Tuesday, November 11, 2008

New Shooter Report

OK, I have a friend Kelly from work that found out I was a gun nut and asked if I would take her shooting. . . . . oh ya, twist my arm to go to the range. . . .

So after many missed days due to other commitments on both sides we finally got down to the range this last weekend.

The day stated with a short class on the four rules, the range rules, and going over the different guns we would be shooting. She is a bit of a geek at heart and wanted to know the technical stuff behind them too so we covered that stuff also. I then covered how to hold the guns, and how to aim properly with standard iron sights and the peep sight on the AR-15. We figured out which eye was dominant then headed for the range. . ..

The first up was the Nylon 66 in .22 LR. This was a great start and she was on the paper at 25 yards right away. After 20 rounds or so she wanted to move up.

The next in line was the AR-15. I thought this was a good pick due to the lack of recoil on these guns. She did great but felt it was a bit heavy on the front end for her so we moved on. I went to the WASR 10 next (AK clone) so she could try something with a bit more recoil. . . She loved it. Did I mention she did great on the target with it too? I think this was a hit due to the noise and how light it is. It has the 16” barrel instead of a 20” like my AR. . . Anyway things were going good.

Just for a well rounded day she also did a few shots with my lever action Marlin 1894 which went over well. She admitted at this point that she wanted to try the guns because she had been intimidated by them a bit but that was not a problem any more.


Since her boyfriend is in the British Army I couldn’t let the day go without bringing out the Enfield. She really wanted to try it as her boyfriend kept quizzing her about it as soon as he found out she was going to shoot one. . . . . I had her start shooting this one from a rest so the kick would not be a problem. That was the best part of the day. . . It went something like this. . .

BANG! “giggle, giggle” BANG! “giggle, giggle, THIS IS COOL” so I think she liked that one.


We then did a bit with my .22 pistol and my .380 which she did well with but not as well as the rifles as can be expected. Still got on the paper though at about 20 yards. . .


We ended the day back on the AR-15 shooting a metal plate at 100 yards, she hit 4 of 10 and was thrilled. . . .

I think it is safe to say we have brought another one over to our side, not that it took much encouragement. She was very interested in trying them to start and since we went slow and let her work up to the heavy fire power she enjoyed the day. Score one for the good guys!

2 comments:

Borepatch said...

Nicely done.

I've thought since getting the Mrs. to the range that an AR is a good first gun for a new shooter.

I love the Enfield bit, too.

JD said...

I hear one of the reasons the Army like the AR platform was that they could easily teach new shooters without the recoil scaring them into bad habits. It's not like the old days when folks get into the service already knowing how to shoot. . .