A GaRand Day!

General George Patton said,"The M1 Garand is the finest battle instrument ever devised." I carried one for three yeas when I was in the army; that was some time ago.


I didn't think much more about it until three years ago when I bought my own M1. The picture above is when I received it from the mighty hands of my brother-in-law, David. The picture below, David and I are admiring my M1.


I have hunted all my life, and I love to shoot.

After I had been retired a few years, the opportunity came to work part-time as a Range Officer at the Westminster Shooting Range. I grabbed at it, and this is my 4th year "working" at what I like best!

And that's where my story begins.

My wife's boss is a fine Christian man. I have met him before, but not any of his sons. His oldest, J.T., had an interest in the M1 and wanted to shoot one. His brother, Jake, wanted to shoot too!

Through some conversation, arramgements were made for them to come to my workplace on my day off and shoot the M1! Everyone was excited, even me. You see, Tom, and his sons, J.T. and Jake, had never fired a gun before. July 27th, 2011, was their day.

I gave them some homework to do before they got to the range regarding safety. (If all students paid attention like they did everyone would want to be a teacher!) The picture below shows them loading the clips.


The thrill was about to begin. The person who was shooting wore my ear protectors because they are electronic, and I could talk in a normal voice.

One by one it happened. They all shot the M1 with its loud report and sharp recoil. When the last round was fired of each clip, the "ping" of the clip leaving the receiver--WOW! What a thrill! They fired a piece of history! Below shows each of them firing the M1.



You can't see in the picture below, but they all did very well!


What a joy I had just being with them and enjoying the fellowship of Christian friends. Yes, we are going to do it again as soon as we can.

I'd like to thank Shelly, Tom's wife, for letting the boys come out and play. I had such a good time.

Whenever I shoot for fun (not working), when I'm done I go to a favorite restaurant of Carol's and mine for a fried chicken lunch, so that's what we did. Yum!

Doing things you like to do with Christian friends is a wonderful joy and should be done often. Are you ready to shoot?

I had a pin on button made that says, "My M1 is Garand"--a little play on words there. (The flat copy is below.)I gave each one a button because I had a Garand day. Praise God!