My Favorite Kind of Post...

...is a new shooter report.

A few months ago, I went to the range with SCI-FI and his lovely bride B. I was testing out the SIG SAUER Mosquito that they had kindly sent me for T&E (look for a write-up shortly!), and B was interested in trying it out, so we got together at my gun club for the afternoon. B. mentioned that her sister S. had expressed interest in learning to shoot - SCI-FI and B. are both new LTC holders as of this year, and their journey fanned the flames in B.'s sister S.

I've known B. for nearly as long as SCI-FI, stretching back some 20-odd years, and I knew her sister S. from various family get-togethers and such. S. and I exchanged e-mails a few times, ironed out a day and time to get together, and met at my gun club on Saturday afternoon. SCI-FI and B. carpooled with her to get a little gunnie time in, as well as offer up moral support for her "first time".

SCI-FI and B. ran S. through the Four Rules on the ride up to the range, and I reiterated general safety guidelines as well. We were fortunate in that as SCI-FI, B., and S. were pulling up to the pistol range, the other group that had been shooting packed up and left, giving us sole occupancy of the pistol house. I gave S. a quick overview of the firearms she would be shooting:

Smith & Wesson Model 17 .22LR revolver
SIG SAUER Mosquito .22LR semi-automatic
Smith & Wesson Model 19 .357 Magnum/.38 Special revolver
SIG SAUER P226 9mm/.22LR semi-automatic

(The opening of the gun case led to the first quote of the day. S. took one look at the offerings and exclaimed:

Those are cool!

Yeah, I think so too...

I like to have new shooters try both rimfire and centerfire revolvers and semi-automatics as part of my "Intro to Gunniehood". The Model 17 is one of my favorite guns, and it's great for new shooters - the mid-size frame is heavy enough to negate all recoil, and the 8 3/8" barrel gives plenty of sight radius for new shooters. One thing I've found with new shooters is to start them off shooting at plain ol' white paper plates for their first outing - when you put up a bullseye target, if they're not hitting dead center sometimes folks get discouraged. With the plate, as long as they're keeping their shots confined to a plate they're doing great.

Here's a shot of S. trying out the P226:

Getting a feel for it...

(the gun was empty, and she had plugs in her ears, before anyone sees the earmuffs on the bench and thinks she wasn't shooting with hearing protection...)

I brought both the P226 with the .22LR slide as well as the Mosquito figuring it would give different grip sizes and weights to try out. The P226 is a larger firearm and all-steel, whereas the Mosquito is 9/10 the size (literally) and has a polymer frame for less weight - and less recoil-reduction. If the P226 double-stack grip proved too awkward, the Mosquito would be fine, etc. Plus B. wanted to try the Mosquito again!

Here's S. with a revolver:

ZOMG! Woman with a snubbie!

Yes, she's shooting a snubnosed .38 Special revolver. She asked to shoot it! You can see the Model 19 on the bench, too - she started out on that with a cylinder of Zercool's mousefart .38 Special loads. We had some full-power 158 grain .38 Special rounds (stupid Jay forgot .357 Magnum though), and she was really enjoying the centerfire shooting. In fact, she turned to SCI-FI and gave QOTD #2:

Now I understand what you mean by "recoil therapy"!

And, lastly, we put up a full-sized silhouette and S. shot it up all to herself:

He's dead, S.

B. took one look at her sister and gave the third and final QOTD:

I haven't seen you smile this much in a while.

This is why I do this.

That is all.