What the hell did you expect?

[repsac]

I did similar some time ago. (well, the shooting, not the stupidity).

At the time, I had gotten bored and opted to go to the range to fire off some rounds. I had taken with me a rather nice assortment of firearms, some that needed breaking in, and others I just loved to shoot.

At first, I started with a small .32 baretta. Now, I don't know it's exact model, but I know there's only about 200 or so of them in existance. Now that gun isn't overly loud. Accurate, but not loud.

After that, I looked over to see this group filing in. Couple young people with what looked like a .22. (I could be wrong there.) Well, about this time, I decided to try out my new baby. It's a Tarus .357 magnum, snub nose, 7 round revolver with a vented barrel. Handcannon comes to mind.

Aiming down range, I cock the hammer back and squeeze the trigger. You know, You could actually feel the shockwave from that thing when it fired? In fact, to this day I swear that the grass flattened as the bullet passed over it. I left, a baseball sized hole in my target too. Much love to that gun .

Well, after emptying the chamber, I paused a moment to clear the chambers and fire my last one. This last gun, a muzzle loading pistol is something of a special one. It's a .50 Confederate Army pistol, brass frame, ironwood handgrip. 9 inch barrel, as opposed to the typical 6 or 7. Rifled bore also. As I'm loading this one, I had one of the guys that just came in earlier come down. He says a few words I can't hear, to which I remove my ear mufflers. "Would you please stop doing that. We're going deaf!" he says this, almost yelling.


Well, it turned out that moron didn't have earplugs. Or even ear mufflers like myself. The owner of the range had come down to see what I had, and thankfully instructed the idiots that yes, that gun WOULD make them deaf, and their best bet was to wear earplugs or else.

[Becks]

That reminds me of my one idiot roommate in college. I had done a report on my computer, and was printing it off on the dot matrix printer I had at the time (this was back in the late 80's.) For anyone who's too young to have experienced this particular technology, those things are LOUD! Not like the nice quiet inkjet and laser printers we have these days. They're also very slow compared to today's printers, so if you're printing something that's more than a page or two, it's going to make a lot of noise for a fairly long time.

I'm 27, and I used to have one of those!!!!!!!!! (Thanks to other family members/coworkers of my mommy, who let us have their old computers and accessories...)

In the grocery back room at work, they still have one. I giggle every time I see it.

[Gurndigarn]

That reminds me of my one idiot roommate in college. I had done a report on my computer, and was printing it off on the dot matrix printer I had at the time (this was back in the late 80's.) For anyone who's too young to have experienced this particular technology, those things are LOUD!

I'm 27, and I used to have one of those!!!!!!!!! (Thanks to other family members/coworkers of my mommy, who let us have their old computers and accessories...)

In the grocery back room at work, they still have one. I giggle every time I see it.

Hell, I was using one of those for work (8 pin, mind you! This was real antique stuff) until about four months ago. And I go from location to location, so I was carrying around this clunky thing, plus the tractor-feed paper!

[Primer]

I was shooting an 1858 Remington and 1860 Colt. Bitch to load and clean but still loads of fun. I'm still kinda new to black powder but I think it's something I can really get into. I've got my eye on a couple of gun kits from Dixie Gunworks that I'm really tempted to buy.

I'm going to warn you ahead of time. Nice old 40 and 50 cal black powder guns shoot nice, but if you load them up with extra powder. Make sure you have lots of room to fall backwards.

My dad did that to me, he thought it would be funny to double the powder without telling me. Oooowwwwww.

Well, after emptying the chamber, I paused a moment to clear the chambers and fire my last one. This last gun, a muzzle loading pistol is something of a special one. It's a .50 Confederate Army pistol, brass frame, ironwood handgrip. 9 inch barrel, as opposed to the typical 6 or 7. Rifled bore also.

I sure hope everybody is shooting REPRODUCTIONS and not the original antiques! Metallurgy from 100+ years ago cannot be trusted.

Dixie Gunworks has lots of cool stuff, but find a local black powder arms dealer (a lot of regular gun shops carry some black powder stuff, also), and make friends with the folks behind the counter! We have gotten some really good deals, and made lots of folks jealous with what we have been able to pick up. Also, keep an eye open on the local pawn shops. You never know when one might get one in good condition.

Anyway, my favorite black powder weapon is our reproduction 1842 Napoleonic 6-pound smooth bore muzzle-loading cannon. Yes, you read right, we have a cannon! Right now, we are rebuilding it, but we should have it back in service the weekend before Thanksgiving for a re-enactment near Houston (TX).

Darn, now I have an itchy lanyard-hand (as opposed to a trigger-finger)

[PuckishOne]

a group of women who apparently were only there to watch their boyfriends shoot, because they didn't get to squeeze off a single shot the whole time they were there

Okay, for me, it's a dead heat in the Stupidity Races between the comment about the noise and the fact that they went to watch their men shoot at a range?? I've done range shooting myself, and I would never ask my guy to come along unless he was planning to participate. Watching people shoot at paper (for the uninitiated and/or willfully clueless) is about as much fun as watching paint dry. And, heaven forbid, if they were actually interested in it, I certainly wouldn't want a weapon in the hand of anyone who thinks that somehow small metal explosions should be quiet.

[LostMyMind]

I sure hope everybody is shooting REPRODUCTIONS and not the original antiques! Metallurgy from 100+ years ago cannot be trusted.

Nobody in their right mind will shoot from a original 150+ years gun. Those are to be displayed as history and never shot from again.

[Cia]

Who needs a firing range when you can go to your brother's house and blow away a charcoal army from his back porch. Charcoal briquettes explode nicely when you hit them dead center.

[Dips]

All this talk of guns, noise and re-enacting reminds me of a story...

I have a friend who used to belong to an 18th-century artillary re-enactment group. They were enthusiastically test-firing their cannon in a member's back yard and, I guess, a neighbor must have called the police.

It so happened that my friend was going to his car to get something, noticed the police car, and found himself in conversation with the officer. So he never had a chance to warn the others that a policeman was out front and, since they didn't have a clear view of the driveway, the others were unaware of the officer's presence.

So my friend had the following pleasant conversation with the officer, while in his head he's going, "PLEASE dont fire the cannon, guys. PLEASE!" over and over.

Officer: We some reports of explosions around here. Have you heard anything?

Friend: Yes. That would be our re-enactment group. We have an event coming up and we just wanted to be sure the equipment would work.

Officer: What equipment?

Friend: It's a replica of an 18th-century artillary piece.

Officer: And you need to test it...

Friend: We have to be sure it works correctly.

The officer looked very doubtful, but was turning to go anyway when

BLAM!

The officer turned back around. My friend just stood there looking sheepish.

Officer: I think it works.

Friend: Yes, sir.

Officer: No need to test it any more, right?

Friend: Um. No.

[Seanette]

Remember when the Mythbusters tried the trumpet-player thing, and the police showed up?

[Ringtail Z28]

Okay, for me, it's a dead heat in the Stupidity Races between the comment about the noise and the fact that they went to watch their men shoot at a range?? I've done range shooting myself, and I would never ask my guy to come along unless he was planning to participate. Watching people shoot at paper (for the uninitiated and/or willfully clueless) is about as much fun as watching paint dry. And, heaven forbid, if they were actually interested in it, I certainly wouldn't want a weapon in the hand of anyone who thinks that somehow small metal explosions should be quiet.

It's a bit of a machismo thing I think. My sister told me about a friend of hers who's going to the police academy in LA, he took her and some other friends to a shooting range apparently to show off. She insisted on being allowed to shoot and he let her. What he didn't know was that in my family we're taught to shoot a gun when we're old enough to hold one. She made him look like the novice he so obviously was. I guess she hurt his pride too because he hasn't invited her again.