A Day at the Range

Before the holidays, a fellow blogger and I began an email exchange discussing hockey, the news and each others blogs. He mentioned that his boys had not had any exposure to firearms or any firearm safety training. Well that's not good. The boys are of the age where curiosity about firearms could get them hurt if they were ever around someone who did not handle firearms safely. I offered to take them to the range and show them the basics "after the holidays". Well... today was after the holidays (the cold/wet weather could be here for awhile and I did not want the boys to feel like we were leaving them hanging).

Earlier in the week (Monday), the forecast was for partly cloudy skies with highs in the upper 40's. Must be nice to make the money they do without any expectations of accuracy. It did not make it quite that warm today, but there was no wind and we were properly dressed so it was not uncomfortable.

Arrived at the range at 0900, my in car thermometer indicated that it was 33°F. The cars crunched through icy snow as we drove up to the bays, we were the only ones there.

The guys were great. They paid good attention when we were discussing how to operate each firearm, and they made conscious efforts to be safe at all times. Dad and I were right on top of them and the infrequent bit of inattention was quickly remedied. I brought out several rifles and three pistols for the guys to shoot.

We started with the long guns. First was the Erma Werke EM-1. It is a .22 cal. look alike of the M-1 Carbine. Each boy fired a couple of 5 round magazines, becoming familiar with holding a rifle (on sand bags) and the safety rules. Next was the Ruger 10/22. Again each boy ran through a couple of 5 round magazines. After Dad and I were confident that they were comfortable with the firearms, we let them shoot at the same time. This is how the day progressed. When it appeared that the boys might be getting a bit bored with what they had, we would introduce another firearm. The older boy really liked the MixMaster Dissipater AR-15 and the pistols. He thought the .22 was too small, and the .45 was to big, but like Goldilocks, the 9mm was just right. The younger boy was the sharp shooter and he settled in with the Martini single shot .22. He really liked the target sights and once he got the hang of it he blasted the center out of a paper plate.

This is the two of them shooting what they enjoyed the best:

I really think they had a blast. We did not work much on form, mainly safety and making sure they were comfortable and having fun. By the end of the day they had slowed down and were concentrating on each shot. I had a great time and I appreciate Mark trusting me with his boys on their first shooting experience.

Now to get them into the 4-H or some other regular youth shooting group...

As we were driving away from the range, the temperature was 39°F. I'm not sure any of us really noticed the cold.