Michael and his father (a trucker who goes by the handle “Mad Dog”) are, shall we say, “gun enthusiasts”. Together, they have done more for gun safety in the region than any other two people I have heard of. Michael shot competitively from the time he was 10 until he graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which he paid for with a full scholarship from the UMKC rifle-shooting team. Since then, Michael has been gainfully employed and able to start his own collection of firearms.
Michael owns a Ruger 9mm pistol, a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun (normally mounted behind the headboard of his bed), a .308-caliber rifle with a high-powered scope (which he says is good to 600 yards), and a Russian SKS rifle, which he has mounted a scope on. Mad Dog owns four 12-gauge shotguns (including another sawed-off gun), a Chinese SKS rifle, a .357 Magnum revolver, and a .357 lever-action Winchester rifle (think Clint Eastwood’s character in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”). In addition, we had several hundred rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, a few dozen 9mm rounds for the pistol, a few dozen .357 rounds, and about a hundred 7.62mm NATO rounds for the SKS rifles.
Mad Dog’s farm is an 80-acre spread of land, with a small stable and barn, somewhere northeast of Lawrence. In a gently sloping, open stretch of the land, they have installed a shooting range with stationary targets at about 10-12 yards, another set at 50 yards, a third set at about 125 yards, and a fourth at 200 yards. Also, the range has two clay-pigeon throwers for trap-shooting purposes.
The shooters present on this afternoon were Michael, Mad Dog; Michael’s future brother-in-law John, his friend Steve, and his father; an old high-school buddy of ours named Mike, and a leathery ex-Marine, Vietnam veteran, and former trucker also named Mike, who the truckers refer to as “Dad”.
We started out with the traps, with four of us holding the shotguns and Michael and Mad Dog on the traps. It took us a while to get the hang of it — most of us had been out to shoot at least once before, and I have been out with Michael several times. We started to warm up though, and I began to quickly develop consistency in shooting the clay targets.
Next, we got out the rifles and pistols. The first rifle I shot was Michael’s Russian SKS. This was kind of exciting for me, because I’d known that he owned it for some time, and I’d always wanted to shoot it. I picked one of the 125-yard targets (to check out the scope), and squeezed the trigger. I was surprised somewhat by the gun’s sharp crack and stiff recoil. The SKS, of course, is little more than a slightly modified AK-47, which fires 7.62mm NATO rounds. The AK is cheap and easily produced — a traditional business adage goes something like “Pick two: cheap, easy, and good”, and the AK is all three. It’s not hard to see why the gun is a popular choice among some armies (and criminals and terrorists). After a brief adjustment, I was able to reliably come close to the target, scoring hits every so often.
Next, Michael offered me his 9mm Ruger with 10 standard 9mm rounds. We have talked many times about the fact that I would like to buy a gun, so I was glad to try his choice out. It’s about the right size and power; and it fires smoothly without a lot of jerky recoil, which helps the shooter improve aim. Free ad: Michael has said several times that if he were to buy another pistol, he would buy a Glock short .40-caliber.
Next was Mad Dog’s Chinese SKS, which had no scope. This experience would probably be closer to the average AK-47 user’s experience, since it had the standard sight package rather than Michael’s scope. The Chinese rifle is just as good as the Russian one in every respect.
Then, I got to shoot the prize of Michael’s collection - his .308-cailber bolt-action rifle. It has a very powerful scope; this together with Michael’s marksmanship skills make it accurate to several hundred yards - even as much as a half mile under optimal conditions. In my hands, the range is (ahem) somewhat less. In three rounds, I missed the 200-yard targets entirely, mostly because I could not keep my hands steady. Plus, I fired from the prone position, something I have almost never done. Michael, of course, can reliably hit a small target at 200 yards. The .308 is a very powerful rifle; steady hands are required to shoot well at long distance. Michael’s rifle is fitted with a tripod, which helps with this.
Then, I fired Mad Dog’s .357 revolver and rifle, which pack the punch you’d expect from a .357. I am a fairly large, heavy-set man, so the gun’s recoil didn’t affect me that much. Again, with a little practice, I could reliably hit what I was aiming at — targets at 10 yards for the pistol, and targets at 50 yards with the rifle.
Finally, we went back to clay pigeons — except we had run out of the shells we were using before, which were a standard trap-shooting load: 3 drams of powder (5.3 grams), with 7.5 shot. We switched to a field (hunting) load, with 3.75 drams of powder (about 6.65 grams) and 6 shot, and the difference in power was easily noticeable. A direct hit with the trap load would break the target into visible chunks, while a direct hit with the field load reduced the target to powder. The more powerful load together with the smaller shot size (bigger numbers = smaller pellets; see shot chart here) make a tighter grouping, which means more pellets travelling faster in a smaller space, and that accounts for the effect on the targets.
I had heard the crack of the trap load, and the loud report of the field load, and then I heard a thunderous BOOM of shot that was significantly more powerful than what I was using. Michael was demonstrating his sawed-off 12-gauge and had replaced the field load with double-ought buckshot - which uses pellets about 8mm in diameter (8 per shell, as opposed to 6 shot’s 225).
By the end of the day I had gotten the hang of shooting clay targets with the more powerful field load. I scored hits on seven of my last eight shells. We packed up and went in at about 18:00 — but only after we had run out of ammunition.
All in all, I’d have to say that today should be worth a few punches in my “man card.” Grilling, cold beer, and target practice on a beautiful day is a great way to spend an afternoon. And, I’ll be looking at purchasing a gun more closely in the future.
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