Saturday, December 02, 2006
Today I went out to a co-workers house to fire his Barrett .50 Caliber Rifle. I was at work last week talking with some folks about guns and I started talking about this one, because my little brother is absolutely in love with this gun. The M99 Big Shot is not your average rifle. If you are about to climb to the top of a tower at your local university, or you're contemplating becoming a sniper for hire, then yeah....this may be your gun. Short of that, this isn't your typical stalk Bambi in the woods sorta equipment. If size matters, then Ronnie Barrett quite definitely left no room for competition when it comes to this rifle.
First off, the bullet is about at long at your hand. Someone else loaded the gun for me and got it all ready to go. I braced myself behind it for a good long time as I attempted to find anything, anything at all, in the sight. I moved forward and backward until I did finally get a small bead of an image floating around in the scope like a bubble in a level. I don't think that's how it's supposed to go, and since I had my fingers wrapped around an assault weapon whose shot could travel further I was willing to go looking for it, I just aimed low and hoped for the best.
Fear and reason suggested that I step away, but something else took over in me and I squeezed ever so lightly at the trigger. I had watched someone else fire the gun and one thing you notice is that the bullet strikes the target in the same instant that you fire it. It is going fast =). Although my shot posed no danger to the target, we'll assume it otherwise occurred in equal fashion. Oddly,I was aware of everything in that second. As the double baffle muzzle brake was redirecting high-velocity gas back across my face,and the thick rubber recoil pad became one with my body, I had an epiphany. The thought didn't even last the time that it takes me to say it now....it just sorta occurred, but I thought "This must be what it feels like just before you explode". And then for what seemed eternity, I thought maybe I had exploded. I stood up, backed away from the rifle, and fell on my ass.....I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was excited that I was alive, excited that I had done something I feared, excited about an experience that made my mind move so quickly that time itself seemed to slow down....then I started to think about how you can rattle your head so hard that your brain becomes detached and I knew I was back in the moment.....I was good.
