by Douglas DeBono, 2006

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT StandingOrders.BlogSpot.Com, March 01, 2006

Ballistic Research is a vital part of the Systems Consulting culture (Systems Consulting being the company that I run). Some guys play golf. Some guys fish. Some guys contemplate their navels. We all have names for what we do.

I shoot guns. Of course, I need something put in my schedule that doesn't sound like took-a-bag-of-guns-to-the-range-and-made-a-lot-of-noise, so I call it ballistic research.

Recently, I added a new gun to the arsenal of democracy--a Model 1927 Tommy Gun. I'll readily admit that this is not a practical gun. It weighs about 13 pounds and a bolt spring King Kong would find challenging, but boy does it put a smile on your face.

Brian and I went down to the Burnsville range to test it out. We had a few problems with packing grease, but once we ironed out those issues, we threw 200 rounds down range and tore out the middle of targets.

Normally, a .45 ACP pistol wears me down after while. As long as you can keep this sucker level, you can shoot all day long. Recoil is minimal, but the fun is maximum.

And isn't this better than chasing a silly white ball over grass?