Fun time at the farm shooting

[Woodstock]

Took seven 13 year olds shooting last Saturday with a couple of dads. The consensus was that the M1A was too much fun. Although 2 of the boys who have Asburgers struggled with shooting in general (and instructions in particular) got a little banged up but enjoyed themselves immensely. The AK was a huge hit and we even managed to hit some exploding targets. My son really tore them up, especially with the AR platform rifles we had. Those tanerite targets are a lot of fun.

It was a first for most of the kids and a few of the dads but we all experienced a safe fun time. It was amazing how much ammo we burned through. My buddy's sons are now bugging the heck out of him for rifles for themselves. It will be an uphill battle because his wife is anti guns. I wish she would have joined us. Maybe next time.

We let them shoot my CZ P01 and a buddy's 22 pistol a little bit and they really got a kick out of that. Next time we will bring additional reactive targets like cans of tomato soup or perhaps some steel targets.

[eddiebob]

Sounds like an absolutely great time! Good for you for exposing the youngsters to the joys of shooting. All 6 of my kids love to shoot. We shoot a lot of 22 LR because of cost. What kind of M1A were you shooting? I've got a SA National Match. Beautiful gun. Keep up the good work! Ed

[Shovelhead]

Definately sounds like it was good time for all. I know my love for guns started way back when my father & granfather took me hunting & shooting.. Good job guys!

[Woodstock]

I've got an SA that has all usgi parts on it except for the SA unitized gas system, Sadlak TiN piston, and NM sight. I forget when it was built but I want to say the 80's or early 90's. It's a sweet shooter. I tried to teach them decent form from the sitting position for the M1A because it is a lot of rifle for some kids, especially new shooters. With so many kids and basically only me instructing, it was a little slow at times until we moved on to more managable firearms. all in all, a great day that I'd like to do again soon. Unfortunately, me and my 2 buddies coach our sons football team and the first game is approaching fast. We are hoping for a mild weather day after the season to get back out to my friends property.

Sounds like an absolutely great time! Good for you for exposing the youngsters to the joys of shooting. All 6 of my kids love to shoot. We shoot a lot of 22 LR because of cost. What kind of M1A were you shooting? I've got a SA National Match. Beautiful gun. Keep up the good work! Ed

[Twizzler]

Sounds like a good time. We have perfected the art of a good shoot. Tents for sun and rain cover. Several strong fans blow the biting insects away and cool you down at the same time. Maintain your back stop and get everyone involved in range clean up.

There is also an art to get women interested into shooting. Noise is scary for first time shooters especially women and youngsters. You have to eliminate the noise which also helps stop the uncontrolled closing of the eyes and flinching.


This is easily done with suppressors. Then you use some reactive targets, woman think its boring just aiming and shooting at a piece of paper. The spinning targets, empty buckets, empty propane and helium tanks "the thin ones" are perfect targets that last a long time and walk around when you hit them.
Set the seating back about thirty feet from the line and that cuts their sound down considerably when they want to sit and watch a while. Then get the grill going and close the line down and set up a fire pit.

There is always that one problem you cant fix, ladies absolutely hate to poop in the woods. To help with that, we even set up some porta johns.
There are plans on the board to get a well and shower next. Hell, who would want to come home after that.

Aaron

[Stabber]

Nothin like a good day of plinkin

[Woodstock]

You guys have thought of everything! The place we took the boys doesn't have a developed range, just a cleared valley. My friend has several camper trailers and a cabin there with showers which makes it nice. ATVs and a couple of ponds for fishing. We are talking about building a covered firing line for shooting during bad weather. I want to get some steel reactive targets too. The plan is to have a mini match next time. Maybe 2 or 3 postions would be good.

Sounds like a good time. We have perfected the art of a good shoot. Tents for sun and rain cover. Several strong fans blow the biting insects away and cool you down at the same time. Maintain your back stop and get everyone involved in range clean up.

There is also an art to get women interested into shooting. Noise is scary for first time shooters especially women and youngsters. You have to eliminate the noise which also helps stop the uncontrolled closing of the eyes and flinching.


This is easily done with suppressors. Then you use some reactive targets, woman think its boring just aiming and shooting at a piece of paper. The spinning targets, empty buckets, empty propane and helium tanks "the thin ones" are perfect targets that last a long time and walk around when you hit them.
Set the seating back about thirty feet from the line and that cuts their sound down considerably when they want to sit and watch a while. Then get the grill going and close the line down and set up a fire pit.

There is always that one problem you cant fix, ladies absolutely hate to poop in the woods. To help with that, we even set up some porta johns.
There are plans on the board to get a well and shower next. Hell, who would want to come home after that.

Aaron

[Twizzler]

Well if you have showers, every thing else is minimal. A well and pump is quite expensive. We were talking about really needing to do this again.

You can build your own spinner targets and its cheaper once you rebuild them one time. I'll have to do a pictorial of how to build a cheap durable swinger. Meanwhile, find a guy who does fire control work and ask him if he can save you a few old style fire bells. The bigger the better. And find some 1/4" or 3/8" thick steel plate minimum 5" square stock the harder materials to come by.
1/2" threaded rod sticks about 2-1/2" long and 1/2" nuts and washers.

The main concern is keeping the target plate at a slight downward angle as 22 cal is famous for ricochets.

More on this later.


Aaron