Well, after much reflection and preparation, I decided that today would be my boy's first trip to the range. FWIW, he's 7, about to start 2nd grade and responded like a champ!
We started off the day by visiting the Atlanta Conservation Club's Open House. Looks like a great place to shoot and the people were as nice as could be. We spent the most time with the SASS people, and that was interesting. He thought it was very cool to see the Old West outfits on those shooters. I think he was also amazed to see a kid just a few years older than him in full western regalia, sporting some shootin irons! "Is he gonna shoot?" the cowboy kid asked me. I told him we were just watching today, as I wanted his first shot to be out of the Crickett I picked up at Gander Mountain recently. ($99!!!) Cowboy kid probably thought, "Great, another suburban AR puke in the making!"
We also spent some time at the NSSF area and talked to some great people about the FIRSTSHOTS program. After that presentation, he tugged on my shirt and said, "When do we get to go to the other place?" (meaning ECC) I took that as our cue to leave, since think IDPA would have been lost on him...
We started off on the 25-yard range at Elwood, but that was way too much for him. He made contact with some old juice bottles we brought, but wanted to keep checking targets since he was really excited, plus we couldn't see that far with the overcast sky. I was so focused on him loading, extracting and shooting, I could never spot well enough for him to give him high/low/left/right feedback. That being the case, we moved to the 7-yard pistol range and he enjoyed that much more, since it was easy to spot where you were on the paper and when we did check our empty V8 bottle, it didn't take two minutes to walk up and back to do it. Oh...special thanks to the anonymous guy who had been on the 25-yard range and basically took a long break to let us have the run of the place -- we appreciate it!
I have his first shell case (and 2nd!) and we'll likely keep it in a special place. He also made it a point to collect as much of his brass as he could, without me even bringing it up. Maybe he's got a future as an RO or reloader based on this?
(and yes, I know you don't reload 22LR...)
We spent two hours there before we decided to quit and head home. As we were loading the trunk he said, "So, are you giving me this gun or just letting me use it?" Since he has three siblings, I told him it was a "family" rifle for the time being to not start a **** storm with the others.
Overall, it was a great experience and he's already asked, "When do we get to go shooting again?" Looks like I will need to get a few more bricks of 22 this week, which is OK with me!
Here are some photos of Juan Miguel in action:
We started off the day by visiting the Atlanta Conservation Club's Open House. Looks like a great place to shoot and the people were as nice as could be. We spent the most time with the SASS people, and that was interesting. He thought it was very cool to see the Old West outfits on those shooters. I think he was also amazed to see a kid just a few years older than him in full western regalia, sporting some shootin irons! "Is he gonna shoot?" the cowboy kid asked me. I told him we were just watching today, as I wanted his first shot to be out of the Crickett I picked up at Gander Mountain recently. ($99!!!) Cowboy kid probably thought, "Great, another suburban AR puke in the making!"
We also spent some time at the NSSF area and talked to some great people about the FIRSTSHOTS program. After that presentation, he tugged on my shirt and said, "When do we get to go to the other place?" (meaning ECC) I took that as our cue to leave, since think IDPA would have been lost on him...
We started off on the 25-yard range at Elwood, but that was way too much for him. He made contact with some old juice bottles we brought, but wanted to keep checking targets since he was really excited, plus we couldn't see that far with the overcast sky. I was so focused on him loading, extracting and shooting, I could never spot well enough for him to give him high/low/left/right feedback. That being the case, we moved to the 7-yard pistol range and he enjoyed that much more, since it was easy to spot where you were on the paper and when we did check our empty V8 bottle, it didn't take two minutes to walk up and back to do it. Oh...special thanks to the anonymous guy who had been on the 25-yard range and basically took a long break to let us have the run of the place -- we appreciate it!
I have his first shell case (and 2nd!) and we'll likely keep it in a special place. He also made it a point to collect as much of his brass as he could, without me even bringing it up. Maybe he's got a future as an RO or reloader based on this?
(and yes, I know you don't reload 22LR...)We spent two hours there before we decided to quit and head home. As we were loading the trunk he said, "So, are you giving me this gun or just letting me use it?" Since he has three siblings, I told him it was a "family" rifle for the time being to not start a **** storm with the others.
Overall, it was a great experience and he's already asked, "When do we get to go shooting again?" Looks like I will need to get a few more bricks of 22 this week, which is OK with me!
Here are some photos of Juan Miguel in action:
