Yesterday, for the first time in, I guess 3 years, my older son and I went shooting to a local indoor range. He lives and works on the Left Coast but has a 2 week paid break as the judge he works for has shut down her court for that time.
We took my:
Windham Hunter AR-10
Taurus Tracker convertible revolver .357/.38 & 9mm
H-K V-9 LE model
and
Marlin 1894 in .357/.38
He has (back in Cali)
a P320 with the carry grip, flat trigger, and full slide that he's put a red dot and metal and wood grip on it.
A Cali-compliant AR-15 that he built.
We started with the H-K at 7 yards. While he liked the feel of it, he's not used to the curved split trigger and the iron sights, well... I did a little better with it but I haven't shot it in a while.
We then went to the Taurus, in 9mm. I really like this revolver. I have a Ruger 1771 that looks and feels better, and has a MUCH better grip, but from the very first shots I'm much more accurate with the Taurus. My son, however, struggled with it, which surprised me, but, again it was that he's used to optics, not iron sights. When we pushed out to 10 yards, I was able to nail about 5 out of 7 head shots.
Then the AR-10. Since it's mechanically the same as an AR-15, he obviously had no problem . I have a nice, inexpensive Sig 2x-9x scope with good, long eye relief and his first 5 or 6 shots at 25 yards were excellent, but he found the gun tiring. With a muzzle break in an enclosed space, and the recoil, can make it a tiring experience. I pushed out to 50 yards and zoomed the scope up (mine eyes have seen the glory of....stuff I don't see so good anymore!) and had some fun--and good shooting.
Then the Marlin and..Uh-OH! It wouldn't cycle either .357 or 38, appearing to jam going into the breach. Not sure WTF is going on as this is always a super smooth, super fun shooter. I wonder if I put the extractor in backwards, again? Whatever, but I'm going to have to break it down and see WTF is going on. The mechanism seems to be clean and sharp but...why wouldn't rounds go into the breech? I'm pretty upset and we were disappointed.
Despite the fact that my guns (that we brought) aren't his cup of tea, we did have fun. Since he is far more left-eye dominant than even I am, he's had to learn to shoot rifles as a Lefty (which he's not). Weirdly, despite being Left Eye Dominant (very) I STILL aim with my right. Don't know why.
Range Day With My Son
1"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."