An Interesting Experience at the Shooting Range…

WileyX585

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Great read, it's easy to get caught up. But I agree, WE ALL need to help each other, better each other, it's up to us to keep people informed when we have the opportunity.

Another reason why I love this forum, a lot less bickering and a lot of fantastic people with a wealth of knowledge. Just a little lesson, if you don't know, ask. We are all here to help each other. Now is the time!
 
Catskillkid

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Everyone who likes guns and shooting needs to do more to be ambassadors for our sport. While I'm no firearms instructor and would never pretend to be an expert I believe I know a thing or two and could pass that on to another. Help a brother or sister out who needs it. Not only will it help them become proficient in proper usage of firearms it may just help save our rights by turning that person into another advocate for our side.
 
MoMan

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Great post. It certainly makes ya' think twice when you see someone who obviously is new to shooting, and think they are just "don't get it".
She really got lucky when she sat down at that particular time, at that particular range.
 
Phazer

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Great story.

I like to take any of my office staff that express an interest in trying firearms to the range as my guest. I especially like to take those that are "unsure" about guns, but who are willing to try at least once. I'm not able to let them try pistols, but I instruct them on the safe use of rifles and I advance them from a .22LR 10/22, to a pistol caliber carbine, to a MSR.

To date, everyone that has tried has asked to go again. But...the ammo is only on me for the first session.
 
GOPerfect

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Great story, glad I was shared by the "teacher" as well as here on the forum!
 
V

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minderasr said:
I'm always offering to take people who express an interest to the range. I find most are all talk, like I'm calling them on a lie. So sad.
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Yup. I have a standing offer to take new people to the range, I'll provide everything the first time out. So many people say "Oh, that would be great", and then it's always an excuse. Hell, a guy at work bought a 20 gauge Mossberg 500, we set up a time to take it out, and he was a no-show.

The times I have seen new shooters at a range, I keep an eye on them, and if it seems like I could help, I'll ask them "You want a hand with that?"
None of the "You should have gotten X", or "This gun sucks", I just try to help them with what they have on hand, and let them go from there. If asked, I always phrase it as "When I was looking, Y seemed to be the best match between reviews, features, and my budget", or "Y seemed to fit me better". No need to shit on what they bought, because, well, they already have it, nothing to do about it now, but help them make better choices FOR THEM, in the future.
 
Robin

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It is a little different for me, my stuff always draws more than a passing interest, so I always offer to let them shoot them, always give a bit of a safety lesson along the way, always a bit of a history lesson. Never fails, from pre-teen to one fellow that was older than me, big Grins, every time. Because of the context, I believe they remember the lessons too, triangulation.
Robin
 
Glenn B

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Darth said:
Good read. Oozes "I made this up for a good story to tell" however.
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Yes it certainly does so. There are so many coincidences one after the other as to make one wonder if it all just a tall but feel good tale, a sort of a fable with a moral strewn throughout its lines. The coincidences that all just happened to steer this story in an almost inevitable direction were many.

What a set of coincidences it was, to say the least. What coincidences - here are some of them: the author arrived at a very crowded range and had to wait, a woman shows up after him and also had to wait, she just happened to sit right next to him, she was the only woman there, she was not only nervous but visibly so and the author saw it, she had never handled let alone fired a gun, she already had her own gun, the pistol she brought along - a Jimenez JA-Nine (not JA-9) - was a piece of junk (my opinion) and that alone was a coincidence in that it fits in so well with the story line, she could only afford that junky pistol and a single box of ammo, she had not asked the range staff for any help, she was a single mom - a mother of two, she was the only black person there (the stereotype is in full use here folks, and coincidentally based upon it, maybe in the reader's mind she now had a great reason not to ask for help as all of those good old white boys who worked at the range as she was afraid of those racist types), that her home had recently been burglarized not once - not twice but three times in two months, that she expected them back that very night and the three burglaries were enough to convince her to impulsively buy a gun and go to a range without even knowing anything about guns and that happened right before she met the author, the guy she sat down next to just happened to be the author, he was quite observant of her being nervous, he was a nice guy who was willing to be helpful, he was a LE officer, he was a firearms instructor (his secret identity of which no one at the range was aware and which he in essence hid until it was time to run into the phone booth and change into his Superman costume range officer mode), she - out of the blue and with only an hour's time in training and the range only being open for that one last hour as closing time was upon them, with junk gun in hand and a mere single box of ammo - wound up being the best student he had ever trained. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could it all be true as told, I suppose so but what an amazing string of coincidences! I think that the events, that unfolded with such absolutely crucial timing for it all to work out as it worked out, had to have been arranged by the Fates or by that woman's guardian angel or even a higher power than either of those. Sheer luck would never get them all together like that. With my luck though, I would not have noticed her until she had shot me through the barricade between points.

Anyway, if the story is true as told or even if embellished just a tad, good for the author for doing a good deed and maybe for preventing a terrible accident at the range that night. Even if it is all balderdash, there is a lesson to be learned in the story.

All the best,
Glenn B
 
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Glenn B

Glenn B

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By the way, I saw a new bit of firearms nomenclature today that in all my years as a shooter or instructor, and in all the places where I have been trained or did the training, I have never heard before. It was when the author wrote:

The gun puked a couple times, but it gave her a chance to practice her tap/rack.
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I have heard firearms malfunctions called many things but never before heard them referred to as "The gun puked...". You really can learn something new everyday.

All the best,
Glenn B
 
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