Sometimes you meet the coolest people at the range!

Racer88

Racer88

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"Too old to shoot?" Hell no!​


While I was at the range today, an older couple came in. The old man set up in the lane to my right. His very cute (also elderly) wife, dressed to the "nines," took a chair and sat to watch him. I'll admit my first thought was, "Let me step out of my booth and keep an eye on him, to make sure he's handling his guns safely." All appeared good and safe. I stepped back into my station and continued shooting.

And then... I noticed his small silhouette target (at 10 yards). Two very tight groups! A moment later, he leaned around the corner to express his admiration of my target, considering I was shooting a snubnose .38 revolver.

Of course, I then told him how impressed I was with his target. He smiled.

"May I ask how old you are?" He proudly said 87 years old! And it turns out he is a retired LEO from Baltimore. While I failed to ascertain which pistols he was shooting, I did notice he was using iron sights.

Gary-87-years-old-target.jpg


That encounter made my day! Usually at the range, I'm astonished at how BAD so many of the shooters are. I would have never expected an 87 year old to be tearing out the bullseyes with one ragged hole! Just freakin' awesome. And inspiring!
 
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Wow! That is awesome, good for him! What a legend and what a wholesome experience you had at the range.
 
Great to see someone at the range that actually knows what's what. Thanks for sharing that wonderful experience! (y)(y)
 
Most cops are not firearms enthusiasts, this one obviously is. I'd wager he was on the police pistol team. Bullseye was the thing back in those days.
Did you show him a P80? Dude like that might be right at home here. And the stories he could tell!! :p
 
no4mk1t said:
Most cops are not firearms enthusiasts, this one obviously is. I'd wager he was on the police pistol team. Bullseye was the thing back in those days.
Did you show him a P80? Dude like that might be right at home here. And the stories he could tell!! :p
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I didn't take the opportunity to show him. But apparently, he's a regular there (according to one of the staff). So, I hope to meet him again.
 
Racer88 said:
I didn't take the opportunity to show him. But apparently, he's a regular there (according to one of the staff). So, I hope to meet him again.
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Yeah, recruit him. I'll bet he is chock full of tips, tricks, and anecdotes we would all benefit from. :cool:
 
At least one appears to be a CZ pistol.

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A lot of folks don't know that the main attraction for police depts. wanting to transition from wheel gun to auto was that at that time, (mid 80's) that Glock offered the least amount of training time to make the switch. No manual safety. Just point and click, just like the wheel gun. For large depts. like NYPD and LAPD, this saved them a ton of training time and money.
It also led to the abominable "NY trigger" due to those that could not be persuaded to observe Rule #3.
 
brian said:
"An old fashioned wheel gun .... Bet the kids got an automatic..."
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I was looking for the "six-shooter, huh? All the old-timers carry those." line Gibson says just before this scene. But it reminded me of the blink fest by Gibson and the realistic shooting performance by Glover (even though he IS a communist ;) ). Some of the comments are amusing. :) VIDEO

In other old-timer news, guy at the range was running 45ACP moon clips in a S&W revolver today... :)
 
Full moon clips FTW! đź‘´

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Your old guy sounds like my recently retired action pistol match director. He is 85 and while he finishes near last on score he is usually first in points.

I shot sporting clays with him last month, he scored in the 80's. He is shopping for an over/under shotgun for me as my lame semi-auto shotgun requires me to take both shots with the same choke.
 
no4mk1t said:
Hey! I resemble that remark!
I'm a geezer and my S&W 625 is my favorite revolver. Model of 1988.
Full moon clips FTW! :cool:
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I didn't take a VERY good look at his gun but it looked like what you have: SS and big grip. I did handle one of his moons to show my daughter what "rimless" means and why the clip was necessary. We shot .38 later that day rounding out the "lesson". ;)
 
De-clipping the empties is hard on the fingers if you don't have the tool. Other than that, I'd rather shoot it than any of my other revolvers. A close second is the Model 24 in 44 Special and the Mountain Revolver. (Essentially the same gun) You can shoot these guns all day without fatigue, unlike the magnums.
 
Bobster said:
I didn't take a VERY good look at his gun but it looked like what you have: SS and big grip.
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It turns out that the gentleman, Gary, is a member on GlockTalk, where I also posted about my experience. He chimed in on the thread:

1716746045565.png
 
He's the one. I could learn a lot from Gary. Those guys forgot
more than I'll ever know. Like they said at GT he was probably
a bullseye shooter at one point. I swear those guys can think
the round to where they want it.

Zen, yup.
 

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