Back From The Range

I met the girl from Girls With Guns at the range this morning.  It has been a few months since we have had the chance to meet up, so I was thrilled when our schedules meshed.  Love her!! 

This time we decided to get our own lanes and do our own thing.  I have never done that before, but it was nice. I like sharing a lane because I get a chance to watch the other person, ask questions and chit chat, but it is also good to just focus and shoot.  There isn't much to report about the shooting itself.  I shot a few plain round black targets to warm up and did the deck of card thing again.  Took my targets down to the 25 yard line again and again did not hit any cards, but came really really close. 

The shots all around these two cards were the ones at 25 yards. The shots that made it on the cards were at 15 yards and I was going back and forth.  I shot the top card, then shot the bottom, then back up to the top.  Shot one magazine doing that at a fairly quick speed, but not rapid. I think I got 13 out of 17 on a card.

I shot with my off hand and one handed just cuz. I also shot a few magazines with both eyes open.  That was rough, but eventually I was able to shoot close where I was aiming.  Getting a follow up shot was tougher.

This was my target at 10 yards with both eyes open.  Sorry it is fuzzy.

Nothing to write home about, but I felt good.  The only issue was that my gun is no longer sliding the action back on the last round.  I kept tap, rack, banging only to find an empty magazine.  I shot 211 rounds of 9mm out of the ol' M&P.  Good times!

After the range we headed out for lunch so we could, you know, eat.  My food was not good.  I didn't even eat it, but the company was so stellar I didn't mind.  We talked family, kids, husbands, life, the usual girl stuff.  We also talked guns and mindset.  We shared stories of how some people in our lives can not quite get why we shoot and that some down right disapprove.  Somehow that led us into a discussion on mindset and coming to terms with the idea of actually taking another life in defense of our own.

We both said that it is something we would never, ever want to have to do and that is why we spend so much time learning all the fine art of situational awareness and how get the heck out of dodge before anything goes down, but that if there was no other way out, we would would defend our lives.

I am reading Chris Kyle's book, American Sniper and I mentioned how learning about his mindset has helped me with mine.  I don't pretend to understand how a sniper's mind works or how it thinks, but Mr. Kyle shares a lot in this book and reading about a sniper, his thoughts, his feelings and emotions has helped me tremendously to get my mind straight.  Since I have spent the last year being in turmoil, I have tried to ready my mind as much for the aftermath of a shooting as I have to avoiding an attack and how to act should a confrontation become unavoidable.  I really want the bad guy to take as little from me as possible.  I don't want him to rob me of my life or it's joy, so my approach to self defense is all encompassing.  Be aware, avoid, deescalate if possible, but if not fight, fight, fight, and then live.

I know there are a whole host of legal issues that would follow and I am not saying that any confrontation would be a cake walk, but I am saying that thinking about what I am willing to do to save my life and coming to terms with that now can only help me with the coping in the end. 

It was nice to have that conversation with her.  She is one strong, smart, level headed woman and she is one good mama.  Plus she is funny, kind and can shoot!! I am fortunate to be able to call her friend.