Something I just wanted to share with y'all:
One of my closest friends moved to the east coast back in July, and this week, she came back to Washington for a week to visit friends and family. A while ago, I'd promised that next time I could, I'd take her shooting (She had never fired a gun before.)
Yesterday, after I got back from pulling a shift at the fire department, I loaded up the car with guns, picked her up, and drove out to the range. After the safety briefing and a crash course on "This is a rifle - you hold it like this," she started putting rounds down range. She was only shooting at 25 yards with an old .22 rifle, but she was getting pretty good hits, especially for someone who had never fired a gun before. We used the .22 to get her form and stance down, and I showed her how to control the sling. it wasn't too long before she was nailing specs of clay pigeon on the berms.
After some time with that I told her it was up to her, and she could keep shooting that rifle, or move onto something a little bigger... she grinned and asked for something bigger... so we dug out an AR. She had that initial "Holy Crud" reaction that a lot of new shooters get when they see Sporting-Utility-Rifle in person for the first time, and after the first couple shots, she started blasting more clay pigeon fragments, and drilling the center of paper target.
I asked her if she wanted to try something a little bigger still, and she looked at me like this
And so the AR went back in its case, and a full magazine went into the AK... she did a great job of managing the muzzle flip, and shot very well.
We packed up the rifles, and went into the Action Bays to shoot some steel targets with the hand guns. She got the hang of the Ruger 22/45 rather quickly, and was hitting all five steel plates, at ranges of 7-12 yards, in no time. Same with the Ruger SR9. When the .22 jammed, we used that as an opportunity to work on failure drills, and she was doing controlled pairs with both pistols.
One of the reasons why I think she did so well right off the bat, is because she and I are both firefighters, so I was able to relate shooting to being on the nozzle of a hose-line, and give her an idea of what he gun would be like, by comparing it to the type of hose-line. So, when we were at the rifle line, and I explained that the AR was like a 1 3/4" hose, she immediately asked "Which one is like the 2 1/2?"
Well, back in the bays, We worked with the firearms equivalent of a 2 1/2" hose-line: Remington 870.
She fired the first couple shots slowly, but after she got the hang of "stretching" the gun, and working the action violently, she was making very good strings of fire with a bare bones, pump action shotgun. By "very good," I mean that she would have out shot some of the people at the last 3-Gun match I went to
Some of the take-a-ways from this:
- She was never really anti-gun, but she wasn't exactly pro gun. In the car ride back, she told me that she now understood why people wouldn't want to give up their guns, and not just the sporting ones: she said that she also is more supportive of people using firearms for defense against criminals, and potentially, against the threat of an oppressive tyrannical government.
- She had a lot of fun. As soon as she finishes school, she's moving back to Washington, and says she will be taking up USPSA and the local ranges falling plate matches (I explained a few of the shooting competitions to her, and she looked like this )
- It was a lot of fun... even more fun than my last range trip when I got to play with my .38 snub shooting at 12-15 yards.
-It helps to have something you can relate to. The number one mistake I see new shooters make is that they lean back when shooting, instead of being in an aggressive, or even vertical, stance. By explaining that its like a fire hose, she didn't have that problem.
- Last but not least, I'm super proud of her: She was safe, and able to get her hits with everything, but towards the end, she was running that pump shotgun like a pro!
My only regrets are that 1) I didn't bring a camera, and 2) We didn't have more time and ammo.
So, take someone to the range. You'll be glad you did.
Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson
One of my closest friends moved to the east coast back in July, and this week, she came back to Washington for a week to visit friends and family. A while ago, I'd promised that next time I could, I'd take her shooting (She had never fired a gun before.)
Yesterday, after I got back from pulling a shift at the fire department, I loaded up the car with guns, picked her up, and drove out to the range. After the safety briefing and a crash course on "This is a rifle - you hold it like this," she started putting rounds down range. She was only shooting at 25 yards with an old .22 rifle, but she was getting pretty good hits, especially for someone who had never fired a gun before. We used the .22 to get her form and stance down, and I showed her how to control the sling. it wasn't too long before she was nailing specs of clay pigeon on the berms.
After some time with that I told her it was up to her, and she could keep shooting that rifle, or move onto something a little bigger... she grinned and asked for something bigger... so we dug out an AR. She had that initial "Holy Crud" reaction that a lot of new shooters get when they see Sporting-Utility-Rifle in person for the first time, and after the first couple shots, she started blasting more clay pigeon fragments, and drilling the center of paper target.
I asked her if she wanted to try something a little bigger still, and she looked at me like this
And so the AR went back in its case, and a full magazine went into the AK... she did a great job of managing the muzzle flip, and shot very well.
We packed up the rifles, and went into the Action Bays to shoot some steel targets with the hand guns. She got the hang of the Ruger 22/45 rather quickly, and was hitting all five steel plates, at ranges of 7-12 yards, in no time. Same with the Ruger SR9. When the .22 jammed, we used that as an opportunity to work on failure drills, and she was doing controlled pairs with both pistols.
One of the reasons why I think she did so well right off the bat, is because she and I are both firefighters, so I was able to relate shooting to being on the nozzle of a hose-line, and give her an idea of what he gun would be like, by comparing it to the type of hose-line. So, when we were at the rifle line, and I explained that the AR was like a 1 3/4" hose, she immediately asked "Which one is like the 2 1/2?"
Well, back in the bays, We worked with the firearms equivalent of a 2 1/2" hose-line: Remington 870.
She fired the first couple shots slowly, but after she got the hang of "stretching" the gun, and working the action violently, she was making very good strings of fire with a bare bones, pump action shotgun. By "very good," I mean that she would have out shot some of the people at the last 3-Gun match I went to
Some of the take-a-ways from this:
- She was never really anti-gun, but she wasn't exactly pro gun. In the car ride back, she told me that she now understood why people wouldn't want to give up their guns, and not just the sporting ones: she said that she also is more supportive of people using firearms for defense against criminals, and potentially, against the threat of an oppressive tyrannical government.
- She had a lot of fun. As soon as she finishes school, she's moving back to Washington, and says she will be taking up USPSA and the local ranges falling plate matches (I explained a few of the shooting competitions to her, and she looked like this
)- It was a lot of fun... even more fun than my last range trip when I got to play with my .38 snub shooting at 12-15 yards.
-It helps to have something you can relate to. The number one mistake I see new shooters make is that they lean back when shooting, instead of being in an aggressive, or even vertical, stance. By explaining that its like a fire hose, she didn't have that problem.
- Last but not least, I'm super proud of her: She was safe, and able to get her hits with everything, but towards the end, she was running that pump shotgun like a pro!
My only regrets are that 1) I didn't bring a camera, and 2) We didn't have more time and ammo.
So, take someone to the range. You'll be glad you did.
Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson
