Keep Your Powder Dry and Your Eyes On the Target

((OOC: That's all good. Also, if you want any info on guns you can always PM me, they are something I know a fair bit about.))

Three magazines of .357 Sig loaded the Ranger slid one into the Sig 226 and racked the slide, chambering a round. He then worked the decocker setting the gun to double action for the first shot (the closest function the gun had to a safety), slid the into a hip holster on his right side, and the nslid the other two magazines into a hip holster on his left.

As of yet no one had stepped out onto the dirt to shoot, they were all shooting the full 50 yards so the Ranger would first practice at range. He stood in position, ready to fire and turned his back. When possible practicing identifying and drawing on a target on the fly was advisable. While his back was to the targets he could see another man had joined them out on the range, which was nothing special, what was worth noting was the man had a Glock 19 with Hi-capacity mags. They didn't look old enough to be preban, sure they may have been but it was unlikely. More thank likely this man was law enforcement.

The Ranger didn't exactly have the best rapport with NYPD, though he had reached an understanding of sorts with the officer who concerned herself with him. He'd just have to not do anything illegal today, or stop any crimes commited around him. It seemed cops just didn't like good Samaritan vigilantes.

Pushing that aside in his mind the ranger went back to firing. Sticking in a pair of ear plugs and sliding on an orange tinted pair of safety glasses he took a casual stance. He slowly moved his hand to his gun and then in an instant took hold of the grip and drew it while he spun round to face the target. By the time he had made a 180 the gun had been raised to chest level, his left hand moved to hold it too his thumb reaching across the frame in line with his index finger, and when he faced the target he punched out at the target. Both arms straightened as he took an isosceles stance, bring the sights up in line with his sight, and firing. The first trigger pull was long, the hammer coming down as he pulled, the subsequent shots were single action, the hammer cocked by the preceding round.

The Ranger fired and fired in quick precision. When he had one round left, in the chamber, he ejected the empty magazine and as it fell he slid in another magazine and continued firing. When one round was left he repeated the motion and then fired until it clicked.

The gun was loud. All guns are loud yes, but .357 Sig is wildly loud for its size. Having roughly the same amount of powder normally behind a .40 S&W but a round .002 larger than a 9mm Parabellum gave the round noise unequaled by anything shy of a .50 or a rifle round, and a kick worse than most other handgun calibers.

The gun was holstered and the Ranger peered out at his target. From 50 yards away he could see that the center was missing.

His sidearm holstered the Ranger watched looked from target to target, interested mildly in how everyone else there was doing. The few other people at the edge of the covered area had fired or were still firing. Most had a decent grouping in the center but with several outliers. With one man it was obvious he was anticipating and not getting a 'surprise shot' as he consistently hit high. Another man had odd breaks in his fire, his wrists were to limp and the gun wasn't cycling properly. Another man, had a nice tight grouping.

Looking down the line of shooters the Ranger saw who it was, the man he presumed was a police officer. That was mildly surprising, most police officers only shot enough to qualify, this man clearly shot enough to be strongly above average.

All his magazines empty he moved back to where his equipment was and laid out all the magazines to be reloaded. Not long after the sound of gunfire died down to only people in other areas of the range. No one else around him was shooting. He slung a shoulder holster under his left arm and slid a loaded Smith and Wesson 500 revolver into it before finishing loading the three magazines a few snap caps finding there way randomly interspersed, sliding 2 into the mag holster, and the last into the Sig.

"Anyone mind if I advance on my target?" The Ranger called out before turning to look at the other people there. There were a few shrugs, mutters of why not, and then he looked to the possible police officer for an answer while moving to walk out onto the dirt.

The officer nodded his head and the Ranger stepped out onto the dirt. Before shooting he went and replaced the paper target with a fresh one and set up a new target where one wasn't being used. He would be shooting at the two targets.

The setup done he moved back to edge of the dirt, turned to face everybody up under the cover and reached for his Sig at his waist. Again he drew it while spinning round to engage the targets. This time he walked toward the first target as he squeezed the trigger firing round after round until there was a click, the first snap cap was in the chamber. The Ranger worked the slide ejecting the round and resumed shooting as if nothing had happened. When time came for the first reload he ejected the first mag, loaded in the second and switched targets.

