by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
This is the continuation of a fictional guest blog about a man teaching a woman how to shoot a gun. Our writer is reader, Jack Cooper. Take it away, Jack.
Teach me to shoot
by Jack Cooper
This report covers:
- Getting serious
- Don’t rush it
- More stuff
- Surprise!
- Range setup
- Three in one!
- She can shoot
- Which pistol?
Getting serious
I called Jill on Monday evening to see how things were going and was surprised to hear how much she was looking forward to our next session. She had been holding the Daisy 499 I left with her and looking through the sights, wondering how it’s going to go for her. Of course she doesn’t have a target yet, but she looked up the target specs online and drew a circle on a white piece of paper, just so she could get the feel for how it should look. That made me realize just how seriously she was taking this training!
On Wednesday when I arrived at the bible study she was already there and had saved me a seat. I gave her an official 5-meter BB gun target to replace the one she had made. Now she would be ready for our next session.
Don’t rush it
The bible study held our attention for the next hour, but when the refreshment break came she was talking about shooting again. I could see she was champing at the bit to get going, so I suggested we move the session to Friday evening, just to get started a little sooner. She agreed and we were set — or so I thought.
When we walked to her car after the study was over she asked if we could also have a session on Saturday evening. I told her she would have to earn it by shooting a score of 45 out of 50 for 5 shots at the end of Friday’s session. I’m all for an eager pupil, but rushing through the training is not the way to succeed. She agreed, and the bet was on!
More stuff
Friday evening I arrived at her place with a couple bags of equipment. The most important thing I brought was a Leapers UTG Pellet/BB trap. I showed her how the ballistic curtains inside the trap slow the BB down and prevent it from bouncing back out after it hits the steel back plate — or at least that’s the theory. In reality about 5 percent of the BBs do bounce back out, which is why I also brought a large magnet on a long string — to sweep BBs up off the carpet afterwards. I set that trap inside a cardboard box lid with a low lip to catch any BBs that rolled back out after being stopped.
I also brought a plywood backboard to put behind the trap, in case she missed it. Because we would be shooting from just 16 feet away I didn’t think we needed it, but it’s a safety measure you don’t overlook. Normally I would use one as large as I could find, but since I was bringing this one into a fancy apartment I restricted it to 18 by 24 inches. It was 3/4-inch plywood and nothing we were going to shoot could penetrate it.
I had a pair of safety glasses for each of us. Any time you shoot pellets or BBs, everyone in the vicinity has to wear these.
And I brought two packs of 5-meter targets. There are 100 targets in each pack. I would leave them with Jill, because I figured she was going to do a lot of shooting after I left. The last thing I brought was a full package of Avanti Precision Ground Shot. After seeing her enthusiasm on Wednesday, I knew she was going to blow through all 1,050 rounds in no time!
Surprise!
Jill met me at her front door with a warm smile and a small glass of red wine in her left hand. She said she noticed how much I enjoyed the wine we had for dinner the previous Saturday and she wanted me to taste this. I was stunned! After telling her that alcohol and shooting don’t mix I now had to tell her the evening’s session was off. I wasn’t going to let her shoot if she had been drinking wine. When I told her that she said okay and quickly dumped the wine in the sink without a fuss. She told me she hadn’t had any. That sounded a little fishy, so I asked if it had been a test. She looked at me sideways kind of funny and said, “Don’t worry. You passed.” Holy cow! My “student” was now testing me!
Range setup
We set up the trap and backstop in a place she had prepared at the end of a hallway. I noticed she had elevated the tabletop so the trap and target would be about at eye level! When I mentioned that she said she had been reading about shooting on the internet and learned this was the best way to set up. She also had a bright desk lamp directed toward the target so the bull would be easier to see.
I showed her how to tape the paper target to the cardboard backer on the front of the UTG trap. I explained how this cardboard backer would make the BB holes more distinct by not allowing the target paper to tear, as long as it was tight against the cardboard. Of course the cardboard backer has to be replaced when it starts getting large holes of its own.
We were now ready to shoot. First I demonstrated how the Daisy 499 works — how to cock it, where the manual safety button is located and how it works. Then she said, “But you never want to trust a gun’s safety, so when would I ever use it?”
My gosh! She was getting this all on the first try! We discussed the use of the safety and decided that, in the end, no responsible shooter would ever leave a gun cocked and loaded, trusting on the safety alone. Now it was time to load the gun and shoot.
I showed her how to hold the gun upright and drop a BB into the muzzle, listening to it roll down the barrel (ear away from the muzzle, please!) until it clicks against the magnet at the bottom. Then she shouldered the gun and I helped her get into a good firing position. The location and orientation of your feet (toes pointing in or out) determines where your body wants to be when it’s at rest, and that makes a very stable shooting platform. Many boys learn about this foot placement when they learn how to pitch a baseball, but most girls don’t. And, yes, this was the place in the session where, according to Hitch, the Touch Barrier was broken.
Then she shot. She hit the 8-ring at 9 o’clock and I thought of what she had said about this being too easy the week before. Eights look good, but in competition you will wind up at the bottom of the pack if you only shoot 8s!
Of course I didn’t say any of that to her. I praised her shot, because it was next to the bullseye. You always want to build the confidence of a new shooter.
An 8 is a good score, but it won’t win a match.
Three in one!
She loaded and shot again and it was another 8 in the same hole as the first one. When her third shot went to the same place I thought, oh, oh! This woman can shoot!
I asked her to stop shooting long enough to allow me adjust the rear sight for her. Three clicks to the right to take up the slop in the gears of the plastic mechanism (standard practice for all shooters who use the less-expensive plastic rear sights that come on the 499) and five more clicks to actually move the strike of the round to the right. This rear sight is actually made for 10-meter youth rifles, so you may need to adjust it farther than you expect, since we are only shooting at half the distance.
She can shoot
After the sights were adjusted, her first shot on a clean target was a 10, followed by a 9, another 9 and she finished with two more 10s. Her first 5-shot score after adjusting the sights was a 48 out of 50. “We’re definitely doing this tomorrow,” she insisted with a sinister smile. She then shot five more 5-shot targets and got scores between 44 and 49. By that point she was feeling tired from all the concentration, so I suggested we stop.
She asked me why it had been necessary to adjust the sights. Wasn’t the gun already sighted in for me? I told her it was. Well, she wondered, don’t the sights work the same for everybody? In an ideal world they do, but in reality there are small variations between shooters that have to be checked and possibly compensated for with small sight corrections.
Later on I would be covering the effects of parallax and the need for a good repeatable spot weld (also called cheek weld) on the stock. That’s very important, but it’s a little overwhelming for the first-time shooter. Now, it was time for dinner.
She had told me when we spoke at the bible study that this dinner would be on her, because she didn’t want me spending all my money on meals. Good thing, too, because it would have been fast food if I was paying. But now I learned that she is also a gourmet cook. Turns out she spends much of her free time watching the Food Network.
So I sat on the far side of the kitchen island and kibitzed while she worked. Watching a surgeon prepare a meal is like watching a Samurai warrior carve a turkey — very fast and no wasted movements. A few flashes of steel and the proteins and veggies all fall flat on the cutting board in perfect dress right dress.
The dinner was wonderful (I would have eaten asphalt if this lady made it, but this really was good) and while we ate we made plans for the next-day’s training session. I told her things were moving so fast that after the next session with the 499 she would graduate from long guns to handguns. This pleased her because handguns were her original goal.
I said I would leave the 499 with her so she could practice on her own, and she told me she planned to buy one for herself. Would I help her pick out everything she needed? After dinner we sat at her computer and ordered from Pyramyd AIR everything for her own 499 shooting gallery.
Which pistol?
