Check out some of these training tips to help initiate friends and family to firearms.
My highest career priority is to work toward enabling future generations to be able to enjoy the same hunting and shooting freedoms that have existed in America for generations. One of the most critical components to assuring these pursuits is introducing newcomers to the shooting sports. To that end, we’ve compiled a few tips when it’s time to initiate a new shooter.
Eye Dominance
Here’s a tip for helping a new shooter. It all starts with the eyes. Clearly aligning weapon sights on a target… and hitting it… seems obvious, but there’s a sizable portion of our society who are handicapped and don’t even know it. We’re not talking blurry, correctable vision, but instead cross-eye dominance. This is where a person is, say, right-handed, but their left eye is dominant. The same holds true for southpaws. When the dominant eye doesn’t match “handedness,” it makes it hard to shoot correctly without fixing the situation.
Proudly, I’ve worked with hundreds of shooters new to handguns, rifles, shotguns and archery. The first exercise I perform with any new shooter is to check for coordinated eye dominance. A simple exercise is to take your extended arm, stick your thumb up and use your thumbnail as your “sight.” Keep both eyes open and cover a distant spot with your thumbnail. Now close your left eye. Does your thumb still cover the spot? Open both eyes again and cover the same spot. Now close your right eye. Does your thumb appear to “jump” to the side of your target? If so, you are right eye dominant.
If your dominant hand matches your vision it’s time for shooting lessons to commence, but if it doesn’t sync up there are multiple remedies. For those lucky enough to lean toward being ambidextrous, just switching the trigger hand and shoulder should fix things. If that can’t fix comfortable shooting, then specially altered shooting glasses are an option. (We haven’t mentioned eye protection yet, but it’s a must for everyone on the firing line.) Take the glasses and cover the lens for the dominant eye with dark tape, paper, etc. This will force the non-dominant eye to do the work of aligning weapon sights.
We’ve already mentioned protective eyewear, so now it’s time to include hearing protection as a requisite for anyone shooting or nearby. Without hearing protection, just a few shots can create long-term hearing loss that might not show up for decades. Damaged hearing from exposure to gunfire seems to be cumulative in effect. I’ve been almost fanatical in protecting my hearing from gunfire, but occasional exposure while hunting over the years is starting to take its toll.
Aside from saving your ears, hearing protection for the novice helps in other areas. That “bang” you hear when pulling the trigger is a shock wave that travels through the air. It can be felt. The larger the cartridge, the larger the shock wave. Couple this shock wave with the intimidation factor of firing a gun and it can be unnerving. A good practice for new shooters is to double up on hearing protection. A pair of foam plugs covered with ear muffs will help minimize the intimidation factor when the trigger is pulled.
Silencers
I stumbled upon one of my favorite tools used while introducing first-time shooters; the silencer. They should be used whenever possible to introduce any new shooter to the sport.
I’ve lost count of the number of novices that I have incorporated suppressor use into their introductory lessons. A recent example serves to make the point. My wife’s friend Markay is from California, and she’s a typical mother of three who had never handled a gun in her life. She visited our home on the farm for a couple of days, and during her visit my wife asked her if she would like to learn to shoot.
Markay was curious and a bit intimidated about the opportunity, but her excitement won out. To keep things simple, I grabbed a Ruger 22/45 pistol fitted with a SilencerCo Spectre22 suppressor. It also wears a Trijicon RMR miniature reflex sight to keep aiming simple. After a quick safety lesson, we walked out on the back porch and I tossed an empty Mt. Dew bottle into the back yard. We quickly ran through things like trigger and breath control. She was delighted by the fact that she could hit the target with reliability after just a couple of magazines.
We stepped the lesson up a notch by grabbing another pistol, a 9mm semi-auto, and a Tavor SAR in 5.56 NATO. The Tavor wore another SilencerCo suppressor, the Saker ASR 556. Walking to my range where I had some reactive steel silhouettes set up, we started again with the Ruger 22/45 and I had Markay banging away at the steel targets in no time. Her confidence building, we donned ear muffs and switched to the 9mm. This allowed us to cover the basics of handgun sights and how to safely load and unload this pistol. The first targets were close. Seven yards was the starting point. Increasing the distance to 25 yards, she was making center mass hits with regularity.
When she ran through a 50-round box of 9mm ammo, it was time to move on to a rifle lesson. Again, I went through a safety briefing specific to the Tavor and how to align its flip up iron sights. Shots at 10 yards built her confidence, and we quickly moved back to 25 yards. She delighted at hammering steel with every shot. Next, I removed the Saker silencer for a few shots. She got a feel for the difference between shooting with and without a suppressor. I could tell Markey was having fun when she started asking for more loaded magazines.
