Son's first trip shooting - ECPR

[T.Lex]

My son turned 8 last week, so it was time to take him out for his first time shooting! I figured there was no better place than ECPR, of course.

Beforehand, he and I had talked about it, I'd covered the 4 main rules of gun safety, and then some of the other ECPR range rules, too. He was a bit nervous, but very excited.

The RSOs were as professional as ever, and we had a great time. He shot about 90 rounds through the Browning auto takedown rifle I inherited from my grandfather (I used the first 10 to zero the scope). He did a great job for his first outing, and followed the rules better than I did! (Toward the end of a cold-range break, I was appropriately dressed down by an RSO for bringing a gun to the table that I'd forgotten in my bag. Honestly, it was a VERY good lesson to my son about the importance of following the rules, and that it was a serious matter. I think it was James who conducted the flailing, and I thanked him for it.)

About an hour was plenty of time for me to put some more rounds on my Ruger .30 carbine and Glock 23, and for my son to end on a high note.

Thanks to Guy, and all the other people that make ECPR work. Today, you were part of something my little guy will always remember.

(And yes, I saved his first brass, and his first target. I'm a sentimental kinda guy.)

Edit: oh, and a humble suggestion. Maybe have a kid's (12 and under or something) discount of 5$/hr when we share a lane?

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

glad you and your son had a great time. as you said, watching dad get chewed out has probably made a lasting impression on him.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Good to meet you in the flesh.

You should have come down and shot some of my gun show scores that I was test firing.

 

[PaulF]

My dad and I were there for a while on Saturday. We had an excellent time. My dad is recovering from cancer and has a hard time getting around, but James and the other guys were great, as usual. We always feel welcome, and they really go out of their way to make sure that dad is able to shoot safely and comfortably. I got to meet Fellow INGOer Westside, and I put over a hundred rounds each through my M&P 15-22, my 1911, and my 92FS. All in all...a good day.

-Paul

 

[T.Lex]

@KF - indeed, good to meet you, too. Would've loved to share some of the fun but really tried to make it more about my son. Next time will have the grandfathers, and my brothers, and more of a "guys day at the range" thing. We have a couple other family heirloom .22s that I want to make sure we shoot to stress the historical aspect of shooting.

 

[T.Lex]

Had the 2d trip today, and neither of us got yelled at. Now that school started, the teacher had all the kids do a little biography about themselves - favorite food, what they wanted to be when they grew up, etc. One of the questions was, "What do you want to do this weekend?" My kid wrote, "Go shooting at the gun stable." (I have since reminded him that it is called a "gun range.") :lol: Well, after imagining the look on the teacher's face, I had to reward him with another trip.

Plus, got to ****-chat a bit with the renaissance man himself, Guy Relford. A great start to a long weekend!

Edit: LOL - the forum is censoring "c-hit" into ****. We just talked. Nothing kinky.

 

[WestSider]

Nothing but good things to say about ECPR, top notch staff there.

 

[Iroquois]

Great day, good job...next year get him to an Appleseed shoot. He will thank you.

 

[T.Lex]

Well, son's third trip to the range went well yesterday, again. Shot my father-in-law's .22 (only iron sights) and my son did well with it. (The Browning .22 has scope.) He said he actually liked the iron sights more, though. Plus, leaving the place, he said, "This could be addictive." Very matter-of-fact about it.

The real reason for the trip, though, was for the Ruger Blackhawk in .30 carbine. For as long as I've had it (a few years now), it has stubbornly refused to eject the brass from the chambers without overwhelming force applied to the extractor rod. Family legend has it that my grandfather would bring WD-40 and spray the gun all over with that before and during the range trip to get the brass out. Alas, while he stressed the importance of gun cleaning, he did not always practice it. For as long as I've had it, it was basically easier to take out the whole cylinder and tap out the shells. I tried all manner of cleaning out the individual chambers, including (reluctantly) putting a bore brush in a drill!

On that first trip to ECPR mentioned in the first post, one of the RSOs recommended Lead-Away cloth.

Finally picked some up a couple weeks ago. I was simply AMAZED at the amount of gunk this stuff pulled out of the chambers. Black gunk, brown gunk, kinda orange gunk. Just crazy.

So, after all that, I had 3 chambers that worked flawlessly through 4 loading cycles, 2 chambers that lasted 3 cycles, and 1 chamber that I must have skipped, because the first casing got stuck. Kept track of which ones were problematic and hit them with more lead-away. Cleaned them up good, and I'm really looking forward to testing it again!

I'm not really a revolver-guy, but that is one fun gun to shoot.

Wish I could remember which RSO tipped me off to that! He has rep inbound!

Thanks to Guy and all those who make ECPR possible.