Earlier today I got the chance to target practice with live ammo in a shooting range. It's been ages since I handled a piece. It's something that I never got to do in Australia because guns are illegal there so I really had a fun time!

There's Uncle Gene and Nick setting up the target boards. The crowd was quite mixed. There were folks from the army and police, but there were also senior citizens, teenagers and girls. Yes, chicks with guns! I'd think twice about asking for their phone number. Hehehe!

Handling a weapon is all about respect. Safety always comes first, that's why the bullets have to be handled carefully and the piece has to point out in the range at all times. The people who use the range are not war freaks. Quite the contrary, if you see the way they carefully handle their guns and stay out of each other's way you'll realize that they have a lot of reverence and courtesy towards each other.

Uncle Gene had the first go and he was good at it. But Nick on the other hand was really impressive. He's a real Pro. He seems to hit the bullseye every time!

I was using a Taurus. Like what I said, it's been ages so I expected myself to be a bit rusty. And believe me, it's nothing like a video game so all those hours I spent with my PS2 doesn't count! Hehehe! But still, I felt that there was something odd with the accuracy of the piece so I got Uncle Gene to check it out. It needed a bit of oiling so he had to partially dismantle it.

In the meantime Nick lent me his 45 which was a lot more accurate and responsive. He showed me his technique and I tried it. Then I finally started getting better hits. Coolness!

My target board is on the left. The neon-green dots indicate the shots that hit the bullseye. There's not much but I had a lot of near misses so I'm happy with it. Not bad! But the target board on the right is Nick's. Holy Cow! ...he's a legend!