Kyle has been running a set of experiments that needs 7-days-a-week care, and it's made for a really busy past couple of months. I'd say he's averaging about 65 hours/week. Any weekend plans we make need to be arranged around work, church, and usually a soccer game. It doesn't leave a ton of time for blog-worthy pursuits.
However, Saturday he went in to the lab early because we had plans at noon: a couple of dozen rounds at the Singapore Gun Club.
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| Picture from Xu Peng |
On the way there, one of Kyle's colleagues asked me if I'd ever held a gun before. Which was funny. But I haven't actually ever shot moving targets, and I learned a fair amount in our briefing before going to the range. For instance, I now know the difference between trap (a clay target moving away from you) and skeet (a clay target moving toward you or perpendicular to you).
The launcher (I'm sure there's a more correct name for that) sends bright orange painted targets out of the green metal box toward the pile of broken targets on the hill. A stack of targets sitting on top of the launcher helped us know where to look for the targets (I'm assuming that is a beginner's concession). We stood behind the launcher another 25 yards or so. When it was our turn, we loaded our 12-gauge and said "Pull" to call for a target.
We each shot a box of shells and we took turns down the line, so we spent an hour or so shooting. I wasn't terribly good at following with the gun. My dad is going to be so disappointed.
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| Picture from Xu Peng |
Kyle was better than me. The targets were launched fairly low, so I always expected to have more rise (i.e. more time) than I actually got, which means I shot above the target a fair amount. Except of course the one time I actually shot the launcher. Oops.
I don't think we'll be competing any time soon, but it was fun. Now that we've had the training session and initial experience, I think we can go back and rent a gun and buy a box of shells fairly easily.
