James talks about what unsettles new shooters and says It Usually Isn’t the Recoil

I would tend to agree. Unless someone is introduced to shooting by 12ga 3″ slugs, .30-06, .450 Bushmaster, or something else stupid for a first-timer.

Bullet splitting joker

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I meant to post on this incident yesterday but didn’t get to it. An 8-year-old boy at a machine gun shoot event shot himself and died of his wounds. Obviously tragic, it isn’t clear to me how both the father (who was right there) and the range safety officer could have let this happen.

I’ve not been to one of these public-type machine gun events, but I guess I wouldn’t think they’d let little kids shoot them. And a little light weapon like an Uzi, with less mass to absorb the kick and a shorter barrel to more quickly point in a bad direction seems like it would probably be even more dangerous for a little shooter than a larger weapon.

Regardless, the father blew it big. I’m sure he knows it, too. I can’t imagine that.

Meanwhile: DA: criminal charges possible in boy’s Uzi death

Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said Tuesday he hasn’t been able to find any law that would authorize a child to possess or fire a machine gun.

I thought laws were limits, as in: Shouldn’t he be looking for laws precluding a child to possess or fire a machine gun?

Of course, there’s this:

In response to this tragedy, Freedom States Alliance (FSA), a national coalition of gun violence prevention groups along with the New England Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence (NECPGV), are calling for legislation to be passed immediately that would require that no child under the age of 18-years-old be allowed to use or operate any fully automatic machine gun, or semi-automatic assault weapon under any circumstances including at a “machine gun shoot,” shooting competition or firearm demonstration.

Maybe I missed something. Was there any gun violence involved? If not, what are they doing getting in the mix?

More info and discussion at Alphecca.

The inaugural 12-week season of ActionAirgun kicks off today. Here’s the kit I mentioned last week:

ActionAirgun Advanced Shooting Kit

I’m participating in the first season, and I’ve signed my son up to compete, as well.

Here’s an intro clip:

Recently got a chance to check out the new Official ActionAirgun Advance Shooting Kit from ActionAirgun:

Welcome to ActionAirgun - the world’s only action target shooting sport that utilizes the internet to create a heart pounding global competition.

Whether you’re new to airguns, or a skilled shooter, ActionAirgun is your chance to show the world what you’re made of. All you need is an 8′ by 16′ space to set up a range in your home, garage, basement, or club. The rest of the standardized equipment is available exclusively with the ActionAirgun Advanced Shooting Kit. Each week you’ll time yourself shooting Courses of Fire downloaded from the site, then upload your scores and see how you stack up.

The kit looks pretty good:

This Advanced Shooting Kit contains everything you need to get started:

(1) AAG-M1911-A1 all metal semi-automatic CO2 powered gas blowback pistol
(2) 25 BB capacity CO2 magazines
(1) LCD shot timer w/wrist strap
(10) CO2 chargers
(2000) Precision Ground BBs w/speed loader
(10) High Density Polymer Targets
(2) pairs of poly carbonate safety glasses
(1) ambidextrous holster
(2) target stands with printed placement grid. Important: Save the target stand wrapper to use with courses of fire.
Complete online instructions

The $20 fee for a 12-week season seems reasonable.

The above kit retails for $299.99, but one kit can be shared by multiple shooters. There’s even a option to form a ‘fireteam’ of 5 for team competition. One thing I can’t really speak to is the quality of the gun compared to other airsoft-type guns, so it’s hard to know whether the $300 price tag is a good value or not. I can see that, if you buy one kit and you average three shooters per season for three 12-week seasons spread over one year, you’ve spent less than $35 per shooter season (plus entry fee) for a year of competition and fun.

Murdoc’s not real familiar with airsoft-type gear and competition, but I’m going to participate in the inaugural 12-week season which begins September 22nd. I will be posting regularly on my experiences as long as everyone promises not to laugh when all the teenagers beat me.

My 13-year-old son may be playing, too. He’s not going to promise not to laugh if he beats me.

Is anyone else out there competing?

Check out ActionAirgun’s web site for more info. I will be posting more in the coming days.

UPDATE: Meant to include this from the AAG message board in response to a question about the gun:

We are using a WE double stack 1911 that’s roughly based on the STI 2011. BB capacity is 25 and the capacity of the 12 gram CO2 Cart is about 50 rounds of rapid fire and 75 of just plinking. We tested about 15 guns including the Western Arms and Tokyo Marui.

and

The most expensive part of the kit is the timer. It’s a CED 7000 that’s just a joy to work with. It has more features than we’re currently planning on using but as the sport progresses it’ll be right there with us. It’s been modified for AAG so it’s more adaptable to the softer report (bang) of the airsoft gun and works well in an enclosed space like a garage or outside if that’s where you’ve setup your course.

