Mike's afternoon at Autrey's Armory

When summer time hits and the high school ball fields are empty, the sports pages need to be filled. We receive news of little league baseball teams, soccer teams, roller hockey teams, swimmers, golfers, drivers of all ages and track athletes. In addition to all of these stories, my colleague Kevin Wandra and I have started a summer tradition of challenging each other to sporting activities around the county and seeing how we stack up. Last year, we went miniature golfing at DixieLand Fun Park. I won the first course and Kevin won the second, also eking out a one-stroke overall win.

Click here to see Mike and Kevin at Autrey's Armory

This year, we decided to up the ante. We wanted more challenges and we wanted to try some activities that neither of us were very familiar with. We decided to start with competitive shooting.

When Autrey’s Armory in Fayetteville first opened, I met with owner Ben Autrey and did a story. Ben let me take a gun out on the indoor shooting range and try my hand. I did pretty good, nailing that silhouette in numerous vital organs. But I didn’t pick up a gun again until last week. Kevin had never fired a gun so we had Ben walk us through the whole procedure from loading the gun to firing it safely. He showed us a Glock 9-mm, gave us protective glasses and headphones and we were off to the range.

I was selected to fire first and I was a little jumpy. I anticipated a loud bang coming from the gun and it didn’t disappoint. What did disappoint me was how far from the bulls-eye on the circular target I was. There was no consistency.

Then Deadeye came up. Kevin was comfortable with a firearm in his hand, almost like he had been waiting his whole life to hold a weapon. As if he were starring in a version of the film “Juice,” set in his native New Jersey, Kevin fired a number of shots with a comfortable and relaxed demeanor, clustering his shots together and much closer to the bulls-eye than I did.

“I think the FBI will be calling you soon, Kevin, asking you to join up,” I said. Ben shook his head and said, “No, that’s more like Secret Service shooting there.”

My confidence completely destroyed, I vowed to have a better showing on the fresh target and it was nominally better. I did have one shot an inch away from the bulls-eye (the closest of either of us, I think), but Killer Kevin bested me again.

Overall, the indoor gun range at Autrey’s was a lot of fun and also very informative. Ben knows and loves his products, his customers and his store.While I didn’t win the competition, I did learn a lot about gun safety and the Glock itself. If you are interested in guns, gun safety or testing your mettle on the range, drop by or visit them on the web at www.autreysarmory.com to see when the next competition is.