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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Range Time

Well, Tuesday was a wonderful day, minus one little blimp at the beginning of it. The day finally came to take my sister to the range for the first time.  She did great!  I was proud of her, she was very conscientious of safety, made sure to keep the gun pointed down range at all time, minus once when she had it facing towards the ground (but it’s expected that this is going to happen at least once especially the first time), she kept her finger off the trigger until she was ready to fire and she always put the safety on when laying the gun down.

Unfortunately one of the .22’s (the 1911-22) that I had borrowed jammed up really badly, I couldn’t get it unjammed and went to ask the range guy to help and even he couldn’t get it unjammed so that just left the .22 revolver.  My sister really liked the 1911-22 and wasn’t a big fan of my .380 or .45 but that’s understandable, I think over time she might grow to accept them.

I felt a bit disheartened at the end of the day and this is probably me being a bit hard on myself in regards to my ability to teach a new shooter.  I know she did really well but I felt that maybe I didn’t do a good enough job, there were a lot of points I wanted to make to guide her along but communication was really hard.  I am definitely going to need to invest in electronic muffs so I can communicate with her at the range; yes she is planning on going again so that’s a good sign.

My blimps were the day got delayed because I locked my keys in my car, which cost me $109, ouch.  Then it turns out that Lady’s Day isn’t all day, only between certain hours, lol.  I think they shouldn’t advertise it as Lady’s Day and advertise is as Lady’s Happy Hour on Tuesdays.  Between, the key thing, range time and ammo, it was an expensive day that set me back a bit but well worth the memory and spending time and sharing this aspect of me that I love with my sister.


I’ll have to look into buying me a .22 so she can shoot that, I had it in the plans to get one eventually for plinking and doing Dot Torture target practice so it works. (10.7)


8 comments:

  1. Don't feel disheartened. Nothing goes perfectly and your net result was a whole lot of positives.

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    1. This is true and at least she wants to go again so that's a good sign. Even when we got home she spent like an hour just playing with the laserlyte target with both the .380 and .45. It was cute.

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  2. If it's a GSG 1911-22, the magazines can be finicky. I have one that I love, love, love and for the money, it's a great deal. However, just because the magazines can accept more than 10 rounds, they perform best with 10 or less. They are supposed to be 10-rounders, but if you're not paying attention while loading, it's easy to slip 11 or 12 in and then the damn thing doesn't feed.

    I did replace the base plates on all of my 1911-22 magazines and haven't had a problem since then (and I now count to ten and ONLY ten) when loading them.

    Like North said, nothing ever goes perfectly, and that's okay. The biggies were covered: she handled the gun safely and had a good time. There might come a time when she likes shooting the big calibers, but for now, just enjoy that you all had a good time together.

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  3. The 1911-22 is a GSG. I’ll recommend that to my friend because it’s always had issues jamming up, I just never had it jam this badly. He mentioned something about maybe he put the spring in wrong when he cleaned it last. I’m sure once he gets it back, he’ll figure out what went wrong.

    I completely enjoy that we got to go out, six months ago, I would have never imagined this day to have happened, let alone even admitting to her that I had guns in the house.

    It will be interesting if she gets into shooting and what my mom will think of that. As my mother put it, "I'm not a proponent to having guns in the house." Which my only reply to that was the one time she had a gun in her house was because this guy gave her one and probably didn’t (actually obviously) didn’t instruct her properly on safety and usage, hence why the kitchen door got shot. What rule does that fall under? Oh, let’s start with; never put your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to fire.

    Who knows, maybe my mom will open up about it a little since my sister is getting into it, they are very close.

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  4. You could definitely offer to teach your mom how to safely handle a gun. You're doing a great job as a family ambassador :)

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    1. I would be happy to teach her proper use of a gun for sure. It could happen but I bet if she comes up to visit that my sister will take the targets off the fridge so she isn't throwing it in my mom's face. I think leave them up, there is no reason to hide who we are. lol.

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  5. Not sure on the price of it but my little brother just got a Sig Mosquito 22 and I must admit that it's a fun little gun to shoot and was pretty accurate. Another 22 worth looking at is the Ruger Mk 2 and Mk 3. They aren't too expensive and shoot well, only problem I have with them is the brand (i try to avoid them because of a comment years back about not believing private citizens should be allowed to own guns).

    Another option is the Browning Buckmark but it is expensive :(

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    1. Well, if the Browning Buckmark is expensive that's probably the one I'll be drawn to, it's my tendency to like the more expensive guns, not on purpose mind you.

      When I bought my .45, I held several and chose the one that felt the best, like coming home, sure enough it was the most expensive one in the case. lol.

      So far my experience with Ruger has been okay, not sure if I would buy one but I do like my current Sig so that could be an option. I can't wait to take my sister gun shopping. lol. She has the same issue as myself with costs. lol

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