Large Scale Central

Shooting sports

Other Hobbies
#1

The shooting sports and all the varied interest in the different types of shooting available .
Recently I have been re gathering my gear to once again compete in the Cowboy shooting sport , I am still a life member in SASS #216 , and the " National " NCOWS shoot will be HERE ! , this summer
Still compete in the .22 rimfire 50 yard benchrest comp.
And am going to also do some bowling pin shooting comp also .
Besides the great days that my 3 sons and my 2 son-in-laws , and grandkids , and wives and mothers , when we all can go to the shooting range and have a lot of fun !
Have not shot our flintlocks for quite a while though , but what ever the type/kind , we all like to shoot , targets , steel , paper , at the shooting range club . And oh yes clay birds , skeet shooting .

For several years , because of our enjoyment and interest in history , 2 of my sons and Helen and I were in the re-enacting hobby , CW mainly with some F&I and Rev War . Travel , camping out , cooking out , guns and history , around the campfire with friends , all rolled into one interest .

But I realize the shooting sports is not for everyone , so what ever turns your crank , have fun , and share the joy .

#2

Here in Wisconsin, we have two major religious denominations (besides the Lutherans, that is)… there’s yer followers of Green Bay Packerism (who adhere to the Catechism of Lombardi), and there’s yer Disciples of Deer Hunting (who worship the Great Thirty Point Buck).

I follow the latter.

Gun cabinet has WAY TOO MANY rifles, following a futile search for the PERFECT deep woods, heavy timber country artillery for use on whitetails. The closest I got to perfection was the Winchester 94 chambered for .44 Magnum or .45 Long Colt, and oddly, the Ruger Mini - 30 found favor with me.

When Wisconsin got around to legalizing handgun deer hunting, I went in that direction; S&W Model 29 (plural, 6" and 8.375" in .44 Magnum), Ruger Super Blackhawk (10" in .44 Magnum), and S&W Model 25 (6" in 45 Long Colt).

For a while I was into combat pistol competition but I found out real quick that I suck at it. I shoulda known that… in my younger days, I had a HELL of a time shooting decent scores with a .45 auto in the Air Force. Switching to 9 MM Berettas didn’t help the situation any…

We’re still into reloading here… if you’ve priced ammo lately, you know WHY! I originally got into it for ammo that was accuracy optimized for the hardware that I shoot.

Mr. T.

#3

I loved both competition shooting and hunting, but had to pack it in years ago when the kids were coming and $$$ were short. Tom, your comments about reloading pertained in the '70s - couldn’t have managed without it, for both rifle and shotgun.

Never got involved with the black powder or lever boys, just a mix of benchrest (.222 Mag Sako with a heavy barrel and a 24X Leupold), centrefire and rimfire offhand and rest positions, and trap.

Hunting was ducks in season, pigs any time, and the odd fox and rabbit. I went goat shooting once, but there wasn’t much sport in it and my first effort at tanning stank out the neighbourhood. Ducks were best, a whole crew of us staking out a swamp. My wife got to be a legend at cooking them. Grain feeders were best; the swamp feeders went to the mother-in-law.

The laws here have become so Draconian since the Pt. Arthur shootings that it’s very difficult to license a firearm of any sort. If it was less of a challenge to get a gun, I’d consider going back to benchrest and trap shooting.

Dennis, I share your love of US history. Never seen any of the Civil or Revolutionary War battlefields, but would love to.

#4

I write on three US-based firearms-related fora.

I shoot everything from my .451 Whitworth BP target rifle to Swiss rifles and Boer War carbines in .308Win, 7x57 Mauser, 7.5x55 Swiss, .58cal and .22, as well as competitive air weapons and BP pistol.

I either reload or cast bullets for all except the .22 rimfire.

I have eighteen rifles and three handguns.

I lost 118 other handguns in the compulsory hand-in back in 1997, however, thanks to the generousity of a number of American friends [and yes, I DO have friends], I shoot a lot of handguns in the NWP - thanks Dwight, Steve, Larry, Joe and Ron.

I am a life member of the NRA, and, as a total ambidex, useful as a disabled shooting coach, and a life-qualified Range Officer in all shooting disciplines except those using the shotgun.

I do not shoot animals for sport, although there is ample opportunity for deer-stalking, as we call it, here in yUK. I DO share a night-shoot with a few gun-club pals, where we use silenced and night-sight-equipped .222/.223/22-250 rifles on the foxes that predate our many pheasant-rearing facilities.

I am also an Expert Witness for the Crown Prosecution Service on matters relating to the criminal use of firearms, especially those covered by CCTV.

I am not about to enter into a pissing match, as on the other fora, about the rights and wrongs of the way we shoot here in UK, or any form of ‘look how many hundreds of guns I’ve got’ competition, but I WILL answer reasonably-posed questions about shooting in mainland UK.

tac

www.lugerforums.com
www.gunboards.com
www.sigforum.com

#5

I am a former Deer Hunter from the Deep South (before kids and marriage)…I now enjoy recreational shooting, though I don’t get to do it very often. I live only 3 miles from our private “Gun Club” but have yet to join-maybe this year?

My two boys (5 and 3) are ‘cowboys’ wearing their hats, holsters and pistols everywhere we go…and I mean everywhere!

cale

#6

My Drill Instructor taught me to shoot the M-14 at the Expert Level. There is something about the prospect of being hanged in the morning that wonderfully focuses one’s mind. :smiley:

Years later, while in the Navy, I was asked to “familiarize” myself with the .45 ACP. I picked one at random out of the box, shot 10 rounds through it to figure out where the very loose mechanism was throwing the pattern, compensated for it, and shot “Expert,” with the .45 ACP.

I cheated, I never let on that I had had a wonderful teacher. I just let them think that I came by it naturally.

That was the last time I shot anything. I may have to think about getting back into the sport.

#7

I really liked the M-14, but never got too excited over the M-16. I did have to run a range for the Division guard…sawed off shotguns. Interesting.

#8

With my new 1866 Yellowboy rifle chambered for 45 Colt , pictured with my mule ear 12 gauge double barrel shotgun , and two 1860 revolver conversions to 44 Colt cartridge . Lets go burn some powder . IMG]

(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u245/Planestrainstrucks/Cowboy%20guns/wconversions4208.jpg)

[/IMG]

#9

Most fun I had shootin was “Gun Week” at Ft.Knox KY, during my Armor Training days. Spent the whole week firing every weapon on an M-48 tank, daytime, night time, all kinds of ammunition…nothing like watching a 10 tanks in a row all firing their main guns at 2 in the mornin…:wink:

#10

Artillery lends dignity to what otherwise would be a vulgar brawl. N. Bonaparte, ca 1789

#11

Hmm. “Shooting Sports” would add some interest to American Football, eh?

“And the quarterback is down!”

#12
Tom Ruby said:
Hmm. "Shooting Sports" would add some interest to American Football, eh?

“And the quarterback is down!”


“The Rams brought in the heavy artillery and successfully fought off the Blitz.”

#13

A great day was had by all on our range today when we had over twenty guests to try shooting for the first time. We are encouraged [I know it sounds strange, but it’s true] by our government to intrduce people to the multi-facet sport that is shooting here in yUK by allowing them to come as a guest under supervision, and to shoot everything we have on offer, excluding long-barrelled revolvers and pistols that is.

Not a single person who turned up today, bosses, work colleagues and so on, had ever shot a firearm before in their lives - many had never actually handled one in the tin.

Make that, NOT one of them had ever actually seen a real firearm in their lives.

It was a real eye-opener, as you can guess.

Many left nursing a sore shoulder, but with a knowing ‘I’ve seen the elephant’ look in the eye. Many wanted to join on the spot, and quite few will come back again, i know.

We have twelve such days a year - last year a member brought his brother-in-law, a firefighter, along. Now we have an entire 12-man fire-watch as club members.

Can’t be bad, eh?

tac the Griper
www.ovgrs,org

#14

I’m confused… You had to turn in your weapons, but you can go to the range and shoot? There is a disconnect there in my mind.

#15
Steve Featherkile said:
I'm confused... You had to turn in your weapons, but you can go to the range and shoot? There is a disconnect there in my mind.
That's because the HANDGUN ban in 1997 only applied to cartridge-firing handguns, NOT to any form of rifle or blackpowder loose-loading handgun.

We had already lost our semi-auto rifles and carbines back in 1988, but we can still have any and all calibres of single-shot, bolt-action, lever-action, Sharps, trap-door, Snider, in fact ANY kind of long-arm you can think of, even what we call straight-pull derivatives of what you would immediately recognise as a military semi-auto rifle or carbine. We have six builders here in UK who will build you ANY variation of an M16 for Practical rifle comps, and many others who build target and action target versions of the Ruger 10/22. We also have over fifty custom rifle builders who will make you anything that you can afford, and here we are talking about target and F-class as well as other types of benchrest sports. Needless to say, we still have the best gun-makers in the world if your pockets are seriously deep. My old contact, Ron Wharton, will build you any calibre rifle, singly or in sets from around $12k for a singleton up to $1M for an African calibre set, and please note that the .50cal Shooters’ Club GB is the second largest in the world outside the USA.

