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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   971 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 20, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I'm finally carving out the time to hit up the sporting clays course again tomorrow morning for the first time in quite a while. Shooting, as a hobby, has my worst enjoyment/time allotment ratio. By this, I mean it's unbelievably enjoyable, and I almost never get to. The reasons are many:

  • I live in an urban area. This clay course is a 45 minute boring drive. Nearby ranges are all indoor, and the nearest range is run by fudd cunts who constantly play the game of using my relative youth and politeness as a reason to go on a power trip.
  • I'm in an ugly valley of competence where I've done enough competitive shooting and training to be horribly bored standing in an indoor range anyway, but not good enough to place meaningfully in competition. I'm typically midrange when I do go to these sorts of events.
  • The amount of time investment required to support the hobby that aren't actually shooting is high. The aforementioned driving, waiting for other participants at competitions, preparing gear beforehand, and cleaning my weapons afterward is massive.
  • The direct benefits of being good at shooting are minimal and low-probability. I have only a handful of friends who will go shooting with me, all of which top out at being good clay shooters but who cannot do the sort of tactical course-based shooting that is even more fun. I've taken an indefinite hiatus in teaching almost anyone people to shoot post-2020, which I previously loved to do.

In any case I'll be bringing along my Beretta 1301 Comp Pro. I absolutely fucking love this gun, but it's hilariously overkill in terms of capabilities and price compared to my skill. I purchased it thinking I would be able to use it for the aforementioned tactical 3-gun competition circuit that it's never seen but is purpose-built for. The sporting clays course is covered by rich old country boys, some of whom have $20,000 over-unders while I'm toying with a smurf-colored, plastic "tactical" shotgun that'll drop 4 rounds a second.

Speaking of price, the Beretta comes nerfed from the factory because of shitty firearms laws. Once you get it in your hands, you "have to" drop another $200+ on various accessories to get it to its intended configuration and magazine capacity.

I need to figure out where I want to go with the hobby. I've done ultra-long-range classes with some success and have a reasonably capable rifle for playing at the ~800m range. I've done a lot of handgun courses and competition, and regular sporting clays outings. If I had to pick what to really be good at it would be what is hardest to get practice on, which would be midrange carbine work with my AR. I may have to move back to my hometown to get the amount of rounds and practice in that I need.

I need to figure out where I want to go with the hobby.

Steel challenge is reasonably cheap, and a lot of fun

That’s a bit of a bummer to hear. My wife and I were thinking about buying guns like 2 months before Covid hit. My main concern now is the time commitment to stay fresh on maintenance, training and skill.

When you say your friends “cannot” do the tactical courses, what do you mean?

My wistfulness has much more to do with missing out on the fun of shooting rather than it requiring a huge investment for baseline competence. It's a bit like riding a bike. After a brief period of shaking off the rust it all ends up being pretty peachy. My $.02 is that going through ~2 hours of instruction and then at least trying a dynamic course of fire at a range (I.E. where you move and shoot) would put you in the top 10% of gun owners. Which is sad but true.

By "cannot" I mean they can't invest the time/don't have the interest/don't have the competence/some combination of the above.

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