Multi Gun Match AAR - Budget 3 Gun

Well, it went off without a hitch. Mostly. I did have one failure to feed on a brand new 42 round P-Mag on the very first stage. After that we had no equipment malfunctions. I shot well and so did The Principal. He also had a blast and is even now planning his own 3 Gun On A Budget strategy. I think it's safe to say he's hooked. Of course this was only a 2 Gun but the term applies in this case.

Stage 1 was the Shoot House. Here I am shooting the outside targets and steel. I'd show some of me shooting inside but I was...well, inside where the DO (Official Multi Gun Photographer) couldn't get a shot.

The it was off to Stage 2 where we shot these

From this. Distance was about 125 yards.

Then it was jump down (or climb arthriticly down in my case) and run across the road

To where we again shot a slew of steel with a handgun. Not much sport, they just sit there acting all screw you guys and nonchalant and stuff. Good eating though. Tastes like chicken.

Stage 3 was the long range stage. The red steel is at 50, 75 and 100 yards. Way off in the upper center of the picture you can see three white and red swingers at 225, 260 and 280 yards.

But first some handgun 'cause you can't have a Multi Gun match without the Multi. The day started off cold but by this point both it and I were warming up and I'd started peeling off layers.

The intermediate shooting position where we engaged the 50, 75 and 100 yard steel. I decided to show off by shooting them all standing offhand unsupported where everyone else used the sandbags as a rest. Hit all 4 first time too. You can also see one of the aspects that make this kind of shooting so much fun. Prior to engaging the steel we had to shoot those 3 paper targets in the foreground at about 15 yards. Makes scope magnification selection both a challenge and something to plan for.

From there it was the 3 long shots. I paid for my arrogance on the earlier shots here. I'm still getting used to the new Vortex optic and it took me a few shots to figure out my corrections. I had to walk the short shot onto the target. Once I rang that bell the other 2 longer shots went down quickly though. I do love my new glass! It was worth every penny I paid for it.

Stage 4. If you read through my Hard As Hell write up you may recognize that contraption as the Slide For Life. We shot steel at about 100 yards. Then...

Down the slide we went. Note please the excellent muzzle discipline if not the execrable form.

We shot a few more targets with the rifle

Then grounded it and ran the rest with the pistol

And that was it for the day. We got on the range at 0800 and left just after 2. A long day but a pleasurable one. And one that saw a brand new participant and enthusiast, my brother in law, The Principal. I'm really psyched to have a new shooting partner. What worked? Really everything. The glass needs a little fine tuning and I can see a real need to free float the rifle barrel but overall I am both pleased and content. Everything worked as expected if not better.

The match was pretty simple and straight forward. A See it, Shoot it Kinda thing. My favorite. Afterwards we repaired to the Red Robin for a fine repast compleat with tales of derring do, obfuscations, fanciful excuses, enhancements and general ribald story telling. The serfs were not amused.

The best part of the day was that my daughter, grandchildren and MIL got to see us both compete. That was awesome. We'll be discussing it for days. To those who have a morbid streak of curiosity, no I did not win (really, who was expecting anything else? Hands? No one? Good, I see you've all been paying proper attention to the subject of these missives. Namely my own bumbling self). Nor did The Principal but we both finished respectably and had a ton of fun. At this point in my life those two things are exactly what I expect from my hobbies.

I'm scheduled for another match later this month, weather, health and disposable income allowing.


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Two Brand New Shooters

We have a great reason to celebrate today. Two brand new shooters have joined the ranks of free Americans around the country. Our grandchildren, Miss Princess (The Girl) and Captain Awesome (The Boy).

Last year we introduced the kids to shooting with a BB Gun. That's fine and all and is, in my opinion, an important step in exposing the young to shooting and beginning the ingraining of good habits, but there comes a time when the next step is indicated. Today was that day.

