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I'm an expat Californian who is obsessed with traveling to strange and exotic destinations in the former Communist Bloc. I also like tacos, beer, surfing, trapshooting, and the geopolitics of oil. I currently live in Arlington, Virginia and work in Washington, DC. Read more about me here, check out my photo album, or send me an e-mail.

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    This is my shotgun. There are many like it, but this one is mine.


    Yeah, I told you I was hooked on this new hobby, didn’t I? A couple of weeks ago I picked up my new shotgun, a 12 gauge Beretta 3901 Target RL. The best thing about purchasing a firearm in Virginia is that you can take it home that very day, unlike in California, where I had to wait 10 days to pick up my old Soviet rifles. WTF, Golden State?

    I’ve taken it out a couple of times over the past few weeks and it has performed admirably. And by that, I mean my scores have improved significantly. Of course, that is also due to the additional lesson I took last month so now have a much better idea of what, exactly, I am supposed to be doing.

    Below are a few photos from this past weekend when Wayne, Olga, and I headed out to the Bull Run Shooting Center on a beautiful fall day.


    Yeeeah, I don’t mean to brag, but I beat all these dudes. OK, I guess that is bragging.


    PULLLLL!!


    Broke it.


    Unfortunately, I forgot my camo hat at home


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    Related posts:

    1. Shooting clay pigeons in real Virginia After doing so poorly at skeet shooting in Illinois, I decided I needed some proper instruction in the finer parts of shooting a moving target with a giant gun, so back in June some friends and I took the “Learn to shoot” class at the Bull Run Shooting Center...
    2. Wieliczka Salt Mine: Goin’ Deeper Underground I’m not really sure why I was inspired to visit a salt mine. I mean, seriously, touring a salt mine? Seems like a bizarre thing to do while you are on vacation (granted, not as bizarre as touring Chernobyl), but it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site and was supposedly...
    3. This is my XTerra. There are many like it but this one is mine. A funny thing happened today. I bought a car, a 2006 XTerra S trim 4×4. It looks a lot like this (had to pull a stock photo because it was dark by the time I got home): Of course, while driving home from the dealership in Arlington, VA, I...
    4. Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-11 @flightblogger what are you going to PSP for??? My hometown! in reply to flightblogger # Brickskeller! (a real bar) # How did I get on the Ladies' Home Journal e-mail list? "Snuggle-Up Suppers for Fall" WTF?!?! I think that requires using a stove… # @mjanderson Oh, I do…I'd just...
    5. Poland Photos: Krakow / Auschwitz-Birkenau / Wieliczka Salt Mine Finished uploading the photos from Poland: A few Poland-related posts on the way. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!...

    4 comments to This is my shotgun. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

    • Russell

      Mmmm… not quite as exciting as your last few blogs. I mean guns are cool and everything but maybe you could have given us a little more background story on it like what you made you decide on this particular fine firearm, what the trip to Virginia was like and the interesting stories you shared with the locals. A picture of you with the Beretta and the gun store owner would have been nice too.

    • lol, well, the shooting range is just a 30 minute drive down I-66, which isn’t very exciting. I should have some more NKorea related posts soon.

    • OMG! I love Bull Run! Ah, I actually miss DC a little bit now :)

    • Rats! Now I have shotgun envy. You should know you got me started on gun collecting when you got your 1st Mosin-Nagant 91-30 a couple of years ago. Now although I am generally a left-leaning liberal, I seemingly and paradoxically have a small arsenal. Some in the linked photo below are guns I grew up with on a farm. But some are directly because of you! Maybe I now need to buy a Beretta and relearn trap/skeet shooting. You are a bad influence on this old guy.

      BTW, SoCal is as wonderful as ever, and In&Out plus Mexican food rules.

      http://www.flitetime.net/guns.jpg

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