1.) DParker - 11/14/2016

My sister-in-law's husband has been talking about wanting to buy a pistol strictly for home defense. He's not a firearms guy at all and doesn't know much of anything about them, so he's been turning to me for advice and asked if I'd take him shooting so he could try out my M&P9 and see if that's the sort of thing he'd like. A buddy of his took him out a week ago and let him shoot a cheap Hi-Point he had in .45, but that didn't thrill him at all. He's had some problems with a couple of his neck vertebrae, and a surgical procedure that only made things worse. As a result he has a lot of pain and muscle atrophy extending from his neck though his right shoulder, so it's difficult for him to hold any weight steady in his hands when they're extended, and the recoil of the .45 exacerbated his already constant pain. So I thought the polymer 9mm might be better for him. It was. He was fine with the felt recoil and was able to shoot about 80 rounds or so before it started to get to him. But the weight of the full-sized pistol was still a little to heavy for him to be able to hold steady, even with a polymer frame. So he might end up looking into a compact carry piece instead...and if the recoil of 9mm in such a light pistol starts to cause any pain he might have to step down to something in .380 ACP. With modern self-defense loads that's an acceptable solution, so he'll end up with something that works for him.

So...the whole point of that story is to get to this one...

About half-way through our shooting session, which took place at the extremely nice indoor range at the [URL="http://www.friscogunclub.com/"]Frisco Gun Club[/URL] near his home (I might be spoiled now, and have a hard time enjoying the run-down outdoor range I belong to), a guy walked in and set up 3 bays to our left. Nobody paid any attention to him until we all suddenly heard the tell-tale "braaaaaaap" sound of full-auto fire coming from that direction. He had a full-sized Uzi with a 10" barrel he was using to put a lot of holes...really fast...in paper plates he'd taped to his target. After a little bit I decided to get sociable (aka "nosy") and wandered down to ask him a couple of questions (how did he like the gun, did he get LEO sign-off vs using a trust for the purchase, etc) as he was putting a new paper plate on his target. He was a real nice guy who was not only happy to answer my inquiries, but also asked if I wanted to give it a try.



Uh....[I]yeah[/I]...I'd like to give it a try.

He even offered up his own ammo. But fortunately I'd brought a ton of cheap range 9mm with me, so I went and grabbed a tray that still had 30 rounds in it from our bay (I wasn't going to take advantage of the guy's generosity by also using up his ammo) and loaded up a magazine. He ran me through the operational basics (grip safety, fires from the open bolt, etc) and then let me have at it.

Holy crap, is that fun...even putting so few rounds through it. What really surprised me was how non-existent the recoil was even at full-auto (it felt about like shooting a .22 mag), and how accurate and easy to control it was when fired in short bursts of 5-6 rounds. While I experienced a little muzzle rise on the first couple of bursts I was still able to put every round inside of a paper plate at about 25 feet using the iron sites (tiny aperture rear site and a post front). I thanked him for the opportunity to fire the thing and then told him he might have just cost me some money. Then he told me that he paid $8,200 for it a few years ago, immediately squashing that little flight of fantasy. Oh well, it was fun for a moment.

2.) Swamp Fox - 11/14/2016

:grin:


$8200! That's a lot of Bud Lite!....LOL