Silly Question: Shooting

[GNowakowski]

So I've done a myriad of searches on this forum - hoping to find information on whether or not there is much opportunity for shooting while in the Navy.  So my silly question is does the Navy leave the door open for shooting? (Rifles hopefully?) Will we get to do any shooting at boot camp?  After boot camp (during pipeline?) will the option be open?

I know its a silly question set... I'm a NW Montana resident...I love shooting - and can't help but wonder.

Also, is there anywhere anybody can point me as far as rules of having your own guns?  Is that a no-no? (I see if your on the Navy Team its O.K...but if your not?)

http://www.usnst.org/  
Here they have a document NAVADMIN message (first link on top center of the page) and on pg. 2 it does state its open to all
commands.  It doesn't say much about how it can be applied for - it seems you would need your command to give the nod.

http://www.usnst.org/faq.htm
Again it says "all active duty" personnel.  However...I notice that Nuc's are often exceptions to the rules...

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navy/l/aanavybasic5.htm
It appears that in boot camp you get to shoot a 9mm and a shotgun...  ... I can't find any documentation showing that you EVER get to fire a rifle at boot camp...is that because you don't?

http://www.navysports.com/sports/c-rifle/navy-c-rifle-body.html
This site is a bit difficult to navigate - its hard to tell whether this is only open to academy students or all the Navy... Truly a
headache of a site (Although the most aesthetically pleasing site I've seen from the Navy yet)

So once again - I'm just not catching the information I'm looking for... I WNTZ 2 SHEWT STUFF!
Any response is appreciated,

-Glen

ADDED:   I thought I'd post this in this thread for later search strings.  (Now the word "shooting" will bring up pages...so no funny business!)

http://www.persnet.navy.mil/NR/rdonlyres/BCB24012-BC52-4E88-B20F-A509B1C744B7/0/NAV10196.txt
This is a new(ish) NAVADMIN about personal firearms.  Wish I'd have found this BEFORE my post :S

[drayer54]

So I've done a myriad of searches on this forum - hoping to find information on whether or not there is much opportunity for shooting while in the Navy.  So my silly question is does the Navy leave the door open for shooting? (Rifles hopefully?) Will we get to do any shooting at boot camp?  After boot camp (during pipeline?) will the option be open?

 rifle at boot camp...is that because you don't?


-Glen

Glen, I think you are going to be insanely disappointed by the incredibly little amount of shooting you will be doing. If you are doing shooting then something will have gone terribly wrong.....

1) You will be a nuke, nukes don't shoot stuff.... Ever..... In the pipeline you will have your butt in a chair and a pen in your hand. No guns. Ink pens and pieces of chalk. Arm yourself sailor!.
2) Boot Camp shooting is kind of a joke too... You will learn to hold a gun in a tightly monitored environment and shoot a target like 10 times and then you are done. No joke. Unless you take all headshots like I did and then they will have you load magazines for hours on end (I liked it because I got to watch TV during that time) and then you get to shoot 10 more times. In and out. This will be a good chance for you to learn early how annoying topsiders are when they act cool giving you the gun explanation because they have a job that involves carrying them.  

3) You will have to drive through some really rough areas that are  even sometimes blacklisted to get to work while not being allowed to keep a gun in your car, makes sense right? Gun ownership will be up to local and state laws, unless you live in housing or in a BEQ, then no guns for you unless they are stored in the armory.
4) There isn't much to hunt that you are used to in SC (the deer look like puppies), but if you go to New York for prototype in the winter months then you can catch Deer season like I did. They had some good hunting up there, but no handguns. Blue states tend to have dumb gun laws.
If bad things do happen you can always repel borders with your mighty ax handle of bravery!

I think you will be pretty disappointed in the shooting opportunities...... good luck to you though!

[spekkio]

As a nuke, you will do very little shooting. Despite the fact that we routinely get hit for watchstanders not maintaining small arms qual proficiency, the Eng manages to big dick the Weps and nukes end up at the FIDE/eng dept training/drills rather than gun shoots.

[GNowakowski]

I don't carry - nor care much about handguns.

I shoot with the NW 1000 yd. club here in NW MT.  I shoot a .300 WSM Krieger style barrel and a modified M70 action.
I REALLY enjoy reloading.  I hand reload of course, and used to turn my own bullets; and moved on to
forging BTSP's in lead... Maybe someday I'll mess around with electroplating some forges (now I buy higher BC Hornady's).
As far as hunting goes - I doubt I'll shoot any deer bigger then the ones I've already shot here.

Thanks for the info though guys.  I very much appreciate, all of your responses.

-Glen

[Cycoticpenguin]

Glen, are you bored man? Lol

[drayer54]

I don't carry - nor care much about handguns.

I shoot with the NW 1000 yd. club here in NW MT.  I shoot a .300 WSM Krieger style barrel and a modified M70 action.
I REALLY enjoy reloading.  I hand reload of course, and used to turn my own bullets; and moved on to
forging BTSP's in lead... Maybe someday I'll mess around with electroplating some forges (now I buy higher BC Hornady's).
As far as hunting goes - I doubt I'll shoot any deer bigger then the ones I've already shot here.

Thanks for the info though guys.  I very much appreciate, all of your responses.

-Glen

I hope for your sake that you don't end up in San Diego then. Buying ammo here now requires the same tracking system as guns. And the roads suck, but that's irrelevant.

New York wasn't bad for Deer though. I was in a group of hunters and one guy had a .300 much like that one and shot a bear while we were Deer Hunting on the opening day of rifle season.

I'll never forget hearing his voice come over our headset with that news as we could here the MARF announcements in the background of where he was.
Good times........

[GNowakowski]

My rifle wouldn't be legal in California.  I hope I don't end up in San Diego either - but then I'd be near some family.  I suppose I could hit some nice mountain bike trails down there to make up for it.  

Bear hunting really is a kick!  I haven't shot a good sized one yet; but I really enjoy stalking.  Stalking both bear, and lion really feels great.  It really gives you that supreme predator feeling.  In Glacier I've been out pretty far on grizzly trails - and found what I was looking for.  Sometimes your supreme predator feeling quickly melts - you don't feel like a bada$$ once they catch a glimpse of you.  Real predators can be kind of humbling, but there is no better feeling than toppling that very sense onto its head.  

There is something primal about tracking that I do love.  I also love shooting - but to be honest hunting has always been more about whether or not the freezer is full.  Some years I'll go with some great guide friends of mine, and I'll hold secondary in case a "dude" with a parrallux thinks he can take a silly shot.  When I was quite young Montana passed a law (supposedly to stop disease from spreading) which required Elk farms to be downsized.  It basically was done to push most of the farms out of business.  In one fall my Dad and I, helped with the harvest.  I'll never forget those days, and it changed my outlook on the difference between "sport" and "hunting".  Ever since I haven't been to big into the "sport".  Don't misunderstand - I still do hunt.

I do love shooting, and so I get out every couple weekends to give some good squeezes.  I like getting a few good loads together and marking things up.  Sometimes I'll take the 30-30 out and have some fun "plinking" but its more rare these days, I found a pretty accurate load some time ago with it - and anything else just feels eroneous to shoot out of it...so its lost some of its fun as far as a target gun.  Shooting the old Remington .22 is great - but obviously I don't reload for the rimfire's and I don't enjoy it quite as much because of it.

What size of bear did your friend shoot in New York?  Was the .300 he was shooting a traditional WM or was it a short action like mine?  Have you ever done any deer hunting outside of NY?  

[JustinHEMI05]

OMG 2 wordy guys in one thread.... I am not sure we have the band width.

[wingnut]

This may be blasphemy but if you really like to shoot the answer is obvious--USMC

[Cycoticpenguin]

This may be blasphemy but if you really like to shoot the answer is obvious--USMC

lmao I was just thinking that

[navynukedoc]

I hope for your sake that you don't end up in San Diego then. Buying ammo here now requires the same tracking system as guns. And the roads suck, but that's irrelevant.

Yuma is a few hours away. And all you need to buy ammo is a state issued ID proving you are 18 or older.

[GNowakowski]

This may be blasphemy but if you really like to shoot the answer is obvious--USMC

lmao I was just thinking that

‘Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation.’

— Aristotle

‘This is a gift that I have, simple, simple; a foolish extravagant spirit full of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions, revolutions; these are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion.’

— William Shakespeare

non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat
-Cicero
(We are not born of ourselves alone, our country {or people} have a share in us)


Utilizing only a portion of our talents; and only a partition of our potential passes unattainable torrents to those without these gifts.  I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if I chose such an easy way out.  
After becoming a riflemen then what?  My service to the world ends after I prove to it that I can shoot?

If their was a choice which required more of me then Nuke; and had the potential for more important endeavors during, and especially after; I'd be chasing it instead.  My heart desires shooting - the world had no intention of dedicating me to it.


Hopefully you catch how I feel so there can be no more silly questions on the subject,
(I'm sure at some point some of you felt similarly)

-Glen

[JustinHEMI05]

Then your heart will be broken, silly boy.

Thanks for your future service.

[Cycoticpenguin]

Then your heart will be broken, silly boy.

Thanks for your future service.

aww justin, dont crush his spirit yet Hes still gotta qualify!

[IPREGEN]

Way back when I was on the Bainbridge, CGN-25, we were part of the "engine room defense team" so with the pleasure of that assignment we occasionally were handed M-14's. We used those to shoot the ocean from the fantail. Big bullet, nice sound. We also had the chance to shoot skeet from the fantail with 12 gauge shotguns provided by the rec committee. It was something like 50 cents a shot. Judging by earlier posts it looks like guns aren't for sailors anymore

[Marlin]

Way back when I was on the Bainbridge, CGN-25, we were part of the "engine room defense team" so with the pleasure of that assignment we occasionally were handed M-14's. We used those to shoot the ocean from the fantail. Big bullet, nice sound. We also had the chance to shoot skeet from the fantail with 12 gauge shotguns provided by the rec committee. It was something like 50 cents a shot. Judging by earlier posts it looks like guns aren't for sailors anymore

We did quals every year or two on the Norfolk range or on maneuvering watch. 45, M-1, and for some of us the Thompson. I never understood a young sailor with a weapon that could fire a mile running around inside the boat during repel boarders drills.

[MacGyver]

Dear Guns (eeerrrrrrrrr I mean) GNowakowski ,

If you want to shoooooot any then avoid navy nuke.  

Yes you will qualify on at least a pistol in boot and the same once on your boat or floating command.  Yes some of us qualified more.  But, only once for most.

It will be up to your command to release you to compete at any shooting events.  Expect to get a no everywhere except your shore commands.  Case in point I got to shoot East Coast Navy, ALL Navy and further one year (my last in the navy while at a shore command) in national match.  That was it.  Up to that point I had not fired a weapon outside of maybe 4 times in 6 years.

YMWV,

Mac

[DLGN25]

'66-'72
Boot camp through ET A school, zero weapons training other then the non-firing Springfield drill rifle in boot camp.

Nuke training, zero weapons training.

Two years on Bainbridge as a nuke, zero weapons training.  Oh, the FT's would put an armed guard out side the missile magazines when they were opened.  Back then they actually had nukes inside.  However, when one of the FT's accidentally fired off a 45 round, they were no longer allowed to put the clip in their guns.

Two years as a conventional ET on a Can, as a Master at Arms and in port OOD, zero arms training. 

Once I did have the opportunity to fire a 30 cal machine gun from the fantail.

That's it, six years in and only once fired a personal weapon.

If you want to shoot personal weapons, and be in the Navy, become a Master at Arms, aka a Navy cop.

[drayer54]

 I haven't shot a good sized one yet; but I really enjoy stalking.  
What size of bear did your friend shoot in New York?  Was the .300 he was shooting a traditional WM or was it a short action like mine?  Have you ever done any deer hunting outside of NY?  

The bear in New York was a black bear and I'm sure it was going crazy because the gunshots were insane there on the first day of rifle/deer season. I don't remember the .300 he had, but it did the job pretty quick.

I watched the brown bears eating salmon out of the rivers in Alaska last August and it was an amazing experience for sure. We saw a tremendous amount of wildlife while we there. I did enjoy fly fishing with the tremendous high and low tides during the salmon run while seeing bears, eagles, whales, sea lions, and more during the experience. I would reccomend this trip for anyone.

The best deer hunting I have seen is in Iowa and New York, but I would like to try some more places for sure.

[navynukedoc]

The best deer hunting I have seen is in Iowa and New York, but I would like to try some more places for sure.

Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, just about anywhere you grow corn will be some big ones. My cousin got an 18p. buck during bow season a couple years back.

[playswithairplanes]

Dear Guns (eeerrrrrrrrr I mean) GNowakowski ,

If you want to shoooooot any then avoid navy nuke.  

Yes you will qualify on at least a pistol in boot and the same once on your boat or floating command.  Yes some of us qualified more.  But, only once for most.

It will be up to your command to release you to compete at any shooting events.  Expect to get a no everywhere except your shore commands.  Case in point I got to shoot East Coast Navy, ALL Navy and further one year (my last in the navy while at a shore command) in national match.  That was it.  Up to that point I had not fired a weapon outside of maybe 4 times in 6 years.

YMWV,

Mac

They stopped Nuke Weapons quals in Bangor about 1990-ish. At one point they qualed us for being on the BAF, but then scrapped it, and said if it comes to that, just beat the SOB with a wrench. Probably safer that way for most of the rest of Ships Force anyway. I would be surprised if they are still doing weapons quals for Nukes at all. You can still qualify marksman, but you have to do it on your own time, and at the base firing range meeting all the rules etc.

Shooting in boot was laaaaame. 45 that had been converted to 22, shotgun... if they had time, which they usually didn't.

[730SMAG]

They stopped Nuke Weapons quals in Bangor about 1990-ish. At one point they qualed us for being on the BAF, but then scrapped it, and said if it comes to that, just beat the SOB with a wrench. Probably safer that way for most of the rest of Ships Force anyway. I would be surprised if they are still doing weapons quals for Nukes at all. You can still qualify marksman, but you have to do it on your own time, and at the base firing range meeting all the rules etc.

Shooting in boot was laaaaame. 45 that had been converted to 22, shotgun... if they had time, which they usually didn't.

I think I fired off 12 rounds of 9mm in boot camp, but that was in '03.


On the boat, they made all nukes qualify 9mm, and about half of us on shotgun.  Another quarter got tagged for M16, and I personally lucked out and qualified all three.  It was for some sort of security requirement, and I'm not sure if I can actually talk about the details of the program, but at least on boomers, everyone had to qualify at least 9mm.

Which means, of course, 48 rounds of 9mm a year for annual qualification.  And 12 rounds of 12-gauge.  40 rounds of 5.56mm, I think.  In other words, if you do your own shooting on the weekends/at a range, you probably fire off more ammunition on a personal basis in one afternoon than you do for the Navy all year long.


P.S.  They no longer permit 'improvised weapons' like axe handles and wrenches.   

[Nuclear NASCAR]

Put new spammers stuff here.

[USSMiamiElex]

Hope you didnt give up by the time you got to my post. 

You have the opportunity, pretty much like any other enlisted person in the navy, to be a member of the USN Shooting Team.  It is likely a combination of your qual status, if the boat is in/out, and some luck.

However, if you are interested, look up the following: http://www.usnst.org/

I was a member of the USNR shooting team from 2003 - 2005, and had a blast.  I was on the 2003 USNR team at the Interservice Pistol Championship, and had a blast.

Good luck. 

[Zog]

Things may have changed but when I was stationed in San Diego (Sub base) there was a range on base and a very bored rangemaster. I moved on base after a divorce and was bored so I used to go to the range, he was happy to have someone there and let me shoot all I wanted. Earned my pistol and rifle ribbons (Not that it did me any good). But, this was 20 years ago. (Really? 20 years, can that be right?? Damn)