Jim PHL
Member
I don't really spend any time here in "General Discussions". I am always in Revolvers and Auto Loaders threads, but I thought this fit better here.
Was headed to the range with my Dad yesterday. My 15 y.o. daughter asked where we were going and I told her. "Why? Do you want to go with us?" At first she thought I was kidding -like a girl or a 15 y.o. couldn't really go, but off we went. Even with all my years of shooting, she's only actually seen a real gun once, when she walked in while I was cleaning one of mine. (My kids have always known of my interest. My reasons for not taking them has generally been their lack of interest. Took my son once when he was 12, he had fun and did well but never really showed additional interest.)
We started at home with safety discussion and basic intro of revolver/pistol and single/double action. She was understandably nervous but excited and knew I would be right with her. I started her with S+W M18 .22 in double action. Just to get a feel I told her just point it down-range and shoot it - don't worry about sight picture, etc. just feel what it feels like. She shot that a little both DA and SA, then moved up to my 3" M65 and Dad's 4" M10. Then we went to Pop-Pop's Buckmark .22 for a while. She then moved up to my S+W 3913 9mm. Her face was really lighting up with "Giggle-facter" as we moved into each higher caliber. She was really beaming when I put her behind my 1911! (Reminded me of myself when I used to shoot full-load .357's through a snubby: just giggling and having fun shooting something that powerful.)
A couple tips for others that worked well for us yesterday: First, definitely let your new shooter just let a round or two go down range to feel what it's like before trying to aim with precision. Also, when going from the .22 to a full-power gun, I shot it first in a regular stance and had her stand kind of behind/next to me with her hand laid on my wrist, just to get a general feel for the noise and recoil. Without doing that, even just going from the M18 to the M10 might have been too big of a surprise.
A couple of my favorite moments were probably when I sat down to load a couple of mags and watched as she loaded Dad's M10 and shot it for herslf for a couple of cylinders-full. Also, she had a mis-fire with the Buckmark once (actually just a fail-to-feed) and she stopped with finger off the trigger but held the gun in her stance, pointed down-range, and waited for me to step in. Hands down, though, my favorite moment was the look on her face after shot touched-off her first .45 in my 1911. She had a similar look when she shot Dad's Glock 27. (Like I said: "Giggle-factor" just like her old Dad!
)
Hopefully, she will be useful in helping my Dad getting Grandmom to the range or me getting my wife out. (Neither are anti-gun, basically just uninterested.) By the way, for those wondering, her favorite of the day was my Dad's Model 10.
My daughter and wife are best friends. I feel great about that but to be honest I sometimes feel a little jealous. I am always happy when I get any kind of chance to spend one-on-one time with her. Being able to do it yesterday, especially at the range, and especially with my Dad there, too, was really special.
One more thing I want to mention. With all the discussions of everything from safety to tactics to politics and ballistics, sometimes some of us need to be not-so serious and remind ourselves that shooting is just plain FUN!:biglaugh:
Was headed to the range with my Dad yesterday. My 15 y.o. daughter asked where we were going and I told her. "Why? Do you want to go with us?" At first she thought I was kidding -like a girl or a 15 y.o. couldn't really go, but off we went. Even with all my years of shooting, she's only actually seen a real gun once, when she walked in while I was cleaning one of mine. (My kids have always known of my interest. My reasons for not taking them has generally been their lack of interest. Took my son once when he was 12, he had fun and did well but never really showed additional interest.)
We started at home with safety discussion and basic intro of revolver/pistol and single/double action. She was understandably nervous but excited and knew I would be right with her. I started her with S+W M18 .22 in double action. Just to get a feel I told her just point it down-range and shoot it - don't worry about sight picture, etc. just feel what it feels like. She shot that a little both DA and SA, then moved up to my 3" M65 and Dad's 4" M10. Then we went to Pop-Pop's Buckmark .22 for a while. She then moved up to my S+W 3913 9mm. Her face was really lighting up with "Giggle-facter" as we moved into each higher caliber. She was really beaming when I put her behind my 1911! (Reminded me of myself when I used to shoot full-load .357's through a snubby: just giggling and having fun shooting something that powerful.)
A couple tips for others that worked well for us yesterday: First, definitely let your new shooter just let a round or two go down range to feel what it's like before trying to aim with precision. Also, when going from the .22 to a full-power gun, I shot it first in a regular stance and had her stand kind of behind/next to me with her hand laid on my wrist, just to get a general feel for the noise and recoil. Without doing that, even just going from the M18 to the M10 might have been too big of a surprise.
A couple of my favorite moments were probably when I sat down to load a couple of mags and watched as she loaded Dad's M10 and shot it for herslf for a couple of cylinders-full. Also, she had a mis-fire with the Buckmark once (actually just a fail-to-feed) and she stopped with finger off the trigger but held the gun in her stance, pointed down-range, and waited for me to step in. Hands down, though, my favorite moment was the look on her face after shot touched-off her first .45 in my 1911. She had a similar look when she shot Dad's Glock 27. (Like I said: "Giggle-factor" just like her old Dad!
)Hopefully, she will be useful in helping my Dad getting Grandmom to the range or me getting my wife out. (Neither are anti-gun, basically just uninterested.) By the way, for those wondering, her favorite of the day was my Dad's Model 10.
My daughter and wife are best friends. I feel great about that but to be honest I sometimes feel a little jealous. I am always happy when I get any kind of chance to spend one-on-one time with her. Being able to do it yesterday, especially at the range, and especially with my Dad there, too, was really special.
One more thing I want to mention. With all the discussions of everything from safety to tactics to politics and ballistics, sometimes some of us need to be not-so serious and remind ourselves that shooting is just plain FUN!:biglaugh:
