Introducing New People To Shooting....

[Brian R. VanCise]

One of my greatest joy's is introducing new people to firearms and shooting. Taking a new person to the range and watching them become very happy as they learn how a firearm works and how to shoot. The first hit on a target and especially moving to steel targets is simply awesome! In just the past couple of months I have introduced several new people and some family members.



If you have some positive stories you would like to relate where you introduced someone to firearms or in turn your story of being introduced I would love to hear them.

As for myself I was introduced as a boy initially with a pellet gun and then later with a firearm with my grandpa quail hunting. One of my fondest memories of the man was either him shooting or fishing as he was simply a fantastic sportsman. One of the best!

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I learned to shoot when I was about 10 years old, in the cold and snowy cornfields of central Illinois, where my father and I hunted pheasant and rabbit. We'd stand at the edge of a field we had permission to hunt in until the sun came up. I'd be cold, miserable in my rubber boots, stomping my feet and shivering, my teeth chattering. My Dad, the former Marine, seemed impervious the the weather; if he felt anything, he wasn't showing it. We'd hunt on school days in the winter from sunup for a few hours, then my Dad would take me to a diner for breakfast and drop me off at school. Believe it or not, I'd take my shotgun and my game bag into the school with me; hang it in the cloak room. I lived down the alley from the school; I'd take both home with me at lunch time.

We didn't have money when I was growing up. My Dad had a J.C. Higgins 16 gauge bolt-action shotgun with an adjustable choke and a long barrel - a 'goose gun' as it was often called then. I started out with a slingshot. Yeah, like I was going to hit anything with that. But that's what I carried the first year I went hunting with him. We dressed in simple winter coats, rubber boots, wore K-Mart hunting vests with shotgun shell holders and International Orange Jones caps. We were plaid before plaid was cool. I hate to be so crass, but I can't help laughing at today's 'lumbersexuals' with their designer-lable flannel shirts and long beards and suspenders and $500 boots. OMG. Who knew that being poor would one day be so trendy?

After that first season, my dad bought me a cheap import single-shot break-action .410 shotgun. I learned to use that shotgun well, but before I was allowed to carry it in the field, I had to learn my dad's tough tuition regarding gun safety. I had to understand the nomenclature of the weapon, be able to assemble and disassemble it, clean it, carry it safely, cross fences without danger, keep the barrel pointed downrange, my finger out of the triggerwell. Punishment for safety infractions was the threat of an instant butt-stroke to the head. I never broke any of Dad's safety rules...

I learned a lot hunting with my dad. I learned that if you shoot it, you eat it. I learned that if you wound a rabbit, it screams like a dying baby until you put it out of its misery. I learned that hunting is killing, and killing is what humans do to eat meat. It's not hamburger at the grocery store, it comes from an animal that did not enjoy dying. I still eat meat, but I had to make peace at a young age with what it means when you do. I learned to gut and skin and pluck feathers and spit lead pellets out of your meat at dinner time. I learned what that nail in the root of the tree is for, and why you keep your knife as sharp as you can get it.

I kept my shotgun, the shells for it, and the cleaning kit, in my bedroom closet. That's child abuse these days, eh? Different times, different world, my friends.

To this day, the smell of Hoppes No. 9 is like heaven to me. Hoppes, coffee brewing, and a cold winter day, and I'm back in our creaky, drafty old house on the flat plains of central Illinois, and I'm ready to go hunting with my Dad again. Sure wish I could.

 

[PhotonGuy]

First time I shot a gun was in Boy Scout camp and it was a .22 rifle in an outdoor range. From what I've found, with new shooters it might be better to start them off with outdoor ranges as indoor ranges can be intimidating. The next gun I fired after the .22 was a .410 shotgun and I did terrible trying to break the clay pigeons. After that I was a bit discouraged about learning to use guns but I did get back into it and tried out some handguns including the .44 Magnum and the next time I went skeet shooting it was with a 12 gauge which I did much better with than years before when I shot the .410.

 

[Grenadier]

Always a good time teaching someone new the thrill of shooting.

My methodology starts them with my Ruger 22/45 pistol with its 5.5" heavy bull barrel. This results in almost no felt recoil, and allows the new shooter to understand the proper mechanics of shooting. The light, crisp trigger also emphasizes the importance of squeezing, instead of jerking.

