A Talk About Guns

[Hanshi]

It's been very dead here so why don't we just talk about guns for a bit?  It's wide open and not restricted to ignition type, brand, factory, custom, ammo, your hunting history and anything else that crosses your mind; it's wide open!    

[beowulf]

looks like everyone has gone awol !

[bmtshooter]

My daughter came up for a visit last weekend and we did some handgun shooting.  She shot better than any of the guys, and just like her mother can do it without practicing at all. 

So why is it that these two women who shoot really infrequently can pick up a handgun and outshoot the rest of us who actually practice?

It is disturbing.

[beowulf]

My daughter came up for a visit last weekend and we did some handgun shooting.  She shot better than any of the guys, and just like her mother can do it without practicing at all. 

So why is it that these two women who shoot really infrequently can pick up a handgun and outshoot the rest of us who actually practice?

It is disturbing.

my ex could be locked in a small closet with you ,and if she had a pistol you were safe , she could`nt hit the side of a barn from ten feet away , but give her a rifle , and you could be running across a field , 200 yards away , and she could nail you !

[Hanshi]

looks like everyone has gone awol !

Yes it does look that way.  As for women & guns I've always found them open and listening.  They are much easier to teach than guys by a long shot.  Back when I taught firearms at the police academy my girlfriend was the top shooter.  My main squeeze does shoot anything and hasn't for decades.  Still, I vividly remember letting her shoot my best .22LR rifle. 
At 50 yards you could barely get a pinky finger through the group she fired; she beat me that day and back then THAT was not an easy thing to do.

[Hanshi]

Oh, she never showed any interest in muzzleloaders and has to date never fired one. 

[beowulf]

cthy was pretty good with a muzzleloader ! but give a colt or remington revolver , she miss an elephant from ten feet away ! 

[flintboomer]

I shoot SASS and I'm just a below average shooter but I enjoy it and I stiill do well with my muzzleloaders.

Today I was shooting my lever action .44 rifle  and had a misfire with a new production primer. It was a Federal Gold Medal and it had no priming compound in it.
Has anyone else had a problem like that either modern or percussion?

My wife has never had any interest in guns and has never fired one. She doesn't know what she is missing but I guess she thinks I'm enough of a challenge and doesn't need another one.

[beowulf]

I`ve had dud percussion caps , but only once or twice , and I`ve been shooting these things since 1978 !  wasnt so bad back then , you could get a tin of caps for a buck , I`ve seen them recently for 10 bucks ,and recently at a gun show for 17 bucks for a tin of 100 , which I consider price gouging , 4 or 5 would be more in order with what you are actually buying ! the only "modern" gun I reload for is my .45-70 and so far no bad primers !

[Hanshi]

My main squeeze never had any interest in guns and was "ever so slightly" anti gun.  But you can't marry Hanshi and not like guns and weapons in general.  She quickly came to enlightenment, however.  She is now as pro-gun as I am.  There are three that are loaded and ready strategically placed about the house and she gets a lot of comfort from that.  I've never been a "knife person" even though I've trained extensively with instructors who taught the real deal.  Still before moving to New England I had dozens of them.  I gave many away and lost a couple.  But I have at least a couple dozen currently.  My only sin is my awful tendency to carry around dull knives.  Please pray for me.

I do have a black belt (8th dan I believe) in weapons including environmental weapons - this is sometimes referred to as "anything is a weapon" as well as the usual classic Okinawan weapons.  My favorite is the powder & lead kind.  I reload or have reloaded for at least 15 calibers: .22H, .243, .6mm, .250 /3000, .257R, 25/06, .270, .7mm, 30/30, .308, 30/06, .338mag, .350mag, .375H&H and 45/70.  All but three (maybe just two come to think about it) killed deer.  I'm likely for getting something.  Some of these rifles I no longer have and had to sell several for our move up here.  I particularly mourn the .257R, the .308, the .243, the .270, .308, .338mag and the .375H&H.  They were wonderful rifles.

Then comes the sidearms.  .32 S&W long, .380, .9mm, .38 sup, .38 spl, .357 mag, .41 mag, .44 mag, .45 acp, and .45 Colt.  I reloaded for all these and still do.  But most of my shooting (98%) is with muzzleloaders.   

[Patocazador]

As for me, I just like guns .. always have. Even as a kid in my Lone Ranger Christmas outfit, I longed for a "real" cowboy gun. I saved my pennies until I could buy a replica SAA revolver that functioned like a real one. Side gate, fake bullets and all. I forget who made it but it wasn't cheap. At least not to a 5th grader. After that it was a Daisy Red Ryder & Little Beaver BB gun that looked just like Jimmy Stewart's 1873 Winchester or so I thought.

When I was 10, I fired my first real gun, a 1911 A1 that my mother's friend's husband brought back from WW2. The recoil flipped it out of my hand into the dirt. I hung my head about that for quite awhile.

Old style steel and wood are what I consider a gun worth having. Plastic and pot metal ones are garbage IMO.

BTW, I totally agree with Hanshi's reasoning as to why women shoot better.

AMEN.

[bmtshooter]

After quite a lot of reflection, I have come to the conclusion that women tend to shoot better because they have a lower center of gravity.

[beowulf]

As for me, I just like guns .. always have. Even as a kid in my Lone Ranger Christmas outfit, I longed for a "real" cowboy gun. I saved my pennies until I could buy a replica SAA revolver that functioned like a real one. Side gate, fake bullets and all. I forget who made it but it wasn't cheap. At least not to a 5th grader. After that it was a Daisy Red Ryder & Little Beaver BB gun that looked just like Jimmy Stewart's 1873 Winchester or so I thought.

When I was 10, I fired my first real gun, a 1911 A1 that my mother's friend's husband brought back from WW2. The recoil flipped it out of my hand into the dirt. I hung my head about that for quite awhile.

Old style steel and wood are what I consider a gun worth having. Plastic and pot metal ones are garbage IMO.

BTW, I totally agree with Hanshi's reasoning as to why women shoot better.

AMEN.

I had one of those toy guns that could pass for real , loading gate , fake bullets the whole nine yards , I think I was about 4 years old , so about 61 years back ! those little buggers are collectible now , and in good condition fetch a good bit of money !

[graybear]

Thought I'd posted this earlier, but I don't see it. My experience with female shooters, they're easier and quicker than most male shooters. I taught my ex to shoot and she was pretty much a natural. Within about 3 cylinders w/ my Ruger Single Six she was shooting soda cans at 25 yds. and once I taught, her rifles, she was able to put her shots within my group at 100 yds w/an 8mm Mauser sporter. My second wife can shoot rifle or handgun but prefers rifle. i had to buy her her own .32 caplock and a .22 Marlin model 25 .22 rifle so that when we went to the range, I could get some shooting in. My mother was a Depression-era farm girl who could pick off soda bottle caps at 25 yds, off hand, and my granddaughter has killed 3 deer in4 seasons (didn't see any the 1st year). I've known several female shooters and they've all done well.

[gunhawk]

As a general thought, the more newcomers, especially women and young people, but those of all ages, we can introduce to the "shooting sports" the better for the hobby, and for all us involved.
  Thats what it is, a hobby, whether you hunt, target shoot, plink, shoot competitively or informally, or whatever; pistol, shotgun rifle, muzzleguns, its a great hobby. 
Lets help recruit as many as possible to enjoy our great hobby, the shooting sports.