FIRST TIME TO THE RANGE; ADVICE PLEASE

I am a Range Safety Officer for a private club where members are allowed to bring guests. I see lots of members help brand new shooters get started, but I also see some problems where inexperienced members bring even less experienced guests. From your posts, it is not quite clear how much experience and training you and your daughter have. Here is my general advice about planning a trip like this.

In any group at the range, someone should have a comfortable knowledge of everything that is going on. This knowledge should include: general gun safety and handling, specific safety rules of the range or facility, knowledge of the specific firearms in use, ability to check that the ammunition is appropriate for the firearms.

If neither of you is confident in all of these areas, you should try to bring someone who is, or hire some help. If you have an experienced friend, that person would probably like to help. I know that I would, and I have done so recently. If you don't have anyone available, then an hour or two of private instruction would be worthwhile.

Please understand that I don't mean to be critical, I really like what you are planning to do. You have excellent firearms with important family history. The revolver you pictured is in wonderful shape, and it can be shot a moderate amount without any change in its condition. You will be able to enjoy it, and also pass it down for generations. But for the protection of all the people and firearms involved, some patience may be required in planning a range expedition. Having appropriate knowledge and resources the first time at the range is invaluable. After one or two sessions with assistance, you will have the knowledge to continue confidently on your own.
 
Unless your son-in-law will be there, or he has trained your daughter to where she is fully competent with firearms, you should have some other arrangement for competent supervision.

It sounds like your daughter may have been trained - it was not perfectly clear to me from the original post. One additional safety requirement unique to revolvers is that if one holds the gun with two hands, care should taken that the support hand does not closely approach the vertical plane in which lies the gap between cylinder and barrel, because flesh-cutting flame and gas occupy some area of this plane upon firing. One or two uninformed shooters have actually lost fingers when mishandling unusually powerful revolvers. With your revolvers, injury is still a possibility.

Most handguns were designed for one-handed use. Two-handed use is mostly better, but requires a bit of care.
 
One small bit of info to add-- VERY IMPORTANT, and I'm quite surprised that nobody mentioned it in 21 posts before mine:

All revolvers have a "flash gap" where the front end of the cylinder is able to move immediately behind the rear end of the barrel. This small amount of space is necessary so the cylinder can advance freely. If you examine any revolver directly from the side, especially with good light behind it, you can see this flash gap.

When shooting the revolver, keep hands amd fingers AWAY!
There is pressure, flame and fury that literally blasts out right here on both the left and right side of the revolver.

With smaller cartridges like .22, it's a small blast. With larger cartridges, the blast gets extremely dangerous.

If you hold the revolver with one hand only or you use two hands together on the grip, keeping any free hand or fingers away from this area, you'll be absolutely fine.

As for the range you visit for this trip, most definitely select an OUTDOOR range if at all possible. Far more enjoyable, especially to new or novice shooters. I say this because indoor ranges are exceptionally loud and the constant blast is hard to imagine and ignore if you have never experienced it before. The noise and more so, the constast blast and pressure thump is much reduced on an outdoor range.

I can't wait to hear an after report, best luck and best wishes! ;)
 
Hahaha, while I was typing...
Model520Fan finally brought up the potential danger of the flash gap.
 
Get comfortable with them before shooting by dry-firing them - except for the model 34. Never dry fire a 22 long rifle revolver. Maybe get some light plastic or nitrile gloves for cleaning them. Have fun!
 
Julianne
I'm am glad to see you have decided to take your dad's guns to the range. He would be pleased that you are doing so. We all had our "first day at the range" with many of the same questions and concerns which you have. Enjoy the trip. You and Allie will make her Papaw proud.
Don't forget the shooting glasses when you pick up the ear protection.
 
I've enjoyed reading these posts. Many good points have been provided.
I'll add a few simple thoughts of mine that I was taught years ago. By a few dumb dutchmen.
1st- you are the safety.
2nd- if you dont want to fire the gun, dont pull the trigger.
3rd- learn to let the hammer down from a cocked position. Do it enough that you are confident in your control of doing that on a loaded round.
There's a few instructions I got. The only other suggestion I have is, dont worry about the sights, sight picture or what your target looks like. Its irrelevant right now.
Get comfy with handling your firearm. The sight picture, alignment you will learn.
Take your time, have fun.
It can truly be a lot of fun, and enjoyable.
Also addicting, and it can get expensive.
Have a great time.
 
rickflst said:
For the Model 19 use a standard 38 spl load. For mine and general practice I use Remington 38 special not +p from Walmart. With the 38sp ammo the recoil will not be much in the 19. Enjoy the shooting
Click to expand...

^^Ditto this^^
No need for magnums to kill paper. Mild 38 special loads will be lots more fun.

Cleanup with any good gun cleaning & lubricating product (Hoppes, RemOil, CLP) and a bronze bore/cylinder brush and mop set.

As others have said, in addition to the ear protection, be sure to use eye protection.
 
Last edited:
All good advice listed above, especially the start with mild loads and work your way up.
Can't tell you the number of people I have seen who acquire a .357 or .44 mag and show up for the first dance with full bore magnum ammo, and are shocked at the recoil and muzzle blast.
A sure way do start off creating a flinch and jerk reaction that take a long time to cure.
The best advice I ever got was from an old state police officer who was a firearms instructor, "get a good .22 and shoot it for a year and then move up the list" of calibers...
The only good side to that method is I have been able to buy their guns at a bargain because "the gun isn't accurate". It's not the gun, it's the gunner...

PS: I do offer to help them learn the proper methods of handgun shooting, but some are forever "ruined" by the experience.
 
Follow the advice on all the above EXCEPT.
Don't start at the range.

After checking for no bullets, both you and your daughter should sit for a couple of hours watching TV holding the 27 and 19. Open the cylinder, close it cleanly. Roll it in your hand. Fondle it. Hand them back and forth. Practice different holds for loading and unloading with brass only or snap caps. Don't start at the range and with loaded ammo !!!

WATCH FOR SWEEPING while doing the above !!! You need to watch each other and call it when you see it. Not sweeping yourself and others is tough. It's new and difficult to stay sharp continually. A few minutes will reveal how easy it is to point at someone, if only for a nanosecond. You awareness must change and sharpen.
Do it in the living room unloaded, NOT AT THE RANGE !
The range will be LOUD and disorienting. Turning to grin usually gets a dozen people on the line swept, not to mention pissed off.


Prescut
 
I'm a big fan of the standard velocity (actually, it is probably loaded lighter than standard pressure) 148 grain wadcutter target ammo. With revolvers being less of the market than they used to be, such ammo is not as easy to find as it was 30-40 years ago. (I buy mine in bulk from Black Hills, as I do with most of my ammo - but that's not a good option for you right now.)

It is very low recoiling and will work just great in both of the magnums. Do not let anyone talk you into even trying a full power magnum load - while useful ammo for some serious purposes, there is limited fun to them, and they are counter-productive for a new shooter.

The safety pointers above are all good. Know Cooper's 4 rules (google is your friend). Do some research and see if you can find a range in your area that has a good reputation for staff that it is worth a darn, and maybe has a new shooter introduction program. Invest in the best hearing protection you can buy, especially if you will be at an indoor range. Your own shots could damage your hearing, and contribute to a flinch; those of others using all sorts of ammo will likely be worse.

Depending on hand size and strength, I think you will find the M19 to be the best choice to take. While I would normally advocate a .22 to start, for some shooters, the little J frame .22s have a stiffer trigger pull in order to have enough "oomph" to get the rimfire 22s to ignite reliably. This may not apply to your situation, but it can happen. The M27, which is a really nice gun, is likely to be enough heavier to be a bit difficult for a smaller person to hold/shoot for an extended period. (You may not fit the category, but keep it in mind.)

Enjoy. When you start to get tired, stop and go back another day. Also ... when you are done shooting, wash your hands real well before doing anything else.
 
All excellent advice from the previous posters. I especially support the use of .38 Special 148 gr. wadcutter ammunition in your models 19 & 27. This ammunition is very mild on recoil yet accurate and will chamber in both of these revolvers. For beginning shooters, it's a very pleasant round to shoot. Move up to more powerful ammunition as you gain experience shooting handguns. I always enjoy seeing more ladies participate in the shooting sports.
 
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