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TailGator

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Just a quick story y'all might enjoy:

My wife and I had a delightful house guest for a couple of weeks: a young lady who is a native of Belgium and now lives in Germany, who became close friends with one of my daughters when my daughter studied abroad for a semester. She visited once before, for a two-month stretch, and we got to be quite close, and my wife and I just treat her like a daughter when she is here.

She is one of those people who just cheerfully goes along with anything you have planned, and enjoys new experiences, and loves to learn, so on her previous visit we asked her to go shooting with us. Her response was perfect. "Sure, I will try it. But I want to learn to be safe." She did quite well, at least in part because she has some experience in athletics and takes coaching and teaching very well. She is also very bright. She teaches English, German, and French, and athletics, and also speaks Flemish; she considers English to be her worst language, but although she has an accent her English is quite understandable and her vocabulary exceeds many native speakers.

This time, she arrived with another trip to the range on her list of things she wanted to do. She asked me for a refresher teaching session, so of course I obliged and we went shooting on my afternoon off. After shooting, I took the pistols apart and she then meticulously cleaned her share of parts while we chatted on the back porch.

I started reloading since she was here the last time, three years ago, and she noticed the press on its stand. She asked about it, knowing well that I would indulge her curiosity, and sat beside me and listened very attentively as I showed her how each die worked and what it accomplished, and then how to run a round all the way through the turret press. I offered to let her try it, thinking she would make a couple of rounds. She was fascinated, and with me monitoring, she made about twenty rounds. She would have made more, but we ran out of cases; my stash was in a location that we couldn't get to with her air mattress inflated.

I promised her that I would box up the rounds she made and label them so that she could shoot them on her next trip. She was delighted.

She left today for her return trip to Europe. She promised to come back sooner next time, and I hope it is a promise she keeps. I wonder if any of you have shooting and reloading pals who travel so far to join you in your hobbies?
 
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Friends of mine went down that road before. Sounds like TROUBLE. If you were single, I'd say marry her.
 
Sounds like you're a great ambassador for our sport.

And speaking of sports, sounds like she is a good one.

Congratulations.
 
A cousin of mine married a woman from Hong Kong, and her family came over for the wedding.
Being rednecks, we ate too much, then Took the entire gang out to shoot trap...
Didnt take them long to get into the spirit of the game and we had a good time, dispite a launguage barrier.

Her dad wanted to shoot 'John Wayne' guns, so I broke out the Ruger Vaqureos and lever rifles, and he was ASTOUNDED that we could own/shoot those things.

About a year later I get a phone call, 'Dad' is coming to visit and he wants to go to a cowboy shoot!
We oblige at a local event, and surprisingly enough he competeted and did plenty good for a first timer!

Still afrade of AR-15s and such, or simply doesnt have any interest in military type weapons, but loves trap and cowboy shooting.
He's also the only guy around that ALWAYS offers money for ammo, wear & tear, hangs around to pick up spent casings, ect.

When I showed him my reloading bench, and all the antique firearms, I thought he was going to move in!
I took him black powder revolver shooting, now he's hooked!
Bought all his own gear, keeps it for his annual visits at my cousin's house, but never fails to let me know MONTHS in advance when they can come visit again...
He's got a cowboy hat, vest, two gun rig with Remington black powder copies, but hasn't got the hang of walking in cowboy boots yet,
Doesn't matter, when he's here he's all about shooting sports for the two or three weeks they have to visit.

He's a constant on my home built range, and I'm glad to have someone so enthusiastic about the sport.
I just wish he would stop cleaning and offering money when he's here...
I got the shop cluttered up just the way I like it! ;)
 
Well it comes down to, where ever you come from if your into the sport of shooting, your a member of the family. One afternoon after a shooting session , traveling out of the range, there was a dirt road to my left, l heard shooting, went down to see what was going on, didn't know of another range on the property. Turned out it is a setup for Cowboy Action Shooting. I got out of my car, felt like l went back in time. Two guys came up to me looking like Marshal Dillon. They showed me the C.A.S. world. Looked like fun, but me dressing up like a cowboy, it's like putting t_ts on a bull. But a good reason to buy new toys. Your shooting against time, was pretty neat way to shoot. Six gun, shotgun & lever action. Thought I died & woke up in Dodge.
 
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OP you wasn't kidding, I seriously enjoyed reading you guys stories. Definitely put a smile on my face.


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Yep, good stories. I get a lot of eager shooters - grandkids and their friends - but nobody wants to help me reload. But that's Ok.

Many years ago an English co-worker came to the US for a business visit, and he brought his wife and young son (10 yrs old or so). They were at our house one evening, and the wives were upstairs doing something or other. We boys were discussing life in the US, and hunting and guns. The 10 year old was fascinated, and he asked me if I had a real cowboy pistol. Well, all I had was my Colt Python, but that would do. So I went and got it, checked the action, and carefully handed it to him to examine. He was happily big-eyed to have a real cowboy pistol in his hands. It was a great moment till his Mom came back into the room. She started screaming at the top of her lungs that her child had a gun. She went nuts. I put the gun away and she finally calmed down, but still held a grudge that her husband would allow such a thing. Whew!
 
I love your story.

Being an ambassador through good deeds and example is my chosen way of winning over people to our side.

I have a personal no politics policy, so such stories warm my heart.

Thanks for spreading the word.
 
I really enjoyed your story,I got Both my sons involved in Reloading ,and my -3- Grand sons ,,out of all of them ,my oldest Grand Son, Noah ,who is 13,,likes loading as much as me,,and is much faster. With out sacrificing precision.
He is very methodical about loading.

I have been very blessed ,,to have been with my -2 Sons when they got their first,Squirrel,Rabbit,Deer,Turkey,Elk,Ground Hog.caught their first Bass,Rode their

But,also I have taken my 4 Nephews,and 17- local boys to get their first Deer and Turkey ,and that is another Blessing the local boys here has Parents that don't Hunt or they don't have A Dad and I got to enjoy the absolute Blessing of being right beside them ,when taking their first Game.to me their is just nothing much like the Joy of seeing a youngster's face light up,,,Sorry I got A little off Topic,,
Any Way every thing we Bagged was with Reloads,LOL
 
you never know what will excite a persons interest in technical matters, or other things like that.

Two years ago I spent almost a half year with constant blood testing, a pic line and port, and my wife insisted that she take over duty rather than letting me deal with it myself. She actually enjoyed doing that sort of stuff. While my vision was shot, she took over chemical testing for our aquarium.

This woman slept through all of her science and math courses. She wasn't even aware that "falling stars" weren't actually stars. She's not stupid, actually a brilliant woman in the things that she cares about. Her parents told her that she wasn't supposed to know "sciency stuff" and didn't care if she learned anything more technical that following a cake recipe. To this day, she can't grill a steak, but she can bake better than my grandmother could.

Never give up an anyone. They may surprise you.
 
Thanks, guys. The young lady is, indeed, a good sport. If I listed all the new experiences she had in her two trips, it would take too long and I would get a warning for posting off the subject matter of guns.

She feels comfortable enough with my wife and me to ask whatever she is curious about. She understands that the attitude towards firearms in the US is neither uniform nor like that of Europe. We had a long talk one afternoon, during which I made the point that our history of firearms being in the hands of the common man, as opposed to the European tradition of them being largely a possession of the aristocracy, informed our culture, traditions, and laws in a different way. She is very thoughtful and open minded, and received it well and understood.

Great kid, really. I frequently get a new appreciation for things by seeing them anew through her eyes.
 
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