Canuck dopers and others where handguns are restricted - Ever shot a handgun?

[sisu]

Originally Posted by D18

What country?

Australia.

[Cat Whisperer]

Nope. I've never even really seen one - just in policeperson's holsters. However, I am interested in learning to shoot (you never know when the zombie apocalypse is going to be on).

[fubbleskag]

I'm a Canadian, and a few years ago fired a handgun for the first time thanks to a few Calgary-based dopers, who invited myself and my roommate to join them at a local firing range. I was not required to get a license, but did take a brief safety course on site at the range. I fired a .22 and a 9mm.

[Shamozzle]

Originally Posted by Grapefruit

Yes, when I was visiting West Edmonton Mall and they had a shooting range there. Well, I don't know if it can actually be called a shooting "range", since it was a room with targets. But my friend's boyfriend and I were going to do it for shits and giggles. Since we were there and it was available, I just wanted to see what the fuss was about. He ended up chickening out at the last minute, so I went in alone. A guy who was fully licensed was looking over my shoulders the whole time. They let me keep the target sheet I was shooting into.

I've shot at that same range and it was tons of fun. I was shooting a .44 Magnum and I remember being shocked by the devastating power unleashed by that pistol. It had far more power than one might guess. Man, if you ever got hit by that thing you would not be getting up. My hand hurt for two days after firing 50 rounds.

I remember the guide standing right behind me for the duration of my session. He was explaining the procedure to me: "When you pick up the gun, you hold it like this, not like this." "When all the shots have been fired, you place the gun down like this. At no time do you turn with the gun. It stays in this box and pointing in this direction." And so on. As he gave me the run down he was paying close attention to whether I was taking it all in, reading my body language, etc. It was pretty interesting.

I also have a friend who's father is a master gunsmith and is a bit of a wingnut/survivalist/screw-the-gov't type. His basement workshop is loaded with guns in various states of assembly and he has many custom-made pistols that are massively powerful. He lives in the country and we used to go there and shoot those monsters from time to time.

[2square4u]

Originally Posted by Shamozzle

[...] I remember being shocked by the devastating power unleashed by that pistol. It had far more power than one might guess.[...]

The first time I fired a .44Mag I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Having watched the Dirty Harry movies ("this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?") and Taxi Driver ("You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me?", "Have you ever seen what a .44 Magnum will do to a...") I was pretty apprehensive about the recoil, but it was meh. The gun had a full lug 6" barrel and a good grip, though. The 2" .357 snub was a bit worse, but still managable.