M&P 15-22, wife's first time shooting ever
Got this rifle for a cheap trainer a while ago ( high volume reflexive firing, etc.) -- keeping it simple, keeping it relatively stock. Only change I've made so far is I swapped out the factory stock with a magpul takeoff from my SPR since it now has a PRS stock. I may put on a red dot to bring that aspect in line with my AR pistol, but have yet to make the decision.
My buddy also got the same one and yesterday we took out our wives to the free range in BV. Been married almost three years and she just now has gotten up the willingness to shoot -- likely made easier by finally having a female shooting partner.
Night before my wife and I went over the basics (safety, parts of the weapon and their basic function, how to hold, etc.). Buddy did the same with his wife. Did some dry fire work with both women on my regular AR, since rimfire doesn't afford that opportunity. Both were slapping the trigger and had to be shown that it's a squeeze, not a slap.
At ~10 yards, using Aguila 40gr copper plated solids (functions well in this rifle, including with rapid firing), here's my wife's first time shooting a real gun, ever; with irons:
center = zero process -- still a little low/right but good enough for establishing consistency, then on to 6 in lower right, 3/3 top r and low l.
Buddy's wife put out similar performance, though her target was a little worse for wear as I hadn't understood that she didn't understand proper sight alignment explanation and we had to re-zero -- turns out using the bottom of the front sight is not nearly as effective as the tip. Her husband is a former Marine, so he is going to go over PMI stuff with her in more depth at home.
The 15-22 is quickly becoming my favorite gun to take to the range. Highly economical, user functions are close enough to a real AR to afford mag change training, etc. Did around 100 rounds of reflexive training with my buddy at the whopping cost of $8. Even with junk ammo in a regular AR, that would have been what... $30? I estimate at after 1k rounds, this thing will "pay" for itself.
By the end of it, my wife was really confident and was reminding buddy's wife of things like "No, your bolt's already back so when you put in a fresh mag just hit the bolt release".
Both were docile and thus highly teachable. Once she gains some more confidence, I'm going to send her to a class to get nitty gritty and repetitious.
Next time I think I'll introduce her to the savage bolt .22 w/ a can. we'll work on more dry fire w/ the regular AR too.
Colorado AR-15 Shooters Club Discussion Forums
Welcome to the Colorado AR-15 Shooters Club Discussion Forums.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by pickenup
