Archive for the ‘New Shooters’ Category

New Shooter Report – New Zealand Edition

After much delay, I finally present the New Shooter Report – New Zealand Edition. My apologies for the significant delay and lack of pictures. We were mostly focused on shooting, and I’ve been focused on graduate school applications since then.

Introduction
My friend Ashley grew up in Texas, went to school for a few years in Arizona, and now lives in New Zealand. For some reason, she never once handled a firearm during her upbringing. While living in New Zealand, she met Amanda, a native New Zealander. Amanda had shot firearms before, but it’d been some time since she had.

Ashley was traveling to the US to visit friends and family, and had invited Amanda — who had never been to the US — along.

While visiting friends in Tucson, Ashley proposed the idea of going to the range, Amanda agreed, and a small group of people also decided to come along.

So, over Veteran’s Day, we went to the Tucson Rifle club.

Pictures

Ashley shooting the suppressed 10/22

Ian K, Amanda, and myself inspect a target

My suppressor on my friend's Ruger-clone .22, with my 22/45

Teresa shooting the 22/45 while Louis watches

Louis shooting the suppressed Ruger-clone

Chris shooting the suppressed Ruger-clone

Ian K and Chris

Ian L watches people shoot

Conclusion
Nothing like a fun day at the range with old friends, new friends, and new shooters. Everyone had a great time, and much ammo was turned into smiles.

Guns, New Shooters, Shooting Comments 0 Jan 5th, 2010

New Shooter Ammo Fund Update

Thanks to generous donations to the New Shooter Ammo Fund, I have been able to purchase an additional 80 rounds of .223 ammo for teaching new shooters.

While 80 rounds might not seem like much, most new shooters I take to the range really seem to love the ARs, and so an extra few magazines worth is always useful.

I could have gotten quite a bit more .22LR than .223, but the local shop was short on .22, and didn’t have stuff that my 10/22 seems to prefer.

Many thanks to all those who’ve donated. The fall semester is off to a busy start, and I don’t have as much time as I’d like to take new shooters to the range (heck, I don’t know any more new shooters! Anyone in town want to send them my way?) right now, but hopefully that’ll become possible as grad school applications go out.

Ammo, New Shooters, Shooting Comments 0 Sep 16th, 2009

New Shooter Report

Rita and Teresa have been accompanying me to the range for some time. They are regulars at turning ammo into smiles.

Interestingly enough, Teresa happens to be dating Nolan, Rita’s brother. Now that Nolan has moved to Tucson for school and had never been shooting before, we all figured it’d be a good thing to take him out to go shooting. So we did…

Once again, it was a beautiful (albeit hot) day in Tucson. Thank goodness the Tucson Rifle Club has overhead shades for the firing line.

Rita, myself, and my med student friend Ian spent a few hours on Saturday reloading .223. Out of the 120 or so rounds we fired today, there were only three failures1, none of them dramatic2. It’s nice actually having some .223 ammo, as my ARs are quite voracious.

I had also dug about in my closet and found some .30-06 reloads, so we were able to shoot the M1 (Rita has a bit of a love affair with my M1, and really enjoys shooting it.) a bit. Shooting the M1 seems to be a family trait, as Nolan also greatly enjoyed shooting it. There’s something immensely satisfying about recoil, .30 caliber bullets, and large dust clouds behind one’s targets.

As usual, the suppressed Ruger 10/22 was a big hit, as were the Ruger MkIII and Glock 19 pistols. Fun was, as usual, had by all.

The fall semester starts up again in about a month, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find some new shooters to take to the range then. For now, I’m happy that I managed to get another new shooter out to the range. When Rita and Nolan’s parents are in town, I may have to take the whole family out shooting.

