As a team-building activity for the project I work on in my professional life, it was decided that we would have a “bullets and beer” afternoon. I know this sounds really dangerous, but here’s the disclaimer: No beer was drunk until AFTER using the firearms! And as for me, having given up alcohol long ago, I only drank Diet Squirt the whole time.

This activity was the brainchild of Micah, one of the team members who was in the Army. It also so happened that a few other team members were fond of firearms and even had guns of their own. So as an activity, we rounded up old, worn-out computer equipment that was of no use anymore and took it out to the desert, and gave them their last stand (a la, OfficeSpace). We also brought a large tarp to place under all the equipment so that we could easily remove everything we brought (and then some).

We had a huge HP plotter, a big screen TV, two CRT monitors, a computer chassis, some potatoes and a watermelon. After a lesson in gun safety and proper handling of firearms, the watermelon was the first to go with a single round from a rifle. I was amazed at how much damage a single bullet could do! The potatoes were hard to hit but it helped those of us unfamiliar with guns to get a hang of them.

We had a couple of pistols, a shotgun, an AK47, and an SKS. Each had its unique characteristics and I personally liked the pistols the best. It was another hot day and in the middle of the desert, it was 120° in the sun! Without a tent, the weapons got hotter and hotter as we were out there and became harder to handle. The AK47, once fired, would “cook off” rounds unintentionally due to the heat in the chamber being so great.

As you can see from the pictures, we blasted everything and like a bunch of over-testosteroned teenagers and enjoyed every minute of it. Here’s a video clip of Mr. Bob shooting the AK47. Download Video Clip of AK 47 (8954.2K)