Penciled In

Firearms training

Voiced by Chad Luckner, written by Brien Bartels
Original music by Ian Botsford

©Kaotix Illustrated

Transcript

Penciled In

Voiced by Chad Luckner, man's voice

I’m out of quarantine now. (Fun fact: “Quarantine” is a corruption of “40 days,” for the length of time a plague ship waited in port for approval to land. I got out in somewhat less than 40. ) I feel better. About which, more later.

We face the problem of training Ian and Suzanne to shoot, without the benefit of extra ammunition. I found a partial solution.

As the only person in our group (I think) who owned any guns before this current emergency, I’ve tried to contribute to firearms education. There are only so many things you can teach about guns without live ammo exercises, but I read of a trick years ago.

One of the handguns Adam and his crew looted on the way here was an enormous .45 Automatic Colt Pistol. Just about the right size for Ian's huge paw. Anyway, the hammer on a full-size ACP falls with only a little less authority than the Hammer of Thor himself when the trigger is pulled.

I took a short pencil and sharpened it down to a little nubbin, and dropped it down the barrel. When dry-firing, the impact of the hammer on the pin (and hence the end of the pencil) drives the pencil out in a ballistic curve. Not far, but if you “shoot” the pencil into a paper target on the wall a foot or two away, you do get some practice in holding the cannon on target and squeezing the trigger smoothly.

Once I inflated a plastic bag and surprised Ian by popping it right beside his ear just as he pulled the .45’s trigger. Everyone thought this was a cruel trick, but I said part of firearms training is overcoming your “flinch” reflex, which develops after the gun goes BANG a few times. I was just trying to supply a bang.