I was taking a 15 year old shooting for the first time. I had really severe time constants, he had to back by 12 for a family function, and the range I was at opened at 9.
The range I was at has a one shot per second rule. So I didn’t bring anything automatic or double action, so he couldn’t break that rule.
I brought a Marlin Lever Action .22 and a very old (my first gun) High Standard Sport King Pump Action .22. And I brought a Ruger Bearcat, and a Ruger Single Six. The Ruger Bearcat is a very small single action .22. Most Bearcats are steel frame and weigh 23 ounces. This one is very old and has an alloy frame and weighs 17 ounces. A Single Six is a large size .22 Single Action Revolver with fixed sights. The version with adjustable sights is called the Super Single Six. I think.
Anyway, the Marlin and High Standard rifles both worked out well, they had very long 24 inch barrels, and it was easy to keep him from pointing the guns at anyone. I only had him shoot the Bearcat once, then put it away, and took out the Single Six with the long barrel. This person was actually bigger than I am (I am five foot four, 118 pound). I didn’t weigh him and measure him, but I would say he was about at least five inches taller than me, and maybe as much as 30 or 40 pounds heavier. A Ruger Bearcat that weighs 17 ounces with a four inch barrel is good for someone like me, with very small hands. For him it was just so small, he kept forgetting where he was pointing it.
So I gave him the Ruger Single Six, and stood practically touching him, and every time the gun stopped pointing forward, I would lean forward and grab the gun and point it back towards the targets. It’s not easy to teach a person who is a lot bigger than you how to shoot a gun, particularly when they are immature and keep having memory lapses about the gun can never point sideways towards the other shooters. He made me nervous, and anxious, and after a half hour I had him shoot the rifles again.
As he was shooting the rifles, I saw he had no problem and I stepped back to the table to get something to drink. I drink a lot of water. Two older guys came over to talk to me. I guess I and my friend looked strange. You had a five foot four, 118 pound 33 year old man, teaching a very tall 15 year old boy how to shoot. They asked me if I was teaching him how to shoot. I said it was his first time. They then BOTH told me that I was doing it all wrong. I was over at the metal plates. This particular range has a very large and extensive metal plate section, with probably over a hundred swinging plates. I figured I would just let him come and have fun the first time and shoot the plates. The two old timers told me you ALWAYS have someone shoot a target the first time and that I was going to make him a bad shot. When a person shoots a target they claimed, the person understands that how you hold the guns affects where the bullet goes. They both got sort of pushy and controlling and acted like I should immediately go to the target office and get a target and set it up at the next cease fire. When I didn’t do so, they both started saying things like I was doing the boy a big disservice and the like. I didn’t know whether to take them seriously or not. I have long black hair, I am thin, I wear Birkenstock sandals, and most people over 50 who are at a target range tend to take an immediate dislike to me. They even (all older males at a shooting range do this to me) said that “Well if you had ever been in the Armed Forces, you would know that what we were saying is true.” I think I have heard THAT one about 10,000 times. They are usually shocked when I pull out my wallet and show a picture of me as a Private First Class in the U. S. Army. But what I am trying to figure out is are they right? Should I have taken him first to shoot targets on paper? Or was their nature dislike of people who look like me kicking in?
Levi
You learned to shoot in the Army? I didn’t. I learned when I was nine years old. Didn’t remember seeing any Army around.
don’t think so
but if a 5 year couldn’t remember where to point a gun, not sure i would have let him shoot anymore
they have a point about the targets. shooting is hand-eye. if your eyes arent sure, then your hands arent sure. so after the shot, you know for sure where it went and can adjust accordingly.
they didnt know your circumstances. i have taken many kids hunting for thier first time and all of them required a different approach. maybe you knew he wasnt going to settle down and listen until he got a chance to “get his gun off. ” maybe he was nervous anyway and you were just trying to get him used to the sensations of firing a gun before you bombarded him with instruction. maybe it takes as much thought and preparation as teaching any other subject and you just got caught off guard. not being at work and all.
As a former military man you should remember. When did you get to fire a rifle? My guess, if the Army is anything like the Corps, is after you had repeated the weapons safety rules and gone over range safety about a thousand times. You learned proper stance and technique by watching a range coach, and then you tried it and were corrected as needed by your tender caring drill instructors. After you learned how to shoot and hold your weapon THEN you got to try it out. Am I right? There is a big damn reason they do things in that order instead of letting you shoot it out your first day then giving you instructions the rest of the week. It is because giving instructions and demonstration first not only helps to boost confidence but it also helps prevent any stupid habits from forming and will increase your accuracy without you having to figure things our for yourself. . . And it works, or else you would have never qualified and never made it through basic.
Evidently it seems being out of the Army and around schoolkids and queers too much has ruined any sense you had. Will it hurt him that he shot awhile before learning? Not necessarily, but it’s pretty dumb. And if you didn’t trust him handling the weapons then he should not have been at the range to begin with.
All that said, there’s nothing wrong with grabbing the weapon to remind him he is pointing a loaded firearm downrange. However, since you failed to instruct him on what to do he didn’t know any better, did he? You should have gone over the basics and had him shoot targets first, the same freaking way you were taught.
When you were in the Army, did you shoot at the zeroing targets before or after the pop-up targets? I remember the zeroing being first. I bring that up because the paper targets can serve the introductory function the same way as the zero targets did. Still, as long as nobody needed medical attention, there’s no harm in the end.
I feel that it is OK to let someone have a blast shooting reactive targets the first time out. It did no harm to let the kid have some fun and get comfortable with a gun. When you have a little more time I am sure that you will be able to teach him the principles of marksmanship.
My very first time out shooting was not at paper targets. Worked OK for me. We shot at soda cans, hills of dirt, and other miscellaneous debris.
If you ask me, the best thing to shoot at is a hill of dirt. Why? Because you can always pick out things in a hill of dirt to shoot at. Small rocks, bits of trash, whatever. And every shot has an instant feedback as you see that particular patch of dirt move. you know exactly where your shot went.
Ever notice how when you’ve put several rounds in the paper target, it’s hard to tell where your next shot went? Never have the problem with dirt. Often, when I’m shooting at the range, I shoot at both the target and the dirt backstop after the first 10 rounds or so.
I don’t really know what prompted those guys to be such busy bodies. Usually when I go to the shooting range, the only time any shooter talks to another is when asking about a specific gun someone else is using.
I suspect if you could take a poll you’d find more people learned to shoot plinking a 22 at tin cans and such than at paper, especially among us old farts. And if he was having fun, what the heck difference does it make? I’d say good on you. As for those guys, I suppose they didn’t grow up plinking at targets of opportunity on the farm, a very traditional method with a long history of producing good riflemen.
Yes and No
Yes in regards to shooting at reactive plates. For first time shooters, kids and adults, have a lot more fun when the target does something when you hit it. It help keep their interest up and keeps it from getting boring. That is the difference between teaching civilians to shoot compared to military; soldiers are there because they have to be kids aren’t. After their initial exposure peaks their interest, and attention span, you can go further into the technical fundamentals of shooting and shoot at paper targets to refine their skills.
No in regards to introducing him to a pistol the first time out. The reasons are exactly what you discovered; being small they are easy to turn around with and point in the wrong places. Safety is first and foremost, each persons attention span and maturity is different; both must be taken into account when introducing someone to firearms. Some kids can handle it at 10, some adults can’t at 30. If the unsafe behavior continues after repeated warnings you are better off packing up and heading home. First you do not want to take a chance of anyone getting hurt and second it will reinforce to them that it is a serious matter.