  1. Two were jams due to the out-of-round bullets we’re using. One was due to one of the rounds having some goopy black residue on it. [↩]
  2. Note for reloaders: double-check your bullet weights against the load data tables. I foolishly assumed that we were using 55gr bullets as that was what I normally load and picked a middle-of-the-road load from the tables. Turns out we were using 62gr bullets and the powder charge we were using turned out to be rather near the never-exceed range for .223. Eep. Fortunately, we never actually crossed the never-exceed line, and even so the loads were several thousand PSI below the 5.56mm NATO pressure spec, which is what the rifle was rated for. Fortunately, we discovered this condition at the reloading bench after we loaded a few hundred rounds, so we were able to confirm that the loads would be safe by consulting the tables. The rifle did not explosively self-destruct, which is good. [↩]

Guns, New Shooters, Reloading, Shooting Comments 1 Aug 3rd, 2009

No Sporting or Civilian Use

That’s what the Brady Campaign says about common guns like the AR-15 and various other features associated with common arms. The full quote from their page is as follows:

The Brady Campaign supports banning military-style semi-automatic assault weapons along with high-capacity ammunition magazines. These dangerous weapons have no sporting or civilian use. Their combat features are appropriate to military, not civilian, contexts.

Of course, this position is demonstrably false: these guns and features have plenty of sporting and civilian uses. I present the following as an example:

This is Louis. Attentive readers will recognize him from previous posts as he is a regular attendee of trips to the range. The gun he is firing1 is a Glock 19, chambered in 9×19mm. It is equipped with a Glock 33-round extended magazine. One will note that Louis is demonstrating good shooting form and is displaying a smile of enjoyment. The extended magazine allows Louis to spend more time shooting and less time stopping to reload magazines.

Here Rita, who also frequently accompanies me on trips to the range, fires the Glock 19 with the standard-capacity 15-round magazine that is one of two included with the purchase of a new pistol.

This magazine allows for 50% more capacity than the Brady-recommended 10-round low-capacity magazines while still fitting flush with the bottom of the pistol’s grip. At the range, having five fewer rounds means more changing magazines and more time spent reloading — less time having fun.

Next up, we have Danielle:

This was her first trip to the range. Here she’s firing a DPMS A-15, an AR-15 variant. It is equipped with all the standard features: a flash suppressor, bayonet lug, handguards which encircle the barrel, a 30-round standard-capacity magazine, a pistol grip, and a collapsible stock.

In this particular context, the bayonet lug is not being used, and so is no more dangerous than any other piece of metal2 on the rifle. The flash suppressor is not really relevant, as Danielle is shooting during the day and so does not need to worry about the flash from her muzzle affecting night vision — that said, the vents on the flash suppressor reduce the amount of dust kicked up from the ground, making her shooting experience a more enjoyable one.

The pistol grip and collapsible stock allow for comfortable shooting: she has adjusted the stock to a length which suits her. The ordinary fixed stock is too long and it is often uncomfortable for smaller shooters like Danielle.

The pistol grip allows for a firm, ergonomic, comfortable grip on the rifle. The forward handguards, which she is not using in this particular picture, prevent her from being burned by the hot barrel when she chooses to use her right hand to hold the gun rather than support her shooting hand.

The 30-round magazine is the standard size for AR-15 type rifles, and allows her to fire for a good period of time without needing to stand up or move around to fetch and load a new magazine. This also allows her to focus more on shooting rather than changing magazines. In this particular picture, she’s also using the magazine to support the rifle, allowing for more stable, accurate shooting.

The very features that the Brady Campaign claims are “combat features” that “facilitate the killing of human beings in battle” are being used by Danielle and tens of millions of other civilian shooters to enhance their safety (e.g. handguards that prevent burns) and comfort (e.g. ergonomic pistol grip and a stock that can adjust to be comfortable for both larger and smaller people).

Here Danielle is seen shooting a Ruger 10/22 rifle, chambered in the lowly .22 Long Rifle cartridge, which is equipped with a threaded barrel and a Gem-Tech Outback II silencer.

