My daughter, my brother and I went to an indoor range 3 weekends back and we rented her a SW M&P22. She put almost 100 rounds through it after I warmed it up for her with a couple of shots and she had a blast. Her grouping was good for a first-time handgun shooter though a little low. She'll figure out the proper sight picture and will get her accuracy with repetition.
We went again last weekend and rented a 380 which she wasn't digging because of the recoil. She recognized immediately that she was anticipating the shot and accuracy suffered. So we finished off the box of ammo we bought and traded the 380 for the same 22 she had shot previously. Big difference and she had FUN. Shot another 100 rounds and she wants to go again.
After shooting we went through a selection of guns and she liked the feel of the Ruger SR22 the best. It fit her hand better than the M&P so I bought it for her.
She's 19 and a barrel racing fool and also in college so shooting hasn't been high on her priorities.
Not sure what changed. She called after our first outing and said something like 'hey, I know I can't conceal carry until I'm 21, but I want to be ready for when I can.' I asked her if she wanted to go back to the range and shoot more often and she answered yes before I finished the question.
We'll shoot all she wants/all I can afford.
I think I taught her a very valuable lesson at the end of our second range trip. Range rule is semi-autos go to the line and leave the line locked open with mags out and in a bag or case. I finished my last mag, dropped it and carried my pistol, locked open, to the bench behind the line and dropped it in my range bag.
I was going to bring out another gun for a couple mags but called it off.
Later I explained to her what I did and that because I violated range rules I 'called Myself out and left the game'. She said 'you put yourself in time out?'
Yep, the lesson was that I made a mistake and I can't pretend it doesn't matter even if no one else noticed.
That Segway'd into a conversation about getting into good shooting habits overall and if you're having bad day at the range, pack up and there will always be another time. So she recognized immediately that that pertained to shooting the 380 and anticipating the recoil. Yep again, let's shoot the heck out of that 22 and learn fundamentals and then larger calibers will fall into place much more easily.
I just picked up another 2000 rounds of 22LR so she can shoot all she wants. We're going again tomorrow.
We went again last weekend and rented a 380 which she wasn't digging because of the recoil. She recognized immediately that she was anticipating the shot and accuracy suffered. So we finished off the box of ammo we bought and traded the 380 for the same 22 she had shot previously. Big difference and she had FUN. Shot another 100 rounds and she wants to go again.
After shooting we went through a selection of guns and she liked the feel of the Ruger SR22 the best. It fit her hand better than the M&P so I bought it for her.
She's 19 and a barrel racing fool and also in college so shooting hasn't been high on her priorities.
Not sure what changed. She called after our first outing and said something like 'hey, I know I can't conceal carry until I'm 21, but I want to be ready for when I can.' I asked her if she wanted to go back to the range and shoot more often and she answered yes before I finished the question.
We'll shoot all she wants/all I can afford.
I think I taught her a very valuable lesson at the end of our second range trip. Range rule is semi-autos go to the line and leave the line locked open with mags out and in a bag or case. I finished my last mag, dropped it and carried my pistol, locked open, to the bench behind the line and dropped it in my range bag.
I was going to bring out another gun for a couple mags but called it off.
Later I explained to her what I did and that because I violated range rules I 'called Myself out and left the game'. She said 'you put yourself in time out?'
Yep, the lesson was that I made a mistake and I can't pretend it doesn't matter even if no one else noticed.
That Segway'd into a conversation about getting into good shooting habits overall and if you're having bad day at the range, pack up and there will always be another time. So she recognized immediately that that pertained to shooting the 380 and anticipating the recoil. Yep again, let's shoot the heck out of that 22 and learn fundamentals and then larger calibers will fall into place much more easily.
I just picked up another 2000 rounds of 22LR so she can shoot all she wants. We're going again tomorrow.