I went to a gun club in Los Angeles today with some nerd friends, and began learning how to operate different kinds of firearms.
William Campbell shot video, including three QuickTime clips of me at varying stages of familiarity with the devices:
"What did I do?" (8 seconds, 374K — I was nervous, and trying to ask how close I'd come to the target zone), "I shot him" (8 seconds, 329K), and "One with the Gun" (40 seconds, 1620K).
Later, I phoned in some Treo snapshots.
Here is my target. I kissed its heart for good luck. You can see the lip-print there in bubblegum pink glitter-gloss. Eventually, this was blown away when my aim got better.
After about 3 clips of ammo, I got used to the feel of the Glock and my shot improved significantly, as you can see here. This was a compact Glock; one of the a lighter semiautomatics. A Number 19 model with 9mm bullets, 10 rounds per clip. I also tried a Berretta, and this felt easier to handle because it is heavier (won't jump back at you so much when you shoot).This was my first time ever around guns, and at first I was shaking and felt very disoriented. My buddy Sean Bonner was my host here. That's his hand holding my spent target, after I emptied a round in it and reeled it in. He's very knowledgeable about guns, and was an excellent mentor. He was very patient with me, very alert and focused. He shoots with gravitas. I tried to emulate this while holding my loaded gun.
Link (Thanks, Sean Bonner!). This song was in my head the whole time gunshot sounds weren't.
Reader Comment: Ben Klausner says:
1) The cartridge holders you were using are not "clips", they are "magazines"
2) A clip is a device which holds a set of cartridges, and is used to facilitate loading them into the magazine, as in the US M1 rifle, or US M1903 Springfield rifle
3) A magazine holds ammunition, and has a spring and a floor plate to push rounds up into the action.
4) The Glock 19 properly holds 15 rounds. The magazines you had must have been "civilian" versions sold during the lame Clinton ban on evil-assault-weapons (see rant here). Fortunately, the ban recently expired.
5) If you buy the Glock, insist on 15 round mags. If you think you like a heavier pistol, check out the EAA Witness in steel, or even a Colt Commander in 9mm. But you will probably change your opinion on this after you get more practice, and especially after you have carried one around for a while.
6) 3 magazines isn't enough. Sign up for a good introduction/safety/handling class. Well worth the investment.
Sean Bonner replies:
1-3) This is opinion. While there might be official definitions of "clips" or "magazines" in common language the two are interchangeable.
The handgun courses I've taken have all referred to them as both clips and magazines.4-5) While this is true for the rest of the country, it's not the case in California. CA has it's own Assault Weapon ban which has not expired and it's illegal to buy, sell, or transfer any detachable clip/magazine that hold more than 10 rounds. So, you can't get a Glock in CA that holds more than 10 rounds unless you buy it off from your neighborhood gangbangers.
6) I wish there was a good course here in LA, but I haven't found any.
They do offer basic classes at the range.
The favorite phonecam snapshot I took yesterday was lost in the Sprint ether for 24 hours, but just now showed up in my flickr feed. Here it is. Apparently, some shooting ranges are less strict about that issue: Link.
