Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The smell of gunpowder and marksmanship






To me, the sharp, sweet smell (atleast to me.. it is )of burnt gunpowder you experience when you open the bolt of a rifle to eject a spent shell is heaven. I just love it, I have spent a small fortune on bullets just to enjoy that smell. In fact I have spent enough time on a shooting range nosing around, to be able to recognise the smell given off by different breed of catridges. Ok, enough about the smell.

This post is actually about my love for marksmanship. It's about hitting a dot dead centre a.k.a the bull's eye from a distance and being able to do it again and again all the while knowing that the probabality of hitting the bulls eye is more near to zero than one i.e. if everything goes the way things ought to go.

Speaking in scientific terms, you should be able to reproduce the outcome of an experiment if you are able to do it in identical controlled conditions. In a target shooters case the controlled conditions include but are not limited to 1) Three Part Breathing 2) Attentional control 3) Maintaining body posture aligned to the target and the the sighting scope etc.Hitting the bulls eye is the result of perfect execution of a series of actions like any stage art you can think of.

I still remember the first time I squeezed the trigger (they pull the trigger only in the movies), it was almost as good as any first kiss. ;). I long for the company of my fellow riflemen and their tall stories about their junglee exploits and about guns passed on from generation to generation ... in that other life of mine.

11 comments:

Siddhesh Kabe said...

o_O.... aaila....i nv u...:D

Pramoda Meduri said...

i also hav enjoyd it while i was in a NCC camp.

it feels good to click the trigger..:)

The Holy Lama said...

Any sport is like an art, be it shooting, gynastics or diving. the synchronization and perfection is really a pleasure for the eye. I just hope you love the smell of shots and are not trigger happy.:D

Destiny's child said...

Passion! Totally evident! :)

Neha said...

I second Destiny's Child..your passion reflects in this post..

Insignia said...

I have never tried it. High time to try these things. :-)

And the post, you have described the scientific terms behind it. shows how much this sport it close to you. Keep up!!

scarlet pimpernel said...

@ ravan

Hey ... y the envy ? .. juz try it soon its for everybody and anybody ;-)

@being pramoda

happy that you have had the experience coz its an experience worth having

@ Holy Lama

Hi lama .. you sound like my mother ;-)(My theory is that all target shooters are trigger happy thats why we go to a range and shoot at targets .. to curb that urge). Its not just the smell, its the people.. what makes it really special .. people whom you trust with your life when you enter a shooting range and then there is the constant discussion about guns, accessories, tecniques,equipment etc

@Destinys child

നന്ദി ;-)
@ neha
shukriya ;-)

@ Insignia
hey .. just find a rifle club near your home and sign up. The place will be packed with looney shooters hahaha .. you are hereby warned

Sandhya Menon said...

I love this post. You're writing is extremely poetic. :P

scarlet pimpernel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sid said...

Hey that is a very interesting hobby... Are there any shooting ranges open to general public in India?

scarlet pimpernel said...

@Restless...thankyou editor

@ sid ... there are plenty .. please get in touch with the maharashtra rifle association @

Maharashtra Rifle Association
Muncipal Rifle Range,
Under Coast Guard Tower
Worli Sea Face
Mumbai (N)
02224932736

Obtain NOC from state association to which you belong and submit to MRA