Bob Burton of the Elkhorn Pistol Club recommends these three "must-dos" when handling firearms:
-- Always keep the muzzle pointed away from people.
-- Keep your finger away from the trigger until you're ready to shoot.
-- Keep guns unloaded until you're ready to use them.
To join the Elkhorn Pistol Club, you must be an active member of the National Rifle Association and an active member of the Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association.
Elkhorn Pistol Club fees include:
-- $35 for an annual regular membership fee, $45 for an annual family membership fee or $25 for a junior membership fee.
-- A one-time $40 initiation fee.
-- An annual $35 National Rifle Association fee.
-- An annual $15 Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association fee.
The club invites visitors to come in for two initial visits at a cost of $3 per evening.
John Bohm of Williams Bay takes aim during a practice session by members of the Elkhorn Pistol Club at the Walworth County Range.
Jim Bartnik of Elkhorn checks the pattern of his shots on a bull's-eye while changing targets at the Walworth County Range.
ELKHORN — I'm not completely opposed to firearms, but I've never been much of a gun guy.
I grew up playing the piano, reading books and writing angry editorials about the terrible food at the high school cafeteria.
On Thursday, I visited the Elkhorn Pistol Club to take a shot at target shooting with 10 or so guys who normally practice at the Walworth County range.
Joan and Edmund Fellmeth of Lake Geneva also were visiting Thursday at the invitation of Bob Burton, who is club secretary and was our instructor for the evening.
Burton explained the types of pistols and the importance of safety. Always keep the muzzle away from people, finger away from trigger and gun unloaded until you're ready to use it, Burton said.
"They are an absolute must," he said.
Joan went first, shooting a Browning Buck Mark .22 caliber. Though timid at first, her shots hit closer with each try.
"It feels OK, not bad at all," she said after her first time holding and shooting a pistol.
Then it was my turn. I didn't do too badly, with a few shots in the dark center area of the target and one right in the middle.
"Do you want to join the club?" Burton jokingly asked me.
Well, maybe.
Edmund followed and destroyed my hopes of becoming a shooter. He had never shot a gun either, but he put almost all of his five bullets in the center.
Dreams crushed, I went on to learn a bit about what it takes to be a part of the half-century-old club.
Pleasant and quick to welcome newbies, President Jim Nerud said the club was founded in the late 1950s by a group of Elkhorn men. They started the group as a rifle club and progressed into pistols, later becoming a pistol-only club.
About one-third of the 32 members competes in the Border Pistol League, made up of shooters from Elkhorn, Beloit, Janesville and McHenry, Ill.
And the Elkhorn club won a few prizes in the latest round of competitions.
Bob Arnold took the Division I first-place award in the .22 match. Burton won first in the .45 match. Gary Furman won Division II first place in centerfire. Jim Bartnik took second place in .22 Division IV.
Arnold is one of the charter members of the club and has been a member since its beginning. He began shooting while in the military, and has since been doing it as a hobby.
He proudly wears a Distinguished Pistol Shot award on his shirt.
"I was one of the top 10 percent of shooters in three different regions," Arnold said. "I was put on the Fifth Army Pistol Team, an all-army group of distinguished shooters."
He later founded the Elkhorn club in 1956 with a few other friends and currently serves as the club's chief instructor.
Nerud hopes to bring younger members to the club.
You've got to like to shoot, he said, though it doesn't matter if you want to compete.
"About a third of our shooters are competitive, but some of them don't care to compete," Nerud said. "They're welcome to shoot, too.
"It's a fun thing, it's your club."
The competition
The competitive season is from September until May with matches every other week, Nerud said
During the season, competitors train at the Walworth County Range, N6637 Hodges Road, Elkhorn.
"We'll run through an actual match scenario," Nerud said. "The guy calls out as if you were in a match. It depends on what course you're shooting, but we shoot three different guns, 90 shots per course."
The competition starts with the slow target. Competitors are allowed 10 minutes to shoot 10 times. Then comes the timed target, when competitors get two 20-second periods to shoot five times each round. After that comes the rapid-fire target, when competitors are allowed 20 seconds for 10 shots in two rounds of 10 seconds.
Competitors do three types of target three times: First with a .22 caliber, the second with a 9 mm or .32 caliber in the round called centerfire, and the last round with a .45 caliber.
A club can bring as many shooters as it wants, but only the top five scores are recorded.
Competitors are coached by certified instructors at the club.
"On the practice section night, we have whatever a guy wants to do," Nerud said. "If a guy wants to practice, he can practice on his own, or if he wants some coaching, we'll ask one of the instructors and do some coaching."
"Sometimes you develop a problem and you don't realize what you're doing. But if you have a coach watching you, he can tell you what you're doing."
And it takes both mental and physical abilities.
"It's pretty interesting," Nerud said, "because it's a mental effort as much as a physical state."