Osceola national forest - Florida

[mundaire]

I was in Jacksonville last week and my friends there organised a special treat for me - a trip to the public shooting range at Osceola with lots of guns! The superstar who got together everyone and pretty much made this happen was Tamil (that's him in the picture below).


Tamil letting off with a DPMS Panther LR-260 (in .308 Win) - this rifle was bloody accurate and none of us could get enough of it!


Brad letting off with his Taurus Model 92 SS (9mm)


Brad's wife Pia with his Colt SA revolver (in .22 LR)


Me having a blast with a Kimber 1911 clone (in .45 ACP of course!!) - Don't be fooled by the expression of the lady in the picture, she shot every single gun we had at our disposal!


Shailesh with the DPMS Panther LR-260 - Dave (wearing the hat) is just behind him. The bulk of the guns we shot that day were from Dave's collection.


Tamil with the SMLE WWII Jungle Carbine (in .303 British) - This rifle had a stiffer recoil when compared to a full size SMLE but was still a lot of fun to shoot


Hitesh has a go with the Jungle Carbine


Me with the DPMS Panther LR-260 - Notice the bull barrel? In spite of the synthetic stock this is a real heavy mother (which helped dampen the recoil)! So the tripod was a real blessing and no one really bothered to shoot this rifle off hand...


Hitesh with the Winchester .30-30 lever action

The guns we got to shoot that day were:

Brad's guns - Taurus Model 92SS (9mm), High Standard DA revolver (in .22 LR), Colt .22 LR SA revolver and a Marlin Lever action in .38-55 cal (not sure on the cal for this one).

Dave's guns - DPMS Panther LR-260 (in .308 Win), SMLE WWII Jungle Carbine (in .303 British), Winchester 30-30 lever action, a 1911 clone by Kimber (.45 ACP), Kel-Tec P-3AT pocket pistol (in .380 cal), a Kahr MK9 DAO pistol (in 9mm para) and a S&W 5 shot revolver (in .38 spl).

Gibby's gun's - a Glock 26 (9mm) and a S&W 908S (9mm)

A detailed write up to follow later...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[nagarifle]

nice vaction mate if u can get it. now for the stroies? when can we expect them.

[mundaire]

Some more pictures:


En route


On arrival - L to R: Shailesh, Me, Hitesh & Gibby


Gibby with his 9mm Glock 26


Shailesh with the Kimber, while Dave tries to prove that the Kahr can be shot accurately


Hitesh with the Glock


Goodies on the table


More to come - The anticipation was killing us as Dave slowly got around to opening these cases to show us what he had in store for us!

[Vikram]

Congratulations,Abhijeet.Good show.That's a great selection of guns and nice range of calibres for a day.Thanks for sharing with us.Here is to many more such shoots.

Best-
Vikram

Psst psst, what's secret of looking 10 years younger in six months?

[Sakobav]

Abhijeet

Thats great having way too much fun..so when are u headed here?

Vikram

Looking younger maybe because he is bachelor for few days..oops

Best

[mashh1]

having a great time there Abhijeet, shooting some of those guns we can only dream here.
naga do you really think some days of being bachelor can result in reduction of ages which count in years. if so some very serious plans are required at my domestic front.
regards

[Mack The Knife]

Jammy sod!

[penpusher]

Nice.Now about pistol shooting, forget the American fetish for the double handed grip.Shoot it holding it with one hand.


Oooops..I hope I have not upset any one

[HSharief]

Look at all those smiles. Man, I'm really happy for you. That range of guns and calibers is indeed a good mix for a day's shooting.

Now, find yourself a range that will rent you a full-auto.

Also, one where you will shoot some clays. I'm sure you will.

