The joy of teaching a new shooter

[David]

My son's GF had never held a firearm. She wasn't opposed to firearms, but did have some apprehension/fear. I taught firearms in academies, EOT and in-service classes for 24 of my 29 years with the Sheriff's Office. And I always enjoyed teaching and training. So about a week ago my son asked me to start familiarizing her with handguns. So I took the time to show her a couple of different platforms, explained the safety rules and how pistols work and how ammunition works. She handled both and it was the first time she'd ever held one. It must have helped because she made the decision to go to the range.

So this morning my wife, son and he GF took a trip to a local indoor range. We lucked out an were the only one's on our side of the range which was nice. And it helped we didn't have someone next to use shooting a magnum, lol. I took a couple of pistols, the primary was a Taurus TX22 because I wanted her to start off with a low recoiling pistol so she could more easily get over her fear. Also brought the Glock 19X I gave to my son in case she wanted to try something else. I went over the standard stuff like sight alignment and trigger control as well as re-emphasizing safety.

Complete success! The TX22 had a few malfunctions but they were ammo related (dud rounds) which is not unexpected with .22 ammo. And I was hoping for a few just so I could demonstrate some clearance procedures just to have it as a reference for future range trips. The TX22 itself performed great. And that girl shot the center out of that target almost from the get-go. The target was only about 5ish yards away but she was still tearing the X out and it built a lot of confidence in her. She eventually asked for the target to be moved back so we got to about 10ish yards and she was still hitting the X-ring!

She even popped off a couple of rounds out of the 19X.

As a bonus, I've been wanting my wife to shoot the TX22 as I got it for her to train on. She's got some recoil sensitivity issues so a .22 pistol made a lot of sense for her since she can't put a lot of rounds down range with calibers like 9mm and such. Her personal pistol is a S&W 380EZ which she likes real well. And the TX22 is pretty close in size to the EZ so I felt it would be a good thing for her. She also enjoyed the TX22 and did very well with it. And even braved a couple of shots with the 19X and made a couple of really good head shots right off the bat.

So it was a good day all the way around and it was very rewarding to me to not only get my wife out there putting rounds down range but introduce a new shooter to the experience. My son's GF said she wants to go again

[Bmyers]

All nice when you can spend time with family and introduce a new shooter to the sport.

[Strayz]

David,

I can agree to share that teaching a new shooter the love of the shooting sports is a wonderful thing. I have been teaching my daughter to shoot a .22 rifle the last 2 summers and this year we are stepping up to the .22 pistol and we are going to try an AR platform with .22 lr adapter.

This is for a younger shooter not a full grown adult so adjust as needed, now since she is only 10, she is asking on a regular basis to go shooting when she is out at my place.

I have used these simple things for new shooters. Just notes, not really then end all or be all to teaching kiddos to shoot. Each kiddo is different.

Start them on a .22 shooting clay sporting bird targets. (Clay pigeons 130 of them for 15 dollars is a steal of a deal for targets. ) This gives them a visible target they can see they are hitting and as we all know interactive targets are a bit more fun than punching holes in paper when you are starting to shoot. I start them around 10 or so yards and by the end of the day they are shooting them at 25 yards with out any problems.

When I started teaching my kiddo firearms safety for 3-4 months, then to the range! I am using a .22 Ruger charger with a "Brace" as it has a nice short length of pull, a green dot optic, and a .22 suppressor. The first trip out of every year we single load until we can show discipline of not chewing through ammo as fast as we can. (Yes she can go through it fast if she wants, but I make her pay a little for ammo to discourage the consumption. Just enough to remind her that ammo is not free. I will also never let her run out as long as she is learning and having fun.)

I have taught two other younger gals (under 10 years old) that are friends of my daughter to shoot with this same setup. (With parents right there and never more than a few steps away.) It seems to work well and the look on the face when they pull the trigger the first time and it busts a target is worth it every time. Shooting on a private range helps with no other shooters around.

The other younger shooters I have introduced previous to this setup have been a little more hit or miss learning to shoot with Iron sites and getting hits on target. I attribute it to parents not fully dedicating themselves to teaching our younger generations how to shoot, or not knowing how to. Also with Iron sites it does take a bit to teach how it should look and what they should be seeing. Red/green dot is put the dot on the target and gently squeeze the trigger.

I know a lot of people have mixed opinions on optics and I agree they need to learn to shoot with Iron sites, but getting them started so they have fun and learn to love shooting as a sport or activity is my number one priority. Then we can teach them how to shoot better. If we take the fun out of shooting many younger shooters will never return to the sport. Kids need focus, but they also need to have a little fun now and then.

/rant off

[David]

Just got back from the range where I was teaching one of my nieces to shoot. It was her first time so she was excited but apprehensive. Perfectly normal of course. Her and her husband have been discussing buying a firearm lately. He's done some shooting but wanted me to teach her because I use to be an academy instructor. She wanted to get some experience to try to narrow down what would work for her.

They are primarily thinking a home defense pistol, however, since Florida just passed Permitless carry it may also be something they carry.

I had the opportunity last night at a family get together to give her some basis Handgun 101 knowledge.

I brought a variety of pistols for her to sample including a Taurus TX22, Ruger LCP Max, Glock 45, Sig P365X and XL, S&W 380EZ and Sig P229 in 40S&W.

The TX22 was an obvious first shooter due to the light recoil. She did well and it was a perfect starter pistol for her. Gave her confidence as she had never even held a pistol. And she had some good groupings. Next up was the 380EZ which is one of my wife's pistols. She was ready at this point to step up a little in terms of recoil and she did well. Next was the P365X which she loved and seems to be the one she now wants to get. She was ready for the recoil of the 9mm and she said that even though it was more powerful than the previous two pistols that she felt like it was the right size for her and she could really grip and control it will. She tried the XL and liked it but the X was her favorite. She tried the Max and it was okay but she felt for a bit larger pistol the X was better overall for her. Next up was the Glock 45 which she did like quite a bit and if it was a dedicated HD pistol probably would have got the nod. She liked the feel and her ability to control it. The size and increased weight of course helped tame the recoil a bit for her. Finally I wanted her to try the P229 in .40 for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted her to see and feel the difference between striker-fired and hammer-fired from an education standpoint. As well as DA/SA. Secondly, I learned many years ago to never 'assume' that a woman might not like a more powerful handgun. I once taught a very small sized woman (5'1 and about 115lbs). She fell in love with one of my .357 magnums and shot it like a champ. She liked the P229 even with the increased recoil but just really liked the P365X and wanted to shoot it some more.

I think she gravitated to the X as a viable choice because it gives them the option to carry it as well as HD. And she did quite well with it.

I was very proud of her of course. She said the fear was gone and she felt confident and empowered now. It's always a very rewarding experience to teach a new shooter.