Every Once In A While

Things just seem to work out. Today, I took my youngest girl to the Sportsman's club where we are members. She really wanted to try out the new rifle she won last week. So she and I loaded everything into the car and drove down. When we got there, a squad was just starting a round of trap. We went in and signed in for trap and the rifle/pistol range. Then we went out and chatted with people, waiting for the next trap squad to start.

It was only a short wait and we headed\ed out to start a round. I was trying the new 12 gauger I won last week, while my daughter had her mother's old 20 gauger Savage. I haven't shot trap in probably ten years or more, so I didn't expect to do well. I didn't, I only shot an 11, my daughter shot a 10. But it was fun, and the new gun is really nice, points fast and feels good.

Then off to the rifle/pistol range. When we got there a man was teaching his wife to shoot a pistol, so we waited and chatted with the Range Safety Officer (RSO). Nice guy, quite young (by my standards, anyway). He made a few suggestions on how to check the scope alignment on the new H&R .243 Winchester we were going to try out. When it was our turn, my daughter got to try her new .22 and I shot a few magazines through my carry gun. Then it was time to try the new H&R.

The RSO put up a large paper target for me to get the gun sighted. The first shot (at 25 yards) was left of center, but close to the right elevation. Since he also used a .243 Win rifle, he said the elevation was about right, but it needed to come right to correct. Did all that, fired a few more, correcting each time and got it pretty close to center. Then we trooped over to the 100 yard range. I took a shot, we checked it. Perfectly centered and about 1-1/2 inches high. The RSO said that was dead on for 200 yards. He said the gun would be dead accurate from 100 to 300 now. So I went back and took another shot to confirm the sighting. We trooped back out to look where we had hit (no shooting scope, so we walked a lot).

We looked that target up and down, left and right. We could only see the one hole. I was stunned, I had had that thing centered, I thought. Then he peered really closely at the hole. It wasn't round, it was very slightly oval. He stood up and said, "Nice shooting," with a tinge of respect in his voice. My daughters eye's got a bit wide. Me, I was flat out floored. I could not make that shot again in a million years. Before anyone says I'm full of it, I hasten to add I was shooting from a sandbag rest on a bench, not freehand. Like a kid, I kept the target.

When we got home my daughter couldn't wait to show her Mom the target. Then she showed her brother who's jaw actually dropped – funny as heck to see. I know she's going to tell her friends, too. Which will just give them another reason to be terrified of me! In a few days, nobody will remember that I did that and life will go on.

But I think maybe, just maybe, my little girl is going to think her Daddy is wonderful for a little while longer.