Range day Saturday...

I've been meaning to take the Father in law out to the range for some time. He shot quite a bit in the Army but likely hasn't been to the range in at least a decade if not a score. A year ago the SCQueen found some guns rusting in a storage unit and took them into protective custody.

I don't know many details of his military service... I think he served during part of WWII. Most of it seems to be the mundane life of a Finance Officer. But he liked to shoot and became a range officer. In time he apparently became the head RO and ran the range.

note to self... bring the MP3 recorder and get him talking at all family functions. He's well into his 80's and we need to transfer these stories into a more durable format than his memory. Mebbe even tomorrow at the range. It won't be much use during the shooting periods, but he might open up during the ceasefires.

He relates a story of a time his office needed their annual shooting qualifications. They took everyone to the range. Most qualified but some didn't. To those he suggested they join him on the range the next Saturday. He then schooled them in the fundamentals and qualified the rest that day.

I think he liked the 1911 and fondly remembers the shooting tests [This is in contrast to the other ex-army people I've talked to that loathe the GI-1911. "Better off throwing the gun at the enemy" is the comment heard more than once.] But he liked it and apparently shot it well in the classic one handed stance.

So the question tonight is planning what to take. Obviously we'll bring his .22 rifle. Probably an M1 Carbine as well. A Garand and a Mauser to pay heed the WWII era. Then an AR to get the flavor of the modern era. Next question is how good are the eyes, or more directly, what distance do we set the targets? Can he see an SR-1 target at 100 yards?

We'll bring a nice selection on the pistol side as well. There are a dozen "Seeing Stars" targets printed and in the range bag. If all goes well we will have five ePostal entries to submit.

He's well into his 80's now and none to steady. One of his offspring suggested we keep a close eye on him. Obviously we will but I suspect the 4 rules are so deeply ingrained he'll still be practicing muzzle discipline 10 years after he's dead and planted.

Stay tuned for a range report with pictures tomorrow...