In addition to burning through a box of ammo from Lucky Gunner, Girlie Bear and I continued her training. She really wants to hunt this fall, so I'm introducing her to more than the single shot .22 she's been working with.
After letting her warm up on the CombiRifle, I introduced her to the 10/22. Once she got the hang of "Check clear and safety, load magazine, charge, safety off, aim, squeeze, repeat, safety, check clear, remove magazine", she did pretty well. She burned up a box of 100 shells, but it took her almost two hours to do it.
While she was shooting at her 25 yard target, I started noticing puffs of dirt in front of my 100 yard target. Girlie Bear was pushing out beyond her target and seeing if she could hit a target at 100 yards with a .22. I'm so proud. When we went out to check targets, I had her show me where she was aiming, then I told her how to aim a little high. After that, she started at least hitting the target stand at 100 yards, and put a few holes in the target as well.
While she was doing that, I changed out the barrels on her CombiRifle so she could shoot a shotgun for the first time. I loaded up some light 20 gauge dove loads. I didn't want to hurt her shoulder too much and scare her the first time she shot something heavier than a .22. I will say that the very light CombiRifle kicks quite a bit when using it as a shotgun. There is absolutely nothing to slow it down as it kicks back into your shoulder.
After shooting a few shells myself to make sure the gun didn't have any issues, I showed Girlie Bear how to hold it. I put her left foot forward, leaned her into the gun, made sure the gun was firmly against her shoulder, and told her to shoot when she was ready. She shot, made sure her target got knocked over, and then almost dropped the gun. She started giggling like a fiend while tears ran down her face. I meant to get a picture of her first time with a shotgun, but I was too busy making sure the gun didn't hit the ground and that she was OK to snap a photo.
Girlie Bear decided after that one round to go back to the 10/22. She said it kicked a lot more than she thought it would, and her shoulder really hurt. I didn't push the issue, but I did tell her that if she wanted to hunt at Fort Knox this fall, she's going to have to learn to shoot something that kicked more than a .22. I'll pick her up a recoil pad for her shoulder and see if I can find a dedicated shotgun so she can shoot something with a bit of weight.
One of my buddies from work also came out with his son-in-law in tow. He started out shooting his Bersa Thunder, which had some extractor issues for the first few magazines. After that, though, it was solid. He also shot his Ruger SR9, and is in love with that little pistol. I'll have to borrow it from him sometime and try it out. It may be a good pistol for Girlie Bear and/or Irish Woman to plink with.
Another highlight of the day was the gentleman who sat next to us. He was taking his time and enjoying himself while he shot four different suppressed firearms. His favorite seemed to be a suppressed automatic MAC-10. That thing sent streams of brass across the range, and by the time he was done there was quite a prodigious pile of .45 brass two tables to his right.
So, I got to shoot up a box of free ammo, and Girlie Bear stretched her limits a bit with the .22 and shot a 20 gauge. Overall, it was a great day at the range.
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