Snowflakes in Hell

I was very interested to read Breda’s coverage of her Appleseed experience here, here and here.  Bitter and I have collectively introduced quite a number of people into the shooting world, so I think have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.  The good thing about Appleseed is that they are trying to recruit people into shooting, and teaching marksmanship.  Both are very worthwhile endeavors.  The bad part about Appleseed is they are selling shooting in a way that is more than likely going to scare of newbie shooters:

We were told to go downrange, put up our target and load up our magazines. The first target of an Appleseed shoot is highly symbolic - the initial 13 rounds serve as a reminder of the original American colonies and the red (as in redcoat) silhouettes allude to how riflemen won our freedom during the Revolutionary War.

Are they learning to shoot, or being indoctrinated into a cult?  I mean, yeah, I understand what they are trying to do here, which is connect the history of this country to the rifleman.  That’s understandable.  But thirteen shots at the lobsterbacks?  Eh… that’s a hard sell for someone just starting out.  I generally frown on the use of silhouette targets for newbie shooters.  Newbie shooters should be learning two things — first is that shooting is a lot of fun, and second is the fundamentals of competently and safely shooting a firearm.  We can save the history lessons for later.

With a few kind words, I had been given a glimmer of hope - but an Appleseed is like that. The instructors are encouraging, knowledgeable and remarkably patient. Their love for rifleshooting translates into hours of consistent positivity and tireless assistance, even for someone as inexperienced as me.

It seems like the folks involved in this Appleseed event were good instructors, and it sounds like it was good instruction.  But why follow with this:

The instructors at an Appleseed attempt to teach you to shoot accurately enough to score “expert” on the Army Qualification Course. Until you can do that, you’re considered a “Cook,” unprepared and unqualified to carry a rifle on the firing line of freedom.

Way to encourage new shooters guy!  Keep practicing, or you’re just a lowly cook?  If you teach people that shooting is a lot of fun, they will keep practicing, and they will get better.  You’re only job is to teach the fundamentals, correct mistakes, and send the shooter off with a feeling that if they practice those, they’ll have a lot of fun, and will turn themselves into better shooters.  Appleseed is a great idea, but I’m not sure I like the packaging.  I would concentrate more on having a good time, and encouraging new shooters.  We can connect them to the history of our shooting culture once we actually get them into it.

Looks like the NSSF is running some ads in DC.  The Bradys will no doubt spin this as the gun industry trying to peddle their wares on people who will just use them to shoot loved ones and commit suicide.  Well, it’s a free country, and guns are legal.  So even if NSSF is out to market their legal product, I have no problem.

But I think, and I would hope the Brady Campaign would agree, that if Washington D.C. residents can legally purchase an keep arms, that they ought to get involved with the shooting community and learn how to be responsible with them.  Kudos to the NSSF for reaching out to people who might be thinking about buying a firearm, and helping them get the training they need.

I had the pleasure of introducing a newbie to the joys of shooting today.  My former girlfriends’ younger brother was only 9 or so when I first met him, but he recently graduated from high school, and was out visiting his sister.  He wanted to go shooting, so I decided to take him to the club’s plinking range.

I still stand by the AR-15 as a great rifle for the introduction of enthusiastic beginners.  For people more timid about shooting, the .22LR is a better choice.  I loaded up 50 rounds for Jason, and we went through all of them.  We went through 30 more rounds with the AK-74, and a few rounds with my Mk.II and Glock.

His mom is going to want to kill me, because I know she doesn’t like guns, and now he wants to buy a rifle.  Hopefully he can find a range or club in Iowa that can help him get started.

Nope, neither of them look very trashy to me.

Syd has an excellent take on the video circulating of the girl smacking herself int he face with a recoiling Desert Eagle.

Take them to the range.

Take them too the range.  In my experience, if you can get them to go, you have a good chance of changing their minds.  You might not make a gun rights activist out of them, but they will at least see both sides of the coin.

Over at Breda Fallacy, she took one of her coworkers to the range. We all have to be evangelists for this sport if we’re going to win long term. And I for one, support bringing more women into the sport, especially attractive ones:

Monica met us at the range today, looking a little nervous. (Jimmy, the range manager, said to me, “You brought another one? I’m a little afraid to go to the library now.”) I let her handle all the pistols before they were loaded so she could feel what they were like since she had never handled a firearm before. I helped her with her grip, showed her how to load, put the gun in her hand and said, “Now. You’re ready. Loaded. Aim and shoot.”

And she did.

Good show Breda.

Reader, blogger and NRA certified instructor Brian is offering to take newbies shooting in the Hampton Roads, VA area, and add any other instructors to the list if they want to add their name.

The other Sebastian takes an anti-gun person shooting. It takes quite a leap to go from activist on the other side to the shooting range, and I have to hand it to Sebastian, that was quite a feat. His entire post is a must read, but here’s a quick excerpt:

The more interesting part of the evening was the drive home. Becky’s first time firing a gun had been a success, and she clearly had had a good time. I joked that much like Luke Skywalker playing with the laser droid thing…she’d taken her first step into a larger world. Becky remarked that since she’d left the gun control lobbying world, she’d realized that we gunnies aren’t a bunch of crazed maniacs trying to arm criminals for kicks; she further remarked that she thought the rhetoric was too heated all the way around, and that yes, much of what the Brady Bunch and the VPC promulgated was hysterics designed to provoke a reaction, not really anything that was meant to be factually accurate or sound grist for the public policy mill.

Sebastian’s new shooter-fu is clearly much better than mine.

Robb Allen shows the importance of getting new people out to the range:

I am proud. It goes to show that a calm, reasoned approach has a much better chance at bringing people over to our side. It is also proof that we are winning the war on guns and that the Brady’s and the VPC’s of the world are simply money pits with near zero ROI.

One day, they’re a hoplophobic teacher, the next they’re producing massive fireballs with a vintage Russian carbine.

Yep. I think it’s the only way to win long term.

UPDATE: Robb says it’s mostly Greg’s work

Tom King says that some of the best shooters he knows are soccer moms, and stresses the importance of outreach.   I couldn’t agree more:

When the hand that rocks the cradle pulls the trigger on the range also the fight will be over.

I think that’s very true, and I’ve seen more than a few women take to shooting like a duck to water when introduced to it for the first time, even after being initially wary.

Bitter didn’t get her start in the gun issue until she hit college, but once she tried it, there was no going back for her.  Some of the most vocal advocates on our side of the issue did not grow up raised as shooters or hunters, but came into it through circumstance.

In my opinion, one of the best things you can do for our cause.  Kudos to Robb for a great August 28th contribution.

Joe takes some local reporters to the range. I’m curious to see what they write. It’s good that they sought out someone with first hand experience and knowledge, rather than talk to the first “expert” willing to offer a quote. I notice Omie is left handed, and rather cute. Of course, any chick behind an AR-15 automatically gets a +5 in the looks department!

That looks like the same fiberglass Israeli mag that was my favorite for a while.

I took my ex girlfriend’s young brother shooting this weekend. He wanted to try it, and she said it was fine, despite the fact she’s not all that comfortable around guns herself. This was a true first time shooter, which I will typically start with long guns rather than pistol. The real question is whether to start with a .22 (best option, typically) or move up to the AR-15. Generally if someone is a little timid, I’ll go for the .22LR. If they don’t display any particular timidity around firearms, I’ll upgrade to the AR.

Guys typically like shooting the military stuff if they’ve never shot before, so I took the AK-47 and AR-15. He displayed a bit of recoil sensitivity with the AK-47, and struggled a bit more with the operating system. Consistently, people who are new shooters much prefer the AR-15 over anything else. I find they latch on to the AR-15 operating system really fast, and become proficient quickly. The sights are also easy to explain and intuitive on the AR-15. I noticed he wasn’t hitting anything with the AK, and after a brief explanation of the notch sight, I don’t think he was sighting it properly.

Setting the target out at 20 yards, with the AR-15 he was hitting groups about the size of an orange at first, from bench, then they’d loosen up. I see that a lot from new shooters, and I think it’s recoil anticipation that’s building up. His shooting with the AK was all over the place. I think the recoil was making him tense up too much and jerk the rifle too much in anticipation.

In conclusion, I think the AR-15 platform is really the best for new shooters. A more conventional looking .22 might be more apt for someone who is truly timid, because a lot of people make assumptions about military patterned guns are just aren’t correct. I’ve not had much luck with getting new people to enjoy shooting the AK-47 platform, particularly people who are recoil sensitive. For beginners, I think the AK-74 platform is a better choice. I will have to try that on my next new shooter.

This is the inaugural post of this blog, because I think that one of the greatest things we shooters can do for ourselves is to introduce new people to our community. My friend Loretta, who came to visit over the holidays, did not have any existing prejudice towards guns, but I have taken people shooting for the first time who have. There’s nothing that quite opens people’s minds like seeing firearms as the tools that they are, and shooters for the ordinary people that they are, than a trip to the range.

Loretta wasn’t a complete noob, as she has some experience with shooting .22s and BB guns previously, but this was her first experience with anything with a reasonable amount of powder behind it.

We started off indoor shooting with pistols, which I didn’t get any photos of, because the indoor range I belong to doesn’t allow photography. After that, we headed up into Lehigh County to the PGC public outdoor range there. I had given her the safety lecture, and introduced her to the operating systems of the various rifles and pistols the night before. After a brief explanation of the range rules, we were ready to shoot:

Here she is loading up the magazine with three 5.56×45mm rounds.


Taking aim downrange with my AR-15. Click on the picture to see video.

We need to work on stance a bit, but it was rather difficult to shoot standing, since it had rained heavily the night before, and the range was a puddle of mud.

Time to switch to the Kalashnikov. I decided to take the AK-47 rather than the AK-74. The recoil impulse on the 47 is harsher, and has been too much for other female shooters I’ve taken to the range, so the 74 would have been my first choice, but I only have surplus ammo in 5.45×39mm, and it has corrosive primers, so I would have had to spend an hour or so when we got back cleaning the rifle out to avoid rust problems. Loretta handled the recoil of the 47 just fine though.

Taking a shot downrange. We’re shooting at the 50 yard target. I like to use the Birchwood-Casey Shoot-N-See targets. It makes them easy to see, even without the spotting scope showing in the picture. Click on the picture for video.