After Adam introduced the Gas Station Dr. Pepper Slushy to an older gentleman named Judson from church, it blew his mind, and we've been on his friend list since. What did that get us? An invitation to do some shooting on Judson's family property. Awesome!
I was both dreading and looking forward to the outing. Dreading because my past experience with guns has been "too many people, not enough guns." And then most of the time, the guys just want to show off—so I wasn't expecting to handle one very much. Happily, I was mistaken.
Check out the mailbox below, marking the property line as we drove in.
First off we shot with shotguns as some clay pigeons. Not my favorite…I don't like the kickback of the guns. Talk about a sore shoulder the next day. Marla, our friend just about knocked herself off her feet several times—you should have seen her bruise.
Below is one of the targets set up for handgun shooting with clay pigeons attached to it. I must say, hitting something that explodes, makes a noise, or at least moves is far preferable to shooting at a paper target. I can confidently say I despise paper targets.
Look at all those people—there were more behind me as I took this photo. A LOT of firepower showed up that day. It was amazing and yet slightly uncomfortable too. Have you ever been around a bunch of strangers, each with a gun bigger than the other, each one who showed up just to "play"?
Southern hospitality and love of guns is real folks. Everybody was willing to share ammunition and show us how to handle whatever gun we wanted. I think this pistol (.357) was one of my favorites. I was a pretty good shot with it. Die clay pigeon, die!
Below Adam is handling a Ruger SR9 (I think) I also HATE this gun. (I can't believe I'm talking guns here.) It's heavy, difficult to handle, and too big for me. It also "bit" me when I loaded the clip, giving me a blood blister and forcing me to say a four letter word….actually, I quite willingly said it.
Below left is what Judson called a "Lady's Gun." (He's handling it in the photo on the right too, see it? It's small.) It's a snub nose pistol he loaded with some questionable bullets. See how short the barrel is? I shot it twice and declared "Not THIS lady's gun." The kick-back was awful, it wanted to jump out of my hands. I don't know about you, but if I'm going to handle a gun, I don't want it getting away from me.
If I can't have a revolver (Adam is not a fan because the spent rounds do not eject), then the Smith and Wesson M&P Shield (I think) in the photo on the right would be my choice—at least based on what I tried that day. It's small enough for me to handle, I really had no complaints with it, except it isn't anything special. You know me—I like pizzaz. Can you believe after we got back I started looking up ways to personalize a gun? Who AM I?
Ohhh but wait. We wanted exciting right? The bishop showed up with his new AR-15 and let me have a go. Jaw drop. Seriously? According to Adam, this is how the story goes.
Anna aimed, shot, and "kong!" She hit the metal target which was, maybe 70 yards away. The bishop announced "First time ever shooting an AR-15!" Some of the guys stopped shooting to watch. Anna shot again. Kong! Now ALL the men stopped shooting to watch and the bishop announced "Second time ever!"
As she went on, the bishop who is also cop said incredulously, "She's shooting better than a lot of the guys on the force." (Yes, I know it's easier to hit a target with the AR-15, but she was doing exceptionally well.)
After several shots, Anna's right arm got tired, and her aim shaky. She wanted to give the gun back and let someone else have a turn, but the bishop suggested she get down on her knee to steady things.
Which she did, and continued to hit the two metal targets one right after the other. She started looking around like, "What else can I hit?" And the bishop said, "I put some water bottles over there to the left of the target."
"Okay!" she exclaimed, aimed, and Kabloosh!
Everyone around started laughing. Anna surprised them all. She's good—better than me. I tried twice, hit nothing, and so decided to stop so as not to expose myself as a poor shot.
Later she asked if she could have this gun for Christmas…. Uh….sure honey.
Yeah, that was fun. I really enjoyed myself with the AR-15. I liked the size of it, the feel, and the power. I feel bad though—I unloaded a whole clip of ammo. I wasn't even thinking about the cost. Glad the bishop seemed okay with it…Eeee. Maybe he should be next on our slushy list.
Below is just a small sample of the other artillery that showed up. I would have loved to try more but we couldn't stay all day.
Next time my powerful friends. Next time.
So, try telling someone about the Dr. Pepper Slush machine and see what might come of it for you!
