A Good Day, Overall

Throughout conversations with my mother, it had become apparent that she was interested in shooting a revolver. I think the actual words were "not one of those black things you know, but the shiny ones, the ones that spin around".

Ok, not exactly my area of expertise, the spinning of firearms, but I'll see what I can do. (Yeehaw!)

During her visit, it was nice to sit and chat about various weapons, pros and cons, and things related. I was careful not to 'feed with a fire hose', but to limit the depth of the talks, to freely admit the limitations of my knowledge, and to introduce safety rules.

The drive to the range was great. It's a ways further out into the rural area, and our talk ranged from guns, to current events, my future work plans, and back to guns. The scenery was great, everything is still green due to the constant rains this year, and the traffic wasn't even that bad. From our talks in the car, there were a few interesting points.

ME: So mom, why the revolver, and not an auto or anything else?

MOM: Well, it just looks better to me...

Fair enough, I suppose.

MOM: Plus I don't really want to kill anybody breaking into the house...


Good, good. 'I wasn't shooting to kill, I was shooting to stop...', I can dig it.

MOM: ...I just want to scare them...

uh oh...

MOM: .... any, only if I had to, maybe shoot them...


pleasesaycentermasspleasesaycentermasspleasesaycentermass...

MOM: ... in the leg, or something.


*sigh* Big Breath... One... Two... Three... Four...... Nine...Ten.

ME: Mom?

MOM: Yes, dear?

ME: I love you, you know.

MOM: Oh, I love you too, honey.

I feel pretty confidant that I cleared up the fact that someone breaking into the house at 3 in the morning with a woman and three flea-bag, mixed-mutt, noisy, and lick crazy rat dogs, is not going to be there for a cup of sugar.


At the range, we rented a .357, got a box of .38 ammo, and were in the process of filling out some paperwork for the range when my mom asked me a question.

MOM: You know who John Wayne is, right?

Did my house look like a big rock over a hollowed out area?

ME: No mom, who's that?

SALES GUY: *No words, but the look on his face was incredulous re the question and answer*

Apparently, I still got my poker face.

MOM: Well he's this actor, right...

SALES GUY: Uh, excuse me. Sir, you uh..

ME: I know who he is.

SALES GUY: Ok, just checking.

Definitely got the ole poker face. Good to know.


The shoot itself was great. I took my time, went over the safety rules, walked and talked through the process of clearing, loading, and shooting, and then talked her through the steps.

She is, without a doubt, a helluva shot.

I am, of course, going to take all the credit.

Towards the end of our range time she went inside to use the restroom, and I broke out some toys. I was having such a good time throughout the day that I had completely forgot about the sun. I don't really worry about it too much, as by the second week of summer I usually have a pretty dark tan, but my mother on the other hand, is somewhat more fair complected. She came out of the office, walked up to where I was clearing and storing my stuff, and that's when really noticed how red she was. Whoops. A little forget me not, if you will.

Update on Teaching Mom...

This has been an interesting experience, for a number of reasons. Lots of interesting advice, both on-line and in person have probably saved me quite a bit of time. Thanks.

One poster, Anony, recommended a couple of books in the subject of women and shooting. While I have not managed to pick them up yet, the subject of books brought up a thought or two.

I am a voracious reader. One of the gifts that my mother gave to me was a love of reading and many, many, many trips to the neighborhood library. Didn't cost hardly anything, and kept us kids busy for hours at a time, a genius idea really. Nowadays, if you go into the spare bedroom of the house, I have an extra bed, the computer set up, and a bookshelf lining an entire wall with all kinds of books. There are many different subject lines, ranging from reference, classic, military history, fiction, martial arts, poetry, art, the list goes on and on. Kind of nice to read another blogger reference a certain book in a post, go into the room and find the book they were talking about. Often, I will find myself re-reading that book, just for kicks.

One subject that I find myself needing to build is that on the subject of firearms. I have a few books, but they are mainly what I would consider reference types; firearms of the 20th century, military rifles of the past 100 years, and anything related to any weapon I had even remote contact with in the Corps. *sigh* I guess enlarging my weapons literature is another thing that I will have to look into. It's a rough life, I know. (Hmm, question: can a 60mm or 81mm mortar and/or ammo be used in home defense? Probably about as well as claymores and other booby traps, that is to say exceedingly well, but strongly frowned upon by neighborhood friendly law enforcement, and with large gains for local construction companies.)

I intentionally haven't picked out a specific weapon for my mother, for a couple of reasons. I would like to start with showing her what I have (which isn't much), and perhaps the collection of a few of my buddies. This would be just to cover the basics, and help us get a better idea on what types we might recommend. Then it would be off to the candy store, and help her pick out her gun, if I haven't been banned for excessive drooling on the windows.

