My kid has deigned to go to the range with her parents only about three times, twice when in California visiting her cousins, but recently she announced that a few of her friends (all age 21 to 24) wanted to try shooting. One dropped out due to scheduling, so we met at her house Friday evening so the other two (one woman, one man) could do technical familiarization and dry fire practice. They then met me at noon on Sunday at the Issaquah Sportmans' Club range (conveniently located right next to the town's middle and high schools) for the real thing.

Put up three 12" round splatter targets on the 50" lanes and started them off with my spousal critter's Ruger MK IV 22/45 Lite, my roughly 1955 vintage 6" S&W K22, and my 5-1/2" Ruger Mk II with a Holosun on it. Virtually all the .22LR bullets were landing on the targets, so after the first cease-fire I replaced the Mk IV with a Ruger GP100 4" half-lug and stoked it with a hundred of my 158 gr +P handloads. (Described here: https://www.theliberalgunclub.com/phpBB ... p?p=920797).

I wasn't doing TOO much tutoring/mansplaing for technique, just the bare basics and watching for safety. However, the RSO that day really liked helping newbies (saw him corral someone else later, so it wasn't just us) and took up the slack with lots of advice. I agreed with about 90% of it so I was happy to let him play that role.

This also went well (shooting the GP100 in single-action mode) so I threw out the Dan Wesson 1911 Pointman9, and a Ruger Redhawk 7.5" in .43 Magnum. Started the Redhawk with very light wadcutters (low .44 Special if not .44 Russian ballistics) then some light magnums and finally some mid-range magnums, which only the guy wanted to try. Pretty good luck with all of these.

The 1911 was less of a success. I don't remember if the boy shot it, but both my daughter and her roommate found it hard to hit with. My kid's first shot was a 10 but after that the bullets seemed to be vanishing! I can't blame them; I also find 9 mm and above autos to be a little snappy and scary, even relative to magnum revolvers.

I took a few shots with my Bersa Thunder .380CC. Not a great long-range pistol due to the vestigal sights but it actually can work OK if you focus. My kid cranked out a few from it also and at least we could see where they were going, so I called that a success.

Finally, I gave the guy a few mid-range .357 magnums (Longshot powder) and then a few max loads with H110, a notoriously powerful and flashy propellant. They all enjoyed seeing some fireballs even though it was a bright day, and tried to video that. Not sure if they got any good frames of the flames.

After the moppets left to drive back to Seattle, I took my turn running a few of the .22s in both isosceles and Bullseye (one-handed) stance for almost an hour. Had a good group (by my low standards) with Bullseye until I didn't...

Then continued the Bullseye stance action with 10 rounds of mid-range .43 Magnums (240 grain bullets at 1200 or so FPS), and managed to keep all on an 8" target, which is as good as I could hope. The Glock guy in the lane next to me asked how I was keeping the muzzle down, meaning I guess was I pushing to anticipate recoil? My answer boiled down to "a firm grip and the magic of shooting a huge, three pound handgun." I love the way the Redhawk soaks up recoil!

Time for a little showboating: I recently reloaded a few .43s with Nosler 200 grain bullets and 28 grams of H110 to cause maximum blast effect. This worked. After three shots the RSO came over and said "What is that??? I thought you were shooting a rifle!" Full disclosure: I used both hands for these. I haven't chrono-ed them but they should be doing at least 1400 FPS.

Found a scant half-box of Norma Tac22 in one of the bags so I expended that as rapidly as I could in the Mk IV, just to clean up and to see if the pistol "liked" that ammo. Function was 100% so I guess that's a "yes."

And with that, after four hours of fun it was time to join the traffic jam westbound on I-90.

noice. Recently took my daughter out shooting for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She enjoyed shooting 38s from my 627, but complained it was a bit heavy

senorgrand wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2024 12:46 pm noice. Recently took my daughter out shooting for the first time a couple of weeks ago. She enjoyed shooting 38s from my 627, but complained it was a bit heavy

I thought of PMing you before our recent trip to Cambria to visit family. We went to SLOSA one afternoon. Maybe next time...

They have a Beretta 70 or 101 or something like that in .22LR that is great for smaller shooters and beginners.

I told her what muhammad ali said: "boxing is easy, it's holding your arms up for 12 rounds that's hard."

Nice collection of 22lr pistols to get the kids started, 22s are fun. Did they enjoy themselves enough to want to do it again ?

senorgrand wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2024 3:00 pm I told her what muhammad ali said: "boxing is easy, it's holding your arms up for 12 rounds that's hard."

highdesert wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2024 3:09 pm Nice collection of 22lr pistols to get the kids started, 22s are fun.

