Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike80911
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.
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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.