In 45 minutes time, Markay went from having never fired a gun to safely learning how to manipulate and make consistent lethal hits with the same weapon platform carried by the Israeli Defense Forces. She also learned that silencers are not only legal, but they’re a logical way to muffle muzzle blast.
Recoil
New shooters don’t need to be subjected to heavy recoil when they’re just getting their feet wet. I worked for the National Wild Turkey Federation for 11 years and the organization hosts a national JAKES—NWTF’s youth program—weekend at its headquarters in Edgefield, South Carolina every summer. Each year, one of the most popular learning events has been the turkey gun patterning station. Each participant learns some basics of safe gun handling as well as learning how to pattern a turkey gun.
I recall one young man about 12 years old. He stood in line and watched several other larger-framed teenagers step up to the bench and take their shots. Many of the older boys had some experience shooting 12 ga. turkey guns and avoided the wimpy .410s and 20 ga. turkey guns as they displayed their testosterone-induced bravado. When the little guy stepped up to the bench for his turn, I already had a Thompson/Center Contender .410 single-shot shotgun in hand to begin his one-on-one lesson. He confidently informed me that he was going to shoot the 12 ga. instead of the “kid’s” gun. I tried to talk him out of his decision, and even asked if his parents would approve his decision.
Rookie Mistake
I made a mistake that I have not made since. Reluctantly, I allowed him to shoulder a Remington 870 and send a 3-inch magnum 2-ounce turkey load down range. The tears flowed and he spent the rest of the afternoon with an ice pack on his tender shoulder.
That young man’s painful experience taught me several lessons, besides the obvious. First, he taught me that no matter what a novice says, their mentor should never subject a small-framed shooter to heavy-recoiling firearms. At best, it will create a flinch. At the worst, it will turn them off to the idea of shooting.
Taming Recoil
Starting with the gun itself, many shotguns and rifles come equipped with a soft recoil pad. Most factory pads offer some recoil absorption, but more advanced recoil-absorbing pads are available from sources such as Brownell’s gunsmithing supplies. Ask your local gunsmith for advice on which pad will help absorb more recoil than your factory pad.
Gun weight and action type has a lot of bearing on how much recoil you will feel when you pull the trigger. Lightweight, single-shot and double-barrel guns can be almost unbearable when shooting high-velocity magnum game loads. If the gun has a lot of drop in the comb of the stock the sensation of recoil becomes even greater. Fitting squarely into this category are “youth” 20 ga. single-shots that are chambered for 3-inch loads. If you are introducing a new shooter to the sport, be sure to stick with light field loads during practice sessions.
You can raise the comfort level a notch by opting for pump-action shotgun. Simply put, these guns kick less because they are heavier. Their added weight at the shot benefits the shooter by absorbing some of the felt recoil. Semi-auto shotguns produce even less recoil because their mechanics uses up some of the recoil energy during the process instead of transferring it all to the shooter.
Other after-market add-on items are recoil-absorbing devices can be installed inside of the butt stock of a rifle or shotgun, as well as inside the magazine tube on repeating shotguns. These nifty gizmos work on a principal of hydraulics that helps spread out felt recoil over a longer period, much as the result you get when shooting a gas-operated semi-automatic shotgun. Past recoil pads are a real help, too, when attempting to tame recoil. These pads are worn over the shirt and put a layer of leather and foam between you and the gun. When I’m shooting I regularly wear a thinner shotgunning pad under a second, thick rifle pad.
Proper Form
Proper shooting form is one of the simplest things to help you shoot more consistently as well as feeling less recoil. Whenever I am working with children, I emphasize that they mount a rifle or shotgun in their shoulder pocket instead of lower on their arm. Just as important is how they hold their face to the stock. The mouth should be closed and teeth should be lightly clenched to firm cheek muscles. When the comb of the stock is pressed firmly to the face it should rest against tight cheek muscles in the same place for each shot. Face surface area contact with the stock is the key to comfortably “facing” stout-kicking longarms. If you try to just lightly press your face to the stock to mentally avoid the inevitable recoil it allows the gun to pick up momentum at the shot and punch you in the cheek. On the other hand, if you are firmly in contact with the stock it becomes more of a push as the weight of your head helps absorb the blow.
Extra padding isn’t just for show
Past recoil pads are a real help when attempting to tame recoil. These pads are worn over the shirt and put a layer of leather and foam between you and the gun. When I’m shooting I regularly wear a thinner shotgunning pad under a second, thick rifle pad.
Newcomers need guidance to enjoy their early shooting experiences.
Remember some of these shooting hints to make that first-time experience more enjoyable, or incorporate them into your repertoire if you’re going to mentor a new shooter.
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