Not my range visit, but from deep in the mountains of Tennessee (greenest state in the land of the free — sorry), Reader Mike S. sends me this fine account:
Loaded up magazines, a 50BMG can of 5.56, and my AR into the truck and headed to the range.
First pleasant surprise came when checking in the office.
“Hey, Ruger guy!” It was a fellow I met a few weeks ago and showed him my Mk II Standard and Mk III 22/45. He’d just bought a Mk IV 22/45 from the range. It was a range rental but no one was renting it so … he enjoyed shooting mine so got one of his own. *happy dance*
Off to the firing line.
At one point there were 5 of us with ARs. One was full auto. We let freedom ring!
During reloads we swapped info ‘bout makes, models, modifications… gun stuff. And yes, I had the oldest model (AR15A2) with fewest mods (trigger and stock replacement) except for the youngest shooter who had a new AR. He took notes on what we said. His girlfriend was reluctant to shoot the rifles so … boyfriend took her to the pistol range to fire his 9mm. She didn’t like that one either so once again my 22/45 came into play. She didn’t like the light trigger but enjoyed the light recoil. The Volquartsen mods are perhaps too much for a newbie. When they returned my gun and mags they included a box of ammo. Nice touch.
As the sun slid between the firing line cover and tree line it got a tad hot (stop laughing you Texans!). The rifles weren’t cooling down either. So handshakes all around and off to home.
Damn good way to spend Independence Day.
I’ll say. And I have to say that as much as I enjoyed the story, what really got to me was the display of good manners by the youngins.
Maybe we’re not doomed.
I’ve had similar uniformly good experiences with youngsters at my range in the county, but have seen some magazine dumping, spray and pray fools at the city range among the mostly good citizens there..