I went shooting at an indoor 25 yard shooting range that lets you pretty much shoot anything pistols, rifles, fullauto, ect. I hadn't been to the range in well over a month.
Everything was going great, I met another shooter that was also interested in Sport Utility Rifles (SURs). He was telling me of some of his collection but unfortunately didn't have an AR-15. He was admiring my Preban M4gery with the Aimpoint Comp. So naturally I had to let him shoot it and since he hadn't yet shot an AR I walked him through the controls and he did well. Of course its easy to shoot with the Aimpoint Comp at such a short distance.
After a while he left and I went back to shooting. Then it hit me, I really had fun letting someone else shoot and helping them.
After a while I was approached by another shooter and he looked over both my ARs and the "Banana Mags" I had laying on the table. I also let him put a mag of ammo through my M4. The other AR I had with me was acting up, I had just finishing building it and still need to iron out a few bugs. He also had a good experience so I decided to ask the rest of his group if anyone else wanted a try. Other two guys said no but they had a young girl (about 19-21 year old) with them that was kinda hesitant until I assured it wouldn't give much recoil. I walked her through the controls and let her go to it. Have to admit that she was kinda hot so getting her to shoot was as much for me as for her. She also did well.

Odd thing was that all three of the people I let shoot my rifle were left handed. So it was kinda odd showing them how to hold the rifle. Something I'm gonna have to work on myself.

Obviously it could get real expensive letting everyone at the range shoot but I'm gonna be more open minded when at the range in the future about introducing others to "Assault Weapons". I think we need more possitive attention from the non-assault weapon shooting community. People who don't shoot SUR's and might be swayed into believing they have no useful purpose so maybe should be banned.
It shouldn't be too difficult to limit most people to just 10 rounds if I just load mags from stripper clips. They were all impressed with the stripper strips also by the way.

For us lefties the brass deflector is the best part.

Great job Princeton.  I will be taking a new shooter out this weekend.  If we all convert two or three people a year, we will have more leverage with the politicians.  Hell, we need a "Take a Noobie to the Range Day".  The price we pay in ammo will be more than worth it.

Got that right! Altho, now I think about it, just had to keep a close cheek weld with the M16A1's to avoid a hot brass case in the right eye.

Good job Princeton.

Let's see....three women, and seven other males have been allowed to shoot one of my AR's.  
Converted four new owners (four of the guys already own and one woman), one woman (mine! [:)]) and two guys.  Still working on the others, who loved shooting.  
Tasco PDP5 on a bushmaster shorty at 50yds makes for lots of fun teaching folks to shoot a sport utility rifle.  
I'm averaging bringing one new shooter every two months now and hoping to improve that number more over the years.  

GOOD JOB!  Get as many people shooting as you can.

Taking a new guy at work and his brother to the range for the first time later today - neither have ever shot.  Should be fun.

Tate

Corrupt thy neighbors child!!!!!
Thanks for spreading the disease man!
I often wonder why more folks don't go to the range,when I see new guy,after new guy,getting handed a rifle by a stranger and getting an quick intro,and then an invite to come shoot more often in club events.
Gun people are the best people.
Contrast what happens socially at clubs and ranges,with the snobbery and snubbing elitist bullshit,at a yacht club or golf course.
Birds of a feather and all..
Cheers!
E4E

Great job, Princeton! Thanks from all of us.

E4E: Intersting and insightful comment about the snobbery found in many other sports. I never thought of it quite that way.

On that note, I think many more women and minorities would become sport and even defense shooters, and allies, if they felt they were welcome into our ranks. We are, I believe, a very diverse group of people who will generally accept people into our ranks regardless of race, gender, age, or religion. They simply need to have an I.Q. above their body temperature, an appetite for fun, a belief that their life is worth defending, and an open mind.

Two shooting friends just had a wedding/shooting match here at a local range. ALL of the guests had to shoot a S.A.S.S.-style western stage with single-actions, lever- and shotguns. Numerous closed-minded liberals chose not to attend on moral outrage grounds. Boohoo. Many of the guests had never tried any of this and ended up having a great time. The generosity of the groom and his wedding party (5000 rds. of black powder .45 Colt and 12 gauge) really helped. And we all understood the short and long-term benefits of all this.

