Charles Johnson
New member
My brother and I finally got his girlfriend (Jill) to go to the range with us Saturday. She had never touched a gun before (actually I disassembled my Glock once to show her how a gun functions and she held the frame, trembling). We started her on a youth sized Marlin single shot .22 rifle. After she realized it wouldn't blow up in her face, she got a little more comfortable.
Next was my wife's AR-15. Jill was very apprehensive because of the noise level with the AK muzzle break. But we figured the light recoil would be easy for her to handle. She loved it! But then my brother started trying to talk her into shooting my 30-06. I was very concerned that this would be too much, but my brother told me to trust him. Well, she shot the 30-06, and to my surprise, she loved it even more that the AR15! There was no stopping her after that. She shot the remainder of my '06 ammo, then we moved over to the shotgun range. She handled both of my 12 ga scatterguns without a problem. My brother hadn't shot skeet before, so they both started a little slowly. But that didn't last long. By the time they finished shooting all my ammo, they were shooting doubles and breaking every target. It was actually kinda spooky because they would shoot at the same time, like they had been shooting together for years.
Finally we went to the handgun range. She actually shot the handguns better than my brother, but I'm still way ahead of her here
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She was always very safe with her firearm handling. I had to remind her a coupla times to keep her finger off the trigger until ready to shoot on handguns (but she always had it pointer downrange). The day's only mishap occurred when my wife suggested Jill shoot some stationary targets before trying the skeet. I had just finished showing Jill how to load the shotgun, so I started to unload it so we could go downrange. I had my finger in the receiver trying to get a shell out when my brother jumped over the fence and walked downrange (right where the muzzle was pointing)! This surprised me and I bumped the action release button. The extractor took a chunk out of my finger - getting bitten by a Beretta hurts! Fortunately my other finger was off the trigger (as it always is when I'm not shooting). My brother and the nearest surgeon might have had a very bad day had I not been practicing safe firearms handling. Needless to say my brother will control his excitement better next time - I gave him a pretty good scolding.
So when we were finally done, Jill was very excited about her newfound sport. She shot more of a variety of guns in one day than I shot in 3 years. To recap, she shot a Marlin .22, Bushmaster AR-15, Steyr Prohunter 30-06, Beretta AL391 12ga, Remington 870 12ga, *&* 5906, HK USP9c, and Glock 17. I wish I had started that way! 100% of her fear and apprehension was gone as soon as she let the first '06 round go. So needless to say, the 30-06 was her favorite, followed by the Beretta.
Next was my wife's AR-15. Jill was very apprehensive because of the noise level with the AK muzzle break. But we figured the light recoil would be easy for her to handle. She loved it! But then my brother started trying to talk her into shooting my 30-06. I was very concerned that this would be too much, but my brother told me to trust him. Well, she shot the 30-06, and to my surprise, she loved it even more that the AR15! There was no stopping her after that. She shot the remainder of my '06 ammo, then we moved over to the shotgun range. She handled both of my 12 ga scatterguns without a problem. My brother hadn't shot skeet before, so they both started a little slowly. But that didn't last long. By the time they finished shooting all my ammo, they were shooting doubles and breaking every target. It was actually kinda spooky because they would shoot at the same time, like they had been shooting together for years.
Finally we went to the handgun range. She actually shot the handguns better than my brother, but I'm still way ahead of her here
. She was always very safe with her firearm handling. I had to remind her a coupla times to keep her finger off the trigger until ready to shoot on handguns (but she always had it pointer downrange). The day's only mishap occurred when my wife suggested Jill shoot some stationary targets before trying the skeet. I had just finished showing Jill how to load the shotgun, so I started to unload it so we could go downrange. I had my finger in the receiver trying to get a shell out when my brother jumped over the fence and walked downrange (right where the muzzle was pointing)! This surprised me and I bumped the action release button. The extractor took a chunk out of my finger - getting bitten by a Beretta hurts! Fortunately my other finger was off the trigger (as it always is when I'm not shooting). My brother and the nearest surgeon might have had a very bad day had I not been practicing safe firearms handling. Needless to say my brother will control his excitement better next time - I gave him a pretty good scolding.
So when we were finally done, Jill was very excited about her newfound sport. She shot more of a variety of guns in one day than I shot in 3 years. To recap, she shot a Marlin .22, Bushmaster AR-15, Steyr Prohunter 30-06, Beretta AL391 12ga, Remington 870 12ga, *&* 5906, HK USP9c, and Glock 17. I wish I had started that way! 100% of her fear and apprehension was gone as soon as she let the first '06 round go. So needless to say, the 30-06 was her favorite, followed by the Beretta.