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Free Beacon Shoots Explosives

FEATURE: Yes, really.

November 24, 2014

No, seriously. We really shot at explosives and made them blow up. We even experienced some near-full-auto fun with a Slide Fire!

It was amazing.

But we didn't just end up firing high powered rifles at "Binary Exploding Targets" on a whim. No, it was part of a trip that Sonny Bunch, CJ Ciaramella, Andrew Stiles, and your humble correspondent took to Farmville, Virginia, for a special episode of NRA News' Cam & Company.

Host Cam Edwards had us all down to his neck of the woods, about 3 hours from our offices in D.C., to put on a marathon show. We rotated in and out of live appearances for about 4 hours. Sonny talked about the mission of the Free Beacon and how he likes to wink at other people in the office. Andrew talked about his status as our Hillary Clinton watchdog and resident troll. CJ talked about his never-ending battle to tear mostly mundane (and sometimes really really important) documents from the clutches of the most transparent administration ever. And I talked about my efforts to obtain a concealed carry license in D.C., and my flawless sense of style.

The next day Cam had us to his farm (yes, in Farmville) where we met, and subsequently ate, the pigs he keeps. They were delightful!

After that came the highlight of the trip: the shooting. But this wasn't just any average trip to the range.

It was a blast.

Andrew, CJ, and I spent some time with a wide variety of firearms from Glocks to 1911s to Ruger 10/22s to Smith and Wesson M&P Shields to AR-15s to Ruger SR22s to AR-10s. Sonny had to have his Volvo detailed or something so he missed out on all the fun.

The targets we used were the best part: There's really nothing like shooting at actual explosives.

It's all legal too. The explosive is called Tannerite and it's extremely stable. Shooting it is practically the only way you can make it explode. They even sell the stuff at the new Gander Mountain which just opened up about 30 miles outside of Washington, D.C.

Of course, our Tannerite targets were set up by somebody who had a lot of experience with using it and the outcome was nothing but fun. The same was true for the Slide Fire equipped AR-15 Andrew and I had the pleasure to shoot.

A Slide Fire enables shooters to achieve a near-full-auto fire rate with a semi-automatic rifle. So, while you still need to pull the trigger to fire each round, it feels just like you're shooting a fully automatic gun. Which is awesome.

There's no indication whether or not shooting explosives or a Slide Fire equipped AR-15 will earn me any credit towards the training required for D.C.'s concealed carry permit. I can hope.