The Brady Campaign states that silencers “allow an assassin to shoot without making noise” — while this is true3, I think they might be watching a few too many James Bond movies. Assassins are exceedingly uncommon outside of Hollywood films, and any actual assassin will not care about the legality of silencers. They also claim that, “silencers are illegal so there is no legitimate purpose for making it possible to put a silencer on a weapon,” a claim which is demonstrably false: the silencer on this gun is perfectly legal, and I have all the appropriate paperwork in order.

Though I’ve addressed the legality of silencers in a previous post, I want to reiterate that there are perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to own and use a silencer: I use mine primarily for introducing new shooters to shooting, as the low recoil and noise of a silenced .22 rifle makes for a very pleasant learning experience. Additionally, the use of a silencer reduces the levels of noise produced by a gun, reducing noise pollution and hearing damage.

In conclusion, there are numerous, perfectly legitimate sporting reasons for the private ownership of “military-style semi-automatic” firearms4 and magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds. There are plenty of other, non-sporting reasons (such as self-defense, collecting, etc.) for owning such firearms and accessories.

In short, the Brady Campaign is full of crap.

On a more positive note, it was a glorious, sunny day here in Tucson, and I was pleased to spend the day in the company of good friends, fine guns, and delicious food and (after the guns were put away) beer.

  1. Note the brass ejecting. [↩]
  2. The edges of the lug, however, are a bit sharp. [↩]
  3. Partially, at least — silencers reduce the noise produced by the gun to a safe level, but do not completely eliminate it. [↩]
  4. Which, I’d like to point out, are functionally no different than non-”military-style” semi-automatic firearms like the Ruger Mini-14. [↩]

Gun Control, Guns, NFA, New Shooters Comments 0 Jun 8th, 2009

Thanks!

I checked my email the other day and noted a donation to the New Shooter Ammo Fund from Carl (last name omitted for privacy).

Thanks Carl, I really appreciate it. While my schedule is hellishly busy right now, I’ll see about taking some new shooters to the range in the next month or two.

New Shooters Comments 0 Apr 10th, 2009

New Shooter Ammo Fund

The costs of running this blog are extremely minimal, about $20/year or so. Well within my meager student budget.

However, ammo costs a fair bit of money. While I wouldn’t think of asking readers to contribute money for my own personal ammo budget, I’d welcome any assistance that readers might be able to offer to help me provide ammo for new shooters that I take to the range. None of the ammo funded by such donations will be used for my personal use, though I may shoot a magazine or two so as to demonstrate things to new shooters.

I’ve put a small PayPal button in the right column where people can donate, if they wish. Of course, this is entirely voluntary, and nobody should feel the least bit compelled to donate. If you do donate, please let me know if you’d like your name (or pseudonym) and URL mentioned in posts, and I’ll gladly give you credit in the new shooter reports. Those who wish to stay anonymous will have their wishes respected.

I feel very awkward asking for donations of this type, and hope that nobody feels any less of me because of it. Unfortunately, donations to the New Shooter Ammo Fund are not tax deductible.

…..

Update: I also thought of a different option: if people would be more comfortable donating ammunition itself rather than money, please contact me and I can provide my shipping address. The top priorities are .22LR (both super- and subsonic, though subs are preferred; Winchester Dyanpoints work excellently with my suppressor, are subsonic out of a 16″ barrel, and are not nearly as expensive as purpose-made subsonic ammo) and .223 Rem/5.56mm NATO (62 or 55 grain bullets are fine — I’ll gladly take even “cheap” stuff like Wolf). For safety purposes, I’m only willing to accept factory-new or commercial reloads (like Ultramax or Miwall), not individual reloads or handloads. Cheap imports are fine, so long as they’re safe to use and meet relevant specs (e.g. SAAMI, NATO, etc.).

Lower priority but still important are .30-06 Springfield (M2 Ball spec only, as it’s being fired from an M1 Garand which has very specific pressure tolerances), 9mm Luger, and .45 ACP.

In certain quantities, I may be able to help pick up part of the UPS shipping. Contact me for details if you’re interested.

Ammo, New Shooters Comments 2 Jan 11th, 2009

New Shooter Report

Over the winter break my friend Diego and I took his cousin from Brazil out to the local shooting range. The cousin had fired some BB guns as a kid, but otherwise hasn’t fired a gun in years.

