Hi,
I just joined the forum yesterday, and thought that I would tell you a little about myself. Back in the Summer of 1991, I purchased a 'used' S&W Model 19-3 hand gun, with a six-inch barrel. The clerk at the gun shop said that it was "a law enforcement trade-in", pointing out the "holster wear" on the gun's bluing.
With no prior experience in handling or firing a hand gun, I took the gun home and out it away in the gun cabinet. I was hoping that someone I knew from work might offer to take me out afield and show me the basics of safe operation. That never happened.
About 13-14 years later, I signed up for an NRA handgun training course. That course was canceled a week or so later, due to the instructor having personal scheduling issues. He told me at that time that he would be in touch at a later date. I never heard from him again.
Last week ( twenty years after I bought the gun), I stopped in at the local handgun/rifle shooting range, and signed up for their three-hour "Firearm Safety and Familiarization Course". I took the course last Wednesday evening, and after two hours of classroom instruction, took the .357 out to the range. I ran seventy-eight .38 Special reloads through the gun in about 45 minutes. What a 'blast'! I had to stop the firing when I was called back to the classroom to take the "California Department of Justice Handgun Safety Certificate" course.
My previous experience with guns started in 1958, when at the age of nine , I started going pheasant hunting with my dad, while I was growing up in Nebraska. The first season was spent with my walking along side of him while he hunted, and 'fetching' the downed birds for him.
The following year, I got to use my first shotgun, a Mossberg .410 bolt-action with a 3-shell magazine. That was the 'family shotgun' that my older brother 'Dave' had learned with. Dave moved up to a Ithaca Model 37 "Featherweight" pump shotgun in the 20-gauge size.
For Christmas of 1959, (my dad's last Christmas on Earth), he gave me my own shotgun, a Steven, single-shot 20-gauge shot gun. At ten years of age, I couldn't even pull the hammer back with my thumb. I had to use the heel of my left hand to cock the gun. I still have that gun today.
After dad died, I continued to hunt whenever a friend and his dad invited me along. As I became a young adult, I started going with another buddy, as my one friend and his dad no longer went hunting.
I left Nebraska for California in 1972, and put the guns away. In 1980, I took a course in shooting Skeet and Trap. That got me into 'league-shooting' and also reloading. My Union Apprenticeship (UA Steamfitter) started in the Fall of 1981, and I had four years of school to attend, two nights a week. With the required home work, That left very few 'free' nights for shooting, so once again, I put the guns away.
In 1995, I was in a CB radio group, and they had weekend 'trap shoots' once a month. I dusted off the old 12 gauge and joined in. That went on for about a year, and then fizzled out.
Now that I've been to the range with the .357, I hope to start skeet and/or trap-shooting again. Whatever happens, I will continue range-shooting the S&W Model 19. It's great to smell the 'powder' again!
Thank You for your time... Burn Em Up
I just joined the forum yesterday, and thought that I would tell you a little about myself. Back in the Summer of 1991, I purchased a 'used' S&W Model 19-3 hand gun, with a six-inch barrel. The clerk at the gun shop said that it was "a law enforcement trade-in", pointing out the "holster wear" on the gun's bluing.
With no prior experience in handling or firing a hand gun, I took the gun home and out it away in the gun cabinet. I was hoping that someone I knew from work might offer to take me out afield and show me the basics of safe operation. That never happened.
About 13-14 years later, I signed up for an NRA handgun training course. That course was canceled a week or so later, due to the instructor having personal scheduling issues. He told me at that time that he would be in touch at a later date. I never heard from him again.
Last week ( twenty years after I bought the gun), I stopped in at the local handgun/rifle shooting range, and signed up for their three-hour "Firearm Safety and Familiarization Course". I took the course last Wednesday evening, and after two hours of classroom instruction, took the .357 out to the range. I ran seventy-eight .38 Special reloads through the gun in about 45 minutes. What a 'blast'! I had to stop the firing when I was called back to the classroom to take the "California Department of Justice Handgun Safety Certificate" course.
My previous experience with guns started in 1958, when at the age of nine , I started going pheasant hunting with my dad, while I was growing up in Nebraska. The first season was spent with my walking along side of him while he hunted, and 'fetching' the downed birds for him.
The following year, I got to use my first shotgun, a Mossberg .410 bolt-action with a 3-shell magazine. That was the 'family shotgun' that my older brother 'Dave' had learned with. Dave moved up to a Ithaca Model 37 "Featherweight" pump shotgun in the 20-gauge size.
For Christmas of 1959, (my dad's last Christmas on Earth), he gave me my own shotgun, a Steven, single-shot 20-gauge shot gun. At ten years of age, I couldn't even pull the hammer back with my thumb. I had to use the heel of my left hand to cock the gun. I still have that gun today.
After dad died, I continued to hunt whenever a friend and his dad invited me along. As I became a young adult, I started going with another buddy, as my one friend and his dad no longer went hunting.
I left Nebraska for California in 1972, and put the guns away. In 1980, I took a course in shooting Skeet and Trap. That got me into 'league-shooting' and also reloading. My Union Apprenticeship (UA Steamfitter) started in the Fall of 1981, and I had four years of school to attend, two nights a week. With the required home work, That left very few 'free' nights for shooting, so once again, I put the guns away.
In 1995, I was in a CB radio group, and they had weekend 'trap shoots' once a month. I dusted off the old 12 gauge and joined in. That went on for about a year, and then fizzled out.
Now that I've been to the range with the .357, I hope to start skeet and/or trap-shooting again. Whatever happens, I will continue range-shooting the S&W Model 19. It's great to smell the 'powder' again!
Thank You for your time... Burn Em Up
