Shootin' the shootin'

A visit to see Vandra's dad is never complete without some shooting, and this trip was no exception. We couldn't wait to shoot the Glock 9mm - it had been a little while. This time we also shot a 12 gauge shotgun and an amazing .223 cal. rifle, too, along with a .38 and a .45 pistol. I printed out some deserving cool targets and brought them along. There are pictures of those at the end of this post.

All of these images were taken with a Canon EOS 5D and a Canon 24-70mm f2.8L lens - exposure info. is at the bottom of each caption.

As soon as Vandra put the rifle up to her shoulder and she took a few seconds to aim, I mashed the shutter button. Lots of wasted pics, but a few of them turned out pretty well, and this one is the best. At 3 FPS, the 5D isn't blazing fast, but some shots can be had once you get the timing of the shooter down. Luckily, I got a shot of the wine bottle just as the bullet arrived to shatter it.

1/80th sec., f3.2, ISO 100

Another bottle shattering shot, taken just a bit later than I wanted, but you can still get the essence of it. The 9mm shows no mercy to things living or not living. Notice the Terrell Owens target, awaiting his fate.

1/125th sec., f4, ISO 100

I'll never forget this shot, or this shot, as long as I live. I was taking careful aim at the wine bottle with the Glock 9 (and I'm not a half-bad shot), and I fired. Nothing. I said out loud, "How could I have missed that bottle?" I lowered the 9, and I was slack-jawed. I turned around and said to Vandra and her dad, Ralph, "Did you see that?!?" They didn't know what I was talking about. I gave the gun to Ralph and picked up my EOS, because no one would believe it if I didn't get a picture of it.

"I probably couldn't do that again in 50,000 shots!" I said. Unbelievable. I know it's just a bottle, but it's not hard to imagine from looking at this image what kind of damage a hollow-point 9mm can do to a scofflaw. Let's just say I'd never want to be on the receiving end of such power.

1/50 sec., f2.8, ISO 100

What's a little shooting without taking aim at some right-wing scum? And what two better blowhards to pump some lead into than Michael Weiner Savage and Bill O'Lielly? (We didn't have enough ammo to take out someone like Rush Limbaugh. Plus, my printer only prints out 13x19 prints, not nearly enough to make a Limbaugh print.)

I got a kick out of it - all in good fun, of course. I remember yelling out between shots to O'Lielly, "How's this for your no-spin zone?!?"

1/160th sec., f4.5, ISO 100

LiLo and Paris Hilton were also made quick work of on the range. I would have printed out Nicole Ritchie, but I'm not so good of a shot that I can hit the edge of a piece of paper. (If you don't get that joke, don't feel bad that you're not up on pop culture these days. Trust me, you aren't missing much.)

1/160th sec., f4.5, ISO 100