RedBeard’s Curious Life

After using my .22 rifle and AR-15 for a while, I got the itch for long-range precision shooting. The .22 cartridge is only accurate to 100 yards, and .223 is accurate to about 600 yards, although my AR-15 isn’t super-accurate. Drawing inspiration from movies and games, I wanted a rifle that could reach out to 1000 yards or more; for a bullet to remain accurate at long range, it must maintain supersonic speed because the transition to subsonic randomly and significantly destabilizes a bullet. Military snipers have used the M21, M24, and M110 to great success, and all of those rifles fire the .308 cartridge which is known to maintain supersonic speed beyond 1000 yards. The M24 is a bolt-action rifle, which is a design well regarded for its accuracy, whereas semi-auto actions like the M21 and M110 are typically regarded as good but not great. I wanted to have an M24 of my own, capable of hitting a dinner plate at 1000 yards.

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A highlight reel of the last decade of my life, it’ll be hard to top this one!

2000:
Started working on Destiny3D

2001:
Graduated high school
Worked at Fuddruckers
Started university at Georgia Tech

2004:
Internship at Autodesk

2005:
Graduated from GA Tech
Visited Hawaii and England
Started a job at Microsoft, on Direct3D
Started skiing regularly

2007:
Met Sarah

2008:
Visited Tokyo, Japan
Sarah moved in
Got a quaker parrot

2009:
Got into shooting guns, bought several
Started rock climbing
Transferred to Project Natal
Bought a house
Got a dog
Got a cat

Prior to my shotgun acquisition, I was also looking at handguns, as they are far more compact and suitable to carry on the street or in a car. I visited the local indoor range and tried a variety of rentals: 3 different calibers (9mm, .40, and .45), 5 handguns in each caliber, firing 10 rounds per handgun. My experience was that there was a ton of variety in the feel & performance of the available options, so it was tough trying to decide what I liked best. While not exactly scientific, my investigative exercise helped me pare down the selection to examine more thoroughly.

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