We would be shooting an air pistol during the next phase, so she would be using the same relatively safe range we had already created. We would just swap my target trap for her new one when it arrived. The same pellet/BB trap and backboard would also work for that session, as long as I chose the air pistol wisely.
Now I was thinking about which air pistol we should use. Jill is a good shot, so whatever I choose has to be very accurate. But she has a delicate build, so the gun can not be heavy, nor can it be hard to cock. And her hands are small, though her fingers are long. So I have to pay particular attention to the size of the grip. When you put all those requirements together, a lot of air pistols are eliminated.
For example, I would like to use the single-stroke Beeman P3. It’s light, accurate and has a wonderful trigger. But it takes about 27 pounds of force to pump the gun at loading! That’s too much for a trainer! I have no doubt she could pump it, but every shot would be an effort, and that can quickly sour a training session. The Beeman P1 pistol is also very accurate and has a wonderfully crisp adjustable trigger, but it’s too large and heavy for her, plus it takes too much effort to cock.
I want the air pistol I choose to be a single shot. I know single shots aren’t popular today, but in a training situation they force the student to slow down and think before taking each shot. I want that, to give me time to critique her form (shut up — you know what I mean) and to get her into the best possible shooting position. B.B. has taught us that the stance a pistol shooter assumes is good for an extra 10 percent of their total score.
Do you see the problem? I need an air pistol that’s lightweight, has a good trigger, is easy to cock and is very accurate. I bet you can’t guess which one I chose.
End of the session
At the end of the evening I talked to Jill about her shooting. I told her she had surprised me, both by her dedication and also by the level of her shooting. I told her she was one of the best natural shots I had ever seen, and I thought she was going to make a fine shooter.
Then she confessed what she had done at the start of the evening. The wine test was to find out if I was serious about all the stuff I had been telling her. She said a lot of guys have a really good line, but it breaks down under pressure. Now that she was sure I meant what I said, she promised to give this training her undivided attention.
My gosh — if what she had been doing thus far was not 100 percent, I wondered what that would look like. I guess I would find out!
This one.
/product/morini-mor-162mi-air-pistol?m=3876
Jim
A Crosman 2300 from the custom shop.
A Crosman 2300S from PA
Daisy Avanti 717 from PA
Crosman Silhoutte
Crosman 2240 with a trigger job
Crosman 1377 with a trigger job
Have I got it yet. LOL
Jim
Jim,
Do you think I know? The gun is Jack Cooper’s choice. We’ll have to wait till the next installment to learn.
B.B.
Could be the Daisy Avanti Triumph 747. Easy to pump sidelever, adjustable trigger and accurate. Not too heavy for her and grip fits many hand sizes. Not too expensive for a starter either.
Decksniper
Decksniper,
It looks like from the specifications that the main difference between the 717 & the 747 is that the 747 has a Lothar Walther barrel. For the $50 difference in price, I believe I would go with the 747.
Jim
The 747 trigger is adjustable. Current specs for the 717 do not say it is adjustable. That is another reason to spend the $50.
Decksniper
Hey! JACK! Keep this going! This is getting to be very interesting and enjoyable! If this were true in the real life? Well I guess it could be? Really! I’m really enjoying and getting alto out of this “teach me to shoot”! Semper fi!
PS I let the spell check misspell the word ” a lot”? Plus with shooting and the golf today my old hands knuckles hurt and I do make mistakes! Semper fi!
Very nice. It will be interesting to see the transition from peeper’s to open sights and from a long gun to a pistol. And speaking of reading fiction, I need to get BB’s book back out and finish it. For those that like this, you will love the book.
On the 499, some may remember that I “went in” on mine awhile back. One thing that improved was the trigger, with nothing done other than some moly at the right spots. The trigger “surprises” me each time I pick it up now. It is very light. I did not have a trigger gauge at the time, but do now. I just measured 3 shots. 4.1, 6.2, 8.4 Oz. No #’s. Like I said, very light, perhaps too light. So for anyone with a 499 that wonders if the trigger can be lightened,… the answer is yes.
