The Range turned out to be a small warehouse in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Cree felt a twinge of excitement as he saw one of the ladies from the potluck cleaning night. Once inside, he was greeted by the event organizer and handed a target to get started.
Sheepishly, Cree asked the man behind the counter if he could borrow eyes and ears. The man smiled and handed him a set of inexpensive glasses and earmuffs.
“Target point eight,” the kind gentleman told Cree.
“Thank you, sir.”
New Mechanics
Cree contemplated life a little as he stapled the target to the cardboard backing. He hadn’t been seriously shooting since before he started therapy. Before that, shooting used to actually be his weekly treat to himself, to unwind. Now his body was built a little differently.
As he sent the target seven meters out, Cree reviewed the fundamentals like a checklist.
- High firm pistol grip
- Weak hand lined up with the curvature of the thumbs
- Thumbs firmly pressed along, not on, the slide
- Build a castle with the site posts
- See the target beyond the site posts
- Focus on the rear site post
- Slow and steady squeeze on the exhale, maintaining site picture and site alignment
- Let the gun go “BANG!”
A hot piece of brass flew back and slid easily down his blouse. The feel of the hot metal between his breasts was shocking. Cree gently set his handgun on the shelf and brushed the brass out.
“That’s new,” Cree said to his target as he looked for his shot.
Several magazines later Cree realized that he needed this to keep sharp. The first three magazines had placed ten shots all over the target’s heads. It wasn’t until the fourth and fifth magazine that Cree found all the little things that had changed over the last two and a half years.
“That felt good!”
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