After clearing up a few misconceptions about guns in the US that many foreigners seem to have (everyone has guns, machine guns are common, people need licenses to own guns, etc.) and going over the safety rules, we headed out to the excellent Chabot Gun Club in Castro Valley, California. Alas, I had left my guns in Arizona, so Diego brought his .45 Colt lever-action rifle, a .44 caliber blackpowder pistol, and Diego’s new Walther P99. We had also brought Diego’s 12ga double-barreled shotgun, but forgot to bring slugs. Since shotshells are not permitted on the rifle and pistol lines, we were unable to use it.

While I had some difficulty explaining the various techniques due to a language barrier — Diego’s cousin speaks Brazillian Portuguese and has an academic knowledge of English, he has not had much experience with native English speakers, and so his practical English is only moderate…I don’t speak any Portuguese at all — Diego, who speaks excellent English, Spanish, and Portuguese, helped translate some of the more troublesome parts and all went well.

Diego’s cousin (whose name I don’t recall, unfortunately) had an excellent time, and quickly improved his shooting skills. I’d post some pictures, but Diego’s cousin has all the pictures on his camera. I’ll have to talk to Diego to see if I can get copies, as the cousin is back in Brazil.

Someone remind me not to loan my car keys to Diego when he goes to get something out of the trunk — he ended up locking my keys in the trunk, and so I had to call my insurance company’s roadside assistance to come unlock the door so I could open the trunk. It turns out that the doors to my car are trivially opened using a small wedge to open a small gap between the door and the frame and a long metal rod with a small hook on the end to reach into the cabin and flip the locking tab near the door handle. Never again will I leave even remotely-valuable items inside my car.

…..

Today my friend Alex (who has accompanied me on several range trips) and I invited Alex’s girlfriend Ayla to accompany us to the Tucson Rifle Club.

She was eager to come, as she’s been looking at getting a gun or two of her own in the next year or so after she gets out of college and will be living on her own. Without having handled any in the past, she expressed an interest in a relatively simple and reliable handgun like a GLOCK, but found that the mainspring in such a gun to be difficult to manipulate, and has ruled out such guns for the time being. I have no revolvers for her to try, but she enjoyed my Ruger MkIII .22LR pistol, even if she found holding the gun out at arm’s length to be somewhat tiring. We’ll no doubt find her some handguns she likes, but for the time being, she’s much more comfortable with rifles.

As usual, the suppressed Ruger 10/22 was a hit for starting out, particularly when shooting at a set of steel swinger targets (given to me by my lovely fiancée for Christmas). Ayla rapidly moved up through the MkIII, through both of my AR-15s (though, as I expected, she preferred the adjustable-stock M4gery as she could adjust it to fit her comfortably), and finally to the M1 Garand (Rita, who has been a long-time range companion, called Ayla and insisted that she try the M1). While Ayla developed a bit of a sore shoulder from the M1, she really enjoyed it.

Here’s some pictures from the day:

As always, clicking on the image will enlarge it.

The spinner targets are supposedly rated for 9mm-.30-06 softpoint ammo, but I started out by shooting .22LR at it. The .22s made the spinners bounce back and forth, but didn’t actually spin around and lock in the up position. I fired a few 9mm Speer Gold Dot JHPs at the spinners (I don’t have any SPs), but had difficulty hitting it 30 yards away (each target is only about 4″ in diameter), but eventually did to great effect. While the manual says not to shoot FMJ ammo at it, I risked a few rounds of 9mm FMJ with no damage (not even any dents) to the targets. I even went so far as to shoot .223 FMJs at it, which rather soundly flipped the spinners around and didn’t have any deleterious effect on the free-moving spinners, but which left a small divot in the reset target which is very nearly fixed. I’ll avoid FMJs on the reset target, but it looks like the spinners will handle .223 FMJ without any problems…I certainly won’t toss .30-06 FMJ at it anytime soon, though.