Chris,
I have a 1959 model 99 that I shoot. It has an awesome trigger also. I do not no what the pull is, but there is nothing but nice, clean break. The peep sights are much better than regular open sights also. I am certain it is nowhere near as accurate as the 499, but I can dump a few hundred bbs in it and plink until my heart is content.
RR,
I like the peeps over open also. They just plain work better for me and everything is in focus. You may not remember, but I took the (smallest) insert and found a washer that would press fit into the inside. It went about 3/4 in and a slight tap with a hammer finished the installation. It has never fallen out. At 24′ on a 9/16″ ring binder dot, you can still see a wee bit of daylight around it,….. which makes it perfect. In a competition, I would use peeps hands down.
Chris USA
That’s in a sense how a red or green dot sight works if you are shooting at a round target.
GF1,
You are a persistent one aren’t you? 😉
See below,…. Vana2 is considering a 499,….. you next?
See,…. 2 can play that game! 🙂
Chris USA
Probably not. I think the next thing I do will be the Sig alloy wadcutters out of my 1377/Discovery conversion. I want to see what they will do in it.
Then I’m going to try the hop up mod on the 760. Going to try it with steel bb’s, and the Excite smart shot coated lead balls, and some
Hit the button to soon.
And some Gamo and H&N round lead balls.
Plus I’m going to do the set screw mod to my 1377 Discovery trigger this weekend.
So I will be pretty buisy with that stuff for a while.
Gunfun1
I’ve shot 1/8 in. Groups from a 760 smoothbore at 5 meters using Umarex BBs coated with pellgun oil. Accuracy tends to fall off at 10 meters though. I hope the hopup experiments work out
Chris
I like peeps too.
I’ve been shooting a stock 1377 with a shoulder stock using the little flip over peep supplied it will shoot 1/2 inch all day at 10 meters and I’m sure the gun will do a lot better in good hands. At $50 + $25 it’s hard to beat!
I really like you guys’ posts. Lots of ideas
Fido3030
Fido3030
Thanks for that info.
I want to try the lead balls with a hop up mod on the 760 just to see what happens. What I’m wondering is if the lead surface of the ball will try to stop the back spin. Don’t know how I will verify that other than comparing results to steel bb’s or the Excite smart shot coated lead balls.
Plus I want to try the other lead ball brands because they are slightly different sizes.
So the round ball hopup 760 testing could be a little time consuming to get all the data from the different combinations that will be available. Remember I also have the option of controling the velocity with the 760 because of it being a multi-pump. So alot of combinations to deal with.
But it will give me something new to try out. I already got my other air guns figured out. 🙂
Gunfun1
If you mount a laser sight on the 760 and have the point of impact of the BB’s on the target slightly above where the laser appears, the BB will reflect the laser to your eyes for part of its path. Persistence of vision will make this appear like a red streak. If the hopup is working you should be able to see the streak curve. I’ve done this with pellets from a 1377–no hopup though. Good luck.
Fido3030
Fido3030
I had a Steel Storm with my green laser on it some years back. It would make a white cloud of what looked like smoke. And it worked very good to see the bb’s fly.
But I still couldn’t see if the bb was spinning. And your idea would show the bb’s flight though.
I think POI or point of impact should tell the story if I keep the POA or point of aim at the same place on the target. And keep the same amount of pumps on the gun. And only adjust the hit of the hop up.
But I do have the laser still. So when I do all this I will try the laser too just to verify the trajectory if I can see the bb. I will be outside doing the test. I got a good laser and can see it outside good. Just got to see if I can see the bb.
And you know a good scope at a higher magnification will allow you to see a bb or pellet also if you have the right light conditions.
Anyway I’ll post if I get to testing it.
Gunfun1
New ideas: maybe if you turned the 760 on its side you could see the effect of the hop up more clearly. Also could you color half the BB so you could see the rotation? What you and Chris are doing has a lot of potential. Good luck!
