June 05, 2004
Maybe twitch games *do* help some new shooters
Today's the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. I'm reminded that a couple of weeks ago, a couple of friends of mine and I went shooting at a rifle range in northern California, taking a number of weapons including an M1 Garand rifle which probably saw action in WWII. Here, my friend Andy Chen, a brand new shooter (and 18 y/o college classmate), fires my other friend's Garand:
This was Andy's first time out shooting... and on steel reactive targets set out at 100 meters - after having been briefed on safety and weapon operation - he kept up with us two trained, experienced shooters, at least on the sandbag rests. He's spent his high school years reading military history, and knows an incredible amount of factual data on weapons history. He's also used to playing first-person shooter games - in which I've never been interested, thinking them useless for training - causing me to start to re-think my opinions of twitch games.
An older gentleman at an adjacent shooting stall took some time to discuss the Garand with Andy, pointing out that he had ordered his own Garand (which he was also shooting) from the U.S. federal government's Civilian Marksmanship Program, which I've heard about over the years, though I'd bought my own past two Garands from commercial sources.
I'm encouraging Andy to join a local CMP-affiliated club and shoot a match this summer, so that he can be eligible to buy at least a "rack grade" rifle for as low as $350... shipped Fedex directly to his door (yes, they do that)! I don't see Garands selling at gun shows for less than around $800 nowadays. Here's a very detailed and interesting account, with photos, of the experiences of two CMP participants in the purchase and shooting of their own CMP Garands.
It's especially worth noting, for California residents, that a Garand is "Kalifornia legal", making it an excellent rifle to keep locked in the trunk of one's car... just in case. Also note that a number of companies (such as Smith Enterprises) do "tanker conversions" to shorten the overall length, and one can convert the weapon to .308 caliber.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at June 5, 2004 06:09 PM | TrackBackI got my Garand through the DCM, what the CMP was called before Clinton/Feinstein were able to kill the program for a couple of years.
Instead of selling these "high powered military style weapons" to the general public, they turned around and were spending money to cut them up.
The "republican revolution" at least put a stop to that. Pretty much the only thing they did...
Anyway, my Garand is proudly displayed on the mantle piece in the living room. Haven't found a rifle range here in NC yet.
Curt-
Posted by: Curt Howland on June 6, 2004 06:19 AMRussell is being too kind; I tried firing the M1 Garand freehand but my finger never entered the trigger guard because I was having trouble holding the rifle steady. Russell, on the other hand (hyuk), was quite the man with all weapons we used, both sitting and standing.
Posted by: Andy Chen on June 7, 2004 03:48 PM