On a recent vacation, I had the opportunity to go to an indoor shooting range and rent a handgun for an hour or so, along with fifty rounds of ammunition. I normally have no access to firearms whatsoever, so I was quite looking forward to firing a real gun with real bullets.
Just imagine my delight when I found out that I was GOOD. Not just competent, mind you, but REALLY GOOD. Scarily good. I would load a clip with five rounds, take five shots at an unmarked target, then reload, take five more shots, then bring the target in to have a look and change it for a fresh one. Ten rounds per target, five targets overall.
ALL of my shots were bullseyes, all in the center ten-ring. One of my friends had come along with me and was watching from behind some safety glass. He later told me that at one point, I had three of the range instructors standing in a group behind me, checking out my progress, and intermittently looking at each other and nodding appreciatively. I was so intent on making the bullets go where I wanted, that I din’t notice anyone behind me, so I’ll have to take his word for it.
Bear in mind that this was only the third in my life that I’d ever fired a handgun, with no training whatsoever. Moreover, I’m naturally a very laid-back, easy-going, gentle kinda guy with no secret gun fetishes or violent tendencies, so I was amazed at my apparently natural ability to mete out leaden death with such accuracy
Forgive me for bragging, but it’s so rare that I’m any good at anything, that I just had to tell someone about it. I realise that this will seem pretty small potatoes to some of the accomplished shooters out there, but I reckon that if I had some training, I could go from scarily good, to “Assassin-for-hire” good.
So, fellow Dopers, what hidden talents have you recently discovered? What were you surprisingly good at, how did you find out, and how surprised were you?
Share the good news, feel free to brag, and generally sing your praises about how good you are…