Fido3030
Fido3030
Turning the gun sideways just might work with showing the hopup better. Gravity should increase the curve of the ball downward anyway. I don’t know. But really want to keep the gun positioned as it would normally be shot.
And I have mentioned in the past when this subject came up to make a mark with a permanent marker on the bb or round lead ball to be able to maybe see if they spin.
And know telling how it will all turn out. But thanks for the ideas to try. The more thoughts the better. 🙂
GF1,
You may beat me to the 760 hop up yet,….. which is good. It will give me more time to research the M-rod accessory options. But,… that experimenting and modding sure is a lot of fun and much is learned,…. whether it works as planned,….. or not.
Chris USA
Oh and I could make that list of things I want to try everytime I turn a corner if you know what I mean.
As it goes to much to do but so little time.
Nice reading, although for some reason the style makes me giggle in a most unmanly manner. Probably an after effect of having grown up with two bigger sisters and no brothers.
If this was a Hollywood movie, the next part would have them have a heated argument over something silly, with Jill revealing that she was already a crack shot and only asked Jack to teach her to get him to ask her out. Then we would have the second half of the movie showing how miserable and regretting they are over that break up with a (un)surprising finale where they make up and move in together. Or get married. With the bible study group as their bridesmaids and groomsmen.
Or maybe I have just seen one too many movies with Jennifer Aniston in it. You can blame my wife for that.
Monophonic,
Don’t think that scenario (crack shot, just wanted an intro) hasn’t flashed through my mind. But this time I don’t think that’s the case.
As for watching too many movies with Jennifer Anniston — is that even possible? 😉 Tell your wife I think she has good taste in movies, and remember, I’m basing at least a little of this story on the movie “Hitch.”
B.B.
B.B.,
Of course it has, it’s a classic plot twist in itself. 🙂 But it would not mesh well with the goal of demonstrating how to introduce someone to safe shooting. Neither would a stubborn idiot of course – it is no fun reading about someone trying to hammer it home to someone slow on the uptake. So a natural talent is the best choice for this purpose, I think.
Hitch is another classic too! But no Aniston there. Maybe one cannot see too many movies with her, but after having watched Friends through sixth time I have certainly seen enough of that particular character! 😉
-m
Monophonic,
Maybe it’s time for me to explain why I am writing this series. I have been approached several times by women who ask me either to teach them to shoot, or more probably, how can they learn to shoot. This all began for me with such a request from a single mom cab driver in Las Vegas. I even wrote a special blog series just for her.
I haven’t located that one, but in 2010 I wrote the following 6-part series:
/blog/2010/10/single-mom-teaches-children-to-shoot-part-6/
While this series was inspired by a reader and not by the cab driver, it was the cabbie who first asked me what she should do to teach her 14-year-old son to shoot. She had been victimized by a former “boyfriend” who handed her his .357 revolver and laughed when she cried in pain from the recoil.
Two years ago I wrote this:
/blog/2014/10/the-boogeyman-in-the-sock-drawer/
But I always felt my writing was flat and uninspired — just a bunch of rules thrown together in a logical order.
That is not how life happens, is it? Life happens when you are faced with a real problem and have to come up with real solutions that will work. I added the romantic twist to this story to keep the attention of my male audience. These are the guys who will go out and buy “the little woman” an S&W .38 Special snubbie and load it with +P defense ammo, then wonder why she never wants to go back to the range! They didn’t fit her needs, is why!
Just for comparison I’d like to see any of them try to walk 100 feet in 4-inch stiletto heels from Jimmy Choo. No — strike that. That’s something I never want to see. But you get my drift?
When you teach something to someone you have to make the lesson as easy to assimilate as possible, and handing a 100-pound 5-foot woman a micro-defense pistol that most men can’t rack is thoughtless!
So I made this student more than just a person. I made her a person that Jack really does want to help. And knowing her past, he knows that he dares not mess it up! He has a vested interest, so to speak.
I used to teach demolitions in the Army. You can put a class to sleep in the classroom, but when each student is standing in a demo pit, holding a one-pound block of TNT and a blasting cap, they pay attention.
B.B.
B.B.,
I hadn’t realized the motivation for this series was that concrete for you. The format you chose is definitely a good one to get those guys to listen – or their students-to-be to possibly, I can imagine this would work as well as a guide to women about how good shooting training should happen for them. You are doing good work of an important job here!
Thanks for those links too. If I ever actually take up hunting, (which is a bit of a project in my country,) I will have to give some gun training to my kids, interested or not. At least enough to know how to handle themselves safely if a gun ever falls in their hands one way or another.
Come to think of it, I have to teach them that even if we never have a gun of our own in the house. I have no control over what happens at their friend’s homes for instance.
Spot on about the classroom! During my service that was the place where I learned to sleep eyes open sitting upright. 😉
-m
What does Jill need him for?
She can learn everything from the internet!
We all know the internet never lies…..
-Y
Enjoying the read – Thanks Jack!
As much as I don’t care for BB guns (I never got to try one that could actually out-shoot a slingshot) I am starting to think that a 499 or a 99 might be the one to get for my Granddaughter. She has been using my old Slavia 618, think she would appreciate having her own rifle.
Hank
Hank,
The 99 is a one-half-inch gun. The 499 is a one-eighth-inch gun.
B.B.
Thanks B.B.!
I was leaning towards the 499. Your description: “one-eighth-inch gun” cinches it. Have some more research to do 🙂
Hank
Vana2,
I can not recommend the 499 enough,….. yea,….. it is a little more up front,….. but in my opinion it is well worth it. The peeps work great. And, it is sized nice for a kid. Order some diff. bb’s too and ask for an evaluation of each. Toss in a chrony for fun. I think Fido3030 was having real good luck with the Hornady Black Diamonds, but I could be wrong. Of course the Avanti’s too. Toss in the bb gage, and she will be busy for days! 😉
Hi Chris,
Thinking the 499 will be a good tenth birthday gift for her. I like your bb-gage suggestion – and the reasoning behind it 🙂
My Crosman 101 has peep sights and I prefer them to the regular iron sights.
For years my FWB124 was decked out with a Williams peep sight and I just recently put it back on the rifle. Simple is nice – the FWB124 is my favorite for a bit of sniping when I go for walk in the back forty.
Vana2,
Good. I wish you and your Grand Daughter all the best. There is always the opportunities to introduce math skills (mm. vs inch), fps., inch drop over a given yardage,…or maybe in your case,….. Meters. Then again, not sure what you use,….. metric if I am not mistaken. We “Southerners” are a little slow on the uptake of the metric system.
One thing for sure, you will a good teacher. And later,…. you can move onto “custom fitted stocks”. 😉 Heck,…. in a few years, she will be showing you things on that bench side laptop. Well, then again, maybe not. You get the idea though. 😉 We never learned things in High School that the kids are learning in Elementary School these days.
Main thing,…. have fun. Chris
Vana2
Trust me getting her a gun she can call her own will be one of the best things you can do and not so much in it will be her gun, but the mere fact that Granpa or what ever she calls you bought it for her will make her eyes light up like stars on a clear night.
I remember the day I gave my at the time 6 year old grandson his crosman 760 on his birthday, he was totally stunned and exuberant all at the same time. I think it was the first time I have ever seen him speechless with that twinkle in their eyes that you never forget.
BD
BD,
She calls me Poppa. She just loves to shoot and fish – a great little buddy!
Vana2
Well Poppa get her that gun of her own and watch the twinkle in her eyes when she realizes it is all hers and Poppa got it for her. Not that you don’t have a buddy for life now but with her own air gun the deal is sealed for sure.
It is not the world we see that makes life wonderful but the world we see thru our grandkids eyes as they see it for the first time that truly makes it all worth doing. Innocence it its purest from is true beauty.
BD
Innocence in its purest from is true beauty.
