When my parents asked me what I would like to do while I was here in Nebraska, one of my suggestions was that we shoot some guns. It had been a long time since I did it, and my dad had a few we could use.
He called up my cousin Mike. Mike has a place by the Platte River where they picnic and shoot guns. We loaded everybody up in a borrowed RV and headed there.
The spot was beautiful. We started a campfire, broke out the picnic foods, and loaded the guns. I shot each one of my dad’s handguns. I especially enjoyed firing the powerful .357’s and .44, but they were very loud. My ears were really ringing after firing them. I hope I haven’t damaged my hearing permanently. I should have protected it.
Cousin Mike brought an AR15. It is the civilian version of an M16. It is semi-automatic.
Mike had clips of 30 rounds each. It’s surprising how fast 30 rounds can go. We shot at bits of wood floating in the water. It was a safe way to keep bullets from flying off to some distant unknown.
Your entire first paragraph made me shudder. And, I must admit, things did not improve on this reader’s end as I finished reading either. [Can one get the jibblies from reading about ammo, guns, and shooting?] Are you sure we haven’t heard about folks like you on the national news as the reporters discuss major crimes, shoot outs, and the like? Jeepers…..I thought all survivalists came from Montana, not Nebraska!
[No fish in that body of water, I hope? Now there may be a new species unique to that lake – the Swiss Cheese Fish. Ow!]
Would like to say I feel safer knowing someone who has successfully handled loaded firearms. However……shudder……jibbly.
I was mostly impressed by the family of bald eagles across the water (safely out of harm’s way). There were two adults, and someone said they saw two little ones – but I only saw the one. They were incredible.
I couldn’t figure out why Arnold Schwarzenegger’s clips last for 2 minutes of continuous firing and yours only lasted for 6 seconds.
Guns scare me…but I’m glad you had fun shootin’ ’em up!
So how was you aim? Did you masacre those pieces of wood?
Beautiful place cousin Mike!
Hmmm…..my view of Nebraskins has changed. I feel bad for the fish in that pond. Hope they had ear protection!
I don’t think it was loud for the fish. The loudness is from the gunpowder exploding and that happens (generally) above the surface.