This morning I held a class in gun safety. The students were my grandchildren. The Girl age 9 and The Boy age 7. We went over the 4 rules and I required them to repeat them back to me without error. Then we went on to shooting basics, grip, stance, sight alignment, sight picture and trigger control. Basic stuff because I don't want to overwhelm them this early on. Then we loaded up and headed for the range. But wait, there was one small problem. One of my safes refused to open and in it were the firearms I had intended as appropriate, the Ruger 10-22s, a 77-22 and a MKI and MKII. On to the back up plan. A S&W M&P and Lu's Ruger SR22. Ok, we can do this.

Got to the range and it was a beautiful day. We had ammo to spare and two kids just about to explode from the anticipation. First up was the S&W. As feared it was just too big and heavy. We shot off a couple of rounds but as soon as I realized it just wasn't going to work we switched to the SR22. It actually proved to be a nearly perfect selection. Big enough to feel real but small enough that kid hands could grasp it effectively.

First up The Boy. Please note his trigger finger placement. I worked with their new shooter lean all day. We never got there but we got progressively closer. That's good enough for now.

And The Girl. Again, good finger placement.

Working on the grip. Kids seem to tend to reach out and try to grab it with both hands. Strict attention from the coach/instructor is required here.

Pretty good form with the exception of the aforementioned new shooter lean.

The Girl is taller with bigger hands. She's also a lefty. Well, she's really pretty ambidextrous but she's also right eye dominant. That can be a real issue with new shooters, especially those who cannot wink with each eye. I decided to go ahead and concentrate on her right hand with the idea that as she progresses we can switch her as we go. It'll also inculcate weak and strong hand shooting techniques from the get go.

Here's The Boy in full recoil. I know it's just a 22 but he's also just 7. His good body position (mostly) allows him to soak up what recoil there is without fear of the muzzle flying back and hitting him. Coaches, good position by the shooter will also lend both support and confidence. Plus you'll be in a position to immediately intervene or correct/teach. You can also coach them through their fundamentals as they shoot.

The Girl in the start of the recoil cycle. Note the barrel/slide position. A couple of great shots by our official photographer, AKA grandma Lu. Neither kid had an issue with recoil all day. Can you also see the smile on that little face? It's there alright. Oh yes.

Working with The Boy on grip and body position. You can also see our targets, placed at about 5 yards. Bullseye and some steel. If you want some great ideas on cheap targets go peruse Dann's site. We'll be trying some of them out next range trip.

Not a bad grip, especially for a brand new shooter. Not perfect but plenty good for starters. Did I mention that boy is 7?

And The Girl. Yes we need work but I am completely satisfied with where we got. I've seen much worse on police ranges I was running and this from a 9 year old.

The Girl and the targets. Both kids rang the steel and were thrilled to do so. Those are pretty small ringers at 5 yards in front of two kids who had never shot a real firearm before. Yep, I was mighty impressed and most pleased. So were they. Positive reinforcement and success will do wonders at this point. Keep the expectations and challenges reasonable.

It was a very good day. We even had a proper Cease Fire called by the kids when Lu was on the line. The Boy's ears had broken and they understood and remembered my range safety briefing and both called the cease fire. I was very happy. One note and it's just my opinion. I do not conduct kid ranges with the same intensity as adult. There was no yelling, no barked corrections, little pressure. Just good safety practices, low stress work on the fundamentals and maximum fun. Introducing new shooters is a tricky business and best done as gently as possible within the strictures of a safe range.

We have a lot of work to do but I am immensely satisfied at the progress we made not to mention thrilled that I got to introduce my grandchildren to the sport of shooting. This is a big step toward them becoming responsible adults and shooters as well as Free Americans. From their response the joy of shooting has been well and truly implanted. For those who have never done it I cannot adequately express how proud I am of them and how ecstatic I am that I got to be their first instructor. It is a feeling that has to be experienced to be truly appreciated.

We are already planning the next visit to the range. If I can get the safe opened we'll do a little more rifle work. If I can't we'll concentrate on pistol. Anyone know how to break into a Winchester safe with a digital combination lock?

We have two new American Shooters in our midst. I hope you will all welcome them to the family. It is a very good day my friends.
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Yes, We Are In Fact Awesome Grandparents

I have been remiss. I promised pics of the kids and haven't come through. It's been hectic but joyful. 

