Newbie Training

[pop pop]

My training session, yesterday, went great. I have never had 2 people pick up shooting accurately this quick before. I had a mother, son, and father out that I attend church with. The father (mid 40ish) asked me if I would introduce/teach his 23 Y O son to shoot handguns. The father had shot before, but the son had not. I told him to bring his wife along if she was interested and she came. She told me she would watch so I did not push her. They arrived at 9:30 and we sat down at our kitchen table, and I had out about 9 handguns. Talked safety for a while then explained the handguns we had out. We then went to the firing range in my back yard. I Started them out with 22 L R revolver, then 38 Spl revolver, and finished with 9MM pistol. We stayed with Smith Wesson handguns for the brand. First, started with a alloy frame model 317-3, 8 shot, 22LR revolver w 3" brl. Moved up to a SW Model 65, 3" 6 shot Lady Smith 38Spl/357 Mag Revolver. Only fired 38 Spl practice in this revolver. Then finished with a 15 shot M P 9 C 2.0 pistol 4" brl. We took about 2 hrs in time. First allowed the son to shoot the 22 LR. He was extremely nervous. His hands were shaking so I sat beside and reassured him how the revolver was going to react, how to align the Green Pipe sights, and just gently talked him "easily" through the first shot. After the first shot we were off to the races. He was surprised but took it well as he emptied the 8 shots. I always like them to think about what the just did for a few minutes their first-time firing. I find they come back much more assured of what was happening. He never looked back.

Next, I asked his mom if she wanted to try it, as all the while taking to her after her sons every shot and allowing her to watch intently. She decided to try it. Well long story short, we created a monster. She shot all 3 guns as had no problems and accepted the increased power of the other 2 calibers. So did the son. We were shooting at a 12" steel target and 25 feet. None of them missed the target with over 2 or 3 shots of everything we fired. The dad joined in and shot all 3 handguns very methodically and they observed and learned from him. After dad both wanted to fire some more. We took out 100 rounds of 38 spl practice ammo, large box of 22 LR, and 100 rounds of 9 MM practice. We fired 300 rounds total, and they all had no problem hitting almost every shot on steel. They told me this morning that the day was a total blast, and they enjoyed the outing. The son, quiet boy, came and shook my hand and really thanked me. I could tell they all had a lot of confidence and most probably handguns are in their future. The Mom told me it really empowered her much more than she had realized, after they got home, and really had time to digest the outing. 

My mission was totally successful. WE had a pretty good day.