Rifle team sticks to its guns

Throughout history, naming inanimate objects has been a sign of endearment. Ship captains named their boats, and car aficionados assign monikers to their favorite vehicles. For their part, the N.C. State rifle team names their guns.

Katie Siegert, a junior in business, says her rifles have a colorful history.

“During my sophomore year, I was having some health issues, and my scores were going up and down,” Siegert said. “Some days it seemed like my rifle loved me, and other days it was the complete opposite.”

Siegert’s English class had just finished watching Romeo and Juliet, and she found a character whose personality matched that of her finicky rifle.

“Its name is Lady Rosaline,” Siegert said. “Rosie for short, if I’m mad at it.”

Siegert’s other rifle, a sleek, red and black gun, is named Kunoichi, which is a Japanese term for a female ninja.

“I name them because they’re like my best friends,” Siegert said.

Christopher Melochick, a freshman in first year college, said he named his smallbore and air rifles “the Twins” because they both match.

“It seemed like a good way to distinguish them from the other ones on the team,” Melochick said.

Samantha Bullard, a senior in biology, said she isn’t sure where or when the tradition of shooters naming their rifles started, but she offers this explanation for why it has continued.

“It’s an emotional bond, between you and your rifle,” Bullard said. “You have to have faith in it and trust it, because it allows you to do what you do.”

Bullard initially went with a technique similar to Melochick’s, naming her air rifle “Faithe” and her smallbore rifle “Hope.”

“Keith didn’t like my smallbore rifle being named Hope because he seemed to think it had a negative connotation,” Bullard said. “We needed to find something that was more powerful, something that said, — I can do this.'”

Bullard, who says she loves Greek mythology, opted to name her new smallbore rifle “Artemis”, after the Greek goddess, a huntress who used arrows that were swift and painless.

Faithe, which Bullard said she has “no idea why” is spelled with an ‘e’ on the end, has led to numerous inside jokes within the rifle team.

“[Coach] Keith [Miller] will say, “I have faith in you,’ and I’ll say, ‘no, actually, I have Faith, she’s in the back,'” Bullard said with a laugh.