round or go into battery. After removing the barrel and emptying the tube we were back in business. For one tube I walked up to ten yards and tried it out on the silhouette. I like that big ragged hole. All the small holes are the wadding. The groin shots you see are because the wind knocked down the target but I shot it anyway as it was falling.
We also shot at a couple of those self-healing ground targets, squares that would dance and jump with you hit them. It was cool going back and forth between them while practicing target acquisition. Roger gave me a complete lesson on his firearm. Thank goodness. I had trouble figuring out how to wear the sling. I got it now.
It's been a while since I shot my P22. I took it up to ten yards and shot at the reactives. It shot really well today. I thought I had to adjust the sights because I shot it so badly last time. But, as usual, it's not the firearm. It's the shooter.
I shot a few more 10-10-10 drills at the end of our session. Drat, still too many in the 8 ring.
This turned out to be a pretty good score. I muffed defeating my garment, hence the delayed first shot, but then took my time anyway. I didn't make the par time but this string was more accurate.
Then I pushed hard for my last one. Not bad times but accuracy is sub-par. At least they're all on the paper again, barely.
These are the self-healing squares we were shooting at today. I like these better than the round units. These don't roll away so easily, you don't have to chase them down.
Then we called it a day, cleaned up our messy shotgun shells, put our targets away, and went to lunch, Roger's treat. He's a good guy. We had fun today and my training was productive, especially with the shotgun. I want to get one for home defense very soon. Thanks for coming along with me. If any of you know of a good outdoor range in the greater Milwaukee area, please let me know. Thanks!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I am fortunate to be within 45 minutes of a half dozen outdoor ranges, all but one is public. My local indoor range is two miles away. I'm going to miss this when I move. We'll see what Wisconsin has to offer.