Taking New Shooters To The Range

I had some coworkers in town last week for meetings. A couple of them inquired if I'd be willing to have a "team building" afternoon at the range. Naturally I obliged. Before I left for work in the morning, I loaded up the gear, along with a couple of paper target stands and one of my steel targets. I figured the steel would be fun if things seemed to be going well. We knocked off early and I took the four of them out for some shooting fun. All said they had shot pistols before, but were not regular shooters. One of them brought along a handgun he owned, but had not fired in at least 5 years. For the other three it had been much longer and I don't think they felt totally comfortable at first. So I treated the outing as an introduction for new shooters.

We started by going over the four safety rules, and then how to operate my Sig P226. Fortunately the other gun brought by my coworker was also a Sig P226, so there was only one manual of arms to go over. (In fact, it was a nice looking, and rarely fired, German rail-less model.)

I had them shoot some USPSA targets at about 7 yards. They all did quite well so we moved back to 10 yards and then they took turns on the steel, which really brought out the smiles. I only took a few shots; deciding to let them have the fun. I preferred to devote my time to being the safety officer and offering tips when I could. I was pleased I had to issue just one reminder about muzzle direction.

While we were back at the bench loading up mags, at 25 yards, I jokingly asked if anyone wanted to try to hit the steel from there. Of course, they all decided that was what they wanted to do! They seemed to be enjoying themselves even when they missed. And when the steel rang out, well...

Before we knew it 400 rounds had been put downrange. I then introduced them to the joys of picking up fired brass.

As you can see in the accompanying photo, not all shots made it quite onto the steel. Looks like I'll be making a run to the home improvement store for some new 2x4 stock. A small sacrifice indeed to share the fun of shooting.