New Shooters

Remember how I said I was going to take my brother, the Commander, his arm-candy Salomon Grundy, and Saucy Trollop out to the range? Well we did it Saturday. Salomon had NO experience shooting. My brother had only shot pellet guns as a kid and such, plus Navy training with a 9mm Beretta. And you know about the Trollop.


Before heading out, we met up at Grundy's house and I set the firearms out for a familiarization, went over safety, that sort of thing. Up for shooting was the .22 conversion kit, the S&W 686 for .38 and .357, the Sig 229 for .40, and the 1911 .45. Oh, and the borrowed S&W 629 for extra masochism. We went over sight picture, grip, stance, and trigger squeeze. I probably could have done better going over sights and squeezing.


The weather was GREAT. Sunny and 80. Not too crowded, even on the rifle side. But we were there for handgun shootin'.


Outdoor ranges are wonderful. Good light, less noise when it can dissipate up, and less concrete to bounce off of. The only disadvantage I can think of is a slight breeze will swing the target about. I wish I live closer to this range.

My brother is the most accurate shooter I've seen. He's practiacally a natural. Better than Chuckles, maybe-even. Clover leafs and single hole work. He drifted left late in the range day, probably from fatigue. (If you look at the targets I circled in orange his groups, and used and arrow to show where he started to drift.) Another reason for a right hander to shift to the left is because of "Lazy Finger" and a repositioning on the finger pad can help that. I need to watch for that now, too, when I am shooting and it ISN'T low and right, it's just right. Lazy finger for me, a lefty.

Here is the first target with all of us jumbled together. I used a BIG shoot and see sticker to keep confidence high, and set the range close. 5 yards, maybe. Remember, it was just to see, not for 'score.'

Salomon Grundy was a rank beginner, as I said. But she was game. She appreciated that we were shooting bullseye style targets. I think a silohette might have been too distracting. I demonstrated every gun and every caliber difference before she had a turn, so she can see how much boom and recoil each had. The 3 in a row of .38, .38+P, and .357 in one cylinder was the best comparison on what each did. And she tried them all. Did very well for a first timer. And she even tried the .44 Magnum a few times.

Her target is the upper right. My brother the 2 left hand side ones, the lower left were some of the last rounds fired by him, upper left is him shooting at 3 separate bulls, top center and bottom. Tight! Trollop had the lower left, and I shot the center. We added some stickers and pasters so that covered some earlier shooting. We pushed the targets out to 7+ yards, too.

Note that Grundy's (upper right) shots are generally in a line from the center up. Lot's of .22 in there, as she preferred that, and darn good shooting. The few holes off the 8 o'clock are when she was shooting the revolver double action.

The .44 Magnum was what Saucy was THERE for. I thought I'd solve her coveting one of her own. It didn't work. She wants one even more now. Most all the holes one her target (lower right) are .44 in diameter. And not bad shooting there, either. She complained of a slight bruising the next day, but nothing she worried about.

I did notice that everyone, the Commander, Grundy, and Trollop all said something like, "My WORD!" after every .44 magnum shot.

I have to admit, it didn't hurt MY hand as much as I remember. I must be getting used to shooty bangy goodness. It's is STILL an event when that thing goes off. My WORD.

The targets that were outside the black were probably mine, and I was aiming off black on purpose so other could keep a relatively proprietary, untained target. I shot ok, if a little distracted by my instructional duties. The only real flaw other than a few 'fliers' from jerking the trigger was dipping in a straight line down from the bullseye when rushing the .44. Also maybe caused by anticipating and breaking my wrist. I believe that. Still good centermass shots, but I was trying to rush the 6 on purpose. Dang, that's a good authoritative pistol, and I actually am surprised I like it better than I did. Do I want one? Naw, my .357 suits me fine. I don't need fresh gun lust, now. $36 a box for ammo is a bit much for serious practice.

Trollop, just having acquired an XD40, tried out my SIG to feel some .40 caliber action, so a dozen or so are those on her lower right target.

A good day. And I made my brother buy the bullets and lunch and beer afterwards. So a VERY good day.