It appears that everyone on this thread has a military background. My very first experience with a "high powered" rifle was in the student summer militia during high school. We fired the FN (C1 I think) at the ranges at Ipperwash. My recollection is that they were .308. Fantastic rifle from my memory. Had a perfect score at the range, the only time that had happened to that date in a student militia summer program from the Sarnia militia. Was told the Captain wanted to see me right away... thought I was in deep sh**t.
The other thing that was funny when we arrived at the camp, all the students at the camp saluted us. We apparently had insignia of some sort on our uniform that suggested or indicated that we were either regular army or lance corporal rank.
Another incident that occurred that summer happened when we were on a bivouac just outside the city limits in a wooded area. We had a little mock battle using flashlights. Apparently someone in the residential area not far from the woods saw these flashlights and called the police. By the time the cops arrived (township police) the "battle" had ended and some of us were sent on perimeter patrol and were given FN's(no ammo though). My buddy and I encountered the cops and as we were instructed, we challenged them and actually took them to the Captain. If that were to happen today, we probably would have been shot by the cops.
I don't know if this was a setup by the Captain or not but I suspect it was.