One of the items I had on my sabbatical to-do list was to get myself to a shooting range and do some practicing while I wait for word on the CCL. My main goal was to do some target shooting with the Glock, but I also have two of Dad’s long guns in the basement that I’ve been meaning to put some rounds through. The range my neighbor and I went to last month also allows for rifles, so I took two hours this afternoon to get some time in. Here’s the report so far:

Glock 48: I brought 50 rounds for the pistol and used every one. My CCL instructor told me to start at 10 feet and focus on stance, breathing, and grip, so I followed his advice and worked my way through three targets. My shooting is pretty consistent at this distance, and using my right eye makes all the difference in the world— I habitually started with my left eye and immediately corrected after the first two rounds. On the advice of my instructor, I ordered a larger slide release for it, which arrived today while I was out, and I’ll put this in tonight. I did find that one of my magazines has an issue loading past 5 rounds, which I’ll have to sort out when I get done with the slide mechanism. The important thing is that I’m feeling better and better about this pistol the more I use it.

Mossberg 152: this is an interesting .22 rifle manufactured in the 1950’s, meant for target shooting, teaching your Boy Scout firearm safety, and varmint hunting. It’s unusual in that it’s magazine-fed: there’s a basic 5-round mag it was designed to accept and the action is semi-automatic.

I was the least worried about firing this gun, and I was not surprised by it at all. It has a very simple period Weaver V22 scope at 3X magnification, and I found it easy to see at 30 feet. The first shot was anticlimactic; after the 115-grain rounds in the Glock, these little 36 grain rounds felt like a popgun. My first 20 rounds were off to the left and just a hair low, so I adjusted the windage and found that it angled the crosshairs over to the right like a listing battleship. This had some effect on accuracy but not enough to dial the rifle in completely. I’ve got to do some more research on zeroing a scope. I’d brought 50 rounds for this rifle and had a blast (literally) shooting at 10 yards, with excellent results. I have an aftermarket 10-round mag for this rifle but found that it had consistent feed issues, so I stuck with the original Mossberg mag it came with. I’l have to see if I can find another inexpensive original on eBay. This will definitely come back to the range with me, and I’d like to try it at longer distances.

VZ-24: this is a Czech-made military rifle chambered in 8mm 198 grain Mauser, which is a heavy round. This rifle is big and beefy, and if my internet sleuthing is correct, it’s 98 years old. I loaded one cartridge in the rifle and prepared myself for the kick, but it still surprised me. Both loud and powerful, it knocked me backwards even though I was shooting in a kneeling position with the rifle supported on the table. The scope on this rifle is a period 3X-9X Tasco (it was put on sometime after the rifle made its way to the U.S., thus ruining the authenticity) which I could not focus for love or money. The zoom worked as advertised, but all I could get was a semi-blurry sight picture. All the shots I took were low and to the left, and even when I was adjusting for this I still got varied results. I put six booming rounds through it and then packed it back up. This will require lots of research on the scope, more testing, and possibly a modern replacement.

Both rifles need a good cleaning, so that’s next up on the list. The Mossberg is, as I mentioned, perfect for target shooting, doesn’t require much, and benefits from cheap ammunition. The VZ-24 is a beautiful rifle but it’s overpowered for what I think I’d be using a rifle for, and 8mm is an oddball round that’s not cheap. If I continue practicing in earnest, I’d rather put money into buying a newer long gun in a more modern, common, and reasonable caliber, and practice with that instead. The question now is: would I do better with a true hunting rifle or something that works for intermediate range?

Interesting. In a week where I read that AOL has quietly shut its dial-up service down for good, we learned that Verizon will no longer support the copper phone line coming into our house. We upgraded our FIOS a couple of months ago from the original router issued to us in 2006 to a modern 300GBps unit, and soon after that our telephone handsets all started reading LINE IN USE, and a couple of days later we got no dial tone at all. A call to Verizon verified they are no longer supporting the copper cables coming into the house, so our choices were to switch over to a FIOS-based telephone or simply give it up. We chose the latter, which means the number Jen was using for 25+ years is no longer in service.

I sat through the first half of my concealed carry class Wednesday, and found it informational—but somewhat repetitive. The instructor I’m learning from has taught qualification courses for forty years to cops, FBI agents and other security professionals, and knows his stuff. He knows I’m not interested in carrying for stupid reasons, and focuses on the responsibility that goes along with it. I’ll be clear: I don’t intend on wearing a handgun wherever I go. This is primarily to get ahead of the weird Maryland law loophole that says you can own a gun but can’t technically transport it to a range with just a regular HQL. Knowing the way this country is trending right now, I want to be as legally above board as I possibly can. And I intend on doing a lot of range practice with the Glock to become proficient.

