Shoot to thrill

zoom

Madeleine Collins visited the Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club to try her hand at playing cop.

"Relax!" The directive delivered into my left ear for the fifth time is firm but gentle. No, I'm not languishing in a spa having the knots reluctantly kneaded out of me. I'm holding a 9mm pistol which contains real bullets and I'm aiming it at a target ten metres away.

While such an instruction would be appropriate in more serene surrounds, I hadn't imagined to be coaxed into relaxing when attempting to fire the very same weapon police use to maim or kill.

Talking of which, I hadn't anticipated that I would be shooting live ammunition when I signed up for my lesson at the Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club either. But the ear muffs are on and I've already scored a bullseye within my first five minutes.

Upon arriving at the sprawling SG&SC complex, which is surrounded by manicured lawns and peppered with attractive fountains along the grand driveway, I enter reception to meet Noubar, the club's general manager. Around me, bullet key rings sit next to sunscreen in glass cabinets, in case one might like a souvenir of their visit.

Noubar tells me some people come here to shoot every day. Only as a hobby or sport, of course, as it is illegal to own a gun in the UAE. Sharjah is the only shooting range open to the public in the UAE as others are either private ranges or used for the military, he explains.

As I'm lead downstairs to the indoor shooting range, we pass what looks like an attractive family of deer - all mounted, neck upwards, on the wall. "Are they real?"

I ask, feeling a bit queasy, considering the answer is obvious. It's the first real taste of what I'm getting myself into I realise, as Noubar nods.

Mind you, surely the only reason I would learn, or one would regularly return to a shooting range, is to hone their skills to the point where they can shoot something or someone dead, isn't it? Why ever else? Anger management issues?

I feel slightly uneasy as I descend to the basement, where Noubar passes me onto Abdul, a kindly-looking Indian man who tells me there may be a slight delay in commencing my lesson.

Apparently the shooting range has sprung a leak. Not from the torrential downpour that has destabilised many roads that day. Someone has shot the water pipe. Of course. That a water pipe in a shooting range is exposed is kind of asking for it really, I mutter.

Fortunately, the emergency is quickly fixed and Abdul moves me to the other side of the range where the target changes from a man's silhouette to a traditional round target range with sections numbered one to ten (bullseye).

Seven, eight and nine are coloured in black and it's apparently considered good if you shoot within these. I have to admit I'd have felt a little disconcerted starting out aiming at a man's head. I guess it's something one needs to be eased into.

Next, Abdul peals back a large cabinet door to reveal an eight-tiered arsenal of pistols. Revolvers - the style used in cowboy movies - are stacked next to huge rifles in the cabinet to the left, above which sits hundreds of bullets.

I immediately feel intimidated. Being so close to weapons I've only seen on television is strange in an exciting but scary way. Abdul picks out a .22 calibre pistol, hands me some big yellow earphones and leads me to my shooting point, where he educates me on my stance and the safety issues of handling a gun.

I memorise how to slide the barrel back and check the chamber (the hole in which you can see if the gun still has bullets in it), to always hold the gun so it's pointing ahead (never to the ground), and I practice my grip.

I learn that the hammer hits the bullet, activating the gunpowder which forces the lead out of the barrel as the shell pops off. All pretty straight forward stuff. I fire a few rounds, most of which land within the black inner circle. Abdul is pleased. The shots that hit the outer white circle, he tells me, do so because I'm holding the gun too tightly. Hence, the "relax" instruction.

Keep forearms and wrists loose so that I don't force the gun downwards, I tell myself silently, as I line up the front red dot on top of the gun between the two red dots at the back.

In films it always looks like they tense their arms in a straight position, but this is wrong says Abdul. I get his point when I do finally relax, fire six bullets and see that all have landed within the black circles, bar one.

I'd have imagined more control was needed but tense arms counter-affect the gun's recoil which pushes the gun backwards when you shoot.

Next I move onto the 9mm pistol, which is called so because it shoots bullets that have a 9mm diameter. On my first shot, the force almost knocks me off my feet. It's incredibly powerful and a severe shock to the system.

I feel unnerved due to the power but press on, and one by one the shells pop off beside my head as I aim and fire.

When my lesson comes to an end, I'm disappointed. I can see how shooting can become addictive, why it's considered a sport, and why I will most likely be coming back for more!

www.bluebanana.com

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM