Barn vs. Bullfiddle

Have you ever just had one of those days????
I’m having a Monday, and it’s not even Monday yet…
Went to the range with a friend and his daughter this morning, took the usual assortment of playthings.

Anyway, mandatory coffee stop en route, get there and trundle back to the little pistol range and get set up- I haven’t even finished loading mags and my friend’s daughter is throwing a hissy fit because she can’t hit the target… soooo… I offer to take a look at the pistol- Yep, all pieces attached, nothing loose, insert mag, fire one round, “X” ring!

Nope nothing wrong with pistol, maybe operator error? Quick refresher on sight basics, she shoots the last 5 rounds (all in the black), removes mag, says something (I don’t think it was real nice…) she stomps off to the car- Huh, okaayyy… Her Dad just looks over and shrugs. Oh well, back to “my” end of the line.

Finish loading mags, assume the position (no not that one…) and proceed to miss the $%^* “X” ring with every shot. Okay, now WHAT is going on? pieces- check, parts- check; operator error? probably…

Lemme try this again- another 10 rounds and not a single one in the “X” ring… ring around the rosy, but not in the center… I look over at my friend, he is rolling laughing…

Oh thanks a LOT asshole (he is my ride home)! He offers to move the target up to three yards, which I politely decline… Back to the bag for my old faithful 1911, I know I can hit with it!

Same-o, same-o, not a #$%* “X” in the bunch! ARRGGHHHH!!!! (maybe I had one pot too many of coffee this morning). My friend is now collapsed in the chair from laughing.

Okay- FINE, I gotta think about this one… So we go cold range and take a break.

A couple of older gentlemen drive up (80’s + I’m guessing) and come on the range. I casually look over and my jaw hits the ground! They EACH have a Broom-handle Mauser, P-38 Luger and WWII era 1911A1’s; the next thing I see is a wooden stock for the Broom-handle, which is installed on one of the pistols.

At this point, the gentlemen realized we were drooling at the pistols so they showed us what they had. A lively conversation ensued, and we found out they were both veterans of the Big Red One. The pistols had come back with them from the War, and they were just trying out the repairs on one of the broom-handles.

The old gentleman asked for a hot range, and promptly knocked down five steel plates from 10 yards with that old pistol. He gave it to his compatriot, who promptly MISSED all five plates; and away they went…

Obviously a VERY long running argument about who was the better shot, as the second gentleman picked up his 1911 and promptly hit all five plates with his gun…
The insults went back and forth as they continued to shoot the different pistols, finally wound down to parting shots, and the final shot was,

“Ah hell, you couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a bull fiddle!”

At that point, I quit- For one, I was laughing too hard to shoot, and two, that pretty much summed up my accuracy quotient for the day!

We picked up/cleaned up our part of the range, thanked the two old gentlemen for their service and called it a day…

This week is the 4th of July- If you know any old vets, thank them for what they did, and let them know that you care- Based on requests at Arlington, the WWII vets are dying at an average about 1200 a day, the Korean vets about 500 a day, and the Vietnam vets at about 200 a day.

Soon that generation will be gone, and with it, a large portion of the history of this country. They were born in the depression, won a World War, and saw a man land on the moon- Hard to imagine seeing all that in one lifetime…

Comments

Barn vs. Bullfiddle — 3 Comments

  1. Great post- I’m not sure if we know each other or not but I guarantee you we know a couple of people who know us both!!! Will definitely be back to visit the site! Great stuff here!!

    John

  2. Probably so John. I’ll drop you a line next time I head to Columbia. Thanks for the comments!

  3. Your stories would be a lot funnier without all the “” “”. They’re distracting and……”grammatically incorrect.”