First post here on the High Road, though I've been on these forums for a few months. Never felt I had much to contribute, until today when I went shooting for the first time. Thought I'd share the experience and let everyone know that they have someone else on their side.
My uncle and I went down to Markham Park Shooting Range, which I'm sure the South Florida residents here have heard of. I brought my Marlin 336W, passed down from my Grandfather, to my dad, then to me. My uncle also brought two of his black-powder rifles.
First impressions. The entire range staff was very serious about safety, which sort of piled on to my nervousness. Plus walking through the parking lot with my gun while people were around felt a little weird. When I finally got on the line to shoot my rifle, I had that feeling like the recoil was going to knock me down. I was able to keep it under control though. The muzzle maybe climbed a foot each time I shot it. I had about a 3 to 4 inch grouping on the target from 25 yards with iron sights, which I've been told is dec. Honestly, after about the tenth shot, my scrawny arms really started working against me and keeping the gun steady was almost impossible.
I also learned some of the terminology, how to load and clean the guns and how to operate the black powder rifle, which I'll be using when I go hunting in September, also for the first time. So that was my experience. It was fun. A little different from what I expected, but not much. Now that I can call myself a shooter, I hope to be able to begin posting here, though it'll likely be in the form of painfully easy questions.
