Guns and Dolls

[runmakitarun]

Makita is set up on the outdoor range. The RKG-41 is a bulky weapon. It's designed to survive a lot of abuse, and she's used it to beat people with before.

It also kicks like a mule. Makita's lack of expertise with the thing is pretty evident as she keeps shifting her stance trying to compensate. That and the merely mediocre aim she seems to have with the weapon.

There is an open case of 10mm ammunition on the ground nearby and an awful lot of spent shell casings around her feet. Her frown is a mixture of concentration and frustration. Too many of her shots are missing the target.

Comments

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy gives her a slightly blank look.

"Yarka being... a sniper friend of yours?"

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

"Don't really like him, but he's good. Does his job."

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy doubts that he's as good as her, though she doesn't voice it.

"Fair enough. Not everyone can be great at what they do and likable with it."

She drops Makita a little wink.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita snorts in amusement and grins. "He's stingy," she shrugs, "Doesn't like to use his ammunition on 'minor targets'."

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

"Snipers can be elitist like that sometimes," Goldy concedes. "Don't like to get their hands dirty with grunt work."

"Me? I'll drop anything deemed as hostile as long as it doesn't compromise the elimination of a more pivotal or mission critical target."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

"That's an attitude I can appreciate."

Out of habit she reaches down with her free hand and touches her pistols just to make sure they're still loose in their holsters.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy offers an agreeable nod.

After a few more paces, she veers off the beaten path and pushes her way through a thicket of elderberry bushes.

"We're here," she announces.

Beyond the brush lies a natural clearing—a long, fairly narrow stretch of calf-high grass, weeds and wild flowers, lined and butted by a wall of trees.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita looks around, taking in the terrain automatically. She glances at Goldy then back out over the clearing.

"What do you need me to do?"

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy tramps over to a mossy log that lies in the grass nearby, and gives it a kick.

"Set yourself up behind this to start with. I'm going to pin targets up on the trees at the far end."

And off she heads to do just that.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Dropping to one knee, Makita swings the bag from her shoulder and pulls out a box of ammunition and a couple of magazines. She darts quick glances up to keep track of Goldy as she checks her carbine again.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Dropping to one knee behind the indicated piece of cover, Makita swings her duffel bag from one shoulder. She then looks over Goldy's rifle, noting the differences between it and the equipment she's familiar with from back home. Every second or so she darts a look up to make sure she knows where Goldy is.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy affixes some medium-sized paper target rings at various heights on the already-peppered trunks of several trees at the other end of the grassy reach. She then ambles back to Makita's position, props the RKG against the log and hunkers down.

"Okay," she says, "we're set down there."

"Get comfortable and take a first look through the scope."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

It takes a few attempts for Makita to settle into a position that doesn't have her tense, but eventually she finds one that's workable. She leans forward and puts her eye right up against the scope to peer through it.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

The view is going to be pretty... black.

"You might want to take the caps off first," Goldy deadpans.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita leans back from the scope and turns to grin sheepishly at Goldy before sliding the cap from the eyepiece. She starts to lean in, then remembers to slide the cap from the other end of the scope as well.

This time when she rests her eye against the scope she can actually see through it.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

"Alright. Now focus it using the wheel closest to you, and aim it at one of the targets," Goldy instructs.

The sight is 3-9x40 with a 6 mil-dot reticle. Goldy pauses until Makita seems ready.

"Now, the posts and little dots on the crosswire can be used to estimate the range to objects of known size, or to estimate the size of objects at known distances. For example: at this magnification, the distance between each dot is approximately one inch at one hundred yards. There are fourteen intervals there, and the targets are fourteen inches in diameter, so how far away are they?"

Goldy knows that the targets will be stretching from post to post, since she's used this set up herself on numerous occasions. She looks at Makita expectantly, waiting for her to complete the facile mental calculation.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Math has never been Makita's strong suit, but this one she can do. She takes a moment and leans in closer, shifting her head slightly before pressing her eye against the scope in order to see clearly, "One hundred yards." Makita pulls back and frowns a bit, "How far is a yard?" The Reds use something analogous to the metric system.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

"Right," Goldy affirms, with reference to the calculation.

"There are three feet in a yard. Twelve inches in a foot. And an inch is about this much," she explains, illustrating an inch-sized gap between her thumb and forefinger.

"Don't push your eye up so close," she adds, "unless you want the lose it when the gun recoils."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

"Umm..." Makita hums to herself as she tries to figure distances. "Close to a meter then?"

When she settles down against the rifle again she holds her head a bit farther back, "Is this far enough?"

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy nods approvingly.

"Yes. A yard is about the same as a meter. And yes. That's about right."

"Now... that rifle has a maximum range of about four hundred yards. At one hundred we aren't going to experience much fade—one dot's worth at most." She pulls up a few blades of grass and drops them, watching where the light breeze wafts them. "Negligible wind effect," she reports, "so no side-to-side compensation needed."

"When you're sighted: inhale, exhale slowly, and squeeze the trigger at the bottom of the breath."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita carefully follows Goldy's directions, exhaling slowly and squeezing the trigger. She's so wrapped up in holding the weapon steady that when the gun kicks back (hard) into her shoulder she lets out a short yelp of surprise.

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

The rifle's KRAK! resounds about the clearing. Goldy lets out a little snicker at Makita's reaction to the recoil, then smiles kindly.

"Are you okay there?"

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

When Makita looks up there's a grin on her face. "I like it."

[3rdtimelucky.livejournal.com]

Goldy returns the grin.

"Good. Go ahead and finish the mag then, and we'll see how you did."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita works the bolt to chamber the next round, looks through the scope (remembering Goldy's admonition not to get too close), and fires. Then she does it again. And again. Then works the bolt, leans forward to site in, and pulls the trigger. It clicks.

She looks up with a frown, "Did I break it?" She's used to pistols and assault rifles and ridiculous amounts of ammunition.