That's another thing. I am really lucky in stores in the area. With very few exceptions, the gun stores around here have good collections with certifiable gun nuts running the show. Very knowledgeable, not pushy, heck, not afraid to admit when they might not be 100% positive on something. S'ok, they just look 10 ft away and there is a good chance that the resident 'revolver nut' is right there biting his tongue to not ambush into the conversation. One thing that I am most impressed with was a conversation with an employee, about a week ago.

I had gone into the store to get some night sights and to browse the holster collection. After a minor purchase, the employee ringing up the sale asked me if there was anything else that he could help me with. Out of curiosity, I asked him about mom. Before I even stopped with the descriptions, he was nodding his head. His recommendation, as well as that of the other two guys that were hanging out, was a revolver, more likely in the .357 variety. Ammo was a little more debated, but all agreed that the whole thing really kind of depended on the shooter. As the other two guys drifted on through out the store, the employee continued by actually recommending that I take mom to one of his competitors who had an indoor range and a ladies night with instructors for the newer shooters.


Hanging out at work the other day...uh...'working' and stuff, I was talking to a receptionist about parents. On the subject of fathers and during the course of the conversation, she mentioned that her dad liked to shoot, she was curious, but never really got around to it. I mentioned my current situation, and offered to take her to the range sometime. She seemed very receptive, and even inquired if she might bring her mother along sometime, as her mom was interested as well. The more the merrier, I suppose. How is it I can go from doing my own thing to teaching two or three new shooters in a short period of time? I am definitely not complaining, by any means, s'just kind of funny how it developes.

A Conversation with Mom...

From a conversation a little while back:

MOM: ...so that's why we have to go pick up Sister Catherine from the jail this coming Saturday.

ME: Uh huh. So the US Army doesn't take kindly to over enthusiastic nuns trying to play ninja on their bases, whodathunkit. I'm kinda surprised she didn't get a speed pass to go see the Big Man himself. Now, if she had been on a Marine Corps base...

MOM: Are you being sarcastic? You little...

ME: Nooooo.

MOM: ...Oh, when I think of all the times...


fast forward through guilt trip...


...all the sleepless nights and gray hairs...


keep going...


...wondering if it was anything that I had done...


oops, not quite far enough. resume fast forward...


MOM: ...Well?

ME: Huh?

MOM: *Loud Sigh* I said that being as your father is out of town so often, I was thinking that one of these days you need to teach me about guns and how to shoot. What do you think?

ME: (going ass over teakettle) *thump*


When I came to, I started thinking about all the times that I begged, pleaded, whined, and otherwise generally made a nuisance of myself when it came to anything related to firearms. "You'll shoot your eye out" was the standard response. Bleh. Looking back on it, I probably would have, but I'm sure that it would have made for a heck of a story. Nowadays, you probably would hear about it on the news or something.


So this puts me in an interesting situation. While I would probably be one of the last ones to say that I am an expert when it comes to shooting or teaching pistol craft, I am more than willing to overlook her grievous denial of my childhood happiness to show her a little bit when it comes to pistols. A few things to keep in mind:

Experience. Despite the fact that most of her brothers went into the Army and a few make me look like a dancing fairy man, she has almost zero experience with firearms. She knows which end goes bang, but that is about it. I'm not going to assume too much else either, when it comes time to teach.

Selection & Caliber. My own experience is somewhat limited (refer to childhood injustice noted above). I have only really started to scratch the surface when it comes to the subject and most of my earlier experiences was more along the lines of the plinking with el cheapo-cheapo pistola on a Saturday afternoon. I am working with all due haste to remedy this lack of knowledge and experience on my own part. Hmm, what to get for her, though? Heck, I could probably wait for the next family reunion, go into Uncle Bob's weapons basement (Arg!), and let her try out basically one of every weapon made since the wooden club (model #002). I figure that she's going to need something reliable, easy to operate, and something not completely overwhelming for her.

Practice. Already covered the ease of operation, but that really is going to come with practice and familiarity. Hopefully, I can show her a little bit in that area. As she likes to remind me, I don't make it down to visit as much as I should, but when I do I would like to have a few ranges picked out in her area, to take her to shoot and possibly to see if there are some real classes that we can get her into. If I go with her a few times, it should make it easier for her to go there when I am not around.

Of course, I am going to have to hit the range, force myself to shoot a wide assortment of different handguns, suffer through the cost of ammunition, all in the name of ensuring that I might not make a complete ass of myself when it comes time to recommending a good match for her.

Life's tough, huh.

Hope she doesn't shoot her eye out.