The last time you did this...? Pics

[tractorshaft]

Take a kid or non-shooter to the range..

I had almost forgot how much fun it is seeing others smile the first time they shoot a gun..Do others and yourself a favor, go out of the way to introduce someone to gun fun and safety..

Recapping the proper "Sight Picture"


"Loading the magazine"


"Squeeeeeezzzzzzeeeee the trigger"


This was the little shooter's first time shooting a gun. He is seven years old and the son of a family friend. He has been the happy recipient of all of my old gun magazines for months now and treasures them. I refinished this old single shot .22 for this purpose. I let him shoot a little .22 Ruger Bearcat at the end of the session. The smile if probably still on his face and I think we may have made a lifelong convert for "Our Side"..

I dont know who had more fun today...
The old guy or the little guy

 

[wyohome]

Last August.

 

[Avenger29]

No pics, but I took one of my coworkers to the range and she's a pretty good shot. She ended up buying a Henry Goldenboy .22 rifle and is now looking to get her CCW and a defensive handguns. She has an appreciation for the old western style leverguns and SA revolvers.

 

[wyohome]

My wife had never shot a centerfire rifle until the first part of October. After some training and practice she shot a nice buck with one shot at 160 yards on the 2nd of Nov. She was nearly as excited as I was.

 

[TomADC]

I enjoyed introducing my grandson to shooting, turned out to be a pretty good skeet shooter and not bad with the rifle but now that he is 23 we haven't been out in a while so he asked me the other day when we going shooting again, I told him Tuesday your next day off.

 

[Girodin]

I took a neighborhood kid shooting recently who had never shot a gun before. We went over the rules of gun safety and and then I let him shoot a variety of handguns, a pistol caliber carbine and then one of my AKs. I though he would like the AK the most. I was wrong, his favorite was the ruger mark II. He actually shot pretty well, generally speaking, and amazingly well considering he had never shot a gun before.

The best part was how much fun he had. As we packed up he excitedly announced that he had found a new hobby and stated. "When I turn 18 I'm going to get a gun!"

Every chance I get I invite people who either don't like guns or have not been exposed to them to learn about them and to go shoot them. I firmly believe that this is the best way to swell the ranks of gun owners and of people who support RKBA. I have seen some pretty dramatic shifts in attitude once someone learns to safely handle guns and competently shoot them. I took a girl to the range who was scared to touch a gun when we started and before we left I found her at the counter shopping a pink digital cammo walther P22.

 

[tractorshaft]

That is a very interesting observation, I had a similar experience with the young man I hosted yesterday. I took along an M-4gery, a .22 single shot rifle and a bearcat revolver. I of course thought the M-4 would be the biggest "Fun" for him. It turned out, that of all the guns, the bearcat "Fit" him the best and consequently he liked shooting it the "Best".

Seeing how much fun the child had and the joy of the experience brought it all back for me. I still have the little H&R .410 Topper Jr. Model I got on my 7th birthday. A lot of squirrels and rabbits have been floured and fried via that little shotgun. My daughter turned 18 yesterday and she will get it when she leaves home and begins her life.

The circle continues...

"Siyo Nqoba"

Jerry

 

[ChileRelleno]

Last weekend as I was on my way to the range, I realized that I was going by a acquaintance's house, whom I know from church.
This acquaintance is a newly separated, single mom of three young men.
I was, was, friends with her cheating husband.

Anyways, which of the three was at home bored?
Whom would like to go shooting and forget for at least a short while of the crap at home?
Turned out it was the youngest, John Wolfe, 13 yrs'ol and needing a break.
We met some of my friends, shot my ARs, Saiga12, SA XD9 and Marlin Model 20 22lr.
Wolfe adopted the Marlin and ran thru a whole 550rnd box of ammo, shot all my guns, my friends guns, proved he could plug a quarter at 50yrds, put lead on steel at 200yrds with a AR, dumped a 20rnd drum of 00buck in 6seconds with a big grin and had a blast.

He wants to know when we're going again

 

[t165]

It has been far too long for me tractorshaft. My own son is 15 and is not interested in firearms unless he can frag something in a video game. Perhaps I can turn him around someday soon. Posted below is a picture of a young man who grew up two doors down from me. His mother ran a day care and watched both of my children when they were younger. I hear he is pretty excited about the Buck he just shot. Great pictures of you and that young boy...I remember my excitement getting my first bb guns, 22 rimfire, 20 gauge, and every single firearm I have since purchased.

 

[Offfhand]

I always carry extra earplugs and eye protection with me when I go to a public range in case there is someone there, especially youngsters, who don't have them. It make a nice gift that they appreciate.

 

[Sam1911]

Maybe this doesn't count, 'cause it's far from her first range trip, but I like this pic anyway!



-Sam

 

[kmrcstintn]

I might be doing this with my sister very shortly; long story short...we recently lost our dad to lung cancer and both of us helped care for him; right now she is panicked since there is a link with our family's genetics and smokers; I've noticed during her visits that she is drinking alcohol a bit more and faster (and when she does this she smokes more than usual); I kn ow this is part of her 'coping mechanism' but she really, really wants to wuit smoking; during our last phone call she said we need to get drunk after dealing with the estate, lawyers, etc...

