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Taking a non-shooter to the range.

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  • breakingcontact

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    What kind of experience have you had with taking non-shooters to the range? Friend of mine recently took a young urban non-shooter and his wife to the range and they had a great time and are now interested in owning guns. I was really impressed. We all need to extend ourselves more and offer up these opportunities.

    What's been your experience in trying to do this?

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    Brains

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    Took a coworker not too long ago. He had expressed interest, and noted his father had broken many promises over many years to teach him to shoot. When I offered, he jumped at the chance. I walked him through the safety, operation, etc. over a few days and then we hit the range one day over lunch. He did really well, had a great time, and recently went and bought his first gun. He went to the range again with another coworker (we have lots of gun aficionados) to shoot and again had a good time. He's planning on continuing, and getting his CHL as well.
     

    Younggun

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    I've had a few go.


    A guy I work with and his wife went. Brought their 10 year old son.

    I had gotten in to some pretty good debates with him about guns and at one point had a pretty big rant thread about one of our arguments on here.

    Now he would like to have a gun. He enjoyed the trip and comes out from time to time to shoot. His wife was and still is scared to shoot them but has become open to having one in the house, although unloaded and locked in a box at all times....not great for HD which is what the guy was wanting, but better than nothing.


    Made a big difference in bringing him over as a somewhat anti leaning fence sitter. He actually asked me about the RIP ammo on Facebook.

    The son is a work in progress, too much time playing COD and not enough in the real world. Wish they could get out here more but with on-call and hectic work schedules it's hard to find the time.

    Wife hasn't shot anything when we first got together. Now she has her own handgun, shotgun, and .22, loves to shoot the .50, and will be getting her CHL soon and is a member on this forum.


    Biggest thing I learned was to start at the most basic of basic stuff. What seemed common sense to me was not for someone who had never been around guns before.
     

    Dawico

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    When I had a personal range I had new shooters all the time. They seemed to love it. Nobody ever told me no. Ofcourse I never had fufu lib types over.
     

    Texas42

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    I always start with the .22lr. Gets them over the "its going to recoil a bunch, right?" moment. I get them on target at really close, like 3 yards, then 7 yards.
    Then take the to the silhouette range. The bang - clang - fall over is just plain fun.
     

    Moonpie

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    Gunz are icky.
    I've had mixed reactions. Some love it, some not so much.

    Seems like a lot of the women are very afraid of the gun. Some get over their fear easily and do very well. Some never do. I always preach to them THEY are in control of the gun. The gun is not in control of them.
    Kids, pretty much universally in my experience, enjoy the heck out of it.
    Most men seem to enjoy it. Some don't see the enjoyment in it and never return.
    IMO, it helps a lot to allow them to handle, dry-fire, practice loading w/snap-caps, etc before actual firing. Let them see how things work.
    Allow them to shoot as much as they can. With .22 its no problem.

    I've found starting them out with a .22 on a large CLOSE target gets the best response as it is easy for them to hit the bullseye.
    Reactive targets like water balloons, etc also adds to the enjoyment.
    The printed zombie targets are great for the younger shooters.

    As they progress, work up in calibers/power.
    NEVER start a new shooter on a powerful/heavy recoil caliber.

    One issue I've noticed with first timers, and often times we can't do anything about it, is other people shooting close by.
    The loud reports/booms can unnerve newbies. If possible take them out somewhere where it is just them and you/instructor.
    As they become used to gunfire this issue dissipates.
    Indoor ranges make this one difficult.

    I very much enjoy taking brand new shooters out to the range.
    The ammo is always on me.
     
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    karlac

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    Start em off on 22's. If they don't love that, no need to progress.

    Did the same with youngest daughter. Now I'm up in the middle of the night, running ammobots, looking for deals on .22LR to keep up. There is no doubt that Browning BuckMark Challenger in the safe is no longer mine, a small price to pay for another 2A supporter added to the rolls. Plus, she's already got friends lining up to join her, but is insisting they take a gun safety course first.
     

    BG1960

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    put a 22 in their hands and they have a ball. I find women are way better shooters and seem to have more/better concentration. it always amazes me how little people know about safe gun handling. Government wants to do something worthwhile they could run some PSA's to let the population know how to handle a gun safely. Matter of fact, the NRA could do that instead of sponsoring NA$CAR races.
     

    GlockOwner

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    I have taken 2 new shooters out before. Both female. Other than the obvious laying out of safety rules, I would always shoot the first mag or two to show them what it is going to be like. I always let them chose between a few guns. Both selected to shoot my G22 first over my 10/22 and AR. Start off at short distances about 7yds. They both loved it and want to go more often. I love taking new shooters out. It's always just as fun for me (if not more) as it is for them.
     

    Kyle

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    I have taken several newbies to the range and it has always been a great experience which essentially turned someone who was afraid/unfamiliar with guns into someone who now has an interest in shooting and owning a pistol or rifle. Im in the process of converting an anti gunner now...
     

    Utah

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    I've had the opportunity to take a few dozen new shooters to the range over the years. Many of them were students I'd had in the Utah Concealed Firearm Permit classes I've taught since 2005. When I have a brand new shooter, and after we've done the safety, handling, how a gun works, and other such pre-range stuff, I'll have them shoot one round from a .22 so they can get over their fear of recoil. If they are really skittish, I'll do one round from a suppressed .22, so there isn't much noise either. If they are good with one round, then I'll put in two or three and have them work the slide. If that goes well, then a full mag, with them inserting the mag. By this time, they are having a lot of fun and usually want to try another caliber.

    Each new caliber, I have them shoot just one, then a couple, then full mags. I do revolvers last, since they don't feel like people expect them to. I'd often have people think they want a .38 special or .380 when in class, but come to find they would prefer a 9mm or a .45 ACP.

    One of my favorite new shooters was a guy at Microsoft when I was working there in Redmond. We went to the range over lunch, and he turned out to have a natural talent -- darn tight groups right off the bat. He took his first target back to the office and taped it up on his office door.
     

    karlac

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    On that note - visit my Dad's racehorse farm outside of Whitehall, in Grimes Cty, for dinner on a Sunday and you are going to take your turn shooting when the family goes to "the range" after dinner. Visitors of all political persuasions are often exposed, for the first time, to both riding and shooting, a time honored Texas tradition you don't see that much any more:

    https://plus.google.com/photos/+KarlCaillouet/albums/5975908957015806097
     

    Tejano Scott

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    Did the same with youngest daughter. Now I'm up in the middle of the night, running ammobots, looking for deals on .22LR to keep up. There is no doubt that Browning BuckMark Challenger in the safe is no longer mine, a small price to pay for another 2A supporter added to the rolls. Plus, she's already got friends lining up to join her, but is insisting they take a gun safety course first.

    Well done dad!!!
     

    M. Sage

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    I've done it a few times, positive experiences every time. I always give them a safety lesson and overview on what we'll be shooting and how the stuff works before we go. The "classroom session" doesn't seem to suck the fun out of it for anybody.
     

    shortround

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    Women almost always do best. They don't have any of the boy-hood notions of gun play that boys learned playing Cowboys and Indians or from rap videos.

    Bad habits are very difficult to correct.

    One gal on her way to Afghanistan asked for a little instruction. We worked on the M-9 and M-4.

    She qualified "expert" at her deployment site with both weapons.

    Just my guess: Don't piss off mama.
     
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