I’m impressed at how bullet-resistant steel is, even against rather pointy .223 FMJs moving rather quickly. I may have to see about welding or clamping on heavier steel plates, at least on the reset target, so I can shoot FMJs at it with confidence.

Unfortunately, the trip suffered from an acute ammo shortage: I thought I had an extra 250-round can of Lake City M2 Ball .30-06 ammo, but it turns out I had only a few clips left. I’m also down to the last three magazines of .223 (turns out my goal of loading ammo for one magazine a day didn’t pan out), though I have components for a few thousand more rounds. Even my supplies of .22LR (~2,000 rounds) and 9mm (~600 rounds) are running low. Don’t even ask about 12ga or .30-30. Fortunately, while money is tight, ammo supplies at most vendors are also low due to high demand, so even if I had the money to buy more ammo, it wouldn’t be there to buy. Hopefully supply catches up with demand about the same time I get more money. :)

Guns, New Shooters Comments 2 Jan 11th, 2009

New Shooter Report

My friend Teresa was complaining that she hadn’t been shooting in about a year, and that this state of affairs was intolerable. She also wanted to bring her boyfriend Chad, a stringer for a local news company (alas, I forget the details), who had never been shooting before. We decided on going to the range on Saturday, December 6th.

Rita, a fellow student of science and friend of Teresa and I, seems to have a long-running love affair with my M1 Garand, and so insisted on coming. BeMasher, a friend, co-worker, and amatuer photographer came as well. My girlfriend Sarah, also came to the range, but had various work from her students that she needed to grade, and so didn’t shoot. Everyone reviewed (or learned for the first time, in Chad’s case) the four basic safety rules prior to arriving at the range, and again before we started shooting.

Chad started out, as all new shooters who come with me do, with the suppressed Ruger 10/22. After getting the feel for it, he moved up to the Ruger MkIII .22 pistol, then the Sig Mosquito belonging to BeMasher’s brother, and then to the Glock 19. With the extended 33-round magazines, the Glock seemed to go over well with everyone.

Everyone else had a good deal of experience with the different guns I have, and so got started shooting the other guns I brought while I instructed Chad. He’s a quick learner, and rapidly got the hang of things.

Teresa really enjoyed the suppressed 10/22, and spent quite some time draining my subsonic .22LR supply.

The stock on the 10/22 seems to be a great compromise in size — people both large and small seem to be able to shoot it comfortably without any issues. The Trijicon Reflex II red dot sight is also excellent (“put the dot where you want to shoot, then pull the trigger”). The fact that it requires no batteries to illuminate the red dot is a major plus.

Even though BeMasher spent a lot of time photographing, we managed to steal the camera from him from time to time, and got a few pictures of him shooting.

Whenever there’s a group at the range, I seem to assume a sort of supervisory role, and don’t get to shoot much (terrible, I know!). Everyone insisted that I get some trigger time, so I did some shooting with my new DPMS 16″ M4gery.

As expected, it’s accurate and pleasant to shoot. The adjustable stock made shooting from the prone much more comfortable than a fixed stock, particularly for those of smaller stature.

Unfortunately, some of my reloads caused some problems (the bullets weren’t entirely round, a side effect of being pulled from de-milled military ammo), so I substituted my 20″ Bushmaster AR in while I was clearing the 16″. This worked out surprisingly well — at the relatively short (25-50 yards) distances we were shooting, the points of aim of both rifles were close enough to be indistinguishable.

Unsatisfied with the light recoil of the AR, Rita decided that she’d be satisfied only in shooting the M1.

For being such a tiny person (she’s only 5′2″), she handles the recoil of the M1 far better than many of the larger people I know. Shooting the M1 prone is a pain, as it seems to recoil directly into one’s collarbone, yet she was able to handle it extremely well. I suspect that if there was ever a zombie attack, one could give Rita an M1, a few bandoleers of ammo, and some high ground, and she’d take care of the problem.

