Okay, so I stole the title from Kit. The first time I saw it over at her page, I thought it was the cutest thing ever.
The relevance for me is this: I haven't had a lot of shooty goodness in my life lately.
"But Tam!" you say "You work at an indoor firing range for gawd's sake!"
Yes. Yes I do. Shoemaker's children and all that. The realization dawned on me yesterday morning that I hadn't pulled a trigger in months. Well, to be more accurate, I hadn't pulled a trigger for fun in months. All the shooting I've done in at least two months (maybe longer) has been either checking that a customer's gun is shooting to point of aim, or doing rapid-fire mag dumps from rental guns to demonstrate that our rental gun is working just fine, thank you, as long as you don't limp-wrist the darn thing.
So, yesterday morning I went in thirty minutes earlier than usual, and I took my little S&W Model 34 to the range with me. It's an itty-bitty little 1957-vintage .22 on Smith's "Improved I-frame" with a 2" barrel and adjustable sights. It makes a swell trainer gun for a fighting J-frame, but it also provides for an enjoyable quiet time alone at the range. I did something I normally don't do, which is firing a S&W wheelgun single action, and spent some time just concentrating on the abbreviated sight radius in deliberate slow fire. It was amazing how much that cleared my head and left me all charged up for the day. (That little gun shoots like a house afire, too...)
I should do it more often. :)
Wow, you actually make firing a gun sound like a contemplative art. Beautifully stated.
ReplyDeleteAhh, it is, it very much is.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, that's why many of us shoot.
By forcing your mind to focus and concentrate on a single function, you effectively clear it of all that "other" stuff (work, etc...).
Immediate feedback for error correction, and the sheer joy of the right result coming from right method...
Beats the hell out of sitting on a tatami mumbling to yourself.
Check out the samurai version of archery; it is equally applicable to shooting firearms. Someone should come out with a good Zen shooting manual some day.
ReplyDeleteBeware Shooty Goodness - it's addictive!
ReplyDeleteThe Brian Enos Book "Practical Shooting Beyond Fundamentals" is quite Zen-ny
ReplyDeleteI would rather die a Horrible Screaming Death than miss my weekly trigger time.
ReplyDeleteThe Brian Enos book is a great book and the first half of it is all the Zen of shooting.
You're right - you should do that more often. Good on 'ya!
ReplyDeleteAhh, there's a lot more of ensuring others get to shoot than shooting yourself... err, getting to shoot yourself... oh shoot, I mean, being able, yourself, to shoot. On an enjoyment tack that is, rather than part of the job. Shoot me?
ReplyDelete