Best Mother's Day present EVER. (Just today got to play with it.)

My other half took me to a small, local gun & pawn shop, just after Mother's Day. He wanted me to take a look at a gun, a Mosin-Nagant m44 carbine. I'd been looking for one--a good one--for a little over a year.

It was pristine, on the inside, at least. It looked like someone had bought it, shot it once, and dropped it on a concrete shooting bench when it kicked the shit out of them (there was a ding in the otherwise gorgeous stock).

So, that was my Mother's Day present. I hadn't wanted to say anything about it until after I'd gotten to take it out and play with it.

I got to take it to a friend's private range and play with it today, along with part of my fifth anniversary present (which happened to have been yesterday)--which worked better than advertised, wasn't visible at all (read further for funny story about this), and I highly recommend for women who like to shoot either large caliber rifles or shotgun. One caveat: trim the edge of the Velcro closest to the arm, or the corners will irritate the hell out of the shooter.

Back to the gun. I have one thing to say about it:

Oh. My. God.

It was MAGNIFICENT. I can barely see a target at a hundred yards (really poor vision, combined with the standard antique rifle's iron sights), and I hit the damn target all five times I shot the gun. Combine that with the fact that I really, really enjoy the roar of a large caliber rifle, as well as the feel of it coming back into my shoulder--well, let's just say I had a very good time.

Okay. Funny story as promised: the recoil pad my beloved other half got for me let me get someone else who was at the range today. Got 'im good. I was having a good time shooting my rifle, and asked him if he wanted to try out my new baby.

Well. All he could see was me having fun. He didn't see that I was wearing a pussy pad under my shirt, velcroed to my bra strap. So, he sat down at the bench, shouldered my new rifle, chambered a round, and took the shot. Without a recoil pad. And he did it twice, which was about as much as his shoulder could stand. And he didn't know I had a recoil pad until we were leaving, and I was taking it off my bra and out of my shirt. At which point, he told me that his shoulder still hurt.

Anyhow, it was a good day. Exactly what I've been needing for a while.