Fun time at the range

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Good job ! Your story made me smile. Reminded me of the first times I took my girls to the range. My youngest is 18 now and we went shooting a few weeks ago. I still love shooting with the kids.
Jeff
 
I just finished blowing 6-8" of snow from my Michigan drive ways. About 90 minutes of real work for someone with copd.
I had almost asked "Uncle Gunny" to pick me up and take me to his range too! :) , but I suppose driving from Baton Rouge to Michigan would be too much to ask.
The thought of a green place to shoot has me dreaming!
God bless you Gunny for taking good care of the children and teaching them safety. Thank you for your good work and your expertise.
 
Good job, Gunny. Kids are the future of our sport if it is to continue. I have a 12 year old great grand daughter and when I ask her if she wants to go shoot her eyes light up and she gets a big grin on her face. She has become pretty handy with 22 pistols and our last trip I asked her if she wanted to shoot my 9 mm 1911. "How hard does it kick", was her reply. I told her it was harder than the 22 but just grip it like the MK III 22/45 lite she had been shooting and she would be OK and she was. I then asked her if she wanted to try a 1911 in 45 and she agreed. I loaded one round in it. She shot it and said she would stick with the 9mm until she grew a little bigger. Her 9 year old sister likes to shoot too but not as much as her bigger sister. Then there is the almost 6 year old cousin and she's going to be like the 12 year old. Want to go shoot"? "Yes,yes,yes"!
 
Love it!
Pic one reveals perhaps a little bit of uncertainty, but the last pic has a certain, curious, 'Mona Lisa-like' smile that seems to be saying "Hurry up and fix this stovepipe so I can get back to shooting ASAP!!!"
Excellent job, Gunny! :thumbup:
 
Great job Gunny teaching the younger generation the fun and safety of guns, I enjoy taking the kids out and don't get to enough.
My SIL was shocked when he took my daughter out for a range day, when she was growing up we shot almost every weekend and she was comfortable with anything up to 45-70 and can hold her own accuracy wise
 
Nice going there Gunny. There is just a special something to getting kids out in the fresh air and shooting. For me it's the grandchildren.

Ron
 
Good on ya.
I take my nieces shooting whenever they`re here visiting and they both love it! They`re both from the UK and had never fired a gun prior to our first range trip. It was easier to teach them the basics since they had no experience than it would`ve been if they`d shot some before and picked up some bad habits (like I did) :(
Like others have said on this thread, we need all the converts we can get. Being a good ambassador for our sport is essential if we want to preserve it.
 
H&R Glock said:
I just finished blowing 6-8" of snow from my Michigan drive ways. About 90 minutes of real work for someone with copd.
I had almost asked "Uncle Gunny" to pick me up and take me to his range too! :) , but I suppose driving from Baton Rouge to Michigan would be too much to ask.
The thought of a green place to shoot has me dreaming!
God bless you Gunny for taking good care of the children and teaching them safety. Thank you for your good work and your expertise.
Click to expand...
I live in the South because, I really don’t care for snow.
It would be great to go shooting with you on a warm sunny day.
 
I have found that one key to getting first time shooters to get hooked on shooting is to keep it fun. I have seen people teaching first time shooters and the new shooters were not having fun. One reason was that the person teaching them to shoot was really focused on having the new shooter to shoot accurately.
Accuracy comes with experience. The first time at the range for a shooter should be fun. The first thing you should hear them say after shooting is that they had fun.
For those of us that have been shooting for some time, hitting what we are shooting at is fun. Missing, not so much.
But for the new shooter, having fun is what gets them back to the range. So what should you focus on when taking a new shooter to the range?
Safety is number one. You can’t have fun if someone gets hurt.
Grip (proper hold) is number two. Without a proper grip the new shooter could hurt their hand or just shoot all over the place.
Stance is number three. With a proper stance (and grip) the new shooter will be able to manage recoil and hit their target easier.
Don’t make a big deal about missing the target, but always give an at a boy for hitting are coming close.
Sa the new shooter is enjoying the fact that they are able to shoot the gun without getting hurt, you work on keeping their grip and stance correct and start working in those little bits of info that helps them get on target.
I could see that my nieces first shoot was going to be high, but I let her take the shot. I then reminded her on how to lineup the sights and her second shot was a hit. As she continued to shoot, I would remind her about not jerking the trigger and the sights. And there was those reminders on grip and stance. But over all the focus was on safety and having fun.

Thanks to everyone for the comps. But I’m sure that many of y’all take new shooters to the range too.
 
Teaching kids to shoot is like teaching them to fish. If a kid isn't catching fish they quickly loose interest so start them out on something that is it easy to catch and the bites keep coming. The same applies to shooting. Start them with reactive targets that are easy for them to hit. In either case most of them will graduate into more difficult aspects of the sport as they learn.
 
I also like to take gallon and 1/2 gallon jugs and fill them with water and a couple of drops of food coloring to make shooting more exciting, I also spray paint paper plates for easy targets.
 
rdnktrkr said:
I also like to take gallon and 1/2 gallon jugs and fill them with water and a couple of drops of food coloring to make shooting more exciting, I also spray paint paper plates for easy targets.
Click to expand...

A case of cheap soda pop from Walmart yields 24 dramatically exploding targets for a pittance.

Throw the shredded cans in a trash bag when you are done, and dispose of them properly. Part of the training.
 
Barry the Bear said:
It's always good to see the younger ones get into this, the next generation I've read is on track to become the most conservative generation since the 50s, how I hope that is true but I won't dwell on that too much, my son is 7 and he ha a savage .22 can't wait to take him out again to the range.
Click to expand...
My son is 7 and so far I’ve let him shoot a pellet gun and bow/arrow. Maybe it’s time to graduate to the .22. But he’s so proud of his pellet gun and thinks it’s a real deal monster slayer, I sort of hate to disturb that innocence. I recall growing up thinking my old .22 was so powerful lol.
 
rdnktrkr said:
I also like to take gallon and 1/2 gallon jugs and fill them with water and a couple of drops of food coloring to make shooting more exciting, I also spray paint paper plates for easy targets.
Click to expand...
This is what I wish I could do but I don’t have any land to shoot on. Just can’t have fun like this at the shooting range. If I ever stop wanting to shoot, it’ll be due to not having a place to shoot.
 
Good for you. Good to see kids getting into shooting sports. Also good to see you corrected her thumb over grip in the first photo of her shooting. Getting "bit" might put a damper on hr desire to go again.
 
Gunny,
GunnyUSMC said:
I have found that one key to getting first time shooters to get hooked on shooting is to keep it fun. I have seen people teaching first time shooters and the new shooters were not having fun. One reason was that the person teaching them to shoot was really focused on having the new shooter to shoot accurately.
Accuracy comes with experience. The first time at the range for a shooter should be fun. The first thing you should hear them say after shooting is that they had fun.
Click to expand...

Awesome, just awesome.
I fully agree with you. When I take new shooters out, be they old or young, I focus on safety first, and grip and stance. I want them to relax as much as they can and have fun. I start them with 22s. Most of the time with a revolver, so there is no case ejecting out and scaring them more. Once they are comfortable, then I have them shoot a semi-auto 22 pistol. Depending on how they are doing, a mild recoiling full size 357/38 revolver, with my near powderpuff 38 spcl. loads.
Now I have a 327 Mag Ruger Single Seven and loaded with 32 Long is a no-recoil shooter. My 11 YO son really liked shooting it the last time I took him out.

Make it safe, make it fun, make it achievable.
 
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