As a result, they don't start out right away with flinching habits, which can be difficult to break.

Usually after a couple of sessions, they're ready to graduate onto the centerfire calibers. I'll usually use my Glock 17 with my "bunny fart" loads, manufactured with Vihtavouri N320 (ultraclean burning powder, no muzzle flash, low noise), which use subsonic 115 grain bullets, in combination with a lighter recoil spring.

Other times, I might take a heavier, 4" barrel revolver, and load them with my 125 grain subsonic .38 Special standard pressure loads. Again, very soft-shooting.

By the end of the session, I've had all of them switching to full power 9 mm loads, or +P 38 Special loads.

So far, everyone who has gone through three sessions with me, has gone on to enjoy handgunning quite avidly. Some even come back for more powerful calibers, at which point I'd switch over to the Glock 20 (10 mm), with FBI-spec (subsonic 180 grain) loads, and by the end of that session, they're happily blasting away with my Norma-spec loads (180 grainer flying out at 1275 fps).

That certainly brings a smile, especially when they discover that Hollywood's portrayal is quite off the mark.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

The first time I fired a weapon was in 1985. I was in basic training and we were training on the M16. In 1990 I went through the academy and became a Deputy. Back then we used .38 special revolvers (S&W 64) and Remington 12 gauge shotguns. My first off-duty was a .357 magnum (not my best first choice but then I was a rookie so you're allowed to make stupid mistakes). In 1997 I became an FDLE Police Firearms and Defensive Tactics instructor. Couple of years later I became an Israeli ISI Instinctive Shooting Instructor (along with four specialized combative instructor certifications).

I've been teaching academy, EOT and in-service courses ever since. Back when I owned my own martial arts school I incorporated all of this training into the curriculum as well.

I've been privileged to train many private citizens in martial arts as well as firearms over the years. As I mentioned in another thread, my latest was four women getting ready for an upcoming CCW class.

I am a very big proponent of the second amendment. Because of my career (24 years now as a Deputy) and my qualifications I am constantly asked about this subject. I always encourage people to learn how to properly use a firearm and get their CCW (if required in their state). I feel personal protection is a personal responsibility.

 

[Buka]

When I was a kid we would spend a couple weeks every summer at my aunt and uncles house in central MA. Their family and friends were all skeet and trap shooters. When I was ten we all went to do the skeet thing. My cousin Jim, was three years older than me and constantly kicking my butt, but in a fun way. When we got to the skeet place, aunt and uncle told Jim to teach me how to shoot the shotgun.

He showed me how to hold it, taking care to tell me to keep the stock an inch away from my shoulder/chest (the bastard!)
When I pulled that trigger it knocked me to the ground and hurt like crazy. They slapped the hell out of him (but he still laughed) and then showed me the proper way. So I kind of had a rocky start with guns.

 

[Rhea]

Being in the UK, I've never held or used a firearm. Never really wanted to either.
Can anyone explain what the...whats the word i'm looking for...not desire but something like that, to use firearms is to them?

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Being in the UK, I've never held or used a firearm. Never really wanted to either.
Can anyone explain what the...whats the word i'm looking for...not desire but something like that, to use firearms is to them?

You might be asking what the attraction is? Why the apparent fascination?

I don't know if my answer would be the same as anyone else's answer, but I can try to assist.

I am a child of the 60s. I was born in 1961 and grew up in the cornfields of Central Illinois, right smack-dab in the middle of the USA's 'Midwest'. A largely rural or semi-rural area given over to farming. Hunting and fishing are a historic way of life there. Not everyone hunts and fishes, but an awful lot of people do, as did their fathers, grandfathers, and so on. Women too, I don't mean just men.

Hunting in that part of the country is often a rite of passage. One of the things one does when moving from one part of childhood to another. When I was very young, I accompanied my father as he hunted with friends. Pheasant and rabbit mostly, my dad wasn't big on hunting deer or larger game. I enjoyed spending time with him, and it was what would now be called a 'male bonding experience'. It was very much of a 'this is where we live, this is what we do' kind of thing.

