My firearm experiences / 我的鎗械經驗

After reading @travelgirl's post, I decided to share my firearm experiences here.

讀過 @travelgirl 的文章之後，勾起我以往的記憶，所以就在這跟大家分享。

Hong Kong citizens like me normally won't have a chance to put our hands on firearms, unless you're in the law enforcement units or you have special licenses for this. That's why 3 years ago, when we were in California having an internal meeting, my colleagues suggested to go shooting, I agreed right the way. There were 2 of them being a qualified shooting coaches and one had served in army before, so we didn't worry about how to handle guns.

香港居民基本上是沒有接觸鎗械的機會，除非是紀律部隊的成員或者已經申請了特別的牌照。所以3年前，當我們在加州開會時，同時提議去射擊的時候，我二話不說就答應了。由於當時我們有兩位射擊教練和一名前軍人，所以完全沒有擔心過要如何處理鎗械。

We found an indoor shooting range nearby. However when we arrived, we were told that by California law, we had to have a California issued ID in order to rent a gun. Unfortunately we didn't have our own firearms. Since there were only two of us had a California ID, only them were allowed to rent a gun and shoot, we could only watch from outside.

當我們到達附近一個室內射擊場之後，被告知我們需要有加州發出的身份証才可以租借鎗械。因為我們沒有自己的鎗支，所以只有兩個當地人可以租借鎗械在那裡射擊，我們只可以在外面看。

It took us another year for having another chance of shooting. This time, we were in Atlanta, Georgia, where one of our shooting coach colleagues lives. Therefore, he carried with him many firearms and ammos to the shooting range so that we only need to rent 3 lanes for firing them.

一年之後，我們又在佐治亞洲的亞特蘭大相遇，這一次我們又一起去射擊。因為其中一位射擊教練就住這這裏，所以他帶了大量的鎗械和彈藥，我們只需租用3條靶道。

We chose and bought the paper targets we liked to use, put them on the targets and moved them to the distances we wanted. Our colleague already put all the firearms on the tables according to their degrees of ease of shooting. After all, he is a qualified coach!

開始之前我們選擇了自己想用的紙製靶。把它掛到移動靶之上，再把它移到適當的距離就可以了。專業教練的同事已經把鎗根據使用的難度放好在枱面上。

I shot all of them. After letting out all 5 shots of the shotgun, I found bruises on my shoulder due to the strong recoil of it. I wondered how strong a man is if he can shoot a shotgun with single hand, just like what we saw in movies.

基本上我每支鎗械都有開過，最後一支就是散彈鎗。把5發子彈都發射之後，因為反作用力太大了，我的肩膀被撞到有瘀傷。所以我非常好奇在電影中可以單手使用散彈鎗的人是何等的強壯！

Last year, I was in Atlanta again and my colleague took me to shoot again. Instead of just shooting, we joined a match. Since the match required taking out the gun and changing of magazine, my colleague let me practice that in my hotel room the night before. Relax, there was no bullets.

去年我又到亞特蘭大出差，這次同事再帶我去射擊。不同的是，那一次我們參加了一個比賽。因為比賽中是需要拔鎗和換子彈匣，所以同事借了一把鎗給我在酒店房練習。放心，入面是沒有子彈的。

It was a IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) match. They accepted shooter with all levels of skills, that's why I could join. Each of the participants could only carry magazines with capacity max. at 10 rounds. There were very strict safety regulations like the guns could not be pointed backward (where all the other participants were) at any time. While not shooting, fingers should not touch the trigger, etc. There were 2 judges monitoring the whole processes. There would be penalties if there was any violations. My match had 4 rounds, each round had different target locations and movement directions.

那是一個IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) 比賽。任何人都可以參加的。比賽規定了子彈匣最多只能有十發子彈。另外還有很多安全條例，比如是鎗口不可以向後指，手指在非開鎗時不可放在板機之。在整個過程中都會有兩位裁判監督，如有任何違規，都會被罰分。比賽有4個回合，每個回合都會有不同的標靶位置和行動方向。

Here was what happened in one round.

這是其中一回合。

Result of the match was emailed to us a few days later. I finished last, which was expected. Those were exciting experiences and I would very much to try again.

比賽的結果會在幾天後電郵給參加者。我是最後一名完成，當然是意料之中。射擊真是刺激十足的經驗，有機會我一定會再嘗試的。