Ready.. Aim.. Fire! Mayadeen Shooting Range

Childs Play III, the last decent movie in the Chucky series, had a rhyme that comes to the forefront of my memory at this moment:

"This is a rifle,
This is a gun,
This is for shooting,
And this is for fun!"

Yesterday, a friend took me to Mayadeen, Kuwaits First and Only shooting range. Its right down the road from the Sahara Hotel, off the Sixth Ring Road, near the Equestrian club.

Nondescript from the outside, you hand in your Civil ID at the front desk, and head on downstairs to their "restaurant".

I call it a restaurant because you are given a sheet with guns and prices, be it hand-guns, rifles etc. They have a really wide range (e.g. I took 20 shots with a 9mm for 6KD, and some scope rifle, 9 shots for 8KD).

You have to be atleast 15 for the live ammunition, they also cater to the young by having an air-gun range, and laser tag!

Upon paying (they have K-NET), you are given a receipt, which you take to your shooting range. First thing you do is hand in your receipt to the guys inside, and they will call you when it is your turn. When it is your turn, remember to pick up your ear-muffs! The echo inside is enough to give you a ringing in the ear for quite some time!

Each lane has an instructor, who will teach you how to load your gun, cock it, aim, squeeze, boom. My instructor for the hand-guns was called Erik, a real class act. Humorous, and even let me keep a few shells afterward.

(not to toot my own horn, but for a first time shot, I was able to "snipe" the circle in the 9, thats skill you cant learn, its inherent!)

Pointers: always hold your breath when shooting, it serves to stabilise your shot.

Next, the rifle-range. Much less hassle, with good reason.

After watching Shooter, I was always under the impression that snipers had it easy, they are detached from the action, scope, shoot, kill. Oh how wrong I was. First off, first person shooters do not do the art justice. The cross-hairs are always moving, unless you have nerves of steel. The recoil on this puppy is EVIL! Dude wanted me to rest my chin on the rifle-butt. The guy on the lane next to mine must have had an elephant rifle, as I literally felt the air gush from each of his shots. You are free to aim at any of the targets at the end of the lane, but it is preferred to stick to your own (I was number 7). Sadly, no head-shots. But one sore shoulder.

In closing, add this to the list of activities to be done in Kuwait. A few of the distinguished shooters (Mayadeen have shooting contests).

This is one bad-ass chick! (Pun intended, shes an amazing shot!)

(Dude on the right shot bullets in a SINGLE LINE to tear the sheet in half)

Next up, Archery @ Discovery Mall!