The Passion of the Gun

[JeffJ]

I didn't really get the pride/passion thing until I was able to spend some time talking guns and shooting with an uncle of mine who was an old IPSC shooter. Every gun he had was gone over by a gunsmith and set up exactly how he wanted it. That uncle passed away last year and left me his guns, when I went to pick everything up (after driving from TX to IN) I ended up spending an entire day getting loaded up, one because I vastly underestimated the amount of reloading components, but mainly because I would get distracted when I would find a file folder with printed out emails between him and a gunsmith going back and forth over every little detail on some build that he was doing. Fast forward a little bit, and I haven't shot any of my Glocks in months and have just started carrying a CZ 75BD that I've completely set up the way I want it , well except of sights - but I'm having CZC mill some to my specs so hopefully that won't take too long.

The experience changed my outlook from the idea that out of the box was fine to enjoying figuring out exactly what I want and then putting that together. The CZ project was extremely rewarding for me, and I don't think I would have done it without having spent those hours in the reloading room and at the range with my uncle listening to the how and why he had his guns set up.

[shooter220]

This may only be me, but I just love everything there is about training with a handgun. I love drawing from a holster, I love the press out, I love the feel that the slide makes when it locks back and I love sending the slide home with a fresh mag. Hell, I love the smell of the gunpowder in the air when training.

Call me a weirdo but that's just the way I feel. It makes me happy to shoot and if your happy doing something then it is so much easier to improve at it.

Oh and the feel of an all metal gun (preferably SIG 226 or 229) just does it for me.

My .02

I love this post. For me, the way I have passion for shooting has evolved. When I was a kid, it was making the little metal spinners spin, and then learning to hit them at the top of their arc and making them do a 180. It was also in shooting .22s that had real sights on them. My Remington has iron sights that are identical to what you found on the centerfire rifles of that era, and they are GOOD rifle sights. It helped that Dad thought your gun should be something you took pride in, so he didn't believe in ugly, soulless guns.

Then - in high school I became a Police Explorer Scout, and we had a pistol team. I learned to shoot a revolver at the hands of some pretty good instructors. I went from shooting spinners with a rifle to shooting bullseye with a .357 magnum with a 6 inch barrel. Then, for graduation from high school I received a Beretta semi-auto shotgun and started learning to shoot skeet.

Fast forward "a few years" and a bunch of evolutions, and I LOVE to load up my P30 and push my limits with it. The old bullseye shooter in me still has to really push myself to accept a larger group, but I am getting there. It is a very fun gun to shoot - but I still enjoy a variety of other shooting pursuits. While my focus right now is on handgun skills, I am always up to grab a rifle and shoot for either small groups or the ringing of steel. I am always game for a round of skeet or wobble, and sometimes even trap. I value trigger time of any sort. I also view shooting socially - at least sometimes. It can be a lot of fun to shoot with friends who have similar views on shooting. Sometimes, however, my electronic earmuffs are turned off, I could care less what is going on around me (within the limits of safety), and I just want to be left alone with a firearm to try to see what kind of performance I can extract from it.

Do I get as giddy about shooting as I did a bunch of years ago? Almost. But the idea of someday teaching my two young sons the way Dad (and lots of others) taught me puts an absolute ear to ear grin on my face. THAT is what I most look forward to.

[Tamara]

Same here.

My previous hobby of drag racing was the same way. I enjoyed having the smell of engine oil on my hands. the feel of the ratchet. the anxiety when you are pulling spark plugs. the smell of av gas from tail pipes...yeah...I get it. good analogy.

...and to continue the automotive analogy from a few pages back and tie it into the "pride of ownership" thing, who has more pride of ownership? The kid with the twelve-year-old Civic that he's rebuilt the engine and added the turbo himself and has a glovebox full of time slips, or the dude with the leased M5 that he'll turn in for another one in two years and who never takes it to a track?

I dunno that pride of ownership can be inherent in the thing itself. (There's someplace I should be using the word "gestalt" in this post, so I'm just going to let it hang in the air there until I figure out where in a sentence I should shoehorn it.)

[Dagga Boy]

Okay, just stop on anything about "Pride of Ownership". It is literally the only excuse I have for buying any guns anymore. I am an addict, I need help but don't want it, and if we can't have "Pride of Ownership", I will hit rock bottom.

[DanH]

The "find your passion" rule was something I didn't figure out until I finally dragged my butt back to college. When I first went right after high school, lo those many years ago, an engineering major seemed like a great idea; good money, math and science, cool as heck to my geeky self. A year later I dropped out, mainly because I didn't like the classes well enough to sit through them any more. Many years later I found accounting much more interesting (yes, I admit to my abnormalities).
I have since told many nieces and nephews when they went to college to make sure they studied something that actually interested them.

[JeffJ]

He he... I have a degree in philosophy, and work in the construction/engineering side of the insurance business - Ironically, I ended up a philosophy degree by continually taking classes that interested me and I think that it has come in handy in my chosen field.

[UNK]

This is why I keep a couple of nonBUG .357mag wheelguns around, and .22 revolvers.


Just going out and shooting .22s at cans and dirt clods and hedge apple balls is so freaking zen.

I've posted it here before and I've never heard anyone say they tried it.Chief AJ's shooting camp. If you can go ...DO IT ! I've shot a lot in my life, for fun, hunting and competition. I have never never never had as much fun as at his camp. At 6' 4" and a little over 200 lbs Ruger 10-22's don't fit me that well but still...It was a blast. Breaking clay pigeons at high rates of speed with a .22 is an absolute hoot.
http://www.chiefaj.com/
Theres the link to his website. He's a man from a different era and he'll keep you entertained and amazed. He's been a Marine, a world record rifle shooter verified by gun magazines of that era. A trick shooter. A darling of Hollywood. A man of God. I can't say enough about him. I hope somebody from here goes.

[AtomicToaster]

"you know what the difference is between me and you.........my gun has teeth marks in the trigger guard".

Simultaneously hilarious and sobering...

[Rosco Benson]

http://www.chiefaj.com/
Theres the link to his website. He's a man from a different era and he'll keep you entertained and amazed. He's been a Marine, a world record rifle shooter verified by gun magazines of that era. A trick shooter. A darling of Hollywood. A man of God. I can't say enough about him. I hope somebody from here goes.

Decades ago, I saw Chief AJ (John Huffer) put on a shooting exhibition at the old Miami Valley Shooting Grounds in Vandalia, Ohio. He was amazing. They had a high enough berm that he was even able to do some aerial shooting. He wore a bog war bonnet and was quite the showman. IIRC, he had also competed in bodybuilding when he was younger. At any rate, he cut quite a figure.

He used to set up at some of the gun shows in Ohio and was fun to talk with. One of my pals bought one of AJ's tuned 10/22's that had a scout scope mounted forward on it as an understudy to his .308 scout (Gunsite 'smithy built, on a Weatherby Vanguard of all things).

Rosco

[jkurtz7]

Poly guns overall don't do it for me. I've owned a number of them over the years, but I never seem to keep one more than a few years. There is something about the Beretta 92 series guns that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. They shoot good for me, feel great in the hand, and are a proven, reliable design. The fact that Beretta is the oldest gun company on the planet somehow adds to that good feeling I get with the 92's.

My E. German Makarov is another other feel good gun for me. Don't laugh, the E. German Maks are very well made, accurate, and very reliable. The bluing on my example is rather nice too. The Beretta and Makarov both give me a sense of pride in ownership that no other handguns ever have.