Another new shooter brought into the fold

[Bridger]

I went with my girlfriend, her brother, and their mom, to visit their grandparents and uncle in PA the other week. That uncle likes me because we both like guns heh, and my girlfriend and I have gone shooting with him before, in fact, his handguns are the first handguns I've ever shot. Still are the handguns I've shot the most too, unfortunately, so far.

Well, before we left, we made a range trip. My girlfriend's brother never expressed a ton of interest in firearms, but we asked him along anyway since he wasn't particularly against them either.

He asked if he was going to get to shoot and I said "of course! ...you can shoot the camera!". Just kidding of course, and so we went to the gun shop to pick up some ammo, and we taught him the four rules on the way to the range.

The guns of the day were my girlfriend's Remington 597 .22, and her uncle's Smith and Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum, and genuine WWII U.S. property marked 1911 in .45 ACP.





Well, we started him out on the .22, and we all shot it too. After a hundred or so rounds of that, we moved on to the .45.




Those are his first 10 or so shots into the target. I usually like to use reactive targets, but we weren't really expecting him to come along so that wasn't an option.

Continued...

 

[Bridger]

He liked the .22, but his reaction after the first shot was "Whoa!" and giddy laughter.




We then moved onto the .44, which he shot, and while recognizing the recoil, didn't complain one bit about it. I think big loud guns makes up for paper targets for new shooters, but that combined with reactive targets is always best, in my opinion.





We didn't focus on form too much since it was his first time and we didn't want to bog him down. I'll say that he did better at pistols than I did my first time, at even closer ranges. I'm no pistol expert though, so there is only so much I can teach.


That's an interesting picture of my girlfriend with the .45. Notice how the hammer is blurred, because it just dropped. However, this picture seems to be in the instant just as the primer is struck with the hammer, but before the gun fires.




And one of me. That's always the problem with getting others to take pictures of you! And they never do it how you want it even when you instruct them!

I realize now we made one mistake with our new shooter, we forgot to give him eye protection! But nothing bad happened there, thankfully, and we gave him earplugs so he didn't have any ringing to complain about.

All in all it was a good day at the range. He likes the .45 best, and I don't think it will take much more shooting trips until he wants his own firearms.

Probably won't be a pistol for him, since he and my girlfriend live in CT which has restrictive (read: expensive) CCW and pistol permit laws, much like my home state of NY.

What impressed me most was how safety conscious he was, he never once needed a reminder about the muzzle or his trigger finger. So there it is, another safe responsible new shooter, always a good thing.

 

[Darkside]

Maybe It's the camera angle or just me, but HOW FAR away are those targets????

Good pics and Good job introducing a new shooter to the sport.

Darkside

 

[MP5]

I was wondering the same thing. I would have been lucky to hit the hill, let alone the target, my first time out with a handgun at those distances

 

[Bridger]

About 25 yards, so, the limit of "effective" pistol marksmanship? Heh

He was mostly on paper with the pistol at that range too. I remember I was terrible my first few pistol shots, at a much closer range.

 

[Darkside]

MAN, it looks more like 50yards

Thanks

Darkside

 

[Bridger]

Well, it is a reduced silhouette, so it is kinda like shooting at 50 yards

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

LMAO... Those targets were purchased at the place I go to get my paintball tanks filled.

 

[JPL]

Where do I get some of that invisible eye protection that you all are wearing?

It looks REALLY comfortable...

 

[Bridger]

As mentioned, we forgot about his eye protection, our mistake. To the best of my knowledge, our sunglasses are also rated to withstand certain impacts, like hot flying brass. There was some stuff about that on the manufacturer website and I think in the booklet that came with them.

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

Do you know what town that range is in, by any chance?

 

[Bridger]

I think it is in Rushland, it's the Wicen's range. They are having some legal troubles with a local developer recently.