Function Testing. And Some Tylenol.

After work on Wednesday I ran over to the range to try out my new eyes. All I can say is "Wow!" I've accepted some lack of clarity in general when looking through two layers of plastic lenses, but I don't think I noticed how much detail I was missing, even up close. When I raised the pistol up, I paused, because I actually saw the horizontal striations on the front sight post. I guess I'm going to need a new excuse for my match performance. Well, I do still have those bad knees!

On Thursday afternoon, we spent some time on the rifle range. I had helped a friend make some mods to his "modern sporting rifle" that he wanted to test it out. So I also took the time to see how my new Rx worked with the iron sights on our AR-15. Even with the longer focus distance to the sights, I could see them okay. A minor problem came when moving back to 50 yards or so. I could not see the markings on the target well. The lines essentially disappeared, and the colored circles were blurs. I could hit the target fine -- knowing where on the paper to aim. I wouldn't win any bullseye competitions, but can still get the job done.

The final "test" of the day involved the shotguns. I've only fired birdshot from the Remington 870 Express. We're taking a shotgun class next month that will require many rounds of buckshot and slugs in addition to standard birdshot. I wanted to see how the light shotgun handled those heavier loads. After the first slug, I'm pretty sure I had a big grin on my face. Pretty intense, but fun at the time time. I can see where I'm going to be feeling it after a full day of heavy shooting. I also got to finally shoot the heavier Mossberg we picked up recently, which was moderately more pleasant to shoot. Colleen has claimed that gun for the class. :-)

It was quite a fun day on the range. We had a good work out, and it was the first time in many months that we didn't have to walk through mud to set up the targets. Of course the fun was followed by steaks on the grill and a cold adult beverage. I woke up this morning reminiscing about the smoke and the noise of the day before. But now I need to stretch my shoulder a bit, and find that bottle of Tylenol.