This post is the result of a rant... :rant:
Yesterday I requaled several students at the range. Here in Arkansas, after the permit expires, you have to find an instructor and do a live fire recertification. I am there to watch them handle their gun in a safe manner,be able to efficiently load and unload and to be able to hit the target without endangering everyone in a 2 mile radius. I then sign off their paperwork so that they can send it to the ASP and get a new CHL, good for another 5 years.
No big deal right?
Wrong. :scruntiny:
I am sick and tired of people that carry a gun for self defense that cant even remember HOW to do something as simple as a reload.
Its a seemingly simple thing for most of us that take carrying a concealed weapon seriously, but it appears to me that many people think that getting a license to carry is the end of learning process, rather than the beginning.
I'm also tired of people that haven't even shot their gun, since 4 years ago when they shot it to get their license.
You cant imagine what I have seen, revolvers with melted lipstick gumming up the works, every sort of candy stuck to them, melted chocolate, pills in the barrel or cylinder, cylinders that wouldn't turn, magazines that wouldn't seat, triggers that don't pull and every sort of mechanical malfunction that could possibly happen. All of this with "carry guns".
This is the story of shooter no.1, who I will call Mr. Match...
This guy starts telling me what a great shot he is. I just nod and smile because thats the nice kind of guy that I am. He tells me how he shoots at this club and hes got this tricked out match gun that he conceals. He's a crack shot and he cant believe that he has to requal, as it is nothing more than a waste of time and ammo for such an accomplished shooter as he.Right then and there the BS meter starts alarming. Anybody that has shot a match with a full sized gun with all the bells and whistles knows that they aren't exactly the easiest guns to conceal. But hey...I think, anything is possible, maybe he does.
Then he pulls out a Llama single action with a huge muzzle break on it. ::scruntiny:
Lets just say that my experience with Llamas are less than stellar.This gun proves to be no different. It performed so well that if he had given it to me as a token of his appreciation, I would have promptly chunked it in the lake.
He's a " ranked match shooter", yet he has a hard time loading the gun. He shoots two shots and he stops to look at the paper. This apparently was a challenging target for him, it was a 10x12 white sheet of paper at the extended range of 7 yards.
I say challenging, because there are no holes in the paper.:blink:
So he shoots again and I can clearly see that he is shooting about a foot over the top of the target. I notice that his sight alignment is slim to none. I mention that to him and he tells me that he was taught to look over the top of the sights.
Sigh...
:theyareontome:
I start from scratch and teach him the basics, and low and behold he actually starts hitting the paper like a good student should. He hit it twice in a row and was very pleased with himself. Mr. Match Shooter is happy that he hit a stationary target at 7 yards twice in a row. By now,I'm thinking that I need to check out his club and see if I can win a match there.
So he is pleased with himself and I tell him to take his time, just get the shots on the paper,there is no rush at all. So he shoots. Stovepipe. He clears it after fumbling around. He shoots again. Failure to feed. He starts messing with the gun and the magazine drops out and hits the concrete. I tell him to clear the gun, place it on the table with the slide locked open and the muzzle downrange before he picks it up. He does. I tell him to load the gun. He tried to insert the magazine in backward and is trying to jam it home with the heel of his hand. I mention to him that the mag is backward, he jerks it out and inserts it correctly.:scruntiny:
He shoots one time and the gun fails to eject. This goes on and on, the gun never firing more than twice in a row before hanging up. He mentions that the ammo sucks, that its got to be the ammo as he has never had this problem before. I look at the box, it Winchester White Box.
A half hour later, he is out of ammo and I begin lecturing him. About carrying a gun that is reliable. About practicing and practicing until you can load ,aim and fire without wondering how to do it. About having ammunition that is 100 percent reliable in a gun that you may need to defend yourself or your loved ones with. About how if you ever have to draw the last thing you need to be worried about is if the gun will work or not. About how if you can't hit a stationary target that isn't shooting back or trying to cut you, that it will be much harder to hit someone that is moving and trying to kill you.
And he sits there staring blankly, without saying a word, and when I'm done he tells me that no one has ever told him that before and he thanks me over and over and over and now he wants to sign up as a member of the range so that he can practice as much as he wants to.
Then I ask him about the range that he has been shooting at and winning all the matches at and he admits that he moved too far away from it to go there much and that its been awhile.
He tells me that he is ready to get serious now.:scruntiny:
And that is the story of the first student.
Later we'll talk about the husband/wife team that came up after Mr. Match. :rant:
To all you instructors,coaches, teachers or anyone that has tried to teach someone how to shoot a gun out there, is it just me that gets the "winners" here or is this pretty common everywhere?