One of my favorite things is to give the kids a chance to try new and heretofore forbidden challenges. Luckily DO has raised the kids with the attitude that you can't protect them from everything and lets us all go do fun if maybe a little hazardous stuff. Nothing life threatening. More like skinned knees and elbows hazardous. I also am of the opinion that it's best to introduce them to new activities as gently as possible lest they scare themselves silly and never try anything new again.

One of the things I promised the kids was a mini bike. We have now satisfied that promise. Well, kinda.

Behold the Razor Electric Scooter.

It's not exactly a mini bike but as far as the kids are concerned it's close enough. Yeah, it's kinda girly in color but The Boy says that's just fine as long as he gets to ride it. It's actually big enough for Lu. Not that she's short or anything (she is). I can't decide who likes it more, her or the kids. I think it's a tie.

Plus he has another excuse to wear that awesome helmet.

We have a huge driveway area, big enough for the kids to have established a racetrack. Will there be contests? There has been talk. Scooter versus bicycle and winner take all.

How cute is this?

We're going to let them get their feet wet on the razor before moving eventually up to a real motorcycle. A year or two and they'll have the skills and confidence to tackle something with some real horsepower. Hey, it's just more incentive to spend Summers at Grandma and Papa's house. Yes, we are devious!

We've been having a ball in spite of the heat. Parties, swimming every day, hikes, trail rides and now the awesome scooter. It's been a blast.
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Oh, and we paid cold, hard cash for that scooter. $249.99 plus tax gouging at Wally World. A far better use of our money than anything the government could come up with, yes?

Grandkids Visit - Sketchy Posting

DO and the grandkids will be here later this evening. They're here for a nice three week visit. Lu and I have a host of stuff planned and I expect we'll be keeping pretty busy.

That said I'll probably be pretty limited in my posting time. I will get some done, I have more than a few humorous stories in the Queue and some more recent projects.

We've been waiting anxiously for their visit for months now. Angus is doing the happy dance. Either that or he really needs to pee.

Thank you all for stopping by to read and comment on my scribblings here. I appreciate all of you.

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A Hike With Angus

As promised a few photos of the boy and I at Cinder Knoll. With limited input from yours truly because when you have a Lab words are simply unnecessary. All of them are enlargeable.

We did a little whistle work. Face me and SIT.

COME

Isn't he a good boy?

Tongue hanging, I've done my job. That's one tired pup!

Back to the truck. "I'm not tired daddy. I swear!"

Drool fuel.

The end of a very good day.

And homeward bound again. The boy does love rides in his truck.

Angus has been such a blessing. I hope you enjoyed the pictures because there are many more adventures to come.

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New Gun And Range Report (Plus A New Shooter!)

I've written before about gun enthusiasts versus casual shooters, especially as it relates to Lu. She loves to shoot and is very good at it but she's a product of her upbringing and limited training. She is comfortable with single shots, revolvers, pumps, bolts and levers but semi-autos, either handgun or rifles, make her uneasy. She is never quite certain, deep down inside, whether or not she needs to do some sort of manipulation to make it go bang and she has to stop and really think whenever reloading comes into play. In a casual setting, one where she's just plinking and not training, she's fine but throw in pressured training and she has issues. It's a problem for us because I have based my home defense plan around high capacity semi-auto pistols and AR15 pattern rifles. Yeah, it's a problem. Again, that's totally my fault. I should have gotten her up to speed on semis a long time ago but I didn't and that is a massive failure on my part. One I am going to address.

I decided to start with getting Lu comfortable with the AR rifles first because if we can get her skillful with that weapon then a pistol should be much more simple. To me the best way to get her going strong was to ramp down the training aspect and give her a training tool she'd be comfortable with and was fun to shoot. Nothing makes training easier than having fun. Enter my answer. Mind you it's my answer. Yours may differ.

