New Shooter Report!

This past Saturday I took a friend I met through Scouting to the range for his first time shooting ever. He had never fired a gun before, making it as far as going to a gun range with a friend who had a permit only to find the range closed for quals. Last year during the WeBeLoS crossover he made some comments that made me think he might be 2A friendly, and I asked if he'd been shooting. He relayed the above story; we made tentative plan after tentative plan, and this past weekend it finally all came together.

We met Saturday afternoon after Mrs. G. got home from work. He lives up the street from me, so I swang in, picked him up, and drove to my gun club (side note: this is the kind of club I belong to - we get there at 4PM on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon to find the place deserted. We shot for over two hours and there wasn't another person there...) I gave my standard safety lesson, a brief overview of sight picture, and a quick demo on stance, and we were off to the races.

We started with rimfire goodness:

Smith & Wesson Model 17

Smith & Wesson Model 422

I was, quite frankly, surprised at how well I shot. First off, I haven't been shooting since I took my last new shooter, so I was fully prepared to suck wind. Secondly, whenever I take a new shooter, I take the first set of shots so they can prepare for what to expect. I don't shoot for great accuracy, aiming instead to keep all shots more or less in the same spot on a plate (I always start with a plain paper plate for new shooters so they don't feel disappointed if/when they don't hit the X-ring).

Next we moved onto centerfire guns:

Ruger Security Six

SigSauer P226

We started with the Ruger and some light .38 Specials, then shot the Sig with 9mm FMJs. Once he had a good feel for centerfire handguns, I loaded the Ruger with some smokin' Remington 158 grain .357 Magnum JSPs and let six fly. He was duly impressed, and gave the first QotD after his first time shooting the Magnums:

WOW.

We then went with the Remington 572:

Remington Model 572

After he got a feeling for the difference between pistols and rifles (put it this way: He took the plate he shot with the rifle home - something about a 2" grouping for 15 rounds!), we set up some clays on the 25 yard berm for some fun plinking. There's just something about watching a clay disappear when hit dead on to really hook in a new shooter (that and he hit clays 3 out of 6 times with the S&W model 17!).

Leading to the second quote of the day as I dropped him off at his house. He gathers his gear and starts to close the door, then opens it again, pokes his head back into the cab, and says,

So, um, when can we go again?

Heh. Heheheheheheheheheheheheh. Hook, line, and sinker.

That is all.