Despite having owned guns my entire adult life and being well versed in their operation and technical specifics, I have never claimed to be particularly good at actually shooting. Making bullets go where you want them to is surprisingly difficult. If your expectations are something like a first person shooter game, you will be quickly frustrated that the point-and-click interface does not translate into the real world.
I am humbled by the challenge. Yet, this is changing! I’ve met some fine fellows associated with the Appleseed project who have been extremely generous with their time and expertise. My default Sunday morning activity is now going to the range with Jesse, Tyson and Derek, with as many like minded friends as I can corral.
No longer am I target shooting just for entertainment or function testing. Now I at least know what I need to learn in order to become a competent marksman, whereas in the past I’ve been metaphorically –but nearly literally– firing blindly. I am slowly grokking the NPOA method. I will single out in particular my friend Jesse Irwin is a remarkably patient and knowledgeable instructor. I sincerely intend to go to their next full weekend shoot, and highly recommend this style of training.
I have also come to the final conclusion that factory sights on the AK platform are basically worthless for anything other than suppressive fire beyond 30m. I bought a Romanian AK because I was 19 and it looked badass. Given what I now understand about the art of the rifleman, I am strongly considering liquidating my entire firearm collection and getting one of these pricey motherfuckers:
Springfield M1A SOCOM 16
I’ve fired the full sized M1A and am comfortable with .308, but the sheer physical dimensions of the weapon are a bit unwieldy for a skinny guy like me. Standing on the firing line trying to keep the sights on target felt like swinging at a baseball with a step ladder. The compact SOCOM is like pulling an expert tango partner in tight by comparison. I’ve been shopping around and the best price I’ve found on a used model is $1600. Sacre bleu. I have always been the type of consumer who would rather buy a second hand product at steep discount and just use it until it wears out. I don’t expect things to last forever, and I would in general rather pay pennies on the dollar for second-best. So my search quickly veered towards the Chinese knock-off, which turns out to exist as the Norinco M305, and retails at a comparatively painless $400. This led me to the tragic story of how it came to be that Norinco’s entire product line has been illegal to import to the US since 2003. As wikipedia can explain in more detail, some Norinco dealers got caught directly selling full-auto Kalishnikovs to Crips and Bloods. GWB selectively sanctioned the entire company, so now Canadians can get M1As for a fraction of the price I as an American must pay. Galling!
Also, gun forums are amok with “patriots” who actually salute this policy under buy-America dogma. Face palm.
When you finally figure out true riflery, you’ll get a classic, old Swedish Mauser Model 96 6.5×55.