Getting a little more accurate with the .22. Targets below from yesterday afternoon. My goal is to get six shots inside the 3-ring.
Category Archives: guns
More target practice
Blowing up milk jugs filled with water is very satisfying. Who knew? Using birdshot from about 30 feet. Popped off twenty rounds with the little .22 pistol (same distance) and hit the target three times. I’m improving, believe it or not.
Target practice
Five years ago I purchased a Ruger .22 revolver with the idea I’d use it for critters. Possums, armadillos, copperheads. I quickly discovered it’s a lot harder to hit a moving target than I realized. The gun has been on a shelf until the last couple of days. I’ve decided to practice until I can hit a soft drink can at ~30 feet. Again, harder than it looks on TV and in the movies.
In the video above the best I was able to do was hit two of the five cans. Although the cans are light as a feather, the .22’s pass right through them without moving the can. Next session I’ll fill the cans with water to see if that makes a difference. The goal is to be able to hit all five cans on one load.
UPDATE: Shooting cans looks great in the movies but this will be a more satisfying –and ecologically friendly– target.
Target Practice
My friend George and I took our shotguns down into the woods for a little target practice. George is experienced with all type of firearms… I’m a novice. I recently traded my Remington .12 gauge for a Mossberg Shockwave 590 in .410 gauge and this is my first time to shoot the gun. It was a lot of fun. Video runs 3.5 minutes.
I learned a couple of things from today’s practice session. Most importantly, there’s an issue with the new shotgun. Very difficult to rack and jams frequently. It’s on the way back to Mossberg for repair or replacement. Secondly, the Hornady .410 Triple Defense (41 caliber slug + two 35 caliber pellets) has “stopping power” but far too easy for me to miss (in the middle of the night out of a dead sleep in a dark house). I did much better with the 12 pellet BBB Buck Shot ammo.
Target Practice
Last time I took the 12 gauge out for a little target practice was back in January. The Remington was what everybody recommended for home defense but it always had a little more recoil than I liked so I gave the 12 gauge to my brother-in-law and purchased a Mossberg 590 Shockwave in 410 gauge.
Now that my busted arm is on the mend, I’m ready to try it out with the .410.
Target practice
Some years back I had a sheriff’s deputy do a security check of our home. He looked at the locks on our doors and places around the house where someone could… lurk? He didn’t find anything obvious. I asked about best firearm for home protection and he immediately said shotgun. A few weeks later I purchased a Remington Model 870 12 gauge. I had some reservations about having a gun in the house but decided I’d rather have a gun and not need it, etc etc. It occurred to me I’d be much more likely to pull the trigger if I could do so without killing the intruder so I investigated “less lethal ammunition” for the shotgun.
Once a year I take the 12 gauge into our woods and fire off a few rounds, just to stay familiar with the weapon. The weight, the recoil, the sound, etc.
I was firing from about 20 feet from the targets on the assumption I’d never be farther away from someone who got inside our house. The blue circles are the wadding from the shotgun shells; the yellow is birdshot; and the green is 00 Buckshot. I’m not a great shot but with a shotgun you really don’t have to be.