I observed a rather amusing quirk to her shooting style: whenever she’d fire from the prone, her legs would flex rapidly at the knees, and her feet would jump about a foot in the air. This didn’t seem to affect her accuracy, but was quite amusing to watch.

Teresa also fired the M1, but preferred to shoot it standing.

Upon seeing his girlfriend shoot the M1 (and exclaiming that the muzzle blast was quite a bit louder than the ARs), Chad decided that he too would have to shoot it.

My lovely girlfriend was listening to her iPod headphones underneath a set of earmuffs, and so graded all her documents without being troubled by the gunshots occuring nearby. She had a secondary duty as Keeper of the Ammo, and frequently provided fresh AR magazines, M1 clips, and boxes of .22LR as needed. Between that and her love of tasty beer and football, I must be the luckiest guy in the world.

I bet her students have no idea what was going on while their papers were being graded.

Once again, a beautiful December day in Tucson, and a great day at the range. My record of “everyone leaves the range with a smile” continues unbroken.

The only problem I’m running into is that I don’t know many non-shooters, and so I’m not able to take more to the range.

If you’re a non-shooter (or know some) in the Tucson area and want to learn to shoot with a bunch of physicist-astronomer types, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d like to particulary encourage (in no particular order) women, minorities, journalists, and politicians to learn to shoot with us in a fun, safe, and encouraging environment.

Legal Stuff
All photos are copyright BeMasher and are available in their original form at his album. Photos are mirrored by me for consistent hosting, so as to avoid dead links and images in the future, and are displayed here in accordance with BeMasher’s licensing of the pictures under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.

Guns, New Shooters, Shooting Comments 3 Dec 9th, 2008

New Shooter Report

Today was a glorious day in Tucson. With a high of 79F, low winds, and a clear, sunny sky, it was a perfect day to go shooting.

L, an astrophysics student friend of mine, brought our mutual friends (more his friends, my acquantiances [though we're rapidly becoming friendly]) J and A. The two of them are the inspiration for the “how to win over new shooters” post I recently wrote. J had never been shooting before, and was rather skittish about firearms. A had fired shotguns at clays many years ago, and got the crap beaten out of her shoulder by the gun.

We arrived at the range around 1:00pm, unloaded the car, paid our fees, and got our targets set up. The range was a bit busier than we’ve normally seen it — on previous outings to the range, we’ve normally gotten the entire bay to ourselves. Today, there were a few other people on the 100 yard line, but it was by no means crowded.

After getting situated, we briefly reviewed the safety rules (we had gone over them in much greater detail back at the house, so this was just a quick refresher), went over the basic operations of the suppressed Ruger 10/22, and started J and A off with two magazines of .22LR Winchester Dynapoints (accurate, subsonic, bulk-pack .22LR ammo). I think I had them hooked with the first magazine. :)

Among other things, we fired the Ruger MkIII .22LR pistol (alas, we couldn’t put the targets any closer than 25 yards — it is a rifle range, after all — so that was not nearly as satisfying as it should have been), both my 20″ and 16″ ARs, and A tried the M1 Garand, which she found fun but a little rough on the shoulder; J opted not to shoot it due to recoil concerns.

Some pictures were taken (with J doing most of the photographing), but most of the day was spent shooting, so we have a lot of pictures detailing a few very short time periods (like 37 pictures of A shooting one 8-round clip from the M1). Here’s a smattering of some pictures (hover your mouse over them for a brief description):

Once again, a fantastic day at the range.

Note to self: buy some sort of weighted felt-like material to lay on the concrete bench, so as to not have the concrete scratch the finish of the guns. Also, I should buy a few sandbags and a spotting scope.

Anyone have any advice on spotting scopes? I was looking at this one, as I’m a fan of reflector optics (one of the benefits of knowing a bunch of astrophysists who geek out about optics all the time), but I’m not sure.

I think I need to start referring to people by their first names, rather than merely their first initials. It’s not so bad if you have friends with names that start with “L” or “R”, but when they start with common one-letter words like “A”, it can get confusing.

