Well I can honestly say the girls had an awesome time with guns we took to the range(22 DA revolver by charter arms, Hi-point 380 auto, Ruger 10/22, and a marlin 1894 leveraction in 44 mag)
, I'm not surte who was smiling the most between the 2 of them...
To start it off, my future step daughter's name is Bri, and her best friend's name is Elise...
When we got to the range, you could see the nervousness and anticipation in their eyes when the walked in.. I reassured them that they'd be and do fine..
Did all the paperwork for them being allowed to shoot, and got them set up with eye and ear protection.. Then we were assigned a lane, and got shown how to operate the trolley(for the targets)...
We started off with the 22 revolver, where I refreshed their memories of the night before, on loading and handling it, and reminded them of the power they have in their hands once they pick up a gun(loaded or unloaded). That all went very well, and they were very attentive when I spoke to them, and reminded of how to aim with iron sights..
Just to make it easy and relaxing, I got the biggest targets available(silohouettes, hope I spelled that right
), and only sent them out about 10-15 feet from us..
First to step up was Elise, she was a bit anxious, but she listened and followed through wqith no problems.. Her first 3 shots were spread out a good bit, but I reminded her that that they were all on the paper, which counts for a good thing with it being her first time shooting.. When she took her last 3 they were all center mass with 2 holes cutting. She went throught the emptying of the pistol and leaving the cylinder visible without a reminder, and when done, she looked at Bri, and had the biggest grin on her face and just said "WOW"...
Next was Bri's turn, I could still tell she was VERY nervous about shooting and all, and I reminded her if she didn't want to that she didn't have to do it, all she had to do was say so, but she said she was fine with it and she wanted to try.. So I walked to thru it all and made sure she took her time with loading and all, and kept talking to her as she started to aim.. Once she was comfortable with where she was aiming I told her to put her finger in the trigger guard and ssslllowwly squeeze the trigger... Guys, the first shot was dead center, and just under the "x", by about .5", then the next 6 were ALL right in the same area(not cutting holes or anything but could cover them with playing card)!!!
When she was done, she had that same infectious grin as Elise had
, and the same "wow" came from her...
They shot the revolver a while longer, and when they were ready they asked to try the next gun, which was my 380 pistol..
Again I went thru the process, of reminding them of handling this pistol as well, and gave them each 1 bullet to load and fire(in case it scared them and they dropped the gun, we wouldn't have any AD's) at a new target... Bri stepped up first and loaded, and racked the slide and aimed then slid her finger in the guard and squeezed off ANOTHER center mass shot!!
I can honestly say that her grin grew exponentially after that, and then Elise did the same thing, putting her shot right next to Bri's !!!!
They shot the 380 a bunch more with shots stringing from center mass up to the neck and head, ALL with the groups being very good(in my book)... They were loving it and so was I..
Next came the rifles, this is where things too little twist but nothing we couldn't handle...
Again went thru and refeshed them on loading and what not, and moved the target out to 25 yds(the max for this range), and set them up on a bag rest in a chair, and let them look throught the scope first before loading up... That's when the twist came in, and found out that Bri was left eye dominant and rright handed, so with about 5 extra minutes of setting her up helping her aquaint herself with looking thru scope with her strong eye, they were ready to load up and shoot...
This time Elise went first and was cutting holes with the first 3 shots and with rest she just made one big hole
, the girl was a dead eye!!
Next was Bri's turn, and since Elise had pretty much shot out the center of the target I told her to aim for the 9 in the nine ring, which she did and wiped it out in 4 shots, but we had a problem with a couple of stovepipe rounds, which she took care of just as I showed her(can you see my chest puffing out
)... First thing she did was to drop the mag out of the gun and lay it down on its side and racked slide back to see if she was clear, and she wasn't, so she locked the slide back and laid it down and let me clear it for her.. Once it was cleared, she loaded back up and finished shooting at where the nine was
.. Both of the girls were great and listened and behaved awesomely !! I was and an still AM very proud of them both!! They shot the ruger a little bit longer, but Elise was eyeing up the 44 with almost a hungry look in her eye :Dlol.. So I asked if they were ready to try it.. Bri was a little hesitant, but said she'd try one shot with it..
I went thru the run again of handling it and set them up.. Bri went first and loaded and then eased the hammer back down(with the safety on I might add), and made sure she was comfy and had the rifle butt in her shoulder good, which I helped her with.. When she was ready, she pulled back the hammer, aim, then took off the safety, and slid her finger in the guard, and squeezed it off.. The look on her face was of TOTAL surprised when it went off.. It didn't hurt her but pushed her back a little in the chair... The best pat of it all is the girl got a bullseye with that shot!! I told her she did everything right, and she was supposed to be surprised when it went of... Elise came up and did the same thing putting her shot right next to Bri's with just a hair of paper in between them...
Elise wanted to shoot the 44 some more but Bri passed and said she liked shooting the little guns, as she called them.. I told her that was fine, as she did awesomely with all the guns she shot.. Once I get my hornet repaired I'll be taking them out shooting again. I have a feeling Bri's gonna fall in love with that..
They've already asked me to teach them to shoot bows once the weather warms up(maybe in the spring).. I brought them home and let the check out my bows, and it looks like I'll have to buy a couple as they had trouble pulling them back, so I'll be investing in a genesis, and a light recurve for them to shoot with and practise..
Well that's about it.. Hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did!!
Tux
