Do you know how to operate a firearm?

Well, I'll try to make this as 'reviewee' as possible and try to base it on how it was to operate and experiences. If you wish me to elaborate on anyones I can try my best to.

Pistols
Colt 1911 .45- After firing this I can tell why it's acclaimed by a lot of people as the best pistol. When I fired it had crazy kick and power, felt nice to demolish the target I was shooting at (vase). Operation is quite simple, it's like almost any other pistol I've learned about. It wouldn't take very long to teach you how to operate it.
FN Browning Highpower 9mm- Someone installed a new recoil spring in the one I used so it was pretty hard to pull back the slide to check the chamber =/. This was 'ok' to fire. The weird one with this is that you have to load a magazine to fire off the action, the action can't go off without the magazine. So whenever I do a full unload, we have to load an empty mag, which is quite annoying.

Rifles
Diemaco C7 5.56mm (M16A3)- I've fired this so much, after awhile it just gets boring, on semi that is. Learning how to use this rifle basically teaches you how to use A LOT of other rifles out there. I'm really glad I learned on my drills on this and stuff, load, unload, misfire. etc.
AK47- 7.62mm- I think the thing I noticed first is the amount of power this thing puts out. Really gave me a shock in the arm, it was the first rifle I've fired that chambered a 7.62 round. I was also suprised by it's accuracy, wasn't that great. This thing on auto is quite the beast, and fun too, but I really put a nice dent in my wallet for the ammo. Rolling the mag into the AK is quite nice too, I also really like where the mag release is positioned.

Machineguns
Diemaco C9 (M249) 5.56mm- This is like firing the C7 on auto all the time, but with a bipod, and a lot less recoil. The operation on this is different though when I was only familiar with rifles before learning how to use this. When you cock it, the bolt assembly actually stays to the rear, instead of instantly chambering a round in a loaded rifle. So you unload you actually have to cock it first when the belt is still in the machinegun. This was my favorite gun to use in the army in any situation . Box mags are a bitch though, always falling off.
C6 GPMG(FN MAG) 7.62- Works basically the same way as the C9. Also belt fed, but with a larger round. Extremely loud, if you don't wear hearing protection for this, it won't be long before you can't hear anything anymore, the person who is feeding the belt into the machinegun can actually feel the pulse waves after each round is fired. I know a guy whos ear plugs fell out, he fired about 50rounds, then he wasn't able to hear for 4days barely.
Bren L4 7.62- You can roll the mag into this too just like a AK, except on the top :P. I'm not sure what to say about this, works the same way as the C6, and fires just as hard.

Other
Diemaco M203 40mm(Identical to the Colt version)- A lot of games seem to interpret the arch for the M203 quite inaccurately it seems. The two times I fired these, the go pretty damn straight before going down. When aiming, if the target isn't that far away, you really don't have to arch as much as most games depict it. Makes a nice "thump" sound when you fire and has quite some recoil. More fun to fire from the side than the shoulder ^_~.
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Firearms I KNOW how to use though, are any bolt action rifles, gas operated bolt rifles, semi automatic shotguns, pump action shotguns, and machineguns. Basically I learned from reading and fiddling around with them with dummy rounds or whatever, or I actually fired them. I'm sure there are unique variets of each one that I'd probably know crap all about how to use though. I've never had enough time to fiddle around with any HK rollerlock weapons though to know how they work first hand, I've only read about them, but I'd really like to fire an MP5 or G3 someday.
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I don't know if you consider airsoft guns firearms, but I've fired countless amounts of those that I don't really want to name them all. If you want to ask what a certain one is like, you can ask, most likely I fired it already. I can tell you right now all AEGs feel the same basically, in terms of recoil or something along that line.
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Just a random tidbit, but I didn't know this until just recently. Someone at an airsoft game gave me a 30rnd M4/M16 thermold mag. They stopped producing these awhile ago so they're quite rare now. I was planning on selling it, but after reading up on the firearms act, apparently rifles are restricted to 5rnd mags, and pistols 10rnd mag. So now I don't know what to do with this mag that is all like......worth money! ;_;.

Originally Posted by Spatula

This brings me up to my next point. How "easy" is it to get a bulls eye from say, 30 feet away from your firing line to a target.

What other factors make it difficult to shoot at an outdoor target?
For short distance targets, I wouldn't imagine wind would be a major factor, but perhaps how you grip your firearm and how much of a steady hand you have.

Bulls eye with a pistol I guess you're asking? Just be ready for the suprise break and one common problem a lot of people have: you need to hold your pistol properly and cover a lot of area on the grip, align your thumbs well too, but the main problem is the actual trigger finger, a lot of people kinda "wrap" their index fingures around the trigger, so when they go to pull, the rounds actually go off to the side from the recoil, you wanna make sure to use the end meaty part of your index finger and give it a good pull, but not a 'jerk'.

For outdoors targets, I'm assuming you mean long range. I was taught how to adjust to wind though, though I've never actually put it into practice since the days I went to the ranges were never really THAT windy. If you're shooting outdoors with a rifle for civie shooting, I'd suggest a good optic, many people still prefer the iron sights though, I do in most cases.

Jam it back in, in the dark.