Guns, New Shooters Comments 3 Nov 23rd, 2008

How to Win Over New Shooters

I’m a firm believer in getting non-shooters to the range. Every single new shooter I’ve taken to the range has had a safe, enjoyable time, and about 80% have been shooting with me at least once after the first time (most of those who don’t are simply acquaintances or friends-of-friends, and we don’t often spend much time together).

Most people are perfectly willing to give it a shot (pun very much intended), but there are always some tough sells: whether the person is anti-gun, gun-neutral, or nervous, it can require a bit of effort to convince them to come. I’ve come up with a few tips for interacting with these people:

Getting Non-Shooters to Come to the Range

  1. Don’t be crazy. Nothing turns non-shooters off more (and makes the rest of us look bad) than crazy people with guns. Somehow, I doubt the UN has listening devices in your walls or stealth helicopters following you around. Knock it off. Really.
  2. Don’t bring up politics. This can be a major turn-off.
  3. See rule number 2.
  4. If politics cannot possibly be avoided (such as someone asking about the 1994-2004 Federal AWB, or a particular candidate’s stance on a certain issue), be objective, be calm, and be brief. Never be the first one to bring up politics, and try to steer the conversation to a non-politicial topic as soon as practical.
  5. Know your stuff. The “AR” in “AR-15″ stands for “Armalite model 15“, not “Assault Rifle”. If someone asks about “assault weapons” and you have an AR-15, be prepared to demonstrate the various features (flash hider, bayonet lug, etc.) that the now-expired ban covered. It might be good to mention that guns not mentioned by name and lacking the specific features were perfectly legal to buy during the ban, and that the banned guns were functionally identical to non-banned guns (AR vs. Mini-14, for example). Make a point of not using the term “assault weapon” when describing such firearms.
  6. Understand your audience. Last night, I spoke with two female university students about gunny stuff. Both are very intelligent (one is triple-majoring in Physics, Astronomy, and Math and has a 4.0 cumulative GPA). Both were intrigued by the various steps involved in reloading, and I explained it to them and demonstrated the process using scientific terms. If they were not scientifically-minded, I’d adjust the explanations accordingly. When we were talking about different styles of guns, I mentioned that many military-based firearms tend to be designed for people of larger body sizes (i.e. men), and guns with these dimensions can be uncomfortable for some women and smaller men; the collapsible stock allows one to adjust the rifle such that it’s comfortable for people of a wide range of body types to shoot. They both seemed to appreciate this feature.
  7. Relate to your audience. One of my female friends is a proficient shooter and scientist, and works wonders at getting women involved as she can relate to them in a variety of ways. If politics comes up (see Rules 2-4), I’ve found that my pro-rights-in-general leanings tend to go over well with most college-aged students, as well as people in most groups. Don’t do all the talking; get to know who you’re talking to, try to see things from their view, and relate to them. A friend if mine is very much interested in gay and womens rights; a mention of the Pink Pistols and Babes with Bullets proved a vital link between her interests and my own, as well as establishing that we were both concerned with rights.
  8. Avoid talking about self-defense until you understand the person better. Not everyone is comfortable with violence, even in self-defense. If the topic does come up, be objective and intelligent about it…don’t start talking about what rounds are the best for “ventiliating” bad guys.
  9. Don’t be patronizing. Shooting tends to be a male-dominated activity, and can be intimidating for many new shooters, particularly women. Many people have misconceptions about gun owners (that we’re all uneducated, unsafe, uncouth, redneck men); by being polite, knowledgeable, safe, and attentive, you can gently change their minds. Don’t be a pig.
  10. Realize that you were a new shooter once. Think of how they feel.
  11. Be sure to emphasize that shooting is a safe, fun, and enjoyable activity enjoyed by millions of people from diverse backgrounds.

At this point, the non-shooter should be interested in going to the range. If so, schedule a time that works for both of you. If possible and desired, try to arrange for a few other people (new shooters, until-recently-new-shooters, and experienced shooters) to come with. Group activities tend to be more fun.