BD
I will get it right
Innocence in it purest form true beauty.
Its Friday AM and I have not slept yet once again.
BD
I give up as I think you get it.
BD
I read it the way you meant it the first time 🙂
I agree completely!
Have a great day BD!
Vana2
It was a rough start to my day LOL.
You have a great day as well.
BD
I do hope that Jack let’s her know shooting ain’t about targets all the time after she gets more time on the guns.
That shooting can also be enjoyable out plinking at objects set up in the yard.
I could just wonder what could come out of a friendly outside plinking match.
So, is this pure fiction? It is certainly detailed. On the other hand, having a hospitable woman serve wine and make a great dinner for the privilege of shooting with you is kind of pushing credibility. It hasn’t happened to me yet anyway. I couldn’t tell if the shooting is offhand or rested. If offhand which I would expect for the 499, that seems like a hard way to start compared to shooting rested.
It takes a lot to keep me away from the blog, and this time it was stumping around on crutches. That is exhausting.
Les, who would have thought that a leg break is simpler than a foot break? But you are progressing way faster than I am. I have over a month left on crutches. So sorry to hear about your wife’s struggle with COPD and hope she’s doing better.
It sounds like Epicurus has struck a chord with you and Flintrocker. I was a little surprised at Epicurus myself. I thought an “epicure” was a total hedonist, so the philosopher who inspired this word must have been completely self-indulgent. On the contrary, the master of pleasure calls for restraint. I’ll have to read more about him. But the philosopher is a deep one. For his statement that abundance is associated with what you enjoy, not what you have, we have been taking “enjoy” to mean “use” which is the straightforward way to do it. But what about the pride of ownership? There is a scenario of piling up a lot of possessions and neglecting them, but that doesn’t exclude a slightly different case where you have an ongoing and continual enjoyment in owning something. Each of my days is a little brighter knowing that I have my M1 Garand at home even if I don’t shoot it often. The line between these two cases is fuzzy.
Anyway, I am set for great enjoyment as soon as my foot recovers. I have not been successful in dry firing so far. Crawling around on all fours and working through my complicated locks on my gun cases just has not come about. So, when I do get back to shooting, it will be like new, and I will get to enjoy everything all over again.
In addition to Epicurus, we can consider the thoughts of an even more famous philosopher, Aristotle, who said, “Happiness is for pigs.” No what do you suppose that means? My initial response is, “Oink.”
Matt61
BB,
I chuckled as I read about your demolition class. I’ve sat through more than a few lessons on dangerous equipment taught by old timers, and they are the ones I remember best. As an example:
My wife and I learnt to shoot skeet from a class taught through a local community college “extension”. Our instructor was a Texas cowboy transplanted to Los Angeles. You can imagine the crowd, mostly young folks like we were then, standing and chatting as this gentleman softly started talking about safety and gun handling, and then pointed the muzzle of his 12 gauge at a mud puddle behind him and blew a 12″ crater in it.
“Now that I have your attention…” and the real learning began.
Hi BB, excellent part 2…..leaves me wanting more! kind of reminded me of the old radio shows to tune in next week! …the shadow knows! Thanks for doing this piece!
Regards,
Peter
Peter,
I know I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.
B.B.
HI BB,
Must be a nice change —- although just as difficult — if not more so — than the usual blog —
Question : Crosman pellets are known to have more antimony than most other pellets — and a tendency to lead the barrel over time — after shooting a couple of thousand crosmans through a barrel — and then switching exclusively to a non-antimony pellet — is it necessary — or recommended — to clean the barrel before switching or will shooting the “non-leaded” pellets eventually clean the barrel by themselves — and how long might take,— or how many shots ?
JH,
I wouldn’t worry about how many shots. I’d look at the accuracy. When that begins to decline, it’s time to clean the barrel.
The reason I say not to concern yourself about the number of shots is all barrels differ. This one is smoother, that one is rough. The other one is made from different steel that is self-lubricating.
B.B.
BB,
Thanks —