Some years ago I decided to no longer cower and hide my gun-toting beliefs from my co-workers. Yeah, many probably always had their suspicions about me, and I'm sure some hardcorps liberal pukes hated me for the virus that I am. But I started an annual full-auto day where I would take co-workers and our interns to the local range and rent buzzguns under supervision. Some became shooters. Most will never again pick up a gun, but they had a great time and left with a much greater understanding of us and of the fun we have. While I don't belabor the point, I've always emphasized to them that for many of us it is not just a sport, but a part of our fundamental belief system like free speech and the right to be left alone.

I'll finish with a simple tale. Julie was one of our interns. She was a flaming liberal who believed in the whole agenda, hook, line and sinker, because she thought she should. She was a rabid animal-rights activist (I think animal-rights may be an oxymoron). She agreed to go along on the 1st Annual Full-Auto Day, but just to watch. She said she wouldn't shoot or even touch a gun. She was perceptive enough to want to dispel her ignorance.

As the shooting got underway, after thorough safety training, I turned to see her at the line blazing away with a suppressed AWC/Ruger Amphibian .22LR pistol. When she was done I said, "Julie, what are you doing?"

She turned to me (keeping the pistol aimed downrange!) and said with a huge grin, "I never tried it  because I was afraid I'd like it!"

That was an incredibly telling moment. Julie will never again shoot a gun most likely. But that one day gave her a respect for us like nothing else could have done. I have tried to do something similar every year now . It seems like the least I can do. I pay my NRA dues, and arrange this and supple most of the ammo. Use this parable, and the other voices here, to fight for our cause and our way of life.


This is a fight for survival people. I'm tired of being demonized and misunderstood. There are many good folks out there who have been a little brainwashed. We simply need to spend some time and money to help them back into reality. Let your hearts guide you.


By the way, let's all remember that April 19th (Patriot's Day) is coming up. It should be as celebrated for freedom-loving Amer

YES!!! I have done the same thing. In fact 3 people I work with will be buying AR's soon. 2 of them might be the LE AR15.com rifle.


John[heavy]

GI Brat: What words didn't you understand?

He said other kinds of people besides your typical white male shooters might think better of our hobby if they tried shooting firsthand.
The friends I've taken to the range liked the experience quite a bit once they got over the "It's a GUN!!" phase and actually shot one themselves. I think that would be true of any person, if they have an open mind. Fear seems to be the deciding factor in the Pro and Anti gun arena. Folks are only afraid of something until they understand it.

BRAT,

PUT THE PARANOIA DOWN.....

As a Black man, I agree with him 110%...I TRY and take someone who has NEVER shot with me EACH and EVERY TIME....IF I go alone, the rangemasters question me, as they are used to me bringing SOME minority (asians, blacks, WOMEN!!!) EVERY time I shoot.

And EVERYONE I take has that mental picture he is referring to. By now, the other members at my range are used to seeing me with people, and I have had offers for 'my people' to shoot everything from M-16's to Draganovs...

MN, you ARE right on the MONEY!!! And its a trip away for us to SHOW them how 'WE' REALLY ARE!!!!

Also, KEEP UP THE FIGHT AT WORK...I work for an international company. Our Big kahunas are from Canada (Canacommies), but when the anti trappers brought out the propaganda before the election..OUT CAME THE FLAMES....I had NRA stuff ALL OVER that office...THEY WILL NOT AGRESS AN AGRESSIVE CAMPAIGN.....


NO APATHY, WE CAN WIN THIS BATTLE...

EVERY time!

Good job, CavVet!! [:D]

[uzi]

Tate

Tux628 (from the old board, havent seen him around lately) converted my GF and I to the AR15 system at Marriotsville one day.  We'd probably be shooting an SKS or something if he hadnt introduced us to his Bushmaster.

Kharn

GI Brat -

Suffice it to say that if the original posters comments were intended to be unfriendly toward you or your race (or any other race) he is in the minority BIG TIME 'round here. If you own an AR, you are my brother NO MATTER what else you believe / are.

However, like the others, I didn't take the originals posters comments as inflammatory or unfriendly. Situations like this is why God invented emoticons  [:D]

CavVet, I have never shot an AR15, how about taking me to the pit in Washington and letting me shoot your Bushmaster thingie...unless it falls apart again!

