Somebody having fun ...... I guess

[Doc]

So yesterday, I was out doing some yard clean-up, and nearby in the woods it sounded like WWIII. Somebody dragged their guns out and apparently had a jillion dollars worth of ammo that they wanted to get rid of. Most of it was done as fast as they could pull the trigger. It made me wonder what the big kick is about rapid-fire target practice. I have a nephew who is absolutely crazy about just hearing the noise of rapid-fire. He really is never too concerned with where the bullets were hitting, but just squeezing the trigger as fast as he can move his finger seems to be a huge turn-on for him. Apparently he is not alone in that. I have heard that kind of shooting many times here around the valley over the years, and I would really like to understand the appeal. My shots when target shooting are always very deliberate  and often loaded into the gun one at a time. The focus is on accuracy of the gun and the load. But I have heard the rapid fire shooting so much that I am wondering if I am missing something. So, I just thought I would ask. What is the kick of spraying lead as fast as you can? What is the purpose? Is it a Dirty Harry thing, or what? Frankly, I have never had so much ammo that I felt comfortable doing that, but who knows, maybe there is something fun about doing that....lol.

[nodeerhere]

ammo costs to much to waste like that I think.

[stubborn1VT]

Maybe they were celebrating the inauguration?  

I've heard that kind of shooting more and more in the past few years.  I don't get it either Doc. 

10 years ago I drove my Tacoma to Alaska.  On the way I traveled north along the Clark Fork River in Montana.  The road followed the river, so it had big bends through the valleys.  You would come around a corner and there would be a ranch.  In another 3 miles or so you would round another bend, another ranch.  Sometimes I wish my closest neighbor was 3+ miles away... 

[Steve D]

Got a couple down the road from me that do the same thing once or twice a week. Another one does it just about every Sunday around 9:00 am. Blows off a bunch of ammo then leaves.

[Buckmaster7600]

Ever saw a 3 gun competition? I shoot a ton at least a few times a week and once a gun is sighted in with the load of choice everything I do has a purpose, fast follow ups etc. I load my 35whelens with pistol bullets for plinking purposes and can shoot my deer rifles for under .05$ a round and have a blast doing it. I have probably 12 or 15 steel targets set up from 10 to 300yds and I love hearing the ping of steel. It's nothing for me to shoot a couple hundred rounds in an outing.

Hell I have had the 30-30 single shot I posted about the other day for less than a week and have already shot over 10 boxes of ammo through it. Dies and lead are on the way so I will be shooting it way more shortly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[philoshop]

I've always been an accuracy guy. Very focused, with deliberate and methodical slow-fire. But sometimes it's fun to just let loose at something inanimate. Like turning an old toilet seat into sawdust in about 1 minute, which I did the other day. It didn't make me a better person, but I sure felt better after having to handle that disgusting thing for a customer.

[fasteddie]

Personally I always liked the single shots . If I was to compete with the guys Doc was talikng about , I would need a Speedloader .

They have contests at our gun club going through a course shooting for speed and accuracy . Watched it once and found it boring . A waste of ammo ! 

[Pygmy]

I attended the Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot  a couple of times when I was hunting gobblers in Kentucky..

GRAND fun, but bring your earplugs......<<grin>>.....

[landtracdeerhunter]

While out in the woods, I noticed a lot of shooting. Not to the extent of what you heard, but more target practice style. Sure was a nice mild day for January.

[Doc]

I am a great fan of target shooting. I'm not as good as I wish I was, but the activity is still great fun. And of course as a reloader, target shooting is a must. I guess I go at it with whole different mindset than the rapid-fire guys do, but there are more than just a few that do like this style of shooting, and I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't missing out on something by being so rigid in my purposes.

But so far, nobody has really come up with a reason for rapidly dumping so much ammo, so I guess I'll still be deliberate in my shooting, and still go for the accuracy aspect.

[cityboy]

I hear target cadence shooting in the woods around me quite often, not just on weekends; not rapid fire.  Heck I contribute to the sport myself. I have one or two spots on my hunting club's property where I put a couple of sporting clays on a pile of wood chips as targets. I'll shoot at the end of my 2-3 mile hike, maybe 50 rounds 1-2 times a week. I have spots for doing pushups and watering the dog also. 

From what I hear around me I think some guys have dedicated ranges on their property. Good for them! 

[wolc123]

I got my girls a BB guns a few years ago and that is what I have been using for most of my own target shooting these days.   I don't reload, and the high cost of "real" ammo has forced me to minimize it's usage. I verify the zero of all my hunting weapons each season prior to usage, but that's about it. I think 5000 BB's cost less than $5, and they only go thru one side of a can, so they can be shot multiple times prior to loss.

