Today, I had alot of stuff to do, but decided to help out an employee who had been followed to her rural home and was wondering about 'getting a gun.'
So, I assembled some relatively cheap supplies:
100 rounds of .22LR - $4.00
20 rounds of 9mm - $4.00
20 rounds of 38 Special - $4.00
20 rounds of 45 Colt - $4.00
10 rounds of .45-70 - $4.00
Some tools (in order of use - leverguns in bold) :
GOOD Hearing protectors.
Ruger 96/22 Carbine (with red-dot BSA scope), Charter Arms .22LR DA revolver 6", Taurus .22 LR DA revolver 2", Ruger Mark II .22 LRpistol 6"
Ruger 9mm Carbine, Surplus Walther 9mm pistol 6"
Rossi .357 Carbine (tang sight), Taurus Tracker DA .357 revolver 7", Ruger Security Six .357 DA revolver 4", Ruger SP101 .357 DA revolver 2"
Rossi .45 Colt Carbine (Williams FP sight, ghost-ringed), Ruger .45 Colt Redhawk DA revolver 5"
and...
Marlin .45-70 Guide Gun (Williams FP sight, ghost ringed)
Note the .22LR's were first, and the Ruger 96/22 with red-dot sight the very first. NO recoil, barely any noise, and a safe, non-threatening appearance. Easy action to work. And with the red-dot scope, you don't have to learn anything about 'sight picture' or 'eye relief' or whatever; you just put the red dot on what you want to hit, and you WILL hit it!
I don't think there is a better "starting out" gun than the 96/22, or similar setup, especially with that red dot scope.
It didn't hurt that my 11 year old daughter was there and commented that the 96/22 was her 'most favorite gun' to shoot - that helped the adult woman realize the gun wasn't going to kick too hard or be a big deal to shoot. With each 'stage' of guns, I would shoot a shot so she and her husband could get a feel for the noise and 'recoil' (to me none of the guns much recoiled since I like to shoot), and then on the handguns, I'd leave a chamber unloaded so they could pull the trigger on a dry-fire first, just to get a feel for the gun.
Now, the 'tools' were expensive, but I already had them
The ammunition was modest and inexpensive. My time was valuable, because I had the "honeydo" list and other stuff to do, but here's what happened....The employee and her husband were neither one gun owners or shooters, yet by the end of the session, they were confident shooters and likely going to go buy a .357 revolver and lever action pair. I don't really care what they buy, and despite being a lever-action nut, wouldn't care what long gun they bought, but the point is - a couple of gun-naive individuals, the wife of which expressed some support for the warm and cuddly "Mr. O" during the election, and thus could have been veered into the mind-numbing "helpless and socialist" camp politically, are learning to understand the REAL world. How to prepare for and deal with the next 'stalker' who decides to kick in the door instead of merely following her home when her husband is away on the job. They'll also have a comfort level with tools they can use to whack a whitetail, or keep coyotes from killing their dairy goats, etc.
If you see an opportunity like this, I URGE you to take it, and bring someone else into the world we know.
What else was cool was that HER FAVORITE GUN TO SHOOT WAS THE REDHAWK .45 COLT...! Now THAT is a SERIOUS gun - and she hit a 5-gallon bucket at 50 yards with EVERY SINGLE SHOT from that gun. Before today, she'd not shot a gun at all. 90 minutes later, she thought she had one more round of .45 Colt to shoot, and when she dropped hammer on an empty chamber, there was NO flinch. Amazing.
She decided not to shoot the .45-70 (the .45 Colt handgun and rifle was enough power for her) but her husband of course wanted to; after the gradual introduction via the 'step-up' guns, the smile on his face when he whacked a water tank at 100 yards with that thing was priceless - undoubtedly now a levergun convert, and a pro-gun convert.
He had asked about the "AR" buying craze these days, and I showed him a .223 "M-16" cartridge side by side with a .45-70, and I think he realized that the 100-year-old gun just might have an edge in some ways over the new fancy semiautos.
WAY COOL...
She's getting ready to start a family, and with a wife like that, her husband need not fear she won't be able to protect the babies from whatever comes knocking...
Sorry no pics.
