USA

Clay shooting in Austin, Texas

19 August 2014

Last week, we went clay shooting!

In case it wasn’t clear, we handled a real shotgun and shot at real flying things. (on the off chance you’re like pre-clay-shooting me who have no clear idea of what clay shooting is)

This is a very eye-opening and surreal experience all rolled into one because living in Singapore and Japan, most civilians have never even seen a real gun, much less be allowed to fire or own one!

Gun laws in the USA was, and in fact still is, a source of discomfort in terms of safety for me. Many Americans wouldn’t give much thought to it, since that’s what they are accustomed to, but to me it’s like… not needing a license to purchase weapons?! Permission to carry them around freely, sometimes even concealed?!! What’s to stop crazies from scoring themselves guns? Nothing!!!

I know the world is not purely made up of crazy people. But all we need is one.
And one is one too many.

But I guess this is where the differences lie.
To most people here, they view guns are a form of hobby. They use it for clay or range shooting, hunting, etc.
To me, guns = KILLINGS. MASS SHOOTING. DEATH.

Excuse the drama, but that’s all thanks to news producers and Hollywood film-makers for burning those stereotypes so deeply into my skull.

I was talking about my er, slight paranoia with an American friend, and she gave a rather sensible reply. Even though they can be misused (as with any other potentially dangerous things like knives), it’s not something one can actively worry about and expect to still function normally at the same time. I suppose that’s true!

So I think we did good by embracing the positive side of guns! (meaning the fun hobby part) After all, this is probably something we will only have a chance to try in USA!

The sporting clays and the machine that fires them

The control to fire the clays

In action! (pointed out the target in case you thought it was a speck of dust)

At this point, allow me to show off the awesome video Fu took of me hitting a target :D

After my “Ok, pull”, which is the trigger for the person holding the control to fire the sporting clay piece, squint and keep your eyes peeled for the tiiiiiny target. It’ll be over before you realize it!

 

Since I didn’t manage to video any of Fu’s hits, I will throw in one more cool shot of him, heh.

You can see the clay piece right at the edge, complete with the smoke trail and shadow of the shell following closely after it!

The recoil wasn’t as strong as I thought it might be, and the sound wasn’t an issue at all with our ear plugs on.

The shotgun was really heavy though (ok, fine, I have zero arm strength, happy?), and by my 3rd round, I was literally struggling to lift it. My arms felt like they had morphed into jelly arms and I was shaking slightly from the exertion of trying to lift the shotgun -_-

I summoned my strength by doing a war cry, not unlike a weightlifter at the Olympics:

Just that I’m not as muscley. Or manly.

In the end, I left the pros to do their thing while I watched from the shadows, exhausted.

Gahhh, no shade where we were shooting! Fortunately I had my umbrella. And cap. And sunglasses. And sunscreen on.

I think I might be the only one in Texas who even uses an umbrella. Not even sure if they have heard of umbrellas here. It’s blazing hot but I have NEVER seen anyone use an umbrella. Not old people, not young ladies, not little children. No one! And since it rarely rains – rained a grand total of 1 time in the 2 weeks we’ve been here – no reason to have the umbrella either.

Anyway, all in all it was definitely a unique experience!

We paid about $35 per person, which includes the use of the premises as well as sharing the cost of the shotshells.

The place we were at was: Capitol City Trap & Skeet

2 Comments

  • Reply Dale 19 August 2014 at 2:32 pm

    SO FUN! I want to try too!
    BTW how do u stay so fair and have such a perfect flawless complexion? Please do a post on your latest skincare regimen haha!

    • Reply Rin 20 August 2014 at 3:32 am

      It’s definitely an interesting experience! I don’t suppose Norway has that?

      Ugh, I’m fair, but my complexion is not flawless :( Freckles have tainted it, and lately dunno if it’s the weather or something, but I have pimples popping out D:

      Once that I’ve successfully cleared them, perhaps I will feel like I can justify writing a skincare post! (feels like a bogus writer to talk about skincare when my face is so spotty haha!)

      In the meantime, this post might be of interest though!

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