If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.
- Confucius -
I've lost count of how many people I've taken shooting for an experience or taught to shoot. In thirty-plus years of shooting I've never found a person who didn't enjoy it; not everyone decided to become a firearms owner or regular shooter but they all had a good time. More importantly though, is what they learned about firearms; how they operate, the safety aspect, basic handling and shooting skills and a better understanding of the tool itself; the firearm.
When my mate, the venerable Hive chap 
I wanted to give Billy the kid the most comprehensives experience he could have in the short time we would be together, about four hours or so, and decided my secondary range would be the best place to start as we would have a little freedom there; due to some shenanigans that wasn't to be however. I changed over to my main range.
The plan was some handgun shooting there, once the safety process had been completed of course. I also saw the day as an opportunity to expose the lad to a few extra firearms and decided to take them to the farm on which I cull feral animals to do some additional shooting. Billy had also made a request and I was happy to acquiesce to that as well, but more on that later.
Yesterday was jump-off day and I arranged to meet Matt and Billy and take them to the range in my LandCruiser. We met at 11:00 and headed up into the hills to the range to begin the mission.
Billy's name isn't really Billy but for the course of this post I'll call him that. If Matt wants to disclose his son's name that's his prerogative. Billy hadn't handled or fired any firearms to the best of my knowledge so I wanted to begin at the most logical place. The beginning.
I was a little nervous about taking a lad so young shooting because I'm not one to respond well to nutbaggery when it comes to firearms...I guess one never knows how a young person may respond but almost right away I could tell Billy would be ok. He listened, was patient and took instruction well...*Except he kept tilting his head behind the sights on the handgun. If I had a taser I would have tased him in the back each time he did it. Alas, no taser. (This is a joke folks...Or is it?)
I took a little time to explain range and firearm safety then went on to gun handling and movement demonstrating some techniques that would help him maintain safe operation of the handguns and to optimise his accuracy. Of course, I wasn't teaching Billy to be a Navy SEAL so kept it as light and fun as possible. It was all about the experience and I wanted him to have a good one.
I talked to him about ammunition explaining how it works, gave him a basic rundown on how the semi-automatic handgun operates and then...I made him load the magazines! I think he was a little surprised at how difficult that was; it's a little brutal on the thumbs folks and not at all like in the movies. I made him do it by hand a for a while and then gave him my UpLULA which makes the job far easier. Again, I wanted him to get the whole experience, not simply get handed a gun and blast away.
We were shooting at close range, out to about six metres, as I wanted him to group his shots, actually hit something, and feel like he was progressing. As we went, I addressed his stance, head position (even without the use of the taser) and some grip issues. I hammered him about trigger-discipline a few times but mainly he was good on that front.
Overall he did really well and handled the firearms with a relatively good deal of comfort. This is not always easy for people new to it as they are conditioned by media and anti-gun advocates to think they are incredibly dangerous. Of course, they are, but only when in the hands of someone dangerous, irresponsible, crazy or stupid.
I allowed Billy to shoot my competition handgun and my field gun, a CZ Shadow 2 and CZ P-09 respectively, both 9mm semi-automatic. They shoot completely differently as the P-09 is polymer, designed for military and law enforcement use. It will shoot no matter what and is a very basic design for field use. In comparison the Shadow 2 is a tuned instrument designed for superb accuracy and reliability. Billy was amazed about the recoil of both which he'd not expected. That's because in the movies they don't show recoil as the handguns have light recoil springs and very little gunpowder in the ammunition as they're not pushing projectiles.
We moved to rapid fire shooting from there, double-taps and transitioning between various targets and Billy the kid did well. Matt put some rounds down range in rapid succession on both guns and then it was time to head to the farm and to shoot some long guns.
No matter what firearms or which situations a person is shooting in, certain things cross over. The safety for sure and a few other elements. However, shooting rifles is vastly different to handguns and shotguns are different again. Similar principles, different requirement.
We unpacked and Billy started drooling over my 1918 SMLE .303 rifle, which saw service in World War One, right away. This was the request he had...Can I shoot your SMLE? Sure you can Billy.
I brought the bayonet for it to show him and fixed it then handed over the rifle, before ensuring it was clear of course. Safety first. One of the images above shows him holding it beside him, rested on the ground with the bayonet fixed which makes the weapon-system almost as tall as him.
I would have liked to go through some techniques with Billy however was mindful of the time so after the safety talk we got to shooting.
I did explain some positional factors showing him the correct way to shoot prone however by this stage he was itching to shoot the SMLE and so he did...and loved it. The rifle kicks somewhat, meaning the recoil is reasonably heavy but he handled it well, despite it hurting his shoulder a little, and was happy with his shots. Matt also had a try and loved it also. You can see a bit of slow motion video I took below.
We moved on to my 12ga under and over shotgun which kicks like an angry mule with a headache and Billy and Matt had a few shots which they liked, then to my culling system, a precision, modern rifle, set up for incredible accuracy. I think it was great for Billy to experience the 104 year old technology side by side with the latest in firearm design and technology. He seemed to enjoy it.
As we drove down through the hills back to Matt's car Billy was talking about his experience and the firearms and declared it a really great day which made me happy.
I wanted to show him that firearms are not toys but incredibly dangerous tools. I also wanted to demonstrate that those tools can be used responsibly and safely and whilst they deserve respect they don't deserve derision. They have a place in society; in fact most of us live in a free world because of firearms. Sure, there's always the bad element who use them for evil purposes, but the same could be said about a car in the hands of a drunk driver right? Just my opinion.
I have some 9mm rounds left over from the 250 that Matt paid me for and have added twenty more as I used that many to demonstrate some things so, I'll be taking Matt and his brother back to my range at some stage for another shoot. I think Matt got some good value for money from his investment and Billy the kid certainly had a great time...and will want to do it again.
People don't generally get the opportunity to experience what Billy did yesterday and I feel that's a shame as experiences like this help represent firearms properly rather than the skewed perceptions the media leave people with and teaching people what it's really like allows them to make up their own minds.
If you're keen for a shooting experience like this, with me, let me know. Also, if you've done something like this yourself tell me about it in the comments below.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Images are my own
