As monthly deadline cycles loom, I sometimes forget to just go shoot
for fun. I personally don’t shoot handguns much, mainly because the testing I conduct favors long guns. But my wife, Tracey, my son J.T. and his friend and co-worker Angela, and Product Coordinator Kevin Winkle and I went to Memorial Shooting Center here in Houston recently and had a ball with sidearms.
We took a gun reviewed in this issue — the Kel-Tec PMR-30 — and learned what a sweetheart it is. Kel-Tec has a winner there, we all agreed. As well, we had the FNH 5.7, also reviewed in this issue, but range restrictions wouldn’t allow the bottleneck 5.7x28mm cartridge to be fired. No worries. We had a backup plan.
Kevin brought along his Guns-O-Rama collection, two massive cases layered three deep of revolvers and pistols, from a full-size CZ 22 LR
conversion up to a Ruger 45 LC silhouette revolver with a competition-ready trigger. Kevin also teaches concealed carry classes, so he has assembled these variety packs of guns so his CCL students can try out all manner of sidearms during his courses. J.T. is shooting one of those guns at the zombie Nazi, below right. Of course, we toted some of our personal guns, too, including my Ross Carter 1911 (above left) and my wife’s Crimson Trace-laser-equipped S&W Model 332 in 32 H&R Magnum, a titanium-frame test gun from 1999 (inset above). Four hours and thousands of rounds later, we were all exhausted, but it was a good tired. Angela went from learning basic gun handling to drilling saucer-sized heads shots at 7
yards. Tracey got in some invaluable time on her gun, as well as trying out some smallish 9mms and 380s, such as the Sig Sauer P238.
Sometimes, it pays to remember that firearms ownership isn’t all about Fast & Furious, wound channels, carry solutions, or other serious topics we regularly cover here. Sometimes, firearms ownership is just about fun.
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