I let my girl's try out my Ruger 10/22 for the for time over the long Thanksgiving weekend up at their grandparent place in the Adirondacks.  They loved not having to pump the Crossman 760 or cock the Daisy Red-ryder.  I could not believe how fast they shot up the (3) 50 packs or 22 LR ammo that I brought up there.  I just picked up a 333 pack of Winchester 22LR for our trip during their winter break.  I guess we are all lazy.  I like the self-reset "spinning plate" target a lot better on the range than running back and forth setting up the cans.  Also, .22 is ammo is getting a lot easier to find, and dropping back down in cost.

[Buckmaster7600]

I'll be honest, I just love to shoot. Shooting from a bench gets boring after about the 3rd shot. After I buy a new gun I do the load development and after that I give it a good zero. From that day on my rifles will see a bunch once a year. I don't Cary a bench or any kind of a rest with me in the woods so 99% of my shooting is freehand and a lot of it is fast shooting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Doc]

On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 9:08 AM, Buckmaster7600 said:

I'll be honest, I just love to shoot. Shooting from a bench gets boring after about the 3rd shot. After I buy a new gun I do the load development and after that I give it a good zero. From that day on my rifles will see a bunch once a year. I don't Cary a bench or any kind of a rest with me in the woods so 99% of my shooting is freehand and a lot of it is fast shooting.

Yeah, the day I can put 5 bullets all intersecting the same hole at a couple hundred yards from the bench, I will likely find it getting a little boring. I know it can be done ...... just not by me. But if that ever happened to me, I would likely tack on another 100 yards and start all over again.....ha-ha-ha.

As far as dragging the bench a bench around the woods with me ...... well, I kind of solved that problem. That solved all the hurried shots too.

[Buckmaster7600]

Yeah, the day I can put 5 bullets all intersecting the same hole at a couple hundred yards from the bench, I will likely find it getting a little boring. I know it can be done ...... just not by me. But if that ever happened to me, I would likely tack on another 100 yards and start all over again.....ha-ha-ha.
As far as dragging the bench a bench around the woods with me ...... well, I kind of solved that problem. That solved all the hurried shots too.

That's "bench" looks pretty good! If I could sit more than an hr I would have a bunch of those too. For me I like to be moving and that's why I only practice shooting freehand and dash because that's how my shots are in the woods.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RobC]

When we were younger we did this thing called bump firing. Where you would hold the gun at your waist and with one finger on the trigger and another finger threw your belt loop you'd use the recoil of the gun to simulate fully automatic. There was absolutely no accuracy obviously also probably not safe and stupid but it got old very quick. But it caught on because now they make bump fire stocks. Could be what your hearing. 

[Nomad]

Why do some vacation in the mountains and others the beach ? Why do some listen to classical music while others love rap ? And who in their right mind puts anchovies on a pizza ?

What makes a rainbow good ? It just is. Joe Dirt 

[Steuben Jerry]

44 minutes ago, Larry302 said:

And who in their right mind puts anchovies on a pizza ?

Ahh, anchovies on pizza, now I'm hungry.

Any pizza without anchovies is just a waste of a perfectly good pizza!

#NotMyPizza   

[Rattler]

Back to rapid fire for a second, there is nothing like shooting a FULL auto firearm.  Anyone who tries it for the first time will find it impossible not to grin like a fool when they have done it.

That is probably the feeling the rapid fire people are trying to accomplish.  But once you have fired a full auto firearm, semi-auto quick fire isn't impressive any more.

Today, I would only shoot full auto if somebody else is paying for the ammo.

[Daveboone]

When much younger, it used to be a lot of fun to rip off a lot of fast rounds. It didn't take too long that I still couldn't hit...squat.

Most serious shooters/ hunters quickly realize there is not substitute for the one well placed shot.

Several Years ago at our local range, I was near two fellows with an AK style sniper rifle. They couldn't hit nuthin, despite how fast they shot! I posted my typical Ace of spades playing card target at 75 yards, and proceeded to (very slowly ) prepare and load my Great Plains rifle with its 90 grains of black powder and round ball, and proceeded in two shots over about 15 minutes to make a nice neat little figure 8 on the ace. I retrieved my target , which they looked at somewhat confused, and asked me if that was all I was going to shoot.

"take your time, hit it with the first shot, and you don't need more".

[BizCT]

Target shooting it boring as hell to me. Only time I target shoot is before I go out west and after I landed before a hunt. In Ny, I take 2 shots before the shotgun season just to make sure it's still all good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fasteddie]

When I was a kid , I used to shoot woodchucks for farmers . I bought a used Marlin lever action 22 cal with open sights . My buddy came up with his scoped Remington semi-auto 22 and we walked the fields together and took turns shooting when we spotted chucks . He couldn't figure out why I was getting the chucks and he wasn't . I told him that with the lever action I only had a chance to take one shot each time and that by him pulling the trigger 3 or 4 times quick was throwing him off target . I suggested that he put a round in the chamber and remove the magazine ( we called them clips at the time ) and take a good shot . It worked . 

Personally , I like the single shots and own a Contender with 4 different barrels and 4 New England Firearm single shots . 

I have watched some of the guys with ARs shoot at the gun club . "Spray and Pray" .......