A Day at the Range

[ltorlo64]

Took my two nephews and my brother-in-law out shooting yesterday. My BIL has not shot in years and my nephews, 13 and 15, have never fired a gun. I took out my Remington 581L (left hand bolt action), my Marlin 60 and my SIG Mosquito and my BIL brought a S&W Model 22.

First I fired the Marlin, as I had just finished doing an extensive cleaning. Turns out I need to clean it some more and replace a few parts, like the feed ramp and the mag spring. Luckily they seem to be readily available and not too expensive. So that took us down to 1 rifle, and it being left handed.

There was a gentleman next to me firing one of those Kimber target rifles from CMP. He saw I was having trouble and had taken the Marlin out of service for the day and he got up from his bench and left. He came back a couple of minutes later with a 10/22 and a really nice, target grade bolt action (right handed) that he loaned me for my nephews to shoot. They really enjoyed that. The gentleman also had me shoot his Kimber, and that was amazing. He had it in a shooting vice and I put 3 rounds into the same hole at 50 yards. I almost felt like I was cheating. I am used to using open sights and seldom even use sand bags and here I am with a shooting vice and a scope that made it seem like I was right at the target.

We put the rifles away and got out the S&W and the SIG and shot them for a while. I was more concerned with them shooting them safely than accurately. The gentleman shooting next to me was a big help in that. The 15 year old nephew kept pointing the muzzle at almost a 90 degree angle to the range when he would remove the mag from the SIG. Each time I corrected him and he would fix it, but the next time he would do it again. The gentleman came over and asked if he could speak to my nephew and I said sure. He said pretty much the same thing, but I think because my nephew didn't know him he listened. After that the muzzle was always down range.

The only bad thing was when I got out my M1 Carbine and shot the C&R target for August. I was in a hurry and my target showed it, but I will post in C&R about that.

All in all it was a pretty good day. But any day at the range is a good day at the range.

[vit]

Sounds good. I love meeting nice folks like that at the range, try to pay it forward as I can myself.

[mriddick]

Very good report

[1 Patriot-of-many]

Always good to see new shooters. It usually only takes once and you're hooked.

[O.S.O.K.]

Mui Bueno Senior!

Sounds like you all had a good time.

I was at Cabelas today - wanted to maybe get a few more targets for an upcoming range afternoon that I'm going to hold on my new property with the two guys that report to me and my buddy Smitty. Ended up just getting a target holder - the other targets are pretty pricy and I already have several steel targets... regardless, we will also have fun

[slamfire51]

Thanks for taking and teaching first timers. Yeah, they are now hooked on shooting.
They will be saying, "Let's go to Unc's and go shooting.

Every kid should have the opportunity to experience the fun of shooting.

Good job!!

[ltorlo64]

All are right, the boys loved it and cannot wait to go again. The interesting thing is that the 15 year old was acting ambivalent to the whole thing. We had talked about going shooting but he didn't act like he wanted to go. I invited his 13 year old brother, who was very excited about it, and the older brother asked if he could go as well. It was the older boy that looked as if he had the most fun and he is the one talking the most about going again. I think that is sort of funny.

[Solidus-snake]

All are right, the boys loved it and cannot wait to go again. The interesting thing is that the 15 year old was acting ambivalent to the whole thing. We had talked about going shooting but he didn't act like he wanted to go. I invited his 13 year old brother, who was very excited about it, and the older brother asked if he could go as well. It was the older boy that looked as if he had the most fun and he is the one talking the most about going again. I think that is sort of funny.

Sounds like your typical 15yr old. Glad you took em shooting, keep up the good work and instructing.

And as mentioned above, I also really enjoy meeting nice folks at the gun range. Most of the time I go theres not a soul to be found which I often prefer.

[American Rage]

Ahem:

[old Grump]

Most satisfying is coaching, most productive is recruiting new shooters, best part of the week is giving somebody a place to shoot that might not ordinarily have access. You done good.

[ltorlo64]

Ahem:

Sorry, no pictures.