Shooting at 10 below

Ten below really isn't all that cold. For here. I'm glad someone thought to have us qualify now instead of when it's even colder.

Normally, I love to shoot. I've been pretty good at sticking to my goal of going to the range once a month. I think I even went three times in June.

We're required to qualify twice a year. Of all the places that need an indoor range, I think Alaska is right up there. You may say, "Yeah, but as a Ranger, you're more likely to shoot someone outside."

Yes, that's true. But shootings rarely last more than a few seconds, and we were outside shooting for two hours. If I were out on snowmachine patrol (so if I were planning to be out in the cold for an extended period of time), I'd be wearing bibs and a parka. In that case, if I needed to shoot someone it would be a race to see who could dig through the layers faster.

I wasn't wearing my snowmachine bibs or parka yesterday morning. Foolishly, I wasn't wearing my bunny boot either. Just my regular winter boots and one pair of socks. So my toes got cold. And being as how I wanted to fit my finger in the trigger, my hands got cold. And every time I covered my face with my balaclava, my glasses iced up (not fog, but ice). The rangemaster said I needed to learn to shoot with glasses on, but actually, I don't. I'm not going to rush to put on eye protection before shooting someone. To qualify, yes, I suppose I need to learn to shoot with glasses.

Of course with my face bare, I then had to press that face onto my rifle and shotgun. If it had been -40 I'd have burned myself. And it didn't really help, at least on prone rifle. I got all fogged up there anyway. And my pants froze from laying in the snow.

Despite all this, I shot pretty well. I thought my rifle target was absolutely amazing since I couldn't see the dang thing half the time.