All kinds of shot-gunning is also permitted, and we currently boast the world clay junior trap shooter. Our prowess in Olympic and DTL shotgunning is legendary. Add to that the large practical shotgun following, and you can see that shooting is not dead here.

We can also have any kind of semi-auto .22 rifle or carbine, any form of night-sights, thermal, infra-red or image intensifier, and silencers/moderators. I usually go night-shooting at least once a month - and I mean night, as in total darkness.

But not any gas-propelled AirSoft…unless you area registered ‘skirmisher’ or re-enactor.

Here in UK we also have the British Deer Society, with over 60,000 qualified deer-stalkers/hunters, with more keen shooters joining up and qualifying on the three-day course, every year.

AAMOI - please note that the handgun ban only applied to mainland UK - that is, England, Scotland, and Wales. The rest of the UK, that is, Northern Ireland, the Crown dependency of the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands, remain locations where you can still own any kind of handgun, and, on the Channel Islands, semi-auto centre-fire rifles and carbines, too.

Here on the big island we can still have cartridge-firing handguns, but they are of a particular configuration that is banned in the entire USA!

Go figure.

I can’t post images here directly, but I’m always keen to share what we can do with anybody who contacts me by e-mail, when I CAN send images.

Gots to go, I have three rifles to re-clean.

tac the Griper

#16

Hi Tac -

Just a quick note on your comment about images. Did you know that Bob added a free 5 MB image storage space here on LSC ? Unless you have other issues, posting images here should no longer be a problem.

#17

As a youngster i never got the chance to go shooting until I was almost out of highschool and went plinking a few times with friends in college. After college I was gifted a Ruger 10-22 and a nice scope for it and won a Remington 870 with a deer barrel. I’ve owned a pistol but gave it up when i moved abck to Ny state and ahven’t gotten my pistol permit in Ny yet. I enjoy shooting pistol league but ahven’t gone in years. I took my hunter safety course but haven’t been hunting since and I’m not sure I could shoot an animal for sport anyway.

Chas

#18
Steve Featherkile said:
I'm confused... You had to turn in your weapons, but you can go to the range and shoot? There is a disconnect there in my mind.
Steve, something similar applies in Western Australia. The police will, in some circumstances, licence a firearm for range use only.

You pay for it, you own it, but you can only use it on the range, which you can only access if you’re a paid-up member of a club that actually shoots the kind of firearm you own. If your membership lapses, or the club dissolves, the cops can seize your firearm and keep it until you can meet the original conditions of your licence.

When I first came to WA in 1975, it took me nine months to licence my bolt-action .222 Magnum and .243, and that only happened after I went into Firearms Branch armed with a letter of support from my local Member of State Parliament and a letter from a property owner stating that the local gendarme had put pressure on him not to assist me in getting my guns licensed. At that time, you had to have at least two letters from property owners giving you permission to shoot on their land if you wanted to licence what the police, in their wisdom, had determined was a “high-powered” rifle.

If your firearms weren’t on the “high-powered” list, it was much easier to get them licenced. My two .22s and two 12-gauge shotguns were licenced almost immediately. The .222 Mag and the .243 were on the high-powered list, so they were a bother.

Crazy thing was, cartridges like the .444 Marlin and .45-70 weren’t considered “high-powered”!!! Have you seen what the specs are for reloading a .45-70 Ruger #1?!!

We have the right to bare arms here, especially in summer.

#19

I’m afraid of a gummint that is afraid of my firearms.

Dunno who said it first. Wish it was me.

#20
Steve Featherkile said:
I'm afraid of a gummint that is afraid of my firearms.

Dunno who said it first. Wish it was me.


I have often made the comment over here, musunderstood by the 99.8% of the population who have never seen a real firearm, that when it’s time to bury your guns, it’s time to dig them up.

Sadly, because of the law here in yUK, the history of all of my weapons can be traced back for many years, in fact, since they actually entered the country, whenever that may have been. As such, there can be no hiding them away.

Anyhow, THIS government is no different than all its predecessors - they have been afraid of guns in the hands of the civil population since at least 1909.

Thankfully, I also have a few handguns in the long-term care of free-er men than me, in the USA, where I sent them before the hand-in.

tac the Griper