I feel a cordite fix coming on!

Hey Princeton,I think I'd like to check out Classic Pistol.I Live up the road a bit from you in Reading & would like to meet up with you to do some indoor shooting at Classic Pistol.     Drop me an E-mail at:                     [email protected]     I've got 2 AR's & just picked up my 1st AK yesterday.             I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours. HAHA [:)]  

definetly a good thing, I shot an ar15 one
month ago and went and bought one that week.

What a great idea.  My club in NJ has an open house/family fun shoot every fall.  It's to invite the non-shooting public out to play with our toys.  Mostly things like milk jugs full of colored water, ping-pong balls full of talc, wooden targets.  Gimmick targets.  We have a minimal rifle range, 100 yards of shoot-through-a-tube due to local, new restrictions.  The last couple of years, I ran the rifle range part and must have had a hundred people a day shoot AR-15, M1 Garand, .22LR rifle and a couple of bolt acion rifles.  Far & away the most popular was the AR.  Shooting bright orange clay pidgeons nailed to target backers at 100 yards is just about the right amount of challange for a newbie.

A lot of my fun came from letting the macho guys shoot the AR and then talk the shy girlfriend/mother/grandma/daughter types into shooting too.  Not one negative reaction in the bunch.

Keep up the good work, Princeton.

Norm

BTW, we're south of Princeton NJ on RT 571, about 3 miles from US 1.  [url]http://uweb.superlink.net/donw/crrc/crrc.htm[/url]

I always let people shoot my black rifles. Everyone loves em. A guy had his 15 yr old daughter at the range and she wanted to shoot it. The Dad was hesitant, so I let him shoot it first. About 2 months later I saw them at them at the club.   Hehe........he had a bushmaster[:)]

Folks,
The misunderstanding concerning minoritys brings up an interesting point.
The anti's and the liberal newsmedia project an image that us firearms owners and shooters are largely xenophobic,toothless,beerswilling bubbas with a racist agenda.They even allude to the NRA being a closet Klan.Immediately the media tied constitutional fundamentalist "Militia's" to radical racist organizations,and the NRA
There is a perception amoung the unexposed that Rod and Gun clubs are bubba clubs and good 'ol boy hangouts.
I have invited several friends to my club for open events and gotten the "dude...I'm not exactly the sterotypical type to do such things".
Just as we need to involve children and women in our sport,we need to extend a hand to those that may fear participation because of the medias lies.
When is the last time anyone here invited a co worker of color to go shoot some trap?
Tiger woods is doing things for golf that makes the Klan want to puke.
I sincerely would like to see similar growth extended to the shooting sports through increased awareness thoughout society.
If the news media sees that folks of all color,sex,and the physically chalenged are enjoying shooting,they will have less ammo for their war on us,and we will have a better chance to cross party lines with our cause in Washington.
If I offend anyone with this thinking,realize it wasn't meant to.
Cheers!
E4E

Clearfire.....

LMFAO! I talked to Jim at Bushmaster, HOPEFULLY that POS wont do that again..and if it does, there is ANOTHER  fix we can try.....


Damn prototypes.........


Over....

As a gunsmith in a small town, practically every time at the range I am approached by people who know of me, and usually have a problem(with their firearm). At first helping solve problems on the range was satisfying, until it started interfering with the whole reason I go to shoot. Now I usually just hand out a card, take two asprin and they bring it to me in the morning.

This is one way of getting new people into shooting so called Assualt Weapons and hopefully will sway the tide in the negativity insisted by the anti's to such guns.

Ah, no, Troy you would be incorrect.  The conversion was done much later, although that was my SO's first time shooting a Glock.  The younger one still hasn't gotten into it yet, darnit.  
The folks I've been taking are co-workers and a couple other friends.  Anyone at work who asks me is automatically invited the next time i go shoot.  Although I do occasionally get the ha-ha when ya going to shoot up the office crap occasionally.  After a trip, they usually think quite differently.  Although my Marine buddy and I do talk about MOUT scenarios in our building frequently. [:)]

And DVD.....First timers are allowed to have fun.  Second timers have to shoot the hard way.