Next month near Phoenix:

The 5th Western CMP Games and the 2008 Creedmoor Cup Match will be co-sponsored by the Civilian Marksmanship Program and Creedmoor Sports and hosted by the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association at Phoenix, Arizona on 11-19 October 2008. The Western CMP Games Matches will take place on 11-14 October. The Creedmoor Cup Matches take place on 15-19 October. All interested shooters, including new shooters, experienced competitors, recreation-oriented shooters and national championship contenders, are invited to participate in these unique, national-level competitions.

NEW IN 2008. The CMP Games match schedule has been changed so that the new shooter clinic on Saturday will be in the morning and an As-Issued Military Rifle Match will be fired on Saturday afternoon after the clinic. This means the number of days when Garand, Springfield or Vintage Military Rifle (VMR) Matches can be fired is increased from two to three. Two new events have been added. There will be a Rimfire Sporter Match on Sunday afternoon after the As-Issued Military Rifle Matches finish. There will be a Carbine Match on Monday afternoon after the As-Issued Military Rifle Matches finish. We’re also adding some new award events. A three-gun aggregate of scores from the M1 Garand, Springfield and Vintage Military Rifle Matches will offer additional awards. Special awards will also be presented for the top ranking competitors in the Handicap Rankings for the Garand Springfield and VMR Matches. There will be more opportunities than ever for competitors in the 2008 Western CMP Games Matches.

More info here.

Shot a co-worker’s Thompson last night.

I knew that a major upside of the Thompson was that you felt very little recoil.

I didn’t know how little. Amazing.

I shot consistently a little low (not a big fan of the thing’s sights) but my grouping was awesome.

A pleasure to shoot, but I wouldn’t want to hump it around 24 hours a day like troops in WW2 did.

Screenshot from last night’s Modern Pentathlon:

Unfortunately, when I was watching the US competitors were:

Sam Sacksen 23rd in the shooting segment
Eli Bremer 34th in the shooting segment

Townie 76 writes about Stupid People at the range.

Press Release:

Teams Qualify for Upcoming National Championships

WALLED LAKE, Mich.–Young sporting clays shooters from across Michigan earned state titles–with many qualifying to represent Michigan at upcoming national championships–at last weekend’s Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Michigan Sporting Clays State Championship.

The competition, held June 14 at Detroit Gun Club in Walled Lake, featured some of Michigan’s top young shooters in four divisions: varsity, junior varsity, intermediate advanced and rookie.

SCTP, for youths in grades 12 and under, is a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation managed in partnership with the national governing bodies for shooting sports: USA Shooting, Amateur Trapshooting Association, National Skeet Shooting Association and National Sporting Clays Association.

With remarkable growth over the past eight years, the program is considered “the Little League of shooting sports.” Some 8,000 to 9,000 students from over 45 states are expected to compete this year.

Michigan teams participating in the state title shoot qualified for the SCTP National Championships July 31-Aug. 5 at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in Sparta, Ill.

The best of these young shooters could be selected to attend an Olympic development camp in Colorado Springs, and some will go on to compete at the collegiate level.

For more information, visit www.nssf.org/sctp.

RESULTS

SCTP Michigan Sporting Clays State Championship
(held June 14, Detroit Gun Club, Walled Lake, Mich.)

Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place–Michigan Clay Straight Shooters, 249 out of 300 targets (Glenn Carl of Marcellus, Scott Felbaum of Tecumseh, Garrett Walters of Burr Oak).
2nd Place–Kent County Conservation League, 242 (Weston Brander of Ada, Nicholas Sage of Saranac, Colin Brander of Ada).
3rd Place–Multi-Lakes Jr. Shotgunners, 234 (Ronald Dubois Jr. of Commerce Township, Sean Sabo of Northville, Matthew Topor of Commerce Township).

Junior Varsity Division (grades 9-12)
1st Place–Crunch Bunch, 208 out of 300 targets (Chase Cabble of Livonia, Tyler Jedinak of South Lyon, Andrew Marino of South Lyon).
2nd Place–St. Joe County Kazoo Clay Crushers, 196 (Mitch Evarts of Galesburg, Tyler Hatfield of Kalamazoo, Zachary Sonnevil of Decatur).
3rd Place–Chain O’ Lakes, 188 (Kyle Frimodig of Bellaire, Frank Israel of Williamsburg, Alexander Ott of Bellaire).

Intermediate Advanced Division (grades 6-8)
1st Place–St. Joe County Clay Crushers, 151 out of 300 targets (Joseph Sonnevil of Decatur, Andrew Sonnevil of Decatur, Salim Idriss of Sturgis
2nd Place–Not awarded.
3rd Place–Not awarded.

Rookie Division (grades 5 and under)
1st Place–Crunch Bunch, 152 out of 300 targets (Michael Matney of Taylor, Trent Olson of New Boston, Jeffrey Rimer of Woodhaven).
2nd Place–The 3 Little Rascals, 131 (Cody Hutton of Rapid City, Tanner Scott of Rapid City, Travis Scott of Rapid City).
3rd Place–Not awarded.