scoobysnacker
Member
My nephew came into town this week with a friend from college (they're going to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for you guys up there), and yesterday I took them out to the range for a little fun and new experience.
Just to clarify- I'm down in south Louisiana, where owning firearms is a pretty common thing. Even the local Democratic politicians I know, own some nice handguns, and one carries a snubnosed .357 S&W (not getting into politics, just noting it's a gun-friendly place to live). My nephew is acclimated to this, but his friend Nick was actually an English citizen studying engineering over here. So this was truly a first for him; he'd never had the chance to even hold a firearm before, let alone shoot.
Along with that inexperience, he also had a pretty serious medical condition as a kid, resulting in his right arm (dominant) being very weak- he's a big guy, but his grip was almost flaccid.
My son and I own a good bit of firearms, but we wanted to keep it simple and streamlined, so we only brought a few:
Ruger Mk II in .22
Daewoo DP 51 in 9mm
a fullsize 1911 in .45
and a couple surplus rifles my son chose, a Mosin Nagant and an SKS.
It was a joy to introduce Nick to our pastime. First up was the .22, and I chose the Ruger as it has always been dead reliable, as well as attractive and accurate. It didn't fail us this time either. Despite his initial nervousness (he wasn't "reluctant", but worried that his grip could be an issue, and again guns as a whole were new to him), he quickly relaxed after a couple shots. "This is easy- and FUN" was his comment during the first magazine, I think more to himself than to us; and he fired off maybe 4 mags without a problem.
Our range is indoors but allows any ammo, and also has plastic bottles you can choose to shoot at, along with paper targets. After getting his bearings with a silhouette, he wanted to go for the bottle on the last magazine, and made satisfying contact at 7 yds easily.
I mentioned he's an engineering student... his next choice was the 1911. In comparing the various pistols, he noted the extra heft of that, and (correctly) determined that the greater mass would soak up the recoil. I smiled as he started giving me a few equations regarding that, before the first shot! Sure enough, he fired off a magazine, and said "yeah, really not bad at all". He actually had more trouble with getting a good grip (he used a very firm offhand grip, while maintaining control of the trigger with the right hand. Might have made some purists cringe, but he was safe and effective. His paws were big enough that his left hand enveloped his right, so he "shot" right-handed, but in reality his right hand was primarily just trigger). Recoil wasn't an issue.
Then we shot the Daewoo- I chose this one as the 9mm since I recently replaced the trigger bar, and had shot it a lot to determine it was in fact running good again. And while doing that, I've come to really appreciate that it's a very nice shooter with some unique features.
And again, our new English friend took to it both as a shooter and as an engineering feat. We discussed the differences from the 1911, as a more recent design - incorporating the DA/SA trigger. Then discussed the major gripe that came with that development (different trigger pull), and the Daewoo's remedy- the "triple action" feature. For those not familiar with it, Daewoo (and now Lionheart) have a unique hinged hammer assembly, so that once cocked, you can flick the hammer back to an uncocked state, and the trigger will return to the same long pull as DA, but with the same lighter weight as SA. Dryfiring safely (with a dummy rd), we went over the different pulls. It was funny because I was explaining it to him in a basic manner, and you could see the "engineer" in him processing and grasping it at a mechanical level deeper than I do. Gotta admit, he stumped me when he asked why more guns don't share that design; I just shrugged and said I guess it was because most makers considered the heavier pull as an additional safety, and the consistent trigger was more the territory of the striker designs now.
He did have one failure to feed in the second mag, a limp-wrist (which he acknowledged as it happened, his arm was getting tired). The gun was clean the rest of the time, 1 more mag for him and probably 300 rds total for the group.
He passed on firing the rifles, but did enjoy analyzing the 7.62 rds, noting that the ammo became smaller as it became more modern (54R to 39mm). We discussed the practicalities of modern urban conflict, and once again the engineer came out in him, noting the greater efficiency of a smaller rd and load when you're not (usually) engaging at longer distances, vs the ability to have a smaller and more controllable semiauto as compared to a long bolt-action.
Sorry, that's a long and wordy post, but I had a blast as an "ambassador" for firearms, and I really enjoyed the warm and very honest smile it brought to a young man who not only came from a culture where it wasn't available to him, but also had a physical impediment that caused him to fear he might not be able to handle them.
