Stop in for a cup of coffee

Oh, I've never shot a bolt action...

I've only shot a few guns...

My friend in high school's dad took us to a shooting range once with his pistol... He told us not to worry about hitting the bullseye, just hitting the target at that range was good... His dad hit 7 out of 14 shots, where I hit what I thought was 12 out of 14 shots... A few years later I was looking at my target and found two holes that were hit twice, which put me at 14 out of 14 hits...

I considered joining the rifle team in college, but was too busy taking 22 to 24 credit hours a semester so I could get out as soon as possible... 18 hours was considered full time, but it cost the same to take 24 credit hours as a full time student... I got out in 4 years, but there were many that took 5 or more to complete the requirements... Since we were paying for it ourselves with no assistance, I wanted to get out asap...

It wasn't easy, that's why it bugs me when people try to call themselves an engineer when they didn't actually take the classes and pass them... There were many at my college that started out in engineering and had to drop out and change majors because it was too hard for them... We started out with over 250 in our class and the summer that I graduated, there were only 33 people graduating, 3 of which were architects... I had to go three summers to graduate in 4 years....

My second year, the guy in the dorm room next to me who was a business major started drinking every day by 8 PM while I was usually up until 2 AM studying... I called him a "blow off business major"...

You had to EARN your engineering degree, they weren't given away...

There was only one guy that made straight A's in engineering at our school in over 110 years since it opened... After he graduated, he got his masters, started teaching at our school, worked for GM, and was going for his doctorate degree... His classes were tough, many people said that he was there to make sure that nobody else got straight A's so he could stay the only one that did... He was an expert in robotics and programmed the CAD system at our school himself... He was very smart, probably a genius...
That's impressive!
Funny thing is I went to the introductory session for the college pistol team, and I too decided right away it was too big of a commitment.
I wasn't as good of a student as you were, but also would not have finished in four years without summertime night classes. I think the schools that make it a five year degree with a mandatory internship are taking a better approach.

"found two holes that were hit twice" That was Geo. Patton's claim at the Olympics but he couldn't prove it.