Number 27 - See an Erupting Volcano

Climbing the final leg on foot, you feel a small rumble and then hear a tremendous roar as you climb, Yasur is greeting you. What a sight to behold.

Number 49 - See both Solar and Lunar eclipses

And while it was not total in Brisbane (83%), it was a strange thing watching it through the solar glasses seeing a massive slice of the sun missing.

Number 10b: Visit Chernobyl

Chernoybyl and Pripyat. Hauntingly beautiful, incredible experiance in an amazing country.

Number 11 - Storm Chase a Tornado*

Partial complete, but an amazing experience even as they were "Rain Wrapped". Huge epic storms with beautiful structure and powerful lightning.

Number 23b: Spend a night in the desert

The heat, the cold and the incredible vast distances of sand.

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Number 42: Hit Your Targets

Completed 1 May 2014
Beretta M9, Remington 788 .223 Sniper Rifle, FN P90 and Heckler & Koch MP5
The Gun Store, Las Vegas

So go shooting, number 42... what better place to do this than America and what better place in America than Las Vegas. Sin City, The Diamond in the Desert where the firearm laws are lax and pretty much anything you want to do is on the cards provided you can pay.

Now I initially when I started searching there wasn't actually too many websites/gun ranges that where around. But I found one that offered the setup and experience I was looking for, www.thegunstorelasvegas.com.




Browsing there website, I found the basic package I wanted, a simple "Pick 3". and went about selecting the weapons I wanted to fire. The original plan being the .223 Sniper Rifle, the Glock 17 Carbine and the Beretta M9.

So the day rolled around while I was on my 6 week USA trip and we caught the shuttle out to the shooting range. After we checked in, we were asked to pick our targets and weapons for the pick 3 package. I changed it up on advice that "You're only here once" and picked a full machine gun (MP5) along with the Beretta M9, the .223 rifle and the weapon from Stargate the FN P90.



Beretta M9
The first gun I have ever fired and really not as scary/loud as I thought it was going to be and far less kick. Although it should be a fairly easy to use weapon since it's used by the United States Navy, United States Army and the United States Air Force. My accuracy was terrible and my range instructor could not work out my camera for this first one, so no photos, sorry.

Remington 788 .223 Sniper Rifle
The bolt action on this one was a huge amount of fun and my accuracy was great, although granted the target was not nearly far enough away. But still a lot of fun, fire, up, back, forward, down, fire.




FN P90
Now this was my favorite weapon I got to fire, the gun they use in the majority of Stargate SG-1. It was great, lightweight, quiet, practically no kick and easy to hold, aim and fire. If earth ever got attacked by the Goa'uld this would be the weapon I would run for as well. Good choice Stargate command.




Heckler & Koch MP5
This was the full on machine gun I picked out of the line-up since it was one that was generally my favorite (apart from sniper) in games like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield which my mates and I used to play. As for the gun itself, ea sy to hold and lightweight, but the kick really did add up after more than 4-5 shots in a row. A strong up and to the right pull which you can see on the targets.





Overall, a great experience and worthy of being on the list. Something I will definitely look to do again in future.


Mark 42 as done.