Took a couple of newish shooters to the range today

[Quintin Likely]

A friend of mine has a couple of daughters, they're grown up now, but when they were little he'd take them shooting out on his land. Well, that was years ago, they've since started families and gone to college and made it out to the real world. Earlier this week, he called me up asking if I wanted to go shooting, that he was bringing his daughters along and he wanted some help in coaching 'em.

Why hell yes, I'd be glad to come along.

So today we meet up this afternoon at the local indoor range. He brought a .25 auto pocket gun and his XD45. I only have a Glock 19 and a Kimber 1911 for handguns. He started them off shooting the .25, which is a little Taurus thing, with a pretty hard to rack slide and woefully pathetic sights; not the best thing to reintroduce someone to shooting, IMO. We stepped up to the Glock, which only one of the ladies shot and she didn't like 9mm recoil at all. "Hm," I think to myself, "maybe I'm going in the wrong direction. I have an idea!" I head out the range and rented a .22LR pistol, an S&W Model 22, and bought a couple boxes of ammo.

Instant grins. The one who couldn't put up with the Glock had a smile from ear to ear with the .22 after tearing the heart out of the target at 7 yards. Our session was cut kinda short when she had to go pick her kids up from the 'sitters, but it was a good day.

Get out there and introduce (or re-introduce) people to shooting, y'all. We'll win 'em one at a time and everyone will be better off.

 

[telomerase]

Good job!

 

[Aaryq]

Now hear this! All behold the great power of .22lr! Good job, buddy.

 

[skeeter1]

Good on you, Quintin!

I always start new shooters out with my S&W Model 35 .22 target revolver. It's not too heavy (26oz.), 6" bbl, good sights and trigger, and the inherent safety and simplicity of a revolver. It's worth quite a bundle now, but I've been shooting it for 35 years and it hasn't broken yet, so why not share it with some new shooters. It's a great confidence builder and cheap to shoot. If that goes OK then maybe I'll break out the .38Spl with mid-range wadcutters. For those that aren't squeamish, I'll break out the snubby with some .38+Ps.

.22s are always a good starting point for getting someone interested in shooting, and even after 50 years of shooting, I still enjoy my .22s.

 

[XD Fan]

I am taking a new shooter to the range two weeks from yesterday. I will start her out with my .22 revolver and I am going to read Pax's web sight carefully before i do.

 

[Quintin Likely]

Hell, I forgot how much fun .22s can be! I put a P22 on layaway yesterday, now I really can't wait to get it out.

And thanks for the kind words everyone. The only drawback we really had was being at an indoor range. When we first got there, there was only two other people on the range besides us and they left about 15 minutes after we got there. A little while later, more people started showing up, and there were guys in there doing mag dumps and double taps, kinda made it tough to give pointers here and there. I think next time, we're going to an outdoor range. I got a couple boxes of clays, I'm gonna get one of those holders from Wally World so we'll have some reactive targets, and I'll bring my .223 bolt gun out too.

 

[skeeter1]

The only drawback we really had was being at an indoor range.

Yeah, that's where I have to do most of my shooting as well. One of my shooting buddies has a small (11acre) farm and I'd rather go there and plink at tin cans, old pieces of fruit, etc. Problem is, he's in the middle of a messy divorce, and there's a good chance he's going to have to sell it to pay child and spousal support. Bummer.

 

[Trebor]

Good going! A .22 is the absolute BEST choice for introducing someone to firearms, especially handguns. That was good of you to go rent the .22 for them.

I suggest that every experienced shooter should own at least one .22 handgun just for introducing newbies to the sport. Most of us probably already have one, but those who don't should buy one as soon as they are able. They are really nice to have when you take someone to the range and hey, you can shoot them yourselves as well.

 

[bogie]

Let 'em shoot a .22 first.

Then take 'em up to a 6" heavy barrel .38 with wadcutter target loads.

Then bump it a little.

You'll have to fight 'em to get the .45 away to put it in the bag...