A S&W M&P 15-22. I considered just getting a .22 conversion for one of my ARs but one of Lu's complaints was the weight of the rifles. At 5 1/4 pounds the Smith is very light weight and I'll later go to work on one of the ARs to lighten it up considerably. Composite everything except the barrel, bolt and bolt guide rails the thing is really easy to carry and hold off hand.

The controls mimic the AR platforms exactly.

It's a blowback design with a light weight bolt so cleaning is much easier.

The guts seem pretty much AR standard, including the robust hammer. We had no failures to feed or fire and got good primer strikes. The trigger is fairly heavy but crisp with no appreciable creep or slack.

Enough about the technical aspects. How did it shoot? Very well. We didn't do any accuracy testing (the first range session was purely a fun shoot) but anecdotally I was very happy with it. It shoots very softly, as you'd expect with a .22 long rifle, and put every round in a 10 inch pie plate at 10 yards. That may not seem exceptional but one of the shooters was a brand new shooter. I'll get into that in a bit.

To address the training and gun handling issues I mentioned earlier my plan was to introduce Lu to the gun as gently as possible with no pressure or expectations. I even did all the magazine loading.We headed to the range with one of Lu's co-workers and his non-shooter wife. There was a bit of subterfuge going on here. He wants an AR for himself but she's resisting, not quite understanding the attraction. This was the perfect opportunity to slay two dragons with one bolt.

We started the day on the line with two Ruger pistols, Lu's MKI and my bull barrel MKII. Again, yours truly did all the magazine loading and gun manipulation (short of the actual shooting). The setting was low key with the emphasis on fun and trying some new stuff. Lu is well acquainted with her little Ruger so had her usual load of fun. The new shooter (TNS for short) was pleasantly surprised. She had a ball. The first thing I did was have a safety brief. The very next was to assure her that I was not not not one of those idiots who think it's funny to hand her a hand cannon and laugh at the results. I told her I wouldn't give her anything to shoot that would hurt or cause her discomfort. No YouTube follies here.

With that success in my pocket out came the rifles. We started with a pair of 10-22s because hey, they're 10-22s and who doesn't love those little guns? Both women had an absolute ball. All that was required was range safety and a good time. Smiles were in abundance. One of those rifles is Lu's so no manipulation issues were encountered and with the relaxed atmosphere she quickly got into a good groove. A good sign.

After about half a brick of fun it was time to bring out the New Gun. Lu was first up and I have to say that after the first magazine she had a grin plastered on her face that never left. I acquainted Lu with the controls but didn't ask her to manipulate any except the safety. Easy, gentle and fun. More will come later, and there will be a later. This gun did exactly what I hoped it would. Relaxed Lu and let her handle an AR pattern rifle with minimum pressure and maximum fun. She can't wait to shoot it again. In future range sessions I will be slowly adding in gun manipulation skills and tasks but only as she and I deem her ready.

Same with TNS though she was pretty much divided on which rifle she liked best. I also didn't fuss over her or give her too much input in this first of hopefully many more range sessions. She shot everything and is a natural shot. She had an absolute ball and never once missed, hence the short range and large target. If a new shooter has that much fun and initial success you're halfway toward making a true Gunny.

All in all it was a great day and an excellent purchase. I highly recommend the S&W rifle. It's light, easy to shoot, relatively inexpensive (I paid $569), 10 different kinds of fun and cheap to shoot. For smiles per dollar spent it's an absolute steal. Lu now has a rifle that she loves as opposed to one that she's intimidated by and that should make acquiring the skills I need her to have much easier. As she progresses I'll modify the AR I have set aside for her to make it smaller and lighter to more nearly mirror the little Smith. This has reinforced in me the idea that it's a bad assumption to make that all other shooters can simply pick up a gun, any gun, and shoot it competently just because you can. That lesson is now permanently impressed in what passes for my brain.

As for The New Shooter? That was pure icing. I talked with her husband just today and a 10-22 purchase is already being planned. I think we may have a brand new shooter joining our ranks and that makes me very happy. I'm not Keads or Dann yet but I am doing what I can.

A very good day indeed.

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