Interesting turn of events

After the Poker Air Gun Shoot on Thursday, I was more interested than ever in purchasing an air rifle so I could enjoy this sport.  Mike had called to let me know that a Gammo Whisper rifle was on sale at the Big …(something) Store in Temecula.  I thought I knew exactly what store he was talking about and set out Saturday morning for town.  I planned to stop at the Farmer’s Market first, but that turned out to be a bust.

It’s in Old Town Temecula, and there was absolutely no parking within blocks of the market.  Since I can’t walk very far any more, I had to pass.  Perhaps if I got there when they first open, I’d have better luck.

So, I made my way back to the Big Horse Feed Store and Mercantile right on HW 79.  Seemed like a likely place that would sell guns.  It was a very interesting store; full of cowboy boots, saddles, and all manner of things you might need for riding a horse.  However, they didn’t sell guns.  Luckily one of the staff straightened me out and said I should go to the Big Five store across the highway.

This brought to mind one of my pet peeves about shopping in Temecula.  HW 79 is a six lane road with a 55mph posted speed limit.  Of course, I have found that California drivers take that to mean that 55 is the slowest you should drive.  Couple that with the fact that almost all the businesses are so far back off of the highway that you can’t see the store fronts, and it’s no wonder I had never heard of Big Five.

Anyway, after dealing with a very inept young sales person, I was finally able to purchase the Gamo Raptor rifle thanks to help from the store manager.  (Being a bird lady, I thought Raptor was a good omen.)  To answer some questions; a background check or special license is not necessary for purchasing an air rifle.  All you need is money.

When I got home, Mike called to ask if I’d bought a rifle, and I said yes.  He told me to keep it in the box for now, and we would meet today as he had come up with an idea of something I might like better.  Oh great!  The hardest thing for most women about using these rifles is to ‘break’ the barrel so you can insert a pellet.  The rifle Mike and Terry showed me today was not only lighter in weight, but it used a CO2 cartridge that meant you didn’t have to muscle the barrel in half.  I gave it a try, but decided to stick with what I had purchased.

The kick on the Gamo is a lot more than the CO2 gun, but I can shoot a greater distance with the Gamo.  Those far out targets are what I find most fun, so much to the guys’ surprise, I chose the harder to use rifle.  They helped me assemble (meaning they did it) and install the scope.  Then Terry took the time to adjust/tune the scope.  I’ll tell you, without these two fellas to lead me along, I doubt I’d have done this on my own.

Then it was finally time for me to take aim at the target.  I nearly fainted when my first shot was in the red section at 10 meters.  I’m all set to go now, and can practice on the range any time I want to.  I’m thinking I’m going to do better at the next Poker Shoot.

In the mean time, I’ve started working on this week’s challenge for the Photo Bug group.  I don’t have a macro lens, so I’m working on close ups.  This is one of the roses I got at the Poker Shoot.

I got this blood orange from Carol, the hair cut lady.  I’ve never tried a blood orange before, and I told her I felt like I was on the Food Channel.    There must be about a hundred of these tasty beauties on her tree.  They sure are hard to peel, though.

Tomorrow I’m off on another little excursion for an idea I have for other close ups.  We’ll see how that turns out.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy