Blackfork
Member
The CFO of a company I do business with asked me to take his nephew, a Marine who is going to Iraq in August, out to the range to shoot a little. I was happy to oblige.
I started him off on .22 Ruger Mk1 target pistol, (with gongs and falling plates) for some front sight/trigger technique work. Turned out he had only shot a pistol once before in his life. We shot .22, went to .45 (Sig 220), back to 9mm (Sig 226), then even a little Luger, (1938) for a historical touch. I switched pistols back and forth and had him shoot them all several times and then shoot some longer sustained strings. I'm sure we shot 200 rounds @ 5 shots per string.
Then we went over on the rifle range and shot a Garand. He knew what a Garand was but had never seen one in person or shot one. We talked technique and sights, stripped it, worked on his bench technique, dry fired a little and then shot. He shot 40 shots at 100 and 200 yards. Big fun. No misses. He said even his Drill Sgts hadn't shot Garands as far as he knew.
Then he shot my pampered and weighted AR15 CMP (backup) rifle. Compared to an M16 it is a well-built and behaved gun. We shot several positions and I showed him how to use a hasty sling, plus I put on a jacket and sling and shot a sitting group for him at 200 and demonstrated Natural Point of Aim.
From there we went to a stock civilian M4 carbine. We were shooting M855 out of 30 round mags. He shot about 250 rounds at 100 and 200 from several different positions while I talked to him about what was going on. I had him shoot a little left-handed while we were at it, and moved the sights ten left, ten up, so he would get a feeling for windage and elevation controls. He says his unit will carry the carbines in Iraq.
Besides shooting we dug bullets out of the berm, took apart a M855 and shot the primer and burned the ball powder, watched mirage and trace, and talked tactics from MOA and reloading to shooting a walking lead.
He seemed like an OK guy. Fit, heathy, young, motivated. I'm sure he is a terrific soldier. I invited him to come back and shoot again if he got home again before deployment and could get time off from his girlfriend.
Every soldier I have ever met outside a competitive venue just needs trigger time and instruction. He had been through Marine basic, which is a pretty good foundation.
The CFO asked me what he needed. I told him to get him a good pair of binoculars.
I started him off on .22 Ruger Mk1 target pistol, (with gongs and falling plates) for some front sight/trigger technique work. Turned out he had only shot a pistol once before in his life. We shot .22, went to .45 (Sig 220), back to 9mm (Sig 226), then even a little Luger, (1938) for a historical touch. I switched pistols back and forth and had him shoot them all several times and then shoot some longer sustained strings. I'm sure we shot 200 rounds @ 5 shots per string.
Then we went over on the rifle range and shot a Garand. He knew what a Garand was but had never seen one in person or shot one. We talked technique and sights, stripped it, worked on his bench technique, dry fired a little and then shot. He shot 40 shots at 100 and 200 yards. Big fun. No misses. He said even his Drill Sgts hadn't shot Garands as far as he knew.
Then he shot my pampered and weighted AR15 CMP (backup) rifle. Compared to an M16 it is a well-built and behaved gun. We shot several positions and I showed him how to use a hasty sling, plus I put on a jacket and sling and shot a sitting group for him at 200 and demonstrated Natural Point of Aim.
From there we went to a stock civilian M4 carbine. We were shooting M855 out of 30 round mags. He shot about 250 rounds at 100 and 200 from several different positions while I talked to him about what was going on. I had him shoot a little left-handed while we were at it, and moved the sights ten left, ten up, so he would get a feeling for windage and elevation controls. He says his unit will carry the carbines in Iraq.
Besides shooting we dug bullets out of the berm, took apart a M855 and shot the primer and burned the ball powder, watched mirage and trace, and talked tactics from MOA and reloading to shooting a walking lead.
He seemed like an OK guy. Fit, heathy, young, motivated. I'm sure he is a terrific soldier. I invited him to come back and shoot again if he got home again before deployment and could get time off from his girlfriend.
Every soldier I have ever met outside a competitive venue just needs trigger time and instruction. He had been through Marine basic, which is a pretty good foundation.
The CFO asked me what he needed. I told him to get him a good pair of binoculars.