To add more in depth about the event.
It was in The Impact Zone Range (
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The air was humid with a dry and arid atmosphere. The wind didn't blew, but that made me just push the glasses back on my face and whip my brow full of sweat. Donning my cap of desert marpat of the USMC. I made my way to a small group of people who gathered outside my car's dusty window.
I'm not from this country, but I am used to this kind of weather...Venezuela is very hot, and the summers can be just as hot, if not, hotter.
People littered the stands and shot like no other range I have ever been, with rifles that looked more expensive than my car.
I met with TexasGunTrustLawyer and his pals from Templar Tactical. They were all wearing black shirts and shooting pants. The user was just as I imagine him to be. Senior shooter, with lots of years of experience and armed to the teeth, just as the rest of his cronies. I was expecting them to be more hardass; but I was received by a good handshake and a smile. The guys were actually a nice bunch.
After taking a look at my rifle, they fixed the torque of the screws, aligned my scope to the center, and bore sighted me.
They explained that there was a competition going on and the range wouldn't be available but up to two hours.
"Follow us" They said, so I did.
Not far from the range, there was a nice looking place, like one of those you see in the movies to eat at a nice restaurant while the competition that was happening within the range ended. I ate chicken breast, bread and spinach.
After, we went back and they prepared the grounds for the testing and explaining of their suppressors.
The team was actually composed of many engineers with mentions in metals, among other specialization. The cutaway suppressor blew me away. Basically the explanation for his great idea, was to imagine if he could have the power of a tornado...inside of a suppressor. Now folks, I was not skeptical of his explanation, since well, I cannot really understand much of the more precise terms that he used. But here's the words from the website of Templar Tactical
"When other suppressor technology achieves suppression by utilizing turbulence; TTF suppressors approached suppressor design in a whole new way by promoting flow and inducing very intense alternating tornado/whirlpool actions. These conditions create very powerful forces that actually attract and contain gas molecules in each suppressor baffle significantly longer than any other suppressor on the market"
I come from a world where guns are rare and seeing and 'hearing' such technology without any ear protection blew my mind away.
They used many rifles, among them a very nice custom Remy with a 300 winmag, you can see one of their members using it to hunt a hog at 376 yards away. Very nice fella, we talked a lot in the restaurant.
The magnum round was barely a whisper among the dusty and arid environment where we were. Among the public was an old shooter, who claimed that he wanted to hunt without alerting his kids, the owner of the business, Mr Curtis; talked about his product and how was he able to get behind his idea into full production.
They had suppressors of different sizes and different rifles. Most of them were custom Remi 700's, but nevertheless, they looked appealing to my eye. I wish I took more pictures, but sadly I was too busy drooling at the amount of firepower on the tables, among the rifles, was a Barrett 98 Bravo in 338 lapua, also fitted with one of their suppressors.
Among the rest, were custom Ar15's platforms, accurized and turned into match rifles. Ar10's and even...22LR like a Ruger 10/22 and a very big 22lr bolt gun with a scope bigger than my arm on top.
I was watching the show, and one of the instructors, this guy:
Asked me if I wanted to have fun, which obviously I replied yes. He gave me his fully auto custom M4 style 22LR rifle. He corrected my stance and joked that he would teach me even though he charged 600 dollars for a full lesson. I laughed and he gave me a hold of his rifle.
I had a good blast shooting hot 22. lead at the target down range, an innocent pig took most of my hits.
After it, the guys kept shooting, including this guy....with a very nice AI in 308.
Here's mind among some of them.
Curtis and another of his members, took careful minutes to explain my stance, how I needed a point of aim, stock to tag along my spine, shoulders straight and butt relaxed, hold my breath, close my eyes and breath easy then open my eyes. If the target was still sighted in my scope, I was ready to shoot the sucker.
I did it.
So he said. "Shoot"
With the magic word, I took aim and shot a nice round through the head of my target, but I flinched and my finger was removed from the trigger after shooting. He taught me to get the finger on the trigger, so I did, so I shot.
The second round hit through the head, in a nice group for a beginner that you can see at the right side of the circle.
I shot at least fifteen rounds; changing between the paper target, the poor piggy and a steel plate with the silhouette of a man, hearing a satisfying pling of the round impacting it at 2591fps.
I gathered my casings politely.
The wind had picked up speed and in good timing, as I bet that an inexperienced shooter like me, would had trouble keeping his rounds on target with all the curtains of dust jumping all over the place.
I thanked everyone and I left with a smile on my face.TexasGunTrustLawyer, gave me his card and told me that if the guys gather around once more to shoot, he'll give me a call and I promise, I shall take more pictures.
I gave all of them a good hand shake and I left satisfied with my performance and the wonderful help I received from these guys, who for good or even better, are part of a world that just makes me smile.
-Yunis Zujur.
