New shooter

[btroj]

Took a coworker to the range this morning. She had never shot anything before. She tried the Ruger 22 auto, the GP 100, a 1911, and a few rounds from the AR 15.
I have taken over 10 people to ten range. The pretty much all like the GP100 but find the 1911 difficult to shoot.
How many of you have taken a new shooter tom the range this year?

Brad

[RobS]

The lower recoiling firearms and revolvers seem to be easier for inexperienced people to shoot. Nothing worse than taking a person out and handing them a snappy or heavy recoiling firearm right off the bat as they will develop a flinch that translates to not being able to hit the broadside of a barn. Most people like to be successful at whatever they are doing and a poor 1st time experience can turn anyone off.

I recently took out a newbie and gave them a heavier revolver with super light plinker loads and he loved the experience.................he was also able to hit targets so there is the correlation.

[Moonie]

I've taken several, 11 year old daughter, wife and 14 year old nephew.

[MtGun44]

I agree on the noise and recoil thing. I always start with the .22 and if they ask, some light
.38 Spl loads. If they are really interested I have some super soft 180 gr .44 Spl load for
the Mountain Gun 629. Even 12 yr olds like the big .44 with super soft loads.

Nothing good comes of letting newbies shoot noisy or hard kicking rounds. They can work
up to that if they want to, it is important to leave them with a positive experience.

Bill

[timkelley]

Took a young lady from PERU this summer ( friend of my grandaughter). Started her out with 22 rifle and pistol. Time all was said and done she was shooting my HB AR15 and a 1911 and she was hitting her targets. She had never had a firearm in her hands and had no bad habits to unlearn.

[Mk42gunner]

She had never had a firearm in her hands and had no bad habits to unlearn.

Those are the easiest people to teach, Tim.

I haven't taken any this year, yet. I have barely been myself; I just haven't been able to physically.

My daughter is on again, off again about really learning to shoot,(she has been out just plinking). One of these days everything will come together; She'll want to, I'll feel well enogh to go and teach her, and we won't have anything pressing to do at home or for school.

Robert

[44man]

You will have better luck with a new shooter and the 1911 if you explain that the cartridge has little recoil but the weight of the slide coming back is what they feel. It has a mental effect for some reason.

[Thumbcocker]

Girls and women are many times easier to teach than boys. They take direction well and when they get a hit the basics are reinforced.

[1Shirt]

Have been with btroj when he has taken a few of the newbees to the range (he is my son in law). And he does a most creditable job of starting them. He makes it fun for them, and promotes safety and positive pro gun realities. With a couple of young ones he has had my grand daughter with them to make it a little easier on the kid to have another young one there. One thing that he did not mention is that he is not stingy on ammo with newbees, and encourages them to fire as many rounds as they would like. To me that is one of the keys of introduction to shooting for those who have never fired a round before. The fireing 10 or 15 rounds of ammo as the intro is only a teaser and may leave the newbee feeling like they really didn't have a chance to shoot enough. The more we get the newbees to the range, the better, particularly the young ones who are the future of shooting and positive attitudes tordwards firearms. Even if they never shoot another round again in their lives, they have had a positive experiance and will probably not turn into anti gun, tree hugging yo-yo's!
1Shirt!

[Wayne Smith]

Agreed, it is important to teach and to teach thoughtfully. I always emphasize safety, start them with a .22 short or long gun, and then move up to the 32-20's. I will have a minimum of 100 rounds each, usually a brick of .22's. Then they are offered a chance to move up to the .38 Special, .357 Mag, or .44Mag or one of several rifles, from 30-30 to 7x57 to the .405 Win. or the 45-70. I have taught Boy Scouts, friends, children of friends, and fellow Church members. Gotta set up a Range Day with a family now.

[jswaff]

I took my younger brother and his wife to the indoor range last week. They had never shot anything before. My sister-in-law liked shooting my 380 and brother liked my 9, 40 and 45's. They are now in the market to buy some handguns and get their carry permits. This brother said that they would never own a weapon, but I guess the times are changing.

[meadmkr]

Depending on the range its always good to have a few reactive targets. Ballons, ice-blocks, crackers, etc all help make things interesting when then hit 'em. Have 2 new shooters in my neighborhood after a few trips to the range. Like the other postings mentioned not being stingy with the ammo helps and the trick is to focus on them and make sure they enjoy themselves. One indoor range I belong to sees a lot of new, or not-so-new-but-haven't-shot-in-years type shooters. I don't know how many times I've gotten to shoot (or offers to shoot) different weapons when the owner saw me checking things out what they were shooting and in turn I've let a number of others try out my firearms. Last month I had two guys, mid-20s shooting semi-autos and EBRs in the lane next to us. All nice gear that seemed well maintained and that they shot very well. After I put my Glock away and broke out the revolvers one seemed rather intrigued . Turns out neither had ever shot revolvers before and took me up on the offer to shoot .38, .357 and .45 long colt. The grins on their faces made it worth it. They offered to help pay for the ammo but I simply told 'em to pass it on the next time they saw someone checking out their gear... Good karma.

Cheers
Chris in VA