If you have been reading some of my recent posts, you are probably aware that I have been talking about some of my exploits and experiences after being assigned to the Joint Interoperability Test Center (JITC) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. I have just begun a whole series of posts about my exploits at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. My story today centers around a subject that is almost as near and dear to my heart as hunting. Well, have you guessed the subject yet? No?!? That subject happens to be shooting on the Plinking range. Some of you may be asking yourselves right now, what in the hell is a plinking range? That is an excellent question. A plinking range is like a normal shooting range except that it isn’t run by a military organization for qualification. It is usually run by a hunting club or a sportsman’s center for avid hunters and gun enthusiasts to come out and shoot their weapons for practice and a somewhat organized manner. Bright and early one Saturday morning, the Fort Huachuca Sportsman’s Center hosted a range day in conjunction with an Arizona sanctioned hunter safety course. Since I was one of the instructors at that hunter safety course, I was slated to provide a shooting demonstration of high-caliber rifles, namely the .300 Winchester Magnum. The purpose of the demonstration was to demonstrate to new hunters the ballistics of various calibers and types of rounds to show the lethality of the rounds. Since my daughter had attended the hunter safety course, I was taking her along with me to the range. The purpose of the range was to demonstrate weapon safety, safe loading and unloading techniques, proper marksmanship techniques, and safe weapons handling, as well as the ballistics demonstrations. Each instructor had been asked to demonstrate three weapons. I previously mentioned that I was slated to provide a demonstration of high-caliber rifles, but I was also slated to provide a demonstration of small arms such as pistols or revolvers and primitive firearms such as black powder firearms. For my pistol and revolver demonstration, I chose my competition grade M1911 .45 ACP pistol. This was the very same pistol that I had used for my first Javelina hunt. It had worked out quite well. For my revolver demonstration, I chose my Ruger .357 Magnum with a six inch barrel. For the primitive firearms demonstration, I was bringing my Connecticut Valley Firearms .50 caliber rifle. This rifle was a percussion-cap-fired, muzzle-loaded, black powder rifle. I had purchased this weapon for two reasons: first, cuz I got a great deal on the rifle and, second, cuz I wanted to give Javelina a sporting chance whenever I hunted them. When I took this weapon to the range that day, it was only the second time ever that I had an opportunity to fire that weapon on the range before using it for hunting. I also had a .44 caliber Navy Colt black powder revolver that I purchased to be my side-arm companion to my black powder rifle. I had never previously fired the black powder revolver, so I chose not to demonstrate it. However, I fully planned on shooting it during the plinking range after the hunter safety demonstrations. When it came to be my turn to demonstrate weapons ballistics, I chose to demonstrate the .300 Winchester Magnum first. I explained to the class that I was using rounds to minimize collateral damage to surrounding tissue to the entrance and exit wounds. My first shot was at a head of cabbage to demonstrate what the power and velocity of a high power Magnum round does to soft tissue. As my shot rang out, tiny bits of cabbage rained down on my captive audience. And I said, “That, my friends, is how you make coleslaw.” Then, I explained to them that I would shoot my second round at a one-gallon milk carton filled with water to demonstrate hydrostatic shock. Hydrostatic shock is the ripple effect that an explosion causes on airwaves or in water, and it is what really kills a person or a critter. Sure, it helps to hit a vital organ. It also helps to cause massive blood loss. But never underestimate the effect of hydrostatic shock. Since the average amount of water in the body of the critter is around sixty percent, imagine the disruptive force of all those ripples when a bullet hits the critter. Anyway, after I explained all of that to my audience, I quickly turned and blasted the gallon jug of water and blew it to bits. Once again, the audience was rained on. But this time it was with bits of plastic and water. After I had concluded my demonstration of high power ballistics, I continued to demonstrate primitive firearms. For that demonstration, I only conducted one demonstration. I demonstrated hydrostatic shock. The reason was that the cabbage demonstration would not be near as impressive with the primitive firearm. After I explained the type of round that I was using, which was a hollow-tipped conical round (also known as a Buffalo round), I proceeded to load my weapon and blast the jug of water. Once again, the jug of water exploded. But it wasn’t nearly as impressive as my previous demonstration. By the time we got around to small arms demonstrations, there were no cabbages or water cartons left to shoot at. Thus, we demonstrated how to load our small weapons and engage targets on the range. After the formal hunter safety class was finished, the range was opened for individual shooting and plinking. My daughter needed practice with her rifle, which was a 7.62 X 39 caliber rifle. I loaded up my .44 caliber Navy Colt black powder revolver to shoot after I got my daughter set up with her rifle. When the range master gave the all clear, we commenced firing. I immediately noticed that I had to aim about two feet to the left of my target in order to hit my target. I muttered to myself, “Gr8. Just great. Well, one thing is for sure. I ain’t going to be killing nothing with this thing.” Well, you couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, ten feet in front of you with that damn thing but it sure as hell was fun to shoot. After my daughter zeroed her weapon and got pretty good at putting rounds into the paper at 100 yards, we called it good on that weapon. She asked me if she could shoot my black powder weapons, so I loaded my black powder rifle and let her shoot that one first. She handled it okay. Next, I taught her a good controlling stance for aiming a pistol or revolver, and then I loaded my black powder pistol for her to shoot. I told her to aim slightly to the left if she expected to hit the paper. After she finished shooting that, she asked me if she could shoot my .357 Magnum revolver. Since I was just shooting lead ball wadcutters, I told her that she could. But I stressed the importance of maintaining a good shooting stance like I taught her. When the range master gave the all clear, I ensured that my daughter was in the proper stance and that she was holding the revolver correctly. Then I told her to take aim and fire away. She blasted the paper with all six rounds. I was impressed. There was a guy next to us blowing up targets with a super Redhawk .44 caliber Magnum revolver. My daughter asked me if she could shoot that one. I said that I didn’t know because it wasn’t my handgun and that I would have to ask the guy. I walked over and asked the guy if my daughter could shoot his super Redhawk. He said, “What do you think? Do you think she can handle it?” I replied, “Well, it looks like you’re using lead ball plinking ammo, so the recoil shouldn’t be too bad. Plus, it has that ten inch barrel to help with the recoil. I’ll shoot around or two first to test it and then let her shoot the other four. What do you say?” “Well, she’s your daughter. If you’re game, I’m game. By the way, after you finish with my weapon, I would sure like to have a go with those black powder weapons that you have.” “Sure thing. Let me fetch my daughter and bring her over here. My daughter handled that .44 caliber Magnum revolver with absolutely no problem. I was impressed with my little girl. Our friend asked me how old she was and I replied that she was twelve. Then it was his turn to be impressed. I warned him about the inaccuracy of my .44 caliber Navy colt revolver. But he enjoyed shooting it, nevertheless. Since I had quick loaders, I loaded it a second time and let him shoot it again. Next, we moved over to my .50 caliber black powder rifle. I was just using the standard lead ball for plinking, and I let him shoot the rifle several times. My daughter even got in on the act. Finally, it was time for us to pack up our weapons and go back home. We had enjoyed a great day at the range while experiencing no exercises in futility.
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