Going Shooting with My Kid Sister....

[sonofeugene]

. For some strange reason I feel compelled to share this...my littlest sister is coming to visit and she and I will go shooting at some point during her visit. She's cut from different cloth than most women I know. At 14 she came home from high school one afternoon and told my mother she'd just met the boy she was going to marry. A year later she married at 15. Nearly 30 years later she and her husband are still happily married and they've raised 3 or 4 children (I forget) and she's a grandmother. She put herself through school and has a good job in local government and she's got a knack for things mechanical. She thinks nothing of tearing an engine down and fixing it. She got real excited when her husband bought her a huge roll around tool chest and cabinet. Two or three years ago, she bought an old 22 revolver from her boss and went shooting. The bug bit. She then bought a Sig 9mm. Then she bought a smaller 9mm (I forget again) and took the necessary classes to get her concealed carry permit which she now has. (No, she doesn't live in California.) and now her idea of a great gift or good time is ammo or range time. She and her husband went shooting for their anniversary. Now she tells me to save all my brass because she's found a new hobby...reloading.

So anyway, I'm looking forward to our range time together. The infant girl I held when she first arrived home with my parents from the hospital is a gun nut.

She also has her eye on our father's old guns and I'm thinking that when I "go", she'd be the perfect person to get them. Oh, and she can hardly wait to shoot my .308.

[I Swan]

Married at 15! Well I'm glad it worked out though and that she is pro gun. A girl I was engaged to had a brother that got a girl pregnant when he was 13 though.

[BisDak]

You have a cool sister...

I have a cousin married at an early age of 16, separated before 20.


.

[onelonehorseman]

Sounds like a fun little sis! Enjoy your time together OP!

[Sharp Shooter]

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[SonofWWIIDI]

Let me know when you go, I'd be happy to bring some of my stuff for her to shoot.

[sonofeugene]

Thanks for the offer. But with the limited time we'll have, we've got all we need. She really has her eye on my father's Luger and with his Beretta, Izarra, Wards 22, plus my 34 and my 308, we'll be plenty occupied. We plan on going up to LAR&G. But thanks again for the offer.

Cheers!

[sonofeugene]

And to the rest of you, thanks! (I was hoping someone would post that bra. )

[sonofeugene]

Well, we finally go to the range. A beautiful sunny day in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Sunday. My sister thoroughly enjoyed herself and besides her and I, I had three of my brothers with me as well my wife decided she'd like to go. 'No surprise that my sister had a great time. She's already a gun nut and when not shooting, was busy grabbing all my brass (even calibers she doesn't own) and saving it to take home and reload. She's reloading calibers she doesn't even own yet but is planning to get. 'Funny!

The big surprise was my wife. She's always been afraid of guns and I've tried to slowly and gradually demystify them for her and get her used to the idea. It was an eye opener for her to see all the people shooting and enjoying themselves and was impressed with the safety of the range and range officers. I asked her if she'd like to shoot one of my pistols and she said yes. So, I walked her through the basics with it unloaded and when I felt she was ready to fire a round, I loaded one round in the mag and guided her again through the procedure. 'Biggest thing she had to overcome was the automatic tendency to put her finger on the trigger immediately upon holding the gun. To make a long story shorter, she was excited and exhilarated when that little .32 went off. That was enough for her at first and the rest of us continued to have fun. One of my brothers brought his 17 and another brought his S&W 686.

Later in the day when I'd set up my .308 on the 100 yard range and my sister had put a number of rounds through it, I was surprised that my wife said she'd like to try it. It's set up with a bipod and a scope so handling and aiming the rifle wasn't going to be a problem. I schooled her on keeping her finger off the trigger until ready to take a shot. And I also make sure she had the butt firmly into her shoulder and that she was using proper eye relief for the scope. She squeezed off her first round and jumped and her left hand flew back in exclamation. And on her face was a mix of surprise, shock, and exhilaration. It was quite a thrill for her. Then I told her that my brother had screwed up and not gotten the video and that she'd have fire another round. She didn't hesitate. The second time produced pretty much the same reaction and she was quite excited about having done it.

Now, I feel my wife is developing a different perspective re guns and later this past weekend, she expressed an interest in maybe learning to shoot. To feed the flame, I showed her some of Ruger's colored pistols as well as the ones with the rainbow colored slides. Just this amount of interest on her part is quite a change from her previous position. To top it off, later she was relating how she'd told my brothers that I don't have a safe for my HD gun (she'd forgotten that I do), the conversation got around to one of my brothers having one of those under the bed, slide out safes and she casually commented that it sounded like a good idea. I was practically floored.

.....and now to clean a bunch of guns.......

[sonofeugene]

Thanks!

[Barang]

Kid sister probably had an affect on your wife seeing that she wasn't afraid and having fun with firearms. Door is now open for your wife, congrats!

[sonofeugene]

Yea, that's likely part of it for sure. And in general, going to a nice range and having nice people there doing something they obviously enjoy. Though the step was small, I couldn't have asked for a better first visit to a range for my wife.

And kudos to the LGR&GC for running a first class operation!

[Krejaton]

Thanks for sharing--doesn't get much better than that...

...unless she was to suggest buying a few more guns.

[sonofeugene]

Workin' on it.

[skosh69]

Pure awesomeness OP, thanks for sharing. But next time, pics please!