Hoping to read of more newbies brought to the range as a result of this contest. You guys aren't really going to let somebody from Kalifornia take the lead, are you?

I invited some acquaintances to a day at the range on 12 November, and got some newbies out of the deal. Again, it was in a group, but ...... it was a family thing.

One woman (prior military - shot a bit quite a few years ago) brought her 3 "never shot before" kids aged 7, 9, and 11. Another woman (middle-aged, shot once at the age of 12) brought her 11 year old son for his third range experience. Also among the group were one adult with significant experience, and one novice/intermediate shooter. The other experienced shooter brought along some .40 and .38 handguns to share. He spent a fair amount of time with the adult female newbie while I worked mostly with the kids.

We did the standard safety briefing and determination of dominant eye followed by the kids taking turns as they learned to shoot accurately and safely. Each one took a few turns with rimfire rifles under one-on-one supervision until I felt comfortable to have 2, then 3 kids on the firing line at one time. The rimfires were: a single shot bolt action rifle to start with, followed by a slide-action repeating rifle, then a semi-auto rifle. These youngsters were more safety-conscious than some of the adults I have trained. They each took home the case from their first shot as a souvenir.

We spent 5 hours at the range shooting (mostly) rimfire long guns and handguns, and centerfire handguns. After some hole punching in paper I set out a reactive steel (spinner) target - which took the fun & excitement of achievement to a whole new
level. Two of the kids had that thing spinning almost non-stop. Every time the spinner was hit, that kid sported a big old grin and their ears were filled with praise from the adults - powerful stuff for a young'un.

Toward the end of the day the adults shoot a few rounds of .357 magnum just to feel the power. They LOVED the concussion, muzzle blast and recoil of the magnum - which
was a first experience for all. For the two mothers mentioned above, this was a significant change from the fear and trepidation they reported at the beginning of the event. They not only feel personally more comfortable, but felt good about their kids deciding they want to take up shooting as a sport.

Hoping to read of more newbies brought to the range as a result of this contest. You guys aren't really going to let somebody from Kalifornia take the lead, are you?

Take care,
JT