When Hell hath frozen over

So what does a boat builder in Canada do when Hell has literally frozen over for a good 5 months of the year? Well that was a question I asked myself last year after I retired. I knew the winters would be long and boring and I have no intention of shoveling out or trying to heat the boat shed. So I thought back to things I used to do as a kid and plinking came to mind.

Back in the day, I'm talking mid 1970's. We used to shoot our .22's at the range below the library at the High School! Everybody thinks I'm wacko when I tell them that but it's true. The shooting range was indeed below the library. It wouldn't even cause an eyebrow to be raised to see some kid carrying a .22 rifle over his shoulder walk into the High School. Can you imagine the shit storm that'd ensue if a kid did that today? Different world we live in for sure.

Anywho, after retiring I decided I'd like to take up the ole' hobby of plinking. Looked into it and took the courses from an fellow retired Coastie. The course was demanding, the paperwork daunting and the waiting extensive.  Having worked in the Federal Government for over 30 years I know the speed at which Gov't works so I knew it would be a while before all the pieces were in place. I almost gave up on the idea when my rPal (Restricted Possession and Acquisition License) showed up in the mail around mid-July. I kind of let it sit for awhile as I was working on the boat.

I went back to work for the CG for a little while last Nov/Dec and with a little more money coming in I decided to 'bite the bullet' and order myself a pistol. After much research and online window shopping and researching it's reputation amongst the gun nuts on the Interwebs I settled on the Smith & Wesson M&P .22.

Pretty much everything I've read about this pistol is spot on the money. It's relatively inexpensive, I paid $419 USD for it and $75 USD for two extra magazines. It runs perfectly fine on bulk 'CCI Blazer' ammunition ($20.99 for 500 rounds). It doesn't like the Winchester X22 bulk ammo that much with quite a few Failure to Feed (F2F) and Failure to Eject (F2E).

Today was my 5th outing with the pistol. My firearms instructor, Fred Guse, is an accomplished shooter and excellent instructor. Fred joined me today to try out the M&P 22. I think he was suitably impressed with it's performance. I wasn't too surprised. Everyone's who's tried it really likes it.

It was a little chilly and we weren't properly warmed up yet but our first two attempts at 15 yds looked like this. (Fred on the left, me on the right)

 After a few magazines were emptied I laid down this slightly tighter grouping at 15 yds.

I'm really happy with that. Much better than my first few attempts. I've already changed the sights on the pistol to Williams Firesights which make it a lot easier for my tired ole' eyes to see.

 The other thing we did today was haul out one of the Cowboy Action steel targets. Now we're gonna do some plinkin'! Sorry I didn't get any pictures. Was too busy having fun!

So that's it. I apologize it's not boat building related but I was bored as hell! Thanks to Fred for a fun day on the shooting range!.

Cheers