I had never hit a moving target let alone pick up a fully loaded weapon before. I think a BB gun was the most hardcore I had gone before going to the Oaktree Gun Club with some dear friends to finally learn how to learn defense this weekend.

I had taken a lot of stage combat and weaponry courses before, but all those were stage weapons. The weight of the gun far outweighed any stage defense tools, and there were actual bullets in these too; that changes things exponentially.
The guns we fired today were as follows: a Berreta 92, 9 mm Smith & Wesson M&P ( military and police) and the rifles were both 22’s (one a cowboy lever action and the other a Rugar).

Now I was new to flying casings. That was something to get used to as well as the noise.

We each took a turn doing handguns and rifles. I took to the rifles myself. It was easy loading the cartridge, cocking the lever and shooting. The handguns had a bit of a kickback. I hit many of my targets with both weapons which made for a successful day! My best weapon was the Rugar; he and I got along so swimmingly I pumped out a whole round hitting a moving target!

The lessons learned were two:
1: If you get hit with a bullet casing, don’t freak out even if a burning casing falls into your bra.
2: if a burning casing DOES fall into your bra, LET GO OF THE GUN! If you do not, some guy will come running at you to make sure you don’t shoot yourself or other people.

It was quite hilarious, and I got an interesting blister on my chest.

All in all the shooting range was awesome. I shall return again soon thanks to my friend Ali and her father who generously provided weapons and ammunition.