Bullseye Practice while avoiding the Coronavirus

First topic message reminder :

I've read most of what I can find about the Corona virus, and how we catch Covid-19.  The most "dangerous" scenario is to be around other people.  If you stay six to ten feet away from others, that minimizes the chance of getting sick that way.  Next on the list, is to touch something that an infected person has touched.  Even then, to get the virus you need to then touch your mouth, nose, ears, or mouth.  And thoroughly washing your hands will kill or remove any virus on them.  Wearing a mask is mostly so people who do have the virus can't infect others.  I guess it's a good idea to wear one anyway.  Bottom line, stay away from others.

So, it seems to me that if I go to my local range, and stay away from other people, and am careful as to what I touch, and clean up carefully before I drive home, going to the range should be no more dangerous than going to a park, or walking on a path.  I guess it also means using an anti-virus wipe on my guns and gear when I get home.

I'm in South Florida, and the virus graphs I was following seemed to suggest that by June 1st, it might be OK to start going back to the range for practice.
Then they revised the graph, to show "estimated cases" instead of "confirmed cases", which raised the line on the graph a lot, meaning I maybe ought to wait until October.


I suspect a lot of others here are considering their own options.  Maybe some of you have thought this through better than I have.  Is my reasoning correct, that if I go to the range for an hour or two several days a week, and if I go mid-day, when Florida weather means the temperature will be up around 90 or so, so other (wiser) people go earlier or later, when it's more comfortable, and if I'm careful - is it safe to do so?   .....or, how much longer do I need to wait?



............or, have most of you already thought this through, and decided going to the range for practice can be safely done, so you're already doing so?

bpettet wrote:Photos would be helpful.  Thanks! 

I also use the old bag trick sometimes for working with parts under a lot of tension...and there were certainly times I wish I had!

1 - Carefully remove stock M-52 rear sight. (Don't lose spring and plunger for magazine disconnect along with the "cylinder shaped part" that goes under them!!)
Clean
2 - Reinstall the magazine disconnect spring and plunger
3 - Carefully hold down the plunger as the BME rear sight slides over it.
4 - Mount the BME sight mount for whichever sight you plan to use (for me, Vortex Venom) 
         Note:  Center the rear sight by eye, before tightening mounting screws.
         Use blue Loctite on the screws sparingly.
5 - Follow the mounting instructions to attach your rear sight to the BME mount.
6 - Go to range, and sight in the gun.

As to which sight to use, because the person I bought my parts from removed them from his Model 52, I installed them on my gun.
I didn't expect to like the Vortex Venom so much, but I do.

(Maybe I should copy the above post into the Equipment Forum, so people can find it??)

Thanks Mike.  Very helpful.  

I just got back from the indoor range (was outdoor range yesterday).  Didn't see many people shooting.  I'm working with a new to me Marvel conversion.  My trigger needs to be lightened up a touch...it's a hard, crisp 4#, which isn't bad but isn't easy to shoot precisely either.

I hope to get to the range again tomorrow morning, and shoot both 22 and 45.  Maybe if I'm the only one wearing a mask at the range, everyone will assume I have >it< and stay away from me.  I'd really like to hang out with, and chat with, all my friends, but I haven't yet convinced myself that this is safe.

As if the virus wasn't enough to deal with, I need to go early in the morning, and head home before noon.  There are protesters all over the country and world, and in Miami they like going out on the expressway, shutting it down.  I feel very sympathetic for their cause, but my thoughts on Social Distancing mean I want to avoid groups of people.  

I took my Salyer Springfield to the range last week, but my coach tells me my subconscious is supposed to fire it, not me.  I'm not supposed to know when it will fire - which is sort of an impossible task with a roll trigger.  My Salyer Caspian has a regular, non-roll trigger, and I don't (yet) know exactly when it's going to fire.

Not sure how long I'm going to be going to the range, as I fully expect all the Covid-19 graphs and curves to take off like a rocket.  Speaking or rockets, I watched SpaceX for four hours Thursday, and again on Sunday (yay!!!), and for maybe five or six hours today.  Fascinating.  They are so meticulous about every little thing.  There's no such thing as "that's good enough".  

Tomorrow might even be dry, but the rest of the week has lots of rain coming.  Between the weather, the virus, the protests, and all the hurricanes we're supposed to get hit with this year in Florida, it's going to be tough.