Plinking: Rx for the soul

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springmom

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There is just something flat down good for you about plinking.

We're out at the ranch this weekend, since Rich got Friday off and of course is off Monday. We got back from town a little after lunchtime, and he went off to the south a bit to set up hay bales for archery practice. I sat under a Lord-only-knows-how-old pin oak that is known in our family as the "party tree" (think Hobbiton) in the shade and took potshots with my Ruger .22 at a "prairie dog" target situated on the berm across the way. The berm is formed from the dirt dug out when the pond was made, and is quite high and thick and makes a nice backstop. While the tall weeds and grass kept the "prairie dog" from always spinning very well (yeah. that was it. that's my story and I'm stickin' to it....)

Wind was light out of the south, temperature was the upper 80's to about 90, I'm sitting in the shade with a Fresca and 120 rounds of CCI mini-mags, on a four-day weekend.

Who needs zen and meditation when you have a .22 and a prairie dog to shoot?

Jan
 
I have 4" and 6" round steel targets (boiler cutouts from the scrap yard) hanging in the pasture exactly 100 yards from my porch with a decent hill for a backstop. one of my .22 buckmarks or old woodsmans, sometimes .38 wadcutters in an old K frame.
 
I agree Springmom. The centerfires are fun, but you burn way too much money up very quickly. I'm turning into my Dad (Old Man). Sounds like an old Neil Young tune....
 
Not much in life is as much fun as brick of .22lr's, a .22 rifle, and a summer afternoon. Takes me back to my childhood years.
 
It helps me get in touch with my masculine side. Say I had to drive a new beetle at work. Then I go out and unload a few mags, give a few ted-the-tool-man grunts for good measure, and All better. Its right up there with camping and starting a fire. Too bad you arent alowed to bring your gun to the campsites round here :( .
 
A couple of years ago, I found an old fire alarm bell (7" red metal dome) and bolted it to a a 1" square piece of bar stock. It sure makes a pretty sound when you hit it. :D
 
There is peace and mental calm that comes from any "mindful activity". The willpower and physical concentration needed to break the shot definitely relieves stress and clears the mind.

Also, cleaning my guns is a stress-relieving activity for me. Not as much as shooting, but it's there.
 
I've always thought of it as "aromatherapy". You know, the smell of burnt gunpowder.........:)
 
It's a perfect therapy to me. One that the gun haters just couldn't understand. I too love the sound of the plink and the smell of the burnt powder.
 
My son built a small range in his back yard at the edge of the woods. He came up with an old 12" circular saw blade. Ah, it makes a nice ring!. :) We've smacked it with SW 15-22, SW 63, 617, Ruger Mk III, Beretta NEOS, Ruger Single Six. Stoeger .22 Luger. Hard to beat plinking with a .22.
 
I agree about the "RX for the soul" thing. I live a few miles out of town but over the years enough people have moved in around me that shooting is about out of the question. I either have to drive to the local gunclub range or to a caliche pit that is about the same distance. I do the range thing during the week because few people are there. If it is a weekend I do the caliche pit for the same reason. The good thing is I can shoot anything I want at either place. The range offers backstops to 400 yards but the pit only allows about 150 yards safely.

Take a kid shooting. Most will have a great time, especially with targets that move or blow up ( plastic bottles filled with water work well), and don't forget to clean up your mess.
 
Yep I loaded up my little Savage .22LR rifle and my new Walther .22LR pistol in the Jeep the other evening and went plinking. Just haing fun. Putt-ing
 
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