RTW – Los Angeles – Part 1

Image above: Magazine loaded, inserting it into the Kimber 1911. [Saturday 05 September] | [View all photos]

Two weeks after arriving back in London and somewhat recovered, here’s the first photo set kicking off a whole series covering the 29 days of my crazy round-the-world trip.

Picked up by Brian at LAX, there was a certain sense of warm familiarity walking back into his apartment and seeing that it was just as I remembered back in 2006 … well, minus a few pieces of furniture and a change of flat mate.

Then it was off to the LA Gun Club so that I could have a taste of Americana by firing a live weapon for the first time. Got to try out the US Kimber 1911 .45 calibre pistol and a Russian Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle and Brian ran me through the three key safety points:

Always assume that the gun is loaded
Always keep the gun pointed down the range
Never point the gun at anyone

Two things surprised me at the start. Firstly, that it seemed that there should be a lot more training and supervision. Secondly, guns are actually very very loud – even with ear defenders on. There was a guy firing a shotgun and I couldn’t help but jump every time he fired.

But with Brian’s expert tuition (or maybe he was paranoid that Annie wouldn’t forgive him if I accidentally shot myself and couldn’t come to her wedding the next day!) I learnt how to load, aim, and fire the Kimber 1911. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly I did actually hit the target from time to time.

The bolt-action rifle, originally produced back in 1895, was interesting to use as it got me thinking how using it would be like on the battlefield. With only one cartridge at a time you would have to keep reloading after every shot all the time under fire. A world away from today’s automatic weapons with their “spray and pray” approach to hitting something.

By the end, we had expended 140 rounds doing, as Brian so eloquently put it, “exchanging dollars for noise!” That done, will have to think about the next next piece of Americana I want to experience … maybe a cross-continental road trip one day.

Afterwards, being famished and craving Korean food, Brian took me to Soo Won Galbi. I was impressed that they actually used proper charcoal fires for the BBQ at each table, compared to just gas in London, and the food was simply delicious.

So good in fact that that we polished everything which was great for me (airline food still needs work) but probably not so good for him since he had a dawn half-marathon the next day. That said, he actually did a good time so perhaps should be done before every race! :D

Next up … Part 02 of my stay in Los Angeles covering Annie’s wedding to Bill.

Travel Stats: