If possible get safety instructions from Mr Baldwin ............ I hear he's very good 😋 . Kidding aside safety is paramount . Eye/ear protection worn at all times . Relax as much as possible . Have fun .

That is it. Shooting is like golf, not every club works.

My daughter hates anything other than her Ruger .22 Mk something. She is a wizard with it.

My son can make a .45 chat. Fun to watch.

That said and all the excellent safety advice, is relax. In aviation they call it “seat time”. Do your homework (we all know you will) then relax and go have safe fun on the range.

We did a group class for women only on the farm a few years ago and it was excellent. See if there is a coed class in your area.

It was a full day but the feedback and exchange was great v

Because you can never say ^that^ enough.

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Important, at the range, always make sure that the dangerous end is always pointed towards the targets, not to the side or any other direction (which is #2). It's not uncommon for someone in a range to be holding their gun and then turn to the side or behind them to talk to someone which means that they probably just swept the muzzle past several other people at the range. That makes everyone very grumpy.

I'm no Higgins or any of our other experts. You want a firm grip on the gun when you're firing. The firm grip helps get back on target more quickly, reduces the possibility of various failures, and helps keep the spoon pointed squarely at the middle of your bowl of soup.

The only thing that I can think of that would fit that description would be Hi-Point.

It's been a while, but the range that I usually go to is indoors, and that's the route that I go, plugs and muffs.

You seem to be on the right track with taking lessons and learning all you can about safety and proper use. I try to go at least twice a month. I have to qualify every year to maintain my carry permit here in NYC with the new carry laws here. I was at the range the other day and the gentleman next to me looked a little confused. When i finished the magazine and put the gun down he said excuse me can you help me for a second. His gun was on the shelf pointed down range. He was new to shooting and could not figure out how to get the slide to close. He handled everything right and I appreciated that he did not interrupt me and placed the gun down instead of turning towards me and pointing it at me. I was more than happy to help him.

Those are the very things I'm thinking of. It probably took some guts for him to ask for help. I remember the first shot on my ar-10 the BCG didn't close completely and the bullet was semi jammed with a dented primer and stuck partially in the chamber. I was alone at the time, and pretty methodical, so I got it figured out, but it's "when things go wrong" I want to learn about.

In my case, I learned that gun needs the BCG to really come down on the bullet to lock things into place. I tried to "ease it" into position, like a dropping a toe into a pool to see if the water's cold. Mistake on my part. That gun needs inertia to set things right. That's where I've been more comfortable being alone, but I need to get acclimated to a group environment.

Lots of good advice. Thanks.

As for pointing guns, I was amazed how lazy one can get. I don't even think lazy is the right word- perhaps overwhelmed. I think being on the range, there are SO many things to consider, I was overwhelmed and at least once the instructor had to kindly remind me where I was pointing things and whatnot when I was worrying about something else. Fortunately, I caught up to him last night and he told me I was light years ahead of some of his other students. A very positive dude. The next day I witnessed the same thing in a gun store. Dude was checking out a gun (yes, unloaded...) but while trying to figure out his red dot was (he had never looked at one before- been there done that) he had a really good bead on the nine year old kids standing to his left.

Easy to get overwhelmed with info.

Last Friday I spent the whole day at the range (by myself) practicing- gun points down range, gun does not point across my body as I change direction and walk back and forth. Gun does not point at ground...foot,nutsack, etc.... I spent as much time considering where gun was pointing as any target grouping.

The instructor spoke of all the different ways to walk away from a 'target' while keeping the gun pointing in that direction, and all the people at the club who did it in different ways. Very interesting stuff.


ps. _ someone here recently mentioned they joined a local club (another thread about 3 months ago) and did some things "right" during a vetting process and it got him right in. I'm wondering what those things are.

Thanks all.

That was me. Ok, as best I recall - this was an indoor range, 25’.
- I put on plugs, muffs, and was wearing glasses
- Set my pistol case on the bench, oriented so that pistols were facing downrange
- Loaded a magazine with 5 rounds (it’s a target pistol)
- Removed pistol from box, locked slide back, inserted loaded chamber flag, pistol pointing downrange the whole time (I don’t get why people need to point an uncased, unholstered gun anywhere but downrange - or straight down at the ground, maybe)
- Put a target on the carrier and ran it downrange. It was a serious target, NRA bullseye, not some tactical sihouette thing
- Inserted magazine, removed chamber flag, aimed, fired, repeat slowly 4X.
- Removed magazine, locked back slide, inserted flag, set pistol down
- Pistol has never pointed anywhere but downrange since I set the box on the bench, and it has either been in my grip being fired or with slide back, mag out, loaded chamber flag inserted
- Stepped back from bench.
- It helped that the pistol was a $2K Italian target .22 pistol with ergonomic grips and a tube red-dot - unfair I know but some make assumptions based on the gun.