I'm beggining to wonder.
Yesterday I requaled several students at the range. Here in Arkansas, after the permit expires, you have to find an instructor and do a live fire recertification. I am there to watch them handle their gun in a safe manner,be able to efficiently load and unload and to be able to hit the target without endangering everyone in a 2 mile radius. I then sign off their paperwork so that they can send it to the ASP and get a new CHL, good for another 5 years.
No big deal right?
Wrong. :scruntiny:
I am sick and tired of people that carry a gun for self defense that cant even remember HOW to do something as simple as a reload.
Its a seemingly simple thing for most of us that take carrying a concealed weapon seriously, but it appears to me that many people think that getting a license to carry is the end of learning process, rather than the beginning.
I'm also tired of people that haven't even shot their gun, since 4 years ago when they shot it to get their license.
You cant imagine what I have seen, revolvers with melted lipstick gumming up the works, every sort of candy stuck to them, melted chocolate, pills in the barrel or cylinder, cylinders that wouldn't turn, magazines that wouldn't seat, triggers that don't pull and every sort of mechanical malfunction that could possibly happen. All of this with "carry guns".
This is the story of shooter no.1, who I will call Mr. Match...
This guy starts telling me what a great shot he is. I just nod and smile because thats the nice kind of guy that I am. He tells me how he shoots at this club and hes got this tricked out match gun that he conceals. He's a crack shot and he cant believe that he has to requal, as it is nothing more than a waste of time and ammo for such an accomplished shooter as he.Right then and there the BS meter starts alarming. Anybody that has shot a match with a full sized gun with all the bells and whistles knows that they aren't exactly the easiest guns to conceal. But hey...I think, anything is possible, maybe he does.
Then he pulls out a Llama single action with a huge muzzle break on it. ::scruntiny:
Lets just say that my experience with Llamas are less than stellar.This gun proves to be no different. It performed so well that if he had given it to me as a token of his appreciation, I would have promptly chunked it in the lake.
He's a " ranked match shooter", yet he has a hard time loading the gun. He shoots two shots and he stops to look at the paper. This apparently was a challenging target for him, it was a 10x12 white sheet of paper at the extended range of 7 yards.
I say challenging, because there are no holes in the paper.:blink:
So he shoots again and I can clearly see that he is shooting about a foot over the top of the target. I notice that his sight alignment is slim to none. I mention that to him and he tells me that he was taught to look over the top of the sights.
Sigh...
:theyareontome:
I start from scratch and teach him the basics, and low and behold he actually starts hitting the paper like a good student should. He hit it twice in a row and was very pleased with himself. Mr. Match Shooter is happy that he hit a stationary target at 7 yards twice in a row. By now,I'm thinking that I need to check out his club and see if I can win a match there.
So he is pleased with himself and I tell him to take his time, just get the shots on the paper,there is no rush at all. So he shoots. Stovepipe. He clears it after fumbling around. He shoots again. Failure to feed. He starts messing with the gun and the magazine drops out and hits the concrete. I tell him to clear the gun, place it on the table with the slide locked open and the muzzle downrange before he picks it up. He does. I tell him to load the gun. He tried to insert the magazine in backward and is trying to jam it home with the heel of his hand. I mention to him that the mag is backward, he jerks it out and inserts it correctly.:scruntiny:
He shoots one time and the gun fails to eject. This goes on and on, the gun never firing more than twice in a row before hanging up. He mentions that the ammo sucks, that its got to be the ammo as he has never had this problem before. I look at the box, it Winchester White Box.
A half hour later, he is out of ammo and I begin lecturing him. About carrying a gun that is reliable. About practicing and practicing until you can load ,aim and fire without wondering how to do it. About having ammunition that is 100 percent reliable in a gun that you may need to defend yourself or your loved ones with. About how if you ever have to draw the last thing you need to be worried about is if the gun will work or not. About how if you can't hit a stationary target that isn't shooting back or trying to cut you, that it will be much harder to hit someone that is moving and trying to kill you.
And he sits there staring blankly, without saying a word, and when I'm done he tells me that no one has ever told him that before and he thanks me over and over and over and now he wants to sign up as a member of the range so that he can practice as much as he wants to.
Then I ask him about the range that he has been shooting at and winning all the matches at and he admits that he moved too far away from it to go there much and that its been awhile.
He tells me that he is ready to get serious now.:scruntiny:
And that is the story of the first student.
Later we'll talk about the husband/wife team that came up after Mr. Match. :rant:
To all you instructors,coaches, teachers or anyone that has tried to teach someone how to shoot a gun out there, is it just me that gets the "winners" here or is this pretty common everywhere?
I'm beggining to wonder.