Aug 26 108 PA - Teaching to hit a barn
From Chronicles
What better place to spend a warm Sunday afternoon then shooting at the range? Valeriya cant think of many, so here she is. Expecting not to be alone she goes ahead and books two booths for the day and takes down the divider between them. Then she starts setting up the weapon of interest. It looks a bit old fashioned but the few practice shots she takes show it to be a powerful energy weapon in mint condition. If only she could hit the bulls eye with it.
Bartholemew heads on down the rows of booths to find where Val has set things up for the lesson. He's brought his C-12 Assault Rifle and is carrying plenty of practice ammo with him as well. Once he finds Val he greets happily puffing on a lit cigar, "Howdy." just in time to see her take a shot with her weapon of choice. "Whatcha got there? Techno Wiz?"
Valeriya nods to Bart looking away from the target with the now scorched shoulder to smiles slightly. "Yep. Powerful too, and it can stun two. That hurts like a bugger you may recall. This rifle was shot at us before I liberated it way back when we did the mystic knight job." She notes reminding Bart of things that probably seem like a lifetime ago
Bartholemew nods with a grin and a chuckle as he sets the practice ammo down on the counter, "Oh yeah, I remember that one, nasty little rifle. Glad to see its not gonna be shootin at me anymore. So ya ready?" Unslinging his own rifle from his shoulder to load it up with the required ammunition.
"Sure am." Valeriya chirps in agreement and returns to ready another shot. But its rather clear she has no idea how to shoot a rifle. She's trying alternating between aiming it like a pistol and just holding it at the waist and firing. Neither is working all that well.
Bartholemew quickly loads his weapon and readies it for firing, He takes the time to watch her struggle to hold the rifle properly when firing it. Once he has a chance to see where she is going wrong, he then steps in to say something, setting his cigar on the edge of the counter. "Alright watch and mimic me, I'm going to start with how to fire that rifle a yours from a standing position. First, drive the top point of the buttstock high into your shoulder. With your firing hand, grasp firmly up on the pistol grip. Remember, keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire, which isn't yet. With your non-firing hand, support the rifle underneath the handguards. Now, tuck your cheek up against the top of the stock in you shoulder. You should be looking right through the sights." He does everything he says with his own rifle so she can conspicuously see what he's explaining to be able to do it herself, he then brings his weapon down without firing, "Now you do it."
Valeriya jerks, her 'aiming' aborted by the critique, making her look a fairly unsure of herself in how wrong she was. Moving on she does each step instructed one at a time. Her movements are far from smooth givens she's just following Bart's lead one at a time. And in a few seconds she is looking at the sights, if not through them.
Bartholemew watches her stance slinging his weapon over his shoulder to come over and adjust her front hand on the weapon, and adjust the stock a bit higher in her arm, "There, that better? Now, I'm going to teach you what your looking at! A rifle has a peep sight in the rear, and a post sight in front. What this is, is a small circle in the back, and a stick in the front. Look through the circle, at the front sight post. Line it up so that its centered, and the tip of the front sight cuts halfway across the rear sight. Now, line that up with your target."
Valeriya definitely does not look used to the post and peep set up. Some observation can probably tell her eyes are not in sync. Her left clearly sees the post, her right looks on through the peep. And her mind used to using both eyes thinks this is correct.
Bartholemew continues to explain, "This is the only tricky part. Train your eye to focus on the front sight, while your aimed in. Not the rear sight, not the target, but the front sight. What you should be seeing is a clear front sight post centered both vertically and horizontally in the blurry rear sight, aimed in on a blurry target. I don't put it that way, the Kingsdale Military does. This takes some practice, and a level of relaxation, believe it or not."
Valeriya nods slightly to show she understands and starts the slow process of finding that spot for the first time. She closes her left eye for a moment to help and soon she has it. She then reopens her left eye to lock it in with eyes open.
Bartholemew goes on moving to her other side as he speaks, "Ok! All aimed in! Good. Now close your eyes. That's right. Get rid of all that hard work you just did. Shut them both. Breath in deep, and breath out. That little pause at the end, after you exhale fully but before you inhale, open your eyes, and see where the rifle is aimed at. Its not quite on target, is it? Adjust until after you close your eyes and exhale fully, the rifle is aimed in perfectly. That's what the Military taught me. There is a way to cheat at this. You can hold your breath. Don't hold your breath after you inhale, you'll be fighting to let the air out. BUT, if you exhale, aim in, and DON'T BREATHE, your lungs will not interfere with your shooting. It takes some discipline, either way. But once your steady, your ready to pull the trigger."
Valeriya looks momentarily confused by being told to close her eyes. Everything else tells her that this is a most inopportune time to do so. So with slight hesitation she does so, her exhale sounding a bit like a sigh expectant of the reopening that shows she is out of line. She tries again and again, taking most of a minute to finally get it right on.
Bartholemew watches her try and try again until she thinks she has it, "When your ready to fire, slowly squeeze the trigger back. Slowly. Just apply pressure. Don't be scared to fire, but don't rush it. Whatever you do, don't jerk the trigger. The key here is to let the shot take you by surprise."
Finally something Valeriya is good at. Pulling the trigger comes naturally without pause. She pulls the triggers on her pistols all the time after all. This is perhaps the only thing that relates between the two weapons. And the result? A direct hit to the target's upper chest. Not in the heart, but far better then the scruff of a shoulder.
Bartholemew smiles picking his cigar back up from the counter and taking a few puffs to get it going again, "Good shot, take a few more shots, get em more centered on the target. Don't wanna wing em, we wanna kill em. There is an exercise you can do with an unloaded rifle. Aim in correctly, and then slowly squeeze the trigger. If you do it slowly enough, and if your ears are good, you should be able to hear three distinct clicks before the rifle finally fires. That's how slowly you should fire it loaded."
Valeriya nods slightly and continues to work through her rifle's payload with the given advice. It only takes a couple shots before she gets sloppy though and her aim suffers for it. Forcing her back to step one of the slow process of practice.
Bartholemew adjusts her stance here and there during her shooting, every now and then giving a tip or advice, "Just remember, a rifle is a weapon of time. Take your time on your target, relax. Its not like blazin through with sixguns in each hand."
