Sunday Gun-Day, It's Going To Be Hard To Top This One (There Was a Helicopter)

In my recent travels I've been fortunate enough to be in the near vicinity of an old college friend who has since gone on to be a "cool guy" in a major metropolitan PD. What's the advantage of this? When your friends grow up to be cool guys, they're still your friends, and they also know other cool guys.
They also have the clout to get access to a private training complex with 5 shooting bays, and a 1000 yard range, and invite you along.
We spent most of the day running a few drills on one of the 100yd bays. My weapons of choice were my mix-master AR sporting a Daniel Defense upper, Vortex Viper PST 1-4 optic, and SilencerCo Omega suppressor; as well as my EDC Glock 19 Gen 4 in a Raven Concealment Eidelon AIWB holster:
The drills (which involved barricade shooting both strongside and weak-side) went well, and I can proudly say I posted up the fastest score despite being one of the few "regular guys" there. However, this was just the start.
The owner of the complex, "Bob," was shooting with us and casually mentioned "Hey in about 15 minutes, there will be a helicopter landing here, so don't shoot it."
Say what?
Sure enough:
If that wasn't enough, someone jokingly made the mention of SHOOTING out of the helicopter. The pilot paused for a moment, and with a shrug said "yeah why not?" I can't make this up...
To shoot out of the aircraft I borrowed my friend's Aimpoint equipped BCM rifle, because my personal rifle did not have a sling attached. I'm not 100% sure how well I did on scoring hits, but I was able at least to keep all the rounds safely in the berm.
Naturally, afterwards we all clambered to lend the pilot whatever gear he wanted, and let him run through quite a few drills.
(Before anyone asks, YES I did quiz the pilot on his background and paid close attention to what he was doing for the first few minutes of the flight. As an instructor pilot myself I can't help it)
We capped the day off by setting up some steel 1/2 sized silhouette targets at 100, 300, and 500 yards. I can happily say I concluded my range day by scoring a first shot hit on the 100yds target with my Glock 19. I promptly stopped shooting for the day.
All-in-all I expended 400rds of .223, all suppressed, with one failure-to-fire due to what appeared to be a light primer strike. I experienced no malfunctions with the can besides that despite the gun getting MUCH dirtier. I didn't do any additional lube or maintenance on the gun, and POI shift wasn't enough to negate impacts on steel out to 300 yds. I did notice the SiCo Omega can working its way loose though, which I blame the ASR mount for. Perhaps I should have gone Surefire, oh well. As a hobbyist, the SiCo will suffice. I had a video of suppressed v. not, but since the camera microphone muffles it anyway, it's not worth watching.
In 300rds of Remington 9mm, the Glock 19 performed flawlessly. More importantly, the Raven Concealment Eidelon did an outstanding job of retaining the handgun despite running around, crawling in the dirt, flying in the aircraft, etc. I have the utmost confidence in this set up as an EDC.
"It's far easier to start out learning to be precise and then speeding up, than it is having never "mastered" the weapon, and trying to be precise." - Dan C
Comments
"It's far easier to start out learning to be precise and then speeding up, than it is having never "mastered" the weapon, and trying to be precise." - Dan C
Didn't realize you were instructing, congrats
Don't worry about the size of the photos ............ they look great !
You fly that Whirlybird too while the pilot shot? What kind is it?
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
Zee
I got to go on a "ride along" on a UH-1 gunship on a range trip. Didn't get to pull the triggers but it was still fun!!
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Works like a champ on IOS and OS Safari. Pukes all over Windows 10 and Explorer latest versions even with Automatic Image Resizing turned on...
Zee
My SiCo Omega will work loose after a few rounds as well, using direct thread mounting.
Got to honk down on it to eliminate the issue.
So I don't think it is the ASR mounting.
Thanks for sharing!
With a 1911 and a 30-06
"It's far easier to start out learning to be precise and then speeding up, than it is having never "mastered" the weapon, and trying to be precise." - Dan C
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
AKA: Former Founding Member