Finally Get To Shoot My New Gun Today.... Not So Fast.

Foggy start this morning...

I got this new gun I've been wanting to shoot for last three weeks.  First weekend, rain.  Second weekend, snowstorm.  Third weekend, finally dry weather!....  My coworker who's been through a lot this winter, his daughter's in town & would like me to cover his shift on Saturday, so strike three.  My boss gave me a makeup day-off, so I chose the very next day forecasted to be dry.  Today(Wednesday).

I'm stoked.  I'm headed out to my plinking spot up in the mountains, first thing.  It was foggy, then maybe some ice on the road?  I still made it okay.  Anticipating some snow left over from the storm last week, I go in from Salmonberry Road.  I never get on from this road, but it's a well known road to shooters, hunters, etc. in the region.

At first, road looks clear.  I'm feeling pretty damn good.  Little snow on the ground as I start climbing.  At this point, I've decided I won't make it to my usual spot.  It's long ways up there, and besides, there's a huge gravel pit nearby where I could shoot the new handgun & even my AR-15. 

Left here takes you down to the big gravel pit.

So I take the turnoff leading to the pit & immediately I notice more snow.  It's downhill & it's not far from the main road, so I keep going.....  I have All Wheel Drive, also winter rated all-terrain tires, but before long, I'm stuck.  I was worried at this point, because I didn't have the room to turnaround, and now it's an uphill trying to crawl back to the main road.  

I'm driving a crossover SUV with almost no off-road capability, but thankfully, I'm a decent driver on snow & ice.  I know I bottomed out couple of times, but I used the tires & momentum to finally get down to the pit....

The Pit(lol):

I'm not gonna lie.  This was scary.  Snow packed inside the wheels shows you how deep the snow got.  I probably gave myself about 20% chance of getting back up to the main road.  On the climb back up, I was either getting stuck, or trying to keep the momentum while car's doing it's best to go sideways & drive off the road.

Super accurate dramatization.

It felt like a small miracle after I made it back up to the main road..... but I still had some shooting to do.  I drive up to the closest pit & there's logging truck getting ready to put the chains on.  I could be waiting there for half an hour, I go to the next one.  Another logging truck parks right in front of the second pit.  There's also a guy trying to get out of said pit.  Not sure what's going on(I think the truck was letting me pass), I decide to just give up & go to the popular shooting range nearby.  I've never been to it, but what the heck.

 

I pull over to look up direction on my phone to this shooting range.  Same logging truck goes right past me. lol  HOWEVER. Where Google tells me to turn to get to the range, there is no road there.  😭  Starting to feel sorry for myself at this point, but I did have a backup plan.  If mountains had too much snow, I was going to drive across town to English Pit.  Shooting range in Vancouver, Washington, which was like an hour away.....

English Pit Shooting Range

There it is.  My new gun & the old.  This post was supposed to be about the new handgun, but yeah, it took the backseat today.  I wanted to see if my accuracy would improve with the new gun, and I did better with it than with the Glock, but I was still hitting all over the target.  

Range officer told me I was shooting at 20 yards.  Their website says 25 yards.  It looked like 15 yards to me?  I don't even know what happened today man.  My "new gun" post will come, but not today.😫