As I got older, I was allowed to carry a slingshot when I went hunting with my dad. Yeah, I wasn't going to catch anything with it, but it made me feel like I was part of the fraternity of hunters. By the time I was 10 years old, I got a .410 single-shot shotgun for Christmas. I was trained heavily in firearm safety by my father, but once he trusted me with the weapon, I kept it in my bedroom closet, along with the shotgun shells.

Keep in mind also that guns were simply part of the culture where I grew up. One quite commonly saw pickup trucks with shotgun racks in the back window and shotguns in those racks. No one thought "Oh my God, that man has a bunch of guns in his truck, he might kill someone!" It was just as common as seeing someone with a baseball cap touting a particular team. No one had a feeling that guns were dangerous or unsafe or a threat to our communities. That is not to say that they were not dangerous weapons, of course they were! I saw a kid shoot the window out of his dad's truck by accident; thank goodness no one was in it. However, that was pretty darned rare; most parents were very strict about gun safety. Perhaps because guns were so omnipresent, people just accepted that they were around and made provisions for safety? I don't know, I'm just speculating.

Our grade school, which was built in the early 1900s, had a gun range in the basement. At one time, gun safety and marksmanship had been taught as part of the curriculum; by the time I was a student there, it was long abandoned, but it had been there. I sometimes was dropped off by my dad after hunting and I'd hang my shotgun in the cloakroom with my coat, and take it home at lunchtime. No one thought much of it. It wasn't that common, but it wasn't uncommon either. No kid ever decided to play with it or take it down and wave it around; it just never entered our minds to do something like that.

As to my 'fascination', all I can say is that first of all, a well-made firearm is an intrinsically interesting mechanical device. Like a mechanical watch or a bicycle or any other work of mechanical art. That fascinates me, and I am sure it fascinates others. Second, it goes BOOM. Guys like things that go boom.

I will add that in the part of the country where I am from, there is something distinctly 'manly' about being a capable firearms owner. I don't mean to exclude women, but I only have the perspective of my own gender to rely upon. And I am not referring to the chest-pounding 'macho' kind of manliness either. I mean the quiet, powerful, protective nature of what it means to be a man. Masculinity as an archetype, the Father, the Protector, the Guardian, the Provider, the Leader.

Owning a firearm (to me) puts one squarely in the long line of men of our nation who have stood up to protect and defend hearth and home, nation and freedom, from the first days of our Republic until now. It's a joining of the ranks, assuming both the inheritance and the responsibility that this implies. Where I am from, in the time I am from, men stand up; and they do so armed, capable, and ready to sally forth if the need arises. Perhaps a bit romantic, but there you have it. Deep in the psyche, down in the vaults, where men keep all that stuff.

 

[Buka]

You know, Bill, one awesome post in a thread is one thing. But two?

Did you ever consider writing a book? You should seriously consider it.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Being in the UK, I've never held or used a firearm. Never really wanted to either.
Can anyone explain what the...whats the word i'm looking for...not desire but something like that, to use firearms is to them?

I'm half British and have been to G.B. numerous times. Additionally I've received training from and through British L.E. in areas such as edged weapons (North Hamptonshire P.D.). G.B. has a tremendous edged weapon problem. Not just at soccer games and such, but random attacks on the street. Part of the problem in G.B. (as well as any nation that does not allow it's citizens the right to defend themselves) is that the citizens rely on the police as their first-line of defense. Not a good option. This is an issue of self-reliance verses governmental-dependence. And bad guys in G.B. didn't seem to get the memo that they aren't allowed to use firearms.

The United States is vastly different. Much due to our history and foundational objectives. Whereas citizens in other countries are victims-in-waiting, in the U.S. we have a fundamental right to keep and bear arms. First, for defense. Secondly, to prevent a tyrannical government that goes against the will of the people. Thirdly for hunting and sport.

None of this is to promote an 'us vs. them' discussion, simply looking at the cultural differences. For example, looking at your opening statement, you've never held or used a firearm nor do you want to. Okay, why not? Who's job is it to protect you and your family? Don't say the police, your personal protection isn't our job. We are a reactionary force due simply to logistics and numbers. 99% of the time it will it will be you, in attendance and in the forefront when violence happens. But if you aren't given or allowed the proper tools to effectively deal with the situation, or you don't want to take responsibility yourself then you are dependent on someone else for your own defense.