TriggerTalk Radio

I love to shoot, and do so whenever I can.  I have a tremendous amount of fun sharing my enjoyment of the shooting sports with other people.  Many of the people I hang out with have similar interests and as a result we talk about guns a lot.

Although not a shooter, my wife understands and tolerates this (mostly) . Over the years she actually has learned a lot about the Second Amendment and other guns issues by hearing me tell friends and family about self-defense, new laws, and the politics of gun control.

She recently told me of an acquaintance that mentioned enjoying shooting. This elderly gentleman was in deteriorating health and was hoping to do some shooting this summer but was having difficulty finding .22lr ammo. He wondered if I might know where to find some.

He mentioned hearing of people lining up outside local discount stores in the morning to race back to the Sporting Goods department to see if ammo arrived overnight. He explained to her that due to his health and mobility issues this was not an option for him. During our dinner conversation she considered stopping at the store for him to get some ammo to help him out.  I had to explain to her about the difficulty in finding .22lr these days.

Later that evening I got a box of ammo out of storage, one of those 550 round bulk packs that we used to take for granted.  The box still had a sticker on it for $8.47. I quickly realized I needed to do a better job of rotating my ammo while I reminisced for the old days of cheap ammo and easy availability.

The next day my wife gave the box of ammo to her friend and I forgot all about it until 2 days later when she reported that over 100 rounds had already been sent downrange. Her friend had spent the afternoon with his 5 year old grandson teaching him to shoot and about gun safety.

My mind suddenly went back to my grandfather teaching me to shoot (also at the age of 5) and although it was over 52 years ago I can still remember that day.

Each of us can help to ensure the continued enjoyment of our 2^nd Amendment freedoms by taking someone to the range and expose them to the joys of the Shooting Sports.

There is no better way to:

• Learn gun safety
• Learn proper gun handling skills
• Gain respect for the power and responsibility of a firearm
• Vaccinate someone from the anti-gun media dis-information campaign

And there is no better way to create the memories that will start a youngster on a journey of their own.

I recently acquired a new (old) rifle. The late 40’s Mossberg 146B (b) is a great example of a well-made full size .22 lr bolt action rifle. This gun feels like a real rifle when you handle it due to its length and weight. This was a tool that was at home in the field or at the range.

Sporting a nice 2X7 Burris scope that was clear and crisp, I sighted it in and the gun performed as well as it did 67 years ago. However as I researched the gun I discovered it had originally been equipped with a rear “peep” sight. It also had a unique front sight that featured several different post sizes and designs ranging from thin and thick to a circular ghost ring that could be rotated into place for the specific task at hand.

I set about finding a replacement rear peep sight to return the gun to original configuration. At the same time I began to think about why it is important to learn to shoot with “Open or Iron” sights. It boils down to the basics of shooting and an understanding of ballistic trajectory.

In this day of magnified optics, red dots, and laser sights it is easy to forget that bullets do not travel in a straight path for very long. Those that enjoy long range shooting understand this, but many new shooters do not fully comprehend the relationship of the sights and the bullet path.

Most guns come equipped with sights, although some rifles do not and come only with mounts for optics. And while I am a big fan of lasers on my carry guns, I firmly feel that a new shooter should learn on a handgun or rifle with open or iron sights.

Know the relationship between the front and rear sight. If you are shooting low at 50 yards with a .22 rifle how do you raise the point of impact? If all you are doing is turning a knob or turret how does that magically get the gun to hit where the crosshairs are pointing?

It is important to visualize and understand that raising a rear sight is actually lowering the rear of the barrel which in turn changes the angle of the bore so that the projectile is on an upward trajectory as it exits the muzzle. The bullet travels in a parabolic path rising and then falling to hit the correct spot at the desired range. If the distance is greater the trajectory has to aimed higher.

Some open sights may have visual clue such as a step in the design of the sight to help with a visual adjustment to the aiming point, or in the case of a scoped rifle it may have what are called hold over points built into the reticle or crosshairs. The important point is to understand the ballistic performance of the cartridge you are shooting and how to compensate for it.

Open sights on rifles often have adjustable ramps or ladders for varying distances in the field and today many scopes have turrets that can be turned to a specific setting when the distance is known.

None of these sighting aids are useful without a good understanding of the Basics!