Double Maduro
Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2002
- Messages
- 1,125
Wednesday afternoon my oldest grand daughter and I went to the dump outside Estacada, Oregon for a little grand daughter - grampa time.
This was a request from her, the time together that is, the suggestion to go shooting was mine but I could tell by the way her eyes lit up that shooting was what she had in mind.
It was HOT up on the mountain and we only had a couple of hours so we started with her shooting my Ruger 22/45, this is her favorite of all of my guns she has shot.
Her first time shooting, this was only her third time, she did great, the second not so good, so this time I went back to the basics and she showed some real improvement.
After we both shot the heck out of the Ruger, she shot the single action .22 or the "cowboy gun" as she calls it. Then I asked her if it was ok if I shot my carry weapon, she said sure.
I carry a Ruger P90 .45, for the 2 of you who didn't know. Anyway, after making cans and plastic bottles jump around for the better part of a box of shells, she decided she would like to try it. This is not her favorite gun, but it is the one she shoots best.
After a while we moved on to the shotguns. Last trip she fired her first long gun, a small .410 break open of ancient vintage, so we started with that. After correcting her hold and making sure she was getting her cheek down on the stock it was time to move to my duck gun.
It is a Benelli Nova pump chambered for everything up to 3.5'" shells, no, I did not put any 3.5's in it, I used light field loads. Showed her how to load and work the action, fired a couple of shots to show her and gave it to her.
This is a heavy gun for her but she suffered through holding it while we adjusted her hold, and me making sure she wouldn't pull it away from anyplace it should be tight against. She was nervous, but she trusts that grampa won't have her do anything that will hurt her. I had told her that if she did it right it wouldn't hurt. Well, she fired one shot from it, big grin, no pain. Next time she will shoot more with it.
I think the big trick with new shooters is to let them progress at their own pace and not yours. I asked her at the end of each magazine or two if she was getting tired, or if she wanted to try something else. I let her set the pace of the afternoon. Judging from what she told the people when we got home, she had a great time.
After the sun and heat got to us we packed up and headed for home, where she and I were cooking dinner for both families. We stopped on the way and had ice tea and french fries and onion rings. We also stopped and bought some stuff for dinner, and I got her a cake. Today is her 18th birthday.
She will be going to college here, so there will be more days like this.
I have said it before, but it bares repeating.
I believe that grand daughters are put on earth to make old men feel important again.
DM
This was a request from her, the time together that is, the suggestion to go shooting was mine but I could tell by the way her eyes lit up that shooting was what she had in mind.
It was HOT up on the mountain and we only had a couple of hours so we started with her shooting my Ruger 22/45, this is her favorite of all of my guns she has shot.
Her first time shooting, this was only her third time, she did great, the second not so good, so this time I went back to the basics and she showed some real improvement.
After we both shot the heck out of the Ruger, she shot the single action .22 or the "cowboy gun" as she calls it. Then I asked her if it was ok if I shot my carry weapon, she said sure.
I carry a Ruger P90 .45, for the 2 of you who didn't know. Anyway, after making cans and plastic bottles jump around for the better part of a box of shells, she decided she would like to try it. This is not her favorite gun, but it is the one she shoots best.
After a while we moved on to the shotguns. Last trip she fired her first long gun, a small .410 break open of ancient vintage, so we started with that. After correcting her hold and making sure she was getting her cheek down on the stock it was time to move to my duck gun.
It is a Benelli Nova pump chambered for everything up to 3.5'" shells, no, I did not put any 3.5's in it, I used light field loads. Showed her how to load and work the action, fired a couple of shots to show her and gave it to her.
This is a heavy gun for her but she suffered through holding it while we adjusted her hold, and me making sure she wouldn't pull it away from anyplace it should be tight against. She was nervous, but she trusts that grampa won't have her do anything that will hurt her. I had told her that if she did it right it wouldn't hurt. Well, she fired one shot from it, big grin, no pain. Next time she will shoot more with it.
I think the big trick with new shooters is to let them progress at their own pace and not yours. I asked her at the end of each magazine or two if she was getting tired, or if she wanted to try something else. I let her set the pace of the afternoon. Judging from what she told the people when we got home, she had a great time.
After the sun and heat got to us we packed up and headed for home, where she and I were cooking dinner for both families. We stopped on the way and had ice tea and french fries and onion rings. We also stopped and bought some stuff for dinner, and I got her a cake. Today is her 18th birthday.
She will be going to college here, so there will be more days like this.
I have said it before, but it bares repeating.
I believe that grand daughters are put on earth to make old men feel important again.
DM