[mundaire]

Now for the write up:

I was staying at Shailesh's place along with Hitesh (his younger brother) and Tamil had asked us to be ready by 10:30 AM when he would come to pick us up. Tamil, Brad and Pia (Brad's wife) arrived at the designated time and after some minor chit chat all of us piled into Tamil's landy for the drive to Brad's father's place (to pick up Brad's guns). It wasn't too far and on arrival Brad's mom quickly asked which one of us was the "experienced" chap that Brad had told her about... all faces rapidly pointed towards me. What followed was a quick instruction in gun safety by the lady - I really appreciated the way in which she did it, dispensing wisdom without making anyone there feel stupid. She's obviously had a lot of practice with her son's friends

Brad's father (he was not home) I found out is an avid hunter and pretty much made sure that Brad and his siblings grew up shooting and hunting since a very young age. While Brad was packing his guns etc. his mom gave us a brief tour of his gun cabinet... hardly being able to control my drooling impulse, I could not but help think that this personal collection could put to shame most gun shops in India!

Packed and ready to move - next stop the local gun & outdoors store to buy ammo. As soon as I entered I was treated to trophy's of cape buffalo and lions, lined along with more mundane deer, moose etc. While the guys shopped to ammo and ear plugs, Hitesh and I went to the counter to check out the AK's and M16's that were on sale... I literally had to be dragged out of there by the others!

Once we were on our way to the range Shailesh decided that it was time to regale us with some stories from the ER room (he's an eye surgeon). Not very pleasant fare, but it had the desired effect of reinforcing the need to observe gun safety. Twenty minutes out as Tamil was observing the clouds and saying that the weatherman had predicted heavy rains after 4 PM, the rain gods decided to prove their supremacy over humans (& meteorological satellites) by letting loose an almighty rainstorm... thankfully by the time we parked at a small grocery store to wait for Dave and his team the rain had subsided.

The shooting range is actually inside the forest, and is reached by driving through a few miles of dirt road (which was now a mud track). On arrival the first thing I hear is a couple of guys going on full auto with their guns

Have to step out now, more when I get back....

[TwoRivers]

Nope, that's a Marlin, not the Winchester, Hitesh is shooting in the picture. Cheers.

[TwoRivers]

To heck with propah form, isn't the objective to hit your target? Cheers

[penpusher]

I just find the two handed grip to be very un-natural.However it is still better than the sideways and some times almost upside down pointed handguns in many Hollywood movies.

Abhijeet,

Ignore my remarks and have fun.I sometimes get on my own nerves these days.

[TwoRivers]

Oh, but I am having fun! As to getting on your own nerves sometimes, that can happen. Better you than someone else. Just give yourself a swift kick in the butt, and don't let it get you down. Sideways usually gets cured with the first hot empty in the shooters face or down the neck of his shirt. Two-handed may seem un-natural, but the results speak for themselves. Cheers.

[mundaire]

Part Deux

Besides an intermittent drizzle, the weather pretty much held for the next few hours. The hearing defenders and ear plugs were in place the moment we stepped out - the almighty noise of the shooting going on made sure of that! The second safety precaution everyone rapidly took was a healthy application of insect repellent. Initially I was smirking as my friends quickly sprayed themselves on stepping out of the cars - but the persistent attention of several mosquitoes ensured that within minutes I was lining up for my turn with the spray can

We set up in one corner of the range and out came the goodies! First up were the pistols and as soon as I saw that Dave had a Kimber 1911 in his armoury, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it... so that was the first pistol I tried at the range. Compared to my own ex-GI 1911 the trigger was much crisper, breaking smoothly & predictably each time. As to muzzle flip and recoil - the 1911 actually was one of the most manageable pistols of the lot... in spite of packing the most powerful cartridge of the pack AND being the oldest design... no doubts JM Browning was one hell of a genius!

The next pistol I got to shoot was the Kel-Tec P-3AT pocket pistol. Dave warned me in advance that it was a brand new gun and not really broken in yet, so was prone to jams/ stovepiping. The minute I held this gun the impression was of a tacky plastic toy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against new materials, but the quality of materials and more so the end finish left something to be desired with this particular gun. The other thing that you immediately realise on holding it is how small this gun really is. I could barely manage to get a grip on it, it's that small - that combined with the light weight meant that in spite of a relatively low powered .380 (9mm short) chambering, it had an evil muzzle flip making it neigh impossible to shoot with any kind of accuracy.

Next up the Kahr, Glock, Taurus and other handguns...

Cheers!
Abhijeet