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An Unlikely Reason to Remember My Father
Posted by
jaydfox
,
11 April 2008
·
1,305 views
Second Amendment Sports
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, my father passed away about three and a half years ago.
At first, the pain, sorrow, and even anger were present with me on a daily basis. Over the intervening years, however, I’ve largely recovered. In fact, I often go weeks without consciously thinking about him or his absence. To a certain extent, this dulling of the memory causes a bit of shame. But things have changed in the last month or so, initially by means of a video game of all things...
You see, I've been playing Fallout 2 pretty regularly for the last couple months. About a month or so ago, I had gotten bored with the storylines and missions. I began creating new characters, just to try different approaches, different sets of skills, different weapon combos and tactics... In the process, I started to have a renewed interest in firearms.
And why not? Firearms represent the geek’s playground, where you can manipulate basic properties like kinetic energy, momentum, velocity, caliber, bullet length, density, aerodynamic (in-)stability, etc., to accomplish desired results, such as accuracy, range, penetration (measured for armored and unarmored targets), bullet expansion and/or fragmentation, etc.
In Fallout 2, there were various types of ammo, most of which could be used in a variety of "small guns", from handguns to submachine guns to rifles. One of my favorite Fallout 2 "small guns" was the Desert Eagle, though admittedly the gun is not as powerful in the game as it ought to be. Anyway, in the game, it’s chambered in .44 magnum, but I knew that a .50 caliber variant existed, made famous in pop culture by various movies, so I researched it. Turns out that the .50 caliber version isn’t illegal in all 50 states, though it is in my home state of California. I then discovered that the manufacturer had a so-called Baby Desert Eagle, which I then learned was a design based on the CZ75 pistol. So I researched the CZ75, and found that there was a conversion kit to use cheap .22LR ammo. Other gun owners recommended it, having good accuracy for a reasonable price. On top of that, the .22 conversion kit allows you to practice with dirt cheap plinking ammo, but with the same gun grip and trigger pull, so that whatever skill/accuracy you learn with the .22 will be preserved when you switch back to the native caliber.
I also researched the Beretta 92 series. According to the info I could find on the web, the Beretta was more expensive but also more accurate than the CZ75. The CZ75 got higher marks for "tactical" use, like the ability to draw the weapon quickly and engage a "bad guy", without sacrificing safety when holstered. Of course, I don't really see myself owning a gun for "tactical" or "self defense" use, but rather for target practice and local shooting competitions. Anyway, as I thought about the possibility of getting a CZ75 or Beretta, I remembered my father’s gun collection.
In my teen years, my dad took me and my brother on several shooting trips. We’d go way out into the boonies, miles from the nearest building, tens of miles from anything that could be called a town. He had a small but decent collection, with two rifles and two handguns. Those were some great trips, and being outdoors, the rifles were more fun than the pistols, especially at ranges beyond about 50 feet. But my dad also took me on a couple trips to a local indoor shooting range, where we focussed on the handguns. And that's the subject of my next installment...
Anyway, just thinking about those shooting trips brought good memories of my father back into the fore of my mind, and I've been occupied ever since with near-daily thoughts of my father.
At first, the pain, sorrow, and even anger were present with me on a daily basis. Over the intervening years, however, I’ve largely recovered. In fact, I often go weeks without consciously thinking about him or his absence. To a certain extent, this dulling of the memory causes a bit of shame. But things have changed in the last month or so, initially by means of a video game of all things...
You see, I've been playing Fallout 2 pretty regularly for the last couple months. About a month or so ago, I had gotten bored with the storylines and missions. I began creating new characters, just to try different approaches, different sets of skills, different weapon combos and tactics... In the process, I started to have a renewed interest in firearms.
And why not? Firearms represent the geek’s playground, where you can manipulate basic properties like kinetic energy, momentum, velocity, caliber, bullet length, density, aerodynamic (in-)stability, etc., to accomplish desired results, such as accuracy, range, penetration (measured for armored and unarmored targets), bullet expansion and/or fragmentation, etc.
In Fallout 2, there were various types of ammo, most of which could be used in a variety of "small guns", from handguns to submachine guns to rifles. One of my favorite Fallout 2 "small guns" was the Desert Eagle, though admittedly the gun is not as powerful in the game as it ought to be. Anyway, in the game, it’s chambered in .44 magnum, but I knew that a .50 caliber variant existed, made famous in pop culture by various movies, so I researched it. Turns out that the .50 caliber version isn’t illegal in all 50 states, though it is in my home state of California. I then discovered that the manufacturer had a so-called Baby Desert Eagle, which I then learned was a design based on the CZ75 pistol. So I researched the CZ75, and found that there was a conversion kit to use cheap .22LR ammo. Other gun owners recommended it, having good accuracy for a reasonable price. On top of that, the .22 conversion kit allows you to practice with dirt cheap plinking ammo, but with the same gun grip and trigger pull, so that whatever skill/accuracy you learn with the .22 will be preserved when you switch back to the native caliber.
I also researched the Beretta 92 series. According to the info I could find on the web, the Beretta was more expensive but also more accurate than the CZ75. The CZ75 got higher marks for "tactical" use, like the ability to draw the weapon quickly and engage a "bad guy", without sacrificing safety when holstered. Of course, I don't really see myself owning a gun for "tactical" or "self defense" use, but rather for target practice and local shooting competitions. Anyway, as I thought about the possibility of getting a CZ75 or Beretta, I remembered my father’s gun collection.
In my teen years, my dad took me and my brother on several shooting trips. We’d go way out into the boonies, miles from the nearest building, tens of miles from anything that could be called a town. He had a small but decent collection, with two rifles and two handguns. Those were some great trips, and being outdoors, the rifles were more fun than the pistols, especially at ranges beyond about 50 feet. But my dad also took me on a couple trips to a local indoor shooting range, where we focussed on the handguns. And that's the subject of my next installment...
Anyway, just thinking about those shooting trips brought good memories of my father back into the fore of my mind, and I've been occupied ever since with near-daily thoughts of my father.