If the non-shooter remains uninterested, not a problem. Don’t insist on anything. It’d probably be a good idea to change topics and not bring up guns at this time. Perhaps you’ll have better luck in the future.

At The Range

  1. Before your journey to the range, make sure that everyone understands the rules of gun safety and some examples where one might inadvertently violate them (e.g. if a pistol malfunctions, many people turn it sideways to examine it, sweeping the firing line — doing so violates Rule #2). If the range has specific rules, be sure to go over them with the new shooter(s).
  2. Be sure to bring food and drink, as appropriate. Also ensure that people are appropriately dressed, both in regards to clothing (open-toed shoes and low-cut shirts tend to be magnets for hot brass) and safety equipment (eye and ear protection).
  3. Start every new shooter off on a .22LR, preferably a .22 rifle. I recommend outdoor ranges, as the noise is not as intense as indoors.
  4. DO NOT START NEW SHOOTERS WITH HIGH-RECOIL FIREARMS. .357 Magnum is not an appropriate beginner’s firearm, nor is .30-06. Even a 9mm Glock 17 may not be suitable for some people. In keeping with Rule #3, I always have a .22LR rifle and pistol when I go to the range, and they make ideal guns for new shooters to start on. Recoil causes new shooters to develop bad habits like flinching, and may turn them off from the shooting sports entirely. If possible, avoid shooting lanes next to people with high-recoil/high-noise firearms…a blast from a .50 BMG’s muzzle brake will ruin your day.
  5. At first, demonstrate everything before you ask the new shooter to do it. They’re probably not familiar with the gun’s controls, how to load magazines, how to properly shoulder the gun, etc.
  6. Be sure to emphasize safety, relaxation, and shooter comfort. If they’re able to hit the target by holding the gun in a particular way, that’s fine (so long as it’s safe), even if it’s not how you hold it. Be sure that the new shooters understand that sights can be adjusted, and that being consistent is more important than where the bullets strike the target.
  7. Having reactive targets (metal gongs, plates that fall over, etc.) can be much more rewarding than simply putting holes in paper.
  8. Don’t be overbearing. Obviously, you should step in when there’s a potential safety violation, but avoid micromanaging their shooting. If you have suggestions or comments on their technique, wait until an appropriate time (say, after they’re done with the magazine).
  9. Stay away from crazy people. See Rule #1 from above. If the guy at the next lane is jabbering about black helicopters and the New World Order, ask to move to a different lane or politely ask the other person to stop. Same thing with patronizing people. You’d be surprised at how obnoxious some people can be when they see a woman shooting a gun for the first time.
  10. If you possess a variety of different guns, bring them to the range. Once the new shooter is comfortable with .22LR, introduce them to other calibers starting with the least recoil (say, .223) and eventually moving up to higher-recoil arms. I’ve often found new shooters enjoy shooting .30-06 from my M1 Garand, even on the first day…but they have to work up to it. If the new shooter is not comfortable with the ergonomics of a particular gun or the recoil of a specific caliber, do not force them to shoot it. Move on to something else.
  11. Same thing with different optics, if you have them. I’ve found a red-dot sight to be ideal for new shooters to start with (“Put the red dot on the target you wish to shoot, then squeeze the trigger.”), but have guns with iron sights and telescopic sights handy for when they wish to try something else.
  12. Above all, be safe and have fun.

I’ve followed these simple tips for years, and have introduced over a dozen people to the shooting sports. Everyone, without exception, has enjoyed themselves and left the range with a big smile. Several have ended up buying guns of their own and nearly (with the exception of friends-of-friends who I don’t see on a regular basis) have gone back to the range with me again.

A few dollars spent in ammunition and range fees (I always pay for a new shooter’s ammo, and nearly always pay for their range fee) can go a very long way at getting new shooters exposed to the sport, correcting common misconceptions about guns, shooters, and the shooting sports, and generally improving the RKBA.

It’s also really fun!

New Shooters Comments 8 Nov 17th, 2008

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