Riomouse911
Member
...on Veterans Day. I bought him a Henry .22 youth model for his 12th Christmas, and naturally a matching Henry .22 for me because I got a great deal on it. Sadly, due to lousy schedules and other commitments we haven't had the time to shoot them all year.
We had a great time, he learning how to work the lever, hold the gun and aim offhand while I got to plink about without a care in the world. We were shooting with a group of friends in a dry riverbed on BLM land out in the desert. Locals had set up gongs, built a shooting bench, had set two tables out there, etc.
Then I let him shoot my Ruger Mk II 5.5" target pistol. After minimal instruction he was hitting an IPSC sized torso steel gong a bit over 15 yards away 5 out of 10 shots at least four times in a row. I was very pleased at the little naturals abilities.
Then Murphy showed up wielding his #%¥#!! law book. I had both rifles sitting on an open 2-gun case on the seat of the picnic bench at the shooting area when my son banged the case with his knee as he was going for another handful of cartridges for the pistol. The impact knocked the case off the bench and flipped it over. Naturally both of the rifles went skittering into the rocks and gravel, leaving what looked like healthy scratches on their receivers and several dings on the forearms and stocks.
I nearly had a stroke watching two brand-new guns hit the ground like that. All I could do was bite through my lip, tell my son to be careful, pick them up, and continue to breathe normally until the disbelief subsided. Of course I could have moved some stuff around and put them up on top of the table, so I surely had some blame to take in the incident as well. The kid, naturally, was embarrassed and upset.
Luckily, once I cleaned all of the dust off of them at home it wasn't too bad....all things considered. The scratches in the metal were minimal and the wood-dings are minor. The kid learned how to shoot his rifle and a handgun, and I got to go out and share some fun...and got in some lesson-learning time for the both of us.
Oh, and the Remington Thunderbolt .22s we were shooting had several misfires. I had at least five FTF rounds out of about 400 we shot that day, 3 in the rifles and 2 in the handgun. I wasn't impressed with their reliability, but I used them as training aids; teaching him about waiting 60 seconds while pointed down range and then clearing the gun with the action opening pointed away from my face.
Stay safe... and remember to set your guns in a better location than I did!
We had a great time, he learning how to work the lever, hold the gun and aim offhand while I got to plink about without a care in the world. We were shooting with a group of friends in a dry riverbed on BLM land out in the desert. Locals had set up gongs, built a shooting bench, had set two tables out there, etc.
Then I let him shoot my Ruger Mk II 5.5" target pistol. After minimal instruction he was hitting an IPSC sized torso steel gong a bit over 15 yards away 5 out of 10 shots at least four times in a row. I was very pleased at the little naturals abilities.
Then Murphy showed up wielding his #%¥#!! law book. I had both rifles sitting on an open 2-gun case on the seat of the picnic bench at the shooting area when my son banged the case with his knee as he was going for another handful of cartridges for the pistol. The impact knocked the case off the bench and flipped it over. Naturally both of the rifles went skittering into the rocks and gravel, leaving what looked like healthy scratches on their receivers and several dings on the forearms and stocks.
I nearly had a stroke watching two brand-new guns hit the ground like that. All I could do was bite through my lip, tell my son to be careful, pick them up, and continue to breathe normally until the disbelief subsided. Of course I could have moved some stuff around and put them up on top of the table, so I surely had some blame to take in the incident as well. The kid, naturally, was embarrassed and upset.
Luckily, once I cleaned all of the dust off of them at home it wasn't too bad....all things considered. The scratches in the metal were minimal and the wood-dings are minor. The kid learned how to shoot his rifle and a handgun, and I got to go out and share some fun...and got in some lesson-learning time for the both of us.
Oh, and the Remington Thunderbolt .22s we were shooting had several misfires. I had at least five FTF rounds out of about 400 we shot that day, 3 in the rifles and 2 in the handgun. I wasn't impressed with their reliability, but I used them as training aids; teaching him about waiting 60 seconds while pointed down range and then clearing the gun with the action opening pointed away from my face.
Stay safe... and remember to set your guns in a better location than I did!
)
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