Today, I was privileged to help my grandson prepare for Basic Training and subsequent Army Ranger training next month, by giving him a shooting instruction brush-up. I taught him to shoot handguns and rifles offhand and clay targets.
We started with .22 rifles at metal silhouettes at about 40 yards. First, he shot my Winchester 69A with receiver rear and marbles front, he hit several silhouettes and did quite well, considering he's never shot offhand. Next, he shot my HB Ruger 10-22 with a 25-round magazine and 4X scope and he impressed me with that also.
Next, he shot my .223 Rem Tikka 595 with scope set at 4X, blowing up a gallon milk jug full of water. The effect was outstanding! Then, he made holes in several of my .22 LR Silhouettes and a 100 yard pig target. I'll treasure those holes!!
Then, I showed him how to shoot my 6" S&W K-22, double-action, and he did very well with it, nailing several silhouettes at about 30 yards. I didn't let him shoot it single-action. Then, to a Red-Dot sighted Ruger MKII and he was even better. We moved on to my S&W Mod. 19, .357, using wadcutter rounds, double-action. Then, to .38 Special factory loads.
He was doing so well, I set up a B-24 combat target at 25 yards and had him shoot as well as possible with my .45 Colt Gold Cup at the ten ring and he made a nice 3" group in the ten with a couple in the X, using standard ball ammo. He then shot a 2" group in the upper torso and shot more rapidly at the chest area, the groups opening a bit, but still very good.
Next, I taught him how to shoot my 12 gauge, Rem 1100, 21", straight-stocked Special Field. I had just grabbed it and stuffed it into the case without noticing that the Turkey-Extra Full Choke was in it. I commented that it was going to be difficult to hit hand-trap clays with that, but we went ahead. I threw rising birds and told him to just cover them. He hit them ALL! Then I threw about 5 passing shots, but he only got one of those. We finished up shooting some angled rising birds. The tally was about 18 out of 25. For the first time shooting moving targets, I think that was FANTASTIC, especially with a turkey choke!
I wish we'd been able to shoot together more over the years. He could have been a fantastic shooter. However, now he'll be going into training with confidence in his shooting ability and I'm very proud to have taught him some good basics. He's lived out-of-state for all his life and hadn't shot much. When he was around 10, I taught him how to shoot by resting my .22LR rifles, over sandbags, at silhouette targets on the 50 yard range and he was good at that, but we haven't shot there much since. I'm sure he'll be fine in the military, as he's very fit and has taken some pre-training with Ex-Rangers in MA.
We started with .22 rifles at metal silhouettes at about 40 yards. First, he shot my Winchester 69A with receiver rear and marbles front, he hit several silhouettes and did quite well, considering he's never shot offhand. Next, he shot my HB Ruger 10-22 with a 25-round magazine and 4X scope and he impressed me with that also.
Next, he shot my .223 Rem Tikka 595 with scope set at 4X, blowing up a gallon milk jug full of water. The effect was outstanding! Then, he made holes in several of my .22 LR Silhouettes and a 100 yard pig target. I'll treasure those holes!!
Then, I showed him how to shoot my 6" S&W K-22, double-action, and he did very well with it, nailing several silhouettes at about 30 yards. I didn't let him shoot it single-action. Then, to a Red-Dot sighted Ruger MKII and he was even better. We moved on to my S&W Mod. 19, .357, using wadcutter rounds, double-action. Then, to .38 Special factory loads.
He was doing so well, I set up a B-24 combat target at 25 yards and had him shoot as well as possible with my .45 Colt Gold Cup at the ten ring and he made a nice 3" group in the ten with a couple in the X, using standard ball ammo. He then shot a 2" group in the upper torso and shot more rapidly at the chest area, the groups opening a bit, but still very good.
Next, I taught him how to shoot my 12 gauge, Rem 1100, 21", straight-stocked Special Field. I had just grabbed it and stuffed it into the case without noticing that the Turkey-Extra Full Choke was in it. I commented that it was going to be difficult to hit hand-trap clays with that, but we went ahead. I threw rising birds and told him to just cover them. He hit them ALL! Then I threw about 5 passing shots, but he only got one of those. We finished up shooting some angled rising birds. The tally was about 18 out of 25. For the first time shooting moving targets, I think that was FANTASTIC, especially with a turkey choke!
I wish we'd been able to shoot together more over the years. He could have been a fantastic shooter. However, now he'll be going into training with confidence in his shooting ability and I'm very proud to have taught him some good basics. He's lived out-of-state for all his life and hadn't shot much. When he was around 10, I taught him how to shoot by resting my .22LR rifles, over sandbags, at silhouette targets on the 50 yard range and he was good at that, but we haven't shot there much since. I'm sure he'll be fine in the military, as he's very fit and has taken some pre-training with Ex-Rangers in MA.
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