Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Neal Thompson
DATELINE: BLACKSBURT LENGTH: Medium
Heck, I'm not even a Deputy Barney Fife when it comes to guns.
In fact, I've never even fired a handgun, except for maybe a cap gun.
The only real gun I've ever fired was a .22 caliber rifle as a kid shooting (actually, missing) targets with my dad.
So I was a little intimidated, I confess, when Lt. W.B. Tolley of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department put the loaded .357 magnum Smith and Wesson revolver in my hand.
It was during firing qualifications for the department. They offered to let me shoot.
"Please don't shoot any of our officers, Neal," Chief Deputy Milton Graham said before I drove out there.
Well, not only didn't I shoot anyone, but I got two out of three bull's-eyes. And the third was darn close.
"Sign this boy up," Tolley joked.
So I was only 21 feet from the target. But not bad for Barney Fife.
Before loading the pistol, Tolley showed me how to line up the ridge of the barrel so it was even with the groove behind the chamber.
Then he shoved three hollow-nosed rounds into the cylinder and gently handed the gun to me.
I hoisted it with both hands and aimed, but Tolley stopped me because my hand was too close to the chamber.
"You'll get burned if you're too close," he said.
I hoisted again, aimed with one eye closed, and squeezed the trigger slowly . . . Boom! it was loud even with ear protection. And the recoil kicked my hands back, almost smashing the revolver in my face.
The next two shots were the same. And when we checked the target, two were dead center and one was an inch away.
I left the shooting range thinking of that saying about the pen being mightier than the sword.
But I wondered whether the same goes for a Smith and Wesson.
by CNB