I just got a new Bushmaster XM15 E2S (A3 upper, 16" barrel). Had a sale going at my local shop and I had a tremendous moment of financial stupidity. Oh well, it's good for this thread if not my marriage! 
Anywho, simultaneously, a guy I work with who has 3 kids showed some interest in letting his youngest boy try out an inherited firearm at my range. His wife is MEGA anti, and only because it was inheritance did she let him take it believing erroneously that it was A: too old to shoot and B: the boy wouldn't really want to. Well, it's a 1930's Italian single-shot 20 guage in fine shape and the boy was dying to shoot something!
After begging and pleading with both mom and dad, they agreed he could shoot it if he found someone to show him how and a place to do it. I'm glad to oblige, so I told my buddy to bring his boy and his new gun out. His mom buried her head in sand for the day, I'm guessing.
Well, to my surprise, all 4 showed up (dad and 3 kids). A 17 year old boy, 14 year old boy and 13 year old girl. More than I wanted to contend with, but since dad was there to reel them in, I went ahead.
I inspected his 20 guage (break-open), checked it out and it was fine to go. I test fired a couple and then broke out the Romanian .22 trainer for the kid(s) to learn on. I did all the 4-rules sermoning necessary, explained that when one was shooting, all 3 (dad included) were to be behind the line and me and only one at a time had a gun in his (or her) hands. They were great, very responsive, asked alot of questions, were enthusiastic and followed my instructions perfectly. I couldn't have had better students.
They loved the .22, each got instructions and shot a few mags at swinging targets, bullseyes and some old paint buckets. Then, after everyone was comfortable, we moved up to the Bushmaster. I had broken it in with 200 or so rounds the day before, and due to it's weight, size and sights, I felt it was a great "next step" gun from the .22. The kids all had a go after an "AR" tutorial. They LOVED it! I've never seen bigger grins on 3 kids faces, and dad was equally thrilled to shoot - this was his first time behind the trigger of anything bigger than a .22 or .25 pistol.
After a while of that, the youngest had almost forgotten he even had a shotgun, now it was onto the bigger recoil of the shotgun. He was apprehensive about it (he saw me shoot it), so the daughter offered to shoot in his place! Uh oh, the gauntlet of manliness had been thrown down! She shot it well, sent a paint bucket spinning along the ground. Now the youngest boy HAD to try it!
He shot his gun over and over, getting more and more confident and getting over his "flinches" like a pro. After 30 rounds of this, his shoulder sported a great purple stripe - the same bruise we've all received once or twice. He kept looking at it and admiring it like he had just vistited "Tattoo Charlie" on Tokyo Row!
Then, we cleaned his gun, the mess we made and spent the rest of the afternoon letting the kids ride my quad (they're seasoned pros at that, no lessons necessary).
All in all, a great day showing some new shooters the ropes and hopefully taking the "evil" out of guns for momma. I heard from my co-worker they came home glowing and gave her the "we did the 4-rules of gun safety" bit. Probably didn't sway her 100%, but he said she reluctantly acknowledged that she was glad they learned some gun safety.
Oh, here's the new gun (I gotta gloat!)
Anywho, simultaneously, a guy I work with who has 3 kids showed some interest in letting his youngest boy try out an inherited firearm at my range. His wife is MEGA anti, and only because it was inheritance did she let him take it believing erroneously that it was A: too old to shoot and B: the boy wouldn't really want to. Well, it's a 1930's Italian single-shot 20 guage in fine shape and the boy was dying to shoot something!
After begging and pleading with both mom and dad, they agreed he could shoot it if he found someone to show him how and a place to do it. I'm glad to oblige, so I told my buddy to bring his boy and his new gun out. His mom buried her head in sand for the day, I'm guessing.
Well, to my surprise, all 4 showed up (dad and 3 kids). A 17 year old boy, 14 year old boy and 13 year old girl. More than I wanted to contend with, but since dad was there to reel them in, I went ahead.
I inspected his 20 guage (break-open), checked it out and it was fine to go. I test fired a couple and then broke out the Romanian .22 trainer for the kid(s) to learn on. I did all the 4-rules sermoning necessary, explained that when one was shooting, all 3 (dad included) were to be behind the line and me and only one at a time had a gun in his (or her) hands. They were great, very responsive, asked alot of questions, were enthusiastic and followed my instructions perfectly. I couldn't have had better students.
They loved the .22, each got instructions and shot a few mags at swinging targets, bullseyes and some old paint buckets. Then, after everyone was comfortable, we moved up to the Bushmaster. I had broken it in with 200 or so rounds the day before, and due to it's weight, size and sights, I felt it was a great "next step" gun from the .22. The kids all had a go after an "AR" tutorial. They LOVED it!
I've never seen bigger grins on 3 kids faces, and dad was equally thrilled to shoot - this was his first time behind the trigger of anything bigger than a .22 or .25 pistol.After a while of that, the youngest had almost forgotten he even had a shotgun, now it was onto the bigger recoil of the shotgun. He was apprehensive about it (he saw me shoot it), so the daughter offered to shoot in his place! Uh oh, the gauntlet of manliness had been thrown down! She shot it well, sent a paint bucket spinning along the ground. Now the youngest boy HAD to try it!
He shot his gun over and over, getting more and more confident and getting over his "flinches" like a pro. After 30 rounds of this, his shoulder sported a great purple stripe - the same bruise we've all received once or twice. He kept looking at it and admiring it like he had just vistited "Tattoo Charlie" on Tokyo Row!
Then, we cleaned his gun, the mess we made and spent the rest of the afternoon letting the kids ride my quad (they're seasoned pros at that, no lessons necessary).
All in all, a great day showing some new shooters the ropes and hopefully taking the "evil" out of guns for momma. I heard from my co-worker they came home glowing and gave her the "we did the 4-rules of gun safety" bit. Probably didn't sway her 100%, but he said she reluctantly acknowledged that she was glad they learned some gun safety.
Oh, here's the new gun (I gotta gloat!)
