Good day at the range today

[Double-O-Dave]

My son, (fairly new) son-in-law (SIL), and I visited the shooting range today and had a good day. Its been a number of years since my son and I have shot handguns (we used to shoot steel challenge matches). My SIL has never fired a handgun in his life, so I opted to start him out on .22LR handguns at a local gun range that has a .22LR steel target range (targets at 7, 15, and 30 yards). My son and I had the range rust off within a magazine, and the SIL did well once he began to gain confidence.

The handguns we shot were (top left going clockwise): CZ Kadet .22LR (CZ-75B 9mm lower), S&W Model 638-1 .38 Special (more on this in a moment), S&W Model 34-1 .22LR, Ruger Mk-II Target .22LR. Once we had shot through the 525 round box of .22LR ammo, we packed up and were getting to leave the range. About that time, the sky opened up and it started raining. So I stopped briefly at the pistol range and allowed my son and SIL to shoot a couple of cylinder full of .38 Special reloads (.38 Special LSWC over 3.2 gr. Bullseye). I think both kids were surprised and pleased that they could make good hits at 7 yards (I'm sure the CT Lasergrips helped). I just got through cleaning and reassembling the handguns and thought I'd take a quick photo and brief write up. I hope y'all had a good Memorial Day.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Rudi]

Sounds like a great day!

 

[sparkyvega]

ANY day at the range is a good one!

 

[Nevada Ed]

Glad that you got to get out with the youngsters.

Nice to hear that they got to move up to a 38 snub nose and a 4" to see what a medium weapon feels like.

Way to break the ice...........
well done.

 

[Bob L]

What a wonderful day to spend with your son and SIL.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Thanks for sharing this story, Dave. You brought a smile to my face and conjured up some favorite memories...

I started my sons shooting when they were preschoolers. I still have their Marlin Model 15YN in the back of my safe.

When they were little, we would throw the .22s in the car, pack up a picnic lunch, and head up to our rifle club on nice summer days. On the rifle side of the range, we would shoot at 50 yards; on the handgun side, we would shoot the steel silhouette targets. The boys especially loved hitting the 50 meter targets; we used to tell my wife we spent the afternoon "poppin' piggies"...

When my younger son was 23, he began his federal law enforcement career. When they started pistol training, he was outshooting everyone else in his class. The instructor asked him if he had any shooting experience; my son said that he did. The instructor asked how many years he'd been shooting; my son told him it was about 19 years. (He ended up as the top marksman in his class.)

Sounds like you had a great day with your son and son-in-law...thanks again for sharing that experience with us...