My daughter decided out of the blue last Saturday that we should go to the range. It seemed like a good idea, as I had just finished a very frustrating first week of being unemployed and trying to correct that issue. I called my in-laws to see if they wanted to go, as they were in town. A short while later the details were set and I made a big production out of getting ready. We went out to get a spare rifle hard case because I planned to bring all of my guns. Then I created a giant mess in the living room getting all the ammo, magazines and guns into the bags, as well as tools, eye and ear protection, backups of said items, a folding table, clays for the skeet range... I haven't done this in forever so I packed for every possibility. Yes, I packed too much.
The next morning we got up, loaded the cart for the trip to the car (I hate living in an apartment) and got going. After stopping for gas and cash, we ended up getting to the Santa Clara Field Sports Park at 2 minutes to 8. It was a beautiful day and the range was already half full. Apparently they open the doors early. We checked in, fielded the call from my in-laws telling us that they were running late due to forgetting their eye pro and going back for it. Then we carted the table, the guns and the ammo to our preferred lanes, all the way at the end. We missed the first shooting session but that gave us time to load magazines. At this point I realized I forgot all but two of the magazines for the Jericho 9/41. Damn. Then I found that the staple gun that I bought the day before for target setup was worthless. Lovely. Still, we had plenty of ammo, plenty of other magazines and plenty of time. Once the grandparents arrived, it was a party. We destroyed the complementary targets that were supplied by the range fairly quickly. The six target ones that I bought the day before lasted longer. but we still trashed them as well. The grandparents were eager to go though the steel case 9mm they had so after my first box of Winchester White Box was gone, we started on theirs. God that stuff was dirty. However, we blew through 400 rounds of that, plus mine, plus 100 rounds of .45, 500+ rounds of .22 and 100 rounds of .40 in my father in law's pistol. it took several hours but we all had a great time. My daughter is a magazine loading machine, once she learned how to use the tool. By the time we stopped shooting, neither of the .22 pistols would cycle consistently due to general buildup. I haven't cleaned them in several range trips, so this is not surprising.
After that we decided to head over to the skeet and trap range. They have a very nice setup there, pricing is good and I should have left my clays at home. There are no manual machines there. It is all automated and staffed, so we did not have to do anything but shoot. The price per round was good and the staff were very patient walking us through the proper protocols. My daughter decided that while she was OK shooting the 9mm and the .22 pistols, this was not for her at the moment. So my in-laws and I each did a round of skeet and a round of trap. My mother in law decided that she liked my Mossberg 500 much better than their Winchester. I had the 28 inch barrel on mine and they had an 18 inch barrel on theirs. I did better than I expected on skeet and hit more than I missed on trap. I'll be going back more often.
After we packed everything up, we headed for a late lunch at Red Robin and then home. Then I started to realize that I forgot to apply sunblock. whoops. Still, it was a really enjoyable day. Now I just have to work on cleaning all the guns...
