Yes, some of you may be going 
at someone with as many posts here never having fired a firearm before. But I finally did this past weekend :redface:
I was on vacation in PA for about a week, and I took a few of my cousins with me as well. Went to Classic Pistol in Southampton, PA. Very, very friendly people... made us all feel at ease. I said it was my (and everyone else's) first time, and that was no problem at all. The gentlemen even took us to our lanes and demonstrated and explained everything.
I've been reading enough over the past year to have all the "book knowledge," but never had any actual physical handling experience with firearms. I'm glad I finally did. It was great! Everything I learned about safety and operating firearms translated very easily and well and I think my cousins had a good time too, and learned proper safety as well.
I decided it was probably good to start with a .22lr (the guys at the range/store also recommended that), so we rented a Ruger MkIII and also got a Sig P250 (9 MM). Both weapons were selected by the guy helping us. Much larger BANG than I was expecting, I have to admit. BUT, after that first shot (I shot the P250 as my first shot), I had a stupid cheesy smile on my face.
Both weapons functioned perfectly without any hangups, although i had a FTF (I think? The next round sortof fed, but not completely - the slide was partially back, and you could see that the next round was hung up in the middle of feeding from the magazine) on the P250 once, which I think was due to me limp wristing it (I could really feel myself limp wristing about two shots before the malfunction... not sure why I did that) - no fault of the weapon's. Luckily, what I learned here and elsewhere let me clear the jam quickly and safely. On the MkIII, seems like no matter what that thing just kept on ticking. I can definitely see why people love it so much, and the advantages of .22 on the range.
Also, it was crazy how fast we ran out of our box of 9mm (50 rounds). I can definitely see ammo being a huge cost haha.
All in all, great experience, and now I am no longer a gun virgin :danceban: . Also, I can definitely recommend Classic Pistol to anyone for their range. I can't comment on firearm purchases since I didn't do that there. They also have shotgun and rifle lanes, and even have a few Class III weapons for rent, if you can afford it. Also, I believe they offer classes, since right behind our range was a classroom where they seemed to be teaching a basic shooting course.
sorry for the long post!
at someone with as many posts here never having fired a firearm before. But I finally did this past weekend :redface:I was on vacation in PA for about a week, and I took a few of my cousins with me as well. Went to Classic Pistol in Southampton, PA. Very, very friendly people... made us all feel at ease. I said it was my (and everyone else's) first time, and that was no problem at all. The gentlemen even took us to our lanes and demonstrated and explained everything.
I've been reading enough over the past year to have all the "book knowledge," but never had any actual physical handling experience with firearms. I'm glad I finally did. It was great! Everything I learned about safety and operating firearms translated very easily and well and I think my cousins had a good time too, and learned proper safety as well.
I decided it was probably good to start with a .22lr (the guys at the range/store also recommended that), so we rented a Ruger MkIII and also got a Sig P250 (9 MM). Both weapons were selected by the guy helping us. Much larger BANG than I was expecting, I have to admit. BUT, after that first shot (I shot the P250 as my first shot), I had a stupid cheesy smile on my face.
Both weapons functioned perfectly without any hangups, although i had a FTF (I think? The next round sortof fed, but not completely - the slide was partially back, and you could see that the next round was hung up in the middle of feeding from the magazine) on the P250 once, which I think was due to me limp wristing it (I could really feel myself limp wristing about two shots before the malfunction... not sure why I did that) - no fault of the weapon's. Luckily, what I learned here and elsewhere let me clear the jam quickly and safely. On the MkIII, seems like no matter what that thing just kept on ticking. I can definitely see why people love it so much, and the advantages of .22 on the range.
Also, it was crazy how fast we ran out of our box of 9mm (50 rounds). I can definitely see ammo being a huge cost haha.
All in all, great experience, and now I am no longer a gun virgin :danceban: . Also, I can definitely recommend Classic Pistol to anyone for their range. I can't comment on firearm purchases since I didn't do that there. They also have shotgun and rifle lanes, and even have a few Class III weapons for rent, if you can afford it. Also, I believe they offer classes, since right behind our range was a classroom where they seemed to be teaching a basic shooting course.
sorry for the long post!
