Research

All feeling very real with this M4 straight-pull 5.56 carbine with ACOG sight.

As part of my research for writing a military SF novel my partner booked a training day at Bisley Camp.  The weather was cold, which meant dressing warmly, but fortunately the rain in the morning had stopped by the time we got on the ranges.

Note the ear defenders.  When writing scenes in stories where people are firing guns remember that they are loud.  The bigger the gun the louder it will be.  Silencers, are sound suppressors and don't actually do what Hollywood shows them doing.  Any scene in a room where someone fires a gun will result in a room of temporarily deafened people unable to hold forth with verbal exchanges of wit and repartee etc.  Show the readers that you have done your research and keep it real.

My targets from the indoor gallery shooting with small calibre rifles

I didn't get to keep my results from the outdoor ranges, something to do with them being part of a big frame mounted system one hundred yards down range from where I was shooting from and all.  However, the gallery rifle shooting had these standard targets one could take home with one.

if you want to read more gun geek stuff about the day and what I learnt then go here.