Newbies on the Range

Just got back from taking a group of people from work to the range this evening. All up we had 6 staff members and one brought her husband. Three of the group have been shooting with us before, but the other four were newbies.

My boss (& friend), Steve, started off by giving a safety lecture and general info on bullets & guns & stuff. They quite liked the demo of the burning powder (he pulled a .22, a shotgun cartridge and a rifle round apart).

We then broke into two groups. I took the women (3) to shoot pistols and the guys went with another friend/club member, Bill, to shoot revolvers.

The women had a shoot with the Ruger 22/45 first and they all got all of their shots on one of the three targets I had set up at the end of the range. Which they were all very pleased about.

We then moved onto my 9mm Springfield. I set up 8 poppers for them. I like using poppers with newbies because getting a good hit is very rewarding. They all shot off one magazine each and the basic consensus what that it was fun but the gun was heavy. Two of them knocked down three targets each, the other two.

The guys had moved on to play longarms with Steve and Bill took over with the women and let them shoot his revolvers. Again he used the steel and I could hear them being knocked over regularly (I was down watching the guys by this stage).

Once the guys had finished with the over/under shotgun, the Mosin Ngant and the Lee Enfield, I introduced them to the semi-autos.

Again I started with the Ruger 22/45 and after a magazine each they moved onto the 9mm and the poppers. I think they ended up shooting at least three mags each and then Bill and I had a turn (I like poppers!). Ended up going through 180 rounds.

During this time I could hear the women with Steve and he was letting them shoot his Edge. When I caught up with them afterwards most of them said it was definitely the best gun to shoot (I agree - but unfortunately it's too big for my to hold comfortably, so I'll have to stick to my 9mm).

We were on the range for 2 hours and I think they would have liked to have done more, but it was getting pretty dark by the time we finished.

I wonder how sore their shoulders will be tomorrow.