On a warm Saturday afternoon I decided to take my .22 rifle and some steel reset targets out for some target practice. There is nothing I enjoy more than a day at the range shooting one of my favorite guns. Who am I kidding, I can never go to the range with just 1 gun so I grabbed a couple .22 pistol's to add a twist to the trip.
I get to the range and get out my guns and targets, the weather is perfect and I am ready to have fun and relax. I decide to set the targets up at 25, 50 and 100 yards so that I can shoot the pistol's at 25 and 50 yards and the rifle at 50 and 100 yards. I use my rangefinder to make sure the targets are at the right distances. Now its time to bring out my old friend, a Ruger 10/22 semi-auto .22 rifle with a 4x12 power scope. I have shot tens of thousands of rounds through this gun in the 20+ years that I have owned it, they are excellent weapons and very accurate. Time to load it up and start having fun! I decide to start out on the 50 yard targets with the scope on 4x and its dead on, 1 shot-1 target down until they are all down, shoot the reset target and do it again. I love it!!! No more changing targets, no more taping up holes, no more sitting targets back up, shot the reset target and start shooting again!
Now to step out to 100 yards, a crosswind has picked up so that will make it a little harder. First shot, I missed, second shot, missed again. I know the gun is capable, I am the problem, I have to concentrate and make the shot. Third shot-target down, I had to aim to the right for the wind. I didnt think the wind was that strong. Back to knocking down targets and shooting the reset target, I could do this all day. I have shot the rifle until the bull barrel has gotten very hot, time to play with the pistols for a while.
I picked up my Ruger SR22 and Charter Arms revolver .22 pistols for the trip, both are great pistol's. I loaded the revolver and tried it at 25 yards, no hits. I loaded it again, shot again, no hits. Ok, something isnt right so I loaded the semi-auto SR22, shot it, no hits. I loaded it again, shot it again, 1 hit. I am shooting terribly at 25 yards with both pistol's so I get the rangefinder out and move the steel reset target back to 15 yards to see if that improves my scores. I load the SR22 again and I shot much better, that is what I expected. Now for the revolver, 1 shot-1 hit. I had went to long in between practices of my shooting skills, they diminish without practice and it showed up today. I have to find more time to make it to the range to keep my skills sharper and have more fun.
