A few weeks ago, I had a free day, and the weather was very pleasant, so I called up an old friend and invited him to go to the gun range with me, and he happily accepted. He grew up in a family that did not own firearms, but over the years, I and other friends have taken him occasionally to shoot, mostly .22s and shotguns. He has little experience with handguns, but, given the current state of the world, he has been talking about getting a handgun for home defense purposes. I've been telling him that he should get some experience with various types, to determine what he likes and can shoot.
At the range I put up my cardboard backstop about 15 yards ahead of the shooting line, and taped up several of the standard NRA 50-foot rapid fire pistol targets. After going over the basic rules of gun safety with him (something we've done before), I showed him how to load one of the auto pistols I brought, and let him shoot at the a target. Out of five rounds not one hit the paper. The cardboard backing already had lots of bullet holes in it so we couldn't tell where he was hitting. Several more magazines yielded nothing still. I moved the target to about 7 yards....same result. So I handed him a different auto to try...still nothing on the paper. I stood behind him as he shot, looking down the sights of the pistol...they seemed reasonably well aligned. He did not flinch. So I pulled some blue paper shop towels out of the truck, which were larger than the targets, and taped a couple of them behind a target. He shot another magazine, and still didn't put any holes anywhere we could see. I took the gun from him, and shot a couple of nice, neat groups in the black....it wasn't the gun.
So, I picked up the target and moved it very close....5 feet from the muzzle. He shot 5 more rounds, and still didn't hit the target. He turned to me with a look of utter consternation on his face. "Ain't no damn way!!" he said. Eventually, he put a shot down at the very bottom edge of the paper. He was shooting far, far low. I was able to work him up to getting on the paper--at 5 feet--but still he was all over the place. Talk about frustration! He, despite little experience, is a good, naturally talented shot with a shotgun (I've taken him to my old skeet range), or, at least he once was. And he doesn't embarrass himself with a rifle; not great, but at least he can keep the shots on the paper.
We talked through the issue. My friend was naturally near-sighted, and has worn glasses since junior high, until just recently, when he had laser surgery on his eyes. He stopped wearing glasses after the laser surgery, claiming that he sees just fine, but we have determined that, at least for close objects, his eyes have some problems. I suspect he needs reading glasses for pistol shooting.
Once I got the scope sighted in, the Savage 110CL has put the shots right where I wanted them to go, ever since.