I told her nope...I am reducing my alcohol intake and that I will only do it when "I want it" and not "when I need it" and told her that she is going to the shooting range with me...she only sees the 'violence' and 'scary stuff' with guns and doesn't understand the tension release or the fun parts of shooting...I hope she will take me up on my offer so I might steer her away from the drinking (it's not abusive, but increasing) and open up her horizons a bit; on another note all the cars in her cul-de-sac were broken into and stuff got stolen; I would like her to contemplate ideas of home security (even if it doesn't involve firearms ownership) since she thinks it's a 'safe neighborhood' and that 'teenagers' did it; I can't get her to realize one time it's the cars, but the nest time it could be the house and that brazen criminals might not be deterred simply cuz the home is occupied

oh well...baby steps

 

[Atroxus]

I got to take my sister, my niece(15yo), and my nephew(13yo) shooting last time they visited from California. We all had a blast.(no pun intended) Focused very much on safety, and had no close calls or anything. It was first time shooting for all 3. We started with my Sig Mosquito, then moved on to my Beretta 92FS. The kids did suprisingly well hitting 25yd timed/rapid fire target from 10ft and keeping most of there shots pretty close to the middle. My sister is now researching home defense firearms, and possible CC, and all three said they can't wait to come back and go shooting with me again.

 

[dispatch55126]

I just got back from taking my 20-something cousin to the range with my AR and M95. She liked the AR, accuracy was decent for the first time firing a centerfire. She even fired a few of the mighty 8x56R.

I can't wait until my get get a few years older so I can start teaching them. They're too young so its still "Never touch any guns and if you find any bullets, tell daddy or grandpa".

 

[wyohome]

Atroxus I was born in your town and lived there until 1992. It sure has grown since the 1950s when there was one stoplight in town..

 

[paintballdude902]

i will try and find the picture but i took my friends girlfriend Brandi shooting in august when he was home on R&R. it was a very iffy case, see about a year ago her dad ran from the police while drunk driving and to make a long story short tried to ram a road block resulting in him being shot and killed. ever since she was afraid of guns and couldn't look at one without crying. after almost a year i took her shooting and she did well......but it was very funny watching her tried and load the magazine on my 10/22
shes no longer afraid of guns and today is her 21st birthday, next week she wants me to help her pick out a pistol and find a place for her to take the CCW classes

 

[Wheeler44]

The thing that I like best about the Appleseed Project is that it allows me the opportunity to teach new shooters as often as I can.....I'm sure that most of the instructors there will agree that we get as much out of teaching new shooters as they do out of learning...

Wheeler44

 

[eight433]

I try to whenever I can... I took my best friend last time, whom had previously only fired my .22 marlin 60. Here he is shooting my M44, bayonet extended.


I also had a woman I know call me about handgun advice, and I offered to take her to the range and try out a couple different calibers and teach basic pistol safety. We will most likely go next week some time.

 

[iamkris]

Here's my kids on Spring Break a couple of years ago. Now they go to the range with me all the time









My wife doesn't really care for it though...she just humors me occasionally.

 

[sfc_mark]

I wish I had a picture to post of my last range trip. Another guy on the line had a FA M11/9, and let us fire it. You should have seen the smile on my daughter's face when she said, "that was fun, we NEED to get one of those."

 

[dubbleA]

Before heading off to college in August my daughter wanted to to do some bay fishing with me. On the way back we stopped by at the ranch as she wanted to do some shooting. I was suprised because it's not high on her priorities. I had her handload her own shells. For her first time out with an AR 15 she did ok, 5 shots into a a tad over 1/2".



Younger daughter behind a 308




I took 3 brothers for a weekend end of shooting a month or so ago just before they and their family headed to the Philippines as missionaries.




Just yesterday I took 2 fathers and their sons to my place to shoot some clays, LR steel with 308's and they finished with a 50 BMG. Only one of the dads had any experience with a rifle. They really enjoyed itand shot very well and want to do it again.

 

[jbkebert]

The last two weekends. Last weekend I took my two boys and a buddy took his wife and daughter to the range. My buddies daughter got her first experience shooting. We started out with a .22lr cricket that was a gift to her from her grandpa. She did pretty well and my oldest son Keigan convinced her to shoot his .243. First shot prefect height but two inches left at 100 yards. Not bad her and my son are in the same class and are good friends. The boys got their introduction in handguns. Caleb 9 and Keigan 10 shot my blackhawk .357 mag. I gave them .38 spec to shoot and they had a ball. Afterwords we headed back to our place where we had a campfire and cooked deer steaks and fried potatoes over the fire. Finished off with hot cocca and smores.

Today I took a young man from one of our hunter ed classes who has never hunted before. Went over and shot a little bit of everything. he brought a AR that he picked up but ahs really not shot much. John also has a glock 19. He apparently had never shot a scoped rifle before but did pretty well. Had my Encore with .243, .300 win mag, .223, 209x50, and .308 barrels. So he got a good variety. Finished up with shooting my blackhawk .357 and .44mag SPR. After shooting paper we set up some bowling pins and had some more fun.

It is probably one of the most fun things being a hunter ed instructor. We get several students that have never really shot before. Since we have live fire as part of the class it fun to watch them shoot for the first time.

 

[AKElroy]

My little shooters below--Prayers, Please!!

My son is 8, my daughter 11. They love to shoot, and are becoming pretty good at it. I do not want to hijack this thread, so no response is necessary. I am with my daughter in the hospital--She is battling a severe infection that has me & her mother scared to death.They have not identified it yet, but they are throwing everything at it. Prayer is appreciated!!

 

[12131]

Great pics, guys! Thanks for sharing.

 

[tractorshaft]

Man I am really getting a kick out of all of these photos and story's! Hopefully this will either inspire or remind some people who have the means an opportunity to share our hobby/sport with the uninitiated!

To AKElroy & Family; my prayers and best wishes go out to your daughter for a full and speedy recovery!


Jerry