Range visit with some first time shooters

[DenverGP]

Took some new shooters to the range tonight. My wife's friend and friend's hubby. Wife's friend had just gotten a Ruger LC9 as a gift from her son. We went over to their place over the weekend to do a safety intro and learn the basics about how to operate the gun. It's one of my rules, I won't bring any new shooters without them having to sit thru a safety lesson.

They both got to shoot their little LC9 a bit. The hubby is a big guy, the LC9 is hard for him to get a good grip. During the safety lesson, he held the gun a couple times with his support hand thumb over the back, and I made sure to show him why that was a bad idea. I showed him the correct grip, and made it work ok. I reminded him several times tonight to make sure he had the proper grip. First couple shots were good, then he lowered the gun once to see where his shots had hit, and when he brought it back up, sure enough the thumb went around the back of the grip, and he ended up with a nice deep slide bite. I'm guessing that'll remind him better than me reminding him over and over.

Other than that, they had a great time. Shot a bunch thru their LC9, and as much as they wanted with my sr9c, shield, 1911 and .22lr SAA. He really liked shooting the 1911 (fit his hand great, no grip problems with that one) and she liked the 22.

One tip I learned and have used on 2 first time shooters is to only load a single round in the mag for their first shot. In both cases, the adrenalin rush of that first shot got them almost shaking, so having just a single round in the gun eliminates the chance that they'll do something unexpected after that first shot.

A fun night all around, a cheap night since blucore does ladies free on tuesday nights, and they are both already talking about wanting to go back to the range again fairly soon.

[gnihcraes]

Fun to bring in newbies to the sport. Glad you did it! I have a few times and they still talk about it months later and some have continued on with their own purchases and range time.

[brutal]

Good idea on the mag load. Not fun having a noob double tap on a 1911 with a light, short trigger.

I usually bore the newbies at the range with my safety talks, but it's mandatory. I keep a close eye on anyone new even if they are an "NRA certified instructor," Mil, or other self professed gun person. If I don't know you, I don't trust you until I verify.

[SuperiorDG]

Nice AAR. Good to hear that newbies are getting into the "sport."

[Superorb]

I took the wife to a beginner gun class at Blu Core and it was good up until you go to the range for live fire. The instructor from the class isn't even there and you receive no help at all. Though I'm guessing if you ask they'd be willing to help. I went through everything with the wife ahead of time at home though, so we were good to go. But for a total beginner they'd be completely lost in the range portion of the class.

[StagLefty]

^ A beginner class on the range with no Instructor ? Strange !!!

[Superorb]

^ A beginner class on the range with no Instructor ? Strange !!!

I thought so too. People in the class went down to the range in small groups and the instructor stayed in the classroom.