OK, I guess the kid can shoot or how the old man learned a lesson.
As any of you who have read many of my posts over the last year may know, I am the parent of a 15 year old boy (well I may have to start calling him a man now). I owe a lot to him as he is the one who got me back into guns after a hiatus of over 20 years. He is the reason I joined this forum ( how else can maintain a level of knowledge equal to his). He is my range buddy and more.
Over the last year or so we started going to a small local gun show and even have a table there most months. One of our "gun show buddies" runs matches at the local range and has invited us to some matches. We haven't (until today) gone to any because it was too convenient to find another commitment instead.
My son is what I think of as a normal 15 year old. His hair is much longer than his mother would like. His clothes are baggy, not falling off, but baggy. He and his friends play video games, he is very computer literate and not at all into school sports. He is also a bit on the shy side and doesn't always display a lot of self confidence.
Last night when I got home he and his mother were talking about the match today and my son said he didn't feel good about going. He was concerned that he wouldn't do well and would embarass himself in front of a bunch of strangers. Also, next day he had to give a cooking demonstration at a home and garden show for a class project and togther it was too much stress. I said "hey lets go get some ammo and head out to the woods and practice and maybe you'll feel better about it" so we did. Afterwards he decided that he would leave the .38 at home and use his sisters .22.
We went to the match and set up. His mother came to watch. We shot the qualifiers and he landed 6th out of a field of 15. I was dead last. Oh well.
The match started and he advanced shooting against a guy closer to my age than his. ( I did not advance). After the first round he was shaking but happy, at least he didn't go out in the first round. He shot the next round and avanced and the next (Oh my). On the 4th round he was eliminated and moved to the (P.C. term is "alternative") bracket. (I had to disqualify myself for an equipment malfunction.)
In the "alternative" bracket he advanced to the top and by doing so earned a spot back in the WINNERS bracket. OK, so "DAD" forgot to bring extra magazines for him. So he shot against some pretty advanced shooters (guys older than my 48 years) without a backup magazine. For the last round or two a fella that let us borrow a couple of mags earlier came back and started loading for my son again.
Long story not so short my son won 2nd in rimfire against some pretty good shooters with some pretty nice equipment.
Oh, the lesson I learned? As I was shooting myself into a distant last place my son came up to me at the firing line between round and said "Dad, you need to relax and settle down, you are shooting too fast, It's only a shooting match" :banghead:
Wheeler44
As any of you who have read many of my posts over the last year may know, I am the parent of a 15 year old boy (well I may have to start calling him a man now). I owe a lot to him as he is the one who got me back into guns after a hiatus of over 20 years. He is the reason I joined this forum ( how else can maintain a level of knowledge equal to his). He is my range buddy and more.
Over the last year or so we started going to a small local gun show and even have a table there most months. One of our "gun show buddies" runs matches at the local range and has invited us to some matches. We haven't (until today) gone to any because it was too convenient to find another commitment instead.
My son is what I think of as a normal 15 year old. His hair is much longer than his mother would like. His clothes are baggy, not falling off, but baggy. He and his friends play video games, he is very computer literate and not at all into school sports. He is also a bit on the shy side and doesn't always display a lot of self confidence.
Last night when I got home he and his mother were talking about the match today and my son said he didn't feel good about going. He was concerned that he wouldn't do well and would embarass himself in front of a bunch of strangers. Also, next day he had to give a cooking demonstration at a home and garden show for a class project and togther it was too much stress. I said "hey lets go get some ammo and head out to the woods and practice and maybe you'll feel better about it" so we did. Afterwards he decided that he would leave the .38 at home and use his sisters .22.
We went to the match and set up. His mother came to watch. We shot the qualifiers and he landed 6th out of a field of 15. I was dead last. Oh well.
The match started and he advanced shooting against a guy closer to my age than his. ( I did not advance). After the first round he was shaking but happy, at least he didn't go out in the first round. He shot the next round and avanced and the next (Oh my). On the 4th round he was eliminated and moved to the (P.C. term is "alternative") bracket. (I had to disqualify myself for an equipment malfunction.)
In the "alternative" bracket he advanced to the top and by doing so earned a spot back in the WINNERS bracket. OK, so "DAD" forgot to bring extra magazines for him. So he shot against some pretty advanced shooters (guys older than my 48 years) without a backup magazine. For the last round or two a fella that let us borrow a couple of mags earlier came back and started loading for my son again.
Long story not so short my son won 2nd in rimfire against some pretty good shooters with some pretty nice equipment.
Oh, the lesson I learned? As I was shooting myself into a distant last place my son came up to me at the firing line between round and said "Dad, you need to relax and settle down, you are shooting too fast, It's only a shooting match" :banghead:
Wheeler44
