Chapter 11: Absolutely Baffling

Even a genius would start to shake after firing over two hundred rounds in one go.

While mainstream handgun rounds aren't particularly powerful, certain categories within handgun ammunition pack a punch, like the .44 Magnum or the .357 Magnum.

After firing a few revolvers, Arthur's hands were numb. But after firing the Desert Eagle, he became afraid. When the staff placed a loaded M500 on the table, Arthur fell silent.

As a shooting club, how could they lack the symbolic ultra-powerful revolver? The table in front of Arthur was filled with various high-power handguns.

These were truly powerful handguns; the Browning 1935, touted as high-power, was completely overshadowed. Only the Desert Eagle could barely hold its own among these high-power handguns.

The staff placed the M500 in front of Arthur and made an encouraging gesture.

Arthur picked up the huge revolver, but he looked to John for help.

John smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth, and said in a teasing tone, "Go on, genius, keep going."

Taking a deep breath, Arthur gripped the handgun tightly with both hands, one foot forward and the other back, adopting a posture ready to absorb the recoil.

The Smith & Wesson, known as the "End of Watch," is touted as the world's most powerful production handgun. To put it simply, both the .50 Desert Eagle and the Smith & Wesson fire .50 caliber rounds, but the Desert Eagle uses .50 AE bullets, while the Smith & Wesson uses .50 Magnum rounds.

Many people don't know what "Magnum" represents. To explain further, the muzzle energy of the M500 is 4000 joules, while the Desert Eagle's muzzle energy is 2200 joules. The famous AK47 rifle has a muzzle energy of 1980 joules, and the M4A1 has a muzzle energy of 1650 joules.

Ignorance is bliss, but the more you know, the more fearful you become.

After hesitating for a while, Arthur finally pulled the trigger.

The recoil caused the handgun to rise dangerously close to Arthur's nose. Even with noise-canceling earmuffs, the deafening sound shook him to the core. As for where the bullets hit, only the heavens knew.

Releasing his left hand, shaking it, and switching to holding the gun with his left hand, then shaking his right hand, Arthur was prepared for the recoil. While his wrist couldn't break, Arthur's hand was truly numb.

Arthur once again looked to John for help, but John gave him a thumbs up and said loudly, "Keep going, there are nine rounds left."

Under John's encouragement, Arthur gritted his teeth and managed to fire the remaining four shots before placing the gun on the table.

The staff took out five frighteningly long bullets to reload, but Arthur stopped them, holding the staff's hand and earnestly saying, "Forget it, um, five shots are enough for this gun."

The staff looked at Arthur and finally smiled, saying, "Okay, voluntary surrender."

John laughed, and the few onlookers also laughed.

When the people in the shooting range found out that a newbie was challenging all the guns, a few more people came to watch.

Challenges like this always attracted attention, but unfortunately, this round of firing the high-power handguns didn't break Arthur's nose, didn't make him drop the gun, and didn't break his wrist. This left the spectators somewhat disappointed.

There wasn't much left to see, and watching a newbie shake while shooting wasn't very entertaining, so the onlookers began to disperse.

Arthur looked at the staff and then said seriously, "Is that all?".

The staff looked at the table and said happily, "Now we've finished the 9mm handguns, the high-power handguns, and we still have 180 rounds of .45ACP, 40 rounds of .40SW, 20 rounds of .45GAP, and another 60 rounds of .22LR."

Arthur opened his mouth wide, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Haven't I fired the 1911 yet? Um... then let's finish with the 1911."

Arthur was ready to give up, but now he realized he hadn't even fired the 1911 series yet, so he had to fire a few shots.

Picking up the classic Colt 1911, Arthur was about to fire when he suddenly looked at John and said seriously, "Um, never mind..."

In the end, he didn't say it. Arthur looked at the target, casually fired the remaining three shots, and then put the gun down.

His wrist ached, his shoulders ached, and his whole arm was numb. After putting down the 1911, Arthur said to the staff, "There's no need to shoot a full ten rounds with one gun, it's too much trouble, no need to reload."

The 1911's magazine capacity is seven rounds. Although firing one round wasn't enough to make ten, Arthur didn't see the point in firing the remaining three shots. Why insist on making it a whole number? He wasn't OCD.

The staff, of course, respected the customer's choice, but John did not respect Arthur's choice.

"No, no, no, let me load the bullets for you."

John laughed wickedly, and he started loading the bullets. Arthur couldn't help but interrupt him, finishing what he hadn't said earlier.

"Then let's finish all of them. My arm is not very comfortable, which may affect my strength. Um, let's skip the martial arts practice today."

Although there was a hint of threat in his words, Arthur knew that when he said this, he had admitted defeat.

Five hundred and seventy rounds of bullets were not easy to shoot.

John paused for a moment, then put back the grabbed magazine, shrugged, and said, "Then let's not shoot anymore."

Arthur looked at the staff and said, "Can the remaining rounds be shot next time?"

The staff smiled and said, "Sorry, the full package can only be shot once because it's a bundled discount."

What a shady business!

With his right arm unable to swing, Arthur picked up the gun with his left hand, almost aiming without aiming, roughly aiming at the target, and fired the remaining seven shots.

Arthur was very casual, allowing the recoil to raise the muzzle, not pressing the gun at all. This way, the impact on his arm was smaller. Then, when his left hand holding the gun fell, he casually fired another shot. Since he was just consuming bullets, why bother aiming? Just shoot until empty.

Who was still looking at the target now? Arthur hadn't looked at it for a long time. He didn't care about how many points he scored. John had stopped looking a long time ago, as long as Arthur was accurate. However, the staff was still very diligent and said, "Hmm, he actually... hit three tens?"

Arthur was already numb, he didn't care about the score, but John was stunned again. Then he said to Arthur, "Are you left-handed?"

"No, I'm not."

John looked annoyed. He said impatiently, "Then keep shooting, keep shooting well."

Arthur switched to another handgun, a Sig 1911, and once again casually fired all the bullets.

The staff scratched his face, looked puzzled at John, who was not happy, and said, "John, what are you doing? Look at him, why are you looking at me?"

"John, can you?"

John turned his face away, and the staff continued relentlessly, "Buddy, I don't mean to offend, but I want to know if you can achieve this result at 25 meters with your left hand?"

John twisted his neck unnaturally and said, "No, can you?"

"I can with my right hand, but not with my left."

The staff finished speaking, thought for a moment, and said to John, "I'm not allowed to shoot during work, but I want to try. How about we try it after I get off work? You're very good at shooting, so let's see how it goes?"

John firmly said, "No, I refuse."

Arthur picked up the gun, but seeing John and the staff so enthusiastic, he put it back.

"Shoot, why stop? If you can hit three tens again, I'll buy you this gun."

After John finished speaking, he looked at the staff and said, "Will, give him a new target paper. You witness it, I bet on his gun skills!"

The staff looked at John in surprise. John was impatient and said, "Did you hear what I said? Change the target paper for him. I want to bet with him!"

The staff sighed, then thought for a moment, and said, "If he misses, what do you want?"

"Nothing!" John looked at Arthur confidently and said, "I think you're bluffing, so I bet you can't do it. If you win, I'll give you my gun. If you lose, I won't ask for anything!"

Arthur picked up the gun again. His left hand had no strength, and his hand trembled when he held it level. Why was he shooting so well? Arthur didn't know himself.

The staff looked at the gun in Arthur's hand and said, "John, the Smith & Wesson 1911 is not cheap. The original price is $1,300, but you know all guns are going up in price, so a new SW1911 in our store now costs $1,600."

"I bet he can't hit it!" The more John spoke, the more excited he became. He drew his gun and said to Arthur, "If you can hit four tens, I'll give you my gun. If you can hit five tens, I... I'll give you a Cabot production model. If you can hit six tens, I'll give you a customer custom version. Shoot!"

The staff suddenly said, "This gun magazine holds eight rounds. What if he hits all eight bulls-eyes?"

"Hahaha... If he hits all eight bull's-eyes, I'll give him the Cabot top custom version!"

The cheapest Cabot production version starts at $3,000, the customer custom version starts at a minimum of $5,000, and as for the high-end custom versions, Arthur knows they can cost over $100,000.

He didn't know why John was so excited, but it didn't matter if he lost, so he just shot.

Arthur didn't think about winning anything from John, so he raised his left hand and casually fired a shot as it fell.

"Ten points..."

The tone of the staff changed. He scratched his head and reported how many points Arthur scored. Then he exclaimed, "Damn! Another bull's-eye, damn it!"

The voice of the staff, Will, sounded like he was crying. John's face looked like he had been punched. People from several target lanes away came over, very incredulous, "What kind of shooting is this?"

The first two shots were bull's-eyes, Arthur fired the third shot, hitting the target paper but missing the bull's-eye, so it counted as a miss.

There was no need to give away a gun worth over $100,000. John breathed a sigh of relief, but he looked very angry. He yelled at Arthur, "Shoot properly! Do you think I can't afford a gun?"

John was inexplicable, but Arthur ignored him and aimed properly for the fourth shot, which missed the bull's-eye again.

At this point, Will, the staff member, covered his head with his hands and said to John, "Buddy, your friend is not holding back."

Inexplicable, Arthur didn't hold back.

But before John could finish, Arthur fired the fifth shot.

Ten points.

This shot returned John's rage, freezing the expression on his face.

The sixth shot, the seventh shot, and the eighth shot, all missed the bull's-eye.

After the eighth shot, there was silence on the shooting range. The sound of gunfire was gone, and there was no other sound.