Afterwards, I think my main regret was not thinking to include a Hi-Power for him, or that I don't own any British surplus arms. It would have been nice to let him handle something "from home".
Just to clarify- I'm down in south Louisiana, where owning firearms is a pretty common thing. Even the local Democratic politicians I know, own some nice handguns, and one carries a snubnosed .357 S&W (not getting into politics, just noting it's a gun-friendly place to live). My nephew is acclimated to this, but his friend Nick was actually an English citizen studying engineering over here. So this was truly a first for him; he'd never had the chance to even hold a firearm before, let alone shoot.
Along with that inexperience, he also had a pretty serious medical condition as a kid, resulting in his right arm (dominant) being very weak- he's a big guy, but his grip was almost flaccid.
My son and I own a good bit of firearms, but we wanted to keep it simple and streamlined, so we only brought a few:
Ruger Mk II in .22
Daewoo DP 51 in 9mm
a fullsize 1911 in .45
and a couple surplus rifles my son chose, a Mosin Nagant and an SKS.
It was a joy to introduce Nick to our pastime. First up was the .22, and I chose the Ruger as it has always been dead reliable, as well as attractive and accurate. It didn't fail us this time either. Despite his initial nervousness (he wasn't "reluctant", but worried that his grip could be an issue, and again guns as a whole were new to him), he quickly relaxed after a couple shots. "This is easy- and FUN" was his comment during the first magazine, I think more to himself than to us; and he fired off maybe 4 mags without a problem.
Our range is indoors but allows any ammo, and also has plastic bottles you can choose to shoot at, along with paper targets. After getting his bearings with a silhouette, he wanted to go for the bottle on the last magazine, and made satisfying contact at 7 yds easily.
I mentioned he's an engineering student... his next choice was the 1911. In comparing the various pistols, he noted the extra heft of that, and (correctly) determined that the greater mass would soak up the recoil. I smiled as he started giving me a few equations regarding that, before the first shot! Sure enough, he fired off a magazine, and said "yeah, really not bad at all". He actually had more trouble with getting a good grip (he used a very firm offhand grip, while maintaining control of the trigger with the right hand. Might have made some purists cringe, but he was safe and effective. His paws were big enough that his left hand enveloped his right, so he "shot" right-handed, but in reality his right hand was primarily just trigger). Recoil wasn't an issue.
Then we shot the Daewoo- I chose this one as the 9mm since I recently replaced the trigger bar, and had shot it a lot to determine it was in fact running good again. And while doing that, I've come to really appreciate that it's a very nice shooter with some unique features.
And again, our new English friend took to it both as a shooter and as an engineering feat. We discussed the differences from the 1911, as a more recent design - incorporating the DA/SA trigger. Then discussed the major gripe that came with that development (different trigger pull), and the Daewoo's remedy- the "triple action" feature. For those not familiar with it, Daewoo (and now Lionheart) have a unique hinged hammer assembly, so that once cocked, you can flick the hammer back to an uncocked state, and the trigger will return to the same long pull as DA, but with the same lighter weight as SA. Dryfiring safely (with a dummy rd), we went over the different pulls. It was funny because I was explaining it to him in a basic manner, and you could see the "engineer" in him processing and grasping it at a mechanical level deeper than I do. Gotta admit, he stumped me when he asked why more guns don't share that design; I just shrugged and said I guess it was because most makers considered the heavier pull as an additional safety, and the consistent trigger was more the territory of the striker designs now.
He did have one failure to feed in the second mag, a limp-wrist (which he acknowledged as it happened, his arm was getting tired). The gun was clean the rest of the time, 1 more mag for him and probably 300 rds total for the group.
He passed on firing the rifles, but did enjoy analyzing the 7.62 rds, noting that the ammo became smaller as it became more modern (54R to 39mm). We discussed the practicalities of modern urban conflict, and once again the engineer came out in him, noting the greater efficiency of a smaller rd and load when you're not (usually) engaging at longer distances, vs the ability to have a smaller and more controllable semiauto as compared to a long bolt-action.
Sorry, that's a long and wordy post, but I had a blast as an "ambassador" for firearms, and I really enjoyed the warm and very honest smile it brought to a young man who not only came from a culture where it wasn't available to him, but also had a physical impediment that caused him to fear he might not be able to handle them.
Afterwards, I think my main regret was not thinking to include a Hi-Power for him, or that I don't own any British surplus arms. It would have been nice to let him handle something "from home".