Thanks. Yes, they are fun! I have a couple more MkIIs that didn't get pulled out, and a High Sierra revolver (nominally DA, but it looks like an SA and the DA pull is so hard you would think it was SA unless you are REALLY desperate to get it to fire). These seemed like the most accessible for the newbies.

[quote[Did they enjoy themselves enough to want to do it again ?
[/quote]
I think so. They thanked me cheerfully as they left, and when I said "next time we'll do rifles" they didn't grimace or make excuses.*

The acid test would be whether anyone liked it enough to want to shop for their own gizmos. Hopefully I'll get a debrief tonight with my spawn to find out if they discussed that or anything else about shooting on the way home, or if the conversation was entirely about other subjects of no interest to us here.

*I don't own any real rifles, only a couple of 10/22s, a HiPoint 9 mm carbine and a Rossi 92 lever gun in .38/.357 but at least that gives something with the right form factor. With hot enough ammo, the Rossi has a little kick, but nothing like a real hunting rifle cartridge.

Looks like you did well there and definitely doing the FSM's work. We need all the folks we can get to enjoy marksmanship.

BTW, I've got a Rossi 92 in .357M as well, and with full-house .357M loads, it feels about like a .243 Winchester bolt gun. It's not terrible, as you say. Run .38 Special out of it, and I refer to this as the "reloadable .22", especially if you use a softer .38 Spl loading as I do.

CowboyT wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2024 3:15 pm BTW, I've got a Rossi 92 in .357M as well, and with full-house .357M loads, it feels about like a .243 Winchester bolt gun. It's not terrible, as you say. Run .38 Special out of it, and I refer to this as the "reloadable .22", especially if you use a softer .38 Spl loading as I do.

My R92 has the 24" octagonal barrel, for good or ill. I got it used wth a Skinner rear aperture on it, so it was what it was. I'd def prefer the shorter round barrel if I was going to take it in the field, but I never actually go hunting. I don't think I'll buy another soon, as much as the prices have gone up lately. If I did want to go hunting, I could get a perfectly adequate bolt gun in 7-08 for less $ and it would be way more practical.

My point is that mine with iron sights weighs as much as a bolt gun with a scope, I think. The last time I shot a .243 bolt gun was almost edit: 40 years ago, but I think the difference is perceptible. My hottest load was .357 brass with 17.5 grains of Lil'Gun and a 125 grain bullet which I clocked at 1900 FPS. Plugging those numbers or a likely .243 load pulled from Barnes data (85 grains at 3000 fps, 45 grains of powder) into a recoil calculator for 7.5 pound rifles gives the .357 about 2/3 of the recoil of the .243, which seems about right. Neither is scary, but the Rossi is even less so. With a lighter round barrel on the Rossi, I'll bet the difference is much smaller.

It does jump a little with that ammo, though. Just enough to be interesting! Only real problem is that I need a taller front sight. That load shoots about 9" high at 50 yards! Since I prioritize handgunning, I've been procrastinating for years about fixing that...

Buck13 wrote: Tue Aug 27, 2024 11:24 am

highdesert wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2024 3:09 pm Nice collection of 22lr pistols to get the kids started, 22s are fun.

Thanks. Yes, they are fun! I have a couple more MkIIs that didn't get pulled out, and a High Sierra revolver (nominally DA, but it looks like an SA and the DA pull is so hard you would think it was SA unless you are REALLY desperate to get it to fire). These seemed like the most accessible for the newbies.

[quote[Did they enjoy themselves enough to want to do it again ?

I think so. They thanked me cheerfully as they left, and when I said "next time we'll do rifles" they didn't grimace or make excuses.*

The acid test would be whether anyone liked it enough to want to shop for their own gizmos. Hopefully I'll get a debrief tonight with my spawn to find out if they discussed that or anything else about shooting on the way home, or if the conversation was entirely about other subjects of no interest to us here.

*I don't own any real rifles, only a couple of 10/22s, a HiPoint 9 mm carbine and a Rossi 92 lever gun in .38/.357 but at least that gives something with the right form factor. With hot enough ammo, the Rossi has a little kick, but nothing like a real hunting rifle cartridge.
[/quote]

After your daughter's friends have digested their experience, she can give you more feedback. Their age 21-24 are often college years or trying to get ahead at work and acquiring new devices could be limited to the electronic ones. Hope they return, a day at the range with a box of 22lr ammo is hours of fun.