indytechnerd
Master
Yesterday afternoon, I took my wife and son over to Point Blank in Greenwood to shoot the pistols. My wife had been asking me to show her how to shoot them, and my son is 12 and a boy, so he was game regardless. There was a bit of a line to check in, maybe 10-15mins, and the store had probably an equal amount of people browsing and making purchases. I was very impressed with how clean, well lit, and organized the store was. Prices seemed very competitive and there were plenty of empty spaces in the display cases indicating the people had been taking them up on those prices.
We got checked in for our hour, and were able to go right to the range, which if you've never been there is quite nice. An airlock entry and heavy soundproofing made for very little noise in the store area. The range was well lit and clean as well. There were a couple range officers roaming between the 2 sides of the range, but I didn't notice any shenanigans that they had to deal with. My son wanted the 'bad guy' target, and I zipped it out to the 5yd line. He wanted to go first, so my wife camped out back by the table behind the line and Clay and I moved into the bay.
I started with the LCP, mag removed, empty chamber and showed him how to grip it properly, went over handling rules, and let him do a single practice dry fire to feel how the trigger pull was. Then I loaded up 5 rounds into a mag, loaded the pistol and set it on the bench. I let him handle it from there, while I stood behind him like the umpire behind the catcher in a baseball game. As he presented the pistol toward the target, I could see the gun shaking a bit and noticed him white knuckling the grip. I told him to relax his grip a little and just use his finger to squeeze the trigger. His first shot hit the 'bad guy' just below the nose. His other shots were on or near the head.
After his 5 shots, he and my wife switched places. I went through the same procedure of handling, grip, etc., and turned her loose for 5 shots. Her hand strength is not that good, and I noticed her dipping the pistol, causing her to shoot low. She said that it was hard to grip the gun and squeeze the trigger at the same time. We worked a little bit on getting her supporting hand positioned better to help her grip and that helped some.
I brought my son back in after my wife's first string and set the pistol loaded with 5 rounds on the bench in front of him. I told him that he was on his own for this set and that the gun was ready to go. He did well, better than the first string. I did the same for my wife for a second string, then finally got my turn. I could feel myself fat fingering the trigger on my first couple shots, pulling them to the right but still on target. I had to adjust my grip a little to bring things back in line.
After my turn, it was time to switch guns, moving up to the Glock 23. I brought my son in and refreshed the grip talk that we had earlier, making sure that he saw there was more real estate to hold on to, and that the trigger was much improved from the one on the LCP. I showed him the difference between the rounds we were just shooting and the ones we were about to shoot. I set up the gun for another 5 shot string, layed it on the bench and stepped back. He looked much more comfortable with the bigger gun. No white knuckles and he seemed less tense. His first shot took the 'bad guy' right in the forehead. The next four were scattered around the head/neck area (including one into each ear, dunno if that was planned or not). His second string with the 23 also produced good hits.
On my wife's turn, she, too, seemed more comfortable and commented on how much easier it was to pull the trigger. Her first shot was dead center mass, right through the sternum. The rest were all upper chest area. I let her go ahead and run a second string and those 5 were also all in the torso, much improved from the LCP.
Clay wanted another turn, and he picked up the speed a bit, missing the 'bad guy' on a few but keeping them all on the paper. I took it for a 5-round spin myself, doing a basic present and shoot without looking for the sights. I noticed all 5 shots ended up in the upper abdomen, so I'm pointing a little low. I'm guessing I just need more practice.
After the shooting, we had some time left on our hour, so I worked with each one of them on inserting/removing the magazine, and manipulating the slide, both from slide lock and a closed slide. Both found the slide release button hard to use, but were able to slingshot the slide forward without much difficulty. Both had some difficulty working the slide from closed, but that's not surprising considering they'd never done it before.
In the end, neither one were fans of the LCP, but liked the 23 pretty well. Before we left, we stopped at the gun counter and I showed them a G19 and a G43, indicating that the 19 was the same size as what we shot, but in 9mm so a little more manageable (and cheaper) to shoot. My wife immediately took a liking to the smaller single stack, so I may have to test drive one with her in the future to see what she thinks of it on the range. The only issue of the day was when the guy in the bay to our right opened up with a .30-06 bolt action. The sound and concussion made it difficult for my wife to focus and not flinch.
On the drive home, Clay asked about loading the guns, so when I got home, I got out the snap caps and let him practice loading the magazine and loading the guns. He did that for about 20 minutes until he said his thumbs were sore and tired from loading the mags.
All in all, they both said they enjoyed the trip and would like to do it again.
We got checked in for our hour, and were able to go right to the range, which if you've never been there is quite nice. An airlock entry and heavy soundproofing made for very little noise in the store area. The range was well lit and clean as well. There were a couple range officers roaming between the 2 sides of the range, but I didn't notice any shenanigans that they had to deal with. My son wanted the 'bad guy' target, and I zipped it out to the 5yd line. He wanted to go first, so my wife camped out back by the table behind the line and Clay and I moved into the bay.
I started with the LCP, mag removed, empty chamber and showed him how to grip it properly, went over handling rules, and let him do a single practice dry fire to feel how the trigger pull was. Then I loaded up 5 rounds into a mag, loaded the pistol and set it on the bench. I let him handle it from there, while I stood behind him like the umpire behind the catcher in a baseball game. As he presented the pistol toward the target, I could see the gun shaking a bit and noticed him white knuckling the grip. I told him to relax his grip a little and just use his finger to squeeze the trigger. His first shot hit the 'bad guy' just below the nose. His other shots were on or near the head.
After his 5 shots, he and my wife switched places. I went through the same procedure of handling, grip, etc., and turned her loose for 5 shots. Her hand strength is not that good, and I noticed her dipping the pistol, causing her to shoot low. She said that it was hard to grip the gun and squeeze the trigger at the same time. We worked a little bit on getting her supporting hand positioned better to help her grip and that helped some.
I brought my son back in after my wife's first string and set the pistol loaded with 5 rounds on the bench in front of him. I told him that he was on his own for this set and that the gun was ready to go. He did well, better than the first string. I did the same for my wife for a second string, then finally got my turn. I could feel myself fat fingering the trigger on my first couple shots, pulling them to the right but still on target. I had to adjust my grip a little to bring things back in line.
After my turn, it was time to switch guns, moving up to the Glock 23. I brought my son in and refreshed the grip talk that we had earlier, making sure that he saw there was more real estate to hold on to, and that the trigger was much improved from the one on the LCP. I showed him the difference between the rounds we were just shooting and the ones we were about to shoot. I set up the gun for another 5 shot string, layed it on the bench and stepped back. He looked much more comfortable with the bigger gun. No white knuckles and he seemed less tense. His first shot took the 'bad guy' right in the forehead. The next four were scattered around the head/neck area (including one into each ear, dunno if that was planned or not). His second string with the 23 also produced good hits.
On my wife's turn, she, too, seemed more comfortable and commented on how much easier it was to pull the trigger. Her first shot was dead center mass, right through the sternum. The rest were all upper chest area. I let her go ahead and run a second string and those 5 were also all in the torso, much improved from the LCP.
Clay wanted another turn, and he picked up the speed a bit, missing the 'bad guy' on a few but keeping them all on the paper. I took it for a 5-round spin myself, doing a basic present and shoot without looking for the sights. I noticed all 5 shots ended up in the upper abdomen, so I'm pointing a little low. I'm guessing I just need more practice.
After the shooting, we had some time left on our hour, so I worked with each one of them on inserting/removing the magazine, and manipulating the slide, both from slide lock and a closed slide. Both found the slide release button hard to use, but were able to slingshot the slide forward without much difficulty. Both had some difficulty working the slide from closed, but that's not surprising considering they'd never done it before.
In the end, neither one were fans of the LCP, but liked the 23 pretty well. Before we left, we stopped at the gun counter and I showed them a G19 and a G43, indicating that the 19 was the same size as what we shot, but in 9mm so a little more manageable (and cheaper) to shoot. My wife immediately took a liking to the smaller single stack, so I may have to test drive one with her in the future to see what she thinks of it on the range. The only issue of the day was when the guy in the bay to our right opened up with a .30-06 bolt action. The sound and concussion made it difficult for my wife to focus and not flinch.
On the drive home, Clay asked about loading the guns, so when I got home, I got out the snap caps and let him practice loading the magazine and loading the guns. He did that for about 20 minutes until he said his thumbs were sore and tired from loading the mags.
All in all, they both said they enjoyed the trip and would like to do it again.