On Friday I went back for the second half, which included the remainder of the class time and then an hour of range practice. He set me up with a SIG chambered in .22 and fitted with a silencer, which was a hoot to fire (not silent, but MUCH quieter than I thought it would be). Then I used my Glock 48 to shoot two-handed, then right, then left at 30 feet. He was very happy with my groups, remarking that they would pass the State Police qualification test. I did feel better shooting the Glock this time—the refresher on grip and stance was extremely helpful, and because I focused on using my right eye instead of switching from my left, I was much more successful.

He gave me some basic instruction, a training plan for proficiency at 30 feet, and a paper certification. So now I have to go back and get fingerprinted again, fill out the online form, and send everything in to the Staties.

Meanwhile, because I was up in the area, I stopped in to the mighty Andy Nelson’s for lunch on both days. God, I miss that place. The barbecue is as good as ever, and almost nothing has changed—although I was sad to read that Andy just recently left us a week ago. Godspeed, sir.

I found a new (well, published in 2017) game to play through the Xbox Game Pass—Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. It’s an open-world FPS where you can run around to complete missions, command a squad of three team members, and drive various vehicles. It’s got some of the same mechanics that The Division does in that you can modify weapons and earn points to upgrade gear, but it’s not as convoluted to figure out as that title. There are, of course, plenty of missions to complete, which unlock new missions at greater difficulty. It’s been fun so far, but getting used to squad-based combat is a challenge when I’ve been playing solo for so long.

I had a shooting date with my neighbor the Marine last night. He’s had a ton of experience at the range and I respect his judgement, and he loves to practice so it wasn’t hard to convince him to go. His favorite range is one I’ve been to before under a different name, but the basic rules are always the same. We signed in, put our ear protection on (I used Dad’s green headset) and set up in a lane.

My first goal was to put rounds through the Glock, and I ran through two magazines with limited success. My neighbor gave me some advice and I adjusted some things, but still found my shots placing off to the left of center. He asked me if I was right-eye dominant and I realized I was still sighting with the wrong eye, and I explained what the instructor had talked about when I qualified. I reloaded, switched eyes, and immediately found improvement although my placement was still dispersed.

I then switched over to the 1911. I brought one magazine and a box of Dad’s ACP rounds dated from 1974, and lined up in the lane. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous with this one, because I figured the kick was going to be double that of the Glock. What I found surprised me, though: as a much heavier frame, it was smoother to shoot, and my placement was much tighter—after I’d run through the second magazine and we reviewed the target, he laughed and told me this was clearly the gun I was meant to use. It feels solid in my hands, and there’s much less kick than the polymer Glock. The trigger pull is much lighter, and that took some getting used to. I dislike the sights on it though—they’re aftermarket add-ons from decades ago, and the sight picture is very small. That would be something to look at upgrading in the future.

We cleared our brass up, packed things away, and went out for a beer afterwards to catch up, which was a great way to wind up the evening.

I need to drill myself on range safety: slowing down, keeping the muzzle pointed downrange, and trigger discipline at all times. But I very much enjoyed the experience, as nervous as I was, and I intend to keep practicing.

I drove over to my friend Bennett’s house on Saturday morning to give him a hand rebuilding his porch, which we demoed a year and a half ago. He’s run into several roadblocks since then, including sinking concrete posts, a leaking sink drain, and a 40-year-old clematis bush that had rooted under the entire structure, so it’s been slow going. We leveled and secured one of the side rim joists and then joined it to the back rim with an angled section. Then we trimmed and hung several interior joists so that Bennett could continue cutting and installing deck planking.

When I got back home, we all cleaned up and went out to a local Dim Sum restaurant that got a glowing review in Baltimore Magazine this past year. I know nothing about Dim Sum but figured it would be fun to try for our anniversary meal, and the girls agreed. We wound up ordering much more food than we bargained for, but everything we tried was delicious.

Sunday I drove down to St. Mary’s county to spend the day with Bob, who was already dressed for lunch when I rang the doorbell. I took him out to the local barbecue joint for some brisket and he polished the whole thing off with a look of satisfaction. After stopping to fill his gas jugs, we headed back to the house and I sat on the couch looking over his utility bills while he told me the usual stories. He was a lot more animated this week than he was the last time I was down there, which got to be pretty tiring by the time I had to leave.

Memorial Day broke sunny and chilly, and Hazel was desperate for a walk, so after we filled up on coffee, Jen and I took her out for the two-mile circuit. Back at home, I sat at my desk keeping watch over Finn while she finished up some homework. I submitted a new COAL story to Curbside Classic, something I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks, comparing both of the CR-Vs—which mainly wound up being a review of the OG. Next I finished up a postcard design I put together to promote T-shirt sales at Nationals in June and sent it out for printing. I shopped around and got a pretty decent price for 100 of them, and I figure that if I wear a couple of the shirts and have the postcards on hand, I might be able to make some sales.

When Finn was done I hustled out to the driveway and got some work done on the Travelall, which I’ll write about on the other site. We grilled some steak and Jen picked some arugula from her garden for dinner, and had a quiet meal at the table together.