As he engaged the second target a few more snap caps came up, again he fluidly ejected them and continued shooting.The magazine emptied while he was fifteen yards away, he let it go empty and the slide lock back this time. He switched which hand held the Sig and pulled back his right hand using it to draw his Smith and Wesson 500. The massive revolver slid out of the holster and was directed at the first target, a moment later a fireball erupted from the end of the 8 3/8" long barrel. The Smith and Wesson Model 500 fires the largest commercially available handgun cartridge. The noise it generates is so massive it is like hearing a normal handgun without earplugs while wearing earplugs.

The first round went right between where the eyes would have been on the target. The gun lowered and the Ranger fired another round one handed, but this time at the second target. Again, right between the eyes. He Then fired a third shot, striking slightly to the right of where his second shot hand hit.

He holstered both guns and looked at his targets. One round on the second target was about an inch out of place. The shot was still well enough placed to most likely kill the target, but to the Ranger it was still a miss. He picked up his ejected magazine, and the .500 S&W brass (they are $4 per round, cheaper if he used reloads) before heading back to the covering.

After laying the two guns down in the case he picked up the Five-seveN and after switching holsters at his hip, and loading in a magazine, slid in in. It was odd using only a ten round magazine in the gun, the cartridges were so thin you could easily have eighteen or twenty and not have it stick out too far from the grip.

He carried the gun often, but do to the sheer cost of the ammunition he didn't intend to put to many rounds down range as long as he was accurate. So slid one spare magazine into a holster on his hip opposite his pistol and stepped up to shoot.

He drew the gun, sighted it and opened fire on the head of a target. The gun had about 60% of the kick of a 9mm and put a hole almost 2/3rds the size of a 9mm in the paper. The bark of the gun was also quieter than the guns he had used before, but the paper reacted more violently to the rounds. Not too much, but could be seen if you were looking for it. The rounds moved much quicker than any he had been firing before. The 5.7x28mm cartridges it fired were technically rifle rounds that are small enough to be used by this particular pistol. The size of the cartridges made the grip feel like a Desert Eagle, they were long and the double stack made it wide. Needless to say someone with small hands wouldn't be able to use it very easily.

The gun clicked empty, he let it this time, and he quickly reloaded, racked the slide to chamber a round and changed targets. Most rounds flying through the half inch holes already in the head in the target.When it clicked empty again he racked the slide so it wasn't locked back anymore and holstered it.

The Ranger then looked again at how everyone else was performing. The cop had once again skillfully engaged his target. Many of the other people there had not done so well. He turned to the man next to him who had just finished firing. His rounds were consistently low and irregular. "You're anticipatin' the recoil, don't do that. Keep your arms stiff, the gun'll come back t' the target." The man nodded. "A good way to practice is load in spent brass between your cartridges, when you pull the trigger on those it won't kick so you can see how bad you are compensatin'."

For the first time that day the officer spoke up, checking to if he was clear to change out his targets. "Have at it." He called back before grabbing a few more sheets and following him out onto the dirt. The center of his targets having been removed they needed it. Though, given his level of skill he could just as easily measure his accuracy by the lack of additional damage to the paper from this point on.

He put the new targets on over the old targets and made his way back to reload. He felt his accuracy was good enough with his more expensive rounds, so it was back to the Sig. Loading all of his magazines. No snap caps, he would test his skill with Mozambique drills, one after another, quickly switching targets between drills.

His Sig loaded and two magazine in his magazine holster he stepped up to the firing line. The cop just put a pair of rounds into each target with impressive accuracy. Highly excellent work. "Nice shooting. The Ranger called out to him, "Only thing is you haven't insured they're dead yet."

The Ranger whipped his head back round as he drew his Sig, double tapping the chest of the first target before placing a third in between the eyes and then switching to the second target to repeat. "Gotta blow out the brain stem, a heartless man can still fight fer a few more seconds." As a member of his old team had said, 'Only head shots count.'

Disarming shots, with a pistol... Shooting to disarm a subject made sense if you were 100 yards back with a rifle and you had time to line up the shot and, since the target was so small, insure nothing was behind that you didn't want to destroy. Also, you have the element of surprise, the gunman doesn't know you're aiming at his hand. With a pistol you're right there where they can see what your doing. "I thought that was more a SWAT tactic, better used when you've time t' aim back behind the barricade of vehicles."

The Ranger had once shot at a target with the intent to disarm them. An anti-material round right through a rifle's action disabling it. His squad didn't do many snatch and grabs. "I'd always go fer the kill with a pistol. I'd rather not add t' the risk of gettin' killed." He gave a small smile and a slight laugh adding, "I guess that makes you the braver of us." Or the stupider, depending on if you live or die.