What's THE greatest day you ever spent at the range? Does one really stand out for you? One sure does in my case.
One of my nephews is crazy about guns. From age four on he would beg me to take him shooting and I would reply with "just as soon as your mom and dad give the OK." His parents weren't anti-gun by any means -- they just felt he should wait. When he was nine he told me that while on vacation he had went shooting with his "other uncle." That sorta stung but hey, no big deal.
Soon after his parents gave him the green light to accompany me to the range. I chose a large number of pieces for the outing: my Marlin Model 100 single shot 22, Ruger 10/22, a Browning BL-22 lever action 22, an AR-15, an AK-74, an M1 Garand, a Remington 870, a Stevens SxS .410 and a Charles Daly O/U 12. The handguns included a Ruger MK3, a S&W 617, a Glock 17L, a Colt Python and a Colt M1911.
I got a call while driving to pick him up. He was afraid I had forgotten -- I was right on time. The RO on duty was a friend and treated my nephew with great respect. We set-out all the firearms on the range rack and I patiently got him going with the Marlin. We quite literally spent 7 hours doing nothing but training and blasting steel and paper. Even the shotguns got a workout. The look in his face was one of complete stimulus overload as we began casing the firearms.
On out way out he took a look through the "free bin" and grabbed a stack of American Rifleman magazines and a replica WWI Campaign Hat that fit him perfectly. He was asleep before we hit the highway. I had to wake him to ask him where he wanted to eat? He chose Taco Bell (yeah, I know) and he killed one of those 12-taco boxes -- rather impressive.
Later he confided that his "other uncle" let him shoot a .22 and a 30/30 lever a "few times" that infamous day and that was it. I'm happy to say he remains a gun addict to this very day...
One of my nephews is crazy about guns. From age four on he would beg me to take him shooting and I would reply with "just as soon as your mom and dad give the OK." His parents weren't anti-gun by any means -- they just felt he should wait. When he was nine he told me that while on vacation he had went shooting with his "other uncle." That sorta stung but hey, no big deal.
Soon after his parents gave him the green light to accompany me to the range. I chose a large number of pieces for the outing: my Marlin Model 100 single shot 22, Ruger 10/22, a Browning BL-22 lever action 22, an AR-15, an AK-74, an M1 Garand, a Remington 870, a Stevens SxS .410 and a Charles Daly O/U 12. The handguns included a Ruger MK3, a S&W 617, a Glock 17L, a Colt Python and a Colt M1911.
I got a call while driving to pick him up. He was afraid I had forgotten -- I was right on time. The RO on duty was a friend and treated my nephew with great respect. We set-out all the firearms on the range rack and I patiently got him going with the Marlin. We quite literally spent 7 hours doing nothing but training and blasting steel and paper. Even the shotguns got a workout. The look in his face was one of complete stimulus overload as we began casing the firearms.
On out way out he took a look through the "free bin" and grabbed a stack of American Rifleman magazines and a replica WWI Campaign Hat that fit him perfectly. He was asleep before we hit the highway. I had to wake him to ask him where he wanted to eat? He chose Taco Bell (yeah, I know) and he killed one of those 12-taco boxes -- rather impressive.
Later he confided that his "other uncle" let him shoot a .22 and a 30/30 lever a "few times" that infamous day and that was it. I'm happy to say he remains a gun addict to this very day...