Dave McCracken
July 1, 2006, 11:55 PM
Today was my only day off this week, and I went to PGC after doing honeydos all morn.
Sure enough, I was busily and blissfully occupied on the wobble trap when two young fellows with rental shotguns and gear wandered over.
I inquired if they had ever used a shotgun. One responded that he had shot a little but the other was brand spanking new.
Pausing only a moment to wonder why I knew that before I asked the question, I shifted into instructor mode and began Shotgun 101, Session whatever.
I was off my form, I didn't think to check eye dominance until my newest student missed at least 10 shots in a row. Of course, he turned out to be RH, left eyed.Shutting his left eye didn't help. Since he was brand spanking new, I had him switch over to southpaw shooting to see if that helped.
He made the next clay disappear and hit maybe half the rest of the round. A few more tweaks of form and a restatement of the basic idea (See the bird, move the barrel to the bird like you're painting it out of the sky and pull the trigger as the barrel gets to the bird) got him up over 50% the next round. As the first clay exploded, I saw the look on his face and knew another shotgunner was born.
They left after that round, loudly expressing gratitude and I went back to working on some angles that I needed to practice on.
As I drove home, I mused upon my committment to helping people learn to shoot.
Did I do it in the memory of the fine people that taught me?
Maybe a little, but not the biggest reason.
Did I do it to light a candle in the darkness, to counter the forces of ignorance and those who will do anything to obtain power? For free, armed folks are mighty hard to control and even harder to enslave?
Some, but again not the biggest reason.
I do it because I can, and that's all the justification that's needed......
Sure enough, I was busily and blissfully occupied on the wobble trap when two young fellows with rental shotguns and gear wandered over.
I inquired if they had ever used a shotgun. One responded that he had shot a little but the other was brand spanking new.
Pausing only a moment to wonder why I knew that before I asked the question, I shifted into instructor mode and began Shotgun 101, Session whatever.
I was off my form, I didn't think to check eye dominance until my newest student missed at least 10 shots in a row. Of course, he turned out to be RH, left eyed.Shutting his left eye didn't help. Since he was brand spanking new, I had him switch over to southpaw shooting to see if that helped.
He made the next clay disappear and hit maybe half the rest of the round. A few more tweaks of form and a restatement of the basic idea (See the bird, move the barrel to the bird like you're painting it out of the sky and pull the trigger as the barrel gets to the bird) got him up over 50% the next round. As the first clay exploded, I saw the look on his face and knew another shotgunner was born.
They left after that round, loudly expressing gratitude and I went back to working on some angles that I needed to practice on.
As I drove home, I mused upon my committment to helping people learn to shoot.
Did I do it in the memory of the fine people that taught me?
Maybe a little, but not the biggest reason.
Did I do it to light a candle in the darkness, to counter the forces of ignorance and those who will do anything to obtain power? For free, armed folks are mighty hard to control and even harder to enslave?
Some, but again not the biggest reason.
I do it because I can, and that's all the justification that's needed......